Blood Catalyst

by A. L. Kessler

  Oliver nodded. "Just bring it back."

  "Thank you."

  He stood and pulled me into a hug. "Remember something Abigail, no matter what Ira has me doing, I am always on your side." He let go of me, and I stepped back with narrowed eyes.

  "What are you plotting?"

  Oliver shook his head. "I'm not. Goodbye, niece, be safe."

  I walked to the front door, doing a funny sort of jig, trying to shake off any tracker he might have planted on me. I didn't see or hear anything fall off, so I doubted he tried that, but his words did have me worried. I walked out to the Hummer and got in.

  Mario leaned over and sniffed. "You smell like Oliver."

  "Well excuse the fuck out of me." I batted him away. "It's not like I was just in his house or anything. And that's creepy."

  He settled back into his seat. "Now where?"

  "Levi's, turns out that we're meeting Samuel tonight," I muttered and backed the Hummer out of the driveway.

  Mario checked his phone and then looked at me. "He told you first."

  I smirked. "Yeah well, since I'm the one going it makes sense."

  "I should be going with you both."

  I shook my head. "That would tip Samuel off and show Levi as weak. I have a feeling we don't want to be seen as weak here."

  He muttered something in Italian, and I shook my head. I had a feeling he was cussing under his breath.

  I glanced up in the mirror once we got on the highway and saw a car behind us. I let out a sigh. "I can never catch a fucking break."

  "What's wrong?"

  I switched lanes and watched the car behind us do the same. There wasn't enough traffic around my uncle's house for it to be a coincidence. I sped up, and the car stayed right on my tail. I cursed and switched lanes again.

  "Abigail?"

  "Shut up for a minute," I snapped and continued to pick up speed.

  As we got closer into the city, more traffic appeared for me to weave in and out of to try and lose the jerk behind me.

  After a few minutes, he disappeared into the traffic behind us. I let out a long breath. "Sorry, we're being tailed."

  Mario looked behind us. "That explains the erratic driving."

  "I think I lost him for now, but just in case I'm taking the back way to Levi's."

  "Why don't you drop the Hummer off at PIB, and I take you from there. That way if they are trailing you, they think you're at work."

  I nodded and pulled off onto the exit that would lead me to PIB. The same car cut through traffic to follow me. I tightened my hands on the wheel, wondering what I was dealing with. Were they just tracking me? Were they planning on attacking the moment I got out of the car? Another assassin? Ira?

  I jerked the car down the road that led to the PIB building. I parked as close to the entrance as I could get and threw the car into park. I waited, and the other car pulled into the lot, parking at the very end.

  "What do you think?" Mario asked, glancing at the car.

  I pressed my lips together. "I think they are just observing. Meet me in my office, and we'll go to Levi's from there."

  He nodded and disappeared. The person in the other car made no move as I got out. I tried to calm the adrenaline rushing through me as I walked to the office building. I didn't quite run, but my steps were quick. I walked in the building and saw Mandy sitting at the desk. She raised a brow.

  "Agent A. You're in late tonight."

  I nodded. "Yeah, burning the midnight oil. I'll probably be working late tonight. Do me a favor?"

  She nodded.

  "Don't let any visitors in to disturb me? I'm on the edge of a breakthrough, and I'd like to get things figured out tonight if I can."

  "Absolutely. No one will get past me." She grinned.

  When I got to my office, Mario was leaning against my desk. "Making sure there's a trail to follow you here?"

  I nodded. "When we're done, I'll have you drop me back off, and I'll leave from here, making it seem to the people outside that I did work most the night."

  "Smart."

  "I have you to thank for the suggestion. Now, let's go, I don't want to keep Levi or Samuel waiting." Though I wasn't exactly sure I wanted to deal with Samuel tonight at all.

  Mario nodded and put his hand on my shoulder. My office faded from around us, and in an instant I found us standing outside Levi's mansion. Mario opened the door. "After you princess."

