The Vampire King's Cage

by T. S. Ryder

  Mary embraced him. "You're not a monster."

  He drew in a shuddering breath. "I'm not."

  "No. And I can't do anything but run away, especially now. But you are Paul Locke's eldest son. The land belongs to you now, and you have the respect our family name affords you. You can make sure that our sisters and brothers are treated properly. Maybe you can even change how things are done in the community."

  "There is no changing the community."

  "If you found Father's body, then you must have also seen the woman there. Zoe. She was a Bear, Father killed her."

  Rage bubbled in Mary's gut, and for a moment she wished her father was there so she could kill him again. The strength of her feelings frightened her and she shuddered. I am not a monster. Oh, Luna! What if I didn't have to kill him? What if I just wanted to?

  "She wanted to open talks between our communities," she continued before her thoughts could cycle further. "To build an alliance of shifters or something like that."

  They both fell silent as a van pulled up to the store and a family climbed out noisily. Mary pressed her lips together, glancing at the store. She met the cashier's gaze, but the human looked away at once. Her cheeks heated, knowing that all this had been watched. How far had their voices carried?

  "We shouldn't be talking about this in the open," she muttered.

  Peter didn't seem to notice. He pinched the bridge of his nose and drew in quick, rapid breaths. Mary rubbed his back, trying to soundlessly soothe him. The last time she had seen him like this was when their youngest brother James was born and their mother nearly hemorrhaged to death.

  "There weren't any other bodies," he said eventually. "Just Father and the scent of Bears. But he killed…"

  "She and I were talking." Mary's throat closed up and her stomach churned as she remembered the feel of the warm spray of blood on her face. "She wasn't doing anything threatening. He wasn't even close enough to smell that she was a Bear. He killed her just for being there."

  Peter shuddered. "And she wanted to talk? To us? Why would she do that?"

  Mary opened her mouth to tell him what Andre had told her before they went to meet Zoe that day–was it really only a day ago? It seemed like she had stumbled around in the confusion of her guilt for weeks!

  But then Peter looked at her again, and there was something burning in his eyes that made her think his question was not what she thought.

  She remembered what Zoe had said. Your family has quite the reputation.

  What had she meant by that? Andre said he'd tell her later, but it had been driven from her mind. Her hands trembled.

  "What do you mean, Peter? What have you done?"

  "Can I see your Bear?" His voice was small, meek like he truly wanted to see him.

  Mary hesitated. She wanted to trust him. They had been allies growing up. He had helped her as much as he could in the house, even though he had his own chores outside. He always tempered Paul's punishments and convinced him to trust Mary with more freedom.

  But when he found her at Andre's farm, the next day it was burned to the ground. When he helped her run back to Andre, Paul nearly killed them. What if he was part of it?

  "I can't trust you," she said, shaking her head. "I wish I could, but I can't. Andre and I are going to leave the Americas. If you really care, then you will change things in the community, Peter. And you'll let us go."

  "Mary—"

  She turned on her heel and returned to the car, not looking at him. When she was driving away she glanced in the rear view mirror, afraid he'd try to follow her. He was still standing where she had left him, watching her go.

  Chapter Twenty Three

  Putting on clothes was agonizing, and when he was done, Andre lay in the bed trying not to pass out.

  The door slammed open. "We have to get out of here!"

  Andre's head jerked up. Mary's face was flushed, eyes bright, and tear tracks ran down her face. Andre tensed, but when he asked what had happened, Mary only shook her head and repeated that they needed to leave. He glanced around the hotel room.

  "We can't leave all this blood behind."

  "Peter was there!" Mary kicked the bloody bandages under the bed and grabbed his arm. "They've found my father's body and the community thinks that you killed him. They're going to hunt us down!"

  Andre's eyes widened. His heart began pounding, but he forced himself to remain calm. This was expected. He knew what to do.

