Vessel of Destruction (Daizlei Academy Book 4)

by Kel Carpenter

  One my sister couldn’t ignore.

  Couldn’t deny.

  I flicked my gaze up over the three floors before me. Most of the noise was not coming from the upper levels. They weren’t empty, though. I motioned once with my hand and the Made at my back sprang forward. They leapt the twenty feet that allowed them to clear the railing on the second floor. They jumped once more to clear the third.

  My army clung to the shadows as they broke into rooms and killed those that lived. The sounds were still muffled as I moved away from the foyer and down the hall. I followed the dull roar that was only just beginning to quiet. Soon I would hear doors being flung open as some would escape my weaker counterparts. It wouldn’t be long before I could hear the shrieks.

  I approached a set of double doors. Blood was starting to scent the air as silence rolled over the dining hall before me.

  I paused, inhaling deeply. Tonight would be a feast for me unlike any other.

  Many of the Shifters before me looked on with either confusion or distrust. They had yet to hear the sounds of death from the floors above us. My Made were being careful. I’d asked for peace and quiet so that I could have what I wished. Because of that, the Shifters hadn’t yet realized that they were under attack.

  Still, the talking had come to a complete stop. The clings and clanks of silverware hitting plates muted. Even the laughter, as boisterous as it was, had died out right as I came to stand between the wide-open doors. Silence had regained its footing once more.

  But very soon it would yield to their screams.

  A single girl got to her feet. She had long chocolate brown hair and golden eyes. Her tan skin was flushed and her expression hopeful. Her body language was open. Her heart beat faster with each second, like the pitter-patter of wings.

  “Selena?” she asked, squinting.

  Understanding dawned on me. With my hair now black, we looked almost the same. If not for the eyes. Perhaps Shifter sight and hearing was not as good as the rumors foretold.

  I stepped forward, a cunning smile drawing my lips upward. Her brows came together as she squinted. I continued walking, making it halfway to her before I saw the moment it clicked.

  “You’re not Selena,” she said, stumbling back.

  “How did you know?” I replied softly.

  “Your eyes are wrong,” she started, stating the obvious. “Your heartbeat is wrong. Your face is wrong. Your blood smells wrong.” She sniffed once, and a hint of fear crept into her gaze. “You look like her, but you’re not her. What are you?”

  I kept my smile plastered to my face with the same ease I used to remain subservient for so long now.

  “I’m her sister,” I told the girl, taking a step forward.

  “She only has one sister and you’re not Alexandra,” the girl shot back. Adrenaline hit her system, giving her some fight to combat the fear.

  “That’s where you’re wrong.” I shook my head. “I’m her other sister. The one she forgot about. The one she left to rot.” A hint of ice crept into my tone, so cold it burned. I was not the sister that burned though. I was not fire, or ice.

  I was death.

  Destruction.

  “Lily died,” the girl spat, her expression growing angrier. “If you were her, you’d know that.”

  I paused, cocking my head.

  Intriguing. How very intriguing.

  “I did die,” I told the child, looking her over. “Twice. Selena didn’t come for me then. She was too busy protecting this place. You . . . people.” I couldn’t help the disgust that coated my tone like bile on my tongue. “She’s not here to protect you now, though, is she?”

  All at once, the Shifters around the room jumped to their feet. It seemed they’d finally realized the danger in their wake.

  I’d seen executions happen faster than they’d reacted.

  It was almost sad in a way. How pitifully weak they were to the rumors.

  And the great Alpha? Well he was nowhere to be found.

  My dear, sweet sister had left to find them friends. She’d wiped out dozens of soldiers in Marrakesh. Selena, being who she was, would have thought herself above reaction. Above consequences. It was time to teach her that she wasn’t the only predator on the playground now. Teach her that when the shepherds are gone, the wolves shall feast.

  The darkness within me crept forward beneath my skin. It slithered through my veins and created shadows on my skin. I lifted a hand as several Shifters closed in around me, still in their human form.

  Pathetically ignorant is what they were. They should have shifted on sight. Either they’d grown complacent or they were never as powerful as I’d been led to believe. It mattered not. The sheep were mine.

  Closer, I beckoned them silently.

  Like beasts driven by instinct, they obliged.

  It was only when it was too late they realized their error.

  The darkness broke free.

  The screams began.

  The next few moments slowed for me as I took in my carnage. Several of them shifted before my darkness reached them. A man jumped into the air and landed on one of the tables as a lion that roared. A woman pushed two smaller children behind her and then morphed into a hippo. A gaggle of younger Shifters, no older than myself, turned into hyenas. All of them, despite their different forms, human and animal alike, zoned in on me as my cloud of darkness settled over us.

  It only took a single second before they started to charge.

  There wasn’t enough room for it. Too many bodies. Not enough space.

  Even if there was, it didn’t matter.

  The lion got to me first. He was only three feet away when blood and tissue and muscle were leached of all essence of life as my power burrowed within him.

  Bones slid across the gap between us. All that remained of him when I was done.

  The hippo rushed for me, the hyenas backing her up. The Shifters still in human form dove to the side, allowing her a shot.

