The Vampire's Captive (Tales of Vampires Book 4)

by Zara Novak

  He kept coming back to the image in his head. That image of frozen stone and snow. The anchor. The prophecy’s calling. That was where he and Ellie were meant to go, but how was he supposed to find it without her? Tires ground against ice, wipers glided fruitlessly against the torrent of white, he tapped his foot gingerly on the accelerator, mindful of the sheer drop to his left. Where was she? Where was he?

  “Come on you son of a bitch,” Jack growled. The road straightened out and he put his foot down, roaring up it dangerously fast. His truck flashed by a red post at the edge of the road, invisible to his eyes, unbeknownst to him. He carried on up, the air growing thinner all the while, the engine whirring louder with each corner.

  The entire world slipped into a void of meaningless white, and he found his eyes couldn’t focus anymore. He’d drive around until his fuel ran out, and then he’d get out and search for her until his legs gave out. “No stopping. No giving up!” He punched the dashboard and let out a roar of fury. He couldn’t stand to think that Ellie was trapped somewhere close by with that bastard. The mountains were miles across in every direction and finding Ellie would take a short miracle. She was a needle in a haystack, lost inside a snow storm. He still wasn’t giving up, he still wasn’t stopping. He’d search for her until he gave his dying breath. He’d—

  Wraith’s focus was broken as a deer burst out onto the track, causing him to swerve at the last minute and veer off the road. He was going at full speed, and the truck vaulted up as it skidded round, flipping up into the air and turning over onto its side. The next few seconds were a confusing blur of sound and violent gravity. The truck rolled down the hill at the side of the road, bouncing down it with some speed as momentum rolled it to the frozen woods at the bottom.

  Wraith tossed and turned with each violent flip, grabbing hold of anything he could to keep himself steady. The truck jerked his body and threw it around until it ended its acrobatic descent by slamming against a tree with a monumental thud. Metal crushed around wood, and the young tree shook free the thick layers of snow in its dead branches. Smoke came up from the truck. The world was silent again.

  He lay there momentarily, hanging upside down in his seat, suspended by his seatbelt. A weary curse escaped his lips, followed by a series of pained groans. He unclipped himself, crashed to the roof—which was now the floor—and punched his way out of the broken window and into the cold snow.

  An icy wind howled down from the road above. Jack blinked slowly, looking up at the track marks the truck had left on the hill on its way down. He pushed himself up onto tired legs and turned back to survey the truck. It was totaled, but the supplies in the back were somehow intact.

  “Jesus Christ…” He stumbled away from the wreck, pulled his hand away from his head and saw it was bleeding. So much for finding Ellie with the truck. He’d have to make the rest of his way on foot. His body was still tapped from his last fight with the imposter. Every move was agony enough, and now the search would be even harder.

  Something moved against the white up ahead and Wraith froze. A large doe stared back at him with glossy black eyes, standing perfectly still against the white snow behind it. “So, you’re the fucker that made me crash.” He had to laugh to himself. The doe probably had no idea what trouble it had just caused.

  He was about to climb the hill back up to the main road when he noticed the doe was approaching him. He looked back again and saw that a black-haired woman now stood in place of the doe. She had brilliant white skin, sharp crimson eyes and a ruby dress that fluttered in the icy wind. Wraith had to do a double take as he noticed the woman. She walked bare foot across the snow until she was only a few paces from him.

  “What are you doing here?” he gasped.

  “What’s the matter Wraith?” she said in her nurturing voice. “Don’t you recognize your own mother?”

  Tears brimmed in his red eyes. “Of course, I do, it’s just… y-you’re dead.”

  She smiled. It was a warm smile. A smile that reminded him of caring and comfort. A smile that shouldn’t have been here. “It’s seems your memory isn’t as bad as everyone says. I knew my boy would still remember me.”

