Wicked Soul

by Nora Ash

  I would never, ever get over the heartache of losing him. I’d known that even when I left. But even this pain was infinitely better than risking his life by my presence in it. I just wished… I wished I could hear his voice one more time.

  Before I even realized what I was doing, I was stumbling around the trailer, looking for my old phone. I turned it on, after a bit of drunken trial and error. I hadn’t had it turned on since I left Chicago, and a new voicemail flashed up on the display as soon as it flicked on.

  It was from the day I left.

  Breathing deeply, I pressed it.

  * * *

  “Don’t do this, Liv. Please, my love. Please don’t do this. Come back to me.”

  * * *

  It was like a punch to the gut. The agony in his voice as he spoke those few words radiated through me, tearing open the wound in my chest as I gasped for air.

  I didn’t think as I pawed at my phone, searching for his number. I needed to know… I had to know that he was better now, that he wasn’t in pain anymore.

  My heart thumped hard in my chest while I waited for the call to connect, every ring increasing my need to hear him. What if he wouldn't pick up when he saw my name flash on the screen? What if he hated me now? What if he'd gotten a new number?

  “Liv?”

  The smooth, soft voice floating into my ear sent a shudder of pain and pleasure through me, and I choked on a sob, pressing it down.

  “Liv,” he said again, and then there was a long silence while I breathed raggedly into the phone, wishing he would say my name again. Hearing him say it after so long felt like what I imagined a crack addict felt like after getting their first fix in a month—laced with heartache, of course.

  "Please, just tell me you’re safe."

  The plea in his tone tore at me, making me gasp from the ache in my stomach. Oh, he was not okay. He was in pain too. Pain I’d caused him.

  "Please."

  “I’m safe," I whispered.

  He exhaled into the phone, into my ear, and I couldn't hold it together anymore. Just as he spoke again, I hung up, disconnecting the call and turning off my phone. I sank down to the floor, curling up around my old phone and cried until I fell into a restless, drunken slumber.

  * * *

  I was predictably really hungover when I woke up the next day, but I had to meet Maggie at nine. So instead of curling up and pretending like the world had stopped existing, I crawled around my small living space, showering and drinking as much coffee as I could fit in my stomach while I studiously avoided looking at the phone that was still laying in the middle of the floor.

  I’d heard his voice, and all it’d done was rip open every aching wound with the knowledge that he hurt too… and there was nothing I could do about it.

  I couldn’t return to Chicago. I knew, deep down, that even if I told Warin I was a witch, he wouldn’t hurt me. He would be furious, no doubt, but the connection between us was too strong for even age-old hatred to stand between us.

  But the one thing that could… the one thing that kept me away even as everything in me ached to just jump into my car and drive until I hit Chicago, was the risk to his life.

  A world where Warin was still alive, even if I couldn’t be with him, was infinitely better than a world without him.

  But…

  Without thinking about why, I bent to snatch up my old phone, shoving it to the deepest recesses of my overfilled handbag, before I rushed out the door to meet up with Maggie. For once, getting yelled at for being a failed witch would be a welcome distraction.

  * * *

  My shift at the diner ended at ten p.m. that evening, and since the small trailer park I lived in was just a mile down the road, I walked back to save on gas. It was a relatively balmy evening, and the sky was clear, letting the stars above shine like they never did in Chicago, and I very determinedly forced back thoughts of what sitting on Warin’s skyscraper this time of year would be like.

  A small “thud” sounded from the road behind me, startling me out of my morose thoughts. Before I even managed to tell myself that it was probably just some clumsy, nocturnal animal, I heard the very, very last thing I'd expected:

  "Found you, Snack.”

  I spun around, automatically clutching my handbag in front of my chest—because of course this was a mugging situation—and saw a tall, eerily familiar figure looming in the middle of the road, hands casually thrust into the front pockets of his tight jeans.

  “Aleric?" My voice broke in disbelief.

  His eyes narrowed slightly, and I shivered at the cold expression in them. "Oh, good, so you aren't suffering from amnesia."

