Driven (27 page)

Sally
and two of the other wolves had been left down with the cage to make
sure that Jeete didn't try anything. Jasmin didn't seem to think
anything could go wrong, but she also wasn't going to take any
chances with Jeete, not when they weren't likely to get another
chance to capture one of the Coun'hij.

"You
can all go; Geoffrey and I will take things from here."

Sally
looked at the knives, batteries and wire in Geoffrey's arms and then
licked her lips. "What are you going to do with him?"

"We
need to know where the Coun'hij is. Once we know where their base is
located then we can bring Alec and Grayson in and kill all of them in
just a matter of minutes. In order to get that information out of him
we're going to have to hurt him enough to bring down his natural
resistances to Geoffrey's gift."

"You're
going to torture him?"

"Yes,
I won't argue with you if you want to call it that. You can leave
now."

Sally
shook her head. "That's not right. Jeete deserves better than
that. Any person would deserve better than that. I'm not going to
just stand by and let you do something like that."

"You
don't have to stand by, just leave. I've already told you that."

The
other two wolves had stopped moving. They hadn't stepped up to offer
overt support to Sally, but it was obvious that they weren't any more
comfortable than Sally with what Jasmin was going to do.

"No."

Jasmin
moved so quickly that Geoffrey didn't even realize that she'd stepped
closer to Sally until after she had her fist around the shorter
girl's neck and was dangling her several inches off of the ground.
"This isn't a democracy and you should thank your lucky stars
that it isn't."

One
of the other wolves, Chad based on the name that Geoffrey plucked out
of his mind, stepped forward and crouched slightly almost as though
preparing to spring at Jasmin. "Democracy is the highest form of
government. You're nothing more than a tyrant."

Jasmin
grabbed Chad, also by the throat and slammed both of her captives
against the wall hard enough that their teeth clicked together from
the force of the impact. She glared back at the third wolf with an
intensity that made him take a step backwards.

"You're
right, I'm a tyrant, but you're giving way too much credit to a
democracy. The only way for a democracy to survive is to value the
rights of the individual. Democracy runs based off of blind justice.
Democracy values everyone's rights, but in the process it sometimes
treats the murderer better than the victim."

Geoffrey
stepped slowly towards Jasmin. "Jasmin, they can't breathe, you
need to let them go."

For
a second it looked like she was going to ignore him, but then she
threw both of the shape shifters to the ground in disgust.

"You
can keep your damn democracy. You may have not noticed yet, but it's
already turning into something only a bare step up from mob rule out
there. Your precious democracy is already violating human rights,
it's just the rights of the minority that are being violated and the
unwashed masses are fine with that."

Sally
and Chad were both scooting away from Jasmin like a pair of hermit
crabs that had just lost their shells, but Jasmin didn't even bother
watching them.

"Give
me an empire any day of the week. You should be grateful that I'm
here. I don't have to follow the same rules as blind justice. I can
weigh things that blind justice can't take into account and therefore
my judgments can be better than what you'd get otherwise."

There
was something there that resonated with Geoffrey, but he wasn't sure
which parts he believed. Regardless, it was a dangerous philosophy,
one that would easily lead someone over the edge without them
realizing just how far they'd gone until it was too late.

"What
if you're wrong, Jasmin? What if torturing Jeete is a mistake? You
know that you're not perfect, you can still make mistakes."

Some
of the air seemed to go out of Jasmin. "Yes, I can make
mistakes. Democracy has built this country into what it is, but a
good king or queen could have done better, slightly better at least."

"But
wouldn't a bad monarch be
a lot
worse? Everyone in this pack is completely at your mercy."

Jasmin
nodded choppily. "Yes, my personal code of conduct is the only
thing protecting them, the only thing keeping me from being even
worse than the Coun'hij. They're stuck though now. The only way to
get out from under my thumb would be to trade me for a different
tyrant, that or rise up against me. They won't do that though, that's
why they are submissives, because they aren't willing to take
responsibility."