  “What are you doing here?” he said. “How are you…”

  “There are moments in time when we have a chance to come back. A chance to help. I’ve been watching you ever since I left, my love. Ever since I was taken from you so cruelly that night…”

  “What happened?!” he asked. Desperation flared in his voice. His mother’s unexpected death had haunted their family for the longest time. Any answer he could find would go a long way in repairing the hurt that haunted him.

  “Now is not the time to say. There are greater things at stake. The life of your chosen one, for example…”

  “Ellie. You can help me find her?”

  The black-haired woman nodded slowly, smiling to herself. “It has been some time since I was last here, but I still remember the way. Follow me. It’s not far.” His mother turned without warning and floated up the snowy hill with startling speed, back to the road which Wraith had tumbled off only moments before. He ran up the hill after her and followed at a sprint, keeping close as they went back down the road.

  She led him to a spot at the side of the road where the trees broke apart, almost imperceptibly. “Look here.” She pointed down at the white snow and Wraith watched to see a red post fade in against the white. “It is a magic mark, visible only to the heirs of Snowstone. You see it now with my help. This family was a great ally of ours once. Together we stood to let vampires and humans live as one, but other forces intercepted our goals. It was the thing to end my life. It was the thing that destroyed this family.”

  “Who?” he gasped. Rage boiled in his veins.

  “That is not important now. If you follow this track it will lead you to the castle, and there you will find her. He is holding her there.”

  “Tell me she’s okay,” he said, hoping, fearing the worst had already happened.

  “For now, but I cannot say what will happen if you do not hurry.”

  He surged forward to throw his arms around the woman in gratitude and passed through her like she wasn’t there. He turned around in the snow to face her again. She smiled with sadness in her eyes. “I’m afraid that’s not possible my dear, but it was grace enough just to see your face once more. You must go now, but before you do…” She turned her hand over and revealed the red velvet pouch from the truck. “Don’t forget my dagger. You might need it.”

  Wraith took hold of the dagger and looked down at it, nodding to himself as he did so. “This was yours?”

  “Once upon a time. Maybe you will learn the story someday. Your father could tell it quite well I expect. One last thing Wraith, do you remember how you survived the fall from the roof of Castle Belmont?”

  He shook his head, his eyes searching into her own. The night was a distant memory in his broken mind. All he could remember was pain and the sound of rushing wind, followed by the ice-cold waters of the river below. The fall should have killed him. It would have killed any vampire. “I have no idea. Was it you?”

  She smiled and shook her head. “No darling. It was you. You have to remember. You were born like your brother, both honored with a rare vampiric gift. It saved your life, though it seems even you are not aware you have it. It would do you well to try and remember it…”

  He searched into the black vastness inside of him but saw nothing. “I can’t… I can’t remember.”

  She looked back with a reassuring smile. “You will. Don’t worry. You will reclaim your secret. I promise. Until then I must go. And you should carry on with your journey. Goodbye Wraith…” Her image faded back into the shape of a small doe, which ran across the road and disappeared into the trees. Wraith’s attention came back to the current situation. He turned around in the snow to face the track between the trees and started down it.

  He ran as fast as he could, ignoring the ache in his muscles, ignoring the burning
in his bones. The snow only made it harder, but he carried on regardless. A thousand questions burned in his mind. What happened with his mother? Who was the family that were driven from this place? How did he and Ellie fit into it all? It seemed their families had once been great allies. Was it possible, in another life, that he and Ellie would have been together anyway?

  Dawn bruised the dark blue sky ahead. Dark violet faded into a vivid indigo canopy. Wraith followed the track as fast as he could, his feet cramping, his lungs burning. After a few minutes the track opened into a large meadow, hidden between the peaks on all sides. He found himself surprised at the hidden space’s size. It was perhaps a mile across and double in length, curving round between the tall peaks that stood overhead. The track Wraith followed cut through the middle of the small valley. As it rounded it revealed the frozen castle sat against the mountain wall at the far end.

