bryn n sinjin 02.5 - blood lust (7 page)

Jack’s eyes locked onto mine as he began fighting the power I planned to ensnare him in. This one would prove more difficult than I could have hoped for.

I faced the woman next. “I respectfully suggest you stand up and kindly take a seat in that chair over there,” I said, motioning to the chair beside the bed. I immediately detected the stream of magic flowing from her and the sensation was strong. “And you would do well not to interfere,” I warned her before staring into her eyes. She immediately nodded, the only sign I needed to know that she was helplessly under my spell.

She stood up and padded over to the chair before sitting down and facing forward, just like an obedient lapdog. I turned my attention back to Jack and found him studying me. Having broken eye contact with him, my power over his mind could now be threatened.

Where were we?
I began, while concentrating my control fully onto his eyes, sending my telepathic waves of persuasion in order to command his mind.

“Who are you?” he demanded in a softer tone, saying the words much more slowly.

You can consider me the dark angel of retribution,
I replied, struggling in my quest to continue to manipulate his mind. He was certainly stronger than any Daywalker I had ever come across before. Betta mentioned as much to me, saying he was the only Daywalker who managed to live beyond his twenty-first birthday. I could only assume this was a source of his remarkable power, which he possessed in spades.

“Retribution?” he repeated defiantly. His voice was beginning to slur as I channeled my power into him. The woman in the chair continued to sit there idly, staring straight ahead as though she were in a trance. Given the incessant flow of her magic, I was mildly surprised her mind was so malleable.

I am here to avenge the Lady Bryn,
I announced. As my jaw tightened, I reminded myself to calm down again. The intensity of my anger surprised even me. I readily admit my affection for the queen’s sister, but the vitriol, which continued billowing inside me, gave me more than enough reason for reflection. I had not endured an anger this deep in a very long time.

“The Lady Bryn?” the bastard scoffed as he shook his head. “There’s nothing to avenge!”

Abandoning all control of myself, I sailed across the room and gripped him by his throat, lifting him off the bed. The ire inside me began pumping through my veins. It took charge of me and its hold was powerful. “Nothing to avenge?” I seethed.

He shook his head. “I didn’t do anything with her!”

I narrowed my eyes on him as my fangs lengthened of their own accord. I released him and he dropped back onto the bed, scrambling in his effort to cover himself. Shaking his head, he appeared to be waking up from a heavy sleep. As soon as he looked at me, I recaptured his eyes with mine and forced my raw power back into him.

Explain,
I demanded.

“I was ordered to go to her,” he started as he began rubbing his throat. “And I did go to her, but when I tried to take her, she burned me!”

Burned you?
I repeated, my unbridled anger slowly turning to surprise before developing into outright curiosity.

“Yeah,” he nodded. He continued to rub his throat while shaking his head in a way that revealed he was just as shocked by his words as I was.

“How did she burn you?” I inquired.

“It was weird,” he started, while taking a deep breath. I fought to maintain my hold on his mind. With all the questions running through my own head, it was difficult for me to consider his.

What happened?
I demanded.

“Her skin got really hot before she just erupted into flames! Right there in front of me! But it didn’t look like the fire was hurting or burning her. It was more like it was a part of her.”

I nodded, all the while wondering what the Lady Bryn could possibly be hiding from me.

SEVEN

I did not know quite what to make of Jack Jeffers’s story regarding the Lady Bryn bursting into flames in an attempt to defend herself from him. Even though I was not certain what this meant, nor even how it was possible, I did not doubt his story. A Master Vampire’s powers of persuasion will not allow the victim in question to lie. Thus, whatever Jack Jeffers told me was what he actually believed to be true. Whether it actually
was
true remained to be seen.

Of course, I was relieved to know he did not force himself on the Lady Bryn. But I would have been foolish to believe that nothing of a physical nature ever arose between the two of them. I knew what sort of a man Jeffers was. The self-impressed and arrogant type. The kind of man who could not tolerate the Lady Bryn’s independence, much less her barbed tongue. Despite the knowledge that he had not forced himself on her, he still intended to commit that act, which meant he was guilty in my eyes.