  "Drop the pet name," I muttered, and he chuckled as he followed me inside. I kicked off my boots at the door and dropped my bag. "Levi?"

  He came out of the library and walked towards us down the hall. "You made too good of time to be coming from Oliver's."

  "We had to take a detour to the office, and Mario brought us from there." I didn't expand on the situation at all. "Brief me on tonight?"

  Levi looked to Mario. "Detour?"

  "We were being followed. We led them to believe Abigail is staying at work for the evening."

  I waved a hand. "Not important right now. Please tell me what to expect tonight."

  "Chaos and mind games," Levi stated easily. "I left you some clothing on your bed, please do not argue."

  I fought the urge to argue, but I could hear the tension in his voice. "Okay, I'll go get dressed and try to prepare myself for mind games." I marched to my room without another word.

  ∞

  I shut and locked my bedroom door behind me and leaned against it. I had a feeling this night was going to stretch on forever. I pulled my phone out and sent Merick a text to just update him on my current whereabouts and situation. I didn't want him to worry when I didn't come home until close to dawn. I texted Simon to just let him know that I was alive, and he sent me back a laughing face.

  The normality of both texts helped me relax a little bit, but that disappeared when I found what Levi had laid on the bed. Leather. Leather pants and a long sleeve black shirt with a leather vest. There were two things I was sure of, one I was to go in looking dangerous tonight, not weak. And two, the leather was meant to protect me. Levi was expecting harm to come to me tonight.

  I ran my hand over the thick leather. What type of situation was I going to be in where I had to worry about harm? I remembered the strength I felt when Samuel had attacked me at home. I cringed thinking about him attacking me again.

  I got dressed, taking my time because I didn't want to face either vampire right now. I laced up the leather vest just as a knock came at my door.

  "Abigail?" Levi's voice came through. "We need to talk before we go, please." His voice was soft.

  I opened the door and stepped to the side so he could get in. "Of course."

  He came in and sat on the bed. "I don't know what we'll be walking in to, but I have to warn you of Samuel's love for pain and turning people against each other. No matter what he says, please do not react."

  "I won't, as long as you can do the same," I said it before I could think about the words.

  He glanced at me, and there was no careful mask in place, nothing but worry was showing. "I will not lose you this night to this monster. He will not drive a wedge between us."

  "You said he hates witches?"

  Levi nodded. "He likes to torture them. I've seen his handy work. I can only imagine how much worse it is with modern technology and medical advancement."

  Well shit, I didn't want to think about it. "Okay, I'll hold myself together. Did you two negotiate?"

  "We are going under a truce that means no harm can come to you. I wasn't able to negotiate any weapons for you, because it makes it look like we don't trust him."

  "We don't." I crossed my arms. "It's a good thing I'm capable of using my magic."

  Levi smirked. "Yes, he didn't negotiate against that, and I wasn't going to bring it up at all."

  "Good, because like hell I'm going in helpless. I fucking swear this is a trap." I sig
hed. "Let's get this over with." I held my hand out to him. "And you swear you aren't going to just leave me there are you?"

  "No. I wouldn't leave my worst enemy with Samuel." Levi took my hand, and my room disappeared.

  We reappeared in a room that had to have been in a castle. The stone walls were covered with tapestries sewn with images of vampires feeding and people burning at the stake. My heart pounded when I realized that the people on the tapestries were witches burning and the humans were being fed on.

  I tore my gaze away from the tapestries and to the scene in the middle of the room. The vampire who had appeared in my house stood there with his arms locked around a human. From where Levi and I stood, I could see that the human was barely breathing. Even if I had been able to stop the feeding, the poor person would have died.

  Samuel dropped the body with a thump, and I tried not to cringe. He walked toward us, and I swore Levi tensed behind me. This was going to be a long meeting if Levi couldn't keep himself in check as well.

  "My fledgling and his witch." Samuel smiled at me. "No weapons, no warlock to back you up this time, Abigail?"

