Keiran snapped back to his senses when he saw her sitting before the door injured. He turned back toward Athan and growled between clenched teeth, furious. “That is my mother!”
In a heartbeat, the prince bent forward and closed the distance between Athan and himself, driving his shoulder into Athan’s middle. Blinded by his rage, much of the training that Kanan had ingrained into him over the years was temporarily forgotten. The vampiric amplification of his fury seemed to wipe out all logic for the time being. While he may have been strong enough after his first feeding of human blood to defeat a bear unarmed, his strength had waned considerably over the last several hours. The remaining benefit from that first feeding had been used up in all that had happened since. His attempted tackle, therefore, ended up being a lot less effective than he would have hoped.
Athan staggered back as Keiran plowed into him, but he managed to get his hands twisted up into Keiran’s shirt. He spun around, thrusting Keiran’s back against the wall and shoving him upward until his feet were off the floor. “You’re a long way off from being even remotely strong enough to challenge me, boy.”
When he was slammed against the wall, his breath was knocked out of him and he hung there, struggling for air. His hands came up and curled over Athan’s wrists. He tried to kick, but Athan quickly pressed up against him, making it ineffective. He stared down into the older vampire’s eyes, his upper lip curled back, fangs showing. At that point, Keiran was so angry he couldn’t manage words, but he seemed to have Athan’s attention for what it was worth.
Corina reached up and tried the door handle again, finding that she could open it this time. The sentries on the other side were already trying to get inside, hearing the disturbance within. When the door cracked, they pulled Corina out into the hallway so that they could get inside. However, as soon as the old woman was out, Athan noticed what was going on and he forced the door shut and locked it before the guards could enter.
It wasn’t the first time the woman had caused Athan issues. He and Corina had a checkered history that Keiran wasn’t aware of. She had possessed the nerve in the past to question and rebuke him on his treatment of the prince years back. He’d dealt with her severely at times, but clearly she’d pushed it all out of her mind. It wasn’t important, though.
Athan wasn’t terribly worried about the woman’s escape, but there would be no further distractions. He wanted Keiran’s undivided attention, and he opted to barricade the door. The massive dining table shifted across the floor, crashing against the door to prevent anyone else from entering.
He looked up into Keiran’s eyes, reading the younger vampire’s thoughts, finding them more exposed due to his emotional state. “Now that we’re alone, let’s have a real chat.”
“Go to Hell,” Keiran spat, nails clawing deeper into Athan’s wrists.
Rolling his eyes, Athan threw Keiran to the floor in a fluid motion. He shook his hands, trying to get the sting from Keiran’s grip to fade from his wrists. “I’d appreciate it if you could rein in the attitude for a few minutes, boy.”
Keiran hit the ground with a grunt, the side of his head striking the stone floor and making his mind swim. His left fang cracked on impact, sending a sharp sliver of pain through his head. He tried to push himself up from the ground, the broken fang and a trail of blood falling from his lips.
Before he was able to collect himself, Athan had his hands on him again, dragging him by the collar over and into a chair. As he was seated roughly, two of the iron pokers sitting beside the fireplace in the room flew from their rack. Athan stood back as the two metal bars bent with horrible metal shrieks, wrapping around Keiran’s arms and fixing him to the chair.
Athan dusted his hands together and sat on another chair facing the younger vampire. He leaned forward and eyed him critically. A little pain always helped get Keiran’s attention. “There, now.”
Keiran drew several unsteady breaths, head aching horribly. He was aware of his own hot blood running down the side of his face and neck, wetting his shirt. His expression was dazed. He tipped his head up and looked at Athan, another little stream of blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. Instinctively, he fought against the restraints, but it was readily apparent he wasn’t going to get loose from the iron bindings soon. “What in the hell do you want from me?”
“For you to understand.” Athan licked his lips and sighed. “I’ve given you a gift, Keiran. The same one that allowed me to go from a peasant’s son to the leader of the greatest country in our corner of the world. Think of the advantage you enjoy by starting out privileged, and where you can go in the time you now have.”
“You flatter your country, and this isn’t a gift. I don’t want to live forever if becoming a monster like you is part of the deal.” Keiran slumped back into the chair, his head hurting worse with each beat of his heart. He realized that the vision out of his right eye was blurred. “I seem to have missed all the accounts of any good-intentioned vampires anywhere in all the history I’ve studied. Is becoming an insufferable ass a requisite of this whole mess?”
“We don’t live forever, you idiot,” Athan said, his tone getting lighter as though talking to a dog. “We still age, just slower. I was sixteen when I was turned. I may be vain, but even I see that I look a long way away from that age now. Someday, I imagine I will die as my body ultimately gives out, assuming I’m not killed outright before then. As for history, we can’t go around acting like God-damned humanitarians, Keiran. We have to keep our guard up and do what we must to protect ourselves. Time eventually gets this point across to even the most flimsy of vampires. Humans are always violent against things they don’t understand, and I assure you, they don’t understand us.”
“One can hope you don’t live forever.” Keiran grunted, refusing to look at Athan at all. He turned his head to the side and spat more blood out of his mouth.
