“Close enough,” Rose muttered.
“What do you call those people now?” he asked.
“Pharmacist. Or drug dealer. Depends on the context,” she said.
Theron waved his hand dismissively. “Yeah, yeah, one of those. The point is that he knows about medicines, and he helped me pick the perfect one for what I have planned. You see, this little drug impairs your mind, but it doesn’t dull the pain. It was very important to me that you felt every bit of the pain.”
“Of course it was,” she mumbled.
“It is a great plan, don’t you think?” Theron bragged. “You can’t use your telekinetic abilities if you can’t concentrate, but you can still feel everything.”
“You know, it says a lot about your mental state that you need approval from your victims,” she muttered. The metal handcuffs clanged together as she tugged at her hands. She cringed as the metal cut into the side of her wrist.
Theron stood and walked over to her. He reached behind her and drew his finger across her wrist, causing her to wince in pain again. She grimaced at him as he stepped back and licked a drop of her blood from his finger.
“It tastes funny,” he sighed sadly, “because of the medicine.”
“Well, that’s your own fault, isn’t it?” she sassed.
He knelt down, bracing his hands on her legs, his fingernails digging into her thighs, as he moved his face close to hers. She could smell the metallic scent of blood on his breath as he snarled, “That attitude will get you nowhere tonight.”
“It never gets me anywhere,” she mumbled with a weak shrug. “That’s never stopped me before. It’s still my default response to stupidity.”
She screamed in agony as Theron suddenly shoved a knife into her leg. Before she could even catch her breath, he smiled and twisted the blade.
“I did warn you,” he snarled in her ear.
Her head fell back against the back of the chair as she stared up at him. Her entire body convulsed from the pain. She stilled herself for the next wave of pain as he ripped the dagger out of her leg, but unable to hold it back, she screamed out again. The warm blood poured rapidly from the gaping wound in her leg, drenching her jeans. Her stomach lurched, and her head spun violently.
Theron smiled. “Not so tough now, are you?”
“I never said I was,” she rasped.
Theron stepped back, smirking. He walked back to his chair and sat down in front of her. He leaned toward her. “As I said earlier, I would rein in that attitude of yours, if I were you. You’re completely at my mercy right now. I can make this as painful as possible, if I want. I have all of the power right now.”
“You’ll never have all of the power,” Rose said. “You might be able to do whatever you want to my body, but my mind is and always will be mine.”
He narrowed his eyes at her. “I don’t think you understand…”
“I understand perfectly,” she said hoarsely, leveling him with a cold, icy stare. “I understand that you use fear to control people and that you can’t handle not having that power over them. That’s why you hate me so much. That’s why you hate Kallias. You can’t control us, not in the way you want. You will never control me because I refuse to be afraid of you. I retain that power.”
“Careful,” he cautioned, “or I will…”
“You will what? Kill me? Hurt me?” Rose interrupted. “But you’re already planning to do that, aren’t you? Do I look afraid? Because I’m not.”
He growled threateningly, his grip tightening around the handle of the dagger. “I will kill you. I will cause you more pain than you can imagine.”
“But you won’t scare me,” she stated.
“You’re an idiot,” Theron snarled.
“No,” she argued. “I just know how people like you work. Do you honestly think you’re the first monster I’ve ever encountered? You’re not. I’ve been dealing with people like you my whole life. Sure, maybe they were human, less powerful, less immortal, but really, you’re all the same. You use fear to control and manipulate others. You enjoy causing other people pain, and you pride yourselves in it because you think that makes you stronger somehow. But it doesn’t. You may have fangs, Theron, but really, you’re just a glorified bully.”
“Do not compare me to a human,” he growled.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Did you think you were special?” she asked with a weak, mocking smile. “Think again. There are plenty of evil people out there who are just like you. You’re one in a million. But people like Kallias? Erik? Geoff? Emma? They’re one of a kind. It takes strength to be good. It takes nothing to be evil. Evil doesn’t scare me, Theron. The good guys are much scarier.”
