by E. M. Knight
Well… I might be bound, right now, too, but I have no intention of simply accepting that forever. I have access to powers the former Queen didn’t even dream of. Thanks to the Forsaken Sisters, I can call on the Forces both on this world and in the Demon Realm.
I haven’t even begun to explore those possibilities yet.
The doors to the atrium open. I close my eyes, and take a deep, cleansing breath.
“Felix,” I say.
I feel him go to one knee and bow his head. “My Queen.”
I turn to face him. He looks up at me. Our eyes meet.
He looks more secretive than usual.
“Stand,” I gesture after a moment. “I’m glad you got my message and came to me so quickly.”
“I live to serve, Eleira,” he says.
I purse my lips. “Yes. So you claim.”
He frowns. “Claim?”
“I know of your little conversation with Phillip,” I tell him, without any preamble.
“Oh.”
“Yes. ‘Oh’. Close the doors, let’s have some privacy.”
He turns around, a little robotically, and hits the button that seals the room.
As soon as it happens, I pull on a tiny strand of the Elements and make my own seal. Now, nobody will be able to eavesdrop.
“Now we may talk freely,” I tell him.
He clears his throat. “I’m not sure if you’re accusing me of anything, Eleira, but I have to say, my entire talk with Phillip was meant only as a way for me to get a better understanding of his loyalties.”
“Is that so?” I’m not convinced. “You know the oaths he’s bound by. How much more can you ask?”
“I wanted to understand what lies in his heart,” Felix says. “If he would cross you now, given the chance. Oaths or not.”
“How could he cross me with the oaths in place?” I wonder.
“Oh, many ways,” he says. “Phillip is a wily one. He is not to be trusted to be left on his own.”
“Which is why I set the spells,” I say impatiently, “binding him to his word.”
Felix shakes his head. “It’s not that simple, Eleira. There are many layers to a potential deceit. Phillip can turn other vampires against you. He can use his silver tongue to plant irrational ideas in their heads. If we are not careful, he might start a revolt.”
I tilt my head to one side. “Who would revolt?” I ask. “The vampires here wanted safety and prosperity above all. I gave them that. The hierarchy ensures that I am the highest in command. That fact alone is enough to prevent defection.”
“I never said it would be right or proper,” Felix clarifies. “Only that some of our vampires’ minds could be poisoned, corrupted, turned, if Phillip has his way with them.”
“And you expect me to take you at your word?”
“I only give you information. It is up to you what you do with it.”
I look at him askance. “So tell me why you asked Phillip for my letter.”
His turn to frown. “Isn’t it obvious? I wanted to take it off his hands. I never intended to adulterate it, not truly. I only wanted to have it in my possession so that it might be safe.”
“Safe?” I say.
He inclines his head slightly. “Yes.”
He walks toward me. My first instinct is to back away, but I quickly remember myself.
I stand tall.
“You asked me to go back to the lands where I came from,” he says softly. “You wanted me to go to the Forsaken Sisters’ graves. I figure there could be no better opportunity for anyone to deliver your letter.”
“Again you make decisions without consulting me,” I say. “How is your behavior supposed to look through my eyes, Felix?”
“Like I know better than to trouble you with such petty things,” he says. “Unless, of course, you want me to?”
I bring a hand to my head and close my eyes. “No,” I say. “No, that’s fine. I trust your judgment.”
“I’ve been in my post a very long time, Eleira,” he says softly. “I am entrenched in my ways, mostly because they’ve served me well for so long. But if you want me to change, all you have to do is ask.”
“I don’t want any deception of the sort you tried with Phillip,” I say firmly. “I don’t want you to do anything that might make me question your loyalty to the Queen.”
“My life is yours,” he vows. “As are all the lives of all the vampires of The Haven. You know that I am true.”
“Don’t give me reason to doubt it.”
He bows his head. “I will not.”
He turns to leave. I stop him.
“Felix,” I say.
“Yes?”
“What did you tell Phillip you would do in return for the letter?”
He gives a thin smile. “I told him I would persuade you not to kick him out of the coven.”
“What? I never considered doing that—“
“I know. But he does not. I made it seem as if the decision to cast him out was imminent. I told him you would throw him out into the world, bound by the oaths as he is, limited as he is.”
I narrow my eyes in suspicion. “But that would be lunacy.”
Felix shrugs. “I managed to make it sound convincing enough to him.”
I shake my head. “I don’t like this sort of subterfuge, Felix. If you wanted to deliver the letter, you should have come to me and asked me for it. There was no need to make up this convoluted tale.”
“Again, like I said, I wanted to give Phillip a chance to reveal his true colors.”
“Instead you gave away yours,” I murmur.
He blinks. “Excuse me?”
I wave the comment away. “Never mind.”
“Eleira, if you think, even for a second, that I had any intentions of crossing you…”
“No, no,” I say. I offer my own version of a predatory grin. “I know you wouldn’t go against me.”
