I stilled before I could stop myself, then covered with a gulp of my drink, which just made me cough and splutter as the alcohol burned a path down my throat. He laughed openly at my discomfort, as I frantically tried to get myself back under control.
"I do believe I have surprised you," he said smugly. "Now it is time for you to give me something in return."
"I never said we'd trade, Amun." My voice had risen with alarm.
He moved closer to me, one arm wrapping around my shoulders, the other kneading my upper thigh.
"I asked nicely, Lucinda." His words were an open threat.
Doubt assuaged my mind. Was this how I was meant to play the game? Use my body to get the answers I needed? My eyes darted around the booth, searching for a solution, an escape from the corner I had backed into. I couldn't find one and that only made me angrier. I wasn't cut out for this, I was going to fail.
My hand gripped around his on my thigh, lifting it purposely up and away. "I belong to Michel," I said firmly, but through gritted teeth, even following it up with a decent growl. I pushed his arm away and scooted out from under him. "Michel would not approve." I wasn't sure if I was saying that to him; to scare him, or to me; to reassure me that Michel would not want nor expect me to have to act this way. Whatever the reason, I saw a shift in Amun. His features softened, understanding and I think compassion gracing his face. The sort of emotions you'd get from someone who was in a similar situation. An understanding of what you were suffering, from their own experience relating to yours.
"I too belong to someone, Lucinda," he started, running a finger down my cheek. "To not be able to act on your own is stifling. To be subjected to another's rules and desires and whims is limiting." He sighed, dipped his head and said, "I understand."
I think my stomach had flipped, or my heart had plummeted into it. Was this the key to Amun?
"Who do you belong to, Amun?" I asked quietly, forcing myself to take his hand in mine.
He raised his head and smiled sadly at me, squeezing my fingers in his. "I am not at liberty to say, my dear."
I sighed and didn't try to hide it. I had failed, even though the attempt had been sound. Amun wasn't going to tell me. I'd been wasting my time.
I was about to suggest I leave as there was nothing left to say, when a shadow was cast over us and a prickling sensation crawled over my skin.
"Are you fraternising with the enemy, Amun?" came a silky, familiar Russian voice.
"Master," Amun said obsequiously as he bowed his head low.
My eyes flicked up to the new arrival, the vampire who pulled Amun's puppet strings. I knew him. So did my Tego Texi Tectum duo. One of whom was in this room watching this scene.
"Fuck," I said rather pathetically.
"Oh, I couldn't agree more," Viktor Davydov replied.
Chapter 32
The Puppet Master
Panic pounded through me in an ever increasing beat. A rushing sound invaded my ears, making it hard to hear the music in the club and even harder to think. Viktor Davydov was not a vampire I wanted to meet again. He had unbelievable mental powers, had been able to call me to him and place a charm on me that bound my tongue. And I had stolen two of his most powerful vampires: Sergei and Nataliya.
He had told me, before my Lux Lucis Tribuo powers pulled them under my line, that if anyone stole something that was his, he would retaliate with force and it would not be nice. His threat had hung over me since the day I brought Sergei and Nataliya into my fold. A constant black cloud in the distance, never actually getting closer, but filled with the promise of harm. I had known that one day he would seek revenge, but I hadn't put the recent puzzle pieces together enough to come up with him as the name for Amun's puppet master.
Amun had said I had a powerful vampire enemy and although I had known Viktor was strong, I hadn't realised his influence over Europe was this big. Even controlling a vampire like Amun Nadeem was astounding and Amun's fear out shone mine.
And here Viktor was, looming over our booth. Amun shrinking in on himself and nowhere for me to run. I was angry that I allowed Amun to corner me. I was trapped prey to the predator and he was fuming, filled with rage. Conversation wasn't going to get me out of here, but I had to hope my guards were closing in. Maybe they needed a bit more time, I could at least give them that before I acted on the impulse to grab my stake and stab Amun through the heart, seeking my exit through his distracting dust.
