“Hostage taking,” said Jack. “Come on, Mira. You’re better than that.”
“You’re a fool,” said Mira. “A fool! You would try to kill me? After everything I’ve done for you?”
Jack wasn’t sure how to even respond to that. Her point of view was twisted, and even if the situation had been different, he doubted it would have made sense to him.
“Let the woman go,” said Jack.
Mira flashed a vicious, evil smile. Her face was still streaked with blood, and she finally looked like the monster she was.
“This fight is over,” said Mira. “You both put up a commendable effort, but you’ve clearly lost. Leave now and live another day.”
“She’s going to feed on that woman the first chance she gets,” said Katie, in a low voice. “Probably drain her completely, after the wounds I inflicted on her. We have to finish this.”
“We can’t risk it,” said Jack. “We might be able to talk to her. Come to some sort of compromise.”
“Are you insane?” Katie glared at him, and then lifted her crossbow. “I’m taking the shot. I can hit her in the head, and the woman will be too much of a distraction for her to move in time.”
Mira’s breathing was growing heavier and louder. She gripped the woman’s throat, and Jack saw her baring her fangs and licking her lips.
“It’s too risky,” said Jack.
“It’s not,” said Katie. “I’m going for it!”
Time seemed to slow down. Jack saw Mira smiling, apparently anticipating the attack and ready with her own counter. The woman looked terrified. Katie’s finger twitched on the trigger of her crossbow.
“Katie!” shouted Jack. “No!”
Katie reacted as he said the word, angling her crossbow off to the side just as she launched the bolt. Mira threw the woman forward, into a position where she would have been caught in the crossfire had Katie’s bolt followed its intended path. Jack caught the woman as she stumbled, cursing under his breath as he watched Mira getting away.
“Damn it!” shouted Katie. She struggled to reload her weapon for a few seconds before giving up and hurrying after the vampire. Mira was slowed by her wounds, and Katie managed to close the distance and tackle her.
Jack sprinted toward them, fearing the worst. Katie wrestled with Mira for a couple of seconds, being careful to hunch her shoulders up to protect her neck. She was about to put Mira into a headlock when the vampire dematerialized one final time, appearing on the other side of the glass window looking out onto the tarmac.
There was a plane in the middle of taking off, despite the chaos happening within the terminal. Jack watched as Mira sprinted toward it, leaping onto one of the tires just as it went airborne. He watched his broodmother clutching on for dear life as the plane ascended into the sky, vanishing into the interior as the landing gear folded inward.
“We were so close!” said Katie. “We were so fucking close. Damn it!”
Jack shook his head, unsure of what to do next. Airport staff and security were already doing their best to get a handle on the situation. He felt Katie pulling his arm, leading him down a hallway toward an emergency exit.
“No,” he said. “Katie, I came here for a reason. I can’t stay on Lestaron Island any longer. Not after this.”
“You don’t have a fucking choice anymore,” she said. “This little incident is going to end up attracting the attention of the Order of Chaldea. Even if you got on the first plane or boat out of here, they would still put the pieces together and track you down.”
“How can you be so sure of that?” asked Jack.
“I know how they operate,” said Katie. “And trust, they won’t overlook the fact that this encounter took place at the airport.”
Jack sighed, unable to find much fault in her reasoning.
“And what happens if I stay here?” said Jack. “I can’t keep biting you and Ryoko. Especially not without a working anti-enthrallment potion.”
Katie pushed him out the emergency exit, into what remained of the night. The sky was already shifting from black to a dark purple, heralding the arrival of dawn.
“We’ll be okay,” said Katie. “The fight wasn’t entirely pointless. I managed to pull this off her while we were wrestling.”
She took out a small leather bag with a red drawstring and wiggled it.
“Is that…?”
“Pixie dust,” said Katie. “She didn’t destroy it, like I’d initially assumed. I was hoping I could recover your grandfather’s staff from her, too, but she must have hidden it somewhere.”
Katie scowled, looking more annoyed by the loss than Jack felt himself. Though it did set him a little on edge to think of the weapon remaining somewhere on the island for Mira to come back to. She was intelligent and unpredictable, a combination which left him doubting that she’d left it behind by accident.
Katie led him to her car and wasted no time pulling out of the airport parking lot. As they drove down the street, the flashing blue lights of one of the sheriff’s cruisers shot by them in the other direction.
“That’s probably Bruce.” Katie sighed. “I’ve put him through way too much tonight.”
Neither of them said anything for a couple of seconds. Jack frowned, thinking about the way the last few hours had unfolded.
“You came after me,” said Jack. “I told you to stay at the mansion right after… well, you know.”
“I don’t think the unicorn sap anti-enthrallment potion was a complete failure,” said Katie. She took a hand off the steering wheel and brushed it across her neck. “I do feel something whenever I hear you give a command, but it’s not irresistible. It’s the same reason why I was able to shoot my crossbow when you shouted no, though I didn’t quite have the willpower to keep it on target.”
“You would have killed Mira’s hostage if you had,” said Jack.
