Page 81 of The Star's Sword

“I can’t,” Simon said, still noisily feeding on him.

My stomach churned, as I’d never seen a vampire feed before, but it didn’t seem to hurt Cayne, who just stroked a hand over Simon’s back.

It made me feel bad for not feeding him.

When Simon was done, he pulled back and swayed, looking dizzy. “I feel sick. I think I’m going to pass out now. Again.” Then he fell against Cayne’s shoulder, totally limp.

Cayne gently laid him down, and let Samael tie him again to the posts, just in case.

Then he turned to me. “We need to go see Vasara. Now.”

I swallowed. “Why?”

“She did this to him,” Cayne said. “We can’t let it stand.” He strode toward the door to the downstairs, yanking it open. “Zadis, Sam, you stay here with Simon. Mark? You come with me.”

Mark walked forward, then paused. “I don’t recommend confronting Vasara. This night has already been difficult on the vampires. They already hate us and see us as persecuting her—”

“She injected incubus blood into my friend. I can smell it,” Cayne said, eyes blazing like red flames as his ax materialized in his hand, sharp and deadly. He was wearing black slayer apparel, I realized, so he must have come knowing something was wrong.

My mind went blank at what he was saying. “Incubus blood?”

Cayne leaned down over Simon, sniffing him. “Vampire roofie, essentially. To make him feed, if he doesn’t like it, or for other things if someone is reluctant. A straight injection is like someone drinking a gallon of that creepy green aphrodisiac vampires use. But Simon would never drink that stuff willingly so I imagine there’s a needle mark somewhere on his body, though I don’t have time to look for it now.”

My heart was pounding now, pain and rage making a potent combination in my body, making it hard for me to think of anything but finding the witch who had done this to my friend.

“You’ll ruin everything,” Mark said. “I know you’re angry. I am too.” He looked at Simon. “But I got there before she got to him, obviously, for whatever she wanted. So no harm, no foul.”

Cayne growled. “My guess is she stuck him with that shit to try and force him to feed off of her because it feels good, given his elder vampire serum. But such things should never be forced. As a blood mage, I can’t countenance it.”

“I found him chained,” Mark said. “I doubt she was planning something consensual.”

Cayne’s jaw went hard, and in his eyes, I saw more murder than I’d ever seen before. “Well, Cleo, it looks like you won’t need to worry about a vote on the Morningstar candidate.”

I blinked. “Why?”

“Because I’m going to kill her right now.”

Samael got off the bed. “You can’t. You.” He looked at Simon. “Gods, I want to kill her too. Damn celestials always have to push things to the creepiest limits. But you know Simon, he’s tough. He won’t be affected by this.”

“He’s my best friend,” Cayne said. “It isn’t optional.”

And then he stormed out of the room, yelling for me to follow.

“Don’t,” Samael said. “I…” He looked at Simon, then Zadis. “Can you and Mark handle Simon if I go too?”

Zadis and Mark quickly nodded.

Samael grabbed my hand and dragged me out of the room, hurrying to catch up with his brother.

“If anyone hates those who hurt their friends more than me, it’s my brother. But we’ve still got to hurry and stop him. This isn’t the way it’s done. The vampires will never forgive us.”

As we ran out of Simon’s house, we saw Cayne’s tall figure, already running up the path toward the ballroom where Vasara most likely was.

Somehow, we had to stop him.

27

“Cayne, stop!” I yelled, as Samael took his celestial form, extended his wings, and flew forward to quickly stop in front of Cayne’s path, black katana drawn.

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