Ragna jumped off beside me and followed the young man onward. The rest of the vampires did the same, forming two straight lines behind Ragna. Very uniform. Very proper. I guess the Catach-Brayin managed to stay a strong collective by Tobias enforcing a strict set of rules. I never imagined that vampires were capable of following such strident rules and decorum. Gran always described them as being less than organized given that blood was always the number one thing on their mind. But these vampires behaved in a way I doubt she had ever encountered. Or wished to.
We walked down a few narrow stone hallways lit by lights hanging up on the ceiling. At least not everything was by candle or torchlight. They had advanced their super secret caverns in some ways. A few stone spiral staircases and long lingering hallways later and we came to a wooden door. The young man took the handle and pushed it inward. The inside of the room behind the door was huge. Bigger than any other room I have probably ever seen. Bigger than the Congressman’s entire house. And it was just a freaking cavern. The walls appeared as though they were chiseled away centuries ago. And to be fair, they probably were. The entire place was lit up by large pillars with fire curling at the top. The walls had slivers of large circular holes scattered around. Inside them was random groups of vampires. Wearing the same red cloaks, placing their hands in the exact same folded manner. A vampire behind me handed one such cloak to Ragna. She put it on and assumed the proper position with her hands.
The Catach-Brayin were formal beyond anything I expected. Something I assumed Tobias forced on them. And I couldn’t argue. From what gran told me about how ravenous and wild they used to be, they needed some form of strict decorum.
When I peered forward and squinted my eyes, I saw where we were headed. In the back, there were three separate chairs. Two to the side, and one large one in the center. That was when I first saw him. Tobias Vallas. The coven master of the Catach-Brayin. He stared at me with acute fascination. His eyes didn’t linger away for even a second. They were intense and focused. Much like Nathaniel’s when he looked at me. But less harsh. There was a strange level of curiosity to them that he veiled as kindness. The sort of kindness that told me he could be wooing a woman one moment, whispering sweet nothings in her ear, and tearing her heart out the next.
I stood tall, refusing to cower. Refusing to look away. If anything he pretended to admire my determination.
When we finally reached the platform with the three stairs, Ragna stepped around me and walked toward the platform with the chairs. It was too high for me to even reach up and crawl onto. But Ragna simply hopped up with one sweeping leap. There was grace in how she did it. Almost in slow motion. Especially with the cloak wafting at her back. She sat to the left of Tobias. That was when it occurred to me. The seat to the right was empty. That was Nathaniel’s seat. Ragna was to Tobias’s left. An equal playing field as Nathaniel and Tobias’s other most trusted ally.
“Bring forth the accused,” said Tobias in a voice that was soft yet commanding.
His features were almost exactly as I had seen in my vision. There was a bit of a grown mustache and a light scattering of jet black facial hair. His eyes were dark green. His hands extended on the arms of the chair, holding it firm before his coven. There was a noble quality to the way he presented himself. I could tell it wasn’t just for show.
Nathaniel was brought out of one of the smaller caverns lit up with candles in the wall. There was a light whispering that echoed throughout the large room.
“Silence,” said Tobias. “A verdict has not yet been determined.” His voice was slightly raspy, but deep.
I looked over to Nathaniel. He stood with the same determination that I did. Not wanting to cower. Not wanting to show any fear. But his hands were tied with the same magical blue cord that I saw tied around Isaac’s hands. Did they found it on Nathaniel? It would prove that he was consorting with a vixra if he possessed pieces of their magic.
Nathaniel was brought out to stand next to me. His eyes asked me if I was alright, which to be honest I didn’t expect. His demeanor was still strong and defiant, but his eyes spared a fraction of empathy for me.
Empathy. I could hardly believe it. The man who introduced himself with a knife to my throat was still concerned about me.
I gave him a very small nod of my head to let him know that I was fine. When in fact my insides were crying in bloody terror. My heart was racing. And I had little doubt that every vampire in the entire room could hear it. It must not have been easy for them to watch a kruxa presented like a prize and not be able to attack right then and there.
