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After she stopped struggling, he rolled off the brunette and wiped his cock on her bedsheets. It had been a long time since he'd had a good hard fuck. He hadn't had to influence her at all really. She had gone to that bar looking for the same thing he had, well almost. Her eyes had run over him appreciatively in the bar and all it had taken was a little wave of confidence. The results of that had been expected. But her being a freaky little bitch too? That had just been a bonus. He looked at the ropes which bound the corpses arms to her knees. What a shame, it would have been nice to keep her around for another fuck or two, but he'd just been so thirsty. I had only been two days since he'd left Forks, but Jasper hadn't dared to hunt in Cullen territory.
It had occurred to him as he lunged for the fucker's skinny neck back in Forks that if he followed through with that decision then the Cullens would see that his Beast was free again. What was their involvement in his imprisonment? And Alice. Could that vanilla flavored little pixie really have lied to him all those years? He would be impressed if he wasn't so pissed off. He didn't have enough intel and that agitated him. Can't strategise without intel. If they were alerted to the Major being back that would bring down the full might of the Volturi on him, and he wasn't ready for that. Not yet. So, he had changed course, as much as it had killed him. Prissy boy's instinct to be a possessive cunt had overpowered his thirst and thanks to a little empathic manipulation he had 'rescued' her from Jasper. Then it was just a simple matter of playing the part of the wretched self-hating baby he'd been for the past fifty years. Fifty years! Fuck me. Well, he'd waited longer. It was only a matter if patience. He would have his revenge on every cock sucking bastard who had been involved in his imprisonment and kept him from his mate and his Mistress.
Helping himself to a cigarette, another luxury being a Cullen had denied him, from her handbag he got to work, untying the corpse and putting all evidence of their fucking into a bin bag, the ropes the gag, the clamps. Beyond the blood he'd missed that too, having a writhing woman beneath him begging, giving him total power willingly. That was the thing. Any human idiot could take power but to have someone give it to you, that was real dominance. There was no sweeter pleasure.
When all evidence of his presence was cleaned or disposed of, Jasper crossed to the lighter on the woman's bedside table and crushed it beneath his little finger, then, caressing the still burning end of his cigarette against the tiny puddle of lighter fluid, he turned away. A senseless accident.
He helped himself to the rest of her cigarettes, she'd hardly need them.
"Well, see ya in Hell darlin'", he said to the corpse as the flames began to lick her hair. "Thanks for a most entertaining evening. I'd love to stay longer but I have an appointment to keep." He did a little mock tip of an invisible Stetson, damn he'd have to get one of those, before launching himself through the window and back into the thickening night of the alley.
Night had fully descended when Jasper arrived outside the little shop. Madame Monnet's Magic And Hexes read the sign above the door, in the same curling letters as the first time he'd stood in this spot almost 150 years previously. The doorknob snapped easily under his fingers and he stepped into the shadowy store. Too easily. What was it Peter had been fond of saying? Never trust a witch.
Trinkets and talismans, none of which worked, dangled from the ceiling and burst from gaudy shelves around the room. The vampire rolled his eyes. Hardly the place he expected to find one of the most powerful witches alive. Jasper thought for a moment that his intel was incorrect but no, he breathed in, the scent of demonic activity was as heady in the air as it had been back then.
No sooner had he taken one step inside the threshold than blue flames sprung up from the floorboards, entwining themselves across an invisible symbol on the floor which he had unwittingly stepped into, preventing him from moving another step.
She was waiting for him in the shadows behind the till, because of course she was.
"We're closed." Her thick Louisianan accent was dripping with contempt.
"Dollar store pentagrams Eloise?" He ran his eyes over a cellophane wrapped book entitled D.I.Y Voodoo. "Tut tut, not what I expected from the granddaughter of the great Annamarie Monnet."
"What's your business, vampire?"
"Why so cold an old family friend? Oh, you know very well who I am Mam", he added in response to her raised eyebrow. "Last time I saw you, you were a little witchlet clinging to her grandmamma's shawl."
The witch's eyes widened, "Major?"
"In the flesh mam."
"Well fuck me, I thought you were dead."
He shrugged and shook off the residual tensions in his muscles as the fiery symbol unwound itself and disappeared.
"Drink?"
"When the daughters of the Dark Lady Hecate migrated to this realm it wasn't to join some vampire squabble. In fact, some of us were already here, as you may remember", she remarked, handing him a glass of whiskey. "My coven wanted no part in the war or in the squabbles of the children of Nyx, we just wanted a realm where we could live in peace, away from all the noise of the home plane."
"Live in peace and make a quick buck while you're at it. I'm not faulting you, in fact I admire your business model, who would think to look for a real witch in a street full of phonies. Gives you ample freedom to cater to your real clientele without detection. But don't attempt to hide behind this guise of neutrality, not from me. Whatever your people's creed of neutrality, I know your coven have been doing favors for all forms off Hell Spawn under the table for centuries."
"Depends on what you want."
"I want to contact my Mistress and I need a witch to do it."
Eloise snorted, the movement causing her fiery ringlets to twitch. "You can spit and hit ten talented witches in this city, why are you here, specifically."
"Ah but I don't want just any talented witch, I want the best. And considering my circumstances, someone I can count on to be discreet. Your Grandmother was a powerful ally in convincing the masses that Maria was the real front of that operation in the south, gave me and my allies plenty of freedom to work behind the scenes under the guise of her lackies."
"Nanna died years back."
"I heard, my condolences."