  I wasn't sure how to respond, so I just kept my mouth shut. Levi didn't though. "You've never had the pleasure of meeting her before." He sounded so sure of himself.

  Samuel laughed. "Oh, she didn't tell you?" He reached out and cupped a hand against my cheek. My first instinct was to pull back, but I let him touch me without flinching. "I've met Abigail twice before now. Once while she was down with a demon curse and again after she'd healed. The second time I tried to make her tell me what relation she had to you." His eye shot to Levi. "She refused, and then a warlock buddy of hers sent me flying out of the house with a spell. I soon learned that she was your witch." He took his hand away from my cheek, but let his fingers brush my skin as they did.

  I couldn't help the shiver that crawled up my spine and an urge to follow him flowed through me. I realized that he was letting his power touch me. I let my magic flare and push his power away from me.

  Samuel looked at me, and a creepy smile crossed his face. "Familiar with how my power feels?"

  "It's unfamiliar to my magic, it feels different, which means I can't trust it."

  Levi put a hand on my shoulder, and I knew that he was warning me to settle down.

  Samuel looked at him. "She's a smart witch. Come Leviticus, let us discuss what you've been up to the last century."

  Hearing someone call Levi by his full name didn't feel right to me. Samuel turned his back to us and started to walk across the room. Levi gave me a gentle nudge forward to follow. I forced myself to take steps forward, but something caused my stomach to curl and make me resist going.

  "Abigail?" Levi asked.

  I shook my head and forced myself to keep moving forward. I wasn't going to voice what I felt because I refused to let Samuel have any control over me or anything to use against me.

  When Samuel opened the door, the feeling hit me harder, almost enough to knock me back physically. Levi put two hands on my shoulders to steady me. This time I knew what it was though. Magic. Magic calling out to any witch or warlock nearby to be saved.

  When Samuel stepped out of the way, I realized why. A warlock had been chained to the far wall. He was covered in blood, and his chest barely moved. His eyes were open but hooded, and I wondered how he was alive, never mind awake.

  Samuel looked over his shoulder at us, and I did my best to hide any reaction on my face.

  "You'll have to excuse the…decorations. He betrayed me, and I thought it best that he understood true pain." Samuel sat down in a high back black stone chair. It'd been polished until it shined and looked almost like a throne.

  I didn't respond to him but took a seat in one of the two chairs that sat across from Samuel's throne. Levi sat in the other one.

  "So tell me, Leviticus, what have you been doing? Clearly not following my instructions for you." Samuel tapped his fingers against the arm of the chair, his nails making little tapping noises as he did.

  Levi gave a nod. "I decided to go my own way once I was out from your watchful eye. I've grown in power and taken my own territory."

  "Fledglings?"

  Levi shook his head. "None."

  That was interesting. I guess I had assumed he'd made at least one in his lifetime.

  "Creations?" Samuel glanced at me and then back to Levi. "I thought you and Ira were working together."

  Creations. Was that what the creatures were to Samuel? Why the hell was he looking at me when he said it?

  "Ira and I had different ideas about how to make an ideal world, so I left him to his work." Levi's voice never changed, just a monotoned answer showing no interest in the conversation. "I'm surprised he didn't tell you the moment it happened."

  So was I. I thought Ira and Samuel would have been in contact still.

  The warlock cried out, and his power shot through the room again. I wiped a hand over my cheek, and it came away with blood. Next time I was going to need to throw up a circle. I glanced at Levi, and he nodded as if he understood what I was going to need to do.

  I lowered my hand and wiped the blood on my leather pants. Samuel was there instantly, pinning me to the chair by my wrists and leaning forward so I was pressed against the back of the chair. My breath caught, and I forced myself to keep from attacking him. We were here under a truce, attacking him would only cause problems. He wasn't hurting me, so he technically wasn't breaking the truce. Mind games, as Levi had warned me about.