“Nathaniel Stapleton,” Tobias said once Nathaniel was placed next to me with a pair of hands on his shoulders to force him into place. He grunted as he was forced down onto his knees. A position I sensed wasn’t the usual one he assumed when with Tobias. His coven master was letting him know just how much trouble he was in.
“Yes, master,” Nathaniel muttered.
“Who is this kruxa?”
Nathaniel hesitated before speaking. “Harper Ashwood.”
“And why does she strike such a strong resemblance to Georgeanna Carson?”
Another hesitation before speaking. “She’s her descendant.”
Tobias gave a smirk that could only mean he was even more curious than before. “How would you know such a thing unless you kept tabs on the Carson family line? Did you know of her existence before I sent you to Dilton county?”
‘I wouldn’t mind knowing the answer to that as well.’
Nathaniel gave a sigh. One he didn’t need to give granted vampires didn’t need to breathe. But he was conceding something. Something he didn’t want to say. Something he didn’t want anyone else to know.
“Yes.”
“Yes, what?” Tobias ordered him to continue.
“Yes, I’ve watched them throughout the centuries. I knew of Harper’s existence.”
Whispers erupted throughout the large cavern.
“You don’t think that presented a conflict of interest when I asked you to investigate the Dilton Police Department?” Tobias asked. “Why did you avoid mentioning her connection to Georgeanna Carson?”
“You already know why.”
Tobias sank back into his large seat of honor and brought his hands together. He obviously already knew the answers to his own questions. He was merely taunting Nathaniel by forcing him to say the words in front of the entire coven. “Such dedication to keeping a secret can mean only one thing,” Tobias beamed.
I don’t know why, but the way Tobias’s face changed frightened me. Don’t get me wrong, I was already terrified beyond imagining. But I managed to find some willpower to control it. Now… with Tobias eying me up and down then glaring at Nathaniel who was forced to keep his eyes downcast, the fear inside me was steadily spilling out. Along with my magic. My hands were glowing.
‘Stay put. Stay put! Please!’
“You were in love with Georgeanna more than I ever realized,” Tobias said calmly. His voice was rough but silky all the same even when he was accusing someone of deviant behavior. Traitorous behavior. “You’ve been protecting her bloodline. Perhaps since Georgeanna first disappeared. You followed her. And you watched over her descendants.”
More whispers erupted throughout the gigantic room. Whispers that told me a vampire loving a kruxa was more than just a little forbidden within the Catach-Brayin. And why wouldn’t it be? Tobias didn’t want any of his minions straying, getting marked, becoming mortal, then dying off. Bad for rising power, I suppose.
“I knew Georgeanna long before I met you. Long before I swore my oath of loyalty to you, master,” Nathaniel said, finally gaining the will to raise his head and face his coven master.
I brought down the sleeves of my jacket with my fingers, doing my best to cover up the magic desperately begging for release inside my palms.
The gesture didn’t go unnoticed by Tobias, who leaned forward once more with his hands enfolded. There was an intensity to the way he move
d. The same intensity I often saw Nathaniel display. It was easy to see who Nathaniel learned it from.
Ragna watched with her leg propped up on her knee. Her expression was one of irritation. One that told me this entire scenario had her immensely agitated. After all, she was the one who had to come and get me and drag me all the way here. But that was only what was on the surface. The face she displayed to everyone else. I could sense what was really under that pretty face. Pleasure. She was enjoying every bit of this. I got the feeling she and Nathaniel weren’t exactly friends. They worked beside one another only because they had to.
“Indeed,” said Tobias. “But the resemblance,” he said as his eyes slowly moved over to me. “It truly is uncanny. You stand accused of being scarred by this woman. The accusation came from a man who is no longer here to defend his words because you killed him. That doesn’t exactly help your case, does it, Nathaniel? Given that we all know now that you’re prone to keeping secrets.”
Nathaniel said nothing. He only stared up at Tobias as he tried to find the right words. “Isaac tried to kill Harper. Twice. You sent me to Dilton to find out why their small and insignificant police department was speaking of the Catach-Brayin over the phone. Isaac did his best to thwart my efforts.”
