Blood Mage (Dark Impulse Book 1)

by Edmund Hughes

  “You can’t blame him for running away from a ghoul, Jack,” said Katie. “Multiple ghouls, by your account.”

  “I can and I do,” he said. “He was the one with a gun. I was totally unarmed.”

  “You’re a fucking vampire,” said Katie. “And he’s just… normal. It’s part of why I love him.”

  Her words stung him a little, even though he knew they shouldn’t. He brushed off his ego and continued telling her about what he discovered, not letting himself worry about Katie’s decisions.

  “I think the ghouls were there for a reason,” he said, describing the pit. “It was like they were waiting for something. Almost like when we first found Bert in the warehouse.”

  “She’s probably using it as a place to hide them during the day,” said Katie. “Or maybe, the pit is where she dumps them when she’d done with them. It wouldn’t be the first time someone’s been caught using it to dispose of things they don’t need.”

  Jack frowned. For some reason, he didn’t like the idea of Mira being so flippant about people’s lives, even though he’d already seen other examples of her callousness. She’d turned him into a vampire on a whim, as a way of proving a point to his dead grandfather. Why was it hard for him to believe that she could be the type to kill indiscriminately?

  “I guess it’s possible,” he said.

  “You sure you got all of them that were down there?” asked Katie.

  Jack nodded slowly, remembering the rush he’d felt as he’d fought for his life and cut through the monsters with his sword.

  “Yeah, I got them all,” he said.

  “Anyway, you’re lucky to have made it through the fight alive,” said Katie. “Ghouls are serious business. Even as a blood mage, you could have easily died if they’d overwhelmed you.”

  Jack shrugged, but he was too tired to focus much on what Katie was saying. Now that he was back at the mansion, he had a chance to breathe for a minute and consider what he should do next.

  “Were you planning on going out later and looking for Mira again?” he asked.

  “I can’t tonight,” said Katie. “Bruce has been getting so angry about how often I’ve been out lately.”

  Jack nodded, feeling a strange sense of relief. The plan was still for them to find Mira and kill her. If they could do that, it would mean ridding himself of vampirism, and returning to life as a regular human. That was still what he wanted, but he was beginning to feel intrigued by the possibilities of his blood magic, in the meantime.

  “I think I’ll go out on my own, then,” said Jack.

  “You had better fucking not,” said Katie. “This isn’t a game, Jack.”

  “I’m aware of that,” said Jack. “Which is why it makes sense for us to keep up the pressure on Mira.”

  “Don’t be stupid,” said Katie. “You won’t stand a chance against her on your own. Promise me you won’t try it.”

  “Katie…”

  “Come on,” she said. “Seriously, Jack. I know you’re not an idiot. Promise me.”

  Jack heard a hint of something that sounded suspiciously like concern in her voice. He nodded after a couple of seconds.

  “Fine,” he said. “I won’t go after Mira.”

  “Thank you,” said Katie.

  He smiled at her, and she smiled back. A silent second passed, and the tension and potential of the moment was thick in the air. It had been almost an entire day since Jack had last fed, and he couldn’t stop his eyes from lingering on the supple nape of Katie’s neck.

  He slid closer to her on the couch, feeling a little like a middle schooler making his first move on a girl. Katie tensed up, and a shiver ran through her as Jack let his fingers touch her neck.

  “Jack,” she whispered. “I… don’t think you should.”

  “Isn’t this why you came here, Katie?” He spoke the words into her ear, quietly, confidentially. “I’m going to have to feed again soon. We both know it.”

  “I know,” said Katie.

  The urge to sink his fangs in was almost overwhelming, but it was interlaced with other desires. He wanted to kiss her neck, and her lips. He wanted to hold her close. He wanted to forget that she was engaged to another man.

  “You don’t want me to bite you,” he said, stating it, rather than asking the question. He drew a little closer to her, one of his hands settling on her thigh on autopilot.

  “I…” Katie’s eyelids fluttered, and she licked her lips. “It’s the way it feels, Jack.”

