PANDORA

by Rebecca Hamilton

  “I do. Her veins run thin, but blood yet courses through them.”

  “Yes, blood does indeed. Mouthfuls of it. Merely drinking her blood will not free you of her curse, though, for her spirit will haunt you much the same as the other woman has.” Sabrina leaned close, licking my neck again before whispering in my ear. “Make her one of us, dark son. I give this gift to you. You will turn her as the first of many and father your own coven.”

  Monica motioned to scream, but was cut off by Timothy. He cupped his hand over her mouth and pulled her close against his body. I grinned, fangs still exposed. “You would have me turn her?” I asked, my eyes dancing with excitement.

  “I would relish it,” she said, pressing her cheek against mine as we both regarded Monica. “I would watch it and revisit it in my most pleasant dreams as we conquer the city. As we make them all our servants and take from the Supernatural Order all of their kind, to either feed upon or to turn. Would you not relish it as well, my assassin?”

  I grinned. “Yes. All of their fucking kind, from this city to the next.”

  “Bastards, all.”

  “Yes, bastards.” I looked back at Sabrina as she lifted her head. “Only, I wish to be the one to turn their kind, so they might look into my green eyes and see their own power being used against them. That they might be put into submission by me as they once sought to make me submit.”

  “I think it only fitting.” Sabrina kissed me once more. I drank deeply from the embrace, savoring every taste of her wickedness. Her hand drifted down my chest and pulled at the fabric of my shirt in a tantalizing manner. She sat up, then forced me to my knees, pressing her breasts against me and brushing her fingers across my cheek. I leaned close, kissing her neck and nipping at her skin, but then allowed my eyes to gravitate toward Monica. I scowled. “Let me have the human,” I said. “I wish to do your bidding now.”

  “Very well, my dear.” Sabrina stood, plucking her dagger from the ground where she had left it. She walked around me, bending forward to cut my ties and stood straight once the task was completed. My arms fell free. I glanced at her as she continued speaking. “Do not allow her heart to stop before you force your wrist at her. Just draw from her once or twice and allow her to drink from you. She will stop when the change has taken hold and be lulled into sleep.”

  “Very well.” My eyes remained fixed on Monica; my scowl turned even more menacing. I barely paid Sabrina any mind as she handed me her knife and stepped back to observe. Instead my gaze turned obsessive while I came to a stand. Monica swallowed hard as I approached. I stole a few moments to ensure she could read nothing but malicious intent as we regarded each other. So convinced was Monica, she clenched her eyes shut to avoid looking at me.

  My grin turned more sinister. “Good,” I said. “You have misplaced your faith in me, you reckless imp. I have spent nights thinking of stripping you and laying you bare before me and now, there is nothing you can do to stop me. I shall have you however and whenever I would like. And you shall please me, or you shall die.”

  A sob racked Monica. I watched her chest rise and fall with anxious breaths. Timothy stepped away once I took hold of her and I licked my lips while staring at her pulse point. Slowly, teasingly my hand slid across her shoulders. Then I wrapped my arm around her and pulled her against me so hard that had I been aroused, she would have sworn I meant to penetrate her. She yelped and I laughed. “Come now, witch, and embrace eternity with me.”

  Monica jumped when I pressed the knife against her neck. Dragging it downward, I formed a superficial cut, which immediately wept crimson rivulets like tears streaming from a fractured soul. She flinched as I pulled the knife away and the pause that followed contained the entirety of her human existence.

  Hesitating no further, I plunged my teeth into her neck and took the first drink of pure, live blood that I had savored in two weeks.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Within the deepest portions of my soul, the memory of Lydia gazing at me after the first time we made love is still crystal clear. I had said her eyes could break the deepest spell and, in return, her facial expression sobered. “There are very deep spells in this world, Peter,” she said. “Are you sure mine can do that?”

  “I guarantee it.” I had spoken the words in a half-teasing manner that sought to instill some measure of my feelings for her. As much as I had enjoyed our coupling for carnal reasons, I knew she had also claimed part of my heart. I truly believed I would always be safe so long as I could reach out and touch her. Even when I knew she and I would not enjoy a happy ending.

