vampireinthebasement

by Crymsyn Hart

  Tris stared at the empty space where his angelic commander had been and waited for some reprisal to come down on him right then, but it didn’t. Instead, all he felt was a dizzying emptiness with Joe’s words. He sank down the wall until his ass hit the floor and he stayed there, staring ahead of him because the shock had not worn off yet. He was going to be kicked out of the Fallen. Joe was not even going to kill him, but he was going to let him descend into Lucifer’s pit and become one of the Grigori; that was the one fate Tris was trying to avoid. He opened his wings and stared at the feathers. He did not see that they were falling off, and he could not see any patches of leather in his wings where there had been some before, the first time he had almost given himself up to Caillech’s twisted views, and he had almost succumbed. If it had not been for Joe giving him that second chance, then he would have been dead, or one of the ones Daniella was serving.

  As he thought about the vampire he was meant to protect, he felt his heart hitch. All the things he said to her had just slipped out. He realized that he did not mean them. Well, he meant them at the time, but that was a different part of himself talking, one he thought he was finally working through because he had been opening himself up to Daniella and seeing parts he thought he had lost so very long ago, before he had even become a Fallen. Apparently that was not the case. He was still worse off than what he realized, and maybe he had not tried hard enough, because he did want to be with her. He thought of how her tiny form fit in his arms and how wonderful she smelled. Daniella’s laugh lifted his heart. Her attention to him made him realize how much he had become focused on only killing. He had been steeped in death for so long he had forgotten the light. Daniella wanted to explore the world. They might not have gone anywhere, but he had told her stories of the places he had seen. Tris had walked around the yard and showed her plants from all over the world. As he told her stories, it was as though he was seeing them all again for the first time, and that thrilled him. It had been a long time since he had felt that excited about anything, and he wanted more of it. He wanted more of her. The realization hit him hard. His mouth had gotten him into trouble. She was gone. He had lost her. All his dark thoughts came crashing down around him, and he had slung accusations at her without thinking of consequences. The spot still ached where she had hit him. Tris cursed himself. She’ll never forgive me now. What have I done?

  “Tris, have you seen Horatio?”

  He glanced up from the protective covering of his wings and saw Hesphital standing midway down the stairs staring at him. He pulled his wings back so that he could focus on the other angel. “No. I haven’t seen him since before Joe came down here with me. What do you need him for?”

  “Something we need to plan. He’s not in the house, and I can’t find Daniella either.”

  Tris got up. “So? He probably took her out. I’m sure she needed to get away from me after what happened.”

  “No. It’s more than that. I can’t sense him at all. He’s gone off the radar, and he never does that.”

  “You three are joined at the hip. Maybe he doesn’t want to be disturbed, and that’s the reason you can’t sense him.”

  “We might not hunt together much, but you and Lori are the same as we are, joined at the hip, and with him gone, can’t you sense the hole that’s within you?”

  He thought about it, and what Hesphital said was true. Tris should have been able to sense where his connection was to Lori, but that was blocked. He had not thought about it for the past two weeks because he thought that his friend was off on an assignment for Joe. Even now, he could not sense Lori, or even the space where he had occupied. He had not realized it before. Why hadn’t he been able to sense him or not sense him? Was Joe right? Was he really losing himself a little piece at a time? He shook his head. “No. I can’t even tell that he’s being blocked.”

  “Then we have a big problem.”

  Tris nodded. They certainly did.

  * * * *

  “Look what we have here. You had no trouble bringing her, then?”

  Daniella paused, slipping the hood from her face. It can’t be. Balthus. She looked around the room they had appeared in. Horatio stood next to the same chair that she had first met her Grigori master in.

  “No trouble at all. I had to get her completely alone and gain her trust. That was the easy part.”

  “It took you long enough,” the cold voice of her master said from the chair. She could only see the top of his head. He did not rise to greet her; instead, the frigid aura he personified blasted around her. The sudden pain that shot through her body forced her to her knees.

