“But that was almost two centuries ago!” Jamie turned to look at Claudio’s face in an attempt to understand why he sounded and looked so confused. Claudio’s expression was a mix of anger, confusion and pity. “What happened?”
Jamie sighed. “I don’t really enjoy dwelling on it . . . the basics of the story are that there was a girl who came to my home, butchered my family, kidnapped me . . . took advantage of me—” Jamie turned to glare at Claudio when he heard him stifle a laugh. “It is not funny . . . I’m scarred for life.”
Claudio covered his mouth, almost choking on his drink. He shook his head. “Sorry,” he breathed through his laughter, coughing to help calm himself down. “My apologies. It’s just, you rarely hear a man state that a woman took advantage—”
“Well she did.” Jamie gave Claudio his most unamused expression. “Anyway, while I was wherever the girl took me, a man showed up, cut his wrist, forced me to drink his blood, then forced me to sleep . . . like that.” Jamie pointed to Claudio’s sleeping woman. “Then I woke up like this, and I haven’t seen either of them since.”
Claudio furrowed his brow. “That is unusual,” he stated. “I’ve never met anyone who Turned a person for no apparent reason. We tend to only Turn those with whom we’ve formed an attachment.” He tilted his head, watching him with sceptical eyes. “You hadn’t met either of them before that night?”
Jamie shook his head. “No.”
Claudio stared straight ahead, as if contemplating what that might mean. “Why look for your Sire now? After all this time?”
“I didn’t just start looking now,” Jamie stated. “I’ve been looking for centuries.”
Claudio laughed as if he found that amusing. “And after so long you finally decided you might be in need of some assistance?”
“I would have welcomed assistance at any time, but tonight is the first time I’ve managed to find other Vampires.”
Jamie could sense the disbelief rolling off Claudio in waves. “You’ve never met another Vampire?”
Jamie shook his head.
“Not even one?”
Jamie was about to respond with a no, but stopped himself when he remembered that technically he had met another Vampire before. “Just the one I Sired,” he stated. “Though, as you can guess, I wasn’t much help when it came to teaching her as I was just figuring things out for myself.”
Claudio nodded. “And where is she now?” He looked around as if trying to spot someone he didn’t recognise.
Jamie sipped his drink. “She died.” Claudio gave him a sympathetic look. “I’d rather not go into detail.”
“Of course,” Claudio said. “I understand.”
He let a shaky breath before getting back to the reason why he was here. “So, my Sire . . . do you think you could help me find him?”
“That depends, did he at least introduce himself before he Turned you? Do you know what he looks like?”
Jamie nodded. He would never forget the face of the last man he saw with his human eyes. “His name was Aleczander.”
“Aleczander!” Claudio spoke the name as if he were shocked. A few of the people—Vampires—sitting nearby as well as the bartender turned their heads to look at him. Jamie looked at each of them in turn. Wondering why they were staring at him. Claudio moved his stool closer to Jamie’s so that there was barely a foot of space between them. “Describe him to me!” he ordered.
Jamie moved his chair back slightly, he didn’t like it when people came too close to him. It always made him feel uncomfortable. “He was maybe the same height as me, brown eyes, light red hair, he had it long and I believe he was German.”
For some reason what he’d said was extremely amusing, because it made Claudio laugh. Loudly. “And the girl?” he asked. “Was she perhaps five foot tall, long brown hair, big green eyes, about fifteen years old?”
“You know them?”
Claudio laughed harder. Which caused Jamie to not only be confused, but extremely annoyed. This man obviously knew who he was talking about, and was laughing hysterically instead of giving Jamie the help he was seeking.
The other man must have seen the expression on Jamie’s face, because he stopped laughing and excused himself. “Pardonnez-moi. It’s just that I know those two quite well, and I would expect such behaviour from Victoria, but Aleczander has always abhorred what he is, and for so long has enforced the laws against Turning humans with no cause. And then you say he Turned you. A boy he had just met. And not only that, but he abandoned you.”
“And my abandonment is funny?” Jamie couldn’t help the aggression in his voice. “Do you not realise how difficult it is to wake up disorientated with no idea as to what’s happened to you, or where you are, or what you are? To not understand yourself anymore, and have no one there to help you through it.”
Claudio’s expression sobered. “I didn’t mean it like that,” he said, his tone regretful and apologetic. “It wasn’t my intention to offend. Turning is difficult for everyone, it takes at least a year to fully adjust, I can only imagine that it would be twice as hard to have to do it alone.”
Jamie let a sigh. “Can you help me or not?”
“Not,” Claudio stated. “It would be highly irresponsible of me to allow you access to Aleczander when you clearly hold some resentment over him Turning you. For all I know, the reason you want to see him is because you want to exact revenge. And if he were any other Vampire, I would allow it. But with Aleczander I cannot.”
“Because he’s your friend.”
Claudio’s smile was almost bitter, he shook his head. “Aleczander is our king.”
Jamie raised an eyebrow. “King? . . . There’s a king?”
Claudio laughed. “Yes. He is in charge of keeping us in line. He protects us in exchange for our obedience.”
