by Maya Daniels
I glare at Marcus when he descends the metal stairs. Luckily, he closed the lid when he invited himself in here. Hid boots clink on each bar before splashing in the murky water when he drops, not stepping on the last two steps.
“Why exactly are you here?”
“Sebastian freaked out when he didn’t find you where he specifically told you to stay.” Curiously looking around, he ignores my bristling and plops down next to me.
“I’m not a dog. Come, April…Sit, April…Stay, April.” While I’m impersonating the jerk, Marcus laughs. “Even Mutt doesn’t follow those commands. First, he tells me a mage or a witch might try to kill me, then in his right mind, he dares order me around to sit in a closed apartment and wait for it. Sebastian can go suck on a lollipop.”
Slapping a paw sized hand on his thick thigh, Marcus howls with laughter, the tunnels of the sewer amplifying the sound. My head pulsates because it’s like a gong going off next to my ear. After listening to him wheeze and hoot for a while, my lips start twitching, and eventually I start giggling along with him.
“Well, it’s true.” Sucking in a rickety breath and wiping tears, I bite my lips to stop myself from laughing more. “I might be naïve, as everyone wants to point out, but I’m not stupid.”
“Sebastian will sooner let the Council drain him dry than allow anything to happen to you, little one. You should know that by now.” After he collects himself, Marcus turns to me earnestly.
“If it fits his plans and aspirations? I have no doubt.” Taking a long, deep breath, I blow it out slowly. “I might be crazy with a split personality and turn into a beast at night, but I’m not that far gone to not understand my situation, Marcus.” Glancing sideways, I see him watching me intently. “I’m just a chess piece to Sebastian. A pawn that he will sacrifice without a blink of an eye to achieve whatever it is he is trying to do in his game of chess. Let’s not delude ourselves, huh?”
“If you truly believe that, why are you so calm and complaisant?” The fact that he doesn’t refute my words says a lot.
“Because just like him, I have a plan, too.” Pulling my knees up, I hug them to my chest. “I’ll need help if I want to succeed. Since he is using me, I’ll use him too.” Shrugging a shoulder, I push away the heaviness the idea of Sebastian not caring brings. “It’s only fair.”
“You going to tell me about this plan?” Turning sideways, he leans back on his elbows, sprawling next to me as if testing to see how close to going nuts I am.
“I’m going to destroy the Council.” Clenching my fists, I’m happy the stench in the sewer masks the scent of Marcus.
Yup. Apparently, I’m a hussy when the monster takes over. She doesn’t care who it is as long as it’s a man. But you care. You only want Sebastian. The stupid voice starts yapping in my head.
“Isn’t that the same with what Sebastian wants?”
“You are not listening.” Turning to finally lock eyes with him, I give him a heinous smile. “I’m not going to kill the Council members and call it a day. I’m going to enjoy killing them of course, but after I’m done, there will be no Council or thrones left for anyone to take over. This nightmare ends with them.”
“And then what?” I can tell I made him uneasy, but he tries to hide it. “We will leave everyone to do whatever they want, without anyone there to hold them accountable?”
Shrugging one shoulder again, I stare at the swirling, murky water at my feet. I couldn’t care less about what happens after that. I just want the Council to pay.
“And after you destroy the Council, April? What then, little one?” He keeps prodding.
“After I’m done with them, I’m going to destr…”
My words get cut off when Marcus slaps his large hand over my mouth. Lucky too, because like an idiot, I was about to tell him I plan to destroy his Sire, as well. Outraged, I lift my hands, ready to shred him to pieces, but the intense look on his face and his gaze locked on the tunnels instead of me stills my movement. When he cocks his head to the side, I stop snarling and strain to hear what riled him up. For long moments, I hear nothing. Just when I grab hold of his hand to remove it from my mouth, a faint whisper, so low I’m not sure I didn’t imagine it, reaches my ears.
