A Taste of Crimson

by E. M. Knight

  Ah, well. No time to worry about such things. I brush away the dirt covering the latch on the trapdoor, then pull it up.

  It gives way with a bit of effort. A few decrepit, rotting wood stairs lead the way down.

  I do one last scan of the surroundings and, satisfied there are no vampires in the vicinity, jump down into the grimy tunnel.

  I pull the trapdoor shut behind me, then curse when a bunch of dirt falls in my face.

  I scrub it off and look to the depths of the tunnel. By my estimation, it hasn’t seen foot traffic since last I was here. I don’t think Morgan had any need of it in the intervening years.

  I hurry down the dark path, further scanning the ground above me for vampires lest any of them catch my presence underground. I only have to do that for the first few hundred yards, because after that the ground between us is enough to prevent anyone from inadvertently sensing me.

  When I pass that point, I relax. Somewhat. I’m well aware of what the summons from my brother means.

  After a few twists and turns I find myself in the secret back-tunnels of the stronghold. The whole place was designed with a multitude of hidden paths, hollow walls, et cetera. A vampire who knows his way around could get to any point without being seen.

  I still can’t quite believe Rebecca managed to raise an army right under our noses. She was always crafty, no doubt. But to survive what the Queen did to her and then find a way to restore herself…?

  It’s one of the most impressive feats I’ve ever witnessed.

  I follow the secret paths I know so well and soon end up near the rooms I’d claimed as my own when the coven was forced to retreat down here. I wait a few minutes at the hidden exit before emerging.

  I want to make sure there are no stragglers left from the excavation.

  When I am satisfied that I am completely alone, I push open the door and walk into my old temporary room.

  The place has been thoroughly scavenged—as expected.

  Eleira’s order to bring anything of value above ground was not taken lightly.

  I look at the empty bookshelf on the other side, at my desk where I forged bits and pieces of the prophecy Morgan gave her children. A small alteration here, a minor substitution there, and suddenly the whole thing is not as clear as it had obviously been.

  I knew Morgan would never look again at the manuscripts she allowed in the hands of Phillip, Raul, or James. She’d always kept the true, original copy of the prophecy close to her chest. But the copies distributed to her children… had been oh-so-slightly muddied by me.

  Not to change the meaning, no. That would have been too obvious. But rather it was to make former certainties purposely vague, and to sow the smallest seeds of doubt in the Princes’ minds.

  Quietly, I stride to the bed. I push it aside and then feel the rock on the wall until I find the small stone that can be pushed in.

  I press on it, and a hidden compartment opens. I reach inside and pull out the most uninteresting of objects: a tiny piece of driftwood, about the length of my forefinger.

  I chuckle to myself. Even if anybody had found it, they would not deem it important enough to do anything with it other than discard it.

  Suddenly, I clamp my hand down on it, squeezing it hard with my fingers. The old wood crumbles as I crush it up.

  I open my palm, and there, in the midst of all the splintered wood, is a round piece of obsidian no larger than a pin.

  I pick it up carefully and dump the rest.

  Then, I sit on my bed, and embrace the tiny bit of Elemental Forces, and channel Air and Fire into it.

  A cloud of black expands from the piece of obsidian. I wait for it to grow to the size of my fist and then cut off the flow of Elemental Forces into it with a gasp.

  I turn my palm over and drop it to the floor. It clunks down with a heavy thud. I watch, trepidation growing, as the black mass grows bigger and bigger.

  I never liked this way of communicating, even though it is the most secure one.

  The form grows until it is approaching the height of my shoulders.

  From the darkness, steps forth a figure draped in black.

  The voice of my brother echoes through my mind.

  “You are late,” he scolds me. “I bid you to come hours ago.”

  I swallow, trying to pick out his eyes in the shadow replica of him. Even though this figure before me is just a vessel for the transmission of his thoughts, I always find it uncanny how the replica is able to seed more fear and deference in me than facing him in the flesh.

  “I came as fast as I could,” I tell him. “The moment I felt your call, I ran.”

  “Are you in a secure location?”

  I nod. “Yes. There is no one around.”

  “Good.” The figure doesn’t move, and even though its eyes are imperceptible, I can feel its hard gaze boring into me. “Perhaps the transmission was delayed. Even now, I’m having… difficulties.”

  “What sort of difficulties?”

  “There is interference. I cannot see you as I usually do.”

  “Perhaps the wards the new Queen erected are the cause,” I suggest.

  “Yes. But they will not remain for much longer. Logan has gone to collect his army.”

  A wave of shock pulses through me. “So soon?” I ask. “I thought we had weeks yet!”

  “Fortune favors the bold. It is nearly our time, brother. Are you ready?”

  “I… yes,” I say. “Circumstances aren’t ideal. But the Queen has not dismissed me yet.”

  “You must keep her safe,” the voice booms into me. “The entirety of our plan relies on her living through the attack.”

  “Will Logan try to kill her?”

  “Yes. He cannot have competition.”

  I consider my options. “She will fight to defend her coven.”

  “The coven will fall. Her precious wards will do little against the demon horde Logan will bring. Let her fight! But when the battle is lost, it is on you to get her to surrender.”

