Page 33 of Kept 4
“You,” he mutters, “are nothing but trouble. It will give me the utmost pleasure to drain you before I kill my friend.”
I screech in terror, as he leans down and hauls me up to his lips with one hand as though I am lighter than a cat. Watching my expression, he stabs the stake into my shoulder and twists it agonisingly.
“You have something that does not belong to you,” he grins at my tortured expression, “tell me where it is, and I will kill you quickly, deny me this information and I will take my time.”
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” I whisper.
Snarling, he brings his lips to my throat and bites me, hard, as we begin to rise from the ground, and I realise he is going to fly me away, torture me until I tell him where the weapon is.
I scream and glance towards Nicholas, terrified, wanting him to save me and, if this is not possible, needing him to be the last thing I see. I realise he is unable to move, his body has been broken completely and will take a few minutes at least to repair – minutes I don’t have.
His gaze shifts to my boot, now a metre off the ground, but I roll my eyes and shake my head – I know what he is suggesting, but I will not do it. If Gerald is really the original vampire, had lied when he said he was not, killing him will also kill the one I love.
I begin to feel weaker, my heart slows from blood loss, and I know when Gerald finishes sipping he will fly me far, far away. The pain as he draws deep from my jugular is excruciating, nothing like the exquisite pleasure I get from Nicholas’ bite.
I hold my lover’s gaze as he moans; “Josephine. Do. It. Now.”
Part of me screams ‘no, never,’ but another part, perhaps the stronger part of me that has always wanted to survive, no matter what, knows that when Gerald has what he wants from me, he will come back and kill Nicholas too, so nothing will have been gained.
But if I kill Gerald, I might live, and Margarita will be free.
Sobbing, I raise my knee and withdraw the silver weapon from my boot. Meeting the eyes of the one I love more than anyone I’ve ever loved before, I gasp; “this is for Margarita,’ and plunge it into Gerald’s side.
Gasping and spitting out my blood, he pulls his fangs away, his face incredulous as he sees what is buried in his side. But then, he begins to laugh, and I know I have made a terrible mistake.
We are now at least four metres in the air, but before he can whisk me away, before he can fully pull the weapon from his body, I lean up and wrench the wooden stake from my shoulder, and drive it, a plain old wooden stake, into his heart. He screams, and I begin laughing hysterically as he splinters apart, his face shocked, eyes incredulous, and we both fall from the sky.
“And that is for the bears,” I choke, still laughing and crying at the same time, as I rise on shaky legs and, leaning down, pull the silver weapon from his now flaking form.
Straightening up, I see Margarita and Daniel standing a short distance away. Margarita looks shocked, appalled. Daniel looks bored.
“Daniel? I gasp. “What on earth are you doing here? You and Margarita are supposed to be safe in Mexico.”
“And miss all the fun? No, I’ve waited a long time to recover something of mine which was taken from me, and you have managed to find it for me, dear Josephine,” he points to the silver weapon in my hand, “as I knew you would, sooner or later.”
“You!” I gasp. I can’t believe it. “You are the ancient?”
“Well deduced.”
“But, but, you walk in daylight, you have a family, you, you.”
“I am a most powerful being, it is true, one of a kind in fact,” he laughs, “I can walk in the sun, I have mental powers that enable me to convince generation after generation I am their prodigy. I do more, so much more than you could possibly imagine.”
“Margarita?” I turn my gaze to her, appalled that in thinking I had saved her, I had fed her to the lions.
“Oh, don’t worry about Margarita,” Daniel smiles, his broad, boy-next-door smile, “we are getting along fabulously. I like her a great deal, don’t I, my dear?”
“Oh yeah,” Margarita nods, grinning, “we are having a terrific gig.”
“But… you pretended to be my friend,” I shake my head sadly at Daniel, “you’ve made Margarita your Kept…”
“No, gracious no,” Daniel laughs, “I was planning on returning her to Gerald. Although now he is gone, well…”
“Gerald…” I whisper.
“Worked for me,” Daniel smiled, “but just between you and I, he was always a little conflicted. I knew he would have problems today when I learned Elsbeth was on the scene. So I thought I’d better come along and ensure he completed his task.”
“Margarita,” I stare at her.
