I felt a shift in the warlocks I held. Thin Guy was wriggling free of me. I walked over to him—his eyes followed my approach.
"Do you offer your blood?" I asked. He could not respond. I loosened my hold on him, allowing his mouth to move.
He spoke in barely a whisper. "I agree with you."
"And yet, you fight me."
"No one likes to be controlled."
I laughed and released him further, allowing his magic to seep back into his limbs while keeping my control over the other two. "What's your name?" I asked him.
"Balthazar," he answered.
"Do you understand what I'm trying to do here?" I asked.
"From what I understand, you've changed Issa Tor into a vampire in order to use his knowledge to help save the world."
“Excellent summary.”
"Unfortunately, when his transformation is complete, it will break the spell that protects this sanctuary. That, I believe, is what Tyronios was trying to tell you.”
“Explain.”
"There is magic that surrounds this institution which keeps the zombies away. It protects us from many beings we don't want entering this area. It is the bond between us brothers, the warlocks here, that holds the spell in place."
"But if one of you dies?”
"That isn’t a problem. There are safeties built into the spell allowing for a member to pass to the other side. However, there are not safeties, in fact it is impossible, or at least we don't know how to build a spell, that can withstand one of our brotherhood becoming a vampire.”
"His transformation is not complete yet," Dimitri said. "He must drink from a human."
"What is he now?" I asked, looking at Issa. Hunger radiated off him.
"Something in between." Dimitri shrugged. I just love how crystal clear all this is…so comforting.
"How long can he continue to be in between?" I asked.
"Not long. He will feed or he will die trying."
"Can't you write him out of the spell or something?" I asked Balthazar.
"We must try."
Tyronios spoke. "That is why I brought these men here. I thought that we could discuss this and figure out the best way to do it. I didn't expect that you would betray our trust."
"We were out of time, Tyronios," I said. "Let's just figure this out."
"Well then you will have to release my other two brothers," Tyronios said.
"Fine, but if they try to hurt Dimitri, Megan, or me, I'll do a lot more than just freeze them in place."
Tyronios nodded and looked at the two men, waiting for me to release them.
Megan returned at that moment. She stopped in the open doorway, a middle-aged human woman behind her. Issa’s first meal, I presume. "Everything okay?" Megan asked, looking at the scene.
"We were just sorting that out," I said.
"He can't finish his transformation yet," Tyronios said. "Not until we have a chance to rework the spell which hides this compound.”
"Okay." Megan drew out the word, glancing at the human with her. Megan's influence lay over the woman. She was not here by her own free will.
I looked at Balthazar and then Tyronios. Neither mentioned the employee currently under vampire mind control. Ookaayy.
“Where do we need to go to work on this spell?" I asked.
"There is a temple downstairs," Balthazar answered. "We will need all of our members."
"Are they here now?" I asked.
"Yes," Tyronios answered. "We have been on lockdown since Issa's return."
“Let’s move.” I started toward the door, taking the warlocks under my control with me. They stumbled in my wake, much as the zombies had done. Megan stepped back into the hall, waiting with the woman.
“Please let my brothers go,” Balthazar said as he followed us down the hall.
“In a minute, I just want to get them away from my friends."
Tyronios jogged to catch up to me. "Darling, please, you can't let Issa drink, tell them not to allow it."
I stopped and turned back down the hall. "Megan, you understand?”
"Yeah," she nodded. "I get it. We have to wait. But what if he is dying? Should we let him die?"
"No," I said.
"But!" Tyronios sputtered.
"I can hold them off until the spell is complete," I said.
"Hold who off?" Balthazar asked.
"The zombies," I said. "I can control them."
His eyes widened. "You can control them?"
"Yes, now let's go. Apparently time is of the essence."
Balthazar led the way down the large staircase and through the front hall, to a small door which led to another staircase, this one narrower and not anywhere near as grand. We entered a small anteroom with a door painted glossy red—it looked kind of like wet blood. These boys don’t like vampires but they sure do like red.
Balthazar muttered under his breath and power flowed out of his mouth, turning the knob and opening the door.
The large room beyond it was lit by candles and filled with men in burgundy robes. They stood in a circle, leaving the center of the room empty. The floor was marked with chalk, the air thick with incense. "What is this place?" I asked.
"We are over the portal," Balthazar said.
"An interdimensional portal?"
"Yes," he said.
I turned to Tyronios, who stood behind the two warlocks I still controlled. "The one I was supposed to come through when I was a child, right?"
"Yes, that's right." Tyronios nodded, clearing his throat. "They are hard to manipulate, the portals.”
The understatement of the year goes to…
I almost laughed, but it didn't actually seem that funny. I released the two men I'd been holding. They backed away from me, trying to slink into the crowd of warlocks.
"You can't be here for this," Tyronios said.
"Why not?"
"We need total concentration," Balthazar answered.
I looked around the room. Everyone was staring at me. "I guess I'm a distraction."
"Yes," Balthazar answered.
"Fine, I'll go back upstairs. Let me know as soon as it is done so that we can feed Issa."
"I promise," Tyronios said. Truth sparkled in his aura.
