Black Of Mood (Quentin Black: Shadow Wars #2): Quentin Black World

by JC Andrijeski

  24

  ALREADY OWNED

  “WHY?” I SAID, staring at him. “Just because you can? Or think you can, anyway?” I swallowed. “You must know it’ll probably kill me.”

  “We don’t think it will,” Lincoln said.

  Somewhere in that moment where I realized he planned to rip every shred of my life and who I was from me, he’d ceased to be Ravi.

  He was entirely Lincoln to me now.

  Cowboy held my arm from behind.

  He must have recovered somewhere in that back and forth between Lincoln and myself. I could feel him through his skin again, like a strong heartbeat in my ears. His grip on my elbow exuded protectiveness, and not a small amount of alarm.

  Remembering what Lincoln said to Dorian a few minutes before, it struck me that I wasn’t the only one they intended to turn. They meant to do it to Cowboy, too.

  They intended to erase both of us.

  “No.” I shook my head. “No,” I repeated, harsher. “No. I won’t. I’ll kill myself first.”

  Lincoln glanced at Black, letting his eyes rest there for a few beats before training those crystal-like eyes back on me.

  “Are you sure about that, Miriam?” he said.

  I didn’t have to ask him what he meant.

  “I’m sure. Black would rather die too, than be stuck with me like that, as some kind of vampire bitch’s slave.” I spat the words, backing into Cowboy a second time.

  Cowboy moved with me, still gripping my arm. I could feel through his skin that he wanted me behind him. He still hadn’t said a word, but I could practically feel him thinking, looking for a way out of this, for all three of us.

  “Miri,” Lincoln said, sighing. “I understand your reluctance. I do. But once the process is completed, you will wonder why you resisted. Why would you not want to have the best of both races?” He motioned towards Black. “We will have no reason to kill him, if you and he are mated and you are our ally. He is accustomed to being fed on now. Trust me, he will not mind offering himself to you for that purpose. If you don’t mind me speaking so bluntly about your mate, be assured… it will be quite an erotic experience for both of you.”

  I swallowed, feeling so sick I couldn’t answer at first.

  I shook my head.

  I couldn’t breathe, certainly not well enough to get the out the sheer number of curse words I wanted to throw at the piece of shit standing in front of me.

  “Do you require a demonstration, Miri?” Lincoln said, his voice sharper. “I fed on him earlier, as I said, but I’m happy to do so again. Any one of my people would be more than happy to do so.” He paused. “Do you need to see it, Miri? Would it help you to see just how willing your spouse is, when it comes to being fed on by our kind?”

  When I didn’t answer, he glanced at the row of silent vampires. Clicking his fingers at the redhead, he pointed at Black, returning his eyes to me.

  I watched as the woman took sultry, arrogant strides towards Black. Swallowing as I watched her, I bit my lip to stay silent. When she gripped his hair in her hand though, forcing him to look up, I bit down hard enough to taste blood.

  “Give me your wrist,” she commanded him.

  When he offered it to her, I felt it like a punch to the chest.

  “STOP!” I snarled the word. Hell, I think I screamed it. “STOP IT! NOW!”

  Lincoln raised a hand, motioning for the female vampire to stop.

  She still clutched Black’s hair in one fist, holding his wrist with her other hand. That sick feeling worsened as I stared at the two of them, at the utterly calm look on Black’s face.

  “I’m not trying to torture you, Miri,” Lincoln said, his voice softer.

  When I turned, looking at him, I don’t think I’d ever felt so much hate for a single person in my life. Looking at him now, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t recognized him for what he was. His skin tone was wrong, but I had to assume that was the same thing they put on themselves to protect their skin from the sun. The tattoo on his neck––Black had told me that was a spiritual tattoo for a seer. Was that fake, as well? I had to assume it was. Everything about him was fake. He was like a lizard blending into a wall.

  Cold-blooded and dead, feigning life.

