Blood and Fire

by Gabriela Fišerová

  “Perfect. Now you’re much more pleasant to look at,” Arkemoz heard the male vampire say, though the voice was muffled. Arkemoz snarled, shaking his head again, even though he knew it would do nothing.

  The only response he got was a hand squeezing the end of his tail, which made him wince. He couldn’t really hear like this, and that was making him more than a little nervous. Being in this situation was bad enough, but not knowing who was where and what they are doing was infinitely worse. He almost wanted to start stabbing the air with his tail randomly, just to see if he could hit anyone, but he knew that would just result in more blinding pain, and he was pretty sure he wouldn’t succeed either way.

  There was a sudden sting in his arm. He pulled on the chains again, but quickly gave up when he noticed how tired he was, and just let the vampire do whatever he was doing. Whatever those enchanted handcuffs had done to him, it was making him completely useless.

  He growled as a hand patted his head through the fabric, and then there was just the slamming of the closing door and silence. Arkemoz hung his head. His wrists and tail still ached, and all he could do was hang from his chains, and hope someone from Aegis would find him before he was transported...elsewhere.

  His mind drifted to Adley again, even though he didn’t want it to. It was shockingly painful to think about him, but now he was Arkemoz’s only hope at escaping. Adley was, as far as the demon knew, the only one who knew the location of the Circle. Assuming that was where this basement was located, because if not, then Arkemoz really was doomed.

  He let out a shuddering breath. He had to stay optimistic. Someone would find him before it was too late. And in the meantime he’d just keep trying to free himself from these chains, no matter how pointless it seemed. He wasn’t going to give up just yet.

  10

  James couldn’t sit down. He just kept pacing in his apartment back and forth, trying not to lose his mind. He wasn’t good at waiting, and this was definitely the worst case of it he’d experienced so far because as much as he wanted to talk to Arkie, he didn’t want to do it just as much. And James really hated it. Especially because he didn’t have any control of the situation. That was the opposite of what he’d wanted, dammit.

  Finally he stopped, running a hand through his hair and taking a deep breath. It was kind of ridiculous that even after two centuries of not needing lungs, he couldn’t shake his habit of using them.

  How long had it been? Should he go back to Arkemoz’s place and check if he was there now? James had given up on waiting until the morning. There was no way he could wait that long. Especially not in this room. James kept picturing Arkie standing in front of the bed, looking hurt and betrayed whenever he looked that way. And there was also the faint tang of demon blood in the air. A stain on the bedcovers most likely.

  And the fact that James wasn’t metaphorically drooling because of that bloodstain right now was definitely proof of his mind being focused on something else completely. He sighed, this time angrily, and came to a stop once more.

  All right, enough was enough—he was going back to Arkie’s place. He stomped over to the door, but as he was about to leave, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Grabbing the piece of paper that was lying on the ground in front of the bed, his hands shaking. He knew what this was even before looking at it properly, yet somehow he still had to suppress a gasp when he saw the damned logo of the Circle.

  Oh fuck, Arkie had gone to that house, hadn’t he? James had completely forgotten he’d never actually thrown the paper out after he’d crumpled it up and left it on the floor.

  Gritting his teeth, James tore the paper in pieces, letting them fall on the carpet. Okay, he couldn’t jump to conclusions here just yet. Arkie had clearly read the address, but that didn’t mean that he’d actually gone there. He probably just hated James even more now, which the vampire would definitely prefer in this situation, even though it made his heart clench.

  What he needed to do now was to go to Arkie’s apartment and pray to whoever was still listening—if there was any entity like that at all—that the demon would be there.

  He walked out of the apartment with a sense of urgent purpose, having completely forgotten about why going to see Arkemoz had been anxiety-inducing. Now he was anxious for a whole different reason, as he made his way to Arkie’s, running most of the trip, as if getting there quicker would change the situation. But he had to know immediately.

  Finding himself standing in front of the apartment door yet again, James knocked before he even thought about it. Once again there was no answer. He tried again a few seconds later, his insides twisting.

  Still nothing.

  James rubbed his eyes. Arkie’s normal routine was to work, and then go here and presumably sleep. The demon had told him as much. So even if he’d gone on a walk to clear his head, there was no reason for him to still be out. It had been hours since their...argument.

  James hated doing this, but he couldn’t risk missing any possible clues. Maybe a letter addressed to him with just the words ‘Fuck you, I’m leaving’ in it. That would actually be intensely comforting right now.

  He sighed yet again, shaking his head. He had to break in. He huffed out a humorless laugh. How much worse could he make his relationship with Arkie, anyway? Somehow that thought wasn’t very helpful.

  Taking the doorknob into his hand, he pushed on it with all his strength, grimacing at the loud sound of metal bending and the wood cracking that followed. With the lock broken, the door swung open on its own, and James wasted no time slipping in and shutting it behind him.

  He’d never actually been in Arkie’s apartment, and the sight of how bare it was was absolutely staggering to him. Though once he thought about it for a second longer, it actually made sense. Arkie clearly had preferences, and a style, but it also seemed like grasping the idea of buying things he didn’t sorely need was still a bit too much for him.

