This time, he reacts, and spins around to face me. He backs me up against a wall and presses his hand into my neck. Almost breaking off my air supply. Wait, do I need that? Wow, I really don't know much about vampires. How has the guild survived this long? Or maybe it has because we don't know much? That's a question for another day. Like when there isn't a much larger vampire with his hand around my neck.
"I wouldn't do that," I say, my voice cracking slightly. Good to know. Being strangled still affects vocal cords. I file the information away. This may all be useful at some point.
He glances down, then up at me, shock written all over his face. I sigh.
"Always the same. You all watch the stakes, and don't notice the sai," I say as he loosens his grip on my neck. It feels almost instantly better, which makes me think its the pressure more than anything else that was stopping my voice from working.
I, on the other hand, don't move the sai that's currently pressed over where his heart is. If he has one that is. I want him to know he shouldn't mess with me. That it's dangerous to do so, and that I'm not afraid to defend myself if I need to.
We stand there in silence, both sizing each other up. In this case, I don't think I need to say anything. The very real threat is also very obvious, and the look on his face says he knows it.
"Well played, Barker," he says eventually, his look of shock changing to one of begrudging respect. I smile to myself, but only inwardly. I can't let him see any emotion right now. To Bram, I raise a knowing eyebrow. I have him on the back foot, and he knows it. Even as a human, I was fast. Now I'm a vampire...well, even I can feel the difference in speeds. It makes me wonder how I managed to defeat so many vampires. With speed like this, its a wonder I, or any other hunter, ever got the upper hand.
"Thanks," I say, slipping my sai back into its holster. I don't think I would've gone through with it. I hope I wouldn't have. That's a bad impression to make while I'm still new here.
"Don't think this means I like you," Bram says.
"I don't expect you to, Bram," I reply. "What kind of name is Bram anyway? Are you related to Bram Stoker?" I'm genuinely curious. If he is, it'd be cool. I've always liked Dracula, something about the truly evil vampire calls to me.
Maybe cause deep down I already knew the truth. Or maybe I'm just thinking that so the guilt doesn't set in. Effectively, whether I like it or not, I'm a serial killer.
"Of course I'm fucking not. I was around years before that ass." He sounds indigent. Oops. Not quite my intention. But he really should try and not be so touchy. Its bound to lose him friends.
"Alright, it was just a question." I hold up my hands in surrender, then continue the walk down the corridor.
"You're going the wrong way," he says. I scowl. Hardly my fault he's a useless guide.
My scowl deepens, and I turn around, striding past him and in what was hopefully now the right direction.
***
"Here you are. In one piece, as promised," Bram mutters the first words he's said to me since our spat in the hallway, before striding off to do whatever he does during the night. I do wonder about that. What do vampires live off? Are they all just really good at investments like books try to say? Or do they work night shifts? I saw a TV show once where a vampire was a hospital porter. It was from the early two thousands though, so most likely outdated by now.
I look around, unsurprised he just seems to have abandoned me on a roof. A roof. An empty one at that. Great, now what am I supposed to do?
"You must be Ashryn."
I jump. Which is a bit stupid of me really. I know I'm supposed to be meeting this Eric person, so why am I so surprised that he's turned up?
"Yes, and you must be Eric?" I respond, turning in the direction of the voice. Shadows cover him, except for his feet, which seem to be clad in neon shoes. Odd. They went out of style years ago, and for good reason. Several, actually.
"I am."
Silence fills the air. This is awkward. I need him to tell me why I'm here. Everyone else has been so cryptic on the matter that I'm clueless, and I hate being clueless. Its right there next to damsel in distress in the things-Ashryn-isn't book.
"Want to tell me what's going on?" I ask once I've had enough waiting. I tap my foot impatiently, and rest my hand on one of my stakes.
"Why do you keep them on you still?" Eric asks, his shadowy head nodding towards the stake at my hip.
"This is my second day as a vampire, let me still hold on to some human habits," I snap back.
