“That’s where we’ll find him,” Silvus whispered.
“I had a feeling.”
“It’s stupid of him,” Silvus said. “Doesn’t he know vampires have excellent night vision?”
I made a move to climb down the shaft and Silvus stopped me with a shake of his head.
“There are stairs,” he said. “Let’s approach this in a gentlemanly fashion. Perhaps we’ll be able to negotiate.”
I scoffed.
“Scoff as you like. My diplomacy works just as often as your fists,” he hissed.
“But it’s not as satisfying.”
“It’s more satisfying. Would you rather be known as a brain or a thug?”
“I’m known as a man you don’t cross, and that’s how I like it. Everyone knows you’re the softy. Remember how you suggested we take out a demon with love?”
“I do remember, and I stand by it. The best way to take out a demon is love.”
“Life isn’t a children’s cartoon.”
“And love isn’t easy,” Silvus shot back.
“Well…our way was faster.”
Silvus and I locked combative eyes at the top of the stairs. “It is ironic that you scoff at the magic of love when it’s also the one thing that keeps you going,” Silvus said, and he patted my cheek. “But you are my favorite cynic.”
I grumbled at him, but I was glad he was there when the bad feeling in my gut was only getting worse as we walked down the wooden stairs into silence.
The basement smelled so strongly of mold and must that my keen nose felt assaulted before we even reached the bottom of the stairs.
He came down here alone to lure us, I thought. This guy has some balls.
One thing I didn’t smell was human.
Silvus was waving his wand everywhere, whispered spells, checking for curses or surprises. His brow wrinkled as he glanced at me. He was starting to wonder, too. I could tell.
“All right,” I called, ready to just get on with it. “Come on out, Joshua. We know you’re here. Let’s drop the pretense and get on with it.” I took a few strides into the room. The floors were covered in bits of broken glass, peeled paint and debris. The walls were exposed brick and definitely old. It looked like they had dressing rooms down here at one point, but the doors were gone. A calendar from 1983 hung lopsided on one wall.
A voice came from one of the shadowed doorways into other rooms. “That’s not my name. I’ve already dropped the pretense.” He paused. “Do you know who I am?”
“I hate guessing games,” I said. “Come on, you little cancer of a man. I just want to fight the man who frightened my beloved.”
“I wonder if she’ll still be there when you return home. I’m not sure. Alissa is a good girl. She loves her father so very much. Do you think she loves you more? How confident are you?”
I looked at Silvus and we both knew we’d heard enough. We flew toward him with all our speed, Silvus weaving a spell just behind me. I didn’t want to play. I wanted to just get it over with and leave his remains to rot in this dismal place.
I rushed the doorway. His voice had come from just behind the wall.
When I came around the corner, I found an empty room.
“An old trick,” he said.
Now he was behind us, rushing up the stairs.
“You want a chase?” he asked.
“What the devil?” Silvus was murmuring behind me. “How did I not sense that?”
I dashed for him, but he was already up the stairs. I barely saw men’s dress shoes turn the corner at the landing before he was gone again.
He could move as fast as we could.
Now, I knew it, and so did Silvus.
This guy wasn’t human. So he might not be mortal either. He might be one of the many, many rivals and enemies we’d racked up over the years.
You couldn’t make it as a vampire for this long without enemies. So many potential names and faces crossed my memory, and just as many were probably forgotten. Some of them were so cruel and psychotic that I felt even more murderous at the thought of my Tulip in the hands of Michael the Butcher or Jebediah Fletch, the demon we bumped into on the Oregon Trail, who lured families to their death.
We tried to take care of people like that, but there were forces in this world that weren’t worth fighting. We had other battles, and the primary battle was taking care of our beloved. Keeping her safe.
Goddamnit, every time she died, I lost her, and she wasn’t safe until I found her again. Such horrible fates as this was what kept me up at night.
I’ll tear your spine out. No, I’ll tear your guts out so I can see you call for your mother before you die. If you hurt her—
Silvus and I chased the creature up the stairs. He must be masking his smell, because neither of us caught any hints.
“Think of her, Rayner,” Silvus said, before we got to the fourth and final floor. “Let that love fuel you.”
“I always do.”
“One more thing,” Silvus said.
“What?”
“There’s another person up here.”
We hit the top floor. The sun seemed brighter here, with the tallest of the windows and white walls, but the ceilings were heavily water damaged, floors covered with fallen plaster and dirt, grinding under my shoes. An arch and some decorative framing hinted at where displays of merchandise had once stood. The elevator doors were stuck permanently open, the shaft dropping down to the basement.
“Back here,” Silvus whispered, pointing where footsteps were printed in the dirt. We moved around to the other side of the elevator, where doors had once opened front and back. Now it was just an empty passage leading to darkness.
I was getting more infuriated at this man the longer he toyed with me.
As we turned the corner, he was standing there calmly, beside the restroom doors and an old telephone.
I knew this man.
“Hello, Mr. Van der Berg,” he said.
It was impossible.
Impossible.
I couldn’t stand how impossible it was, that someone could possibly trick me in such a terrible way.
“You are not Johannes.”
“You’re right. Call me Father Joshua now. Please.”
