Taste of Torment

CHAPTER TWO

(Jared)

Exchanging a look with Sam as we stood only one hundred yards away from the caves where Quentin Foy and most of his nest resided, I knew she was thinking the exact same thing that I was: What. The. Fuck?

We had been on his territory for over an hour. Not just us, but the entire squad, Ava and her asshole of a brother, and also Evan – who had appeared as we were ready to leave and insisted on coming. Yet, the presence of fifteen vampires hadn’t earned a response. We had initially arrived much farther away, expecting to be approached the very second our presence was sensed. When no one came, we began to advance toward the caves, fully expecting someone to appear at some point. But no one had.

Quentin, like most High Masters, should have guards surrounding his residence to protect him from anyone hoping to challenge him and usurp his position. But there didn’t appear to be anyone in sight. Oh sure, that didn’t mean that no one was around. There were vampiric gifts impressive enough to allow people to conceal themselves. But it wasn’t just that it looked deserted. The place was quiet. Too quiet.

“I don’t like this.” Sam was biting her lip, scanning our surroundings once more. “What High Master in their right mind would leave themselves vulnerable this way?”

“Quentin’s not exactly popular. It would be downright stupid of him not to have spies at the very least.” Seeing that Sam was rubbing the Celtic-looking tattoo that surrounded the base of her third finger, I smiled. It was something she often did when she was confused or anxious, as if the Binding knot gave her strength.

Several times since we returned from our ‘honeymoon’, I’d been asked how I found life as a Bound male. Over the years, I’d heard some say that being Bound could make a person feel trapped. Back then, I’d supposed that was natural, considering there was no divorce or get-out clause. But being Bound to Sam didn’t make me feel trapped or restricted. Instead, I felt centred, more relaxed. I even felt strengthened, which was ironic given that she was my weakness. The power of it all wasn’t frightening, it was energising. It meant that she was mine, that she’d always be mine, and that I was connected to her in a way that no one else ever could be. That knowledge was like an anchor. And, yeah, I was possessive enough to feel a bone-deep self-satisfaction about it.

As deeply linked as we now were, I knew and understood Sam much more. Every single layer of her was more intriguing than the last. I liked the idea that the longer the bond existed, the more interconnected we would become. I liked that I would always know where she was – no one could take her and hide her from me again, and God have mercy on anyone who even considered it, because I sure wouldn’t. As a matter of fact, neither would Sam, just like she hadn’t had mercy on my ex-partner. Magda had also been responsible for Turning both me and Evan against our will. Some women might buy you a shirt or cologne. Sam would kill your ex for you.

Cristiano, who had been sticking a little too close to Sam for my liking, also noticed that she was stroking the knot and he frowned. “What’s that?”

She only spared the asshole the briefest glance. “It’s a Binding knot.”

Ava came from behind Cristiano and bumped him aside so she could get a good look at the brail-like mark. “Aw, that’s so nice.” She looked at me, her eyes alight with interest. “Do you have one as well?”

I held up my hand to show her, and she smiled widely. Cristiano, however, grunted with boredom. If it hadn’t been for the fact that he’d saved Sam’s life, I’d be beating him with his own spine right now. Not simply because he seemed to be constantly at her side, but because he looked at her with a longing that made my blood boil. It was a longing that was both emotional and sexual. Oh he was doing his best to conceal it – so much so that Sam hadn’t noticed. But I’d noticed, and I wanted nothing more than to watch the bastard die…slowly and painfully, if possible.

“The design of your knot matches Sam’s,” Ava realised.

“Every Bound couple has their own unique design. Sam’s will only match mine, and vice versa.”

“Aw, how romantic and sweet is that? I want one. But how did it work? I thought vampire skin heals too quickly for us to get tattoos.”

“It just appeared there when we exchanged vows,” Sam told her, smiling. Her aquamarine eyes met mine, and I knew she was recalling that moment, just as I was. Turning back to Ava, Sam said, “I actually have another tattoo as well. The vampire who gave it to me has the gift of making his pictures come to life.” Sam lifted the sleeve of her long-sleeved t-shirt to reveal the black snake twined around her upper arm. When the tattoo wiggled slightly, Ava gasped. “Yeah, Dexter can move around in his tattoo form. He wasn’t a fan of Jared at first because the breed is very protective, but he likes him now.”

