The battle raged on in the living room as Reece burst into the back bedroom. As quickly as he could, he hauled Lex’s body up from the bed and threw her over his shoulder. He felt somewhat guilty for carrying her in such an uncomfortable position—his shoulder was surely stabbing into her stomach—but he wouldn’t be able to run with her any other way. Besides, if her mind was locked tightly enough to withstand all of the magick that had been poured into her over the past few hours, he didn’t think that she would even feel this.
Dread unfurled inside of him at that thought, but he pushed it away. He didn’t have time for that now; Nick and Karissa wouldn’t be able to hold off the Daybreakers for much longer and he needed to get as far away as possible.
With his soulmate in his possession, he left the bedroom and rushed into the den. “Lindsay. Come on, we have to—”
The room was empty.
He hurried across the hall into the bathroom, but it was empty as well. Throwing open the linen closet, he found nothing but towels and sheets. She couldn’t have gone upstairs because she would have had to push through the fight in the living room to get to the staircase, so that meant that she had to be in the kitchen.
But she wasn’t there either. Reece looked under the table and in the pantry and just when he was frustrated enough to rip his hair out, he noticed that the back door was ajar: she had run out.
Oh, fuck. Why would she have done that? It wasn’t safe and she knew it. Even if there wasn’t an evil, masochistic vampire after her, it wasn’t safe for a girl her age to be out at night.
Reece ran out the door and turned into the narrow pathway that lay between the row of townhouses on this street and the row that faced the street above it. Pumping one arm to propel him forward, he used the other to steady Lex on his shoulder. “Lindsay!” he shouted frantically. “Lindsay!”
She couldn’t have gotten far. She only had a few minutes head start and he was much faster than she. If only he hadn’t used up so much power trying to wake up Lex, he could use a spell to find her.
As he closed in on the end of the path, the shadows moved. From the edge of the house that stood on the corner, they shifted and flowed, taking shape as they slid out into the soft moonlight. An icy wave of terror stole over him and he nearly tripped over himself as he skidded to a stop. Staring at the pale face of the dark-eyed vampire standing before him, something inside of him instinctively recoiled.
Zarek smiled, his eyes moving from Reece’s face to Alexandra’s limp body. Then he gave a small, relieved sigh that seemed to say, At long last.
Goddess, no. He couldn’t let this creature back into Lex’s mind. Frantically, he adjusted his hold on her, sliding her body down so that she lay in his arms like a child and he tried to summon enough power to cast the cloaking spell.
“I wouldn’t bother,” Zarek said softly. “She’s not there. Her mind is nothing but cold static. You know that as well as I.”
His own mental block—the one he had conjured at the church in Vermont—must have dissolved, most likely when he burned himself out with the time-altering spell. Rather than letting it frighten him, he used the realization to beat back the despair that was welling up inside of him. The vampire was just fucking with him, playing on his fears and weaknesses. It was Zarek’s modus operandi and Reece couldn’t let it affect him. The vampire couldn’t possibly know if Alexandra would ever wake or not.
“Ah, but I do,” Zarek insisted. “I have access to parts of her mind that even your precious soulmate link cannot grant—when she allows you to use it, that is. And I can promise you, witch, that there is nothing left of her.” He let his smile broaden. “A pity, that. I wonder how such a thing could have happened.”
“Then you have no use for her,” the witch said tightly, shrugging off the guilt that the vampire was trying to incite.
“No, I suppose not. Especially when I have this.” He reached behind him and pulled someone out of the shadows. “I believe you two are acquainted.”
The little girl stood between the witch and the vampire, her eyes wide with fear. Tears streamed down her face as she shivered in the cold, but she didn’t make a sound.
“Lindsay,” Reece gasped.
“And you swore that I would never get near her,” Zarek said chidingly. “You should never make promises that you can’t keep.”
“Let her go.”
“I must say that the spell you cast on her is quite effective,” the vampire continued heedlessly. “But I think we both know that you cannot sustain it indefinitely.”
The witch gritted his teeth. So much for keeping Lindsay from knowing about the Night World. Searching the girl’s face, he expected to find shock or confusion, but he only saw loathing and fear. She had already known, he realized. It was why she had run from the house.
He took a step towards her and she cringed. “Lindsay, I—”
“I wouldn’t bother,” Zarek said again. “God is very clear on this matter, isn’t He, Lindsay? Witches are minions of Satan. Evil made flesh.”
