She looked like a teenager, though he was sure she wasn’t newly Made. Her eyes glowed red, but she was in full red battle gear, walking calmly outside, with her arms swinging at her sides. Her hair was black and cut short in a bob around her face and Antonio recognized her instantly. She was the girl from the surveillance video, the one who had torn the woman’s head off before muttering “Long live Caesareon.” He wanted to lurch forth and kill her, only because he assumed that she was in a high position next to her boss, but he couldn’t afford to do so.
He waited until she was gone, waited a while after that to assure himself that no one would walk out again. During the time he waited, he zeroed his senses in on that store, counting the breaths, the footsteps, the heartbeats. There were two people in there. Only two and he could tell from the scent of one of them that it was Isis.
He took a deep breath, and rushed forward.
Caesareon had changed them all and was able to slip into their minds, controlling their every move. He ordered his wolves to take them to the designated store to feed, so that they’d be strong enough for battle. Isis wanted to shudder, only imagining the awful way in which they were going to feed.
He had sent Demetria into battle, claiming he needed her no longer. She started to protest, but with one glare from her master, she had no choice but to obey. She gave him one last long lingering look and kissed him. For once, he kissed her back, leaving her speechless and happy. At least she left in a good mood, without a backwards glance towards Isis.
Once alone, Caesareon pulled Isis next to him and he began trailing circles behind her neck, tossing aside her long hair. “My warrior,” he whispered into her ear, sending shivers of fear down her side. “We are so very close to our goal. Without you, none of this would be possible.”
She felt his hold on her slip and she moved around, sidestepping him, so she was out of his reach. “I’m sure you could have very well accomplished this without me,” she stated matter-of-factly. He only wanted her as a trophy, she knew. She and this world were only prizes to him. She wished he would lose.
“You were my muse, darling.”
Before she had the chance to reply to this, the glass doors beyond slid open. They both snapped their attention upwards and Isis gaped at the familiarity she saw before her. In his dark leather jacket and jeans and boots, an FBSI vest strapped to his chest, a silver gun in hand, curly hair matted wetly around his face, silver scar blazing as bright as his red eyes, stood Antonio Santiago.
Esmeralda ducked out of the creature’s grasp, her scream caught in her throat. The wolf didn’t think she would dodge him and ran face first into the brick wall that had been behind her. A loud howl pierced her ears and by that point she wasn’t sure if she had or if the wolf had because she was running as fast as she could be carried. Each time her feet touched the ground, it sent electric jolts up her stomach.
A growl sounded behind her and she was aware of the wolf following at her feet. And then she was hauled backwards by the hood of her sweatshirt and flung in the air towards the wall. She twisted in the air, protecting her stomach with her hands. She was slammed against it back first and slid down it.
For a moment she was immobile with fear, fear that she had broken something and couldn’t get up to protect herself. But that wasn’t it. She knew that if she ran he would only catch up to her, enjoying the chase very much like the wolf that he was.
So she sat there, clearing the tears of the blow from her vision, waiting for him to advance on her. The wolf dropped on all fours before her, mouth pulled back in what looked like a maniacal smile. She didn’t shudder, didn’t cringe back. Instead, she tilted her chin up in defiance, already trying to form a plan in her mind.
Then she had it.
The wolf brought his head down, snapping at her. Without hesitation, she brought forth her foot and kicked the wolf in the head, causing his head to snap back. At first she wasn’t sure if she had hit him hard enough, but when he started to shake his head back and forth, as if confused, she knew that she had. And she jumped up and around him, landing on his massive back. She figured it was much like horse riding, except even more dangerous. She grabbed him by the back of the red collar and pulled, cutting off his airway.
Vampires could hold their breath for a few hours, but werewolves were a different story. Her newfound strength was an advantage, being pregnant, however, was a disadvantage. He jumped up, arching his back at the same time in crazy movements much like a bull would.
