Black Sunshine (Dark Eyes 1)

Solon lowers the vampire to the floor, taking his hand off his throat, black and blue fingerprints left behind.

The vampire stiffens, makes a move to run, but Solon snaps his fingers, freezing the vampire on the spot. The vampire’s eyes go wide with horror.

Solon lets out a low, raspy growl, the kind you’d hear from a wolf about to strike, and sticks out his finger, running it down the middle of the vampire’s dress shirt, then going slightly to the left, poised right in front of his heart.

Oh, fuck.

With his eyes fixed on the vampire’s wild ones, he holds his hand against his chest, fingers curved slightly like claws. Then it happens almost too fast to see.

Solon brings his arm back and then jabs his hand forward at lightning speed, driving his fingers straight into the vampire’s chest, the sound of tearing flesh and breaking bones filling the room, followed by the slick, sloppy sound of organs cased in blood.

The vampire can’t even scream, he’s held in place in much the same way I was with Atlas Poe, but the terror and indescribable pain is clearly visible.

Then Solon retrieves his hand.

With the vampire’s still beating heart gripped between his bloody fingers.

I gasp.

Someone in the room screams, possibly faints.

“Holy shit,” Wolf utters under his breath, and the fact that this is a shock to him isn’t a good sign.

Solon holds up the bloody beating heart so everyone in Dark Eyes can see.

“This is what happens if any of you ever lays a hand on her!” he booms, his voice never sounding so confident, clear, and deadly. “Let this be your only warning.”

Then he snaps his fingers as he stares up at the heart in his hand.

The heart immediately goes up in flames.

More gasps fill the room, cries, whimpers.

Solon then lowers the flaming heart and shoves it back inside the vampire’s chest. Then he steps away and the flames start to spread from the heart outward, quickly incinerating the vampire as if he were doused in gasoline.

The vampire can move again, his wild, desperate screams filling the air as he stumbles forward, hands waving wildly. He’s now just walking flames, his skin turning to charcoal as he falls to his knees in front of Solon, trying to reach for him.

Solon steps back and then brings his foot forward, kicking the burning vampire in the head.

The vampire immediately turns to ash, spilling across the rug, smothering the flames until a vague ashen shape is left behind.

Silence fills the room, peppered by a few sniffs.

Solon takes a moment, staring at the ash, breathing hard, before he looks at everyone. “Party is over,” he announces.

Then he brings his gaze to meet mine.

Is this what you want? he asks me in my head, a pained expression in his eyes. Because if you want me, this is what you’re going to get.

I shake my head. Not because he just Temple of Doomed this vampire in revenge, but because he lied to me. He knew about Jeremias and he kept that all to himself.

“I have to go,” I tell Wolf, my voice in a hush. “I need to get out of here.”

He doesn’t let go of me. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Wolf, please,” I tell him. “I can’t…I can’t be here right now.”

Wolf looks back at Solon, who is watching us warily but keeping his distance, just as everyone else is keeping their distance from Solon, hurrying toward the exit.