“No, love. I didn’t mean it like that,” she said, briefly laying a hand on my shoulder. “We’re all misfits of a sort.”
“What do you mean?”
Daphne led me down the block, her arms swinging at her side, making her seem both young and human. “We’re all relatively young and our nest doesn’t have an actual master. We all escaped our makers or masters and settled here so we could live in peace.”
She glanced over at me, her eyes narrowed in speculation. “You know, your story sounds kind of familiar. You could fit in with us.”
I flashed Daphne a weak smile, touched by her offer. It gave me a feeling like maybe I wasn’t totally alone in this world. Maybe I had a few options. I just needed some time to think and figure out what I wanted to do. “Thank you. I don’t know what I’m going to do next.”
A light and fluffy laugh danced from Daphne as we turned down a residential block. “Don’t worry. You’ve plenty of time to decide things now.”
Yeah. Eternity stretched out before me. That thought itself was more than a little mind-numbing. I remained silent the rest of the way as Daphne chattered on about living in Poland with her mates. She was a cheerful, optimistic thing that seemed to take everything in stride. I used to be like that, but I was definitely feeling off my stride now.
Daphne took me to a small two-story house near the end of a quiet block dotted with abandoned homes. All the windows had curtains blocking any light into the house. Instead of heading up to the front door, she cut around the side to the back door where a tall lean man was blocking the entrance. He looked as if he were no more than sixteen with long thin hair streaked blue to match his bright blue eyes. His dark blue jeans and baggy T-shirt with the Batman emblem in the center made him look even younger, but he was probably a few centuries old.
The stranger glared at me for a second before snapping at Daphne, who promptly barked back at him.
“I’ll leave tonight,” I said, assuming that he could understand English and that his problem was me.
“Good,” he growled before stepping away to let us enter.
Daphne made a face at him as she walked by, looking as if she wanted to say more, but I put a hand on her shoulder.
“Don’t worry about it. If you could teach me just a couple things so I can get by, I’d greatly appreciate it. I think I need to get back to Venice.”
We stopped in a small, barren kitchen, with the man shutting the door behind us. There were no lights on in the little room, but I had no trouble picking out the empty white countertops and the stove the looked to be collecting dust. Yeah, no humans living here.
“Do you think going back to Venice is wise?” Daphne asked.
For a moment, the hunger that had been eating away at my brain subsided and I stared at the lovely English woman. “I don’t know, but then I don’t know what I should do next. It’s all a mess. I just know that Stefan is worried about me and he at least needs to know that I’m …” I drifted off. I had been about to say that “I’m still alive,” but that was so wrong.
“You’re the one… the woman the Coven is looking for?” the male nightwalker said in heavily accented English behind me.
I twisted around to look at the nightwalker who was glaring at me. “What?”
“Erin, this is Ignacio,” Daphne introduced with a grimace. “The oldest of our little group. He’s also spent some time in Venice and he still hears whispers from there on occasion. At least, he does when there’s some kind of big news.”
“And I’m the big news?”
“Human woman disappeared from Venice. The entire Coven is demanding that you be found.”
Fear suddenly twisted in my stomach and I felt cold. “Do they think I ran off?”
Ignacio shrugged. “Don’t know.”
I sighed and started for the door. “I need to get back to Venice before this gets worse.”
I didn’t get far. Daphne grabbed my elbow, holding me in place. “And if you don’t know how to feed or how to take care of yourself, you won’t make it to Venice.”
Just the mention of feeding brought my hunger roaring back so that I was doubled over, barely keeping to my feet. I didn’t have a clear thought in my head after that. I was vaguely aware of both Daphne and Ignacio taking me tightly in hand and leading me through the house in a rush to a second floor bedroom. A human man entered the room a couple minutes later and I attempted to lunge at him, but Daphne and Ignacio were still there to hold me down.
The man knelt before me and extended his arm to me. Very carefully, Daphne and Ignacio allowed me to feed from the large vein running at the inside of his elbow. The blood rushed in and I was drowning in pleasure, power, and blissful warmth. But I didn’t feed for long. I had taken just enough to regain clear thought when the human was quickly ushered out of the room again.