“Do you have any idea what I came from and how I got here?” he asked, cocking his head to the side. “You’re so fucking righteous but like it or not, you’ve lead a very privileged life, Keiran. You don’t really have any grasp of day to day human life. None.”
“And you do?” he shot back, snorting. “You’ve been king of your country for centuries. I’d imagine you’re pretty out of touch yourself.”
“Wrong.” Athan hopped up and started to walk around Keiran’s chair, his hands clasping behind his back. “I was born to the poorest of the poor. I grew up working in the fields with my father and mother from the time I could walk. We had nothing. Then, our part of the world was struck with a drought. Famine spread far. People from Adron started to raid our border towns, stealing the scant amounts of food that were left. It was the start of the war between our countries.”
“I don’t need the history lesson, Athan, I’m well apprised,” Keiran sighed, forcing himself to calm down.
Outside the door to the dining hall, the guards were amassed and trying to fight their way in. They weren’t making any progress, however, nor did Keiran honestly expect Athan to let them get in.
The older vampire glanced to the door for just a moment, passing off the noise as a minor annoyance. “You don’t really know though, Keiran. I was out in the forest alone, trying to forage for anything to take back home to eat. There was a woman. Beautiful. I’d never seen anything like her.” He stopped and laughed for a moment, shaking his head. “As a teenage boy alone, she seduced me without any trouble, and in the course of it all, she bit me.”
“So you were starving to death, but you had the time and energy for that? Classy, but it is a better story than I’ve got,” he replied.
Athan sighed and shook his head again. “She took my blood, leaving me weak. By the time I got the strength to walk back, I found my hometown on fire. My mother and sisters lay naked in the street, bodies bruised and beaten, throats slashed. I found my father’s remains out on the edge of town with the bodies of all the town’s other men. All of our supplies had been ransacked, and I was the on
ly one alive, all because of that vampire in the forest. I cursed her for not letting me die with the rest of my family at first.
“I walked to the next town and found them mobilizing to go and try to stop the advancement of the Adroni mob. Sick and in mourning, I joined them even though I was just a child. My only weapon was a knife I’d carried with me. We marched and clashed with the others. You’ve not yet been in battle, Keiran, you can’t relate. There was so little room between all the men in the field that swords were of no use. With my knife, I managed to kill some of the Adroni invaders, but someone drove a pitchfork into my back. I fell to the ground, amongst the other dead and dying men, being trampled by those still fighting. There was so much blood everywhere. I was helpless to fight the instinct to drink when it welled up. Perhaps I managed just a few swallows before I died, but it was enough.”
Keiran tipped his head gently back against the chair, eyes closing tightly. “Unfortunately it was enough to bring you back, I suppose. I know how it works, thanks. I’m quite the expert, really.”
Athan brushed off Keiran’s sarcasm. “I did come back, yes. When dawn broke, I opened my eyes. The battle had been long over, and the night had been freezing cold. The bodies lying tangled around me were frozen solid. I couldn’t escape. Women appeared after a time, looking for their loved ones. I managed to cry out and they found me. I was taken back to their home and put in front of the fire. I was disoriented and confused.”
Athan looked thoughtful for a moment, before going and sitting again. “Once I’d warmed up, I realized I wasn’t in Talaus. These were Adroni women. I lay there, unmoving, until they all went to bed that night, and then I got up. I moved from one to the next, slitting their throats with a kitchen knife and drinking their blood. Retribution for what had been done to my own family. I let the rage carry me onward. I burned down their house, went to the neighbors and killed them all as well. I gathered their horses and rode back to Talaus, to the town I’d left for battle from. I led some of the men back to where I’d killed the women, and we found much of the food that had been stolen from my own town in their storehouse. We took it and all their livestock. It was enough to get us through the winter. I was a hero.”
“You were a psychopath,” Keiran retorted, eyes opening again, vision slightly improved. He fought against the restraints and looked over at the door. It sounded like they had taken an ax to it, but no progress had been made yet. Score one for fine Tordanian craftsmanship. “I didn’t come back from my death and go on a killing spree.”
“You didn’t die right after everything you’d ever known and loved was destroyed, either. Again, you can’t relate, Keiran. It was retribution. An eye for an eye. The vampirism made me strong. It gave me clarity of thought, the ability to see possibilities hidden from me before. I started planning counter raids into Adron, being given bigger and bigger commands despite my age. I turned the tide of that war, Keiran. I stopped their thievery and took back tenfold what they’d pillaged from us. Our country’s king and his sons had all been killed in battle, and when it was all over and Adron conquered, no one remained to oppose me taking the throne. I’d learned what it took to cope with humans and their behavior, and I’ve never forgotten it. You have to be willing to outdo their cruelty to get them to back down. It is the only way.” Athan fell quiet and looked toward the door as well.
“So what does it have to do with me?”
The older vampire stood up again and loomed over Keiran. “I will see to it that we vampires eventually rule everything. We are superior. It is our right. Why else would we be stronger and faster? Turning you was just one step of many. Someday, the humans will turn against you just like Peirte did, if for no other reason than you’re different from what they are. When that time comes, Keiran, you just remember that fear is the best motivator you will ever have in controlling them.”