Reece looked up and met the vampire’s black eyes. “So what does that make you?” he seethed.
“I thought that after all of your research, you would have figured it out.” He inclined his head slightly, as if taking a bow. “I am an artist.”
That he was. Zarek had turned the destruction of an innocent soul into an art form and he was going to make Lindsay his next masterpiece. But Reece would be damned if he was going to let that happen.
Clenching his fists, he opened his mouth to speak, but the vampire cut him off again, “Please, let us forgo the empty, graphic threats of bodily harm and move on to the negotiations, shall we?”
“What negotiations?” he asked carefully.
“I won’t deny that I would take great pleasure in this little one.” The vampire reached out to stroke Lindsay’s shorn hair. “She is young and supple and so very pure.” His hands slipped under her hair to caress her neck and the girl shuddered violently. “There is, however, someone that I want more.”
Reece tightened his grip on his soulmate, wishing he could turn away so that Lex would be spared the weight of the vampire’s lascivious stare as it swept up and down her body.
“You cannot imagine how the memory of her has plagued me these last five years,” Zarek said. “She brought me greater pleasure than I have ever wrought from another. I dream of her, still. I dream of the day that I made her, the first time that I tasted her, the first time I lost myself in her. I dream of her screams, her cries, her soul fracturing in my hands. If I had known that it could be so easily mended, I would never have let her go.”
“Stop,” the witch ordered quietly.
“She loved it, you know,” the vampire continued. “Regardless of what she may have told you, she loved everything I did to her. She wouldn’t have become so creative otherwise.”
Reece was shaking, hate coating his insides.
“She had a talent for it. She was an artist, like me. Did she ever tell you about the time that she tied up a mother and father and forced them to watch as she slit the throats of their young children? Oh, I know that it sounds simple enough, but the beautiful part was what she did afterward. She left the parents bound to their chairs in the house, forcing them to breathe in the stench of their children’s putrefied flesh as they themselves slowly starved to death. It took several weeks.”
“Stop it!” the witch roared. Rage burned through him, as hot as the tears in his eyes, demanding that he give in to it, that he tear this vampire apart, limb from limb. Who the fuck cared if Lex or Lindsay got caught in the cross-fire? Nothing mattered, nothing but his hate and his need to destroy.
He battled it. This was what Zarek wanted. This mind-fuck was what he lived for. The vampire got off on turning people into monsters and Reece couldn’t allow himself to succumb to that. Desperately, he clung to the words that Nick had spoken earlier: He’s got nothing on you, Cahill. Don’t let him win like that...
Swallowing down all of his anger, he looked at the vampire coldly. “But you said it yourself: her mind is gone. You have no use for her.”
“Mm. That is true.” Zarek wet his lips. His eyes abandoned Alexandra as if she no longer existed and they locked on Reece. “That’s why I need you.”
“Me?” the witch repeated.
“You are her soulmate. She lives in you.”
His voice wedged deep in his throat and it was a long moment before he could dislodge it. “I didn’t think your tastes ran that way.”
“Oh, I am more than willing to make an exception for her. For you.”
He felt like a swarm of insects was crawling over his skin and Reece had to stifle his own shudder of revulsion. He wanted to crush his soulmate against him and run far away from here, but then he looked down at Lindsay and remembered what Zarek had said: This was a negotiation. “If I agree, then you’ll let her go? You won’t come after her again?”
The vampire nodded. “Precisely.”
“What guarantee do I have?”
“None. But then I don’t think you’ll need one. You know what you would be condemning her to if you were to leave here now.” He looked at Reece pensively. “Think of it, witch. I am offering you the opportunity to be a martyr, to surrender your soul in Alexandra’s stead. This is what you have wanted since the moment you first stepped inside of her mind. All of these months, you have believed that you were hunting me to avenge her, but in your heart, you knew that that would never be enough. You wanted to save her from the pain in the first place. You have that chance now and you can’t help but take it.”
He was right. Goddamn him. And goddamn that telepathy of his.
But Reece couldn’t just go with him. Even if she was in this interminable coma, Lex might still be able to feel what Zarek did to him. His sacrifice would be for nothing.
There were spells that could cure that, though. Ones that would block out the soulmate link so completely that it would be almost nonexistent—he’d heard of it being done in some extreme cases. Nick could cast it for her, once he realized what had happened...