Chapter Seventeen
I returned to Issa's room. Megan waited in the hall with the woman. "Who is she?" I asked.
Megan shrugged. "I found her cleaning the kitchen."
"Any idea what her name is?"
"No," Megan answered.
Megan didn’t even ask her name?
And I didn’t care.
Was our cause so great that one person's freedom to choose meant nothing—that they meant nothing? Yes.
This is the kind of thinking that leads to terrible things.
I must be careful not to let my power and purpose blind me. I’d disregarded Issa's wishes regarding becoming a vampire, so it was logical not to care if this woman wanted to donate blood to the “cause” but still…
"What?" Megan asked.
I shook my head. "I don't know,” I chewed on my lip, looking at the woman. She stared blankly at the wall in front of her. “Do you think it's wrong?"
"What?" Megan asked. "Not knowing her name? What does it matter?"
"I guess, I just…I would hate it if someone did this to me. Took my will and fed me to someone."
"He's not going to kill her, Darling." Megan shrugged. "I can make it so she doesn't even remember that any of this happened."
"I know, but it will have happened."
Moaning from inside the bedroom drew our attention. "Maybe you should wait out here," Megan said. "He's getting very hungry."
Issa's hunger pulsed out of the room like a radio signal. I closed my eyes, tasting it. He smelled everything and everyone. Identities didn’t matter—only his need for blood, only his urge to survive. He’d do anything to ease the wrenching hunger.
"How much longer can he survive?" I asked Megan.
"I
'm not sure," she said.
"What was your transformation like?" I asked, opening my eyes.
Megan met my gaze and then looked down the hall, her eyes unfocusing. “I was so sick, you know?” I nodded. Of course I did. My mind wandered back to that time…mere months ago, when Megan was dying. “I figured I was hallucinating.” She cleared her throat. “Or had died when my mother came in through the window and carried me away. You know, I figured she was a spirit, like, she was taking me to the next place.” Megan worried her bottom lip. “I didn’t really understand what was happening. They used their influence to keep me calm. And I didn't have to wait for blood. They had a person ready for me."
"Were they willing?" I asked.
"Yes," she nodded, a hint of a smile toyed with her lips. "In fact, they were honored. Before the zombies, humans lived with us, glad to feed us, hoping to one day be turned themselves.” She caught my gaze. “Eternal life is a powerful motivator. And you know how good it feels to nourish another being.”
I nodded my understanding. "Does turning hurt?” I asked.
Megan raised her eyebrows, thinking. "Hurt? No, I wouldn't say that it hurt—it’s strange.” She waved a hand at Issa’s door. “I was so sick and in so much pain that it was a relief. But it was also different than the average vampire's transformation, because while I felt the hunger, I was still repulsed by it."
"By the blood?" I asked.
"The blood, no. It was—" She licked her lips and bit down on the bottom one. "I felt like I was losing everything that mattered to me." She shook her head, not liking the explanation. “I felt the loss, Darling.” Her eyes pleaded with me to understand.
“You must have been happy that you were going to live?"
"But that's just it, Darling. I didn't live. I died."
"But you're still you," I said. "I know that you're different, but you're still Megan. You're still my best friend."
Megan smiled, her mismatched eyes warming. "I am still your best friend, but I’m different." The light in her gaze dimmed. “There is no music in me now.”
I reached out and grabbed her hands. “Hey, at least we're not zombies." Saying that out loud, it sounded like grasping at straws for a silver lining.
"I would certainly rather be a vampire than a zombie," Megan said with a smile. "And I don't have to be cruel. I don't have to hurt people."
"Is that what you thought?"
"It's what my parents did. They liked it. Most vampires like hurting people." I looked over at the woman standing next to Megan, her foggy expression, slack jaw, and stooped shoulders. We weren't hurting her. And we weren't enjoying it. But what we were doing could hardly be considered “right.” Maybe when you're trying to save the universe, there is no right and wrong, there's only succeeding and failing.
Another strangled moan from Issa—this one louder.
"Why don't you go in and check on him," I said to Megan. "Find out how long we have."
Megan nodded and opened the bedroom door, closing it quickly behind her. I stood alone in the hall with the nameless human. Megan returned a moment later, looking grim. "Dimitri says maybe another half hour. But he wouldn’t want to push it longer than that."
"Okay," I said.
A half hour passed. Issa's moans grew louder; his hunger bulged out of the room and pulsed against us. Megan’s own blood lust rose in response.
Time ran out.
Dimitri opened the door. “We must feed him,” he said.
We had no idea how close the warlocks were to completing their spell, but we couldn’t lose Issa Tor. He understood more about my blood, zombies, and the magic that intertwined us than any other being in the universe.
I nodded.
Megan brought the woman into the room. Issa thrashed back and forth, the sheets twisted around him, his eyes squeezed shut and face contorted with pain. Dimitri moved to Issa's side and touched his shoulder gently. Issa's bright blue eyes opened and locked onto Dimitri. “Be gentle,” he warned Issa.
Issa didn't seem to understand what Dimitri was saying. His hunger made it impossible for him to concentrate. Dimitri laid his influence over the new vampire as Megan brought the woman closer.
