Dread Nemesis of Mine

chapter 15

I grinned lazily—even though grinning was hard with a gag in my mouth—at the three men standing over me as Dash withdrew a long needle from my arm.

"Don't give him too much," said Maximus.

"I daresay he already has," said the Master.

Dash didn't look concerned. "It's only temporary. I need to undo one of his straps to get the IV in."

The big vampire touched a finger to the strap on my forearm and the one securing my bicep. My arm flopped loose. Dash rearranged my arm. I felt a sharp prick in my wrist.

"Okay, tighten the straps now," he said.

Tension pressed against my arm. But I felt way too good to care.

You're drugged, moron! Snap out of it!

"Why?" I tried to say around the hard ball in my mouth. "I want Mommy."

"He's drooling," said the man with the funky mustache.

"I've set the blood drip so it won't drain him faster than he can regenerate," Dash said.

Maximus nodded. "How much blood can we expect daily?"

"Maybe a liter. But he needs to feed."

"Already taken care of," Maximus said, and looked at the British vampire. "How much blood can you spare for the serum, Master?"

The Master adjusted his monocle. "A liter will be no problem."

Dash nodded. "Once I've diluted the serum, I could quadruple our production."

"Excellent work, chaps. I believe our little plan will pay big dividends in the end."

Their conversation droned on, but I was too out of it to comprehend everything they were saying.

"…but what if Daelissa changes her mind again?" Dash waved his arms as if to indicate the room. "All this work will be for nothing."

Mention of the rogue angel's name snapped me from my haze. I focused on the conspirators and tried to take in whatever they said.

"It doesn't matter if she changes her mind," Maximus said. "She's crazy half the time anyway. We figure out how to reprogram those things and Methuselah can send all he wants. We'll just make 'em part of the army."

"Bloody good, chaps," said the Master. He pulled a pocket watch from his cloak and glanced at it. "My contacts tell me the Syndicate is meeting to discuss their difficulties with the Arcanes. They even sent an envoy to the Templars, if you can believe it."

"Are they still arguing about what to do with me?" Maximus grinned.

"Indeed, my young apprentice. But our people have enough votes to keep the Syndicate running in circles."

"And Vlad?"

"He's been beyond caring about the mortal world for centuries." The Master polished his monocle and held it up to the light for inspection. "I believe full-scale war with the Arcanes is imminent, wouldn't you say, Mr. Armstrong?" He replaced the monocle on his eye and headed for the door.

Dash nodded and followed him. "My contacts told me the council is pushing hard for retribution. They've tripled security on arcane schools, and are calling in the battle mages."

"That should keep the Templars off our backs," Maximus said. He leered down at me for a few seconds before turning and leading the others out of the room and away until their conversation faded.

Whatever Dash had injected me with lost its hold some indeterminable time later, and I lapsed back into coherence. I felt tired. So very tired. Hopelessness pressed against me like a suffocating wave.

"Those entities seem intent on doing bad things," said the calm voice of my companion.

I almost cussed him out for stating the obvious, but felt way too exhausted to make the effort. Besides, for all I knew, they had him on the same drugs Dash had doped me with. Anyone would be stupid with that crap in their veins.

"Ungh," I said. It took everything to get one syllable out, not that it mattered with the ball gag in my mouth.

"I do not have a greater context to understand their motives. Perhaps if a library were made available to me I could understand their puzzling desire to cause you harm."

At least he cared.

A hot tear trickled down my cheek. I closed my eyes against the pain. Elyssa's face filled the void. I looked longingly at her full lips, her bright violet eyes, her porcelain skin. I might never again touch those lips or feel her warmth press tight against me.

I miss you.

I groaned.

Someone made a noise to my right. I looked and saw a middle-aged woman I didn't recognize standing there. "I'm supposed to come here," she said, looking around. "Uh, Maximus sent—"

My demon surged for her so fast she didn't have time to complete the sentence. My essence latched onto hers and drew long and hard, an alcoholic having the first drink of the day. She moaned and rubbed her hands up and down her body. I felt the feverish hunger in me burning in my eyes. The woman straddled me and pressed her lips to my face, my chest.

