Vampire Bound: Book Two
Page 22
Silence reigned for a few moments, and the Albigard said, “I must rest now. Afterward, though, we will talk.”
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Two hours later, I sat staring at the broken pendant in my hand. I’d barely registered the crack of shattering crystal when we arrived—the garnet apparently overloading beneath the staggering amount of power that had been flowing through it. I’d found the missing shard beneath the little side table in Leonides’ entryway.
The two pieces fit together seamlessly, but I could no longer feel the pendant magically, or use it to do anything. It was probably just as well that the realization had left me numb, since I wasn’t sure what the lack of a focus would mean for my elemental powers. Would they be useless again? Or would they be out of control?
I’d expected that Albigard would be out cold for the rest of the day and night, given his terrible injuries. So I was startled when he stretched beneath the cover we’d thrown over him and rolled into a sitting position, rubbing his hands over his face. The blanket fell to pool across his lap, exposing wounds that were no longer bleeding. Now, they looked pink and puckered, like injuries that had been healing for days rather than hours.
“You look better,” I said listlessly.
He only grunted in response.
Leonides had disappeared into his office once Albigard was resting comfortably. I figured he’d either been trying to get hold of Rans and Zorah again, or maybe checking in with whomever he’d set up as his emergency backup plan. He must have heard the Fae stirring, because he appeared a moment later with a pile of clothing, which he dropped onto the couch.
“Right. Time for that talk,” he said flatly.
“Indeed,” Albigard replied, shaking out the folded trousers and throwing off his blanket.
I looked away quickly, partly because of my prudish upbringing, but mostly because I was now painfully aware that without my pendant, I had very little defense against the effect that Fae tended to have on humans.
A minute or so later, Leonides’ dry voice said, “You can look now. He’s decent. Or, at least—he’s dressed. And I assume he knows that if he tries to roll your emotions, I’ll punch him into next week.”
I glanced up to find the Fae in a button-down shirt and tailored pants, looking oddly human. It took me a moment to realize that his pointed ears were now round, and his sharply swept brows were less obviously alien. I supposed that was one question answered—apparently Fae could indeed take on a human appearance as a sort of disguise.
He was examining me as well, his brow furrowed. “Does she not possess the power to resist such influence?” he asked.
I frowned at him. “I’m right here, you know. You can speak to me directly. And, yeah, I did, but...” I held up the broken chip of garnet.
“Ah,” he said. “May I see it? The necklace as well.”
It was useless to me now, so I unclasped the chain and handed both items to him. He took the pieces in delicate fingers, positioning them together where the break had occurred. His forest-shadowed eyes slipped closed, and a flash of light so brief I thought I might have imagined it flared from the pendant.
He handed it back to me, whole and with no hint that it had ever been broken. I stared at it in shock before quickly squeezing my eyes shut and reaching out with my mind. The garnet hummed in resonance with my magical focus, just as it had before it had cracked.
I opened my eyes. “Thank you,” I breathed.
Albigard merely shrugged. “I will have need of it momentarily, that’s all.”
“Uh... the hell you will,” Leonides said. “I get it. She was there, she was willing, you used her because it was the quickest option to get away from Dhuinne. But you’re not going to keep using her now that you’re free. That stops right now.”
Albigard met his eyes and held them. “I daresay you’ll see things differently when you learn what I have to tell you.”
Leonides scowled. “Well? What do you have to tell us?”
“At the moment? Nothing at all... because I’m under a warding spell that prevents me from speaking on the matter.” The Fae lifted his chin. “I’ll need her power and your mesmerism to break it. And believe me when I say, you do want to help me break it.”
I caught my breath. “Is this to do with the children? With my son?”
His tone turned dry. “I couldn’t possibly comment on the matter. Not currently, at any rate.”
Leonides turned to me. “Vonnie? This is your call.”
“Your power is still depleted, adept,” Albigard said. “But you’ve drunk vampire blood, and that has replenished it to some degree. I will need to take all that you currently possess, but this time, you have no need to maintain a magical barrier, since we’re on Earth.”
“Anything,” I breathed. “I’ll do anything it takes.”
He nodded, returning his attention to Leonides. “I will pull enough magic to snap the warding, but as I do so, you must order me to speak the words I’m forbidden to speak. Normally, I would overcome the pull of a vampire’s power with relative ease, but for this, I will not resist you.”
“If you say so,” Leonides replied.
Albigard crouched in front of my chair, forming one point of a triangle that encompassed the three of us. “Close your eyes, adept.”
I closed my eyes, and immediately felt the familiar wrenching sensation that heralded Albigard pulling magic from me. A moment later, Leonides’ voice, resonant with vampiric power, said, “Albigard. Tell us the thing you’ve been forbidden to say.”
Something invisible in the atmosphere gave way with a sharp snap. My eyes flew open as the sense of Albigard drawing from me ceased abruptly. The Fae was breathing heavily, his head hanging in exhaustion. He looked up at us, his pupils dark and dilated.
“The Unseelie are stealing human children with magical abilities,” he said. “They intend to use the young adepts as a ruling class on Earth, under their direct control. Once human civilization has been subjugated and your technology destroyed, the Court will move to your world, fleeing the deteriorating magical conditions on Dhuinne. Humans will become slaves of the Fae.”
Utter silence fell.
“Oh my god. We have to find them,” I whispered. “We have to stop this. How do we stop this?”
I met Leonides’ shocked gaze, and both of us looked down at Albigard.
The Fae looked back at us, his expression hard. “I do have some ideas about that, as it happens.”
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Vonnie’s story continues in Vampire Bound: Book Three.
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Want the backstory on Zorah, Rans, Len, Albigard, and Leonides? Get The Last Vampire: Complete Series, Books 1-6, or read FREE in Kindle Unlimited.
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