He only shook his head, gaze darting over the edge of the tremendous drop.
This dude was going to jump.
So I did what I had to. I reached out with my vampiric mind control. I almost never used it, but I could feel my power wrapping around him.
“Step down,” I instructed, lowering my arms now that I had him under control.
His eyes fluttered close, and his shoulders relaxed a couple of inches, succumbing to my will.
I hated using this power. Someone’s will should always be their own. But this was to save a life. I’d make an exception for this dumb-butt, so he didn’t hurt himself.
Then his eyes snapped open, a green glow emanating from them.
Aw blood balls. He’d been worshiping a god.
“I vow allegiance to the one true god,” he said.
Before I could ask him which god, the blanket of power I’d wrapped around him fractured.
With that, he jumped. A collective gasp, along with a couple of strangled screams, came from behind me as he hurtled over the glass partition.
I darted forward to grab him, but his body already cleared the edge. At the last second, I grabbed the back of his shirt, but I lacked the leverage to easily pull him back over, and he hung there like dead weight.
I just needed a minute to get a better grip to drag him up.
Come on, vampire strength.
His pale eyes turned up to meet mine, without a trace of fear in them. “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.”
Then he lifted his arms, slipped out of his shirt, and plummeted downward.
I wanted to shut my eyes. Keep from seeing him hit the ground, but I couldn’t force them to close.
His body smashed into the walkway with a sickening sound. He landed in front of a group of girls, and a chorus of shrieks rose into the air. His head twisted on impact, so he faced upward. Even from here, I could see the red-stained teeth and sightless eyes. Blood seeped out in a pool around his broken limbs.
The screams and rush of everything around me faded into the background as I backed away. A strange numbness washed over me. People ran to the edge, peering over with wet eyes and shocked expressions. Multiple calls to 911 echoed in my ears.
At first, I thought I should do something too, but there was nothing left. The kid was dead.
I turned away and walked back into the club. The crying and exclamations were muffled, as if I were underwater.
You’d think as a vampire, it would be no big deal to me. But it’s not like it is in story books. I didn’t turn and become a monster. Heightened senses, strength, speed, and a need to drink blood, sure, but a desire to kill? The media got it wrong. I didn’t lose my soul when I turned. It hardened and crystallized in my body. There would be no afterlife for me. No ticket to heaven. If someone snuffed me out, my soul would be destroyed, along with my body.
The kid painted on the pavement at least had a shot of getting into the heavenly gates.
Still, it didn’t make me feel better. The vision of him hitting the ground played over in a sickening loop.
My limbs grew stiff, and I struggled to take in what just happened, even as I scented the hiding place of the motorcycle suit and helmet. He’d stashed it behind a lounging couch. Reaching further under, my fingers closed on the scabbard.
You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.
It wasn’t the first time I’d heard the C. S. Lewis quote. It had been written on a piece of paper and packaged in a box, along with a god’s head. Presumably, the blade I held now was the same one that killed Seth. Though a major dick nozzle, I still hadn’t wanted Seth dead. Even when he did his best to torture me and kill my boyfriend.
That would have been one hell of a feat too, considering my boyfriend was literally death. The grim reaper, the god of the dead, and coincidentally, the owner of the most exclusive hotel on the Vegas Strip, Sinopolis.
But whoever killed Seth intended to change the world order. The quote confirmed one of the gods was no longer satisfied with the status quo, giving reign of this world to the humans. They would upset the balance even if that meant breaking the law of Osiris and taking a worshiper, imbuing that person with power.
Somehow, I made it back to my motorcycle, though I didn’t remember the journey down. Red and blue lights filled the streets as a crowd gathered.
