Pendulum (Kingdom of Night Book 1)

by L. C. Davis

  As if sensing my concern, Ulric spoke again. “Of course, that's my story. I was never blessed with the gift given to Sebastian. A true mate is a gift that makes the burden of power bearable, nothing less.”

  I smiled but it didn't even feel convincing. “Thanks. I seem to have ruined Sebastian and Victor's relationship in a matter of weeks, though. I'm not sure how I'll be good for the pack.”

  I wasn't even sure if I would still be here when the harvest moon came and went. It had consumed everything, making it impossible to think of the many impracticalities surrounding our situation.

  The elevator came to a halt and the doors slid open. I stepped out with Ulric, who lingered outside the doors.

  “Sebastian and Victor are remarkably close, but their relationship has never been without rivalry or fights. You've simply given the tension a focal point.”

  “This is different though, isn't it?” I asked, tucking my hair behind my ear. “It's never been this big of a deal before.”

  “No,” he admitted. “Not quite.”

  I hesitated for a moment, knowing that depending on how I worded my next question, I could make things a whole lot worse.

  “You know Victor doesn't deserve to be down here as well as I do, right?” It was a risk, but hopefully one that would prove worth taking.

  He sighed. “I do.”

  “Then why aren't you helping?” I demanded. I couldn't imagine why an Alpha would allow one of his own pack to be restrained and punished for something he hadn't even done.

  “I know this is difficult for you to understand, but sometimes sacrifices have to be made in order to protect something even more important.”

  “And who decided that Victor was the lamb for the slaughter?” Anger was bubbling to the surface again, as much as I tried to suppress it. These days I woke up a saint and hit the pillow a demon. But if anger was what it took to vindicate my friend, so be it.

  “He did,” Ulric replied evenly.

  It took me a moment to process that. “What? Why?”

  “You'll have to ask him that,” he said, turning me towards the door that led into Victor's cell.

  I took a moment to collect myself before walking inside. It dawned on me that I was still wearing Sebastian's shirt far too late. I had to go in then, before Sebastian had the chance to change his mind.

  “Took you long enough,” he said, waiting by the door along with the other guard. There was a larger room that contained Victor's holding cell, but I could see him through the glass window. His head was lowered and his dark hair completely obscured his face.

  “We stopped on the way, Ulric had to talk to someone.”

  “Your lying skills are slipping.”

  I chose not to respond as I walked towards the door. Sebastian's footsteps followed me and I spun around.

  “You're not going in there?”

  “The hell I'm not.”

  “I think part of the reason it hasn't been working is the lack of privacy. Look, you'll still be able to see us the entire time. I won't touch him. Just let me talk to him alone. Please?”

  I could tell my request was only making his anger worse, but he had always said he had a hard time saying no to me. I felt awful for capitalizing on that knowledge, but if that was what it took to get him out of that dungeon, I could live with the guilt.

  “Fine,” he muttered. “Thirty minutes. If I even see him look at you the wrong way-”

  “I know,” I said, leaning up to kiss him. It seemed to calm him down, if only from surprise. “I'll be fine,” I promised before disappearing into the room after the guard unlocked the door.

  The door shut and locked behind me and I couldn't help but feel an ominous twinge in my spine. He was sitting in front of the table that always divided us with his back slumped away from the chair and his elbows resting on his knees. He looked progressively worse each time I came to see him, but this time was different.

  Something was wrong.

  “Victor?” My voice came out shriveled and weak, so I tried again.

  No response.

  I took a seat down and reminded myself that if Sebastian saw me looking hesitant or scared for even a moment, he would come in to “rescue” me.

  “How are you feeling today?” I tried.

  He looked up and his expression wasn't one I had prepared myself for. The hollows underneath his eyes were deeper, shadowier. His mouth was curved into a thin, eerie smile and his gray eyes lacked their usual sharpness.

  “So it's complete.”

