“You… bitch,” Jack muttered. “This… isn’t…”
Over. It’s not over. It can’t be over. Jack fell forward onto his face, repeating the words in his head and trying to draw upon the last of his energy. It wasn’t even enough to let him break his own fall.
***
He never passed out or went unconscious, at least not in the traditional sense. Whatever Vyara had injected him with was an extremely powerful paralytic. After a minute, its effects were pronounced enough to make it impossible to focus his eyes and even extended into blurring his thoughts.
Jack knew it was starting to wear off when he could blink voluntarily again and see what was happening. He’d been shackled to a torture rack, with his arms and legs pulled out above and below him. It was the only thing keeping him upright, and it held him at an angle that made his shoulder blades ache even through the remnants of the paralytic.
Vyara had also hitched a metal chain choker around his neck. It wasn’t tight enough to affect his breathing or circulation, but it tingled against his skin. He knew what its purpose was without needing to be told. It was the same as the handcuffs that Margaret, the agent from the Order who’d ambushed him in the mansion, had used. The choker blocked the flow of his essence, cutting him off from the Potential and his ability to cast spells.
Mira was in similar straits, hanging from an identical device and still completely naked. More than anything, that one little detail stoked Jack’s fury. Vyara had only been able to capture Mira, a proud, powerful Aquinian vampire, because she’d gone out of her way to help him by giving him the Sacrificial Gift. He’d basically delivered her into Vyara’s arms.
Volandar was in the workshop now, too. He stood next to his adopted daughter, speaking with her in a quiet voice. He glanced up and grimaced slightly when he noticed that Jack was finally alert again, slowly making his way over.
“In the end, are we anything more than the sum of our choices, Jack?” asked Volandar.
Jack made an attempt at responding, but his tongue hadn’t quite recovered to a point where he could speak clearly.
“I do wish things could have been different.” Volandar glanced over at Mira’s naked body, slowly shaking his head. “I wanted you both as allies. But neither of you had the capacity to trust me. I could see the judgment in your eyes as soon as you arrived.”
“And… the poison?” said Jack, finally managing to form the words.
“The poison…” Volandar sighed. “Yes, well, mistakes were made on both sides. I did my best to court both of you to my cause. I would have told you about your father, you know. That was not a lie.”
Jack felt a confusing mixture of emotions hit him as he listened to what Volandar was saying. It wasn’t fair for them to be having this conversation now, when it was so hard for him to respond properly.
“Perhaps Vyara will find a use for you yet,” said Volandar. “I am sorry, Jack.”
Volandar looked over at Mira. The way he took in her naked form felt sterile and paternal, like a parent observing their child in the hospital.
“I am so sorry, Mira,” muttered Volandar. “I truly, truly am.”
Volandar stood where he was for a few more silent seconds. Then, he turned and made his way out of the workshop, pausing as he passed by Vyara to whisper a parting word. Jack gritted his teeth and tried to force a spell past the limiting effects of the choker. If he could manage to slip into Shadow Form, even if just for an instant, he could save both himself and Mira.
Vyara noticed the look of concentration on his face as she turned back around. She smiled and slowly shook her head. It was the first time Jack had seen her smile, and probably for good reason. The expression was hideous on her face.
“You won’t be able to work your blood magic,” said Vyara. “The collar… I made it myself. Forged with flakes from a weapon we found with anti-magic properties. I take pride in my work…”
She walked over to Jack as she spoke and ran her hand across his cheek, staring at him with her huge, inhuman eyes.
“I’ve been waiting for this chance…” said Vyara. “For so very long. Aquinian vampires fascinate me. So rare, and so powerful.”
Jack gritted his teeth. He looked over at Mira again. She wasn’t moving at all, and her head was slumped forward at a concerning angle.
“Valerian vampires are physical juggernauts,” muttered Vyara. “Mithridian vampires, including myself… we’re like insects, or snakes. But you Aquinians… with your blood magic and the Potential… you’re glass cannons. Powerful and weak at the same time.”