You said you did not have intercourse with the Lady Bryn. Did you hurt her in any other way?
I demanded, keen to hear the extent of his crimes.

“Yes,” he answered with a brief nod. My insides churned and the blood inside my veins suddenly burned like fire.

Explain,
I commanded between my clenched teeth, my fangs fully emerged.

He continued to stare forward, unblinkingly. “I punched her in the stomach and when she doubled over in pain, I squeezed my hand around her throat so she couldn’t breathe.”

As I pictured the grim details, a newfound anger seized me from deep inside. It was all I could do to stop myself from destroying Jeffers right then and there. But ending his life prematurely would not avail me, and I still needed him. I had to glean all the information he could provide regarding Bryn’s unusual … gift. Once aroused, my anger does not recede so readily. I had to calm myself by shaking my arms out violently as I counted to ten in my head, and more than once. This was a tedious task as I was not accustomed to losing my temper, thus I had forgotten how to regain it. I extended each one of my fingers out and mentally commanded myself to remain unruffled.

You hit her,
I accused him, and a shudder raced down my back, which I deftly shook away. I would get my revenge soon enough.

Jeffers nodded, but his expression failed to reveal any remorse or regret. Not that I believed he possessed any. If anything, he would only regret the fact that he had not embedded himself inside her. “That was right before she caught fire and burned me.”

Were the flames real?
I inquired as I studied him pointedly, growing ever more eager to learn all the information he could tell me. It did not surprise me that the Lady Bryn had not entrusted me with this information. Being a private and suspicious person, I suppose it was wise that she dare not safeguard such personal information to anyone. I now wondered if Betta had any inkling about it. My initial guess was she did not.

“Of course they were real! My shirt caught on fire,” Jack exclaimed while nodding his head a few times in quick repetition.

And then what happened?

“I put the flames out in the sink before I got the hell out of there.”

Tell me then, was that the extent of your interaction with her to date? You did not attempt to see her on another occasion?

“No,” he answered immediately. “I told Luce everything that happened …”

What was his response?

“He called her a witch. And said it was just another example of black magic and her treachery and betrayal to our own kind.”

And what happened then?

Jeffers shrugged and his expression went unexpectedly blank, as if my question threw him for a loop. “Well, nothing happened then,” he responded, looking like a deer caught in headlights. “Bryn disappeared after that and no one ever saw her again.”

I had no idea that Betta and the lady’s escape occurred so soon after her run-in with Jeffers. However, it pleased me to learn he never had another chance to hurt her.

As this revelation raced through my mind, I suddenly realized I was losing control of Jeffers. I failed to retain my grip on him. His uniquely advanced age rendered my control over him tenuous at best, placing a strain on me despite my efforts to maintain my grasp. The time for justice was now upon him, as I had no further use for his knowledge or confessions. I had learned all I could from him.

For some odd reason, I suddenly decided my fight with Jeffers ought to be a fair one, without any mind tricks. It failed to make any logic or sense to me, but even though he had not technically violated the Lady Bryn, my hatred for him ran much more deeply than it did for the other two. Why? I could not be certain.

Awake,
I ordered him.
And face your punishment, as my equal.
At my tacit command, Jack’s pupils returned to their normal size. He rapidly shook his head to clear the dreamlike stupor which had overcome him. After a few seconds, realization began to dawn on him.

“You fucked with my head,” he exclaimed with derision as he glared at me.

“I suppose you could call it that,” I answered with a nearly imperceptible nod.

Immediately launching himself from the bed, he did not seem overly concerned that he was completely naked. I, on the other hand, was quite offended at his lack of clothing; however, I did not allow his repulsive nudity to hinder my concentration. I generally make it a point to never allow myself in the same room with a naked man; but I suppose there must be a first time for everything. This, however, would certainly also be the last time.

