Chapter 29
Sam
“What the fuck are we doing here, Lock?”
He got to his feet, his wounds mostly healed now. Just looking at the blood and rips in his pants made me nauseous. While I’d been dead with a broken neck, he could have been killed.
It had taken that Vas guy hardly any effort or time to incapacitate me. If Raf hadn’t made up his mind when he did, Lock would very likely be dead and I would’ve become hobgoblin food. Some super powerful Ark I was. I’d barely managed to convince my only Nexus member to be on my side and even now he’d chosen someone else over me.
Was that jealousy I felt? This fucking connection had my head completely messed up.
“Winning,” Lock replied. “That’s what we’re doing.”
“Hardly. We only sort of won because Raf stepped in and caught him off guard.”
“It’s still a win. Now we can regroup and figure it out.”
I shook my head, my eyes stinging. “I don’t know.”
He cupped my face, making me look at him. “Seraphim has decided now and like he said, there is no going back. I hate him and I’ll never apologize for that, but this is good.”
“Can’t we just leave?”
“Where would we go?”
“Somewhere it won’t be able to find us.”
“Is that how you want to live your life, Samara? On the run. It’s not what I want.”
“I want you to live,” I insisted. “That’s what matters.”
“No, it isn’t. Existing in that tower under Liah’s reign was bad enough. I won’t run and hide. That’s not who I am and neither are you.”
“I’m scared, Lock.”
With a sigh, he pulled me against his chest. “You are powerful, my love. Right now, all of this is still new and you haven’t felt it yet, but I promise your moment will come. One of these days, you will surprise yourself and you’ll be able to see exactly what I do already.”
“What do you see?”
“A fucking goddess. Not only that, though. I see the bravest woman- no, not just woman. I see the bravest being I’ve ever met in my entire life. You are a beautiful, strong-willed, maddening, violent creature and that is what I have always needed. With you, I have met my match. Whatever force commands these things knew it, I know it, and deep down I think you know it. We were meant to complete each other and one day soon, we will become power incarnate.”
I stared at him, nearly losing myself in the pale blue of his eyes. Warring parts of me wanted to laugh at his dramatics and revel in what was arguably a compelling speech. He was good at those and even though Mark and I made fun of him, Lock was incredibly idealistic. Just because he enjoyed bathing in blood didn’t mean he was negative or defeatist.
Rising on my toes, I kissed him firmly. “I love you.”
He smiled devastatingly and if my heart could still beat, it would’ve attempted to tear free of my chest.
“You’re all that matters to me in this life, Belladonna. Whatever this thing is, we’re going to tear it into pieces. Both of us.”
“This hobgoblin has nothing on us. Uh, we need a cool mate name.”
His brow raised. “I’m not on board with either of those things.”
“Yes, you are. Do you know why?”
“I’ll humor you. Why?”
“Because you love me.”
He rolled his eyes before speedily moving in front of me and hoisting me onto his back. I wrapped my legs around him, shrieking when he took off. It was more of a habit at this point. I could process his movements in real time now and there wasn’t anything scary about it.
We were equals and we would do exactly what he said. This bitch was getting torn into a dozen pieces for fucking with us.
Pacing the length of the living room again, I stared out the back window of the cabin. It had been two full days since Raf disappeared with Vas and I hadn’t heard from him. I knew he was in there because I heard him every once in a while. If he wanted to, he could use a heat mirage, but he didn’t, so I thought that might be a good sign.
Was it weird to go over there? It felt weird. I’d been super stoked to be on the same team, but I had no idea how this dynamic worked between us. He probably didn’t either, yet I couldn’t imagine him pacing and being on the verge of a vampire panic attack.
The curtains flapped, making me still. It had happened a few times, but I was able to rein it in before things got too bad. I may have set the couch on fire once and since I hadn’t figured out most of my other magic, I ended up yeeting it into the lake. Everything was going fine. Now the fish had some furniture and we had a new one coming later today.
It was a good thing Lock was rich because the amount of damage I did at Atakan alone was astronomical. He didn’t even bat an eye, even though he’d probably filet anyone else for doing it.
“You’re going to wear a path in the wood,” Ryan commented.
I looked over at him with a smile. Even though I was pissed at Lock for bringing him here, it was nice to have a friend to talk to, especially now that I wasn’t starving and terrified of murdering him. I was still being cautious, of course, but I was learning to trust myself to a degree. While I was terrible at using my magic, I’d become better at keeping it contained and that was the biggest relief of my life.
“Forgive me if I’ve been stressed,” I said with a laugh.
“Have you drank enough?”
“Don’t start acting like Lock.”
“It’s my job as your friend. And I’m supposed to be keeping an eye on you.”
“Well, since he likes to remind me that half of everything is mine, you have to listen when I tell you to stop acting like my bodyguard. It’s weird.”
“Fine. Just don’t send me back.”
