Void Read online

  Render still stood by my side, staring around at all the terrified supes in amusement, like their fear wasn’t warranted. He’d obviously never seen me in action. He adjusted the collar on his black shirt before checking the time on his Rolex like he didn’t have a care in the world. Just you wait, vamp. I’ll show you how terrifying I can be. He’d think twice before flashing me again.

  I looked off to the left where Mother and Quade were in the council box, chit-chatting like a couple of women at Saturday brunch. All they needed was champagne and gossip.

  “Void, so glad you could finally make it,” Judge Braxton said in a nasal voice, clearly displeased at having been kept waiting.

  “Sorry,” I drawled. “Next time, you should call my secretary. Maybe then I can fit these fun little executions into my schedule,” I retorted while adjusting my white Vneck, which was now sticking to my skin from the sweltering beads of nervous sweat dripping down my spine.

  I kept my voice calm and collected, but on the inside, I wanted to squirm and make a break for it. I could feel everyone’s disapproving eyes on my back, like a heavy weight pressing me down into the floor. In the human community, I was used to people ignoring me, but here, all I got was outright hostility. Shifting in my combat boots, I tried not to think about what was about to happen. Maybe if I could keep my cool, I’d survive this—maybe I could make sure the feral vamp could survive this.

  “This is not an execution,” Judge Braxton said, leaning forward in his seat with his yellowed teeth bared. His arms were like toothpicks as they rested on his thighs, and his oversized button up shirt nearly drowned him.

  “You remember what happened last time you called me here to use my Void powers? That shifter nearly died,” I replied.

  To my right, a man with shoulder-length blond hair stood up and stormed out of the courtroom. It seemed I wasn’t the only one disturbed by how close of a call that had been.

  “We don’t take kindly to threats, Void.” Judge Braxton replied.

  Render stiffened beside me, and I could’ve sworn he was rolling his eyes at Judge Braxton, but I couldn’t be sure from my vantage point.

  I shook my head. “I’m not threatening you; I’m warning you that I don’t have control over this. The longer I go without feeding, the more volatile my Void is. It’s been six months since you’ve summoned me, and I’m not sure I’ll be able to just take her vampirism away,” I admitted honestly.

  Murmurs erupted around me as men and women started to get up and leave the courtroom. More than half of the audience cleared out within seconds. Despite the spelled barrier, they didn’t want to risk getting caught in the Void, and I didn’t blame them. Supernaturals built their lives around their powers. It was so closely wrapped up in their identity. Taking their powers from them was viewed as a fate worse than death.

  Judge Braxton continued to stare at me in that cold, expressionless way of his. His tapping finger against the armrest of his chair was his only indication that I was irritating him. I wasn’t purposely trying to be difficult. I was trying to save this poor woman’s life. I held my ground on the bottom platform, my feet planted firmly on the dark marble.

  “We don’t have any other options. This was the verdict decided by the council. For your sake, I hope you control yourself, Miss Cainson. Murdering another supe is punishable by death.”

  I clenched my teeth together. It wouldn’t be my fault if my Void went out of control, but I knew that didn’t matter. Braxton had been looking for an excuse to throw me in prison for years. He wanted me to be contained, to take away what small freedoms I had so that he could use me as needed and then put me away again.

  As much as prison terrified me, I refused to look weak. If he thought threatening me with a death sentence could stop the Void, he was dead wrong. I couldn’t stop it. The Void was uncontrollable. It was volatile and deadly. It was a part of me but separate at the same time.

  The last time I took off my amulet and let the beast free, it was like every bad thought came flooding out of me. Its toxic need wrapped around the neck of the shifter, forcing him to be severed from his wolf. My Void squeezed it out of him like a vice, drank him as dry as a newly made vampire sucks out the blood of his victims.

