Enslaved Page 7

  He came to a stop right before the dinning room doors, debating whether or not to make a run for it and deciding that the Guardians would track him down if he did. So, Vince with his head up and radiating false confidence, pushed the doors open with one hand, cradling Viktoria in the other arm, and sauntered into the still quiet room.

  The Oracle's eyes immediately fell upon Viktoria's body, from her snow-white hair to her bloodless face to her slim, curvy body and down to her toes, racing back to stop at her right arm that was bared to her.

  Oracle Heather moved with agonizing slowness as she strode towards Vince, a hand outstretched to Viktoria.

  "May I?" She wondered to Vince, still gazing thoughtfully at Viktoria.

  Vince shrugged, but said nothing.

  Heather took that as an invitation to run her fingers along the faint marks on Viktoria's arm. "You do know that she isn't going to change fully, right? Her human blood is just as strong as her vampire blood...and she's going to be more powerful than I thought..." Heather's voice trailed off as another vision into the future seized her right as her hand touched a small fully-formed design on the inside of Viktoria's right wrist. The design was of a small hand splayed out, each fingertip had a strange symbol hovering above it....

  Heather returned to the present, her face blanched as she stared down at Viktoria, eyes wide. "She's a giver and taker," Heather murmured.

  Vince's brow furrowed, he hadn't known they categorized vampire with abilities..."And that would mean?" He asked, trying to ignore the eyes on him.

  "She can take powers and shapes like a copy-cat, but she can also give them. Look on her left wrist, Vincent. There you'll see a hand that is closed into a fist. The one open means she can give, the one close means she can claim...You must be careful with her, Vince, or YOU alone can murder everyone. Keep her powers hidden from her or all is lost, Vincent. All will be lost." Heather started walking towards the exit, head bowed slightly.

  Her mate followed her quietly, stopping when she stopped at the door. Heather turned towards the Guardians and the vampires at the table, her eyes grave. "You cannot execute this man and his mate, you can decide her fate on the summer solstice of next year, until then...leave in peace." With that, Oracle Heather departed, leaving behind wise words that could bring the apocalypse upon every breathing body on the planet.

  "I think this Gathering is finished," Savant said quietly, glancing in Vince's direction before rising from his seat and striding powerfully out of the room, his entourage following close behind.

  Everyone left in peace, but left Vince and his life in pieces.

  Chapter 22

  Vince returned to his room with a gloomy attitude, he knew that nothing would ever be the same again, that he couldn't reverse this or control it. He was aware that his innocent angel would be a demon of the night sooner or later, she would hold everyone's fate in her delicate hands...and to wrap it all up, Vince had to hide her powers from her. He didn't think he could live with that...hiding what she could do, leave her in the dark.

  With a groan Vince wished Splice was there with him. Splice had powers almost like Viktoria would have, he would know what to do. Vince glanced over at Viktoria and his heart throbbed achingly at the sight of her, he truly did love her, but could his love protect her enough? Or will it just kill the both of them?

  He didn't know and at the moment, didn't care anymore, he was going to take this one step at a time...Vince's ears picked up the sound of Jon walking up the stairs and anger immediately pulsed through him like the blood that gushed through his veins. Vince was going to take care of his brother once and for all.

  * * *

  Splice sighed as he entered the post office, he was expecting a letter from his cousin and wasn't sure if it had come yet...

  "Gregory Jonson?" The post master called out over the sea of people crowding into the small area.

  Splice raised a gloved hand into the air and made his way through the throng of juicy British humans. He had had to create a new name, because who in their right mind would consider a guy with the name of "Splice" normal? No one, really, and if he was going to fit in around here he was going to need to at least SEEM like a human.

  "Here, this came in earlier today...from a Vincent DeCorello-"

  "De-CHORE-ello." Splice corrected briskly. "Thank you," he snatched the white envelope from the man's hand and sauntered off.

  Once outside in the chilly air, Splice tore into the paper, pulling out the note enclosed.

  Splice,

  Word just came in that Raina's back in the states. She's somewhere near my territory and you need to get moving or you'll lose her- again. She's stirring up some problems for me, killing too many vampires near the boundaries and making me clean up the mess whenever the Guardians find out. She has one last chance before I go after her and she never comes back, Splice. One Last Chance. I'll see you soon and wish me luck with the Gathering.

  Your merciful cousin,

  Vincent DeChorello

  Oh, shit. Splice thought as he got into his car and started for the apartment he had rented. Vince wasn't good with troublemakers, Splice should know, he had been- is- one himself...Swallowing nervously, Splice pushed the speed limit. Raina better not screw up again, he thought. His mate was a rebellious vampire hunter...he guessed that was what attracted him to her.

  Damn, attraction, Splice thought, it always gets ya killed in the end.

  And he was right, Attraction came with the beauty of Death.