Locking eyes with Marcus, we wait for a little longer before he tilts his chin at my mouth, silently asking if I’ll stay quiet. Glaring, I smack his hand away, lifting off the ground. He does the same and points at the tunnel on our left. With a nod, I follow behind him to see who else is hiding in my sewer. I might be living in a dream penthouse now, but this is still mine. Excitement for the upcoming violence surges through me, and my fangs slide out of my gums. Oh, yes. This sewer is mine, and whoever it is will find that out the hard way.
Right before I rip their gullet out with my teeth.
Keeping to the side, our shoulders grazing the sodden walls, we stalk through the dark tunnel. There are no lightbulbs here, the pitch-black appearing as glittery gray to my eyes. The dripping of water is the only sound, apart from the murmurs that are becoming clearer the closer we get to the other side.
Marcus stops, and I place my hand between his shoulder blades, leaning on my toes to see what halted our progress. The exit is a few feet away, dimly lit by one of the lights nailed in the ceilings. A couple of shadows shift on the walls, indicating whoever is talking is very close. Speaking in such low voices means they are not human. How they didn’t hear us before we noticed their presence is beyond me. It’s not like I was trying to be quiet. The whole time I called this sewer home, there had never been anyone else here but me. Well, me and the two traitors that sold me out to become what I loathed most. Pushing all thoughts of Sara and Eddie from my mind, I follow Marcus when he glides forward.
“I told you this is useless,” a familiar voice rasps, but I can’t place it to save my life.
“Shut up and do as you are told unless you want to end up cleaved in pieces,” a bored-sounding man answers. It seems familiar, too, and it frustrates the hell out of me that I can’t recall who they are.
“If they didn’t promise me a place higher up the ladder I would’ve gone with the Italians. First, I have to babysit, and now, I’m crawling through sewers like vermin.” Growling angrily, the first person sounds angry, and my body jolts when I remember where I’ve heard them before.
Mutt saved me, so they don’t find me between the buildings the night I went looking for medicine. The two idiots were sitting above my head on the fire escape, keeping an eye on the hotel. What are the chances that the same two are here now?
“I would watch my tongue if I were you,” a smooth female voice speaks, and my skin prickles from the power that blasts the air. “Have you found anything?”
Marcus turns his head to look at me over his shoulder, wide-eyed. It doesn’t boost my confidence much. Apart from the Council, nothing else spooks him out. Well, Sebastian does, but he is a jerk and has that effect on everyone. At my questioning gaze, Marcus barely shakes his head, moving his attention back to whoever it is that joined the two idiots.
“Nothing apart from rats…and a stray cat,” the bored one says with a strain in his voice.
“Good. I will tell the others. We will be fine here for a couple of days to think of a way to proceed if Khan’s plan backfires. You should try to join the pathetic rebellion and be useful for once. Go bring me information that I can use.”
“Should we go now?” the other one asks with a whine in his voice. “We searched everywhere, no one is in this damn place. We will try again to gain entrance in the hotel.”
“You can leave after I am gone. And you better not say a word to anyone about this, or you will wish you were dead.”
Silence follows so long that I think that everyone left. When I try to move around Marcus, he wraps one of his beefy arms around my waist, pressing my back to his chest. We both stiffen at the contact; I almost snarl at him, but bubbles from ripples in the water make me swallow the sound.
“She is gone. Let’s ge
t out of here,” the bored one says, and Marcus disappears from behind me.
“Not so fast, my friend.” I watch his profile when he grins at the two idiots.
“How nice. One of you and two of us.” I’m not sure who snarls at him.
“Lucky for you then.” Marcus chuckles.
“What? I’m not allowed to play?” Leaning my shoulder on the entrance wall, I smile sweetly at the gawking idiots, seeing their faces for the first time. Both are strangely unremarkable. “I’ll stay here and watch if you like, but you’ll have to tell me who pulls your strings. And if the almighty Khan knows about it, too.”
“Like Kali gives a shit what Khan knows.” The shorter of the two—and whinier judging by all the complaining he’s been doing every time I’ve been around him—glares at me. His buddy whacks him in the back of his head, making me giggle.
“Kali and who else?” Marcus gets their attention back to him, so I glide slightly closer.
“No more talking.”