Holding my hand out, I waited for him to join me. I wound my arm through his and leaned my head on his shoulder as we stared out at the water. We’d known each other for three years and while we’d never spent time together outside of the bar before he changed, I found it easy to fall into this friendship. We had shared experiences that heightened the relationship we already had together and it was something I needed. In a way, it was one of the things holding me together right now.
My chest felt tight as thoughts of Alex came to my mind. That one was and always would be the hardest. Out of everyone in my life, excluding Lock, he was the most important to me. I’d decided to let him go for his safety, but I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to fully accept it.
“It must be nice to be out of the tower,” I noted.
“It’s amazing. After Halloween, I didn’t think I’d ever be allowed to leave.”
“You know I wouldn’t have allowed them to make you a prisoner.”
“I was more worried about ending up mysteriously missing or staked somewhere you wouldn’t find me.”
“Then Lock would have found himself single.”
“Haven’t I told you there’s no escaping, Belladonna?”
Ryan shot me a look before leaving through the back door. I couldn’t blame him, considering Lock regularly threatened him with death and dismemberment.
When I turned to look at my oh-so-loving mate, my brow furrowed.
“Takeout?” I asked, regarding the two bodies he had hoisted over his shoulders.
“I’m starving, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, I guess. We have bottles, you know.”
“And I didn’t spend a century planning Liah’s death to live off blood bottles.”
“We can’t just eat whole people all the time.”
When he looked like he was about to argue, I closed the distance between us and jumped into his arms. He dropped the two humans and gripped my ass tightly. I moaned when he sucked on my tongue, my body igniting immediately.
“You might want to snatch another,” I said with a grimace. “Sorry.”
Shifting to smoke, I grabbed both of the people and raced out the back door, leaving Lock shouting after me. He’d get over it. Besides, he enjoyed hunting for sport.
Materializing in Raf’s kitchen, I glanced around curiously. It was similar to ours, but more dated. The rustic aspects weren’t as elegant and I saw a thin layer of dust on the shelves.
“God, you have no patience,” Raf grumbled from the top of the basement stairs.
“Hello to you too, friend.”
His gaze lowered to the bodies at my feet. “Eating for two?”
“One is for you. A peace offering.”
“I didn’t realize an offering was necessary.”
I waved a dismissive hand before opening some cabinets. “How is our prisoner?”
“Still very dead. What are you looking for?”
“A glass.”
“Next to the sink. Why do you need one?”
“Ryan was telling me about vampires that used to keep humans for bloodletting or something.”
“Disciples. It’s not a bad idea, considering how much blood you need. A little grotesque, maybe.”
“It’s better than leaving bodies around by the dozen.”
“You could feed from them normally. A glass seems sort of extra.”
I shrugged, taking one from the cabinet and crouching beside the larger man. He looked stronger and maybe he would last longer. The idea of just keeping him locked up to be used as my own personal blood machine felt worse than simply killing him, but like I told Raf, I couldn’t go through bodies so quickly. I had god knows how many years ahead of me and I’d end up wiping out the entire population.
Pulling my dagger free, I hesitated. How was I supposed to bleed the guy without wasting any or making him bleed out?
Raf snorted before grabbing the guy’s arm and dragging him to the couch. After setting him upright in the seat, he disappeared for a couple of minutes. Upon returning, he had legitimate medical supplies.
He rested the man’s arm on the side of the couch, then tied a tourniquet above his elbow. I watched with rapt attention, both intrigued and embarrassed that I hadn’t considered this. Here I was, ready to be stab happy and probably end up killing the guy on the first go.
Using a standing lamp, he set up an IV and a blood collection bag. When he was finished, he made a mock bow and smirked at me.
“I see you’re a phlebotomist now.”
“You learn things when you’ve been alive for over a century. I tried keeping a disciple at one point when I realized how much blood was burned off when using magic.”
“But you don’t use them now,” I pointed out.
“I found it grotesque. As they began to weaken, I could smell the changes in their body. Having a human set up in my house, slowly dying, wasn’t the way I wanted to live.”
“What’s the alternative?”
“For one, I have control of my magic and I’m not using it all the time. Although, it seems that may be changing pretty soon, so maybe I’ll be raiding hospitals for their stashes.”
Crossing my arms over my chest, I studied him. “You don’t like killing.”
He breathed a dry laugh. “Nobody should like killing, Sam.”
“You don’t exactly subscribe to a peaceful way of life and I’ve seen you drink a human dry.”
“Being a vampire makes the kill enjoyable, of course, and death is often unavoidable. Humans’ lives are short and usually meaningless. Do I enjoy killing just to kill? No, but I don’t have any qualms about doing it. I currently have the previous tenants tied up downstairs.”
“That makes sense, I guess. A self-righteous vampire sounds like a fucking nightmare.”
He grabbed two bottles of blood from the fridge and tossed one to me. I grimaced, but drank it because I was thirsty and watching the blood bag slowly fill made my gums ache.
“After we deal with Vas, you should return to the tower,” he said.
The thought made me feel a little panicked. “I’d rather stay out here for now.”
“It’s not safe. She’s been in mine and Vas’ heads. Here, we’re sitting ducks.”
