Vampires Dead Ahead - By Cheyenne McCray Page 0,97
on, my new pet?”
I jerked my attention to him. “Going on?”
He studied me for a moment. “Come.”
Obediently I followed him through the room to a set of stairs. The entire way Volod was greeted and congratulated on his victory over Rodán and me.
My mind was less foggy as I followed Volod up the stairs to a study. It was more a library than an office. Bookcases filled with both ancient tomes and modern works.
I still wasn’t sure what to think … I hated Volod, the passion of that hatred running deep. But I couldn’t seem to stop following him, to stop obeying him.
Over and over again, I had been telling myself that I was just going along with this whole thing, but the truth was more like I couldn’t stop myself. Volod had a hold on me that I didn’t know if I could break.
“Sit.” He pushed me to a chair but I recovered and sank into the seat. He scowled as he walked around to the other side of the desk and sat in the leather chair. “I have you. Now what to do with you, you may wonder.”
I said nothing.
“You will be trained to lead one of our Vampire paranorm teams.” Volod leaned back and steepled his fingers. “I turned you. I bit you twice. Your allegiance to me will be absolute.”
“Yes, Volod,” I said when he seemed to be waiting for something.
“Tonight I will start releasing greater numbers of Vampires to feed on humans,” he said. My stomach churned more. “We have broken the Trackers. There is nothing stopping us in New York. We will begin sending out additional teams of Vampire paranorms to turn or kill more paranorms.”
He continued, “We know where they choose to hang out and we know how to take them. Then it is on to the next city—and the next, and the next.”
My new allegiance to Volod warred with the need to save those in my prior life. The two worlds were on a collision course inside me, and I wasn’t sure I would survive.
“I am bringing in Vampires from all over the United States and Canada.” Volod sounded pleased with himself. “We will have a gathering, a conclave of Vampire leaders from across the continent. Together we shall plan how best to strike paranorms.”
“Where are you doing that?” I asked.
Volod waved me off. “I will divulge the location to no one. You will not know where we are going until we arrive.”
“When?” I asked.
He studied me for a long moment. I wondered if he was questioning his power over me. “You will learn when the time is right.”
“How many Vampires and Vampire paranorms are there?” I held my hands in my lap and laced my fingers together as I struggled to calm myself.
“Truly all of that is none of your concern.” He waved off my question. “You need not worry about numbers or who leads the Vampires to turn or kill humans.”
He leaned forward and braced his forearms on his desk, his hands folded in front of him. “I will have you work on paranorms.”
I listened to what he was saying with mounting fear and confusion. Everything inside me was so twisted. I didn’t know how to think or feel because my allegiance to Volod was growing and growing.
“Monique and Rodán are each in charge of a territory. You will serve under Monique.” He nodded as if giving himself approval.
“Let us not concern ourselves with talks of our destruction of paranorms,” Volod said. “For now our kind must have a night to celebrate victory.”
Volod got up from his chair and came around to stand beside me. He held out his hand and I took it, and he drew me up to my feet so that our bodies were touching.
He released me and brought his hands to my neck before he slowly ran the pads of his fingers along my skin. The movement was sexual, his eyes filled with raw lust.
“You will do whatever she or I require of you,” he said. “You will even share my bed. Is this clear?”
“Of course.” I forced myself to remain still and to agree with him. “I serve you now.”
“Of course.” Volod echoed my words as he smiled, a slow, evil smile. “I am your Master.”
THIRTY
That day I slept like the dead.
Volod had ordered me to sleep in the coffin I’d been buried in, down in the basement. Perhaps forty of his Vampires and Vampire paranorms stayed there.