A Vampire's Bane

by Raven Steele

  His face darkened. “That should not have happened.”

  “But it did.” I felt the cold and dark tendrils of the Kiss begin to seep from its cage deep inside me. I needed to get Mateo out of here and out of my life. “You must leave, now.”

  “I can never leave you, Samira. Not again.”

  Anger swelled within me, raced through my blood. “You are the one who rejected me, remember? Or have you forgotten?”

  “I didn’t reject you.”

  “You never came for me. Even though I know you could’ve found me after Faithe and I fled the coven.”

  “I’m here now.”

  I laughed out loud, a sound foreign to my ears. “It’s too late! I’m not the same woman anymore.”

  He growled at my laughter. “And I’m not the same man, and yet, I am still consumed with my desire for you.”

  “Stop this. Right now.” I backed away, afraid if he said one more word, I’d return to his arms, releasing a torrid of emotions that could break carefully placed mental barriers. I couldn’t become that person again. Too many had been hurt by our union, especially myself. And if the Kiss took over my life again, I would hurt much more than just myself. My roommates, the friends I had grown to love. “Leave.”

  “I will do as you ask, but know this.” He drew close again leaving no air between us. “You were gifted the Kiss of Eternal Night, a feat no one else has survived. I can’t imagine how it changed you, but I sense so much of you is blocked. In that fact, you are right. You’re not the same woman I fell madly in love with all those years ago, and yet, I still see fire in your eyes that ignites when you look at me.”

  He palmed my heart, just above my breast. “You’re still in there, and somehow, I’m going to smash through those walls you think you need to control the Kiss.” He leaned toward me, just a breath away from my lips. “Love and passion are powerful weapons against darkness.”

  He brushed his lips against mine and turned, disappearing into the night, leaving as soundlessly as he’d arrived. My body melted, and I slumped to the floor, too overwhelmed by everything that had happened tonight.

  Mateo was wrong. He had no idea how powerful the Kiss was. He hadn’t seen my rampage across all of Asia and Europe for over a hundred years. The destruction I had caused when I had released the Kiss.

  My mind numb, I dragged myself down the stairs and into my coffin where I let darkness bathe me in a warm cocoon. Tomorrow would be better.

  I whispered the lie over and over until I let the first of the sun’s rays pull me under.

  Chapter 8

  The house was empty when I woke exactly as the sun set for the day. It had been a long time since I’d slept all day, but my mind, battered with old memories and emotions, needed the respite.

  A note from Lynx on the refrigerator said she was away doing research. Probably something to do with a cure for compulsion. There was nothing from Briar, but that didn’t surprise me.

  After showering and dressing, I cleaned and polished my weapons. My fingers slid across the cool metal with a soft cloth in gentle strokes. I often found this nightly ritual to be therapeutic. A cleansing of blood to erase my sins. I could clean these blades for a thousand years and not come close to atoning for all I’d done.

  My mind raged as my fingers worked calmly; I only wished it could be as composed as what I portrayed to the rest of the world. Keeping my emotions in check was essential to their survival. And tonight, returning to my old coven, it was even more important to stay in control and keep my mind sharp. I cleaned and whetted my tools until I felt balance settle within me. I sheathed my swords and prepared to leave, a nervous flutter in my stomach the only sign of the fervor I’d felt earlier.

  I left the house and drove to the east side of town where the wealthiest people in the city lived. I knew exactly where Winter’s Cove was. It was the oldest mansion in all of Rouen, built in the seventeen-hundreds. On and off throughout history, the Buio Sangre coven had split their time between it and another mansion, an exact replica, in Croatia. I used to love that mansion in Europe up until the day I abandoned it and my coven. When I returned, I’d burned it to the ground in an attempt to erase my past and all the horrible acts committed in that place. I would’ve done the same to Winter’s Cove, but Korin had it spelled against anyone who dared harm it in his absence. I know, because I tried. Nearly burned all the hair off my body trying to bring Winter’s Cove to ashes.

