by Linda Wisdom
Just as swiftly his hand lashed out and she felt the sting across her face turn into a burn where he’d struck her. She refused to take her eyes from him as she spat blood from her mouth. She couldn’t look at Nick as she heard his roar of fury.
“I believe you would, Jazz.” Clive chuckled. “That is why I decided I would rather keep you alive as my pet. You have no idea of the untapped power within you. Power I can use. And perhaps, if you had some time to think about it, you would decide it would be more beneficial to be with me. There’s no reason why we couldn’t come to an arrangement suitable for the two of us.”
“At the moment, I can’t think of a totally witty response to such a disgusting proposition, but I can come up with something fitting. Eat shit and die.” She added a smile to boost the insult even as moving her mouth hurt like hell. She was positive her lips were going to be puffier than any collagen injection could provide.
But Jazz wasn’t through. She fought through the pain in her face and continued to mentally dig down deep, looking for any hint of magick that could help her and Nick out of this situation. A mental push to search for Irma only managed to push painfully back at her. Somehow Clive had managed not only to dampen all magick down here but he had also found a way to punish anyone who tried to use their power. So now she had a headache along with the burning pain on her face.
She glanced past him at Nick and saw that the silver she suspected was in the chains was a fact. Faint burn marks now traveled up his body. She could see his strength was rapidly draining. His jaw was tight as he fought the pain taking over his body.
Plan A was no longer an option, and Plan B had to also be tossed, so she’d have to move to Plan C.
There was only one problem. They hadn’t thought to come up with a Plan C.
“Don’t be sad, Jazz,” Clive murmured, opening a secret cabinet below the altar and reaching inside. “Once I have drunk your vampire lover’s life force, I will have all that is his and you as my lovely pet. A man couldn’t ask for anything more.” He brought out a tube and IV needle. With a motion of long practice, he inserted the needle into Nick’s wrist and blood dripped slowly down the tube and into the ceremonial bowl.
“Except you do not kill us, you bastard! You turn our kind into shades doomed to walk the earth and never have any peace.” Nick flashed his fangs as he fought against the chains, but his strength was greatly diminished between the embedded silver and the blood exiting his vein. “No wonder you never leave the mansion. If you walked out the door you would have to face all of those who wander your grounds for eternity. That’s why you learned astral projection. It was the only way you could leave here without encountering your victims.”
If Jazz’s gaze hadn’t been centered on Clive she would have missed the flicker of fear cross his face and the way his hands hesitated in his tasks. She was pleased to know Nick had touched a nerve. Clive quickly regained his composure and turned to her. His expression wasn’t so pleasant now.
“I have no reason to leave my beautiful house. Everything I require is here and I have staff to bring me whatever I need. Such as you.” He walked over and roughly gripped Jazz’s face and brought it around to him. She knew if she struggled he would snap her neck just because he could. For the time being, she vowed not to fight him, even if she knew it was a short-lived promise.
Except what Clive had in mind turned out to be more unpleasant than breaking her neck. His mouth savaged hers; he started biting and licking her lips and face like a ravenous dog. At the same time, he grabbed a breast and squeezed hard enough to leave bruises on her delicate skin. She held back a scream of pain and fury when he lowered his head and bit down on her nipple. She pulled on her manacles, but they were drawn up too short for her to slam the heavy chains down on his head.
“I will kill you for that!” Nick shouted, rearing up then falling back.
“Gross!” she spat out, while wishing for a large bottle of disinfectant to destroy the taste in her mouth when the monster finally pulled away.
Clive smiled cruelly. “That is only the first, my pet. And I do mean pet,” he stated. “Because I intend to keep you naked and on a leash and you will do what I wish, when I wish, and for as long as I wish, and if you comply with my wishes, I just might decide to keep your vampire alive … for awhile.” He walked over and pinched the tube closed. The blood stopped dripping into the bowl. He watched Jazz’s face as he released the tube. The blood began dripping steadily into the bowl again. “It is your choice. Plus, I do admit the idea of keeping him on eternal tap is a lovely idea.”