The witch batted his sentiments away with a tattoo laced hand. "She lived well into her 13th decade, not bad considering her lifestyle. Anyway, the old bird may have been happy to help you out, but that was before. The Voluturi are too powerful now, their eyes are everywhere. Something like that could make me some very powerful enemies. I have my boy to think of."
"Information then, information that I could, if pressed, theoretically have gotten from any number of sources."
"What makes you think I know anything of value?"
"Like I said, you're the best. And being the best I'm sure you've had your fair share of a variety of clientele. I know you trade in more than just money, I'm told your secrets business is just as lucrative."
She sighed. "Fine, what do you want to know?"
"I want to know what they did to me and how to undo it."
"What's in it for me?"
He produced the sizable wad of notes he had filched form his lady friend's mattress as well as a few other sources, from his leather jacket and placed it on the counter.
The witch rolled her eyes. "You must be brain dead boy if you think I'm putting my ass on the line for pocket change, I could make that in half a day were I so inclined."
"That and protection."
"Protection? What makes you think my sisters and I need your protection vampire?"
"Mm", the vampire smiled. "Well, that's just it, ain't it? Your sisters." He took a long sip of his drink.
The smile slid off the witch's face. "What are you talking about?"
"You don't have a coven Mam, not anymore and whatever you did to get thrown out must have been pretty bad for them to leave you all alone in the world with your boy."
She didn't ask how he knew; it didn't matter. Slowly, Eloise poured herself another drink, set the bottle back onto the countertop and slowly and deliberately look another sip.
"Shake on it?" She said, ignoring his unasked question.
In answer he bit the palm of his left hand, allowing a thin sliver of venom to trinkle into the candlelight. The witch drew her long nails along her palm in a similar fashion and when they clasped them together across the countertop both hissed as the burn from her magic sealed their blood pact.
"Fuck me, I swear that gets worse every time I do it."
"What do you think this is for?" She pushed the bottle his way.
After steeling herself with another swig, Eloise rested her arms on the counter again. "There's a vampire who can weaken the connection between a demon and it's host soul."
"You mean like Lazarus?" The Major's lip curled at the memory of the traitor who had started all this crap in the first place. Before that fucker had started getting grand ideas of himself, life had been perfect. A beautiful balance of blood and war and sex and destruction and he was on his way to ushering his Mistress onto the throne of a grand new and everlasting era of blood with his mate by his side. Mate. He felt his stomach drop. His dead heart somehow growing colder. The Major pushed the thought away. He couldn't afford to be distracted now. The little shit stain was lucky he was already dead.
"No, not as strong as what Lazarus did to you, Lazarus could rip a demon away entirely, making the vessel human again and leaving the demon to dissipate without a host. This vampire can only lock it away. They call it Suppression. The being is still a vampire, but its human soul is more powerful than its demon, instead of the other way around. While retaining all of their vampiric abilities, the Suppressed is more inclined towards their human morals."
"Who is this vampire? I've never heard of them."
"Honestly, I don't know, they are fairly young as your kind go. Caused a minor splash in some circles a few centuries ago in Europe, started spouting all these ideas the Volturi didn't like. This was while you were locked up. They had gathered a small following, but the Volturi squashed it by the time you got this pretty new face of yours."
"So, they're dead?"
"Unlikely, as you know, the Volturi liked to collect talents, particularly if they're powerful enough to scare them as much as that little rebellion did. I'd start there. As for how to break it, I'm surprised you asked. How did you break it? Her eyes narrowed with suspicion."
"Just humor me."
"Well, a strong enough surge in demonic power should do it. That could come from multiple sources."
"Like what?"
"Well, the most potent would be an increased connection to their demonic Mistress for one thing. But I'd say in your situation that's unlikely. An amplified Sire compulsion or", she paused, "demonic enhancement due to a mating pull."
"Amplified sire bond, what's that?"
"Well as you know demon venom is a magical substance with powerful magical properties. Its presence is what allows your kind to enter and meld to a human soul. Similar to how a mated pair heightens that power in the other as their demonic frequencies resonate a rate which draws them to each other. With a Sire bond, the venom that allowed a vampire's demon to enter this world has a stronger connection to their Mistress. That's why a Sire can influence their progeny."
The vampire nodded, he had used this ability with his own progeny the old days. It hadn't stopped them from turning on him. "That influence has limits though."
Precisely, but if amplified that influence could be used to command the Suppressed demon to wake up.
"And how would I go about amplifying a Sire bond exactly?"
"It's a simple enough spell, I could whip it up in fifteen minutes."
"Why suddenly so generous. I thought you didn't want to risk the ire of the Volturi?"
"Oh please, an amplification spell isn't nearly complicated enough that I'd need to pour enough magic into it that would leave a trace back to me, what do you take me for, an apprentice?"
"I knew I'd come to the right witch, Thank you Eloise."
"Anything ese I can do for you?"
"A minor level perception charm and I'll be on my way."
"Oh, I don't think so."
"Excuse me? The Major's muscles coiled, scarlet eyes darting around the room searching for threats. Never trust a witch.
She handed him a box with a new door handle in it. "Bought these a week ago, had an intuition. You're not going anywhere until you fix that door handle young man."
Fourteen minutes later, armed with this information and two spells carefully wrapped up in the breast pocket of his jacket, it was time for the next step in his revenge. Most of his original allies from the glory days were either dead or on their way there for their part in his downfall. But his previous attempt at regaining power had almost been successful. That success was due in part to his second in command who had miraculously also managed to hang on to his own life, Peter.
What do you think of my OC Eloise? Stay tuned, next chapter should be up in a few days! Please review, I'd love to hear your thoughts :).