Feral Bonds

Chapter 14

Clink. Natania watched the fury build in Vincent at the sound. They were meeting with one of his people, a half demon, and the creature had brought a flip lighter that he was constantly opening, lighting, and closing again as Vincent talked.

Natania sat at Vincent's feet in her wolf form, trying to suppress a laugh as the demon flicked his lighter over and over again, each time the master vampire stiffened, his tone getting steadily more irritated.

Two months had passed, with no word on the "he" who was mentioned in the message. Outwardly, the vampire didn't seem to care, but she could see the slight anxiety changing his every day motions. Vincent had reinforced the wards around his house, and sent more and more of his children out everyday, until only a few remained in the basement of the house.

Where they stayed and got their food, if not from Vincent's feeders, she didn't want to know. Natania figured there would be a lot of fresh bodies in the surrounding cities. Vampires that weren't under orders of their master had a hard time not killing their victims.

Clink. Natania glanced at the half demon. For all intents and purposes, he could have been human, aside from the small horns sticking out under his hair. They were short, only about three inches, and could be easily covered by a hat. He wasn't wearing a shirt, had claimed it was too hot inside, even though it was chilly at best, so she could make out every muscled line of his chest.

She hadn't been asked to frighten him, just to observe, so she sat at Vincent's heels and tried not to let her amusement at his increasing rage show.

"Would you put that away?" Vincent finally snarled.

The boy's eyes widened and the lighter disappeared. Vincent heaved a sigh of relief, sagging back into his chair.

"As I was saying," Vincent growled, "I need you to get in contact with Ephelia, see if she's missing any of her creatures."

Clink. Vincent opened his mouth to snarl something, but the boy's words stopped him in his tracks. "Ephelia is dead."

"Dead?"

The half demon nodded. "Committed suicide a few weeks ago."

"Are you positive?" Vincent asked, leaning forward.

Clink. "Yes," the boy said, "slit her own throat. And all her magic was there for the taking, so it wasn't a witch that got her, or one of your kind."

Vincent tapped the side of his chair. "And what about her creatures?"

"Died with her. A necromancer's horde doesn't function on their own."

"Hmm." Vincent moved his feet, accidentally kicking Natania. She growled and moved farther away from him. The vampire didn't so much as give her an apologetic look, too caught up in his business. "All of them?"

"All of them," he confirmed. "From the bats to the wolves." The half demon gave Natania an unfriendly look. She bared her teeth at him, but didn't make a sound.

Clink. Finally deciding that Vincent would be annoying to deal with if he killed the boy out of temper, Natania stood from her spot, walked over to the half demon, and grabbed the lighter in her teeth. "Hey!" he protested, reaching out with a much too warm hand. Natania skirted out of his reach and kept walking.

"Focus, Damon," Vincent growled and the half demon, Damon, who had started to rise out of his seat, glanced at Vincent and sat back down with a thump. Since she hadn't been dismissed, Natania stowed the lighter on one of the decorative tables, then returned to Vincent's side. He gave her an approving nod, then returned to his conversation.