Vyara moved to stand next to the contraption holding Mira. She cranked a handle built into the side of it, and it slowly began to turn sideways, angling her so that she was horizontal to the ground instead of upright. Mira reacted to the movement, her eyes fluttering and opening halfway.
“Mira!” Jack shouted.
Mira let out a weak, wispy groan. Hearing it only confirmed to Jack how weakened she truly was. He thrashed against his own chains, barely managing to do anything through the lingering effects of the paralytic.
“My… sweet Jack,” muttered Mira. “It’s… okay.”
“No!” shouted Jack. “Mira! Stop this, Vyara!”
Vyara was slowly wheeling another medieval-looking device underneath Mira. It was a circular basin, with a single sharpened steel spike protruding up from its center. Jack didn’t need to be told what was about to happen, but Vyara quirked an eyebrow when she saw him looking and proceeded to explain anyway.
“I don’t need two live specimens,” said Vyara. “Her blood… is valuable. Her body… is valuable. But it will be easier to study if the two… are separated.”
“You evil bitch!” shouted Jack. “Don’t you fucking dare!”
He tried to pull himself free from the chains but only managed to chafe his wrists against the metal shackles. He tried to focus and cast one of his spells. He tried everything, to no avail.
Vyara began turning the crank again, and Mira was slowly lowered, inch by inch, toward the metal spike underneath her. She looked over at him, forcing a smile onto her face. It was a smile for him. A smile that wouldn’t do anything other than make it that much harder for Jack to watch what was about to happen.
“It’s okay,” whispered Mira.
“No!” Jack spoke through clenched teeth. “It’s not!”
He blinked, and felt the tears starting to flow, hot and pointless against his cheeks. Mira gasped and tried to flinch away from the spike as it pierced into her back. Her face contorted with so much pain that Jack could feel phantoms of it resonating through his own body. He was shouting now, a wordless cry for help that wouldn’t reach beyond Vyara’s sadistic workshop.
“Mira!” he screamed.
Mira tried to pull her hands toward her abdomen as the spike passed out the other end through her stomach. She was helplessly trying to wiggle away from the source of the pain, like a butterfly pinned into place. Her blood fell in a steady drip, pinging as it struck the bottom of the metal basin underneath her.
“My sweet Jack,” she said with the last of her breath. “I… I love…”
She coughed, and blood dripped from her mouth in the place of words. Her own blood. It was so wrong. Jack screamed and thrashed, wishing he could close his eyes and make it all go away.
CHAPTER 30
Mira stopped moving, and after a few minutes, so did Jack. Her body had already been pale, but the last of the color faded from her lips. Jack felt more numb than he had from the paralytic.
“Interesting…” muttered Vyara. “Potions, maybe? Or perhaps… could there be value in a transfusion? We shall—”
The door to the workshop slammed open. Pierce stepped into the room, with Katie trailing a step behind him. Vyara hissed and turned around in time to see Pierce throw a weighted net in her direction.
She tried to contort her body to dodge in much the same way that she had avoided Jack’s earlier sword strike, but she was an instant too
slow. The net landed over her, and the circular black weights attached to each corner immediately snapped together. Vyara let out another hiss and continued to try to contort herself through the gaps in the net. It was like watching a snake trying to wiggle out of a bag, to no avail.
Katie stepped in front of Pierce, lifting a wooden crossbow slightly larger than the one she typically used up to her shoulder. She fired a silver bolt into Vyara’s body, eliciting a screech of pain. Pierce closed the door and drew a silver dagger from a sheath at his side.
“Don’t struggle,” said Pierce. “I’ll make it quick.”
“You…” hissed Vyara. “Human! I’ll destroy you! I’ll—”
Pierce stabbed downward several times in quick succession, puncturing Vyara’s throat, and then her heart. He waved a hand, and the magical net drew Vyara’s already contorted body even tighter together. He stabbed her a few more times before seeming satisfied, and then wiped his blade off.
“What a vile creature,” muttered Pierce.