  “Does it hurt you when I do it?”

  “No!” she said, quickly. “No, it’s not that. It’s the opposite of that. The feeling, Jack. It’s like I’m lifting off the ground. It’s this rush, almost like I’m…”

  She swallowed hard and shook her head slightly. Finally, she turned to meet his gaze directly, her face only inches away from Jack’s.

  “Do you remember the silly things we used to say to each other when we were little?” she asked.

  “Yeah,” said Jack. “I remember.”

  “I thought that was the boy that would be coming back to the island,” she said. “And it seemed like it was, when you first got here. You were supposed to be sweet and innocent, Jack.”

  He wasn’t about to claim that he was those things, not anymore. He started kissing Katie’s neck, driven by both his bloodlust and another, more intense emotion.

  “Fuck,” whispered Katie. “This isn’t fair. You weren’t supposed to…”

  She trailed off. Jack pulled her into an embrace, his lips pressing into hers. He let his kisses travel across her cheek, and then used his fingers to brush back a few strands of her hair. He gently sucked on the sensitive skin of the nape of her neck, and then opened his mouth wide, preparing his fangs.

  “Ahem.” Ryoko’s voice shattered the reverie they’d both been pulled into. “Ms. White. Mr. Masterson. I was just about to start dinner and wanted to run a few things by you.”

  Katie leapt to her feet, pushing Jack back with one hand and clutching her chest with the other. She took a slow breath before clearing her throat and turning to face Ryoko.

  “I… can’t stay,” said Katie. “I was just stopping by to check up on Jack.”

  Ryoko smiled and bowed slightly. The fact that her demeanor was so professional and non-judgmental made Jack feel even worse about the situation. He’d kissed Katie, and this time, he couldn’t blame it entirely on the emotions of his bloodthirst. He had made the decision and let himself do it. He’d put her in an impossible position, and now they would both suffer for it.

  “I should go,” said Katie.

  “Hold on,” said Jack. “Can we talk for a minute?”

  “I’m sure if you need anything, Ryoko will be able to handle it,” said Katie. “She’s here for a reason.”

  Jack frowned, but he could tell that there wasn’t anything he could say to sway her. Katie adjusted her sweater and then headed for the door.

  “Sir?” asked Ryoko. “Was there something in particular that Ms. White was alluding to?”

  “What? No, of course not.”

  Jack took a deep breath, trying to ignore the growing itchiness of his throat. The setting sun filled the mansion’s windows with a deep orange glow. It was going to be a long night.

  CHAPTER 23

  Ryoko did not hold back when it came to making dinner, even though it was just Jack that she was cooking for. He spent the interim between when Katie left and when the food was served playing a game on his phone and sipping red wine.

  He knew that he would have to feed before the night was through. His bloodthirst was manageable, but with each moment that passed, he felt it growing slightly more distracting. He was careful to keep from getting too close to Ryoko when she finally called him to dinner and struggled to avoid staring at the way her maid uniform emphasized the lines of her neck.

  “I hope you enjoy it, sir,” she said. “I haven’t been able to cook many proper meals for you since you arrived.”

  “It loo
ks fantastic, Ryoko,” said Jack, admiring the plating of the steak, salad, and potatoes. “Thank you.”

  Ryoko bowed and started to leave the dining room.

  “You’re not hungry?” Jack called after her.

  She frowned and gave a small shake of her head. “I usually take my meal at the breakfast nook in the kitchen. It isn’t appropriate for the serving staff to eat with their employers.”

  “It just me and you here, Ryoko,” said Jack. “You don’t have to stand on ceremony. Come on, take a seat.”

  Ryoko hesitated, and then bowed again, setting her own plate down on the table across from him. Jack was glad for the company, even though they ate in silence for most of the meal. He wanted her to eventually start to feel more comfortable around him.

