The fact that Bruce got along with Pierce, despite the things Jack had heard about his past with Katie, was a little galling. Jack sipped at his wine, feeling more like the odd man out than ever. He headed back to the kitchen, wondering what it said about him that his first reaction was to attempt to hide.
His head was still pounding, despite the amount of alcohol he’d downed in an attempt to mitigate his bloodthirst. The last thing he needed was an encounter with a suspicious wizard while he was strung out and craving a proper drink.
“Jack?” Ryoko followed him into the kitchen, stepping in close beside him. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” he said. “Just a little tired. Can you make sure the guests are tended to? I might be absent for a bit.”
Or far longer, depending on how the next few minutes played out. Ryoko stared at him for a couple of seconds before kissing him on the cheek and returning to the party.
Pierce didn’t take long to find him. He walked over to Jack without looking at him, as though his presence was incidental rather than the reason for him being there.
“You’re Jack, right?” asked Pierce. “Katherine told me about you. I’m Pierce.”
He smiled and extended his hand. Jack shook it, and he was a little surprised when Pierce opted to take the high road and not engage in the classic, alpha male, death grip standoff.
“She only told me that you were going to be here a few minutes ago,” said Jack.
“Yeah,” said Pierce. “I asked her not to give you any heads up. But I suppose she could have told you days ago, if she really wanted to give you time to flee.”
“Is that what you expect me to do?” Jack locked eyes with Pierce. “To run away?”
“I don’t know you, Jack,” said Pierce. “I don’t know what you’re capable of. Nightwalkers, in my experience, tend to be a little… unpredictable.”
Jack held the other man’s gaze, considering whether the judgment might be warranted, in his case.
“Is there somewhere more private we could go to talk?” asked Pierce. He flashed a perfect smile and shrugged, seeming totally comfortable in the situation.
“Of course,” said Jack. “Follow me.”
CHAPTER 3
He led Pierce back through the party and into the foyer. Both Katie and Ryoko shot glances their way as they passed by. Ryoko looked concerned, but in a cautious, reserved kind of way. Katie looked like she was ashamed almost past the point of being able to hold it together. Jack tried not to think too much about what that meant.
He brought Pierce down into the basement and made sure the door was firmly shut behind them. Pierce didn’t hesitate for even a second before following him down the stairs. Jack wasn’t sure if that made him unusually brave or incredibly stupid.
Jack oriented himself so that he had his back to one of the wine racks, with Pierce standing across from him. The positioning would leave him able to slip into the darkness around the edge of the room using his Shadow Form spell if he needed to escape. And if he needed to fight, well, the basement was nearly soundproof, after all.
“I came here tonight to talk,” said Pierce. “I hope I was clear about that earlier.”
“I’m listening,” said Jack. “Start talking.”
“There’s no need to be hostile, honestly,” said Pierce. “This might be the first time we’ve officially met, but I know of you, Jack. I knew of you back before your current… predicament.”
“Katie told me that the two of you were old friends,” Jack said dryly.
Pierce grinned and gave him a knowing look.
“She told me the same about you when I talked to her earlier in the week,” said Pierce. “She certainly does have a type when it comes to her, ahem, old friends.”
“Get to your point,” said Jack.
“I knew your grandfather, too,” said Pierce. “I studied under Peter. I guess what I’m saying is, I understand the uniqueness of your circumstances. Why Katherine ended up in the role she did. It’s horrible, sure, but it does make a certain amount of sense when you can see the big picture.”
“You didn’t fly out to Lestaron Island to talk about how understanding you are,” said Jack.
“You are correct about that,” said Pierce. “Tell me, Jack. And be honest. How far gone are you?”
The question caught Jack a little off guard, despite how he’d pushed Pierce into asking it.
“What do you mean by that?” he asked.
“How many people have you killed?” asked Pierce. “Katherine mentioned at least one incident with bodies. I need to know the full extent of the damage here.”
