SV02-06. Slave to a Vampire

by Katrina Kahler

She watched him closely, but Bastian did not back down. “See that it does not,” she growled. “We must move on and be watchful.” She swished her skirts around and moved off into the darkness, not waiting to see if he would follow.

  Bastian cursed and shook his head. If he could not think straight before they found this man, he would find himself dead and then where would Catherine be? He needed to stay focused and pushed any thought of the woman he had left behind from his mind. It would do him no good to think of her now. Instead, he would think only of the Master and what he would do to the monster once he had found him.

  Haddie kept them moving at a steady pace, but not sprinting as they had before. When Bastian caught up to her, she glanced at him, eyes still glowing, but this time with curiosity instead of anger.

  “You should try it again,” she suggested.

  “Try what?”

  “Using your abilities, sense what others are feeling,” she told him. “You will not be able to control it if you do not try.”

  His lip twitched in annoyance. “I still do not understand what knowing the feelings of others will do for me, especially in a fight. How will this help?”

  “You’d be surprised what emotions can tell you,” she replied.

  Bastian stopped and stared at her. “They will tell me nothing of import and besides, if I cannot use them, then perhaps this Master will think that I am unworthy and leave us alone.”

  “Ha! You do not know what that man is like.”

  “Yes I do, he turned me! He tried to make me kill my wife,” Bastian snarled and went after her, throwing her back against a tree as he growled in her face. “I lost everything because of that man so do not tell me I am unaware of his evil.”

  Haddie’s eyes narrowed and she butted her head against Bastian’s with such force, he staggered backwards. She followed him down to the ground, pinning him there with strength he’d had no idea she possessed. “Do not dare assume to think you know him. The one who changed you over a hundred years ago? He is not the one we go to meet. This man is different, manipulative, and he will not hesitate to make your life a living hell.”

  Bastian attempted to escape her grasp, but she slammed his head into the ground.

  “You think you lost everything once? He knows you have more to lose now, Bastian, and if you are not ready to kill him on our first chance, then he will take everything from you once again.”

  An image of Catherine in the grips of another, screaming as he tortured her, appeared in his mind and he growled, desperate to get back to his feet. “I’ll be ready.”

  “Not if you don’t embrace what you are,” she argued. She pushed herself up and yanked him to a standing position alongside her. “I did not think what I could do was helpful either, but it led me to him the second time and it gave me an insight into his plans.”

  He straightened his shirt and brushed the leaves and dirt from his hair. He closed his eyes for a moment and focused on Haddie. A brush of annoyance hit him, but underneath was something harder, rage and a hunger for vengeance. “I sense your bloodlust,” he told her, “but that does not help me.”

  She motioned for them to continue walking as she clasped her hands behind her back. “There are stories, rumors of what empaths are capable of doing if they’re strong enough. Mind you, the stories are old, even for me.”

  “But they’re just stories,” he told her, much as he’d tried to convince himself of the same thing before. “Nothing more.”

  “Many things we thought were just stories are far from it. You should have realized that the night you were bitten by a vampire,” she chided. “We are not the only supernatural beings to exist in this world.”

  His steps slowed. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean if you had ever left that tiny island of yours, you would have learned what else there is. The world is a large place, Bastian, and as much as I hate to say it, we are not the only threatening predator in existence.”

  He frowned as they continued on through the darkness. He had heard rumors from those who came to the islands from continents away, but surely they were simply stories, old legends and folk tales, nothing logical. “If we aren’t, then what is?”

  “Men who do not like creatures such as us existing in their world,” she said with a hiss. “Holy men bent on destroying anything that is not natural.”

  “I have never heard of these men,” he argued. “Surely I would know about them after one hundred years.”

  She smirked. “Not if you were clever and ran away to hide on a private island.”

  Bastian’s frown only deepened. “What do these hunters have to do with the Master?”

  “They too hunt him and last I heard, they were on their way here to destroy him.”

