Once again, I slumped down into a chair and stared around in confusion. There was a book on the lamp table, so I picked it up. What had Othello been reading? The book was very old and the writing smudged in several places where water had stained it.
‘Herein lies the account of the destruction wrought by the Born vampire, Anastasia Bathory.
There was a time when the children of the Bicus lived in harmony with one another. Lycan and vampire considered each other brothers. We did not fight amongst each other, or with our brothers the Lycans. There was peace, one that was not won by war. It simply was.
That all changed when Anastasia came to power.
She was merely a fledgling, but she possessed a maturity that one would normally develop with age. She was a first generation Born vampire, a rarity among us as the Bicus had been less and less involved in the lives of humans. Because of her heritage, her powers were beyond that of a normal Born vampire. She was empathic, and knew what you were feeling before you yourself knew. Her strength was unparalleled, and her beauty a poison that she wielded like a weapon.
Before she was even thirty years old, something occurred in her life that twisted her mind. Whatever happened to her was known to the Council, but not to he that writes this account. I know not what changed inside her, but from that moment on she became different. Terrifying.
Eventually, she amassed an army of Lycans and overtook the vampire Orders. They slaughtered everyone they found, turned and Born alike. And when the vampires were dealt with, she turned on the Lycans, and destroyed them as well.
After that, she disappeared.
We gathered together, Lycan and vampire alike, our alliance shattered by one insane female. Their numbers were down to maybe fifty, and ours even less. We tried to repair the peace, but Lycans had been betrayed by one of our kind, and because of this, they declared they would execute any vampire caught within their territory. We threatened the same, and almost started another war then and there.
The Bicus appeared before us before any more damage could be done. They announced that because of what had happened, they were finished with the humans. Creating new vampires or werewolves would be banned among their kind. After the Bicus left us, we separated. The Lycans went one way, and we went another. We would never again share a home in brotherhood, and our lives were darker for it.
Every vampire that survived Anastasia’s wrath was sworn to secrecy, on pain of death, about what had occurred. If another vampire ever had the inkling to do what she had done, the knowledge that it had been done before and sent us running with our tails between our legs would be enough to seal our coffin again. It was too risky.
Not only that, anyone and everyone that had ever been on her side, friends and allies alike, were executed so that they couldn’t continue her reign of blood in her stead. Suffice it to say that many who had a small inkling of feeling toward her, myself included, turned on her without blinking an eye in order to spare ourselves the pain of execution. It was not enough for some, and our numbers were reduced once more to eliminate traitors.
I have thought long and hard about what happened to Anastasia. What drove her to madness? I had known other first generation Born vampires, and none had ever behaved as she had. I replayed every memory, and I spoke to everyone who had survived, in secret of course. It turned up nothing, so I went further.
Anastasia’s human mother, the Countess of Bathory, was as famous as her child. Anastasia was a bastard child, born when her mother was an unwed teenager. As soon as the baby vampire was born, one of us was there to pick up the child and take it back to our castle. The vampire that had been there at the birthing was dead, but some of the human witnesses were not. I found them, and I used mind control to find out what happened when Anastasia was born.
The witnesses had only seen part of the birth, but they all agreed that something abnormal had happened. Something about Anastasia’s birth was different than a regular Born vampire birth. And so, I reasoned that perhaps Anastasia was not a normal vampire. We had all seen her powers, her beauty, and her cruelty.
I found out nothing else about her, and though I searched the world a dozen times over, I could never find her again. Her bewitching smile, and her destructive nature was lost forever. I found myself both relieved and broken to know I would never see her again.
This book is the only written account of what happened when Anastasia Bathory destroyed us. I am breaking my vow of secrecy and risking death as the result, but I have never believed in keeping it a secret. Our kind should know what happened.
Everyone should know about the wrath of Anastasia Bathory.
Written by the faithful hand of James, a Born vampire.’