  “Then remember my eyes for me,” she had said as she rested her head on my chest. “I’m afraid there’s a lot of darkness waiting for you. You have gifts, and the power-hungry always seek to take advantage of people like you because of it.”

  The grip of the hungry, seeking to make my power their own. How enslaved I had been to Sabrina’s spell for over five years. She had made me her willing thrall and taught me how to relish it; how to find euphoria doing her evil bidding, until a peculiar thing happened to this enslaved creature.

  He stepped into his birthright and claimed it for his own.

  Not for the Supernatural Order. Not for his Mistress, for she was that very darkness his former lover had warned him about. No, he did it for himself and found that while the years of bloodshed had stained his hands, he could yet find solace in the light. The satisfaction of being a seer far eclipsed the decadence of being that demon assassin, and for two blessed weeks he touched his humanity once again.

  The evil was returning, though. Bent to drag his soul into the depths.

  Sabrina used my weakness to spin me dizzy and forced me to wrestle against my black heart once more. She had almost won, but then I saw the pendant dangling from her throat and found the will to subdue the demon. I distantly recalled when she took it, the last time she had steered me away from the path I was walking so I could do her bidding. I felt the loss of my brother Robin anew; stared at Monica and, though I scowled in the most villainous way possible, saw the chance to turn away before I lost control.

  In the end, the joke fell on Sabrina. She freed my tethers and set a seer loose in her house.

  When I rose to my feet, my head swam and the first steps I took were extremely precarious. Sabrina had sought to incite bloodlust within me, to make the desire to feed on Monica so palpable I could not withstand it. She slashed me to ribbons. She teased me with her blood. And while feeding on Sabrina revitalized me enough to stand, I needed more if I was to fight. I hated doing it, knowing she had already been bled, but Monica remained the only mortal in my presence and with two dozen vampires watching my actions, I had to convince them all the assassin had returned.

  Monica trembled beneath my grip, but just before my teeth sank into her neck, I sent a thought to her.

  ‘Trust me, Monica. I know what I am doing. Just play along.’

  She leaped when my fangs penetrated skin. My eyes shut as I felt her blood trickle down my throat. ‘Just a couple of sips,’ I reminded myself, ‘Enough to get my head on straight again.’ I drank slowly, forcing my fangs to retract while my lips remained pursed against her neck. I would have to move swiftly to make this work.

  With a quick, downward swipe of the knife, I cut Monica’s ropes and threw her down onto the floor. I spun around and plunged the weapon deep into Timothy’s chest, but did not wait for him to turn to dust before pivoting and hurtling the blade at Paul. Leaping over Monica, I slid onto the floor and plucked the knife from Paul’s remains as soon as he disintegrated into ash. My eyes shot back to Monica, the spring that brought me to my feet deceptively fluid. “Get away from here as fast as you can,” I said.

  Monica crawled away. My gaze shifted to Sabrina. A smirk curled the corner of my mouth as I lifted my empty hand to wipe Monica’s blood from my chin. “Do not con a con artist. Right, Mistress?”

  She narrowed her eyes at me. “Bastard.” Her fangs descended again and her face conto
rted in a sneer. “The humans have bewitched you beyond the point of reform.”

  “I honestly wish that were true. Your magic is no longer sufficient to bridle me, however.” My grip around the knife’s hilt tightened. “So, what shall you do with me now?”

  Sabrina plucked my sword from the floor and swung it around. In the five years I lived under her roof, I never fancied her as much of a swordswoman, but she handled the weapon more adeptly than Robin ever had. “We kill mortals and their vermin in my house, recalcitrant vampire,” she said, stalking forward. “If you do not stand with me, then you die by the tip of your own blade.”

  I stepped to the side, flashing a quick glance at the vampires standing around before focusing my attention on Sabrina. She followed my movements, her eyes searching me as though to predict my first action. I grinned. “You think I fear death,” I said. “Quite to the contrary. I know I have my reckoning coming to me. If you are the one to send me into the afterlife, then so be it. I shall not die, though, without ensuring you meet your end as well.”

