“You should be ashamed of yourself,” I spit. “Doing a vampire’s bidding, betraying your own.”
“Says the Marok girl sitting on the Eternus throne,” he answers without missing a beat. “You should know better than anyone, allegiance is about more than pack lines.”
I refuse to dignify his remark with an answer. Whatever he uses to justify his existence is of no consequence to me. I turn to look out the window as a large structure approaches. It’s an old manor, twice as tall as it is wide. There are lights in a few of the eerily tall windows, and the belfry up top makes it look like an old church.
From the moment Mace opens the door and lets the stale air into the car, I know this is anything but hallowed ground. He offers his hand and I ignore it. If there’s even a chance that Albien is here, he knows as well as I do that I’m not going anywhere.
Besides, as much as I hate to admit it, I stopped fearing for my life the moment Mace showed up in the woods. I may detest him and I’m sure his designs on my destiny are as sinister as his master’s, but physical harm obviously isn’t part of his objective.
The memory of what he did to Dan has haunted me ever since, but not as much as the look that came into his eyes that night. He’s so different now. So calm and pleasant, just like he was while Aspen and I stayed with him.
As I follow him up to the house, I note the ivy creeping through the cracks in the old brick. In a pinch, I could probably use it to scale down from a window, but I’d never be able to escape that way with Albien. He’s bold in other ways, but physical bravery isn’t his strong suit. Unlike me, he’s a perfect omega.
Mace opens the door, but the inside isn’t much brighter than the forest surrounding the manor. He takes a matchbook out of a table by the door and strikes it against the side before lighting a candle on the wall. He lifts it off its ledge and motions for me to follow him down the long hallway with only a blood red runner to lead the way. “After you, Princess.”
“Where is Albien?” I demand, taking a step forward. Every time the floorboards creak, I’m convinced some booby trap is going to be unleashed.
“In time,” he says patiently, his hand on my back as he leads me up a flight of stairs that are even darker yet.
I swallow my fear and proceed upward until we reach the top of the winding staircase. On the outside, it may look like an out-of-use dormitory, but the interior is decorated like an old Victorian mansion. All it’s missing are the cobwebs and some ghost children.
“Stop here,” Mace says once we’re standing in front of the only door that has a candle outside.
I turn to face him. “What, do vampires not believe in electricity?”
For once, he doesn’t smirk. “You are about to meet one of the oldest Vampire Lords in existence,” he says gravely. “Princess or not, you must show respect.”
“Respect?” I echo. “This prick had you kill my parents, kidnap my brother and turn my entire life into a lie. Why the hell would I respect him?”
Mace’s mouth becomes a dour line and he looks at me like he’s trying to figure out what to do with me. “If you wish to see him, you will kneel in his presence and refer to him as Lord Aedan. Do I make myself clear?”
“Crystal,” I mutter. I’ll play along, if that’s what it takes, but the first chance I get to stake this guy in the nuts, I’m doing it.
Seemingly satisfied, Mace opens the door and waits for me to go in. The room is the blackest yet, even though there’s a thin sliver of light pouring in through the curtains covering the only window. The door shuts behind me and the light of Mace’s candle is extinguished, leaving us almost entirely in the dark.
“Hey!”
“Be silent,” he orders in a harsh whisper. “On your knees.”
I’m about to tell him what he can do on his knees when I hear someone moving around on the other side of the room. What the hell? I didn’t even think there was anyone else in here. Panic in the presence of the supposed ancient Vampire Lord overcomes my pride and I drop down to my knees, surprised to hear Mace doing the same beside me.
“My Lord,” he says in a tone of pure reverence. The sliver of moonlight turns a stripe of his long hair pale blue as he bows his head. Seeing him defer to another person without irony or hesitation is bizarre. Even with Adam, he acted like he was the one secretly calling the shots. Even more unnervingly, I detect a hint of fear in his voice. “I have brought her, as promised.”
