“Small town or not, I’d rather you have a gun and not need it than need it and not have it,” Caleb had said to me when I first laid eyes on it.
I made sure there was a round in the chamber and slowly crept into the hall. I peered out into the living room with the Glock ready before I actually walked in. The only sound revealing my presence was the tips of my wet hair dripping onto the hardwood floor.
“What exactly do you plan to do with that?” asked a familiar English accent. “I thought you had enough violence for one night.” Nathaniel was standing in my kitchen with his back to me facing my stove.
“Son of a bitch!” I hollered. “What are you doing here again? You scared the daylights out of me!”
Nathaniel had changed into a new set of clothes, sticking with the slick look of a perfectly tailored suit. My tea kettle was sitting on the stove eye. What was it with the English and their obsession with tea anyway?
“Your gratitude for my having saved your life only an hour ago is overwhelming,” he muttered, still showing me nothing but his backside.
‘Unbelievable!’
“You only saved my life after you put it in danger all day!” I yelled. “I never would have been there if you hadn’t put me in a lion’s den. In front of other vampires no less!” I took a step closer to him when he didn’t fire back or even face me. “Explain this thing on my ribcage.” I wasn’t about to rip open my robe and show him the brand. He knew damn well what I was talking about without showing him.
He remained silent as the tea started to steam in my kettle. He took it off the eye and poured the steaming water into a single mug, refusing to acknowledge what I had asked. It was as if my concerns were so small that he couldn’t even be bothered to appear like he cared that I was visibly upset. Even hurt. I had the bruises and scrapes to prove it.
“What did you do to me?” I demanded. “Why did you brand me with the Catach-Brayin symbol?”
He turned his head slightly. Even from a side angle. I could see his brow furrow. Was he surprised that I knew what it was?
“What do you think the brand means?” he asked with a hint of smugness in his voice.
“It’s what the Catach-Brayin put on their human slaves. Their toys. The humans they want to possess.”
“For what reason?”
What was this? A Socratic way of getting me to answer my own question?
“Why is it on my body?” I snapped.
“Because it’s the only way to keep my investment safe.”
His investment? My jaw was on the floor.
“I just exerted far more energy from my small portion of vixra blood than I desired to save your life and throw a very annoying henchman off our trail,” he continued. “To be fair, he was doing a good job. The only problem was he intruded on my ability to do mine.”
“How in the hell does this brand keep me safe? And look at me when you talk to me. It’s the least you can do after the night I endured.”
He turned toward me with the cup of tea in his hand and a giant smirk on his face. “Drink this,” he ordered. “It will calm you. I’ve seen kruxa use it over the centuries to help control their magic.”
I inched closer to him and took the mug into my hand. But I didn’t sip it. I held it there as I stared daggers at him.
“How does the brand keep me safe?” I repeated.
He let his eyes settle on mine before speaking. “It lets other vampires know that you belong to my coven. The Catach-Brayin. They are forbidden to touch you without the consent of Tobias, my coven master. Isaac can’t attempt to hurt you again. Or if he does, I will be granted the privilege of killing him as long as I can prove good reason. Nor can anyone else in the Catach-Brayin harm you. We use the brand for humans we consider little more than slaves, yes. But we also use it to protect those who are useful to us.”
“Oh. So I guess you still consider me useful?” I said with as much sarcasm as I could manage. My anger was growing by the minute.
“As long as you do as I say, yes,” he stated. I could hear the intentional yet softly delivered threat in his words. More subtle than the knife he held to my throat when he first invaded my home, but equally as paralyzing. “Now then,” he said crossing his arms. “Take a sip of the tea and tell me what you picked up on tonight.”
I could tell by the severity in his eyes that I wasn’t going to have a choice. He didn’t need to rip open my throat to kill me anymore. All he had to do was activate the brand and cause it to burn deep inside my flesh until it cooked my insides. Definitely not the way I wanted to die.
I took a deep breath and sipped the tea. It was still steaming, so I didn’t drink a generous amount. Just a taste. It wasn’t awful. Actually, it was kind of good. It had a hint of mint that was strangely relaxing. Not quite a sedative, but enough to tamper the nervous knots that had been twisting and grinding inside my stomach all night. Especially after my brief fits of nausea from using the vixra tunnels.
“I saw something,” I started. “Something that I don’t really understand.” I figured I would begin with the vision and not Samantha’s indiscretion. I wasn’t sure he would even be interested in that. He specifically wanted me to use my magic to notice whatever I could. “After Samantha shook my hand, I saw her change. Her skin was… rotted. Like her corpse had been sitting in water for too long and was decomposing. It happened rather fast and I didn’t see much else.” Then I remembered the brand on her ribcage. Would he consider that relevant?
He gave a small shake of his head as if to say, ‘was that it?’
I took another sip of the tea and continued. “And when I went upstairs, I saw Samantha again. She was with Isaac.”
“And what did he say?”
I set down the tea, not really wanting to replay his words in my mind. “Nothing that needs to be repeated. It was more what I saw. Let’s just say that Samantha and I have a certain physical feature in common. One I don’t care for and I would very much appreciate if you removed at once.”