She held onto his neck for dear life as she tried to choke the life from him. It was flawed, because he was too strong for her and her grip kept slipping. Her head had begun to spin from the bouncing feeling, a snarl escaped her mouth and a surge of electric jolts sizzled through her fingertips. She grabbed the side of his head and in one strong movement she cracked his neck to the side, breaking the bones.
He stopped moving and fell under her. She paused for a moment, to reassure herself that this had just happened. She had just killed a man. Granted, he wanted to eat her, possibly more, and she had no other choice. She had a second life to protect now.
Shaking off the feeling, she stood up, rubbed her stomach, and walked away.
After her first encounter with the wolf, everything after that seemed relatively easy. It was a simple task to stay in the shadows. No one else came her way or bothered her or anything of the sort. She was thankful for that too, until there was a vampire in front of her.
It was obviously a newly Made vampire, she wasn’t sure how she could tell, but she just could, from the mad look in her flaming red eyes. Okay, Esmeralda couldn’t help but feel scared now. She had only killed the wolf as a result of luck, this would be infinitely different.
“Blood,” she said. Her teeth were already stained with it, her blonde hair matted with it; her shredded clothes were even covered with the stuff.
Esmeralda had the urge to run. She would stand a better chance than fighting. But the vampire moved to attack. Before she could, a blond blur of a figure knocked the vampire to the side. Esmeralda covered her eyes for a split second, a crunching sound wafted through the air, and then silence.
Esmeralda opened her eyes and the wolf was in front of her, simply staring. Esmeralda braced herself but the thing didn’t attack. Instead, it stood on its hind feet, body rippling, hair falling off in shreds. Soon, a woman was standing in front of her, naked and scowling angrily.
Agent Victoria Phillipe.
Her curly blonde hair hung over her shoulders, covering her nude breasts. She was bare from head to toe.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Victoria demanded angrily, causing Esmeralda to flinch. “You can’t just come here without protection! You’re not even supposed to be here at all!”
Esmeralda didn’t have time to explain, and didn’t really feel like it. She had to get to Antonio, who was probably going after Isis. “So, protect me,” Esmeralda said defiantly. “Protect me while I try to find Antonio.”
“Of all the stubborn—” She threw her hands up in the air. “You have a baby to think about. Don’t be stupid!”
“I don’t want my baby to grow up without a father.”
Victoria’s anger didn’t soften. “If you want your baby to have any future at all, you’ll leave now.”
Esmeralda knew it was the truth. But she couldn’t help herself. Something was telling her to go and find him. Then again, maybe it was impulse, she couldn’t be sure. All she knew is that she had to do it. She had to…
Victoria sighed. “Obviously I’m not going to convince you otherwise.”
“Nope.”
Victoria sighed again. “Stay close to me, okay?”
And then they were off. Instead of sticking to the shadows like Ezzy thought they would, Victoria, now shifted in her wolf form, led them out to the open clearing, in the middle of the battle. Bodies were flung around in the air around them, but Victoria didn’t even seem to notice.
“We need to find Caesareon! Where he
is, Isis is sure to be!” she called out to Victoria’s fluffy tail. Ezzy almost tripped over her when she stopped abruptly, the hairs on her back bristling up, a growl vibrating her fur.
Esmeralda looked beyond her, and saw a familiar figure, with red gear and short black hair. The girl was cute, with high cheek bones and dark eyes. It was the girl from the video, she noticed, and she was smiling wickedly, revealing thin incisors, gleaming under the lights.
“If I heard correctly, did you say you were looking for Caesareon?” she said in a voice as sweet as candy and a Russian accent.
Victoria growled in response.
The vampire flicked her wrist and smiled. “Yes, well, I’m afraid I can’t let you find him.”
Victoria attacked, springing from all fours into the air, a bark escaping her lips. The vampire girl smiled and when Victoria was only a fraction away, twirled and bent down, reaching a hand inside of her brown boot. Esmeralda barely had time to scream out in warning before she pulled a silver dagger from the inside of her boot and stabbed Victoria in the side.