Her eyes never even registered his movement until he was suddenly in front of her, shoving a dagger into her stomach. She screamed out as he buried the blade, all the way to the hilt, in her stomach. He waited for a moment, watching her face contort in pain, before he jerked the dagger out roughly, leaving a gaping wound in its place. Blood poured out, soaking her white T-shirt.
“You’ll die from that wound,” Theron told her.
She coughed as she began to choke on her own blood.
He leaned in close again and hissed, “But not fast enough.”
She stared at him, her head spinning violently from the blood loss.
He smiled. “I know that you love Kallias.”
“Oh, how brilliant of you,” she muttered sarcastically.
His eyes narrowed. “You think I can’t do anything worse than hurt you and kill you, but you’re wrong. Oh, I can do much worse. Don’t think I didn’t notice Kallias’s scent in your blood. You share a blood bond with him. That means he can feel what you feel. He will feel your pain, and he will come to save you,” he said. He moved closer to her again. “And, then, I can kill you both.”
“Kallias is too smart to walk into a trap,” she argued.
“But he loves you,” Theron sneered. “That is his weakness.”
She paled, coughing again as more blood gurgled in her throat.
Theron walked over to the fire and held the blood-coated dagger over it. “Tell me. How much do you know about what I did to your boyfriend?”
Rose had begun to notice a few shadowy figures along the edge of the room as her vision cleared. A wave of cold dread washed over her as she realized that there were other vampires in the room, many vampires, just waiting for Kallias to arrive. She turned her blurry gaze back toward Theron. “I’ve seen the scars.”
“Ah, but that’s not really the same, is it?” Theron asked. “Don’t you think you would understand him so much better if you shared the experience?”
Rose swallowed uneasily as she realized what was about to happen.
Theron returned to her and leaned in close, grazing the tip of the dagger across her neck. “With that wound, you will die, but until then, you will wish you were dead. Do you want to guess how we’re going to pass the time until you die?”
“You’re going to torture me,” she answered impassively.
“Yes,” Theron said with a sickening smile. “I am.”
—
“I am telling you,” Erik grumbled, “this is where they were.”
Geoffrey sighed and cast another glance around the dark, empty building. “I believe you, but the fact remains that there is no one here now.”
Erik knelt in front of the fireplace and ran his fingertip across the thick layer of fresh ash. “There were so many of them. It seems pretty hard to believe that every one of them packed up all of their things and left in one night.”
“Savage vampires are not really known for carrying a lot of luggage around. They pretty much just take what they want when they want it,” Geoffrey muttered. He lifted an eyebrow. “I mean, that is how you are, isn’t it?”
Erik stood and turned back toward Geoffrey, his eyes narrowing. “You’re an asshole sometimes,” he complained, shrugging past him.
“Not really. I just disagree with your way of thinking,�
�� Geoffrey said.
“Yeah, you’ve made that clear many times,” Erik muttered.
Geoffrey sighed, “Look, I wasn’t trying to…”
“Geoff?” Erik interrupted, holding up his hand. He faced toward the doorway, away from Geoffrey, as he stared at the empty room in front of him.
Geoffrey stopped talking. “What is it?”
“What happened to Kallias?” Erik asked worriedly.
Geoffrey glanced around the room with an equally worried frown. “I…I don’t know. He was right behind us just a minute ago. He was talking to us.”
“Shit, shit, shit,” Erik hissed, spinning on his heels to face Geoffrey again. He braced his hands on Geoffrey’s shoulders. “Tell me what you feel.”
“What?” Geoffrey asked, scowling at the strange question.
Erik rolled his eyes. “Kallias and Rose have a blood bond. My guess is that, if he disappeared without saying anything, Rose is in danger, mostly likely the painful kind of danger. Rose was with Emma. So, what do you feel?”
Geoffrey shook his head. “I haven’t felt anything…” he trailed off, his eyes widening as he suddenly realized what he was feeling. “Oh. Oh, no.”
