by Kimbra Swain
“Malik, I have responsibilities. I can’t stay here. And I don’t know if my father is trying to kill me. He’s had plenty of opportunities. Besides, this thing between us is just indulgent. Nothing can ever become of it. You have your place, and I have mine,” she said. I felt like an idiot. No one likes to be completely shot down. She was right. It was a pipe dream. Humans could have dreams like that. Vampires had to be savage and cunning to survive.
She raised up on her toes and kissed my cheek.
“Are you ready?” I asked.
“As I’ll ever be,” she replied.
The dining tables had been removed, and tall circular cocktail tables were scattered across the room. Servers walked between the tables, offering hors d’oeuvres and champagne. The banners of the three realms decorated the room. Everyone wore the colors of their realm, except Tierney and me. She did have a flashy sapphire ring on her hand, marking her as the heir to her father. I wore my insignia ring as well.
I knew very few of my father’s nobles. Unlike the Lords, they shifted power quite often based on their endeavors in the world and the whims of their leaders. I remembered my father once telling me after he’d executed a noble that none of them can be trusted, but that all of them were necessary.
In the back of the room, I spied Stanley who stood with a very happy Stella. She wore a black dress much like Tierney, but her white hair stood out in the darkened room. She also wore a glittering necklace that reflected the lights with a dazzling effect. It was about time Stanley manned up about his relationship. I gave him a nod. He quirked his mouth to the side, but Stella twiddled her fingers at me.
A pianist sat in the center of the room playing with a cellist. The sad sounds of Gabriel Fauré Elégie filled the room. I was sure that Chopin’s Dirge would be played before the end of the night. How typically vampire to play classical depressing music.
We walked around the room as we had before, except this time, no one seemed to notice. Tierney had said this was indulgent, but the way she gripped my arm didn’t feel indulgent. She was afraid. I’d not let anyone in this room touch her, but I couldn’t control what I’d do to her. I was the monster she needed to fear.
Each one of the Lords wore a sword with a crest at their hip. The swords would come into play at the ceremony later. Richard Blackburn would give his sword to his son who would chop his head off to claim his inheritance.
Looking around the room, I realized something. Every person in this room needed to fear me. If I took my father’s place, then things would change. For the first time, I swelled with Demonbreun pride. Straightening my shoulders, I looked at the room with confidence. I caught Tierney’s smirk.
“What are you grinning about?” I asked.
“You.”
“Why?” I asked, as I took a glass of champagne from a tray of a passing server. Her hand under the tray caught my attention. Her fingers were red like she’d dipped them in blood. I supposed the staff were preparing for the next round of drinks.
I handed Tierney one of the glasses. She took a sip. “You have so many faces.” My smile faded. Was she referring to the demon? “Malik, I only meant that you walked into the room like you owned it. Very different from the first time we entered this room.”
“I do own it,” I said, controlling my doubts.
“Then keep acting like it. I’ll keep my mouth shut if it helps,” she smirked.
I touched her chin. “I have plans for your mouth. So, talk all you want. I’ll shut you up later.”
“I’d prefer you make me scream.” I almost choked but played it off.
“As you wish,” I replied.
Her father approached us. His lean but muscular form filled out his designer suit. Two of his bodyguards walked closely beside him.
“Good evening, Mr. Demonbreun,” he said with a slight bow.
I reciprocated the motion. “Good evening, Sir.”
“Are you looking forward to the ceremony?” he asked. A man was going to die tonight, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about it.
“It will be interesting,” I replied.
“Tierney, will you be joining me when it starts?” he asked.
“Yes, Father,” she replied. She’d lost all confidence in her voice. This woman was so hot and cold.
“Excellent. I would like us to stand together as a united force. Something I believe you understand. Right, Mr. Demonbreun?” he said.
“I do,” I replied simply.
“Very good,” he replied then walked away from us.
Tierney tugged me toward a table where no one stood. “What was that about and why are you afraid of him?”
“Perhaps you should be less trusting of your father. Perhaps you should fear him,” she said.
“If you know something, you should tell me,” I said. I leaned closer to her and her eyes widened. “Don’t betray me now.”
Her mouth moved, but no sound came out. I took her elbow, guiding her out of the room. She allowed me to do it. The closest private room was the coat check closet. I opened the door and she walked in without protest. I shut the door quietly and waited. All I saw was fear, and she was losing grip.
“Hey, look at me. I’m not your father. I’m not Dick. I’m not going to hurt you.”
“You just threatened me,” she whispered.
“No, Tierney. I was begging you,” I said.
“Why?” she asked.
“Because I need to have more than one ally in the ceremony. If things go to hell, I need to know who I can count on.”
“And you want to count on me?”
I threw my hands up. “When are you going to realize I’m not like them? I’m still trying to figure out how and why you ended up in my bed.”
She lowered her head, and I waited for her to speak. But she didn’t. I don’t know what I expected. She was caught between her father and the plan she had hatched with Dick. Once again, she opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out.