  “Then why not let them?”

  “These men will not differentiate between one vampire and the next,” she argued. “They will see all within his encampment and slaughter them like sheep. I told you, many of them are under his control. I will not see more innocents killed in such a manner.”

  They fell silent for a long while, walking beneath the trees and listening to the nocturnal sounds around them, insects and owls, predators searching for their next meal. Bastian took it all in, absorbing the smells of this new territory. It was beautiful and for a brief moment there in the dark, he could almost imagine he was home, lost in the forests of France, far out in the countryside.

  He could almost imagine himself being home.

  Bastian…

  His feet slid to a stop as his eyes widened. “Catherine?”

  “You heard her?” Haddie asked.

  He nodded, glancing around. Was she close? Had she come after him so soon?

  Bastian…there was more but it was too faint for him to hear and he closed his eyes, straining to hold onto the thoughts she sent to him. Refuge…monastery on main land.

  “They’re leaving the plantation,” he told Haddie quietly.

  “Where are they going?”

  “The temple,” he repeated. “An old monastery I think, abandoned. I turned it into a refuge in case there was ever a need for one.” He frowned, thinking back to that night when he had Kendi help him move supplies over. The need to do so had been too strong to ignore, though to this day he could never quite understand what made him think he would need a refuge.

  “Did Victoria know of this place?” Haddie asked.

  Bastian explained that it was after she’d left him. “I had a dream one night, a horrid dream, as if I were possessed by some unseen force. It drove me to find a safe place for my people in case we ever needed to run.”

  “What did you dream of? Can you recall it now?”

  Bastian, I hope you hear me and I hope you feel how angry I am with you!

  He smirked at those words coming across as if she whispered them in his ear. “Yes, I can feel it,” he whispered.

  Haddie raised a brow and he waved her off. “The dream, Bastian. What was it?”

  “It was decades ago, Haddie, give me a moment,” he muttered.

  The dream had terrified him, he knew that without even trying to remember it fully. A dark shadow had risen up over the trees, coming for the plantation and all those living on it. Bastian remembered seeing fire devouring the houses while his people tried to flee, but something had come after them…something from the coast and it surrounded them all. Eyes tightly closed, he saw it all again and heard a gasp in his mind.

  Catherine!

  What is that? She whispered. Bastian? What’s happening?

  Just a dream, love, nothing else, he assured her, not at all certain that she was able to hear his thoughts. But if she could see what was in his mind, then perhaps their connection was stronger than he’d first thought. He asked very gently for her to leave it be, but her presence remained firmly there. She did not need to speak, he could feel her worry and anger pressing against him.

  He focused on the dream once again, trying to push through the haziness, when a face appeared before him,
not the Master’s but a man’s. Behind him more appeared and he watched in wide-eyed horror as his vampires were lined up before him, forced to their knees in the mud. He tried to call out, to fight against them, but he was held back by heavy chains as the men leered at him. Then one by one, the vampires were killed, stakes driven through their bodies. Their screams echoed around his mind before the man drove one into Bastian’s body.

  “Damn it,” he growled, and staggered as the full force of the dream made its mark. His eyes shot open. Haddie had moved beside him and held his arm, steadying him.

  Catherine whispered in his mind, but it was too faint to hear.

  “What was it?” Haddie asked. “Bastian?”

  “Men…they came to the plantation…they killed everyone,” he muttered harshly. “Including me.”

  “Strange dream to have,” she mused. “And then you ensured your people had a safe place to go afterwards. Interesting.”

  Bastian shrugged. “It’s not interesting, it was a nightmare and I was paranoid about it. Nothing more.” Once he and Kendi finished laying supplies at the temple he forgot about the nightmare until this moment. “This has nothing to do with anything, Haddie, can we please just move on? We’ve barely gone five leagues.”

