Taste of Vengeance ✔

Chapter 15

As soon as the first drops of blood glided through his throat, it felt like it streamed straight into his veins. Fizzing, churning, raging. Power spread through his limbs, his chest rose, his muscles swollen. 

He wasn't sure if the effect was solely caused by the blood. It could just as easily be caused by Jax's face. The fear glowing in his eyes, the corners of his mouth that were trembling because he had completely lost control of the situation...

It was wonderful. 

Juice licked his lips. "Delicious..." he said with a mischievous smirk. 

Jax didn't answer. Instead, his eyes flashed to the gradually bleeding wound. 

"Relax..." With his fingertips, he stroked the hairs on Jax's cheek. Seeing how he tried to move away from his touch, gave him an even more powerful feeling. There was no escape. Juice could do with him whatever the hell he wanted. "I won't let you bleed to death." He chuckled softly. "You don't deserve a quick dead. Maybe I won't allow you to die at all. Forever condemned to be my slave... How does that sound?"

The man snorted and spitted at his feet. "You're the same coward you were a week ago. An untrustworthy rat."

Juice shrugged his shoulders. "It's still an untrustworthy rat that's deciding your fate now."

"Abigail would be disgusted if she would see you like this."

Abigail... His arm shot forward. He grabbed Jax's throat and lifted him up until his face was turning purple. With his other hand he moved the knife to Jax's eye and pushed the point against his lower eyelid. "If you mention her name one more time, I will tear out your eyes,"  he threatened in a low voice. "Or I will cut out your tongue."

The man's jaws tensed, but he kept his mouth shut. There however was a hateful glare in his eyes. 

Juice couldn't care less about his hatred. For far too long he had tried to deserve Jax's approval, had he longed for his brotherly love. He was done with it. His hatred could grow. His hatred would grow. 

The cell door opened. "Hello Jackson."

A smirk crept on Juice's face as Scarlett stepped into the cell. She opened her shoulder bag, took out some patches and covered the wound. 

Jax's eyes flashed from Juice to Scarlett and back. It was clear that it all made no sense to him. 

"What's she doin' here?" the man snapped as his glance crossed Juice's. 

"Didn't you enjoy my hospitality?" Scarlett tilted her head. "My cordiality knows no boundaries. You don't have to be afraid that I will drag you out of this place violently, as happened in that beloved clubhouse of yours."

"That's on Hap, not on me," Jax grumbled. 

She shrugged her shoulders. "Happy will get his own VIP treatment." She gave him a dark smile, then she turned her attention to Juice. "You look much better, honey." She kissed his cheek – and her lips touched his skin a little longer than needed. She held his glance. 

Juice's breathing sped up. His blood seemed to crawl, as if it wanted to stream into her veins. Suddenly there was this longing to press his lips against hers, and quickly he tore away his glance.

"You're her whore now?" Jax taunted. "Abigail doesn't know what to do without you and in the meantime you're fu–"

"DON'T. SPEAK. OUT. HER. NAME!" he yelled. His finger nails cut into Jax's cheek and chin as he yanked his head backwards. His breathing fell, his fingers were clutched around the handle of the knife. "I warned you," he grumbled, placing the point of the weapon against the left corner of Jax's eye. He pushed and pulled the knife to the right.

Jax screamed bloody murder, yanking on his chains to move his hands to his face, but there was nothing he could do about the blood that was dripping down his eye. Juice moved his face closer to the gash that had almost cut his eyelid in two, inhaling the metallic scent of blood. Knowing Jax would be disgusted by it, Juice licked up his life force; it made his tongue tingle. 

Kicking and screaming, Jax smashed his head against Juice's, but all Juice did, was laugh. 

"Remember this, brother. I will never hurt Abigail. The fact that she's suffering now, is your fault. And you're gonna pay for it." He grabbed Jax's chin, looking into his intact eye. "I'm not gonna destroy the other one. Cause you're gonna bawl your eyes out."

He let go of the man and stepped back. Jax was in too much pain to answer and was staring at the ground. With a satisfied grin Juice turned around and nodded to Scarlett, where after they left Jax behind in the cell. 

"So... how was my viewing?" Juice asked as they left the dungeons. The anger and power he had felt just a few minutes ago, slowly drifted away. "How was Abigail?"

"She's having a hard time, but she's strong. She's moving out of Charming."

Juice nodded slowly. That was probably for the best. They should have done that a long time ago. 

"Go clean yourself up Juice," Scarlett said when they reached the end of the stairs. "There's someone I want you to meet."

. . .

After taking a bath and having clothed himself in one of the old fashioned outfits, he waited until Scarlett returned. He didn't have to wait long. A long hallway brought them to a living room with red velvet couches. There were more people around, he noticed. Two were playing chess, a third was behind a grande piano. He was playing an enchanting melody, and Juice caught himself standing still in the middle of the room to listen to the play. 

As if the musician had heard his footsteps, he turned around. It was a young man, with a pale skin, raven black hair and bright blue eyes. He was wearing a burgundy coat with a dark stand up collar – very vampire-like. He stood up from the piano bench and sauntered to Juice, studying his face while tilting his head a little. 

"So... you must be Juice."

His voice sounded soft but dark. Something in his chest cramped; instinctively Juice knew that he was on the foot of the social vampire ladder while this man was on top. 

He nodded. "That's right... sir."

A brief smile crossed the face of the pianist. He held out his hand. "My name is Ephraim."

"Uhm... well, mine is Juice, as you know." Quickly he shook his hand, stepping back and humbly bowing his head. "Nice to meet you."

"You drank your first blood, right? I can smell it. Good. Hopefully you will feel strong enough to go to your funeral tomorrow."

"W-what? You want me to go to my own funeral?"

"Hidden for the mortal eye, of course. It will be a valuable lesson." He gave him a wink, turned around and sat down behind the piano again. 

A few seconds later his enchanting music echoed through the hall again. 

A little dazed Juice turned towards Scarlett. "Who is he?" he whispered. 

"Our Blood Master. He is one of the oldest and most powerful vampires. Everyone who has access to this castle, is connected to him by blood. You too, through me."

"Is he your master?" he asked. "The one who turned you into a vampire?"

She nodded. "He is."

He was silent for a while. Then he thought back to Ephraim's words. "Do I really have to attend my own funeral tomorrow?" 

"Absolutely." She squeezed his shoulder. "You have to say goodbye to Juice too. To your old life."