N. Walters - Damek's Redemption

Sonia scooted off the bed and staggered to the bathroom, her balance shaky from her ordeal. He heard water running and knew she was cleaning the cut on her neck. Thankfully, that was only a scratch and had already stopped bleeding.

Alone in the room with the vampire hunter, Damek raised his head and skewered the man with his glare. “Why are you here?” He needed answers. “I told you she knew nothing.”

“That’s what I told Luther. Fucking vampire, you messed with my mind.” He struggled to break Damek’s mental hold on him, but couldn’t budge no matter how much he struggled. “Luther figured something wasn’t right and told me to keep watching. I lost her earlier at the club but knew she’d eventually have to come back to her hotel.”

Damek watched him fight, but felt no pity for his plight. He’d hurt Sonia so he had to die. It was that simple.

“Why are you here?” he repeated. This time he drove into the vampire hunter’s mind, sending out dark tendrils of compulsion, compelling him to answer. Refusal wasn’t an option.

“Luther wanted to know why she was here. Thought she might have a lead on a bloodsucker or a maybe a wolf.”

Sonia was in more danger than he’d imagined. It was one thing to be on the vampire hunter’s radar, quite another to be watched so closely. “What were your orders?”

Damek heard Sonia come back into the room and start getting her things together and knew she was listening to every word. He longed to draw her into his arms and comfort her, but didn’t know if she would accept it after the way they’d parted.

John struggled briefly but his will was no match for Damek’s. “Interrogate her and then bring her to Luther.”

Interesting. “And where is Luther Kostas?”

The hunter struggled to fling up flimsy barriers in his mind that Damek broke down as quickly as they were erected. He would pay for using so much power and would need blood. But he didn’t care. He wanted answers and he wanted them now. He drilled mercilessly into John’s brain, digging out memories even as he compelled the other man to speak.

“Here, in Chicago. But I don’t know exactly where.” Sweat poured down the man’s face as he struggled not to talk. “Fuck you, bloodsucker,” he yelled as Damek strode closer. Damek stared at the man, his puny attempts to release himself, his quivering limbs and dilated pupils. He stank of fear and of Sonia’s blood.

Damek parted his lips, letting the man see his razor-sharp fangs. Equal parts terror and defiance shot through him. John’s will was strong, as all vampire hunters had to be if they hoped to survive. The man was obviously used to killing young vampires who had little control or power. Those attributes developed over time and all vampires were different in their skills, just like all humans had different talents. But Damek wasn’t about to let the hunter know that little tidbit of information. The less they knew about his kind, the better.

He reached out and gently stroked John’s face when what he wanted to do was catch it between his hands and squeeze until he crushed the man’s skull and spilled his brains out onto the carpet. “What should I do with you?” The urge to kill him, to bathe in his blood for what he’d done to Sonia was great. Someone needed to pay for this. They’d made the battle personal.

“Damek.” Sonia rested her arm gently on his. “I’m ready to go.” Her voice was steady, but he heard the quaver beneath it, and knew he couldn’t kill the other man no matter how much he wanted to. Not with her watching.

She was making him weak. No, she was his weakness, the only person who could stop him from killing. “He hurt you.” That was reason enough for him to die.

“I know. But he’s not worth what it would do to you.”

Slowly, Damek turned his head to study her. She’d dressed in a loose brown sweater with her jeans. Her face was pale but determined, but it was her eyes that drew him. There was such compassion and understanding in those gray eyes. In truth, she should be running from both of them. They were both monsters in their own way.

He looked down at her hand where it rested on his arm. Such a simple touch, but more powerful than any he’d ever felt in his life.

Damek shook his head and turned his attention back to John. He might not kill him, but John would not walk away unscathed. He focused his power and drove into the vampire hunter’s mind like a predator bringing down prey. John’s eyes widened and his mouth opened on a silent scream. Muscles clenched as he tried to move, but was paralyzed, locked in the prison of his own body.

“Dr. Agostino had already checked out of her hotel when you arrived, so you rented her room to search for clues, but found nothing. You partied a little too hard and passed out in the bed.” Damek moved his arm and John flew from his position against the wall and crashed onto the bed. “You will pay for the damage in the room and you will contact Luther and tell him you know nothing. Do you understand me?”

As if a puppet on a string, John’s head bobbed up and down.

“Good.” Damek started to turn away but at the last minute looked over his shoulder. “And John, you will forget you ever met me. I am nothing more than a nightmare that comes to you in the darkest hours of the night.” He put extra effort into the compulsion, ensuring the man would indeed have nightmares about him for the rest of his life. If he couldn’t kill John, he was at least going to make the hunter’s life hell.

Sonia was waiting silently for him and he took her gently by the arm. “Come.” He took her bag from her, wrapped his arm around her waist and guided her toward the door. He shut it behind him, hearing the lock click into place before leading her to the elevator. They made the trip down to the lobby in silence.

Damek detoured to the front desk, pleased to see both night clerks there. It only took him a few minutes and some minor mental manipulation to have them change their records to have Sonia checked out earlier in the day and John Barnes checking in to her room this evening.

When that was done, he led Sonia out of the hotel. He was worried about her mental and physical state. She’d said nothing since they’d left her room.

It was still dark, but dawn was closing in quickly. Damek could sense the sun hovering not far below the horizon. Jerome had the limo waiting out front and Damek helped Sonia inside, storing her suitcase on the floor next to them. He pressed down on the intercom. “Take me home,” he ordered his driver.

“Right away, sir.” Jerome didn’t even glance back at Sonia.

Damek appreciated his discretion and knew he had to be curious, as tonight was the first time he’d had someone other than Byron in the car with him. He’d also never taken a woman to his home. But this wasn’t just any woman. Sonia was special.

As the limo pulled away, Sonia stared at him, her fingers wrapped tight around the straps on her purse. She swallowed hard as she studied him. “Does your power have any limits?”

Sonia couldn’t take her eyes off Damek. What he’d done back in her hotel room and at the desk was nothing short of amazing. He’d controlled her attacker, getting answers from him as though he were no more than a pesky fly. She’d instinctively known Damek could kill the man with no more than a thought, but seeing that kind of power was something else altogether.

It was truly frightening, and in the hands of a lesser man it could be catastrophic for all humankind. But Sonia knew Damek, knew the kind of man he truly was, and was confident he’d hurt only someone who threatened him. He wasn’t the type to kill indiscriminately.

“All power has limits and comes with a price.” His dark eyes were unfathomable and his answer really wasn’t one at all. He didn’t explain himself, but then again, Sonia guessed he never had to.