by Peter Dawes
“Rest assured, I will.”
“You were always a terrible liar.”
A pause preceded a sharp burst of pain which blossomed from my stomach. Agony ran from my feet to my head and as my eyes flew open, I cried out, unable to stop myself. Shuddering, I focused on the sight of my own katana protruding from me, pinning me to the floor. Shock and confusion forced my gaze toward Sabrina this time, my mind still attempting to process what she had done.
Sabrina laughed, still holding onto the katana’s hilt. “My, this sword does suit you, doesn’t it? A clean cut. Very strong and steady.” She pulled the blade from me and flicked my blood from its edge. I recoiled at the additional burst of pain, moaning at the way it pulsed. “If I keep doing that, you’re going to get hungry. Care for a bite?”
“Fuck you,” I spat through clenched teeth.
Shrugging, she plunged the sword downward again. This time, it buried into my shoulder, exasperating the injury she had already caused back at the townhouse. Screaming and profanity streamed past my lips, until she removed it again. “Now there is the old Flynn,” she said. “Come now, vampire. Feed and be yourself again. You’re losing blood and I can tell from how pale you are that you haven’t been taking care of yourself as of late.”
“You can burn in hell.”
Sabrina drove the blade downward again, but this time it failed to pierce me. It cut a superficial wound in my neck, and while any additional pain served to be an insult, it seemed to have another purpose than simply to bleed me. The sword clattered onto the floor as Sabrina tossed it down and before I could motion for it, she lowered herself on top of me, straddling my waist. I met her gaze again, seeing the knife she held and realizing where this was headed. “My Child,” she said. “Your Mistress has missed the feel of you between her thighs.”
Despite the injury already inflicted upon me, when she leaned over me to lick my neck, a much more sensual groan rumbled from my throat. She drug the edge of the blade below the initial wound and sparks of electricity intermingled with the pain still lingering within me, lacing it with pleasure. She laughed as she ground against me, undoubtedly aware of my body’s reaction to her. “You should know by now my bag of tricks runs deep,” she whispered. “Into pits yet unexplored.”
She pursed her lips around the cut she had inflicted and drew from me. I shivered, but when her fangs drive into my throat, the wails which rose from my mouth bore desire as an undertone. My sharp teeth finally descended and as she imbibed gulp after lusty gulp, I felt myself slipping away. She withdrew and licked the wounds shut, but continued sliding against the evidence of my arousal, creating more friction.
“Stop fighting me,” she said. “I know you want to fuck me. I can feel it, Flynn. You remember what that felt like –” Sabrina kissed up to my jaw. “– Celebrating our base natures together like two wild, incensed animals. You remember the taste of warm blood running across your tongue with the pulse of your prey still echoing in your ears. My Flynn would not deny himself the very things which made him complete.”
I could not fight the compulsion to rock back against her. “Your pleasure is passing,” I said, though my voice echoed strangely in my ears, as though I was drunk. “Your evil remains. I cannot become a part of it again.”
“Oh, but you can.” She lifted her head, her lips hovering near mine as if taunting me to claim them. When I reached for them, her fangs cut into me, filling my mouth with the taste of my own blood. The urge to fight started to wane, and the more she persisted, the more I craved sinking into her darkness again. She had become an illicit thing; my single greatest weakness and I wanted more. Gods, I knew I should not, but I did anyway.
“No, Peter! Fight it!”
Monica’s voice broke through the madness, reaching me in the depths of Sabrina’s enchantment. Whatever power she had dissipated with the sound of my Mistress laughing. “How precious,” she said, whispering against my lips. “She uses your mortal name as if you still were human. We know better than that, don’t we? You’re no seer. You are a killer. You are the Devil himself in vampire form. The Black Rose Assassin, ready to stand with his maker at last.”
As she pulled away from me, she smirked and I saw sin in her eyes. Lifting her wrist to her mouth, Sabrina bit into it. I had already been primed when her skin pressed against my lips and as I drank, I barely suppressed a moan. Everything within me had missed this wickedness. I wanted to become one with it again.
