“Yeah, I believe you already said that.”
“I’ll leave here. We don’t have to duel, I’ll leave The Hollow and I won’t come back. You’ll never see me again, I swear to you.”
I had to laugh as we reached the bartering stage. “I know that if I let you walk off now the second I turn my back there’ll be more fireballs coming at me.”
He looked exasperated now. “Okay, we duel,” Clark finally said, snarling. His expression was so different now that he had dropped the fake crap. The innocence and fear had all vanished from his eyes only to be replaced by the callousness and spite that usually resided there.
Apparently Clark had no intention of duelling, however. He hadn’t even fully turned before he abruptly swerved, hoping to catch me off-guard, and launched more deadly fireballs at me. I absorbed the energy of the natural element air, releasing it as a forceful wind that not only sent Clark careening backwards but sent his pretty fireballs with him. When his back reached the wall of one of the buildings he crashed to the floor. His fireballs then crashed into him and he disappeared, screaming, in a large ball of black fire. A black fire that was meant for me.
Both mine and Clark’s suspicions were right; his death hadn’t made much difference to how I felt inside. Bryce was still gone, he had still been betrayed, and it still hurt to even think about. But the whole thing now seemed more balanced. The people responsible for his death weren’t living the life that he should have had. Victor had once told me that it wasn’t anything personal to Bryce, that he’d just had to die because he loved me. ‘Wrong girl, wrong time,’ Victor had said. But Bryce had met me and loved me before Victor even knew me. By loving me and wanting to be with me, Bryce had been living exactly as he should have been, and exactly when he should have. It was Victor who had wanted the wrong girl at the wrong time, and it was Clark who had made it possible for Victor to get what he wanted.
The memory of Bryce’s last seconds flashed in my mind so forcefully that it was almost like being slapped. It was all as clear as if it was happening right this moment. I could perfectly remember his contorted expression, his cries of pain, and the way his eyes had shot me a ‘goodbye’ glance.
A hand gently rested on my shoulder, and I suddenly realised that my name was being softly repeated. The touch, the voice and the scent alerted me to the fact that it was Jared. And although there were plenty of people around and several of them seemed to be trying to reach me through my daze, it was Jared I needed. I turned into him, burying my face in his chest and gripping his shirt. His arms instantly went around me.
“Will you just leave her alone for a minute,” he said to someone. That someone seemed to persist and Jared responded with, “This isn’t a game of who can get closest to her. Just give her a minute.” Louder now, that someone persisted. Max.
Jared spoke down my ear, “Want me to teleport you away from here?”
I nodded against him. There was fluttering in my stomach and then the ground beneath me was softer. Opening my eyes, I saw that we were standing in the living area of my apartment. But I didn’t move away from Jared and he didn’t drop his arms. He didn’t ask me questions which I appreciated. He just let me have a moment to collect myself.
After a few minutes I stepped out of his embrace and, without meeting his gaze, uttered a barely comprehensible, “Thanks.” I then headed straight for the refrigerator. Sure Vodka flavoured NST couldn’t get me drunk but the taste would be enough for a little comfort.
Jared didn’t leave. He followed me into the kitchen and leant against the counter, mirroring my stance. “I don’t know what to say.” He was speaking softly. “I was going to ask if you’re okay, but that would be a stupid question.”
“I’m fine. Seeing Clark just dragged up a lot of memories, that’s all.”
“Memories of someone called Bryce.”
I nodded. “Yep.”
“Who was your boyfriend…?”
“Yep.”
“What happened to him?”
“Victor killed him right in front of me.”
(Jared)
There was no emotion on her face or in her eyes or in her tone as she spoke those chilling words. But I sensed that underneath all that, Sam was screaming. I could feel the ache in her chest like it was mine. I wanted to hold her – not that this was anything new – but the air around her was so tense that it was almost as though she was inside an impenetrable, invisible dome.
“Tell me about it.”
She studied my face. “You don’t have to stay with me, I’m not going to breakdown or anything.”
“I’m not asking you to tell me as an excuse to stay and keep an eye on you. I genuinely want to know.”
Sighing, she opened her refrigerator door and gestured to the contents. I took a Cola flavoured NST and leant against the counter again, a little closer to her this time.
“I’d been in a relationship with Bryce for about six months when I first met Victor; we bumped into him at a club. I hadn’t known Bryce was a vampire, and he told me that Victor was his boss at work. I noticed that he didn’t seem to like having to introduce me to him, and then they started arguing because Victor said I’d make a good consort for him – I had no idea what he was talking about, of course – and he wanted Bryce to give me up. Bryce wouldn’t. And when Victor came onto me, I said no.”
She paused as she drank the last of the contents of her bottle before then grabbing herself another. “I was attacked that night outside the club, left for dead, and Victor Turned me into a vampire. I think that maybe Victor was the one who attacked me too. He had plans for me to be his consort. He was my Sire so he had rights to me that Bryce didn’t have...But then he realised I was a Feeder and his plans for me grew immensely.
“Like any newborn Feeder, I was out of control. I was absorbing energy without meaning to and then shooting fire or water or energy balls here, there and everywhere. Victor had to lock me up in a little room by myself. He didn’t let me feed much so that my energy levels wouldn’t be too high and my power would be diluted. But every day, three times a day, he took me out of the room and tried to get me to control my gift. He’d have a line of humans waiting, and for every time I failed to do whatever task he gave me he’d kill one of them.”
“Bastard.”
“Yeah. Bastard.” She took a long swig out of her bottle before continuing, emotion creeping into her voice. “Bryce had been appointed as one of my guards, and he promised me that as soon as I could control my gift and there was no chance of me hurting myself we’d make a run for it. We did. We went undetected for a whole week, but then Clark gave us up. Victor tortured Bryce before slitting his throat. I couldn’t stop him, I wasn’t as controlled as I am now, and Victor had me drugged and completely bound and gagged while I was forced to watch.”