Chapter 4
Sam
Whoever Lock used as a contractor was really on top of their shit. Maybe it was some of the vampires in the tower. Either way, our bedroom window had been fixed shortly after I’d accidentally thrown Lock through it- Karma, if you ask me.
The glass ceiling in the cupola was also restored to its former glory. I stared up at it, basking in the light of the sun that shone through. It was strange that I couldn’t really feel its heat in the same way I did as a human. I hoped that wasn’t something I’d miss one day.
Even though I could feel it tugging at my strength, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it’d be. Apparently it varied depending on how strong you were. Weaker vamps had a hard time being in it for too long, but ones like Mark and Lock could essentially be in it all day, as long as they drank enough blood.
That was part of the reason I was out here. I loved the sun, of course, and had no intention of committing to a life of darkness. It was also a way to drain myself after drinking blood so that I didn’t have as much power.
It had been three days since I woke, and I’d learned that the more often I had blood, the stronger I was, which in turn meant I had more magic available. That was a problem. The dangerous bursts of energy were harder to control when I was well-fed- nearly impossible, in fact. In the first day and a half I’d created the biggest storm the city had ever seen, killed Parker, hurt Lock and Mark numerous times, set fire to a bunch of rooms, and flooded one of the hallways. I refused to keep being a danger.
To that end, I was on a self-imposed blood diet. Blood Watchers, if you will.
Lock didn’t know, of course. He’d be pissed about it and lecture me on the importance of embracing who and what I am. He literally didn’t care if I demolished the entire building. I cared, though. Three days ago, I’d technically become the Domina of this coven; it’d be problematic to burn it to the ground before my first week was over.
I hadn’t even seen any vamps outside of Mark and Lock, except in passing. When that happened, I fled immediately. Apparently, Ryan and Arty wanted to see me, but I kept saying no. I couldn’t trust myself right now. Parker hadn’t deserved to die and I wouldn’t risk anyone else.
When I started to feel weak, I headed down to Lock’s office. I knew he’d heard me, but he didn’t look up when I stood in the doorframe. He was going between typing on his laptop and writing something on a notepad. It occurred to me that I’d never really seen him so focused before. I’d never even been around that much when he was working because he would do it after I went to sleep.
As I watched him, I started to feel awkward. When I was human, he had time alone to do his work, but now I didn’t have to sleep. Was I interrupting by being here? I didn’t have anything else to do or anyone to talk to.
I took a step back, which made him look up. Continuing my plan to backtrack, I turned and headed for the stairs. Before I’d gone up one flight, he was in front of me.
“If you want to run, don’t move at a human speed.”
“Sorry,” I replied, dropping my gaze.
He caught my chin, tipping it up so I met his eyes. “What’s wrong with you?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re being strange. Why’d you walk away?”
“I didn’t want to intrude.”
“That’s ridiculous. You’re never an intrusion. Come back with me.”
Refusing to release my hand, he led me back toward his office. I tried to head over to the couch, but he dragged me to his chair and settled me in his lap. As he trailed his fingers up and down my back, I glanced at what he’d been working on.
“Route plans,” he explained, pointing at the table he was organizing on a spreadsheet. “We never keep the same patterns between weeks, months, or years. It makes any missing persons impossible to anticipate, if anyone were to even look. Police spend very little time on most of the reports.”
“How do you take so many without it being noticed?”
“We don’t just stick to the city. There aren’t any major covens in most towns, so we have quite a few hundred miles to work with. Some of our teams travel further, for longer.”
“It’s a great system. Does every coven operate the same way?”
“No. Some have copied us, to a degree, but none of them run as smoothly. Much of their activity is simply brushed under the rug by paying off the right people.”
“Jeez. Do they know they’re vampires?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe they just think it’s the mafia.”
I laughed, running my fingers over the equations he had on his notepad. From the looks of it, he was calculating everything that had to do with the schedules. The amount of time he expected each team to take on every task for the month, probabilities revolving around specific scenarios, and how much money was allocated for each excursion, including wages. It was ridiculously intricate and meticulous.
“Don’t take this the wrong way,” I began. “I didn’t know you were this smart. There’s no way I’d be able to keep track of all this.”
He chuckled. “You’re surprised I’m not just a psycho killer with abs?”
“Everyone has abs,” I reminded him, going back to what he’d said the first time we hung out.
“I’m glad you’ve finally learned basic anatomy.”
When I leaned back against him, he tightened his arm around me. I was feeling tired now that I was cuddled up with him. It would be easy for me to lay my head on his chest and doze off.
“Did you eat, darling?”
“Yeah.”
“You should feed from me. It lasts longer.”
I swallowed and tried to keep my voice even. “I feel good from what I had. Maybe it’s because I haven’t had any magical outbursts.”
He was quiet for a minute and I thought he might try to insist, but eventually he pressed a kiss to my head.
