Crown of Smoke and Blood

by Sadie Jacks

  “We are not the human garda, Mateo. I don’t give a flying feck what you think your rights are. You’re a vampire. Pledged to me. Your life rests in my hands.”

  “It seems to rest in this overgrown Fae’s hands, currently,” Samuel said with a smirk. He bounced his shoulders up and down against the restriction of Tavis’ magic.

  Vari bristled next to me.

  I squeezed her fingers where they still rested on my arm. “At my command and for your own safety.”

  “We’ve done nothing wrong, but we’ve been ripped from our rooms. Treated like criminals. Show us our accusers. We demand a fair trial,” Mateo shouted. “Or so help me gods, I’ll have the Grand Council rain down on your head so fast it will spin off your body.”

  Do something, Koehn. Now. Or I’ll rip him to shreds so fast he won’t be recognized as anything more than a pile of flesh and fluids, Vari demanded in my head.

  I smirked. My woman was definitely not one to employ patience. But I liked that about her. More than liked it, if I was being honest. She was upfront, honest, and took no shite from anyone. Including herself.

  “We have two eyewitnesses who placed all of you, including Michael and Bennington, at the scene of the crime. Your scents were found on the victims’ clothing—retrieved from Julian and Mathieu’s quarters. You are guilty, by the laws of Vampires. And you are guilty of breaking your vow to me.”

  The room was so quiet; I heard two hundred heartbeats. Could feel each pulse and thump of blood through the men in this room.

  “I demand to see these witnesses,” Samuel said lazily. “Produce them and I’ll go to my eternal grave without a question.”

  I shook my head. “You are Accused. You have no rights, no demands that must be acknowledged. Our Council talked to them. Do you now impugn the ruling group?”

  Samuel nodded. “Yes. We all know the Council is loyal to you. I demand someone outside of your cadre to investigate. Someone unconnected to this farce of an investigation. There is no proof. And without proof, there is no trial. Free us. Now.” His voice was level and steady. No outrageous screams like Mateo shared. No hysteria.

  Had I not known any better, I would have assumed Samuel was innocent. He certainly didn’t act like a guilty man. He met each charge with calm and collected answers. His reactions were measured and passionless.

  I can give them proof, Vari said mentally. I can show them all.

  No.

  Do not turn this into a war for the sake of your pride, Koehn. Those wars are bloody and have no winner.

  She wasn’t wrong. But I was determined to do this according to our ways. The pledges they took and the vows they wrote in their own blood would be enough to hand down sentencing and execution. If I couldn’t uphold those two absolutes, then I did not need to be king.

  “Your pledge when you joined my territory stands against your claims. The blood vow you took when you became Vampire negates your rights. These two constants are not in question. Your actions are. Our investigation was clean. It was done according to our procedures and is above board.”

  “If that is so, My King, then why was Michael’s killer never placed in our cells?” Samuel asked. He shot a pointed glance at Vari.

  I kept my face clear, my expression blank. “Because the kill was clean, and the victims witnessed, also by the Council. All of you sat in this same room and witnessed it yourselves.”

  “Then why were we not brought forward at that time? Why so long between settling Michael’s murder and arresting us?”

  “First, Michael wasn’t murdered. His kill was justified. Second, what I do as King to ferret out accomplices is none of your concern. My job is to protect each and every man in this family. It is also my job to protect the innocents of this city. When one of my family breaks his blood vows and disregards the pledges of fealty he made, the punishments are mine to deliver. You have been found guilty. Multiple pieces of evidence, including eyewitness statements, have named you as accomplices to the treachery that Michael inflicted on those women.”

  Don’t forget the other one hundred, Vari added quickly.

  I couldn’t add them because it would introduce other factors. And we had no definitive proof that Michael and this bunch of monsters had killed them. It would have to be enough that these men would pay for the crimes that we could attach to them. The crimes had been witnessed by Agnes. Evidence supported the deaths of at least two women. It would be enough to make examples of these remaining two men.

  I would make it be enough.

  If you can’t use them, then allow me to call Anouk. Let her bring Bennington back. It will cement their sentence, Vari said.

  Did you read my mind?

  She chuckled softly. No. But I did read your face. Allow me to help with this, Koehn. Please. For Georgie. For Cat. For the ones who returned home unknowingly broken.

  Well feck. “Bennington is no longer here. He was in a locked room with the two of you. Would you care to explain how he caught himself on fire?” I asked.

  Let all of us see if they could be trusted with the truth when it came to one of their own. If not, I will allow you to call Anouk.

  Agreed, she replied quickly.

  “The poor boy was beside himself with guilt—for something he didn’t do. How were we to know he was mentally unstable? It should have been caught in the conversion process. The fact that it wasn’t is not our sin to carry,” Samuel said.