I had known Nathaniel for less than a day and I was already used to the unwavering severity in his eyes. And even so, they changed in a way I didn’t expect. They went from seriously threatening to seriously angry. As though I said something right. Something he had suspected was true but didn’t want to be confirmed. Because if it was confirmed, things would somehow get worse.
“What?” I said, shaking my head in confusion. “What does it all mean? Why is Samantha a slave to the Catach-Brayin?”
He tucked in his lower lip and silently muttered a curse word that could hardly be confused as anything other than fuck.
“I intend to find out. It may mean someone in the Catach-Brayin is courting her.”
I couldn’t help but give a small laugh. “Yeah, I kind of gathered that by what I saw upstairs.”
“No,” he scolded me as though I had said something profoundly ignorant. “She’s being courted as a potential convert. The brand was meant to protect her. Meaning she’s valuable to someone. Maybe Tobias. But granted that she was messing around with Isaac suggests Tobias lost interest in her. Or never had an interest to start with. Isaac always goes after his leftovers.”
A potential convert? The Catach-Brayin were considering making Samantha a vampire? Samantha? A snotty unfaithful former cheerleader? He had to be joking.
“Why on Earth would they do that? Don’t they have, I don’t know... Standards? Doesn’t the Catach-Brayin want to be seen as dangerous and organized? Hanging out with washed up cheerleaders doesn’t quite fit the image I conjured up in my mind.”
He stared down at my tea implying that he wouldn’t give me more details until I took another sip, which I did.
“We’re not as organized as you might think. Tobias has become ruthless in his ambition for broader control over the covens.”
‘Sounds like a nice guy.’
“Being the master of the largest and most powerful coven of vampires in the world isn’t enough? What more does he want?” I asked.
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Nathaniel took in a deep breath before speaking. One I wasn’t sure a man who was technically undead needed to take. “I wouldn’t be here if I already knew.”
I wasn’t curious anymore. I was scared. Not just because Nathaniel’s hand was gripping my countertop and possibly giving it more pressure than it could handle. But also because I knew anything that caused Nathaniel stress was something I needed to fear.
“Did you sense anything else?” he asked.
I shook my head. “No.”
“Drink the rest of your tea. It will help you sleep. I’ll be back tomorrow after your visit with Officer Parker.”
Right. I had to pay a visit to Mr. Nosy tomorrow and give him details on murders without revealing more than I should. Not something I was looking forward to.
Then it hit me. The crime scene photos. The young women Officer Parker spoke of. Annabel Stiles being only one of them.
“Wait, the murders Officer Parker is investigating, do you think Tobias is behind them?” I asked.
Nathaniel didn’t answer me. He simply reached for his jacket on the countertop and put it on. Vampire blood ran cold even though it didn’t need a beating heart to keep pumping. I gathered the Georgia heat wasn’t enough to keep him warm.
“Get some sleep, Harper. I’ll be back soon.”
Great. How long was I going to be stuck with this guy? Would he demand I keep helping him all the time? Would he keep threatening me if I didn’t do what he wanted? Maybe the look he had on his face right before he saved me from Isaac wasn’t one of genuine concern. Maybe it was him seeing his potential return on investment getting burnt to a crisp.
I walked into the hall after him.
“Hold on! You can’t just leave like this. You didn’t give me any answers. Where the hell did Isaac transport us? He just ripped us right out of the vixra tunnel! And don’t you think I ought to know what to say to Officer Parker tomorrow?” I shouted as he opened my front door to leave.
“Find out what you can about the deaths of those women on Monday and report back to me. Do what you can to divert his attention as far away from the Catach-Brayin as possible. It’s the only way he’s going to stay alive.”
The second he was gone I went over to my gun on the counter and stowed it away. I made sure to bring the tea with me. It might have been made by a complete brute but for whatever reason, it was calming my magic in a way I had never experienced before. I finished getting ready for bed and laid down. Not even a full minute after my head was on the pillow, I heard a buzz from my nightstand. It was Madison. And for the first time in a long while, I was actually eager to hear her voice.
“Hello?” I answered.
“Hey you,” she said with an odd amount of delight. “I heard you were at the Congressman’s party tonight.”
‘What? How does she know about that?’
Our small town living often meant I never got any privacy. Especially when it came to my sister. There were no secrets.
“Yeah, but I’m kinda tired. Can I tell you about it in the morning?
“Sure, sure,” she said. “I’m just so glad you got out for the night. You need that kind of thing, you know? I just never expected you would start with such a flashy event.” I could envision her smiling on the other end of the line. Hell, she was probably beaming.
Tap tap.
“What was that?” I asked.
“What’s what?”
“Do you hear that?”
Tap tap. It happened again and again.
‘Oh shit.’
Nathaniel said the Catach-Brayin had been listening in on Officer Parker’s calls. Were they listening in on mine too?
“Uh, nothing. I was just starting to drift off. Can I call you over the weekend or something?”
“Yeah, that’s fine. I just called to say I’m proud of you, sis.”