Victoria let out a mangled cry and fell to the ground with the knife still lodged into her. Her breathing was shallow, barely even there, and Esmeralda screamed this time, screamed Victoria’s name. Then she looked over to the vampire, who was only smiling in that creepy devilish way that she seemed to have mastered.
“Your turn, Esmeralda?” the girl asked.
Ezzy started. “How do you know my name?”
“How would I not know about the stupid little mortal that Isis has allied herself with? She always had disgusting little habits.”
This woman knew Isis. Esmeralda stared at her. “Where’s Isis?” she finally demanded.
The woman shrugged. “Here, there.” She paused. “Everywhere…”
Esmeralda wanted to scream. Of course she wasn’t going to tell her where Isis was! She wasn’t going to betray the master that she blindly followed. Which was greatly unfortunate because now Ezzy was pissed. She tilted her chin up, felt the heat rush to her face and stared down the vampire woman.
Her face went from that evil smile to an angry frown of confusion. She bared her teeth and stepped forward, slowly, and then began to circle Esmeralda. Esmeralda followed her movements, at the ready, and couldn’t help but feeling like she was a mouse being played with by an evil cat.
Come on, Esmeralda thought, if you’re going to kill me, get to it.
It was like she read her mind; she ran forward, merely a blur, but Esmeralda’s new eyes allowed her to catch every movement. Esmeralda ducked to a crouch and splayed her leg out, swiping it across the ground, causing the woman to trip onto her back.
Esmeralda stood back up and jumped on top of her, grabbing her bangs with her hand, pulling them so that her face was level with her own and slammed her head back into the pavement. The sound of her skull hitting pavement made a loud crunch across the already noisy air.
She repeated the process a couple more times but the woman reached out a hand and gripped Esmeralda’s wrist, squeezing it until Ezzy was sure the bones would crumble. The vampire pushed Ezzy off of her and then brought her knee up, hitting it against Ezzy’s swollen stomach.
Esmeralda gasped for breath, falling backwards and putting her hands protectively to her stomach. Unbearable pain coursed through her. My baby, my baby, my baby… She ran her hands over her stomach, as if it that could assure her that her child was safe.
The pain had barely receded when the vampire came back up to her and slapped her across the face. Raw pain stung on her cheek, and she tasted the copper of blood in her mouth. She must have bit the inside of her cheek, hard.
The vampire grabbed Ezzy’s cheeks with her fingers and laughed. “It would bring me great pleasure killing what Isis loves the most. Though it would be a lot more enjoyable for me to kill you in front of her.”
Esmeralda swallowed. “Well,” she gasped through pursed lips. “Take me to her—and kill me.”
She smiled at the possibility, her eyes sparkling with need. “Oh, how I would love to,” she whispered. “But I think, instead, I will kill you now, slowly, painfully, and describe it to her in grave detail.”
Esmeralda didn’t dare move, didn’t dare speak; she knew that this psycho was serious, she was going to torture her; she was going to kill her and her baby. No, she thought with violent rage. I won’t let that happen.
She crashed her forehead against the vampire’s. They cracked against each other and the vampire cried out in pain, flinching back. Ezzy couldn’t afford to let the dizziness get to her. She scrambled backwards, as she did so she kicked the girl in the face, between the eyebrows.
“I am going to kill you, fleshling!” the vampire growled and stood up, pulling Ezzy with her by the front of her sweater and tossed her to the side, where she landed next to Victoria’s body, now in human form, the knife still protruding from the side of her waist. Her veins looked black against her white skin, black goo oozed from where the knife was shoved in.
Esmeralda knew, from hours of watching television when she was locked away at Santiago mansion, that taking the knife from Victoria’s body would kill her from blood loss, but she looked dead already, and she only had a little time to feel guilty about it before she pulled it out of her side and held it up as the vampire fell on top of her.
The vampire’s eyes widened, and she tried to wheel back at the last second, but it was already too late. Ezzy had driven the silver dagger into the vampire’s neck, twisting it, swishing it side to side. Blood gushed out of the wound and fell onto Ezzy’s face. She was briefly blinded by red liquid, but forced her eyes open.
