Part 7 (1/2)
”Does Midnight own the town it borders?” she asked, trying to kill time as well as to understand.
Jaguar nodded. ”Not quite the entire town. Two apartment complexes, most of the stores, and a couple neighborhoods. The local paper is independent, as are the schools and most of the housing.”
”Impressive.” She meant it. Running Midnight was one thing; slaves were relatively easy to handle. Running a town filled with free-willed people must have been more difficult.
She didn't want to kill him. Turquoise realized that fact quite suddenly. She did not think Jaguar would try to protect Jes.h.i.+ckah, but any vampire might try to destroy two hunters he found in his territory, and if he did, Turquoise would have to kill him.
Deal with that later, she told herself.
When and if the problem arose she could think these thoughts. For the moment, Turquoise needed this time to return her body and mind to fighting condition. She couldn't afford to face Lord Daryl or Jes.h.i.+ckah as unfocused as she was, and she desperately needed to regain control after the last humiliating confrontation. As Jaguar continued to work, Turquoise ran through a stunted exercise routine, just enough to warm her up. She didn't have the energy to do her normal full set.
She collapsed onto the moss-covered ground, pausing to catch her breath, and then worked on honing her other senses.
Humans relied strongly on sight, but a hunter had to be focused in all ways if she was to survive. Hearing and smell could impart much knowledge about the terrain as well as about the enemy. More important still was the animal instinct for predators.
Humans had no natural predators, and so, like smell, they mostly ignored their latent sixth sense. Strong vampires put off an aura that made even dull-witted humans edgy; a more sensitive human would avoid the leech instinctively.
A trained hunter, like Turquoise, could consciously feel a vampire's presence. The ability made it harder to be startled, and it sped up reaction time in a fight.
She could feel Jaguar's presence, faintly, a tingling on the surface of her skin. From the same direction, she could hear the faint rustling of papers, and the soft sound of his breathing.
Breathing? She opened her eyes. Jaguar was paying no attention to her, and so she had an opportunity to observe him. She was startled to realize that he was breathing, regularly, as a human did. While Turquoise had heard them sigh or yawn or express other emotions, she had never known one who had retained this constant human habit. It was a rather endearing detail.
Jaguar seemed to sense Turquoise watching him; he rolled onto his side, for all the world like a cat himself, to look at her. ”How are you feeling?”
”A little sore, but I'll be fine,” she answered. ”Get anything productive done?”
Jaguar shook his head. ”I never get anything done. If I work in my room, someone usually shows up to threaten my life or sell something to me. If I work out here, this girl gets restless.” He rubbed his hands down Shayla's muzzle affectionately.
Jaguar's voice was reflective as he mused aloud, ”In the original Midnight, Jes.h.i.+ckah had an albino leopard that lived in the courtyard. Nekita, she was called.”
”I wouldn't think Jes.h.i.+ckah much of a cat person, ” Turquoise responded. She tried to picture Jes.h.i.+ckah tumbling with her leopard as Jaguar did with Shayla, and failed.
”When Jes.h.i.+ckah got angry, she'd tie people to the trees in the courtyard so Nekita could sharpen her claws. Usually the victims were humans, or occasionally shape-s.h.i.+fters. Sometimes they were other vampires.”
Turquoise grimaced. She did not ask-did not want to ask-whether Jaguar had ever been Nekita's target. ”I take it that's part of the original Midnight you decided to change?”
He nodded. ”Shayla is very gentle. She'll hunt the prey I bring into this place-rabbits mostly, or birds if they land here-and she'll attack if she's frightened, but if given the chance she would rather retreat than give pain. Only humans have it in their nature to torture.”
”And vampires?”
”You think vampire blood gives one the desire to hurt another?” Jaguar responded. He shook his head. ”A feeding vampire is as natural and simple as a wolf or a lion. It's only when the human mind is in control that any creature has the desire to give pain.”
He gazed at Shayla fondly, and Turquoise recognized longing there-longing to be so innocent. She wondered how Jaguar had survived so long. Sentimentality was a deadly flaw in a predator. Even Turquoise could recognize Jaguar 's weakness the way a wolf recognizes the stragglers in a herd.
”The more you describe the original Midnight to me, the less I can picture you as one of its fearsome trainers.” Before he could speak, she added, ”You don't seem like someone who would enjoy living there.” Jaguar looked surprised for a moment. ”You mean the type of person who would enjoy power, wealth, luxury, instant obedience, and virtually anything else I ask for?”
”I mean the type of person who would enjoy manipulating another living creature.”
”Why not?” Jaguar responded unnervingly. ”We all do what we're good at, and manipulation is a skill I learned very early.”
Turquoise shook her head. ”You're trying to scare me again.”
”Maybe,” he answered. ”Maybe I don't need to try. Maybe I just need to be honest. I refuse to work as a trainer anymore,” he stated, ”but that doesn't mean I never did, and that is not work any creature can ever forget. The instinct to a.n.a.lyze, manipulate, destroy, and dominate never goes away. Reason and . . . morals can overlap and control instincts, but they can never destroy them.”
He shook his head, his gaze distant. His voice was soft as he added, ”I don't want to have to break you.”
She didn't like the way he phrased that.
”If Jes.h.i.+ckah takes over Midnight, she won't let you stay here as freeblood. Either she'll kill you, or she'll have someone tame you.”
”Lord Daryl didn't manage it,” Turquoise stated, bravado in her voice.
”Daryl is too soft,” Jaguar stated coldly, and this time Turquoise did recoil. Soft? The creature of her nightmares, soft?
Then Jaguar's voice was in her mind. Daryl decided to act as a trainer because it was profitable, and he liked power. He can't read people very well, and he certainly has no idea how to control them.
Turquoise would not look away, though she wanted to get as far from the vampire in her brain as possible.
A trainer who knew what he was doing . . . For a split second images came to her, vivid and painful; her knees gave out and she fell to the ground, the phantom taste of blood in her mouth. You're strong, Audra. But you don't know what you're up against.
He paused.
Would you like me to let you go?
Yes! Her mind was still reeling from the brief taste Jaguar had given her-a taste of what it was like to be in a trainer's cell, one that would keep her awake at nights longing for the more gentle memories of a beating from Lord Daryl.
Think I have somewhere else to go? she answered, as soon as she could gather her thoughts. She would love to go, to get as far away from Midnight as possible, but she had a job here and would not leave until it was finished. Besides, if she ran now she would need to run forever. One was either predator or prey; a person could not be a hunter if she hid from that which she hunted.
”As you wish.” She could feel Jaguar leave her mind, like a subtle pressure draining away. ”I'm sorry I hurt you. I wanted to make sure you knew what there was for you to fear.”
”Thanks,” she answered hoa.r.s.ely, not yet trusting her legs to hold her if she stood. She forced herself to focus on the job.
Information was safe, safer than memories, anyway. ”Why is Jes.h.i.+ckah so upset about how you're running things here?”
Jaguar sat beside her. ”She wants me to rule Midnight like she used to.”
”Don't you?” Jaguar's expression was shocked. ”You don't know much about the first Midnight, if you ask that question.”
”Then tell me.”
Jaguar's expression was distant as he spoke. ”The east wing was a row of cells, each of which usually housed a litter. ” He hesitated with distaste, and then explained. ”The humans were bred for beauty and obedience. Eight or nine children were usually born each year, but it was rare for more than four or five to live past the first culling.”