“Fine. If shit hits the fan, get the hell out. I don’t want to be the one that hurts you. I swear to you that I’ll do whatever I can to keep you from being harmed.” I turned to leave her behind. For my own sanity, I had to do it.
“Malik, wait.” I stopped with my hand on the doorknob. She wedged herself between me and the door. “My father did want me to kill you to weaken your father. They don’t believe they can take him out with you there.”
“They?”
“Richard and my father.”
“Little Dick is working with your father?”
“No, Richard.”
“But he’s stepping down.”
“It’s a ruse,” she said. I grabbed her neck and squeezed.
“You are just now telling me this! You are letting me make a fool of myself over you!”
“I’m telling you now!” she hissed. “Please. Dick doesn’t know that his father will betray him. I went with their plan to get my father information. He made me do it.”
“He made you?”
“We’ve shared blood. It’s why I wanted to share it with you. I hoped it would override his. I know you can’t trust me now, but I swear to you that it’s the truth. They plan to kill you both.” A tear ran down her cheek. I wanted to hate her. I wouldn’t be able to explain all of this to my father before the ceremony. “Father sent the men to shoot you. I knew they were there. I needed to make it look like I got away, and somehow you survived. I didn’t know anything about your neighbors. I swear it.”
“Tell me the truth! Whose side are you on?”
“Mine. Whatever keeps me alive.” At least she was honest.
“And you think that is me?” I asked. She hesitated. “Move out of my way.”
Her fangs extended, and she buried them into her own arm. She lifted her wrist to me. “Please take it away.”
“We don’t know if that will work,” I said.
“Please. His power over me prevents me from being truthful with you. Please, Malik,” she said.
�
�So, you slept with me to be free of your father. To gain my trust enough to do this.”
Tears freely flowed down her cheeks. “I don’t want to belong to him. Not any more than you want to take your father’s place. Please.”
I rubbed my forehead. I was a sucker for a tearful woman. She was strong, and I’d seen that in her. “I’m an idiot,” I said, as I bit into my own wrist. She grabbed it and sucked. I waited for her to pull away.
“You have to drink mine, too,” she said, raising her wrist to me.
I took her hand and took her offering in my mouth. The metallic smell of our blood was nothing compared to the taste of her blood. I felt like I was swallowing nails. I only took a couple of sucks, then pulled away. Immediately, I heard her heart pounding in her chest as she waited to see if it had any effect. I didn’t feel any different.
“It didn’t work,” I said.
“You have to order me to do something,” she said. “You should be able to do it mentally.”
“I don’t order people around,” I said.
“Which is why I trusted you with my blood, but we have to know it worked,” she insisted.
I thought about the guy in the gas station. I’d made him give me his phone. I could do something simple even though my dick screamed for me to do something raunchy.
“Give me your insignia ring,” I said.
She took it off and handed it to me. “I felt nothing. I mean I’m giving it to you because you asked. It didn’t feel like a demand. It has to be something I wouldn’t normally do, and since we’ve slept together, none of that counts.”
“You must be reading my mind,” I said.
“Male.”
“Hey! I didn’t ask you to do anything like that,” I said.
“Malik!”
“Fine! Tell me your father’s plan,” I asked, thinking I was clever.
“That isn’t going to work. He’s ordered me to lie to you. To play along.”
A loud banging on the door interrupted our discussion. “Okay, Romeo. Your father wants to start. He’s going to be making a toast in front of everyone.”
“Fuck,” I muttered. “On our way.”
“Think of something,” Tierney insisted.
“I’d make you eat a rat if I had one but since I don’t, we will have to wing it. Come on,” I said, dragging her out of the coat closet.
We walked into the room with a few other stragglers who had come into the party late. Tierney stayed at my side. My father handed me a goblet of blood. A servant handed one to Tierney. The rich red blood in each goblet had the vampires in the room on the edge of a frenzy. My father had provided all of them with their own cup of O-positive blood. Tierney’s eyes turned red as she stared at the goblet. Then it hit me as my father began to speak. I knew how to test her. My father began to speak about the changing of power and the realms which had held order in for our races. He kept them on edge as they waited to drink. The frenzy hadn’t hit me yet. I chalked it up to the little blood drinking that I’d done, plus the taste of Tierney’s blood on my tongue.
“Tierney,” I whispered. She lifted her eyes to me. Her forehead wrinkled, questioning me. “Do not drink that blood.”
She showed me her fangs. “Malik.”
I gave her the best I wanna fuck you vibes that I could, and said again, “Do not drink that blood. You heard me.”
“No,” she snarled. My father continued to talk. I moved closer to her, leaning into her ear. I breathed down her neck, and she wobbled on her feet. The woman next to her didn’t notice. Her eyes were fixed on the blood.
“You will not drink that blood. You will watch everyone else here drink, and if you are good, I might let you drink it when they are done,” I said.
She shook her head at me. I knew she would fight the order, but we would know how strong the blood swap really was. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes, and I brushed them away with my thumb.
“It’s okay. You can do this,” I reassured her.
“It worked,” she muttered.
“Did it? I want to know for sure. Don’t drink.”
