Struck (A Vampire Novel) ✔

Forty-Six

I felt as though something horrible was building around me, only nobody wanted to directly tell me about it. I had stepped out of one dangerous situation and landed into a mine field, where a single misstep could result in catastrophe. While I was relieved to be led back into the Bryant Coterie Headquarters, I wasn’t allowed to stop and chat with any of the members. Not that I actually was able to see any… the place was in a tense silence even I couldn’t quite understand.

Between the fight against Corentine and Vincent, I felt exhausted and malnourished if not downright sick. A headache was building slowly behind my eyes. Something told me it would be a storm of a migraine over time and I wasn’t looking forward to it at all.

I was led deliberately up the stairs by a quiet Jacobi, whose mood I couldn’t discern through our bond. Whenever I tried to feel for it, it was as if he had learned to block my invasion enough to distort what I could feel in response. I frowned at his back, wanting to know what was bothering him but at the same time fearing it was me, though a stubborn part of me refused to submit to that thought and would have rather just blamed him for being moody.

Corentine had followed us without seeming to think about it. Something in the way she followed closely behind me made me associate her to a lost puppy, having decided who its new owner was. Normally, I would have felt annoyed, confused, or just plain strange at the fact that this woman, who had dedicated her entire time since before she met me planning to kill me gleefully, was now attached to me. Instead, something I couldn’t understand made me prefer that she was nearby, as if it was a comfort rather than a nuisance.

When we were halfway up the stairs, just before the level to Jacobi’s room, I halted when Jacobi stopped to turn to us. My heart jumped to my throat as his eyes landed coolly on mine, taking me in for a moment before turning to look at Corentine just behind me.

“Corentine, leave us. Your room has been left untouched,” Jacobi ordered sharply. Corentine didn’t even hesitate. She stood firm, not making a move to obey him. He narrowed his eyes at her, though not in a dangerous or angry way. It was as if he were scrutinizing her, trying to understand her motives behind her actions or lack thereof. “Corentine. Go. That’s an order.”

“You’re no longer my Master, Jacobi,” Corentine told him bravely, not even shifting under his look. I watched his expression, wondering if he would get angry at her disrespect, despite the fact that she hadn’t stated it in a spiteful manner.

“Who is your Master, then, Corentine? Why aren’t you running away and submitting to a rogue existence?” The way Jacobi shot the questions at her made me wince, though something told me he already partially knew the answer to them. Corentine didn’t seem bothered, though. She openly stared at him, not even having to think over the answers herself.

“I did go rogue, Jacobi,” Corentine told him carefully, “I told you already. She saved me. She’s my Master…” She turned her intense gaze on me slowly. “… for eternity or until death. I don’t know how I know, but I do. I’ll only serve her. I’ll only obey her wishes until the day I die.” Jacobi looked at me once again, his eyes dark as he watched my reaction to her words. I wanted to be stunned, to argue against her words. But something inside felt her words ring true. Corentine was mine; whatever that meant.

“Tell your vampire slave to leave, Elysia. We have things we need to discuss,” Jacobi growled, apparently not pleased with my reaction… or my lack of reaction. I felt shocked by his definition of Corentine, simply because she wasn’t my slave. For her to be my slave would mean she would be in servitude to me without my being in any way dedicated to her. I felt very much that, despite the bond feeling one-sided in its claim over Corentine, she had become something vital to me the minute I had used my spirit to bring her back from the darkness. I clinched my hands into fists, narrowing my eyes at Jacobi in response.