  And now it loomed before me, a reminder that I would never be able to erase that part of my history.

  The grand structure made of iron and stone sat on forty acres surrounded by a dense forest just as old as the mansion. The long lane leading to it was barred by a black metal gate bearing the symbol of a half-moon with a sword through it. A memory of me killing someone on the tip of that sword flashed in my mind. I pulled my car up to the gate and peered into the security camera. This was new. A moment later, the gates creaked open.

  Dread clenched my gut as I drove down the dark lane beneath a canopy of tangled tree limbs. Those long, spiny branches seemed to recoil when my headlights touched them. Part of me believed what I was seeing. I had no idea how much evil had taken hold of this property, making it a living and breathing entity.

  I parked in front of stone steps and removed my glasses. Inside this place, I needed to remember my vampire side. I exited the vehicle. The mansion looked as I remembered it. Dark stones, the lower ones covered in dull, thick moss, piled on top of each and ended in iron spirals clawing at the darkness. A gross intrusion into an otherwise beautiful night.

  Sliding my swords into the sheaths on my back, I made my way up the stone steps, my legs heavy, until I reached two large wooden doors. My reception would not be well received. Not with how I left things. I shoved the doors open; they groaned in protest.

  The entryway looked the same. A massive iron chandelier hanging from the high ceiling had been lit with a thousand candles. Flat stone floors with thick blood-red veins fractured the dull surface. On the wooden paneled walls hung paintings older than the mansion, depicting images of angels and demons, wars, death and destruction. I hated it all.

  A human servant dressed in a tuxedo of the highest quality hurried toward me. The gray pallor of his cheeks contrasted with his yellowed eyes. Life was nearly vacant in those glossy orbs. This is what it looked like when humans worked for vampires. He had either been compelled or made some deal with one of them in exchange for riches for family members.

  He bowed in front of me. “My name is Branson. How may I serve you, Samira?”

  Someone had told him about me. This worried me. Who else knew I was coming? “I do not require your assistance. I know my way around.”

  “Thank you, miss. Your bedroom has already been prepared for you.”

  I shivered, as memories of that bedroom assaulted me. Long nights of drinking after restraining a human on the bed, then making passionate love to Mateo on every inch in that bedroom while the human bled out. Or Edward’s shocked face as I sliced his head off, all because he’d dared talk back to Korin. It didn’t matter that he was once my friend. Korin laughing gleefully.

  I held back the bile threatening to lurch up my throat. All disgusting acts, once considered normal to my warped mind. Something I’d long since overcome.

  I held my hand out firmly. “Not necessary. I won’t be staying.”

  “Nevertheless, it is ready.”

  I lowered my head, dismissing him. I wasn’t staying any longer than necessary in this dark pit of memories.

  Before I could look for Faithe or those who might still have a small fondness for me, I had to follow protocol and check in with Naburus, Korin’s firstborn and self-appointed Prince of our coven. He was just as bad as Korin, maybe even worse. His thirst for knowledge had crossed over into something grotesque, rivaling the worst ethical offenders since the beginning of time. There was no line he wouldn’t cross in the name of science, no code he lived by, save that of furthering his understand
ing of life and death.

  I turned to my left and toward a stairway leading into the basement. I had yet to cross paths with another vampire, but it didn’t surprise me. No one ever headed in the direction of Naburus’s private lab.

  The temperature dropped as I descended the stairs to the next floor. I walked down a cold and dark hallway, the sound of my steps echoing against stone walls. The bitter smell of chemicals and blood stung my nose the closer I came. An ice-cold chill clawed up my spine at the familiar scent that always followed Naburus wherever he went.

  Reaching the metal door at the end, I knocked on the door, softer than I intended.

  “Enter.”

  His voice made my stomach tighten. I placed my hand over the sensation, hoping to calm it, then pushed open the door.

