A rumble of thunder sounds from close by and this time I don’t know if it’s coming from Silver, or a result of Z’s discomfort.
“How long have you been involved with Simpson?” Zeph’s voice is a hoarse rasp and I have no idea how to make thissituation less uncomfortable for him. He clearly knows the vamp and doesn’t have fuzzy feelings toward him.
“He’s a fool, but he’s a useful fool. His visions of what this city could become are certainly something. I’ve been trying to persuade your mother for years that it makes sense for us to climb higher in society, but she’s always been one for pulling the ladder up behind her. It took me a long while to recognize that my potential was being squandered. Not anymore, though. Once we take over the city, Simpson will have served his purpose and I will take my rightful place.”
Oh great, another megalomaniacal vamp. Just what this city needs.
“You were at the Solstice Ball,” Zeph says. “You were the one that stopped the Archarcans from acting when the monsters broke in. And you’ve been at the Archarcan council meetings too. I’m guessing you’ve been influencing them, stopping them from taking action.”
The vamp scoffs. “As if any of them would have leapt into action to defend their fellow man. Magic-users are a selfish bunch, as I’ve been telling you for years. Were you in attendance at the Solstice Ball? I didn’t realize that people from your part of the city were invited, but you ought to have said hello to your mother, at least.”
Zeph’s hands are bunched into fists on either side of him and he’s clenching his jaw hard enough to grind his teeth to dust.
Something clicks into place in my brain.
His aversion to vampires.
How he sees us as selfish, filthy bloodsuckers that can’t be trusted.
This must be the man responsible, his stepfather. I’m sure I remember a vague conversation we had weeks ago when he glossed over the details and simply explained that he’d had to escape his family as a young teen.
I hadn’t realized that it was a vampire with mind control powers he had to escape from.
A sense of cold calm descends over me just as lightning licks through the air outside. He’s about two seconds from completely losing his cool. But that doesn’t matter. I have plenty for both of us.
“Still no better control over your magic, eh? Your lessons need to resume, boy.”
Zeph remains silent, but I’ve had enough of this. We need to stop the vamp in front of us before the crowd outside does serious damage.
The issue is, the jewelry that’s currently protecting me from his influence is also stopping my own coercive power from manifesting. Zeph is standing as though he’s frozen to the spot, and although it can’t be because of the vamp’s magic, it’s clear it’s past trauma, making his body react without his conscious control.
“Now, come closer so you can watch as things get interesting.”
“Zeph,” I say hurriedly, keeping my voice as low as I can. “You need to do something. Silver’s out there and she needs us. She needs you to use your magic.”
He glares at me, his eyes filled with a wild fury I haven’t seen in him before. “If I let it loose, I don’t think I’m going to have control over what happens next.”
I shrug, slapping him on the shoulder. “Then lose control.”
There’s a second where he looks shocked and then terrified, but he quickly schools his features under a blank mask and takes a deep breath.
And then the storm mage lets loose. A cyclone of wind and hail blasts down from the sky from out of nowhere, shattering the windows and raining inside. It’s tumultuous and messy as glass goes everywhere. I dive out of the way, dragging him alongwith me. Zeph’s stepfather lets out a yell and crouches by the wall, sheltering from the worst of it.
“I told you your magic would never get you far, boy. And now you’ll have to pay for that little display of insolence.”
It’s creepy, the way he’s talking to Zeph like he’s a child and not a man in his mid-twenties. His stepfather’s face twists into a nasty expression filled with malice.
“I said come. Here.”
The bracelet around my wrist grows hot, as I assume it works against his coercion. Instead of growing cooler though, it gets hotter and hotter until it reaches a point where it’s burning my skin. I pull up my sleeve as Zeph clutches his chest where the necklace must rest.
A surge of energy and power hits me, charging up my arm and into my chest.
Somehow, I justknowthat my magic will work against the vamp.
“Freeze,” I bark at him and a grim smile forms on my face as his features hold in place in a mask of stricken horror.
“How do you want to deal with him?” I ask Zeph. “You want to blast him in the asshole with your lightning, as I’m sure you’ve threatened to do to me in the past?”