“Isaac was following my orders,” Tobias snapped. When he raised his voice, it echoed throughout the entire cavern. I could feel the echo of his voice in my ears. “Your orders were to report back to me what the Dilton Police Department knew. That was all. Why did you continue to stay in Dilton if not because you were scarred by this kruxa? Finding a kruxa and not killing her is an offense among our kind, Nathaniel. Knowing about the existence of an entire family of kruxa and saying nothing… a grave crime.”
Nathaniel was silent. I guess he had tried using the only playing card he had.
Call me crazy, but all I can say is that it seemed like a good idea at the time. To speak up. To negate what Tobias was saying. To stand up for Nathaniel after he went through what I assumed was a mild inconvenience to launch himself back into the past to fetch Emily for me. I wasn’t going to let his coven master hand down a sentence without shedding more light on what was going on. After all, I was going to die anyway. I might as well make things more interesting.
“Allowing the circulation of vixra blood among vampires is a grave offense as well,” I hollered. “The vixra don’t allow it.”
Tobias’s eyes darted at me with a viciousness that I had only ever seen in Nathaniel’s eyes. Nathaniel obviously picked up a few expressions from Tobias over the years.
“Isaac had vixra blood in his system and tried using their magic to kill me,” I went on. “I was trying to help Nathaniel investigate murders taking place near my town. Murders of girls who had been given vixra blood to distribute illegally. I saw you. I had a vision of you giving vixra blood to Samantha Larsen. Well, she’s dead now. Her body was found yesterday in a muddy swamp.”
Sheer panic spread from Nathaniel’s body and into the space surrounding mine. There was no need for me to touch his skin to know what he was feeling. He wanted me to shut the hell up as fast as I was capable. But I refused. I wouldn’t let Tobias lay all of Nathaniel’s sins at his feet without showcasing his own. Let his coven decide how great of a leader he was after the fact. He didn’t have any right to accuse Nathaniel of keeping secrets when he had a few up his sleeve as well.
Tobias’s face didn’t move. He went completely expressionless. That scared me more than his intense glares.
“You had a vision, did you?” said Tobias. He stood up from his large chair that looked more like a throne and leapt off the platform. He was standing a few inches from me faster than I could blink an eye. I gave a small gasp. I couldn’t control it. It just tumbled right out of me and revealed just how terrified I was. Not that any of them didn’t already know. They could probably hear my heart racing.
“If Samantha Larsen is dead, it means she made a dreadful error,” he concluded without even wanting to hear more.
“Or you did,” I spat. “You put her in harm’s way. I saw the brand. Everyone did when she was pulled out of the swamp with a hook entangling her arms. And now Emily is missing too.”
“No one put Samantha Larsen in harm’s way other than Samantha Larsen. She begged to be branded. She begged for me to have her. The girl’s desperation for any sort of approval she could gain was pathetic. Emily was hardly any better. She was so eager to please that I didn’t even have to lure her. She did what I wanted willingly. We have use for such pitiful humans here, Harper. We brand them. We make them ours. They do our bidding and keep silent on pain of death. Only Samantha Larsen was far too stupid to realize she was nothing more than a mere slave to my will.”
“And what do mere slaves do to serve your will? Distribute vixra blood? I saw Isaac using magic he shouldn’t have had access to. And he was far too lowly for a vixra to find him worthy of handing over even so much as a droplet of blood. So who gave it to him?”
Tobias’s hand was around my throat before I could even raise my arm to fight back. He lifted me clear off the ground. My feet dangled beneath me. My arms came up to his, struggling to pry his fingers loose. But with a death grip that gave Darth Vader a run for his money, I didn’t have much luck.
“Careful there, Harper,” he said smoothly. “Don’t make accusations against others without just cause or evidence.”
I sputtered out words that were probably only intelligible to him granted his face was so close to mine. The icy touch of his skin was more painful than his fingers latched around my throat. It was so cold that it burned. Which told me one thing. He was old. Much older than Nathaniel. Maybe even older than any other vampire here.
