Page 26 of Grave Throbbing
"You've drunk a lot of vampire blood tonight. You stole the fear essence from your head councilor, and then you killed her. You've also tasted Ciarán's blood," she seemed to gaze through him, and he felt her in his thoughts again. He offered up the memory she wanted, of when Dobbins bit Greed. "He is the only one who can wield it." She spoke his thought aloud.
Her voice echoed in his head."I will need your full report after I kill this disgrace."
Empress Marcella walked back around Dobbins, keeping a hand on his neck. Key wondered if the physical touch enhanced her mind control over him. He was no longer sniveling. He stood as still as the dead, his eyes staring at nothing but the shipping container.
"For the crime of killing my head councilor, endangering my liaison, torturing countless vampires in your community, and drinking vampire blood to enhance your own abilities, I sentence you to death. Does anyone here object?"
Greed hugged her arms to her chest and looked down at the warehouse floor. Harley stared up at Key, unblinking. He was better than before but not quite himself. Key didn't know if Empress Marcella was holding him in stasis or if he hadn't recovered from Dobbins's attack yet.
Key returned his gaze to Empress Marcella, who seemed to wait for his objection. He dared her to read his thoughts again. He absolutely did not care what happened to Dobbins, so long as he never hurt Greed or Harley again.
She nodded. "We are all in agreement. You have betrayed your own kind."
Before she'd stopped speaking, she had already punched through Dobbins's chest cavity and pulled out his heart. She held it up to his face while he was still standing, and she released whatever hold she had on his mind to let him scream in fear and agony.
Key wasn't sure which dagger she'd pulled from her arsenal. It materialized in her hand as though it had always been there, and then she stabbed it through the heart muscle. After she'd destroyed it, she held the silver blade to flesh until it smoked and caught fire. Then, she dropped it to the floor where it flared like paper, incinerated the meat, and burned out. Dobbins's body fell dead at her feet.
Empress Marcella crushed the ash beneath the toe of her combat boot. "Harley, it's time to wake up. I need you."
He rose as if on strings, one moment lying on the ground at Key's feet, the next standing on his own, his back to Key as he stiff legged his way to Empress Marcella.
"Where can we stay for the day?" she asked.
"There is a guest suite at our building, Empress."
"Fabulous. Ciarán and Margaret, I've spoken to your supervisors at," Key felt the shuffling through his mind again, "Fanglory. They are aware that Margaret was abducted tonight and will need a few nights off to recover if she returns at all. Ciarán, your trial begins after sundown tomorrow evening at the courthouse."
"Wait. My what?"
"You didn't think you could bite my liaison and get away with it, did you?" She smiled at him, but it didn't reach her dead eyes. Every time Key tried to commit her physical appearance to memory, the thought slipped away in a whisp of color. Sharp fangs and dead eyes were all he could see.
"You also bit Dobbins," she said. "I'm giving you a chance to explain yourself, which is honestly more than you deserve. You disobeyed my direct order."
Greed bowed her head to Empress Marcella. She still looked terrified, but as they cleared the room, she kicked Dobbins's dead body hard enough to leave a sizable dent in the side of the shipping container.
The empress looked back over her shoulder and grinned. "I like your spunk, little one. Walk with me."
Greed caught up to her. If Key knew anything about his little sister, he knew she could hold her own with the empress.
Key turned to find Harley by his side. They had to step aside as more vampires dressed as paramedics rushed into the room with a body bag and a stretcher. The morning news would report a stabbing at the warehouse overnight with one fatality to cover their tracks in case anyone saw something suspicious. By the time the evening news rolled around, the story would be long forgotten.
Key didn't care what Empress Marcella's people said about Dobbins's death. He was far more invested in surviving his own trial.
Chapter 11
Harley
It was almost dawn when they finally returned to Harley's apartment. Greed zipped into and out of the guest bathroom so fast Harley had to wonder if the water he'd heard running for a split second made contact with her body before she shut it off again. He handed Key another pair of pajama pants to put on while he took his own pair to the master bathroom to change and brush his teeth.
When he returned to the bedroom, Key was already sprawled across the top of the comforter on his back. He stared up at the ceiling as though it held the answer to his question, if only he could find it hidden in the popcorn stucco bumps.
Harley lay on his side of the bed and stared up. Instead of finding answers, he noticed some dusty cobwebs.
"This could be the last night we spend together, and it's already dawn." Key yawned to accentuate how tired he was.
They both were. Being mind-fucked, first by Dobbins and then by Empress Marcella, had resulted in the worst headache Harley had experienced since he'd left Rome. He'd been wrong to imagine Empress Marcella could no longer infiltrate his mind. She'd dropped her claim to him as her servant, but she didn't need his permission to rifle through his thoughts. At first, she'd sought evidence against Dobbins, but then she'd found Harley's new feelings for Key, and she'd refused to let go.
"Empress Marcella is fair." If Harley told himself that lie enough times, he might believe it. She was fickle at best, and sometimes she was a complete bitch for no other reason than she couldn't have what she wanted. She'd desired her sire's other progeny, a vampire named Flavius, but he'd refused her marriage proposal. Flavius still lived, and they had called a truce after the Earth Day Massacre, but if Harley knew anything about Empress Marcella, it was that she could carry a grudge.