“Will she come here?”
“She won’t take the chance until she’s sure what she’s up against, but she won’t leave Vas behind. They’ve been together for nearly seven hundred years and she trusts him implicitly. Losing him would be a major blow.”
“Then we should kill him. Anything we can do to gain an advantage.”
“No,” he said firmly.
“He would’ve done the same to you.”
He shook his head. “He hesitated. It’s why I made the move that I did, to put him in a position where he had to make a choice that was difficult.”
“You care about each other,” I realized. “You’re close.”
Raf hopped up on the counter, grabbing a pack of Oreos and eating a couple before looking at me.
“Vas found me a year after I became a vampire. Liah had appeared at my door a week before, trying to call in a favor she stupidly thought I owed her for turning me. I refused. All I wanted was for that bitch to leave me the hell alone.”
“What was the favor?”
He raised a sardonic brow. “Get rid of her capricious guard dog.”
My fangs lengthened at the threat, even if it was long past. “Why? He’d only been changed for two years.”
“She was afraid he’d draw too much attention, be unable to control his urges. One thing I can say about Lock, though, is that he’s smart and covers his tracks. Regardless, I didn’t have any interest in helping her, nor did I want to trigger the sanguis purgabit. I hardly had a grip on myself and being plagued by that might have made me more volatile.”
“Fuck that bitch.”
“Nah, Lock was already doing that.”
I narrowed my eyes and he laughed unabashedly.
“God, mates are a nightmare. Anyway, Liah wasn’t happy with my refusal. She threatened someone I cared about before disappearing. At the time, I didn’t really know how strong I was, even though she thought I’d be able to take on Lock. I hadn’t tested myself. So, instead of trying to chase her down, I went home.”
“Home, as in Tennessee,” I clarified.
“Yes. I wanted to make sure she wasn’t going to follow through on her threats. Something… happened. It drew attention and Vas came to check it out.”
“What happened?”
His eyes darkened, traveling over my shoulder to look outside. “It doesn’t matter. I was a mess after that, just killing and drinking. I didn’t care and I wasn’t sure I wanted to live. He found me in an alley, fucked up on god knows what, wishing it could actually kill me. He offered me a home. Family.”
“But it was a lie.”
“Yes and no. He became something of a brother to me, if you will. His abilities are completely separate from mine, but he’s been around a long time. He’d seen someone like me before, a very long time ago when people like us were easier to find.”
“He’d known someone with the, uh, fire smoke stuff?”
He smiled. “Yeah, the fire smoke, except it’s not just that. A Flame can summon fire, wield it and shape it. If that’s all I was, Sibon would have simply consumed me.”
“Hold on.” I held up a hand, my nose wrinkling. “Sibon is the bitch in your head, yeah?” He nodded. “What the fuck do you mean ‘consumed’ you?”
“That’s how she survives. She has extended her own life and power by taking it from others.”
“Isn’t she immortal?”
“Not the way we are. She’s older, Sam. Purer.”
“Well, that just sounds grossly Klan-like, but okay. If you’re not some basic Flame, then what are you?”
“I told you. The Eternal Flame. That’s what they call it, at least. It sounds stupid. Really, it’s a different class entirely. Back in Alabama, I told you this was the soul of fire.”
He raised his hand, palm up, and a ball of orange smoke rose from his skin. Last time, I’d been afraid of it, but now it seemed to call out to me, begging me to touch it. When I did, it spread outward, wrapping around both of our hands as if joining them.
“What’s the difference?” I asked.
“It’s not just fire. I can command every form of heat on the planet and even beyond that. Whereas a Flame cannot be burned by their own fire, they can be killed by that which doesn’t come from them. If they’re caught in a house fire, they’re not any more protected from it than the average person. Another Flame could harm them with their fire as well. I’ve never been burned by anything in my life, even as a human.”
“Wouldn’t that make Sibon want to eat you even more?”
“Sure, but I’m more useful on her side, just as Vas is.”
“That was the choice,” I said, remembering his previous story. “Die or join her.”
“Yup. Turns out, even though I’d thought about ending my life, it frightened me when it came down to it. Up until I went to college and started my work with the pills, I spent a lot of time traveling with Vas. We tried to find more like us so she could continue to extend her life, but it was nearly impossible, so I reached out to Liah, thinking Atakan could be the answer.
“She recruited some of her scientists and sent them to me so that Lock wouldn’t find out what was going on. I let them do tests, study my blood. They identified the specific defect in our blood that made us this way and the rest is history.”
“Alright,” I drawled. “I understand all of that, but what I don’t get is what use Vas is to us now. He just seems like a liability, especially if she’ll come after him.”
He turned his head slightly toward the basement door. With a sigh, he slid off the counter, tossing the now empty sleeve of Oreos into the trash.
“How about we go ask him?”
His mirage must have dropped because I suddenly heard screams coming from downstairs. The smell of blood reached me, making my mouth water.
It seemed the ancient, crusty dickwad was awake and feeling peckish.