“Finally, I’m happy to announce that my son, Malik, has agreed to return home. He will take his place by my side,” Father said. Many in the room nodded in appreciation. I smiled at my father who lifted his glass. “So, here is to our superior society. May we continue in prosperity for centuries to come.”
Murmurs of agreement crossed the room. My father touched his glass to his lips and the others in the room restrained their desire to gulp down the treat, but they drank. Tierney’s body shook. I placed my glass at my lips, watching her. Tempting her to drink. I drank down the blood faster than those around me.
Looking down at my glass, I forgot Tierney’s agony. My glass did not have O-positive blood in it. I’d just drank vampire blood. Someone in this room now owned me.
“Fuck,” I muttered, as the chatter started up around the room.
“Malik,” Tierney whimpered.
“This wasn’t human blood,” I snarled. When I looked up to her, she was shaking so hard that the blood tipped to the edges of the goblet. The blood swap had worked, but I had no idea who owned me. But they couldn’t own me unless they drank my blood. However, over the course of the last two days, I’d bled a lot.
“Please,” she pleaded.
I put my hand over hers to steady it. “Drink, Tierney.”
She lifted the glass to her lips and tried not to gulp it down. She finished the liquid with a sigh, then leaned into me. She kissed me. The taste of the blood still on her lips, and I sighed tasting the decadent blood.
She pulled away. “What was in your glass?”
“Vampire blood.”
“Whose?”
“Hell, if I know.”
“No one has drunk your blood but me,” she said. “You are fine.”
“I’ve been in a car accident. I’ve been kidnapped. I’ve been shot. Any of those times someone could have gotten my blood,” I said.
“We didn’t take your blood,” she said.
“Are you with them?” I asked, directly.
“Shall we all move to the basement? The altar is prepared,” my father announced.
“No, I never was,” she said. “I was only there to gain information for my father.”
“You have to tell me everything. We don’t have time,” I said without forcing my will on her.
“Dick plans on killing his father, then you. My father is supposed to take out your father. I’m supposed to kill Dick,” she said.
“Malik,” my father called to me.
“Yes, sir. I’m coming.”
“Other are supposed to take out your father’s guards,” she said.
“Others?”
“There are others. I don’t know who,” she said.
Lydia walked past me with her mother. I wondered if my stepmother was in on the plan or did my father still have control over her? She could have as easily taken Richard or Lorcan’s blood to mask my father.
“Tierney, come with me,” Lorcan said. I looked at her as his scent wafted around us. Tierney played the role perfectly.
“Yes, Father. I will speak to you after the ceremony, Mr. Demonbreun,” she said with a slight bow to me, then took her place, walking behind her father.
I searched the room for Stanley. He had already exited with Stella. They had probably gone down through the back entrance to the hall. My father would have his guards there, but he wouldn’t have them close enough to appear afraid. I needed to get to his side. I darted out the back of the room toward the kitchen which was silent. The servants were allowed to attend the ceremony which I always considered to be a nice gesture, but this time it worried me. More people meant more potential Renfields.
I hit the back steps in full sprint. At the last flight, I saw Stanley.
“Stanley!” I called out to him.
He paused with Stella. They looked up at me as I almost tripped and tumbled down the steps.
“It
’s Lorcan. He wants to take out everyone,” I said.
“We are ready for whatever he has planned,” Stanley said, opening his jacket to reveal two Hellfires and a large blade. Stella opened her slit. She had another Hellfire strapped to her leg with a smaller blade. “All my men are ready. Are you?”
“I’m not armed,” I said.
“Idiot. But that’s why you have a friend like me,” he said, taking another gun from his pocket.
“Are we friends?” I asked.
“I serve you.”
“You serve my father.”
“You heard me. I serve you.”
“I don’t need your service. I need…”
“Someone you can trust,” Stella said, placing her perfectly manicured hand on my arm.
“Yes,” I huffed.
“We are your friends, Malik,” Stella said.
“What she said,” Stanley mumbled.
I grabbed his face and kissed him on the cheek. “I love you too, Big Guy.”
“Hey, where’s mine?” Stella asked.
I kissed her on the lips, but only for a second before Stanley pulled me off of her. She winked at me.
“Thank you,” I said.
We entered the room, and they made their way to the seating area for our family. I walked through the crowd to stand next to my father. I’d slipped the gun into my pocket.
“What is going on?” he whispered.
“I’m surprised you don’t know,” I said.
“Tell me,” he said. My father’s scent smelled like whiskey and tobacco. It rolled around me, forcing me to speak.
I showed him my fangs, and he narrowed his eyes at me. “Lorcan plans to kill all of us. He’s pitted Dick against his father and me. He’s instructed Tierney to kill Dick. But there are others that she didn’t know that are to take out our guards and family.”
Father pursed his lips, then put his hand on my shoulder. “You are my son. I did not give you my blood tonight to force you to speak to me. I gave it to you, because I wanted to make sure that you had all of my power before this insurgency. Just in case I don’t survive, you have all the tools that I have at your disposal. Anyone under my influence is now under yours. Use them as you will. I trust you, Malik.”
