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I can smell his scent; a rich, smoky mixture of freshly burnt wood and expensive whiskey – I’m pretty sure you can’t bottle whatever it is that Gabriel Priest smells like.
“Just kill me then and get it over with,” I whisper. “It’s what you want, right?”
When I say this, he lets out a booming laugh as if I just told him the best joke out there, his head thrown back and everything. Then he looks back down at me with pity in his eyes and shakes his head.
“Little lamb, I have so much more planned for you than just death. I’m going to play with you until I tire, wear you out, stretch you thin… and you’ll enjoy it so fucking much, you’ll beg me not to stop.” He says, grinning that cocky grin of his that I want to punch right off.
“But I’m not a complete monster; I’ll make you forget and allow you to feel human again. Only when you feel at your lowest will I turn you and make you remember everything you did and take you back to your father, so you can be his problem.”
I scoff. “You can’t use your compulsion on me, Priest,” I say, remembering the anti-vamp cocktail I took a few hours ago. “My blood is tainted.”
“Oh, is that so? And how long does it take for that little baobab mixture to work out of your system?” my heart drops. “Five days? Hm, by the look on your face, I would say that I’m correct.” He laughs, then gets to his feet and turns to walk out.
“Wait!” I call out and get to my feet, trembling. He stops short and turns his head to the side, waiting for me to talk. “Why do this? Why come after my family like this when you killed them?!”
Priest has me up against the wall with a hand tightly wrapped around my throat. “Look into my fucking eyes and tell me what you see,” he growls. I wretch open my eyes and peer up into his crimson ones.
“They’re…r-red,” I stutter, my body trembling in fear. “Completely red, even the sclera.”
“Exactly; were you aware that a vampire who has killed an innocent has black where his sclera should be, while his iris remains red?” he says slowly, then smiles when he catches the frown on my face.
No… if that’s true, that means I’ve… that we’ve been killing vampires who’ve never even taken a life? Just killing them for the sake of being who they are?
“What–”
“Seen any vampires in my club with eyes like that? Seen any vamps like that in Vegas?” he asks, and when I don’t answer, he drops me to the floor. “I’ll see you in five days' time, little lamb. I am sure you have a lot of soul searching to do.”
With that, he leaves me alone with my guilt and the dead for company.
GABRIEL
Islide the heavy barrel bolt lock in place and slip on a padlock before making my way back up the tomb’s jagged stone steps. It’s probably cruel to leave Katherine alone down there, but I doubt she’s spared any thoughts of cruelty when my men suffered at her hand.
In the last few hours, I’ve had myriad emotions pass through me; grief to anger to total numbness. From the tremble in my hands to the burning in my chest, I know that right now, I am a combination of all three.
But I don’t know when I’ll finally snap and murder someone I shouldn’t.
“...the fuck! I am going to kill all those fucking cunts!”
I sigh when I hear the voice of my third, Church, coming from upstairs. If anyone was closer to Myrcella than me, it was Church. She called him her second big brother, and he was extremely overprotective of her.
“Get the fuck off of me! Where is Gabe!”
“I’m here,” I say when I walk into the living room, only to see Valentine holding Church back by gripping him in a chokehold. “You can let him go, Valentine.”
As soon as he’s out of the chokehold, he rushes over to me, his long brunette hair wild, matted, and slick with sweat.
He’s the first person I turned when we settled here from Romania. Both he and Valentine are like brothers to me and remain the only two people I trust.
He grabs me by the scruff and twists my t-shirt. “Please tell me it’s a lie!” he exclaims, shaking his head. “Please tell me it’s all bullshit!”
When I don’t respond, he pushes me and takes two steps back before sinking to his knees. “Why her! She didn’t do anything to anyone!” he roars as crimson tears slip down his face.
Church is a head taller than I am, strong, built like an ox, and kills first, then asks questions later; to see him break down like this crushes me.
“I should have been here; I shouldn’t have—”
“Church,” I cut him off. “That won’t help anyone right now. Get to your feet because I have some news.”
