My mouth drops open as I watch Greg dash back up to the front of the crowded restaurant. He has a little lilt in his step, as if he couldn’t be happier to serve his asshole-boyfriend.
“So you’re Sophia Kelly,” Justin says, relaxing into his seat and clasping his hands on the table in front of him as if we’re setting in for a pleasant chat. “You’re the girl who sleeps with professors. Funny. I expected someone with a little more…” He makes a face, his eyes sliding to my chest. “Oh, I don’t know… personality?”
What in the ever-loving hell? Did I actually just hear these words?
“Excuse me?” I ask, my face flaming with the rush of anger that flows through me. I’ve never met someone so rude in my entire life. And that says a lot, considering I’ve met Christoph von Drauchenberg.
“Apologies,” he says smoothly. “Just making an observation. You just weren’t what I was expecting.”
Likewise, asshole.
“You’ve known me less than five minutes,” I say, flashing him my sweetest smile. “Give me a mimosa and another five minutes, and perhaps my… personality will really start to shine.”
I don’t like his tone, and I don’t like him. That ridiculous lazy drawl that makes me want to punch him in the face and tell him to talk faster. I don’t know what his problem is. If he’s sizing me up. Checking out the competition. But there is no competition. I’ve known Greg a lot longer than he has, and if he thinks he can just swoop in and come between us, he’s got another thing coming.
“Touche,” he replies, a slow, eerie smile stretching across his lips.
I have no idea what Greg sees in this guy. Sure, he’s hunky in a good ol’boy sort of way, but there’s something unsettling about his eyes. And as much as I hate to admit it, Greg’s new boyfriend makes me extremely uncomfortable. And not just because of his rude comments either. I hate that Greg has sprung this on me. I feel tricked.
“So, who are you anyway, Justin,” I ask. “I’d like to say I’ve heard so much about you, but…” I trail off with a demure shrug. “Greg’s never mentioned you to me. Not even once.”
Greg returns to the table, his eyes locking with mine for the first time since Justin crashed our breakfast date. He looks horrified by what I’ve just said.
“Uh, it’s only because she just got back,” Greg jumps in, his voice trembling as he pushes a plate with a gooey cinnamon roll toward Justin before climbing back over him to return to his seat inside the both. “She’s been… uh… gone. On vacation.”
“Fascinating,” Justin says through clenched teeth as he stares down with disdain at his cinnamon roll before pushing the plate away. Yet another reason I don’t like him. How dare he glare at a perfectly good cinnamon roll? “Tell me, Sophia, where did you go on this… vacation?”
“Berlin,” I say, not missing a beat. “I went as part of a foreign exchange group.”
Damn, I’m good at this.
“So, you must speak German,” drawls Justin.
“I do,” I say with a smile, much to Greg’s surprise. “Fluently.”
“Yeah, right,” Greg snorts. “Just because you slept with some German dude doesn’t make you fluent in German… at least not in the language.” He winks at me. I guess he thinks he’s being cute, but my anger is about to boil over, especially when Justin laughs in response.
So it’s going to be like this, is it? I take a slow breath in and then exhale to calm myself.
“You’re a real piece of shit, Greg. Do you know that?” I ask, switching to German while maintaining a bright, friendly smile. They don’t need to know what I’m saying. “You spring this asshole boyfriend on me without warning, and now you’re going to tease me to make yourself look good? It’s pathetic. What the hell is wrong with you?” I switch back to English. “See?” I shrug. “Fluent.”
Greg’s eyes bug out of his head. “Woah! Well, I certainly stand corrected. What did you say?” he asks.
“I was talking about what a great friend you are to me and how I’m super-happy to be back.”
“That’s an interesting bracelet you have on,” Justin says, nodding toward my cuff. He’s unimpressed with my worldliness. “Where did you get such a lovely bauble, Sophia?”
“It’s a family heirloom,” I say as a prickly uneasiness creeps up the back of my spine. “No idea where it came from.”
Something is off now. Really, really off.