  “Miri,” he said, his expression concerned. “Miri… I simply want to help you understand. He is ours now. He can be yours again, too… but he will never be the same. Not after belonging to one of us. Being fed on, it changes your kind. We have seen it, time and again.”

  He glanced at Black, a near affection in his eyes, right before he looked at Efraim.

  When he did, that affection turned to grief.

  “This connection, it is not as unbalanced as you might believe,” he said, his voice low, holding a tangible emotion. “It is strong for us, too.” He looked at me. “It will be strong for you with him, when you are reunited with one another after the change.”

  I shook my head. “You don’t fucking own him.”

  Lincoln sighed. “Miri. I know this is difficult to understand––”

  “It’s not complicated,” I snapped. “It’s not complicated at all. I understand what you’re saying. You’re just wrong.” Swallowing, I looked at Black. “He’s not yours. He’s mine. You don’t fucking own him. I do. I own him. Understand?”

  When I glanced back at Lincoln, he held my gaze.

  That time, the pity there was visible.

  Anger twisted my gut. Before I could speak, the redhead laughed, and I turned without thought, more than happy to aim my hatred at her.

  If she saw it, it didn’t seem to concern her overly. Giving me a contemptuous look, she spoke to the other vampire without taking her eyes off me.

  “Let me show her, brother Lincoln,” she taunted. “Let me show her how wrong she is.”

  I didn’t drop my gaze from her face.

  “I told you I’d kill you if you touched him again,” I said. “Did you forget?”

  She laughed. “It was cute, the way you rose to his defense. Adorable, really.”

  I opened my mouth to answer, when another voice cut us off.

  “Ladies, ladies, ladies,” a louder voice drawled from behind me. “Some decorum, please, I implore you. No need to descend to this base sort of vulgarity, not when you’re so soon to be sisters in the One True Source. Not even for the strenuous pulls of love will I permit my family to fight in such an ugly way with one another…”

  I froze, recognizing that voice.

  Cowboy stepped forward as I did. I thought at first he meant to put himself bodily between me and the vampire now entering the room, but he stopped at my side, still gripping my arm.

  “Miriam,” Brick said, smiling at me as he paused to lean artistically on the Anubis-headed cane he carried. “I cannot begin to express how good it is to see you again, my dear. I do hope you haven’t been too hard on my good friend here, Lincoln. He is so fond of you. It’s quite touching, really. I’m afraid his time spent with your mate might have intensified those feelings, rather than dulled them. He was quite beside himself after his feeding today, when he saw that Black had broken his celibacy with you…”

  I grimaced. I couldn’t help it.

  My eyes never left Brick, however, as he resumed his stroll into the room. He watched me look at him, his expression as predatory as Lincoln’s, although decidedly less guarded.

  “You have explained to her what it is we require of her?” Brick asked Lincoln, without taking his eyes off me.

  “In part, Patrón. She knows we require her help. That we wish her to become one of us. I have told her we will gift her mate back to her, if she agrees to this.”

  “Does she know what will happen to her mate, if she will not agree to this willingly?”

  I tensed, looking between Brick and Lincoln.

  Lincoln shook his head, giving me a regretful look. “She does not. I suspect she assumes we would kill them both.”

  I clenched my jaw, but didn’t speak. My eyes went back to follow
ing Brick.

  Brick nodded thoughtfully to Lincoln’s words. Swinging the cane as he walked, he continued to frown slightly as he studied my face.

  “No, Miriam,” he said then, pausing only a few feet from me. “No, we will not kill him.” Resuming his slow walk, he approached Black, studying him with his eyes.

  He waved off the redhead.

  She released his hair and wrist and stepped back.

  “No,” Brick repeated. He glanced over his shoulder at me, tapping the cane lightly on the carpet, before returning his gaze to Black. “No, I’m afraid we are unwilling to do that. Yet we must have your cooperation in order to change you. Even humans have a tendency to kill themselves before the change fully takes hold.” Pausing, he pursed his lips, staring down at Black kneeling at his feet. “Therefore, we have gone to considerable trouble to find ways to coerce you into agreeing to this. Beyond simply killing you both, that is.”