  Mateo’s eyes widened slightly, and then he nodded. A sad smile stretched his mouth. “Exactly. We are innocent. We tried to help him. He was inconsolable. Had I known he was going to dump liquor on his head and then light a match, I would have stopped him. No, his death was of his own making.”

  These two were truly evil if they were going to blame Bennington’s death on the poor boy himself. There was no hope for them.

  “Then allow us to bring Bennington here and give us his account of the events,” I said.

  “He’s dead. Did you not hear that part?” Samuel asked. Superiority and disdain drenched his tone. “Once I’m cleared of all of this, I will officially challenge you for the right to rule. You can no longer be trusted to uphold the Vampire way of life.”

  “Oh feck no, he didn’t,” Vari said softly. Her fingers dug into my arm. “He’s mine.” She stepped forward before I could catch her. “Stand before me, Samuel of Clan Thanatos. Stand before me and claim your innocence once more.” She threw her head back and thrust her arms out to her sides.

  A giant vacuum swept through the room as Vari sucked all the magic into her body. I fought to stay upright in the whirlwind as she called Anouk.

  It wasn’t a gradual pulling on of the other woman. No. It was an instantaneous shift. Vari stood before me one moment, and then Anouk towered over everyone.

  “You dare to challenge the dead, little boy?” she whispered as the magic settled. “They do not lie. They cannot. So repeat your words to me and we will see who tells the truth.”

  Samuel’s eyes went wide as saucers.

  Mateo fainted like a Regency-era lass with a corset too tight about her middle.

  Anouk glided down the steps. A silent wraith of smoke and ash. “Repeat your words, or you will answer to me for lying about the dead.” She laid her hand lightly on his cheek.

  The flesh of Samuel’s face pulled back as if it were dying around him. Graying and desiccated, he took on the appearance of a mummy long dead. Only his tongue remained hydrated. Probably so he could talk.

  “Bennington killed himself,” Samuel said. His dried out cheeks flapping like flags on a windy day.

  Anouk snapped her fingers. “Bennington of Clan Thanatos, I summon you.”

  Almost as quickly as she finished the last syllable, Bennington appeared. “Yes, Mistress Anouk.” He bowed low.

  “State your truth. For your death and for your deeds against the women.”

  Damn, Anouk wasn’t playing games. She was going to serve these men up on fecking platters.

  “We kil
led them. All of them. But before we killed them, we raped them. Beat and tortured them. Then, when the guilt was too heavy, these two killed me. They doused me in vodka and whiskey and then threw a lighter on me.” He pointed at Samuel and Mateo.

  He turned back to Mistress Anouk. “I am truly sorry for the things I did in this life and the one before it. If there is any mercy in this world or the next, I will throw myself upon it.”

  Anouk laughed. Tossed her head back and chuckled at the ceiling. “There is no mercy for evil. You have reaped what you have sown. Be gone.” She flicked a hand and Bennington vanished.

  She turned to me. “King Koehn of Clan Thanatos, King of the Nightwalkers. Deliver your punishment. I will be waiting.” She spun a small circle and addressed my coven. “What you have seen today is but a portion of the power this vessel holds. A war is coming. Choose now on which side you will fight. For those that choose to join Vari, you will be spared my authority until you pass into the next life naturally. All others will be subject to me.” She dipped her head and seemed to curl in on herself.

  Vari stumbled forward slightly. She almost took a header down the steps.

  Tavis jumped forward, caught her. He whispered in her ear. But even from so close, I didn’t catch the words.

  She smiled up at him. Nodded. Then she rose to take her position beside me once more. “I take it that went well?”

  Samuel was still a shrunken body and Mateo remained unconscious on the floor.

  I nodded. “It appears that Mistress Anouk has taken matters into her own hands about helping you gather an army.”

  Vari raised her brows. “Oh?”

  I jerked my chin at my coven.

  Vari followed my gaze.

  Every single man was kneeling. Their hands over their hearts, their heads bowed. Not a single one dared to raise his gaze.

  Vari turned to me and smiled. “Well, that was easy enough.”

  I chuckled. “Let us finish this, then we can induct them all into Queen Vari’s Army.”

  Vari smiled wider. “But of course, King Koehn.”

  I growled at her. I truly hated that title coming off her lips.

  Tavis cleared his throat, drawing my attention back to the matters at hand. Magda was definitely right. Vari and I got distracted way too often and much too easily.

  Shifting back to the convicted vampires, I straightened. “Someone wake up Mateo.”

  Not a single vampire moved forward. I guess Mistress Anouk had scared them into full submission.

