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Torn between the exhilaration of the unknown and the comfort of familiarity, I take a step back, breaking the physical connection between us. “I don’t want to lose my free will,” I admit, vulnerability lacing my words. “I don’t want my choice to be taken from me—not by Mother Gaia, not by my grandmother, not by the wolves, or vampires.”
Rune nods in understanding, though disappointment clouds his features. I hate that I’m the one responsible for that.
I look down at the water, my mind filled with conflicting emotions. “I’m sorry.”
I can’t afford to lose myself.
I’m already so different from the Josephine who came to New Orleans to lay her grandmother to rest.
“Come on, you two,” Finn calls from back on the path. “We better get going, lest we incur the wrath of the Bastard King of the French Quarter.”
“Bastard?” I’m bemused by Sebastian’s nickname. “Don’t tell me vampires believe in saving themselves for marriage.”
I have a hard time believing that.
“Don’t worry, darlin’, we won’t make you wait that long for a taste of us.” Rune winks at me.
Fintan rolls his eyes at Rune’s crudeness. I’m just glad he seems to have bounced back to his usual playful self. I prefer him this way.
“Seriously.” I slip my shoes back on and grimace when water squelches out of the insoles. “Why is Sebastian called the Bastard King of the French Quarter?”
“A story for another time, perhaps,” Finn says, getting us moving again.
“Come on. Tell me.”
“Because he is the leader of the parish known as the French Quarter,” Finn answers without stopping or slowing down as I struggle to keep up.
Even at human speed, he’s fast.
“You avoiding the subject only makes me want to know that much more.”
I see him weighing his options, but eventually he gives in and I win. “In the vampire world, bastard has a different meaning.”
Yeah, I assumed that much.
“Sebastian killed his maker,” Rune says next to me. “The one who sired him.”
“What?”
Finn turns to shoot a look at his tactless counterpart. “In the vampire world, that is the ultimate taboo.”
“Not to mention nearly fucking impossible to accomplish,” Rune adds.
“Why is that?” I ask, genuinely curious now.
“Part of a vampire’s power stems from their maker. Especially for the first few decades after they are reborn. And the older a vampire, the more powerful they are.”
Huh. I didn’t know that.
“That’s not all, though. Vampires, for the most part, can’t enthrall each other.”
“Except,” Fintan says, picking up Rune’s train of thought, “sires can trap the vampires they’ve created in their thrall and make them do their bidding as easily as if they were human.”
“So how did Sebastian overpower and kill his sire if they were so much more powerful than him?”
Finn’s shoulders lift in a shrug. “That was before my time.”
“Her name was Manon,” Rune says. “I only met her once. It was right after Sebastian turned me, or I guess right in the middle of the change from human to vampire—” he shakes his head, looking far away as he recalls the memory. “That span of time is hazy—thank the gods—it was the most excruciating pain I’ve ever felt. The only thing that even comes close to matching it is the bite of a werewolf.”