  I stared at him, feeling my stomach drop. “Like what, exactly?”

  Brick smiled at me, his expression pitying.

  “There’s quite a bit of evidence, I’m afraid, linking your husband to these awful terrorist attacks we’ve been having.” Tut-tutting, he shook his head, pursing his lips as he looked down at Black. “And you, of all people, must know that people in his line of work occasionally lose their minds… or even become radicalized by dangerous ideologies. I’m afraid they will likely discover his true nature, too, if they were to take him into custody for such a thing. It’s quite possible the humans will view this as an attack against their very race.”

  Remembering the flood of people Cowboy and I had seen pouring into 33rd Street, I fought another clenching in my chest.

  I glanced at the windows, unable to help myself.

  I remembered the safe, the invoices with Black’s name on them.

  “Very good, Miriam,” Brick said approvingly. “You clearly noticed the crowd we’ve assembled outside. What you may not realize is that we have a number of news stations on hand, as well, ready to film the entire incident, including your husband standing at one of these windows, shooting down into the crowd.”

  That sick feeling worsened.

  “I’m afraid we simply cannot take no for an answer in this,” Brick said, still frowning as he gazed down at Black. “We require your help in dealing with this threat against our species, Miriam. We require your people’s help in neutralizing it.” Turning his head, he smiled at me. “You are the perfect spokeswoman for this, do you not see? As one of us, you will link our two races. You will form the friendship bridge between our heretofore warring species.”

  “You’re going to do it anyway, aren’t you?” I said, feeling my stomach churn again. “You’re going to have Black kill all of those people. You think that’ll force us to align with you… you think we’ll need your protection then. Once Black loses his allies among the humans.”

  Brick tapped his own nose with one pale finger, smiling.

  “Right in one, my dear.” His smile widened. “I must say, I do so like a business partner I’m not forced to constantly explain things to. It’s such a relief, I cannot even begin tell you. You are absolutely correct. I intend to bring the seer race under the vampire umbrella, as it were. Together, our two peoples will wrest control of this rather flawed human civilization from those who seem hell-bent on blowing all of us up, simply from their own stupidity.”

  Smiling faintly, he inclined his head.

  “You cannot object to my desire to save the world, can you, my dear? After all, humans have shown themselves clearly incapable of saving themselves. Is spilling a little innocent blood in pursuit of that higher aim really so unconscionable to you?”

  I looked at Black. His face looked as unfazed as before.

  Even so, something made me stare at him harder. Some tension in his shoulders, maybe. Some light I saw in his gold eyes. Something about the very light coiling around him.

  Something.

  Then I heard it. It was so soft, I could barely make it out.

  Black fox… it whispered. Black fox… save me…

  Lincoln turned. He looked down at Black, frowning.

  I didn’t wait.

  Turning, I reached behind Cowboy’s head, grasping one of the sword hilts in my hand.

  Unsheathing it in a single, fluid pull, I threw it towards Black without taking a breath.

  I was already reaching for the second one when he caught it, midair.

  HE LEAPT FROM his knees so fast, I couldn’t track the movement. He was on his feet the instant the hilt left my hand, catching the sword from the side so that he held it between himself and the row of vampires.

  “The other one, Miri,” he said, his voice loud, jarring in my ears.

  I’s already unsheathed the second sword by then.

  I threw that to Black, too, even as Brick slid out of the range of the first sword, and Black used it to drive him back. I watched the vampires hesitate, their eyes wary of the blades, far more than they had been of the guns.

  Regardless, I knew a little gunplay couldn’t hurt.

  Unholstering the Glock, I shot Ravi in the head as he watched the sword spin towards Black. He fell like a stone, then lay there, breathing hard, gasping.

  In my periphery, I saw the sword blades flash as something moved towards Black. Then Black was gliding like a shadow into the pack of vampires. The blades sliced through the air with a singing hum, moving like an extension of his arms, so fast I couldn’t follow them.

  I didn’t stop to watch anyway.

