Token Vampire (Token Huntress Book 2) (19 page)

I
felt like I was going to vomit when Tythian dropped us into Cesar’s quarters. I felt like I had been plucked and thrown into a completely different area. It was taking its toll on my body. I missed the days of when I ran freely; where my destination and arrival time was within my control. My legs could run as quickly as I desired. I missed that most. Only my mother, Dillian and Julia were in the room. I sensed that Yolo, Balzar and Connor were outside.

              “Is there a reason why all of them are guarding the door now?” I asked Tythian. Over the last few days they didn’t have all three here guarding it. They were raising their security of this room. I hadn’t the chance to invest further into the coven and to question some of those, who might use action against them. This temptation was too great for the coven to ignore. I wondered how powerful Cesar’s firm word was against them.

              “Just precautionary. However between you and me, I don’t like that Thomas is still alive. If an attack does happen, I could only imagine he instigated it. Trust me when I say, the sooner he is dead the better,” Tythian said as he looked between Chase and me.

              “It feels so good being included in the master plan,” Chase joked. This was the first we had spoken of it to Chase. By Tythian saying it so openly, it led me to believe that the other brothers were included or he wouldn’t have mentioned it in hearing range.

              “Meet Yolo at the same time, tomorrow. I am going back to the Fier’s Council now, but will come back shortly to take you both to the outskirts of the Human Compound again,” Tythian said. He dismissed himself and walked out of the room. He continued to walk with Yolo, but I sensed that Connor and Balzar stayed guard. Because they were within hearing range, I grabbed a pen and paper from the desk and chair. I wrote my message on the paper so the others could read it. I informed Dillian, Julia and my mother, of the discovery of the human camp at Antarctica. Also the things the Human Compound had done to Kasey and Kora and my attempt of freeing them;

the compound was not a safe place for them. Then there was my meeting with Teary and Tori and that I had made an agreement with Tythian, so that, within the next day I will inspect the old human camp near our past Guild.

              “I am getting restless in here, Esmore,” Dillian said. Black rings under his pink eyes conveyed such tiredness. He had pinned back his long black hair, so the bars in his ears were more evident. “I’ve never felt so useless and defenseless in my life.”

              “I will get you both out,” I promised to Julia and him. I looked at my mother, who watched us. “What do you plan on doing mother?”

              Her beautiful orange eyes expressed such sadness. Her golden blonde hair, the same as mine, uncombed for weeks, yet still perfectly positioned. “I will follow you, Esmore. Whatever you choose to do, I will do so as well. I have been with Cesar this entire time, to plan and focus on your security.”

              “Odd, since I have hardly seen you, and you would side with him on the ideal of killing my familiar,” I said. There was no venom in my words, only fact. My mother looked at Chase expecting a response, but there was none. He calmly lent against the wall.

              “I never sided with him. But, I would agree that if your familiar did claim the right to his coven, that you will be further protected. If he is their leader and you his familiar, you will be treated and protected as a priority. I am sure this has already crossed Chase’s mind.”

              “I don’t need protecting. Remember, you made me practically immortal,” I said indifferently.

              “With everything that is happening, Esmore, your father and I have decided your heart is not safe where it is. If, Campture and the Guild know of that, they will try to find it. They will spread this information and it will leak. We need to find it and hide it closer,” my mother said forwardly.

              “Why not put it in my chest, where it belongs? So I can actually feel and have the choice of emotion?” I asked bitterly.

              “Because there is no guarantee that you can control it. It would end both your life, and any species you chose. Whether vampire, Hunter, human, or all. There is another part to you now Esmore that you must learn to control first. And that is your vampire side.”

              I looked at everyone that was within this circle. My gift was a curse. How was I to control or suppress that weapon, when I had no idea what it even felt like within my body? My mother took it too soon for me to even taste, to see whether it was a gift I might be able to control.

              “My priority is getting Dillian and Julia to a safe place. I will inform Teary and Tori of this tomorrow when I leave the Human Compound,” I said indefinitely.

              “I think for now, you need some rest,” Chase interrupted. “We all do. If tomorrow night goes to plan, Tythian will take us to the human camp near your old Guild. We need to prepare for the worst, and that is that there are already Hunters there who know our faces and want us dead.” We all agreed we had to prepare for that. I wondered how many of the hunters survived from the ambush of sabers. Did most of them stay together, or like Teary and Tori, Kasey and Kora, did they all separate? It was a risk to take Dillian and Julia, but I couldn’t deny Dillian his right to protect himself anymore, it was because of me, that he was now trapped below ground.

*

Jenn and I hardly spoke after Tythian teleported us to the outskirts of the border to the Human Compound. We walked in comfortable silence. I followed Jenn to do a few rounds to sedate the vampires. They made the rounds different and irregular, so vampires wouldn’t get used to the one person or smell. I could only consider Lincon as the only threat in there. This also gave Yolo an opportunity to assess the new vampires who went in, to make sure none was a part of his own Coven. He had planned his rounds and purpose within the Human Compound perfectly.

              Jenn carried her suitcase and board which had the cell numbers of the five vampires she had to sedate. She sedated the first sabers which looked as glazed as the last one she had shown me the day before. I looked into that saber’s cell, noticing it was now gone. I looked at the glass, still surprised they were so confident it could hold them in. If Lincon wanted to escape, I am sure he would find a way.