“Oh, Sophe, you’re so full of it.” Greg throws me a playful scowl. “That’s the thing I was telling you about,” he says to Justin, his voice bubbling over with excitement. “It’s supposedly from a Fae Prince. You know, like the faeries from children’s books and stuff? She thinks she’s married to one. Can you believe it?”
Justin’s eyebrows raise. “Is that so?” He reaches across the table for my hand. I jerk away, but my reaction time isn’t as quick as his. “I have a good friend who is very knowledgeable about these types of relics. He would just love to take a look at it. Perhaps he could appraise it for you?” His fingers dig into the inside of my wrist. Every cell in my body comes to life.
“I’m good,” I say, trying to remain calm. But I’m getting a terrible feeling about this guy. “Thanks, though. I know what it’s worth.”
“No need to be afraid, love,” he drawls, his eyes boring into mine, sending a relaxed sense of calm washing over me. “I’m sure you’ll find my master very agreeable.”
Master?
As Justin’s eyes cloud over in an eerie shade of vampire-red, I realize as I’m falling into a pit of darkness I can’t climb out of. My best friend sold me out. And his vampire boyfriend has just compelled me.
My mouth falls open, and I turn to stare at Greg, the man I call my best friend. I’m too shocked to speak. I can only sit there while the familiar world I once knew and loved crashes down around me.
Greg betrayed me.
Justin’s grip on my wrist tightens, and I do my best to free myself from his grasp, but he only holds me tighter. I narrow my eyes at him and am about to say something threatening and scary, when I halt. I don’t have the words. Any thoughts I had drift away, fading into my subconscious and abandoning my mind before I can utter them. Before I can show him how tough I am. I’m falling victim to his red, penetrating stare, and there’s nothing I can do about it except fight back with everything in me. I should’ve never, ever looked him in the eye.
“What do you say, hmm, Sophia?” Justin purrs. “Just say you’ll come with me, and I promise there won’t be a scene. We’ll leave quietly.” He rolls his eyes, his expression indifferent. “It will be a bit boring, if you ask me. But I am, if nothing else, a man of my word.”
I continue to fall, deeper and deeper into a subdued, almost vegetative state. All I want to do is please him. Do as he says.
No. Sophia. Don’t do it. Call to Chris. Call to Alexander. Call to anyone. But do not go with Justin.
My conscious mind struggles to hang on. My eyes want to look away. To break the hold Justin has over me. But he’s much too strong. Making silent pleas for help to Alexander, Chris, Horace, anybody, I take a deep breath and hold it. Cling to it. I need to focus. I need to hang on long enough to respond with something, anything.
“Screw… you,” I say, using every bit of strength and determination that I have left inside of me. “Not… going…”
Justin sighs and shakes his head. “Fine then,” he says. “We can do it your way. But if I have to take you by force, there will be a lot more blood.”
He blinks slowly, releasing me from his compulsion, but I’m still too paralyzed to do anything but sit there, clinging to consciousness. Chairs scrape against the floor as about a dozen beefy-looking male vampires push away from their tables and rise, red-eyes trained on Justin as if waiting for some kind of signal. The noisy restaurant quiets, leaving only a radio blaring and the sounds of oblivious chatter coming from the kitchen. Some of the diners shrink back into their seats, fearing the worst. Others watch, waiting for entertainmen
t as they dig into their pancakes, migas, and French toast.
But I know better. This is no flash mob gearing up for a show. We’re surrounded by vampires, and based on the looks in their eyes, they are waiting for their signal to attack. I try to speak. To scream. To tell these people to evacuate the restaurant. They may not get far with this many vampires, but some of them might stand a fighting chance.
But no words leave my mouth. No screams escape my throat. Despite being released from his compulsion, I am still powerless.
“Chris. Chris. I need you. There are… vampires. The diner… something’s about to happen.”
I send another silent plea to Chris, praying that Justin can’t somehow intercept it. Why didn’t I just listen to Chris in the first place?
“Begin the harvest,” Justin shouts in a bored monotone, waving his hand in a somewhat lazy gesture.
Harvest?
The restaurant erupts into what I can only describe as feeding time at the local vampire watering hole. The vampires vault over tables, fangs bared as they descend with bloody force on the dining room.
