Eleventh Grade Burns(38)

“With barely a breath, thinking that he was saving my life, Otis volunteered to turn Nadya. The council guards held me back as I screamed my protests. He left the room, returning only moments later with her blood on his lips to proclaim the deed had been done.”

Vlad gasped. Otis had the best interest of his friend in mind, but he never even considered his feelings.

“I demanded to see my Nadya, to beg her forgiveness. Otis led me to her—her wounds had not yet healed, so new to the vampire world was she. When I saw her, I fell to my knees and begged her to forgive me, promising that she would have a life unlike any other, one that I would give everything to fill with love, laughter, and joy.” Vikas’s eyes shined with the threat of tears at the memory. “But Nadya ... she was furious and thought that I had betrayed her. She threw bitter words at me like daggers and ran from the room. Dawn was too close. I chased after her, but she ran into the light as it spilled over the city. I reached the end of the building, reaching out to pull her back, but my arm caught fire. Tomas and Otis pulled me from the sun, saving my life, though I was determined to extinguish it. Once we were inside, safe among the shadows, I turned on Otis, but Tomas stopped me from taking his life. Your father saved Otis’s life that day, and I did not speak to Otis for fifty-three years.”

“That’s ... horrible. What made you forgive him?”

“Two words. Two words that it took him fifty-three years to say and me fifty-three years to hear.” He stood and collected the empty cups from the table. “He said ‘I’m sorry.’”

Vlad raised an eyebrow. It couldn’t be that simple. “That’s it?”

“No.” Vikas swallowed hard and met Vlad’s eyes. “He meant it.”

Vikas moved across the kitchen and rinsed the mugs in the sink. Vlad was quiet, lost in his own thoughts. Vikas had cleaned the mugs, dried them, put them away in the cupboard, and returned to the table before Vlad spoke, his voice hushed, his thoughts troubled. “Joss is so different now. It’s like he’s not even the same person I was friends with two years ago.”

“That does not surprise me, Mahlyenki Dyavol. Your friend has undergone purification by the Slayer Society.”

That gave Vlad pause. “Purification?”

Vikas nodded. “In order to remind Joss what it is that he is fighting against, to recondition him, the Society has purified your friend with a month’s long barrage of their customs and laws ... and pain.”

Vlad winced. He could only imagine what twisted things Joss had undergone. Of course, that explained the shift in his personality.

Vikas went on, as if to make sure that Vlad understood. “Intense and frequent pain so the things he is told will not easily be forgotten. It’s a practice that they learned from early vampires, though we found it to be far too barbaric and abandoned the practice several centuries ago.”

So that was it. Joss had been brainwashed by the Society, and their friendship was likely gone forever. Vlad wouldn’t apologize for being what he was; that was ridiculous. He was good enough to be Joss’s friend when Joss thought he was human; it shouldn’t matter that he was a vampire. If anyone owed anyone an apology it was Joss, and Vlad was starting to think that it would be at least fifty-three years before that would happen.

If it ever did.

But ... if Joss had been brainwashed, there was always the chance he could be unbrainwashed.

Vlad just had to figure out how.





15


A SLAYER’S DUTY

THE WHITE FEDEX TRUCK BACKED OUT of the driveway and turned onto the road, then shifted gears and sped off down the street. Joss stood in the doorway, clutching a plain white shipping envelope. It was here, at long last. No more waiting. No more reconnaissance. He could move forward with his assigned plan of action.

“Is that the new calendar I ordered?”

He turned his head to his mom, who was peering over his shoulder at the envelope. She was smiting—something she hadn’t done on a regular basis in a long time, not since Cecile was murdered. The move to Bathory had been good for her; being around family had really lifted her spirits. If he could rid the town of vampires, it could be good for all of them. “Nope. Just something from Uncle Abraham. I asked him for help with that research paper in history. Guess he sent some stuff to help me out.”

She nodded, so trusting, at his lie. Joss was good at lying. He had to be. His parents knew nothing about the Slayer Society. His dad’s job was a clever cover set up by the Society, but they really had no clue that Joss was the one doing the real work ... the necessary, honorable work. “Well, Abraham would be the one to ask, wouldn’t he? College professor, world traveler. I’m glad to see you taking your education seriously and working so hard on your grades, Joss. School is important.”