I was out of control. Part of my mind watched in fascinated horror. Another part was too angry and tired to give a damn. Energy flooded into me, rich, warm, and fulfilling. Within minutes, the woman slumped and rolled off me, thudding on the floor. Guilt stabbed into me and I jerked control from the demonic force within before it killed this woman. She might love Maximus and want to be a vampire, for all I knew, but killing her wouldn't solve a thing.

Maximus was the first in a short list of people who needed killing.

Amanda appeared, an evil grin on her face. "Enjoy your dinner, spawn?"

I glared at her. It was all I could do with the gag in my mouth. She tossed the woman over a shoulder, and carried her away down the hall.

Fully refueled, but thoroughly depressed, I stared at the ceiling and wondered how long I would suffer this fate. My only choice would be to let myself die. But would my demonic urges allow me to do such a thing or would it take control at the last minute?

A hand gripped something on the back of my head and the gag popped loose. I spat it out and looked into Maximus's eyes.

"What are you doing down here again?" I said. "Come to gloat more?"

He leaned against the wall to my side and regarded me with a serious look. "Who is your mother?"

"As if you don't know already."

"Humor me."

I considered telling him to screw himself, but saw no harm in telling him something Daelissa must have already told him. "Alice Conroy."

"Are you certain?"

"Go screw yourself." I felt marginally better going with my first instinct.

He smiled. "I'm genuinely curious. You are mixed spawn and human which should make your blood worse than a pureblood, and yet even Dash agrees your blood is far superior."

"Have you ever met someone with my pedigree?"

"No. So for all we know, the assumption that a human-spawn mix is inferior might be wrong." He shrugged. "Dash finds you fascinating. I suspect he would like to take you apart to satisfy his magical curiosity."

"Thank heavens you're such a good, caring person."

Maximus pulled up a stool and sat down. "You realize we don't have to be enemies, Justin. Although I have cooperated with Daelissa, she is far from being a true ally. If anything, I'm just a tool for her."

"Then why help her? She plans to let her other angel friends into this world, and guess who they won't need anymore?"

"I'm not a fool. You think I don't know her plans? I'm a diversion, nothing more. I know she has true allies who are far more involved in her plans, but I don't know who they are. The Master is my true ally, my mentor, and there are several Arcanes who also believe in our cause."

"To do what? Form a vampire army and rule the world?" I snorted. "Maybe you could be a little less cliché with your plans for world domination. Hey, I have an idea—how about you and your vampires sponsor a roadside trash pickup? You can save the environment and feel great about yourselves."

"I don't have a diabolical plan to rule the world, little man." Maximus leaned over me and showed his fangs. "Not that I should expect anyone of your limited years to understand. I want a better world. We have the gift of immortality. Imagine it! Mankind could live forever. Think of the achievements we could make."

His coppery breath was making me nauseous. "With you as the Grand Poobah, right?"

He shrugged. "Perhaps temporarily. The Master has already indicated he has no desire to rule. He would advise me."

"What happens when there are no more humans to feed the vampires? What about the people who don't want to be vampires? The Red Syndicate keeps your numbers low so they don't run out of food, not because they don't want everyone having the gift of immortality." I felt dirty just defending the vampire nation. "Face it, Maximus, you want power, plain and simple. Your whole Vampire's Revolution is just the kind of crap you know people will listen to so you can justify a massive power grab."

"Food will be no issue. Even now we only accept those with the desire to see deeper into themselves. To become more than they are. Those noms who are sheep, who don't care about advancing, will be used as cattle because they deserve nothing more."

"So you get to choose who's predator and prey? Who receives immortality and who gets to be a vampiric pincushion?" I pulled my mouth into a sneer. "You're not a god. You're a sicko."

Maximus opened his mouth as if to argue then clamped his teeth shut with a click. His fist pounded the table right next to my head. "Obviously, you're beyond reason. I'd hoped to convince you I'm right. Perhaps then you'd donate blood to the cause, and I could free you."