              A woman entered the room behind us, before Jenn could administer the second.

              “Miss. Cadolwadt,” the woman interrupted. “The fourth power grid is down. Mr. Richard wishes you to attend to it straight away,” she said with upmost respect.

              “Of course,” Jenn responded and looked over the board again. “Do you think you are capable of doing this, Ellie?” she asked politely. I accepted them without hesitation. Yolo was giving me the same access to what he had. The more ground that we could cover, the better.

              After the woman and Jenn left, the irritating sound of Lincon’s whistling began. I ignored it as best I could, and injected the next two vampires. I avoided it for as long as I could, until I had to walk past Lincon’s cell.

              “Do you hate me or something, why are you ignoring me?” He whined, with his face pressed up against the glass.

              “I don’t know you. Don’t talk to me,” I snapped back. I still tried to avoid him.

              “I could be of some help, you know. With whatever you have planned,” he smiled smugly as he stroked his goatee.

              “What makes you think I have something planned?”

              He smiled knowingly, I fell for the bait. But I couldn’t get past the ideal of his gift, it could become. . . useful.

              “Because a creature like you, a rare thing- always has a plan. You wouldn’t be wasting your time in a human compound. I can smell all different scents over you. Coven’s, human’s, hunter’s; and you appear to be all of those things. You smell like a delightful human to thirst on now. But when your true form emerges, you are both vampire and hunter. I can’t smell any bi-product on or in you. The one’s they experiment on in here, they all reek of deformity. Not you. You are naturally one. I am a vampire with no purpose,” he mused, as he scratched his white see through shirt absentmindedly. “I get bored easily and follow no one. I simply go where there is food and games. But you, you smell interesting to me. It looks as if. . . it will be fun.”

              “I don’t do fun,” I sharply spat.

              “No darling, you don’t. But what follows you smells like fun and havoc. I heard two scientists discussing Hunters who had been modified within here. I wondered if that might have had something to do with it. I mean you do have Hunter eyes after all. Maybe you are here to break them out,” Lincon smiled. The area around me swirled and changed. Across the cell from me was Kora and Kasey, unaffected, their saber like physical status gone.

              “Please, Ellie, help us,” Kora begged. I did not run to them. This was a lie. Lincon seemed impressed. The two girls vanished, and the illusion was now gone.

              “You responded none the less,” Lincon admitted. “I could help you know.”

              “What is in it for you, and what makes you think I need help?” I spat harshly. My grip firmed around the suitcase with sedation in it. I felt like a fool for even entertaining the idea.

              “Well, it’s simple, Love. I already told you. I want to follow you. I don’t want power or gifts or gain. I am content with mine and mine alone. I just want something fun to do,” he said as he sat down in the corner of his cell. “You know I had a familiar once too, as well. He was so handsome, and I was only about, I don’t know, it was probably late 600’s. Ah, that’s right I was 678 years old, when he came in and swept me off my feet. I knew he was my familiar instantly. You just know these things. I was nothing then, I didn’t even know ‘gifts’ existed. He showed me his illusions, his world, spoke about them to me. After we commemorated and became proper familiar and lovers- I put a dagger in his chest and watch him rot into a corpse.” He waited for my shocked expression, with a smile. “You see, Love, I will only follow what I think is fun. I knew I would be tied down to him the longer I dared be mesmerized by him. It was my first line of defense.”

              “Why are you telling me that disgusting story,” I snapped. I could never think or had met anyone who would be willing to kill their own familiar. I didn’t even think it possible. He could not be sane, surely.

              “Because of exactly that, you asked why you need me. Sometimes little Huntress, you need someone who is able to do the dirty work when you can’t. I can smell a familiar all over you. I question, what kind of influence he has on a new baby vampire like you. I mean, you have walked in here, full of control and haven’t thirsted on anyone. It made me question,” he frowned to himself. “Perhaps your familiar is suppressing those urges; no new vampire can do it themselves. And, I very much doubt you have friends who could press such an underlying impression of ‘oh no don’t eat that human,’” he began laughing as his mock tone of a squeaky voice. My instincts reacted at the mockery of Chase and my fangs shot through my gums with a growl. “What I am saying is, you need someone in the shadows close, who is willing to do your dirty work. You don’t have to tell me your secrets. In fact, I don’t care. But I have lived just under one thousand years. If you, little mixed breed, can create some fun for me, then consider me yours,” he said with a dashing smile. “Gift and all.”

              I looked at him for a moment, and considered this. Usually, I wouldn’t consider such an outsider’s offer. I didn’t need help, but perhaps with such a gift at my disposal, I could effectively break Kora and Kasey out; without asking Jenn for help, nor needing Teary and Tori to come close to this place.

              “You are locked in a cell, where there are silver darts and high security down the hallway; how do you dare think you can escape?” I smugly said.

              “My dear, I am an illusionist- and in being so I do not give away my tricks freely. Whatever you ask of me, I can do it,” he said, with a smug expression. “Whenever you want.”

              “The two Hunters, they are in even heavier security then you. Do you think that you could break them out?” I said out of curiosity. His smile stretched thin.

              “I thought you would never ask. But, if you could be so kind as to direct me to where their cell is, then I will have no problem locating them. But, you do understand that the person who doesn’t sedate me last, might lose their life over this,” he said twistedly. “You know, consequence and all.”