“She won’t agree to it because I won’t allow it,” Nick shouted. “There is no reason for you to think you can achieve your goal by using my blood when you’ve drained so many and not succeeded. We are not food, human.” His face had become that of a stone-cold soulless predator.
“I am no longer human, vampire. And I will be successful. Not long ago you and the witch not only fucked, but your shared power managed to create something new.” He smiled at the shock on Jazz’s face. “Oh yes, I have seen the two of you together and it was stimulating.” He briefly touched himself, idly stroking his cock. “The shared power means that what she has is within you and vice versa. So by ingesting the essence of you both, mingling blood and sex, so to speak,” his smiled widened, “I have the best of both worlds. By keeping you alive, vampire, I can have my elixir any time I wish. And by keeping Jazz around, I ensure your compliance—just as she will obey me to keep you alive. The two of you may claim you will only think of yourselves, but I know better.”
So someone had been watching them make love that night. Jazz felt sick inside. She thought of the slaves he laughingly called staff who worked upstairs. She knew they were all slaves to his every whim. What they endured because of this creature and how he allowed the guests to have their way with them, biting, shredding of skin, and worse. A hickey from Clive would be minor compared to what his guests did to the poor unfortunates upstairs. She knew she would kill him before he would touch her again. She met Nick’s gaze and saw the pain and sorrow in his eyes. She feared before too long he would be too weak to resist whatever ghoulish procedures Clive might think up next.
Do what it takes, love.
For once she wasn’t going to complain about his entering her head.
He’s going to die for good this time, Nick.
I never doubted it.
Nick’s confidence in her was just what she needed right now. Along with a way to get Clive’s attention no matter how much it hurt her. She looked around the chamber, looking for anything that what would startle him. When her gaze reached the tapestry she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She finally found a tiny speck of power buried deep within her. She nurtured it the way she’d nurse a weak flame. The moment she felt the flicker grow, she opened her eyes and focused on the tapestry. It was a chance she had to take, no matter what.
Just do it, Jazz.
“Images I see. Images that hide,” she shouted at the top of her lungs even as she felt the suffocating pressure build up inside her brain. “Images reveal to us what is beyond! Reveal because, damn it, I say so!” At that second, she pushed every ounce of that fledgling power toward the heavy fabric. Her vision momentarily clouded as whatever dampened her magick tried to punish her with waves of pain that screamed along her nerve endings, but she fought back just as hard. A heavy blast of cold air raced through the chamber, chilling Jazz to the bone before it struck the tapestry, the heavy fabric flapping in the wind as if it were nothing but paper. A moment later, the sound of the aged material tearing down the center echoed throughout the dungeon. Screams from within the cloth bounced around the room, sending more waves of chilled air as spirits escaped their textile prison. Just as Jazz thought, victims had been held captive there also.
Clive spun around. “No!” he screamed, starting toward the destroyed tapestry with his hands thrust out as if to stop what had already been done. Before he could take a step, he froze. A gu
rgling sound traveled up his throat.
Jazz tried to focus on the floor-to-ceiling window now revealed by the destroyed tapestry. At first, she thought the window had been covered with some sort of patterned paper. Now she realized the pattern was moving. The shades that populated the grounds now looked through the window, watching the imminent destruction of another one of their own.
“Flavius,” she whispered, seeing the familiar features of Nick’s sire in the forefront—confirmation that Nick’s sire had been brought here and now would never walk and talk with Nick again.
“Look upon them!” She unconsciously pulled on her manacles until she chafed her skin raw and bleeding. The pain brought her back to her surroundings. “You are a beast who has lost all of your humanity!” she screamed loud enough to shatter glass. She only wished it had because then the shades on the outside would be in here confronting the one who imprisoned them on a shadowy plain with no chance of escape. “Look upon what you have hidden from all these decades! What you see are the products of your creation. Creatures you destroyed for a sinister power you can’t even hold onto. No more, Clive, because before I’m done here they will be free and you will have nothing!”
