Ironic Sacrifice (22 page)

Chang Li, one of Silas’s oldest vampires, smiled at Razvan. “Thanks to my teachings, most of us need no weapons to kill.”

He nodded at Jonathon, who tossed a block of wood straight at his face. In an indecipherable blur, Chang split it in two.

“Hey, watch it!” Sarah snarled as she ducked to avoiding the half flying at her.

Trey gaped at the vampire and whistled. “Man… that was incredible! Did you do that with your hand?”

Chang nodded before turning to Silas and bowing. “It will be an honor to assist you in this mission, my lord.”

Razvan stroked his beard and observed Jayden’s rescue party. There were twelve vampires, five with guns, and the rest with either swords or skills in martial arts. And there was Akasha, the military engineered killing machine.

Perhaps there was hope that this mission would be a success, despite their being outnumbered at least four to one.

Then again, perhaps someone should have brought a grenade launcher.

The left side of Jayden’s face throbbed like an infected tooth. As she surfaced into wakefulness, the pain intensified and she let out a pitiful moan.

“She’s regaining consciousness,” a soft female voice said, burgeoning with relief.

“Splendid,” another woman answered in a voice that seemed vaguely reptilian. “We may begin preparations then.”

There was a rustle of fabric and the click of a lighter before the pungent aroma of incense flooded her nostrils. Jayden tried to turn her head away, but it seemed to weigh two hundred pounds.

“If you please, my lord,” the first woman’s voice quavered in barely checked fear. “I would like to see if she has a concussion.” Her cool hands touched Jayden’s face and a little more confidence seeped in her tone. “I wish we were able to get her an X-ray. Her cheek is swollen, but I can’t tell if it’s broken or not.”

The other woman growled. “She better not be too damaged, Michael, or you will suffer the consequences.”

The voice of her abductor answered. “Yes, my lord. I did not mean to hit her so hard.”

The memory of hitting the vampire with her car came back to Jayden with sickening clarity.

It had been a trap… a good one, too. She couldn’t think of any other way she could have reacted.

The woman’s fingers slid up her face and her eyelid was gently coaxed open. A flashlight beam pierced her eye like a thousand needles, making her brain scream in pain. Jayden whimpered and tried to close them.

“I’m sorry,” the female vampire said, looking at her with compassionate brown eyes. “I need to examine your pupils. I’ll get it over with quickly, I promise.”

That piercing light came back spearing her skull and blinding her.

“They look to be the same size,” her nurse said. “I can’t tell.”

Jayden dropped her shields and tried to read the vampire’s thoughts. Nothing came.

“You cannot read Jessica either then?” The reptilian-voiced vampire stepped forward. “That is very interesting.”

It had to be Selena. As she came into the light, Jayden choked back a horrified gasp.

The woman’s head was covered in bloody scabs and bald spots. The little hair she had left hung in stringy unwashed strands the color of a sickly pumpkin.

Before Jayden could wonder about that, Selena’s hand crept up to tug on a lock of dirty hair as her cloudy grey eyes darted about the room as if invisible imps were capering about.

“You are far prettier than I expected,” Selena crooned and took Jayden’s chin in her other hand. “What is your name, Seeress?”

Jayden swallowed. A knot of revulsion curled in her belly at the sensation of the vampire’s fingers so near her mouth. She could almost smell the torn flesh under her nails.

“My name is Jayden,” she replied, desperate for that sickening touch to go away.

Selena’s mind pressed against hers. It was powerful, but full of madness, imbued with stinking slithering things and an abyss where screams never died. Jayden knew that if she spent too long here, she would tumble into its depths and be swallowed up by the terrible insanity.

“Jayden,” the vampire seemed to taste the name. Her lips screwed up as if she’d sucked on something sour. “Do you know why you have come here to us?” Those fingernails scraped against her skin.

Jayden shook her head. She didn’t think that there was an answer that would appease the mad goddess.

Her feigned ignorance seemed to pay off, for Selena withdrew her hand and smiled as rapturously as a televangelist. “You have been chosen, Jayden. I have deemed your powers worthy of The Order of Eternal Night and I welcome you into the fold with a special task which you will perform. If you please me, I shall reward you with eternal life.”