  “You said Logan wants to kill her.”

  “First, he will give her a choice. Submit to him or be destroyed.”

  “She won’t submit. Not willingly.”

  “It is your task to change her mind.”

  “What will you do?”

  “I have influence over Logan. I will do what must be done to convince him that keeping the girl alive, for a time, is more beneficial for his goals.”

  I nod slowly. “That is a tall task.”

  “Nothing worth having comes easy. Remember that, little brother. Remember how much you have sacrificed for us to get to this point. When the girl of prophecy is in our hands, you shall be given all the powers you gave up. No more wasting away as part of the rabble. You shall be as strong as I am!”

  “And then you and I transcend the limitations of these bodies,” I say hungrily. “We use the girl of prophecy to become Blood Lords.”

  “Yes,” my brother says. “Stay vigilant. The time of reckoning is near. When the siege comes, you must not leave her side. Do this, and all is well. Fail, and…”

  He lets the words die off, leaving the unuttered threat involved with even more impact.

  The figure of my brother steps back into the swirling shadow, and the black quickly dissipates.

  When the Forces no longer run through the obsidian rock, I give a small shudder.

  Then I swoop it up off the ground and pocket it.

  I stand up and look around the empty room. If Logan is now in the Demon Realm, it means the assault will come in a matter of days.

  Everything I’ve ever strived toward is now within striking distance.

  All I have to do now is restore Eleira’s trust in me, enough to keep her safe through the siege.

  I sneer in derision. All I’ve succeeded in doing so far is pushing her away. If I have just a few days to get back in her good graces, I have to come up with something unmistakably bold.

  But what?

  My mind wor
ks feverishly. The letter from her mother? Before I had hoped that would be key to something. Now, I am not so sure.

  What else might she value? What else might she take as a genuine token of good faith? Healing the vampires after the acoustic attack expended me some small kudos, but nowhere near enough.

  What about… what about…

  Raul!

  My mind seizes on him. He and Rebecca were acting uncharacteristically suspicious when I just saw them. If I can figure out what they are up to, then wait for the right moment to deliver news of that to Eleira…

  Yes, I think. Yes, that could be it.

  I take one more look around the room, then make haste to find my way above ground again.

  I’ll have to seek out Raul and Rebecca, and fast, so I can gather the information I need.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Raul

  The Haven’s woods.

  I stride purposefully through the forest, keeping a brisk pace that Rebecca has to work to keep up with.

  I’m conflicted. On the one hand, I know exactly what I want to do. It’s been so long since I’ve done what I wanted, instead of surrendering to what was expected of me.

  Now, the growing darkness inside has made rejecting those expectations much easier. I feel no cognitive dissonance were I to do so.

  But my logical forebrain still fights it. I know what instinct begs me to do. I know Rebecca is completely right when she says I’ve lived under the shadow of my women. I know she’s right when she says leaving will free me of all that.

  But I cannot yet reconcile the risks involved with the opportunity I’m giving up.

  I find myself walking faster and faster. I feel Rebecca at my back. I wish I just had some time alone to think. I could ask her to leave me… but if I do that, there’s a huge chance I’ll talk myself out of doing what’s best for me.

  The vampire inside has awakened, and it tells me it’s long past time to put my own self-interest first.

  I stop suddenly. Rebecca nearly runs into me.

  I spin back on her.

  “Well?” I demand.

  She blinks up at me, eyes wide. “Well, what?” she asks demurely.

  She knows the seduction game through and through.

  “Well, aren’t you going to tell me that we should make our leave? That we should get out of here, now that I received the confirmation I need?”

  “No. That’s your choice. You lead, I follow. That’s the dynamic.”

  I scoff. “A weaker vampire always defers to a stronger one.”

  “That’s not what I mean.” She puts a hand through my arm. “A woman wants to submit to her man, not through force, but through her own free will.”

  “Is that what you’re proposing? Submission to me?”

  “Think back on when you were happiest in your life, when you felt most at ease, and then tell me if that wasn’t the case in your relationships.” She offers a sly, knowing look. “I suspect that’s what it was first like with Eleira, when she was still human.”

  I clear my throat. It’s uncanny how well she can read me.

  “You don’t need to fight what you know, in your soul, to be right,” she tells me. She touches my chest. “What does your heart tell you to do?”

  “My heart doesn’t make decisions for me,” I grumble.

  “Perhaps the time has come that it should.”

  I tighten my jaw.

  “What are you worried about?” she asks.

  I almost roll my eyes. “Are you kidding? What do you think?” I gesture around us. “You want me to forsake all this, to turn my back on the coven that raised me, to dissolve all responsibility towards my people.”

  “No,” I’m asking you to be true to yourself, for the first time in your life. You are not giving anything up by leaving. You may return, at any time, a greater man.”

  “And what about my link to Phillip?” I demand. “What about the festering wounds in my shoulder, kept at bay by my leeching of his magic?”

  I thrust my shirt’s collar down to expose the black mark.

  Rebecca gasps a tiny intake of breath. She reaches up for it gingerly.

  “May I…?” she asks.

