Suitable Weapon

Vladimir's POV (Continued)







I shook my head and rid myself of the unwanted walk down memory lane. I refocused all my attention on the ball of disgust and reconsidered my strategy.  Letting him go was not an option, especially not now. When I'd found out which Braille was Arthur’s, I’d had to take him, regardless of the consequence. It was a plan I had been perfecting for years and he hadn’t taken the bait until I had been able to utilize Jack Stenson against him. But Arthur himself had sealed his fate when he stole from me. Ordinarily, I just wanted to know for a fact how he was related to the Puhvels. He looked nothing like them and he was a complete wuss, a trait no single Puhvel of my knowledge had ever exhibited. 

Having said that, I should have been able to break him, but he was still unwilling to give me the information I sought. Or rather, he was simply unable to tell me? The seven sisters were as ruthless as they were cunning. It was absolutely possible that they had blocked his memories of them from him. Apart from being ruthless bitches, they cleared all traces of their tracks. Each and every single time.

Which piqued my interest more than anything else. Why the need to go to such an extreme? He was so far from home, was it by choice? In the race of witches, male children were a waste and female children were treasured. It was no secret that only the female children were able to wield magic. Once in a while, there were exceptions and a male child might have some form of magic but predominantly, it was always the female child that was blessed with magic and the special brand of psychopathy exclusive to the witches.

I kicked him in the stomach and watched dispassionately as he flew into the wall. He crumpled into the floor and simply wailed in reaction. This man was no exception to the magic rules. So of what use was he? Because make no mistake, the seven sisters kept people close only if they had a use for them, otherwise, they were discarded like yesterday’s trash. 

I knew I was running out of time the longer he stayed here, because the second the hunters got wind of his presence here, it was game over. If only I had more time to investigate. 

After the seven sisters had crumbled my empire from within, they had all dispersed into thin air. They all went in very different directions, leaving only the hunters to deal with my enraged vampires. They had killed without caution, bringing down their fury upon all and sundry. It had taken a coalition of the hunters and the lesser witches to enact the pact and restore some semblance of peace. Need I add that I was withering away on my deathbed whilst all of this was going on?

I glared at the pathetic excuse for a human being and wondered, is my lying little blond friend the key to loosening Arthur’s tongue? Why has she lied to the public in such a brazen manner, knowing I'd have no choice but to react? Was this a new ploy from the hunters or was she acting on her own? Either way, her brazen attitude fascinated me and I want to know more. If nothing else, I was certain I just found my next weapon.

She would be a suitable weapon to punish her father with. Torturing him was getting......boring. His cries were loud and pitiful but it fails to bring me satisfaction because the fool refuses to break. I'll break him eventually, but using his daughter is more fun. His family is important to him, especially his favorite daughter, that much was obvious. It had taken less than an hour to have the fool shaking in terror and willing to offer me anything, including his soul just so he could live. An offhand comment from Yermi that he could offer his first daughter as compensation to me and the hitherto coward had found his balls and yelled a vehement NO. If it were not for the damn pact, I would have sought out his family, but now she has called me to her, I had no choice but to heed the call.

Arthur rolled and heaved up bile. I turned away in disgust and punched the wall. They took him from me. For more than twenty years, I was bedridden and they thought me to be a vegetable for life but then I got better and I hid in the shadows, waiting and plotting. For two hundred long years, they have reveled in their victory, but I have risen from the dead for one purpose only. Revenge. 

Thanks to the foolish pact Nikitin had made, I couldn't rip their throats out the second I was on my feet. It left me helpless, but in a roundabout way, it was a favour he'd done for me. Furious as I was when I woke, I would have ripped them all apart. 

Corporate espionage was a truly interesting way to get my brand of revenge. Nothing like pushing your enemies to the brink of financial ruin and watching them take their own life to avoid a life of penury. Other times when they refused to die, I helped them along. But it took way longer than I wanted, and it was at a distance. It took a long while to realize that the pact not only forbade me from killing the witches and hunters alike, but it also trapped me. I had been in pursuit of an ally of the seven sisters and he had used the last of his savings to run to Russia and I was unable to follow because I started coughing up blood and found it impossible to breathe at the airport. I was abruptly made to realize that I was banned from my home! I could go anywhere in the world, but home. 

Betrayal sunk it's claws deep into me. They knew the source of my power because he told them and they used it to ruin me. To ruin him. Once, I had been the king of the night crawlers and now, I was weaker than a fledgling. But I grew stronger and I found rogue witches to make potions and spells for me. I made allies and I brought the hunters to ruin. 

But corporate espionage was a tiresome thing. Too many variables, too many people needed to do my bidding and I always had to watch at a distance, getting reports of my success from second hand information. It was more tiresome when my prey learned to run away to Russia or worse, report me to the hunters. I spat in disgust.

Those useless humans with a bit of resistance to a vampire's call or witches’ lure decided they are strong enough to dictate to me. That stupid pact was the sole reason I kowtowed to their rules. My coven needed me. Especially the elders who easily forget their place.