Tirgoviste The Order of the Dragon

Back in the Cage

     I could see them, Milos and Morsus, standing in front of the Hummer. Neither of them moved but Milos was obviously straining not to grab me as I neared him. He was in considerable distress and was making no effort to disguise it. Morsus looked annoyed and irritated. I sent him my thoughts on the whole situation.

     "f**k you, you liar; you said I was free to go! That was a complete line of s**t, wasn't it?"

     He didn't answer me. I shook my head at him as he held the rear passenger door of the Hummer open to me. "Alex, get in the damn car before I throw you in it!" he sighed.

     I glanced over at Milos. His head was down but he was looking right at me, his eyes veiled in that awful scarlet red. At least he was hiding his fangs. I don't think I would have had the strength to get in the Hummer if they'd been hanging out.

     I climbed inside and slid over behind the driver's seat. Milos climbed in beside me. As we drove away, I looked back and saw Luke standing on the church steps, the old priest beside him. I didn't realize it then but it would be a very long time before I saw him again. For all I knew, it could have been the last time. I waved to him and fastened my seat belt, trying to feel as calm and in control as I was acting.

     As we drove back to Tirgoviste, I chanced a glance across at Milos. His deep-set red eyes were trained onto me. He was breathing hard and his expression was toxic. To say he was pissed was putting it mildly. I tossed my head and pretended not to care, turning to stare out the window. Morsus drummed nervously on the steering wheel and hummed along with the music playing on the stereo.

     "What is that you're listening to?" I asked, trying to change the unspoken subject of my little AWOL stunt.

     "It's the Agni Parthene," he responded.

     "I guess I'm supposed to know what that is," I mumbled.

     "It's an Eastern Orthodox Chant!" Milos spat angrily. "Of course you wouldn't know what it means, Alex!"

     "Milos, lower your voice," Morsus warned.

     Milos sat back against the seat but refused to take his eyes off of me.

     "f**k you!" I shouted at him, "and f**k you too, Morsus! You lied to me, right to my f*****g face…" I stammered off, knowing there was no point to continue.

     "Alex, please calm yourself. When you get so worked up like this it makes your scent much more potent and it's all that Milos can do right now to keep from ripping your neck out and draining you dry," Morsus sighed.

     "Want to kill me? Go the f**k ahead and do it!" I shouted at Milos. He didn't respond or change his position of hostility.

     I could see the crimson of his eyes from across the seat and it un-nerved me desperately. I swallowed hard and twisted away from him, feigning interest in the empty, dark streets passing outside the window. I didn't look back at him until we entered the parking garage under Tirgoviste. When I finally glanced in his direction, all I saw was the back of him as he leaped out of the Hummer and slammed the door. I watched as he moved, faster than any human ever could have, disappearing up the stairs and out of sight, nothing more than a dark blur.

     "Come on, Alex. Let's go. He's waiting for you in his room. Please try to understand his behavior. Grandfather told you how it works with him, his being always a teenager…" Morsus began.

     "Stop this line of s**t you keep feeding me! It's a lie! Even Kiva knows it. I can easily see it too. It's all an act he puts on to convince you and Mircea, even your grandfather, that he's a baby. He behaves like that so he can get away with doing whatever he wants to do, like forcing you to bring him to me tonight. You didn't want to do it, did you?" I spat at him.

     "Please come with me, Alex!" he pleaded.

     "f**k off!" I shouted, turning to make my way up the stairs. Apparently I wasn't walking fast enough for him. He picked me up, swinging me up over his shoulder, and ran up the steps.

     Morsus kicked open the door at the top rather violently, knocking it directly into Mircea's face. The big vampire stepped back and glared at his brother.

     "What the f**k?" he exclaimed.

     "Sorry, I didn't mean to hit you in the face," Morsus said, glancing at the beat-up metal door, bent into the shape of Mircea's head. He stepped back and dropped me onto the floor at the big vampire's feet.