“I need more,” I whimpered, hating the weakness in my voice.
“I know, love,” Daphne whispered, gently brushing the hair away from my face. “That was just so you could get in control again. If you’d taken any more, you would have hurt poor Patrick. You don’t want to hurt him, do you now?”
I blinked back tears and shook my head. “No. No, I don’t.”
“That’s a good girl.”
“Help me. I don’t want to hurt anyone again.”
Daphne held me tight and smiled. “I’ll help you. Get you in control of this.”
A wellspring of hopelessness started to open up under me. I didn’t want to be this way. I wanted my old life back. But even as those longings started to surface, they were pushed aside when a human woman stepped into the room with Ignacio. The hunger surged back but I fought it, keeping in control so that I didn’t try to attack her. Ignacio returned to my side and tightly held my arm, though I didn’t fight him this time.
“I won’t hurt her,” I whispered between clenched teeth, talking more to myself than anyone else in the room.
“Good girl,” Daphne whispered.
“Command her to kneel before you,” Ignacio said.
“I don’t know how.”
“Just imagine her doing it. Paint a clear picture in your head and then push that thought toward her,” Daphne calmly instructed while Ignacio huffed beside me. I did as she instructed and the woman’s eyes immediately glazed over as she knelt directly in front of me. She even extended her bare wrist to me.
Daphne held me back when I tried to move toward the wrist. “When her heart slows and you feel her conscious mind slipping away, I want you to stop. Look at me and tell me you understand.”
It took some effort but I lifted my eyes to her fierce gaze. “When her heart slows and her conscious mind starts to slip, I stop,” I repeated.
With a smile, Daphne relaxed her hold on me without completely releasing me. I leaned over the woman’s wrist. The scent of her blood drifted up to my nose and it was the most wonderful thing I had ever smelled. Better than chocolate and clean sheets and that unexpected bouquet of flowers found on your doorstep. My body vibrated with need, but I stopped myself from burying my fangs.
“I don’t want her to hurt,” I said.
“You want her to feel the pleasure you feel?” Ignacio asked and I nodded jerkily. “The pleasure is inside of you. Imagine opening the door and inviting her in. The blood flows in to you and the pleasure flows from you into her.”
Holding those two instructions in my mind, I sank my fangs into her vein and a moan of pleasure rumbled in my throat as her blood flowed in. I opened the door in my mind, willing the woman to feel the pleasure as well. It was only when the woman moaned that I knew it had worked. I drank deep, while a small part of my mind listened to the steady rhythm of her heart. As soon as the beat slowed down, I pulled away, turning my wide eyes up to Daphne for approval.
Laughing, she pulled me close, wrapping her arms around my shoulders. “Very good. You did marvelous.”
I looked back at the woman to find her blinking a bit sluggishly and looking around. I’d lost my
hold of her mind, but Ignacio was already swooping in and ushering her from the room. Leaning back against the wall, I rubbed my eyes.
“I don’t know how you do it,” I said with a groan. “There’s so much to concentrate on. Their mind, their heart, giving them pleasure, making sure you don’t take too much, and then if you’re out in public, I’m sure you’re also worried about your surroundings and someone finding you.”
“You don’t think about it,” Daphne said with a smile.
“How?”
“It becomes instinctual after a time. Like driving a car. There are a hundred things you need to be aware of while driving but you don’t actively think about all of them all the time. No, you’re busy singing along to the radio. Feeding will be like that soon.”
“You’ve given me a good lesson so far. If you could just teach me how to wipe their memory, I’ll get out of here.”
“You’re not leaving,” Ignacio announced as he accompanied in another male human.
“But you said—”
“If you leave now, you won’t survive,” he said. He released the man and came to stand by me. Taking my hand, he helped me to my feet and then released my hand, motioning for me to approach the human, but I shook my head.
“I’m good. I’ve had enough.”
