Damned if I Do (19 page)

“Holy shit!” I scream.

Jude springs to his feet in anger, putting himself between me and the old vampire. “What did you do to her?”

“I merely commanded her to kneel,” the Progenitor deadpans.

Carl’s chair scoots away from me, while he watches me with a horrified expression.

My hands immediately fly to my hips for my weapons, only I've handed them over to the bodyguards. All I have is Glimmer, and in my panic, I summon her. I only dimly feel the pain, but I hold onto the sword like a lifeline, because, right now, it is. "S-stay away from me," I stammer.

Carl watches me, white-faced.

"Easy, Edie," the Progenitor croons. "You told me to prove it. And I did."

Did he? Or was this some sort of trick? I blink, trying to push past my fear. "Don’t you
ever
do that again.”

He smiles at me, and I can tell he enjoys my panic. “Believe you me, I wouldn’t dream of it.”

I’m still huffing, and the blade in my hands is shaking from my fright. “So every time I've gone hunting,” I ask, “you commanded it?"

"Of course not.” He waves his hand dismissively. “But you are following your birthright of keeping the peace among vampires and humans."

“One Harker against all the vampires of the world? Is that what you’re telling me?”

“Your kind has been all right at it for centuries.”

"No! We’ve been fucking
dying
for centuries! You can’t tell me that we’ve been all right with our…
slavery
because we haven’t.”

“She’s the second to last Harker,” Carl says. “Why would you let them all die out?”

I flinch at how Carl phrased it— “let them all die out”. Like I’m an endangered animal or something. I need a cigarette. Goddamn, why didn't I bring my bag in from the car?

“You're saying that I can't choose my own future?" I snarl.

"You've never been able to choose your own future. No one can. That’s just a twenty-first century myth. So why has this revelation frightened you so?"

I'm not going to cry in front of him
. "Because I want it to be part of my family's history. Not because we're slaves."

"I never said you were slaves. You have free agency to do whatever you want with your life, so long as you're one of the vampire hunters."

"Fuck you."

He has no idea what any of that means. How my ancestors have died because they thought they were doing something good, not because they were tasked by one of the vampires himself. Mom dying, Meghan dying, and all of my ancestors—did they know before they died that they were in the service of the big vampire himself? Did they know that they were never free?

"You can't kill me this way, Edie, so you might has well put away your weapon."

I glance down at my sword. “I’m sure I could try.”

“I know. But I’d have to stop you.”

“Harker, put the sword away,” Zhi says. He looks like he’s in as much shock as I am.

“You were all gung-ho to kill him earlier.”

“Not anymore.” Zhi looks at the Progenitor. “What he’s saying is making a lot of sense. Hear him out.”

“It doesn’t make any sense at all.”

“Edie,” Maria pleads, and I feel the velvety touch of her voice slide over me.

She’s glamouring me.

"Don’t you
dare
glamour me, and
you
call me ‘Harker’," I snap angrily. “‘Edie’ means that we’re friends.” I call back Glimmer, feeling the cold steel of the blade slide through my hand and turn my attention back to the Progenitor. “You said you sent me an invitation?”

He nods.

"Why?"

Faster than I can follow, he gets up from his couch and appears next to me, grabbing my scarred hand and squeezing lightly. It's such an intimate gesture that it catches me off guard. I look up and his eyes are warm, not in a creepy way, but like a proud father.

"I want you to help kill me,” he says. “
Harker
."

Jude

This isn’t going well. I realize how blind we were coming into this. I’m fighting every fiber in my being not to charge the old vampire so that Edie and her cousin can get away. However, I get the sense that I’d be signing my own death warrant if I did that. I’m no good to anyone dead.

Edie is the first to react at the Progenitor’s request. " You want me to…
kill
you?”

The old man closes his eyes and nods. "Yes."

"Why the fuck do you want that?"

The Progenitor laughs. "The thing with Progenitors," he says, "when one passes their duties onto another, everything starts from the beginning. Those that were infected as vampires go back to being human, no matter how old they are. My familiars lose their powers because they no longer have a master."

So the rumors
are
true. Against everything, I feel the swell of hope. That not only is there a possible way for Edie to be cured, there’s way she can have a normal life again.

I see that she has this realization as well, and she looks so small and vulnerable in that moment. She’s looking down the threads of Fate and realizing that there could be a different path at this point for her. I look around and find that everyone else has made this connection as well.

“Everything goes back to the normal,” the old vampire says. “The new Progenitor starts afresh, one vampire alone. One who can remain alone so they’re not spreading the disease of evil. And with a strong-willed one, they'd be able to not infect anyone for a long while."

"Then who would become the new Progenitor?" I ask, my voice raw.

"One of my direct descendants." He peers around our little group. "Ah, Esther. Just the one we're talking about."

A slender black woman is standing in the entrance to the living room behind us. She's a petite woman, with dark hair that frames her head like a crown. I don’t recognize her at all, which means that she’s either been hiding, or she’s from some other far reaches of the Earth. I’ll be the first to admit that’s she's beautiful, although there’s a sense of danger about her. Not hostility, but she’s one vampire I know better than to cross.

At the same time, I get the sense of immense age and power from her. Nowhere near as old as the Progenitor, but she ranks among some of the oldest vampires I've been around. And I’ve been around quite a few.

She smiles, baring a mouth of sharp teeth. "Hello Harker," she says to Edie in a strongly accented voice that I can't place. "Nice to meet you."

"Hi," Edie says carefully.

Esther looks back to the Progenitor. "She's a little skittish, isn't she?"

"A bit," the Progenitor agrees. "But she's the second to last of her kind, you really can't blame her."

Esther slinks around Edie, like she’s a scientist inspecting her subject. "She’s so young. Inexperienced. Cutting it close, aren't you, Gene?" Her gaze sweeps across the rest of us. “And you allowed her to have her friends here too?”

