Asylum (Causal Enchantment #2)(39)
For now, the Merth’s powers still confined the vampires to the building, so things were okay. Tense, with a jealous and volatile Rachel lurking at Viggo and Mortimer’s side, with me ignoring Caden and his friends while keeping watch twenty-four hours a day, but okay. They spent most of their time in the cellar, feeding nonstop. Mage seemed to think it was a good idea; that, if they could hold their resolve, feeding more would help them. It was counter to everything I knew, but I wanted so desperately to believe her that I readily supplied it as needed.
And they needed it. Again. I would be making another trip any night now—another random truck hijacking. The spontaneity was safer in one regard—it made it difficult for Viggo to execute any of his clandestine plans. Who knew what else he had up his sleeve? He had become so distrusting, so secretive, that even Mortimer appeared uneasy around him.
I recognized the soft footsteps approaching on my right as Mage’s graceful glide without looking. We had spent much of the last thirty-two days together. I wasn’t sure what was happening—were we becoming friends? Friends who openly declared their distrust for each other; who were prepared to strike the other dead for any reason. Yet a mutual, unspoken respect seemed to be growing—downright sinister for any other species and yet for us, a requirement. I hadn’t had a friend in over a century, aside from Leo.
Our closeness was driving Viggo insane, I could tell—me allied with someone far superior to him, to the leader of a horde of dominant vampires. Several times, he stealthily slid a comment or question into conversation, fishing for information on Mage. He seemed determined to know about her lineage, where she sat in the pecking order. Was she the original vampire? The one whom the witches on Ratheus created just as the witches had created Earth’s? For some reason beyond my understanding, it was important to him.
Mage remained civil but tight-lipped, divulging nothing. So now Viggo kept his distance. Mortimer and their snaky sidekick, Rachel, followed suit. I was fine with that.
“I think it may be time to time to test our venom,” Mage stated.
Everywhere in the atrium, vampire ears perked up. Viggo and Mortimer, previously flanking the statue, suddenly appeared beside us.
“It’s only been a month,” I reiterated.
“Yes, but they’ve been feeding nonstop.”
“On plastic bags. Bags don’t run away.” The chase of a warm, flowing body was as much the addiction as the end result. Just talking about it stirred excitement within me.
“We may find ourselves short on time soon,” Mage said softly. Unlike me, she was convinced the Sentinel were already planning something big. “Wouldn’t you like to know that this was all for something?”
I was secretly desperate to find out. I wanted to witness a transformation, something I had never done. But I wouldn’t turn this place into a slaughterhouse. “How many people will we go through in trying?”
“Who cares!” Viggo exclaimed.
“I am capable of resisting the urges,” Mage continued, ignoring Viggo as she typically did. “I will be the one to do it.”
I caught a flicker of contempt in Viggo’s eyes and couldn’t help but pause for a vindictive little smile. But then I quickly brought myself back to reality. “And what about the others?” I retorted, my eyes roaming over the group of vampires listening to the conversation, their eyes wide with anticipation. Caden and his friends had resurfaced from the cellar and now stood off in a corner, as usual, listening without appearing to care too much about anything.
Mage turned an icy glare toward those milling around the ruined atrium. “They will listen.”
So sure of her authority over them. Why? “And if they don’t?”
She chuckled. “They will listen to me. And if they don’t,” her voice turned hard, “burn them.”
The dramatic gong of the doorbell announced that our guinea pig had arrived on time, ignorant that the invitation from Viggo was in fact his death sentence as a human.
“Now remember, none of you are to so much as step toward our guest,” Mage called out in a stern schoolteacher-like voice, her eyes on the door. “And if you do, you will die where you stand.”
A chorus of hisses and grunts rose from the cowering group, who likely feared that their lack of control would inadvertently get them torched. My eyes flicked over Caden and the others. Please don’t be the ones to test Mage’s threat.
The doorbell rang a second time. Our guinea pig was impatient. Reaching the exterior door as only I could, I punched in the code that only I knew. The door lock released and the door creaked open. “Good afternoon, Mr. Adesina.” I shot one of my flashiest smiles at the towering Nigerian.
He peered over his sunglasses to appraise me from head to toe, intentionally keeping his expression indifferent. But I knew otherwise. Lewis Adesina—his first name wasn’t really Lewis but that’s what he went by—was very much interested in what this address had to offer him. Lewis was an astute businessman and a high-end drug dealer now residing in the wealthier part of Queens, looking for ways to expand his enterprise. He had piqued Viggo’s interest years ago and Viggo kept tabs on him, silently channeling business his way, watching the man’s wealth grow. That was how Viggo worked. He nurtured the up-and-coming, all while extorting pertinent information needed to swiftly clean out accounts—both local and offshore—once his subject amassed greater wealth. Doing this for two thousand years had garnered an obscene return on Viggo’s investment and efforts. Lewis was now valued at somewhere around eight digits. He made the perfect victim.