Chapter 8 #2
He doesn’t glance away this time. “No, not imminent. The vampires need her for a ritual, and they can’t hurt her until they’re ready to cast. They need me to help them do that, and that’s not going to happen, because I’m with you.”
Vampires! Vampires are mixed up with Emma's disappearance. That can’t be a coincidence.
And it would make sense why they’d need a human practitioner.
Vampires are one of the few paranormals without any innate potential to cast spells.
Magic is the energy of life, and being dead kinda gets in the way of that.
I’m not surprised they could use an already powered-up artifact like the watch, but for a ritual, they’d need someone with actual mana.
Someone weaker than them who they could control, like a kid.
And apparently, they need Collin, too.
“What do they need you for?”
“I’m not 100% sure. They want to cast a spell. Something evil. Something world changing. I don’t know exactly what, because they were asking the wrong questions. And I was… deliberately not being cooperative.”
“You can refuse instructions?”
“Of course! I mean, I’m trapped in the watch, and I’m not allowed to lie—or, at least, you won’t be able to hear me if I lie—but other than that, I still have complete free will! If I don’t want to do something, I don’t have to.”
“But then why would you ever—?”
Oh.
I frown and sit down next to him. I take his hand. “Collin, tell me how you got hurt before I found you.”
Collin looks down at his hand in mine and his eyes seem haunted.
“The watch isn’t just my prison, Alvin. It’s my torture cell.
I do have free will. But, if you know what you’re doing, you can use the artifact to cause me excruciating levels of pain.
I try to fight it, but sometimes I just can’t anymore. If you hadn’t come when you did…”
I feel him shudder. It didn’t look like any humans had lived in that house on Lake Street for a long time.
Who knows how long the vampires had the watch?
It could have been years. I then remember what he was saying when he first appeared.
I’ll do what you want. And how his face looked.
Like he had fallen down an elevator shaft of broken glass.
Again and again. They hurt him so bad, he was about to help them with an evil spell that could change the whole world.
And now I’m supposed to give him to the elf.
No one knows how to manipulate magic like the fae. They have no real moral code. No shame. And no love of humans. If the elf got his hands on this artifact, there is nothing he wouldn’t do—couldn’t do—to get what he wanted.
Crap. Well, winning was fun.
“Collin, tell me… Is there any way to free you from the watch?”
He looks up at me, startled. And touched.
“That’s what you want to know? I could make you rich.
I could make you the most powerful mage in the world.
Hell, I could make you ruler of the whole planet!
It would take time, but I could do all that for you, and a whole lot more.
” His eyes soften. “I could even just answer… personal questions, if that’s what you wanted. ”
Like about my dad. Who he is. How I can find him.
Uff.
Even though I have seriously mixed feelings on that topic, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t tempted. It’s like I found a genie in a bottle. I’m not who I want to be. I have a lot of wishes I’d love to see fulfilled.
But if there’s one solid rule about magic, it’s that everything has a price. Even learning about my father could open a huge can of worms. Sure, there might be some way to ask the right questions and use the answers for good. But let’s face it, I’m not that clever.
And there’s just no time.
“Collin, the elf could show up at any minute, and I’m not strong enough to keep him from taking you from me. If we’re going to get you free, it has to be now.”
“But… what about the Obligation he put you under?”
Right. The promise I made to the elf. I can feel it again. The chains, wrapped heavy around my heart. Weighing on me with lethal intent.
I do this, and I could very well end up dead.
But I’ve wanted to be something different my whole life.
Something I could be proud of. But with what I am, who I am, it was never very likely that I’d become any kind of real hero.
This might be the only chance I’ll ever have to do something truly good. And I’m not going to sleep on it.
I should at least have time to leave a message for Stryker about where Emma is and that she’s being held by vampires. My boss won’t ignore that, especially if I wind up dead. What truly matters is making sure this powerful artifact doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.
“Just… tell me what to do, okay?”
Collin looks down, pursing his lips and slowly shaking his head.
He then rolls his eyes with a quick, amused snort.
“Feck. You don’t disappoint, do you? You’re everything I could have hoped you would be.
” He takes my other hand in his. “So, I’m really sorry I have to disappoint you.
I can’t tell you how to save me. I don’t know, and I can’t know. That’s part of the trap I’m in.”
“Oh,” I say, actually bummed that I won’t be able to go through with my heroic suicide attempt. That I’m so useless that I don’t even get that. (Which, I know, is kinda whack, but still…)
He turns his full body to me on the love seat, bringing our knees together. “But… there is something we do have time for. Something I’ve needed for a long while. Something I didn’t think would ever be possible for me.”
Good. Great! I can at least do something!
“Okay,” I say, also turning and leaning in. “Tell me!”
He smiles. “This.”
Collin slides his hand around the back of my neck, pulls me in, and before I can even react, full-on kisses me on the mouth.
His lips are soft. And warm. And they wrap around mine, sucking them in gently, like a little massage, before he pulls back, his blue eyes bright with happiness.
Uh, what?
WHAT?!