Bound by Flames

“Don’t, kid,” Marty said, something dark lurking in his tone. “Hugh’s your dad so Vlad won’t kill him, but whatever he does do, that man has coming.”

Gretchen glanced between me and the open door that Vlad had almost flown through in his anger. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing you need to worry about,” Marty replied, his gaze pure emerald green as he stared at her.

Gretchen nodded with a new, glazed complacency. I stared at Marty, as shocked by him mesmerizing my sister as I was by the iciness in his expression. He must have been harboring a lot of resentment against my father, and I’d had no idea.

I didn’t have to strain my hearing to know when Vlad reached my father. His command of “Sit down, shut up, and don’t move” rang out over the other background noise. Then I shuddered when, moments later, I heard my own screams and the far softer sounds of Szilagyi’s taunting laughter.

“Don’t you dare look away,” Vlad said, each word sharper than the lash of a whip. “This is what your seclusion protects you and Gretchen from because this is what happened when Leila fell into my enemy’s hands a fortnight ago.”

More bloodcurdling screams cut off whatever Vlad said next, followed by my shouted vow that all of them would pay. I clenched my fists as my mind replayed an image of Szilagyi’s expression as his fresh burst of laughter echoed from the video.

“At any moment, they could have killed her,” Vlad said during a pause in my screams, which would have been when Harold repositioned me to better remove the skin on my back. “You don’t know what it’s like to lose a child, but I do. When they’re gone, every cold word you uttered is a scar on your soul, every missed opportunity with them a pain that will never heal.”

The new barrage of screams had me swaying. Marty put his arms around me, murmuring comforting words I didn’t hear because I was fighting back the remembered horror of that moment.

“You think me a monster?” Vlad went on when I could hear him again. “You are worse, for my child never had to plead for the love you so cruelly withhold from Leila. Think on that the next time you tell yourself you’re justified in your continued emotional abandonment of your daughter.”

My screams ceased, which meant that Vlad had shut off the tape since I knew from awful memory that the skinning had lasted several more minutes. Then I heard a harsh retching sound and tears burned my gaze. Vlad had ordered him to be silent and still, but vampire hypnosis couldn’t prevent my father from throwing up over what he’d seen.

“He shouldn’t have done that,” I whispered, wiping my eyes.

“Yes, he should,” Marty said in a steely tone. “Hugh’s been a shitty father to you ever since you busted him for cheating on your mother. I only wish I’d had the balls to rub it in his face the way your husband just did.”

Gretchen didn’t say anything. She still had the same unconcerned look she’d had since Marty told her she didn’t need to worry. Without superhuman senses, she probably hadn’t heard the tape or Vlad’s ruthless commentary, either.

“Everything Vlad said about losing a child is true,” Marty went on with a deep sniff. “When I lost Vera, I wanted to die myself. Eighty years later, you gave me the chance to be a father again. I’ll never replace your dad, but I love you like you were my own flesh and blood, and I’m so damned grateful you’re alive so I can tell you that again.”

I got on my knees so I could bury my face in his neck while whispering in a ragged voice that I loved him, too. Then I silently thanked God that Marty had caught me scrounging for food in a carnival Dumpster years ago, when I’d been a frightened, lonely teenager trying to deal with abilities that made me a menace to anyone I touched. If unconditional love counted, the man hugging me was my father while the man in the other room was more like a reluctant step-dad.

Then I felt a flash of blindingly intense emotion, gone too fast for me to decipher what it was. I looked over Marty’s shoulder and saw Vlad in the doorway, his expression inscrutable as he watched me embracing my oldest friend.

“I’m sorry you overheard that,” he said in a deceptively mild tone. “After his continued refusal to see you, either I forced your father to watch that tape or I shoved my tablet down his throat, and that would have had more permanent consequences.”

I glanced at the computer Vlad held, images of it sticking cartoonlike out of either end of my father’s neck sweeping through my mind. Worse, I didn’t think he’d been kidding. After all, he was Vlad the Impaler, not Vlad the Bluffer.

Mencheres rose, speaking for the first time since I’d entered the room. “Kira and I were just about to avail ourselves of the various entertainments in this hotel. We’d be delighted, Marty and Gretchen, if you would join us.”

“Sure, sounds great,” Marty said, translating the polite version of, “Let’s leave Vlad and Leila alone now.” My sister didn’t respond. She still stared ahead with that cheerful, clueless look on her face.

“Gretchen,” Marty said, flashing green in his gaze. “Wake up.” After she blinked and the slack look left her, he went on. “Want to party with a former pharaoh who doesn’t need to count cards because he can read minds?”

“Oh, hell, yeah!” Gretchen said, almost running to the door in her excitement. “Just give me twenty minutes to look even more fabulous.”