Fight for Blood (Blood Origins Book 2)

by Tiffany Heiser

  won’t deny I had my hopes! The third trial has claimed better

  women than you, Rena Vesten.”

  She knew my name. Well, perhaps that was no surprise.

  Everyone here seemed to know who I was. I was a famous face. I

  was going to be the queen.

  And suddenly I understood who she was, too.

  The wild eyes. The blood on her face. The death and

  destruction all around. Surely, there was only one person who could

  have caused these things. There was only one person who would

  have caused these things.

  But how had she come to be here? She was supposed to be

  locked away for her own safety.

  Or for the safety of others, I thought, suddenly chilled. That hadn’t occurred to me when Cryder had told me her story. I had

  never thought she might be dangerous. I had only thought how sad it

  was, what had happened to her.

  It was a shocking oversight on my part.

  “You’re Cryder’s aunt,” I said. “Aren’t you? You’re the

  queen’s sister.”

  The woman raised her eyebrows. “My fame precedes me,

  then?” “Cryder told me about you.” I wondered if it was a mistake

  to engage with her. But then again, talking to her was definitely

  safer than anything else she might have wanted to do with me. “He

  told me you took the trials years ago.”

  “Did he?” To my surprise, she sounded delighted. “What a

  story to tell his poor, innocent girlfriend, about to sit through the trials herself! That couldn’t have made you feel very confident about the process.” She touched a finger to her chin, seeming not even to

  notice the blood there. “But perhaps he didn’t want you to feel

  confident,” she said. “Perhaps he wanted to see you fail.”

  “Cryder would never sabotage me,” I said. “He would never

  do anything to hurt me.”

  “Is that what you think?” she asked “You think you’re

  loved? You think the royal family cares for you, wants what’s best

  for you? Poor, silly little girl. They don’t care about you. They don’t 88

  Fight for Blood

  care about anyone.”

  “They do care,” I insisted, feeling like I was about to go to

  pieces. “They wanted me to do well in the trials…”

  “Of course, that’s what they said,” she said, her eyes

  narrowing. “They said the same to me. My sister sat there while I

  went through the trials. She kissed my forehead before I went under

  and said Moira, I hope you do well.”

  “Maybe she meant it,” I said. “Giorgia is kind. She’s a good

  queen. She would never wish anyone harm.”

  “She wanted to be queen,” Moira said. “That’s all she cared

  about. It didn’t matter to her if I lived or died, so long as I didn’t succeed in my ambition to rule. And you, little girl—they don’t care what happens to you. They want to use you. That’s all it is. They

  want you to fill the role they think you should have in their

  kingdom. But your happiness? Your wellbeing? They don’t care for

  those things. Not an ounce.”

  “You’re wrong.” But did I know that for sure? I wanted to

  say that I knew with complete confidence that everyone here at the

  palace wanted the best for me.

  But how sure could I really be of that?

  I had only met the king and queen a few days ago. They

  hardly knew me at all. I didn’t think they wished me any particular

  harm, but of course they had to put a premium on the safety and

  security of their people. If it came down to what was best for the

  town or what was best for me, they would choose the town. And I

  wouldn’t even blame them. Any good ruler would prioritize the

  needs of the many over the needs of one girl.

  What about Drake? He wasn’t a ruler, and he had been a

  good friend to me in the time I’d known him. But we weren’t

  exactly close. Drake was much, much older than I was. I was a blip

  in his life, relatively speaking. How much emotional investment

  could he really have in me?

  Cryder. Cryder loves me.

  Yes. Of that I was sure. I couldn’t doubt Cryder’s love. He

  had come to America to find me. He had saved my life, more than

  once.

  89

  Fight for Blood

  And there was Cecile. My best friend. My sister. Looking at

  Moira, taking in her twisted, wicked looking smile and the blood on

  her face, I knew that the relationship I had with Cecile was one she couldn’t possibly understand.

  Maybe she and Giorgia had been real sisters once.

  But I doubted it. Cecile would never try to steal a throne

  from me. She wouldn’t even take my hairspray without asking first.

  I turned my mind from the question and back to the scene of

  disaster that surrounded me. “You’re not supposed to be here,” I

  managed. “Cryder told me. You’re supposed to be—”

  “Incarcerated? Oh, that’s true enough. They tried to lock me

  away, but I escaped.” She smiled again. That smile made the hair on

  the back of my neck stand up. “I made it back to the palace. This

  palace is my home too, you know. I grew up here. Just like your

  precious queen.”

  “Why did you come back?”

  “Why did I come back to my home?” Her voice dropped to a

  snarl. “I have more right to be here than you do, you silly human

  girl.” “I’m not—” What could I say? I was human, wasn’t I? I didn’t know how much of my humanity remained, but I knew that I

  didn’t have the strength or the speed or the natural immortality that the rest of my friends had. That Moira had. I was hopelessly outmatched here. I couldn’t hope to win in a fight against her. I

  wouldn’t even be able to hold my own.