“You’ll tell me if you need more, right?”
“Of course.”
I was acutely aware of the fact that I’d recently walked out on him for omitting information, which I considered to be just as bad as lying. Now I was flat out telling lies to his face. It felt different, though. This was about my body, which had no effect on him. It was the best way to deal with all of this uncontrollable power, but he wouldn’t see it that way. Taking matters into my own hands wasn’t the worst thing in the world.
The training room might become my favorite place in the tower if every day was like today. I’d been in here for a few hours without a single interruption. It was the best way to practice moving in and out of my human and vamp speeds. I’d been running into a lot of walls these past few days because I’d randomly put on a burst of speed accidentally.
Smoke form was another thing I needed to practice, but I’d get to that later. It wasn’t as hard to control once I managed to shift. I was also afraid to practice alone, just in case I got stuck that way or something. I wasn’t sure how likely that was, but it could probably happen to me.
“Let’s zoom,” I muttered to myself before taking off across the room. It was about the size of a school gym, which gave me enough space to move around, but when I was actually running, it didn’t seem very big at all.
Skidding to a stop before I hit the wall, I pumped my fist in the air. I was already getting better at this thing. When a wave of dizziness hit me, I braced myself against the wall. My veins were getting that tight, strained feeling I’d come to recognize as my body running on empty.
I pulled a half-full bottle of blood from my bag and took a few swigs. The rest of it would be my dinner, which would hopefully get me through the night. If I slept, I used up less of it, so I’d been trying to keep to some sort of schedule like I had as a human. It was harder, since I didn’t need it, but with how little I was eating, I’d been feeling tired enough to force myself to fall asleep.
“It’s pretty gross, huh?”
I turned abruptly, laying eyes on Ryan. He offered me a big smile as he made his way over to me. When I stepped back, his brow furrowed.
“We’re both vampires now and you suddenly don’t want to hang out?”
“It’s not that.”
“I know. I’m just giving you shit, Sam.”
“Okay.”
I hurriedly backed up to the wall, biting my lip as I stared at him. He seemed really good. The weight he’d lost when he had cancer was back and he looked healthy. Last time we’d actually talked, he’d been struggling with his transition, but now it was clear he was a lot happier. It filled me with joy and before I knew it, there were tears running down my cheeks.
He closed the distance and, before I could protest, wrapped his arms around me.
“What’s going on, Sam?”
I couldn’t help returning the hug, which just made me feel more emotional.
“I’m a horrible friend.”
“No, you’re not. Shit has been really fucked lately. Why are you so sad?”
“I’m not,” I assured him, wiping at my eyes as I pulled back. “It’s just really hard. All of this power…”
“Yeah. That storm the other day was something.”
“It was terrible.”
“You’ve gotten better at it, though. I haven’t seen any fires breaking out, at least.”
I looked down at the floor. “You’re right.”
“Something else is wrong.”
“No.”
“Okay. Race me to the other side, then.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Come on, Sam. Humor me.”
Rolling my eyes, I took off. I was ahead of him, but then I stumbled, barely managing to stay on my feet. He stopped in front of me, crossing his arms over his chest.
“I knew something was wrong.”
“The blood just hasn’t kicked in yet.”
“It kicks in almost immediately. I saw how little you drank. Why are you starving yourself?”
“I’m not.”
“Sam. If you don’t tell me, I’ll go get Lock right now.”
“No!”
A burst of air exploded out of my outstretched hand, sending him flying backward. He managed to right himself in the air and landed on his feet at the other end of the room.
“Oh my god. I’m so sorry.”
He jogged back over to me. “I’m fine. If you weren’t weak right now, it might’ve been worse.”
“Exactly.”
His eyes widened. “That’s why you’re not eating.”
“Don’t tell him,” I pleaded. “He won’t understand and more people will get hurt.”
“I get that it’s scary, but you can’t do this forever. You have to learn to control it, even at full power, not to mention you’re going to feel like shit.”
“It’s not forever. I’m going to slowly increase how much I drink. Each time I get control of my magic, I’ll up my intake.”
“If it’s such a good plan, then why aren’t you including Lock in it?”
“He’s not exactly the most reasonable, especially if he thinks his way is better.”
“I see that, but haven’t you two already had issues because of honesty?”
“This is different.”
He studied me for a long moment before sighing. “I won’t say anything, but you have to promise me you’ll be careful. I hate the idea of you staying weakened when there are still people out there that might want to hurt you.”
“Thank you, Ryan. I owe you a drink.”
“More than one. I’m also adding another stipulation. You have to stop avoiding me. I don’t care if you use your weird jutsus on me.”
I laughed. “Actually, I like that way of looking at them.”
“See? I’m a good person to hang out with.”
“I know.”
“Since you’re currently avoiding the world, I’m gonna go swipe some ice cream from the kitchen and we’ll pig out up here, okay? Don’t play the disappearing act on me.”