“You want a favor. Why would I give you one?”
“Because I am not the monster they say I am. I loved Leonie. But they put me in this goddamn chair for something I never did.”
“Says you.”
“Says me!” he roared, his veneer of calm finally snapping. His eyes flashed a dark dangerous green, not black like I had thought they were, and then he threw himself at me. I couldn’t help but flinch. But no way could he escape his restraints. Light flared from the sigils all over his chair and no matter how he thrashed he could not get out. He really was like a bug skewered by a pin. I’d have felt sorry for him if he hadn’t been trying to murder me.
Eventually he quietened and stopped moving. He was panting for breath as if in a serious amount of pain. Interesting. I didn’t know vampires panted. I should really look them up.
“I didn’t kill Leonie,” he said quietly. “Six years they’ve had me in this chair. Six years for something I did not do. Six years knowing that whoever killed her is out there beyond my reach.”
“You’ve been in that chair for six years? I asked incredulously. “They didn’t put you in it because you’ve been particularly naughty?”
He laughed, but there was neither mirth nor self-pity in the sound. He leaned his head back against the chair and nodded. “Six years,” he confirmed. “Six years of stagnating in this hellhole. Six years of not seeing the night. Do you know how long they’ll keep me in here? An eternity. An eternity because I’ll never agree to let them kill me. Never. Can you imagine what it is like when the only freedom on offer is eternal death?”
“I suppose you think you should be out there being king of the night, huh?”
He saw that I felt no pity for him so he changed tack. “Do what I ask and I will give you something you want.”
“Ha! Make a bargain with a vampire? Do I look like a fool?”
“You look like something I’ve never seen before.”
The fine hair at the nape of my neck prickled. “What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, trying not to sound wary. No way could this vampire know the truth about me. I barely knew it about myself.
“You’ve been looking me right in the eyes this entire time. Don’t tell me those goggles work because I know they don’t. No one is immune to my mesmerism. No one.”
There went that tingle on my nape again. “It looks like you just found the exception, buddy. Too bad for you I’m not in the job of letting monsters out on the streets.”
“It could be you in here just as easily as me, I think,” he said. “You and I are alike. I’m something you’ve never seen before too.”
“You’re right. I’ve never seen a vampire pinned in place like a bug.”
>
“Dhampir,” he said.
“Half living, half dead, huh? Is that supposed to make me feel sorry for you?”
This made him sneer. “I don’t want your pity. Just your understanding. You know what it is like to crave blood, I think. You’re not a vampire but there is darkness in you. Only something touched by the old darkness could stand in my presence and be so… unaffected.”
“You really do think a lot of yourself. You can’t handle the thought that a plain Jane might be immune to your charms, huh?”
“You’re no plain Jane,” he practically snarled. “And had I been free, you and I—”
“Yuck. No thanks. Great conversation vampire boy, but I think we’re done here.”
I felt a bit disappointed about it really. Steffane Ronin was certainly interesting. And he was right that his predicament was one I might end up in myself if I was not careful. But I was no closer to discovering why his case had given me an itch. Perhaps I had imagined it. Either way, I was tempted to touch him to make sure. One little touch might give me the vision that I had been seeking. Something to clear this whole mess up for me, so that I could go back to focusing on Zezi.
One little touch…
But looking at Steffane Ronin inside his circle of sigils I knew that would be a bad idea. He already knew too much about me. What if foresight was one of the powers of this dhampir? I was hoping that touching him might give me more insight into him, but what if it gave him insight into me? What if me merely being here had given him an advantage over me?
I stood up decisively from my chair and turned my back on him.
“Wait!” he said, that word a cold command that would have made someone other than me stop still in their tracks.
I ignored it and continued going towards the door. My hand was already on the handle when he said, “I can give you the Devil Claw Killer.”