“No, you haven’t. The hunger is the worst during the first two weeks. Feed more now to have more control when you arise tomorrow night.”
That sounded like really good logic. And while I didn’t feel particularly hungry, my body certainly wasn’t rebelling at the idea of sipping some blood from this poor human. Glancing over at Daphne, who had also released me, I was reassured by her smile.
Ignoring my companions, I followed the instructions that they gave me and fed just as they had taught me. It was all going well until the man groaned and wrapped his tight arms around me. I jerked away and flew across the room in a panic. Blood oozed down his neck, soaking into his T-shirt while he blinked, coming out of the spell.
Ignacio chuckled while taking control of the man’s mind. He licked the wound, lapping up the blood freely flowing, and seemed to heal it. “Their response is normal. The pleasure is almost always sexual for them, even if it isn’t for you. Just remember that you are in control of their mind. You can tell them to not touch you.”
“Thanks. I was … just surprised,” I stammered.
Ignacio led the man out of the room while I walked to wall where I had sat earlier and slid to the floor. I felt better, far better than I had in days, but a fine trembling had started in my hands. Despite the fact that I was no longer tired or edgy, my mind was now completely clear and I was struggling to deal with the fact that I was fed from humans to stay alive. I would no longer quickly microwave a meal while working on a project or dip through the drive-thru on my way back to my apartment. Every night, I would need to venture out and find some poor prey to drain for a pint.
Daphne settled on the floor beside me, draping her arms over her bent knees and ventured a small smile. “It gets easier.”
“Feeding?”
She shook her head. “No, accepting this new life. It gets easier.”
“Thanks.” I closed my eyes for a second and leaned my head back against the wall behind me. As I settled my mind, I opened myself up to the sounds and movements around the house. The last human had been shown to the backdoor and was stepping outside. I could sense Ignacio moving back toward the stairs to return to this room. There were three other nightwalkers in the house, down on the first floor. I had questions on the tip of my tongue, leaving me dying to ask Daphne how I could sense these things and more… but I was out of time.
My eyes opened when Ignacio pushed the door open again. “Time’s up,” I whispered. Pushing easily to my feet, I extended my hand to Daphne. “Thanks for your help.” Daphne took my hand, letting me pull her to her feet again, but it was Ignacio who spoke up first.
“You’re not leaving yet.”
I frowned at Ignacio. “I thought you wanted me out of here.”
He shrugged, the ghost of a smile playing at the corners of his thin lips. “I have no love for the Coven. If keeping you here thwarts their will, I can stomach your presence for a while longer. Besides, you need help.”
There was no question about that. In less than an hour, I’d learned more about being a nightwalker from Daphne and Ignacio than I ever did from Stefan. He gave me information, but had purposefully kept it vague as if he were trying to protect the nightwalker world from me. Well, those days were over because it was now my world as well.
I shook my head, unsure of whether I should accept their generosity. “I don’t want to cause you any trouble.”
“We’ll kick you out before the Coven ever looks for you here,” Ignacio reassured me.
I could accept that. My troubles with Stefan and the rest from Venice didn’t need to include anyone else. Something told me that most nightwalkers didn’t much care about who got caught in the crossfire of a private war.
Feeling sated and a little more at ease in my new body, I accompanied Ignacio and Daphne back down to the first floor where the other nightwalkers I had sensed were keeping up the appearance of lounging across the sofa and chair. They were trying very hard to appear as if my presence didn’t interest them, but there was a tension filling their frames despite their absolute stillness. It was the same stillness that possesses a jaguar an instant before it strikes.
Daphne broke the tension with bubbly introductions to the other three nightwalkers. I was understandably nervous meeting Amélie, but shrugged it off. It’s not like all the French nightwalkers knew each other. At least, I certainly hoped that wasn’t the case. Mahek was cautiously pleasant, as if she couldn’t decide whether she wanted to ignore me completely or just kill me so I wasn’t a potential threat. Locke said nothing. He didn’t move, didn’t blink, when we were introduced.
