by Lainy Lane
“You’re still going to let Vulcan feed on you?” His voice was staccatoed as he spoke each word while carefully working to keep his temper in check.
“I made a deal with him, Phoenix. A deal is a deal.” I shrugged it off. It wasn't a discussion, and my irritation grew knowing he would turn it into one.
“And Nyx is literally changing the tides for you so that you can have more time to figure it out. I doubt that she intended for you to still just give him what he wanted when she told you she would do that.” His body was fighting against his desire to stand and his pain levels rendering that choice as not an option.
“So, you think she wants me to lie and break a promise?” I raised my voice, clearly showing the irritation for him I’d been attempting to hide.
“You were taken advantage of,” Phoenix argued.
“No, I blindly walked into an agreement. That’s on my head, not Vulcan’s.” Had I just defended Vulcan? That certainly wasn’t going to do anything to build my case.
“He would’ve taken advantage of you regardless, Acqua. He doesn’t exactly have morals, he’s a power-hungry monster.”
“Do not speak of him like that!” My face turned red, and the teacup exploded in my hand.
I realized, several moments too late, what I had done. I found myself wishing I knew a spell to rewind about thirty seconds. It would’ve been much easier to do that than what would lay ahead now that I had just opened up a fierce can of peace-eating worms.
“Why are you bonded to him stronger than you are to me?” Phoenix’s face showed rage, but his voice sounded pained.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I countered.
I quickly began using an enchantment to mend the cup I’d just broken. I refused to look at Phoenix, I couldn’t bear to do so. Ethereal wouldn’t have taken kindly to me leaving her with a broken cup anyways, she was obsessed with this odd little tea set of hers. The enchantment also required just enough concentration I could block Phoenix out of my mind before he discovered that Vulcan had been communicating with me through our bond. I was still unsure whether he’d be able to figure it out or not, but I wasn’t going to take any chances. I couldn’t afford any more risks. I was at my limits of screw-ups. I had to start doing these things right.
“If I remember correctly.” I finally looked up at him with a venom-filled glare, an odd fury filling me even though he was the one that had a right to be mad. “You are the one who requested we make this bond a three-way ordeal on our terms. So, any consequences you didn’t plan for are your fault, not mine.”
“That’s your argument?” He stepped in front of me in an attempt to not allow me to ignore him any longer.
“SO—” Ethereal broke in, “it suddenly occurs to me that I still have someone in my room.” She stood awkwardly, looking at Ember.
“Yeah, and I, uh—need to go get something in my room!” she stuttered out a sorry excuse, and they both took their leave quickly to allow us some privacy for our spat.
“Now you’ve made everyone uncomfortable.” I sighed and stood to clean up the tea.
“Oh, have I now?” Phoenix sat where he was. His body seemed so tense, I wasn’t sure he had the ability to stand at the moment.
“You knew. I had already told you I was going to keep my end of the deal with him. This has nothing to do with whose bond is stronger, this is just you being jealous.” I had no idea where all of this spite was coming from, but it was spewing out of every fiber of my being and launching straight into a very confused Phoenix.
“I thought that after a good sleep, you would come to your senses.”
“NO!” I yelled, harsher than I’d intended. “You thought that by getting our bond back I suddenly wouldn’t be connected to him.” I didn’t even hear my own voice coming out of my mind anymore. In my head, it sounded like Vulcan speaking, but my mouth was the one moving. Obviously, Phoenix heard my voice.
“Do not try and turn this back around on me!” He seemed to be fighting against the desire to scream.
“Turn it back on you? I did all of this for you, Phoenix! It’s always been about you!” I had to wonder, as I poured the tea leaves down the sink, whether or not black tea suddenly gave me anger issues. Not that I was ever one to necessarily be known for kindness, but I was usually compassionate to the few people that I loved. Phoenix was supposed to be one of those few.
“Okay, can we just back up for a minute?” His voice quieted. He finally stood up, he was relenting.