  Chapter 23

  Tori felt strange pulling sensations at her mind as if invisible fingers were tugging at her brain, forcing it in different directions. Her body seemed a little colder than normal and her heart...well she couldn't really feel it beating in her chest like she used to...she wondered why. And than everything came crashing back into her throbbing head...she was a vampire now...she loved Vincent Gabe DeChorello...she was his slave...his lover...his Viktoria...

  She tried to open her eyes, but every time she did she felt as if she had a bright light shining directly in her eyes. Slowly, millimeter by sluggish millimeter she slid her eyelids open and stared up at a black ceiling. Her eyes slowly moved to her left, then to her right, surveying the maroon-painted walls. Tori attempted to move her arm, found it moving far too fast to be normal for a human-

  Vampire, she thought, trying to drill it into her brain. I'm a vampire now, bloodsucker, thirsty creature of the night...but yet, she wasn't thirsty, didn't crave blood like Vince had told her she would. Am I still a human? Or am I vampire? She asked, suddenly not sure of herself.

  And then she saw crimson eyes that filled her sight, felt cool fingers brush her cheek, heard a voice that had always kept her up at night...

  "Viktoria, darling, you're awake," Vince whispered, a slight smile in his tone. But as she struggled to sit up, her limbs moving at a speed that mystified her, she saw that Vince's face was slightly strained, drawn...he seemed aged somehow without altering his twenty-year-old vampiric youth.

  "What's wrong? What happened?" She demanded, remembering that she had succumbed to the change right before the Gathering.

  He hesitated slightly and if Viktoria hadn't known him she wouldn't have known that he was...holding something back from her as he said smoothly, "Nothing of interest. The Gathering went well, the Oracle spoke about you, Jon got a knife to the arm, we drank blood, had a good time." Vince spoke in an unnatural- for him- rush.

  "Wait, back up, Vince. 'The Oracle spoke about you' which is me, and the Oracle is the wisest person to walk this Earth. Vince...what did she say?"

  Vince couldn't lie to her, no matter what the Oracle had commanded of him. He couldn't lie to the person he actually LOVED, nor could he let Viktoria live with a piece of her missing...

  "Wait, back up, Vince. 'The Oracle spoke about you' which is me, and the Oracle is the wisest person to walk this Earth. Vince...what did she say?"

  I bit my lip and said in an flawless voice, "Said that you'd be a vam
pire who won't change fully." There, it was half of the truth- well, a quarter of the truth, he amended.

  Her brow furrowed slightly as she thought. "That's all? Knowing you, you wouldn't get flustered about that as much as you are now."

  Vince looked away. "Yeah, that's all she said," he lied, sealing the deal right there, there was no going back now. "Are you thirsty?"

  Viktoria didn't say anything for a moment, "No. Not really, but please, explain how Jon got a knife stuck in his arm."

  "Well..." Vince said and launched into an altered story that would comply with his little white lie.

  He hoped Viktoria didn't find out about what happened three nights ago, because if she did, Vince would lose her once again...and possibly forever. Vince didn't want to end up like his cousin, trailing after his mate, looking out for her on the sidelines while his cousin cleaned up her vamp-hunting messes...

  Oh, God, Vince thought, what did I get myself into?

  Chapter 24

  Splice could sense the boarders of Vince's territory. It gave off a dizzying sensation that crept into your head and disoriented you, made you almost forget about what you were about to do. But Splice just kept reminding himself that he needed to get to Vince to protect Raina...Protect Raina...Raina...

  * * *

  Splice made it to the Gothic mansion-like building sitting between two sheer cliff faces. It was monstrous and elaborate with huge stone pillars supporting the overhang that shielded the wide porch from the sunlight. The windows' shutters were painted black, the structure itself coated in a pearly white that still, to this day, looked fresh as if it had just been painted a day ago.

  He made it to the glass front doors and rapped on its surface, his mind feeling as if it was being tugged at, someone inside the house had powers. Little did he know that when that door opened his life would change forever.

  Tori glowered at one of the vampiresses who had nearly killed one of the servants as she headed for the door, for someone had just knocked. She didn't like it and she guessed that was her human side speaking seeing as she was a damned hybrid.

  "You know when to stop feeding, Maya. Don't go overboard unless you want to starve." She snapped. Most of the vampires already knew her in the Hotel, after all she had been a "full-fledged" vamp for nearly two weeks.

  Tori got to the door, opened it cautiously and stopped dead in her tracks...hadn't Vince been upstairs when she had last seen him? How could he have changed his clothes and gotten outside so fast...? Tori stroked the white gauze bandages that had been wrapped around her right arm when she had woken up a few weeks prier, Vince had mentioned something about her falling in the woods right after she started to finish the change...she seemed to do it now whenever she was uncertain. The gauze wrapped all the way up to her right shoulder from her wrist,

  "Hello, I'm looking for Vincent DeChorello," the Vince-replica said. He was tall with pale skin, rusty-red colored eyes, long, shaggy black hair and that same facial structure. Though he wore informal jeans, a black T-shirt, and DC shoes...hmm, this is a change, Viktoria mused.

