The Hunter shifts his eyes to Remiel, who surprisingly isn’t berating me for, firstly, telling him what to do and, secondly, treating him like this is show and tell. He flashes the Hunter his fangs and he pales as he sees the poison dripping from the huge protrusions.
“Not just any Vampire,” I whisper and twist the stake again. I delight in his scream, wishing I could breathe in his fear.
“HQ,” he pants. “They took him. But he is probably dead by now.”
I look to Remiel and he shakes his head.
“Still alive,” I growl. “And you had better hope that my sibling stays that way.”
“S-sibling?” he squawks.
“That’s right,” I beam at him. “Clever Hunter.” He has put two-and-two together and deduced that Remiel is also my sire. “How do I reverse the power-stopping magick?”
“You can’t,” he says.
“How?” I twist the stake, not stopping until I have prac
tically broken my wrist.
The sweat is dripping off his forehead now. It is intoxicating.
“I don’t know,” he says.
“How?” I say louder.
“Don’t know!” he cries. “It’s new. I don’t know!”
I believe he is telling the truth, which is unfortunate.
I shove him forward but keep my hand on the back of his neck, “Move,” I say.
He stumbles forward, his whole body shaking. He knows we are going to torture him for the information even though he doesn’t have it. But in the next moment, he straightens his shoulders and walks steadily.
“How is that pretty little thing doing upstairs?” he sneers.
I halt and slam him up against the wall again, my hand at his throat. “What did you say?”
“Hot piece of ass, even as she lay there dying in a pool of her own blood. Too bad I didn’t have more time with her. Maybe I would have fucked her in that tight ass.”
“Grrrr,” I snarl at him like a rabid dog and I see the flash of triumph in his eyes as I snap his neck. I let him slump to the floor at my feet as Remiel tuts at me.
“He wanted you to kill him,” he protests.
“I know,” I say quietly. “But I couldn’t let him speak like that about her.”
Remiel gazes at me, not knowing what happened and to whom. He rallies quickly. “Well, come now. We should make sure the rest of the castle is empty.”
“We’ll split up now. You go that way,” I gesture back the way we came.
He hesitates for a moment, not wanting to leave me on my own, but he can also see I need a minute to myself. “Very well.”
He goes off and I head back towards the Entrance Hall. I see a figure through my gas mask and raise my hands to blast him to Hell and back, but he shouts out at the last second. “Aefre!”
I squint and step closer. “Nico,” I say.
“What happened here?”
“You weren’t here?” I ask stupidly.