  Wraith’s heart beat in his chest at the sight. It was the vision of frozen stone and ice. The vision that had been guiding him this whole time. Ellie was in there somewhere with the maniac that had stolen her. He picked his speed up, running as fast as he could, ignoring his body’s protests to stop.

  It was time to save her. It was time to get his mate back.

  36

  They sat at opposite ends of a long table in the old dining room. The cold was more tolerable since Jack had made the fire, but it would take some time to bring the heat back to the large room. She sat there shivering in silence, watching him from the other end of the table as he drained rat blood into a dusty old glass. He looked up at her and smiled. She felt sick.

  “Are you sure I can’t tempt you with a drink?” he said before knocking the glass back and drinking it in one. Blood poured over the side of his mouth, spilling down his face and throat. It was sloppy, disgusting. Another facet of him that was new and repulsive.

  Her stomach rumbled, but there was no appetite for the paltry ‘meal’ Jack had sourced. He’d left the dead rats he captured in a pile on the table. No respect for the dead. No gratitude for the animals that had given their lives to nourish him.

  “Blood doesn’t do me much good, remember?” She kept her words brief and to the point. There was little affection in her voice. There was only irritation. Above everything she just wanted to get away from Jack and rest. Things might be better after a good night’s sleep.

  “No, of course not. Still… we can’t have you starving. I need to put a child in that deliciously fertile womb of yours, and that won’t work if you’re not eating properly.”

  She fought hard to keep back the retching sound her throat wanted to make. Make a child? With this… thing? Sickness formed in the pit of her stomach once more, stirring in a knot of confusion. What had come over him to make him act this way? She wasn’t even sure she found his face attractive any more. He was still handsome of course, and his features were identical, but they looked different under the light now somehow.

  “What do you propose you do for food?” he asked, looking up only briefly as his hand crunched the blood of another rat into his glass.

  She hadn’t given it much thought since arriving. There was a hunger pain in her stomach, but her mind was more preoccupied with other things at the moment. What had they done for food here when she was younger? The castle was so remote there had to be a system of some sorts. Brief flashes of daylight and the sounds of a thrashing river showed Ellie the answer. “There’s a river at the back of the castle. It was our main source of food in the winter. I can look there tomorrow.”

  He looked at her and smiled with an approving nod. She missed his smile. His real one. It seemed he’d forgotten how to be human ever since she’d woken. Maybe this was her fault for falling in love with a vampire? Maybe her mother and father had been right all along… maybe the Order was right.

  Was this what happened to vampires after a period of time? Did they become cold and possessive creatures that lost their warmth and humanity? She found she couldn’t bare to look at him any longer and pulled her eyes away, looking up to the large portrait that sat above the fire to her right.

  The portrait showed two couples standing next to each other, faces smiling, heads held high. It gave Ellie a sense of friendship and comradery. She recognized the couple on the right from the family portrait in the other room. It seemed possible they might be her parents. The man had kind-eyes, a strong figure and deep brown hair. He was handsome, beautiful like the woman stood next to him. She was regal looking, with long strawberry blonde hair that seemed to blaze in the light.

  Stood on the left was a vampire couple with sharp red eyes. A beautiful woman with jet-black hair and a man with silver hair. Ellie paused a moment to stare at the silver-haired man, finding that his face was very familiar. Was he… was he the vampire that had saved her that day?

  “Who are they?” Jack shouted from the opposite end of the table. She looked over to see him drawing more blood into a glass. He was slumped back in his chair, feet up on the table. A picture of sheer distaste.

  “I think the two humans might have been my parents. The vampires… I’m not sure.” She drifted off, allowing her eyes to wander to the portrait once more. Why would a human couple be stood alongside a vampire one? Her last memory of her life here wasn’t positive. Vampires came and destroyed everything, but this picture seemed to suggest there was a bond of some sort between them.