“I think it’s much too late for that now.” Even if I weren't fuming with undeserved hate, I still wouldn’t ever give in that easy. Giving up your flaws is something that should be proceeded with the utmost caution. I was in no mood to do so today.
“Fine, you know what? Just—fine! Shut me out, again, Acqua. If that’s what you really need to do to figure all of this out, then fine. I’ll be the pawn in this stupid game.” He dropped his empty teacup to the ground where it rolled several feet away. Then he walked away without looking back.
A very minuscule piece of me wanted me to go after him. To apologize. To admit my vulnerabilities and my weakness. To tell him the truth. Instead, I continued cleaning the tea set. I ran water down the sink, rinsing all the tea leaves down the drain. Once again admiring Ethereal’s work in ensuring we had working plumbing in our underground abode. Instead, I heard what had caused all of these issues to begin with.
Vulcan’s voice rang in my head once more. “Acqua, you NEED me.”
I sighed, wanting to ignore him. Wishing I could pretend that he didn’t have control over me, but I knew better. Whatever this was, whatever domination he had over me, I was helpless against it. I surrendered and decided to test out the communication line he had opened up.
“The full moon is in less than two days,” I responded.
“I thought Nyx was changing that for you.”
Crap, of course, he knew that. “Doesn’t mean that I’m not keeping our deal up.”
“Yet you somehow think you can wait another week before you’re in my presence again?”
“If you were listening to everything, you should know that I didn’t ask for this. I’ll see you—when I see you.” I tried to give as little information as possible, even if he could read my mind.
“Enjoy your lover boy,” he laughed.
I used all my energy to shut him back out. The resulting exhaustion and migraine would be worth it. Luckily, Phoenix was mad enough, I was sure I could get away with going straight to sleep and dealing with him later.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
It had been a whopping, and miserable, twelve hours. Exactly twelve hours since I told myself that I could fight off Vulcan. That I could resist all of this and go on living whatever version of standard my life had become. I had been very wrong. So wrong that, in only twelve hours, I found myself sneaking out. I had somehow managed to do so unnoticed by Phoenix, Ember, and Ethereal. I was now walking barefoot through the woods, almost to Vulcan’s.
My head had never hurt as bad as it did when I woke up. I was in complete misery, covered in a cold sweat. It only took a few moments for me to deduct that I was in very prominent withdrawals from Vulcan. I had spent the trip to Vulcan’s trying to figure out how to surrender to him without admitting that I needed to submit to him. Standing at the front door of the large Victorian-style house Vulcan’s clan occupied, I still found myself without a single good idea as to how to handle the predicament.
“My dear, Acqua!” The door swung open, and Vulcan stood, in nothing but a pair of black pants, with a cocky smile on his face.
Of course he’d known I was coming. Which meant he’d also heard the entire internal monologue I’d had with myself on the way here. So, my susceptibility had already been exposed. I was raw open without having allowed myself to be, which left me irate.
“Vulcan,” I said quietly. I immediately decided I could at least attempt to keep up my façade, even if he already knew that’s all it was.
“Is that why you took your shirt off?” I asked before I could stop myself.
He chuckled. The great room the house entered into was just that, great. It was enormous, open and bright room, which left me curious why a vampire clan would want so many windows in the main room of the house. I’d somehow not noticed much about the house when we had been here just a few nights ago. I must have been too deep inside my own head at that point.
“We have to keep up appearances,” he answered the question I hadn’t voiced.
I decided it was best that I kept my own dialogue to a minimum. I was less likely to make myself out to be more of an idiot than he already knew I was from being inside my head. Yet my mouth still went against my better judgment and opened anyways.
“Nothing like the appearance of twenty good-looking men living in a huge house together. You should’ve just moved to a house on a college campus. You’d probably draw less attention that way,” I muttered, with sarcasm laced on every word.