  The lab was as I remembered. Long rows of counters topped with beakers, centrifuges, burners, incubators; anything he might need to conduct his latest experiment. The florescent lights flickering above were an improvement over the old torches. Naburus stood beneath one, his pale skin looking sickly under its illumination. His stringy hair, missing on some parts of his scalp, was tied back in a loose ponytail with a string. His face, long and straight, was all angles and sharp lines made worse by his sunken countenance. In the crook of his left arm, where the skin was mottled and discolored, an IV had been placed. Long tubing ran from it up to an IV pole where two bags of blood hung.

  Naburus had been Korin’s first attempt at making a vampire. Korin had had no one to teach him the complicated process, plus it didn’t help that he had chosen a man who had just fallen victim to the Plague of Justinian, a disease that had killed more than ten thousand people daily in the Roman Empire. Something about this combination left Naburus in constant need of blood.

  “It’s been a long time, Samira,” he said and moved toward me, his IV pole squeaking behind him. The heavy material of his long dark robe swished. “Korin said you would be coming.”

  “I’m just letting you know I may be by to visit now and then, while the coven resides at Winter’s Cove.”

  “Come here,” he ordered, curling his long finger into a hook. “I want to show you my latest experiment.”

  I reluctantly followed after him. There had been so many times I’d thought about killing him. Chopping that long, blood-filled tube in half, leaving him to wither and die, but Korin’s fury would be violent and swift. It wouldn’t be just me he hurt, it would be everyone I ever knew and loved.

  Naburus turned a corner into another section of the lab. Pressed against the wall in a handstand position were two naked humans. Blood ran from their noses where Naburus had fashioned tubing to collect the crimson liquid. By the looks of their pale legs, they had been in that position for some time. Both their eyes were closed. I might’ve thought they were dead since I heard no heartbeat, but the beats must’ve been faint because blood still flowed.

  As for their odd positioning, stiff handstands maintained with no devices, this was Naburus’ gift. He could control living tissue, but only to the extent of making it rigid and unmovable. This was a small extension of Korin’s power passed through to Naburus. Very few of us, as Korin’s offspring, were given these powers. No one really knew how or why some vampires were gifted with more abilities than others, like Angel’s gift for healing, for example. Sometimes they were gifts, other times they were curses. I had earned mine. And in this moment, I was glad I had it because it made it possible for me to withstand Naburus’s control over my own body should he attempt it.

  “What is this?” I asked, not attempting to hide the revulsion in my voice.

  He walked over to them, his robe whispering along the stone floor followed by his IV pole, and stared down. “Just before all their blood is drained, I’m going to fill their veins with shifter blood.”

  I glanced around for shifters, but didn’t see any. He probably had some stashed away in the dungeon. “Why would you do that?”

  “To see if I can. Maybe if we can make our own shifters, they can become our guardians during the day.”

  “You’re insane.” The words left my mouth before I could stop them.

  His head jerked my direction, and his pale eyes flashed a vibrant yellow. My muscles snapped into a tight contraction, making it so I couldn’t move. This is what he did—trapped his prey like a snake coiled around a rat.

  And he had me.

  Chapter 9

  Naburus moved in front of me, his mouth a straight line. “I told Korin it was a mistake to let you live all those years ago. You were too wild, too reckless.”

  He lifted his bony hand and ran the back of his fingers across my cheek, down my neck. “But I’m glad you’re alive. For now I have full authority to do whatever I want with you.”

  His fingers traveled lower to my breasts. Enough of this.

  Easily breaking his hold on my body, I snatched his hand and twisted hard. “Don’t touch me.”

  His eyes lit up with wonder, obvious to the pain his arm must be feeling. “Then it’s true! You do have the Kiss of Eternal Night inside you.”

  I shoved him away. “I will follow the rules of this coven, but nothing more. I’ve made myself known to you. Goodbye.”

  Turning on my heel, I resisted the urge to run and walked instead. He may have held power over me before, but no more. I would not be afraid of him. That’s what I told myself, but I could still feel the ice in my veins from his touch.

