“They’ve not decided what my punishment will be yet. But they kindly told me what the options are: Death by sunlight, or anywhere from fifteen to fifty years in one of these ridiculous cells. Count yourself lucky.”
Unable to hold his tongue, Jesse spat back, “That’s because you drank Ian’s blood and left him for dead. Then attacked five of their officers. What were you expecting them to do? Pat you on the head and send you on your way?”
“Now, now, Jesse, there’s no need to be like that.” The amusement in Peter’s tone irritated Jesse even more than his words. He knew he was getting to him. “But you know,” he said, voice deadly serious now, “if Raph had never signed that fucking agreement in the first place, I wouldn’t be in here and neither would you.”
“No, we’d probably be dead already.”
“That’s bollocks and you know it. We survived just fine before the agreement. Hunters are always going to be around, you just need to learn how to avoid them.”
Jesse didn’t bother replying. What was the point? Peter would never agree that not killing people was a good thing, and Jesse would always argue that it was. He closed his eyes again as the silence stretched out, hoping that Peter had run out of steam.
Ian’s face filled his mind, and Jesse wondered what he was doing, if he was still in the building. Raph would’ve had him tagged by now, and if he had any sense would get Ian back to the coven as soon as possible. He needed to be away from humans for a while. If that meant away from Jesse too, then so be it. It hadn’t yet been confirmed if he’d be allowed to have visitors or not yet. Fuck, he hoped they’d let him.
After a while, boredom set in and curiosity got the better of him. Against his better judgement, Jesse asked the question that kept coming back to him. “Why did you kill him?”
Peter remained silent, but Jesse heard him shifting position, and knew he was listening. “Did you do it just to implicate me? Do you hate me that much that you’d kill an innocent man to get me out of the way?”
“I don’t hate you, Jesse.” He spoke in that low, seductive tone that used to make Jesse do whatever he asked.
Not any more though.
“Then why?”
“For the same reason I interfere in all your relationships.” He huffed out a laugh. “Those that look like they might be more than a quick fuck, anyway.”
A shiver ran down Jesse’s spine. He didn’t want to indulge Peter, but he had to know. “What do you mean?”
Peter laughed. “Come on, Jesse, you’re not stupid. Did you really think Alexander left you because he didn’t want to leave London?”
“He’d been with his coven over a hundred years.” Jesse had been gutted but he’d understood.
“And his refusal to let you join him there?”
“His coven leader wouldn’t allow it.”
“Oh come on, Phillipe is almost as soft as Raph. He’d have bent over backwards to make Alexander happy.”
Jesse’s hands curled into fists. “What did you do?”
“Ahh, that would be telling. But you know how persuasive I can be. The right word in poor Alex’s ear and he was only too happy to call the whole thing off.”
Stunned, Jesse struggled to find the words. He’d known Peter could be a jealous wanker, but it’d been years since he and Jesse were together. “Why would you do that?”
“Why?” Peter’s laughter held no humour. “Because you’re mine, Jesse. I changed you; I brought you back to life as a vampire. When I was turned, it meant you belonged to your sire for as long as they saw fit. You either learnt to like it or you tried to kill them.”
“That was over a hundred years ago.” Maybe more. Jesse didn’t know Peter’s exact age, but it didn’t surprise him that things like that used to be common practice. He shuddered at the thought. “Thankfully that’s not a thing any more. I don’t belong to you, or anyone else.” Something about what Peter said jogged his memory. He’d read something similar in the old book from the library.
“It might not be common practice these days, but the laws still stand.” He sounded so certain, Jesse tried to remember more about what the book had said. “And I didn’t go to all the trouble of making you mine to go and lose you to a fucking human. I’d already got rid of one, I didn’t think I’d have to do it again, but you couldn’t just fuck him and move on, could you? You had to go back. As though he had more to—”
“Stop.” Jesse held tight to the mattress underneath him, mind reeling at the implications of Peter’s words. “What do you mean you already got rid of one human?” Jesse had fucked a fair few humans in his years as a vampire, but none of them had meant anything. Not like Ian had. And as far as he was aware, they’d all lived through the experience. Unless Peter had followed him without Jesse noticing, he’d have no idea who they even were.
That left only one human that Peter could be referring to, but Jesse’s mind refused to believe it. He didn’t even know Peter existed back then.
Peter remained uncharacteristically silent.
“Peter,” Jesse hissed. “Tell me who you mean.”
For a long moment, Jesse thought he wouldn’t answer, but then he started to talk.