I sighed. Bless her for caring so much, but after surviving a day like today I didn’t feel like I had accomplished anything other than putting my family in danger. Or was that Officer Parker’s fault? Or just the luck of the draw being born a kruxa? Who knows?
“Thanks. I’ll call you later.”
I ended the call and placed my cell phone back on my nightstand, acutely aware that nothing I said or did now would remain private ever again. If Nathaniel knew I was telling Madison even the smallest detail, he probably wouldn’t hesitate to kill her. Or me for that matter. Once he was done with me anyway. And until I got Officer Parker off the trail of the Catach-Brayin, Nathaniel certainly wasn’t finished with me. Not even close.
Chapter 8
I’m not a morning person. Not even close. But I got my butt out of bed Monday morning and made myself look as presentable as I could. Which included three cups of coffee and a light makeup job that could survive the Georgia heat.
When I grabbed my bike I could hear my stomach gurgling in a shamble of nervous knots twisting and turning in circles. A discomfort that lasted me all weekend and hadn’t stopped no matter how much Pepto-Bismol I took. It didn’t settle down the whole way to the station.
As I parked my bike and walked inside I saw two officers leaving. Both had worrisome looks on their faces, as though they hadn’t been to bed and wouldn’t be allowed the privilege any time soon.
“Any word from Sealing county?” one asked the other.
“No. They have men out there looking. One of the officers over there talked about starting a community search.”
They got into their police car and shut the doors, then drove away as if they had just received an emergency call. When I stepped inside the station, people were walking about everywhere chattering away. And it wasn’t from excitement.
‘What the hell is going on?’
No one greeted me at the front desk like before. I walked on by and back toward Officer Parker’s door, which was wide open this time. I knocked anyway when I saw him at his desk with what seemed like even more paperwork in front of him than the first time I saw him.
He jumped at the sound of my knocking on the door frame.
“Officer Parker?” I greeted him.
He rubbed his eyes in a moment of quiet frustration. “Crap, I completely forgot you were coming, Miss Ashwood. I’m sorry.”
‘Excuse me?’
This guy went out of his way to make sure I helped him. He even got my sister on the phone to try convincing me it was worth my while. Not to mention the vampire who paid me an unwelcome visit as a result. And now he conveniently forgot that I was even coming? He was lucky there were laws against striking police officers because I was certainly on edge enough to give him a slap.
“Should I go?” I asked, hoping the answer would be yes. Then it occurred to me that wouldn’t be the best thing in the world. Nathaniel would probably get irritated and start threatening me again if I didn’t have any new information to present to him.
“No! Come in and sit down.” Officer Parker got up from his seat and cleared off the chair opposite his desk. It was full of notes and paperwork.
I wanted to ask what was going on, but I had a very particular mission here. Find out what Officer Parker knew and throw him off the trail leading to the Catach-Brayin. That was it.
“So, what do you want me to do?” I asked.
He closed the door to his office and lowered his voice. “Just know that I haven’t gotten approval from all my superiors to have you look at the evidence. It’s critical now more than ever that you don’t share what I’m about to show you. Do you understand?”
I nodded. The only person who was going to know about any of this was Nathaniel. And hopefully, I could convince Officer Parker to stop looking in a direction that would lead to his death. He didn’t know what he was dealing with. Honestly, I wasn’t sure I knew either after what happened a couple nights ago.
He brought a box from the floor up onto his desk and put on some latex gloves. He was going to show me evidence of some kind. A jeans jacket by the look of it, with little droplets of blood on one of the
sleeves. He tried handing me a pair of the latex gloves from a box, but I refused them.
“No,” I said. “I have to touch the item itself. I know it’s technically an outsider dealing with evidence and there’s a risk of fingerprints, but that’s a risk we have to take if you want my help. I can’t help you without touching the actual source.”
He seemed to accept this, but not lightly. He begrudgingly let me hold the jacket.
I took it into my right hand and almost instantly saw a blinding light striking mercilessly at my eyes. I winced. It didn’t go unnoticed.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I said, taking the jacket into both my hands.
“This belonged to the victim whose photographs I showed you last week,” he said.
I didn’t need him to tell me that. I already knew. I could see through her eyes. I tried focusing my magic toward my fingertips, gathering as much of it as I could without releasing it. As I closed my eyes to see more vividly, I did my best to not let Officer Parker’s eyes watching me disrupt my focus. I was used to people watching me intently as I worked, but this wasn’t like reading cards for people. I knew the girl wearing this jacket was dead. I knew she suffered. I knew she was frightened. And I didn’t need the memory of the crime photos to tell me that.
I saw the dark forest behind my eyes as I slipped into the victim’s consciousness, seeing what she saw and feeling what she felt. Mud was latching onto my feet and ankles, splattering around as I ran. I slipped and latched onto a nearby branch. It sliced through the side of my hand. That’s where the droplets of blood came from on the jacket. I reached for my hand with the other and searched all around me. It was dark. Too dark. The moon barely helped me to see anything through the overcast clouds. There was no one in sight, but I knew he was there. I knew I was being watched. No. Not watched. Hunted. Someone was near me. Or at least gaining on me. Each breath seemed to come in shorter painful bursts, like acid ripping through my chest.
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