For a few moments of tense silence, Aedan doesn’t reply, if he’s really there at all. I’m starting to entertain the terrifying possibility that he’s just a projection of Mace’s twisted imagination when he finally speaks in a faint, rattling voice that’s far from the menacing depth I expected.
“The metal,” he rasps. Now that my eyes are finally starting to adjust to the dark, I can see the indistinct outline of a tall chair on the far side of the room. Aedan raises a shadowy hand to his head and trembles with every movement. “It’s deafening.”
I have no idea what he’s talking about, until Mace’s hands move to the cuffs around my wrists. “Of course, My Lord.”
As soon as he unlocks the handcuffs, I rub my wrists and try to get a better look at the creature in the darkness. I was expecting some powerful alpha vampire, not what sounds like a frail old man. Vampires don’t age past a certain point, so I have no idea what’s wrong with Aedan, and I certainly didn’t expect the rattling of a chain to be enough to overwhelm him.
Mace sits back down beside me, his head still bowed. I follow suit, for now, until I can get a better understanding of the situation I’m in.
“Princess Victoria,” the vampire rattles, amusement coloring his toneless voice. “My, how you’ve grown.”
I clench my jaw and force myself to remain silent. There will be a time for revenge, but not until I know Albien is safe.
“Come forward, child,” he orders.
I must hesitate a moment too long, because Mace pulls me to my feet. He’s gentle, as always, but he has me on the other side of the room in a matter of seconds.
“Let’s have a look at you,” Aedan croaks. I flinch as I feel long nails like claws graze the side of my face. He turns my head this way and that, like he’s inspecting a prize horse. “You are certainly Julia’s daughter. She had those lovely honey-colored eyes…”
There’s a hint of wistfulness in his voice that makes me uneasy. I know vampires can see in the dark, but it creeps me out that he’s able to see perfectly while I can only make out the outline of him. His hair is long and white, by the faint sheen I can see, but his face is a mask of shadows. His skin feels paper thin and powdery, dry enough to make me shudder.
I’m relieved when he finally pulls his hand back, but I can still feel his eyes on me. I catch a glimpse of red in the darkness every now and again, as if they’re glowing.
“Tell me,” he begins. “Do you know why you are here?”
“I know you’ve been pulling the strings since my birth,” I answer, trying to stay calm. Part of me wants to insult him just to spite Mace, and if more than my own life didn’t hang in the balance, I would. “I guess you finally decided to take a bow?”
He laughs, and it’s the most shuddering, haunting sound I’ve ever heard. More of a cough than a laugh, really. The vampire is like ancient plaster. One wrong move and he seems ready to crumble and flake away. “Just like your mother in that regard, too,” he says fondly. I don’t know much about the Queen, but so far, the fact that Aedan likes her is the only thing I’ve ever heard to her discredit. “All fire and pride. It’s the only admirable trait your species possesses.”
If I grit my teeth any harder, they’ll shatter. “What do you want with me?”
“Tell me, Victoria. What do you know of your birth?”
“Not much, thanks to you.”
I can feel Mace glaring at me in disapproval, but just because he’s chosen to spend his life licking some old vampire’s boots doesn’t mean I have to.
“You resent me
for removing you from the throne,” he muses. “But the birthright was not yours, and had you remained in the castle, that much would have become obvious.”
“What are you talking about?” I ask, trying to make sense of his words. Maybe it’s just the ramblings of a crazy old man.
“You are more than you believe. Princess. Wolf. Omega,” he drones. “All labels that fail to describe the full picture. What you are, as is your brother, is a rare artifact that defies categorization or explanation.”
“In English, please?”
“Danica,” Mace hisses.
“It’s alright,” Aedan says, waving his hand. “She will learn respect in time. Once she understands her role.”
“I know my role,” I grit out. “You took it from me for the first nineteen years of my life.”
“The Queen’s bastard child cannot be the crown princess. Your enjoyment of that role is owed to my charity,” Aedan says coldly.