The
wounds that Jasmin had taken in the most recent round of fighting had
already started healing, but they seemed to have washed her out. In
the dim light the two of them were standing in she looked like an old
woman who was covered with scars.

"They'll
risk life and limb if they are ordered to, but they won't do the same
to guarantee their freedom. People like that aren't worthy of living
in a democracy or a republic, or whatever it is that rules us outside
of these walls. They have to have a ruler because they're too weak to
rule themselves and too dangerous to be allowed to run around
ungoverned."

Geoffrey
had stopped approaching Jasmin when she'd released Sally and Chad,
but he almost went over to her now.

"This
isn't just about the Duluth wolves, is it?"

"I
don't know. It is at least a little bit about them. Jeete is a
conscienceless killer, all of the Coun'hij enforcers are. He doesn't
deserve any more mercy than he gave the people he killed."

The
temptation to send tendrils of thought over to Jasmin so that he
could sample her thoughts was nearly overpowering, but Geoffrey
forced himself not to do so. There was a chance he would get caught
and he knew that Jasmin would never forgive that.

"You
said that the personal code of the king is the only thing that
protects his people. How honorable is this Alec that you keep talking
about?"

Jasmin
laughed, a bitter, mocking sound. "More honorable than me,
hopefully honorable enough. A few months ago I would have told you
that he'd make a terrible king, but he's better now that he has
Adri."

"Are
you second-guessing your support of him?"

Jasmin
shook her head. "No, he's better than any of the alternatives.
Even if he does a terrible job he'll still make life better for the
average submissive wolf. I think he'll do okay though. Maybe I'm just
realizing that there's less difference between a submissive like
Jessica or Sally and me than I used to think. Now I'm the one sitting
on the throne and having all of my decisions second-guessed. Even at
my best I don't think I'm ready to rule over anyone else. I can
hardly rule myself."

"You're
tired and injured. You've been through something like six fights in
less than two weeks. You need some time to get your feet back under
you."

"What
if you're wrong, what if I'm a terrible alpha, what if I'm completely
wrong about Alec and he's a horrible king?"

Geoffrey
sighed. "I don't have many answers when it comes to this kind of
thing, Jasmin. I'm about to torture Jeete and the fact that I feel
bad about it isn't going to stop me. If you turn out to be a bad
leader then I think you'll still be a good enough person to realize
it. If that happens then just step down. Find a better leader and
hand the pack over to it."

"What
if I get to the point where I like the power too much to let go of
it?"

"Then
I'll hunt you down and kill you. It won't be the first time that I've
executed someone for their sins."

It
was the kind of statement that was almost guaranteed to strike sparks
off of her beast, but Jasmin didn't look mad, there wasn't any
barely-perceptible surge of energy, she just looked relieved.

"That's
actually a relief. I think you might even be able to do it too."

"Hopefully
it never comes to that."

Jasmin
looked away. "What about if Alec turns out to be worse than the
Coun'hij?"

"I
actually have fewer worries there, at least where you are concerned.
You've already proven that you're not the kind to just sit back and
wring your hands and ask why this is happening to you. If Alec turns
bad then you'll fight to overthrow him or at least check the worst of
his excesses in some fashion or another."

"You're
not half bad, at least not for a vampire."

"Thanks.
You're not so bad either. Let's get this over with so we can go get
Melody."

Geoffrey
turned back to the cage where Jeete had been quietly watching their
exchange, but before he could get close enough to set down the grisly
tools he'd gathered upstairs, Jeete snorted at the two of them.

"You
guys are too weak to stay in power. You're right about the
submissives deserving whatever they get, but power is meant to be
used."

Jasmin
looked like she was ready to yell at him, but Geoffrey got his words
out first.

"If
you really believe that then you'll have no problem with what I'm
about to do next. You're in my power and I'm going to exercise that
power in ways that will hurt you."

