Taunt (5 page)

Question after
question about how I was feeling, my night terrors, what we could
do to make it better, why the vampires stood outside every night,
what we were going to do about them—it drove me mad because all I
wanted to do was forget about all of it. Finally, I told him
through tightly clenched teeth that he should go visit Peter or
Eddie, or anyone that wasn’t me.

Once Carl left, I
tried to get back to work, but he had completely distracted me. I
paced up and down the room, trying in vain to come up with a
long-term solution to Carl’s problems. I passed the window, paused,
and looked back out, wondering if I was seeing things.

I wasn’t. Becca.
Outside my home—just like the vampires had been.

“
That’s it.” I ran down the stairs and hurtled toward Becca who
was visibly startled by my sudden appearance. She held out her arm.
Her hand was red, almost burned-looking, and it shook noticeably as
she waved a crucifix in my direction.

“
Back
off!” she screamed.

I rolled my eyes
and showed her the cross around my neck. The colour sapped from her
face, and she backed away, letting the crucifix fall to the ground.
I supposed she had a reason to fear me. After all, I had almost
drained her dry the last time we met. She looked the same, still
pale, blonde, and nasty with a freakishly young body and old face.
Her eyes glinted red in the sunlight, a chilling reminder of the
bagged blood in her fridge.

“
I see
you’ve found a new vampy sugar daddy.” I gestured to the
vicious-looking bites on her neck.

She grinned,
vacantly. I knew she faked her confidence; I did the same thing on
a regular basis. “Now that Max is gone, Gideon’s taken me as his
own.”

“
Who’s
Gideon?”

“
He’s
in charge of the coven now,” she said, her grin
faltering.

“
Suppose that has to be an improvement.”

She tried to slap
me, but I dodged her hand easily. “Don’t talk about Max!” Pink
tears slid down her cheek. “He was good to me, okay? This is all
your fault anyway. If Max hadn’t been so obsessed—”

“
I
don’t need to hear his life story, Becca,” I said, although I was
surprised that she actually cared about Maximus; he had been
severely unbalanced. “What the hell are you doing here?”

She blinked fast.
“I’m supposed to keep watch during the day. And make sure you know
about it. He’s coming to get you.” She lowered her voice. “If you
thought Max was bad, you know nothing. Gideon’s in a hurry, so you
better watch out. I’m hoping he waits until I turn so I can come
after you first.”

“
Scary. I take it this Gideon bloke is the one who’s been
sending vampires to stalk me.” I tried to balls it out, but I was
rattling inside.

Becca laughed.
“You’ve no clue what he’s sending after you.” She looked so
satisfied, I knew I should start worrying.

“
And
yet I don’t care,” I said. “But if I see you outside my home one
more time, I might just get a little thirsty.” I looked around to
see if the coast was clear then gave her a quick flash of my fangs.
It kind of amused me that she was comfortable around the vampires
yet feared me. I got a little thrill from the look of horror on her
face, but as I strode back inside, I felt true panic. I didn’t know
Gideon but, if he was worse than Maximus, then I was in
trouble.

I rang Carl
briefly to warn him not to come home after dark. He promised he
would be careful, but I obsessed about Gideon all evening. His
vampires hadn’t attacked me yet, but they were making their
presence known each and every night. I needed a plan of action for
when they finally attacked. I had to do something, protect myself
in some way.

I decided to
chance my arm and call Daimhín. She wouldn’t take the call, so one
of her humans acted as a go-between. I asked for help, for some
kind of protection because I worked for Daimhín, and a rival coven
had it in for me. As soon as I heard her laughter in the
background, I knew I was on my own. I had no clue what was coming,
but I expected the worst. Evil was on its way, and I had no means
to stop it.

