by Sean Stone
“I love the power that comes with my new life, though,” Gabe added, his pale eyes twinkling with his grin. I knew all too well how good it felt to go from being ordinary to suddenly having supernatural powers. I didn’t get my first taste of magic until I was a teenager.
The sound of someone knocking on the front door broke off the conversation there. “That’ll be the car,” Gabe said. “I’ll be in the car just behind you.” Gabe was one of the few vampires who could go out in the sun. A handy side-effect of Aldric’s sub-species of vampire.
“No, you ride with me,” I said as I headed for the stairs. “I could do with the company.”
I didn’t recognise more than half the people at the funeral. Matt and Emma were there, as were Ashley’s half-sisters Annabelle and Clarabelle. Her cousins were there too. Bobby had come with some of his staff. Beyond that I was looking at a sea of strangers. She had a lot more friends than I’d realised. I sincerely doubted this many people would turn up to my funeral.
The service dragged. I was thankful that we didn’t have to get up and sing any hymns. I hate that about churches, they just love getting you up and signing. When you pay so much money for a funeral you expect someone else to do the signing for you.
I’d given Gabe the details he asked for about Ashley so that the vicar could put together a eulogy, but when the time came I realised I couldn’t dishonour her by not saying something myself. I had to say something to acknowledge the impact she’d had on my life. She deserved that.
“Stop,” I said in barely more than a whisper, but everyone heard me. The vicar looked down at me from the altar, his eyes confused, but compassionate. He was probably used to this sort of thing. “I want to do it,” I said. I pulled myself up using the railing in front of me and then made my way to the altar. The vicar stood graciously aside and allowed me to address the congregation.
“Ashley…” I really should have thought this through. I couldn’t think of the words I needed to describe what she meant to me. My throat was dry and my palms sweaty. I looked down at the vicar’s eulogy. No, I couldn’t read those emotionless sentiments written by a man who didn’t even know her. I looked out into the crowd. Gabe was standing at the back where he had a good view of the whole church. He looked me right in the eyes and gave me a small nod. Somehow that one simple nod cleared my mind and settled my nerves. Then the words came to me with ease.
“Ashley was everything to me. She found me at a time when I had no-one. I was alone in the world and I thought I was happy that way. I was… I was empty, except for a darkness that was slowly eating at me. She showed me that I was wrong. I was living life wrong. I wasn’t happy at all. I was barely content. I was scared. Scared to let people in. Scared to have people in my life. She taught me to love. She showed me how important it is to have people in your life. She showed me how they can make you so much stronger than you can ever be on your own. She saved me from being consumed by darkness. She made me a better person.” I paused and took a deep breath. My voice was growing shaky and I knew that tears were on the way. I didn’t really care, though.
“She made me a better person,” I repeated. “She was my light. She was my happiness. And they took her from me.” Now the tears came. They drizzled down my face like tiny little rivers. “And I don’t know what I’m gonna do without her.” I sniffed and wiped my eyes on my sleeve before returning to my seat. Somebody behind me grabbed my shoulder and gave it a squeeze. It was supposed to be comforting but it did nothing for me.
“Beautiful sentiments there from Edward,” the vicar said before resuming his eulogy.
After the service we all followed the coffin outside and watched as it was slowly lowered into the hole in the ground. Another speech followed before I got to throw some dirt in the hole. And that was that. That dismal service was what closed the book on Ashley’s life. She deserved better.
I knelt down at the edge of the grave and looked in. “You will have better. I will hurt the people who took you from me.”
“That was a really nice thing you said inside.”
I looked up and saw Annabelle standing over me. There was no expression on her dainty face. I pulled myself to my feet and faced her. “Had any more visions of my death?” I asked sarcastically. She’d told me many months ago that I was going to die on a sunny day. I was yet to see the evidence for her psychic ability.
“Yes, actually I have,” she said, failing to pick up on my sarcasm at all.
“Terrific,” I growled.
“I saw you lying on the ground on a sunny day, your veins were glowing red. You were outside a shop called Cotton Socks,” she said airily.
“Is that it?”
“For now. Perhaps the vision will improve in time.”
“Pity you couldn’t have seen this one coming,” I said and pointed my thumb at the grave. Annabelle looked taken aback, her face contorting with hurt. She took a step back from me, her lip quivering.
“I’m sorry,” I said as the guilt gnawed at me. She didn’t deserve that. “Obviously, I don’t blame you for this.”
“You’re in pain, I understand,” she said. “Good news is on the way.”
“What?”
“Eddie,” Gabe said as he appeared at my side. His phone was in his hand. “They’ve got the other attackers at the house.”
A malicious smile curled my lips. Good news indeed. “Excuse me, Annabelle. I have people to hurt.”
Chapter Three
Gabe drove me to the house on Sittingbourne Road. It was a massive abandoned house, not far off from being a mansion. Gabe and the other vampires had taken it as their home when they’d come to work for me. They’d really spruced it up from the dilapidated wreck it used to be. It was now filled with expensive furniture and a modern decor that somehow suited the old-fashioned building.