     "Welcome back, Alex!" Mircea laughed, reaching down and running his big hand through my hair. "Stop sitting there fuming and hating us for this when you've been lying up in a drug den jonesing over Milos's bite, ever since you left. Really, Alex, a church; what made you think we can't be on holy ground? We still go to mass sometimes. It is impossible for us to use our powers in a consecrated church but we can still wreak havoc in the conventional sense if we must."

     "I don't know!" I miserably admitted as I took his proffered hand and stood up on stumbling legs.

     "Go talk to Milos," he encouraged me, motioning me down the hall toward that windowless room where my vampire waited, brooding and pouting, for my blood.

     "He doesn't want to talk. I meant what I said earlier in the garage. I know you probably heard my little sermon to Morsus. Kiva is right. I picked up on it too. He's faking it and he's doing it to keep getting away with bad behavior. When are you going to call him on it?" I asked.

     Mircea stopped walking and shook his head, running his hand nervously through his thick, long hair. "I know this, Alex. Grandfather knows it too. We just don't push it in his face that we know. I don't know, I guess we both feel a little bit guilty about him, the things that happened to him when he was human."

     "None of that was your fault, Mircea. You did everything you could, you and Morsus, even Vlad. It was awful, what they did to him but it was in the past. Letting him continue to act this way, it's not good for him. I mean come the f**k on! It's been over five-hundred years and you still indulge him? Nobody gave you a get out of jail free card and you drew a pretty shitty hand when you were human too," I said. "Anyway, I don't want to go to him. If he drinks from me again it will kill me."

     "It won't kill you. Your blood has already built up somewhat. Just let him have a little bit and it will make it easier for both of you. Grandfather will be contacting me soon, I know it. He will know how to fix this mess," Mircea encouraged me.

     "Yeah, I can hear him now. "Kill the human and be done with it!"

     "That's not what he will say. He likes you, he told me so. He thinks we should bring you across to us. I know Morsus asked you about that. It would stop this pain for you and Milos and you could stay with him forever," Mircea said, glancing down at me hopefully.

     "Sorry, big guy. I don't want to join the undead. I don't care how hard it is to be this way, human, it's who I am."

     "I used to be human also; Alex and I wouldn't go back to it even if I could. You just can't imagine what this is like, the power, the magic of it. It's beyond your comprehension. Imagine being able to live forever, watch the passing of the years…"

     I interrupted him at that point. "Yeah, the passing of the years and the passing of everyone I ever loved."

     "You love him."

     I shook my head and sighed. He was right, of course. How could I deny it? Morsus had followed us to Milos's door and he stood by silently, looking guilty and silently apologizing to me though I made no answer to him. I took a steadying breath and reached for the double doors to that room where I knew my fate was waiting for me. The painful withdraw was eating at me so hard that it was all I could do to keep from throwing those doors open and falling, like a shrinking violet, into his deadly arms, weeping for the pain and pleasure of his fangs in my neck like a blessed drink of water in a parching desert.

     "Look who's back!" I heard Kiva say sarcastically as I pushed open the doors and swung them shut behind me.

     Milos was sitting on his bed Indian style with his back to me. He'd undressed to his boxer's again and was brooding, silently. I could feel his physical pain and it mirrored my own. I walked over to the bed and stood looking down at him. He was staring at his hands, folded in his lap and wouldn't look up at me.

     "Alex, don't be angry with me," he pleaded silently in a most beguiling voice.

     "Don't try that s**t with me! I'm onto your game. You aren't some innocent, little boy who was wronged. Yeah, you were once but the passing of the years has changed you. You've grown up and matured at least mentally. You pretend you haven't but that crap, that act won't fly with me. I'm a witch and I'm impartial. I'm not your flesh and blood brother. I can judge you without that being over my head. I know what you're thinking!" I shouted.

     "Do you, Alex? Do you really? What am I thinking now?" he asked, looking up at me.

     I felt as if a knife was twisting in my gut. His eyes were so fetching, so alluring. I was falling into that seduction, that lure again and I knew it. I realized that I could be fighting it but I didn't. I wanted it as bad as he did. I wanted so much more and I couldn't deny it anymore. I didn't really decide to make the rash move I made next. It just happened.