Jack glanced away from him. The question didn’t offend him or get under his skin. He wasn’t haunted by the lives he’d taken, not in the way that he felt like he was supposed to be. The only thing that bothered him about the question was that he didn’t actually know the answer to it. He’d done enough killing to have stopped keeping track.
“I’m not going to downplay it,” said Jack. “I’ve killed a fair number of people. They’ve all deserved it. At least, so far.”
The words felt strange as they left his mouth, almost as though someone else was speaking them. He’d felt the same sensation on a regular basis over the past few days. That feeling of looking in the mirror, or catching himself doing something, and realizing that he’d changed into someone he wasn’t sure he recognized anymore. Someone dangerous.
“I didn’t come here to judge you.” Pierce held up one hand, as though warding off the unspoken accusation. “You’ll understand soon enough. Now then. The maid upstairs. Katherine said you were involved with her on some level. Did you enthrall her?”
“No,” said Jack. “I didn’t.”
He’d gone to great lengths to make sure of it, sending Ryoko to bug Katie for more anti-enthrallment potions on a weekly basis so that he could “safely” bite her. It felt almost like keeping contraceptives on hand for sex.
“That says a lot about you,” said Pierce, with a nod. “Right. The last thing I need to know before I explain why I’m here is who gave you the Embrace to begin with. Who is the vampire that turned you, Jack?”
Mira. His broodmother. Jack hesitated, feeling her name on the tip of his tongue. What loyalty did he owe the vampire who’d tricked him into letting her into his home and given him the Embrace against his will? None. So why did it still feel so wrong to reveal her connection to him?
“Relax, Jack,” said Pierce. “I already know the answer to this one. Katherine was rather forthcoming when I spoke to her. The fact that Mira is your broodmother is why I’m here.”
Jack gritted his teeth, feeling the frustration he’d felt toward Katie earlier bubbling back to life. She had no business telling his secrets to her “old friend.”
“I don’t like where this is headed,” said Jack. “If you expect me to betray her or lure her into a trap for you, you can fuck off.”
“If only it were that simple.” Pierce grinned and shook his head. “No, Jack. What I need from you involves deception and subterfuge, but no betrayal. Well, not really. My sources have informed me that Mira will soon be arriving on Lestaron Island. She’s coming to see you, and to ask you to travel with her to meet with the Jade Circle.”
Jack felt a few of the hairs stand up straight on the back of his neck.
“The Jade Circle?” he asked.
“They’re an ancient vampire clan,” said Pierce. “To be honest, I don’t know much about them. Nobody does. But the one detail that is of interest to me is the fact that sometime over the past year, they came into possession of Zedekiah’s Scepter.”
Jack slowly shook his head.
“This doesn’t mean anything to me,” he said.
“It’s a magical artifact,” said Pierce. “There are lots of rumors circulating about exactly what it can do and how powerful it is, but the only thing you need to know is that recovering it would be a huge boon for the Order.”
“That’s why you’re here,” sai
d Jack. “You need a vampire to infiltrate the Jade Circle and steal it.”
“Exactly!” Pierce clapped his hands together and threw a punch into the air. “See! We’re on the same page!”
“Not so fast,” said Jack. “This doesn’t sound right. From what Margaret told me, the Order of Chaldea has a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to ‘nightwalkers,’ or whatever you call us. You expect me to believe that the Order is willing to put their trust in me? When I could just go along with this plan, steal the artifact, and then decide to keep it for myself, if I wanted?”
Pierce scowled at Jack and rolled out one of his shoulders.
“Well… that’s the thing,” he said. “The Order of Chaldea doesn’t exactly know about all of this. Margaret technically reports to me in the hierarchy, and I wanted to have this little chat with you before reporting the details of her case further up.”
Jack stiffened at the implication of what Pierce had just said. He’d assumed from what Margaret had told him that the Order of Chaldea, as an entity, was aware of him as a threat. But Pierce had apparently kept the knowledge to himself. One of the most pressing problems in Jack’s life could be solved by simply making Pierce… disappear.
