“How will we find him? He could be anywhere.”
“He used my blood. That is the pull I’ve been feeling since you released me from the grave. I thought it was the need to feed but it’s the call of one who has been turned with my blood. That’s another reason I never wanted to turn anyone. There is no hiding from your maker, and many new vampires have been destroyed when their master is no longer entertained by the new vampire they created.”
“Master?” Blake asked and leaned away from me.
“Not all vampires are mated, and usually when one is created, the creator is also the new vampire’s master.”
“Can you control him?” Blake asked with a glint of an idea.
“Yes. But only if I can get close enough for him to hear my voice. If I had known he’d been turned, and how, I could have forced him to kneel to me.” I never wanted to hold power over another creature so badly as I wanted to control Josiah. He would pay for what he’d done.
“Too bad you couldn’t use brain control,” he said before grinning. I took his face in my hands and kissed his smile away.
“You’re coming back to me,” I whispered.
“I’ve been here all along,” he said. “But my mind isn’t as foggy as it was earlier. I want to make him pay. But I need to make sure my life here will still survive at some level.”
“What do you want to do? I’ll do whatever you want.”
“I’m going to talk to my boss and tell him I need to leave town for a while. Then when or if we do return, I’ll still have something here, or at least I’ll feel like I do. I need to speak to Aaron,” he said.
“You’ll have to be very careful, and I’ll need to be with you.”
“But why? I would never hurt him. He’s my friend.”
“When a vampire is near a human their blood calls to us. Their heartbeat is so strong and makes their blood very hard to resist. You wouldn’t want to hurt your friend, but you may not be able to help yourself.”
His eyes widened with fear, and he chewed his lip as he thought about what I’d said. “I need to speak to him. Please promise me you won’t let anything happen to him. It would kill me if I hurt him.”
“I won’t let you hurt him, but I promise you I won’t ever control you unless a life depends on it.” I’d never seen my creator after that night, and I’d had to learn control on my own. I didn’t want to use my authority over him if I didn’t have to, but I would use it if it was necessary. “It will be better if we meet with him outdoors.”
“Let me call him.” He patted his pockets for his phone before grunting in frustration. “Shit. I don’t know where my phone is.”
“You may have lost it when you were attacked. It was all very quick and violent. Which reminds me, I need to take care of a body.” I picked up my pants and pulled them on before I noticed Blake hadn’t moved.
“A body?”
“Rupert. Don’t worry though. I’ll just put him outside where he’ll be in the sun when it rises. That way there won’t be anything left. He’ll be nothing but a bad memory.”
“Let’s hurry. I’m not ready to experience the sun,” he said and pulled his pants and shirt on. Once we were both dressed, we ran back to town and right to his house.
“Wait out here. I’ll make sure Aaron isn’t here,” I said, knowing for a fact he wasn’t. I didn’t want Blake to see Rupert or how much of his own blood was all over the floor. He stayed outside as I rushed in and cleaned up as best I could before shoving Rupert and his head into a sack I found in the garage just as Blake walked in.
Suddenly he dropped into a crouch. His eyes were dark, and his fangs were exposed ready to defend or tear apart anything or anyone that was a threat. The scent of blood had triggered him to react.
“Blake?” Aaron yelled from the front of the house just as Blake caught his scent.
“Blake, no!” I yelled, but my voice sounded different to my ears, and he instantly froze. “You will not hurt him.” Aaron stood there clutching the door, eyes wide and face pale. “It’s okay, he can’t hurt you.”
Blake hadn’t moved, but his eyes followed every movement, and his breath came out in hurried pants. “Aaron,you shouldn’t be here,” he said through gritted teeth.
Aaron swallowed hard before stepping into the room. “You’re my friend, and I trust you.”
“You shouldn’t,” I said. But because of my command and out of sheer will, Blake still hadn’t moved. “He’s not the same Blake you knew before.”
“I know, but he’s still my friend.”
“Aaron, listen to him,” Blake managed to say. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
