Page 20 of The Vampire King's Gift

“Read her mind, Arcius!” Balthazar pointed at Lisette’s chest. “I don’t need to see the future to know this is a really bad idea. I’m not letting Christian step into that darkness and–”

“She can teach me,” Christian said as he covered one of Balthazar’s hands with his own and squeezed it. “I need to learn how to control this.”

“You don’t need to learn to control it. I can control it for you. You can be safe now that David is–”

“I don’t think so,” Christian said. “I love that you want to protect me, but I can’t let you do that. It’s like my parents who wanted to stop me from ever dating anyone again for fear they would be like David. In their attempts to protect me, things didn’t go so well. I don’t want to be afraid of this gift. I want to understand it. I want to master it.” He looked out of the diamond again. “The fact that there was a way to trap him is fascinating, but I can’t keep him in here forever.”

“Oh, you can,” Lisette told him with a grin. “He’s stuck there forever if you want it. Or you can take him out and do whatever you like and put them back in again. I’ll show you how. He’s the one that’s chosen to remain here after all. What happens to him is, well, exactly what he deserves, isn’t it, Christian?”

“You sense something about him?” Christian asked her, curious.

“I don’t have to sense anything. All I had to do was look at his face. That wretched look of desire. Guilt and shame and lust. It was all there. Souls like this, that remain in order to hold onto another person that doesn’t want them back tells me that there’s something not quite right about them. You see true love let’s go, even common love let’s go. But obsession and insanity, they remain. And he’s got all of that inside of him. I’m curious about your story if you’d ever tell me–”

“Again, you’ve shown no reason you need to know the story to teach him how to let David in and out of the diamond!” Balthazar growled and his eyes glowed like fire. “There will be no psychological games, Lisette. Not with my fledgling. Not with my people.”

“No, psychological games areyourforte, Balthazar.” She smiled, but there was no amusement there.

Christian leaned forward, the diamond between his fingers. “So… how do I let him out and how do I put him back?”

“A drop of your blood on the diamond will release him. Binding him back in the stone will require that plus your intention he be bound,” she said.

“Sounds easy enough.”

“It can be,” she said. “But you best try it while I am here for the first time.”

Christian let his fangs extend. He brought his thumb up to the right one, intent on puncturing his skin, and putting a drop of blood onto the shiny surface of the diamond. Balthazar grasped his wrist.

“Don’t, Christian. He’s in there. He doesn’t need to be let out,” Balthazar said.

“If it was Roan in here, what would you do?” Christian asked.

“If I had Roan in there…” Balthazar let out a sharp laugh. “I would kill him again. But you cannot kill a spirit. I do not know how to torture spirits.”

“Oh, I do. And I can show Christian,” Lisette said brightly.

Christian shot her a look. “I do not want to torture him. I just want to talk to him. To understand and make him understand.”

“As you wish,” she said. “But I wouldn’t expect much the first few times you release him. Spirits who linger are devious.”

“Nothing compared to Eyros Bloodline Vampires,” Balthazar said tightly. “Perhaps you should let me deal with him in terms of the questioning, Christian.”

“Maybe I will.” Christian smiled at him. He didn’t know if he’d actually be able to speak to David.

“Though not now. Just let him out and stuff him back in again,” Balthazar suggested, again, not wanting to show anyone his secrets.

“Right. Of course. Will Balthazar be able to see David now?” Christian asked Lisette.

“Yes, now that he’s been trapped,” she answered.

He suddenly felt Sophia’s hand on his arm. “Sometimes the future is in the past.”

He nodded jerkily. He felt conspicuous. Everyone was watching him. The Kaly reminded him of snow birds on a line. Though he had no reason to believe that this was against Arcius’ religion, he definitely felt like this was sacreligious.

David is right here. Trapped like he trapped me.

He met Balthazar’s eyes. He let out a breath. He bit into his thumb, feeling the prick, and then he tasted the copper on his tongue. When he drew his thumb back there was a bright red bead of crimson. He turned his thumb to the side so that the pooling blood dripped off and landed on the center of the diamond. He expected it to sit there or something. But it didn’t. His blood disappeared in a flash of light and suddenly David was there.

Two feet away.

---