“I figured it would calm her,” the Progenitor says. “She’s learned quite a few hard things tonight.”

Esther’s gaze falls upon me, and she freezes. It’s the exact same way it was when the Progenitor saw me for the first time, except it takes longer for Esther to recover. “Uncanny,” she says in fascination.

Why are we only getting more questions with every answer?

“Esther here is one of my direct descendants, and my chosen heir as Progenitor,” the old man explains. "She will take on my duties and abilities when I pass."

"How does that happen?" Carl asks.

“That's where you come into play, Harker,” Esther answers.

“Because I'm infected with the virus,” Edie says. “You drink my blood and it's like some sort of energy drink for you to kill him. Because I’m your familiar, being infected makes me a…super-familiar.”

Esther cocks her head at Edie, a predatory gesture that I’m not sure I like. “How did you know that?”

"Seems like you had a chat with Anthony when he, ah,
visited
you last night,” the Progenitor remarks. “You do have powerful blood. Coupled with the vampire blood infection in your system, you're getting strong.
Very
strong. You've probably noticed that."

"I'd rather be weak and not dying," Edie counters.

"Good blood like yours acts like a drug for us," the Progenitor explains, gesturing between him and Esther. "When we drink it, it makes our own powers that much stronger. And since I've been around for so long, whoever kills me will need the extra boost from your blood. Even Esther will have to be enhanced by your blood because I’m, ah, very hard to kill. Consider a failsafe."

The thought of anyone drinking Edie’s blood actually turns my stomach. Not that I spend my time fantasizing about drinking her blood, but it does have that tinge of infection. Usually it’s something that I can brush aside. It’s actually brought us closer together, I think, since I’m not viewing her as a source of food. I’m viewing her as Edie, the woman.

Yet, if her blood does act as some sort of elixir, then it kind of makes sense. It would act as a defense mechanism. No vampire in their right mind would try to sip from her without knowing what her blood would do to them.

“Huh,” Maria says appreciatively. She’s made the connection, and now watches Edie with renewed interest.

"Anthony wants to kill you and become the next Progenitor," Edie states.

The Progenitor nods. "I know."

"You're not the least bit worried about that?" Zhi asks.

“It wouldn’t be the first time one of my children has tried to overthrow me.”

"The Progenitor has lived an exceedingly long time," Esther says. She strides over towards him and stands near him in a protective gesture. "And with that has come plenty of attempts on his life."

"You don't consider Anthony to be a threat, do you?" I ask, speaking up for the first time.

“Anthony is the youngest of my direct offspring,” the Progenitor answers. “He’s young and impulsive. He won’t succeed. After all, you are here now, Miss Harker, second to last of your kind. It is finally time for me to pass on my legacy.”

Neither of them knows how close Anthony came to taking Edie hostage last night. They obviously don’t believe that he could possibly follow through with his plan.

“You’re fools,” I say under my breath.

Esther smirks at me. “Perhaps. According to you, maybe. But we haven’t managed to live for millennia by being stupid.”

Won’t be around for much longer
, I want to say.

“If you will excuse us,” the Progenitor says. “I have something I want to show Miss Harker. In private.”

I don’t like the sound of that. Even though Edie is one tough vampire hunter, I promised her I’d keep her safe. I exchange uneasy glances with Carl, Zhi, and Maria. None of us like this idea.

“Why can’t you show her with us here?” Maria demands.

“Because this is an…intimate matter,” Esther explains. “You all will be safe. Including the Harker.”

Confusion flits across Edie’s face as she considers her options. What the hell could they be showing her that they can’t show her in front of us? The possibilities are too frightening to consider.

“You can go into one of the private rooms for a few minutes,” the Progenitor offers, giving us a fangy smile. “It shouldn’t take long.”

A door on the west side of the living room opens, and there’s a generic-looking bodyguard holding it open. He nods at us, gesturing for us to follow.

Carl looks uneasy. He’s white with fear. After all, we don’t know what’s beyond the door. We also don’t know what will happen with Edie when she’s alone here.

Edie lets out a breath, and I can see that she’s made a decision. “It’s okay, Carl,” she says. “I’ll be fine.”

“But—”

“I’ll keep him safe,” Zhi tells her. His fingers link in Maria’s.

“
We’ll
keep him safe,” Maria corrects.

What the fuck is happening? Why are we leaving Edie alone?

“I’ll be fine, Jude,” Edie says to me, apparently sensing my absolute horror at leaving her alone.

Edie kisses my lips for the briefest moment, causing me to freeze as everyone else watches us, agape. After all, the
Harker
, the slayer of vampires just kissed one of those she hunts. My mind goes numb, and I want to lose myself in her kisses.

“I’ll be safe,” she says. “Take care of Carl.”

She gives me a halfhearted shove towards the door, and I dumbly walk away from her, watching her as I do so. The bodyguard ushers me inside and shuts the door behind me.

It’s a sitting room, with more ornate chairs and another breathtaking view of Dallas. No one is sitting though. We all seem to be lost in our own thoughts at the revelations we learned tonight.

“What do you think of this?” Maria asks me. “Do you believe all that? About the Progenitor being able to pass his powers on?”

“Why do you ask?” I say suspiciously, wondering if she is a direct descendant of his.

She chuckles uneasily. “
Ay dios mio
,” she laughs, pressing a palm to her forehead. “I’m not interested in the job, idiot. After all, I have another master. And I’m not one of his children. It frightens me, all of that power in one vampire.”

“I know.”

“So what do we do?”

I look to the door, wondering what it is that they’re about to show Edie. “We stand by Edie. Whatever she does.”

That’s the only thing that seems right at the moment.