He liked me? Ha. “He tolerates me, but that’s pretty much it,” I grumbled. He’d stopped hissing at me whenever I touched Sam, which was progress. But he always seemed to wear this cautioning ‘I’m watching you’ look. It was weird and damn annoying.

Ava clapped her hands a little. “I want one of those as well. Do you think I could get one?”

Standing behind Ava, Salem sighed down at her. “Shouldn’t you be at the rear?” His tone was vibrating with impatience.

Ava twisted to look at him. Her little face was scrunched up in confusion as she cocked her head. “Why?” The question was asked with an almost childlike innocence.

A muscle in Salem’s jaw ticked. “Because something strange is obviously going on and it could be dangerous. It would be better for you to hang back where it’s safer.”

To my surprise, Ava laughed. Even more surprising, so did Sam.

“You don’t need to worry about Ava, Salem.” Sam smiled at him. “Don’t let that tiny figure and innocent face fool you. She can take care of herself. Not all Sventé vampires have defensive gifts, remember?”

Smiling sweetly, Ava patted his chest. “But it’s really nice of you to care.” He frowned at the hand patting him, but Ava didn’t seem to notice. Twirling back around, she gently nudged Sam. “Isn’t he the sweetest thing?”

Sweet? I was pretty sure I’d never heard anyone describe Salem as ‘sweet’ before.

Damien leaned toward Salem, grinning. “Pretty protective of the little one, aren’t you?”

Salem scowled at him. “Shut up.”

Actually, it was kind of odd for Salem to give a shit about the safety of anyone other than Sam, the guys, or me. It was also odd that the anticipation of the assignment didn’t have him bouncing like a boxer getting ready for a fight the way it normally did – it was quite fitting that his gift was a psychic punch that could knock a person unconscious. The only person who got more of a rush from assignments than him was Butch. However, amusingly enough, Salem appeared to find tiny Ava a bit of a distraction.

Sam’s voice blew through my mind like a warm breeze. Well, I wanted something to take my mind off the Coronation. Seems like this might just do that.

The Coronation…Now that was something that I didn’t want to think about. Thinking about it meant thinking about the vision that I’d had through Luther a very long time ago, back when I’d first been made a commander within the legion. I knew that I’d have to tell Sam about it. Hell, I should have told her before we Bound. But I hadn’t because although I knew she was a practical enough person not to let one vision change everything, I’d panicked that it might make her walk away. That was something I wasn’t prepared to risk. I’d tell her soon, and if she did try to walk away…well, I’d tie her up and keep her captive.

A whoosh of black molecules suddenly appeared, pulling me from my thoughts. A mere second later, Stuart was standing before us. As a Shredder, the squad member had the ability to reduce himself to molecules and reform again at will. “This whole thing is weird.”

My words, his mouth. “What did you see?”

“Nothing. I circled the entrance of the caves, but there are no guards anywhere.”

Sam shot me a worried look before asking Stuart, “Could you hear any sounds coming from inside?”

“There were noises, voices, coming from the rear of the caves, but I couldn’t make out any words. The tone was kind of…flat. Drone, even.”

“So people are in there but they’re ignoring us.” Max pulled a face, clearly baffled. “You’re right; this whole thing’s weird.” Ordinarily, it would be Max who lingered around Sam the way Cristiano was doing. In Max’s case, it was simply to irritate me as, fortunately for him, he no longer lusted after her. That meant I could let him live, which was good for the squad since Max’s gift of causing temporary sensory paralysis made him a valuable member.

“Could they be hiding, hoping we’ll leave?” the telekinetic Harvey asked Sam. I noticed that his stance wasn’t as cocky as usual – the guy might be a little slow on the uptake, but even he had the sense to be wary right now.

Sam considered that for a moment. “If that was the case, they would be sure to make no sounds at all. Besides, why would they have any reason to hide?”

A puddle of mush appeared beside Stuart and quickly returned to its normal form. One of Denny’s animal-mimic abilities was to reduce himself to a soft liquid just like the sea cucumber. “I couldn’t get in. The door’s sealed so tightly that there are no cracks for me to wiggle through.”

