The Kin

  ***

  Junius squirmed and struggled against his bonds. The men had been remiss in not covering his eyes, but their oversight was his gain, because he could see in the dark perfectly well now. His initial glance around the pitch-black chamber had revealed nothing that would help loosen the rope, but he needed time to study the framework for any splinters or irregularities in the wood which he could use to work the bindings free. Outside, things weren’t going so well but that didn’t matter, the Kin were here for him and it was of no consequence how many died, they would either release him or act as a distraction. And once he was free they would replenish the fallen.

  She was close by, he could feel her waiting for him, removed from the action as he’d instructed. He longed to be reunited with her, because they belonged together now, bound by blood and moonlight. Once this was over, they would walk hand in hand into the desert and become one with the silver moonbeams; it was this promise that had sustained him during the awful journey in the sun.

  He felt the ache of another death, and threw his head back, but frustratingly no sound came. Whilst down here, gagged and bound, he was impotent and time was running out; he desperately needed to have blood soon. The energy inside him from his maker was reaching the end of its potency; after tonight its power would diminish.

  He cursed them for gagging his mouth. Without the full stretch he couldn’t grow his teeth and they would’ve made things so much easier. He’d repay Marius for telling Nasir that he’d been able to access them. He’d been so careful in concealing the fact from the men, aiming to keep it as a surprise for tonight, but the opportunity with Marius had been too good to miss. Later, he would find his friend and after drinking his fill of Marius’s Roman blood, he’d show him what he was missing.

  Then he saw what he’d been searching for, low down near the floor: an uneven join with a sharp edge. He grinned despite the gag, and told the Kin to continue the attack, but assured them that he would be with them soon.