Retribution (Book 3 of The Dominion Series) by S. E. Lund Read Free Book Online

going over a report, checking results.
    Soren already has my mother by the throat, and it's clear when Michel enters, that she's refusing him. Soren leans closer to my mother, his face next to hers, and she looks determined, as if nothing could make her comply.
    He raises his hand and slaps her across the face. The blow makes her head jerk back, knocking her face to the side. Blood dribbles out of the corner of her mouth.
    "Stop!" Michel says, lunging at Soren, but the larger man merely grabs Michel by the head and compels him once more.
    "You're going to stand there and say nothing. Do you understand?"
    Michel is helpless to refuse him. "I'm going to stand here and say nothing."
    "Good."
    Soren goes over to my mother and strokes her cheek. "Poor Natalia," he says. "Mean old monster going to hurt you because you won't comply. How much pain do you think you can take? Shall I use a closed fist this time?"
    "You'll do what you want," my mother says. "Don't hurt Eve."
    "She's mine now. You made your choice."
    Soren turns to Michel. "Kill her," he says. "Drink her blood. Then find the whelp and send her to one of our families."
    Michel steps back, shaking his head.
    "No," he says, his voice breaking. "Don't make me do this. She's my friend."
    Soren takes Michel's face in his hand. "Drink her blood until she's dead like a good servant."
    Michel is helpless to refuse him once again, his mind blank. He goes to my mother and takes her in his arms. He's doing things without knowing what he's doing and can't stop. Soren's compulsion is too powerful.
    "Protect her," my mother whispers in his ear. "Give her a new life. Don't let her be like me."
    "I can hear you," Soren says, his voice impatient. "That's enough goodbyes, you two. Do it, Michel. I'll be waiting in the car."
    Soren leaves the room.
     
    When Michel's finished, when my mother's heart stops, he comes out of the trance-like state he's been in. Grief overwhelms him – how many humans has he killed for Soren over the centuries?
    Too many to count.
    He lays her down on the floor, hatred for Soren growing to such a great degree, he feels as if he'll explode. Then he sees me standing in the doorway, my face white. He wipes his chin and his hand comes back stained red, my mother's blood is covering it.
    My eyes are huge. "What did you do to my mother?"
    He stands helpless, wiping his face while I run to her, my hands on the wound on her neck as I try in vain to stop the bleeding but it's too late. I turn to him, my eyes wet. "You killed her!"
    He pulls me off my mother's lifeless body and makes a split-second decision. He removes a small ampoule from his pocket. Inside is a new drug that destroys all memories for names and faces and events for the past day. It was meant for my mother if she agreed to comply with Soren and turn over her research, so she wouldn't remember in case the Council decided to evaluate her. Instead, he uses it on me so I won't remember seeing my mother's dead body, or remember seeing him with blood on his mouth. He could try to compel me, but Soren could always make him reverse the effect, and Michel doesn't ever want me to remember this moment.
    I won't remember seeing him or Soren in the office. I won't even remember waking up that morning, excited because Christmas is only a few days away. He breaks the tip off the ampoule and forces it between my lips. I grimace at the taste, try to spit it out, struggling in his arms, but he holds his hand over my mouth.
    I can't help but swallow.
    "There, there, Eve," he says, his voice soft. "It will all be over soon. You'll forget everything and start a new life."
    After a moment, I stop struggling as the drug takes effect – the drug that will wipe my memory of the events of the past twenty-four hours.
    Michel leaves me by my mother's dead body, unwilling to let Soren know I was here, calling the SCU's EMS team as he leaves the building so I'll be found soon. He wants to ensure I get medical treatment because the