Read Unseen (The Heights, Vol. 1) for Free Online

power and understood the futility of her defiance.
What should he command her to do next? Rid herself of the atrocious
clothing she wore? Fall to her knees in gratitude he hadn’t killed
her yet? Put her lips around his cock?
    Perhaps too large a step. He would see her
beg soon enough, but not because he compelled her. Her submission
would come from her soul, not mind-play.
    “Remove the silver bindings,” he
commanded.
    “No way in hell.”
    He paused, unsure of what he’d just heard.
“What did you say?”
    “No. Fucking. Way.”
    Evidently, his wound had affected him far
more than he’d thought. He tried again, more forcefully this time.
“Remove the bindings.”
    “No.”
    “You—” He pushed into her mind incrementally
harder, knowing if he went too far, he would destroy her, turn her
into a drooling imbecile, incapable of thought or action. And that
would hardly be useful to him.
    She shivered and then scratched her forehead,
smiling uncomfortably.
    He pulled back, confused. “Why do you
smile?”
    “It’s not possible for your brain to tickle,
is it?”
    “Tickle.”
    She nodded. “Tickle.” With one word, she
emasculated him, proved he was weaker than he ever imagined
possible.
    “That cannot be.”
    “I would’ve thought so too, but it’s the only
way I can describe it.” She looked behind her, then at him before
wiping her face. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
    “Come to me,” he commanded with more force
than he’d used in centuries.
    “You don’t hear the word ‘no’ very often, do
you? It means that I’m not going to do what you ask me to.” It was
almost as if she didn’t know who he was. More likely, she knew how
limited her remaining days were, regardless of how she behaved.
Perhaps he should remind her how many ways there were to die and
how painful each could be.
    “I am not asking.”
    “Did you use your power?”
    He said nothing, his pride suddenly something
easily swept away. Just as whoever had put him in this position
would be, as soon as he was strong enough to do it.
    “You did!” she shouted, pacing across the
room. “You tried to use your power on me when all I’m doing is
trying to help you.” She stopped and looked at him. “Why didn’t it
work?”
    “It did work.”
    “When?”
    “You came to me when I commanded you to.”
    “No, I came to you because I decided to.”
    “Why would you do anything I wish you to of
your own volition?”
    “Because evidently I have a death wish
and you have some kickass pheromones or something. If you
really did it, do it again.”
    “I do not care to.”… admit that he may
have already burned through his remaining power. “I wish to
feed.”
    “Then compel me to feed you.”
    “No.” But he tried. He felt himself move into
her mind as with any being, but he could only see a whisper of her
thoughts. The rest were blurred to him. Even against a newly turned
vampire, it was unheard of for a human to do. Although every now
and again, one was found to have greater-than-average
abilities.
    She shook her head, putting a hand to her
temple. “Are you doing it?”
    In frustration, he pushed harder, violently.
Something slammed into him—not his body, his power. Something
unseen, unknown, shoved him out of her mind. Impossible.
    He studied her. None of the lower races were
capable of it, so he ignored them altogether. A mage, then? He’d
never met one strong enough to do anything like that, and he didn’t
sense the magic of a mage or the insanity it caused. Obviously, his
power was diminished due to the injury to his body. Once he fed,
the chains would mean nothing. She would mean nothing,
regardless of what she was. More than how she did it, he wanted to
know about the creature who would defy him so boldly, so
dangerously.
    “Have you ever been compelled?”
    “No.” She grimaced. “I used that word you
don’t know the meaning of again. I’m not a big fan of hanging out
with vamps.”
    “Then why