  I gaped at him. "W-wha..?"

  "That would be about the only excuse I'd accept from you. And since that isn't the case, I get to do this the fun way." He removed his hands from his pockets, a predatory edge to his posture.

  Gulping, I slowly backed away. "Look, I don't know what you're doing here, but I'm sure Warin wouldn't want you to drain me, no matter how bad things ended!" Quite the cowardly move to throw Warin’s name at him, but when faced with a lethal predator, you really just try anything.

  He snorted and then started stalking me, copying each of my steps backwards with a cocky saunter, cold eyes never leaving mine. "My brother is rather dumb when it comes to you, you little cunt. So I will do what he failed at. No one denies a Waldlitch, especially not an insignificant human like yourself."

  I gasped at the insult, which was really not the thing to get upset over at this time, as I was fairly certain I only had moments left to live.

  He smirked at my reaction. "Ooh. You don't like that name?"

  "Please, Aleric," I said, changing tactics. "I'm sorry for what I did, leaving him, but I thought you'd be happy. You wanted me gone, didn’t you?”

  "Oh, I'm ecstatic." The smirk slipped off his face, leaving blankness and those icy blue eyes.

  I swallowed hard as he hunched just a tad more, muscles contracting in that tell-tale way I'd seen on nature programs when a feline was seconds from jumping their prey.

  My instincts took over and I spun around to run.

  Which was, of course, borderline idiotic. He caught me before I took more than one step, pulling my back into his chest, lifting me off the ground.

  "Now, now," he purred into my ear. "You don't wanna be doing that, little Snack. I'll forget why I'm here." He trailed his nose along my neck, inhaling deeply, and I shuddered and went rigid in his grasp.

  "Please," I gasped. “You don’t understand—“

  “Oh, I understand. And in a moment, so will you,” he hissed into my ear, and then everything blurred for a few seconds until we were off the road and in the middle of the small bit of woodland that lined the trailer park.

  The tall vampire lowered us to the ground in a sitting position, still with my back pressed against his chest, easily immobilizing my attempts to kick at him and wriggle away by throwing a long leg over my thighs, crossing down over my knees. I might as well have tried to kick off a mountain range. He simply ignored my flailing arms, not even deeming them enough of an annoyance to pin them.

  And then his bleeding wrist suddenly appeared in front of my face.

  "Drink."

  “No! Are you insan—mmph!”

  He didn’t wait for me to finish my protest, and pressed his wrist hard against my mouth—which I instantly clamped shut, lips tightly pressed together.

  Sighing, he grabbed my nose with his free hand, pinching off my air supply. “Why must you be such a difficult pet?”

  I tried to thrash my head to breathe, but he didn’t release his grasp. Eventually, I had to gasp for air, and instantly, I had his bloody wrist in my mouth, thick liquid filling my mouth.

  I coughed and sputtered but he kept his arm in place, ensuring that I swallowed everything, until my struggle became more frantic as I was choking from the lack of air.

  Aleric let me have a moment to cough and gasp before he bit into his wrist agai
n, pressing it right back.

  Not wanting to have my nose pinched shut again, like some child not wanting to take her medicine, I didn't close my lips this time, but I did bite him as hard as I could. Unfortunately, that just got a pleasured groan from the asshole, so I quickly let go, allowing the blood to drip past my lips.

  "There's a good girl," he purred, a husky note evident in his tone. "When I'm done with you, there will be no more running away, ever again."

  I growled angrily against his arm, to absolutely no avail as gulp after gulp of his heady, dark life essence passed my throat. The fact that Aleric moaned during the entire process, his excitement hard and evident against my back, made the whole experience quite a bit more rapey than being force-fed blood really should have been.

  Aleric bit into his wrist three more times, making me drink until the wound closed, and I was getting quite woozy.

  When he finally released me, I felt pretty buzzed.

  "You psychopathic asshole!" I gasped, spitting out what little of his blood remained in my mouth.

  “Brave words, little Snack.” He got up effortlessly, hard eyes staring me down. “You’re lucky I’m here to fetch you. I’d much rather snap your neck.”