“None of this makes any sense, and it’s severely pissing me off.” Sam turned to Cristiano. “Can you sense your vampires better now that you’re closer to them?”

Looking grim, he shook his head. “The connection’s still fuzzy.”

Chico released a long breath, stroking his Johnny Depp style moustache and goatee. “So I’m thinking we”

“We’ll have to force our way inside,” interrupted Evan, glaring at the caves. I had the distinct feeling that he had insisted on coming along so he could blow off some steam and distract himself from thoughts of Alora and whatever the hell had happened between them. Or maybe the problem was what hadn’t happened between them.

“If we do that, they’ll attack instantly,” David pointed out, fidgety and nervous.

Butch nodded his agreement. “Considering we have no idea how many are in the caves, it would be a dangerous move.” Not that Butch sounded particularly moved by the prospect of danger. In fact, he never seemed to be moved by anything, always appeared deceptively calm, collected, and laidback.

“We’ll have to take our chances.” Evan’s tone was practically lifeless. “It’s the only way we can retrieve Cristiano’s vampires.”

When the squad turned questioning gazes mine and Sam’s way, I said, “I’m not comfortable with the idea of invading their home, but I think Evan’s right.”

Sam nodded. “We have no other option at this point.” She turned to the heavily muscled Pagori who was currently tying back his brown shoulder-length hair. Stuart did the same with his own blond curls. “Reuben, I need you to use your gift on Chico, David, and Salem.” With a single touch to their shoulders, Reuben’s gift of power augmentation had made Chico’s poisonous thorns, David’s psionic boom, and Salem’s psychic punch all fatal. “Don’t move quietly – give them plenty of warning that we’re approaching the door so that they aren’t alarmed. If they still don’t open up, we’ll have to let ourselves in.”

Making no attempts to conceal our presence, we covered the distance to the entrance of the caves. The door was camouflaged to look like part of the mountain in order to fool any humans, but a vampire’s enhanced eyesight could easily spot it. When there was still no reaction to our presence, I projected a lightning bolt powerful enough to completely shatter the door. Fanning away floating dirt, I looked to see a downward channel about eight feet deep.

“Not even the noise of someone breaking in has gained a reaction from them.” Cristiano shook his head, incredulous.

“Damien, Reuben – I want both of you to wait here and keep watch,” I told them. “If you see any movement at all out here, you contact me straight away.” They both nodded obediently and took on an alert, aggressive stance. Satisfied, I turned back to the entrance in time to see that Evan had taken the lead and jumped down the channel. He was obviously feeling shitty enough to be careless with his own safety.

Sam looked at me. We shouldn’t have let him come. His head’s not in a good place right now.

I’ll talk to him. I swiftly descended only to find myself at the entrance of a tunnel. Evan was waiting there impatiently. At least he hadn’t set off on his own. I held his gaze. “Evan, you need to get your shit together.”

His eyes flared with anger. “I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not, and this isn’t the time to talk about it. But I swear if you act careless and put Sam and my squad in danger, I’ll teleport your ass out of here. Got it?”

He gave me a curt nod and returned his attention to our surroundings. Although it was dark, my vampire night vision allowed me to see the junction further down the extremely long tunnel. Signalling for the others to follow, I moved aside to give them room. One by one, they descended the channel. Before I could give any further directions, Evan began walking, clearly intending to take the lead. Sam and I exchanged an exasperated look but let him be.

We flanked him as he slowly led us through the tunnel. There was no one at all around. No sounds other than our own footsteps. “They have to know we’re here,” I said to Sam.

“It doesn’t make any sense that they wouldn’t care.” As she repeatedly clenched her hands, as if eager to attack a threat we couldn’t see, tiny sprinkles of silvery-blue energy dripped from her fingers, peppering the air like fairy dust. Now that she was a hybrid and much stronger, she didn’t have to absorb the surrounding energy anymore; it came to her, filled her, waiting for direction. Silvery-blue glimmers of it played around the surface of her body.

We continued down the tunnel, stopping only when we reached the junction. There were no sounds coming from any direction. Sam indicated for Evan to keep moving forward, and we again followed closely behind him. Then I was gagging as a foul stench crept up on me. I wasn’t the only one balking.

