It almost worked too. The black flame was just a bit faster and clearly had expected this outcome at some point. The black flames moved between me and the memories of the man before I became lost in them. I blinked trying to clear the after image of so much useless time-wasting things. I didn't let my hand fall; I wasn't giving up yet.
I had already come up with a plan. The black flames moved back again watching as I nodded mentally. The flood started again but this time I didn't panic and swim against it. I let myself swim with it. I knew the information I wanted was in there. I just had to let it come to me now.
18 years means this man has as many memories as me, but he didn't have any schooling or mental training, just physical. He was smart and, in another time, he might have been a challenge but being intuitive only gets you so far. I let the memories flow over me as the black flame watched. I thought it was curious what I was doing but it didn't stop me again. I waited until I was sure I had seen everything he wanted to force on me twice.
I pulled back and checked for what I wanted. It wasn't there. I had not expected it to be, but it was worth being sure. I built a box in my own mind and dumped all the memories the man had shared with me in there. I frowned at the mental box. Wonder what will happen if…
I focused back on the man but didn't drop into the stream of repetitive memories again. I held up the box and when the next memory started, I matched it to the one that was already in the box. I saw the man frown as the memory became trapped only in the box. He wouldn't be able to pull it up again unless I let it go. The next started and that went too. The memories weren't gone. I was sure that he just couldn't play the same one again.
I lost track of time as I blocked off memory after memory. I learned more about this piece of dirt than any brother would ever want to know. I knew which house he was born too, which house he was traded to, every partner he had ever had. Every plan he had ever made. Most of it I didn't bother to really learn from him; it was just information that flipped by as he continued to try to overwhelm me and was unable to notice his pool of memories was getting smaller and smaller.
I finally got the answer I wanted. The plan as explained by his new mother. This information included, what would have happened if he had refused her. I saw most of the other men at this meeting as well. They didn't have a choice about what they would do, or so this one thought. You cannot survive acting against the house, unless you were me and they were going to teach me even I wasn't an exception. The memory of a memory confused the man for a moment, but the memory continued. Better to murder the one woman who would cause the demon of the ring to make a mistake and be ended than risk the house. Right?
I growled and the man blinked at me. There wasn't much of his mind left. He didn't remember what he was doing or why. He only knew he couldn't move, and someone was touching him.
I had considered just letting the box go now that I had my answer, but I didn't know what that would do, and I had a feeling it would be bad. Instead, I started pulling the memories back out. I pulled them out even faster than I had put them in. I guess that made sense as the memories had already been his in the first place and the brain was very quick when not dealing with input all the time.
I left what was going on now and his orders from his mother on how to protect the house for last so that he didn't fight me again until I was done anyway. Also, he knew he had failed to stop me as soon as he remembered that he was supposed to try.
Still, I did not drop my hand as I finished, and the man stilled. "You had failed long before I got here. The houses are to serve our lord and your house has failed that. That our lord had bothered with you at all means your house had failed." I didn't speak out loud and I knew only our lord and the man heard what I thought.
The thoughts had more than words; they had my understanding of the world as well. The man blinked at the information and twitched. He had not thought of the world that way. He never put his mind to work beyond what he needed to survive the next day. It was sad his mind was complicated, and he could have thought deeply if he wanted to but he was too busy surviving.
The man's eyes found the vampire that was still sitting unnaturally still behind me. The reason we kill each other. The control we have on our own lives. The woman behind the man let him go as he passed out as I withdrew my hand.
The man had lost the will to fight but I knew I had not killed him. I hadn't noticed how much power I had used until my knees jarred into the stone. The black flames kept me from rolling down the stairs as my body stopped reacting to me for a moment.
The woman took a step up to me before looking up at the source of the black flames and taking a step back. I was struggling to hold my mouth shut. When she had stepped forward, I had wanted to bite her. That had not happened before. I had felt thirsty and hungry when I woke before, but this was different I didn't understand.