The Corvin Chance Chronicles Complete Box Set

by N. P. Martin

  "Although now that you mention it, I’m surprised old Constantine didn’t kill you for what you did."

  "And what did I do?"

  Darick leaned forward slightly, his eyes now glowing a reddish color. "I’m not the type to be playing games with," he said. "You should know that."

  I nodded slightly as if I understood. "Iolas Tasar had my mother killed. He deserved what he got."

  His smile returned. "Perhaps. I never liked him anyway. Too hungry for power."

  "Like your brother?"

  "My brother isn’t power hungry, he just wants things to be a certain way."

  "And you? What do you want?"

  Darick looked over at the two girls by the bar and smiled at them, the two girls smiling right back. "I just want to have fun, Corvin. Don’t you?"

  Despite my protests at the time, Darick called the two girls over to the table, sat them down and bought them each a drink. Then he asked what hotel I was staying in. Reluctantly, I told him. He then smiled and nodded as he insisted we were all going back to my hotel room to party. He had his arm around me at this point, making sure I could feel his strength, his eyes saying he wouldn’t be happy if I didn’t go along with what he wanted.

  So now the four of us were crammed inside my hotel room. Darick was raiding the mini bar, tossing me a small bottle of Powers whiskey as the two girls sat on the bed. I hovered by the window, my extreme discomfort making me tense and shifty. I didn’t know how the situation was going to develop, but I had a horrible feeling it was going to go in a direction I didn’t like.

  "How about a little something to go with your drinks ladies?" Darick said, whipping out a small bag containing white powder and tossing it onto the bed.

  "Fuck yes," one of the girls said, the taller one with the long dark hair and tight-fitting black dress, who couldn’t have been no older than twenty.

  "Now we’re talking," the other girl said, her large breasts nearly spilling out of her top as she leaned over and grabbed the bag of coke. She looked even younger than her friend, barely an adult with short blond hair.

  "Have at it, girls," Darick said, smiling over at me, as though this whole show was for my benefit, though to what end I couldn’t be sure yet. Was he testing my reactions or just amusing himself because he had nothing better to do? Or was there a more sinister motivation behind his actions? I put my drink down on the table next to me and started heading for the bathroom, but Darick stopped me. "Where you going, Corvin?"

  "To the bathroom," I said casually, as if he didn’t intimidate me at all, even though he did, perhaps more so than Constantine did. There was a wild unpredictability to him that I didn’t like, and certainly didn’t trust.

  He let go of my arm. "Hurry back now. We wouldn’t want you to miss the show, now would we?"

  I stared at him. "What show?"

  Darick smiled. "Wait and see."

  I went to the bathroom and closed the door behind me, going to lean on the sink as I stared at my reflection in the large mirror. What the hell was he planning? Was he just going to have sex with these girls, or was he planning on doing something else with them, like killing them for their blood? I already knew his reputation for bloodlust, especially when it came to young girls.

  "Goddamn it," I whispered as I stared into the mirror, as though I expected my reflection to tell me what to do.

  If Darick was planning on killing those two innocent girls, I had to try and stop him. But how?

  I reached down and put my hand on the stake strapped to my leg. I could try to kill Darick right now, but I wasn’t sure I’d get near him. He’d also kill me for trying. The stake had seemed like a good idea at the time, but when it came to it, using it against a vampire as powerful as Darick or even Constantine now seemed impossible. What the hell was I thinking? That the Ó Duinn’s would just stand there and let me stake them?

  A loud thump on the door made me jump. "You all right in there, Corvin?" Darick said from the other side of the door. "The girls want you to join us."

  I cleared my throat slightly before answering, trying to keep my voice as casual as possible. "I’ll be out in a second."

  "Don’t be too long. I wouldn’t want you to miss anything."

  I shook my head at the door and then looked back at my reflection. It would be foolish of me to try and attack Darick now, especially since he was clearly still on his guard against me. Whatever the reason for his invading my hotel room, there was no way he trusted me. The second I made a move against him, he would respond in kind and I would soon find myself headless or disemboweled. There was no point in making a move unless I didn’t have a choice.