The iron rods slowly unwrapped themselves from Keiran’s arms and fell to the floor with a resounding clank. He quickly stood up, regretting it instantly, as the dizziness returned and his headache redoubled.
Athan laughed at him and shook his head. “You need to drink. I’ll leave you to it.”
Keiran staggered toward him, anger returning despite his attempt to control it. Athan snorted and brought up his right hand to give Keiran a small wave before he changed form and liquified, splashing down to the floor like a black column of water. The puddle rippled before seeping down between the stones of the floor, disappearing completely.
Only then did the door give way and Jerris rushed in, climbing over the remains of the table. He bolted to Keiran’s side, his sword drawn, looking around. “Where is he!?”
“He’s gone.” Keiran touched his bloodied temple with his fingertips, withdrawing his hand with a hiss. He looked at Jerris, wavering a little. “Corina?”
The guard put his good arm around Keiran, trying to steady him. “She’s okay. The medic is tending to her, just cut up. She says she was hit with a wine bottle and Athan was fighting with you. We couldn’t get through the damn door.”
Keiran started to nod but halted himself from doing so. It hurt too much. “We did fight a bit, I’m afraid I didn’t get very far.”
“Where did he go? There’s no way out of here other than the door.” Jerris sheathed his sword and tried to guide his friend toward the exit.
“Disappeared. He has a few tricks,” he said quietly. Keiran allowed Jerris to get him up the stairs and back to his room. The vampire eased down onto the bed, realizing the blow to his head must have honestly done some real damage.
Jerris sat on the edge of the bed next to Keiran and looked him over for a moment. The cut on Keiran’s temple had stopped bleeding, but he was a mess. The white of his right eye was no longer white but nearly black from the blood that had seeped from the small vessels there when he’d hit the floor. “You look like all hell, Keir. This is starting to seem like your new fashion statement. I hope you at least got a few in.”
Keiran closed his eyes lightly and twisted his hands up into the blanket he was on top of. He had a strong suspicion that his injuries wouldn’t heal until he took human blood again. “Don’t tell your father that he kicked my ass. All the training in fighting he’s given me over the years…”
“Oh, you bet I’m going to tell him, it’ll feel great.” Jerris bounced on the edge of the bed, jostling Keiran a little. He waved his bandaged arm around for a moment. “At least you got that old grizzly bear. How you could take out a bear but not Athan is beyond me, but what do I know?”
The vampire reached over and shoved his friend off the bed, not appreciating being shaken around or taunted. “I just want you to know how much I hate you.”
Jerris managed to get to his feet and not fall before moving toward the door. “You don’t, actually. I’m your favorite, because your standards are painfully lacking, or maybe mine are. I need to report to my father. I’d imagine either Corina or the medic will be by shortly to check on you. Try to go at least a few hours without causing trouble, would you?”
“Why do you all keep saying that?” Keiran cracked an eye and groped over to his nightstand to see if there was anything there to throw at Jerris, but he came up short.
“Because it seems like the quickest way to get something exciting to happen, Keir,” Jerris said before slipping out.
He sighed as the door to his room was closed. He mulled over what Athan had been trying to impress upon him. Maybe the old vampire was just an insane, paranoid sadist. Athan’s story of origination and transformation honestly had nothing to do with his own as far as he could tell. The circumstances were all too different.
His attendants since childhood had always treated him well, and they’d always known he was infected with vampirism. Surely, all the kindness he’d received from them hadn’t merely been due to their deference to his social class. They’d still been good to him since his father had died, so it wasn’t just a fear of the old king’s retribution if they’d mishandled him, though there was
the fact he was soon to be the king. That probably counted for something, but he hoped that wasn’t all it amounted to.
Then again, Peirte had obviously gained help in the assassination attempt in a short amount of time. Keiran couldn’t help but wonder, with a little bit of paranoia, if there was dislike for him already stirring out amongst the populous. One assassin didn’t mean it was so. However, Ivan had probably been involved, too, and he’d been seemingly kind to Keiran in the past. There was also the issue of Marcus, whose involvement seemed probable.
The prince rolled onto his side carefully and curled up a little, trying to push the thoughts from his mind. There were obviously some who were able to turn on him either out of their own personal motivations or Peirte’s gold. It wasn’t a comforting thought, and Keiran found it impossible to turn his mind off from dwelling on the idea.
Chapter 9
Peirte had spent hours working on his drawing. The stone shard he’d used to scrawl it out had been ground down to a tiny pebble. Knowing that he’d done it to the best of his ability under the circumstances, he knelt down to give it one final inspection. Thinking that it would at least be adequate, if less than perfect, he tried to clear his mind in preparation for the next step.
He couldn’t recall verbatim any of his more complex spells in his frame of mind, but all he needed was one of the most basic. He closed his eyes and tried to focus his energy on the bars of the cell. Peirte recited the words of the short spell repeatedly, accelerating the action of the oxidation on the cage bars. Off in a trance while working, he wasn’t aware of anything else until he heard the sentry at the top of the stairs to the dungeon clamor away.
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