Craig knew if he didn’t deal with the situation, Damek would, and Craig wasn’t exactly sure how his friend would handle things. In many ways, Damek was primitive at heart. He’d been born into a more violent and basic time in the history of the world, and civilization was a thin veneer he wore when it suited him.
Craig looked back at Evan. The man was sweating profusely, but he hadn’t moved. Damek must have him under a compulsion. Craig straightened, lifting his hand from Evan’s mouth so he could speak.
Evan swallowed hard. “You’re one of them, aren’t you?”
“I’m a vampire, yes,” he answered honestly. “But I’m not a killer. Not a bad person.”
“You drink people’s blood,” Evan accused.
“And you eat cows,” Craig shot back. “At least I don’t have to kill people to get sustenance. There is plenty of blood to be had from blood banks.
And there are those who know about vampires, some of whom are more than willing to give their blood when needed.” He thought back to earlier tonight at Haven. His friends had come through for him in ways he’d never imagined they would.
“You don’t kill them?” He could hear Evan’s confusion.
Craig sighed. “I’m so sorry about your sister. That was a tragedy, but not all vampires are like the one you were chasing. You don’t need to worry about him any longer. We took care of him.”
“We?” The man reeked of fear, his clothes damp with sweat. Damek stepped out of the shadows and the bed began to shake with the man’s trembling.
“Be calm, human,” Damek commanded. “If I wanted you dead, I’d have done it earlier.” He pointedly stared at Craig. “Time is running out.
Even I cannot hold back the dawn.”
“I’m not so sure of that,” Craig countered, drawing a small smile from his friend who simply shrugged.
“Okay, Evan, here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to erase some of your memories and give you some new ones.
And I hope to hell we never cross paths again. Don’t waste your life on anger and vengeance. I don’t think your sister would have wanted that.”
Damek nodded and Craig felt the older vampire inside his mind, watching what Craig was about to do. He knew Damek would keep him from making a mistake and that gave him confidence.
It was just like hacking a computer.
It required skill, a light hand—or in this case mind—and the ability to adapt and adjust to fluctuating situations when the need arose.
Craig struck without warning, sliding much more quickly into Evan’s mind. He picked through Evan’s memories, slowly at first, but then with speed and growing confidence.
He felt Damek monitoring him and adjusted what he was doing whenever Damek gave him a suggestion. It felt strange, yet somehow normal, to hear Damek in his head while he was smack dab in the memories of a human.
Good thing he was used to multitasking.
Craig removed some but not all of Evan’s memories. He left enough so the man wouldn’t think he was losing his mind. That would be an injustice to Evan and he wanted to avoid making that kind of mistake. The mind was such a delicate thing, so easily damaged.
Craig also implanted some new thoughts, especially ones about distrusting vampire hunters, who in many ways were as bad as or worse than the creatures they hunted. He planted questions about vampires and the thought that not all of them were bad. Only some of them. Much like humans.
When he was done, he carefully withdrew from Evan’s mind, praying he hadn’t made any mistakes. He glanced at Damek, who simply nodded at him. That set Craig’s mind at ease. If he’d left something undone, Damek would have alerted him. Confident now, he looked back at Evan. “Now you will collect your things, go to your car and go home.”
Damek stirred. “Have you had contact with other hunters or just Leroy?”
“Just Leroy,” Evan answered, his voice shaking. “Who are you?” he asked.
“No one you need to worry about,” Craig answered. He waited until Evan had all his gear and was by the door.
Then he seamlessly slid into Evan’s consciousness one final time. This time he wasn’t trying to manipulate a memory but plant a suggestion. It was a different process and it took him a minute to adjust and find the proper area of the brain. It was shocking to him how easily he was able to do this.
“You will not remember tonight once you drive away from here,” Craig told Evan. “All you’ll know is that you want to get home.”
“Home.” Evan echoed the word and left the dingy motel room. Craig watched from the doorway as Evan tossed his belongings into is truck, started the vehicle and drove off.
Craig hoped Evan made it home all right and put his sister’s death behind him. He’d done what he could to ensure Evan would stay away from the vampire hunters, but only time would tell.
Damek pointed to the other bed.
“Now we deal with Leroy.”
Dread built in the pit of Craig’s stomach. He knew this man was very different from Evan. He could sense it without even entering the man’s mind and viewing his memories. There was a darkness surrounding Leroy, a sickness that seemed to cling to him.
Craig didn’t want to be in Leroy’s memories any more than he had to. He had a feeling it wouldn’t be a pleasant place to be. It would probably be more like being stuck in a horror movie, one that he had a very upfront and close view of.
Dawn was nearing and there was no time to waste. Craig tried to push into Leroy’s mind but something stopped him.
“Many vampire hunters build up a barrier around their minds to keep vampires out,” Damek informed him.
“Think of it as a firewall you have to get around just like you have to do when you’re doing your computer hacking.
Find the weakness.”
Craig examined the barrier from all angles. He tried one approach and then another. Stymied, he turned to Damek for assistance. “What am I missing?”
Damek took over and nudged Craig’s attention to a tiny break in the edge of Leroy’s mind barrier. “There is always a weakness. Sometimes it’s no more than a pinprick, but if you find it, you can exploit it.”
Craig was both horrified and fascinated. He probed at the area and felt it give a little, like a water balloon.
All he had to do was figure out how to pop it. He didn’t think brute force would do the trick, plus that wasn’t his way.
Instead, he pulled a stray memory from Leroy’s brain and inserted himself in the middle. Then he surrounded that image with the feeling that everything was okay, that Craig was safe and Leroy knew that. Then he went back to that tiny weakness and gently nudged it.
Craig felt Leroy’s consciousness assess the memory and decide it was okay. That was the opening Craig needed and he slid right past the barrier and into Leroy’s mind. He hovered there, keeping his presence cloaked as he looked around.
Craig felt Damek’s presence watching over him, but he ignored his friend. He had to concentrate on what he was doing. Leroy’s memories made Craig sick to his stomach. This man had killed not only vampires, but minions and innocents who’d had contact with them.
He pulled out, gasping for air, wishing he could scrub what he’d seen from his brain, but the images were as engrained there as they had been in Leroy’s brain. If he’d had anything in his stomach, Craig would have lost it.
“Easy, my friend.” Damek rested his hand on Craig’s shoulder. “There are many men like this in the world. He has killed many and will go unpunished if you do not bring him to justice.”
“But if we elect ourselves judge and jury, how are we any different?” That’s what worried Craig the most—the great responsibility that came with having such enormous power and abilities.
“There is a very big difference.”
Damek paused, gathering his thoughts.