“…Yeah,” said Katie. She sighed. “I think it will wear off once I start drinking the regular anti-enthrallment potion again.”
“You’re sure?” said Jack.
“No,” said Katie. “But at the very least, the effects won’t get any worse when you bite me from now on.”
“Katie,” he said. “I can still leave, you know. I’ve already done so much damage here. Maybe leaving the island would be for the best, even if the Order came after me.”
Katie slowed the car as they approached a stop light, and she took the opportunity to look over at him. There was a strange glint in her eyes, a mixture of annoyance and a more vulnerable emotion that Jack couldn’t readily place.
“You have one thing right,” she said. “You’ve done damage, Jack. I don’t know what’s going to happen, with me, with my life. With you. And if you run away again, I just…”
“I wouldn’t be running away this time,” said Jack. “And I didn’t want to run away before.”
“I know, I’m sorry, it’s just…” Katie swallowed, and took a wavering breath. “I don’t know what’s going on. With any of this.”
“What do you mean?”
She looked away from him. The stop light turned from red to green, and it took her a second to realize it and put the car back into motion.
“I don’t know if it’s just because of you feeding off me, Jack,” she said. “The… way that I feel. About you.”
He didn’t know what to say to that. He didn’t know if he was supposed to say anything to that. Where was the line? Was it fair for him to weigh in here, in a situation where a girl he cared so deeply about was struggling with emotions that might well have an unnatural and supernatural component?
“Jack…” said Katie. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
There was a silence left in the wake of their words. It felt like that moment all again. The one Jack still remembered, when he and Katie had sworn their childish promises to each other, so long ago.
Katie pulled the car over, and the two of them just stared at each other. Neither of them said anything, and real
ly, there was nothing to be said. He understood the situation, and he knew that she did, too. Jack shifted in his seat, pulling her closer to him.
He kissed her, and she didn’t stop him. It went on for several intimate, blissful seconds before coming to an end. He caressed her cheek for a moment, and then snuck one more quick kiss, unable to resist.
“I’ll stay,” said Jack.
Katie was silent for long enough to make his heart catch in his throat.
“I never wanted you to leave to begin with,” she said. “All those years ago. We were just kids back then. But you were still such a big part of my life.”
He squeezed her hand.
“Are you sure you aren’t feeling the effects of the enthrallment?” he asked, smiling at her. “The Katie I know would have never started acting this sappy.”
“Fuck you.” Katie smiled back at him, and a slight blush came to her cheeks. “I’m serious, though. There’s work to do here, Jack. There’s a long road ahead. And I want you by my side for it.”
“I know,” he said. “And I’m here.”
EPILOGUE
The Lestaron Cemetery was a quiet, serene place. Jack took slow steps through the gate, unsure of how to feel. It was a bright and sunny day, with a slight breeze on the air, and it made for a strange contrast with his mood.
He couldn’t remember whether or not he’d been to the cemetery before. Which didn’t make any sense to him at all. Tombstones stood side by side in neat, even rows, and despite knowing for a fact that three of them belonged to his family, Jack couldn’t recognize which ones they were.
He was alone, and because of that, he took his time. The groundskeeper had apparently been lax in his duties, as the grass was higher than it should have been, and a few stray leaves and branches from the nearby trees had intruded across some of the plots. He picked them up and set them on the other side of the fence.
Jack saw his grandfather’s gravestone before he recognized it. Several wreaths of flowers were set on top of it, along with a couple of envelopes weighted down by small rocks. He assumed they were parting words that just couldn’t go unsaid.
His parent’s graves were adjacent to his grandfather’s plot. Andrea Masterson and James Farmoore. They’d married but kept their own names, for reasons which Jack would now never have the chance to ask about. He sighed and crouched down, staring pensively at his mother’s tombstone and feeling numb.
So many lost memories. He was looking at the tombstone for the first time, or at least, it seemed like it. How was it that he didn’t remember coming to the cemetery for his parent’s funerals? There wasn’t even a hint of a memory, not even a trace emotion or phantom scent. There was nothing, and the blank gap in Jack’s recollection of that entire period of his life seemed like a massive thing, now that he was staring into it.
“Mom,” he said. “Dad…”
He smiled, wondering what they’d think of him now. He felt like a bad son for not visiting them sooner, though of course, he’d had a lot on his plate over the course of the last few days.
“I miss you both,” said Jack. “And I hope…”
He wanted to say that he hoped they were proud of him, but the words wouldn’t quite make it all the way out. And he was all right with that. He missed them both, even if he couldn’t remember them, but part of him didn’t want them to have a chance to see who he was now. And what he was now.
Jack sighed and moved on, stopping in front of his grandfather’s well-adorned tombstone. There were as many flowers on Peter Masterson’s burial plot as there were spread throughout the rest of the cemetery. He was surprised, even though he’d already seen evidence of the man’s popularity in the local community.
And there was something else there, too. Something that had been missing from the downstairs workshop after Mira’s raid. Peter Masterson’s wizard’s staff had been carefully placed across the burial plot, with a red ribbon tied around one end.