“Excuse me?” I hiss. “I am the daughter of the King and Queen of Eternus!”
“One out of two,” Mace says flatly.
His words are a slap in the face. “What are you saying?”
“Your mother was… how can I put this delicately?” Aedan muses. “Less than faithful.”
“How dare you?” I seethe, burning with anger that won’t be cooled. I’ve never been out of control of my temper, but his assault on the character of the woman I was separated from so soon after birth is too much to bear. I raise my hand to strike him and before I can, something arrests it. At first, I think Mace has seized my wrist, but his shadowy figure is too far away.
No matter how I try to pull my hand away, it won’t budge. In fact, the more I try, the higher it lifts until whatever invisible force has a hold on me is dangling me off the ground.
“Put me down!” I cry, struggling.
All at once, I drop down from the ceiling, hard enough to lose my balance. I catch myself before I can fall into Aedan and find out if he’s really as close to breaking into pieces as he seems.
“You are not the only one with gifts, my child,” he says calmly. “Yours are unrefined and untamed, but I have had centuries to polish mine.”
I rub my wrist and my hand tingles from the lost circulation. “What are you?” I choke.
“We are similar, you and I,” he answers. “Two sides of the same coin.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“Lord Aedan is a mage,” Mace answers.
“A mage? That’s impossible,” I insist. “The dead can’t use magic.”
“In a world of impossibilities, those who find a way hold the power,” Aedan says, his voice sounding fainter than before. “You, too, are an impossible thing. Something that should not exist. The merging of two worlds that do not belong together.”
“I’m just an omega,” I protest. “If you’re talking about these powers, they only surfaced recently, after I came in contact with a mage.”
I’m sure of it now. None of this happened until Christopher’s little mind control stunt. It must have rubbed off on me somehow.
“You know nothing of what you are, or what you’re capable of,” says Aedan. “Which makes you all the more powerful.”
“What did you mean about my mother?” I ask, clenching my fists so I won’t be tempted to use them. “You said she was unfaithful. Then who is my father?”
Aedan’s silence makes me fear the worst, but it can’t be possible. I’d know if I was half vampire. It’s certainly obvious enough with James. Sure, I bit Rowan, but that was during sex. It’s not unheard of for shifters to bite each other, even if it is more common among males and alphas.
Now, I’m not sure of anything.
“I wonder if you truly wish to know that question,” Aedan remarks.
“Where is my brother?” I demand, realizing he’s just going to continue to lead me around in circles until I lose my mind.
“You will be reunited with your other half in time. That is the point of your being here,” says Aedan. “For now, you must wait and learn to control your power or it will overcome you and all you love.”
I have no idea what those ominous words are supposed to mean, and I’m not sure I want to find out. “I told you, I don’t have any power. It’s—”
“I know about the wolf mage,” Aedan says dismissively. “I can see that another has intruded in your thoughts, one far weaker than he believes.”
His words chill me to the bone. “You can see inside my mind?”
Somehow, I can tell he’s smirking. I don’t even want to picture what that looks like on his face if it’s half as creepy as his voice. “I can see everything. All you were and ever will be.”
Right. Because that’s not eerie in the least. “What do you want from me?”
“In time.” He sounds like his energy is dwindling along with his patience. “Your brother will arrive on the solstice.” He draws out his S’s like a snake hissing and the sound of it makes my skin crawl.
The faintest possibility that this man is my father makes me second guess my previous assumption that Ryland is as bad as it gets.
Or was.
“The solstice?” I cry, turning to Mace. “You said Albien was here!”
“No, I said you should come with me if you wish to see your brother again,” he corrects me. “That remains true.”
“Take her,” Aedan orders. “I must rest.”
“Yes, My Lord,” Mace says, bowing to him. I don’t know what Aedan has on him, but in order for a werewolf to play loyal guard dog to a vampire, it has to be big.
Chapter Twenty-One
I’m both relieved to be out of that dark, dusty room and anxious about what comes next as Mace leads me down a hall.