Shit, no. Nick couldn’t help her because he would probably end up in prison along with Karissa. More than that, there would be no one to even find Lex if Reece were to leave her on the ground right now. And above all, she needed to be protected; it was horrible and unfair, but his soulmate’s life was worth more than Lindsay’s.
“I can’t leave Lex here like this,” he said. “Alone.”
Zarek nodded. “Because she is a so-called ‘Wild Power’, yes? Well, you needn’t worry. There is someone close by who will come for her as soon as we are gone. You know of whom I speak.”
The witch sighed wearily. Of course, he should have known. The Daybreakers had shown up at the house after receiving an anonymous tip and there was only one person who could have made that call. “Aiden St. Helen.”
“Yes. And while you may have your doubts, he would die before he ever let any harm come to Alexandra. Are you willing to do the same?”
“You know I am.” He swallowed. “But first you have to let Lindsay go.”
“Certainly.” Zarek gave the girl a hard shove and she landed on her knees in front of Reece.
Her eyes were wide and glassy with unshed tears as she looked up at him, but the loathing was no longer there. “You don’t have to do this,” she whispered.
“Yes, I do.” He offered her a hand and she took it, letting him pull her to her feet. “Just get out of here. Find a phone and call your parents.”
“But—”
“Do it. Go, now.”
She blinked and the tears in her eyes spilled over. “I’m sorry.”
“I know,” he said huskily. “Just go.”
Thankfully, she did just that. The longer lengths of her hair flying behind her, Lindsay ran past him down the narrow path. As he watched her go, Reece already missed her. Rationally, he knew that he had saved countless lives over the years, but it suddenly felt like she was his one good thing—the only person he’d ever truly saved.
He tried to hold on to that thought as he crouched down and carefully laid his soulmate on the ground. Goddess, he didn’t want to leave her like this. It reminded him too much of how he’d been forced to leave Genevieve Harman’s dead body in an alley as if it were nothing more than a piece of trash.
Remembering the strange feeling that had come over him when he’d left that same alley with Lex in his arms just a few hours ago, he wondered if this was really the end that fate had been building toward. Maybe it was fitting, in a way.
He touched Alexandra’s face, his thumb brushing over her lips, and he wished that he could think of something to say. All he could do was stare at her, remembering how her lips looked when they were curved into a smile. How her eyes sparkled when she laughed. How she flushed when they were fused together, her heart pounding against his.
Then he remembered that Zarek was standing right behind him, most likely seeing everything inside of his mind. The thought of sharing his memories of Lex with the vampire sickened Reece, but he supposed that he’d better get used to it. Her maker would take what he wanted from him one way or another.
As he forced himself to stand up and turn away from his soulmate, Reece noticed two silvery points of light in the darkness that lay across the street and his lips tightened. So Zarek hadn’t been lying about that after all.
Torn between relief and abhorrence, he simply gave up. Nice play, Aiden, he thought. Take care of her or I swear upon everything that is righteous and true in this world, you will come to regret it.
The silvery eyes slid downward slightly, as if Aiden were nodding. Or perhaps he was simply shifting his gaze away in shame. Reece didn’t particularly care which, as long as the vampire had heard him.
Zarek paid no attention to the exchange. With a lecherous smile, he reached out to stroke the witch’s cheek, mimicking the way Reece had touched Lex a moment ago. “You are mine, beautiful witch.”
Reece’s stomach pitched and turned as the blood drained from his face. He was supposed to be brave about this. This was what he wanted. Lex would be safe. Lindsay would grow up happily—his one good thing. He had to remember that. He had to keep breathing because it would all be worth it in the end. This was what he wanted, damn it!
None of that seemed to matter. Unwittingly, he broke into a cold sweat as Zarek leaned into him. When the vampire’s lips grazed his cheek, Reece shivered so hard that it felt like his soul was trying to shake itself free from his body. And when he felt a cold, wet tongue flick over his throat, his stomach finally rolled over and died.
The only thought that offered him any comfort as he bent down and vomited at Zarek’s feet was that at least no one he cared about was watching.
In awe, Aiden watched Alexandra’s witch throw up on the ground. He had always believed that Reece Cahill was perfect. A pillar of strength and virtue. Someone who never faltered, never failed, never feared, never questioned—someone like Eve. Now that he had proof that the witch wasn’t infallible after all, Aiden should have been happy. He should have laughed his ass off. But something was holding him back—a strange tightness in his chest, as if there were a metal cord wrapped around his heart that was being pulled from both ends—and for the life of him, he could not understand it. It was similar to the crushing pressure he sometimes felt when Eve was demanding that he right some wrong that he had committed, but she was still gone from him. This sensation, whatever it was, had nothing to do with her.
