Blood King (Spirit Seeker Book 1)

by Amber K. Bryant

  With Elis incapacitated, Sybille could see only one more option remaining. Her plan wasn’t exactly optimal, but then, she’d never let that stop her before. She had to try.

  Rising from the ground, Sybille took a wide stance as she focused her mind. Juliana was gone from her, but the connection between the two of them had not been severed. If she could take advantage of that, if she could pull herself along the tether linking them, then…maybe.

  Sybille reached out with her mind, let herself float as she did when she was searching for spirits in the ether. Only instead of going as far as the ether, she followed the tether until she reached the periphery of Juliana’s spirit, currently struggling to take hold of the Blood King. Sybille swayed on her feet. Everything was frazzled here. Fractured. It was confusing to hover in that odd space between an old spirit and an immortal, but it was illuminating as well.

  Juliana’s hatred for the Blood King was a primal force, a thousand earthquakes hoping to swallow up this one creature. Sybille could only imagine what she would do when that wrath was refocused back upon her and Elis.

  The spirit’s energy was electric, her determination to undo the Blood King mighty. But Nathanial wasn’t some run of the mill thirster either. He fought back. Sybille held steady, taking in the fight while trying her best to stay out of it. That situation couldn’t last, however. It would be easy to get swept up in it and if that happened, Juliana or the Blood King, or some strange combination of the two of them, would swallow her whole.

  Far away, she was half aware of Devin yelling at her, questioning what the hell was going on.

  Sybille waved him off as the room became a whirlwind. She let it spin. Faster and faster it went. Deeper and deeper, Juliana dug into the Blood King. The more she dug, the more he rebelled. Sybille couldn’t let him win. As dangerous as Juliana was to her and to Elis, the Blood King was a danger to the world. No one should have the power he held. No one.

  The Blood King continued to wail. The thirsters in and around the cabin were by now senseless or well on their way to becoming so. Raelyn knelt at Devin’s feet and whined piteously.

  Still the room spun. Sybille held her place in the strange no man’s land between spirit and thirster. The give and pull for control over Nathanial intensified along with his wails.

  “Psychic, I know you’re here,” Juliana’s spat the words out of Nathanial’s lips in a break between his cries. “Help me end this and I will spare you.”

  Sybille stifled a laugh. Juliana didn’t understand fully the situation she’d gotten herself into. Still, as incredible as it was, the two women were on the same side here. “Oh, great and noble Juliana, please spare me. I’ll do anything…anything!”

  Nathanial’s lip quivered. “You don’t have to be so sarcastic.”

  “How about this, then—I’ll help you, and then you will be a good little evil spirit and piss the hell off!” With that, Sybille raised a hand and in true Nate the tablecloth-loving spirit fashion, she mimed herself pulling on her tether. “Make some room for me, Juliana.”

  Fully between Nathanial and Juliana now, Sybille redoubled her efforts, reaching all the way out into the ether this time, expanding herself infinitely in every direction. Now at the end of the tether that Juliana was still attached to, she grabbed onto the woman’s spirit-self and swung. Juliana expanded with her, whipping around inside the Blood King’s mind.

  His screams intensified from banshee-level to cosmic force. The windows in the cabin shattered, glass shards raining down like deadly hail. Devin and Charlie fell to their knees beside Raelyn, clamping their palms over their ears. Had Sybille been fully in her own body, she would have collapsed under the weight of Nathanial’s terror.

  She continued to swing Juliana through the Blood King’s synapses, destroying them one by one. Anyone observing from the outside would wonder at these two seething bodies. Sybille, arms outstretched and locked onto Nathanial’s, gaze boring into him, rocked on steady legs as her body pulsed. There wasn’t so much movement as there was the sense of an impending explosion, like pressure building up at a nuclear power plant. The tension was electric, and to Sybille, the inside of that power plant was as dynamic as a well-choreographed fight scene.

  Juliana glowed. Sybille felt it like sand between her toes on a hot day. From the way the Blood King wailed, he felt it like the nuke was approaching a meltdown. This was what the spirit wanted. She might not like that she needed a human’s help to achieve it, but burning the Blood King made Sybille’s connection worth it to her.