  I tried to make sense of his words, but couldn't. “I'm sorry?”

  “My brother's mark. You slept together.”

  My face grew warm. I wasn't sure why I felt so embarrassed admitting it. It wasn't something I was ashamed of.

  “He's my mate, Victor,” I said as gently as I could.

  “It was only a matter of time,” he murmured. He wasn't addressing me.

  “I guess so,” I replied anyway. “So, we've only got a little bit of time alone. I was hoping we could talk about getting you out of here.”

  “No need,” he said listlessly.

  “No need? I can't stand the thought of you being here one more day,” I said, reaching for his hand before I caught myself.

  He smiled dangerously. “Can't have my brother thinking I compelled you to hold my hand.”

  “He's just under a lot of stress, Victor. Now why don't we need to talk about convincing them to let you go?”

  He leaned in expectantly. I cast a quick glance over my shoulder to see that Sebastian was saying something to the guard and took the chance to lean in.

  “Because I can get out of here whenever I want,” he whispered.

  I straightened in my chair. Was he finally going nuts from whatever Sebastian had been depriving him of while he was down there? Food? Water? Sleep?

  No. Victor's mind was too strong to break after little more than a week. I was sure he had a breaking point – everyone did – but knew that Sebastian wasn't capable of being the one to find it.

  “Don't say that,” I whispered fearfully. “They'll just tighten security.”

  “How's your chest?” he asked.

  My thoughts whirled from the sudden change in subject. “I-it's fine.” My hand touched it unconsciously. “It's completely healed, actually.”

  He didn't seem surprised.

  “How much serum do you have left?”

  I had to think about it. “I forgot my dose last night, so uh, two vials, I guess?”

  “Don't forget. It's important.” He was earnest for a moment, but the lucidity passed in a flash and my Victor was gone once again.

  “I-I won't,” I promised. “Victor, I think I can get you out of here. Ulric told me he knows you didn't-”

  His eyes lit up with rage, stopping me short. At least it was an emotion.

  “The old man should learn to keep his mouth shut.”

  I recoiled in horror at his words. Ulric wasn't one to insist on formalities – not even with outsiders like me – but he was still the Alpha and I'd never seen someone disrespect him so blatantly.

  “Don't say that. He's on your side, I think. He said you were making some kind of sacrifice, that that's why you haven't tried to prove your innocence.”

  He was looking past me by that point.

  “Is that true?” I asked.

  His silence was as good as any other affirmation.

  “Why? Who are you trying to protect?”

  He made sudden eye contact. It felt like I was going to wither away if he held it any longer. “You.”

  That one word was like a punch to the gut. “Me? What? You're not making sense.”

  “I suspected something was up from the moment you stepped through the door. Those eyes, that skin... You look just like her in pictures.”

  “Who?”

  “Sarah.”

  “Who's Sarah?”

  “Coldest bloodsucking bitch you'll ever meet.” He was seething. I think he noticed my
discomfort, because he softened his tone a little. “Your opposite in every way. Except maybe those eyes.”

  “You're scaring me, Victor. Why do you hate her so much? And what does she have to do with me?”

  “She's the cause of all your problems and, if I'm right, the key to saving your life.”

  “Victor,” I said, leaning in as close as I could without triggering Sebastian's alarm. “I know you must be in a lot of pain right now, but I love you, even if it's not in the same way I love your brother. I know it doesn't seem like it, but we both do. Sebastian needs you out of here just as much as I do even if he won't admit it. Whatever you think you need to protect me from, this isn't the way. You can't protect me from here.”

  “No.” His agreement came as a shock, but I wasn't sure I trusted it.

  “Good. So just tell me what I have to do to get you out of here.”

  He smirked. “Only fifteen minutes left. You sure you want to waste them on trying to get me out?”

  I held his gaze firmly. “Absolutely.”

  He shook his head, chuckling. “You're a rare breed, love.” He leaned in and his intensity flared like a nuclear blast. “More than you have any idea.”