“Great.” Jamie stood up. He put a fiver on the countertop and slid it in the bartender’s direction. “Keep the change.”
Then he turned and walked towards the exit, not bothering to say goodbye to Claudio or thank him for his time. He pushed through the black curtained door to the candlelit reception area. Usually he would have made an effort to be polite to other people, but after that conversation his mood had soured so much that he stormed past Heather, completely ignoring her as she spoke to him.
He pushed through both doors, leaving himself back in the seedy alleyway.
Jamie had spent so long wishing for the day he would find others like him, but at this very moment, he wished that he hadn’t even bothered. He’d spent almost two centuries alone, what was the point in trying to change that now?
“I can’t tell you where he is.” Jamie turned to see Claudio emerge from the hotel’s doorway. “But I can tell him where you are.”
“You can?”
Claudio smiled. “I’m not completely unhelpful you know.” He handed Jamie a phone. “Put your number in there. I’ll pass along a message to Aleczander, the odds are he’ll call you eventually, whenever he has the time.”
Jamie took the phone out of Claudio’s hand and typed his number into the contact directory. “It may not be for a while, so you’ll have to be patient.”
Jamie nodded. “I’m used to being patient. A while longer won’t kill me.” He gave the phone back to Claudio, who put it into his pocket.
“Speaking of which, you never answered me . . . what is it that has you so shaken?”
Jamie stared at him. Although he was a Vampire like Jamie, he felt no kinship towards the man like he had always thought he would when he found other Vampires. Instead, he felt distrustful of him.
“We take care of each other,” Claudio stated. “It’s how we survive. If you have a problem it could quickly become everyone’s problem, so tell me. Perhaps I can help.”
Jamie sighed and shook his head. “It’s nothing really.”
Claudio smirked as if he didn’t buy it.
Jamie shrugged. “It’s just a girl.”
“Isn
’t it always?”
Jamie laughed a little. “There’s just something off about her.”
Claudio furrowed his brow. “Off?”
“She’s just . . . at first I thought that she was human, but then I felt her inside my head. She was trying to manipulate my thoughts. And she was strong, but . . . After that I thought that perhaps she was a Vampire, but her heart beats, she breathes, she’s out in the daylight and sleeps at night.”
“What’s her name?”
Jamie paused for a moment, unsure as to whether or not he should give Sam’s name to a Vampire. What if he tried to hurt her?
Claudio chuckled as if he could read Jamie’s thoughts. “I’m not going to steal her away. I’m asking because perhaps I’ve heard of her.”
Jamie nodded. “Her name is Sam . . . uh, Samantha Jacobs.”
Claudio immediately reeled back, his expression filled with fear. “Stay away from that girl.”
“Why?” Jamie asked, confused as to why Claudio seemed so terrified. Sam’s abilities were perplexing, but they were nothing worth fearing.
“She is cursed.” Claudio stepped towards Jamie and placed a hand on his shoulder, gripping him tightly. “Sorcière.” He shook his head. “If you want to live, you stay away from her, or you will be cursed too.”
“Cursed?” Jamie took a step away from the man, he was obviously insane. “What do you mean cursed?”
“Listen to me.” Claudio walked towards Jamie, not allowing him to back away. “Understand what I am telling you. Samantha Jacobs is poison. Everything around her dies. Everyone. If you value your life, you will stay away. Do you understand?”
Jamie nodded his head, his eyes wide as he stared at the Vampire.
Claudio let a sigh of relief. He backed away from Jamie, nodding, mouthing the word ‘good’ under his breath. “I’ll pass your message along to Aleczander. He’ll be in contact.”
Jamie watched as Claudio turned from him and walked back inside. He stood alone in the alleyway for countless moments, replaying the words Claudio had spoken again and again. Obviously he was paranoid. People couldn’t be cursed.
He remembered what Heather had said about Claudio being one of the oldest Vampires around. So he must have been from a time when people believed in such superstitions.
Jamie shook his head as he started walking home. Sam was unusual. She could do things that she shouldn’t be able to do. But to believe she was cursed was insane.
Obviously there was another explanation.
There had to be.
CHAPTER 25
It was the last Saturday before school was due to start, which meant that Sam had to spend most of the day dragging herself around the mall, searching for all of the back-to-school necessities.
Like every year before, Jack was supposed to accompany her, to keep her amused and awake while she wandered through the stores. But before she left the house, he’d claimed that there were ‘things’ he needed to do. And he hadn’t stuck around for long enough to tell her what exactly those things were.
As a Ghost, she would have assumed that he didn’t have anything better to do than to spend all of his time haunting her. It wasn’t as though he had any friends to hang out with and it wasn’t like he had any physical needs. So as she wandered lifelessly through the mall Sam found herself unable to do anything but wonder what exactly Jack was doing right now.
With a sigh, she blinked hard and gazed around. In her dazed state she had walked right past the book store. Without pretending she was lost—or pausing to put on an act for the people around who were sure to stare at her as if she were an idiot—she turned around sharply, startling the woman who had been walking near her, and walked back the way she came.
She stepped into the book store, and walked straight towards the stationary section, where she picked up some pens, notebooks, pencils and other school stuff such as highlighter pens and Post-Its.