  Tavis sighed and moved to the fallen Nightwalker. Slapping him across the face, Tavis smiled until Mateo woke. “Up ye go, boyo. Time to face the music.”

  Tavis helped the man to his knees. “Might as well stay there. Ye’ll be looking up at him for quite a while in the future, I’d expect.”

  “Samuel of County Clare and Mateo of Majorca, you are found guilty of the kidnapping, rape, abuse, and torture of innocents under my protection. You are also found guilty of killing our brother, Bennington of London, by fire.”

  Mateo looked to his left, saw Samuel’s withered state, and started shrieking like a banshee. He fell to the floor and tried to roll away. His screams never once waned.

  This time, a few coven members jumped to their feet. Anger written on their faces.

  “You aren’t getting away that easily, you bastard,” Gavin said. He smashed his foot down on Mateo’s leg.

  A loud snapping crunch rang through the room.

  Mateo gave one last scream and passed out again.

  “What a baby. No wonder he preyed on human women,” Jonathan said as he helped Gavin bring Mateo back to the plastic sheeting.

  They dropped his body unceremoniously in the middle of the plastic field that rested at the bottom of the steps to the throne platform. Both men dipped their chins, then looked up at me.

  Gavin looked from me to Vari. “I don’t take with hurting innocents, no matter their gender. And I certainly don’t take with killing one of our own to hide dirty deeds.” He smiled wide. “You’re a terrifying piece of woman and you’re fierce and honorable, standing here and telling us you killed one of ours.” Gavin smiled, laid his hand over his heart once more. “I pledge myself to you, Vari. Even if you didn’t come packing that scary ghost woman inside you.”

  Jonathan mirrored the motion. “What he said.” He bowed low and then moved back to his seat.

  Gavin waited for me to release him, one dark brow raised high.

  I nodded.

  “Thank you both,” Vari said. “I’ll have a chat with the scary ghost woman.”

  Gavin smiled hugely. “As long as she don’t make me into Sammy there, I’m good with what she said. She was speaking truth. I appreciate truth.” He went back to his seat.

  “Samuel of County Clare, for your crimes, you are sentenced to one hundred years of restriction in a silver coffin,” I said when it looked like other coven members were going to jump on the We Heart Vari bandwagon.

  The men in the room sucked in noisy breaths.

  I nodded. “For lying to your King during your trial, you are sentenced to one hundred years at the bottom of the lake.”

  A low murmur went through the crowd. I hadn’t used the previous king’s favorite punishment in all my years of ruling. It was a different kind of torture to be stuck so close to the family, but never able to be part of it. You could hear the family, sense everything that was going on. But part of being in the lake cut off all communication from you to anyone else. It was like being a ghost.

  “Mateo of Majorca, you are hereby sentenced to one hundred years at the bottom of the lake for your crimes. For lying to your King during your trial, you are sentenced to continual dismemberment by machine for one hundred years. The machine will rip you apart over and over. We will not spare vampires for such a meaningless task.”

  I figured the entitled little shite would suffer more having his precious body ripped apart over and over again than dealing with isolation.

  “Both of you will serve your respective terms consecutively. You subjected those who were weaker than you to abject horrors. You will experience the same.”

  I felt Gideon, Hector, and Ambrose rise to their feet behind me. “It is Witnessed.”

  “So shall it be,” the coven responded together.

  Tavis walked back over. “I’ve taken Vari as my sister. In her honor, I would request ye allow me to get these gits ready.” He held up the AgNo gun in his hand.

  I nodded as Vari sucked in a breath.

  Tavis turned to the monsters. “I hope yer rest is anything but peaceful.” He shot each criminal in the chest. “They’re ready for transport, King Koehn.”

  Something inside me relaxed. This awful business was truly over.

  I moved Vari back with me as two of our security force came forward and wrapped up Samuel and Mateo in the plastic sheeting.

  Everyone waited in silence. The room was full of unspoken thoughts and conflicting emotions. I let them have their space. There would be time enough to deal with everything that followed.

  Just as the security team was lifting the bodies of the downed criminals, the doors at the back of the throne room burst open.

  “I claim Vari as spoils of war!” a man shouted as all manner of beasts flooded into the room. Winged, fanged, furred. If someone could imagine it, I was sure it was represented in the room. The space that made royal ballrooms feel tiny was now pulsing at the seams with beings.

  “Well, shite. He’s supposed to be dead, too,” Vari whispered beside me.

  About the Author

  Born and raised in Tornado Alley, Sadie Jacks loves stories. Everything from listening to older generations talk about their lives to talking to the characters in her head. You can usually find her watching movies and tv shows or spending time with family. When she’s not being creative, she’s sleeping. Why is there never enough time to sleep?