  In my periphery, I spied one of the other vampires advancing. Spinning around, I plunged my knife into their chest before quickly turning back to face Sabrina again. “Your children all seem to have a death wish.”

  “He’s mine, you idiots,” Sabrina called out to the others.

  As Sabrina glanced away, I averted my eyes, peering across her shoulder toward the back of the room. There, I saw a familiar door, and within the span of seconds surmised that if I could buy myself enough time to make it the weapons room, my confidence would be backed by more than bravado. ‘Just need a bloody sword.’ I frowned. Shifting my eyes back to Sabrina, I pivoted and flicked my wrist. The knife in my grip sailed toward her chest. I knew she would deflect it, but the distraction served its purpose. I ran and Sabrina lost her footing in the effort to avoid my blade as I ran for the door.

  She tumbled to the ground and the rest of the gathered throng froze, uncertain of what to do. Their inaction afforded me enough time to kick open the door to the weapons room and dash for the wall. “Get him!” I heard from the other side, but by the time the others roused from their stupor, I made it to my destination. With one hand, I fetched a short sword. With the other, I took hold of a katana. As I held both, I flicked their sheathes away and ran for the common area again.

  Two challengers waited for me on the other side of the threshold. I struck them down with little effort. The others retreated and I grinned at Sabrina as she stood and narrowed her eyes at me. “Oh no you don’t, little boy,” she said.

  I raised the short sword and smirked. “A pity I never knew you could handle a weapon before. Our nights together might have been much more spirited.”

  “I lived in the Orient before you were a glimmer in your mother’s eye, traitor.” She growled. Placing one foot in front of the other in a studied manner, she stalked forward while I reciprocated. Slowly, but surely, the gap between us began to close.

  I chuckled. “Had Robin do your bidding, then? My, but having him as my mentor backfired in your face, did it not?”

  “The only satisfaction I have is that you finally rid me of that Irish derelict.”

  “Yes, I imagine so.” My grin faded, given over to a serious expression. We began to sidestep once within striking distance of one another, but neither of us motioned to claim the first blow. Rather, we seemed to be feeling each other out. “You are rather good at allowing others to soil their hands to do your bidding. Lydia . . . Robin . . . Those countless immortals from the other covens I assassinated . . . ”

  “A pity you cannot end yourself.” Sabrina whipped the katana in a trained blow; swiftly enough that it set me back as I used my short sword to block. I retaliated once she retreated, but she reacted just as fast, swinging for me again, determined to score a strike. Strands of Sabrina’s hair flew from the tight bun she wore it in and her fangs remained elongated while her eyes blazed fury. I matched her mettle, but she was in far better condition.

  I decided to even the score.

  I swung the katana while thrusting the short sword forward. Sabrina twisted away and raised her sword to intercept the blow. I readied the short sword again before she had a chance to recover. It sliced across her chest, cutting through her shirt and gashing across her breasts. Sabrina stepped back a few paces and freed one hand to touch the bleeding wound, scowling. “You will pay for that.”

  My smirk turned devious. “Then come and collect.”

  Sabrina lifted the sword with a hiss and brought it crashing down. Her impatience cost her, though, as I caught her blade with the katana in my hand and I plunged the short sword into her stomach. I laughed as she doubled over and pushed her off, watching her fall onto the floor. “You call that a collection?” I raised the katana, eyes lowering to her neck. “Allow me to properly demonstrate a collection, dear Sabrina.”

  “Rose!” Sabrina yelled. “The lights!”

  The lights? Oh fuck. I could instantly hear Robin’s voice chastising me for failing to keep my infirmity in mind. The world afforded me one mocking second with which to line Rose in my sights. It was just enough time to see her grin and flick a switch that immediately filled the room with bright, blinding light. I screamed as an unholy amount of pain lacerated my corneas. The short sword dropped from my hand as I tried desperately to cover my eyes, to little effect. I fell to the ground, writhing in agony. “Damn it to fucking hell,” I muttered, still clutching the katana, but now lacking the ability to use it.

