Chapter 11 #2
I stare after the wagon in stunned silence.
How the hell did that human know I’m a vampire? I’ve met vampires who didn’t realize that.
And what’s it even matter? He’s obviously well on his way to getting out of town, and a dirty, half-starved irritant like that doesn’t have the power to alert anyone to my presence.
I slowly walk after the wagon that’s getting farther and farther from me as the teenager directs the horse away from the town.
When I wander out of the town, the night watch informs me that if I leave, I’ll have to wait until morning to reenter. It’s not ideal—it means I’ll have to find shelter somewhere else or find a quiet part of the wall to jump over—but I want to feed from that man and I’m going to do just that.
I rush forward, landing on the seat of the wagon and grabbing the teen by the throat. He lets out a squeal as he tries to jerk back from me, but I’m not planning on letting him go anywhere when he’s determined to haul my meal away.
“How do you know what I am, you little thief?”
He stops fighting to give me a defiant look.
“B-Because vampires slaughtered my family. Are you going to kill me now? You might as well. It’ll be a much better ending than starving to death,” he says with a smile a moment before he tries to drive a knife right between my ribs.
He kicks me at the same time, and I think I’m just so stunned that he knows what I am yet still chooses to try his hand at killing me that the kick lands.
It does very little other than leave a dirty footprint on my thigh.
He leaps off the wagon, looking wildly between the horse, which he’d like to run off on, and the wagon where all of his newly acquired goods reside.
I hop off the wagon and stalk toward him, deciding that while I don’t normally eat anyone below the age of an adult, I’m going to start today. I will make him regret ever looking my way.
“You’re just so grumpy! Are all vampires grumpy? They’re probably all evil, at the very least. You can’t kill me. I have so many useful skills. Would you like to see one?”
“No.”
“I’ll show you anyway,” he says as I get closer to him.
He spins around, and while he does, I see that he brings something in his hand up to his mouth.
When he turns back to face me, he has a match lit and the smell of alcohol wafts off him.
My eyes narrow as he grins at me before blowing.
The fire lunges at me, forcing me back while he runs for the horse.
I’ve never seen someone unhook a horse with such speed, leaving the beast harnessed but removing the tugs that connect the horse to the wagon. He leaps onto its back and the horse bolts.
Slowly, I look down at my singed clothes and then back at the wagon where my meal slumbers. But my eyes are drawn to the absolutely infuriating teenager who is too cocky for his own good.
The horse has gained some distance but it’s nothing I can’t handle, and soon, I’ve caught up.
He doesn’t even see me until I tear him off the back of the horse and pin him to the ground with my foot pressed against his throat.
The horse slows to a stop now that it doesn’t have a rider encouraging it and decides a snack is in order.
“I like the new look,” he says as he eyes my singed clothes. “The extra chest showing is sure to pick you up a lady or two.”
“I should crush your throat to shut you up.”
“If you were going to, you would have already.”
I glower down at him while I think about what I want to do with the irritant. His fingers drift up my shoe and into my pant leg, and I realize the little shit has already discovered that I keep a knife there.
I grab his arm and contemplate breaking it as I drop down to my knees, pinning him and his weak human limbs to the ground while I stare down at him.
“You need a servant? I’m pretty good at doing things,” he says, as though he’s not at all concerned about this situation.
“Like theft and talking?” I growl. “Does it look like I need either of those?”
“I’ve been told I have the voice of an angel.”
I glance up and see that the sun will be coming up before too long. I’ve spent far too much time being harassed. I grab him by the neck and throw him toward the horse.
“Do not irritate me again or I will kill you,” I warn him.
“Yes, sir. Yes, sir. You are so kind and selfless. You are truly an angel in a very heavy disguise,” he says as he hurries over to the horse and climbs on.
I watch him for a minute while the horse gets farther and farther from me.
Then I dash back to the wagon where the man is tied up and terrified.
I allure him into letting me feed from him and then leave him there before hopping the wall to the town.
I head to the nearest inn and step inside, where the innkeeper beams at me and informs me of the cost of the room.
“Will you need anything more?” he asks.
“I’ll pay extra for clean linens.”
“Of course,” he says as I reach for my waist and freeze.
I pat my other side, even though I’ve never kept my coin purse on that side. I feel absolutely nothing. Nothing. At. All.
That fucking parasite. When the hell did he steal all of my money?
How? How did I not feel it? And why did that weak little human think my money was his to take? I’ve never been overly conscientious about hiding my money because there’s absolutely no way any pickpocket could just take what is mine without me noticing.
I stand here seething as I replay our fight and try to pinpoint the exact second the thief stole what is mine.
“S-Sir?”
My desire to chase him to the ends of the earth and eat him is almost overpowering, but the sun will be up soon. I have no choice but to hide from it while his smug ass gets farther and farther away.
I look up and catch the innkeeper’s eyes, alluring him with ease. “I already paid.”
He smiles. “Of course, right this way. And your clean linens will be brought up shortly.”
I hope this child enjoys his money because tonight will be his last night walking this earth.
And yet, somehow, he still walks it with ease nearly five hundred years later.
After all he has put me through, Morpheus thinks he has the right to take him from me?
No.
Yorick is mine to deal with.
Only mine.