Katie was already hurrying over to Jack. She’d found a key on one of the tables and was already using it to take the choker off Jack’s neck.
“Help Mira!” he said. “Please! She’s dying.”
Katie unlocked Jack’s wrist shackles and he fell forward onto the floor. His body was still struggling against the lingering effects of the paralytic, which forced him to sprawl against the stone at an odd angle. He didn’t care.
“Mira!” he shouted.
“Get him on his feet,” said Pierce. “We don’t have time to waste. We need to get through that second door.”
“Jack,” said Katie. “We need your help. One of the doors in the vaults can only be opened by a vampire.”
Jack blinked, feeling a dull, burgeoning anger as he realized why they’d come to save him. They only cared about getting to the artifact. They needed him for that, and so here they were. If they hadn’t run into an obstacle they needed him for, they would have completely ignored his and Mira’s suffering.
“No…” Jack shook his head. He pushed Katie away from him and stood on his own, wobbling legs. “I’m not going anywhere without her.”
He hurried across the workshop over to Mira. Her wrist and ankle shackles had kept her from sliding further down on the spike, but it still impaled her all the way through. It looked like something out of a movie, or like the pretend costumes with fake arrow halves attached to either side. Except it was real. And she wasn’t moving or breathing.
“She’s not dead,” said Jack. “She… she can’t be.”
“Jack…” Katie set a hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged it away.
“No!” he shouted. “If she was dead, I wouldn’t still have my powers. Mira dying would free me from my vampiric curse!”
“Then we should move quickly, while you still have them and can open that door,” said Pierce. “Don’t move her. It will only kill her even faster.”
Jack wasn’t listening to him. He looped his arms underneath Mira’s naked body and gently lifted her off the spike. He shot a glare at Katie, and she reluctantly began undoing Mira’s shackles.
He set her down on the floor, pressing his hands over the grotesque hole the spike had left in her stomach. Jack could still feel the tears on his cheeks, and he tried to stay as calm as he could while looking down at her unmoving form.
“She needs to feed,” he said. “Katie. Let her feed off you.”
“You’re out of your mind,” said Pierce.
Jack stood up. His hands were stained red from Mira’s blood. He didn’t care.
“Jack, think about this,” said Katie. “If we hurry to the door now, you can still unlock it for us. She’s going to die, either way. You’ll be free of your curse then, and if we move now, we’ll have the artifact, too.”
“No,” said Jack. “One of the two of you is going to help me, and let Mira feed off you.”
“Or what?” asked Pierce.
Jack looked down at his blood-stained hands.
“There is no or,” he said. “I’ll do what I have to do to make it happen.”
He made eye contact with Pierce, and then with Katie, whose mouth had fallen open in disbelief.
“Are you fucking serious?” snapped Katie. “You’re going to threaten me? After everything I’ve done to help you? Jack, she’s the one who turned you into a vampire in the first place!”
Jack felt cold as he listened to Katie’s words. Katie, the girl he’d known ever since childhood. The girl who he’d dreamed of reuniting with. The girl he’d come back to Lestaron Island for, only to discover that she’d found someone else.
He wondered if he’d ever made it clear to her how much that had hurt him. And how much it hurt now, to see her siding with Pierce against him.
“She was the one who bit me,” said Jack. “But Katie… you’re the one who turned me into what I am.”
Were those his words that he was speaking? Or were they Mira’s? He could feel the memories he’d absorbed on the edge of his awareness, but he didn’t care if they were clouding his judgment. He meant what he’d said.
“This is taking too long,” said Pierce. “If you won’t come willingly, I’ll put you in a net and drag you behind us.”
Pierce took a step forward, and that was enough of a provocation for Jack. He channeled his blood essence and raised his palm in Pierce’s direction, lashing out with three Spectral Hand tendrils at once. They caught Pierce completely off guard, wrapping around his chest, arms, and ankles, and lifting him into the air.
“Jack!” screamed Katie. “What the fuck!”