The voice stirred my memories too, even though we spoke a different language, our accents vanished to the ages.
It took a lot to send a chill down my spine.
“It can’t be,” I managed.
But for the first time since the early 1600s, I was face to face with my sire.
Chapter Thirty-One
Alissa
“Don’t worry,” Jie said. “Those guys will take care of it. We have the hardest job. Killing time while we wait for the report.”
“I fucking hate killing time when I could be having me a good brawl,” Thom said. “D’you mind if I smoke, darlin’?”
“Thom,” Jie said warningly. “Put that shit away.”
“He smokes too,” Thom told me. “He ain’t so high and mighty.”
“I am very high and mighty because I am protecting Lisbeth’s lungs,” Jie said. “You are low and lowly.”
“You can smoke,” I said. “I don’t care. I’ve never seen anyone smoke before.”
“It looks real sexy,” Thom said, sliding a cigarette out of a package.
“It doesn’t look sexy at all when you have a cousin who died of lung cancer who also had the most wrinkled-ass lips,” Dee said, standing up and crossing her arms. “Since I’m here, can I finally ask—what is going on in this house?”
“You could’ve asked the day we moved in,” Thom said. “But you didn’t.”
“Well—I—I don’t know. I’m not rude.” She looked at me nervously. “Who is she, though?”
Speak up for yourself, a voice in my head prodded me, even though a part of me wanted to vanish beneath the floorboards like an earwig and never come out. “I’m…Alissa,” I said. “They, uh, they helped me when I was escaping a…religious…commun
ity.”
“You mean like a cult?”
“I—yes.” My initial hesitation fell away. Just admit what it is. You don’t need to protect him.
“Do you know what your aunt is?” Jie asked.
“Aunt Wanda?”
“Yeah.”
“She’s a witch. A lesbian. And pretty weird. My mom used to call her Wacky Wanda. But I like her, even though living with her can drive me crazy sometimes. Otherwise, I don’t know. You tell me.”
“And what do you think a witch is?” Jie asked.
Dee threw up a hand. “She’s attuned to nature and into Tarot and goddesses and stuff.”
Jie raised an eyebrow. “Yeah…? You sure that’s it? What about Mimi? Carly? Raymond?”
“Raymond runs a convenience store! How does he come into this?”
“You been in that back room?”
Dee looked at him and her expression became increasingly freaked out.
When I met Dee yesterday I thought she was way more cool and confident looking than I could ever hope to be, and I was jealous of her for it, especially when I saw her flirt with Silvus, but now I realized we weren’t that different after all.
I guess everyone has worlds they don’t know about.
I knew something she didn’t know, anyway. Maybe…I could be more cool and confident than I realized, too.
Jie poured her a drink.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Rayner
I could hardly speak for a minute. Silvus had never seen this man. He didn’t know what had struck me, but he understood that something very bad was before us.
I barely had time to register the man’s existence—and the true identity of Lisbeth’s captor—before I heard another man grunting in a pleading, panicked fashion. He must be behind the restroom door.
“What do you want?” I demanded.
“Well, I think you already know,” he said. “And if you’ve toyed with her a little…that’s all right. Although I have not found her very willing. But—she will come home and I will have her.”
“You can’t—be,” I said. “I have no memories of yours. I killed you.”
“Yes, Rayner, you did kill me. But at this point, I’m sure you know there are ways to bring back the dead. The church made a sacrifice in order to keep me. I am pledged to serve the Order—and indeed, order itself. To vanquish others of my kind, and all other bringers of chaos. But—I have also feasted well on virgin blood, and I am older than you. I’m stronger than you. So if you care to fight me—well, let’s just see if you’re worthy.”
“There are two of us,” I said.
“There are two of us as well,” he said. “Would you like to meet the father of your thrall?” He pushed open the restroom door and dragged out a middle-aged man with a pillowcase over his head, tied to an old chair. The man looked terrified. Terrified of Johannes and equally so of me.
“Is he going to fight?” Silvus asked. “Because it would seem he is tied to a chair.”
“No,” Johannes said. “If I think I’m going to lose, I’ll kill him.”
“If we don’t stop you,” I said.
“Yes, that is the gamble we’ll both be taking. But in the end, you will lose. While you are away, other Elders in the Order will fetch your girl and bring her back where she belongs.”
“We’ll see about that,” I said, but I worried Thom might be weak if they brought Alissa’s sisters out and threatened them in front of his eyes. Thom thrust himself into violence more quickly than Jie, but he was also a softer touch. Everything rested on Jie’s more calculating personality. “Why are you so determined to keep this one girl from me?” I asked, brushing off the threat. “What does it matter to you?”
“You know how special she is.” Johannes’ smile was possessive, as if he felt she belonged to him, and not me.
Behind him, Alissa’s father struggled and groaned.
Silvus was already backing down a little from this fight. “All of this seems unwise. Rayner—“
It was very likely Silvus was making a fair assessment of the situation, and that we would lose. But backing down wasn’t an option, and he must know that too. Plus, I’d be damned if I negotiated with this bastard.
“Two of us, Sil,” I said. “Don’t be a pansy.”