“Then why accuse Nathaniel?” I stammered through his hand around my throat. “Isaac had no evidence.”
Tobias dropped me to the ground. I landed hard on my hands and knees. I was close enough to kiss Tobias’s shoes, which was probably right where he wanted me. I could hear the surrounding vampires snicker as I coughed and hacked, trying to regain any breath I possibly could and gasping for what little air my throat could manage without pain.
I heard Nathaniel grunt. He was trying to get closer to me but the vampire behind him was stronger. His struggle was in vain.
“There’s only one way to prove that you’re not scarred by this woman,” Tobias said to Nathaniel.
This was insane! Nathaniel didn’t have a heartbeat. He wasn’t becoming mortal. Just because he didn’t want to see his ‘investment’ as he called me strangled to death didn’t mean he was affectionate toward me. Did I need to go into detail as far as how Nathaniel practically held me hostage? Or would details like that even matter to Tobias? Probably not.
“Feed on her,” Tobias commanded him.
Whatever air I managed to get through my throat and into my lungs quickly abandoned me. Here it was. The moment of my death. The moment when I would feel the blood drain from my body and my heart slowly stop beating. Madison would never know what became of me. Her daughters would never see their aunt again. And my mother’s warnings about staying hidden were all for nothing. I failed her. I failed everyone.
“Go on,” Tobias said in a low but threatening voice as the vampire behind Nathaniel removed the magical blue restraints from his wrists. “If you are indeed scarred by this kruxa, you would never dream of feeding on her. You would protect her. Against anyone. Including me.”
Nathaniel rose up to his feet. I rolled over onto my side and stared up at him. He gazed down at me. There was no regret in his eyes. No apology. Only the eyes of a vampire being given a meal that he was more than willing to accept.
Maybe Eli lied. Maybe Nathaniel would harm me. Especially if it meant winning back Tobias’s good favor.
Nathaniel didn’t hesitate. He knelt down next to me and lifted my body into his arms. He moved my long hair away from my neck as I struggled to take in a deep breath.
I was shaking. And I was sure everyone in the large cavern w
as enjoying the sight of a kruxa suffering at the hands of one of their own.
Nathaniel plunged his teeth deep inside my neck. I must have managed to get at least some air in my lungs, because I cried out from the pain. His teeth were like razors. And the skin on my neck was so delicate. So tender. So thin. I could feel the blood rushing away from my chest. My arms. My legs. All straight toward the opening he made with his bare teeth.
My hands latched onto his back, clawing at him with my nails. I even tried summoning my magic. It sputtered in my hands, too weak to even leave my palms. It was no use. He held me so tight that there was no getting away. And my legs didn’t have the strength to stand even if by some miracle I managed to get him off of me.
“That’s enough,” said Tobias, sounding rather pleased with himself.
Nathaniel dropped me to the cold hard floor. I landed with a loud smack.
There was no way to move my limbs or prop myself up. All the strength inside me was gone.
Nathaniel stepped away, wiping his face to remove my blood from his chin. “Satisfied?”
“Not quite.”
More vampires came close to grab Nathaniel by the arms and pinned him down on his knees once more. It wasn’t just one or two vampires making Nathaniel kneel this time. It was three. Two at his arms and one pinning him down by his shoulders.
Whatever Tobias was about to do, he expected Nathaniel to put up a fight.
“It occurred to me just as I was watching you that if you were scarred by this woman, you would never drain her dry,” said Tobias. “You would bring her within inches of danger only to stop. Especially if she’s a descendant of a woman you once loved. You wouldn’t let anything happen to Georgeanna and you won’t let anything happen to Harper either. Your past loyalties are your greatest fault, Nathaniel. You can never move forward if you’re constantly looking to your past.”
Nathaniel shook his head. “You told me to stop, so I stopped. It’s as simple as that.”
“I told you to stop because you were drinking too slow.”
Witchling Wars Page 22