“Of course not,” he insists. “Remember Phillip is the one who’s linked to the former regime.”
“We’ll see,” I say. “For now, that’s enough. You’re dismissed.”
He gives a quick nod and turns away.
When he reaches the door, however, he hesitates.
“About the villagers…” he says.
I cross my arms. “What about them?”
“I’d like to know, if I may, what you intend to do with them.”
“I haven’t yet made up my mind.”
He twists his head back. “I implore you to do it soon,” he says. “For my sake.”
“You’re worried about them sapping your strength. Need I remind you that it was your decision to give them your blood?”
“I know,” he says, his face forcibly blank. “But you also know my reasoning for it.”
“Flawed reasoning,” I correct.
His eyes tighten. “Yes. Anyway. If I could know where we stand, in relation to all this, before I take my leave of The Haven, that would be highly appreciated.”
“I’ll give it some thought tonight,” I promise him. “I’ve got half a mind to go visit the stronghold myself to see their condition.”
“A wise move,” he affirms.
Finally, he turns and leaves.
When the door closes behind him, I let out a long, relieved breath.
Then I look to one corner of the room, grab hold of the Elements, and undo the inverted weaves that make an invisible barrier there.
Riyu is revealed.
“So?” I ask. “What do you think?”
“He’s playing you,” the small vampire says immediately. “No doubt in my mind.”
I grunt. “I thought so, too.”
Riyu walks forward, stopping a respectable distance away.
“But to what end?” I wonder out loud. I put a hand against the curved glass and look outside. “He told me everything truthfully.”
“Yes, but he presented it as if he were doing things for your benefit,” Riyu says. He runs his hands over each other.
“Eleira, once you told him you knew what was said in his conversation with Phillip, what choice did he have but to give you the truth?”
“He didn’t even wonder how it was overheard.”
“He probably assumed it was magic.”
I smile. “Probably.” I face Riyu. “Thank you for being here. I’d imagine it would be nerve-wracking, hiding in a little space like that.”
“It wasn’t so bad,” he says. “I’ve suffered much worse.”
“What do you suggest we do?”
His eyebrows go up. “We?”
“Yes, ‘we’. I’ve made up my mind, Riyu. You’ve been more open with me than any other vampire. I could have turned down your request for sanctuary. You owe your life to me because I did not.”
“I do,” he agrees. “But that is not the only aspect of my loyalty.”
“It’s the most important one, for now,” I say.
“For now.”
“And I consider your vampiric strength to be a virtue, not a curse,” I continue. “I can trust you to put yourself in situations other, stronger vampires would never consent to. You can go wherever you want and be more or less invisible.”
“Also true,” he says. “Although…”
He hesitates.
“Yes?” I prompt him. “You can tell me. In fact, I order you to.”
“Some of The Haven vampires have already marked me as a potential threat,” he says. “An unknown variable.”
“Who? I can have a word—”
“No, no, no no no,” he says quickly. “That would be the worst thing to do. It would reveal the extent of our relationship. Or at the very least, confirm that we have one.”
“Still. I want to know who it was.”
“Some vampire named Tudor.”
“Interesting,” I murmur. “I know him. He’s close to Felix.”
“Then it’s probably not coincidental,” Riyu says. “I can take care of myself, Eleira. I have done so my whole life. The only reason I’m mentioning Tudor now is so you know.”
“I appreciate that.”
“Your most pressing task is to figure out which vampires really are yours to command,” he says. “And which ones still hold ideas of alliance to the original Queen.”
“They all know she crowned me as successor,” I say.
“Yes. But any time power changes hands, the devious ones consider it a moment to increase their influence. Take Felix as an example. You thought you could trust him, and on your first day, he’s plotting behind your back.”
“Are you sure,” I ask very deliberately, “that you’re not simply being paranoid?”
“Eleira.” The former Crypt vampire says my name flatly. “I have hundreds of years of experience swimming through, swimming against, the currents of power. How did you think I was able to retain my rank in the First Guard with my measly strength? It wasn’t just magic.” He taps the side of his head. “It was what is contained up here.
“I had a harder time than most making my way through the vampire world,” he continues. “Not only through my link to the King. Also because of what I could do, because of who I am, and because of how counter to the vampiric hierarchy my place in The Crypts has been.”
He lowers his voice.
“Do you know how difficult,” he says, “it would be for a lesser-trained vampire of my strength to stand here and speak to you? The hierarchy would make the best of them want to duck and hide. My knees should be shaking. I should be stuttering my words.”
“You’re exaggerating,” I say.
“No,” he shakes his head. “I am not. I—”
The doors to the atrium fly open, and Geordam bursts in.
I turn on him in a rage. Even though he’s one of the few Royal Guards I’d trust with my life, and even though he knows Riyu is with me, I cannot stand for such abrupt interruptions while I’m Queen.
“This had better be some sort of emergency,” I say.
Geordam looks at me and speaks without any hesitation. “It is. We found Raul outside.” He gives Riyu a look and then sears his eyes into me. “He’s in horrible shape.”