  When I left the bathroom and went back into the room, I was shocked to see that the two girls were now completely naked on the bed. Darick sat in a chair by the window holding his drink while he watched the younger blond girl do lines of coke of the other girl’s breasts. He smiled at me as I came into the room. "Just in time, Corvin," he said. "The girls are about to put on a show, isn’t that right girl’s?"

  The two girls laughed as they began to kiss each other, the dark-haired girl’s eyes on me as she did so. Not that I had anything against watching two pretty girls get it on right in front of me, but Darick’s presence in the room ensured there was nothing sexy about the goings on. The whole situation just felt seedy and sinister to me. I also worried about the welfare of the girls, and what plans Darick had for them, if any.

  "Relax, Corvin," Darick said as I stood awkwardly by the dressing table. "You’re too tense, man. Take a drink. In fact, why don’t you take a bump from the girls?"

  The blond girl stopped kissing her friend long enough to pour a line of coke over her large breasts. "Come on, Corvin," she said, her eyes wide and staring. "Come and get it."

  I smiled awkwardly. "Eh, no thanks, I’m—"

  In a split second, Darick was out of his chair and standing with his arm tightly around my shoulders. "Come now, Corvin, don’t be a party pooper. Go and get some. I insist." He began to steer me toward the bed and the waiting girls, who no doubt thought this was all great fun, having no idea of the danger they were in. The dark-haired girl sat forward and grabbed me by the belt, pulling me forward onto the bed.

  "Honestly," I protested. "I’m not really into drugs…"

  The dark-haired girl started to undo my belt and open my trousers while I tried in vain to stop her. "I want you," she said. "I’ve wanted you since I saw you in the bar earlier."

  "She wants you, Corvin" Darick said almost mockingly. "Let her have you."

  Grabbing the girl’s wrist, I pulled her arm away from me and got back off the bed, then I turned to look at Darick. "I think you should leave now," I said to him, the words to a spell on my lips should he decide to attack me.

  Darick stared back and shook his head at me. "I thought you’d be more fun than this, Corvin. You disappoint me."

  "I didn’t come up here for this."

  Stepping forward so that his face was merely inches from mine, he said, "So why did you come here? Did you think you were going to—"

  I didn’t let him go any further as I suddenly loosed a bolt of electricity from my hand that hit him in the abdomen, causing him to stagger back a few steps. I’ll admit, it was something of a panic move, and probably the wrong one, but I had done it now and I had to follow it up with something more substantial or he would kill me. As Darick stood recovering from the lightening blast, I reached down and pulled out the silver stake from its sheath. Behind me, the girls screamed in shock and fear as I rushed forward with a loud cry, intending to bring the stake down on Darick’s chest. But I got no more than a single step before he countered me, moving so fast I had no chance. In a split second, he had me pinned against the wall with one hand on my throat, the other holding my wrist against the wall so I couldn’t use the stake.

  "That was a big mistake, Corvin," he all but growled as his eyes glowed red. Behind him, the two girls were now cowering on the bed, holding onto each other in fear
.

  "Let the girls go," I told him, breathing heavily. "They have nothing to do with this."

  "On the contrary, they have everything to do with this."

  "We’re leaving," the dark-haired girl said as they went to get off the bed, but Darick turned around and hissed at them, showing them his fangs, and the two girls froze in fear as he told them not to move. He may even have glamored them into doing so, but I didn’t think they would’ve needed too much glamoring, as they were terrified already.

  Darick turned his attention back to me, taking the stake from my hand as he continued to hold me against the wall. When I tried to turn myself to vapor, he merely shook his head at me, as if I was just a child acting up. The bastard was now blocking my magic. "What do we have here?" he said as he examined the stake. "Solid silver. Very nice." He put the point of the stake against my chest. "Were you planning on killing my brother with this?"