The news didn’t bode well. As Jayden searched for a reply, her eyes took in the rest of her surroundings. The other vampires, Jessica and Michael, were on their knees at either side of their lord. Their twitchy, submissive postures indicated that Selena’s temper was unpredictable and formidable. Things were looking worse by the second.

The room was not what she expected the headquarters of a vampire cult to look like. Clothes and bits of paper were scattered everywhere. If a few beer cans were added, it would be the very image of a college dorm room. Candles and incense burners were arranged haphazardly on tables and shelves, giving no sign of ceremonial order.

“Are you not going to express your honor at being chosen?” Selena demanded and moved as if she were going to touch her again.

Jayden shrank back in her seat. “I am sorry…um…Ma’am. I’m very dizzy. Wh-what um…task do you want me to perform?”

As if a switch were thrown, Selena’s face warped into an expression of exaggerated maternal concern. “Oh, you poor thing,” she crooned. “You are still recovering from your ordeal at the hands of the terrible Lord Nicolae.” She turned to the vampires on the floor. “Jessica! Bring our new acolyte something to drink.”

“Yes, my lord.” The vampire scrambled up and fled from the room.

“Michael, leave us,” Selena commanded.

Her abductor departed with a bow.

Once they were alone, Selena returned to her side and stroked Jayden’s hair. Her head ached as she fought to keep her shields in place. But the vampire’s mind was like a battering ram and it was only a matter of time before her will would collapse.

“Do not worry, Jayden. I will take good care of you and you shall be recovered in no time,” the madwoman crooned.

It would be a good idea to pretend to be more hurt than she actually was. The dizziness had faded and besides the throbbing of her face and her stomach clenching in terror, Jayden felt relatively okay. Still, she let out what she hoped was a convincing moan of pain.

Selena clucked like a mother hen. “You will be safe with me. Razvan can never touch you again.”

It was funny how she didn’t acknowledge that it was
her
vampire who had injured Jayden in the first place. However, she didn’t dare mention that thought aloud.

As she looked at the scabbed and balding vampire with her bloodshot eyes and maniacal grin, it was hard to believe that both Razvan and Silas had slept with her. Then again, with her lush curves and classical features, she had likely been beautiful once, before her madness had taken over.

Instead of the expected pang of jealousy, Jayden felt pity for Razvan. He must have once felt deeply for Selena to have Changed her. And it must have traumatized him deeply when he saw what she had become. No wonder he was so distant with women.

Did Razvan know that she had been captured yet? She knew that he’d Marked her, but he’d never explained how that worked. Jayden had no doubt that he would come for her. She closed her eyes and prayed that he would come in time.

“No, no!” Selena tugged on Jayden’s hair, inciting a sliver of pain. “You cannot go to sleep if you have a head injury. “We must keep you awake.”

“Could you tell me more about your order?” Jayden asked. Maybe she could keep Selena talking long enough for her rescuers to arrive.

The evangelical smile returned. Selena lit a few nearby candles and, to Jayden’s dismay, rekindled the cloying incense. Apparently she wanted to add ambiance to the story.

“Eons ago, the dark god Mephistopheles created his own world. To expand his kingdom, he created an army of powerful blood drinkers who could live forever and replenish themselves by creating more. But somehow, they displeased him and he banished them to Earth. Only one of those first vampires still lives and I learned the truth when I found his writings.”

Jayden suppressed a smirk. Silas had told her that Selena stole them. “His name is Delgarias, right?”

Selena nodded approvingly like a teacher with a difficult pupil. “Yes!” Her brow furrowed in a frown as she toyed with the thread of smoke from the incense. “The years have not been kind to Delgarias. He is weak and misguided. He could not grasp the significance of his own writings.”

“What do you mean?” Jayden asked, eager for her to keep going.

“I had long prayed for a sign that our kind could regain Mephistopheles’s favor,” the vampire continued with breathless zeal. “My prayers were answered when I gained Lordship status and found the scrolls. Besides proving the truth in the old legends, they spoke of another world in which the sun would die. A world which will be a haven for our kind…” Her eyes narrowed. “Unless
she
ruins everything for us.”