“Fy faen,” Erik cursed. He pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed Kallias’s number, even though he knew Kallias would never answer the phone.
As he listened to the long, dull dial tone over and over, he ran up the stairs, taking two steps at a time, the metal steps clanging under his feet. He glanced around the empty building, cursing under his breath. He shoved his phone into his pocket. “We have to figure out where they took Rose. That is where we’ll find Kallias,” he said as soon as Geoffrey reached the top of the stairs.
“What? No,” Geoffrey snapped. “I have to find Emma.”
“What about Rose and Kallias?” Erik asked.
Geoffrey narrowed his eyes. “Emma is my wife, Erik. She comes first.”
Erik sighed, “Yeah, I know. You’re right. Fine, you worry about Emma, and I will try to figure out where Kallias and Rose are. Did you try calling…”
Before he could finish the sentence, the door creaked open.
Geoffrey sighed in relief as Emma stepped into the room. Her hazel eyes were wide and panicked, and blood coated her entire body, from her face to her feet. Blood thoroughly soaked her white dress, turning the material blackish-red.
Geoffrey ignored all of that, just relieved to know that she was all right. He ran to her and scooped her into his arms, embracing her tightly.
Erik walked toward them slowly, grimacing at the blood that covered her body. “Please tell me that there is a funny story behind all of that blood on you.”
She pulled away from Geoffrey. “They took Rose.”
“That would be a not-funny story,” Erik objected.
Geoffrey pulled a white handkerchief from his suit pocket and handed it to her, as if that one handkerchief could wipe off the bloodbath that coated her.
“They left me with five vampires to guard me,” Emma continued.
“Why did I never feel your fear?” Geoffrey asked.
“I wasn’t afraid of them,” she explained. “I was just worried for Rose.”
“What happened to the vampires he left with you?” Erik asked.
Emma spread out her arms and smiled shyly. “I was a little angry.”
Erik stared blankly at the blood on her dress. “Oh…that’s theirs.”
“We should get you home,” Geoffrey said, taking her by the hand.
Emma jerked her hand away from him. “Not until we find Rose.”
“Do you know where they took her?” Erik asked.
She shrugged, her brows knitted in despair. “I have no idea.”
Erik sighed and glanced around the room, desperately looking for some clue about where they might have gone, but every scrap of evidence had disappeared. They’d disposed of all of the bodies, cleaned the blood, and taken everything else with them. If they’d left just one vampire behind, then maybe…
Erik froze as he heard a woman giggling. He noticed a set of shuffling, clumsy footsteps and a set of sure, aggressive footsteps moving closer to the door.
When the two people reached the building, the door creaked open, and a man and woman stumbled inside, clutching each other and kissing. The woman, obviously drunk, giggled each time she almost tripped over absolutely nothing, but the man pursued her, holding her against the wall as he kissed her.
Erik cleared his throat, and the two people separated and turned to look at the three vampires. The intoxicated woman screamed at the sight of the blood on Emma’s dress. Erik just smiled at them. “I hate to interrupt, but…”
The man shoved the girl aside and suddenly raced toward Erik, but Erik caught him easily and threw him against the wall. As the man—or rather, the vampire—groaned in pain and tried to pull himself back to his feet, Erik turned toward the woman. “Go home, babe. You’re drunk, and this guy’s bad news.”
The woman didn’t need much convincing. She took off running.
“That was my dinner, asshole,” the man yelled at Erik.
Before the man could even react, Erik had his hand wrapped around his throat, shoving him into the wall again. The vampire cringed in pain.
“Okay, okay, I’ll find someone else. Just calm down,” he grumbled.
“You attacked me,” Erik said, “which means you remember me.”
“No. I…I don’t know you,” the vampire sputtered. “Just let me go.”
With his hand still tight around the vampire’s throat, Erik pulled the vampire forward and slammed him back against the wall. The vampire groaned.
“Where is Theron?” Erik growled.
“I…I don’t know a Theron,” the vampire stammered.
