by Nicola Rose
He sat in my head, seething and growling.
“Are you going to speak or are you truly a hellhound now?” I asked.
He continued brooding in silence. Some things will never change.
“It must be hard having the Bael shit all over your stuff like this, brother,” I sighed happily. “Doesn’t it make you want to grab their necks and shove them face-first into that steaming pile of shit? Because that’s what I’ll be doing. They’ll pay for what they did to Tobias—”
“Emory has given you what you wanted. You’ve nothing to complain about. You have the Legacy bond and you have me out of the picture, with my girl on her own.”
“Why didn’t you claim her?” For a moment, back at the de Monsos mansion, I’d been certain that Zachariah would finish Jess right there. Then I’d sensed her a few days later – her thoughts of me – and realised she’d got away. Sure, that was the deal he’d made with Emory, but I’d resigned myself to the fact that he wouldn’t stick to it himself. He was more monster than Zachariah now; surely nothing would stop him from claiming his sanguine mate?
The thought of her sent an unwelcome spasm through my chest. I had bigger plans to carry out now. I’d waited so long for the bond, to have a way into the rogue faction of the Bael, I couldn’t step away from that.
This was my goal, my purpose. And yet, still, she called out to me, and still… I wanted to reply.
When she calls, it burns inside my chest. She doesn’t even know she’s doing it, but it’s like a magnet pulling me towards her. Something deep within her core that resonates through mine. It’s unnatural, and it fucking hurts trying to resist it. She’s crawling around under my skin. I need so badly to scratch that itch away…
“Having a few issues with your own feelings there too, Alexander?” he snarled, snapping me back to the fact that he was still inside my head. Fuck.
“I didn’t claim her,” he continued. “But I will. That’s why I need you to keep her safe.”
“What?”
“I’ve tried getting Leon and Eva to watch her but they’re stubborn as fuck about following me around, and they’re not strong enough, anyway. She needs protection in case the Bael come back for her, but more than that, she needs protecting from me if I come back. You’re the only one I trust to be strong enough.”
“You’re asking me to go back to that shitty fucking island?” I asked slowly. “I finally get what I want and you’re actually asking me to go and take your girl for myself?”
His snarl ripped through my skull. “No, I’m not asking you to take her. I’m asking you to protect her, that’s all.”
I laughed.
For a whole minute I laughed, as he snarled.
“Oh, I’ll take care of her, alright.”
10
Jess
My breathing felt less heavy. Having Danny around and being able to talk to him about the crazy carnival of my life – it helped. Perhaps my therapist had been onto something after all. Talking was a good way to start healing. I’d never be healed, of course, not until Zac came back and fixed my heart, but maybe I could function and get through this one day at a time while I waited.
Danny was insisting that I take a job back at the firehouse. He said it would be good for me to get back on with living in the real world. Get back to work, get back to normal. As much as the idea terrified me, I couldn’t keep living off my savings. Zac had somehow managed to provide me with whatever I’d needed without me really thinking about it, and if I did withdraw cash I never gave that much thought either. I was used to hitting the overdraft when I’m on a hyper mode, then I just transfer money from my saver account to cover it and carry on.
I flipped open my laptop and went to my online account to check the damage, and nearly dropped my coffee when I saw the balance. It contained a fuck load more digits than I was anticipating, showing that a monstrous deposit was made months ago.
I slammed the screen closed and headed to the firehouse. That motherfucking vampire might own my heart but he was not going to pay me off and own me like a kept woman.
“Jess! Holy shit, Jess!” Meat grabbed my hands and spun me round. The rest of the crew gave me nods and hellos. Danny glanced at me from afar, and then continued reading a letter in his hands.
“How was the vacation, Jess?” Meat asked. “It feels like you’ve been gone for fucking years, I missed you! Did you tear Vegas down?”
“Huh?”
“Vegas! How much did you win? Oh no, you didn’t lose everything did you? You know, if you did, there’s always a bed at my place for you—” I shoved him away playfully and then he looked confused, like he was going to say something more, but couldn’t remember what it was.
I approached Danny who was standing too casually, leant against the wall, with this piece of paper holding his interest more than my presence.
“Hey, Jess,” he said, barely bothering to look at me. “Good time away?”
“What?”
“Never mind, maybe you’ll win next time. Those poker tournaments come round all the time, right?”
“Right,” I said, scrunching up my face. “Listen, about everything we talked about the other day—”
“What’s that?” he asked, bored and uninterested. He finally looked up and it was as if he didn’t even know me.
“Look, Jess, I haven’t told Meat about this letter of resignation yet, but since you’re here to empty your locker you might as well do it yourself?” He thrust the paper at me and wandered off to his office.
My vision blurred as I looked down and read the letter – my resignation letter.
I looked around the firehouse in despair. The crew went about their business. No one cared that I was there, except Meat, but he’d already forgotten and was distracted by equipment checks.
Then I caught sight of him through the front window, leaning against my bike. Fucking Alex.
