The SpellBinder's Grim Book Two: Incinerate

Chapter 10

Caius lingered in a tree, waiting for the three men below him to pass under him at the right moment. It was still dark, the sun not even peaking over the horizon.

"We have not seen one bloody person yet. I am hungry and tired," Charles complained.

"You think you are the only one who is hungry?" Gregory asked in annoyance.

Julian pinched Gregory's side until he heard him yelp.

"Seems like it."

"The town is closer now, we just have to keep pushing forward," Gregory insisted.

"And you do not suppose the Vampire chasing after us will have anything to say about that?" Julian laughed.

"If he was going to come after us he would have by now," Gregory huffed. This was the most he had walked in years and they had nothing but rum to drink, which just made him thirstier.

Caius jumped down from his branch, directly on Julian's head, snapping it. Julian fell with a thud and Charles dropped his bottle of rum, the glass shattering along the ground.

Gregory stopped, freezing on the spot.

Caius laughed and said, "Here I am. Nice to see you Gregory." His voice was warped somehow, deeper than usual.

Gregory held up his hand and covered his face. Caius could smell urine suddenly in the air and laughed.

"Do you know what you have done Gregory James?" Caius rushed forward and back handed him across the jaw, ignoring Charles who coward on the ground next to him.

Caius grabbed Gregory under his chin, his fingers elongating to reach around the neck fat and lift him up off the ground.

"Gregory, what do you have to say for yourself?"

Gregory hung there, suspended in the air by his throat.

"I am so sorry, I cannot hear you," Caius said, throwing Gregory against a tree. Charles remained silent.

Gregory managed to lift himself up on all fours, coughing up blood.

Caius could smell the blood in the air and honed in on it.

"Do you have anything you want to say before I drain you?"

Gregory glared up at him, even had the audacity to laugh.

"I have a secret to tell- something you would like to know. But I offer an exchange of information- if you spare my life."

"There is nothing I want from you. Die with dignity."

"Not even the truth about your mother?" Gregory smirked.

Caius' face faltered for a moment. "You sink so low to bring that up? I know how she died."

"No. No. That woman that died in the fire- Iris- she was not your mother. Though, she thought she was, and I give her credit for genuinely loving you." Gregory stood up now, huffing.

"All I want to know is where Roland is. You will die either way."

"I will tell you anything you want to know , so long as you spare me. And trust me, I have information you want to know."

"So then talk and we will see if anything you say keeps me interested," Caius snarked back.

Gregory leaned his weight against a tree, catching his breath. "Well for starters, Roland is your brother."

Caius moved so quickly that the tree branches fluttered. He was before Gregory in less than a second, face to face with his teeth bared and his fingertips grazing Gregory's cheek.