  He hated Katie’s idea of him biting Ryoko and drinking her blood against her will. What if he instead told her the truth about what had happened to him, and let her decide for herself? He only considered the idea for a second before deciding that it was more than a little ridiculous. Even if she believed him, it would be asking for way too much from someone who he still barely knew.

  The food tasted fantastic, but it didn’t sate Jack. He tried not to stare too much at Ryoko during the meal and took a deep sip of his wine each time he started to feel the compulsion. He complimented the food, made small talk about what she had planned for the menu for the rest of the week, and maintained a deliberate effort to act normal.

  The mansion’s phone rang right as the meal came to an end. Ryoko paused in the middle of cleaning the table to hurry into the lounge to answer it. She called out to him a few seconds later.

  “It’s Mayor Stinson, sir,” said Ryoko.

  “Thanks,” said Jack. He took the phone from her and brought it to his ear. “Hello?”

  “Jack, Dave Stinson here,” said Dave. “I hope I didn’t interrupt your dinner. I’m afraid I’ve called with some news that you aren’t going to enjoy hearing.”

  Jack felt a chill run through his blood as he considered the various possible bad outcomes that opening could lead to.

  “I’m listening,” he said.

  “A friend of mine called my office last night,” said Dave. “Said that she was almost mugged by a couple of the local riffraff. Her retelling of events was a little weird, but she described you almost perfectly, even down to the clothes you were wearing for our meeting.”

  “Ah,” said Jack. He winced. How much had the girl seen of him and Mira? Had they used their blood magic in front of her? Had she seen Mira drinking the blood of one of the muggers?

  “I can’t thank you enough for being the good citizen and stepping in,” said Dave. “The thing is, I haven’t been able to get in touch with the woman in question. She left a message on my office’s answering machine, but she wasn’t at the address she gave, and she didn’t show at her job today. I spoke to the sheriff this afternoon, of course, but we’ve had no luck locating her so far.”

  Jack frowned, trying to work out the most likely outcome. Had Mira followed up on the girl and decided to enthrall or kill her? It seemed unlikely that she would have let her escape in the first place, if that was what she had planned. But the muggers, on the other hand. The ones she’d been about to report to the sheriff. What would they have been willing to do to avoid jailtime?

  “I haven’t seen or heard anything,” said Jack. “I only stepped in to break up what I thought was a fight. The girl ran off immediately after.”

  He let out a slow, heart-wrenching sigh. He’d been the one who’d allowed the muggers to get away. Mira’s idea would have taken care of them, but Jack had refused to consider it. He was responsible for this outcome.

  “Well if you hear anything new, give me or the sheriff a call,” said Dave. “I know I’ve been dropping a lot on your shoulders, and I apologize for it. It’s the kind of stuff your grandfather used to look into for the town.”

  “Yeah,” he said. “Well, I guess someone has to keep the ball rolling.”

  He said goodbye to mayor and hung up the phone. Ryoko was watching him from her seat across the table, her brow furrowed in worry.

  “Mr. Masterson?” she asked. “Would you like me to put your plate in the fridge for later?”

  Jack nodded. “That would be great. I might be out for a while. You don’t have to wait up for me.”

  He felt a little bad about heading out at night after his conversation with Katie, but technically, he wasn’t breaking the promise he’d made to her. She’d asked him not to go looking for Mira, and this was another matter completely.

  Jack stopped by his room to pull on his grandfather’s leather duster and then headed out into the dark. It was still early in the night, but he had a sense of where he needed to be and what he needed to be doing.

  He jogged down the slope and into Lesser Town, slowing his pace to keep from attracting too much attention to himself as he reached the streetlights. The few people out were mostly congregated around the entrances of the town’s bars. Jack ignored them, instead heading down an alleyway, and around the back of a building close to where the mugging had taken place.

  He silently climbed up the fire escape and found an inconspicuous spot to set up his stakeout. He planned on finding one or both of the muggers, and it seemed as though the easiest way to do it would be to wait for them to return to the place of the crime.