No. Pierce was technically innocent. And Margaret, who had left Lestaron Hospital and returned home a few days earlier, was also aware of Jack’s existence. It wasn’t that simple. But that didn’t mean that Jack didn’t still have a choice about how to play his cards.
“What if I said I’d rather take my chances?” he asked. “To be honest, I don’t trust you, Pierce. How do I know you won’t betray me once you’ve gotten this staff, or scepter, or whatever?”
“You don’t,” said Pierce. “Though with your devil-may-care attitude, I suppose that the threat of the Order of Chaldea storming through your front door doesn’t mean much. In that case, I ask that you think of Katherine.”
Jack narrowed his eyes and resisted the urge to clench his fists.
“Katie has nothing to do with this,” he said.
“She was both helping and hiding you, Jack,” said Pierce. “It’s part of the reason why I’m attempting to salvage this situation in the first place. If the Order of Chaldea catches wind of you, she’s going to be implicated in your crimes.”
Jack took a step forward, and then circled around to the side, blocking off Pierce’s sole escape route.
“That isn’t going to happen,” he said.
“I sincerely hope that wasn’t a threat,” said Pierce. “Jack. Think about what you’re doing.”
Jack reached his hand out to the side. Despite the brisk pace he’d been burning through his blood essence over the past few days, he still had enough left to fuel at least a couple of spells. He focused his essence, letting his will and intention shift into a specific form. He cast Spectral Sword, conjuring his ethereal, dark blade within his grip.
Pierce sighed. “So be it, then.”
CHAPTER 4
Pierce stomped his foot against the ground. Several of the cracks between the stones of the basement floor began to glow with bright white light. An instant later, Pierce’s entire right arm flashed as a spell rippled over the cloth of his windbreaker.
It looked as though he was wearing a turquoise-green sleeve of pure magic. Colors rippled across the outer shell of the shield spell coating his arm, shifting in a way that was reminiscent of the surface of a soap bubble. Pierce wiggled his fingers, demonstrating how the green shield moved to match the arm underneath.
Jack twirled his Spectral Sword in a side-to-side flourish that he’d learned from a Kendo website the previous week. It wasn’t the only thing he’d learned, and he felt confident as he fell into one of the basic stances and stared Pierce down from over the tip of his blade.
Pierce grinned. Jack got the distinct sense that he wasn’t opposed to fighting, despite his earlier attempt at securing Jack’s cooperation. He held his shielded arm out in front of him as though it was a weapon in and of itself, then pivoted forward.
Jack swung his sword in a quick downward slash as Pierce entered his range. The blade struck the turquoise shield on Pierce’s arm and reverberated back as though he’d tried to cut through a steel pole. Pierce surged forward, but he didn’t attempt to attack.
Instead, Pierce grabbed the edge of Jack’s sword with his shielded hand. Jack realized what the other man intended an instant too late to stop it. Pierce pulled the blade to the side and spun, swinging his left leg into a spinning kick that struck Jack hard in the ribs.
It was a powerful attack, but Jack was no ordinary human. He felt a stab of pain as Pierce’s shin bone connected with his rib cage, but it wasn’t enough to knock him off balance, or even steal his breath. Jack had the strength and speed of a vampire. He welcomed a brawl, if that was what Pierce had in mind.
He let his Spectral Sword dematerialize, which took away the control that Pierce’s grip on the blade had offered. Pierce spun back, still smiling. He dropped down to one knee before Jack could close the distance to him and extended his shield-covered palm in his direction.
“Sorry about this, Jack,” muttered Pierce.
The spell was instantaneous and didn’t appear to have any obvious visual component. A wave of force flung Jack directly backward with the strength of a runaway train. He struck the stone wall behind him hard enough to knock the wind out of his lungs. Hard enough to crack the stones, if the plume of dust that shot out to either side of him was any indication.
Jack felt his chest screech with pain as he took a breath. Pierce had caught him off guard, and now it was his turn. The spell had pushed him toward the edge of the room. Into the darkness that hugged the corners and walls.
