by Dannika Dark
“Have you ever tasted a Vampire other than your maker?” he asked.
I stared daggers at him. “I’m warning you.”
Christian rolled onto his side. “I’m serious.”
“No. And that’s not an invitation to ask me.”
“I’m only thinking that if you’ve never tasted Vampire blood, then you don’t know how it affects you.”
“And I suppose you want to be the sacrificial lamb?”
“Feck, no. I don’t give my blood freely to just anyone. But you won’t know the extent of your strengths and weaknesses unless you test everything.”
“I don’t have any desire to be turned into a marionette. I’ve heard rumors about the influence it can have.”
“Vampire blood is powerful, to be sure. But it’s not what you think, and everyone’s affected differently by it. It’s a sacred act that’s revered because of the power and pleasure within the blood. The blood is dark and sweet, like nothing you’ve ever tasted. When your maker feeds you his blood, you’re not yet a full Vampire, so you can’t appreciate the complexities.”
“It’s not fine wine. I’m sure it tastes like everyone else’s.”
He snorted and placed his head in his hand. “It’s not nearly the same, lass. Not by a mile. Maybe Viktor can get a sample of blood off the black market,” he said absently.
“Don’t bother adding that one to the grocery list.”
His dark brows drew together. “You really don’t have any cravings for blood, even after drinking so much of it?”
“No, and I’ve tasted more than I care to. It doesn’t heal me, it doesn’t excite me, and it sure as hell doesn’t taste like a margarita.”
“Does it taste like a Bloody Mary?”
I brushed a strand of hair away from my face, stealing a glimpse of his bottomless eyes. They reminded me of a line in a poem that went: And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming.
I shivered and looked away. “Blood does nothing for me.”
“It’s a shame you can’t enjoy the full-bodied taste, but I can’t complain, because your lack of taste will come in handy. Blood is what makes even the best Vampires weak with want, so at least you have that going for you. Can you glean information from it?”
I turned away, showing him my back. “You’re nosy.”
The bed didn’t move, but somehow Christian had eased up behind me, his words nothing but dark whispers in my ear. “Know thyself. You’ll never learn who you are by watching others or reading about it in a textbook. You’ll never know what you’re capable of by avoiding what you fear. Who are you, Raven Black?”
When I rolled over, Christian was gone.
Chapter 11
The next morning, I slipped out of Christian’s bedroom and took a quick shower before collecting my things. I had a feeling this might be my last day, so I wanted to leave on my terms. The halls with windows were humid and smelled of rain, so I put on my lace-up boots, which were good for treading water.
Keystone had become a temporary reprieve, and I was going to miss its winding halls, grand staircases, majestic rooms, and sumptuous views. It had offered me protection, where I didn’t have to sleep with one eye closed, and the quiet rooms allowed me space to gather my thoughts.
When I reached the lower level, energetic conversation filled the dining room down the hall, but I continued moving toward the front door.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Wyatt yanked the green duffel bag out of my hands from behind.
I whirled around. “Wyatt, give me the bag.”
He held it high in a game of keep-away, so I snatched the grey beanie off his head.
“That’s all right, buttercup. I’ve got plenty more where that came from. It’s time for breakfast, so follow me.” Wyatt turned on his heel and headed toward the dining room.
“Give me the bag!” With a flying leap, I hooked my arm around his neck in a death grip.
He choked, running down the hall with me draped over his back. “C-c-c-an’t bree-breathe,” he stammered, gasping for air.
“Drop the bag and I’ll give you oxygen.”
We flew into the dining room, making a dramatic entrance. The chatter ceased as everyone at the table stared at us like frozen statues.
Wyatt heaved the bag across the room and shook me off his back. He gasped, coughing several times before regaining his composure. A lick of embarrassment rattled me when he gave me a cold stare.
He snagged his hat out of my hands and gave it a light shake before sliding it back onto his head, covering most—but not all—of his light-brown hair. “A gentleman can’t even carry a lady’s bag.”