Once she had picked up pretty much all of the items she needed and placed them in her shopping basket, she wandered over to the fiction isles where she spent countless moments staring at the rainbow of book covers.
It wasn’t as though she was looking for anything in particular, and she already had more than enough books to read at home, but it just didn’t feel right to be inside a book store and not browse through the actual books.
Sam had spent maybe five minutes staring at the books with barely focused eyes, when her vision became suddenly clear and her senses alert as though someone had just come up behind her and given her an injection of caffeine.
The fine hairs on the back of her neck stood on end as her senses registered the presence of another non-human. Without drawing attention to herself—because she had yet to find out if the other presence was here for her, or was just here—she walked at a slow pace beside the shelves. Pretending as though she was scanning the covers with little interest, before she sighed and turned towards the register.
It was when the presence behind her didn’t dim as she moved that she knew for a fact whoever—whatever—it was, was following her. She took a breath, and held her head high as she joined the line and waited for her turn to pay. Knowing that no matter who, or what it was, they wouldn’t risk exposure by attacking her in a place as populated as this.
She paid for her things and made her way out of the store, pausing for a moment by the glass door to check the reflection of the room behind her.
When she noticed him she sighed in both relief and annoyance.
Stupid Vampires, she thought irritably as she made her way out the door.
Knowing that the only thing following her was a Vampire who couldn’t take a hint calmed her down considerably and she decided to continue shopping as she had planned, trying as best she could to pretend that she couldn’t see him following her around, hoping that eventually he’d get bored and go home.
And hopefully he’d leave before she did, because one of the things she wanted to get while she was out was some new underwear, and no way was she getting those with some pervy guy watching her like a creep.
Although after what she’d originally thought had been stalking her, his presence didn’t irritate her all that much. Earlier she’d felt strange being out alone, it had been a long time since she’d left her house without another person being there with her, and to have someone following her who she knew wasn’t a threat, was oddly comforting. As long as he didn’t try to talk to her, or get himself into any trouble while he was there, she was content to let him stay.
The weather was supposed to be dreadful all day, so there was no chance of him having to stay in a dark corner for long enough for Sam to lose him and buy everything on her list; so when the clock struck five she decided to head home where she could give her legs a well deserved rest.
So she headed to the parking lot, the whole way there thinking of the many things she could do to freak him out for her own amusement.
Sam didn’t generally gain enjoyment from other people’s suffering, but it would serve him right for stalking her after she specifically told him to stay away in a fake conversation that she planted in his head.
As Sam reached the parking lot she decided to just let it go. Falling back to her original thought that he’d get bored eventually and go away.
The parking lot was virtually vacant; there were only about five cars on the level she was parked on. Sam walked toward hers, which was near the end of the lot. She pushed her shopping bags up onto her arms, freeing her hands so that she could flick through her keys to press the unlock button. The car beeped just before she reached it. She opened the trunk and put her bags inside, inconspicuously looking over her shoulder to see if Jamie was still there.
From what she could see, he wasn’t. Which meant he’d either gotten bored and gone home, or he was hiding somewhere she couldn’t see.
There was a moment when she thought about using her psychic senses to see if she could find where he was hiding, but decided not to.
Thinking it would just be a useless waste of energy.
Just as Sam closed the trunk she was hit with something.
Something that sent her flying back into the wall and slamming to the ground.
Her head smacked into the ground when she fell, but she didn’t feel any pain.
At least not until she stood up.
That was when the part of her brain that kept her vision clear decided to start doing back flips in her head. And that brought on a throbbing headache.
She looked up, squinting at the shadows with blurred vision in an attempt to see who had attacked her.
Her eyes cleared a few seconds later, allowing Sam to see her attacker sauntering toward her as if she were easy prey.
He stepped under one of the lights. It wasn’t very bright, but it was enough for Sam to make out the blood coloured marks on all of his visible skin.
A feature which she knew identified him as a Hunter.
He was one of Jack’s kin. But unlike Jack, this guy was obviously not here to be her friend. Judging by the malice in his eyes, he wasn’t even here to take her in alive. He wanted the bounty that was offered for a dead Sam.
He flashed a grin, which was probably meant to scare her. And if Sam were human, or easily frightened, or hadn’t been through this process a thousand times before with other Hunters, it probably would have. Without having to put much effort into it, her Magic began to manifest, she could feel the energy dance around her fingertips, ready to show him that easy prey was the very last thing she was.
He was edging nearer, taking his time. A simple scare tactic meant to prolong anxiety or provoke an escape attempt.
Hunters could be very malicious, and dangerously harmful. Especially when in pursuit of their intended victim. So Sam stood still, her chin raised defiantly as she gave him her best ‘bring it on bitch’ stare, waiting for him to get close enough for her to make her move.
He was closer now, and just as Sam was about to release the Magic lingering on her fingertips, someone tackled the Hunter.
He was bowled over in a flash, which moved so quickly Sam could only make out a blur. The Hunter had been hit with such force he left a giant dent in the concrete wall where he had been thrown.
Immortal Souls: The Immortal Souls, Magic & Chaos (Book 1) Page 10