     I reached out and grabbed his chin, forcing his head up and stared deep into those eyes. I watched them cloud over in red again as his fangs appeared behind his upper lip and he ran the tip of his tongue over them to entice me.

     "Stop that s**t you little c**k tease!" I yelled.

     I heard Kiva laugh outside the door and then the unmistakable sound of Mircea's heavy footfalls. She squealed as he picked her up and swung her over his shoulder, carrying her away. I watched the whole scene unfold, through the closed doors as if I was standing right there with them. I was shocked that I'd "seen" it and I began to understand that my power was amping up. That frightened me a bit because that hadn't happened since puberty set in. I didn't have to worry about it for too long, however, because Milos distracted me in a most wicked way.

     "Do you want to f**k me, Alex?" he asked in that sweetly seductive voice that had so easily lured me in the past.

     "Does it matter? The only thing you want from me is my blood," I hissed through my clenched teeth. I still had my iron grip on his chin and I wasn't letting go.

     He reached up and wrapped his hand around my wrist, making little circles on my skin with his thumb. 

     "What would you do if I said I would let you?" he asked.

     "I'd probably take you up on it just to prove a point!" I yelled.

     The double doors burst open and Morsus charged into the room. He pushed me away from Milos and drew back, slapping Milos so hard that his head snapped to one side. I gaped in shock at Morsus, completely flabbergasted that he'd done such a thing to his precious, baby brother.

     "Damn it, stop doing that s**t, Milos!" he shouted. "You aren't going to let Alex do that to you. If you want a freaking drink then get it but don't tease him like that! I like Alex and he doesn't deserve that s**t from you. What are you thinking of acting like that?"

     Milos was glaring up at Morsus, his hand on the side of his face where he'd been struck. "I was just making the offer. It's what he wants from me. I don't want to disappoint him. He might run away again and then what would I do?" Milos whined.

     "Just f*****g stop it!" Morsus cried, putting his hands over his ears. "All these years I've let you get away with it, this manipulation. I'm done. If you want him to stay then don't play with him like he's a mouse under your claws. You want his f*****g blood then drink it and shut the f**k up!"

     I looked up and noticed Mircea leaning against the door frame. He was watching silently, his thoughts as always, veiled from me.

     "Morsus, come out of there and leave them alone. Alex can handle Milos," he said.

     Morsus looked from Mircea to me and then back to Milos. My petulant vampire was still glaring up at his angry brother. Morsus turned and stalked out of the room and Mircea closed the double doors behind him, leaving us alone once more.

     "Just do it and get it over with," I sighed as I sat down beside him and turned my head to offer him my neck.

     He sat motionless for the span of a few seconds and then pounced on me, his fangs sinking into my neck. I collapsed against the bed as the euphoria took me and my pain dissipated. I wrapped my arms around him, my vampire, and my demon-angel, my spoiled, pampered, indulged, seductive addiction. Sweet sleep was coming over me as I lay in the aftermath of it. I could feel him near me and I knew he was hesitant to leave me alone for fear I would try to leave him again.

     "Yes, sit there my pretty. Sit there and stew for a bit. I hope you feel it, the weight of it. I hope it robs you of your peace of mind," I thought bitterly.

     "How can you think such mean things about me?" he asked aloud, and I could read in his thoughts that he was really and truly hurt.

     My heart wrenched again and I hated that I'd hurt him with my words. As angry as I was at him still, did he really deserve my wrath? I'd willingly gone, a lamb into the slaughter and now I wanted to blame him for my misery?

     "I'm sorry, I whispered sincerely as I reached for him and pulled him down to lay against me. You know I love you…" I whispered as I drifted down into the unholy darkness of our embrace.

     I woke up with Milos still attached to my wrist. He was clamped on hard and I couldn't pry his fingers loose. I was starving and not for his bite. It was completely black in the room and I called for light. Several of the candles scattered throughout the room, lit for me though I had to really concentrate on it. I was still weak and that weakness was affecting my powers. I hated that feeling.