"It's your fourth, actually. You were unconscious for a while. We were worried you wouldn't make it." His voice is calming. Not quite like Remus' is. But calming all the same. I like it. It reminds me of a serene lake I once saw in a photo.
"Point still stands." I pout. I really should stop doing that. It's highly unbecoming.
“It might not be a bad thing for you to keep them,” he muses.
Great. I’m dealing with a cryptic vampire. This da- night just keeps getting better.
“Noted,” I say instead of voicing my annoyance. Really, that’s a much better way to go anyway.
“How do you feel about prophecies?” He must be joking, right? Please tell me he’s joking.
“They’re beyond poppycock,” I answer.
“Good. Cause if you believed in them you’d be screwed,” he says, stepping out of the shadows for the first time.
My breath catches in my throat. He’s quite possibly the most beautiful being I’ve ever seen in my life. I’ve found other vampires attractive, but they have nothing on this man. He looks as if angels carved him. I actually feel kind of intimidated just being in his presence.
“Always reassuring.” I’m torn between asking for clarification, storming off, or losing it completely and letting myself drool. The last option is winning at the moment.
“If you don’t believe in prophecies anyway, you’re perfectly safe,” he assures me.
I call bullshit. Everyone knows that’s not how prophecies work. They pick the person, not the other way around.
I meet Eric’s eyes, and am immediately distracted by the sparkling intensity there. They’re still dark, all the vampires’ eyes seemed to be. My own included despite me knowing I definitely had green eyes just days ago. But there’s a sparkle to them that others just don’t seem to have.
Fake prophet. The words flash through my mind. That explains it. I make a note to completely disregard anything he says about prophecies.
“Why am I here?”
“To learn.”
Great, yes, that’s very informative. This is going well.
“About what?”
“Being a vampire,” he says.
"Right, okay, thanks," I reply, before turning back in the direction Bram brought me. This Eric is being far too cryptic for my liking, and I don't really have time for it. Well, I guess I do. I have nothing but time now. But that's hardly the point.
"Don't go, Ashryn," he calls and despite myself, I stop and turn back to him.
"Why not?" I ask the overly beautiful man.
"Because you have a lot to learn."
"Look, if you're going to be cryptic and vague the whole time, then there's no point me being here. I'm not that kind of girl."
As I turn to leave, he catches hold of my wrist.
"I'm sorry," he says with a sigh. "I used to actually believe all this crap. Vampires have an annoying tendency of living a long time, so can remember that. I've never been able to stop."
He's still beautiful, but the look on his face changes, and he looks oddly weary. Part of me wants to pull him into my arms and comfort him. But I ignore it. If he did that to me then I'd probably stake him or something, so I really should afford him the same courtesy.
"So you're saying this is all an act?"
He sighs, flopping down on to the floor and giving me a pointed look. To say he's apparently really old, he's acting like a grumpy teenager, and I'm not too sure how to deal with it.
Reluctan
tly, I sink down on to the roof beside him. It's cold, and hard, and uncomfortable. I hope he doesn't want to stay here too long. Why does he feel the need to meet people on the roof anyway? I get wanting an air of mystery, but this is just ridiculous.
"Yes, it's all an act."
"Does Dimitri know?" I ask, genuinely curious. Eric shakes his head. "What about Remus?" The horrified look crossing his face tells me all I need to know. That explains why Remus didn't want to bring me here then. He and Dimitri seem close, and if he thinks Eric is pulling the wool over the lead vampire's eyes, then it all makes a bit more sense.
"Yes, Remus worked it out. I gave him some advice on a mission, and it all went horribly wrong. It didn't take him long to work it out after that." He looks a little haunted, and I'll bet anything that part of that is guilt.
"He's a smart man."
"He is, you could do far worse than him," he assures me, and I frown. Why would he say that? He's never seen me with Remus.
"Maybe," I say, filing the thought for later. I don't want to be distracted by thoughts of the mysterious doctor.
"You're not sure," he observes.