  "Who are you?" She demanded warily, Vince had told her to watch who she let into the house, said that there had been some kind of disagreement about something during the Gathering and that people where trying to get at someone within the building- he hadn't said who, though, and that made Tori edgy.

  "Who are you?" He echoed, raising an eyebrow the same way Vince did when he was confused or reprimanding a servant.

  "Viktoria. You?"

  "Splice," the guy answered and understanding filled Tori.

  "Ohhh, come right in," Tori let Splice in, closing the door quietly behind him and leading Vince's favorite cousin up the spiral staircase to the second floor.

  She could practically feel Vince's presence on this level, it was as if her mind was acutely aware of him to the point that she could sense his mind...odd, but she liked the strange tugging feeling coming from him. Vince had said that that only happened to vampire mates, but lately...she wasn't sure, she had been feeling that tugging feeling constantly and if she was honest with herself, it was extremely strong now, pulsing like a heart in her head.

  When she glanced over her shoulder to make sure Splice was still behind her, the pulsing got stronger than before, when she looked away it lightened slightly, but was still stronger than all the other tugs...

  She reached Vince's bedroom door and motioned for Splice to wait a moment. Tori knocked on the door and strode in, gesturing one more time for Splice to stay put.

  Splice looked the Viktoria girl up and down as she led him deeper into the house. She was a very attractive girl with flowing snow-white hair, piercing blue eyes with a nearly invisible ring of scarlet lining her pupils. She was definitely a vampire, though he wasn't sure what significance she was to Vince, Splice thought the human was his. Shaking his head he continued to examine this vampiress, she was a newbie, but her skin was a flawless porcelain color, it took a vampire a good year to gain that much paleness, and her body...Mmm, curves in all the right places....

  Raina.

  The thought popped into his mind suddenly...what was he THINKING? Raina was his mate...The insistent pulling of a soul against his mind distracted him, and with another jolt, Splice realized that this Viktoria had some sort of power...but shouldn't she have a mark like he did?

  Splice glanced down at his right wrist, seeing the little fist made of silver...it looked like stainless steel had been sewn into his flesh, flashing in different lights. Of course, he was a copy-cat and he already had so many different forms and powers to him that it made him and his mark stronger, more prominent.

  The vampiress stopped at a door and put up a slim finger, telling him to wait a moment.

  Splice raised an eyebrow but leaned against the wall, trying to figure out this mysterious and powerful-seeming woman...

  Viktoria turned the knob on the door after knocking and slid into the room, closing it behind her for a moment.

  Splice listened closely...

  "...Ah, my Viktoria." There was a quiet kissing noise and a slight sigh. "Who was at the door, angel?" Vince wondered in an unusually tender tone. It shocked Splice to hear his cousin so- so AFFECTIONATE to someone...than that must mean...

  The door opened once more and Viktoria appeared, "Come in Splice," she said in a soft voice that sounded too sweet to belong to a vampire; too human-sounding.

  Splice walked in and watched, stunned as Viktoria moved into Vince's arms. And for a moment, Splice's system seemed to flood with a mysterious disappointment...why was that? Why was he disappointed that his cousin- Splice's favorite cousin who had been taking care of HIS own mate- had this intriguing woman...?

  "Ah, that was fast, Splice. Didn't expect you to be here so fast," Vince grinned. "This is Viktoria, my angel."

  Splice noticed that he hadn't said "mate" like most vampires would've if they as close to someone as these two seemed to be.

  "Well, seeing as you threatened my...my mate's life," those last words resisted to form on his lips for a moment, "and I don't want Raina getting hurt."

  Vince examined Splice's eyes for a moment, then glanced at Viktoria. "Viktoria, do you mind if I talk to my cousin alone for a moment?"

  "No," she said with a shrug, kissed him on the cheek, and for a moment, Splice saw Vince's eyes soften slightly at the small contact, then his expression changed from loving to strained and nervous when Viktoria had departed.

  "Oh, no." Splice sighed, he knew his cousin well enough to know that Vincent Gabe DeChorello never got nervous...or frightened. Something was terribly wrong. "What's wrong?"

  "It's Viktoria..." he choked out. "She- She's the Siren."

  Those three words were enough to make Splice anxious, he couldn't imagine how his cousin must be feeling.

  "Oh, man." Splice breathed, the strange soul-tug he had been getting from Viktoria was correct, she was powerful...beyond anything that was normal by vampire standards.

  "Yeah, you can
say that again." Vince said, sitting down in a chair by the window, resting his elbows on his knees, and burying his face in his hands.

  "Oh, man."

  Vince shot him a look, he was in no shape for jokes, no one would be if they had a goddess as a mate.

  Chapter 25

  Splice was left gaping at Vince after his cousin had finished retelling the events of the Gathering. "So...those bandages on her arms, they're just there to cover them up? So she can't use her powers?"