“Did you just say good-looking?” He, of course, overlooked the main point and went straight to the piece of the statement that benefitted him. “My room is this way.”
Of course I knew I should say no. Just as much as I knew I shouldn’t have come in the first place. I was also aware that I should have left already. None of which is what I actually acted upon. Instead, I followed him, down a dark hallway with multiple doors on each side. I noticed a stairway off to the left, but we walked past it and to the door that the hall dead-ended into.
We stepped over the threshold, and though I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect Vulcan’s room to be, this definitely wasn’t it at all. The walls were painted a sandy beige, and the furniture was a mixture of white and light brown. The room opened into a small landing furnished with an ivory couch, brown coffee table, a white marble fireplace, and a large screen TV. The bed was on an elevated level that required one step up to get onto. It was a simple leather headboard bed with a dark bedspread and only one nightstand. There were no windows in the room and just two small lamps available to light the vast space, neither of which were on at the moment.
“Have a seat, anywhere.” He smiled wickedly, as he nodded toward the couch, but turned his body toward the bed.
I tensed, suddenly unsure of what to think, say, or do, or why I was so nervous being in his presence. Somehow the initial bonding with Phoenix had been more natural to fall into. I’d tried to fight it, yet seemed unable to do so. This bonding experience was far different. I wanted to want to fight it, yet the desire to put up a fight to actually do so escaped me no matter how hard I tried. Instead, I was left with this odd sense of feeling guilty for letting him in and being irritated that he had found his way in so quickly. I began walking to the couch. I didn’t know much at the moment. What I did know was that of the choices I’d been given, the sofa was the wiser of the two.
“You know.” Vulcan stood over me as I sat on the sofa. The leather felt indifferent against my already cold skin. “I knew you’d be unable to fight me much longer. Although I must commend you, no one has been able to fight me for—” he looked at his watch, “almost forty-eight full hours. It’s actually rather impressive.” I shuddered, my stomach uneasy at the realization my time away from him had been far shorter than I originally assumed.
“Just how many bonds have you created over the years?” I was sure I didn’t want to know the answer to that question, but it had already been asked.
He shrugged. “You’re the only survivor if that counts for anything.”
“Not sure that it does.” I sighed.
“Bloody Mary?” he asked, walking to a small wet bar to the right of the fireplace that I hadn’t noticed before.
“Pun intended?” I chuckled.
“Not at all, it actually is a true Bloody Mary, you know, vodka and A Positive, or B Negative, your choice. Sorry I don’t have more options than that at the moment. Our stock is running a bit low right now.”
“No thank you.” I shuddered at the thought as he poured himself a glass, complete with a stalk of celery. It took an effort to resist the urge to question the shortage he had brought up. I was certain I didn’t want to know their practices, which was the deciding factor in letting it go.
“Suit yourself.” He sat next to me and propped his leg up on the couch, too close for comfort. “You do know that you’ll have to embrace this side of yourself eventually, right?”
“I guess I’ll cross that bridge when I get there.” My stomach did a nauseating flip at admitting to that.
“Why do you fight it so? You have the right attitude to be an unstoppable female vampire, maybe even a vampire queen?” He brushed the tip of his finger over the curve of my ear, and I wasn’t sure if it was a dare or a question he’d presented me with.
“Are you declaring yourself the king?” I stifled a laugh and immediately felt guilty.
“That’s the first step, isn’t it?” He took a sip of his drink, unaffected by my attitude.
“No, I’m pretty sure that’s the first step to admitting an addiction. Royalty, on the other hand, normally has something to do with birthright.” I had to fight myself to force my body to move, but I pulled away from his touch.
“Well, I’m an orphan, so I don’t really know much about birthrights, want to explain them to me?” Something flashed in his eyes that I forced myself to ignore.
“You know what I meant,” I scoffed. “Though I am sorry about your parents, whatever happened to mine anyways?”
“Exactly what you wanted to.” His mouth was now in a straight line, and something in his eyes changed slightly.