  I always felt helpless to the gaping hunger of nothingness. The second my Void got a taste of the power it needed to feed on, it just wanted more and more and more. My emotions dulled when the Void took over, and I was put in the passenger seat of my own life. My humanity was shoved into a tiny box where rational thought and feelings couldn’t reach me. The Void was all my rage bottled up into a deadly black hole.

  I didn’t want to be a killer though. I’d never wanted that. I’d never wanted to be a Void who stole powers from people. If I ended this woman’s life today on accident, I’d be so distraught that I’d probably welcome prison and my own death sentence. I didn’t want blood on my hands. Especially from a vampire who’d simply gotten sick.

  “You will do the job that we have summoned you here to do,” Judge Braxton commanded.

  “Of course, sir,” I replied dryly, letting my disapproval show on my face.

  Most people kissed Judge Braxton’s ass, but being in the human community made me feel less bound to his influence and laws. Behind him, the council members frowned with disapproval. My eyes flicked over the four representatives from each community: elementals, vampires, necromancers, and shifters. There were others in the council box too, some assistants, the council secretary, the treasurer, liaisons from other countries, and my mother.

  Judge Braxton had been overseeing the council for decades. His position was meant to be the deciding vote in the event of a tie when council members voted on a decision. I wasn’t really in the know when it came to the inner workings of the council, but I’d heard a rumor that Judge Braxton got into power by blackmailing influential people. I wouldn’t put it past him. He was a snake.

  “Careful, Void. You are only here by my permission. If I decide that you seem like an agitator, I may need to rethink your current exile. Perhaps you’ve gotten too close to those humans you’ve been living with. Have you forgotten how to treat your council with respect?”

  I curled my fingers into my palms, letting my nails dig into my skin. “No, sir.”

  He looked down at me smugly. “Good. See that you keep your attitude in check.”

  Gods, I hated him.

  “Let’s begin,” he said, turning his attention to the council members behind him. “Bring out the vampire.”

  Double doors at the other end of the room drew my attention when they suddenly opened, and a screeching sound filled the courthouse. Two men, likely shifters based on their tall stature, started dragging a female vampire out onto the platform. She was thrashing around in chains, arching her back and yanking on her own arms like she’d rip them out of their sockets in an attempt to get away, all while screaming in protest. She looked like she was in her mid-thirties and she was beautiful in a feral sort of way. She had long, black hair that was tangled and matted to her forehead. Her pale, plump lips were framed into a snarl and her blue eyes were looking around wildly at all the people staring down at her. I took a step back, already feeling the urge to flee, but there was a hand on my back, forcing me to keep still.

  “Nowhere to run, Void,” Render said in my ear, his menacing voice flashing down my spine as fear made my skin prickle. “I’ll drag you back here screaming if I have to. Do your fucking job.”

  Swallowing, I held still, and Render backed away as the shifters continued to drag the vampire forward. Her fangs were bared as she hissed at the shifters holding her firmly in place. They’d drawn their weapons, pressing blades against her throat to try to get her to heel.

  “There’s no need to pull weapons on her,” Render seethed.

  The guards ignored him, dragging her the rest of the way in and then securing her to the bolted hooks in the ground. When one of the shifters yanked her arm back painfully rough, Render flashed forward and shoved
him out of the way. Taking the woman’s arm gently, he finished attaching her chains to the floor, his mouth moving with quiet words of comfort.

  I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but it seemed to calm her down some. I knew that some of the more powerful vampires had the gift of influence and that they could lead their people with short bursts of hypnosis. It never lasted long, but it was good for calming down other vamps. I wished that it had long-term effects because then I wouldn’t be forced to strip this poor woman of her powers. It wasn’t her fault that she was cursed with bloodlust. It was a nasty disease, claiming a vampire’s mind with the overwhelming need to feed, making her forget everything else. I wondered if she had a family, friends, a job...but then I had to push all of that out of my mind. If I let myself think about all of that, I wouldn’t be able to get through this.