  My heart hammered against my chest as he sniffed up my cheek. "Your blood and your fear smell delicious. What has you so scared, Abigail?"

  "You're currently torturing a warlock. A witch would be stupid not to fear you." I kept my voice as even as I could and met his gaze. I wanted to lie and tell him I wasn't scared of him, but since he could smell it on me, I wasn't going to try.

  His tongue darted out and licked up the slice on my cheek causing me to cringe. He shoved away from me and laughed. "You've trained her well, Levi. She didn't even go for a weapon or call on her magic."

  I rubbed the back of my hand over my cheek as if I could wipe away the feeling of him.

  Levi nodded. "Abigail is a smart witch. She knows how to assess the situation, and if you were hoping to use her against me or get a reaction out of either us, I'm afraid you'll be wasting your time."

  "No, I invited you here to find out what you have been doing the last century. I'm curious where my fledglings ended up." Samuel glanced at me again, and I refused to look away from his gaze. "From my own research, I have found that you keep some interesting company, a witch, a fledgling of Hannah's, a wolf or two. Quite the power play."

  Levi smirked. "I'm in a position to keep my territory and my people safe. I have no problems making the right allies." There was a bit of pride in his voice, and it was the first hint of any emotion that I'd heard from him since we'd walked in.

  The warlock whimpered, the only sign that his magic was going to lash out again. This time, I threw a quick circle up to keep it from hitting me.

  Samuel laughed. "Assess the situation, and then react. You kept yourself from getting hurt. You are your mother's child."

  That got a reaction out of Levi. He jerked, just slightly, but it was there, and Samuel noticed.

  "Didn't know I knew about Elizabeth?" Samuel laughed. "Ira wrote me about her, how she had a daughter named Abigail and suddenly thought the world was perfect. How Elizabeth ran off with another vampire and a warlock." Samuel leaned back into his chair. "Funny, after that letter, he never wrote again, and he never mentioned where you were."

  "You're not the only one who knows secrets, Samuel," I spoke before I had thought about what I said. "You work with the underground, and you plan on trying to overthrow the king."

  His face went from cocky to closed down. The familiar blank mask that I'd s
een Levi use went into place. I had seriously been guessing, but from the reaction, I don't think Samuel knew that.

  "There should be no king of vampires," he snarled. "We should be ruling the humans, keeping them in line, not the other way around. And PIB? Laughable. They should all be slaughtered."

  Oh, I hit a nerve. I glanced at Levi, and he stood. "It has been an interesting conversation, but I think it's time for Abigail and me to take our leave."

  Samuel walked over to the warlock chained to the wall. "One more thing, for Abigail's sake." He glanced over his shoulder to make sure I was watching.

  My heart sank as he touched the warlock's face. Hooded eyes looked up, and I could see the warlock begging for help. I wanted to help him, but I knew better than to take a step toward him.

  "Hannah has perfected my ability to torture your kind."

  I wasn't sure if he was talking to me or the warlock, but I wasn't going to answer. The idea that he was working with Hannah made my stomach churn more.

  "Using magic to keep him awake as his own magic fights to keep him alive. With his injuries, he should have been unconscious long ago." He leaned forward and placed his hand on the man's chest. "But, since he's served his purpose. I guess I can put him out of his misery."

  Samuel plunged his hand into the man's chest and ripped out his heart. There was a moment of surprise on the man's face before it faded, and his eyes glazed over. Samuel tossed the heart to my feet. "A gift, for Abigail."

  I wasn't sure how to respond. Levi, on the other hand, stooped down and picked it up as if it wasn't a warm human heart. My stomach churned, and the world started to turn. It took me a moment to realize that it was because Levi was taking us home.

  CHAPTER NINE

  The library of the mansion replaced the castle walls, and my stomach still churned at the idea of Levi holding the heart of a warlock. A gift to me. I turned to him, and so many things went through my head, but I said the first one that came to mind. "We need to burn the heart."