“It’s like rotten fish.” Sam’s words were muffled by her sleeve as she used it to cover her mouth and nose.

“Jesus,” exclaimed Chico, coughing along with the others. “What is that?”

Evan suddenly held up his arm, gaining everyone’s attention. “Do you guys hear that?”

I did. A voice…but it wasn’t speaking. It was…moaning?

“Do you think they’re all hurt? It would explain why no one’s come.”

Evan’s theory was a decent one, made sense…yet, my gut said no. Every instinct I had told me to get out of there and to get out of there now. I could sense that Sam’s anxiety equalled my own. Good, maybe that meant I could talk the crazy bitch out of going any further. Sam never allowed fear to hold her back, she used it as fuel. While that was admirable, it drove me fucking insane because I wanted her safe. Sure she was strong, but she wasn’t invincible.

I grabbed her arm, bringing us both to a halt. “We need to leave. This is beyond weird now and has entered the realm of too damn dangerous. We’re putting ourselves and everyone here at risk by staying.” I expected a snarl or a snort from her, but she instead nodded.

“You’re right. This is”

A long, drawn-out moan pierced the silence. Every single one of us froze in position. A few seconds later, there was another moan; it was filled with pain, hopelessness, and misery. Technically, such a sound should have made me want to run to that person’s rescue.

It didn’t.

Instead, it made my blood turn to ice. Then there was another sound: scuffling. Someone was coming, but their footsteps were so sluggish that their feet were dragging against the ground as they moved.

I wasn’t sure what I expected to see when that person finally rounded the head of the junction, but it wasn’t the sight before me. The shirtless vampire was so gaunt, skeletal, and emaciated that it was revolting. His glowing red eyes looked like they had been sucked inward and much of his hair had fallen out. His ribcage was visible, his shoulder blades were sticking out, and he had a greyish, translucent complexion. Basically, he looked like a skeleton with a layer of skin stretched over it. And there was only one thing that made a vampire look like that.

This really wasn’t good. “Evan, don’t go any closer.”

But either my brother was feeling suicidal or he had no idea just how dangerous a starving vampire could be, because he was actually approaching the Pagori. What I wanted to do was order everyone to hold hands and then teleport us all out of there, but I couldn’t reach Evan to grab him and there was simply no way I was leaving him behind.

“All of you slowly retreat,” I said without moving my gaze from the starving vampire. “We need to get the fuck out of here. Don’t take your eyes off him. And whatever you do, unless he leaps at you, don’t run.” They each followed my commands instantly, except for Evan. He was instead continuing to move forward. “Evan, what the fuck?”

“He’s starving, Jared, he needs blood, get over here.”

Clearly Evan had never been near a starving vampire before. I had. “Yes, he’s starving. That makes him dangerous. He’ll attack you.”

“Attack me? Look at him, he’s practically falling to pieces – he doesn’t have the strength to take me on.”

That was where my brother was wrong. “You’d be surprised just how strong and fast a vampire can be when it’s desperate. Right now, he’s desperate. So move your stubborn ass away from him!” I thought he’d keep ignoring me, but instead Evan sighed and took a step backwards. That was when the vampire lunged at him. He knocked Evan to the ground, his mouth latching onto his throat and gulping down his blood so strongly it was sickeningly audible.

Before I could react, one of Sam’s powerful energy balls struck the vampire, making him burst into ashes with a scream. Then we were both at Evan’s side, helping him from the floor. As I’d expected, the bite was bad. The vampire had almost taken a chunk out of Evan’s neck with his overriding thirst. “You okay?”

Evan put pressure against the badly bleeding wound with his hand. “No.”

“Well, that explained why no one came.” When a vampire went into ‘starvation mode’, their senses gradually dulled until they were even less acute than human senses. Furthermore, their predatory drives increasingly took over as their need for survival made them operate on an almost animal instinct – losing rationality, reason, and civilisation. That was why they were also unable to focus enough to use their gifts.