  As soon as the guards and Render stepped away from her, she slumped on the ground. The calming effect Render had put on her wore off in seconds, and she started kicking and screaming, yanking on the chains so hard I was sure she would rip her limbs clean off.

  Falling to the floor, she screeched wildly, snapping her teeth and salivating at the scent of warm-blooded supers in the air. She tried to claw at the tile, drag herself past the chains, but it was no use. Whatever magic those chains were infused with was strong.

  When she tried to flash forward, the chains stopped her in her tracks, sending her flying back, smacking her head on the floor. Render moved to help her up, but she scratched at his face, drawing blood along his cheek. I flinched at the sheer power in her movements and wondered how I’d possibly get close enough to touch her. Render’s lips turned down in unhappiness as he watched her, and the woman started licking at his blood that she’d collected beneath her fingernails. Her tongue was like a serpent, lashing out to get every last drop.

  I’d always been fascinated by the way vampires fed. Maybe because it reminded me of my own hunger. They craved blood the way I craved power. Humans believed that vampires were created, but they were actually born. They aged up until about forty and then settled into their immortality. That was another thing I was taking away from her today. Even if she didn’t die today, which was a very real possibility, once I took her powers, it meant she’d lose her immortality. She would age like a human and be vulnerable like a human. One day, she would die as a human, too. Just like my mother.

  Render took another step back before looking over his shoulder at me. He nodded once before following the shifter guards as they walked off the platform, joining the council members behind the wall of glowing magic. Elementals stood on the north and south ends of the oval-shaped room with their hands raised up, and in seconds the shield was bolstered with a second layer of magic. They’d learned with past Voids that by combining all the elements, they could effectively repel a Void’s magic, but only for short amounts of time. The power block took a massive amount of magic from at least a dozen highly skilled elementals.

  “The female vampire has been hereby charged with mass murder as a result of her uncontrollable bloodlust,” Judge Braxton intoned, his voice echoing around the room. “She is hereby found guilty, and the council has voted that her vampirism be taken away by force of Void.”

  By force of Void.

  Those words spin in my head until I grew dizzy with it. That was all I was. A punishment.

  Everyone was watching me, and I hated that I had an audience. I wished no one was here to witness this poor woman in such a vulnerable state. I wish no one was about to see me feed, proving to them that I was the monster that they thought I was.

  The female vampire looked around the room, her screams cutting off the judge’s words. Maybe a small part of her knew what was about to happen to her, despite the wild look in her eyes. She scratched at her face, dragging her long nails down her cheeks with a vengeance as her hair stuck to beads of sweat on her forehead. I glanced up at Judge Braxton, but he just looked down at her dispassionately, as one might watch a flailing rat.

  Prick.

  Once everyone was behind the shield, I took a breath and walked closer to the woman. The closer I got, the more my Void hummed against my amulet. I wanted to make this as painless and as quick as possible. Even though I had a personal rule for not getting to know my victims, I still thought it was important to look her in the eye as I did what I had to do. Guilt had a funny way of creating a routine. I always apologized to my victims. For what I was, for what I’d be stripping from them.

  People feared me because their identity was wrapped up in their abilities. From day one, we were made to feel special for being born a supernatural being. We congregated in the groups of our breeds, listened to the histories of our people. Vampirism wasn’t just her ability, it was part of her soul. People would rather die than be stripped of what made them who they were. She’d be ostracized, she’d feel confused. Depressed. She wouldn’t exist the same way after this. She’d be no more than a human, and she’d hate it.

  I knew all of this because I had to watch my mother endure the same fate.

  Stopping, I kept far enough away that she couldn’t reach me, but as soon as I stopped in front of her, she locked her deadly feral eyes on me, and her fangs started dripping with saliva. “Blood,” she moaned while grasping at the air in an attempt to get to me. “Blood.”