  As I made my way across the mansion to search for Faithe, I tried not to think about the humans or shifters trapped in Naburus’ lab. Saving them would be near impossible. But could I still be who I was if I didn’t at least try?

  “Samira!” a voice called.

  I stopped just as I was about to walk into a formal living room and turned around. A boy who looked barely eighteen, yet carried himself as someone much older, hurried toward me, confidence in each step. His brown hair held blond highlights as if it had been kissed by the sun. His light complexion and light blue eyes were familiar. So was his broad smile, a single dimple on his right cheek.

  “Teddy?” I asked, the heaviness in my chest lifting.

  His grin widened. “Yup!”

  “You look so different!”

  He threw his arms around me in a tight hug. “I’ve missed you! I can’t tell you how many times I searched for you.”

  We let each other go, and I stared at the boy who had once followed me around like a lost puppy for years. He was turned by one of our sentries in the late seventeenth century, shortly before I left the coven, but that sentry was killed and wasn’t able to teach him how to live as a vampire. And out of everyone he could’ve learned from, he had latched onto me.

  I squeezed the muscles on his arms. “You’ve grown yourself.”

  “Easy to do when you’re a vampire. All of it comes from training. You should see me fight!”

  The way he was talking to me, so carefree, made guilt eat at my heart. “You’re not mad at me for leaving?”

  His smile disappeared, and he leaned forward conspiratorially. “I’m glad you did. All those things Korin made you do. I only wish I could’ve gone with you.”

  “About that, I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be. You would never have made it far with me by your side. I was so young and careless.” He searched my eyes, and his smile returned. “Come on. Let me show you around.”

  For the next little while, he gave me a tour as if I didn’t remember what the original mansion looked like. It was unsettling how he had managed to replicate every detail down to the lace mantel scarves. All he added was modern conveniences like electricity and outlets for cable and internet.

  Like I expected, few vampires acknowledged my presence. I recognized many, but there were several I didn’t know. I froze when I spotted the silver-eyed vampire from Sinsual, the one Briar and I had been tracking when we went to the warehouse. He seemed at complete ease here, which meant he’d been here for some time.

  Teddy stopped in the library and
motioned toward the back of a woman with long blond hair. I’d recognize it anywhere. “You remember Kristina?”

  She slowly turned around. Where her hair was shiny and vibrant, her eyes were sullen and gray, a mere shadow of the blue they used to be. “Kristina?”

  “Samira.” She smiled but the motion took great effort. “You’re back.”

  “I’m visiting,” I clarified and hurried to her side. I bent down next to her and rested my palm over her cold, small hand. “You’re ill. What’s wrong?”

  “Do I look that bad?” She attempted to smooth her hair back, but her hands shook.

  I glanced up at Teddy. His eyes were sad as he stared down at her.

  “You don’t look bad,” I said to her. “Just sick. Has something happened?”

  She tapped her forehead with her finger. “There’s only so much this can handle.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  Teddy cleared his throat. “Mind control. After you left, she became Korin’s enforcer. She tried fighting him, so now he just compels her to do everything. Doesn’t even give her a chance to disobey now.”

  I sucked in a breath. Long term compulsion was known to have serious side effects on humans and vampires. A brain locked in a mental prison could only withstand so much. By the looks of Kristina, she was close to breaking. No wonder, since he’d have been compelling her for over three hundred years.

  I’d seen a few crazy vampires in my time, ones whose minds had fractured from either too much compulsion or magical spells. They were dangerous and reckless, often exposing themselves inadvertently to sunlight or going on a nighttime rampage, slaughtering anyone in their path. Very few bothered to lock up vampires like that. Since there was no cure, they were eliminated. Permanently.

  “What can I do?” I asked, desperate to help my old friend. We had been turned around the same time. Her father used to be Korin’s closest friend before he was killed in the vampire-witch wars over four hundred years ago, but we had been friends for even longer. That changed when I told her I was leaving. She swore she’d never speak to me again if I left, but I don’t think she ever understood how bad things had gotten for me. By the looks of her now, she understood.