When she took back her arm, a wicked laugh sprang from the depths of my depravity. “Mistress, save your devil from his undoing.”
“There’s only one thing that can save you from the witch’s wiles,” Sabrina said. As I looked at her, my gaze remained unwavering, save but to shift once and glance at the heart-shaped pendant dangling from her neck. My eyes returned to Sabrina immediately afterward.
“Tell me what I must do,” I said.
Touching my chin, Sabrina turned my head to peer in Monica’s direction. I saw Timothy at her side, gripping onto her arm with her hands bound behind her back. Fear danced in her gaze, inspiring my lips to curl in a sadistic grin. “Do you see that vile thing?” Sabrina asked.
“I do, indeed. I hear her pulse as well, but I know better than to trust tasting her blood. She undoubtedly has cast a protection spell.”
“One that I have lifted. If she’s tried again, I promise you it’s failed.”
“You are far more wicked than I ever realized, Mistress. You will have to show me more.” I raised an eyebrow, watching Monica glance between the two of us. “What would you have me do to her? Drain her dry?”
“Even better. Make her one of us.” She nipped at my ear. I heard the grin in her voice as she spoke again. “I’ll let you keep your pet. And she can help secure our place in this city. Consider her my gift to you.”
“Oh, no you –” Monica began, but Timothy stopped her with a swift yank of her hair. I grinned, fangs still exposed, weighing the proposition offered to me. “You would have me turn her?” I asked.
“I would relish it,” Sabrina said. “Wouldn’t you, my assassin?”
“Oh, it would be ironic.”
“We can claim the whole lot of the Order one by one if you so desired.”
“Be careful about giving me such delicious thoughts, Mistress. I might be inclined to follow through with them.” Slowly sobering, I nodded, looking back at Sabrina as she lifted from me. “They would be forced to peer into my green eyes and watch their power being used against them before they succumbed.”
“I think it only fitting.”
She kissed me again, and though this embrace proved fleeting, I still savored the taste of her wickedness. Her hand danced around the shoulder wound she had inflicted, and though the shot of pain made me hiss, it also called to mind again how hungry I had become. My gaze shifted back to Monica. “Let me have the human,” I said. “I want to do your bidding.”
Sabrina stood, plucking her dagger from the ground where she had left it before helping me to my feet. The act of standing brought sharp bursts of pain with it, but I winced my way through, ignoring my injuries as best as I could and composing myself again by the time Sabrina cut my ties. My arms fell to my sides, my hand extending to take hold of the dagger for myself while I paced toward Monica in a deliberate manner. “Don’t let her heart stop before you give her your blood,” Sabrina cautioned. “Take her to the point of death, but then, no further. Do you understand?”
“Yes, I do, Mistress.” My scowl turned menacing as I eyed Monica. She mutely watched me close the distance between us and did not utter a word, accepting what had to happen in some silent way as I approached. She swallowed back whatever flight of nerves remained in defiance, shuddering when I stepped behind her. As I drew her against me, I pushed her hair away enough to expose her neck and smirked when I focused on her pulse point again.
“Such misplaced faith,” I murmured, bending to lean closer to her. The hand not holding a knife settled on her hip and as I p
ushed her back against my chest, I breathed in deep and became entranced again. My palm slid to her stomach, and up to settle between her breasts. “Now, there is nothing you can do to stop me. I will have you however and whenever I want you. And you will do exactly what I tell you to do, am I clear?”
“Burn in hell,” Monica said, her voice wavering with emotion. Her chest rose and fell with anxious breaths as Timothy stepped away from us, leaving her completely at my mercy. I chuckled as I kissed her neck, licking the warm skin in preparation for plunging my fangs into her. She tensed in the pause that followed, one containing what would be the remainder of her human existence.
“Come now, witch,” I said. “Embrace eternity with me.”
