bryn n sinjin 02.5 - blood lust by h p mallory Read Free Book Online

silence descended once again. Shaking my head as my growing irritation surged through me, I rapped once more, every bit as stridently as I had previously.
    The third time turned out to be the charm. I could hear the sounds of bed linens shifting and then the clomping of heavy feet. I imagined the floor must have been devoid of carpet, owing to the hollow reverberation of the man’s footfalls. The moonlight was shining from directly behind me and into the window, making the reflection in the glass difficult to see beyond. But that was also fortuitous. It meant that I was no more than a silhouette, shrouded in darkness and difficult to recognize, or not, as the case may be.
    I heard the sounds of his heavy stride as the man started across the room, approaching my window. At ten or so feet away from me, I just managed to make out his outline despite the garish reflection of the moonlight against the window. Then I disappeared.
    Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness. Thereby you can be the director of the opponent's fate.
    “Huh?” croaked his raspy voice. No doubt, he wondered if he had actually seen the shadow of a man outside his window, or if the vision were a mere trick of his mind, a hallucination, perhaps.
    I blinked back into sight, a mere five feet from him. His eyes widened in blatant surprise, and in response, I vanished again. I could only accomplish this Houdini feat for a limited time, since it required a vast amount of power to complete the illusion of disappearing while I remained standing in the same position. Counter to how it should logically occur, materializing and disappearing are not one and the same. When I materialize and dematerialize, I am not actually disappearing. Instead, I am moving at such a high speed, the human eye can simply not observe it. To a human, it seems as if the air has swallowed me only to spit me out again. Disappearing, in contrast, requires the exertion of much more mental energy since there is no movement involved. I must create an illusion to dupe another person’s mind, which is a tall order indeed.
    When I allowed myself to be seen again, the man stood directly in front of me, his forehead pressed against the window pane. He, undoubtedly, was attempting to search for me, and gasped at the unexpected sight of me. In a reflex, he jerked back, but it was too late. I had already impaled him with my eyes. His pupils immediately began to dilate as I felt a triumphant smile spread across my face.
    You will meet me at the front door and before opening it, you will disengage all the wards. As a Master Vampire, I do not have to actually speak my commands. I am persuasive enough that once a victim falls under my control, I can silently command him with my thoughts. It is good to be a master …
    The man simply nodded before he turned around to do my bidding. I did not hurry to meet him. Instead, I listened closely for the sound of sonorous breathing. That would indicate the second Elemental soldier was still in his bed and sound asleep. Betta had previously tipped me off that each building served as a domicile for two soldiers and both men slept in the same room.
    I started for the front of the building as the sound of the soldier’s gentle snoring reached my ears. Carefully keeping my back pressed against the stucco of the building, I peered around the corner and eyed the empty dirt road ahead, looking for any sort of movement. I expected to find random soldiers patrolling and I did not want to be taken by surprise.
    I closed my eyes and honed my refined sense of hearing, seeking any sounds of breathing, or heartbeats, or the shuffling of weary feet over the dirt road. Convinced I was alone, I opened my eyes and started toward the front of the building. When I reached it, I noticed the door was already ajar. The same man I encountered at the window stood in front of it, his eyes trained steadily before