The Witch's Vampire

by Jami Brumfield

  Sophie felt tears sting her eyes and flow freely over her cheeks. It was the first time she cried in the open since her mother’s death. She’d told herself she needed to be strong for her mother. But something in Chelsea’s words broke the ice around her heart and the excess water flowed down her face. Chelsea got up from her chair, and Sophie was vaguely aware of her arms wrapping around her body as she allowed the pain to ease slightly with the waterworks.

  Chapter Nine

  It took Giovanni two hours to clean up his father’s mess. Shortly after he got things situated daylight hit, and he was forced to bed. His body shut down despite his desire to stay awake. Vampires just didn’t have the ability to function in daylight hours, unless they were mated. Then the rules in their world changed. But the idea of being mated was unrealistic. He’d lived too many years to think his true mate was out there, but it didn’t keep him from hoping, and that hope, and Sophie’s face were the last conscious thoughts he had before the darkness of sleep enveloped him.

  He was up when the sun fell from the sky. His strength regained.

  His first thought when he woke up was Sophie. He needed to know that she was okay so he called Marissa who reported she was safe. He was so thankful his consort was loyal and trustworthy. The two girls may not like each other, but Marissa would protect Sophie with her life if she needed to. Once he knew his girls were safe he could clear his head and focus on the political problems.

  He spent an hour getting the thirteen fraternity members who were turned into his vampire brothers situated with a trainer, and making sure his father was being treated fairly by the council enforcers. He’d been arrested shortly after the cleaners came to cover up the incident. It was a terrible tragedy, and his family wasn’t prepared to accept this many new members, but he couldn’t be more thankful that the frat members were turned. The alternative was death, and that would make his father’s survival impossible. With so many sired children he’d probably be put into cryogenics for his crime, but there were plenty of council members that would love to see the whole Mancuso line wiped out, and it could be done with the death of one vampire, his father.

  His sister, Dani, would take on the duties of training the new vampires which meant they’d be fully functioning members of society in no time. She was tough, but she was also the best trainer his small family had. Their numbers were miniscule, but everyone had a duty, a special skill that made them invaluable members of the fold. Dante was the enforcer, Nicolai, the tracker, Dani, the trainer, Marco was the scientist, and Giovanni, the heir. Marco’s work was invaluable, and they’d need to find a replacement soon. Marianna was good as the assistant, but she didn’t have the knowledge to perform the actual research on her own. His loss was going to hurt the family in a large way, which only confirmed his belief that Marco’s death was a calculated attack, and Giovanni needed to find out why.

  Nicolai called in Dante for help with Christopher last night when Gio reported to Nicky he wasn’t going to make it. It was a dangerous call and not one Gio would’ve made. Dante was not one that could be held back in his interrogation techniques, it was why he asked Nicky to work on the angel boy first. Not to mention, Dante’s sordid past with other nephilim could come into play during the interrogation. Dante was not the forgiving type. Gio knew Dante would press until he got what he needed or the man died. To that end, Giovanni knew he needed to get to the headquarters as soon as possible. He had a feeling Sophie would never forgive him if Christopher was killed.

  Hector was waiting on the curb when he stepped out into the crisp night. It was getting colder, a sign winter was on it was on its way which meant the nights would be longer. It was his favorite time of the year. He hated the power the sun had over him since he was made into a vampire, and winter seemed to cheat the sun out of a few hours which gave him minor satisfaction.

  Greek Row seemed quiet tonight, but it was early. He was sure later in the evening things would start becoming more active. Tenting the fraternity house under the guise of needing to eliminate a bug problem was a pretty decent cover and one that would be hard to disprove. The cleaners were already putting the canvas clothe over the house. No one would question the lack of presence on Greek Row from the Alpha Zetas.

  Gio patted Hector on the shoulder as he slipped into the backseat of the car. Hector got into the front and rolled down the tinted window that divided the two halves of the car. “I’m sorry, sir” were the first words that came from his driver.

  “No worries. I was needed here last night far more than anywhere else.” Giovanni waved off the worry in his old friend’s voice. “But tonight I do need to head to headquarters. No detours, understand?”

  “Right away, sir.”

  “Hector, please, no more ‘sirs’. You know how much I detest that formality.”

  During the ride across town, Dani called to let Gio know the thirteen fledglings all completed the transformation, and were being taught about the stables. It was as good a place as any to start teaching the new vampires how to feed. The stables housed all the supernatural beings who offered their blood up for shelter and protection. There was no feeding from the supernatural’s body, instead the person donating would allow blood to be drawn from their veins so the vampire could drink it fresh and warm moments after it left their body. It took away some of the predator instinct in the vampire, but it also gave them the nourishment needed. In the process, the donor was given safety and protection from their enemies. Nicky always vetted the donors very carefully to make sure they weren’t getting in over their heads by offering protection to criminals that didn’t deserve protection or ones that had enemies that would jeopardize Mystery Springs’ way of living. Another symbiotic relationship that garnered great success for all involved.

