Chapter 30

☆ ☆ James ☆ ☆

I left Kara asleep in our bed and relished her lingering scent on my skin. I didn't want to leave her, but I needed to get to Sylas for training and to feed from a human. As soon as I got dressed, I rushed to Sylas' office. 

The sooner I got there and trained, the sooner I could return to Kara. Sylas was in an exceptional mood. Once I entered the room, he asked, "Are you hungry?" I responded, "Very, but I also need my live feed tonight." Sylas perked up, "Not to worry, Son, I've had some of the best women brought in for you to feed from; they will be here any moment." 

My facial expression twisted, "I can't; I promised Kara I would only feed from men." Sylas cackled at my response. "You've been with that little bitch for a week, and you're already letting her control you." "It's not like that, Sylas.", I retorted. 

"You will feed from these women.", Sylas commanded. And just like that, I was under my Sire's control. Six women entered the room, all beauties in their own right, healthy weights and clean from drugs or disease. Sylas ordered me again, "Take a liter from each." I went over to the first woman in line and grabbed her wrist. Sylas made a disapproving grunt, "From her neck, unless you want me to make you take it from her femoral artery."

I did as he said, as the artery in her neck was much less sensual. I would never forgive him for making me betray my promise to Kara, and after this was over, I would kill him myself. I drained the liter and moved on to the others quickly; there was no passion behind these bites. I wasn't enjoying the feeds like I usually did, and this betrayal of my wife soured my mood even more. 

I finished the feeds, bit my wrist deeply, and let the blood flow out. My demon was enraged, and I could feel our mutual anger imbued in the flowing crimson liquid. I controlled the blood effortlessly, whisking and whipping it around. I used it to knock over a nearby lamp. The crashing sound made me ecstatic, and my eyes deepened. My demon liked it, too.

Together, we wrecked Sylas' office, ripping books from the shelves and tearing paintings from the walls; I saw the statue bust of the veiled maiden on a podium. I controlled the blood, wrapping it tightly around her neck, envisioning Sylas' face; I squeezed so tightly she shattered like glass.

I pulled my blood back into me and glared at Sylas. "We're done here.", I hissed. I left Sylas speechless in the middle of his office, which was now in shambles. "I don't think there is anything else you can teach me.", I called out as I hurriedly left the room. Now, I had to fix things with Kara after breaking my promise to her.

I burst through the door of our wing, my anger still prominently controlling my actions. Kara's eyes opened widely, and a gasp escaped her mouth. "I'm sorry, Love, I didn't mean to startle you.", I said softly. Kara asked, "What's wrong, James?" She paused, "You're back much earlier than I expected."

I embraced her, tightly wrapping my arms around her, "I'm sorry, Kara, Syals, he made me do it." Confused, she looked up at me, "Made you do what?" I placed my hands on her delicate face, forcing her to look into my eyes, "He made me feed from them." She gazed back at me and stroked my face empathetically, "It's okay. Take a deep breath, slow down, and start at the beginning." 

She pulled me over to the couch where she had been reading another novel before I rushed in. She sat me down and cupped her hands around mine, "Okay, tell me exactly what happened." Her touch was already helping to quell the anger both my demon and I were feeling. 

I started again from the beginning, "I went to train with Sylas; I planned to feed after our session like I had discussed with you last night." I paused, "You have to know that when a sire commands his progeny to do something, we are compelled to do it; we don't have a choice."

Her facial expression was one of concern, but I had to get it out. She had to know the truth, and it had already started eating away at me the moment I was forced to betray her trust. I started again, "He made me drink from six women tonight. I told him that I had promised you that I would only feed from men, and he laughed in my face and commanded me to do it." I could feel the rage bubbling up again. Kara could sense it, too, and she gently rubbed my arm. 

"I went to drink from their wrists, distancing myself from them as much as possible, but he said if I didn't drink from their necks, he would make me take the blood from their femoral arteries.", I paused as the rage started to engulf my vision. Kara looked hurt, and this angered my demon just as much as it angered me.

She wrapped her arms around me, soothing the rage with her touch again. She whispered in my ear, "I'm not mad at you, James." I sighed in relief at her words and hugged her back tightly, "I'm so sorry, Kara." We embraced for several minutes in silence. 

I placed a gentle kiss on her head before standing up. I felt the urge to brush my fangs before kissing her again, not wanting to taint her with the blood I had taken in earlier. I returned to the sitting room to find her staring off into the distance. She looked in my direction when she heard me enter, "We have to get away from him."

I sighed, "I know, and I want to kill him for what he has done. I won't be training with him anymore after that." I thought for a moment, "I think once our blood bond has been completed, we can try to kill him or try to escape, whichever outcome is more favorable. I'm stronger now. In the meantime, I'll research Dhampirs to see what resources we need to help raise our daughter." I sighed, adding, "I also need to figure out how to turn you while caring for our daughter."

"I'll help you; we are in this together.", she gave me a comforting smile, "Where do we start?" I led her out of our wing and down the stairs to the first floor, where the massive library resided. It was a two-story room filled floor to ceiling with over 24,000 volumes. The ceiling was home to the Chariot of Aurora, painted by Pelligrini in the 1720s. 

I knew the books we needed were on the top floor, so I took Kara with me. I picked up the intricately carved wooden step ladder and brought it to our needed section. I placed it down gently and climbed it. I began scanning the dust-covered books; I hadn't looked over them in quite some time. Most had no titles and were simply bound. Those were, of course, the oldest books we had, dating from 1047 A.D. The words were handwritten in various languages, as the first printed books weren't created until the 1440s. 

The printed books were intricately designed with gold embellishments, but no title was present. I grabbed a handful; these were also in foreign languages, and Kara wouldn't be much help reading them. I finally found some books created after 1474; these were printed in English, and I would assign them to Kara to aid with.

If we needed to find anything older, those documents would be held in Sylas' office; if I hadn't destroyed them during my tantrum earlier, Kara would be beneficial in gaining access to them while we were forced to seek rest during the sunlight.

Kara held about one-third of the books I had gathered, and we took them back to our wing. "When we aren't reviewing these, we will store them in our bedroom until we've determined their value.", I said as I placed them on the dining room table, "Are you hungry, Love?" "I'm okay right now; I ate when I woke up while you were out.", she said. Kara eagerly looked at the stack of books, and I gave her one I knew she could understand. 

We sat side by side, devouring our texts. Mine was written in Latin, and I was thankful that Sylas had taught me to read other languages all those years ago. Little did he know when he was teaching me that it might help me escape or kill him later. 

I could tell Kara was skimming her book, looking for keywords, and then only taking her time to read sections that might be important. Despite the size of the book, she was already one-tenth the way through it. This tactic was wise since we didn't have much time to determine our plan. She was beautiful and smart; I was fortunate to have her as my spouse.