“You will be staying here, for the time being. And don’t bother trying to escape, because Aedan has eyes everywhere,” he warns, lighting another candle once we’ve turned the corner.
I don’t have any doubt that what he says is true. The vampire is everything he’s rumored to be and then some, and I can see now why his name inspires such unease among the others. Even for a vampire, he’s a creep.
The fact that there’s a possibility, however slight, that he might also be my father makes me nauseous. I feel guilty even believing such an affront to my mother’s character, but I can’t deny that the odds of me being just a normal omega get slimmer by the day. Not only did I drink Rowan’s blood, but I’ve begun to manifest these awful abilities that, according to Aedan himself, I’ve only scratched the surface of. The stench of that decaying vampire in the woods still haunts me.
“The solstice,” I mutter. “Rowan said you used to always disappear around then. Why? I know why the date matters to mages, but why is it so important to you guys?”
“As I told you, Aedan is a mage.”
“Yeah, he’s a real maverick,” I mutter. “That still doesn’t explain what you’ve got to do with any of it. Or why I have to wait until then to see my brother.”
“To put it simply… the solstice is a doorway,” Mace answers. “It allows passage from one world into the next, and provides the opportunity for the accumulation of great power.”
“Power?” I frown. “Like what, a ritual?”
I can tell from his uneasy silence that I’m not far off. That opens up plenty of avenues of possibility, none of them good. “Why does he want us?” I ask hoarsely. “Are we a sacrifice?”
“A sacrifice?” His laugh is anything but comforting, given the dark topic we’re discussing. “The crown King and Princess, a blood sacrifice to the vampire spirits. It sounds like one of the fairy tales they’d drum up to keep little wolves away from vampire territory.”
“I’m glad you find this so amusing.”
“I understand your need to question everything, but trust me when I say this will all be easier if you just go along with it.”
“You of all people should know how good I am at doing that.”
Mace chuckles. “I have a surprise
that might change your mind.”
“I’m not interested in anything you’d consider a ‘surprise.’”
“No?” He opens another door, and light flows out into the hall. It’s just from a lamp, but compared to the rest of the house, it looks like some ethereal portal.
I reluctantly take a step forward, since I don’t have many other options. I freeze in the doorway when I realize it’s just a normal room. Save for the over-the-top furniture, it could be any family den with a couple of sofas, a TV playing cartoons, and a bookcase on the wall in front of the curtains.
And Aspen.
My heart drops into my stomach when I see the boy sitting on the couch, watching TV as he munches on a bowl of cereal. He turns and his face lights up when he sees me. He drops the bowl and milk splashes out onto the carpet as he runs to throw his arms around me. “Dani!” he cries.
At first, I’m too shocked to return the hug. All my relief to see him is eaten up by the fact that he’s here. With Mace, just down the hall from that wicked thing he calls master.
I have to hold it together, for Aspen’s sake. If I act as petrified as I am and he tries to escape or fight, no telling what they’ll do. “Hey, kiddo,” I say, lifting him into my arms. It’s harder to do now that he’s not the featherlight sack of flour he was when I left. “Boy, you’ve gotten big.”
“And taller!” he says proudly, wrapping his arms around my neck. His expression falls. “You left without saying goodbye. You broke your promise.”
My throat tightens and tears sting my eyes. Surprise isn’t the right word at all, but if Mace planned this to torment me, he’s certainly succeeding. “I know,” I say hoarsely. “And I’m sorry. I never meant to.”
“He knows,” Mace cuts in. “I told him you had to leave, to make sure the bad men didn’t get him, but it’s safe now. They’re gone, and everyone knows who you are.”
“Yes,” I say through gritted teeth. “The bad men are all gone.”
“Are you really a princess?” Aspen asks, looking up at me in wonder.
I give him a strained smile, trying to fight the tears back. “Yeah. I kind of am.”
Court of Alphas: A WhyChoose Shifter Romance Page 12