What confounded him even more was that the feeling got worse as he watched Alexandra’s maker lead the witch down the street. It wasn’t exactly what he had intended to happen when he called the Vermont Daybreakers—he’d assumed that Reece, being a model Daybreaker, would give himself up without a fight. Still, it left Aiden alone with Lex, which had been his ultimate goal. So why did he feel like he was going to be sick as well?
Don’t look back, he reminded himself. What was done was done. He had Lex now and that was all that mattered.
Shoving his hands into his pockets, he crossed the street and entered the path where the witch had left Lex lying on the ground. Her face was soft and peaceful in sleep, which was a little worrisome because he’d thought that she never slept peacefully. Her maker had implied that she wouldn’t wake up and as he looked down at her now, Aiden was afraid that it was true. He was afraid that he would never be able to look into her eyes, as he’d done in his dream, and know that she truly cared for him. Worse yet, he might never learn if anything would really change between them if they finished the kiss that they’d been denied in the alley.
And maybe that was no more than he deserved.
A sad sigh escaped from his lips and the sound of it startled him. He wanted to bend down to pick her up, but he felt so heavy. It exhausted him just to stand there and look at her. This had to be some lingering effect of his hangover. Had to be.
After a few minutes, he became aware that while he was staring at Lex, someone was staring at him. With enormous effort, Aiden lifted his head to find the little girl who had been used as leverage against Reece standing close by. She froze in place and held her breath, apparently believing that if she stayed completely still, he wouldn’t be able to see her there. He tried to search her mind, but he wasn’t surprised when he hit a brick wall.
Fine. He would do this the conventional way. “What do you want?” he asked her.
She sniffled and took a shaky breath. “Can—can you help me?”
He gave her an ironic smile. “Sorry, kid. I can’t even help myself. Why don’t you scamper off and call your parents, like you were told.”
The girl didn’t move. Her eyes fell to Lex and then she looked at him again. “You’re the one that Reece mentioned, right?” she asked tentatively. “Aiden St. Helen?”
Briefly he wondered if the name tasted like ashes in her mouth, as it did in his. “It would appear so, now wouldn’t it.”
“Are you a witch, too?”
“No.”
“Are you human?”
“No.”
“Then what are—”
Aiden bared his fangs. “Take a wild guess,” he hissed.
The girl’s trembling hand stifled her gasp and she backed away from him, as everyone eventually did.
“That’s right,” he said with a nasty smile. “So run along now before I get hungry.”
To his chagrin, the girl recovered from her initial shock and took a wary step closer to him. She narrowed her eyes and let her gaze wander over his face, as if she were searching for something. Aiden had the feeling that if he were to kneel down right now, she would cup his face in her small, delicate hands and hold him still until she found what she was looking for. “Are you evil?”
The answer was obvious, but the question took him aback. No one had ever asked him that outright and he found himself at a loss for words. When he finally replied, he hardly recognized his voice. “If I was, wouldn’t I just lie about it?”
Her eyes were relentless. “I don’t know.”
For some reason her admission made him soften a little in spite of himself. “Listen, kid—”
“Lindsay,” the girl broke in.
“Whatever. You’re in way over your head. The Night World will eat you alive, so just get out while you still can.”
“What’s the Night World?”
He let out an exasperated breath. The witch really hadn’t told her anything, had he?
“Underground society of vampires, witches, and shapeshifters.”
“A whole society?” she repeated in awe. “Are you all evil?”
“What is it with you and that word?”
She flushed, looking away from him in embarrassment, and Aiden was grateful for the reprieve from her gaze. “I just want to know if you’re going to hurt me,” she said in a small voice. “And I was hoping you would help me.”
“Help you do what?” he asked impatiently.
“Save Reece.”
Aiden burst into a raucous laughter that shredded his insides.
Lindsay flushed a deeper shade of red and pressed her lips together. “Don’t you care?”
“I don’t know what assumptions you’ve made, but he and I aren’t friends. We’re more like mortal enemies.”
“You didn’t answer the question,” she pointed out.
Her comment drove the laughter back down his throat. Who the hell was this kid? “I believe the answer was implied,” he said tightly. “But for the record: No, I don’t care. I don’t care about him and I don’t care about you. The only thing that I do care about is her.”