  “No,” I rip the shirt up and twist my shoulder away. “I am not whole, Rebecca. I won’t be whole until this sickness leaves me.”

  Her eyes harden in an instant. “You forget who you’re talking to.”

  I look back at her without flinching. “I think not.”

  She stares daggers at me… and then breaks off with a chiming laugh.

  “You’re getting stronger,” she observes.

  I grunt in response.

  “Listen,” she says. “Whatever the Forsaken Sisters did to you to link you to Phillip, I can undo.”

  “What? How?”

  “Given enough time to study the problem,” she continues. “There’s nothing that can’t be solved. They told you it was permanent, didn’t they?”

  “That was implied.”

  “Nothing in this world is permanent. I’m walking proof. You leave this place with me, Raul, and I promise you I will do everything in my power to come up with the cure. With one caveat.”

  I cock an eyebrow. “Oh? And what might that be?”

  “I won’t be able to affect the spell myself. My strength in magic is limited. But I will map out the proper weaves, the proper sequence of them, and give it to you so that you may offer it to a witch you trust.”

  “You’re quite sure of yourself. Aren’t you?”

  “In magic, there are none who compare. The only benefit the Sisters have, aside from their superior strength, is being born into a clan where deep knowledge of magic was shared. I had to discover it all myself, but as I’ve proven, I have an aptitude for it.”

  “All right,” I say. “I’m not going to pin my hopes on it, and I won’t anticipate you coming up with a solution, but if you want, you are free to try.”

  Her eyes take on an eager shine. “So, you’ve made your choice? You’ll get out of here with me?”

  “James never had any qualms about leaving,” I mutter. “And I’m tired of picking up his slack. All the responsibilities he should have borne were dumped onto me. Now that we have a new Queen, the slate’s been wiped clean.” I feel the vampire inside quivering with excitement at the prospect of finally being set free.

  “Yes, Rebecca,” I finish. “We are going to strike out on our own.”

  “Excellent.” She beams.

  “I have to go find Eleira and tell her I am taking a leave—”

  “No!” Rebecca gasps.

  “What?” I look at her. “Why not?”

  “Do you think the Queen will just let you leave?” she hisses.

  “The Queen is reasonable. And I cannot simply sneak out. She must be informed.”

  Rebecca grabs my sleeve. “You fool, do you think she will allow me to leave? She put me in your hands so you would keep an eye on me!”

  New understanding dawns on me. “So that’s what you’re after. You want me to betray Eleira’s trust. You want me to break you out!” I feel my anger rising. “Is that what all this is? Some ruse to free yourself from the situation you’re in?”

  She slaps me. Her hand moves so fast I don’t see it coming.

  “How dare you call this a ruse?” she rages. “I am doing this for you, Raul, and none other! I want to see you become the man you should have always been. I want to be the one to stand by your side as you reach that peak, as you become a vampire we both can be proud of!”

  I look right at her, my whole body dangerously still. “Don’t lie to me, Rebecca. It’s not like this is a one-way street. I know you benefit!”

  She gives an incredulous laugh. “Of course, I benefit! Would I do something against my own self-interest? But that is the beauty of this.” She takes my hands. “We both benefit from leaving this place. Our interests are aligned. The Haven has always been, and always will be, a sort of prison for you. We are both escaping it, don’
t you see?”

  I’m conflicted. On the one hand, I do know she’s right. On the other…

  On the other, I can’t help but suspect she is just using me for her own purpose.

  “I will free you,” she whispers, looking up at me through long, dark lashes. “But first you must help free me.”

  I break away from her and spin back. I stare to the nearest tree and put a hand out on it. I look up at the sky.

  “You want me to just abandon all this, without a word to anyone?” I say.

  “Yes,” comes the reply.

  “Not to the Queen, not to my mother, not to the Elite, not to the Forsaken Sisters. Not to anyone?”

  “You don’t owe those people anything,” she insists. “You’ve already given them centuries of your life. Everyone knows the new Queen will bring change. Use that!”

  I play out a bunch of different scenarios in my head. I consider all the things Eleira might do if she’s told my intentions. In some of them, she lets me leave. Not in others…

  But in absolutely none of them does she allow Rebecca to come with me.

  “You’re right,” I finally admit. “If we are to go, we must do it without a word. We disappear in the middle of the night, without a trace. The farther we get from here before Eleira learns of my absence, the smaller the chances are that she’ll send someone after us.”

  “Even if she does, what do you care? You are stronger than them all.”

  “There are other ways of guaranteeing compliance,” I say, my mind flashing back to the silver cells. “But we’ll deal with that if the time comes. For now, we have a more immediate problem.”

  “Which is?”

  “The moment we pass through the wards Eleira will sense the shift. She’ll know immediately that it’s us.” I give her a look. “For someone professed to know so much about magic, that seems like a glaring oversight.”

  A third vampire steps out from behind the trees. “I might be able to help with that.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Felix

  The Haven

  The moment I make my entrance into Raul and Rebecca’s conversation is the moment I take my biggest risk.

  I walk out from my hiding spot and tell Raul I can help. His eyes immediately seize on me. The moment they do, he jumps me.