  He could tell she wanted to push him more, but Bastian picked a direction and started off, waiting for her to catch up to him. He moved faster, wanting to make up for lost time and not give her a chance to ask him anymore questions. As they went, he waited to hear Catherine’s voice again, but there was nothing except the lingering horror from remembering that damn nightmare. He was so wrapped up in it, reliving those dreadful images, he almost didn’t notice the sudden wave of violence that hit him so hard he staggered to a stop.

  “What is it?” Haddie hissed.

  He had no time to reply before the sensation grew and suddenly they were surrounded by silhouettes pulling away from the shadows. “Them,” he snarled.

  “Haddie,” a man’s voice said from their left. “We expected you two days ago. Where are Victoria and the others? Why is this man not bound in chains?”

  Bastian’s lip twitched, but Haddie shot him a warning glare and shook her head. “He is under my control,” she said casually, waving her hand. “Chains are not necessary.”

  The man stepped closer and the moonlight lit his face, enough for Bastian to see. The man had a jagged scar running along the right side of his jaw that trailed down his neck and into the collar of his shirt. There was a dagger at his hip along with a sword. The look he shot Haddie said he did not believe her. “And Victoria?”

  “Tragically, she and the others were killed in the attack. Victoria was not as prepared as the Master had hoped, or as adept at taking over the situation,” Haddie explained. “But I have what the Master was after. Are you to lead us to him?”

  The man tilted his head and smirked as if listening to someone. Bastian frowned as the man’s emotions ran across his skin. Anger and disbelief. He shifted to Haddie’s side and gently tapped her hand with his. She glanced at him, but her face remained casual until she read the look on his face.

  “You truly think he would believe your lies?” the man hissed. “Haddie, you should know better than to try and trick him.”

  “I am not trying to trick the Master,” she said with a bored sigh. “Why would I bring him what he wanted if it was only a trick?” Her feet moved slightly to the right, taking in the number around them as Bastian watched her eyes flare darker. They were completely surrounded and now their chance at sneaking into the encampment was gone.

  The man gripped the dagger at his hip. “We shall see. Bind their hands!”

  “Run!” Haddie yelled and shoved Bastian to the side as she lunged towards their attackers.

  Bastian did not want to leave her to fend for herself, but fear of what would happen should they take him and find Catherine, consumed him and he sprinted into the darkness. They gave chase, how many he could only guess, but Haddie’s vicious yells as she fought off the others echoed behind him before they were suddenly cut off. He feared the worst. However there was no chance to turn around and look. He dodged trees, letting his feet lead the way. The sound of the others faded and he thought he was away from them when a sharp pain filled his mind. He yelled, collapsing to his knees in the dirt.

  You truly thought you could run from me, Bastian? The man’s voice grated across his mind, slicing into him like a thousand knives until he cried out from the pain. You and your woman, you will both be mine soon enough.

  “No! I will tear you to pieces before I let her fall into your hands,” he grunted.

  A fresh wave of pain hit him and he fell back to the ground, holding his head to try and make it stop. His vision darkened and rushing footsteps met his ears as he was surrounded once again.

  Bastian? Bastian what’s happening?

  “Catherine…no!” he hissed. She couldn’t be in his mind, not while the Master attacked him. “No!”

  Ah, there she is and my, look how strong she is already, the man crooned in his mind. Soon enough, you both will be mine to control. Do not worry Bastian, I may yet decide to share her with you.

  “You bastard! I’ll kill you!”

  “Take care of him,” one of the attackers snarled. Bastian struggled to find his feet and lunge at their throats, but something hard hit him over the head once, twice and then there was only darkness. He floated in it, swearing he heard Catherine calling to him, but then there was nothing at all.

  ***

  Catherine screamed as agonizing pain slammed through her mind and sent her crashing to the floor. She was still there, yelling and pressing her hands to her temples when Tula burst through the door, calling to her, but she couldn’t make sense of his words.

