The Last of the Twenty: Broken Pawns

Chapter 9

Delilah paced nervously around the small room, glancing every few seconds at the closed door. It was taking every ounce of self-control she could muster not to leave and run to Ethan's aid. She had the ability to link herself to others, to be able to feel their emotions as they felt them no matter the distance. If things got really drastic she could force herself into their minds as well, merging her mind with theirs, seeing everything they saw as they saw them. The problem with that ability was if she stayed within someone's mind too long she could kill them, even other vampires.

"Come on, get out of there..." she hissed to herself, her movements becoming more agitated as time went on.

"What's going on?" Dillon asked.

Both the bothers had sensed her distress, instantly jumping to their feet. Both were ready and eager to get out of the room as well, even if it meant coming to the aid of a vampire. While it was true they were genuinely friends with both Ethan and Delilah and would do whatever they could to help them, the fact remained that being in an alliance with vampires was something completely alien to their natural instincts, no matter how old the agreement.

"Where is he? We can help." Wes added quickly making his way around the bed and towards the door.

Delilah suddenly stopped her pacing, visibly calming as fast as her anxiety had started, the look of relief on her face was enough to calm even the two werewolves she shared the room with. "It's OK, he's alright now, should be here any minute." She said, settling into her chair gracefully.

"How do you know? You look in his mind?" Dillon asked.

She flashed him a look. "I wouldn't do that unless it was life or death honey, wouldn't do that to anybody..."

"Why not? If it gets you what you want to know. I'd do it all the time if I could." Dillon said, laughing.

"And just who do you think you'd do it to?" Delilah asked.

Dillon grinned and glanced at Wes with a wink. "Oh just the usual, girl's locker rooms, dressing rooms at the mall, stuff like that."

Delilah rolled her eyes and groaned. "You're such a dog, you know that? It's not something you would use honey, that I can promise you. Once you've seen what it really does to someone, you realize it's nothing to joke about, and definitely not something to be perverted with."

Now it was Dillon's turn to roll his eyes, "Oh come on, I bet you're just exaggerating so you don't have to put in the effort." He jumped up and stood in front of her, waving his fingers in a bring-it-on motion. "Go ahead, do it to me. Just for a second, I want to see just how bad it is."

"Not something you want to do honey, trust me." Delilah warned.

Dillon laughed, jumping up and down in place and flexing his neck like a boxer before a match. "Come on, you know I can take it. I want to see what all the fuss is about."

"I'm kinda curious too now." Wes said, perking up for the first time since they had arrived.

"Fine." She snapped, annoyed. "But only for a second, and only so you'll shut up about it. I'm telling you, honey, you're not going to like it."

"Bring it on." Dillon said grinning.

Delilah locked eyes with Dillon, visibly relaxing her body. Slowly, she rolled her eyes back into her head until only the whites were visible. The grin on Dillon's face suddenly faded away as his breathing became labored. Delilah closed her eyes and the blood drained from Dillon's face. When she opened them again she stared straight ahead, the light grey color of her eyes matched Dillon's hazel eyes exactly. Dillon jerked back, his back arched with pain as he fell to his knees. Breaking into a sudden cold sweat, he tried to pull himself back up using the edge of the bed, but his arms were shaking so badly he was unable to put any weight on them, only able to call out in pain once as he fell to the floor. The moment he hit the carpet Delilah closed her eyes and Dillon's body relaxed as he sighed with relief. When she opened them again the hazel coloring of Dillon's eyes had vanished, replaced once again with their usual light grey.