"I'm not sure of anything. It's all very new to me," I respond. I'm not sure why it's so easy for me to talk to this man. He's still a vampire, and still intimidatingly attractive. But maybe it's because his deepest, darkest, secret isn't exactly very dark. I've seen a lot of secrets over the years. And I hold them all within me. Some of them have been very dark, like the female vampire the other day. Others are like Eric's, really not that exciting.
I'm still curious about Dimitri's secrets. He hasn't looked me directly in the eye yet, almost like he knows what will happen when I do. That's a little worrying. Means what he's hiding must be big.
"What do you need to know?" Eric asks, cocking his head to the side as he studies me.
"What don't I?" I respond, then sigh. "Everything I know about vampires is being turned on its head. I don't know what to make of it all."
If only my enemies could see me now. The great Ashryn Barker has been reduced to a scared and confused mess. And is asking a vampire to help unmess it. That's unexpected, even to me if I'm honest.
"You've had blood, I take it?" I nod in reply. "Let's start there then. You have to drink blood at least once every four days. But it's better if you have it once a day."
"Even with Remus' chemical thing?" I ask, thinking back to what the others had said the night before.
"Yes. That's normally just given to newer vampires, or any who've accidentally gone a little overboard. It helps stop an initial blood addiction forming. After that, you should be fine." Eric smiles at me, which gives his stunning face a more boyish edge.
"Right, okay. So blood addiction is real?" It kind of makes sense, especially given the stories of vampires I've heard over the years. I don't imagine the guild spared us the details of the worst stories, while hiding the more decent vampire folk from us. Not for the first time since becoming one, I feel a little sorry for them. Maybe they were just misunderstood the entire time.
"Very real. And dangerous. It can make even the sanest of us go off the rails. Vampirism isn't for the weak. Discipline is a must. But I'm pretty sure you have that in spades." He nods towards the stakes holstered at my hip.
"Sometimes I'm not so sure."
"How many vampires have you killed, Ashryn?" he asks, his sparkling eyes boring into mine. I'm not sure how to answer. The true answer will make me look terrible. The false answer will backfire if they discover its false. Hell, they're probably well aware its false anyway.
"I don't know," I say, choosing the honest answer. "I stopped counting at fifty," I admit, shame washing through me.
Eric nods. "I thought as much. Don't let that define you. There's a new life for you now. A lot of us have pasts, we learn to forgive and forget.
"Like Bram has?" I ask bitterly.
"Bram's a special case. He lost his wife to hunters about a hundred and fifty years ago, he's sworn vengeance ever since."
Shit. A century and a half is a long time to hold a vendetta. "He must have loved her a lot." I'm fishing, I'll admit it.
"Not at all, actually. I've never met such a cold woman. They were an arranged marriage, while they were both still human, and Bram stayed loyal to her, even after they turned. Even when she was trying to sleep with everything that moved."
"Then why is he still out to get us?"
"Them'," he corrects. "You're not one of them anymore."
"No, I suppose not." I go back to thinking about the response I'd get if I go back to the guild. I wonder how long it would take them to realise what I am now. Then how long I'd last after they realise. I shudder.
"And there's why he's still on his vendetta. Even you can see the hunters aren't good news."
"It's not their faults," I protest. "We're taken in as children and all we really learn is how bad vampires are, and how we can kill them. Us." I'm correcting myself now. But actually, it does feel quite natural. Other than Bram, the others have all made me feel welcome. Not like the evil killer they could treat me as. It's certainly an interesting thought. Maybe I just fit in better here. I can't say the idea of having somewhere to truly fit in doesn't sound appealing.
"We know. Knowledge of the guild has trickled in through the years. You're not the first hunter to end up turned. There's also been a few less savoury ways of gaining information." He looks away from me, but I already understand what he means. I can't say anything about it. I'm pretty sure the guild uses the same tactics.
I sigh. I'm really not sure what to make of it all. Actually, that's not true. I do know what to make of it. Neither side is right or wrong, not in the entirety. In fact, there must be a better way to police wayward vampires than persecuting them all.