Some shriek in terror as they try to scramble from their seats. Others don’t make it that far before they are bitten by the vampires. Blood sprays in all directions as the vampires feed, gluttonous as they claim their victims, one after the other. A man and woman about my age go unnoticed as they make a break for the doors. But they’re not fast enough. No human can outrun a vampire, and even if they could, it would make no difference. Vampires block the entrance and are tearing into the throats of anyone who tries to escape.
Justin grabs hold of my wrist, and with effortless grace, he jumps out of his seat, dragging me the booth until I tumble to the floor. My cuff grows hot against my wrist, the pain becoming so intense I have to grit my teeth to keep from crying out. Alexander told me this thing is warded. It’s supposed to protect me, but it’s not working. Why isn’t it working?
“Chris! Chris, are you there? They’re attacking. The diner is under attack. About a dozen vampires. They’re feeding. And there’s blood. Casualties.”
I receive no response. Just radio silence. I know I’m still suffering from the effects of compulsion, but are my thoughts just as muddled as the rest of me? I don’t think I know what’s real right now and what isn’t.
“You’re coming with me,” growls Justin as he pulls me across the dining room toward the back exit.
I try to protest, to scream my lungs out, but my voice only catches in my throat. I stomp my feet, trying to root them into the ground. And I jerk my body every which way to free myself, but it’s no use. Justin doesn’t even notice. My efforts are products of my imagination. Nothing is happening. It’s as if I’m suspended inside some sort of purgatory. Halfway between Justin’s compulsion and my consciousness.
I try to will my light ray to the surface, but the cuff is as cold as ice against my wrist. Why isn’t it working for me? Alexander promised we would share in our magic. He promised the cuff would protect me. And this is one time I need it.
Justin urges me closer to the door, watching with triumphant satisfaction as his vampires continue their ruthless and barbaric attack. I squeeze my eyes shut as a spray of blood hits the side of my face.
“Isn’t it funny how this works?” Justin asks. “You said no. Told me to screw myself, in fact. Yet here you are. Coming with me anyway.” He turns, laughing as he gives me a once over. “And of your own accord, I might add.”
“You’re not giving me much of a choice,” I hiss, but my voice doesn’t register over the terrified shrieks and frantic cries for help that surround me.
“In doing it this way, though, I’m afraid I must create a diversion,” he continues with a mocking wince of pain as a vampire sinks his fangs into the neck of a teenaged girl next to us. “A bloody diversion, though. But, I can’t risk letting you you get away, now can I?”
He grins at me before throwing a lazy glance over his shoulder at our table where a vampire wearing a black motorcycle jacket and jeans is feeding on Greg.
“Hey, that one is mine.” Justin shouts. The vampire looks up at him, eyes wide with surprise, Greg’s blood dripping from his chin. Justin snaps his fingers as if commanding a dog. “That one is mine,” he snarls again, fangs bared. “He comes with us. Throw him in the van with the others.”
He nods toward the back exit. The leather-clad-vampire nods, retracting his fangs and slinging Greg’s lifeless body over his shoulder as he bolts from the restaurant.
“No,” I croak.
Justin turns to me and chuckles.
“Come now, you think I would let those idiots feed on my precious Greg? Oh, the guy is a saint. He would do anything for me, including selling you out.” Justin grins. “For that, Gregory will be rewarded, and my master will be ecstatic.”
No. No. This is not happening. This can’t happen. Not like this.
“You will not get away with this,” I whisper, but once again, it’s as if I’m speaking in a vacuum.
I try once again to scream. But it’s like those dreams you have where you’re in danger and try to scream and shout for help, but your voice is nothing more than a whimper. Justin-the-vampire is going to kidnap me. I’m not sure who this master is, but I’m fairly certain it’s Atticus Drake. And who knows what terrors await me there.
“Chris. Alexander. Horace. Anyone. Please. Anyone. They’re rounding people up, including me. I think they’re taking me to Atticus Drake. And I’m pretty sure we’re all going to die.”
