“And if he says no?” Elise asked hesitantly.
“If he says no we restrain him. That is why we need to know if we can count on you two to round up enough younglings to contain him if he tries to escape.”
“You want them to be young to make sure he won’t fight back…” Antoni almost hissed the words, horrified at the idea of having to participate in getting his master, his great love, caught and caged. “This feels a whole lot like manipulation.”
“It is.” Octavia broke her silence once more. “We are using what we know about Marcel to our advantage, but it will also protect him. We don’t have to prepare to be violent because we know he won’t be. We just need to be fast. Astute.”
“I don’t like this.” Elise shook her head slowly, glowering.
“Of course you don’t like this. What they are suggesting is treason. There are clans where they would kill us both for turning against our maker and I can’t say I disagree,” Antoni shrilled.
“Antoni, we are not asking you to overthrow Marcel and take power. We are asking you to help us figure out if there is something wrong with him. Something we should be worried about. His connection with Ben was so much stronger than what any of us have experienced with our makers, and he has not been himself.”
Elise fixed her eyes on her boots.
“You know that much is true, don’t you?” Lena stared into her eyes.
“How do we know you are not trying to shake things up? Now that some of the clan is questioning his ability to lead us after we almost lost our town to Ben, how can I tell this isn’t some twisted political move to give power to someone else.”
“We like Marcel, Antoni,” Lena snapped at him. “We liked Marcel long before you were even made and we personally selected him because he was everything we thought should represent our clan.”
She was hurt. Hurt that Antoni would ever think she would want to betray Marcel.
“Lena...” Octavia grasped her arm.
“No, Octavia,” she shook her off. “I’m tired of these entitled little bastards demanding answers. We asked you two to come here because you are the closest people to Marcel now that Nora is gone. If we were out to sabotage him do you think we’d speak to his two fiercely loyal creations or would we find those other clan members who think it’s time for a change?”
Antoni was quiet for a moment. He glanced back at Elise. His wordless question was answered with a nod.
“Can we get your word, then?” Elise spoke up.
“Our word?” Lena slowly began to calm down, leaning back into her chair.
“That this is not about harming him, and that if there is anything wrong we will at least get Nora back before we make any more decisions.”
“You are trying to negotiate with elders, girl?” Lena’s half-smile teemed with sarcasm.
“I am just trying to protect my sire, ma’am. Just as I was taught.”
“I can see why Marcel keeps these two so close to him,” Octavia laughed, turning to Lena. “You have our word.”
“Okay,” Antoni nodded. “What do you need us to do?”
Chapter 27
Music played and string lines laced throughout the yard. To their neighbors, who were all at least a fifteen-minute drive from them, they were a couple of newlywed freelancers working on a project that had something to do with sustainable living. They were generally left alone and, to be honest, Nora had caught herself understanding what Elise meant when she’d said they wouldn’t be back. It was peaceful.
Not sharing a house with so many fucking vampires; not overseeing things like safety or devising escape routes; not worrying about administering punishment to those who broke the well-established rules within the clan; it all provided her with a kind of freedom that she hadn’t realized she needed. Just realizing that was the case made her feel guiltier than she was willing to acknowledge. She was separated from her clan for a while, cast away for several reasons which included making a vampire, breaking all their unbreakable rules. He still had family and classmates that could recognize him wandering about town, for Christ’s sake!
It had been easy to get lost in her routines with Fletcher. Most of them were made up of sex, training, and then driving around in search of something interesting to do with their nights. He was young and excitable and it made her remember what it had been like to be a young vampire with a brand-new world to inspect and adjust to. A new world to experience and mess around with. A world that made it hard not to feel unstoppable when you had love, immortality, and a decent budget to work with. There was no denying it. He made her feel like there were possibilities that had never occurred to her in all her time alive. There were new things to experience or, at the very least, new ways to experience them. New eyes to see them through.
Fletcher was so young, as a mortal and a vampire, that everything seemed wonderful and new. Filled with opportunity. It was contagious too. Nora wanted to see it all again. Not because she could talk to him about the things she’d seen and learned, but because she wanted him to talk to her about what he saw and felt. She wanted to learn from him.
There were nights, however, when Nora felt trapped. It wasn’t about Fletcher and how he made her feel. It was something else. That impending sense of doom that caught her by the throat was so intense sometimes that it distracted her from everything else. Stole her right out of the moment. It didn’t matter if they were walking around, chatting over drinks or fucking. It was like she was suddenly transported away. To some other place she could almost swear was the world of unrest in Marcel’s mind.