When I moved to retrieve it, he got ahead of me and kicked it next to Viktor’s chair, right before taking his seat with an impish grin on his face.
It felt like the walk of shame, and it infuriated me to think they had the audacity to sit there smiling in a show of mockery. Then again, I wasn’t sure why I expected compassion from a group of bandits. Sneaking out had nothing to do with saving face—I was hoping to avoid getting my memory scrubbed.
Claude rose to his feet, his nose twitching. “What’s wrong, female?”
“I just want my bag.”
Gem stood up as if trying to get a better look. “Where are you going?”
Claude wrapped his arm around my shoulders and led me to the table. “To her chair, that’s where she’s going.”
As we neared the vacant chair, I dug my heels in. “Hold on, wait. Just stop.”
Viktor laced his fingers together in a prayerlike gesture, watching us in rapt silence.
Gem plopped back in her seat and scooped out a spoonful of jelly from a jar, carefully spreading it on a strip of bacon.
The chair to Viktor’s left was vacant.
“Where’s Christian? You didn’t fire him, did you? If so, you made a mistake. He didn’t have anything to do with what happened last night.”
Viktor flipped a linen napkin across his lap, his voice edged with disappointment. “I like to see that kind of camaraderie. It gives me hope.”
“I didn’t say that I liked him, only that I take full blame for everything that happened last night. The way I see it, Darius is now a man short, and that’s one less evil Mage in this world we have to worry about. So keep that in mind while you escort me to the door.”
“Last night I gave you specific instructions. One of which was not to behave impulsively and commit murder. But life does not always go as planned, and we obtained the information we needed. That said, I have spent all evening making arrangements to cover up your mistakes, especially the two men you left behind at the bar.”
“What did you do?”
“The bartender is a loyal supporter of Keystone, and he fabricated a story and told the men that their partner was apprehended by Regulators of the Security Force for attempting to purchase a child on the black market. In order to explain the car’s disappearance, he had to tell them the Regulators confiscated it as evidence.”
“And they believed it? But Darius—”
Viktor rubbed his eye. “Darius will not find out. These men will turn their backs on their friend. To inquire about him or ask questions will put a target on their back as someone who supports child molesters. Everyone knows that the higher authority does not make arrests without sufficient proof, and no one wants to be associated with a pedophile. The last thing these men will want is a Regulator knocking on their door. Should they tell Darius, he will wash his hands of it. A man who breaks the law does not get involved with the law, even where his men are concerned. It calls attention to him.”
“You don’t think he’ll suspect anything?”
“I can promise he is not going to check on a lowly guard arrested for slave trading. This buys us some time.”
Claude gripped my shoulders and forced me into my seat. I stared blank-faced at a plate of sausages, hash browns, and strawberries.
“You eat today,” he said.
Viktor sliced a banana into several pieces. “I am not going to sit here and praise your actions. Loyalty is essential, and you have failed to impress me, even if the result was a good one. I can’t award you credit for chance. I am placing you on probation.”
I shook my head. “What does that mean?”
He ate a slice of banana from the blade of the knife. “It means you will not go on any assignments in the near future. We need to measure your skills and make sure you are able to acclimate to the team. This is not a club. Every person I bring in, I watch before they’re ready to move to the next level. You can still help with planning and theories, but jeopardize this case or any of my men’s lives, and you’re out.”
My heart sank. At least I still had another shot, but why couldn’t he be proud of what I’d done, even if it wasn’t by the book?
“Understood,” I said, dodging the stares from everyone at the table.
Viktor brought his knife up to his mouth and ate another slice. “Before we make a move, I need to confirm something.”
“I’m working on it,” Wyatt said, shoveling eggs into his mouth.
Niko lowered his voice. “How do you feel?”
“Better, thanks,” I whispered back.