Chapter 33
I lived another life as I plunged my fangs into her neck, taking the first drink of live, human blood I had been granted in over two weeks. Within the deepest portions of my soul, I saw Lydia looking down at me after the first time we made love, listening to me say her eyes could break the deepest spell. “There are deep spells in this world, Peter,” she had said. “Are you sure mine can do that?”
“Yes, I guarantee it.” The man who had spoken that response did so in a half-teasing fashion, still naïve to the truth of what she said. As much as I had enjoyed the carnal aspect of what we had done, though, I knew she had claimed my heart. For once in my life, I felt safe with another soul. Being able to reach out and touch her, that pervasive loneliness which had filled the years after my parent’s deaths seemed to disappear, replaced by the hope of happiness. It would take two years before I realized how damned our relationship was.
Still, in that moment, it had only been her and me with nothing but potential ahead of us. Lydia smiled and said, “Then remember my eyes for me. Because I’m afraid there’s a lot of darkness waiting for you in the road ahead. You have something rare and people will always try to take advantage of that.”
Something rare, which the power-hungry would seek to make their own. I had been enslaved by Sabrina for five years, taught to do her will and relish it. She had lured me into her thrall and made me believe the only euphoria I could experience would come from doing her bidding. And how I savored it, until a peculiar thing happened to this enslaved creature.
He stepped into his birthright claiming it for his own.
Not due to a calling, or for his Mistress, for she was that darkness his former lover had warned him against. He did it for himself. And while the years of bloodshed had stained his hands red, he discovered he could find solace in the light again. The satisfaction of being a seer – as short-lived as it was – eclipsed even the decadence I had experienced as a demon assassin. For two blessed weeks, I touched my humanity again, and had barely scratched the surface.
The evil had returned, to drag my soul into the depths. Weakened, I was forced to contend against my black heart again, and though I realized how much darkness lingered within me, a voice called through the shadows, beckoning me away. The pendant which dangled from Sabrina’s throat – the same one I had given Lydia – woke me long enough for me to subdue the demon once more. I felt the loss of my brother, Robin, anew; relived the epiphany that I had killed both him and Lydia all to satisfy Sabrina’s quest for power. Though I scowled at Monica in the most villainous way possible, the chance had been presented for me to turn away before I lost control. Whatever the outcome, I knew Sabrina would rue that moment.
She had freed my tethers and set loose a seer in her house.
My head swam when I rose to my feet. The first precarious steps I took reminded me that I had been deliberately weakened by my maker. She had slashed me to ribbons and teased me with her blood and while feeding from Sabrina had revitalized me enough to stand, I needed more if I was to fight. As much as I hated it, Monica remained the only mortal in my presence and with two dozen vampires watching my actions, I had to convince them all their assassin had returned.
Monica had tensed when I drew her near, but before my teeth sank into her neck, I sent a thought to her.
‘Trust me. I know what I am doing, just play along.’
She had jumped when my fangs penetrated skin, but as I fed, she relaxed slowly into my arms. My eyes shut, the compulsion to drink more from her painful when I reminded myself I would not be able to indulge either my need or my desire. Slowly, the trickle of blood ran down my throat, until I retracted my fangs. My lips remained pursed against her neck.
I would have to move swiftly to make this work, I told myself.
With a quick, downward swipe of the knife, I cut Monica’s ties while licking her wounds closed. Shoving her away from me, I spun around, plunging the blade into Timothy’s chest before he could react. I did not wait for him to turn to dust; the sudden drumbeat of footsteps running toward me summoned me to turn again, readying the knife in the palm of my hand. No sooner had I spotted Paul, however, than a burst of magical energy disrupted his forward momentum, knocking him onto the floor. Furrowing my brow, I glanced at its source, finding Monica standing with her palm extended in his direction.
“I’ve got this fang-boy,” she said. “You worry about Sabrina.”
Nodding, I ignored the other vampires in the room and looked back toward my maker. Surprised, she remained frozen in place, her gaze flicking toward me when she sensed my eyes upon her. I smirked, reaching up to wipe away the remnant of Monica’s blood from my lips. “Do not con a con artist,” I said. “Am I right, Mistress?”