“You’ve been awfully quiet tonight.”
Nora didn’t even notice she was being talked to until Fletcher paused for a response.
“Hello? Nora?” Fletcher waved a hand in front of her face.
“Huh?”
“I said you were very quiet tonight but, please, feel free to contradict.”
Fletcher was too young to understand the difference between the normal bond between a maker and his childe and how it differed from what he had with Nora. She knew it was one of those things that would just take time, but sometimes she got frustrated with that insecure streak that he didn’t even seem to notice.
“I know, I’m sorry. I don’t know where my mind is tonight.”
“You don’t have to lie to me, you know?”
“What do you mean?”
Fletch laughed and reached for his beer. It seemed like such a waste, all the time that had gone into appearing to be older just to be stuck right under the legal age for the rest of eternity. For as long as he managed to stay alive, at least.
“Fletcher…”
He looked down for a moment, then let her have it. It was as if he’d been thinking about things for a while and now it burst from him. “I just think that you should at least acknowledge that there are things I just feel the way you do, so I know that you are worried. That you miss Marcel. That you feel guilty about missing Marcel and guilty about being here, with me. And don’t worry. Before you say anything, I know that it has nothing to do with me. These are all things that you would understand if you weren’t so concerned with pleasing everyone. There are things I don’t get, stuff I will get territorial about, but there’s a lot of other stuff that I get better than anyone else ever will. Even I can understand that. Why can’t you?”
Nora kept her eyes down. It was a cheap attempt at escaping Fletcher because he was right. He understood. He could see her with a clarity that most people never experience when looking at someone else. So why was it so awkward? Why was she having such a hard time reconciling the fact that to enjoy this life, she had to let go of the past one. For now. Until they were allowed to return and take their places in the clan again. There was no point in fighting it. They were going to be here for a while.
This was their life until enough time had passed, and just thinking about it was going to make it all go very slowly.
“I’m just worried about Marcel. He didn’t seem like himself wh
en we left. I can’t help but wonder if this link we share…what if it’s not something that dies with us? What if it’s just one more loophole making us eternal and…I don’t know. Do you think you’d be completely out of your head if someone killed me?”
He frowned, obviously disturbed by the idea of someone trying to kill her. It was a fair question, but that didn’t stop that sinking feeling from materializing into something very heavy and very real.
“You know what I mean.” She nudged him.
“Yes, I know. The memory of you being kidnapped by a group of crazy rogue vampires is still a little bit fresh for me to ignore. But I guess I understand what you mean. I think there’s part of this crazy connection we share that would stick. Like an old transmission radio in an abandoned building that works but has just stopped transmitting.”
She nodded.
“Well, why don’t you call Elise and ask how things are going? I know you’re not supposed to do it often but often is a very relative thing, and if it will put your mind at ease maybe it’s worth the risk of being told off by Octavia for breaking the rules.”
Nora laughed softly. He was so good at that. So good at making her breathe when she felt so overwhelmed she may just have crumbled.
“No,” she finally said, shaking her head as she leaned in to kiss his cheek. “I am probably overreacting. It’s been so long since I have been anywhere but that house, with those rules. Maybe I just want to believe I was impossible to replace, that they need me for that whole operation to run smoothly, you know?”
Fletcher grabbed both her hands, lifting them to his lips and kissing them tenderly.
“Don’t look at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like I am crazy.”
“You are crazy,” Fletcher laughed. “Would it really be so bad if they managed to work things out without you there to obsess over it all?”
She was quiet.
“Okay, fine. Well, I don’t know what you want me to say.”
“Nothing, nothing,” she waved a hand out of his tender grip. “I know I am being unreasonable. I don’t even know what I want anymore. I just need to get used to this, and us, and the fact that it will only be us until we get back home. We’ll get used to it and then we will be forced to share a place with all those other people.”
“Life, yeah?”
“Or something like it.”
Chapter 28
“How could you let it get this far?”
“Hello?”
“How could you let me become that monster? How could you let me die?”
“Benjamin.”
“Hello, Marcel.”
“You’re not here. You’re gone. I could feel you burning.”
“You never imagined it would hurt quite that much, did you? Sure. It wasn’t physical pain. But those images? Mmm – those images. Those images are going to stick with you for a while, aren’t they? That smell you couldn’t quite place at first – until it clicked.”