The vampire opened her mouth and screeched, not a high pitched sound, but it was low, and words. Not exactly a whole sentence, just a word, one word: Caesareon.
Esmeralda pushed the vampire from her body and rolled over on top of her. Once she started, she couldn’t stop herself. She pulled the blade out and drove it back in, stabbing her repeatedly all the while the vampire shrieked her master’s name. Ezzy didn’t stop until her cries diminished into gurgles.
Breathing out a breath of relief, she pushed herself off of the vampire’s body and crawled over to Victoria. Her face was pale, her eyes closed, and there were black tears running down her cheeks. Panicked, Ezzy pressed two fingers to her neck and only felt a faint pulse. She breathed a sigh of relief but that feeling vanished when she heard someone behind her.
Ezzy whipped around, prepared to attack or defend herself but relaxed when she saw who it was. It was Terrance, his face looking graver than she’d ever seen him look. His eyes were distant, his face pale. But he wasn’t looking at Ezzy, he was staring at Victoria.
He bent down, pushing Ezzy to the side and put his fingers to Victoria’s neck. He cursed and observed the wound on her side, only to curse some more. He turned to Ezzy savagely. “What the fuck happened?” he demanded on a growl. Probably the longest sentence that she had ever heard him speak and she didn’t even have the decency to reply. She turned her head to look at where the vampire’s body lay.
He followed her movements with his head and he went over to her, picking her up by the collar so that she was only inches from his face. Her eyelids fluttered open and she smiled, very slight, but it was there.
“What did you do to her?” he demanded, and Ezzy noticed the way his eyes went all black. He shook the girl, her head rattling.
She laughed weakly. “I killed her, didn’t I? Your precious little wolf.” She laughed, and then coughed, blood splattering from her mouth.
“Where is Caesareon?!” he growled through gritted teeth.
She whimpered, like it pained her to tell the truth and then she said, “Rotten Banana.”
Terrance dropped her to the ground and stood up over her. His upper lip pulled back in a snarl and he pulled a gun from the holster on his waist. He pointed it at her and, without another word he shot her three times in the forehead. Then, he shot her through the chest until his bullets ran out, until her v
ampire heart burst open and she died.
He pocketed the gun and dropped back to Victoria. Ezzy could have sworn she saw tears in his eyes, and felt sad for him. He looked helpless, not knowing what he was doing. Silver was considered a poison to werewolves, one that couldn’t be sucked out of the wound like a snake bite. No, this poison attached itself to the marrow in their bones, exploded into their veins, and killed them from the inside out.
Terrance turned to her. “What are you still doing here?” he growled. “Go!”
The last thing Ezzy saw before she ran away was Terrance, pulling Victoria into his arms.
22
“Antonio!” Isis tried to step forward, to run to him, but Caesareon held onto her, pulling her back onto him. She looked over at him and he was smiling. Smiling!
“Come to join the party?” Caesareon asked.
“I’m afraid I didn’t receive an invitation,” Antonio said.
His sarcastic remarks made Isis’s heart swell up. She had missed that—so much. She had missed his friendship and his craziness and making fun of him as if they were siblings. She missed the Santiago mansion. She missed everything that had been a part of her new life and she hadn’t even realized it completely until she saw Antonio standing not fifteen feet away from her, knowing that he just might get killed. Well, she wasn’t going to let that happen.
“A party crasher, then?” Caesareon sounded amused.
“I guess you could look at it like that.”
“I suppose this is the part where you tell me to let go of Isis or you’ll kill me?” Caesareon wrapped his arm around her waist.
“No,” Antonio said. “This is the part where I kill you and take Isis home.”
Antonio ran forward, at the same time he did, Caesareon turned Isis to face him, his eyes flared and he growled, “Kill him,” and Isis was forced to obey. It was the same feeling she got every time he controlled her. Complete helplessness as she charged at Antonio, her hands outward.
My Master Page 17