I lunged toward Johannes and went in forcefully, knowing he would fend off my attack but also knowing that Silvus would back me up with a quick dash of a spell. The jolt of magic came immediately, but it hit me and not Johannes.
“Let your anger fuel your strength, and the berserker shall be your guide; no hesitation nor a pause shall magic such as this abide.”
I felt a surge of power that fed off my anger. Silvus must have quickly assessed that Johannes was stronger than us and I could only defeat him with a spell that sacrificed defense for pure power. It felt delicious. I trusted Silvus’ judgment, and I wouldn’t let him down. I embraced the magic fully. I couldn’t stop, and I wouldn’t try to resist. My muscles seemed to find greater reserves of power and speed as I struck his face and then the softer tissue of his stomach.
It took Johannes a minute to find his footing in the fight, a good sign that he hadn’t expected how well Silvus and I worked as a team. A berserker spell was very difficult to cast because I had to sacrifice some control to Silvus’ magic.
I took advantage of the power with an aggressive attack. I grabbed Johannes and slung him upside down, slamming him into the floor, then I tried to pin him down. He wriggled away but I grabbed him before he could get back on his feet and twisted his arm. I felt something pop. I dislocated his shoulder. He darted back, popping it back into place with a roll that made him let out a long groan of pain.
At first, despite the blows he’d taken, Johannes seemed eager to fight back, an ugly grin splitting his face and flashing his white teeth.
White teeth? Last time I’d seen him his teeth were already rotting out of his head. He used a small blade to cut his victims instead of biting them. Just as I’d told my Tulip, the Dutch had bad teeth during the glory days of the sugar trade, and he had clearly indulged. I certainly remembered how sensitive he was about it.
“Nice dentures,” I growled. “You were always half a man. Or maybe I should say, half a monster. Leaving your victims in agony without venom…”
“They’re not—dentures.”
“Oh?”
“I found a witch who could restore teeth.”
I could only laugh harder. “How pathetic you must have seemed to her, to make such a request. I wonder what price you paid.”
Silvus started laughing too. “Oh, yes, your toothless sire. I could hardly believe it was true. A vampire without fangs!”
“I have fangs.” Johannes was infuriated.
“Show them to us,” Silvus said.
“You’re absurd.”
“I don’t think he has them. Maybe she restored your teeth, but they don’t seem to be proper vampire teeth either way. It makes perfect sense, actually. This is how you hid your identity from the Order.” Silvus waved his wand, mockingly, at Johannes’ mouth, and I landed a vicious blow to his rib cage, feeling a crack under my fist. Now I tried to deliver a second blow to his jaw and he dodged that one—but barely. I had wounded him in ways that would not quickly heal.
I shouldn’t have been worried. It was just as I suspected. A man who was more arrogant than clever, cruel but not a wit, a pathetic and toothless vampire, no match for Silvus and myself.
“But how do you eat?” Silvus asked. “That’s the only thing I can’t figure, when it comes to your deceit.”
“I feed alone,” Johannes growled. “I nibble a bite now and then for show at the village feasts. It’s no trouble to me. I have a strong constitution.”
“So you are a toothless vampire with irritable bowel,” Silvus said. “Well, no wonder you have to force women to be with you.”
As Silvus spoke, we were still trading blows. I landed more than I missed. Johannes was trying his best not to let
Silvus get under his skin, but it was true that for all his magical powers, Silvus’ tongue could be his greatest weapon.
“It’s just too bad you’re a vampire,” I said. “I wanted the pleasure of draining every last drop from your pathetic husk.”
“I told you to be careful,” Johannes said, and so quick my eye couldn’t track him, he rushed for Alissa’s father.
“Ha!” Silvus shouted, twitching his wand. “Protect!”
The spell missed. Johannes was just a bit faster than we expected. It wasn’t—unfortunately—the first time I had underestimated a vampire who freely drank of fresh blood. Worse, based on what details I could extract from my Tulip, I feared he might be drinking the blood of virgin maidens every night. We were used to our austere diet, and the older a vampire gets, the more he is able to maintain his power without large quantities of fresh blood. But Johannes was as old as I was. I might laugh, but that blood made him strong.
He had Tulip’s father by the throat, choking him, even as he pulled the man to the elevator shaft, chair and all. He flipped him in one terrifying, swift motion. Now the man dangled out the window upside down by the creaky wooden legs.
“Mmm!” Alissa’s father was trying his best to scream through tight layers of cotton.
Thanks to the berserker spell, I couldn’t stop fighting if I wanted to. Even as I shouted, I was lunging toward Johannes and the gaping hole.
“I break the spell!” Silvus cried, realizing that this could turn bad.
I tackled Johannes. We tussled, him pulling my hair, while I tried to get him away from the elevator and get my hands on the chair.
Johannes pulled the cloth away from my Tulip’s father’s face, and then ripped off the gag below the pillowcase.
I suppose the man was a warlock, technically, but he looked fairly useless. He had a kind, rather meek face. I could see why she saw him as a good father even though he had not put up any proper defense for his daughter, as far as I could tell.
Take Me Slowly (Forever in Their Thrall Book 1) Page 20