“What do you mean?” I was actually feeling sincere affection and gratitude toward him, which was likely his plan to begin with. It was muddled with confusion because I'd never been told to come and handle my parents, though it was part of our initial deal. I assumed it was something that would take place after I upheld my entire end of our bargain. Yet, he was now telling me it had already been done. There was a good chance he was making this up, but my mind squashed that thought down in an instant, and I listened intently.
“The first thing I discovered in looking into your mind was how they had treated you. Seeing all of that not only infuriated me, but also made it clear why you were so set on seeking revenge against them. The next thing I discovered, upon delving in deeper, was what your desires were as far as their future. So, I took the liberty of having it carried out for you. You see, thanks to me, you got your revenge after all.” He smiled, obviously quite proud of the brownie points he was confident he’d just earned.
“But it’s not really mine, is it?” I questioned. “Not if I wasn’t the one that acted upon it?”
“It was done in your honor,” he offered.
I didn’t have time for the debate, my parents had been handled. Regardless of who had carried out the action, it was still a huge relief. Now that I was in his presence, I was feeling oddly relieved and uptight at the same time. Strangely, all I could think about was getting back home. The repercussions of sneaking out and what everyone would do when they found out were daunting in my mind. It left me on perilous edge. As soon as the thought manifested, Vulcan placed his hand on my shoulder. He sent a distraction through me, a reminder of his intentions.
“So, will this work even though it isn’t a full moon yet?” I jumped to the point before I was able to forget the point altogether.
“Oh, I do believe it will do.” He smiled coyly. “You know, I was able to learn something from the last time.”
“Do I even want to know?”
“Probably not.” He grinned. “Although, I’d much prefer we do this part in the bed.”
“Not a chance,” I quickly denied him the opportunity to take further advantage of the situation. I wasn’t going to play into every single one of his games, not this time.
“If you insist.” He downed t
he rest of his Bloody Mary and slammed the glass onto the coffee table in front of him. He took his time in soliciting his way back to the couch and leaning towards me.
I leaned back, this time intentionally elongating my neck. I had convinced myself that I did it not out of desire, but out of a need to get it over with. I realized at that moment that my need for him came from the bond only. Whereas my need for Phoenix existed even without our bond. I wondered if I could use that to our advantage somehow if Phoenix even forgave me for this ordeal.
“I learned a good bit about your hybrid blood since you last allowed me to feed on you, come to think of it,” he whispered the words against my skin.
I tried to block him out, to ignore his words. I didn’t need to know; he’d already let me know that I didn’t want to know. I had to hold up my end of the bargain, regardless of what he may or may not have discovered about me through feeding on me.
He bit into me, and instead of feeling the bond increase, I felt as if it was draining away along with the blood he was taking from me. I allowed myself, for a few moments, to think that this could work out in my favor after all. It only lasted for a split second. Of course my life couldn’t be that simple. Of course this ordeal had to get even more complicated. I felt my stamina begin to seep away along with my blood. My vision clouded, and my body went limp. Nyx had postponed the full moon. This was a regular night, there was no reason that I should have been affected any differently than I had been the first time I’d allowed Vulcan to feed on me. Yet I felt lightheaded, like I was tipsy, despite not having drunken anything.
“You see.” He lifted himself off of me, and I could barely make out his outline through my fuzzy eyesight. “Vampire bonds only work with different species. So, you being a witch is what allowed Phoenix and me to bond with you. Generally, the idea is to bond with a human, not a witch. But you were just so willing, I guess we both found ourselves drawn to you.”
Why was he telling me this? I’d already been filled in on the details of the bonds. Between Phoenix and Vulcan, I knew far more than I cared to know about them. Deep down, I knew he had to be leading me somewhere with this conversation. My state of mind made it hard to focus on anything. I felt like I’d been drugged. That wasn’t possible, was it? I had turned down the drink he’d offered me.