"So where do we go from here?" I ask, slightly confused by what any of this has to do with me. Should they choose, they could take my weapons from me and just lock me in a room with no one to talk to. I'd probably end up going crazy, or something like that. But I'd be out of the way and unable to hurt anyone. I also wouldn't be able to help them. Which makes me wonder exactly what they're after.
"I think that's a question you need to ask Dimitri. He'll have better answers for you."
"So why send me to you?" I demand. It doesn't make any sense for me to be talking to this man, if Dimitri is the one with the answers.
"All new vampires get sent to me, it's just tradition."
"Because of your false prophecies?" I ask, before covering my mouth with my hand. I shouldn't blurt things like that. How rude of me.
To my surprise, Eric laughs. "Yes, because of those. They think I know things. I suppose I do know things. Mostly about vampire lore, but not what they think. I normally send them away with some kind of warning about drinking too much blood."
"But you didn't do that with me?" I ask, frowning to myself.
"You're different, Ashryn. Even I can tell that." He reaches out a hand, and it hovers over my cheek, not quite touching but almost. Oddly, I think I want him to touch me. Though I'm not sure why he'd want to. He's beauty personified, and I'm not.
"Thanks," I mutter.
He finally does it, and his fingers trail down my cheek in what is quite possibly the softest caress I've ever experienced,. It sends a thrill through me, but not a sexual one. Or maybe just not yet it isn't. But it does make me want to lean into his touch.
"Good luck with whatever he asks of you, Ashryn. I don't think it's going to be straight forward.
No, I suspect he's right.
Chapter 8
Remus stands on the other side of my doorway with a cup of blood in his hand. At least, it smells like blood. I cock my head to the side, Eric's words still ringing in my ears.
"Are you sure it's a good idea to give me that?"
"Yes," he answers. "It'll help heal your burns."
"Oh." I haven't really thought about the burns in a while. Mostly because my skin felt healed.
"I know it doe
sn't hurt now, but the damage is a lot further down than you think it is. You need to get your strength back up." He passes me the cup, and I take it without thinking. But I do hold back from drinking. Just. Eric is right, I do have plenty of discipline, but this is testing me to the limits.
"Even so..."
"You're safe, Ashryn, I'm here to make sure you don't go too crazy." He brushes past me as he enters my room, and a warm feeling spreads through me, starting at the point where our skin touches. Oddly, I do feel safe with him about. And it still breaks my heart that others don't always feel that way because of the scars. People can be idiots. Just because something isn't perfect looking on the outside, doesn't mean it doesn't have any value. Or that it isn't valuable. Sometimes, the broken things are worth the most.
"Is there a chance of that?" I ask.
"A very slim one. But I've only seen it happen once or twice in the years since we developed the chemical. And let's just say they didn't have your mental fortitude."
"Sometimes, I doubt I do either."
"Don't," he says, turning me around so I face him. "The fact you're standing here and aren't freaking out says a lot about how strong you are. Plus..." he trails off and glances away.
"Plus?" I prompt, trying to ignore the pressure of his hands on my arms and how much I like it. As cliché as it sounds, butterflies are making themselves known in my stomach. Guess there's no denying I'm attracted to him any more then.
"You've spent two decades with the vampire hunters, yet here you are with an open mind, and a cup of blood." We both glance down at the hand I'm still clutching the blood in. Which is when he notices his hands are still touching the bare skin of my arms.
He removes them instantly, causing disappointment to well up inside me. Guess I have it bad then. I'm not all that sure how to process that.
"Dimitri wants to see you," he says, looking everywhere but me. Maybe I can hope he's feeling the same kind of things I am. A girl can dream.
"He's finally going to tell me what he wants from me then," I mutter bitterly.
"What, no. Who said what?" he demands.
"No one. It was just something Eric said..."
Shattered Illusions: A Paranormal Reverse Harem (Ashryn Barker Book 1) Page 5
