AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I tried to pull my arm away, but she held firm to my sleeve. “I can’t be in there,” I said, my voice tinged with desperation.
“Why not?”
“It’s my magical well,” I tried to explain. When the look of skepticism on her face didn’t abate, I continued, “It’s trying to latch onto the lunar energy in the greenhouse. That’s why the lights started flickering.”
Eliza frowned. “I thought that was the aetheric core malfunctioning.”
I shook my head. “I’m sure that’s still a problem, but I’m adding to the burden. I’m afraid that if I stay in there, I’ll drain the greenhouse dry.”
Eliza’s face paled, and she glanced back at the building. She pursed her lips at the sight of the lights inside still flickering—a lot less than they’d been before, but still, something was wrong. “Maybe you should get a little farther away,” she said, a worried note entering her voice. “There’s a café three blocks past the park that caters to humans. Meet me there. And don’t go looking for any trouble.”
She hurried back inside before I could answer, drawing some handheld mechanical contraption from her tool belt. The hungry entity inside me wanted to follow her back into the greenhouse to devour more magic, but I forced myself to walk in the opposite direction, passing through the gates and back into the urban part of the city.
I made it to the café Eliza had mentioned without incident, only to find that the shop was closed for the day. My empty stomach sank in disappointment, until I remembered the second roll I’d stashed in my pocket. I took a bite out of it as I leaned against the café’s corner window, trying to remain unobtrusive as I watched the ebb and flow of traffic. There were a lot more people traveling on foot than by aetherbike—the ones who could afford transportation were vampires, though I still spotted the occasional human thrall.
A few buildings down from the café, a human exited a townhouse, carrying a large trashcan in her arms. I watched as she hurried up the street to the alleyway at the corner, only to trip on a crack in the sidewalk. I winced as she fell forward, spilling the contents of the can all over the front of a well-dressed vampire female.
“My dress!” she shrieked as refuse splattered the front of her pink silk gown. The other pedestrians hurried out of the way while the human servant scrambled to clean up the mess. Rage twisted the vampire’s pretty face, and she lifted her skirts so she could deliver a swift kick to the human’s ribs. “You wretched little gremlin!” she screamed as the human collapsed to the ground. “Do you have any idea how much this dress cost?”
I pulled a stake from my pocket and advanced on the vampire, my own anger rising to the surface as the passersby did nothing to help. The human tried to fight back, even landing a solid strikeon the vampire’s face, but the blood-sucking bitch continued to kick the human until she curled into a ball.
I had nearly reached them, was within striking distance, when someone grabbed me by the back of my coat and yanked me into the shadows of an awning.
“I wouldn’t interfere,” a male voice rasped in my ear. He was a vampire, but his scent was laced with sea moss and a hint of brine, reminding me of the ocean. I tried to stake him, but my muscles locked up, and my arms snapped to my sides. “It won’t end well for either you or the human.”
Telekinesis.
“Let me go!” I snarled, struggling against the invisible hold. I drew on what little magic I’d gathered from the greenhouse to summon a tendril of shadow, and the vampire hissed as it struck him, temporarily losing his mental hold on me. I surged forward, but stopped at the sight of two city guards pulling the vampire woman off the servant.
“What is the meaning of this?” another vampire demanded, striding up the street. He wore a housecoat over a simple linen shirt and trousers, his feet stuffed into boots that hadn’t been properly tied. It was obvious he had left his house in a hurry. “Why is my servant cowering in the street like a beaten dog!”
“Unhand me!” the vampire female demanded. The guards came to a stop—though they did not release the female—allowing her to address the other vampire. “Your insolent wretch of a slave attacked me with a trash can and ruined my dress. I am well within my rights to punish her!”
“You certainly are not,” the vampire snapped. He stood protectively over his servant as he faced off against the outragedwoman. “It ismy rightto punish her for any infraction as her owner.”
“Well, if you’d trained her properly, this wouldn’t have happened!” The female fumed as she shook her stained skirts in the other vampire’s direction. “Look at this! I demand you pay for a replacement.”
The vampire male pressed his lips together as he looked the woman up and down. I clenched my jaw—her dress was in a sorry state, to be sure, but nothing a good cleaning wouldn’t fix. There was no need to replace it, anddefinitelyno need to punish the servant so harshly.
“All right,” he finally agreed. He pulled a card from his wallet and handed it to the woman. “You may send the bill to my house.”
The guards released the vampire woman, who took the card with a sniff. “She also struck me,” she said, pointing to the already healed spot on her cheek.
The other vampire looked to the guards, who nodded their confirmation. “Very well,” he sighed. “Three lashes.”
The human whimpered, and with a flick of her master’s wrist, she floated into the air. I gasped as the vampire ripped the back of her dress open, exposing an expanse of olive skin already riddled with scars.
“Please, Master,” she sobbed as he undid his belt. “It was an accident!”
“Sorry, pet,” the vampire said as he pulled the strip of leather taut between his hands. “But I told you what would happen if you stepped out of line again.”
He raised the belt, and I flicked my hand, sending my tendril of shadow magic toward him. The crowd gasped as it wrapped around the belt and ripped it from his hand, then flung it across the street. The four vampires turned as one in my direction, and the male behind me swore.
Then next thing I knew, my arms and legs were bound tight against my body again, and I was flying across the rooftops. It took me a second to realize the vampire who’d tried to stop me had used his telekinetic magic to immobilize me again, then thrown me over his shoulder and took off at a run.
“Put me down!” I shrieked over the roaring wind.
“Not a chance, sweetheart,” the vampire said cheerfully. The city blurred around us as he leaped from rooftop to rooftop, clearing the city blocks at a speed that Eliza’s aetherbike couldn’t hope to match. “While I do have a thing for women who know their way around weapons, your self-control leaves much to be desired. I’m returning you to our benevolent leader so he can decide what to do with you.”