  Nathanial made one final push. Blood dripped down Sybille’s nose as he attempted to rally what was left of his mighty strength. Every fresh wound, every old scar flared up as though she was being lashed with a whip. Even half removed from herself, she knew she couldn’t endure this for much longer. Her body would succumb to the Blood King’s attacks; her mind would cave to Juliana’s will once more. No longer quite aware of where the boundaries of her own self ended and Juliana’s began, Sybille continued to swing her psychic sledgehammer at Nathanial.

  One more burst of agony came. It could have originated from Nathanial or Juliana or Sybille—in her exhaustion she couldn’t tell. A moment later, the Blood King’s wailing lessened and then, with one final heave, the cabin fell silent.

  Sybille slowed her swing. Winding herself back into her own body, she swayed again and tipped to the side, only to have Devin catch her. “Sybille? What’s ha—”

  “Shh.” She righted herself but kept a hand on Devin’s arm for support. This wasn’t the time to lose focus. Juliana was stunned, but only temporarily. When that moment passed, she would set upon Elis. Then Sybille would lose the tiny bit of control she had.

  Wiping the blood from under her nose, Sybille blinked several times. Blur turned to clarity. The Blood King lay prone on the ground beneath her feet, his eyes staring dully at the wooden beams running along the cabin’s ceiling. As Sybille took a surveillance of the various degrees of injury suffered by her friends, Juliana’s spirit began to stir. Now was Sybille’s chance.

  In her mind, she found a familiar door, placed her hand on its knob, and twisted; sunlight and the scent of pastry dough poured out as it creaked open. Quickly as she could, Sybille reeled in her tether, being careful not to let the line go slack.

  A prize catch waited for her on the end of it.

  Chapter Thirty

  A tornado might as well have touched down inside the cabin. Chairs lay overturned, broken legs reaching out at odd angles like porcupine quills stuck to the nose of an overcurious dog; every plate in the kitchenette now resided on the floor, splintered pieces of earthenware mixing with shattered glass from the cabin’s windows. Zareen, who had remained unconscious throughout the ordeal, lolled in a corner with Charlie attending to her. Raelyn rocked back and forth at Devin’s feet, and Elis remained unconscious, his body curved in on itself, his breathing shallow.

  It was hard to make sense of it all. Devin struggled to keep up as Sybille gave him a brief recap. So much of what she referred to as a “showdown” had taken place inside of the hidden worlds she dealt in and to which he had no access. He gathered this much: Sybille had teamed up with that crazed spirit woman, Juliana, and together, they killed the Blood King.

  “No, not killed.” Sybille kicked Nathanial’s head. He looked dead enough to Devin, but then, so had Raelyn back when he’d dosed her with Strike. “He’s temporarily incapacitated. It’s all we can hope for until we find a way to undo the invincibility potion that, um…well, that you seem to have brought to the table, Devin. Until we figure that out, we need to keep him locked away somewhere secure so that he can’t reclaim his position as Blood King again.”

  “I may be able to help with that.” Raelyn pulled herself back onto her feet and slowly glided over to stand beside Sybille. She gave Nathanial’s head a kick of her own. The bloodthirsters outside remained silent, most of them in no better shape than Elis. Devin had a feeling this situation would not hold long.
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br />   “How can you possibly help, Raelyn?” He rubbed his elbow where he’d slammed it against the door while trying to keep the thirsters at bay.

  “The Blood King keeps several secured cells in his basement, meant to hold the strongest of thirsters. I’ll lock him up there. He’ll stay put until you devise your solution.”

  Sybille winced as she shook her head. “Why should we trust you? Won’t you just release him as soon as he heals?”

  A snort coming from the corner of the room sent everyone’s focus in the direction of Charlie. “Don’t you get it, dummies? Why would she release him? She’s in charge now.”

  Sucking in air through a clenched jaw, Devin looked at his sister with dawning horror. “What are you saying?”

  Raelyn put a hand on his shoulder. “I’m trying to decide…stick with Blood King for the sake of consistency, or should I ask to be called Blood Queen instead? Or maybe scratch that all together and just go with Phoenix. That seems appropriate. What do you think, Dev?”