The one that always sounds bored dives at Marcus. Everything around me slows down, and it’s like watching them move underwater. Marcus bends his knees, preparing to meet the idiot in the air, not paying attention to the other guy. The sneaky little shit pulls out a wicked-looking dagger, the silver steel blinking at me when it catches the light for a second. Pushing off the wall, I lunge at him like a battering ram. My body collides with his, sending us crashing at the opposite wall a second before Marcus and the other guy slam into each other, the slapping sound of flesh hitting flesh resonating through the tunnels.
Rocks and concrete rain on my head while I grip the idiot’s wrist, keeping the dagger away from my person. Snarling, he wraps his other hand around my throat, squeezing for all he’s worth. For a moment, it feels like he is about to rip my head clean off my shoulders. Then, I feel the switch flip. His hand goes slick around my neck, and his eyes go comically wide. I have no idea what he sees, but it must be scary enough to freak him out.
The one that is fighting Marcus starts screaming in a high-pitched voice that hurts my ears. Twisting the hand that still holds my throat, the crunching sound of breaking bone sends an excited shiver through me. Taking hold of both his wrists, I lean over him, holding him down with my whole body while I turn around to see why his friend is screaming.
My heart starts thumping faster when I see Marcus fight. He moves like water. I never thought someone as muscled as he is can twist his body in that way. For every kick or punch aimed his way, he bends and twists, evading it by a hair. Every movement of his arms and legs connects with his opponent, sending the guy bouncing off the walls, limbs bending in unnatural angles. Locking his gaze with mine, Marcus snarls and sinks his fangs in the guy’s neck.
I laugh when his eyes glint with a dare. Winking at him, I let him see my fangs slide slowly under my upper lip. Turning my attention to the idiot underneath me, I give him a big grin, making him whimper. A thrill goes through my entire being a second before I strike, my teeth parting the flesh of his neck like it’s made out of Jell-O. Warm, thick blood sprays over my face and chest, forcing my hunger out like a breaking dam. After the first gulp from his life force, I know nothing more.
Sebastian
Reigning in my emotions, I hide behind my glass while Andrei keeps coming in and out. I made him spread a rumor around the hotel that I’m so weakened, him and Marcus are worried I might not pull through after my last encounter with April. Seeing me in my tattered clothing helps solidify the lie.
And now we wait.
My right fist keeps clenching and unclenching, anxiety eating a hole in my gut since I found April gone. The woman will succeed where thousands of years have not.
She will drive me insane.
“Minchia!” Fuck!
“I totally agree with that.” Andrei saunters in, a grim look on his face. “No one has tried to leave the place, yet.” Dropping unceremoniously opposite me, he rubs a hand over his face. “I guess it would’ve been too easy if they just sprinted out as soon as the news of your imminent death started spreading.”
“That is the least of my concerns right now.” Dismissing him with a wave of my hand, I sigh, leaning back in my chair and closing my eyes. “Marcus is not back yet?”
“No, but I would’ve thought that would be the last thing to bother you right now.” I see him frowning when I peel my lids open to peer at him. “You keep forgetting April is not a sheltered girl who doesn’t know what she is doing. She survived all those years on her own. If there is anything that girl knows, it is how to survive. She’ll be back even if he doesn’t find her.”
“After Eshe’s warning, I’m not willing to take chances.” My mind is swirling with all the pressure, tightening the noose around us. “Guilt makes me be too lenient when it comes to her. Like a lovesick fool, I tiptoe around her, and that may very well cost her life. She is immortal now but not fully transformed. I overlooked something…” murmuring more to myself then him, I feel the pressure building in my chest.
“We knew she would be different,” Andrei supplies helpfully.
Snorting, I lift my head to look at him. “Different, yes. Not still human. Something went wrong, and it cannot be my blood. I’m the only one that ingested her first blood. She should’ve awoken as her real self.”
The pounding on the door jolts us both to our feet. My glass slips from my hand, the crystal shattering on the wooden parquet as amber fluid sloshes over my shoes. Andrei is yanking the door open with a sharp jerk of his hand, glaring at the guardian anxiously shifting his feet at the door.