  The best I could hope for was to keep her distracted, on the

  off chance Cryder and the others were still alive and were trying to do something that could help the situation. Maybe they were trying

  to make it to safety. I would sacrifice myself if it meant that they could live. “What have you done?” I asked Moira. “So many

  dead...It’s your doing, isn’t it?”

  Moira trailed a finger through the blood on her chin as

  casually as if she were wiping away a bit of chocolate, then sucked

  her finger clean. I felt like vomiting. “You’ll have to forgive my

  rudeness,” she said. “I was hungry.”

  “Hungry? What do you mean, hungry?” The truth of her

  90

  Fight for Blood

  meaning struck me suddenly, with a burst of horror. “You killed

  them to eat them? That’s what happened here?”

  Oh my God. Oh, Cryder. Cecile.

  I felt my knees begin to buckle and grabbed the column next

  to me to hold myself upright. It was too much. Too much to take in.

  This morning, Moira had been nothing but a myth, a cautionary tale

  to prepare me for the intensity of the trials. I had pitied her, but I had never thought to fear her.

  Now she stood before me, and I had never been more

  frightened in my life. Not even when I had faced Bristol. Back then I hadn’t fully understood what I was up against. I hadn’t known the

  full truth about the vampire world and my own place in it. But I

  knew now what people like Moira were capable of.

  And I knew that the blo
od of a royal—blood like mine—

  would only make her stronger.

  That was why Bristol had been after me. He had wanted my

  blood for its particular potency.

  Oh God. Where is Cryder?

  If Moira had really come here to feed on the blood of royals,

  then Cryder wasn’t safe. And neither were his parents.

  Neither was I. But I had already accepted that fact. If Moira

  decided to attack me, there would be nothing I could do to hold her

  off. I would be dead, probably before I even knew I’d been attacked.

  If only I could have somehow maintained the strength I’d

  had during the second trial, when I’d had to fight that man on the

  roof of the building. I had felt so sure of myself during that fight. So competent and capable. I had felt as though I could take on anything.

  Could I really take on Moira, though? If I had those powers

  at my disposal?

  Something in me thought that maybe I could.

  And now a strange feeling was growing within me. From the

  day I had met Cryder, from the moment I had learned my true nature

  and purpose, I had understood that I was something between human

  and vampire. I didn’t have the immortality and the strength that my

  vampire friends had. And yet, I would never be fully human, like my

  friends at school. Like Cecile’s mother, who had been as good as a

  91

  Fight for Blood

  mother to me.

  That had always felt like something to mourn. A great loss.

  But now, looking at this wicked woman who had caused so

  much harm and devastation, who was even now threatening the lives

  of my friends and family, I yearned for power.

  I wanted to be strong.

  I wanted to be immortal.

  I wanted to bring the full might of a vampire queen to bear

  against her. I wanted her to suffer, to be punished for the things she had done. I wanted to exact a price in blood for the people who had

  died here.

  Moira was smiling at me. “What are you thinking, little

  human?”

  I’m not human.

  “You’re thinking of trying to fight me, aren’t you?” she said,

  her lips spreading in a grin that displayed her bloody teeth. “You’re thinking it might be a good idea to take me on.”

  I didn’t answer. What could I say?

  “I wouldn’t advise it,” she said. “Not unless you wish to die.

  And I warn you, little human queen, I won’t make it quick. It won’t

  be painless. My life hasn’t been painless, and I see no reason why

  yours should be.”

  My life hasn’t been painless. But I couldn’t bring myself to say the words. Arguing with Moira might push her over the edge.

  And whatever she might think, whatever my instincts might be

  screaming at me right now, I did not want this to come to blows. It was a fight I knew I couldn’t win.

  “You needn’t die here,” Moira said. She raised a hand to her

  mouth and picked something from between her teeth. I didn’t even

  want to think about what it might be. “I didn’t come here to kill

  you.” “Then why did you come?” I asked. My voice shook, and I

  wished I could have spoken with more confidence. I knew she could

  hear my fear, too, because of the way her smile widened.

  “That would be giving away the ending,” she said. “You

  wouldn’t want me to do that, would you? It would ruin the surprise.”

  92

  Fight for Blood

  “I don’t like surprises,” I managed.

  “A shame. I feel surprises are one of the most exciting things

  in life. Perhaps you’re just not looking at it the right way,” she

  suggested, her tone friendly and innocuous now, as if she was just

  trying to help me out. Maybe she was. She was crazy, after all. It

  should come as no surprise to see her mood swing wildly from one

  moment to the next.

  “How should I be looking at it?” I asked. Keep her talking. I had no idea what else was going on in the palace, where my friends

  were, what the guards were doing. I had no idea what Moira’s plans

  were. But I knew that as long as she was talking to me, she wasn’t

  hurting anybody else.