  She’d reached Bastian, managed to link to his thoughts, see what he did, and then something changed. A darkness surrounded Bastian’s mind and panic filled him. Catherine tried to see where he was, sense what was happening, but someone else was there, blocking her and then the pain, excruciating pain until she couldn’t move, trapped within the darkness before it tossed her out of Bastian’s mind.

  “Catherine? Look at me, Catherine,” Tula demanded as he hoisted her to her feet. “What happened?”

  “Bastian,” she gasped. “I was…I was in his mind.”

  He frowned, but guided her to a chair to sit down. “And?”

  She lowered her hands as the pain slowly receded, then stared up at Tula. “He has them both,” she hissed. “Tula, he took them.”

  Chapter 6

  Catherine paced outside the old monastery, the crumbling walls barely enough to call it a structure anymore, but it was the network of rooms beneath where the vampires were able to hide. That was where they found the supplies stashed by Kendi and Bastian. Some of the rooms held dead bodies, catacombs, but the bodies weren’t what filled Catherine with fear.

  Bastian and Haddie were taken.

  She tugged on a strand of hair, remembering Bastian’s hiss of pain echoing through her mind before her own had drowned his out. They’d reached the temple and she had sensed him, felt his mind and tried reaching out, able to hear him, if only barely. The connection hadn’t been stable, but she’d hoped to at least see where they were. Everything around them had been darkness and shadows, trees, and nothing more. Nothing to guide her to where he was. But that was not going to stand in her way.

  Tula and the others were deep inside the temple, sorting through what was there and searching for a map of any kind that might help guide them. Mary was sound asleep, just inside the temple door. Catherine smiled sadly at her friend. She should not be here, neither her nor Liam, but they’d ignored Catherine’s final attempt to send them away.

  Catherine scuffed her boot in the dirt and glanced around. Ensuring it was just Mary close by, she closed her eyes and tried to focus on Bastian again. If she could reach out to him, maybe she could find where he was. Another whole day had passed since their last connection and not hearing anyth
ing from him made her growl in frustration.

  “Nothing,” she snapped angrily when her eyes shot open. “Why can’t I hear you?”

  She paced back and forth, trying over and over to reach him, but with every attempt she felt her mind growing weaker and her body waning.

  “He’s not dead. You would know if he was dead,” she muttered darkly to herself.

  She glanced around again, but still it was only her. Mary slept on and Catherine took a few steps away from the temple, then another. She knew which way Bastian and Haddie had been headed; Tula had at least given her that much, but the exact location had only been known to Haddie. It didn’t matter. She’d find a trail somewhere and follow it wherever it led.

  “I’m sorry Liam,” she whispered to the temple.

  She had all she needed. Tula had found leather breeches, corset and blouse for her to wear along with a long overcoat and leather boots. There were two daggers tucked securely at her hips and she fed when she woke with the moon that evening. She would hunt on the run.

  Catherine turned for the trees and took off at a sprint, only to have two hands grab her shoulders and yank her backwards. “No! Let me go!”

  “You cannot run off on your own,” Tula argued as he turned her around. “We discussed this!”

  “I don’t care, I can’t wait any longer,” she snapped and tried to yank free of his hold. “Tula, let me go, damn it!”

  “I will not watch you take off and get yourself killed. Bastian would never forgive you or me.”

  “I’m not going to die that easily.” She crossed her arms over her chest and the second Tula let her go she turned to run again, but he simply snagged her back, and this time threw her all the way back to the temple entrance.

  “If I have to chain you to the wall I will,” he threatened. “You will stay here until we have a plan!”

  Catherine snarled and lunged for him, but Tula easily tossed her aside once more. Driven by the desperate need to get to Bastian and by rage itself, she pulled herself up and charged at him, shoving him hard and slashing at him with her nails. But Tula was too quick and he dodged each attack easily. The others slowly came out from the temple to watch, but Catherine barely spared them a glance. She needed to get to Bastian. Couldn’t he understand that?