His eyes skated around me, as if looking at something. “Your light isn’t back to normal.”
How could he see energy that didn’t belong to me? Unless it was an educated guess. I was usually in a cantankerous mood after pulling core light from a criminal.
Blue offered me a basket of bread, and I waved it away. Watching everyone eat was making me nauseous. I still hadn’t gained their respect and didn’t yet belong. Being reprimanded in front of them also didn’t help my mood.
“I need to take a walk.”
Claude reached across the table and gripped my wrist. “Why won’t you eat?”
“You’re making the Chitah nervous,” Gem said, leaning her head on his bicep. “He’s a softy when it comes to looking after us girls.”
I pulled gently out of his grasp. “I can’t eat—not after last night. I’ll just get sick. Sometimes it takes a couple of days before I can keep anything down. Go on without me; I’m not feeling good.”
When I got up to leave, my steps quickened as the distance between us grew. A feeling of suffocation overwhelmed me, making it hard to breathe. The dark light, the newness of my situation, the uncertainty of my future—I needed fresh air. I emerged through the back door, drifting into a blanket of fog that rolled across the estate and into the surrounding woods. It had an ethereal glow, making it seem as if I were lost in a dream. Morning light filtered through a veil of dark clouds, but there was no thunder or smell of rain. The blades of grass below my feet glittered with tiny prisms of dew, and I left tracks of flattened grass behind me as I moved toward a grove of trees.
I wiped some of the moisture off an iron bench before taking a seat. The Keystone estate was another world. No trains, cars, airplanes, voices, or even dogs barking. The only sounds were drops of water dripping off the leaves and into puddles, a woodpecker tapping against a tree in the distance, and the occasional rustling of leaves.
In a burst of movement, Gem flashed by me and jumped onto the rope swing. She stood on the wooden plank and used her arms to swing back and forth. “Mind if I hang out with you?”
“Once my heart starts beating again, sure.”
The rush of air from her movement stirred up some of the leaves below. “You can’t flash? I thought you were half Mage.”
I glanced up at the creaking branch as she swung back and forth. Gem had on a knit duster that was so thin the wind lifted it like a floating shadow. Her black shorts made her legs seem long, and I realized Gem had a style all her own. Tousled violet hair touched her shoulders in pretty waves, making her seem like a fairy who lived in the forest.
“I can’t do everything you can do.”
She leaned back, gripping the ropes and looking up at the tree as sprinkles of water shook from the leaves. “I think that’s why Viktor chooses us.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well… I think we all have something in common. We’re different from everyone else in some way. And we also had nowhere left to go—nothing left to live for. Am I right?”
She was definitely right about me, but I wasn’t so sure that applied to everyone else. “Most of those guys don’t look like they’re at the end of their rope. Claude runs a salon, right? And Blue seems to have her stuff together.”
Gem hopped off the swing and approached me with an exaggerated step due to her heavy shoes. She eyed the wet bench and then squatted down on the concrete area before my feet, her arms wrapped around her knees. “Everyone who comes into the house has the same melancholy look in their eyes. But you don’t have to worry; that goes away after a little while. Not all the way, but Viktor fills in a lot of those empty spaces by giving meaning to our lives.”
Gem’s skin glowed with the humidity, so pale and lovely that it made me envious.
“Did your Creator name you?”
A smile brightened her angelic face. “She sure did. I could have kept my first name, but Gem was her idea because of my love for gemstones. See?” She held the quartz crystal necklace between two fingers. It was a beautiful raw cut with several sides and a point on the end.
I didn’t know everything about the Breed world, but Learners took on the surnames of their Creator in order to create a lineage. It was also a practice put in place to help humans sever their ties with the human world—probably more psychological than anything. I knew that some Creators didn’t have last names because they were ancients, but I wasn’t sure how they handled naming their progeny. It was frustrating to have so many questions about my own kind and no one to give me those answers without making me feel ignorant.
