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appreciate the help. But even so, Aubrey knew that Jager was too fond of Fala
to look the other way if she was truly threatened.
"Damn you, Aubrey," Fala cursed. She scowled but was wise enough not to insult
him again.
"Already been done," he answered calmly.
"Damn you again!" she shouted, delivering a glare that would have stilled
serpents in their dens.
"Too late," he quipped. "And after five thousand years, I'd think you could
come up with something better than that."
Fala growled but didn't attempt to attack him. Though she was far older than
he was, he had always been stronger, and he was a better fighter. If she
fought back, she would lose.
"Fine," she snarled. "But if you don't kill the human, or otherwise dispose of
her, I will. Is that perfectly understandable to you, Aubrey? "
"Yes."
In the next moment they were both gone, Aubrey retreating to his room. The
nightclub's heavy music reverberated through the building, but he was used to
it. He fell into bed and a sleep of complete oblivion. Like most of his kind,
he did not dream.
CHAPTER 11
When Aubrey woke he brought himself to the edge of Red Rock, the forest that
surrounded New Mayhem and fringed Ramsa. The ability to instantly move from
one place to another was a power he used often, as he had for more than two
thousand years.
The full moon was about a week away still, but Aubrey could easily sense a few
untrained witches and some werewolves lurking in the busy forest. There were
also several vampires nearby, all of Mira's bloodline.
Ramsa was supposedly Mira's territory, but that barely worried Aubrey. Mira,
though ancient, was one of the weakest of their kind, and her fledglings were
little stronger than most humans. Few in Mira's bloodline had lived through
Fala's extermination of them a few hundred years before, and now they were
hardly even considered part of the vampiric community. Most of them were so
sensitive toward their prey that they only fed on animals and willing humans.
There was a party going on at a house on the edge of the woods. Shannon had
unwittingly invited Aubrey to it, before he had frightened her. The house was
filled with people, and the faint scent of alcohol floated from it to where
Aubrey stood watching, many yards away. He easily reached out with his mind
and sifted through the thoughts of those inside.
The minds he touched were hardly entertaining either hazy from drinking, silly
from joking, or angry from gossiping. He found Shannon quickly. She had drunk
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some beer and her defenses were down; little effort was necessary to convince
her to come outside alone.
Shannon wandered absently into the woods, and jumped in surprise when she came
upon Aubrey.
"Um& Hi, Alex."
She greeted him tentatively, glancing back at the house in obvious confusion
as to how she had arrived here. Before she could decide to leave, he reached
into her mind and her nervousness faded.
"Shannon, right?" he asked, taking a step toward her.
"Yeah," she answered with a coy smile. "Why are you hiding here in the "
Sleep. Aubrey sent the command to her mind as soon as he was close enough to
catch her as she fell.
She collapsed, unconscious in an instant, and he caught her without effort. He
could have caught someone ten times her weight with no difficulty. Though he
could control any human physically, he didn't relish the possibility that the
girl would scream and attract inconvenient attention. It was easier to have
her asleep as he fed. He had done this many times before.
He tilted Shannon's head back to expose the artery, which was covered by
nothing more than a thin layer of skin. His canines, which looked normal
enough most of the time, extended to razor-sharp points. These fangs pierced
the skin of her throat quickly and precisely, and within moments he was lost
in the sensation of the rich human blood that ran over his tongue and quenched
his thirst.
CHAPTER 12
CARYN HAD SENSED Aubrey's presence even before she saw Shannon leave the party
with a dazed look on her face. She had felt the pressure of his mind on
Shannon's.
Caryn had no idea what she would do once she encountered Aubrey, but she felt
compelled to follow Shannon anyway. A group of boys had bunched together at
the door, and Caryn was delayed for a few minutes as she tried to slip through
the throng. Once she was finally outside, it took her only a short moment to
find the vampire and his prey. She could easily sense Aubrey's aura, which was
like a shadow flickering just outside the normal spectrum of vision. She could
feel his power slither across her skin.
This ability was her line's gift or curse, as some would say. Though her
family, the Smoke line, had always been healers, most witches were vampire
hunters. Caryn had a witch's blood, which was sweeter and stronger than a
human's, and a witch's knowledge, which made her dangerous to the vampires.
But she did not have the ability to fight. She had always known herself to be
easy prey, and had tried out of self-protection to avoid their kind, unless
doing so meant risking an innocent person's life.
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