  A chance at hope.

  The hippo thundered forward, her gaping jaws wide. Saliva dripped from a tooth onto my shoulder when the darkness consumed her. The hyenas followed.

  I turned, my arms extended wide, and with the added power that those Shifters gave me, I sent my dark power for the rest of them.

  One by one they began to drop. They fell to their knees and then to their faces, and by the time I took a step toward the rest of the room, they were nothing but husks of skin and bone. The same as all others who had tried and failed to beat me.

  I took another step toward the girl, her face now pale. Her lips trembled. Her skin began to grow faintly, like a sun trying to eclipse my night.

  I tsked, sending my power forward.

  “Protect the Alpha’s Daughter!” a young woman cried. She ran forward, her light blonde hair flying behind her. A boy not yet a man followed swiftly. His hair an orangish yellow, and his arm was in a sling. Panic filled his eyes as the girl went ahead of him. Grim determination filled her features. The Shifters that were still alive fell in line behind them, forming a wall between me and the child.

  The one Selena protected.

  My power hit the young woman in the chest. While not a corporeal thing, its energy slipped past her clothing and skin, penetrating her being deeper than the stab of a knife.

  She grit her teeth, and that intrigued me.

  It had been a long time since someone could hold against my strength.

  I’d killed humans and Vampires alike. Mortals and immortals. Legends.

  None of them could hold onto consciousness or presence of mind when I’d unleashed it upon them, but this girl did.

  Even as her strength was failing, she went to her knees, but she did bow. She did not simply die. It was as if something stronger than iron had been suffused in her will to live and to fight.

  I knelt before her even as the darkness ate at the men and women behind her.

  “What’s your name?” I asked her.

  “Graeme,” she s
pat, her German accent thick. I recognized it from my past life. She was the heir to a great house. One that would soon be dead.

  “I’m pleased to have met you. When they tell the stories of how you died and your house ended, I’ll make sure they honor you.”

  Her eyes went wide. It appeared that power didn’t scare her, but those words did.

  She was probably used to being powerful. Being respected.

  I’ll give her that in death, but the rest of them . . . I couldn’t say the same.

  Dark energy flowed, and with every person's essence my power only grew, suffocating all that dare touch it. The woman before me sat in the thick of it, and yet she didn’t scream or cry or plead. She simply grit her teeth and accepted her fate.

  It fascinated me enough I almost wanted to let her live, but what kind of message would that send? I came here to make it a graveyard like the one my sisters left me to rot in. I came here to make a point.

  But I couldn’t help the strange thrill that filled me as her expression fractured when the power drilled too deep. Everyone had a tolerance of what they could take. I wondered where hers was.

  I couldn’t stop the twisted desire I had to see her break.

  Just like I broke.

  My hand moved on its own accord, blackened fingertips skimming her lovely porcelain cheek. Power surged as it funneled deeper. Against her will I harvested that energy, and her fight against it made it all the more delicious. My desire to see just how deep her core of strength went only grew as she struggled.

  Too soon she shattered.

  A sigh of sadness whispered between my teeth as her eyes turned dull and glassy. I waited for a moment as the screams continued and more shifters rushed forth, both in front of and behind me.

  It’d been a long while since something interested me. Since someone was strong enough to interest me.

  Frustration chipped away at my calm exterior. Irritation that my fun was over so soon.

  I lifted my head to see the boy in the sling. I hadn’t noticed how close he’d gotten or that he was still standing. His free hand held hers as she walked into death. The other, the one in a sling, had come free holding a dagger. He lifted it, poised to strike.

  That hand came down before my power crushed him.

  A burning started in my throat as pain clawed its way through me. If I weren’t already kneeling, I would be then. My power reacted past the hurt, eating away at him. He only got one swipe where he chose to slit my throat. It wouldn’t have worked, even if I had been a vampire still. It was a grand notion though. A beautiful attempt at avenging his beloved.

  My throat was mostly healed by the time he hit the floor beside the girl he’d tried for.

  Somehow, through it all, he was still holding her hand.

  Months ago regret might have filled me at the sight. All it did was cause the anger to blossom. No one was there when I died. No one held my hand. No one tried to avenge me. No one cared.

  Only Victor, this past time.

  Before that though . . . I looked at their linked fingers again and the darkness began to pulse as it started to build.

  I’d been so alone that the only one to hold my hand was a devil in a suit. I’d sold my soul for this path. For this freedom. I’d be damned if my pity let it slip away.

  Heart hardened, I turned to the double doors as an impeccably dressed man came to stand before them. He walked quietly, but not silent. Lush brown hair, tanned skin, and eyes that crinkled; his face was Aaron’s, or what it would be in twenty years.

  “Alpha,” I said softly. “I’m happy you decided to grace me with your presence.”

  “You didn’t give me a choice,” he answered tersely as he scanned the room—searching for something among the carnage. I shrugged my slight shoulders and strolled forward.

  An odd scent washed over me.

  Orange and freesia were prominent but there was something else . . .