Jack frowned a little, unsure of what to make of it. Mira had found time in the midst of tormenting him to stop by the grave and return the staff to its owner. It was such a strange gesture, but it made perfect sense, coming from her.
He set a finger against the staff and felt a jolt of power similar to a static electric shock. Jack pulled his hand back, deciding to leave it be. Peter might not need it anymore, but it still seemed to belong where it was, and few people would give the unassuming length of wood more than a glance.
“Mr. Masterson?” Ryoko’s voice came from behind him, at the edge of the gate. “Would it be okay if I ran a few errands while you’re here, if you’re planning on staying a while longer?”
Jack shook his head.
“No,” he said. “I’m finished.”
He stood up and smiled at Ryoko, making his way alongside her back toward the car.
THE END
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Edmund Hughes
Heartgem Homestead
CHAPTER 1
And as such, Lady Eletha demanded supreme fealty from Billick. She strode into his palace flanked by her valkyries, wearing the sensual, open cut dress of the elven dawning ceremony. Billick, defeated in both battle and pride, stood naked in his court room. His contemporaries watched on, knowing that their only hope for thriving in the next era lay with the heir about to be conceived.
Before the war, Billick had boasted of his intent to bed Lady Eletha. Perhaps that was part of the irony of her demands, placing the burden of conception into his lap along with complete surrender. Now, she walked toward him with long, languid steps, the horizontal slits in her dress revealing glimpses of pink nipple as they shifted across her bosom.
Billick made a show of sneering openly, but it was clear that he was a defeated man. Even as aroused as he was, there was no confidence left in his eyes. If anything, his expression hinted at self-loathing and annoyance in the deep satisfaction Lady Eletha took in their reversal of roles.
She pushed her hand against his chest, knocking him back into the chair that was once to be his throne. Pulling up her dress from the hem, she lowered herself onto him. He was ready for her, and reached his hands up to feel her body and take control.
Two of Lady Eletha’s valkyries seized his wrists before he could. Lady Eletha nodded to a third, who came up beside her and took hold of Billick’s long ears, rubbing the appendages and teasing the erogenous zones there with soft movements.
Lady Eletha sank lower onto him, and Billick’s mask faded away. He let out a defeated moan and tried to glare at her, only managing a halfhearted effort. Lady Eletha pulled at her plunging neckline and thrust her bare breasts into his face. Slowly, she rocked her hips back and forth. She planned on taking her time with him.
“Halrin Kentar! Are you truly this daft?”
Hal flinched at the sound of his sister’s voice, nearly dropping the translation he’d been studying. Lilith was headed up the hill in his direction, carrying her skirts high as she stepped through the rain speckled grass.
He felt his cheeks reddening as he considered the history he’d been reading. Many of the ancient elven texts that Roth assigned him to translate centered on topics that were less than appropriate for polite discussion. Some of them even veered into explicit detail, giving a raw, unfiltered glimpse into the lurid history of the elder race.
“Do you need something, Lilith?” he asked.
Lilith bounced with each step as she made her way toward the tree Hal was resting against, her strawberry blonde curls falling loose across her freckled, youthful face. Behind her, carriages approached the Kentar Estate in an unbroken line, appearing to flee from the beautiful setting sun and indigo infused clouds in their wake.
“It’s father’s victory party,” she said. “He’s going to be expecting you there.”
Hal shrugged.
Of course he will be. Along with all his sycophants, desperate to win his favor however they can.
“Father is always expecting one thing or another,” said Hal. “I’m sure he’s learned to manage his disappointment over the years.”
Lilith made an annoyed noise and crossed her arms, the motion causing the curls of her hair to pull and bounce like paper spirals. She stomped toward Hal, pouting as her eyes ran over him. For an instant, he feared that she was going to look at his work, and he scrambled to set the stack of paper just out of reach.
“What happened?” asked Lilith. “I know you too well, brother, to think that this morose mood comes naturally to you.”
She sat down next to him, leaning her back against the tree trunk, and took hold of one of his hands. Lilith was only twelve, a full eight years younger than Hal, but she was precocious and surprisingly perceptive for her age. Hal sighed and made a vague gesture, hoping she’d just let it drop.
“Father denied your request for dueling training,” guessed Lilith. “Again?”
Hal slowly nodded.
“It doesn’t make any sense to me,” he said. “The Collected Provinces may be at peace now, but that might not always be the case. And he’s one of the most prominent Voicemen, especially now that he’s been reelected. How does he expect me to protect him or you, should something happen? With a single ball from my pistol, which I also haven’t been trained with?”
“He doesn’t want that kind of life for you,” said Lilith.
Hal scowled, not at her, but at his circumstances.
“Father used those exact same words,” said Hal. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d suspect an element of collusion between the two of you.”
Lilith made an offended noise, and Hal couldn’t keep a tiny smile from betraying his teasing. She was too easy, sometimes. Or perhaps she was just playing along, doing what she could to drag a better mood out of him.
Blood Mage (Dark Impulse Book 1) Page 24