“Who?” Jayden wondered whether she was getting sucked into Selena’s insanity already, or if the vampire was just that good of a storyteller.

Selena bared her fangs in a hideous grimace. “Xochitl Leonine is the daughter of Mephistopheles and the one who is prophesied to bring back the sun and thus destroy our nocturnal paradise. You must find her for me so that she may be stopped.”

Jayden couldn’t help her gaping disbelief. “What?”

Selena nodded solemnly. “You have been in her presence, Jayden. You have felt her power. Surely you knew that Xochitl was no ordinary musician?”

“Well, yes, but…” Jayden stopped. It was true that Xochitl wasn’t human…but the daughter of a vampire god and prophesied savior of another world? It was ridiculous.

Where was Razvan? Her longing for him and the sanity that he’d brought back to her life was an unquenchable ache in her heart.

Before Jayden could form a response, Jessica opened the door. “I am sorry I took so long, my lord. We had no human sustenance so I had to go to the store.” She held a steaming cup.

“Very well,” Selena said, waving a dismissive hand. “I must prepare for the ceremony. Attend to our new member. If something amiss happens, I will tear out your heart and feed it to one of those incessantly yapping dogs outside.” With that stomach churning remark, she swept from the room, muttering under her breath.

“H-here,” Jessica said, handing her the cup. “It’s spiced cider. I hope it’s to your liking.”

“Thank you,” Jayden said and took a sip before blurting, “How did you get mixed up with her?”

“Shhh!” Jessica admonished with wide eyes. “I was a nurse during the second world war. One of the soldiers got a little…over amorous with his thanks for my treating him. Selena saved me and I’ve been with her ever since. I don’t know anything else.”

“What do you think of her…um…beliefs?” Jayden asked.

Jessica sighed and ran a hand through brown hair that looked like it had been hacked up by a two year old. “At first it seemed harmless, but now….”

She didn’t get a chance to answer. Michael thrust open the door. “Justin is screaming for you again. He says his legs hurt. I will take over here.”

Jessica nodded and hurried out of the room, casting Jayden an apologetic look over her shoulder.

“Tell me,” Michael said as he plopped down in a chair nearby. “Do you think Razvan and Silas will come to rescue you? I think they will try. I do hope that Akasha will come.” He bared his fangs in a parody of a grin. “I have special plans for her.”

Jayden glared at him. “I think it’s the other way around.”

Michael hissed but his retort cut off abruptly.

Selena had returned. “Come, Jayden. All is in readiness.”

She scrambled out of the chair and followed the Lord of Post Falls. Her head spun dizzily and she nearly fell.

Michael leered at her as she passed him. “I advise you to do your best to please her,” he whispered.

Selena led her down a dark hallway. The air had a faint familiar mildew odor that made her realize that they were underground. Panic ate at her throat. Would Razvan know where to find her?

They passed through a gaudy bead curtain and into a large chamber that looked a little more like a setting for a cult. Around fifty folding chairs were arranged in a semi-circle facing an ornate hand-carved throne. On the other side of the room sat what looked like a shrine dedicated to
Rage of Angels
.

Candles surrounded a table full of concert tee shirts, CDs, magazines, guitar picks and other memorabilia. Posters and photographs covered the wall behind it. Jayden shivered and wondered if John Lennon’s killer had incorporated similar décor in his home.

Selena led her over to the shrine. “Touch everything,” she commanded. “Feel her essence and find her.”

Jayden hesitated. She didn’t want to drop her shields, didn’t want to drown in Selena’s madness. The vampire grabbed her wrist and jerked her forward. “Quit shielding and do it!” she hissed.

Jayden’s mental barriers crashed down and she almost fell to her knees at the onslaught of the vampire’s mind. Desperation, fury, and paranoia flooded over her head in a chaotic tide. Desperate to find the equivalent of a psychic lifeboat, Jayden seized the first thing her fingers reached. It was the neck of an autographed guitar.

Immediately she was thrown into a vision.