As I stepped into the minimalist hallway I thought about how Ashley had always hated the house. She disagreed with how Gabe had come to acquire the property and all the furnishings. None of us could afford a place like this so Gabe and his vampires had resorted to using mind compulsion to steal everything, including the house. She never objected to me using the house for my own business though. I needed somewhere to do my kingly duties, the house I shared with Ashley was hardly impressive and I couldn’t exactly invite them to my now unused storage facility.
Gabe led me through to the reception room at the rear of the house. It was the largest room and the one I always used for my business. The rest of the house was Gabe’s and his vampires’. The reception room had been cleared of its usual furnishings. Even the rug had been rolled up and removed, that told me that Gabe was expecting things to get messy. Good. He’s learned to read my moods.
The four attackers were kneeling in the centre of the room on the dark wooden floor. The tall man who had staked Gabe was on the far left. Next was the thin woman, followed by the chubbier of the men. Last was the blonde man who Ashley had been chasing when she’d been hit. For a long while I stared at that blonde man channelling my hatred into him. He looked back at me, his pin-prick brown eyes stared into mine and then he blinked before looking down to the floor. I wondered how he got that ugly scar that ran from his eye right down his cheek. No doubt he’d pissed somebody off.
I looked around the room. Marty and Sharon, two of Gabe’s vampires were in the room. “Leave,” I said quietly to them.
“Are you sure?” Sharon asked, looking to Gabe for confirmation.
“Leave,” I repeated more forcefully. Gabe nodded once and Marty and Sharon hastily left the room. Gabe turned to follow. “No,” I said. “You stay. Tell me what you’ve learned from these scumbags.”
Gabe closed the double doors and turned back to face the room. “All four of them are warlocks,” he said as though he were reading the information from a dossier. “Only recently arrived in Maidstone. I haven’t been able to find out where they came from or how long they’ve been working together. They’ve confessed to opposing your rule. They want to b
e free.”
I snorted and turned to look at the sorry bunch. The tall one was covered in cuts and bruises where Gabe’s vampires had tortured him to find the others. I felt no pity for him, nor for the others for what was to come.
“If you wanted freedom you should have gone further north,” I muttered. “Instead you came to my town and tried to kill me. Did you really think it would be so easy to take me out?” I noticed that the woman was smirking at me. Clearly, she had not grasped the gravity of her situation. “Something to say?” I asked her.
“You are so full of yourself. You think you was our target?”
“Shut up,” the blonde man snapped. He was the leader.
I stepped forward and loomed over her. “What are you talking about?”
She no longer looked so sure of herself. She looked about nervously. Clearly regretting what she’d said.
“Your woman was always the target,” the blonde one answered for her.
I walked over and squatted before him. “You targeted my girlfriend?” My voice was shaking as I spoke the words.
He looked me in my eyes and this time he did not balk. “Yes,” he whispered. “We wanted you to feel the pain of losing her. We thought it would make you forget about running the town.”
“Such a shame that dicks like you keep underestimating me. Well, you got half of your wish. I do feel pain. Ashley was my everything. She was the only girl I ever loved and your pathetic scheme took her from me and for what? What have you really achieved? Nothing. Nothing except an untimely death.”
I closed my eyes and prepared a spell. I let my emotions guide my magic. I pulled up all the pain of my grief. The torment of losing Ashley. I let my agony power my spell and felt the magic flow into my hand. I splayed my fingers as the magic flowed through them. “I was going to take your magic before I killed you, but I don’t want to dirty myself with anything that’s been inside you.”
He didn’t protest or even struggle as I forced my hand over his face, my palm blocking his features from view. As my spell flowed into him he began to pant, then I felt the first sign of him fighting my spell, or trying to. Then he screamed as his ribs cracked. I withdrew my hand and took a step back from him so I could enjoy the view better. He looked up at me in bewilderment as blood trickled from his mouth.
“Your bones are breaking, and your internal organs being crushed,” I explained coldly. “Every injury inflicted on Ashley is now being replicated in you.”
He tried to say something, but his injuries were too damaging. He only lasted a few seconds longer before his life vanished and his worthless corpse fell to the ground. The other three had nothing to say. All of their eyes were transfixed on the floor, none of them daring to meet my gaze.
I looked up at Gabe who stared respectfully back. There was no judgement in his expression, only complete understanding. “Would you like me to deal with the others?” he asked.
“Nice of you to offer, Gabe. But no. These are mine,” I replied before getting to work on the others.
By the time I was finished the floor was stained with blood and four broken bodies were scattered around the room. People in films often say that revenge does not bring any satisfaction. They’re wrong. Whilst my vengeance did not bring peace to my suffering it did fill me with immense satisfaction and for now that would do.
“Burn the bodies,” I said to Gabe before turning to the doors. I pulled them open and was greeted by the sight of Dean Tenson, Clara’s boyfriend and associate. He was leaning on the far wall, wearing his usual black leather jacket. His ginger hair was arranged messily on his head and his chin coated in a vibrant stubble. His hazel eyes moved over the bodies in the room behind me.
“Clara had hoped you’d be more merciful,” he said, raising his eyebrows at the mess. “Personally, I think they got what they deserved.”