Geoffrey
started with the wires and the batteries. The current sizzling
through Jeete's body caused him to scream and beg for Geoffrey to
stop, but it didn't seem to noticeably weaken Jeete's beast or his
natural defenses around the section of his mind that contained his
memories.

After
nearly an hour Geoffrey finally unclipped the wires from the
batteries and picked up the knife that he'd been hoping not to have
to use. Bleeding Jeete was even harder than Geoffrey had been worried
it would be. The act of cutting the enforcer wasn't difficult, but
seeing so much blood sent the hunger raging to new heights.

The
shape shifter's natural healing ability meant that Geoffrey had to
make new cuts on a regular basis to continue bleeding Jeete out, but
it also meant that he was able to compress the torture down into
something that lasted only a couple more hours.

With
a human Geoffrey couldn't have opened up any wounds that would have
bled too quickly because a human would have bled to death before the
wounds closed on their own. With Jeete, Geoffrey made some fairly
serious cuts to bleed him out most of the way and then once those had
healed, Geoffrey proceeded more slowly.

Geoffrey
sent probes into Jeete's mind on a regular basis to check on their
progress, but found that Jeete was weakening physically at a much
faster rate than he was weakening mentally. Jasmin took the news
better than Geoffrey had expected her to.

"So
what do we do? I'm not sure that you can bleed him out much more than
you already have. He's already shaking, which probably means that
he's nearly to the point of an involuntary shift, at which point
you're probably going to have an even harder time bypassing his
defenses."

"I
think you're right. The last time I scanned him it seemed as though
his will had weakened nearly to the point of not being able to
contain his beast."

"What
about if we starved him? Maybe that would weaken his beast."

"I'm
not sure. It might work, but I don't think we have that kind of
time."

Jasmin's
frustration was obvious. "You're right, but what other choice do
we have?"

"I can just throw my entire strength
at him now and hope that he's been weakened enough to get what we
need out of him. I won't be able to see everything, but I'll be able
to see
some
things. There's a decent chance that I'll see where their base is."

"And
if you don't? What's the downside?"

"I'm
nearly at the end of my strength. If this attempt isn't successful
then I'll have to rest for a day or two before I can try again. Also,
I'm going to need to feed soon, almost certainly after doing what
we're talking about. If I fail to feed then I'll lose control of
myself and try to feed on whoever is closest."

"Okay,
I think we go ahead. It's no worse than starving him. If you fail we
can still try again in a day or two. Even if it takes us a couple of
tries and they realize he's been missing too long, we'll still know
where they are. It means that they'll be waiting for us, or possibly
that they might even relocate, but Alec can always send in more guys,
and even if they relocate that will still give us a trail to follow."

"And
the other problem?"

"Just
go ahead and feed off of Jeete."

Geoffrey
forced himself not to give into the anger spidering across his mind.
Jasmin was still equating him with all of the others of his kind, but
he'd never actually told her that he'd stopped feeding on the
unwilling.

"I
won't feed on him. I only feed on the willing, or at least those I
can adequately compensate in return for their blood."

There
was a new respect for him in Jasmin's eyes. "That must make
things difficult."

"It
does, the last time I fed I wasn't sure that I was going to find an
appropriate donor in time."

"What
about bagged blood?"

"That's
an acceptable alternative if it can be found, but it's getting harder
and harder to get hold of bagged blood these days."

"Don't
worry about that, every pack has whole blood stocks. We can't exactly
make a run to the hospital if something goes wrong, so there are always
at least one or two people who can transfuse blood and a stock of
supplies on hand so that they can do their job." Jasmin already
had her phone out. "Hey, Sally, go round up two or three bags of
whole blood and bring them back down here."

As
she slipped her phone back into her front pocket, Jasmin gave
Geoffrey a sad smile. "She won't like me for the foreseeable
future, but she'll do it. You can start whenever you're ready."