I tensed as the ground seemed to rumble beneath us. Worse, it sounded like a freaking stampede was heading our way. Clearly the racket we’d just made and the sound of the vampire’s scream had gained us some attention. If that was the rest of the nest coming toward us, we were doomed if we didn’t get out of there now. I turned, intending to order everyone to hold onto one another so I could teleport us all outside. That was when I noticed that not only was there a big gap between us and the others – who had clearly continued following my order to retreat – but none of them were looking at me. They were staring at the horde of vampires that were charging down the other end of the tunnel, heading for them.

Fuck, we were boxed in.

Having the deadliest gifts, David, Chico, and Salem immediately began attacking the starving vampires approaching them, taking advantage of the distance still between them. At the same time, Harvey used his telekinesis to shove them back again and again. Having faith that they could all handle themselves for now and do what they had been trained to do, I joined Evan and Sam in dealing with the flock of vampires that were fast approaching us.

Sam was attacking with energy balls, energy bolts, and thermal energy beams. Evan was freezing every vampire that came at him – not to ice, but completely immobilising them so that there was no blood-flow, no heartbeat, no breathing, nothing. Mere milliseconds after the vampires were frozen, they exploded into ashes.

I joined the fight; sending charge after charge after charge of electricity from my hands. But there were just so damn many of them that even our combined efforts couldn’t keep them completely at bay. Any time a vampire managed to get too close, Sam would slam up her shield, causing the vampire to bounce away. But they weren’t deterred; they continued to charge at us. Sam then conjured an energy shield big enough to encompass her, me, and Evan, but the vampires tried crawling over it like ants.

“Bollocks to this,” she gritted out. A blast of wind flew out of her palms, sending the vampires zooming through the air until they collided with the wall at the end of the tunnel. She then swiftly tapped into the natural elements, using the earth to quickly build a wall to block the tunnel. “It won’t hold them back for long,” she warned. She was right; no sooner had the tunnel sealed shut than the wall was being charged at. “Quick, go, go, go!”

Turning, I took in the sight in front of us. Butch had formed a deflecting shield and was using it to protect Salem, David, and Chico as they attacked the starving vampires. Unfortunately the shield wasn’t big enough to act as a barrier, and some of the vampires had gotten past it. Denny was shooting yellowy-green ooze out of his thumbs and smallest fingers to engulf and spring them away while Harvey was using his telekinesis to fight off others. But still some vampires had slipped through.

One was currently biting into Stuart’s arm, who then quickly exploded into molecules in order to get free. Another had its teeth buried in Max’s throat as Cristiano attacked it from behind with a knife that I was guessing he’d conjured – nice gift. Ava was fighting off a third and, damn, could she fight! Sam was right; tiny Ava could take care of herself. Apparently that didn’t matter to Salem, because the big guy suddenly turned, looped an arm around her, pulled her back against his chest, and sent a lethal psychic punch hurling at her attacker.

Sam, Evan, and I leaped into action immediately. Sam took Stuart’s attacker out of the equation with an energy ball before joining Evan and me at the front of the group. Sam’s hands were suddenly like flamethrowers as she set the vampires alight, wincing at their high-pitched screams. My bolts of electricity took care of some of the other vampires that followed while the squad dealt with the rest. Still, there were just too many of the fuckers.

When Harvey telekinetically sent them flying down the tunnels, giving us plenty of space, I hollered, “Everyone hold hands!”

Just then, Sam’s wall crumbled behind us. Starving vampires were then charging at us from two directions. Thank fucking God that everyone had immediately done as I’d ordered, because I then managed to teleport us all outside of the caves before the vampires could reach us. Reuben and Damien instantly crowded around Evan, Stuart, Max, and Cristiano, who were all bleeding pretty badly. Fuck.

“We need to make sure they’re all destroyed.” I lifted my hand, and projected an extremely powerful lightning bolt at the entrance. Everything shook and rumbled as the tunnels caved in, crushing and burying alive anything that managed to withstand the impact of the lightning bolt. Breathing a sigh of relief, I grabbed Sam and ran my gaze and hands all over her, taking a full inventory.

“I’m okay.”

Her reassurance didn’t matter, and nor did the fact that I could sense through our bond that she wasn’t in pain. I had to see for myself that she was fine. Apparently I was annoying her because she cuffed me over the head, her mercury irises glinting.

“I said I’m okay. But some of these people aren’t, so let’s get them back to The Hollow now.”