     I knew the others were awake. I could sense them moving about nearby. Milos was sleeping and completely dead to the world. I sat up and called mentally for Morsus but to my surprise, it was the big boy who answered my summons. I felt his heavy footfalls shaking the floor before the door opened and he pushed it aside.

     "You awake?" he asked as he crossed the room and sat down beside me on the bed.

     "Yep, would you please do something for me?" I asked.

     "Sure, what would you like me to do for you?"

     "Get me loose from him!" I begged, gesturing to my left wrist that was still being held prisoner by my vampire.

     Mircea grinned and reached across my lap to pry Milos's hand off me. I gripped my freed wrist, rubbing it gently to get the feel of his iron grip off and then tilted my head up to look directly at Mircea.

     "So, what happens now?" I asked.

     "Well, I'm glad you asked and I'm glad you are awake. There's something that I need to talk to you about. Morsus picked up a flash of thought from your mind last night. It was something about you feeling like you were being watched when you left the parking garage. You heard a voice speaking Romanian, something about you belonging to the Draculesti? Would you be willing to show me that?" he asked.

     "To show you that; what do you mean show you? Isn't that the same thing as you just reading my mind?" I asked bewildered.

     "No, it's not the same. When you project the memory into my head, it's just like I'm seeing it through your eyes, feeling it, and being in the moment with you. Reading your thoughts is more like picking up random images, there isn't any feeling or depth to it."

     "I don't know how to do that," I said truthfully.

     "You don't?" he asked, frowning. He seemed surprised to hear this from me.

     "I've never done anything like that before," I said.

     Mircea turned his head toward the doors and seemed to be concentrating. I realized he was "calling" Morsus and sure enough, the witch appeared right on cue.

     "What's up?" he asked, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Apparently, Mircea had interrupted a feeding.

     "I need you to teach Alex how to transfer his thoughts to me. I want to hear that voice exactly as he heard it," Mircea answered.

     "Do you think it's that important?" Morsus asked.

     "I think it may be very important. There is a vampire, Romanian at that, wandering around the streets of Chicago and that vampire is evidently strong enough to still be awake in broad daylight. Most vampires fall into a deep sleep just before sunrise. This one was not only awake but was strong enough to sense that Alex belonged to one of us and strong enough to project his or her thoughts into Alex's head. That has me really worried."

     It might be one of the Knights," Morsus offered.

     "If it were one of the Knights, we'd have nothing to be concerned about. They answer to Stephan and Grandfather and when in America, to me. They always notify me when they're in the neighborhood. Whoever this is, he or she is hiding their presence from me, from us. That concerns me deeply. I'm also worried that whoever it is may have picked up from Alex's mind that he's a witch and had been feeding Milos. Something like that could be used against us by our enemies."

     "True," Morsus replied. "And that's why you are the Crown Prince and I'm your second in command! Ok, Alex, let's get you educated on thought projection."

     "Will this hurt?" I asked warily as Morsus sat down on the other side of me.

     "Not one bit, unless you try to fight against it. Now, it's so easy. You call to mind the scene you want to share with Mircea, in this case, it's what you felt and heard that morning. Then you reach out, place your hands on either side of his face, thumbs on his temples, and concentrate on sending those thoughts to him. Imagine that your mind is a movie projector and his mind is the screen. That's how I do it," he said.

     "It can't be that easy," I retorted.

     "Oh, it is that easy. Just don't fight when you feel the memories transferring to him. Why don't you try it? Just send him some quick, generic thought first, to get the hang of it. It's just like opening your mind to me or to him when we try to get into your head. Go ahead, give it a shot," he encouraged.

     I felt beyond nervous. To me, it just seemed almost too intimate and I'd have to actually put my hands on that big, hulking brute; not only on him but on the sides of his knock-dead gorgeous face. He snickered and shook his head, picking up on my random thoughts.

     "Damn, Alex, I might have been wrong about you," he laughed.

     "Wrong about me how?" I wondered.

     "You might be gay after all!" he answered.

     "Well f**k that and f**k this! If you're going to make fun of me…" I flustered as I tried to get up and leave.

     "Don't go! I was just larking with you! I'm flattered that you consider me attractive," he assured me.