  "We need to get out as quickly as possible, yes. But look around, Mary. If we leave blood stains everywhere, then the police will be after us too. And we can't exactly tell them that we're Shifters running from a pack of werewolves. We just need to gather everything up and take it to the car. Okay?"

  "By the time we're done, they're going to be here and we're going to be dead!" Mary shivered but started throwing the bandages and old clothes into the garbage can.

  Andre slid himself off the bed, bracing himself against the wall so he could strip the sheets off the bed–his wounds had leaked during the night.

  "They didn't find Zoe." Mary grabbed the sheets from him. "Peter didn't know our father had killed anybody. But he's not going to tell the community about that, is he? He just… he's such a coward!"

  Mary collapsed onto the bed, passing a hand over her eyes. She sniffed, and Andre sat next to her. Perhaps it was the adrenaline, but the pain from his injuries wasn't as bad as it had been a few minutes ago. Even his knee only had a dull throbbing.

  "Am I a coward too?" Mary turned her face from him, hiding behind a veil of beautiful black hair. "Am I selfish? Should I be trying to get my sisters away from the community as well?"

  He sighed, putting an arm around her. We don't really have time for this, a voice whispered in the back of his head but he pushed it away. They couldn't drive when Mary was in this condition anyway. She would be blind with tears.

  "You're not out yet. They still have a hold on you, Mary. You can't save your sisters unless you save yourself first."

  Mary looked at him then, her long green eyes fiery with determination, even though tears still ran down her cheeks. She looked so beautiful like that, her delicate features set, her shoulders thrown back and her head held high. Andre almost forgot that they needed to leave.

  "Someday my brothers and sisters are going to get away from that place. We'll start our own community and it will be a place where all Shifters can come and go freely. Someday." Her voice cracked and all her determination faded. She clung to his hand. "Right?"

  "Someday," he agreed, though his heart was heavy at her words. Would such a dream ever be possible? "But right now we focus on saving you."

  ***

  When Mary was so tired that she was afraid she might get them into an accident, she pulled into a rest stop. Andre had tried to drive earlier, but from the way his face whitened after only a few minutes, Mary had nixed that plan. He was still far paler than his normal tanned complexion. Putting him in more pain wasn't going to help anyone.

  The rain she had been expecting never materialized and the temperature had risen enough that she and Andre rolled down the windows when they put their seats back as far as they would go. It wasn't comfortable, but it was all they had. In the night, she could barely see the outline of his face. His eyes, black during the day, almost seemed to glow in the darkness. She had never noticed that before.

  "My brain won't turn off. I don't think I can sleep," she confessed. "I keep thinking… My father. Zoe. I'm sorry that she…"

  "I didn't really know her," Andre replied gruffly. "Don't think about them. It's not your fault."

  He reached out and caressed her face. She pressed her lips to his palm and wished they could make love. But she needed sleep. Exhaustion ached in her bones. They didn't have room, anyway.

  When she closed her eyes, she saw Zoe's surprised expression as she slid down the truck. Had death been instant? Or was there a second, or half a second, when she knew that she was going to die? What could have ha
ppened to make Father such a heartless killer? Mary knew both his parents had been killed by Bears, but how could he think that justified killing someone he couldn't have known was a Bear?

  "Zoe said my family has a reputation. What did she mean?"

  She felt Andre flinch and he withdrew his hand. "I don't know."

  "But you said that you were going to tell me."

  "Mary, this won't help you sleep."

  "I have to know!"

  Andre sighed. His dark shape moved to a sitting position, and the interior light came on. Mary blinked in its brightness and adjusted her seat so she was upright as well. Andre's expression was dreading, and Mary's heart sank to her stomach. Her hands trembled. This wasn't something she wanted to hear. She could tell from the way Andre's eyes pinched together. But she had to hear it. She had to know what her family had done.

  "I don't know everything. All I know is what they did to me." He closed his eyes. "I lied when I told you that I killed the hunters that killed Isadore and Eve."