“Marcus is coming fast, he is carrying…” his words trail off when a blur pushes him to the side, slamming his shoulder in the wall.
My body freezes in disbelief when Marcus stops in front of me. He looks like he has walked through a grinder, his clothing shredded and blood coating him from head to toes. Snarling, he trembles, his entire body coiled up like a spring. Just his eyes are feverish, burning with rage and fear. But that’s not what freezes my world.
In his arms he is holding April’s unconscious body, her hair swaying and limbs lose. Her skin it graying as I stare dumbfounded and she is convulsing in Marcus’s hold, almost dropping on the floor. I have never in all my existence been shocked to the point of standing, not knowing what to do.
“What the fuck is wrong with her?” Andrei’s panicked shout propels me into action.
“What happened?” I try to snatch her from Marcus, but he snarls like a feral animal ready to bite my hand off. “Let go of her if you value your life. If she dies, you’ll wish you can join her.”
“Marcus, give her to Sebastian. He can help her.” Andrei grips Marcus by the shoulder, his fingers digging at the bunched-up muscles there.
Reluctantly, he unclenches his grasp on her, uncontrolled sounds like whimpers and growls coming from him. To avoid wasting precious time if he changes his mind, and so I don’t have to rip him apart, I snatch her to my chest. Lowering her on one of the sofas against the wall, I glance over my shoulder.
“What happened and speak fast.”
“I found her in the sewer…” Marcus speaks fast, his words a jumble of sounds until he is finished telling me the story to the part where they drained the two vampires working for Kali. “…she was laughing one moment, and the next she coughed, her eyes rolled to the back of her head, and she started convulsing. I ran here as fast as I could.”
“Could they have done something before they died?” Andrei mumbles but I’m already shaking my head.
“Go. Bring humans. It’s something in the blood she took that did this. We need to drain her, and she’ll need to feed. I’m not going to be enough.”
Having a little taste of April’s blood is one thing. I’m still not sure I can survive to drink from her. I know for sure the rest of them won't live if they tried. With that in mind, I let my claws extend and, holding her arm, I rip her brachial artery open. Precious thick blood starts spurting over both of us, soaking the sofa. My fangs t
hrob with the need to sink them in her skin and gulp it all up until she is as tied to me as my own soul. Pulling on all the control I have mastered, I clench my jaw and watch her bleed out in front of me.
Andrei disappears, barking orders before he is even out of the door. Marcus looms over my head, his hunger for the potent blood pounding into me, driving me insane. With a great effort, I block him out, the thought that I hadn’t felt his urgency before he showed up at the door not lost on me. With April rapidly going as white as a marble statue, I will have to look into it later. If she lives. She will live! Snapping myself out of the frantic thoughts, I continue to keep an eye on the blood flow. I must get her to feed, or she will die within minutes.
I watch the blood pump out of her arm with each heartbeat, like a finger pressed over a running hose, mesmerized. Jabbing an elbow in my back, Marcus jars me out of hunger’s call, and I blink twice, coming from my daze. The shuffling of feet sounds at the entrance of the penthouse but I ignore it all. The gash on April's arm is closing, and I tear into my own wrist with my fangs, bringing it to her blue lips.
“Bevi, mia redenzione, prendi ciò che ti offro liberamente!” After saying it for her ears only, I keep repeating it in my mind. Drink, my redamation. Take what I freely offer. I keep saying it over and over like a prayer. The blood fills her mouth and runs out of her lips, coating her jaw, neck, and her spread out hair.
She doesn’t drink.
Panic squeezes my chest like a metal vise, insanity creeping up slowly from the darkest corners of my mind. If I lose her, I will lose myself. I know it as I know my own name. The Council will seem like cute puppies compared to what I will become. That power that kept growing since I took the blood from our matron curls up in my chest and purrs like a hungry beast. No! I will not lose April, nor will I lose myself.
“Drink.” Gripping her neck in my hand, I start massaging her throat, hoping it’ll prompt her to swallow.