Jess Haines - Enslaved By the Others

Well . . . maybe not.

Angus scowled, turning a newly appraising gaze in my direction. “That’s not for us to decide, lad.”

Too bad he didn’t sound like he believed it.

The other vampire was still coming my way.

I didn’t have the energy or the inclination to get in a pissing match with an Other I didn’t know, but he was moving in my direction with obvious intent. Arnold and a couple of the other magi made a few sounds of protest, but none of them looked willing to get in the guy’s way. With a snarl of warning, I braced myself to get up, but Kumiho put a hand on my shoulder to keep me from rising.

“Knock it off, both of you! Fane, you know better.”

The vampire bowed his head and took a step back, though his jewel-bright eyes remained focused on me with a depth of hatred that seemed far too intense, considering we’d just met and hadn’t even officially exchanged names yet. That had to be a record even for me.

Kumiho then looked down to me, her eyes gleaming that odd, burnished orange that startled me badly enough to flinch and look away. She didn’t have to say a thing.

“We’ll fix this,” Arnold said, with such conviction I almost believed it. “When we get back to New York, I’ve got some things we can try. I found a few texts. There’s got to be a way.”

“With so much fresh blood so close? Good luck,” Kumiho muttered, sarcasm threading her voice.

Keeping a wary eye on Fane, I levered to my feet. “Fighting each other isn’t going to solve anything. Can we all get some rest and save the testosterone for tonight? Please? I want my friends to get out of that place alive, and you’re all I’ve got.”

Though Fane was still looking at me like I was the Antichrist, he gave me a tight nod. The others soon followed suit, their postures relaxing, eyes no longer gleaming red. Kimberly mouthed “thank you” at me, her grateful expression telling me all I needed to know. Magi might be capable of wielding arcane power, but they were nowhere near as fast as vampires and their parts were easily squished. If they weren’t careful, they could end up on the menu if one of the vampires got peckish.

Having been in her shoes, I knew exactly how she felt.

After settling the vampires and magi, Kumiho dragged me along with her into her candy shop-cum-bedroom as she made phone calls, changed clothes, and sent a particularly savage all-caps text message to Royce telling him to kindly go fuck himself if he thought he could renege on their bargain. If he replied, I didn’t see it.

While she was busy texting or e-mailing or doing whatever on her phone, I peered at the brand again. It didn’t hurt anymore. The skin was shiny and smooth, pinkish at the edges instead of a raw red. Like it had happened months ago, not less than twenty-four hours. All my other little hurts had faded away, even the world-class blisters on my feet.

“Fane is a problem. Until my agreement is fulfilled, there will be no walls or doors between us.”

I started, then adjusted my shirt and pants to cover the mark. That out of the way, I folded my arms, frowning at her. “That seems a little unnecessary. I can take care of myself.”

“Yes, but seeing as there is still enough humanity in you to be controlled by another Other, I won’t take the risk of him calling you where I can’t see so he can finish what he started.”

That sent an icy pang of dread through me. Even if Max didn’t always succeed at forcing me to do things against my will, I had enough experience with vampires messing with my thoughts to know just how dangerous Fane was to me. All it would take would be a moment of distraction, just long enough for him to slip close and slit my throat.

Shoulders slumping, I dropped the posturing and gestured in the general direction of the living room. “This is crazy. I have to go back there, but I can’t even trust my own allies not to stab me in the back on the way out.”

“That’s vampires for you, kid,” she replied. “Avoid the temptation to drink, and you might live a few nights longer. Oh, and speaking of crazy, I’m going to tell you now so you don’t run off when we’re in the thick of things. No matter what you see, remember that my first priority is to protect you.”

“What, you mean if you cast some hocus-pocus or take off your skin-suit or something?” I grinned, but it faded pretty quickly when she nodded too vehemently for me to believe she understood I was joking.

“That, and I want you to remember that I am very aware of what I am doing when I am not as you see me now. I have greater mental faculties than Weres do when shifted. I will never do you harm, and for as long as we are allies you will never have a reason to run from me, no matter what you might see me do to others. And I will take my due.”

Recollection of her talk about “feeding” made my stomach turn. I could have guessed what she was talking about before, thinking she might be some kind of vampire demanding blood as payment, but she had gone out in daylight to run errands. Her touch was hot, not cold. She ate human food with me, and she admitted to having some other form, though she wasn’t Were.

Whatever it was she planned on eating, it wasn’t going to be pretty. Was her price for helping me save Sara the life of a human? A vampire? Maybe it didn’t matter, but a sick, twisted part of me was curious. Even still, I didn’t dare ask.

I may not have been able to say the words out loud, but I knew that by going back there I was condoning the death—most likely an ugly, brutal, painful death—of one or more of Max’s men. Not because they were fighting to protect Max’s home and assets, but because I chose to go back, eyes open, knowing it was the bare minimum price to be paid.

It wouldn’t be the first life I was responsible for ending, directly or indirectly, but somehow this felt like I was letting go of some important aspect of my humanity. Taking a life to buy the freedom of another. Several others, really.

It might have made me cold, it might have made me ugly, and it might have made me a monster, but in the long run I would be saving lives. If I could cling to that thought, maybe I would be able to live with myself when this was over.

“Get some rest while you can,” Kumiho said.

She pulled a cord, loosening some thick curtains that turned the room from a cheerful sunlit space into a twilit haven full of shadows. In the dark, her eyes glinted orange and her shadow seemed ... different. Dangerous. Like it didn’t match the shape of her petite frame, like it hinted at more limbs than she had.

Her shadow reminded me of jack-o’-lanterns and their silent, grisly smiles flickering with dim light on Halloween nights. Maybe that was a glimpse at what she would look like when she wasn’t human. Maybe that was the thing hiding under her skin, masquerading as a person. A bit of niggling doubt told me that the instincts screaming at me to put as much distance between us as possible might be on to something.

She plopped down on her bed, sinking into the thick comforter, then patted the spot beside her. Swallowing hard, I rolled my shoulders and flexed my hands in an effort to get rid of some of the building tension in my muscles, but the knots only grew tighter.

She wasn’t Max. She wasn’t going to hurt me. I knew it, but I couldn’t fight the unreasoning fear of her that sprang up at the sight of those strange shadows.

“Remember, I am no danger to you.”

I nodded, willing myself to believe it. I forced myself to take the few steps necessary to join her, settling into the other side of the bed and curling up so I wouldn’t have to face her.

Every movement, every shift of her weight and breathy sigh made my hackles raise. Fane had already gotten my blood pressure up, bringing out the beast lurking inside me and all of the hidden instincts and desires that entailed. Beyond the room, I sensed warmth and life, the pounding of several hearts, and the unnatural cold of creatures that had something almost as sweet under their skin.