by Cege Smith
The first bite of the sun on his skin sapped his strength. Then he scrambled like a coward back inside the walls into the cool darkness, sobbing like a pathetic child. He couldn’t do it. As disgusted as he was with himself, he couldn’t get around his own need for self-preservation. Monroe had laughed and laughed when he heard from the guards what Connor did.
“This conscious of yours is a rare thing, Connor. It isn’t unheard of though, but it won’t do you any favors. There is a reason that, try as you may, a vampire cannot commit suicide. You wouldn’t have survived the transition if you didn’t have a hearty sense of self-preservation. That basic instinct will keep you alive. Hopefully this bout of guilt will pass once you get a little bit older and you settle into your new life.”
Of course, it never had gotten better. No matter what fresh torture Monroe devised to try to get Connor to embrace his vampire existence, it never worked. Connor still related more to his human half than his vampire half. It infuriated Monroe to no end. An uneasy compromise was finally reached. Connor would feed on animals and Monroe would leave him alone as long as he continued to follow Monroe’s orders whenever Monroe had need of his services. That arrangement continued for the next fifty years until Connor betrayed Monroe in order to help Angeline save the capital city from Monroe’s Death Squad.
He thought that, at some point, helping Angeline would lead him to his redemption. He counted on it. As Connor moved around a blind corner, he finally saw a dim swath of light ahead of him. As he approached it, he could see a long shadow stretching across the ground right outside the opening. He paused, but then decided that he had been herded to this place deliberately. He would find out what waited for him soon enough.
“I’m coming out now. At least give a man a fair chance at a fight and wait until I am out,” he called out. He was used to dealing with beings with no morals or values, but in case he actually was about to find someone honorable at the end of the tunnel, he wanted them to know that he would not attack until they did. He had to figure out where he was, and where Angeline had gone.
Connor stuck his head out of the opening at the end of the tunnel and looked up. The man who stood there looking back at him was a stranger. He was small. Connor didn’t think that the man would even come up to his shoulder. His hair was a mousey brown, but there were long streaks of white along the temples. His face was unlined. Connor had no way of being able to determine how old the man was, which almost certainly meant he had vampire blood in his veins.
“You are in no immediate danger from me,” the man said. It was the same voice that Connor heard in his mind before being tossed into the sunlight courtyard. “Please, join me.”
Connor squeezed his body the rest of the way out of the tunnel and flipped onto his back. His body felt battered and bruised. His hands reached up and gently touched the skin of his face. He winced at even the slightest brush, pain emanating from both his face and his singed fingertips.
“You aren’t very pretty right now, but I expect that you will be fixed up soon enough with your marvelous healing abilities,” the man said. Connor could tell by the man’s tone of voice that he didn’t approve or think they were in the slightest bit marvelous.
“You seem to know quite a bit about me,” Connor said, getting to his feet. He looked around him. They were in a small chamber. He had the sense that they were in some kind of cave. The torch, which sat in a holder on the wall behind the man, threw just enough light that he could see the ceiling and the small tunnel from which he had just emerged. He couldn’t see into the far reaches of the room, but it seemed a fair guess that it was some kind of holding cell. The reason for the tunnel remained a mystery.
“I do,” the man agreed. He stood with his hands behind his back and stared at Connor.
Connor plunged forward in an attempt to get information. “I don’t know where I am or what I’m doing here. I was traveling with my companion, and we were using a portal as our method of transportation. We appear to have been separated.”
“You mean the Queen,” the man said.
Connor didn’t let the surprise show on his face, but the man’s comment confirmed his suspicion. They had found the Clan, and it appeared that the Clan had been waiting for them. He wasn’t sure what that meant for him or Angeline, but he was sure that it didn’t bode well. Something had gone wrong. The portal was a trap.
“Yes, that's right,” Connor said. “Can I see her?” He figured that asking where she was would be futile. In the portal, they had been separated for a reason, likely to keep them off-balance and possibly even play them against each other. It was just the sort of thing he heard the Clan would do.
“No,” the man said. “The Queen has other matters to attend to at the moment.”
“When can I see her?”
“Why are you here, Connor?” the man asked, avoiding Connor’s question.
“I’m not prone to sharing my life’s story with people I don’t know,” Connor said. Two could play the deflection game. “Since you know my name, perhaps you'll be so kind as to tell me who you are?”
“I told you before, I’m your babysitter,” the man said. Although his face was serene, his tone implied that he wasn’t happy about his situation.
“I wasn’t aware that I required one of those,” Connor said. “If you could just redirect me to where the Queen is, then I will gladly get out of your hair and let you get on with your day.”
“We aren’t in the business of providing comforts or fulfilling the needs of blood mongering vampires!” The man’s voice raised several notches. “I have no idea what the Queen sees in you or why she would travel with something so despicable and dangerous. It is clearly a sign of her deteriorating condition.”