He sluggishly leapt for me, but I easily sidestepped his assault. Turning around as fast as he could, he lunged for me again, and this time nearly touched me. But I was exponentially faster than he. This came as no surprise to me since, of course, I am a Master Vampire, and inherently stronger and faster than almost any other superhuman creature.

“You will pay for whatever the hell you just did to me,” he roared, to which I responded with a broad grin.

“Yes, I believe that much is already clear, hence our little game of Cat-and-Mouse.” I dodged another ill-timed advance. “But who assumes the role of the cat is yet to be seen.”

“You’re going to regret ever coming here,” Jack whined as he ceased his offense. Instead, he merely stood before me, every bit as naked as the day he was born.

“I would appreciate it if you did us both a favor and promptly dressed your lower self,” I commanded before narrowing my eyes in an unamused expression.

“Why? So you can attack me as soon as I turn my back?”

“You have my word as a gentleman that I would not do any such thing,” I replied. “I simply cannot engage in a match with a man whose manhood is so pathetically on display.”

Jack did not reply, but he must have believed me because he obediently turned around and approached the bed to retrieve his undergarments. He put them on in record speed and then faced me again, sans nudity, I was very much relieved. “Very good,” I said with a quick smile. “Now where were we?”

“I was in the middle of explaining why you’ve just made the biggest mistake of your life!” he growled back at me.

“And why is that?” I smirked in an unconcerned, conversational tone.

“Because I’ve received enough vampire blood over the years to defeat whatever disease is killing off all the other Daywalkers. I’m not weak and vulnerable like the rest of them.”

I had firsthand experience with transfusion of vampire blood. The first time I had visited this lowly place, I had been taken hostage, coincidentally, by the shrew herself. After being nearly charred to death by a fabricated sunbeam, a machine was employed to transfuse my blood into the dying Daywalkers. Had it not been for Jolie, but more specifically, for her sister, I would certainly not have lived another day, or night, as the case may be.

“Then I suppose it will be a battle of brawn,” I concluded.

“Your excessive bravado won’t do you any favors,” he spat back as he lunged for me so quickly that he appeared as a blur. Although I could detect his speed in the air, I allowed him to reach me simply because I wanted to gauge his strength.

He threw me to the ground, and had I been capable of breathing, he would have knocked the wind right out of me. There certainly was surprising strength behind his boldness. As he leaned over me, he pinned me to the ground with two very burly forearms. His eyes became wide orbs in his head, and a pair of very small fangs began to protrude from his pale gums.

“Perhaps this hatred for vampires stems from your obvious fang envy,” I teased. Hearing the sound of a meek laugh from the corner of the room, I remembered the woman who still sat in the chair beside the bed.

“I’m going to rip your heart out and drain you of your blood until there’s none left,” Jeffers threatened in a strained voice. “And then I’ll tear your fangs out and wear them around my neck before I slowly kill you.”

“Rather than wearing them around your neck, perhaps it would be wiser to use them as a set of replacement dentures for your rather small ones?” I countered with a quick grin.

He did not respond but pulled his arm back as if preparing to sucker punch me. And that was when I decided I had had enough. I brought my hands to his chest and pushed him hard. He flew off me and forcibly bounced against the wall before falling to the floor. He was up again in a matter of seconds, appearing as a blur as he tried to assault me. We met each other head on, and I gripped him by the shoulders to stop him from throwing me into the wall. He wrapped his hands around my upper arms and before I knew it, we were wrestling in tedious circles.

Before I could deliver a low kick into his shin to make him release me, he was suddenly enclosed by what looked like a thick blue cloud. He instantaneously let me go, and I took a few steps backwards to watch him choke on whatever was currently engulfing him.

Last I recalled, fabricating magical fog-creations was not included in my repertoire of abilities, thus I could only wonder who might be responsible for the interference. Glancing behind the now sputtering Jeffers, I noticed the quiet woman in the chair. She was no longer sitting, but now standing and holding her outstretched hands towards him.