  I rolled over on my back, my legs too oddly energized to want to corporate to get up. The night above me was alight in colors, and I could make out the energy sparkling within every single leaf on the bushes and trees above us. I vaguely remembered Warin mentioning that too much of his blood would “intoxicate” me, and boy had he been right. I was so high.

  “Warin sent you for me?” I asked as I rubbed against the earth beneath me. It felt so good, like being embraced by the planet. "Did he ask you to fucking blood-rape me, too?" I looked up at Aleric. He seemed aglow with the source of life itself.

  "Ooh!" I breathed. "You're pretty! A pretty sociopath!"

  Aleric sighed. “No. He’s been stubborn as a goddamn mule. Wouldn’t look for you, wouldn’t want me looking for you. Whatever you said to him must’ve been pretty fucking convincing, so well done you. Now get up. We’ve got a long trip. Who the hell runs away to Kentucky, anyway?”

  “Oh.” I frowned up at the glowing night sky. “But if he didn’t… send you…? Why are you here?”

  The vampire crouched down by my side in a smooth movement. Long, strong fingers grasped my throat—not tight enough to block off my air supply, but hard enough that a spark of worry made it through my drugged-out haze. Ice-blue eyes bored into mine, and in them I saw hate… and mind-numbing fear. “I am here because I don’t have a choice. He won’t live through losing you again. So you’re gonna get your ass back to Chicago, you’re gonna grovel at his feet and beg for forgiveness… and you’re gonna stay with him. And if you don’t, if you ever so much as think of running again, I’ll find you. And I will murder every single person you have ever cared about in front of you, slowly and painfully. Got it?”

  “What do you mean, again?” I asked, choosing to ignore the disturbing threats of violence. My buzz helped.

  His full lips pinched into a narrow line. “Do not concern yourself with matters you are too dimwitted to grasp.”

  “You’re such a dick,” I said, smiling peacefully at him. “I can’t go back. I’m a witch. If anyone finds out, and he tries to protect me, he’ll be a target.”

  Aleric’s eyes widened in shock, then narrowed into slits as his hand against my throat tightened a bit more than was comfortable.

  Belatedly, I realized what I’d just done. But even through my dawning realization that I’d fucked up, my buzz kept me calm. “Well, shit.”

  “Why are you always such a fucking thorn in my side?” he hissed. “What kind of a witch?”

  “The terrible kind.” I shrugged awkwardly, his hand making the motion difficult. “I can’t seem to get it right.”

  “I mean, what do you do? Potions, energy, necromancy…fucking tarot cards? What?” he growled.

  I wheezed a laugh. “If I’d been a necromancer, your ass would be sooo screwed. I can do an energy-blast thingy. Well, I can sometimes do an energy thingy.” I lifted my hands to mimic a blast.

  Aleric finally released my throat with a low groan and scrubbed both hands over his face. “Fuck!”

  “That’s why I left,” I said. “I got a letter saying someone knew what I was… and if I didn’t disappear, they’d make sure Warin was targeted for shielding me. I didn’t want to leave. I love him so, so much. He can’t die for me, I won’t let him. So… I came here. He’s safe now.”

  “He’s not safe, you stupid, ignorant bloodsack.” Aleric lowered his hands so he could glare at me. “He needs you. I can feel him, here.” He pressed a closed fist to his chest. “He was hollow for eight hundred fucking years, he was numb—but he was safe. Until you waltzed back into his life. And now… now all I feel in our bond is pain. You did this to him. And you are going to fix it. There is no other way.”

  “But the letter.” I blinked up at him in surprise at the agony crossing his features. I’d not seen Aleric this animated before. “My powers...”

  “Suppress them,” he said, his face sliding back into a cool mask. “Don’t ever mention them again. Don’t ever think about them. I will find the one who sent you that letter. Until then, don’t mention them to Warin.”

  “But I—“

  “No! He’s too blind when it comes to you—he’ll declare war on every fucking Ancient on the continent in a bid to keep you safe. He can’t know until the threat is gone. If you want him safe, you’ll do as I say.”