  Maybe that was the best I could hope for right now.

  “You should be looking at it like this,” Moira said. “A

  surprise means you don’t know the ending yet. A surprise means it

  might be better than you hoped.”

  It might also be a lot worse. But saying so felt like a jinx, like I would be putting ideas into her head. That was the last thing I wanted. “Where is everyone?” I asked. I tried to make the question

  sound like a demand, like I was already royal, and I was ordering

  her to give me the information I sought, but instead I just sounded

  like a terrified little girl.

  “Everyone?” she asked. “Everyone is dead. Look around

  you, little human.”

  “I don’t mean them,” I said. “I mean the king and queen. I

  mean Cryder. My friends. Where are they? What have you done

  with them?”

  She shook her head. “Can’t spoil the ending, I’m afraid.”

  “Tell me if they’re alive,” I said. I was begging now, and I

  knew it, but I was beginning to feel insane myself. “Just tell me that.

  Are they still alive?”

  “I know you want answers,” Moira said. “Every living being

  does. But we don’t always get what we want, do we? I wanted to

  rule, and I got a lockup facility instead. You want to know where

  your friends are, and instead you get to deal with me. It seems

  unfair, doesn’t it?”

  93

  Fight for Blood

  “Just tell me what you want,” I said. “Just tell me that. What

  do you want me to do?”

  “What makes you think I want anything from you?”

  “You’ve been standing here talking to me since I came out,”

  I said. “You’re the one who approached me. You must have wanted

  something.”

  She grinned. “You’re a clever one. I might have known

  Cryder would make a wise choice when he selected his queen.” She

  wrapped her arm around my shoulder. I felt like vomiting, but I

  forced myself not to. “Let’s sit and chat, shall we?”

  94

  Fight for Blood

  Chapter Thirteen

  Moira led me into the throne room.

  The moment I realized where we were going, I wanted to

  struggle away from her. I wanted to break free of the arm that still pinned me to her side. It felt treasonous to be in this room with

  Moira. Worse than treasonous. It felt blasphemous.

  This room belonged to Giorgia and Samuele. This was the

  room that was being gifted to me and Cryder. I hadn’t been here

  long, but already I could feel the weight and the importance of this place. Already, I could understand what this room meant to the

  people of La Oscurità.

  And I was here with a murderer.

  Moira walked across the room as if it were any room in the

  world, as if she had no understanding of what this place meant to

  anybody. She strode up to Giorgia’s throne—the throne that would

  one day have been mine—and dropped into it like it was a cheap

  recliner. I hated her in that moment.

  Before, out in the foyer, I had feared
her, and I had felt anger

  over what she had done to the people in this castle and the people I loved. But that was nothing compared to the anger I felt now.

  Before, I had felt human anger. Normal anger.

  95

  Fight for Blood

  This was something else.

  This was wild, pulsing, too big to be contained within my

  body, and it ripped out of me in a feral snarl that I didn’t recognize.

  A part of me, detached and stunned, wondered if I could have

  possibly made such a sound.

  She regarded me, then let out a soft chuckle. “You’re angry,

  little one.”

  I was beyond words. I felt my lip curl up, baring my teeth. I

  was appalled at myself. I was behaving like an animal.

  But she’s sitting in my chair.

  It was more than just that. She was sitting in Giorgia’s chair.

  Cryder’s mother. She had tried to get there by approved, legal

  means, and she’d failed, and now she had staged a coup.

  She shouldn’t be there. She didn’t deserve to be there.

  I wanted to grab her by the throat—grab her by the throat

  with my teeth—and tear her away from the seat she hadn’t earned.

  “Hmm,” she purred. “I see what Cryder likes about you, girl.

  You are strong. You are a royal. I’ll bet your blood is a real rush.”

  She grinned, bloody lips parting, red-stained teeth showing.

  I wasn’t afraid of her. Not anymore. I wanted to tear through

  her. But how could I be feeling these things? I had never felt like this before in my life. I didn’t even know that I had these responses in me, that I was capable of this kind of violent reaction. I didn’t recognize myself.

  What was happening?

  But I liked the aggression. It made me feel powerful. It made

  me feel like I had some measure of control over this situation. It

  distracted me from the worry at the back of my mind, clamoring for

  my attention, that something unspeakable had happened to my

  family. No. I couldn’t allow my mind to go there. I couldn’t think

  about Cryder and Cecile and the rest of them now. I leaned into the

  anger instead, letting it fuel me. I hoped it showed clearly on my

  face how close to snapping I was. I hoped Moira was afraid of me.

  She should be afraid of me.

  96

  Fight for Blood

  That was insanity. Of course, she shouldn’t fear me. She had

  no reason to. She was a vampire, and I was nothing but a weak,