The girl looked down at Alexandra. “But isn’t she—Reece’s girlfriend?”
“What the fuck is this? Twenty Questions?” he snapped, feeling like he’d been sucker-punched. “Get the hell out of here.”
“I can’t!” Lindsay suddenly cried. “It’s my fault that Reece is with that—that—”
She looked at him uncertainly and Aiden rolled his eyes. “He’s a vampire, too,” he supplied. “And before you even ask, so is Lex.”
“It’s my fault,” she said again. “I thought that he was evil, because he was a witch. I thought that he wanted to hurt me, so I ran away. But I was wrong. He sacrificed himself for me. I just…I shouldn’t have doubted.”
It was interesting how simple this all seemed to her. It was almost charming in a way, but at the same time, it was irritating as hell. “Yeah,” he said dully. “He’s a fucking saint. We all know this.”
“Do you know what Zarek is going to do to him?”
Zarek. It stung him that this random girl knew the name of Lex’s maker while Aiden hadn’t. “I already told you that I don’t care.”
“But you have to,” she insisted. “You’re the only one who can help me.”
“You’ve got the wrong person. I’m a firm believer that evil is a subjective term, but I’m pretty damn sure that I would fit your definition rather well.”
Lindsay’s shoulders shook with a silent sob, but she refused to let the tears in her eyes fall. “Please.”
Aiden’s lip curled. “Let me give you a piece of advice: Learn to live with the guilt because sooner or later you’re going to realize that regret is the only thing any of us will ever have.”
“Please.”
Fuck. He’d had enough of this. He turned away from the girl and picked Lex up off the ground. Her skin brushed against his, opening the soulmate link between them, but its hum was nothing more a harsh hush now. He had to get her away from here, someplace safe. Maybe he could steal a car, lay her down on the back seat, and continue driving down to Key West, as they’d planned.
“Please,” Lindsay said for the third time.
He needed to find a place to rest first. Exhaustion still lay like a heavy blanket over him, but a little sleep would take all of this pain away.
Holding Lex close against him, he walked out onto the street.
Lindsay followed him. She stayed a few feet behind him, but he could hear the click of her shoes against the sidewalk. Her scent wafted up to him on the breeze—a cloud of youth and innocence—and it triggered the serrated memory of the young girl in the green dress that he’d held against the wall this morning during his rampage. It disturbed him suddenly that he couldn’t remember if he’d killed that girl or not.
Silently, they walked. Aiden was glad that the girl had stopped pleading with him, but he didn’t believe for a moment that she had given up completely. She was probably waiting for him to change his mind or perhaps she needed time to think of a new angle of attack, now that her big, tearful eyes had failed her.
He wanted to hurt her. He wanted to kill her. He wasn’t sure why he did neither.
The rows of houses blended together, as did the thoughts of the humans inside them. Their heat and noise was a welcome distraction, but eventually, Aiden found a house that was empty. Of course, the owners could come back at any time, but spotting the full mailbox, he didn’t think so; they were probably on vacation.
“Is this your home?” the girl asked as he walked up the front steps.
Without sparing her a glance, he kicked the door in and tore the alarm system from the wall before it had a chance to ring. “What do you think.”
“But this is breaking and entering,” she said.
Aiden almost smiled at her appalled tone. “Trust me, this is just a drop in the ocean of sins I’ve committed.”
He’d hoped that that statement would scare her off, but it only seemed to make her curious. “Have you ever killed anyone?” she whispered as they ascended the staircase to the third floor.
“Do you really want to know the answer to that question?” he snarled. “Goddamn it.”
They turned down the hallway and he systematically checked every room until he found the master bedroom. The walls, curtains, and carpet were all a deep shade of blue and as he entered the room, Aiden felt as if he were diving under water. The large, cherry wood bed was covered with a blue sateen comforter that was cool against his skin as he lay Lex down. It might have been his imagination, but he thought that she sighed a little as she sank into the bed.
Lindsay was still behind him. He could feel her dissecting his every move with her watchful eyes. Her breath was too shallow. “Are you sorry?”
Something snapped inside of him. Whipping around, he glared at her menacingly. “Don’t play this game with me, little girl. I’m not the murderer with the heart of gold, do you understand? I don’t need you to be my conscience. Someone else has already tried that and she failed. She gave up on me.” He paused to take a breath, unnerved by the hysterical edge of his own voice. When he finally spoke again, he just sounded tired. “I suggest you do the same.”