  Devin couldn’t bring himself to contemplate a Low run by his sister. Instead he brushed past her, turning his attention towards Sybille’s attentions, which were no longer aimed at him or Raelyn or even at the unmoving lump formerly known as the Blood King. Sybille knelt beside Elis and gently lifted his head into her lap, smoothing his hair to his forehead. She leaned over and whispered something into his ear, crying out in relief as his eyes fluttered open. She pressed her lips to his forehead.

  Devin turned away, right into the bemused face of his sister. “Sucks to be you, brother.”

  Did it? Right now, maybe. At the same time, as shitty as some of his choices had been in his life, most of them he had made because his aim was true. That much he knew; that much he trusted about himself now. Becoming part of Sybille’s team, even if she never looked at him the way she was looking at Elis right now, even if it led to heartache, even if it killed him some day—it would still be the best choice he’d ever made. It wasn’t the only difficult, for-the-greater-good type decision he’d made, either.

  “I always wanted to be the big brother who protected you, Raelyn. I can’t tell you how guilty I was because I failed to do that. I can’t undo anything that happened. I killed you to free you because I love you. I always will. Even if you’re the Blood Phoenix or whatever the hell it is you want to call yourself.”

  Raelyn’s smug expression faltered. It was as close to a sentimental gesture as Devin knew he’d get from her. “I meant it when I said I need Charlie out of the Low. Take her, Dev. She’ll have a chance with you that she won’t have if she stays with me.”

  He nodded. “Of course, I’m taking her. But I’ve gotta know…who’s her father?”

  With that, the smirk was back. “All you have to know is that my decision regarding Charlie’s future is the one that matters.” Her eyes narrowed. “Her father is none of your concern.”

  Charlie tugged on his sleeve. “We should really leave before the monsters wake, Uncle Devin.”

  Sybille and Raelyn, with Charlie in tow, carried a semi-conscious Zareen to her car while Devin and Elis, still groggy but otherwise okay, struggled to lug Nathanial’s massive form out to Raelyn’s SUV. They stepped on more than a few thirsters lying here and there on the pathway leading from cabin to vehicle. Thankfully, the beasts weren’t biting at the moment. The most energetic of them raised her arm in protest, then flopped it down over her face as she attempted a halfhearted growl.

  The plan was for Sybille to accompany Raelyn back to the mansion so she could oversee Nathanial’s imprisonment. Even though she’d have no control as to what Raelyn did with him after she and the others left the Low, Sybille still felt obligated to at least see that he made it behind bars before his brain put itself back together.

  The others would meet her at the mansion—Devin and Charlie in his truck, and Elis driving Zareen. They’d regroup and then drive until the Low was a speck of dust on the road behind them.

  After unceremoniously dumping Nathanial into Raelyn’s white Cadillac, another vehicle came bounding slowly up the driveway, kicking up dirt as it made its way towards them.

  Beside her, Elis’ haunches raised as he got ready to face a new enemy. A sky-blue van in need of a paint job pulled up beside them. Elis’ face scrunched up. “Is that…the Mystery Machine?”

  “Close.” Sybille stepped towards it. “It’s my mom’s ride.” She opened the passenger side door to reveal her uncle and across from him, Margot behind the wheel. A familiar hooded figure leaned forward from the back seat and waved to her. Bore.

  “Seriously? You show up now. What are you doing here?” Struggling to control her annoyance, she nodded to Bore. “Hello, Patron. What a pleasant surprise. Super great timing!”

  “Good Lady Sybille, it is an honor to be in thy presence again.”

  They exited the van, Bore eyeing the beasts strewn on the lawn, Uncle Peter rushing off to attend to his daughter, and Margot rounding the front of the van to confront her own. “Don’t think that I like it any more than you. I just couldn’t sleep a wink thinking how your handsome thirster friend might be trying to turn you.”

  Elis walked up to stand at Sybille’s side. “I’ve been a good thirster. Sybille, on the other hand, was quite the ass-kicking hellion last night.”

  “Oh?” Margot raised an eyebrow, which was slightly askew. Could it be that her mother was so worried about her that she’d rushed her eye makeup regiment?

  The thought made her chuckle.

  “This is not an appropriate time to be laughing, especially in front of the Patron.” She lowered her voice. “He’s agreed to pay us in exchange for a tour of the Low. Anyways, I don’t understand. What’s so funny, Sybie?”