"Viktor, what a surprise." No point lying, he'd seen my reaction the moment he appeared. I reached reflexively for my Light, stroking mental fingers over it to keep me calm, but also to keep me connected. At a moment's notice I could strike.
"Lucinda Monk, we meet again." His words were dripping in wrath. I blinked slowly and shifted further away from Amun, I'd need space to act and even a few inches distance from the vampire beside me could give me the edge I needed to win.
"Why London?" he asked, which only made me frown. He wanted a conversation? Really? Maybe this wasn't going to be as bad as I feared.
"What do you mean?"
"Why would you choose the city where my brother was killed and I came to seek my revenge?" he began slowly. "Why would you choose the place where you stole two of my vampires and turned on me?" He was winding up now, gaining steam, speaking faster. "Why would you think it was safe here, so close to my heart and pain?" His voice lowered now, a menacing growl intertwining with the words. "Why do you think you are above me?"
My mind stalled, his tone was so foreboding. The only thing I could think of to say sounded so lame, but my mouth blurted the words out anyway. "Michel owns a house here." That bloody house, which I hated, had been a good enough reason to choose London. Not that I would have thought Viktor would be so territorial, but maybe I should have.
His brother, Boris, had been the Master of the City here. Michel's sire Amicus had arranged for his death, in order to have free reign over the food supply. Amicus had needed to recover from his lengthy stay in Álfheimr. Boris had been a casualty of his recovery. I had met Viktor during his campaign to avenge his brother's death. Although it hadn't been me to kill Amicus, as Viktor had wanted, I had been instrumental in his death. Surely that counted for something.
"We killed Amicus, your revenge was made complete."
In a move so fast my eyes couldn't track it, he reached down and grabbed Amun and threw him from the bench seat. Suddenly, there was nothing between me and an irate Master Vampire. He leaned in, pushing me further back in the booth, his fangs were extended, his eyes - usually all black - were now tinged with red. I let myself seek his Dark, but as previously attempted when I had first met this man, it seemed just out of my reach. I knew he had to be Dark, I knew it with all of my heart. But for some reason my Sanguis Vitam Cupitor powers were unable to see it at all. And if they couldn't see it, then my Lux Lucis Tribuo powers couldn't balance it out. If I used my Light now it would be as a weapon of protection, the outcome anyone's guess. I couldn't fix Viktor, because my Prophesied powers didn't believe he needed to be fixed.
But I did.
He crawled onto the bench seat, a slow predatory stalk. I felt the wall at my back and shoulder, I knew I had no further room to pull back, so I ground my teeth and straightened my body, and prepared for his attack. My hand was already reaching for my jacket pocket and the stake resting there. He didn't even stop me, as though my attempt to arm myself was inconsequential and would ultimately fail. He didn't even care.
"The alliance we had has been completed, but you have not paid the price for your thievery yet." His voice was steady, low and quite frightening to hear.
I felt his Sanguis Vitam surround me, my Light automatically began to push back. I don't know why I'd been hesitating to attack. This was a vampire who intended me harm. I was well within the rules I had set myself by striking out first to avoid being hurt. But something had held me back and I realised while all this was happening, that Michel wasn't in my mind at all. Either he was neck deep in his
own troubles and unable to assist or - as I was beginning to fear - Viktor had cast him out of my head.
Viktor had been a formidable mind manipulator, not as strong as my current kindred, Avery, but something to fear. Michel's connection was easily disrupted by the vampire before me, but Avery's to me was not. I didn't have a Bond with Avery, our joining was nowhere near strong enough for that, but I did have the ability to reach him through the weak connection we shared. Mainly because he had already traversed so far within my mind. Strangely enough because of the vampire before me, who was now growling and snarling as he approached.
I reached out to Avery, unsure exactly what I would get back in return. Avery and I were not friends, we didn't really care for each other at all. But we were still joined, still connected, whether either of us wanted it or not. And just like his natural desire to heal me when I am injured, because of that joining we shared, I hoped he'd feel compelled to help me now. To block Viktor so I could fight back.
