Posted 22 June 2011 - 06:43 AM
Like a Leaning Tower
Warning: There will be blood.
When Remy passes through the heavy wooden doors, she curiously glances around the dimly-lit room. A warm yellow light glows softly upon the deep blue tapestries covering the walls, providing an almost underwater feel. The room is warm, despite the chilly basement hallway that Terrence had led her through. As Terrence ducks under the doorway and closes the door behind him, Remy notices that the ceiling stands only a foot higher than the burly hunter vampire.
“Ah, my student has arrived.” Partially covered from Remy's view, Landon turns from behind the leather sectional sofa. The charmer vampire has rolled up the sleeves of his black dress shirt, and his short blonde hair has been gelled to defy gravity. He grins with enthusiasm, like an uncle seeing his favorite niece. Liquid swirls about the martini cup in Landon's hands. “How are you? Would you like a drink?”
Smirking wryly, Remy raises an eyebrow as she strides toward the cluster of sofas. “Really now—it's only two...” Her voice trails off as her eyes zero in upon the clump on the ground. Had the clump not been shaking, she would have mistaken it for a dirty pile of laundry.
“Oh, have you met Jakob? He's such a character...pity he can't think properly.” The ex-nymph shakes his head regretfully as he tilts the glass toward his lips. With a foot, Landon nudges the bundle on the ground and merely watches as it recoils from him. Light illuminates the previously-hooded figure, and the youth snarls loudly as he crouches and halts. Terrence steps forward; Remy steps back. Landon, however, theatrically raises a calm hand to stop the bodyguard. “He is a rabid creature, but that can be tamed. A moment, please...” Jakob's eyes flash red and glare vengefully, but after a moment, he shivers and tilts his head forward in deference. Slowly, with his whole body shaking, the boy flattens his palms on the ground before Remy and touches his head to the rug. “See? He is very docile.”
Unable to speak, Remy risks a glance toward her mentor and is chilled by the apathy in his otherwise beautiful face. Landon may have been a nymph in his past life, but he had clearly forgotten the gentleness of that race. Her throat is dry. She can only shake her head as the leader of Espur's cabal tilts his head and asks, “Do you want to talk to him?” As if disappointed by Remy's uncertainty, Landon sighs and leans languidly on the couch. “Such a shame. He can tell you so many things. Like how he is a greedy boy who can't keep his paws off our coffers—hm?” Glancing loftily at the captive, Landon continues, “Or would you like to tell her about another type of greed, Jakob? You never stop drinking, do you?”
At this moment, the boy on the floor glances dully upward, and Remy looks instead toward Terrence. She does not know where this is going, but the bodyguard seems to. Terrence's arms are crossed and he looks forward like this is nothing new.
“So, dear child. Here is another lesson. What happens to a Ruby Claw when he preys on too many Elysians in Espur?” Suddenly, the boy lunges at Landon, but stops with his fists pulled back. Without missing a beat, the ex-nymph waves a hand, and the boy sulkily (and shakily) stands to attention. “He realizes that he wants more. He becomes resentful of others. Of we who try to hold him back. He becomes a danger to our cabal.”
Briskly, Landon unsheathes the dagger at his side. As he stands, he presses it into Jakob's right hand and smiles as the boy closes a fist around the hilt. Vaguely, Remy hears Terrence grunt and walk forward. Her feet, however, are rooted to the ground, and she can only watch as Landon turns the delinquent to face her. “Jakob is very violent. Touch his mind, and you'll know that I'm not lying.”
The air is increasingly stifling, and Remy stares at the boy in front of her. Stuck in his teens, Jakob is only two feet taller, and his lanky limbs shake under the struggle between his mind and the control of Landon's. The boy's eyes are sallow, and his face is further marred by a large bruise under his jaw and a scrape above his eyebrow. Light blond hair lies matted against his pale face. He looked unhealthy even in vampire's standards. Just how long has Jakob been under Landon's watch?
