Force of Knight Magic (32 page)

Theresa was brought out.
She looked like she was going to some debutant dance.
Her hair was piled high on her head and her dress made her look like a virginal sacrifice rather than a murderess.
He thought the white dress was over the top and laughed to himself when Holly said
,
“
oh for the love of Peter
”
low enough so that only the few people around them heard.

“Your honorest, I’d like to say something before you tell me that you plan to kill me.”
His father turned to the girl with a raised brow.
“I think that I’m allowed to do that, right?”

“You can.
But most people wait until the trial is over before they begin to plead their case.
You thinking you might be guilty of something?”
Rod Campbell turned to glare at the laughing room.
“You want me to sentence the lot of you to hard labor?”

Everyone quieted down and he looked back at the girl when she cleared her throat to answer.
“No
,
sire, I didn’t do nothing wrong.
I was just minding my own business when that other person bited me and turned me into this.
I never had a lick of training like them people are telling me I should of.
Why, I’d just lost my beau the week before or so and I just wasn’t doing the things a proper girl should have.”

She batted her eyes at him and Phil thought his dad’s eyebrow was going to become a permanent part of his hairline.
When he leaned back in his chair and regarded the girl she actually blushed.
Phil sat up
,
not wanting to miss a moment of the show.

“So you’re telling me that you were minding your own business and suddenly, for no apparent reason
,
somebody bites you and turns you into a vampire?”
He chuckled.
“Might work for some people, this innocent girly act
,
but I
’ve
seen your work.
If you were a good girl before there’d be no reason to believe that you’d be anything different as a vamp.
Sit the hell down and don’t open your mouth again until I say you can. Of all the acts of…where the hell is her attorney?”

“I’m right here
,
your honor.
I’m just here.”
He glared at the girl before addressing the dais.
“I had only just received this client
.
”
H
e practically snarled the word
s
, “
T
his morning.
After looking over the file
,
I’ve no cho
ice
but to tell you I completely agree with the court
’
s findings and think you should—
”

“Hey, you ain’t supposed to do that.
I want a new man.
He’s supposed to help me outta this mess
,
not help you kill me off.
I want to be free.
I’m just a kid who don’t know no better.”
Theresa turned to the room.
“Ain’t nobody here been wanting to be free?
I done those things ‘cause I didn’t know no better.
You can’t kill me.
I’m going to be somebody soon.”

The room was silent.
It wasn’t until he stood that someone led the girl to her table.
He walked to the front of the room and addressed it.
He was so glad this
wasn’t
a
human court. First of all
,
no one would have tolerated her standing there and secondly
,
he couldn’t do what he was about to do.

Phil turned to the slid
e
projector to the right of the room.
He began flashing pictures of the destruction that Theresa had been made to do because she’d had not training.

“As you can see
,
the rogue learned fast what she could do to a human.
She tore them apart in ways that had grown men puking in bushes and having difficulty holding down their food.”
She snickered and was hit on the head by her lawyer. Phil continued.
“Over the past fifty years
,
she murdered humans. Murdered them in ways that made other humans question what had happened.
They began to know that something was out there, someone they couldn’t trust
,
and certainly no one they could let mainstream into their everyday lives.
She has made vampires and other supernaturals alike a target for hate.”

“I made people afraid of me.
What do you think that felt like
,
you old fart?
I got them to be afraid and they respected me ‘cause of it.”

Phil didn’t say anything to her outburst.

His dad cleared his throat.
“Well, I’ve had enough of this crap.
Theresa Elizabeth Sykes
,
you are hereby sentenced to death.
You
r
death will be by staking through the heart until you
—”

She screamed and lunged at him.
Phil didn’t even try to move
,
but shifted so that his entire body was a lethal weapon.
As soon as she came against him with her body, arms wrapped around him and her face hitting him in the chest
,
she leapt back.
She started to scream, not in anger this time
,
but in pain.
As the room watched, Theresa, rogue
,
started to have her flesh burned from her body.
In a matter of a few minutes
,
she was dead
;
nothing but a white rag and a few bits of her hair remained.

Myles sat on the bed and held his head in his hands.
He swore he could hear his hair growing.
There was a fly in the next county that was buzzing loud enough that his head felt as if it was splitting.
He looked up through his fingers when someone opened the door.
He growled at the man, and startled even himself.

“I take it the conversion didn’t go too badly.”
Phil sat down in the chair that had Myles holding his fingers in his ears.
He heard the cushions sigh loudly.
“Do you have any questions?”