“You did this. You made me do it.”
“You were desperate about rescuing that girl and now what? She’s gone, I’m gone… Well, sort of gone.”
“Why are you doing this to me?”
“You didn’t think it would be that easy, did you? Having that deep, unique connection with someone. What do you think happens when one of the two goes? Static, Marcel. Static.”
“I want you to go.”
“No you don’t. I wouldn’t be here if you did.”
“So does that mean you’re not real?”
“Oh no, I am very real. See, you have been a little weak because there is a part of you that died with me. It’s really rather tragic. You felt very strongly about me. The part of you that was lost caused more damage than you thought it would. Mainly because you had no idea. Which is sad. I always thought you knew so very much.”
“What does that mean?”
“Come on, Marcel. You’re a smart old man. Don’t let me down. I know you can figure this out on your own. If part of you was lost when I was killed in that fire, which, by the way, was what you could feel burning and dying, then…”
“Then the part of you I can feel in my head is not just a memory.”
“Bingo. I live through you, master. I exist in your head and I will exist in your head until the day someone sets fire to you the way your people did to me.”
“They would never do that.”
“Oh no? Not even to protect your precious coven.”
“Stop that!”
“This is all I have left, Marcel. You are going to either have to find a way to shut me up or get used to me talking. And the more I talk the more your friends have something to worry about. So, you see, maybe I didn’t get my revenge in the way that I wanted, but I will get my revenge. It’s a shame I can’t take that pet of yours down with us, though.”
“Nora…”
“The great part? She is probably the only one who could figure this whole thing out now that she has her own kindred soul to focus on. That must hurt. I mean, I know you thought you had managed to replace me with her a few times. It was very cute.”
“She’s better than you’ll ever be.”
“Probably true, but she’s not the one who has taken permanent residence in your head and I am sure you are bummed about that. And I am sure you are bummed about her being off somewhere in California, enjoying the beach. Fucking that fine new specimen she shares this deep, unbreakable connection with.”
“Stop it.”
“Fine. But only because you don’t need me to point this out. It’s all here. In your head. Frustrating, isn’t it? You thought you were rid of me and not only have I taken everything you love; you’re not rid of me. You are going to have to deal with me and with this until you lose your mind and we spend all our time playing up here. Which is all I ever wanted. Well. That and the blood.”
“I’m stronger than you.”
“My dear Marcel, this isn’t about strong. I’m only as strong as I am because you are, so I benefit from you being in good health. If you die, I die. And you can’t overpower a voice in your head, now, can you? I mean. I know you will try. I am looking forward to seeing what you will come up with, to be honest. You’ve always been so beautifully inventive.”
“What happened to you, Benji?”
“You did, master. I was like a bad stomach ache, destined to pass eventually. But you gave me permanence. More permanence than I should have ever been given. I know you thought you were going to save me but, really, let’s be honest, you just wanted to have an excuse to take me. To fuck me. To make me yours. And I would have been yours if you had just been honest with yourself.”
“Honest?”
“You wanted it all. You wanted all the violence and the carnage as much as I wanted it. Maybe you didn’t think you could change me. Maybe all you ever wanted was for me to change you; to see if it could be done. If anyone could have, it would certainly be me. Was that it, Marcel? Were you hoping I’d turn you? Did you think you would be able to blame me for seducing you when you were already hopelessly attracted to the dark side?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“I’m not. And you’re getting defensive.”
“You’re just trying to upset me. You are trying to make me act up so they will think they have reason to worry.”
“Well, you are right about one thing. I am trying to upset you. It’s for my own satisfaction, though, I don’t give a fuck about your little minions and your stupid witch coven. The last thing I want is for them to think you are a threat and lock you up.”
“I told you, they would never do that to me.”
“Sure they wouldn’t, champ.”
Chapter 29
“I’m telling you, he was having a full-on conversation with him. I even heard him say his name a couple of times.”
“People do that, right?”
“Antoni…I think they’re right.”
“Don’t start with me, Elise.”
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Elise sighed and moved to sit on his bed, dropping back with her arms stretched out, staring up at his ceiling.
“What?” Antoni snapped.
“If you don’t want to hear it, then I’m just not going to bother.”
“Go on, then. What is it?” Antoni groaned and then moved to sit with her on the bed.
Kindred Souls: Entire Series Books 1 - 5 Page 12