  From above, it was easy to get a good look at people without the same being true in return. Jack waited patiently, distracted only by the slow, building compulsion of his bloodthirst. He took slow breaths and used the guilt he felt over the disappearance of the woman he thought he’d saved motivate him to see his vigil through.

  It was past midnight when Jack finally spotted one of the muggers. It was the woman from the night before, dressed in jeans and the same dirty flannel shirt she’d had on the night before. Jack had trouble recognizing her at first, but she gave herself away, hovering at the mouth of an alleyway and pulling out a switchblade to toy with while she waited for her next victim.

  He forced himself to stay patient. The female mugger waited for a while, but nobody stumbled into her trap. She seemed to give up for the night after about half an hour and started down the street with her hands in her pockets.

  If she noticed that Jack was following her, she didn’t make it obvious. He did his best to blend into the shadows, leaving a hundred yards or so between them. He followed the woman to the outskirts of town, where every other house was abandoned or at least in a state of disrepair.

  The woman pulled keys out of her pocket and unlocked the door of a rectangular, single story dwelling. Jack waited until she disappeared inside and then considered his next move. The neighborhood was silent, but the emptiness of the night was just an illusion. If he tried to break her door down and force his way in, the noise would attract attention.

  Besides, he wasn’t sure that his working theory of the muggers being responsible for the innocent woman’s disappearance was the truth. Mira was unpredictable, and she very well could have decided that she needed a drink, or a thrall. It was possible that the woman’s body was now at the bottom of the quarry pit, hidden amongst the garbage and ghoul corpses.

  It was possible, but he didn’t find it convincing. And he still hadn’t questioned his primary suspect yet. Jack approached the door slowly, taking light, silent steps. He didn’t bother trying the handle, as he’d heard the lock click into place after the woman had closed it. Instead, he took a slow breath and focused his Potential to cast Spectral Hand.

  It was different from how using his magic in a fight felt. He’d created his Spectral Sword spell in the fight against the ghouls, but this time, Jack was now conjuring a thin, pliable tool. A Spectral Lockpick, though calling it that minimized the elegance of what he was actually doing. Jack slid it into the lock like a shapeshifting finger, slowly probing until he had all of the tumblers in place.

  He turned the door’s handle and smiled to himself as it opened. No shouts of alarm
or angry questions came from within the residence. He waited for another few seconds and then slipped inside.

  CHAPTER 24

  The shower was running, and the only illumination on in the house came from the sliver of light escaping from under the bathroom door. The interior was small, basically just a combination living room and dining room with a few bedrooms attached to it.

  Jack moved slowly and silently, taking in the relevant details. The carpet was stained in places and had a strange smell. Several empty baggies were scattered across the living room table, along with a syringe and a few rubber bands. Apparently, the heroin epidemic had not spared Lestaron Island’s remote community.

  It fit with what he’d already suspected and made him fear for the life of the woman he’d saved the night before even more. He could picture a couple of junkies going to extreme measures rather than having to face up to what prison would mean for them and their addiction. Especially ones who already had a proven penchant for violent crime.

  The shower turned off. Jack took silent steps across the floor, positioning himself directly to the side of the bathroom door. He waited, feeling a little unsure of how to approach what came next.

  The door opened, and the female mugger stepped out into the living room, wearing only a towel and humming a song to herself. She cleaned up surprisingly well. Her dark hair was short, a little longer than a pixie cut, and it left her neck completely visible. Jack could smell her, too, and it was a nice scent. Not as nice as Katie or Ryoko, but feminine, with an intriguing, peach-like edge to it.

  “Don’t scream,” he said, in a quiet voice.

  The woman froze. To her credit, she didn’t scream. Jack could read her body language. She was either about to attack him, or about to grab a weapon.

  “It’s not going to end well for you if you do anything stupid,” he said.

  The words felt natural, and so did the role he’d fallen into. He was a predator, and she was his prey. He’d watched and waited and set a trap for her, all in a manner that would have been incomprehensible to him back before being given the Embrace by Mira. He was a little unnerved by how easily he was able to roll with it.