  I sighed, defeated. Whatever else I may have thought of Aleric, as I looked up at his glowing features, I knew that in this one thing, our goals aligned. We wanted Warin safe at all costs. “Okay. But… Aleric?”

  He arched an eyebrow at me.

  “How did you find me?”

  "I traced your cell phone, you idiot. The moment you turned it on, the GPS in it alerted me."

  “Oh. I’d imagined something… I dunno, a bit more mystical.” I rolled around on my belly, sniffing the ground beneath me. It smelled amazing, so full of scents I didn't recognize.

  “I won’t need a GPS anymore. Remember that.” Without warning, he hoisted me up by my jacket, and I squealed and laughed at the floating sensation.

  "Humans," Aleric sneered from somewhere above me.

  “Aleric?”

  “What?”

  “Did you make Diva tell me all those awful things about vampires? About the stalking, and that you can’t feel love?”

  “Well, well. Not as stupid as you look,” he mused, finally placing me down on my feet. I stumbled, but managed to keep upright.

  “I just don’t… why did you try to scare me away from him, when now you’re saying he needs me?”

  He sighed. “I hoped he didn’t.”

  “Aleric?”

  “Gods, you’re a fucking nuisance!” he hissed.

  “Who’s Thea?”

  The irritation on his face drained away, leaving blankness in its stead. “You heard.”

  “You and that dick… was it Zeth? Yes.” I frowned, trying to focus through my high. “‘Eight-hundred years’ always comes up. And he said that name… did he think I was her? Who is she?”

  Ice-blue eyes locked in mine. “She is no one. And you will never speak her name again. If you want Warin happy, if you want Warin safe… you will never mention her name, and you will never again speak of what you heard that night. Zeth is not someone to be trifled with, and if he hears of that name coming from your lips… You will die.”

  27

  Aleric did not book me a first-class flight from Kentucky to Chicago.

  Instead, I spent four hours shuddering in his grasp as he flew us, vampire-style, high above the ground at speeds that made my eyes water if I tried to peek out from his shoulder. It was the least comfortable road trip of my life, and by the end of it, I was so cold I wasn’t sure I’d ever warm up again. My only consolation was that Aleric had had about as much fun as me, since
I spent the whole trip bitching about how horrible the ordeal was.

  But when we finally landed in Warin’s back yard, my discomfort and irritation faded to white noise as butterflies the size of bald eagles swarmed in my stomach.

  “What if he doesn’t want me back?” I whispered as I stared at the mansion.

  Aleric rolled his eyes and put a hand on my shoulder, shoving me forward. “Then you’ll beg until he does. Now move it. It’s been a long fucking night, and I’m getting hungry. You took a lot of my blood, and your neck’s been in my face for hours.”

  I’d give him that—the dude knew how to be motivating.

  I scrambled forward, forcing my stiff and cramping legs to keep up with Aleric’s much longer strides as he walked me around the front of the house and rang the doorbell.

  A moment passed before the door opened, and Carina stared at us, eyebrows raised in question.

  When her eyes landed on me, her blank mask fell.

  “Thank the gods,” she whispered—and then she did the least vampirey thing any vampire’ had ever done in my presence: she pulled me into a tight hug.

  “Uh, hey,” I croaked, awkwardly putting my hands on her shoulders to return the gesture. “Is Warin in?”

  “The Lord is in his study,” she said, finally putting me down inside the grand foyer. “Come—he will want to see you straight away.”

  I let her drag me through the foyer and down the hallway, casting a bewildered look at Aleric over my shoulder. But the tall vampire didn’t pay me any more mind as he strode into the mansion and headed for the grand living room. Apparently, his job was done.

  “Carina, how… how has he been?” I asked my blonde companion.

  She glanced down at me. “He has been… like he was before.”

  “Oh.” I felt terrible for the flicker of disappointment in my gut at that answer. It wasn’t that I wanted him to suffer, far from it, but after what Aleric had said I’d expected… well, the same kind of heartache I’d been dealing with. “Well, that’s good.”