“How did you get past the guards?” Gabe asked as he came to stand by my side. He knew I was in no danger from Dean or else he would’ve taken him down on sight.
“I’m an accomplished vampire hunter. You think your bunch of newbie vamps can take me on? Relax I didn’t kill any of them. Just knocked them out.”
“You shouldn’t be here. The Alliance of Covens is banned from my town,” I told him. There was no trace of friendliness in my tone.
“Well, I’m not actually a member of the AOC. I’m not a sorcerer so I’m not allowed to join,” he said with a shrug.
“You work for the Winters Organisation which is also banned,” I retorted. “But since you are here you might as well tell me what you want.”
“I have an invitation for you.” He reached into his jacket and pulled out a fancy looking white envelope with neat golden writing scrawled on the front. “Come to Cedarstone and see how Clara handles the warlocks in her custody.”
I stared at the envelope thinking about whether or not I would allow Clara Winters to summon me to her town. “Not interested,” I growled before pushing past him and heading for the front door.
Chapter Four
“Aren’t you interested in what Laura has to say?” Dean called after me.
I paused. My hand was millimetres from the door knob. All I had to do was pull open the door and leave and then I could forget about whatever drama Dean was peddling to my door. I could avoid getting sucked into whatever Clara was up to because make no mistake this was not a simple invite to watch some warlock’s hearing. Nothing with Clara was ever simple. She always wanted something more. But you’re probably wondering who Laura is.
A little recap is in order. A few weeks ago, a warlock came to Maidstone and caused some grief. Like a lot of people these days, Laura thought Maidstone was some no-man’s land without any rules. She was wrong. I had to go and catch her. You might recall a particularly nasty vampire I disposed of a few months back named Sebastian Redvers. I replaced him with Aldric and everything’s been a lot simpler since then. Well, you might also remember that he was working with a rather powerful warlock whose identity is still unknown. All we know is that they’re a damn lot stronger than Clara Winters. Anyway, Laura used to work for the warlock and she came to Maidstone to hide from him when she decided she no longer wanted a part of whatever he’s up to. I gave her the chance to tell me what she knew and she refused so I handed her over to Clara. That was the last I heard about her.
“Laura has nothing to say,” I replied.
“That was before she spent a couple of weeks in a cell. Clara is ready to offer her a deal in exchange for her cooperation. She will name the master warlock at this hearing,” said Dean.
I looked back over my shoulder. “This invitation… nothing is required of me? No strings?” Only a fool wouldn’t be suspicious.
“None whatsoever,” he replied.
I knew I was going to regret it but as always, my curiosity got the better of me. “Lead the way.”
The journey to Cedarstone was short and silent. Dean drove and Gabe and me sat in the back watching the scenery. There was a time when I would’ve refused to visit Cedarstone. The place used to terrify me. It was a lot safer these days. My enemies there were dead and everyone was under control. It used to be supernatural war zoneone ash thanks to Clara’s dad. He’d made the stupid mistake of waking up a slumbering immortal warlock named Nickolas Blackwood. Things spiralled out of control from there. Vampires, sorcerers, werewolves and humans were killing each other all over the show until Nickolas finally got killed. Not long after that Clara managed to take charge of things and she got everything in order. I hate to admit it but Cedarstone is a lot safer with Clara Winters in charge. Maybe if she was running Maidstone, Ashley would still be alive.
Dean stopped the car outside a tall white brick building with a red awning outside. The sign said it was the Royal Cedar Hotel. It did look pretty fancy, even had a doorman in a fancy red outfit standing outside. You don’t get fancy places like that in this part of Kent. Maybe not in any part of Kent for that matter. I couldn’t imagine that Cedarstone had that many high-
end guests visiting it.
“Why are we here?” I asked. Surely Clara wasn’t holding a hearing in a hotel function room.
“Clara’s inside. She wants to talk to you beforehand,” Dean explained.
“You said no strings,” I reminded him.
“No-one’s forcing you to go in.”
“As if you could.”
“But, the hearing isn’t until tomorrow so you might as well pop in and kill some time,” he said and then gave me a cheeky shrug.
“Tomorrow,” I repeated the word quietly and fixed him with a cold stare. “You interrupted the day I bury my girlfriend for nothing?”
He inhaled sharply and looked away, ashamed. “It isn’t like that, Eddie. And to be frank, what I interrupted wasn’t exactly mourning, was it? Please, just go and talk to her. She cares about you even if she doesn’t show it. She wants to know that you’re okay.”
I sighed aggressively and shoved the car door open. “Fine. But next time you be honest with me.” I left the car and Gabe followed in quick succession. As we entered the marble-floored lobby another bloke in a fancy red outfit approached us.
“Edward Lancaster?” he asked politely.
“Yes,” I replied.
“And this is Gabriel Westford?” he said, looking at Gabe. I didn’t know that was his full name, I’d only ever called him Gabe. I probably should have asked at some point.
“I am,” Gabe replied politely with a nod.
“Mister Lancaster if you would proceed to the restaurant, Miss Winters is waiting. I will show Mister Westford to your rooms.”
“I stay with Eddie,” Gabe said firmly.