Erik rolled his eyes. “I don’t believe you. You brought that human back here, a place that just so happened to have been housing Theron and nearly a hundred other vampires last night. You had to have known it would be empty. So, I will give you one more chance to answer truthfully. Where is Theron?”
The vampire’s brown eyes hardened with resolve. “Whatever you plan on doing to me is nowhere near as bad as what Theron would do to me.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Erik snarled.
Erik’s hand curled tighter around the vampire’s neck as he began to use his empathic abilities. The vampire let out a shrill, blood-curdling scream, but Erik still didn’t stop. He continued to mercilessly project the powerful, tormenting terror even as the vampire sobbed and screamed for Erik to stop.
“Erik! Stop that! Have you lost your mind?” Geoffrey yelled.
Emma turned her head away, unable to watch it. “Please, Erik. Stop.”
Erik ignored them, keeping his focus on the vampire.
“Okay! Fine! I’ll tell you! Just stop! Please!” the vampire cried.
Erik stopped immediately, raising an eyebrow. “I’m listening.”
“Just…just promise me that you will kill me afterward,” the vampire sputtered, his voice hoarse from screaming for so long. He looked ghostly pale, and his entire body trembled in fear, still affected by the terror. “I’d rather die than endure what Theron will do to me when he finds out that I told you.”
Erik shrugged. “If you insist.”
“Erik!” Geoffrey snapped, his eyes widening.
“Okay,” the vampire sighed. His shoulders continued to rise and fall quickly, in time with his short, shallow breaths. “There is an old building a few blocks from here. It used to be a morgue, I think. That’s where they are.”
“A morgue,” Erik muttered bitterly. “How poetic.”
“Just turn left at the end of the street,” the vampire panted.
“Erik, don’t kill him,” Emma pleaded. “It’s unnecessary.”
“No, no!” the vampire exclaimed, his wide eyes darting frantically between Emma and Erik. “You have to kill me! You promised! Please. Kill me.”
Erik nodded tiredly. He shoved his hand into
the vampire’s chest and ripped out his heart. He stepped back as the vampire’s body collapsed onto the concrete floor, blood pooling beneath it. Blood and bits of flesh coated his arm.
“You’re as bad as the vampires we kill,” Geoffrey snarled in disgust.
Erik shrugged one shoulder and dropped the vampire’s heart onto the floor. He turned toward them. “Yeah. I know,” he sighed. “But now that I know where they are, I’m going to find Kallias and Rose. Are you two coming?”
“You’re as foolish as you are insane,” Geoffrey stated. “Kallias walked straight into a trap when he went after Rose, and you know it. That is exactly what Theron wanted. And now, you’re suggesting that we do the same?”
“Do you not understand what friendship means?” Erik snapped. “It means that you care about the person, that you love them, even, that you would do anything so that you don’t lose them, including walking into a trap. Kallias has been my best friend for twelve hundred years. And Rose is my friend now, too. So, I’m going after them, even if it means dying, because they’re my friends.”
Geoffrey stared at him. “Do you know how crazy that sounds?”
Erik shrugged. “As crazy as everything else I say.”
“I’m going with you,” Emma declared.
“Good,” Erik said as he turned to leave. “Then, come on.”
Geoffrey spun toward her in shock. “Emma, no.”
“Geoff… Baby,” she sighed, her hazel eyes soft and apologetic, “Kallias is our friend. And Rose…she was kind to me, and kindness is rare. I really like her, and I think, if she survives, we could be friends, and I would really like to have her as a friend. So, I’m sorry, but I can’t just stay here while they die.”
“If you go, you could die,” Geoffrey told her.
She shrugged. “I have to do what I can.”
“Emma, please, don’t do this,” Geoffrey pleaded, his face pale.
“I’m sorry,” she said again as she turned and followed Erik outside.
Erik stood at the end of the alley, waiting for her, but before she reached him, she heard the soft, quick pounding of footsteps behind her.
The Stone of the Eklektos Page 77