Blood Relations - Chapter 16

Friday, November 14, 1997

Vicky woke up before the sun set, rising even before Claudia did for her first meal. She was still exhausted, and she suspected that the rest of the coven would likely be getting up late, since no one had gone to sleep until well after ten in the morning.

Moving to the kitchen, she filled the kettle and paced in front of the stove while she waited for the water to boil. Obviously, because she was watching the kettle, the process took longer.

She thought, How can I find Amber if Dimitri doesn’t want her to be found?

Amber could of course cast a spell to locate anyone, but Vicky had no way to perform a similar trick. She’d asked the magi to try, and none of them were able to perform the spell.

Felix and Simone were perplexed by their inability to summon a deity, since they both had such an amazing degree of control over the elemental forces. But when they called out to Helen, nothing happened.

And Marcus...well, he couldn’t cast anything besides a raindrop. He still tried to locate Amber, but the necklace he used as a focal pendulum stayed still unless he waved it himself. Nothing else happened.

It was maddening to know how the spell should be cast, and yet no one she knew could cast it.

Vicky stopped pacing as she realized that she knew at least one other person who might be able to perform the spell. Moving to the den to grab the phone, her memory clutched randomly at different numbers before she remembered the right sequence and started dialing.

Four rings later, the line clicked, and Ellen McCullough asked, “Hello?”

“Ellen? This is Vicky.”

Ellen picked up the note of anxiety in her voice and sighed. “What’s wrong now?”

“Amber’s in deep shit and none of the magi here can cast a locator spell.”

Ellen groaned, falling silent for a few seconds before she said, “All right, start from the beginning.”

Vicky started instead with Dimitri’s arrival at the house, her voice becoming more agitated while she talked. Ellen couldn’t speak after she finished, and Vicky sighed in frustration. “I don’t know where to look for her, and you’re the only other magic user I know.”

“I’ve summoned one daemon before,” Ellen said in a doubtful tone of voice. “That hardly qualifies me as a magic user.”

“I don’t care if you have to summon a daemon or fly here and use a locator spell. I just want to find Amber. If Dimitri gave her nightmare blood, she’s going to be in bad shape, and she’s still got to feed to keep the baby from killing her.”

“Damn it, Vicky, you didn’t mention—” The line was too quiet, as though Ellen had hung up. But finally, she asked, “What else are you not telling me about Dimitri?”

“He’s a wyrm,” Vicky said.

“Fuck.”

The word coming out of Ellen’s mouth was shocking, and Vicky understood how rattled the halfling was by the revelation. “I’m not suggesting we fight him, so please don’t think I’m planning a battle,” Vicky said. “I need to find Amber, and if Dimitri is somewhere nearby, I want to talk to him.”

“About what?” Ellen asked.

She was shaken and nervous, and Vicky figured that Ellen was probably  on the verge of hanging up the phone and walking away quickly. “I don’t know why he became so fixated on Amber, and I...I want answers. Ellen, I know I’ve been nothing but trouble for you, but I’m in a jam, and I don’t know who else to turn to.”

“We’ll have to come to you,” Ellen said. “I can’t summon Annul again without making major problems for the halflings. I’ve already caused enough trouble for my own family as it is.”

Vicky asked, “Who are you bringing with you?”

“My partner Andrew,” Ellen said.

“Your—” Vicky stopped herself, trying to take the tone of surprise out of her voice. “When did you get a partner?”

“A few days after you left town. I’ll tell you all about it once I arrive, but it might be helpful if I know where I’m going, and what I’m walking into.”

Vicky shook her head, feeling frustrated with herself for forgetting even the most basic details. “We’re in San Antonio, and you’re walking into a vampire coven. We’ve also got Marcus’ halfling brother and a woman who smells like kitsune here for company.”

“Really.” Ellen sounded intrigued. After a much shorter pause, she said, “All right, Andrew is already packing for us. I’ll get us on the next flight out, even if I have to compel two people to get off the plane.”

***

Amber woke up with a burning fire in her lower stomach and a spear of frost shoved down her throat. Her limbs felt heavier than before, and she hadn’t changed positions from where she slumped after Dimitri let her go.

The wyrm hadn’t moved from where he sat on the ugly green recliner either, and he remained hunched over, as motionless as a marble sculpture.

He smiled when her eyes flicked up to meet his. “Breakfast?”

