Never

Chapter 9: Loss

Winter's POV:

I flipped through the book and clouds of dust puffed out of it, making me sneeze. Sniffling, I tossed the book to the side. "You should take better care of your stuff."

The vampire I had tied up with blackthorn rope was still recovering from the sun exposure I gave him. He had no protection against it like Kristoff and Thaddeus. They both had tattoos on their backs, gifts from witches who came up with a spell to protect their skin against the sunlight.

Over the last few weeks, I got stuck working with Thaddeus multiple times. He was looking for someone and Kristoff was helping him. The fact I helped Kristoff because he helped me meant interacting with Thaddeus was inevitable. The animosity had at least slowed, though I wasn't sure we'd made it through a single job without threatening each other at least once. The 'never' thing became almost a running joke. I'd never drink your blood, even if it was clean and I was dying, he said. I'd never give you my blood anyway, I'd watch you die, I countered. Can you two get along for two seconds? Kristoff begged. Never, was both our response. The oath we took would still work for a couple more days. After that...

I wasn't sure. I didn't like taking chances and trusting Thaddeus felt like too big of a risk. If Kristoff wanted my help after the blood oath wore off, he'd have to get us another one.

"I'm not telling you shit," the vampire wheezed, struggling against the ropes and hissing in pain when they burned his skin. Idiot.

"As long as you keep fighting against the brew, I'm going to keep doing this," I informed him, stabbing another syringe into his leg.

He groaned in pain, his eyes squeezing shut. He lunged at me, the veins outside his eyes going black as his eyes glowed red, but the ropes and injection were enough blackthorn he only got within inches of me then sunk back down to the floor.

"Try again," I suggested. He pursed his lips. Sighing, I rose from the ground and walked around the room, picking up another book.

Flipping through it produced nothing, so I moved on. It wasn't until I reached the refrigerator that I got some kind of reaction. He tensed. I turned toward the fridge, scanning the outside where he had multiple magnets holding up all kinds of things.

"Take out menu, really?" I asked, giving him a side-glance.

"It's for my food."

That actually made sense. He was one of those vampires that liked luring someone in for the long-term feeding as opposed to just one hit or killing immediately. I already had to deal with his little friend. Giving her blackthorn infused water broke her of the spell he had her under and she ran out of there in terror. Poor thing.

"Who's this?" I asked, plucking a picture from the fridge.

"My niece."

Seconds after he said it, his mouth clamped shut. I smiled and walked over to him. "Oh really?"

"Don't," he said, narrowing his eyes. "Leave her alone."

"Or what? You'll... Scream really loud?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "Tell me where he is, and I'll forget I even saw the picture."

The vampire groaned in pain, shaking his head several times before slinking down in exhaustion. He stared at the ceiling, nostrils flaring and teeth gritted. "I don't know where he is."

"Bullshit."

"I don't," he insisted, looking over at me. "He never said where he was going specifically. All he said was he was going back to where the journey began."

"Where the journey began?" I repeated, frowning. "What is he, a fortune cookie?"

"I don't know what it means," the vampire sighed.