CHAPTER 26
I DON’T KNOW HOW LONG I sat there looking at the book in my hands, but it was well after I had finished reading it. The signature, and the seal at the bottom of the page, confirmed the book had been written by the James I knew, and not another less insane James that I wouldn’t mind asking about it.
My memory recalled his conversation with me on the first day I’d been his slave.
“Have you ever wondered why there are so few older Born?” he’d asked me.
“Sometimes,” I’d answered.
Then he’d said, “I’ve often thought about it. No one really knows for sure why. There are so many rumors surrounding the topic that one can hardly discern any actual facts.” Now I was confused. Why had he said that? Maybe in his insanity he’d forgotten about her? Or maybe it was his oath. But why bring it up in the first place?
And Anastasia Bathory. I knew the name, knew even more so the story of her mother, the Countess of Bathory, a supposed serial killer of young maidens. Her daughter, it seemed, was just as ruthless.
The mysterious circumstances of Anastasia’s birth stuck with me. James had penned in how different she was from other vampires. Could it be that she was the product of an Incubus and a vampire? Her mother certainly had had a lust for blood, though by all accounts she had been human.
I had too many questions, and the only person who could answer them was James. Great. That was perfect. I had to not only see the man that bit and controlled me for weeks, I had to personally invite him over. I rubbed a hand over my belly and tried to convince myself it would be worth it.
I got up, stretched enough to feel some bones pop in my neck, and put the contraband book back on the lamp table. I walked over to the door and prepared to turn the handle before I heard shouting outside it.
“Lisbeth? Lisbeth answer this door before I break it down!” Arthur was shouting outside my office. I remembered I’d locked the office door, and I had no idea how long I’d been in the hidden room. Quickly, I pulled the light string and left the dark room. The panel clicked closed behind me when I pushed on it. I hurried over to the office door and swung it open after flipping the lock.
“You woke me up!” I shouted at Arthur. Olivier was beside him trying to stop him from denting the door, but he already had. My beautiful doors were marred with giant knuckle holes.
“You were sleeping?” Olivier asked in utter disbelief. “We’ve been out here for half an hour. No one sleeps that hard.”
I shrugged. “I do. Sometimes. Especially while pregnant. Also, you ruined my doors.”
He dropped his fists to his sides in defeat. “We thought you’d been taken.” I almost felt bad, since he looked deflated. I knew him well enough to know he was already torn up about Othello being abducted on his watch. If I had been too, I wasn’t sure how he would handle that.
“I’m fine,” I assured him. “In fact, I’m going to go back to my nap now. Did you need anything else?”
Marie gasped, drawing my attention to her standing next to her desk. She had her desk phone pressed to her ear and whatever she was hearing was causing her great distress. Had they found Othello? If they had, her face said he was dead. She calmly hung up the phone with as little movement as necessary, and stood silent for a few moments, just staring off in
to space.
“Marie?” I asked her gently. “Who was on the phone?”
She was very calmly composed, in a way that was completely not normal for her. I felt like she was about to burst into pieces. Since she hadn’t answered me yet, Arthur and Olivier turned to her and were equally wary of her behavior.
“Tha…” She faltered and swallowed to clear her throat. “That was the Order Qiángdù. They had news about the Order Gennadi.”
“Don and Faith are there,” Olivier said, naming the Hunters Arthur had dispatched to that Order. “What happened?”
Marie finally met my eyes. “The turned attacked all of the Born there and executed them.”
We were all frozen in horror.
“What about the Hunters we sent?” Olivier asked quietly.
Marie met her eyes too. “There were no survivors.”
CHAPTER 27
IT SEEMED THAT EVERY HORRIBLE event that had happened to me during that year was steadily getting worse, so that each time it progressed up the scale of suck, I was at least a little prepared. Except that I wasn’t prepared for this news.
An entire Order of Born vampires slaughtered.
The turned had even filmed the affair and sent it to every Order as a message which very clearly indicated that this was what they had planned for all of us.