  Mary shook her head, blood pounding in her ears. No. It couldn't be true!

  "I saw them," Andre continued, his voice low, reluctant. "It was already too late by the time I got there. But I watched Isadore and Eve die, and I saw the man who killed them. Paul Locke."

  A tortured whimper escaped Mary's throat.

  "He had two of your brothers with you. Peter and Philip."

  Mary flung open the car door and stumbled out. She collapsed to her knees as vomit spewed out her mouth.

  No.

  No! Not Peter and Philip! She could believe her father did that–after what she had seen, how could she not? But her brothers? Peter, who was always so kind and gentle, and Philip, who was always laughing and joking. How could they be part of killing a child?

  Please, Luna, no! She closed her eyes. "It can't be true! They couldn't have killed your wife and daughter. It can't be true."

  "It is," said a voice. But it was not Andre's.

  It was Peter's.

  ***

  Andre's Bear growled deep in his chest at the sight of Peter Locke standing in the pale light of the moon. He had been so focused on Mary that he hadn't noticed the other Wolf. He froze, leaning on the hood of the car, leg shaking beneath him.

  "Peter Locke," he snarled. "Come to finish your father's job?"

  Mary was by his side in an instant, shielding him from her brother. "Peter, no."

  Peter rose his hands, showing he was unarmed. "I didn't recognize you at first, but… How long have you known that it was me?"

  Andre glared. "Three years."

  Peter flinched.

  "No," Mary whispered.

  She leaned against Andre. He wished he could support her, but his knee felt like it was going to buckle at any moment and he shook violently. Gently he put a hand on her shoulder, but could do nothing else.

  "Peter… you killed a little girl."

  The Wolf flinched again. "No, that was Father. I didn't know they were Shifters, I thought they were just animals—"

  A growl thundered in Andre's chest. He would have liked to rip Peter Locke in half, watch him cry and scream and bleed out.

  No. For Mary's sake, he could not. Revenge was not worth losing her, and even if she knew the truth now, it was too soon for her to forgive him for such a thing. With everything that had happened the past few days, he couldn't add watching her brother die to her pain.

  Peter's gaze went to Andre. With his green eyes and black hair, he looked so much like Mary. Andre could believe that they were twins, rather than her being a year older than him.

  "So you knew it was me all the time when we talked, when you called to see how Mary was?"

  "Every time I heard your voice I wanted to tear your throat out."

  "But you kept calling. For her."

  The Wolf looked away finally, shaking his head. Silence fell between the three of them, heavy. It took all of Andre's strength to remain where he was instead of embracing his Bear and tearing the Wolf apart. He clung to Mary, anchoring himself to her, reminding himself why he couldn't.

  "I didn't think he was really your soulmate." Peter's eyes sought out Mary again. "I didn't understand. But I do now. I understand why you killed Father."

  "And I do too." Mary choked and Andre became aware that she was sobbing softly. "Get out of here, Peter. Before I kill you too."

  Chapter Twenty Four

  It had been two weeks since Andre had told Mary that her brothers had helped her father kill his wife and daughter. She had said nothing about it since. They had seen nothing of the Wolves of her community either, and Andre started to hope that they had given them the slip.

  Mary didn't even have a birth certificate, let alone the passport necessary to escape from the Americas, so they had set their eyes on the place where Andre had spent his childhood, high in the north of Quebec. The pair had slipped through the border into Canada on foot, leaving behind the car. They had spent the rest of Andre's money buying a car to continue their journey as quickly as they could.

  "It won't be long before your credit cards max out," Mary said abruptly from the passenger seat.

  His injuries were still bothering him, but enough time had passed that his stomach was completely healed and his knee was good enough to drive, though it quickly stiffened.

  "We'll make it."

  She shrugged, and he felt a pang hit him hard. She had refused to embrace her Wolf since they had last seen Peter, even while they were going through the wilderness. She walked beside him while he was with his Bear. Whether it was the emotional toll this flight was having on her, or their diet–it was too early in the spring and there wasn't really anything to forage. They had been subsisting on whatever he could hunt–she had become listless and unfocused.