It sounds like something out of a cheesy horror movie. Who knew this is how my life would end? Then, to my surprise, the front doors fly open, and Christoph von Drauchenberg barges in, followed by a small army of what I assume are good-guy vampires, armed to the gills with stakes and state-of-the-art crossbows. Chris wastes no time. His face is twisted with anger. He reaches his hand into the chest of the first vampire he sees, punching through skin and bone with ease as he tears out his heart and tosses it to the floor.
What is with Chris and all these vampire hearts?
But that’s not all. Behind the good-guy team of vampires comes another small but mighty show of force, surrounded by blinding white-light and magic so powerful, it burns my eyes.
Alexander?
It’s Alexander, but it’s Alexander like I’ve never seen him before. Dressed in the same sleek black armor as General Morel, he races toward us, his beautiful face almost inhuman in its viciousness. Justin lets out a cruel laugh and pulls me in front of him, using my body to shield himself. But it makes no difference to Alexander. He shoves me out of the way, grabs Justin by a fistful of hair and rips his head clean from his shoulders.
5
With a strangled yelp, I turn away as Alexander tosses Justin’s severed head aside. Panic boils over inside of me, and I struggle to breathe. My heart thuds in my ears like a jackhammer, and my hands go numb. My entire body convulses, unsure of what to do now that the temporary bond I had with Justin is as severed as the head on the ground, cold, hollow eyes staring up at the sky. Justin may have released his compulsion, but it still feels like a part of me has been ripped away.
“Sophia.” Alexander scoops my trembling body into his arms and holds me to him. “Look at me,” he whispers, and I do as he says, letting my eyes rest on his face. “Oh, God. You’ve been compelled, haven’t you? And I’ve just killed… oh dear.” Alexander glances down at Justin’s headless body and then back at me. There is a hint of alarm on his face, which doesn’t help my state of mind. “Calm. Calm, Sophia,” he whispers. The tension in the back of my neck dissipates as his words wash over me, and I relax. Despite the battle raging around me, Alexander’s calming commands are the only thing I hear, his face the only thing I see. “Hold on.” His voice is barely above a murmur, yet I hear it loud and clear. “We’re getting out of here.”
“But,” I say, my lips trembling as I try to speak.
Justin’s compulsion wraps its nasty fingers back around my throat, pulling me back u
nder and refusing to let go, even after his bloody demise. My body thrashes in Alexander’s arms as I gape down at the dead vampire. A twinge of fear builds inside of me that seems to grow with every breath. Every heartbeat.
“Calm, my love,” Alexander says, gritting his teeth as he pushes against the effects of the compulsion with his soothing magic. “Stay strong. Look at me.”
“Greg…” I whimper, still fighting Justin’s compulsion, although he’s been brutally killed right in front of me. “We have to… we have to go back. They took him.”
A sudden onslaught of tears clouds my vision, making it impossible to see anything.
“Nope. No, Sophia. Focus… look at me… there you go. It’s okay. It’s going to be okay.”
“But Greg. They have taken Greg. We have to…” Despite Alexander’s calming magic, flames of panic stir in the pit of my stomach. “We have to go back. We have to save him.”
“No.” He glances back at the diner. “No, Sophia. It’s too late.”
“It’s never too late.” My throat closes off as more hot tears sting my eyes. “Alexander, you don’t understand. He is my best friend. And I let them take him. I let this happen.”
“Best friend?” he snorts. “I think you need some new friends, my love. Greg set you up. He betrayed you. He is the reason for this bloodshed. Not you.”
I don’t have the words to answer him as this realization sinks in. We teleport from the diner to the driveway of my house. To my surprise, the house is still and quiet, just as it had been when Greg and I left earlier that morning. Except the silver Volkswagen in the driveway has been pushed to one side, making room for a shiny, red vintage Cadillac. Still groggy and disoriented from the compulsion, I blink and rub my eyes, just so I’m sure of what I’m seeing.
“What is… why…” My tongue feels as if it weighs fifty pounds, but I’m slowly coming-to. Putting some distance between myself and Justin seems to have broken some residual effects of his compulsion. “Is this yours?” I ask Alexander.
Faebound Rhapsody Page 5