We were in deep shit. And that was an understatement.
I paced my office trying to figure out our next move. I was tired from my pregnancy, not to mention it was well past midnight. Even though I was the head of the Order and could technically make all the decisions by myself, I still needed to pretend that the other Born had a say-so. And that meant I had to patronize their constant arguing about what we were going to do.
“We have to contact the other Orders,” one commanded.
“Any number of them could be compromised by now,” another countered. “We have no way of knowing if the turned have overthrown more of the Orders.”
“Olivier,” I interrupted. “Each Order has Hunters at it still, right?” She nodded. “Let’s contact them. They’re loyal to us, and the turned will be hard pressed to overpower them. They can help get the Born to safety.”
“On it,” Olivier said, whipping her phone out.
“So, all the Born are going to come here?” someone asked.
“This is the safest Order right now,” I told him. “The turned are gone.”
“Not all of them,” he said back. I felt everyone give me a meaningful glance, indicating they had all been thinking this, but hadn’t vocalize it until that moment.
“No,” I argued wearily. “Not them. Cameron and Renard live here.” That was one thing I couldn’t bear.
“No one will feel safe with them here. Not after Gennadi.” What he really meant was WE don’t feel safe.
Olivier looked up from her phone to scowl at the people around her. “So you’re going to pin the deeds of the turned on them? They had nothing to do with anything that’s happened, and all of you know it.” I glanced at Arthur for his opinion on the matter.
“Cameron and Renard are on our side,” he admitted. “But…”
“But?” Olivier interrupted in a huff. “But??”
“If the Born don’t feel safe, they won’t come here. And then they’ll be in danger,” Arthur finished.
Olivier looked like she wanted to make a phone shaped dent in his skull. “And that means you’ll throw out my mate just to make the other Born happy?”
“No,” I repeated. “Cameron and Renard are non-negotiable. They stay.”
I thought that my word would be final, but of course it could never be that simple. Before I’d even sat down to rest, one of the other vampires said one phrase that summed up my future.
“It seems as if you would put your personal feelings before your position as our leader?”
And laid out very neatly in front of me were my options.
Option 1. Evict Renard and Cameron
Option 2. Evict Cameron and Renard
Once again, I had to put Cameron and Renard second, and the needs of the Order first. This really did feel like an us or them thing, which was exactly what had started the turned rebellion in the first place.
Olivier finished texting the Hunters without a word or glance to me. “Five of them haven’t answered,” she grumbled after a few minutes. “The other seven got the message. They’re gathering the Born and will escape as soon as possible.” She pocketed her phone and left the room without another word.
The others didn’t notice her departure, or didn’t care since we’d already stabbed her in the heart, me included. I was a turncoat now, so I could add that to my list of faults. As if I needed more things to feel guilty about, now I had to throw out my friends.
I dismissed the other Born until it was only Arthur and myself in the room. He stood silently by waiting for an order or for me to leave so he could follow me. Standing up, I braced myself with one hand on my desk and the other on my belly. Had my belly grown heavier since I’d sat down? I rubbed it and felt a responding nudge from my baby. Arthur saw where I was walking and went to open the door for me, but I stopped him first.
“Arthur,” I said with a low voice, though no one could overhear us. “I need you to do something for me when they’re gone.”
He didn’t even ask who ‘they’ was. “As long as it’s not illegal.” Anyone else would’ve said that with cheek, but Arthur had no sense of humor.
I relayed what I wanted, and he approved it before we left my office. He followed me down the long hallway, past the kitchen, and into the entryway of the castle. Olivier had apparently gathered Cameron and Renard already, and they stood next to her amidst the other castle residents. The strength of everyone’s fear, and the absolution of their glares directed at Cameron and Renard erased any hope I’d harbored that I could somehow talk my fellow vampires out of this. Gennadi was etched into their minds forever, and their mistrust of the turned was fortified.