Time has stopped, and it will not continue until Remy has obeyed Landon's request. Mouth thinning, she closes her hand and raises her knuckles to her lips. It helps her concentrate on Jakob's mind, especially when she doesn't want to risk touching him. She is not yet like Landon, who can hijack memories and minds at whim. Like a sledgehammer, Jakob's bottled rage buffets Remy, and she gasps as memories of blood and dark nights full of screams flood over. His mind is roaring, and her inner self cowers. Breaking away, she glances with wide eyes at Jakob as if he is a beast. With the rage of somebody who has lost his privacy, Jakob howls and lunges toward Remy, and she cannot help but scream even as she lashes out with thoughts to distract her attacker. A third mind covers them, and when Remy realizes that it is Landon's, she hastily withdraws into her own consciousness. But Jakob is still moving, albeit slowly. As he struggles to bend his knees, he glowers from Remy to Landon, and back to Remy.
After a pause, Landon speaks patiently in the manner of a teacher to his student. “Remy, we cannot abide risks to our cabal. They must be eliminated.” While the two of them contemplate the possibilities, Landon looks thoughtfully at Jakob, and the boy raises the dagger toward his own arm. Hissing and with hands wobbling, the boy involuntarily starts to cut thin lines into his skin. T. R. A. I.
Shaking her head with horror, Remy watches as insanity cracks in Jakob's reddening eyes. The tone in Landon's voice is amicable, yet the glint in his eyes is everything but friendly. Landon, too, has become a monster. “So Remy. What will you do? He might attack me.” Landon shrugs as if he is talking about the weather. And as an afterthought, “Or maybe you.”
“Landon.” Even though it is soft and weak, Remy finally finds her voice. Her desperate gaze shifts from Jakob to Landon, and even to Terrence, who is still standing distantly at the corner. “I think he gets it,” she pleads, even though her words ring false. She has seen Jakob's intentions, and she knows that the other vampire will do everything possible to continue living his life as it is. For the sake of fresh blood, Jakob would willingly sacrifice the cabal's reputation.
“Go.”
She doesn't know if Landon is speaking to her or to Jakob, but when Jakob raises the knife in a whirl toward Landon, she uses a thought for him to miss his aim. But fury provides too much fuel for Jakob, and the strength of his will is already pulling away from her grip. Remy is also shaking from her efforts, and when she glances earnestly toward Landon, the charmer vampire shakes his head ruefully and sits calmly into the back of his sofa. She is on her own.
Howling and turning with inhuman speed, Jakob wrenches the blade toward Remy, and she barely stops it from slicing her throat. Stop it—just stop. “Terrence!” she stumbles toward the bodyguard, and the rogue vampire follows in bursts of sluggishness and speed that mirror Remy's tug-of-war with his mind. Sharp nails scratch her shoulder as Jakob grabs the back of her shirt. Momentum swings Remy towards him, and the dagger flashes as he pulls it parallel to his ear. He will kill her. “No!”
Panic clenches her throat and forces her decision. KILL YOURSELF, JAKOB. As light flashes from the blade, Remy recoils from sounds of sharp metal and gurgled coughs. When she opens her eyes, she sees Jakob gaping with an 'oh' of shock. A new mouth has opened below Jakob's throat, and the body falls toward her to pour blood freely upon the ground. Panting with hysteria, Remy cannot believe that she had caused this. Landon must have stepped in at the last moment. But surely, she cannot stay any longer, and Remy hears herself wheeze and choke back a sob as she rushes for the exit. She pulls the door open, and she does not look back as she runs.
Landon does not say anything else to her, for which she is grateful.
===
That night, as Remy sits on the armchair with her legs curled against her torso, she watches Sidney read a book about Boston.
“Sidney?”
Surprised by the uncertainty in Remy's voice, the hunter vampire glances up from the book.
“Take me with you.”
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