He focused his blood essence, letting it flow through the tips of his fingers and toes, and cast Shadow Form. A wavering, dissolving sensation rippled across his skin as he went incorporeal, becoming a part of the shadows.
Pierce hesitated, though Jack now saw him through his silhouette in the darkness, rather than with his eyes. He watched as Pierce took an uncertain step forward and then spun around in a complete circle.
“Really?” called out Pierce. “I cast a single spell and you run away?”
Jack materialized in the darkness directly behind the other man. He waited for the span of a couple of heartbeats before dropping into a crouch and hurling himself forward.
Pierce let out a gasp of surprise as Jack wrapped his arm around his neck. He grabbed at Jack’s elbow with his turquoise-shielded hand, trying to use his magically strengthened fingers to pry the headlock loose.
“You should never underestimate your opponent,” said Jack.
“Ne—” choked Pierce. “Nei…ther… should you.”
Pierce’s other hand came loose from the pocket of his windbreaker holding a small object that reminded Jack of a wedding ring box. Pierce used his thumb to flick it open before Jack could stop him, and the room was flooded with obnoxiously bright light.
And not just any light. Sunlight. Jack felt his vampiric abilities being instantly stripped away from him. He tried to tighten his grip, but Piece slammed an elbow into his stomach before he could manage to put enough pressure on the other man’s neck.
Jack fell backward as Pierce spun out of his grasp. He felt another kick collide with his rib cage in almost the same spot as the one he’d endured earlier. He coughed, surprised by how much more it hurt this time around.
“It’s called a sunstone,” said Pierce. “A rare artifact in its own right. If the Order of Chaldea had more of these, enough to weaponize them, then your kind would have gone extinct a long time ago.”
Pierce took a step forward. Jack could barely see him through the painfully bright light of the stone. The fight would soon be over, and they both knew it.
The door at the top of the basement’s stairs opened. Surprisingly, Pierce swore under his breath and closed the box holding the stone. It took Jack’s eyes a moment to readjust to the illumination of the room, but when they did, he saw Mayo
r Stinson walking down the stairs with a frown on his face.
“Jack?” asked the mayor. “Is everything okay down here? We heard some noises from upstairs.”
Jack rose up to a sitting position and did his best to look casual. Mayor Stinson had a pensive expression on his face, and he shifted his attention back and forth between Jack and Pierce.
“Ah,” said Pierce. “Jack was just, uh, giving me a tour of his extensive wine collection. Right, Jack?”
Jack nodded slowly. A bottle had fallen loose on the ground next to him at some point, and he scooped it up in one hand and did his best to act as though it had been his purpose for being on the ground in the first place.
“We got into a few bottles,” said Jack. “I think both of us have had a little too much to drink.”
Mayor Stinson’s expression shifted into a curious smile.
“Is that so?” he asked. “Well, I suppose I’ll leave you boys to it, then.”
Jack waited until the mayor was upstairs and the door was closed behind him before turning his attention back to his opponent. Pierce looked as though he was waiting to see what Jack would do before making his own move.
Jack took a step over to the wine rack, found the old antique corkscrew he kept on the shelf above it, and opened the bottle in his hand. He took a deep swig from it and then held it out to Pierce.
“Let’s try this again,” said Jack.
Pierce shrugged and accepted the bottle from him. He took a long drink and grimaced slightly at the taste.
“I didn’t intend to make it sound like I was threatening Katherine,” said Pierce. “I was just explaining how the situation will play out if you refuse.”
“But you are threatening Katie,” said Jack. “And me. Whether it’s your intention or not.”
“I suppose that’s true,” said Pierce. He shrugged and held his arms out. “I’m not planning on being on your island for very long. Here’s my business card, Jack. Give me a call if you decide that my offer appeals to you. Trust me, it’s a far better option than making an enemy of the entirety of the Order of Chaldea.”
Emerald Keep Page 2