Connor’s eyes narrowed. Such venom against his kind wasn’t uncommon, but he was surprised to hear it from someone in the Clan. Angeline’s ancestor, Alair Robart, supposedly had exterminated vampires three hundred years before. Alair struck a peace treaty with Alron at the request of the Clan. The vampires continued their existence in secret in the Forgotten Lands. So the Clan knew that they existed and tolerated their presence, which made sense because the only difference between the Clan and Connor's kind of vampire was the blood thirst. Both sides began their existence through pure blood vampires.
“I swore my allegiance to Queen Angeline weeks ago. I have spent the last few days helping her keep the peace in the capital city of Brebackerin. She needs me,” Connor said.
“You think highly of yourself,” the man sneered. “If you weren’t her sire, I’d kill you myself.”
Connor was in the process of responding when the man’s words hit him. “You need me alive because I’m her sire? Why?” What secrets did the Clan know that Connor did not?
“Feldon! That’s enough!” A woman appeared behind the man, glaring at him. The small man shrank under her eyes. “Return to the kitchens and continue preparing the evening meal.”
Feldon bowed and then ran out of sight. The woman turned to Connor and smiled, but he noted that it didn’t reach her eyes. She was pretty, although he could tell that she was older by the silver streaks through her long blond hair. Eyes as blue as the sky watched him carefully, weighing his every movement. He thought it was entirely possible that she was able to read his mind.
“Connor Radwin, my name is Theodora. I serve as the First Seat on the Clan Council, and I have been eager to make your acquaintance. Our paths might even have been destined to cross.”
Her words held no comfort. In fact, he sensed there was an unspoken threat hidden within them. Why would the First Seat of the Clan Council have an interest in him? The only reason would be something to do with Angeline. That was when Connor realized that it was past time for him to start thinking about a way to escape.
CHAPTER THREE
Malin Baford was in the middle of a moral crisis. For a man who thought himself above things like morals, it was an odd and utterly perplexing feeling. His sister Corrinda sat in a chair next
to the fire in a trance like state, as she had since opening the portal that swept Angeline Robart out of his life once again.
All of his troubles seemed to begin and end with Angeline. There was a long period of time in his life where he refused even to admit that he knew that she existed. The Clan decided long ago that if Eric Robart refused to produce a son, then there would be a man that they could trust next to the throne. His fate, according to the Clan, was to marry Angeline and rule Altera through her. Their son would be the next king, and the strange set of circumstances that Eric Robart put into motion by not having a male heir would finally come to an end. Order would be restored.
It should have been a straightforward mission. Malin was perfectly suited for the job. He was cunning, ruthless and utterly loyal to the Clan. The Bafords and the Robarts had been intertwined since the beginning of time, so he was a natural choice for Angeline's hand. Corrinda was a powerful witch within the Clan. There were whispers that she may even become the First Seat one day.
Then fate played a cruel joke on Malin. When he came to court at fifteen to study under his father and learn the duties of Chief Advisor to the King, he met ten-year-old Angeline. His father told him that if Eric continued to refuse the Clan’s demands to remarry and produce a suitable heir, he would be asked to step in and take Angeline as his bride. Malin didn’t care one way or the other. But nonetheless, that knowledge ensured that his interest in the young Princess was heightened.
For several years, it seemed like she followed him everywhere. Her mind constantly churned looking for new information to assimilate and learn and she drove him mad with her incessant questions.
“Why does the sun rotate around the moon the way that it does?”
“Why does the marriage law require that a woman give her husband all of her lands and possessions?”
“If a man steals something and then gives it away to someone less fortunate, is he still guilty?”
Her questions were never ones that were easily answered, and he thought that she made it a sport to goad him into a long-winded reply when she already knew the answer or how she felt about the topic. What was even more troubling was that as she grew older, she blossomed like a rare flower into a breathtakingly beautiful young woman.
Malin never lacked for female company in court. His finely chiseled features, broad shoulders and trim waist drew the eye of every noblewoman in the provinces. Young or old, it didn’t matter. They all wanted him, either at their table or in their bed. He had no illusions about this though; they wanted access to his influence with the king as much as anything else. Still Malin’s education expanded considerably by the time he took over the role of Chief Advisor.
No matter who vied for his attention, a tiny voice in the back of his mind was constantly comparing the women to Angeline. Her fifteenth year he noticed that she began voluntarily to withdraw from his company. Not that he blamed her. He spent the five years prior being insufferably arrogant and borderline rude to her, but the sudden abruptness of her presence around him was noticeable. He found that he missed the annoying intrusions into his study and being waylaid in the hall for some outrageous philosophical discussion.
He didn’t have to think on the reason long. Eric Robart made it clear that he was not going to remarry, and so it was settled that Angeline would marry Malin when the time was appropriate. That news would have trickled down to Angeline’s ears eventually. He thought that before that realization she had looked upon him like the sibling she never had. That he would eventually be her husband turned that idea on its head.
His desire to be closer to her distracted him from his duties. So, in an effort finally to purge himself of his growing attraction for her, he recommended to the king that they send her to the Sisters of St. Abath for her final years of schooling. It had been a hard battle because Eric was besotted with his only child. Malin had won out only by appealing to the fact that Angeline was already so far advanced in her studies that they were running out of suitable tutors.