  James felt a deep sadness spread through his chest. He really should have tried to explain that stuff to him more.

  Trying to push that away, he quickly searched the two wardrobes in the back, the table in the middle, and finally the kitchenette, which held no clues either.

  However, on it was a glass. The one Arkie had drunk cola from the day they’d met. It looked remarkably polished, and it was sitting proudly on the counter, front and center. James picked it up, raising his eyebrow at it. Surely Arkie didn’t see it as something of huge value, did he?

  James swallowed and put the glass pack where he’d found it, turning around. Before he could start thinking up depressing theories he noticed the rumpled bed in the corner, under the window. A small smile showed up on his face before James could stop it. He sighed wistfully. Why did Arkemoz have to be so adorable?

  Looking at the bed more closely, he frowned when he noticed dark, balled up fabric half hidden by the pillow. He walked over to it, picking it up and raising it up. And his eyebrows immediately flew up.

  It was the unicorn t-shirt. Arkie had never worn it since he’d gotten it, so James had assumed the demon had just been polite. Had he been sleeping in it? He must have been—it smelled like him. James didn’t even have to put the shirt up to his nose to notice that. Though he’d been having a hard time figuring out the demon’s scent. It was earthy, but James hadn’t managed to get anything more specific.

  He sat down on the bed, putting the t-shirt back where he’d found it. Right, so this had been pointless. And if anything, he just felt worse now. But he knew one thing—he needed to go back to that house. He didn’t need to get Aegis involved in this yet. Not that he ever wanted to involve them. But if he was wrong, and Arkie wasn’t there either, he could just walk out of there, and most likely wouldn’t be questioned. He could just pretend he was interested in the cause after all. The vampire there was definitely getting tired of him already, but James doubted she’d deny him access to the house. And after that he would have to do his best to try and find out if Arkie was t
here.

  If he was ‘lucky’, the vampires—and there were definitely more than just the woman—were draining Arkie’s blood. And the smell of it was overwhelming. He was sure he could smell it from a hundred feet away. Hopefully that would be enough. And once he confirmed that Arkie was in the house somewhere, he’d do anything he could to save him. Whatever it took. He owed him that much after causing this entire mess.

  With that driving him, James grabbed one of the stakes Arkie apparently kept in one of the wardrobes, and hid it in his jacket. He was definitely going to need it because if they hurt Arkemoz, he was going to kill them all.

  He could barely think as he stomped over to the house for the second time that night. Everything was just as quiet as ever, maybe even more so because the wind had stopped howling. He didn’t stop at the gate though—he marched straight to the front door, only forcing himself to calm down a bit before knocking. If he knocked too aggressively, it would definitely make the vampire—or vampires—inside suspicious.

  The woman looked almost shocked to see him, which was probably the most expression she could manage.

  “Hi!” said James, giving her his best grin.

  “Hello,” she replied, making it sound like a question. “I didn’t expect you to—”

  “Uh, yeah, um,” James started, scratching the back of his head, and dropping his previous demeanor. He really needed to use all of his acting talent here. “Well, I couldn’t stop thinking about what you said. Especially the bit about the blood and all….” He hung his head, trying to seem as resigned as possible. Which was disturbingly easy. “You’re right. I’m a vampire. I can’t become human again, no matter what I do. And I was never good at it anyway. Might as well embrace what I am now, right?”

  She said nothing, only narrowed her eyes and stepped aside to let him in. Clearly he needed to step up his game if he wanted to convince her. But he was good at improvising, he would figure it out.

  “What made you change your mind so quickly?”

  “I told you. I actually thought it through for a few hours.” He wondered if the puppy eyes would work on her. He would have to try and see. “And, well, I guess I wanted to know more about this Circle of yours.”

  She eyed him with obvious suspicion as she led him to the kitchen once again. James really didn’t like being here, especially so early. He felt like he was wasting time while Arkie could be hurt and in danger. But the easiest, least risky way to find out if these vampires had him would be to have a talk.

  “I’m sure you know that I can’t give you any sensitive information before I know I can trust you,” she said as she sat down, folding her arms on the table. James smirked as he sat down opposite her. Oh, he wasn’t to be trusted under any circumstances, especially not if he started drinking blood again, which was something these people wanted.

  “That’s fine. I’m more interested in how things actually work around here.” She gave him a blank stare. “I mean, what do I get by joining your club. Is there a discount card, or….”

  The female vampire rolled her eyes. “Is a vampiric paradise not enough for you?”

  “I’m more of a materialistic kinda guy,” James replied, chuckling. “And ‘vampiric paradise’ sounds very much like...not that.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “Not yet, maybe.”

  “Don’t tell me you guys just join these angels and get nothing from it aside from a vague promise,” James prodded, leaning forward. She sighed, definitely aggravated now.

  “For helping find and recruit new members, you get an almost unlimited supply of blood,” she finally answered, making James’ eyes widen a fraction. And his fangs grow. Normally he’d be annoyed at that, but now it at least helped his act. He kind of wanted to ask just where these angels were getting so much blood from, but he moved to more pressing matters.

  “Blood? You don’t say.” His fangs grew longer. “Just human?”