  I shot the redhead next, hitting her in the cheek. The bullet exploded out the other side of her face and she slammed into the wall. I saw Black’s blade slice into her through her neck, saw him unstick the blade from the wall, right before he turned, cutting down a taller male vampire who tried to get around him from behind.

  He beheaded that one, too.

  I fired at Brick when I saw him edging towards Black.

  The vampire king slid out of the way, but the shot forced him back. I continued firing at him, emptying six more bullets at him in quick succession.

  Then Cowboy leapt on Ravi’s chest, distracting me. I watched him plunge the hunting knife he wore into the vampire’s neck, sawing into flesh and then bone as Ravi let out a gurgling scream, fighting to try and shove Cowboy off him. Cowboy clung to his chest like a tick, his mouth set in a hard line as he put his whole weight behind the knife.

  I was already turning, aiming my gun into the crowd of vampires.

  I hit the vampire with the blond hair in the neck and he screamed, right before Black’s blade spun sideways, forcing the vampire back. I shot at two more of the vampires, and then a form streaked towards Cowboy, moving like liquid light. I fired at it without thought, right before it would have reached him, and then the blond vampire was on the floor, a bullet wound in his chest, right where a heart should have been. He gasped, lying on his back, bleeding from the chest and neck from where I’d hit him.

  There was a crashing sound.

  I turned towards the wall, right in time to see two vampires flee out the window nearest to the wall. One more disappeared out the window as I watched, again moving so fast it was like watching smoke exit out the window into the sky.

  I saw Brick then, moving towards that same window––

  When something slammed into his throat.

  It happened so fast, I doubted my own eyes.

  Then Black was there, gripping the hilt of the sword he’d used to skewer Brick through the neck. Slamming the blade deeper, he used it to force the vampire backwards.

  Then, right when I thought he’d decapitate him altogether, Black slammed the blade into the wall, trapping Brick at the end of it. He shoved the sword into the sheet-rock and wood what looked like a foot.

  He held it there, with Brick pinned to the wall.

  The vampire gripped the blade, trying to force it out, scrabbling against the silver metal, his fingers shockingly white. He struggled to speak, to ge
t out words, but Black stared at him, his face so twisted with fury I felt my breath catch.

  “Move and I’ll end you right now,” he growled. “Try and rip yourself off this thing, and you’re dead.”

  Brick stopped struggling, his crystal eyes wide in his face. He stared up at Black in open disbelief, trying again to speak through the sword in his throat.

  I lowered the gun, panting as I realized we were more or less alone in the room.

  Then, I heard another crash then and turned, raising the gun.

  Another of the windows was broken.

  Dorian, the blond vampire with the inhuman beauty, was gone.

  Cowboy pulled himself to his feet as I watched, a scowl twisting his features, the Python gripped in one hand, his hunting knife in the other. Still holding the knife, he holstered the gun, clamping a hand on his neck where he’d been bitten. He aimed that scowl expressively at me before turning towards Black.

  “Kill him, already,” he said.

  He spat, and I realized blood speckled his face and mouth, as well as around his eyes, likely from sawing into Ravi’s neck with the hunting knife.

  “What the fuck are you waiting for, brother? You put us through all that b.s. just to get that fucker to show his face… kill the son of a bitch already.”

  I stared at Cowboy.

  Then I turned, looking at Black.

  He didn’t return my gaze, but continued to pin Brick to the wall with the sword. He had the second sword pressed up against Brick’s chest, right over his heart.

  Black didn’t look at Cowboy either, but he answered him.

  “No,” he said, his voice cold. “Turnabout is fair play.”

  Cowboy’s scowl deepened. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean, brother?”

  Black nodded at Brick, his expression a hard mask. “He knows what I mean. Don’t you, you piece of shit?”

  Looking at Brick’s face, I found myself thinking Black was right.

  The vampire did know what he meant.

  For the first time, I saw something on Brick’s face other than smug assurance of his superiority mixed with the humor a cat displays towards a mouse its tormenting.