He wouldn't forget that final evening before she left for the convent when he found her alone, crying about her impending departure. He remembered how luminous her skin looked in the moonlight and how her lips, slightly parted, were utterly irresistible. His walls came down and for a moment, he allowed himself to act on his growing feelings toward her.
Of all the kisses in his life before and after, none were as sweet or pure as the kiss that he shared with Angeline that night. A wave of unfamiliar emotions swept through him. The desire to possess and cleave onto the one he loved rose to the top. He had been hers ever since, whether he had been able to admit it or not.
It was his deepest, most shameful secret.
“Are we going to the ball now?” Corrinda asked.
Malin couldn’t look at her because she wore Angeline’s face. Until Angeline returned, they needed a decoy and Corrinda, with her magical abilities to meld her appearance, fit the bill. In less than three days, Angeline and Malin were set to marry, and a barrage of royal events and celebrations dotted the days in-between.
Angeline journeyed to the Clan to negotiate a full cure to be freed of the wraith that lived inside of her. Malin still couldn’t believe that after such careful planning for years on the Clan’s part to regain control of the Robart throne, they let the Crown Princess slip through their fingers and into the hands of her enemy. That enemy turned her into the filthiest creature that ever walked the land of Altera, a wraith.
Wraiths were the perfect hybrid between human and vampire. They had all of the strengths of both species and fewer of their weaknesses. Wraiths were nearly impossible to control, and even one set loose in a town could bring destruction down on everyone’s heads. That was why the creation of them had been forbidden. Human and vampire alike feared them and their wildly erratic behavior.
Somehow, the woman he loved became one, and now Malin was forced to deal with the repercussions of that situation. Angeline was too valuable to disappear. Although a woman, she was the last of the human Robart bloodline nonetheless. The Clan offered to bind that wild part of her somewhere safe so that Angeline could remain in control during the trying times around her father's death, but they had lied. They lied to Angeline, and they lied to Malin. When that truth was revealed, he had been forced to make a choice. He still couldn’t believe that he had chosen her over his kin and his Clan, but deep down he knew that he would make the same choice again without hesitation.
That was the weakness of love, and why he abhorred it even while in the throes of it. Malin never expected to fall prey to it. Perhaps that’s why he had. Fate was a cruel mistress.
“Yes, we will be going to the ball soon,” he said. "Corrinda, can you alter the spell so that I can see your real face beneath the illusion?”
“Of course,” Corrinda said in her singsong voice. Connor’s vampire compulsion had turned Malin's vicious, ego driven sister into a sugary sweet swan. She was nothing like Angeline, and while the brief tutorial of perfunctory behavior during the celebratory events may pass casual inspection, those trusted few in Angeline’s inner circle would see through the false veneer in no time. It was Malin’s job to keep Corrinda as far away from those people as possible until Angeline returned. It was no small task.
Malin heard his sister whisper a few words of magic, and then he blinked. His twin sister sat there once again looking at him expectantly. A sigh of relief escaped his lips. He couldn’t stand the thought of looking at an illusion of Angeline’s face for the next three days.
“I am going to change, and I suggest you do the same,” he said. “You’ll have to make do without an attendant.” Angeline’s attendant, Clarissa, was killed that afternoon in a violent confrontation between Angeline and the vampire, Elvry. Elvry escaped before Connor and Malin arrived to help Angeline. Malin had his own bone to pick with the vampire temptress.
“I can use magic,” Corrinda said.
Malin nodded. “Fine. Just don’t answer the door for anyone other than
me. Tell them that you are indisposed or whatever you have to say to make them go away.”
“Yes, Malin,” Corrinda said. She smiled at him. It was disconcerting. Corrinda never smiled.
Malin escaped into the hallway and headed for his room. He kept his eyes down, not wanting to engage with anyone before arriving in the solitude of his quarters. Only when he closed the door behind him did he feel his shoulders relax ever so slightly. Then he crossed the room to the small table next to the fireplace and poured a thimbleful of brandy. That was joined by another. Finally, he uncapped the bottle and took a large swig directly from it.
He had committed the ultimate act of betrayal. While he knew that he would hang if his sins against the Clan on Angeline’s behalf were uncovered, his betrayal of Angeline’s trust was what haunted him at night. It was because of him that Eric Robart was dead.
“Malin, you have done a fine job as Chief Advisor,” Eric’s voice echoed in his head. “I’ve always looked on you as the son I never had, and you know that, but this latest demand from Theodora is ridiculous. I refuse to give up any more land to Alron. The time of the vampire is done and has been for three hundred years. It is time the Clan accepted that.”
“Sire, you will want to reconsider your position on this matter. Theodora will not take no for an answer,” Malin replied.
“Theodora can present herself to me and negotiate on her own behalf,” Eric roared. “I am tired of talking through intermediaries, and I am done with taking orders from a group of invisible people who don’t have the courage to face me. Until Theodora stands in front of my throne, I will waste no more time on the matter.”
Then the King stormed out of the room.