Fuck you, Amber thought, but her throat was too dry and cold to make the words come out. Get out of my head.

“Oh, you can’t keep me out anymore, now that your magic blessing is gone,” Dimitri said. “The moment you swallowed that single sip of human blood from Emil’s cup, you lost the protection of your goddess.” His smirk became a grin. “Now, would you prefer to eat or starve?”

You know I can’t refuse. I’d be dead in a few hours.

“No, you’ll last a few days, actually.” Dimitri straightened up and looked toward the bedroom door. “But you won’t refuse, because they’re just meat to you.”

In the bedroom, a frightened sob rose from the woman first, and then the man woke up and cried, “Jane! What’s happening?”

“I don’t know!” Jane wailed. “Help me!”

“I can’t move!” the man said, panic making his voice shrill. “Jane!”

The door opened, and Jane walked out stiffly, her frightened brown eyes meeting Amber’s before she screamed. Her terror was all-consuming, draining her sanity even as she was pulled to the couch against her will.

Amber scowled helplessly while the woman dropped to her knees and leaned toward Amber. Dimitri was leaving Jane control of her voice and expression to put her terrified emotions on full display. He wanted Amber to see Jane’s frightened reaction to her presence. Dimitri wanted Amber to know that she’d already become a monster.

The woman’s shrieks ended abruptly, and Dimitri said, “Yes, now you see.”

The woman didn’t notice him, and Amber realized he was compelling her to ignore him. What other point is there? Amber thought, her eyes still locked on Jane. I know what I’ve become, so why rub it in?

“I’m making a point to you, Amber. I would kill this woman quickly, and with little pain. So would you. But that does not make us good. It is a slight courtesy offered, a decision not to play with our food, but it does not change what we do. Thus, we are both evil.”

Is that what this is about? You want to recruit me by convincing me that I’m evil? Amber shook her head. Maybe I am, but I’m not so evil as to poison potential allies.

“No, you just fuck them like a common whore,” Dimitri said.

Amber snorted bitterly, then swallowed and tried to find her voice. She couldn’t, so she thought, You say that, but I haven’t got into my partner’s pants. I have her loyalty and love without resorting to tricks. I haven’t had to touch Claudia or her partner to earn their respect, and Lucas considers me physically repulsive even now that I’m carrying all this extra muscle mass. But, I still have his trust without hopping in his bed.

Dimitri fell silent, nodding to himself. “You make very good points.” The woman leaned closer to Amber, and Dimitri waved an invitation. “Perhaps you’ll feel differently after you’ve fed.”

Amber clasped the woman’s rigid arms to pull herself up from the couch. Amber was slumping over to bite into the woman’s neck when Dimitri gave Jane control of her vocal chords, and then she whimpered, “Please, don’t—”

“I’m sorry, Jane,” Amber whispered. She thought, It’s nothing personal.

But she didn’t say it. Dimitri was right, and she was willing to offer her meal the courtesy of a quick death.

She tilted her head and bit down. Her teeth weren’t sharp enough to tear the flesh, and she had to twist her head while Jane keened in pain. The skin stretched, then a flap snapped away with a grotesque popping sound. Jane’s keening became a full throated scream.

Pushing her cheek around the flap, Amber closed her lips over the hot jet of blood spurting from the woman’s neck. The freezing cold in her mouth abated instantly, and Amber drew deeply from the wound, feeding in greedy gulps to thaw out her stomach.

The taste of the blood was much more intense with terror blended into the hot fluid. The cold syrup at home was given by pets who had no fear for their vampire masters. But Jane was petrified, and her terror was like a chili-seasoned salsa, adding a whole new layer of intense flavor to Amber’s first live meal.

Still, it wasn’t enough. The feeling of cold was returning already, and the burning in her stomach faded by only the slightest amount. Amber pushed away the body and rested her elbows on her thighs to keep from folding over in half on the couch.

Her face and neck were splashed with blood, and she didn’t need to look back to know the couch, the wall, and part of the ceiling were painted by her clumsy bite.

“More?” Dimitri asked.

“What do you think?” Amber glared at him. “You want me to see proof of what I am? Fine!” She waved her hand at the body. “There she is; sweet, innocent Jane, who I just dubbed breakfast.” She took a breath and glanced at the door. “What’s his name?”

“John,” Dimitri said.

Amber shook her head. “He’s just a second serving to me.”