     "Jesus, Mircea, who doesn't find you f**k-hot?" Morsus asked. "Can we concentrate on the matter at hand here and forget all that nonsense for a moment. Baby boy there might decide to wake up any minute and he's not going to like the visual of Alex caressing the sides of your face like that…" Morsus said, trailing off and grinning as if some private joke.

     I ignored him and let out a sigh. I was definitely curious about this thought transfer thing and I wanted to try it at least, see if I could pull it off. I decided to show Mircea a random thought from my past, just a moment in time, to see if he could pick up on it. Steadying my nerves, I reached up and placed my hands on the sides of his face and looked up into his large, dark eyes. I was so taken by the intensity of his stare that I almost forgot what I was trying to do.

     "Now, close your eyes, Alex, and just let it go," Morsus whispered in my ear.

     I closed my eyes and began to concentrate. I was accessing a brief but sweet memory of my mother pushing me in a swing outside our summer, beach-house in Florida. I imagined myself back there again, the sights, smells, sounds, how I'd felt at that moment, closer to her, and aware that she and I were different from other people. Then I tried to "send" it into his head. I imagined the thoughts traveling along my nerve endings down to my fingertips and into his brain. It was almost like a tingling sensation and the sensation was akin to a warm fluid moving through me. It was unnerving but I didn't struggle with it.

     Mircea suddenly pulled back from me and gasped. "Damn, I got it! I saw it, what you sent me! It was you as a child with your mother. She was pushing you in a swing outside a white cottage on a beach in Amelia Island, Florida! Was that it?" he asked excitedly.

     "Yep, that was it," I replied feeling more than a little pleased with myself.

     "s**t, Morsus, he really picked up on that quickly!" Mircea exclaimed.

     "Told you he was strong as hell!" Morsus answered. "Now, Alex, give him the memory he needs to see."

     I reached for Mircea again, not completely comfortable just yet, with the fact that I was touching him. He intimidated and aroused me dreadfully. Milos was my vampire but there was something about Mircea that I couldn't quite resist. If he wanted to drink from me, it would definitely be a battle of my will to resist. I ignored Morsus who was scolding me mentally for thinking about Mircea like that and concentrated again, on sending Mircea that image he wanted.

     I began to imagine it just as it had unfolded, me walking through that derelict part of the city, the sights, the sounds and smells, and the way I'd felt. And then the sensation of being watched coupled with that strange, ethereal voice and what it had said, the accent, the intonation, everything. I let him see it all, feel it all. Morsus was right, this was very easy. I kind of liked it. It gave me the sense that I was "connected" to Mircea at that moment.

     I let go of the feeling and of Mircea and sat back, satisfied that I'd been able to learn this trick so well. I wasn't paying attention to Mircea and I didn't see the look on his face until I heard Morsus gasp.

     "Mircea, what is it?" he cried.

     I turned to the big vampire and was frightened, really, and truly frightened for perhaps the first time. His eyes were wide, his mouth gaping slightly and the expression on his face one of complete and utter distress. He was breathing hard and clutching his chest. "It can't be… It just can't be…" he stammered and struggled to his feet, swaying like a drunk.

     "Mircea!" Morsus cried again as he stood and reached for his brother, steadying him as he wavered. "Tell me what has you so troubled!"

"It can't be her, not now, not after all this time. She's dead, she has to be…" his voice began to break and he sank to the floor on his knees, his handsome face contorting in obvious grief as tears began to form in his eyes. Morsus dropped to the floor with him, trying to give his brother comfort.

     All the commotion had awakened the sleeping prince in the bed with me. He sat up and leaned around me, looking at what must have to him, been a quite confusing scene. I ignored him for the moment and tried to reach out to Mircea. I wanted to get into that intriguing mind of his while his guard was down. I knew he would block me but before he sensed my intrusion I was able to catch a glimpse of a woman with dark, green eyes and long, dark hair. I knew, without asking, that she was the one Mircea believed I'd heard. I also knew that she was a witch too. I even picked up on a name, her name, Obsidian.