Seeing her, Issa leaped from the bed—dragging Dimitri’s power with him. He hit her hard—her body slammed into the wall, denting the dry wall. Her expression remained serene and her body pliable.
Issa bent over her, pulling her limp form to his face. His mouth latched onto her neck. Dimitri rose, his power tightening around Issa, easing his aggression, keeping his fangs from diving too deep…tearing too much.
I closed my eyes and reached out, looking for the energy forces the warlocks were working to protect the compound. As Issa slurped at the woman's neck, the dome of protection which covered the building shivered—like wind blowing across the surface of a still pond.
The dome thinned. I fortified it with my own influence. The warlocks below were weaving a new dome—drawing power from the earth, from the dimensional portal.
The dome faded. The warlocks stuttered but then redoubled their efforts. Power bulged out of me as I held the protections in place.
"Stop." Dimitri’s voice was soft but his power tingled over my skin. The slurping ceased.
I kept my eyes closed, sweat breaking out on my skin from the effort of holding the spell in place. I didn't know exactly how I was doing it. But I felt the warlocks behind me, fighting to rebuild what the transformation of Issa had destroyed.
Their chanting echoed in my head. They garnered massive strength from the world around them, as well as from each other. It wasn't like my power, which bloomed from my center out. They could never manifest the things that I could, but their collective will was not to be dismissed as a parlor trick.
These warlocks, when bonded together, were a force to be reckoned with. Their spell worked and blossomed from the basement out, spreading to the edge of the large property.
Death and life and earth and portal…
Wait, what the fuck is that?
The image of the woman from my dream—one side of her head shaved, the other long, wavy black locks of hair—careened across my consciousness. She rode a beast, some kind of giant, heavy-clawed cat, its tail swishing aggressively.
Her eyes shone that same dangerous green as mine.
Sister. Her voice echoed in my head where that chanting had just been. Come out and play.
I opened my eyes. “She’s here,” I said.
“Who?” Megan asked, bending over the human, her fingers on the woman's wrist, checking for a pulse. The wound on the human's neck was healing itself. Megan must have licked it.
Issa was in the opposite corner, Dimitri in front of him, talking quietly, the older vampire's hands on the younger's shoulders. Dimitri's influence lay over Issa—a thin veil between Issa and the world.
Dimitri needed to feed. Issa's energy pushed against his—wanting to be free. He looked over Dimitri's shoulder and met my gaze. He did not frighten me.
“My sister is outside the walls,” I said. My sister’s energy pulsed on the far side of the spell. She waited for me. She frightened me.
“What?” Megan stood.
Issa pushed Dimitri, his movement lightning fast and dangerously powerful. In two bounds, his fingers wrapped around my throat. "Why did you do this?" he yelled, his fangs exposed. "Do you see what you've made me into?" Spittle flew from his mouth. "I never wanted this! I would have been happy to die!"
Megan grabbed at his arm, but Issa swatted her away. Megan’s body hit the bed, cracking one of the bedposts. Dimitri was on Issa then, his big hands wrapped around the younger vampire’s shoulders, trying to pull him off me. But Issa's anger was too powerful.
He was crazed, outraged. Dimitri was too weak. The loss of blood from transforming Issa, the power he'd given me, they'd diminished his strength. Issa threw Dimitri across the room. His body smashed into the wall, cracking the dry wall and forcing a cloud of dust into the room.
Issa's ha
nds were on me again, his face hovering over mine as he squeezed my neck. "Why?" he screamed, his voice high and harsh, hardly human.
My sister waited for me.
My chi surged out of me, launching Issa across the room. He hit the wall, the whole room shuddering at the impact. The light of his existence radiated right in front of me. I could pull it out. My hair lifted in the wind of my power.
"He cannot control himself," Dimitri said, his voice low.
"I'm a monster," Issa moaned, his hands cradling his head.
"We need your help," I said. "That is why we changed you."
"I never wanted this."
"We don't always get what we want," I said.
“What did you say about your sister?” Megan asked, drawing my attention.
“She waits for me.” I went to the window and blew it out, the glass tinkling onto the stones below. Climbing onto the ledge, I looked beyond the wall.
In the middle of the street, my sister waited on the beast’s back. Zombies surrounded her, eager for her next command.
Come out and play.
To be continued January 17th…
Sneak Peek
Stolen Secret, The Kiss Chronicles Book 3
Chapter 1
My power buoyed me, swirling purple and red with shimmers of silver through it, like sparklers at a celebration. I strode away from the window—and my friends—using my chi as a stage.
On the far side of the Warlock Society’s tall brick wall, my sister sat astride the large cat creature, laughing. My sister?
She did look like me. Thinner with stronger facial features, but the same green eyes and dark, wavy hair. She definitely gave off more badass vibes, though. With half her head shaved and riding that giant feline, she had instant tough-girl status.
The cat creature was the size of a bus, with thick, orange-and-black-striped fur. Its long tail swayed behind it, twitching with anticipation—like a house cat watching birds through a window. Forever patient, always ready. The feline’s canine teeth curled to its chin, and it focused on me with unwavering silver eyes.
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