The girl smiled softly and that angered him all over again. He didn’t need some kid feeling sorry for him. Before he could yell at her for that, she said, “Maybe she didn’t.”
“Didn’t what?”
“Maybe she didn’t give up on you. Maybe she just realized that God gave us free will for a reason.”
Aiden opened his mouth and shut it again. In another time and place, with another person, he would have found a biting, sarcastic retort. In that moment, however, with the girl staring up at him, seeming wise beyond her years in her unyielding faith, he couldn’t think of a single thing to say.
Southeast Washington, D.C. A dirty and dangerous neighborhood for a human, to be sure, but it was a haven for vampire covens. They lived together and hunted together, finding safety in numbers from the human world. These were salt of the earth vampires, those who cared little for wealth or luxury or politics. They existed for a single purpose: to feed.
Any person would do—young, old, rich, poor, strong, sick, bold, insipid—indiscriminately, they preyed upon them all. For this reason, Zarek found them distasteful. Although they sometimes amused themselves with torture, they never took the time to know their victims, to appreciate the soul they were plucking from this earth like a grape from the vine. They never even bothered to taste the blood that poured over their tongues before guzzling it down.
Zarek did not like being here, feeling these vagabonds scurry past him like rats in the night. He could feel their filth seeping into him with every breath he took and even more vexing was the thought that the witch at his side was being tainted by it as well. Unfortunately, he needed space to work and he needed equipment and these pathetic, hapless vampires had both.
The street was lined by old warehouses with boarded up windows. From the outside, they seemed abandoned, but in actuality they were far from it. The stench of death and decay was thick in the air, masking the life that moved within the buildings and also serving as a warning to those humans who would be foolish enough to think of entering.
Zarek approached the large, metal door of one of the warehouses and knocked.
The door opened a crack—just far enough for him to see the profile of the vampire guarding it. “Password?”
Effortlessly plunging through his blocks, Zarek stole the password from the recesses of the vampire’s mind and tossed it back to him.
The guard made a grunting sound and heaved the door open. “Welcome.”
As soon as he was allowed inside, Zarek reached for the stake that was hidden in his coat pocket and killed the guard.
“Hey!” cried a female vampire who was nearby. She and her companion both charged at him, but in a matter of seconds, he had reduced them to dust.
An alarm was sounded, but he knew that there were only three more vampires in the building—the rest were out hunting and wouldn’t be back for several hours—and after years of doing nothing more than feasting on humans, they were overconfident about their strength. In less than a minute, they all fell before him.
Reece Cahill remained in the doorway and once they were alone again, Zarek motioned for him to come inside. “Lock the door behind you,” he ordered.
Wordlessly, the witch complied.
“Good. Now, follow me.”
As he led the way down into the basement, he had to admit that the witch’s acquiescence was truly disappointing. After the fight they’d had in Vermont, Zarek had been expecting more than this. Reece had been at his side for little more than an hour and already he appeared to be broken.
Then again, appearances were deceiving, and this game had barely even begun.
The walls in the basement were solid concrete and drilled into them were heavy, iron chains and stocks. The vampires often held humans here, saving them for a time when hunters were prevalent and it was no longer safe for them to leave this place to feed, but it was empty at the moment.
Strewn across the table in the center of the room were rusty knives, screwdrivers caked with dried blood, and several dozen stakes—a primitive arsenal that was used against humans, hunters, and rival vampire covens alike. It wasn’t the sort of tools that he normally enjoyed working with, but they would do for now.
Without being asked, the witch moved against the wall and lifted his hands.
Zarek gave him a stiff smile as he locked the shackles around Reece’s wrists. Then he turned to the weapons table and found an ice pick. This wasn’t part of his original plan, but he just couldn’t stand the witch’s silent obedience any longer.
He traced the sharp point over the contours of Reece’s face, hoping to hear his pulse begin to race with fear. The witch just stared back at him with dead eyes.
Barely containing his snarl, he speared the ice-pick through the witch’s shoulder and finally had the satisfaction of hearing him cry out. “Better.”
Reece bit down on the scream. He clenched his jaw and gasped for breath as he broke into a sweat. “Fuck you.”
“Much better,” Zarek replied with a smile.
Then he retracted the weapon and stabbed the witch through the other shoulder. Reece tried to smother his scream this time, but his eyes still rolled back in his head.