  Nicolai called to make sure Gio was on his way. Gio heard the worry in his brother’s tone which made Gio worry that Dante was doing some damage to their prisoner. There wasn’t much he could do until he got there, he just asked that Dante keep Christopher alive until he did. They didn’t need another death on their hands. If the nephilim was going to die it would be by his hands, not Dante’s, and it would be for retribution for what he did to Sophie. If that happened he’d deal with Sophie’s anger later. Besides, it would be hard to get information out of the man if he was dead.

  His wolf friend, Fang, called to update him on how his father was holding up at the police station, and to let him know it might be a good idea to drop off some blood at the station some time through the night to make sure Gregor stayed healthy.

  Shortly after that conversation, Hector opened the door to let him out into the darkening night. It was almost seven thirty by the time he made it to the location across town. He sent Hector to deliver blood to Fang, and made his way quickly across the heavily lighted walkway toward the entrance of the brick building.

  Getting through the city library was a quick process and he made it with more haste than necessary. The library was the secret location for the vampire headquarters. He found himself thankful that it was remarkably quiet for a Tuesday evening, which meant getting to the hidden chambers would be a breeze. Only a few college students, and the librarians, roamed the dusty aisles, and none of them cast a glance his direction, except Taylor, a vampire ‘indenture’ who guarded the headquarters under the disguise of a librarian.

  Indentureds were humans that have offered their loyalty to the vampires in hope to be chosen as the next family member. It was a practice vampires started over a century ago when humans were afraid of monsters that only lived in the night. Witches were persecuted, vampires and werewolves were hunted. So many innocent and guilty were killed, it was a sad time in human history. So many people were led by terror and guilt and they did horrific things in response to that fear.

  It was also a time when the number of hunters grew. Vampires needed a way to hide their obvious affliction from the hunters. It seemed logical to find servants that would protect them, and their secrets, from the world in exchange
for the possibility of becoming a vampire themselves.

  In the beginning, there was one human indentured for the most powerful members of the family. In the case of the Mancuso’s royal line, everyone in the family had their own indentured human. But without the proper vetting process, tragedy befell the family when a hunter became indentured. The hunter killed off many of the family before Gregor discovered what happened and dealt with the issue quickly and quietly.

  Lesson learned, now, the Mancuso’s only had three indentured humans because approval from the council to get them was difficult, and it was rare that someone passed the vetting process that Nicolai set up. Taylor nodded his head giving the all clear as Giovanni passed by. He wasn’t going to be happy to hear about the fraternity incident, and he made a mental note to talk to the man before he got heated over losing his place in line.

  Gio gave the young sandy haired man with wire-rimmed glasses a tight nod as he passed. Usually they were friendly and had small talk, but the urgency of the situation forced pleasantries to the back burner, and Giovanni appreciated the young man understood the severity of the situation. He made his way back to the historical non-fiction section of the building. After one more glance around to make sure there were no curious eyes he quickly found the Hawaiian history book, removed it from the shelf. Reaching his hand back to the wall, he located the lever, pulled it, replaced the book, and slipped into the hidden passageway when it opened behind him. He pulled the torchlight on the wall which lit a line of torches down a long hallway, and also closed the hidden door behind him.

  His black boots made a familiar click click as he walked down the long, narrow hallway. The smell of blood hit him first then pained cries broke the silence. He quickened his pace in response. It wasn’t that he was concerned about the noise alerting a patron in the library. This hidden floor was sound proofed long ago to avoid that very thing. He was, however, concerned how Sophie would react to Christopher being treated unfairly, or if Dante was taking his turn with the warrior angel, how she would react if he died. Sophie didn’t seem like the type of witch that was comfortable with needless violence – and if either of his brothers lost their cool the question would be if the violence being shown to cupid boy was necessary or not. If he was truly a hunter, getting the information they sought would be difficult if not impossible.

  Hunters were the worst of the worst, they were trained to kill vampires on sight and ask questions later, which made it odd that he and Gio hadn’t fought yet. Even with his concern focused on finding help for his sister, he would’ve taken pleasure in killing Gio first as his training demanded.

  If he was a hunter, his brother’s natural instinct would’ve been to attack as soon as they met to protect the family. In the hundreds of years that his family existed most of the deaths were attributed to the hunter’s self-proclaimed idealism of protecting humans. Dante lost two daughters to hunters, and even though he got his revenge on the ones that killed Maria and Lola, he had no love lost for the race.

  At one point in history, the hunters may have been a necessary evil, but his race had become far more enlightened. It made no sense to kill off your food source, and the organized families understood this. It was the unorganized rogue vampires that gave his race a bad name anymore.

  Dracula was the worst. The power went to his head, and his thirst for blood became unquenchable. The stories were embellished for good fiction, but they were definitely close to the reality of the terror he reined before the hunters were able to put his horror story to rest. Giovanni had always been thankful he didn’t come from Dracula’s line.