  The pines and spruces had become maples and elms, indicating that they had gone farther east than Andre had realized. Well, if they didn't know where they were going, maybe the werewolves wouldn't either.

  "What are you thinking?" he pressed, slowing down so he could look at Mary.

  She smiled at him. "I'm just feeling a little sick. I just need a rest—"

  The jazzy music of Zoe's cell phone interrupted them. They had received no communication from it, but Andre was unwilling to let it go, hoping that other Bears would reach out to them again. In his eagerness to answer it, he stomped on the brake. Mary's eyes were wide as he snatched up the phone and held it to his ear.

  "Hello?"

  "Andre Mitchel." The voice on the other end was male, deep and gruff. "My name is Grant Easton. I understand that you are travelling with the werewolf, Mary Locke."

  Andre's brow puckered. Why only call them now? "Yes. And we are being hunted by the Locke family for killing Paul Locke—"

  "So we have seen. We have been watching you and Mary for some time. Crossing into Canada threw us a little. But we have found you again. And if we can find you, they can find you. So are you willing to turn yourselves over to us?"

  "What are you talking about?" Andre gripped the phone tightly.

  Mary stared with wide eyes, though if the call was loud enough for her to hear, he didn't know.

  "Just what I said."

  "I have heard nothing from you or any of Zoe's contacts since she died. Mary and I haven't been running from you. We've wanted you guys to contact us so that we could get a way out of the Americas!"

  There was a moment's silence. "My apologies," Easton said, though he sounded anything but apologetic. "I thought that Zoe had told you."

  "We didn't really have a chance to speak." There was another long silence. Andre tapped his fingers against his thigh, gritting his teeth. Eventually, he couldn't stand it anymore. "I already tried to tell you what happened, two weeks ago when we first got a call."

  "Tell me now."

  Trying to be as concise as he could, he told Easton about what had happened on that day. Mary seemed to shrink in on herself as he spoke, and by the time he was done, her arms were wrapped around hersel
f and she stared out of the window. He reached out to her, but she shivered at his touch and he withdrew.

  When he was finished, there was a loud sigh from the other end of the line. "Zoe should have told you right away. You were being offered sanctuary. The werewolf was not."

  Mary's head whipped around. So she could hear. Her eyes widened and she clenched her bottom lip between her teeth.

  "Why not?" Andre growled.

  "She's a Locke. That family has been hunting other Shifters for generations now. We couldn't allow her to breach our security and bring her family down on us. Our work is too important."

  "But she's running from them." Andre struggled to keep his voice from rising. "She was the one who killed Paul Locke, to save my life. Her family is a danger to her as well!"

  "Perhaps. Or perhaps Locke was already dying and they used the situation to gain your sympathies and have her infiltrate our ranks as if she was a refugee… but that does not matter right now. Matters have changed, and you must bring in the werewolf."

  Andre shoved open his car door, Easton's cold tone making his Bear roar in challenge. "Why? What has changed? If you are planning to hurt Mary, I will rip out your throat."

  "If you don't bring her in, then we will have no choice but to execute you both."

  "For what?" Andre shouted, then flinched. He turned. Mary was stepping from the car, her face ashen. The Bear took a deep breath and walked several meters down the road to put distance between them. "Mary has done nothing wrong."

  "And I have no doubt you believe that. The truthfulness of her claims will be determined at her trial."

  "Trial? For being a Locke? You don't know how they treat their daughters in that community."

  "We will get back to you with where you need to go."

  Easton hung up. Andre repressed the urge to fling the cell phone onto the ground and leave it there. He shoved the tiny thing into his pocket, closing his eyes. He lifted his face to the warm sunlight, hoping that would help to calm him a little bit. It didn't do much other than to remind him that Mary was still watching.