Chapter 11 Ezra #2
I turn my thoughts inward, sifting through the new presences I can feel.
The majority are like the thralls that used to come after me. Mindless. Soulless. Their bodies given over to the need to obey and feed. There isn’t anything left for them without my command.
I just want them to stop. To cease the unending cruelty.
Like a switch flipping, those voices stop speaking. Their presence is completely gone.
I rear back and end up sitting on the floor, legs sprawled in front of me while I clutch Gracie’s hand.
“W-what did I just do?” I whisper.
“You gave a command,” Eugene says with even more gentleness. Almost sorrow. “You put them out of their misery.”
“Fuck.” I pull my hand from Gracie’s and cover my face as I rock forward and back. “I didn’t…”
“Sh.” Gracie kneels and wraps her arms around my shoulders. “It’s okay. It’s not fair. But it’s okay.”
“I killed them,” I whisper.
“Treznor killed them. You set them free.”
“W-what about the rest?” I ask and look at Eugene.
There are just a handful of connections now.
“Eugene, can you bring everyone else here so we can all talk, please?” Gracie asks.
Eugene looks from her to me then nods. “As my lord commands.”
There’s a bit of quiet shuffling while Eugene zips off to summon the others. óengus and the two shadowy vamps are off to one side talking. Which leaves the scary-weird elf hanging out in a far corner watching everything play out like some kind of drama.
He seems to pick now to make his move. His bare feet smack the metal grate, announcing his approach like drums until he’s standing in front of me.
“What of my debt?” the elf demands.
I squint at him. There’s a defiant jut to his jaw, but the guy just seems defensive.
óengus stops speaking and looks from the elf to me.
“What debt?” I croak.
The elf glares at me, his entire body strung tight. Like he expects a fight of some sort. “Treznor demanded fifty years of service in exchange for letting my children go free. What of my remaining years?”
All I can think about are those scary-looking, loud dogs that are actually big softies.
The guy looks like something straight out of a horror movie.
But even monsters have kids and can try to be good parents.
He might give me nightmares, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a family out there missing him.
At least, that’s what I hope the situation is.
“How long ago was that?” I ask.
He shifts his weight from foot to foot. “Three years.”
I gape at him a moment. “Three—what? Where are they now?”
The elf glances at óengus then me. “With their mother, as far as I know. They haven’t been abandoned. But… With their lot, not having a male to look over the family makes them vulnerable.”
I glance at Gracie then Vyslan, who has given up cock-blocking Puck to stand behind Gracie, braiding her hair of all things.
“Do you hurt people? Other elves?” I ask because I have to ask something. I can’t just tell him to go, can I?
The elf scowls at me. “We kill only when necessary. Only to protect or feed life. We are not like him. Or humans.”
Fuck it.
This is so not my problem.
I wave my hand. “Go on. Get out of here.”
The elf frowns. “Go where?”
“Go take care of your kids. Go home. Get out of here. I don’t care about your debt. You don’t owe me shit. Just… Be a good guy, okay? A good elf. Whatever that looks like.” I glance at the red, scaly guy. “What about you?”
óengus’ eyes flash gold, and a little smoke trickles out his nostril one one side as he clenches his fists. “I won’t say.”
“That’s it? Leave? You demand nothing from me?” the elf blurts out.
“Yeah, that’s it. Will you please, please, just go?”
This is all beginning to feel overwhelming. Like there’s a mountain of weight settling on me. Too many beings want me to make some decision. And I’m not cut out for this.
The elf jolts, blinks, then sheaths the terrifying bone blade.
That done, he stalks across the room, pausing only to glare down at Treznor’s head.
The elf rears back, a familiar, disgusting sound coming from the back of his throat before he spits a glob of yuck onto the withering head.
That done, the elf looks at me warily once more before heading for the side door and vanishing.
“That’s it? You’re just letting him go?” óengus demands.
“Yeah.” I eye him warily. “Are you going to make something of this?”
“Why are you doing this?” he asks.
“Because I didn’t want to do any of this to begin with. I didn’t want to be a vampire. I didn’t want to be under his control. And I didn’t want him to kill the people… The people I care about.”
Eugene makes his appearance then. There are six people following him. Two seem to be in better condition, though wary of me, while the remaining four wear shell-shocked stares and bloody clothes.
The first two immediately kneel, one hand pressed to the ground, heads bowed in what seems like a practiced pose.
Their clothing is awkward, ill-fitting, and dated.
The other four look like tourists who desperately want off the runaway bus.