  I said nothing as I stared back at him. There was nothing to say.

  "Did you come here seeking revenge for your father, is that it?" he said. "Admirable, but it isn’t going to happen."

  "So what is going to happen?" I said. "You’re going to kill me, are you?"

  "Kill you?" He shook his head as he tossed the stake across the room. "No, Corvin, I’m not going to kill you."

  "What then?"

  He smiled. "I’m going to make you watch as I kill these two girls." He leaned his head in close to mine, then added quietly, "Then I’m going to turn you."

  "No…" I tried to struggle out of his grip.

  "Stay!" he commanded, the word backed by his dark magic. Instantly, I found myself unable to move a muscle as it felt like a great force was keeping me pinned against the wall. All I could do was watch as Darick turned to face the two terrified girls.

  "Please don’t hurt us…" the younger girl pleaded.

  "Hurt you?" Darick said, clearly in his element now. "My dear, you don’t know the meaning of the word. But fear not, because I’m about to teach you…"

  I had never felt so powerless in all my life as I remained trapped against the wall, unable to move or even access my magic. All I could do was shut my eyes against the horror unfolding in front of me, or at least I tried to until Darick spun around, his fangs dripping with blood, and commanded, "Watch!"

  From then on, my eyes remained open against my will, so that I didn’t miss a single second of the butchery Darick inflicted on the poor, completely innocent girls. I can’t even begin to describe some of the unspeakable things he did to them, keeping them alive until the very last, making sure they felt every bit of pain he inflicted on them. Their screams will forever echo in my mind, if I lived long enough to hear that is. By the time Darick was finished, there was blood everywhere, including over me and every other surface in the room…the walls, the ceiling…everywhere. I had never seen so much blood.

  Darick’s clothes were stained with crimson also as he finally turned to me while sucking the girls’ blood from his fingers. "Now that’s how you have a party!" he said, clearly exhilarated by his murderous behavior.

  All I could do was stare back at him as tears for the girls mixed with the blood on my face. This is all my fault, I thought. If I hadn’t come here, none of this would have happened…

  "Are you ready for the climax to this party, Corvin?" Darick asked as he stood close to me, seeming to sniff my exposed neck. "What’s the matter, can’t you speak? There you go…"

  "Don’t!" I said in a rush of breath.

  "Or what, Corvin, hmm?" There was disdain in his features now, as if I was nothing to him. "What will you do?"

  As a cold rage began to set in, I fixed my eyes on him. "I’m going to kill you for this."

  Darick laughed as though I was nothing more than joke to him. "I’d like to see you try," he sneered, and then sank his fangs into my neck.

  Chapter 12

  There was both pain and pleasure involved when Darick bit me. The pleasure was more disconcerting than the pain. The pain I expected, but not the pleasure, which was downright orgasmic, causing me to gasp as Darick sucked on my neck for what seemed like the longest time. When he finally let me go, I slid down the wall to the floor, my body now feeling like it was made entirely from jelly, my mind drifting away like a ghost ship at sea heading into thick fog. Darick was talking, but his voice sounded distant as is it seemed to fade in and out…

  "…won’t take long…feel some pain…need blood…"

  I felt like I’d been injected with a massive dose of heroin. Darick was still in the room with me, but I couldn’t be sure where he was. All I saw was a shadow moving past me occasionally, followed by a voice that I barely took in, except for the last words I heard…

  "…be seeing you, Corvin."

  Then there was a noise like a door slamming, followed by nothing but the sound of the blood pumping furiously in my ears. I knew I had to get out of here, but I could hardly move. My body was beginning to burn up as it was hit with a fever that came out of nowhere. Internally, it felt like I was dying, or that my body chemistry was changing so much that I might as well be dying.

  My vision too, began to change. The world was turning crimson. It seemed like everything was awash with blood. My brain chemistry was also changing at a rapid rate, so much so that it felt like my brains were boiling inside my skull. The pain was immense as I clamped my hands to my head, willing the pain to stop, but it just got worse I began to cry out with it.