The following
morning, I awoke to a text from Daimhín’s day assistant. After a
night of terrifying dreams, the text was the last thing I needed. I
had strict instructions to pick up a payment from Eddie at the
close of working hours and bring it straight to Daimhín as quickly
as possible. I knew Eddie was in debt to Daimhín, but it hadn’t
occurred to me that she might involve me in his repayments. I
didn’t want to face her after she’d refused to help me, not to
mention, her trying to sell me, but I had little choice. I didn’t
want two covens after me. Again.

Carl wasn’t in
the living room; the blanket I left out for him hadn’t been
touched, and he hadn’t called. For all I knew, he had been taken by
the vampires. Hopefully Eddie had seen him. If Carl was really
interested in the supernatural world, then Eddie’s shop would be
his first stop.

I kept watch for
Becca, but she didn’t show so I didn’t have anyone to take out my
bad mood on. It was partly her fault that I had such a bad night;
her words gave my nightmares new details.

I hadn’t been to
Eddie’s place since he locked me out and left Carl and me to fend
for ourselves against a bunch of vampires. I dreaded seeing him. I
knew he was powerful, but I had no clue what he was capable of, so
confronting him was dangerous. Dealing with him was as frustrating
and unpredictable as dealing with the vampires.

I walked fast but
constantly felt like there was someone behind me. Becca’s words had
worked their way into my brain until they were all I could think
about.

I opened the door
to Eddie’s shop and stifled a groan. My day had just taken a turn
for the worse. Eddie was there, but so was Peter. I didn’t
particularly want to deal with either of them.

Eddie smiled, but
I felt a chill pass over my skin. His shop often made me feel
suffocated, and this time was no different. Magic hung in the air,
but there was something else too. The longer I spent there, the
more accustomed to the differences I became.

“
Was
Carl here?” I asked before Eddie could speak.

“
What
are you, his mother now?” Peter said. Only Peter could give me
attitude when I walked into a room practically snarling.

I narrowed my
eyes, then repeated the question, directing it at Eddie.

“
You
just missed him,” Eddie said. “What can I do for you?”

I sighed with
relief; at least Carl was safe. The big oaf.

“
You
owe Daimhín. I’m here to… speed up the repayments,” I said, keeping
my voice as level as possible. It killed me inside to do her
bidding, but I didn’t have much of a choice.

Eddie scowled,
and a few books flew off the shelves which I pretended not to
notice. “Of course,” he said through clenched teeth. “Wait here.”
He left the shop and went upstairs, leaving me with Peter. The
tension between us spiked a couple of notches; I pretended to look
at the books to avoid looking at him.

“
So,”
he said, after a few minutes of awkward silence. “How do you like
working for Daimhín?”

Enraged, I
twirled around to face him. “You better be freaking kidding me,
Brannigan. Yeah, I love it, Peter. I love having your idiot
girlfriend text me orders, especially when her idiot boyfriend is
the one who got me into this mess in the first place and won’t even
take a call from me when I need some bloody help.” I stalked toward
him. “Oh, and I
really
enjoy being followed around by
vampires and their groupies every night and day. Do you know what’s
even better? Do you know what I like the
very
best? Getting
pawned off to creepy bartenders, like I’m for sale.” I gestured
wildly, letting all of the junk in my head spew right out of my
mouth.

“
Hurry
up with the damn money, Eddie!” I hollered before Peter could
reply. I wouldn’t have heard him anyway, my head pounded so hard
with rage.

Eddie hurried
back, speechless for once, and handed me a thick envelope. I
grabbed it and whirled around, ready to leave.

“
Wait,” Peter called after me.

“
I
have to go,” I hissed through clenched teeth. I reached for the
door, but it slammed shut before I could grip it
properly.

“
Open
the door, Eddie.” My head felt like it was going to fly into orbit;
I barely clung to my sanity. Barely.

“
I’m
sorry, Ava,” Eddie said. “I need to speak to you for a
moment.”

I bit my knuckle
and took a breath. Turning around, I tried to stay calm. “What do
you want?”

“
This
is important,” he said. “I heard you shout at Peter. You said
vampires are following you. Did you mean Daimhín’s
coven?”