  I heard Sabrina come to her feet. The sound of a blade cutting air closed in on me and I at least had the presence of mind to raise my sword to intersect the easily anticipated strike at my neck. I could not see to where she retreated, however. I did not know her position or how she would next attack. I was left a sitting duck.

  ‘Peter!’

  I rolled away and attempted to stand, my eyes still clenched shut. Sabrina kicked me in the jaw, and I toppled back down onto the ground.

  ‘Peter!! Remember the sight! My finger’s pointing at Sabrina, but my eyes are fixed on her. Which of the two’s going to help you right now?’

  I furrowed my brow, realizing the voice in my mind belonged to Monica. The lesson; she was attempting to remind me of the lesson, and suddenly I realized I had another weapon at my disposal. “Sabrina,” I said, realizing I needed to stall. “Tell me, before you cut me down, what it would have been like had I surrendered to you.” I began to feel for Monica, honing in on her thoughts, which screamed at me as if attempting to be heard over a multitude. “Would everything have happened as you have said, or was I being played like a fiddle to the end?”

  Sabrina stepped forward one pace as I locked onto Monica. At once, the room exploded with detail. I saw the faces of everyone watching, each gaze beholding me, waiting for the demise of Flynn. They all knew better than to move, which would have made me smile if it would not have revealed my ruse to Sabrina. A coven of slothful, decadent vampires and Rose remained the only one apt to lend a hand. It suddenly made sense to me, why my maker kept the masses lounging about, complacent and sated. They were easily ruled.

  Rose strolled closer to where Sabrina stood, undoubtedly to secure a front row seat. I spied her through Monica’s eyes, but kept my attention on Sabrina. She stood in front of me, holding my katana as though it had been meant for her. Like the pendant around her neck. Like the man lying before her. Everything she possessed, stolen from something or somebody else. I rolled onto my back, preparing to steal from her in return.

  My hand tightened around the sword’s hilt.

  Sabrina walked two more paces forward, staring up the length of my body from her position beyond my feet. “Flynn, you should know by now how it works,” she said with a smile. “I live only to serve myself. Oh yes, we would have enjoyed many bloody years together. You would have savored the affair and I would have reveled in the covens you destroyed. Once I had what I desired, though, I would have killed you in your sleep.”

  I lau
ghed. “The coward’s way out. My life has always been forfeit.”

  Sabrina raised her sword, but paused. “A pity you have to die now. You finally figured it out.”

  She grimaced and motioned to administer the deathblow. I waited, ready, and rolled to the side at the last moment. Raising my foot as the blade slashed by harmlessly, my kick caught her in the chest. Unprepared, she flew backward. The katana fell from her hand and Rose rushed for it, but I came to my knees and plunged my sword into Rose’s chest.

  Rose stopped. I smirked. “Goodbye, sweet Rose,” I said, releasing my grip on the sword to snatch my katana from the ground at long last. I came to my feet just as Rose’s dust descended to the floor. Clutching the red and black hilt of my weapon, I focused on Sabrina, knowing it had to end now.

  Sabrina realized it as well. She came to her knees and, in a blur, plucked the other sword from Rose’s ashes. I raised my katana and aimed for her neck.

  She thrust. I swung. I felt cold steel run through my chest as the sharpened edge of my weapon severed Sabrina’s head from her body. Pain sharper than any I had experienced before overwhelmed me and I crumpled onto the ground, losing consciousness. Somewhere in the haze of white light, the room faded from view.

  Just as surely as I had died to be reborn a vampire, I began to suspect my second death had come to embrace me. But rather than facing the demons, an angel greeted me instead.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  The next sensation I became aware of was both comforting and confusing at once. A hand brushed the side of my face and a voice spoke softly. “Peter, how long are you going to avoid looking at me?”

  My eyes snapped open. A sudden sense of tranquility washed over me as I peered at my surroundings, finding myself in a room much like the ones where I had spoken with Lydia. The ground beneath me was flat, and I could make out nothing in the way of walls from where I laid. I sat up, aware of a woman crouched beside me, but noticed several strange points of interest first.