Myles looked up at him.
“Are you fucking insane?
Look at me. I’m a fucking vampire.
What the hell did you do to me?”

Phil smiled and Myles thought about finding a gun and blowing the smile right off his face.
He would have
,
too
,
if he wasn’t afraid his eardrums would explode.

“I would have thought that much was obvious.
I saved your life by making you a vamp.
I think it was the best course of action considering what might have been.”
Phil leaned forward.
“You’ve become very dear to my family and that of the pack.
It was either save you by you becoming a vamp or a werewolf.
Either outcome would have been the only way you’d be here today.”

Myles got up and sat back down. “I can hear a flea fart.
How the hell do you get used to this shit
?
” He realized he was whispering and decided that he liked that better.

“You can tone it down after a bit.
Don’t concentrate on everything.
Just listen to the sound of my voice.
When you learn how to do that, it will be easier.”

Myles didn’t think so but he’d try anything right now. “I can’t…I know that I have to…I can’t bite anyone.
I just…that guy that was here before, he said that I could…Christ.”
He’d told Myles that he was there to help him learn to feed.
Myles
had run
him from the room when his fangs burst through his gums.

“I heard.
My mother has an idea.
You’re my child and she thinks you should see if you can eat food.
Human food.
I’m having you a burger made and some fries.
I’m sorry, you’ll have to eat it rare
,
but we can see if that works for you.”

Myles nodded.
He’d try anything.
Then what Phil said occurred to him. “I’m your kid?
Because you turned me into this?
Is that why?”

He could smell the food now.
Meat, red and bloody. It was getting closer to him and all he could think about was biting it.
He turned to Phil when he laughed.

“I don’t think you’re going to have any trouble eating. If the thought of food makes you that hungry and not sick, you should have no problem eating it.”
The knock at the door sounded like a drum
,
but the food getting close to him made it easier to ignore it.
“And yes
,
you’re my child.
But not just mine.
Holly’s as well.
She fed you your last blood to convert you.
I wasn’t here and you needed it.”

The tray was set on the table and Myles nearly snarled at the man who opened the shiny covers to reveal it.
He picked up the burger and took a bite.
The only issue he had was wondering if he could stuff all three of them in his mouth at once.

After he finished off the last one
,
he leaned back in his chair.
Everything seemed to be right with the world all of the sudden.
Myles looked over at Phil who’d not said a thing since he’d picked up his first burger.
He felt badly for all the horrible thoughts he’d had about killing him the past two days and decided he could almost forgive him.
Maybe.

“You can’t.
Kill me, that is.
As your maker, you cannot cause me harm.
It’s been done
,
as you know
,
but not with intent.”
Phil tossed him a book.
“There’s a sort of manual.
It’s not really a great deal of help
,
but it is a fun read.
The author writes smut books and is actually a vampire herself.
She puts a lot of fiction in there for her readers.”

Myles looked at the cover and knew that he’d seen this particular author’s picture on a lot of bookstore fronts.
He tossed it on the bed and looked at Phil.

“You can read my mind. Is that because you made me or what?”
Myles found he wasn’t as freaked out as he probably should have been.
“And will that fade too?”

“Yes, both Holly and I will be able to read your mind. Find you
,
as well
,
and feel your emotions.
Will we intrude? Probably for the first few years until you get your life together.
After that…”
Phil shrugged.
“That’ll be up to you.
And no, it doesn’t fade
,
but the trust between us makes it less of an intrusion.”

They talked for another hour.
Myles felt better by the time Phil stood to go. He shook his hand when it was offered.
But he was sure that Phil wouldn’t be so easy to get along with if he fucked up.

“I’m glad you’re going to be around.
Li
f
e will be interesting
,
as well as hard work.”
He turned to go then looked back.
“Oh, I’ve spoken with Gordon Force, Holly’s brother.
He is starting up a
n
investigating firm and is willing to take you on if you’d like.”

Myles was nodding even before Phil finished.
“I’ll take it.
I need to…I’m not used to being idle.”

“You won’t be.
If you need me, you only have to think of me answering you and I’ll be there.
And Holly?”
Myles waited.
He knew what was coming next.
“You’d better have a good reason for calling my mate.”

Myles threw back his head and laughed.
Maybe being a vampire wouldn’t be so bad after all.
He picked up the book after Phil left and started reading.

Melody looked at Marcus. She had never been so unsure of anything in all her considerable life. As queen, it wasn’t something she wanted to happen again either.

“Are you sure about this? She’s just a child, not even a teenager yet. Why do you think this…this little girl has what hundreds, no, thousands don’t?”