Chapter Twelve
James
Near the Crusaders’ facility
I walk along the tiny deer path running through the trees, flanked by Victoria.
Smithson has taken the lead, as I asked him to do. We turned away from the main inhabited area of town about an hour ago.
The sun’s rays are already bright through the trees.
Thank the gods, the canopy provides some degree of shelter.
I suspect, in truth, that the main reason Smithson took us through these woods is so that we would not have to be blasted by the full strength of the sun’s rays. He was weakened when he gave his blood, and, honestly, I don’t mind having as little exposure to the sun as possible. The point of coming on the Crusaders during the day is to prove that vampires can withstand the sun, not to be tortured needlessly on the journey.
I put a hand in my pocket and finger the little velvet sack. Victoria notices the move and shoots me a glare.
I withdraw my hand and show her it’s empty, then offer a grin.
She huffs and keeps walking.
I know she is perturbed by my insistence on bringing the ring. She hates the whole plan of dangling it in front of the Crusaders as bait.
I would, too, if I were her. Or if I were anybody else.
The only reason I’m bringing it with me is the deal I made with Cierra.
I promised her a vampire cure within thirty days. If I don’t produce, I am as good as dead. I remember the way she restrained me, so effortlessly, in her lair.
Unless I manage to develop my magic in the short four weeks before she finds me again, I stand no chance.
My only hope is that maybe, somehow, in some way, the Crusaders will be able to augment or replicate the power of this ring with their own technology. Maybe then, there will be something akin to a cure.
Then again… maybe not. The leeching of the vampiric essence that happens when the ring is put onto a creature of the night is a temporary phenomenon. As soon as the ring is off, the powers go back.
But what if the effects could somehow be extended, to last for some amount of time after the object is removed?
It’s the only chance I have of actually making good on that fool promise to the sorceress.
She would have killed me if I hadn’t struck the deal. Or she would have made me her puppet first, just like she’d said, but when her use for me was done…?
Poof! My life would be snuffed out like a candle’s flame.
In a way, the thing I am doing is highly ironic. I am going specifically into the base of an organization whose express goal is to rid the world of vampires. And I am doing it because it is only with their help that I have a fighting chance to live.
Of course, it’d be preferable to simply learn how to unlock my magic and use that against Cierra in thirty days.
Less than thirty days, I remind myself. Time has already passed.
What chance do I have of learning enough magic to stand against the most formidable witch the world has ever known? My magic tore through Victoria’s defense, yes, but she has no real strength. What’s more, I have no idea how I would replicate what I did with her.
So these are my only two options: I go and seek out the son of the man Smithson knew and see what they can tell me about male magic. Or, I hand over the ring and hope without reason that, somehow, their technology is advanced enough to mimic those powers.
I grunt. Both of those are low probability propositions.
But I have to try. I have no choice.
Besides, I made it this far.
Smithson stops at the top of a hill. “We’ve been spotted,” he hisses.
Immediately, I go on full alert.
I flare my senses. Sure enough, in front of us, far away, is a group of three or four humans.
I can’t be sure of the exact number from this distance.
“How do you know?” I ask. “They’re too far away to see us!”
“Because,” he says through gritted teeth, “the laser from their sniper is pointed right at me.”
I curse and run to the top of the hill.
No sooner do I emerge than a red dot appears on my chest.
“Nice,” Smithson sneers. “Walk right into the trap.”
“Remember we’re here to meet them,” I hiss. I face forward, holding my arms up. “Victoria, get up here.”
She drags her heels a bit, but ends up beside us.
Right away a third sniper is on her.
“Do they really think they can harm us with bullets?” I ask Smithson under my breath.
“They won’t be using regular bullets, you fool,” he says. “At the very least, they’d be coated in silver, and God-knows what else.”
I feel a small shiver of something pretty close to trepidation crawl down my back. The mark on my chest makes me supremely vulnerable.
“Keep your hands up,” I say, “and move very slowly. Stay one step behind me.”
Then, taking a deep breath, I start the descent down the other side of the hill.
I walk the entire way with my hands raised. I try to take stock of as much of my surroundings as I can. The trees and vegetation look normal enough, at first glance, but my sharp ears pick up the almost-imperceptible whirr of electronic equipment hidden in the foliage.
I suspect there are cameras and scanners and all types of security devices hidden through the woods.
When my senses tell me we are close enough to the humans to be heard without raising our voices too much, I stop, and call out, “I am James Soren, once of The Haven coven, son of The Haven’s Queen, and son of the King of The Crypts. Beside me is Smithson, also of The Haven, and Victoria, of The Crypts. We are all vampires. And we come to you in peace.”
I wait. No answer comes.
“Damn,” Smithson curses. I look over at him, not understanding the remark, and then I see the trifecta of red laser points on his chest.
I glance down at mine, and I see that I am the target of eight.
I growl in displeasure.