What is it, Ms. Monk? came Avery's impatient reply to my urgent tug down the line. I am entertaining and you are the last thing I want on my mind. He sent a series of images of himself and his latest conquest, all graphic in detail, leaving nothing out. If they were true, which wasn't a given, I had definitely interrupted a good time.
I'm in trouble, the words came out haltingly. I was unsure if that was because of my reluctance to ask Avery for help or because Viktor's hold was strengthening. Viktor Davydov has captured my mind.
I heard Avery swearing profusely in my head. Why should I help you? he demanded, making sure I felt his contempt. You deserve everything you get, you conniving little bitch!
He attempted to shut the connection down, but by now Viktor had my throat in a choking grasp. His head was coming in closer, his fangs glinting first red, then yellow, then blue, from the strobing of the coloured lights in the club. I was frantic and clung onto Avery, not letting him escape just yet.
He's going to kill me, I whispered, feeling further and further away from my kindred, despite my frenzied attempts to keep him close, as Viktor's control grew. If I die, you die, but that was all I could get out and then the connection went dead.
Avery's anger at me had been too great to match the speed of Viktor's increasing control. He was no longer able to reach me, any attempts to block Viktor by him were now out. I may be the cause of our joint demise, but he'd not lifted a finger to stop it and effectively aided in our own deaths.
A whimper rose up my throat at the oncoming bite and the pain that would accompany it, but stalled at Viktor's clenched hand, unable to reach my tongue. I felt so alone in my head for the first time in years. I was still joined to another, but even that supernatural connection wasn't strong enough to break through the wall of loneliness Viktor had created in my mind. I was on my own, no one to help, no one to save my life. My Light still held firmly in my metaphysical hands, but they refused to follow my instructions to fight.
A part of me had begun to accept the inevitable. There was nothing left to do. My thoughts turned to Michel and how frantic he would be right now. And then as a natural progression, my thoughts turned to his guards. To Marcus, who would have relayed all of this, and to Matthias, who was outside the club and maybe had escaped Viktor's attention. Because the only thing I could think to explain why Marcus and Nataliya were not ripping Viktor off me right now, was because Viktor had them contained.
It was over and not for the first time I faced my impending death. And even with all the recent hope of rejoining with Michel, I couldn't help being grateful that when I died he'd live. Perhaps we shouldn't have been seeking a rejoining at all, perhaps this was always the way it should have been. Him safe from my mistakes, him alive when I get killed.
Viktor's fangs ripped into me, not slid, not entered in a smooth glide. He tore at my neck inflicting the maximum damage he could manage and began to drink my blood down. A small part of me hoped he'd get drunk on my Nosferatin blood before he could drain me dry, but that hope was useless. He was too strong a vampire, too powerful to be swayed by the inebriated effect of my blood.
The colourful lights in the club began to fade, their violent flashes not seeming so chaotic now, but instead matching my heartbeat, sending me out with a chorus of reds, greens, blues and yellows. I watched them as my lids grew heavy, I wondered if they'd change to white the closer I came to Elysium. But they didn't, they just grew dimmer, fading away like a painting that had sat too long in the sun.
I felt a wrench and an excruciating tear at my throat. I couldn't even lift a finger to stem the warm blood flow that continued to trail down my neck. I was vaguely aware that Viktor no longer fed from me, so I began to prepare for his next attack. Maybe he had rendered me helpless with loss of blood, in order to tear my body apart, limb from limb.
Strange noises interrupted the thumping in my head and it took a moment for me to realise it wasn't the music in the club. The lights still strobed through their combination of colours, flickering spasmodically behind my closed lids. I waited for Viktor to strike, I'd prepared myself for the assault. But it didn't come.
I started to differentiate the sounds. Crashing of furniture and glass, grunts and shouts of commands. Growls, roars, screams, scuffles. The sound of something flapping, the crackle of flames so familiar, yet for the life of me I couldn't place what they all meant. I struggled to sit up, surprised I was able to. One hand still firmly clasped around a stake, the other staunching the flow of blood at my neck. My vision was blurred, but with a few deep breaths I felt my Light flood through me and the vestiges of blood loss begin to retreat. I still felt so very weak, but I was present, I was aware and suddenly I realised Viktor no longer had a hold on my mind.