“You bitch!” Clive screamed back, shrinking from the faces visible through the heavy glass. Mouths opened and closed in silent screams of anguish as they stared at the one who tormented them.
Jazz looked at Nick, noting the pain on his face, and knew whatever happened next could finish them both. Death wasn’t her first option, but if she succeeded in freeing the shades and killing Clive in the process she knew their deaths would be worth it.
The flicker of power she’d diligently nursed to destroy the tapestry roared to an inferno. Clive’s agitation caused a shift in the power in the dungeon that Jazz immediately felt. She wasted no time searching for any power trapped in the walls and started to tap into it, but she quickly realized his dark magick might override her own and in the end defeat her. It was a chance she’d have to take. She’d been lucky with the tapestry, but this next time around she’d have to pull out all the stops.
Do it, love. Nick’s comforting voice inside her head offered her the grounding she needed.
“I call on the Goddess of Judgment! I plead that you do to this creature of the dark arts what he deserves for twisting power for his own personal gain and not respecting the existence of others,” she called out, searching for all she could tap into even as the pain inside her head increased to the point where she feared her head would explode. As she drew in a deep breath, she knew exactly what to say for maximum effect. “Show no mercy for this one who has shown no compassion for the children of the night. Show no mercy for this one who steals that which gives them their existence. Let those victims who walk between the two worlds judge him as he should be judged.” A rumble rolled through the chamber, causing Clive to stumble. He reached out to grab the edge of the altar to keep his balance. The air grew thick with power making it difficult to breathe while the flames from the torches flickered wildly under the wave. For a moment Jazz feared they’d start a fire they’d have no chance of escaping. Her hair lifted up and waved around her head with the crackle of magick while her skin seemed coated with multi-colored sparkles. Her moonstone ring glowed a white hot blue that burned her skin, but she was beyond feeling either the burn or the pain pressing inside her head. She was a witch on a mission to destroy the bad guy.
Clive was wild-eyed as he felt her power envelop his with a strength he hadn’t expected. “What are you doing?”
Her gaze could have sliced him to ribbons. “Making things right.” She closed her eyes again, took a deep breath of the thick air and embraced what rushed through her. “I ask that he not be allowed to create anything more that walks between the worlds!” Jazz nudged her control up that extra notch. For a moment, as it moved through her, she felt as if her head would fly off but she managed to hold on by her fingertips. “I beg that things be made right.” She lifted her face, her smile wide with the sense that right now she could pretty much do anything. It was suddenly very clear what was needed.
A thunderclap slammed through the night sky as if the magick she brought up would split the atmosphere in two. Jazz didn’t flinch when a lightning bolt struck the stone floor leaving the burnt scent of sulfur behind and splitting the floor in half. Fire licked up from beneath the stones.
“I ask that the one who can finish this be brought here. Grant her the chance to face the one who harmed her, so that she may make things right!”
The air fairly sizzled with the nostril-burning smell of electricity as her power again rolled around her.
“You fucking bitch! You won’t ruin this for me! I’ll see you dead first,” Clive roared, starting towards her with his hands outstretched.
Jazz knew if she didn’t finish it now he would surely tear her limb from limb, and in his fury he wouldn’t spare Nick no matter how much he wanted Nick’s blood. As she looked at his enraged features she realized that by drawing what power she could from the house she’d effectively barred Clive from using it. She spared a quick glance at Nick. Guessing her intent he managed a brief smile.
“Allow the one who can finish what I have begun to leave her protected surroundings and join me. Because I say so, damn it!” Her lungs burned, but she wasn’t about to shut up now. “Irma! You can do it! Leave your refuge to pass judgment on the one who has harmed so many! Because I say so, damn it!”