  Then there was a massive booming sound that might as well have been nuclear bombs going off in my skull…boom!…boom!…boom!…

  It took me a moment to realize that it was someone knocking on the door, a realization that filled me with panic.

  "Hello? Sir? Are you in there? We’ve had some complaints about the noise. Can you open—"

  The voice cut off for no reason, though I didn’t care why. I was just glad it had stopped. Meanwhile, the pain in me continued to intensify, to the point where I screamed loudly. If I’d had a gun on me, I would’ve put a bullet in my head without giving it a second thought.

  Throughout all the pain, in the background was the sickening realization that I was turning into a monster, a stinking vamp that cared for nothing but blood.

  And there was nothing I could do stop it. I could only lie there on the blood-soaked floor and let it happen as I passed out.

  I don’t know how much time passed before I regained some form of consciousness again. When I opened my eyes the pain had subsided a good deal, and I saw I was still inside the hotel room, still lying on the floor. The pain may have subsided, but something else had replaced it, something that almost felt worse than the previous pain.

  A raging thirst. A burning need…

  For blood.

  Whereas before the blood of the dead girls splattered everywhere had disgusted me, now it made me salivate. I wanted to consume every drop there was.

  "You need to drink."

  The voice in the room startled me so much that I scrambled back and bared my teeth like a rat trapped in a corner. Then I saw the figure sitting in the chair by the window. A woman, achingly beautiful with long dark hair and deep brown eyes, blood red lips contrasted against the pale skin of her flawless face. She seemed to be dressed all in black, except for a pair of red high heel shoes. "Who…who…" I could barely speak. My power of speech seemed to have left me along with my humanity.

  The mysterious woman stood up and came to stand over me. "If you don’t drink you will die. Do you want to die?"

  I shook my head no.

  "Good," she said. "Here." The woman, in her early thirties it seemed, dragged one of the dead girls off the bed and onto the floor, holding the lifeless arm of the corpse near my mouth.

  I stared at the pale white flesh for a moment, still slightly disgusted by it, and by the fact that she wanted me to sink my teeth into it. But the overwhelming thirst that raged within me was stronger than any sense of repulsion that I might have had. As I stared at the proffered arm, my mout
h opened slowly, and as it did, I felt a pressure in my top gums as something forced its way down.

  My fangs, sharp as needles against my tongue. As soon as I felt them, I leaned forward and sunk them into the dead flesh of the girl, biting down on her wrist so that whatever blood was left in her began to flow into my mouth, which I sucked down with abandon. The taste, far from being disgusting, was divine. It literally was like taking in life-force that instantly began to soothe my aching body and calm my raging mind. With my eyes closed, I sucked and sucked until there was nothing left. Sated, I sat back and leaned against the wall, my eyes still closed as I became aware of the blood mingling with my body chemistry, acting as some sort of catalyst that not only calmed me, but made me feel invincible. As much as I hated to think it, I actually felt good.

  "Better?" the mysterious woman said, who the more I looked at, the more she seemed oddly familiar.

  "Yes," I said nodding, feeling like a junky who’d just got their long awaited fix.

  "Good, because we have to go now. I’ve taken care of the receptionist downstairs and the person who was banging your door earlier."

  "Taken care of?"

  "Glamored them."

  "You’re a vampire." It was no surprise, as I already felt an odd connection to her anyway, like we were kin.

  "Well spotted, Sherlock."

  I ignored her sarcasm. "Who are you, and what are you doing here? Did Darick send you?"

  "Darick?" She smiled slightly and shook her head. "No, Darick didn’t send me here."

  My confusion mounted as I finally got to my feet, my body feeling much different now, stronger, more powerful. I felt like I could do anything. "Then why are you here?"

  "I’m here because I followed Darick here. When he came out of the hotel alone, I figured he had killed all of you."

  I looked at the two dead girls, no longer feeling guilty over their deaths. In fact, I didn’t feel very much at all now. "I don’t know why he did this to me."