They stand in a group and stare around them with fearful eyes.
“Here we are,” Eugene says with a wave.
“These are all that are left?” I ask.
The noise in my head was a deafening roar. How many were silenced? How many monsters did Treznor create? And how many did Vyslan rip apart on their way down into the pits of this hell?
“These are all that remain,” Eugene says. “Your command earlier was… Compelling.”
“Fuck,” I mutter.
“It was also merciful,” he adds. “What do you intend to do now?”
“What can I do?” I ask without thought.
“What do you… What do you intend to do?” he asks.
“I just want to go home.” I push up. Sitting on the floor while having this talk seems disrespectful to the people whose lives literally rest in the palm of my hand. “Back to my life and my job. I don’t want any of this.”
Eugene nods. “With your permission, may I make a recommendation?”
“Spit it out already,” Gracie snaps.
I’d kiss her if I wasn’t positive there’s gross-guy blood all over my face.
“These are newly made. They haven’t drank. Treznor never made time to start the process. If you break their bonds now, after what amounts to human withdrawal symptoms, they’re just humans. Humans that know about this world, but… They won’t make the transition to thralls, much less vampires.”
“How do I do that?” I ask.
Eugene turns to the two shadow vampires. They trade words. There’s some shrugging and hand wiggling before he turns back to me.
“We… Don’t know,” Eugene admits.
“Fuck.” I study the four shell-shocked humans that have to be living their worst nightmare.
With the others, I just thought at them and they did it.
What if I do something similar?
“If I may?” Somehow, Puck still manages to sound put out and annoyed.
“What?” Gracie’s voice drips with every bit of irritation I feel.
Puck steps forward and sighs, his face relaxing a bit. “This is delicate business. I’m more experienced in things of this nature. I could… Help?”
I stare at him for a second. This is the guy who took every opportunity to be a petty jackass, and now he wants to help? “You’d do that?”
“Yes.” He inclines his head, hands clasped behind him, and somehow he seems… Sincere. “Allow me to help?”
“O-okay.”
“Oh, are you going to Vulcan mind-meld?” Vyslan asks.
Puck frowns. “What?”
“Ignore him,” Gracie snaps and smacks the demon’s chest.
That just makes Vyslan latch onto her hips and pull her back. “Harder, baby, you know I like it.”
The human guy who came with Gracie wheezes with laughter. “Are you always like this?”
“Pretty much,” Vyslan says over his shoulder.
“Focus on me,” Puck says.
There’s something commanding about his voice that seems to reach inside of me and grab hold of my mind.
I’m so scared, tired, and overwhelmed I lean into it.
I let Puck take control. And it does feel a bit like there’s a hand massaging my brain.
Which doesn’t feel as gross or weird as I might have expected.
It’s… Nice. Like someone playing with my hair.
Puck snorts. ::You’re a strange one.::
::Are you aware you have a twin?::
::If you mean my actual twin, then yes.::
::You have a twin?::
::It’s a long story for later. Now, do you feel these points here?::
It’s almost like Puck presses some spot inside of me. They’re a bit like a deep bruise.
“Yes,” I wheeze out.
::Good. These are the four humans. Now, this is the part of your mind that’s like a hand. You’re going to take this and… Snip.:::
Those four sore spots drop from my mind. At the same time, the four humans drop to the ground, out cold.
“They’re fine,” the Puck look-a-like says.
::You severed all the other thralls. That leaves five remaining bonds. What do you want to do with them? I could kill them.::
::They didn’t choose this life…::
::No.::
::Would it be such a bad thing to just… Turn them loose?::
::Are you asking me?::
::Yeah. I don’t want Gracie to deal with this.::
::Treznor kept his underlings on a short leash. It’s hard to say. Letting them go is a risk. You’ll have to look into them and determine for yourself.::
I don’t want to do that.
Puck withdraws from my mind then clasps my shoulder in an oddly friendly gesture. Instead of retreating, he remains standing next to me. Almost like a show of support.
I look from Eugene to the two kneeling vampires, then the other two still standing with óengus.
“I don’t want to be your sire. I don’t want to be anything, really.”
Gracie holds up her hand. “Question. Why did they want you to begin with?”
Eugene shrugs. “He broke the sire bond.”
“Okay, and?”
The two kneeling vampires lift their heads. They both have the appearance of young men, but I suspect they’re much older.
“The prophecy,” the strawberry blond of the two blurts out.
“Fuck,” I groan. “The—what?”