  She narrowed her eyes further. “Funny that you should ask that. We actually recently got our hands on a very rare type of blood.” James really didn’t like how she was looking at him. Her eyes were so piercing, yet difficult to read. “Demon.”

  “Oh my.” James swallowed. There was suddenly a great deal more saliva in his mouth than there should have been.

  “That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?” she suddenly asked, distracting James from his slowly intensifying hunger. “You’re here for him.”

  Well, fuck. She wasn’t as stupid as James had been hoping. But he could still work with this. His lie hadn’t been exposed just yet, not fully.

  He forced himself to look as casual as possible as he shrugged. “Yeah, you’re right.” She blinked, clearly not having expected that reaction. James did his best not to smirk at that and continued weaving his web of lies. “See, once I came to the conclusion that I should go back to drinking blood, I remembered how delicious the demon’s blood smelled.” Oh god, he wished that was a lie. But he couldn’t help it, demon blood really did smell amazing. “So I thought I’d kidnap him and keep him tied up in my car to drink from.”

  James did his best to swallow down the urge to vomit brought on by those words. The idea of doing something like this to Arkie was just entirely disgusting to him. But he had to pretend it was the opposite, or this whole thing would fall apart.

  “But then you guys go and snatch him.” He shook his head as if he was disappointed. It did make the woman look irritated again, so that did make him feel a little better at least. “Anyway, I’m willing to join if you give him to me.”

  The female vampire huffed. “The angels want him. We’re just, um, keeping him for a little longer so we can collect a little of his blood for ourselves.”

  She was suddenly jittery, looking from one corner of the room to another. And her fangs had reached full length just in the small span of time they’d been talking about Arkie’s blood.

  Oh. Of course.

  “You’ve tasted it, haven’t you?” James asked, leaning ever closer to her. “You’ve had him for a few hours now. That must have been more than enough to drain his blood.”

  “Demons are extremely rare these days,” she pretty much growled at him. “And he keeps producing more blood. We just want to stock up before we give him away.”

  For the first time James was incredibly glad that Arkemoz’s blood was so addictive. If not, these morons might have already given him to the angels. And god knew what would happen then. Not that James would have stopped trying to save Arkie, but that was besides the point.

  “Well, here’s a bright idea—why don’t you just keep him?”

  She set her jaw. Somehow James doubted she hadn’t thought of that before. But maybe she needed a little nudge. “Because...we’re not supposed to. He belongs to the angels.” Her pupils were getting dilated.

  “Uh-huh. Have you told them you caught the demon?” Without even really realizing, James had gotten up and was now standing in front of the woman, towering above her. She was avoiding his gaze completely now.

  “No, we haven’t,” she grumbled, folding her arms over her chest.

  “So, just don’t.” James shrugged again, leaning on the wall. He hoped that would be enough to convey the ‘it’s your choice’ attitude he was trying to get across.

  She stayed silent for a moment, and then she scoffed. But James could still clearly see the signs of her bloodlust. The fangs, the unfocused stare, the frequent movement of her throat as she swallowed…. She wanted Arkie’s blood, and James would be damned if he let her have it.

  “I assume you want us to share with you.”

  “Exactly,” James replied with a wide grin, showing off his own fangs. “I’ll join your club, we keep the demon here as our little blood slave, and I won’t rat you out to your holy bosses.”

  Her glare was so intense James was surprised she didn’t attack him just then. He did want to kill her, and he was pretty sure he could do that, easily, but he still needed her to tell him where Arkie was, and how many othe
r vampires there were.

  “If you say anything, they will kill you,” she said, getting up too. But he was still too tall for this to have much of an effect.

  “Yeah, but they’ll kill you, too, so…. I’m fine with that.” That was probably the biggest lie he’d said here so far. The vampire didn’t reply to that—she just glowered. “Where are you keeping him, anyway?”

  “I won’t tell you that. Not until we decide we trust you,” she said, walking around the table as if trying to circle him. James grinned, about to make fun of her, when a horrible, agonized cry reached his ears. It was very muffled, but it was clearly coming from underneath them. Basement. Of course it was the basement.

  James gritted his teeth, glaring at the female vampire with all the fury he had as he pulled out his wooden stake. He wished he’d gotten more out of her, but now he needed to kill her. He knew where Arkie was, which was the important thing. It was what he’d set out to find out, and he had.

  He threw himself at her, trying to immediately stab her in the heart, but she dodged, punching him in the stomach. He forced himself to jump back as he doubled over slightly. Damn, she knew how to punch. He wasn’t given much time to recover before she took another swing at him. She apparently didn’t have a stake, though. That was good news.

  “Was that your grand plan? To steal him from us?” she snarled, her fists raised.

  “No, it’s to free him. ‘Cause he’s not food!” James growled back, striking with the stake once more. She dodged again, running to the other side of the table to create a barrier between them.

  She shook her head at him, disgust on her face. “You’re so disappointing, Adley.”

  James gritted his teeth. Well, he had heard that before, but somehow it pissed him off more than usual to hear it from her. Before she could react he kicked the table, smashing her into the wall. She gripped the edge of the table, attempting to push it away, but James just pushed back harder.