  I kept the grimace from my features. Underneath the beautiful exterior he wore, the scent of rot permeated the air. Sickness. Weakness.

  “You allied with my sister, and she, along with her merry band of children are all over the world trying to find allies now.” Sweat dotted his brow. “Allies that you think will win you a war.”

  His fingers twitched once and then again, a slight series of tremors that couldn’t be hidden. “You and your kind brought this upon us all when you attacked Daizlei. I’ve been complacent for too long, but you don’t get to enter my residence and try to kill my daughter without retaliation.”

  “This isn’t about that.” I narrowed my eyes. “If it was, you would have marched on Vilicky Novgorod by now. You haven’t . . . which leads me to believe you can’t.” I raised an eyebrow, carefully noting his responses. “Without allies, that is.”

  The Shifter Alpha didn’t portray his feelings through his features, but like all living things he had tells. The slight uptick in his heartrate and tightness around the eyes. “You attacked my residence; this will not go unpunished by the Court.” He spoke firmly, like he believed what he said. I didn’t think that was quite true.

  “The Court hasn’t been active in months. Anastasia has fallen, and without an heir the Supernaturals are scattered. The Witches are in hiding, and despite my sister’s attempts, I don’t see them leaving their desert anytime soon. Which leaves you.” I cocked my head and let my long nails tap along the tops of the dark wooden tables. The beating of drums had calmed with the deaths of many. My own power perfumed the air as it sought for more but found only bones.

  Most everyone in here was dead now. Yet the Alpha stood here speaking calmly. I could only assume why.

  “Do your Shifters know you’re sick?” I asked him.

  His lip trembled.

  It appears I hit a nerve.

  “No.”

  “Pity,” I murmured under my breath. “They don’t realize how weak they are. Your complacence, as you call it, will be their downfall. You’ve let them believe you’re healthy and they’re safe, but without the power of a true Alpha they’re crippled.” A fine sheen of sweat broke across his forehead. The dewy drops reflecting under the harsh lighting. Within the moments he’d been standing here the illusion of health waned. Sallow cheeks and sharp bones started to jut out. The larger frame he carried shrank more and more as the seconds went by.

  “Why have you come here?” he asked through gritted teeth. He was clenching his jaw in an attempt to keep his now chattering teeth at bay, but I saw through it. “What message do you have from the High Council?”

  I smiled and began to walk toward him, leaving only footprints behind as I stepped in the dust created by the dead.

  “It’s not for you,” I said, coming to stand before him. The Alpha . . . the almighty Alpha . . . he didn’t even lift a hand to stop me as I pushed my fingers through his flesh and cracked his bones. His heart shuddered, trying to beat, even as my hand closed around it. I clenched my fist around it and the soft tissue yielded in a small explosion of blood.

  “Katherina . . .” he breathed out, dying in seconds.

  If he felt any pain, he didn’t show it. Sick and already at the door, death welcomed the Alpha into its arms like a lover.

  I pulled my hand from his chest and the old man’s body tipped backward. It fell for a suspended moment and then hit the floor with a dull thump.

  I didn’t feast on his energy because I wanted this one to be intact.

  My message clear.

  No one was safe, not even the Alpha.

  An elevator dinged in the distance. A single set of footsteps ran. I tilted my head. I was just stepping over the body when another appeared in the doorway. Brownish-red dust coated his skin in uneven swipes. His body stank of sweat and maleness, but there was something underneath it. Something familiar . . . I peered up at him silently as his expression turned from stunned to feral. Rage pulsed through his skin and the black surrounding his pupil bled away to a brilliant gold.

  I realized it then
that the familiar scent that clung to him was my sister.

  I’d come here to return her message.

  It appeared that luck was finally on my side.

  The scene shattered. My vision cleared. Bright lights assaulted me. Hands touched my skin. Faces I recognized but couldn’t place in the moment were bathed in blue and red light. They spoke to me, but I didn’t hear the words.

  A tidal wave of emotion built in my chest. It held me suspended in time as it rose and fell. I didn’t understand the nameless emotion that consumed me in the moment. All I knew was that the impossible just happened.

  A roar filled my ears. My chest tightened painfully.

  I took a single gasping breath and the bubble popped as Valda whispered, “I’m so sorry.”

  Chapter 20

  “What happened?” I asked. Too many people tried to respond, and I raised my voice to a shout. “Why did he leave? Why was he there?” They quieted then.

  Only one of them spoke and the words were my undoing.

  “He got a call from Keyla. She was scared and crying; said something bad was happening. He charged into the elevator—”

  I moved in a suspended state of shock. They were still talking. Still trying to explain to me. To calm me even though they didn’t know what I’d seen. Not really. Not yet.

  I got to my feet and shoved past them all as I headed for the elevator. I had to get to him. I had to get to her. To stop what was about to happen, even if Valda was simply shaking her head. My demon was desperate. We shared the feeling.

  Four gray metal walls surrounded me, the sounds of protests and shouting ceasing as the doors shut.

  Power filled my being, lifting my hair from the nape of my neck. I could sense the dark tendrils as they caressed my skin.

  The elevator dinged. The doors slid open.