Page 2 of Vameer

The men struggle. But they will not get free. My gravito is wrapped around them, looking like smoke but feeling like chains. Their feet are not touching the ground, and their arms are pinned to their sides. They can fight until they pass out; it will do them no good.

The ceilings inside the cave are high, so I can walk upright as I make my way deeper into the mountain. It’s still too narrow for the men to face forward, but their heads are free to move, so they can turn enough to see where we’re going.

Except it’s dark. And the farther we go, the darker it gets. But there are a few pinholes in the rock, created by water over the millennia, letting in the faintest amount of light.

Pitiful whimpers follow me down the passage, and the longer they continue, the more I’m tempted to just kill the men. If they keep me awake, I will abandon my plan and make their end painful.

Finding what I’m looking for, I flick my wrist, and a thick slab of stone slides along the wall, revealing a chamber.

I enter.

And the men start to scream again when I drag them inside with me.

This room has been used for many things. By many people. Though I may be the only one who uses it for this purpose.

I circle around the low altar to the far side of the room, where a cell is carved into the back wall.

The entrance to the cell is narrow, and the barred door is long missing, but beyond the threshold, there is enough room for two men to stand and move.

They keep screaming.

Irritation flares bright inside me, and my power shakes the room.

The men fall silent.

“I don’t know what you two are even whining about. The pack is filled with enough rations to last you two months. You won’t be here more than one.”

“R-rations?” The man chokes on his words. “It’s f-filled with swords.”

I shake my head. “The other pack.”

It’s getting more and more tempting to feed them my bag of blades, but keeping them alive is the whole point of bringing them here.

They aren’t good men. But they are clever enough. And physically strong. For humans. So long as they are both alive when I wake, I won’t need to drain either of them to build up my energy.

If one kills the other… Well, then death will be their sentence also.

My gravito drops the large leather sack of swords at my feet.

I nod in thanks, then roll my eyes.

I need to rest.

Thanking my own power has got to be a sign of something. And not something good.

But my gravito has been at my side, in my chest, in my mind, as far back as I have memory.

All vampires have gravito, named for the way it feels like a gravitational pull living inside us. We can harness this power to move items. To move ourselves, jumping incredibly long distances. But not all vampires have the same amount of power. Intensity and ability to control it vary between bloodlines and between individuals.

I’ve always been strong.

Bigger than most.

So even as an adolescent, I was forced to stay in control. I couldn’t act out. A tantrum wasn’t safe for anybody.

But that control didn’t manifest as a shutdown of my power. It manifested as a complete honing of my skill.

And after my parents… while I was struggling with the loss of them and responsible for my little brother, I learned to get what we needed through stealth. And as I got larger, stronger, more powerful, that stealth became one of my biggest strengths.