Roman (The Clutch 1)

Egan does as he’s told as we all watch the third sister, the one with auburn hair, approach him without menace. She walks around him, gently resting her hand on the top of his head as she circles. “Egan,” she says almost tauntingly. “Do you know what you’ve done?” As Egan opens his mouth to reply, she takes a fistful of his hair roughly, lowering her face to his. “I suggest that you be honest. It will make this much easier for you.”

“Yes,” Egan whispers.

“Tell your brethren what you’ve done to make us come here to administer punishment!” She releases him violently, causing him to fall back to the ground.

“I have not followed the rules of the Covenant,” he says, head hanging low. What fucking rule could he have broken?

“Which of the rules have you taken upon yourself to disregard? Rules that are set up to protect our kind. Rules that keep us safe among the mortals, and give us the ability to roam freely in their world. What did you do?!” she demands, appearing to lose patience.

“I have compelled humans wearing the cross.”

The Sister with the black hair laughs, but it’s more of a deranged cackle. “Do you honestly think that we would come here because you compelled a few humans? Egan! Confess! Now!” she demands, her impatience becoming evident.

As if he were taking a sigh, he pauses before answering. “I compelled humans who did not wish to be compelled. And then I fed on them.”

“And what happened when you greedily fed on these humans, Egan?” Clotho’s soft voice inquires.

“I drained them. I couldn’t stop myself. I was so hungry, and they were so beautiful.” He looks up at the Sisters, now all in a line before him, looking down upon him.

“Oh, my child. You knew the rules regarding this behavior. It’s not acceptable and puts our kind at great risk. You must pay for these sins,” Clotho says sympathetically as she takes a step backward.

“Please have mercy on me,” Egan begs, knowing that it’s too late. He killed humans. And not just one, several it seems. For pleasure, and for no other reason.

The red-haired Sister steps forward. “Egan, you are now sentenced to defanging, followed by death. Your crimes are egregious, and there is no retribution befitting such a break in the Covenant. You’ve endangered your brothers and sisters, and therefore your life must be taken.”

She steps behind Egan, grabbing him by the hair, and pulling his head back, exposing his neck dramatically as the dark-haired sister approaches. “Lachesis, hold him still as I take his fangs.” She grins manically; she enjoys this, which somewhat appalls me.

“Yes, Atropos.”

Now I know who is who, and it’s pretty clear that Atropos is the punisher in this trio. While I try not to give off any red flags of my own, I watch in horror as she pulls out Egan’s fangs – by hand. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. If a vampire sustains a nonfatal injury, the parts injured will regenerate. It’s a perk of being immortal. I imagine that if there weren’t more to this punishment, his fangs would grow back, but by the amount of screaming that has begun, it must be painful as fuck.

The rest of the room remains silent as Clothos approaches with a long, medieval sword and hands it to Atropos. Egan is on his knees, crying if such a thing exists for a vampire. I’ve not witnessed a vampire experience pain such as this, so I’m not even clear what the fuck is happening until Atropos wields the sword well above her head, and with one massive swing decapitates Egan.

Never having witnessed a vampire beheading or a vampire death for that matter, the grey sticky substance that spewed from his corpse was not only shocking, but it also sprayed bits of his insides on anyone standing nearby, including myself. As I look down at the muck that has splattered on my shirt and jacket, I realize that Egan’s head has rolled next to my foot and I look back up at the Sisters, who all have grins on their faces.

“Now that we’ve taken care of that, one of your sisters has not checked in. We will be leaving to address that violation, and we will be returning afterward,” Clotho says without any emotion, just her soft and kind voice.

Atropos catches my glance. “You. Roman,” she says without inflection.

“Yes?” I reply.

“Burn his body. And you, Keeper!” she yells at Selene.

“Yes, Sister?” Selene replies.

“Make sure it’s taken care of. We will know.”

“Yes, Sister.”

With sword in hand, Atropos walks to the front door, Sisters in tow. In a moment, they are gone, and I’m standing in a room full of stunned vampires with a severed head, a body and a set of fangs to dispose of. What the fuck?

24

Fiona

“Say something, Lydia. Do you think Roman’s in trouble?”

“I don’t know, Fiona. I wish I could help, but my hands are tied. I can’t betray Damen.”