A thrum of power whipped across my skin and the firehouse alarm went off. Not the one that tells you an emergency call is in, but its own fire alarms. The sprinklers turned on and everyone started running about, trying to find the source of the fire. I knew where it was, I’d felt the energy surge through me and set fire to the letter that I’d dropped in the bin. Then the whole bin had gone up in flames. It was right next to me, blazing. But it was like no one could see it, because they couldn’t see me. They wouldn’t look in my direction.
The door nearly flew from its hinges as I thrust it open and blazed a path to Alex, fire wisping around my hands.
“Impressive,” he smiled. “That’s new. What else can you do?”
“What did you do?” The fire ebbed away. I didn’t want it to go, the power in my skin felt incredible, but it was already slipping. Why the hell had I still not learnt to control this?
“I did what I had to. Rule number one in vampire land, darlin’ – don’t go letting the humans know about the beasts in their neighbourhood. You fucked up, I fixed it.”
“You absolute bastard! I need someone to talk to! I can’t deal with all this shit alone. You took my best friend from me, and now you’re selecting what my only remaining friend can know? Danny acted like he barely even knew me just then. And what’s with the motherfucking letter of resignation?” I coughed at the end, bringing my voice back down from the shrieky level it had reached.
“I needed to plant something solid in their heads to explain why you’re back again, after being missing. But not really back, you know? You didn’t still want that job, did you?” His smile was so relaxed, it made my blood boil.
“I need Danny in my life. He was helping me.”
“I could make him hate you. I could make him pack his bags and leave the island. I could dispatch him entirely. The possibilities are endless. Be grateful that I went so easy on you both. Next time, I won’t… so I suggest keeping your lips sealed from now on. You can talk to me.”
A crazy laugh escaped my lips.
“What the hell are you even doing here? You got w
hat you wanted. Don’t you have some grand master plan for world domination?” I pushed his shoulder until he relented and shrugged away from my bike.
“Don’t worry, that’s coming soon. But I have other matters to attend to first.”
I refused to look into his eyes, because every time I did I felt like I was going to fall in. Fall into his lure, like a little spider in his web.
It was then that I noticed the bright sun bearing down on us, and Alex’s lack of appropriate vampire clothing. His muscle vest left a lot of skin – perfectly chiselled and inked – on display. No hat, no glasses, and not a wisp of smoke or appearance of discomfort.
He grinned, and I huffed.
“You’re not the only one who’s been learning new tricks. This sun-walking thing is pretty epic, no?” He was astride his own motorcycle now and gesturing for me to get on mine. “Follow me. Your lessons begin today.”
“What lessons?”
“Your education on what a fucking fraud Zachariah is. So you can stop pining after him.”
“Fuck you.”
He sighed. “I’m your new babysitter, Jess. Get used to it, because we’re going to play this game by my rules. Either follow me, or I go tinkering with Danny’s mind a little more.”
“Why don’t you just mind-control me into following if you’re so good at it? In fact, why haven’t you already done that before, to lure me into the cave you crawled out from?”
“You sound disappointed?”
I scoffed. Was I disappointed? Fuck this.
“I’ve tried, actually. It appears there’s a limit to how much I can achieve in your head. That’s incredibly frustrating, and a huge turn on at the same time. Although, maybe now that I’m all suped-up on witch juice it’ll be easier…” he paused, waiting for a reaction. “No. I’ve been giving Zachariah’s methods some thought and he’s right… you’ll taste so much sweeter when you come to me of your own accord.”
“How would I even know if you made me do stuff against my will?”
His grin had me wanting to slap him. “I guess you’ll have to trust me. Now follow me. Please.”
During the short journey I tried to think of all the different ways that I might succeed in killing Alex. I knew he could hear the thoughts, I could see his shoulders shaking each time he laughed, and then he’d shake his head slowly with mock disapproval. Fucker.
Seriously, what was he doing here? Zac said all Alex wanted was the Legacy bond, so he could be all mighty, epic, and blood-thirsty. Wasn’t he supposed to be out of control like Zac? He didn’t seem any different to normal. Why had Zac supposedly turned into such a monster and Alex hadn’t?
I followed him down a gravel driveway, my thoughts still lost, when we pulled to a stop and I realised we were at Zac’s house.
“What is this?” I asked, taking off my helmet.
“This is where I show Zachariah’s band of merry men who is now running this damned island,” he muttered, storming towards the mansion. Three of Zac’s men appeared in the doorway, their hands up in surrender. More of them pooled out through the door and onto the veranda. Those that didn’t have their hands up had their fangs out in a threatening way. They pulled their clothes around them, ducking their eyes from the sun.
“You have exactly five seconds to start running,” Alex said, “before I start killing.”
Most of them took off in a lightning flash, blurring into lines of colour as they tore down the driveway. Two remained, defiant, guarding the door. I couldn’t remember their names. They’d always seemed quite close to Zac, but those who’d been closest were not here.
Alex chuckled and clicked his neck. Slowly he brought his hand out in front of him and flicked his wrist. One of the vampires let out a brief grunt as his head whipped round and his neck snapped. The other one exchanged a panicked glance with me, but before he could react further Alex had flicked his wrist again and he slumped to the ground.
“Jesus, Alex, what—” I began, but lost my voice when he turned to look at me and I saw the blackness in his eyes, the usual sparkling blue replaced by shadows and rage.