Michel was shouting over and over in my head for me to wake up, and over the top of his words were demands from Avery for me to not fucking die. I gently shook my head from side to side to clear their confusing commands, regretting it immediately as the pounding increased between my temples. Finally the world stopped spinning and my vision cleared completely and I realised I was once again in the middle of a war.
Vampire on vampire, dragons in amongst the mess. Their wings making the flapping sounds I'd heard earlier and their flames causing the crackle of fire. Sanguis Vitam bounced around the room, clashing against more Sanguis Vitam causing an unbelievable din. I flicked my gaze around trying to orientate myself, but the shouting in my head was just too much.
Shut up! I demanded, although it sounded a little weak.
Ma douce, thank God. Are you safe?
Then a more irritating voice grating on my nerves, I have shielded your mind, Ms. Monk, now get the fuck out of there!
I'll be fine, Michel. I chose to ignore Avery. I just need to get to my feet. Easier said than done. I scooted to the end of the bench seat and then promptly fell backwards as a vampire barrelled into my table. He rolled off it immediately, not even sparing me a glance and returned to the brawl with fangs bared. I still couldn't tell whose side he was on. I scanned the area for my vampires, it took several seconds but I finally located Matthias and Sergei neck deep in blinding sparks of vampire Sanguis Vitam. I couldn't spot Nataliya or Marcus and there was no way I could reach my guards. I was on my own, if I wanted out of here, but all I did was watch.
I couldn't leave them, battling for their lives, even if there wasn't a thing I could do right now to help. I was even too weak to call on my Light for any significant action. Sure I could blast an individual vampire if he got too close, but there were more than thirty here now and I was kind of saving myself for Viktor's return. I was certain he would come storming out of the melee and attack me any minute now.
Just get out, ma douce, Michel commanded. Your guards will hold them off while you escape.
I can't, I replied, but couldn't really tell if that was due to weakness or the stubborn desire to stick by their sides. Michel went for stubborn.
This is what they are for, Lucinda. To guard you, to protect you, to allow you to e
scape a situation beyond your ability to cope. Move, now!
I sat up again and tried to stand, but my knees gave out the instant I placed weight on them and my head began to spin.
I can't, I whimpered in my mind and felt Michel's fear as though it was my own.
Stay hidden, then. I will send help.
I had no idea who he would send if my guards were neck deep in the roles of protecting me or giving me a chance to escape. And I wasn't sure I could stay hidden for long, there wasn't exactly anything to hide behind. The table was broken and in pieces on the floor, the bench seat was entirely too exposed for my liking, but I just shuffled back into the corner and did the best I could. Holding my stake in a firm grasp and stroking my Light in my mind. I was ready for anyone, but not entirely up to the task.
My eyes kept closing and I'd will them to open again. I tried to track my guards and see how they were faring, but they moved so fast, too quick for my hazy brain to follow. All I wanted was to lay down and sleep, shut my eyes and give in to the comfort of blackness in my mind. The bench seat looked so inviting, the noises in the club room becoming more and more indistinct.
Don't sleep, ma douce. Soon. Soon you can rest. Stay awake, hold onto your Light. Help is coming.
Michel's voice in my mind comforted me and allowed me a measure of strength to fight the tiredness as it encroached, but it wasn't enough and within minutes I was drifting again. Not focused on my surroundings, my stake loosely held in my hand in my lap. My breathing was getting shallow, the thumping in my head just a distant sound. Any minute now I'd topple over and blissful sleep would abound.
Stay awake! Michel commanded, his shouted words sent an adrenaline rush through my veins, my hand gripped my stake tighter, my eyes shooting open with alarm. It was exactly what I needed, but I couldn't halt my acerbic reply.
You stay the fuck awake! I shot back at him and heard his half-hearted laugh in response.
Hang in there, ma belle, Sebastian is coming to get you out.
Entwined With the Dark Page 36