  I swallowed, feeling that sinking sensation in my stomach. “I’m so sorry,” I whispered, but I wasn’t sure she could hear me over her groans. “I’m so, so sorry,” I said, this time louder, making sure everyone in the arena could hear, my voice a booming declaration. Maybe if they saw that I didn’t want to do this, they wouldn’t hate me so much.

  I reached my hands up to the clasp of my necklace and slowly unhooked the chain keeping my power at bay. The amulet fell to the ground and bounced on the tile. As soon as it was off, excruciating hunger barreled through me like lightning striking out of a cloud. I bent over to clutch my stomach, feeling the angry hornet’s nest buzzing in my gut. I felt heavy and light all at once. Dizzy and aware. It was like finally feeling free, only to give in to the shackles of the Void. I became an instrument of hunger, a sharp weapon with tunnel vision on my prey.

  I couldn’t hold it back. The Void burst out of me, filling the entire platform with black smoke. It rushed against the shield, bouncing off of it with a hiss. Then it turned, focusing on the feral vampire at my feet. I took careful steps closer and placed a finger on her cheek. It was a light touch, even though I wanted to mold her body to mine completely, to touch every inch of available skin so that I could feed that much more.

  My black clouds swirled around her, and her screeches for blood turned to screams of fear. It started gnawing on her power the second it touched her skin. The female tried to get away, only to crash back down on her knees. Her arms thrust out in the shape of a cross. It seemed fitting—a sacrilegious sacrifice on stage for the world to see.

  A single word escaped her lips as the bloodlust fled her body and awareness started to sink in. “No,” she cried.

  I fleetingly wondered if I could turn off the Void now, if I had taken enough of her power and managed to just steal the bloodlust, without taking her vampirism with it. I dropped my finger and tried to pull the Void back, but I wasn’t strong enough to control it now that it had latched on. My amulet lay feet behind me, and I couldn’t move.

  My mind screamed apologies at her, but my lips wouldn’t move. I was too hungry. My Void kept drinking from her, the cloud pulsing with every swallow. I began to shake with the adrenaline and struggle, every muscle in my body tensing. I didn’t want to like it, but gods, it felt so good to feed. It was like finally taking a gulp of air after holding my breath for years.

  The woman stared up at me, her large eyes wide with terror and pain. It hurt when I took powers. It made them weak as I drained them. More and more of my black smoke surrounded us until that was all I could see. It filled her mouth. It covered her skin. It wrapped around her limbs and neck. It breezed through the strands of her h
air. It was mesmerizing, beautiful, deadly.

  I was so wrapped up in the Void, that I didn’t notice the figure moving behind me. But my Void sure as shit did.

  It scented the delicious power approaching at my back, and its attention split, wanting to claim that, too. Hands wrapped around my throat, and my body was suddenly yanked back and tackled to the ground. The breath was knocked out of my lungs, and I tried to get away, but the super holding me was too strong. I felt myself grow numb to the violence and pain. The Void was taking over completely, protecting its capsule from the person trying to stop it. I was helpless to hold back the angry smoke that wanted to claim every last drop of power available to it. Like a whip, my smoke lashed out, and I looked up at the shifter straddling me, his hands wrapped around my neck with incredible strength. He probably would’ve snapped it by now if it weren’t for my Void that had wrapped around his arms. I could already feel it sucking in his incredible strength.

  I drank deeply, my eyes rolling back in ecstasy as I felt his hands drop from my throat. He collapsed on top of me, and I felt myself smiling at him with famished menace and ravenous greed. The Void was in the driver’s seat now.

  I watched him through a haze as his snarl faltered and his animalistic eyes dulled. But he was strong, and even as my power drained him, he managed to knock me away when I tried to reach out and touch him. The movement made my head smack against the floor with a hard crack on the back of my skull, and pain lanced through me like knives in my blood. My Void grew even angrier, and it began to pulse faster.

  I heard shouting, but the voices were too far away, and a deeper, darker part of me knew that no one would intervene. There was no hope. I’d ruin him.