“Be grateful I didn’t explode them. It’s a cool trick, but fucking messy.” He moved up the steps and grabbed the two vampires by their shirts, dragging the limp bodies inside. I thought only decapitation or losing all their blood could kill a vampire? Maybe these two would come around…
“Sure, they’ll come round,” Alex spoke, his voice no longer clear, but deep and rasping. He cleared his throat. “I need a minute,” he grunted, and disappeared before my eyes. Usually, I could see a blur when a vampire moved at speed, but this time there was nothing. Literally. One minute he was there, and then he was gone. Perhaps he wasn’t so unchanged by the Legacy after all.
I didn’t know where he went, and I should probably have used that as my cue to escape, but being there, in Zac’s house – my heart hurt. It fucking hurt, and it swelled, and the pain was kind of good. I felt close to him, for the first time since…
I shook my head. I hadn’t lost him. He’d be back. Once he’d sorted his shit out. I wandered through to his room and lay on the bed, breathing in his scent on the sheets. Vaguely metallic. I rummaged in the nightstand and found a packet of mints, putting one in my mouth. He never admitted it, but I was pretty sure he kept a constant supply of these so that his breath wouldn’t smell of whatever he’d eaten. Or so he wouldn’t taste of it when my tongue swept across his.
“You done reminiscing on the good old days?” Alex asked, leaning in the doorframe. His eyes were back to normal, shimmering with a playfulness that surely didn’t belong on a vampire. Not one like him.
“You ran his Cell off the island. Congratulations. Would you like me to swoon at your mighty display of power?”
He cocked his head, gnawing his bottom lip. “There’s plenty of time to get you swooning later. First, come see this.”
He turned away and of course I followed, though I nearly turned back when he got hold of the two limp vampires and dragged them along with us. Opening a door, he hauled the lifeless bodies downwards as if they weighed nothing. Each thunk of their bones hitting another stone step made me cringe.
We reached the bottom and found a metal door in front of us. I glanced back up the dark steps. Why had I not noticed the door leading down here before? Maybe I’d always assumed it was just a cupboard or something, but it was a basement. I thought harder on it. Had I seen this before? I seemed to recall noticing the door, now that I really thought about it; but during those times I’d swiftly forgotten about it and moved on. A memory came to me, of standing there and wanting to ask about it, but then it went hazy.
“Motherfucker! Zac said he’d never messed with my mind,” I gasped.
Alex snorted.
Then he took one of the vampire’s hands and yanked him upwards, pressing a fingertip onto a scanning panel on the wall. It beeped and the door opened with a heavy click.
Why did Zac have a high-tech room with fingerprint scanning access?
Alex stepped through, dragging his prey with him, and I cautiously followed. A woman and two men were seated in one corner. As soon as we entered they shot to their feet and lined up against a blank wall, heads bowed, hands clasped in front of them. The smallest guy shuffled awkwardly and glanced up at us, his teeth chattering, whispering something under his breath.
“What is this?” My skin prickled, like when you watch a creepy movie.
“It’s Zachariah’s kill room. Well, technically that’s through the next door,” he nodded at another scanning panel on the far wall. “This is his blood bank.”
“His what?!”
The people lined up against the wall murmured and exchanged anxious glances. I quickly assessed the room and noted an open doorway to the side, the room beyond only large enough to house a couple of filthy mattresses on the floor. Another doorway, open because there wasn’t even a door on the hinges, revealed a toilet that looked hideous. The smell of old piss caught up on my senses and I
gagged.
Alex sighed and yanked a vampire body over to the far end of the room. He quickly got frustrated with the bulk of the body as he lifted the finger up to another scanning panel – and so, with an irritated groan, he cracked the bone and ripped a finger free from the hand.
“That’s better,” he smiled, opening the other door and then pocketing the finger.
I stared at him, wide-eyed, and the skinny man starting crying. Alex gestured impatiently for me to pass through the metal door. I forced my feet into action and found myself in what could only be described as a wet room; black tiled floor and walls, a drain, and a tap with a hose.
Everything felt wrong. Emory’s rooms at his mansion had smelled of fear and death, the wrongness pressed against all your senses – this was different, and yet the same. My knees felt weak, my hands clammy.
“Is this… do they…?”
“Mhmm,” Alex mused, surveying the room and nodding his head. “They bring them in here to feed. It’s clean I suppose. A little too clinical for my liking, but each to their own, and hey – my brother is the saint, right? He’s a good boy, this isn’t wrong at all?” His eyebrows rose, waiting for my response.
“I don’t know what point you’re trying to prove. These people are murderers, right? I knew Zac killed murderers. I have no sympathy for them.”
“No? Look at them!” he yelled, suddenly pulling me back through to the first room. “They’re shells. Terrified, beaten into submission, and they’re skin and bones. And who says they’re murderers?”
He pushed me towards them and they flinched. “This one,” he said, shoving me into the skinny guy’s face, the stench of sweat and piss attached to him. “He was manslaughter. He crashed his car during a moment of distraction and killed someone. But does he deserve this?”