  “Forgive me, Halliel, but getting her alone was the tough part. Tris has become quite enamored with her, but now I’m not so sure.” Horatio ran his fingers along her cheek.

  She turned her head from his grasp and spit at him. “Get away from me! I trusted you.”

  “Of course you did. Who would believe that I, one of the great vampire hunters, would ever do anything to go against the Fallen?”

  “Why? Why would you betray the others? They’re your friends,” she stammered, not believing what she was hearing.

  “They’re not my friends. They think they are because they were told to be. Even when they came down from Heaven and were cast out, they didn’t get much of a soul, much of a choice to do things. At least I know what I’m doing here.”

  “And what is that?” Daniella asked.

  “Stop your questions,” the Grigori ordered.

  Daniella wanted to say something else, but her mouth was forced shut when the full power of the Grigori came down upon her. She glanced around and saw Marlon blending in well with the wall, standing by the doorway. Her eyes widened, but he put his finger to his lips and gestured for her to not draw attention to him. She nodded slightly and turned her attention back to what was going on around her.

  “What did you find out?” Halliel asked to Horatio. “Why has the Fallen taken an interest in her?”

  “It appears that one of her relatives was a succubus and mostly because she’s part angel.”

  “Angel.” Balthus squeezed her chin gently. “I knew there was something different about you when I first saw you. What a catch.” He smiled that satisfied grin he did after a kill.

  It irritated her now. She had never seen it before, but being away from Balthus and the rest of the nest for so long now, she finally understood that she never truly belonged with them. All she craved was to be wrapped in Tris’s arms. Yet he no longer wanted her, so that was out of the question. He probably did not know where she was or even that Horatio had taken her. Daniella was at the mercy of whatever they were going to be doing to her. If she could cry then, she would have, but she could not give up hope.

  Halliel rose from the chair, and the temperature plummeted all around her. This time, it was even more intense than what it was the last time she had met with him. The others did not seem to be affected by it. She saw his dark hair and his pale, chiseled features. He was dressed in a well-tailored suit she assumed cost several thousand dollars. Daniella had seen the gambit in the strip club she used to work in. His dark hair was cropped short and his cheekbones angular. The Grigori wore a red shirt with a black tie underneath the black suit. It was his eyes that caught her. They were the palest blue she had ever seen, with only a ring of black showing his pupils. Halliel stared straight through her. He bent down and slipped a finger underneath her chin. Once he touched her, all her free will was sapped away. Daniella rose, even though her mind fought against it. All that went through her mind was the pact she had sworn when she was first made. She had to obey her master. Staring at him, she understood how he could be an angel. But the longer she looked at him, the more she saw underneath the façade. Where there was porcelain skin, it was really dried and stretched over his bones. The manicured fingernails hid claws. Halliel’s tailored suit was nothing more than a mass of tattered fabric, but she could see dark wings that were supported by a hunched back. His eyes were d
ark and soulless. Tris’s eyes had looked like that back in the basement, when he thought she was the one who had betrayed him.

  The pressure his finger exerted on her started to burn, but not from heat; it was ice cold, and it scorched her insides. “You’re so very beautiful. Feeding off the angel these past couple of weeks has brightened the angel in you. I can see it now. I couldn’t before. You truly are a remarkable find. And you’re going to do anything I wish of you, aren’t you?”

  Daniella gritted her teeth. Everything in her screamed to say yes, but she gathered every ounce of strength and defiance she had in her and uttered one word. “No!”

  The Grigori blanched and lost his composure. If the others noticed, she could not tell because he made his face a perfect mask once more and forced a smile. “She’s a feisty one, Balthus.”

  “I’m sorry, Master. She wasn’t so defiant the last time I saw her.”