Nineteen
Forget my screwing you to death and then handing you over to the others to feast on. I will kill you now!” Clive almost reached her when the entire room shook as if a monster earthquake rolled around them.
Jazz lost her balance, falling forward with only the manacles around her wrists keeping her upright. Clive fell to the floor in an undignified sprawl. He rose onto his hands and knees, his features distorting even more. His earlier arrogance had been wiped clean and he now looked more like a terrified animal than a man who was confident he was invincible.
The air around them glistened and shifted until it appeared to tear in the center and part. A woman’s shriek was abruptly cut off as a figure stumbled into the chamber.
“It worked! Jazz, honey, you did it! You got me out of the car! I told you you could do it,” Irma squealed looking around. She exhibited shock at Jazz’s state of undress and then paused to give Nick an admiring glance. “My land, child, what kind of shenanigans have you been up to in this horrible place? As she turned away she came face to face with Clive. “You!” She lifted her handbag as if ready to pummel him. “You’re the bastard who put all that nasty oil on my car! You scared me half to death! Well, you know what I mean.” As her anger intensified, her form shimmered in and out until it appeared solid. “You are an evil man and you need to be held accountable for your crimes.”
“You can’t be here. This isn’t possible.” He scrambled to his feet and backed away from her as she advanced on him. His anger had been replaced by stark fear that shook his limbs. His pale features turned an unearthly gray color. “No shades can pass the mansion’s threshold! I set those wards myself years ago. Many shades have tried to breach them and they all failed.”
“They failed because the shades you protected yourself from were ones you created. She’s not your shade, asshole,” Jazz snarled, ignoring her raw throat and the searing pain in her wrists and arms as she again pulled on her chains. “You have no control over her. No one does.” With Clive losing more of his power, she felt the return of her own with a vengeance. She smiled as she watched Irma pause long enough to look around the chamber. Disgust crossed the ghost’s face as she turned back to Clive who backpedaled to keep out of arm’s reach. “And she’s going to kick your ass,” Jazz finished with relish and more than her share of witchy malice. She so loved watching the bad guy get what he deserved.
Irma turned back from the faces pressed against the glass. “What kind of wickedness have you been doing here, you son of a bitch? What you did to me that day w
as bad enough, but this she gestured toward the window, “is beyond words.” She marched toward him, her handbag still upraised ready to inflict damage.
As Clive threw up his hands in self defense, Irma walked right though him. The horror his victims experienced at his hands was now transferred to him. A thin stream of blood trickled down his forehead then a second followed as his skin began to blacken and split. Trails of blood soon leaked from his mouth, nose, and ears.
“Go get ’em, Irma,” Jazz whispered, before gearing up one more time. “I ask that the shades be released to exact their own judgment!” Her voice fractured on the last word, but it was enough. The sound of glass cracking was first, followed by window fragments falling to the floor and shattering. Chilly night air whooshed inside along with what Jazz sensed were thousands of shades. She knew she would have screamed like a girl if one of them had touched her, but all of their concentration was centered on Reeves. He fell to his knees, covering his head as the shades converged on him. His screams of terror echoed throughout the dungeon.
With the dampening spell completely gone, Jazz managed to release the manacles and sink to her knees. She stood up and ran over to the altar and gently pulled the needle from Nick’s wrist. She winced at the blood trickling from his wound. Thankfully, before her eyes, the wound closed up and healed.
She turned her attention to the chains and tugged on the thick links then looked for the lock. She cursed under her breath when one couldn’t be found.
“Release the one that doesn’t deserve this. Because I say so, damn it!” she commanded, holding onto one of the links.
“I’m glad to see you haven’t lost your touch,” Nick whispered with a faint smile. “By destroying Clive, the mansion will be brought down too because his magick kept it going. You need to get out of here now.”
“If you think I did all that only to abandon you, you’ve got another think coming, mister. I’m not leaving without you.” Grim resolve gave her that extra strength as she zapped the links. She fell against the stone, feeling the sharp edge cut into her palms.
