Page 35 of Soulbound Shadows: Part 1

Evangeline’s eyebrows rose, and she let out a low whistle. “No. This is actually a pretty nice tent.” She turned the bag over and read more of the label. “Shit, it’s a really nice tent. Pretty big, too.”

I found a suitable patch of ground and pulled the ribbon that was supposed to activate the enchantments worked into the tent. It expanded out from its small bundle quickly, and soon, there was a round canvas tent in front of me, maybe ten feet tall and twelve feet across.

“Fancy,” Evangeline said from where she was setting up her own tent, an apparently non-magical one just big enough to fit a sleeping bag. It had been patched up several times, and one of the poles was wrapped in duct tape.

“I wanted to be comfortable,” I said a touch defensively.

“Well, since your comfy tent is good to go, why don’t you get us some firewood? I’ll get this one set up and then put up some wards. I don’t want any surprise visitors in the middle of the night,” Evangeline said.

I tried not to think about the dream. I failed. “Firewood,” I said. “Yes. I’ll do that.”

By the time I’d gotten the wood and built a fire, Evangeline had the wards in place. It was odd, being inside them. Her magic felt like a soft blanket wrapped around me. I sat by the fire, watching curiously as she made herself dinner.

“You owe me an explanation,” she said as she chopped up vegetables. “How did you make the fish do that?”

I hid my wince. “Some of the more powerful vampires have certain abilities. It’s very rare, but a few of us are capable of touching the minds of other creatures. You’ve seen me do it before. It’s even rarer, but some of the vampires with that ability can also influence the minds they reach out to.”

Evangeline’s shoulders tightened almost imperceptibly. “I thought that was just an urban legend.” Someone who hadn’t been keeping an ever-growing glossary of her expressions and tones of voice might have thought she sounded casual. “But you can actually control minds.”

“It isn’t an urban legend,” I said. “Although most of the rumors are greatly exaggerated. Many of my kind like that it makes people nervous.”

“I need details.”

I nodded, staring into the fire. “It works best on simpler minds. Animals are the easiest. I’ve been told that small children are also easy to control, but I’ve never done that myself.”

“And adults?”

“It’s possible, at least for me. The older the vampire, the more powerful, and I’m… quite old. I can do it, but the person I was doing it to would be aware of it. I’m not strong enough to make them think it’s their own idea.”

Evangeline’s shoulders relaxed. “Can they feel it if you’re just reading their minds, not trying to control them?” she asked. The caution in her voice was gone, replaced by curiosity.

“They can. It’s not usually unpleasant, it just feels odd.”

“Usually,” Evangeline said. She put a skillet in the coals and began dropping ingredients into it. Chopped onions sizzled in melted butter, and she sprinkled salt over them.

“The vampire can choose to make it painful,” I said softly as I pulled a flask from the breast pocket of my jacket and took a long pull from it. “They can convince your brain that every single one of your nerve endings is on fire.”

“Jesus,” Evangeline said. “That sounds horrible.”

I took another swig. “It is. Trust me.”

She gave me an assessing look. “You’ve felt it.” It wasn’t a question.

“I was young. Disobedient. My father made it clear that he had certain expectations for me, and that if I failed to meet them there would be consequences.”

“How old were you?”

“Ten,” I said. The onions had gone soft and translucent. Evangeline stirred them and added a handful of chopped mushrooms. I watched the way her hands moved in the firelight, grateful I wasn’t bearing the full brunt of her focus.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

I shrugged a shoulder. “It was a long time ago.” I offered her the flask.

She hesitated. “Is that full of, uh…?”

“It’s not blood. It’s a very good brandy.”

Evangeline took the flask and sipped cautiously, then made a delighted face and took a bigger sip. “Shit, that’s good,” she said, tilting the flask toward the firelight. The small sigils etched into it flashed red in the light. “Nice enchantment, too. Is it actually bottomless?”

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