  She remembered a library she had seen briefly on the way over here with Jack. “There is a library down the hall from here. We passed it on our way, did you see it? Perhaps I could have a look in there. There might be some books about the people that lived here. I could try and find out who they are.” Hope sprung in her chest at the idea.

  Jack made a grunting sound and pushed his chair back. Wood screeched against stone. He stood up and swaggered across the room to her end of the table. He sat down on it—a little too close for her liking—and brushed his fingers through her hair once more. Once upon a time his touch had felt heavenly, but now it only brought fear. “Perhaps. But not tonight. It is our first night in our new home, and it’s best we celebrate that by consummating our hallowed soil… don’t you think?” He let his fingers trace down her chest to her legs.

  Ellie jumped to her feet and stepped back from the table, knocking the chair to the floor. “Don’t touch me,” she said, her breath racing.

  “What’s the matter, mate?” Jack said, pushing himself up to his feet slowly. He paced around on the spot, seemingly amused by her fear, dragging his feet across the stones. “You act like you’re scared of me…”

  “You pushed me Jack. You hurt me. I feel like I don’t even know who you are anymore.” Her body trembled as she let it all out. He took a step towards her and she stepped back in turn. “I feel… I feel like you’re a different person since we left Skarvast. I don’t know you! I don’t know this man!”

  Sympathy—or a poor imitation of it—flashed in his flat red eyes, and he pulled himself back. “You’re right,” he said. “Coming here has frazzled me a little, I’ll admit. I guess I’m just daunted at facing this thing together. I want nothing more than to take you my sweet, and mate you until the sun dies. We finally have our home now. We finally have a place where my seed can bloom inside of you. It fills me with joy… but it intimidates me too.”

  The words left his mouth with sincerity, but they entered her ears as lies wrapped in ash. She shook her head, attempting to still her breath and her beating heart. “No. You lie. It’s all lies. You’re not the man I love, you’re not Jack. I want the truth! I want you to tell me the truth! What happened before we came here?! Why can’t I remember?!”

  All semblance of kindness disappeared from Jack’s expression. He let the act drop, and she felt as if she was seeing his real face for the first time since she’d woken.

  “You want the truth? Fine.” He stepped forward again, took a deep breath and held his arms up at his sides. The form in front of her flickered and morphed, changing into the faces of a hundred diffe
rent men before settling on a patchwork face, mutilated, assembled, designed.

  “W-What are you?” she gasped, stepping back in horror.

  “I was designed to kill you,” he said. “That’s why I was sent here. To take the form of a woman’s true love and destroy her.”

  She backed way until she met the wall behind her. Her mind focused on the dagger sheathed at her side, concealed under her clothes. “And Jack? What happened to him?”

  “Dead,” the creature answered back with a smile. “By my hand.”

  “No, no, no!” She shook her head, whispering the word to herself a hundred times over. Ellie collapsed to the cold stone floor, struggling to breathe, refusing to listen to his words. Grief consumed her. She let it all out, bawling loudly, her sobs echoing across the large room.

  “I’m afraid so. But fear not. For you are here with me now. We can still fulfill the prophecy.”

  “Why!?” she shouted through tears. “Why kill him and not me?! You were meant to destroy me, so why leave me alive?! Just kill me too. Let me go with him! I don’t want to live, not without him!”

  The patchwork creature shook his head. “I’m afraid not. I think there was a malfunction with my design. I was meant to kill you, but when I took the form of your other I was overwhelmed with feelings of love for you. I couldn’t bring myself to destroy something so beautiful.” He fell to his knees in front of Ellie, brushing a hand down her tear-soaked face.

  “Leave me!” she shouted, pushing his hand away. Her grief robbed her body of her strength. She wanted to be far away from this thing, but the only thing she could do was sit there, consumed and distraught.

  “It’s okay, I’m here for you now.” He shushed her, grabbed hold of her again and forced her to bury her head against his chest. She struggled away and saw he was in the form of Jack again, which pulled a fresh wave of hurt and sorrow from deep inside her chest.