“
No,
Maximus’s. Well, Gideon’s now. Whoever the hell he is.”

Eddie frowned.
“When you see Daimhín, ask her for protection.”

I rolled my eyes.
“Yeah, tried that. Got shut down.”

He rubbed his
chin and thought for a second. “Maybe you worded it badly. Tell her
you’re marked, and you need her to go to the Council. Tell her to
openly claim you as one of her own. It’s time.”

“
What?
Be part of her coven?” Trust Eddie to come up with another way for
me to be tied to a monster.

He shook his
head. “No, just under her protection. Say it to her, that’s all you
have to do. Trust me, it’s important.”

“
Right, sure,” I said, but the cold presence that followed me
around blew gently against my cheek, as if in agreement with Eddie.
Could I trust it?

“
Is
that it?” I asked, this time angry because taking Eddie’s advice
always linked me tighter to the vampires. Plus, he had a habit of
knowing exactly what was going to happen, but he didn’t like to
warn a person first.

Eddie hesitated,
then nodded and let me go.

I fumed all the
way to Daimhín’s place. Sneaky and sly, Eddie never did anything
for me that didn’t end up helping him more. Peter bothered me more
than Eddie. He made it sound as if I chose to work for Daimhín,
like I could actually be happy about it.

The sky darkened
before I arrived at Daimhín’s home. Rose showed me into the empty
living room; the dark circles under her eyes made me worry for her
health. She told me to sit and wait for Daimhín.

I fidgeted,
nervous, and my fears only increased when Jules entered the room.
He flitted about, as edgy as before, and my senses made me hyper
aware of his movements. He sat across from me and stared with a
creepy grin on his face. Once again, I felt like something cold had
dripped on my skin. Jules leaned forward, his face a mask of
concentration. I automatically leaned backward.

“
He’s
just a child.” I started and looked over at the child vampire, who
had spoken from where she stood by the door. Jules remained focused
on me.

“
What
do you mean?” I asked her, unafraid. She moved closer.

“
He’s
one of the youngest vampires here; he isn’t… right.”

“
You
look pretty young yourself,” I said, unsure of her
meaning.

She laughed, a
pretty little laugh, and might have passed for human were it not
for her arid skin and pink-tinged eyes. “In vampire terms, I’m old
enough.”

“
But
he isn’t?” I ventured, keeping my eyes on Jules.

“
Maybe
a century old. One of the last. The final few decades of breeding
produced a poorer quality of vampire. Like Jules. So unpredictable
that the Council can’t possibly blame their coven leaders for their
actions.” She danced around the room as she talked, her voice so
soft I barely heard her. “Genetics changed; they’re still changing.
Perhaps a new breed will turn up, a worse one.”

Becca’s story
about some kind of formula that could turn humans into vampires
came to mind. “Is that possible? A new breed?”

She stopped
moving and stared at me. “Very.” She smiled at Jules like a doting
parent. “He’s trying to control you, you know.”

“
What?” I glared at Jules, but he was still
concentrating.

Her voice went
softer. “He bit you, didn’t he? Tasted your blood. I wonder what
that was like.” She licked her lips. “Now he tries to use his power
over you. She believes he isn’t powerful enough, but I know that’s
not it.”

“
Then
what is it?” I asked, holding my breath.

“
Something else,” she said with a brief smile. “He’s just a
weakling. Daimhín has no use for him. Not like Gideon. I dislike
him
; he was always cruel when he lived here.”

I froze but,
before I could respond, Rose returned, a fresh wound glistening on
her neck. She wobbled a little at the door, and Jules was finally
distracted from me.

“
Eloise, you’re not supposed to be here,” Rose said, but she
avoided the girl’s eyes. The child vampire slipped out behind Rose,
leaving me with a head full of questions. Gabe had mentioned
Eloise. Why would he want a vampire? And Gideon. He’d been a part
of Daimhín’s coven?