“I’ve always been fascinated by gemstones,” she continued. “I wish my last name was Stone. How spectacular would that be? But alas…”
“Did you like your Creator?”
She looked wistfully at something in the distance. “I loved her like a mother.” After a moment, Gem tilted her head, holding me in her rapt attention as if she were an otherworldly bird just seconds from flying away. “Are you strong like a Vampire?”
“No.”
“What’s it like to be half Vampire? What’s it feel like?”
My answer came out as a trembling whisper. “Terrifying.”
“That’s okay. You don’t have to talk about it. Is Raven your real name or what your Creator gave to you?”
“It’s my given name.”
She rocked on her heels. “I bet your mother loved you a lot to give you such a special name.”
My eyes dragged downward, and Gem gripped my hand.
“Look, I’m sorry if I brought up a touchy subject. I’m just so curious about you and don’t know how to start a conversation that might not be a land mine of trauma.”
I threw my head back and laughed. “That’s one way to put it. What’s the deal with Christian?”
She stepped on the bench to my right. “Tell me you’re not—”
“No. God, no.”
Gem blew out a breath and crouched next to me. “Good. He’s trouble, and if this job means anything to you, then you won’t hook up with anyone in the house. It won’t take long for any temptations to vanish, especially when you learn about their appalling habits. Wyatt never cleans up after himself, and Claude snores. I had to move to a different hall so I could sleep at night.”
“And Niko? He seems pretty perfect.”
She wagged a finger at me. “Just remember what I told you. Your curiosity will pass, but if you start up anything, it’s going to make working together a nightmare. Imagine a nasty breakup where they start seeing other people and telling you all the ways that you don’t compare. You’ll have to see each other in the halls, eat at the same table, and go on assignments together. Someone’s going to wind up dead.”
Gem and I were going to get along just fine.
>
“You don’t get tempted by Claude? He’s a looker as far as Chitahs go.”
She snorted. “Why would you think that?”
“He’s your partner. I’m guessing you spend a lot of quality time with him.”
“When we first started working together, I got hurt on the job. Nothing serious, but I guess I took it hard because I didn’t want to look weak in front of the group. Someone as tough as you probably can’t relate, but I fell asleep in a puddle of tears. When I woke up in the middle of the night, Claude was stretched out across my legs, warming them the way his kind does when they’re trying to be compassionate. Trust me, if anything was going to happen between us, it would have happened that night.”
“Is he gay?”
“No, he’s definitely not gay. But he does great hair. Women just love him. You know how Chitahs worship their females? Well, just imagine all the clients he has lined up who want a big guy like Claude doting all over them for an hour or two.”
“I’m guessing he gets a lot of information. Women talk a lot when they’re nervous or want to impress someone.”
“Bingo. He overhears a lot of stuff too. Unless he’s forced to give his word that he won’t share the information, he relays anything of importance to us.”
I flicked an ant off my jeans that was attempting to crawl inside a hole. “Does he date his clients?”
“Chitahs like their own kind. I think he wants a girl who will purr for him. Have you ever heard a Chitah purr?”
“Um, no.”
She gripped my arm. “It’s wonderful, like walking into a house and smelling homemade cookies. He doesn’t do it a lot, but every so often he’ll be in one of his moods, and I’ll just snuggle up next to him the moment he starts up his motor. He also does my hair. I’m sure Claude wouldn’t mind if you asked him to cut or dye yours, although I think it’s pretty just the way it is. Maybe a few inches to clean up the split ends.”
“Thanks, Gem. I don’t mean about my hair, but for making me feel better.”
“I didn’t want you to come out here and sulk alone. It’s not easy being the new kid on the block. It’s lonely. Blue’s more reserved, and our personalities don’t blend. We get along okay, but we don’t hang out a whole lot. Her experience is a lot different than mine since she’s a Shifter. I feel more comfortable talking to you, so I’ve decided we’re going to be best friends.”