I doubted they would ever trust the turned again.
Renard looked forlorn. His home was betraying him, after all he’d done in service for us. Cameron’s face was determined, and he met my eyes with no sadness, only a nod of understanding for my position on the matter. It should’ve made me feel better, but it didn’t.
I tried to speak and my voice did not comply. My vocal cords had already given in to my sorrow even if my brain did not. With a deep breath, and a quick throat clear, I managed to say something.
“I regret to…” No. That sounded too formal. They were my friends. “I’m sorry, but…” That was wrong too. How could I possibly say that I was sorry when I was the one carrying this out? No one spoke up for me to finish what I had to say. I was alone. “You all know what happened at Gennadi. The massacre of Born vampires at the hands of the turned has poisoned any affection that we…” I swallowed a lump in my throat. “…that we feel for those that would slaughter the innocent. And even though we know that the two turned housed here had nothing to do with it, the Born do not feel safe anymore. Not around the turned.” I clenched my hands at my sides until I felt my nails pierce the skin. “As such, your companions have been dismissed, and you will quit this house immediately with no possessions and no financial assistance.” On cue, the large double entrance doors were opened. “There’s the door. You are no longer welcome here.”
My eyes would no longer focus and I couldn’t see past the tears flowing down my cheeks. The sound of two pairs of shoes exiting my home echoed in my ears, and I could bear it no longer.
I wanted to yell at everyone who stood there beside me. I wanted to ask if they felt better now. If throwing out my family somehow increased their safety. But I was tired. I was tired of this year, tired of the pain, and I wanted it to be over already.
Instead of unloading all of that in front of everyone, I turned and trudged slowly up the stairs until I couldn’t see their faces anymore.
CHAPTER 28
I DIDN’T WANT TO SEE anyone. Losi
ng Cameron in such a fashion had broken me. I had no strength to face anything now. If I spent the rest of my pregnancy in bed alone, I’d be fine with it. I’d bring back the custom of the confinement before birth. I was more than familiar with solitude.
The next morning, I wasn’t surprised when I heard my bedroom door open, even though I’d locked it. Who had come in, though, I didn’t know. And I didn’t care.
I snuggled further under the covers. “Go away,” I informed the intruder. I smelled scones with cherry jam, and a pot of vanilla tea. Someone set a tray down on my nightstand. Okay, I’m lying. I knew exactly who it was by his smell. It was Arthur. He retreated from my bed and sat down in the wicker reading chair I’d put next to the built-in bookcases. He glanced at the book I’d been reading, one about Djinn and weather controllers, and picked it up to read the jacket. He put it back down when he realized it was chick lit. “Get out,” I ordered him.
“Eat,” he countered, pointing to the tray. I reached a hand out from the covers and took one of the scones, dipped it in the cherry jam, and took a large bite. It was good. Damn him. He sat in the wicker chair while I ate, saying nothing.
Eventually, I had to sit up so I could drink the tea. I dragged myself out of the tangle of blankets and pulled my long curls back into a ponytail. The tea was warm and soothing, but alas it didn’t help soothe me. Talking probably would, but it wouldn’t make it better. I studied the simple white china and ran my fingernail along the bottom of it in thought.
“Did you regret it?” I asked Arthur. He looked up at me, still silent. “Did you regret killing your mate and child?”
“She broke the law,” was his answer.
I took another sip. “Not what I asked.” I scraped at the teacup again and set it back on the tray. “I just evicted my family. A man who means more to me than anyone here, even Olivier. And why?” I scoffed with a sigh. “I don’t even have the excuse of following the law. It was because of fear. And don’t think I’m not taking what the turned are doing seriously, because I am. But Cameron never betrayed us. He and Renard were loyal in their service, and still. Still. They were turned out like criminals. As if I needed more reasons to hate myself.”
Child of the Outcast (Born Vampire Book 2) Page 11