  He wasn’t surprised to see Nicky was in the reception room on his phone. The screams from the interrogation room were filled with more pain than what Nicky would be causing. That meant the one torturing Christopher was his other brother. Giovanni waved at his brother. Ignoring the phone conversation, he went straight to the interrogation room. It was time to take a different approach. He was sure Christopher would need a break.

  Christopher let out another scream as Giovanni entered the room and closed the door behind him. He didn’t hesitate after taking in the sight in front of him. “That’s enough, Dante.” Gio’s voice was firm, it needed to be. Dante was the only brother who didn’t respect his title as the heir. Dante felt he was far better suited to be the heir because of the order of their rebirths. Thankfully, their father disagreed. He named Gio as his heir and there was very little Dante could do about it while their father was alive. The decision was made, the announcement on file. If his father ever became incapacitated to lead he would step in and take over. Not that he wanted the position, but who would take his place? No one would follow Dante eagerly. Nicolai wasn’t interested in that power. Dani was too vicious. The other family members were not suited to the political games. None of them would consider the treaties in place as viable. They’d bring about war, and war meant death for all sides.

  Dante turned an angry snarl to Giovanni. The bitterness that marred his face only made the deep scar slashed across his right eye and cheek more intimidating. “Get out of here, Gio. You don’t have the stomach to do what needs to be done.” Dante narrowed his blue eye and turned back to the bloodied nephilim concealing his brown eye from Gio’s view. The monster he had for a brother did little to hide his true identity even though he had access to minor magic and could easily glamour himself to the world. He chose to remain disfigured as an intimidation tool.

  Gio saw the crimson coated knife and pliers in Dante’s hands, and what he assumed were Christopher’s bloodied molars on the metal table. Next would be the fingernails. There were hundreds of ways to torture a man, or supernatural man, that wouldn’t kill, but would leave lasting scars, and Dante knew them all.

  “I’m glad to see you haven’t gotten to ripping out his tongue yet so he is still able to speak to me.” Giovanni growled with bitter sarcasm.

  “What good is a tongue, brother, when he isn’t smart enough to use it?” Dante took glee in his torture methods, and he was enthralled in the high that came from inflicting pain. He’d seen his brother bathe himself in his enemy’s blood, literally. That would not be happening today.

  It was repulsive when his brother was in this state. He was the worst kind of monster. “I said, that’s enough!” Gio’s hands fisted at his side. He knew he may have to get physical to bring him back. He readied himself for just that scenario, and made a mental note to chastise Nicky for letting this go too far. “It’s my turn with the prisoner.”

  Dante slammed the blood stained knife on the table. The sound was deafening, like thunder in the tiny room. Next, came the blood covered pliers. Gio steadied himself, knowing it was important not to show weakness at this point. His brother knew his place, and when the thrall of torturing someone wore off he’d remember. If not, well, he’d beat him in brawls before, only he’d lost more than he’d won. Dante’s multicolored glance narrowed fully on Giovanni. He moved in inches from his face. Giovanni didn’t flinch, and he readied himself for the punch his brother obviously wanted to throw at his face, but nothing came. Instead Dante smiled wickedly, “okay, brother.” He spit his words, “he’s all yours.” He started toward the door. “And when you fail, Giovanni, I’ll be back to clean up your mess.”

  “If I fail.” Gio sat down across from Christopher. He moved the knife and pliers to his side of the table. He heard the sarcastic chuckle from his angry brother just as the door slammed. He let out a breath when his brother was gone. Gio turned his full attention back to Christopher who was in gold chains, which effectively weakened the angel hybrid. It wasn’t enough to kill, but enough to take away his healing powers which made the torture even more exacting. “You won’t let me fail, will you, Christopher?”

  “You have to know I won’t tell you anything.” Christopher spit out between pained breaths blood covered his teeth and oozed from the cut on his lips. Gio fought back the hunger that came from the coppery scent of the red liquid. If Gio were a betting man he’d v
enture to guess that Dante had fed on the nephilim. Angel blood was like fairy blood to them, a delicacy. He examined the prisoner for a moment. He was hunched over and favoring his left side which made Gio believe Dante had done more damage than what was seen by the eye. If he took off the nephilim’s tattered blue shirt he’d most likely find deep gashes and bruises. He’d be surprised if Christopher didn’t have a broken rib or two. Upon closer inspection he got his proof that Dante had been feeding on the prisoner. There were bite marks on his neck. In this case, Dante and/or Nicky would have used their bites to make the angel more submissive or docile while nourishing their own bodies. It would’ve also been degrading for a hunter, and he was sure they wouldn’t have shared the morphine-like effect their saliva had on their victims. They would’ve let him suffer the entire time. Three back teeth were on the table, bruises and cuts covered his face and one of his eyes was so swollen it was almost forced shut. Dante had really done a number on the angel. He had very few torture options left to choose from.

  He knew that Christopher wouldn’t give up information to save himself, but his actions prior to this made him believe there was one card he could play.