  I leaned away, my heart clattering against the wall of my chest. Maybe he really was crazy. Not that it mattered. It made me want to release him all the more – even if I had to break him out. A plan had been forming in my mind ever since Ulric had taken me on the staff elevator.

  “I need your help.”

  The urgency of my words surprised him, even in his current state. At least he was listening.

  “I have a plan to get you out of here, but I have no idea what to do once I get to the door. Was that true what you said before, about being able to get out?”

  He shrugged. “I would need someone on the outside to enter the codes, but yes.”

  I breathed a sigh of relief. This might actually work. “Okay, what are they?”

  “My brother is an idiot, so the front door is probably 06071991, the same as it's always been.”

  I froze. “Th-that's my birthday.”

  He gave me a strange half smile. “I know.”

  I filed that into the folder of answers to dig out of one of them later. Victor certainly wasn't an ideal subject for interrogation right then.

  “Okay, what's the code to this door?”

  “02181984.”

  “What's that?” I asked warily.

  “My birthday.”

  I flinched. This had to work. The stakes were too high. As hard as it was to live with the idea that an entire clan of vampires was dead because of me, it was even harder to think that I had broken apart twin brothers.

  “I'll be back tonight,” I whispered. “Just hang tight until then.”

  “I will.” He was being Oddly Casual Victor now. Great. Well, I'd take it over Creepy and Ominous Victor any time.

  “Good, because the spurts of psychic remodeling aren't doing enough,” I said, casting a glance out the window to see that Sebastian was growing restless. “I hate to do this to him, but I think the only way we're going to be able to prove you're not controlling me and make it possible for me to transform is to run away together.”

  “Sounds cozy.”

  I gave him a look. “This is serious, Victor. You're my friend and I'll do whatever it takes to get you out of here, but I- I love Sebastian.”

  It was the first time I had spoken the words to someone other than Sebastian after my spontaneous confession the night before.

  “Why?” It was a simple question, but it had no simple answer. It wasn't another jab at his brother, either. His sincerity forced me to answer.

  “I don't know,” I admitted. “He's honest, compassionate, sweet. He's enthusiastic about everything he does and he always makes me laugh.”

  “You are aware that you just described a dog, right?”

  I glared at him. “Funny. It's not just that. I don't know what it is, it's just that I've only known him for a few weeks but I feel like I've known him all my life. I know he'd do whatever it took to keep me safe.”

  “Except being here. He did nearly leave you to die in the woods so he could chase his prey, remember?”

  My nails dug into my thighs as a way to channel my building anger.

  “You said it yourself, he can't help it when he goes into that state.”

  “A lack of control is never an excuse.”

  “Maybe not in your world of leather whips and restraints. There's always a perfect way to do everything, but that's not the real world, Victor,” I muttered. “You can't live in that world.”

  He smirked. “You seemed perfectly content for it never to end when you were in my world.”

  “Tell you what, if we get out of here, find a way for me to transform and clear your name, I'll get down on my knees and call you Master all you want.”

  “But you'll be going back to my brother's bed at the end of it all.”

  I clenched my fists. “Victor, don't do this.”

  “It's the truth.”

  “Yes,” I gritted out.

  “It's always going to be him.”

  “Please-”

  “No matter what happened, it was him from the moment you met, wasn't it?”

  “Why do you want to hear this?”

  He leaned in. “You're never going to choose me and you never were. It was never even a choice, was it?”

  Tears streamed down my face as I clamped my hand over my mouth in a desperate attempt to keep a strangled sob at bay. “No,” I choked out finally. “It wasn't.”

  I struggled to find him through the tears. “Why did you make me say that?”

  The part I truly couldn't figure out was why it seemed to pain me more to say the words than it did for him to hear them.

  He smiled with a sort of self-defeating satisfaction. “I just needed to prove to myself that I'm not about to do this for the wrong reasons.”