“Katie,” said Jack. “If you have an anti-enthrallment potion on you, now would be a good time to give it to me.”
Katie opened her mouth, then hesitated. She met Jack’s eye, and he saw the instant when she realized that he was serious and not about to back down. He would have preferred for Katie to allow Mira to feed off her willingly, but if he had to do it by force, it didn’t really matter which one he picked.
“You bastard!” shouted Pierce. “If you think I’ll honor our deal after this…”
Katie passed Jack a small vial, immediately stepping back from him and crossing her arms once he’d taken it. Jack reeled Pierce in and popped the cork off the potion.
“Open up,” said Jack. “Unless you like the idea of becoming Mira’s thrall.”
Pierce gritted his teeth and glared at Jack with all the intensity he could muster. But he didn’t resist as Jack tilted the vial against his lips. He drank it down to the last drop, taking several heavy, angry breaths afterward.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have time to wait for it to properly take effect,” said Jack. “Let’s hope it still works.”
“Fuck you!” shouted Pierce. “Katie! Stop him!”
Katie had her hands clasped tight over her mouth. She shook her head, clearly unable to decide what to do. Jack knew he could overpower her even while holding Pierce with his tendrils, and so did she. Siding with Pierce would be a symbolic gesture, and one that she apparently wasn’t willing to risk.
“Don’t struggle,” said Jack. “Unless you like the idea of her taking an actual bite out of your neck.”
Pierce sneered at him, but to his credit, he did not struggle as Jack lowered him into position over Mira. Jack crouched down next to her and gingerly used his free hand to lift her head, placing her lips in contact with Pierce’s neck.
“Mira,” he whispered. “You have to feed if you’re going to heal up, okay? Just bite down. I took care of everything else.”
Mira didn’t move. She wasn’t breathing, and if not for the fact that Jack was still able to use his blood magic, he would have thought that she was dead.
“Please…” said Jack. “Mira, please. Do it for me. I don’t want to lose you.”
A tiny, pained gasp escaped Mira’s lips. One of her eyes fluttered open slightly. Her tongue prodded forward, licking Pierce’s skin, which elicited a disgusted gasp from him. Mira slowly opened her
mouth, and then sank her fangs into Pierce’s neck.
Pierce tensed up slightly, and then leaned into the bite. Jack had seen Katie react similarly many times before. He released the Spectral Hand tendrils from around him and watched as Mira continued sipping on his blood, pressing her palm against Pierce’s chest like a shepherd calming a spooked animal. She drank deeply from Pierce’s neck, taking more than Jack usually did from Katie or Ryoko, almost enough to make him worry.
The effect of having her blood essence restored was almost immediately visible. Jack watched as the gash through Mira’s stomach and back began to knit itself closed. The muscle and flesh slowly grew back into the proper place, and a rough scab on each side completed the process.
She let out a groan and pulled bloody lips back from Pierce’s neck. Jack was there in an instant, cradling her head and smiling like a fool. He shrugged out of his grandfather’s leather duster, draping it over Mira’s naked body. She squeezed it against her before pulling it on, tying the belt around the waist tight to give her some basic modesty.
“How are you feeling?” he whispered.
“A bit under the weather,” said Mira. “But much better than before. You sweet, silly boy.”
Jack hugged her as gently as he could. He glanced up, noticing Katie in a similar position at Pierce’s side. She glared at him and stabbed a finger in his direction.
“This is the worst thing you’ve ever done, Jack,” hissed Katie. “You really are a fucking monster.”
Her words carried more of a sting than he was ready for. Jack felt his face heat up, and a section of his heart that he’d been ignoring for a while began to ache with fresh pain.
“Saving someone’s life is the worst thing I’ve ever done?” he asked. “I think that says more about you than it does about me.”
“Fuck you,” said Katie. “Honestly, just… fuck you.”
CHAPTER 31
Jack was annoyed and ready to keep arguing, but footsteps sounded from down the hall, coming down the stairs. He immediately glanced down at Mira, who shakily began climbing to her feet.
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