  “It’s not your fault. It’s all the angel blood in her. It’s awakened the other side of her. I would almost say she has the beginning of wings, but being a vampire, that would never be possible.” The Grigori rubbed her chin harder, holding it between his thumb and forefinger and scrunching it together. A small moan of pain came from her lips the harder he squeezed. He lifted her off her feet and peered into her eyes. His breath was a blast of cold air on her face. With his other hand, he pulled back her eyelid and studied her. He snarled and threw her across the room. “She has a soul! She’s no use to me with a soul.”

  “How can she have a soul?” Balthus asked.

  Daniella landed against the far wall and heard her head crunch from the impact and felt the pain. She glanced over to the doorway and saw Marlon kneeling beside her. He leaned in close so his mouth was pressed against her ear. “Do not fight with him. The angel’s life depends on it. Do you understand?”

  She was not sure she could speak and wondered why he was helping her. So she nodded, a slight movement of her head.

  “Good. Hold tight.”

  “Marlon, what are you doing?” Halliel inquired.

  “Only making sure she was okay, sir,” Marlon replied.

  “With a soul, she’s no good to me now. Let Horatio have her for a pet.”

  “That would be wonderful. Thank you,” Horatio answered.

  “Sir, if I may, she is valuable to you even with her soul. Think about what a rarity it is to have a vampire who still has a soul, and she’s almost an angel. Her soul is a powerful bargaining chip. You, of all people, can give her that spark of life she needs to become human once more. If you do that, then she’ll be tied to you even more. It would show the great one how powerful you are. Think what her destiny was originally supposed to be. She’s more than a Nephelium and not quite an angel,” Marlon explained to the Grigori.

  Daniella could not believe what she was hearing. Was it possible for her to become human once more? Could she regain that lost part of her life? Was it even something she wanted? Even if it was, she did not want to be tied to the Grigori. She would rather deal with Tris and his bulling. She sighed and tried to figure out what she was going to do. Should she listen to Marlon? If there was a way to save Lori, then she could at least do that and pray that he would be okay to show Tris that she was trying to help out.

  Her head tingled where her scalp knitted back together. Halliel stared at her and rubbed his chin. “This is true. Lucifer would think it’s amazing to have an angel under our command. It would show how powerful I am. And you, Horatio, would be the one to break her. Could you deal with that?”

  Horatio beamed. “Of course, my Lord. Anything to please you and show my worth.”

  “What about me, sir?” Balthus asked.

  “You get to rebuild your nest for my amusement. If it wasn’t for Horatio, you would have been wiped out the first time the hunters went to the warehouse to retrieve Daniella. It was good enough I told him to warn you. Now go!” Halliel dismissed the older vampire with a wave of his hand. He turned to Marlon. “Go. I’ll call you when needed. Horatio, go get the Fallen one you brought me. I want you to see what it means to embrace being one of us. Once you’ve taken the final step, you will be by my side.”

  Daniella wondered what the final step was. Horatio smiled and exited the room. Once Horatio left, the façade around the Grigori vanished and she saw his true nature underneath all the pomp and circumstance. The illusion was well played, and actually seeing him in the flesh was far worse than what she had imagined. Halliel’s skin was stretched over his bones, where she could see the muscles underneath it. What appeared to be the beginning of horns and scales protruded out of various spots on his face. When he unfurled his wings, they were tattered leather. It was tough to believe that he used to be an angel.

  “You must have really charmed that angel in order to get him to fall in love with you.”

  “He doesn’t love me,” Daniella answered.

  Dark laughter filled the room. “He does love you if he’s allowed you in his bed. I almost had him, you know. Tris was so close to becoming one of us. Soon Horatio will join our ranks, and you will call him Master. You’re tainted goods. He can break you in. I’m not sure it would be a good idea to return your humanity to you. It might be too much for you to handle, and do you really want to go back and be human after everything you’ve done and learned about yourself?”

  “It’s better than serving you.”

  Halliel chuckled. “Maybe, but aren’t you curious about what it is that will make Horatio mine? Or maybe how you’re going to lose the one who you’ve aligned yourself with? Don’t you want to see the final transformation? It is a thing to watch; I’m sure you would find it interesting.”