“Bastard,” she said. “The humans have corrupted you beyond reform.”
“While I wish that much was true at least your magic is not enough to bridle me any longer.” I raised an eyebrow. “Whatever will you do with me now?”
Eyes narrowing, Sabrina sneered, reaching for my sword with her foot and sliding it over before kicking it up from the floor. As the hilt settled in her hand, she turned to present herself as ready for whatever I had to offer, placing me at a momentary loss. I had never fancied her as much of a swordswoman, but everything about her posture indicated she might have trained better than even Robin had. “We kill human-loving vermin in my house, you ungrateful hypocrite. If you stand against me, then you’ll die by your own blade.”
She stalked forward and I stepped to the side, beginning a dance with her as we sized each other up. I smirked, in part to reignite the spark of confidence within me. “You think I fear dying?” I asked. “Quite to the contrary, I know I have a reckoning to face even if I claim your ashes. If you kill me, then I have no doubt a host of others will descend upon this city, looking for your head. I have seen the fear in vampires’ eyes when they have seen mine. Heard stories of the hands you kept me from by stealing me away.” My smile broadened. “If anyone should fear death, it is you.”
Sabrina glared, but as she paused her steps, I stole a moment to peer across her shoulder. At the back of the room lay a familiar door, and within the span of seconds I formed a plan, my attention shifting back to her in time to watch her come at me with my sword. I threw the dagger I yet clutched at her, and although she deflected it, the distraction served its purpose. Running for her as she spun to make a second attempt, I slid on my knees, avoiding her blade and straightening to a stand without missing a beat. Before she could give pursuit, I kicked down the door and ran into the room.
“Get him!” Sabrina called out as I armed myself. It took only moments for me emerge again, however – a katana in one hand and a short sword in the other.
She swung for me as I attempted to emerge, forcing me to roll out of the way. Jumping to my feet once more, I flicked the sheaths from both acquisitions, lifting them to engage her blade with mine when I had a firm hold of their respective hilts. One brave soul emerged from the crowd as I did, thundering toward me during a potential moment of weakness. In my periphery, I saw another iridescent burst of energy impact them, throwing them to the side, where they skidded into the wall.
“Thank you,” I called toward Monica.
“Yep, don’t mention it,” she said.
My maker swung her sword at me again, forcing my focus to return entirely to our battle. “Flynn the seer needs the assistance of a petty little girl,” she said.
The clang of metal filled the air around us. “That petty girl has evaded your notice twice,” I said. “You, on the other hand, are full of surprises. You had Robin teach me instead of handling the sword instructions yourself. Our nights together might have been more spirited if you had.”
“You forget that I’ve traveled the world.” When our blades intersected again, she pushed me back, retreating several paces to size me up again. I returned the favor, looking for her next mistake as much as I sensed her doing the same. Sabrina tilted her chin up at me. “Why allow a seer to do anything other than underestimate me?”
“My, but having Robin mentor me backfired in your face.”
“From where I’m standing, it worked just fine.”
“Yes, I imagine so.” My grin faded. “You were always good at allowing others to soil their hands doing your bidding.”
“A pity you can’t end yourself for me.” Sabrina whipped the katana in a trained blow; swiftly enough that it set me back as I used one sword to block. I retaliated once she retreated, but she reacted just as fast, swinging for me again, determined to score a strike. Strands of Sabrina’s hair flew from the tight bun she wore it in and her fangs remained elongated while her eyes blazed fury. I matched her mettle, but she was in far better condition.
This called for evening the score.
I swung the katana while thrusting the short sword forward. Sabrina twisted away and raised her weapon to intercept the blow. I readied the short sword again before she had a chance to recover. It sliced across her chest, cutting through her shirt and gashing across her breasts. Sabrina stepped back a few paces and freed one hand to touch the bleeding wound, scowling. “You will pay for that.”
My smirk turned devious. “Then come and collect.”