  Sybille put an arm around her shoulder. “I destroyed the undestroyable.”

  “That sounds hard. I’m glad I missed that part. So, what happened to Zareen’s spirit? Juliana, was it? There’s something off about her. That’s why I had to come. Peter thought maybe she was telling the truth, but I had a feeling…”

  “Juliana.” Elis staggered backwards. He gripped his torso with one hand and his head with the other. “I’d forgotten.”

  Sybille laughed again. “You’d forgotten? You’d forgotten that your vengeful ghost of an ex-wife tried to stab me with a knife to make you suffer before she killed you too?”

  Margot gasped. “See, I was right. Peter,” she called over to him. “I was right. Juliana was bad news!”

  Struggling to makes sense of everything, Elis’ turned in circles, convinced Juliana might pop up from behind a tree or from inside a beached canoe. “The Blood King—you have no idea what his death cries were like. It was as though I’d been in a completely silent room for a hundred years and then suddenly had a high school marching band bust in playing the Star-Spangled Banner.”

  He turned around again, still trying to locate where Juliana might be fluttering about.

  “It’s okay, Elis. I’ve taken care of her. She can’t hurt you. Or me.”

  “Where is she then?”

  Sybille tapped her head. When she’d reeled Juliana in, the spirit had been too caught up in the thrill of destroying Nathanial to realize what Sybille had planned for her until it was too late. She shoved Juliana through a door in her mind, closed and locked it, then chucked the key. It wasn’t the end of her, but like Nathanial, she would at least be contained until Sybille could figure out her next move. Storing a four-hundred-year-old spirit in her mind didn’t come without its risks, of course, but for the time being, Juliana wouldn’t be rattling any chains.

  “Let’s just say she’s going to be donning pearls and baking cookies for a good long while.”

  Margot insisted Sybille tell them everything that happened in minute detail, but business had to be attended to first. She gave her mom and Bore the Cliff Notes version of Nathanial’s takedown and explained how his mansion had a prison that would contain him, should he recover. “I need to bring Nathanial back to his house. Sorry you cam
e all this way for nothing, especially you, Patron.”

  “Maybe not for nothing.” Peter joined them just as Raelyn came around from where she’d been speaking with Charlie. He nodded to the thirster. “I take it you’re in charge now, Raelyn?”

  A collective gasp filled the air. Devin, who had been listening in while leaning against his truck, was over in a flash. “You know my sister?”

  Peter shrugged. “I understand your surprise. You deserve to know the whole story, Devin. All in due time. Right now, I think it’s best if I’m the one from our group to take Nathanial back to the mansion’s dungeons. I’ll ride along with Raelyn. Bore, if you’re feeling adventurous, you can join me. Margot, follow us there in the van and then wait for us outside. The rest of you should clear out of the Low right now. Do you agree to this plan, Raelyn?”

  The newly self-anointed Queen of the Low nodded. She led Peter and Bore, who looked like a genie had just granted his wish, to her SUV before anyone had the chance to pick their jaws up off of the ground. Margot mumbled something incomprehensible, shaking her head at her brother’s retreating from, then climbed back into her van and sped off behind Raelyn, swerving to run over a thirster or two as she left.

  Devin kicked at the wheel of his truck. “Peter. I can’t believe him! All this time…”

  Sybille was just as dumbfounded. “We’ll get the truth out of him, Devin.”

  “Yeah? How, exactly? He’s been lying to us for years. Is that going to stop all of a sudden?”

  “I’ll find out what’s going on, Devin.” Elis stepped forward. “I’ll mesmerize the fuck out of that bastard.” He gripped his temples again. “As soon as my head stops throbbing.”

  “Just because you’re getting what you want…” He nodded in Sybille’s direction. “Don’t act like you want to help, like you’re my friend all of a sudden. Because the feeling’s not mutual.”

  Elis bristled and Sybille stepped in between them. “Devin does have a point, Elis. Are you going to stick around after we get back home or ride off into the sunset, margarita in hand?” She lowered her voice so that Charlie, who was stoically watching her mother drive away, wouldn’t hear. “We don’t know what to expect once we bring Charlie out of the Low. We could use your help, thirster.”