  “Go to hell!”

  He threw back his head and laughed. “My dear, I’ve already been there, and it’s amazing. You’ll learn to enjoy it too. Once you’re broken in, you’ll see what you’ve truly been missing. Right now you’re only on the fringes of the shadows. You haven’t even begun to see the real darkness. Once you bathe in it, let it wash over you, you won’t ever wish to be human at all, and whatever angelic tendencies that have emerged in you will fall away. I see the succubus too, but you would make a wonderful avenging angel.”

  At that moment, the door opened. Horatio came back, dragging Lori behind him. There was a rope around his neck, and he was not even fighting. It seemed he was a limp doll. There was nothing to the man that she once knew. His skin was loose, and even his wings dragged behind him, leaving a trail of feathers. Horatio brought him to the center of the room and dropped him there. Lori did not even move when the other angel walked away from him.

  “He’s already broken,” Horatio said to the Grigori.

  Daniella crawled over next to him and touched his hand. His eyes fluttered. Before she could do anything else, she saw a shadow move swiftly and then felt the leather of a boot hit her jaw. Pain exploded before her eyes and then she knew nothing more than darkness.

  Chapter Seven

  Tris heard a knock on the door and swore under his breath. Now was not the time for some traveling salesman or a girl selling cookies for some troupe they were in, although he was a sucker for those thin cookies covered in chocolate that tasted like mint. He smiled at the thought, and it helped to lighten his mood. But it did nothing to alleviate the idea that Lori was still missing, Daniella was gone, and Horatio had also disappeared. Hesphital was looking for the other H to see if he was also feeling the same thing he was about Horatio and not responding to them. His thoughts seesawed back and forth about what Daniella’s role in the situation was. Tris weighed what Joe had said. Once he figured out where Lori was, his life would go to hell. He was going to end up being a Grigori. He knew it. First he had to save his friend, then his death sentence was going to be passed. Before he opened the door, Tris glanced at the mirror and stared into it. Instead of his normal eyes, he saw the flat black stare of one who was already dead or lost.

  The person at the door knocked again. Tris pulled himself away from his refle
ction and opened the door for the first time in almost two hundred years. “Marlon? What are you doing here?”

  Seeing the other angel, he thought about all the time he had been friends with him, but then he had disappeared. Rumors were that he had Fallen and turned to the darkness. If that were the case, then he was a Grigori, but he did not resemble one of the ragged angels who had become demons. His dark skin was shiny underneath the sun, but Tris noticed silver vine tattoos all over his skin. Marlon’s head was bald, but his wings were hidden from him. The protective spells around the property should have made it so that no evil could come onto their property, but then again, Daniella had come into the house, and she was evil. However, if she had some angel in her, maybe she was not completely evil. He shook his head. The lines were blurring too much, and he needed to find Lori.

  “Hello, Tris. Been a long time.”

  “It has. I ask again: What are you doing here?”

  “I know where Lori is, but you have to come with me now or you won’t get him back. The same with the vampire.”

  Was he hearing him right? “You know about Lori? How? Where is Daniella? How did you get in here?”

  Marlon shook his head. “How is not important. If you truly wish to save them, then there’s time, but you have to come with me now.”

  Tris glanced around the house and wondered if the others were close by, but he could not wait if Marlon was telling the truth. Maybe he was luring him from the house. “How can I trust you?”

  Marlon shrugged. “You can’t. You just have to have faith. Do you remember what that is?”

  Tris summoned his weapon and felt himself being outfitted completely in his dark uniform with his sword at his back and a silver dagger that was at his hip. If he was going to rescue Lori, then he had to be well prepared. “I’ve learned that faith can be overrated.” He stepped out of the house and felt for Hesphital.

  “I have a lead on Lori. Get H and follow me when you can,” he sent out along their mental connection. It was the best he could do and prayed that the other angel would come. He stepped out of the house and closed the door behind him. “Let’s go.”