Son of a bitch, I could have gotten free!

Talk about screwing myself over. "Uh, actually, you are making sense," I said. "Maybe I was just angry and felt the need to lash out."

Maximus laughed. "Too late." He leaned in close. "Too late. I gave you a chance and you slapped my helping hand away. Perhaps in another year or so I'll reconsider. If it isn't too late by then."

I ground my teeth.

The vampire sat back down on his stool. "I know a little of your history, Justin Slade. Your former classmate Brad Nichols had plenty to say about you."

"Yeah, great job turning him into a vampling, by the way." Brad hadn't been my BFF or anything, but I wouldn't wish turning into one of the walking dead on anyone.

"I regret our original serum was unable to fully turn him, but he accepted the risk. I knew people like this Brad Nichols when I was young. Kids who thought they were better than everyone else and took what they wanted from the weak. I, too, was bullied and harassed."

I gave him an incredulous look. "Dude, you're huge. Who would mess with you?"

"Believe it or not, I was short and scrawny. I grew up in New York and attended a Jewish school. This wasn't popular with the Catholic kids in my neighborhood."

"You're Jewish?"

"I was adopted by Jewish immigrants who found me abandoned when they arrived at port. My real parents left me behind a rat-infested warehouse. I probably would have been eaten to the bones had not my adopted father gone around the back to urinate and found me naked on the ground."

I grimaced. "That's horrible. What kind of people would do that to a baby?"

The look he returned sent chills down my spine. "Believe me, I asked them the same question when I found them." His fangs slid out an inch.

Somehow, I managed not to gulp. "What made you decide to become a vampire?"

"The Master, persecuted by his brethren, fled here from Britain and took a teaching position at my school. He saw how poorly my peers treated me and took me under his wing. When I reached a mature age after university, he offered me the chance for immortality." Maximus held out his hands. "And here I am."

Try as I might, I couldn't make myself hate the guy. After all, he hadn't really kidnapped my sister, although, yeah, I guess he'd kidnapped me and my father. But it wasn't for an evil cause or anything. In fact, the more I thought about his crimes, the more reasonable they seemed. Maximus was an all right guy who wanted what was best for me and everyone else. And he had the prettiest glowing red eyes.

Something from recent memory prompted me to look away from those glinting rubies and squeeze my eyes shut. The positive feelings I had for him faded and a dull ache settled into my head. "Stop using your little vampire tricks on me," I said. "Maybe you had a rotten childhood. Maybe rats almost ate you. It's sad—tragic even. But it's no excuse to kidnap me or my father and start Overworld War One or whichever war you guys are on now." I opened my eyes and looked him full on. "So cut it out."

A surprised look crossed his face. "How did you—" He shook his head. "You're right. Compulsion is obviously not the way to convince you. Perhaps one day you'll see and agree with me. Until then, I regret to say, you must be confined. Once we've dealt with the impending Templar attack, I'll see about relocating you to more comfortable quarters."

"Templar attack?"

"Oh, yes." He smiled. "Their fearless leader, Thomas Borathen, has a very sneaky plan in mind."

"And you know this how?"

"How else? Daelissa has eyes and ears everywhere. One of her minions delivered the details to me. I regret to say we'll have to kill any Templar who sets foot in my domain."

Fear stabbed into my chest. Would Elyssa be in the attacking force? "What do they plan to do?"

"How about this—I'll tell you all about it for your next bedtime story." He checked the time on his phone. "In fact, we have only a few more hours until our uninvited guests show up."

"No, please, Maximus. I'll do whatever you want. Don't kill them."

He leaned down until his face was half an inch from mine. "You spurned my offer earlier, Slade. I may be kind to my allies, but I am unforgiving to my enemies. Bear this in mind for future reference."

With that, he left the room.

"I think your friends are in dire trouble," said the nearly monotone voice of my roommate after a moment of silence.

I couldn't have said it better myself.