  He may as well have been speaking Swahili at that point. His words and entire demeanor were beyond my comprehension at that point.

  I rubbed my eyes and tried to stop the tears. I only had a few more minutes before Sebastian would be coming in to get me, and I didn't want him to see me crying. Even if he would rightly assume the cause was Victor.

  “You'll be okay, kiddo.”

  For an instant, my Victor was back, but it wasn't a comfort. I knew he'd be gone soon enough. I decided it was in both of our best interest to say nothing.

  “Mind if I ask a question? Nothing to do with Sebastian, just something to satisfy a curiosity of mine.” He held his chained hands up as if proving he wasn't a threat. “Promise.”

  “I guess not.” Somehow I had a feeling it was going to be horrible anyway.

  “Want a drink?”

  There was barely any time for confusion to sat in before he tore into his own wrist with his teeth.

  I leaped out of my chair and staggered back in horror as his wrist dripped with blood. He was watching me intently, gauging my every reaction. My mouth hung open in shock, but I was too tired to even scream.

  The taste hit me even before the smell. A familiar crimson bouquet pooled in my nostrils like smoke and I could almost feel the silky liquid gliding over my tongue. My lip twitched as I had seen Sebastian's do so many times and I took a lurching step forward before I heard the high beeps of someone entering the door code.

  “Remus!” Sebastian's voice was muffle but barely. I turned to see him violently shaking the door handle as the guard struggled with the code. “Get away from him,” he roared, motioning me to the other side of the glass.

  I turned back to Victor, strangely disinterested what was going on behind me. Sebastian seemed to have moved on to pounding on the glass, and he was still screaming but I couldn't make out the words.

  Truth be told, I didn't really care what he was saying.

  Victor's wrist was still leaking profusely. It seemed like such a waste. I took another step forward, honed in on the artery th
at was pulsing out a fresh stream with every beat of his heart.

  I thought it was my pulse thundering in my temples, but I realized it was his. I could hear it, somehow. Strange.

  I really was close enough to taste it, then. My hand reached out on its own. Just a bit closer now and I could touch him.

  Sebastian was banging something into the glass then. The rhythm was fierce and steady, almost in time with Victor's pulse.

  He made no move to pull away as I dipped my fingertips in the waiting pool. The wrong hand hummed a familiar tune of burning pain but it didn't matter as I tapped the enticing elixir to my tongue.

  Like a first-time junkie, I was hooked. It felt like the injections I had been given multiplied a hundredfold, and it wasn't enough. I needed more.

  His wrist was there for the taking, so I grabbed it and brought it to my mouth to drink freely. Blood gushed into my mouth like a fountain, so much I could barely drink it all but I didn't want to waste a single drop.

  Victor flinched when my teeth dug into him, but this was his own doing. It was unfair to draw someone to the fountain of pleasure only to turn them away and tell them they'd had their fill.

  Instead, he began to stroke my hair and held me closer.

  “That answers that question,” he murmured in my ear.

  I moaned happily in reply. I wasn't really listening to a word he said, but words sounded so pleasant when he said them.

  The sound of glass shattering ruined all the fun, but I wasn't about to give up my newfound bounty without a fight. I could make out every little sound as Sebastian reached through the broken glass, unlocked the door and flung the door open.

  A new scent mingled with Victor's blood as Sebastian's arm began to bleed. I turned around only to find him barreling at me, his rage only outweighed by his horror.

  He snatched me into his huge arms and all but tossed me into the guard's. “Get him out of here,” he snarled.

  I struggled in the guard's arms to see the chaos as it began. Sebastian's arm reared back and his fist connected directly with Victor's jaw with a deafening crack.

  “No!” I screamed, thrashing to be released. The guard held me tight. “No, go stop him!”

  The door to the main room fell open and shut. “What the devil is going on here?” Ulric's voice boomed.