A while later, when the witch’s blood was starting to pool at his feet, Zarek set the ice-pick back down on the table and gazed at his new slave. “I know what you’re thinking,” he said softly.
“I don’t doubt that,” Reece breathed.
“You believe that I cannot change you into a vampire,” Zarek continued, “so you are comforted by the thought that there is a limit to the things I can do to you. Life can be crushed from a witch’s body almost as easily as from a human’s.”
“Hazard of the trade.”
“Yes. Well, I’m afraid that I have a confession to make—something that is going to shatter those notions with which you console yourself.”
The witch looked at him, his eyes finding the truth in Zarek’s smile. “No,” he said. “It’s not possible.”
“Oh, it is. I was thirty-five years old when I was changed. The one who made me was nearly forty when he became a vampire, back in the days of Babylon.” He leaned in closer, murmuring into the witch’s ear. “That’s the secret, you see. Our power grows with time and the power in my blood will take root inside of you even before your heart stops beating. It will sustain you while you die. When you wake, my beautiful witch, you will be my child.” He let his voice fall to a whisper. “And soon, your darling Lindsay will be as well.”
Reece mustered the strength to slam his forehead into Zarek’s temple. “We had a deal,” he growled.
The vampire laughed. “There’s that fire that I do so covet.” Then he moved back a little, wanting to see the witch’s face clearly before he continued. “I believe our deal was that I would not go after Lindsay, but there were no stipulations on someone bringing her to me.”
“No,” the witch gasped again. He clenched his fists and strained against the shackles that were restraining him to the wall.
“You didn’t honestly believe that I was going to let either of them go, did you?”
“But Lex’s mind—”
“—is perfectly intact. She has locked herself away, just beyond your reach, but she’s not beyond mine. I’ve warned her that there was nowhere she could run that I would not follow. Tonight I’m going to prove it to her.”
“You lied,” Reece spat. “You planned this.”
“Of course. Isn’t this what you wanted, witch? To feel what Alexandra felt with me all of those years? You shouldn’t have sought me out if you weren’t ready to know.”
“The second she senses you, she’ll run halfway across the world. You’ll never find her.”
“She’s still my child. She’ll do as I say, and you know it.”
“Lindsay and I won’t,” Reece swore. “If you bring her into this, you’re giving me an ally and you won’t be able to keep the both of us down, especially not after you change us.”
“You could be right,” Zarek replied. “So I suppose I’ll have to eliminate one of you. Which one, will depend on you.”
Slowly, he touched the witch’s face and pushed his head back, exposing his throat. “Don’t you understand?” he murmured, letting his lips brush against Reece’s skin. “None of you has ever had a choice in this. As I said before, I am an artist.”
Unable to contain his desire any longer, Zarek sank his teeth in. He couldn’t remember when he had last fed from a witch, but as the rich blood filled his mouth, he could not fathom why he had let so much time pass. Fortified with the Elements, each drop of blood burned him, smothered him, drown him, and left him soaring. He could feel the magick flooding into him like a surge of electricity and he wished that he had the ability to wield it—imagine the pain he could inflict.
The witch’s mind was all around him, as bright and green as his eyes. There was strength and hope there that Reece had tried to hide, perhaps even from himself, but it was clear to Zarek now that this witch was far from broken. To shatter a soul like his would take time and innovation and devotion, but it would be beautiful.
After a few minutes of searching, he uncovered the subtle shimmering hum in Reece’s mind: the soulmate link—the direct conduit from this witch to his precious Alexandra. Of course, Zarek could contact her and rouse her to consciousness without it, but it would be far more amusing to use this link, upon which she had grown so dependent, against her.
The witch was always so careful with her. Reece drew her out, pushed her, forced her to face herself, but his first priority all the while was to establish trust by making her feel safe. Without that, she would erect impenetrable walls around herself, forever ruining any chance that she would let him love her. Patience was the key.
It was no different for Zarek. Letting Lindsay run away and leaving Alexandra on the ground were the most difficult tasks he had ever faced, but his discipline was about to pay off. Soon he would have the both of them and the witch as well. Then the fun could truly begin.
Still, he couldn’t contain his exuberance as he wrapped his mind around the soulmate link and gave it a savage yank. When he felt her startle, instantly shifting from a deep sleep to acute awareness, he nearly wept from the sheer pleasure of it.
Alexandra...
Part 15
Part 17
Until It Sleeps Main Page
Home