With Daphne’s help, I told the long story of my encounter with the nightwalkers in Venice, though I did try to filter out most of the information regarding my fledgling relationship with Stefan. I told them of what little I remembered regarding the murder of the poor woman, which was nothing; my trial before the Coven; my new position as Mira’s pet; my kidnapping; and my murder. Daphne was kind enough to fill in bits and pieces of what I’d told her in my earlier panic.
Ignacio leaned up against a wall, his arms crossed over his chest. “Fucking coven,” he muttered, shaking his head. “You’ve been used.”
“I figured that out,” I muttered under my breath. “My concern is by whom and to what purpose. My guess is that someone was attempting to get at Stefan, but to what end? Why is someone trying to hurt Stefan?”
“Why wouldn’t they?” Mahek said with a little shrug. “Stefan controls a seat on the Coven. Hurting Stefan, destroying him, would free up a seat on the Coven.”
“But there’s already a free seat,” I reminded them.
“And Stefan isn’t the biggest hurdle seated on the Coven,” Ignacio chimed it. I lifted my eyebrows at the nightwalker, prompting him to continue. “That would be Mira.”
“Because she’s the Fire Starter?”
Ignacio nodded and the other nightwalkers in the room seemed to shrink a bit into themselves, as if just the mention of Mira sent a chilling wave of fear through the room. “And the last time you were seen in Venice, you belonged to Mira.”
“So you think my kidnapping was a strike against her?”
“It’s possible,” Daphne added. She plopped gracefully down on the floor, leaning her back against the couch, so that her shoulder was leaning slightly against Amélie.
“But Vanko said that I was stolen away to protect me from Mira.”
Mahek gave a little snort. “Yeah, I wouldn’t trust a thing that he told you. It sounds like everything that came out of that nightwalker’s mouth was a lie to manipulate you.”
I had figured as much, but there was so little that I knew as truth. Hell, I wasn’t sure what I did know for certain.
There had to be something. My mind kept circling back to Stefan. He cared for me. He was worried about me. He didn’t want me to be hurt. At least, I hope all that was true. But I wasn’t sure.
In fact, it could all be wishful thinking on my part. I had been kidnapped, murdered, and brought back from the dead. Would it all be for nothing if Stefan didn’t love me? I didn’t want to know the answer to that question.
Daphne clapped her hands together and rose to her feet again in this quick blur that was unsettling. “I think that’s enough,” she exclaimed, smiling broadly at me. “We’re not going to settle shit tonight and you need more training.”
She started out of the room, heading back toward the kitchen. I glanced over at Ignacio, who only gave a little shrug. Daphne was right. Training was better than sitting on my butt wasting brain power on the schemes of the Coven and their groupies. I needed to focus on taking care of myself first and worry about the Coven second.
Daphne grinned up at me when I joined her in the backyard a minute later. Looping her arm through mine, she pulled me along as we headed back down the street and toward downtown Jedrzejow.
“Let it go, Erin,” Daphne said after the third block.
I smirked at my companion. “You reading my mind?”
“I can’t. Been trying since I first met you and I can’t read your mind,” she admitted with no embarrassment. “Your maker teach you that before you off'ed him?”
“No. He could read my mind.”
“Probably because he was your maker. Your maker tends to have a lot more control over you. Good thing you got rid of him fast.”
“Do most nightwalkers ... you know ... ?”
“Kill their makers?” she supplied with a little giggle that disappeared a second later as her expression sobered. “No, probably not, though most would like to. Nightwalkers aren’t generally very nice to each other, and few actually like their maker. There are some exceptions. Mahek liked hers, but another nightwalker killer her maker.”
“Oh, so you’re not usually this nice to other nightwalkers,” I said, grinning over at my new friend.
Her loud laugh danced through the cold as she leaned against me in a somewhat drunken stumble that completely belied her agility and speed. She played the part of the carefree human very well. “No, I’m not.”
Stefan (Lost Nights Series Book 1) Page 18