by H. M. Ward
“We go on foot from here.”
“What makes you think the tunnel is still there? It’s been centuries since it was buried by snow.” The King emerged from the car dressed in white. Out of curiosity, he focused on his fingers, his gaze narrowing as he directed heat to them. His gloved hand shimmered and disappeared. The King grinned widely. His body didn’t convert Kahli’s blood quickly, but when it did, he realized he was more and more like his old self.
Celticad watched as the King’s hand reappeared. The giant vampire smiled savagely, certain he chose the right side. “It stands to reason that the passages are still accessible. The Queen kept the terrain surrounding the palace very similar to the way it was before the flood. The permafrost is thinner here. She didn’t allow the snow and ice to build up, so the entrance should still be useable.”
The King nodded, noticing Celticad’s smile. As they walked onto the Queen’s property, the King said over his shoulder, “Kill anyone that gets in your way. I don’t care who it is. By sunrise, there will be a new monarch.”
“Yes, my King.” Celticad’s voice was tense with a hint of excitement. He towered over the King, following a few steps behind, watching the blinding terrain as they walked to the South side of the palace. The wind howled like a caged beast, whipping flakes of snow into the air. The King continued on like he wasn’t blinded by the white flecks. When they were nearly to the garden, Celticad pushed in front of the King. Neither of them spoke. Celticad lifted a large white hand, indicating that the King should wait, but the King had no such intention.
When they reached the top of the snow bank at the South wall, there were two guards. One was on the tower constructed for the Purging. “How predictable,” the King muttered, disappointed. The vamp on the wall had a good vantage point, but the wind made it difficult to see. Before Celticad could do anything, the King was gone. Glancing around frantically, Celticad finally saw the monarch at the top of the tower. The other vampire was in his hands with a river of black blood dripping from his neck. Celticad’s throat tightened. He watched the King rip out the vampire’s throat with his fangs. In one swift movement, the guard was dead. The King held onto the vamp’s lifeless body, watching the blackened blood soak into the snow. A smile snaked across the King’s lips and he tossed the guard aside. Signaling to Celticad, the King intended to march forward, but Celticad shook his head and pointed to the garden wall. There was movement. He couldn’t tell how many vampires lay in wait on the other side of the wall, but there was no way they failed to see their comrade on the ice castle slaughtered.
The King sighed as he saw Celticad signal back to him. There were more guards. What a nuisance, he thought. Careful not to use too much of his strength, the King ran from the tower to the garden wall. The wind stung his face as he sprinted, the ice crystals digging into his skin as they fell from the sky. Celticad tried to get him to wear a mask, but the King wanted the others to see him coming. He wanted the Queen to see his power. They should fear him.
Celticad was fit for a vampire in the post-flood world, but he had none of the old powers. He chugged, exerting his huge body at full speed across the snow. It took him a few minutes to meet the King, and he was huffing furiously when he got there. The King sneered at his ally, “Really, Celticad. We’ll have to do something about that once the throne is mine. I can’t have my commanding officer bouncing around like a walrus.”
“Sir?” Celticad’s face pinched in confusion. Ice crystals clung to his eyebrows making them look white.
The King considered giving Celticad some of Kahli’s blood once he found her, but only enough to enhance his power. Celticad would be stronger than the other vampires, but still weaker than the King. While the King could move swiftly, his body practically flying through the air at top speed, his second in command ran like an injured beast. That needed to be fixed.
The King’s lips curled into a smile, “Blood, my friend. I’ll see to it that you have more power than the others, more blood. Some of the old ways will be yours.”
If this pleased Celticad, he didn’t show it. He simply nodded curtly, “As you wish, my King.”
The King glanced at the top of the wall. There was no entrance on this side of the garden. They’d have to go over the top. From where they stood, the wall of ice stretched into the sky, towering high above them. The South wall was always the most vulnerable point at the palace. Sophia had to know he was coming in this way, but where were her guards?
“How many?” the King asked.
“The visual confirmed two, but the Queen had to place more here. This wall blinds them to the world beyond.”
The King stroked his chin as he looked into the inky darkness behind them. “She may not have put proper guards here. I took most of her better men last night. She’s weak, unprotected.” The King glanced at the top of the wall again. The wind whipped his dark hair wildly around his face. “Wait here,” he commanded. Grinning, the King bent his knees like he was going to jump across a puddle. When he sprang, his slender body launched into the air like a rocket. The King landed on the icy turret at the top of the wall. Before jumping down, he looked back at Celticad with delight in his golden eyes.
Celticad didn’t want to wait there, but he did as he was told. There were a few muffled noises that were obscured by the wind. When Celticad looked at the top of the wall, sharp flakes of snow fell into his eyes, but he didn’t look away. Agitated, he felt useless waiting around, while the King went over the wall alone, but Celticad couldn’t jump like that. The King practically flew over the icy wall and landed soundlessly on the other side. A noise caught Celticad’s ear and he leaned closer to the wall, trying to identify the sound. Next to his eye, a small fissure appeared in the white wall. Celticad leaned closer, watching it spider into several directions before the wall made a loud cracking sound. Celticad stumbled back, his arm covering his face as the section of wall exploded. Shards of ice flew past his eyes, nearly blinding him. When he lowered his arm, Celticad saw a small opening in the wall where the crack had been. It gave way. Caving in, the hole expanded and formed a passage big enough for him to walk through. He didn’t wait for the air to clear. Keeping his arm at his eyes, Celticad walked through the floating debris and emerged on the other side of the wall. The King stood there with three dead vampires at his feet. Their blackened blood soaked into the ice, staining it like ink spilled from a bottle.
“Where is the tunnel?” the King snapped, looking at the ground, like a door would magically fling open just because he asked.
“In this garden. It’s part of the history of this place, a reason why the Queen chose it. Caverns were vast in this part of the country, often stretching underground for miles. We aren’t looking for a small tunnel, we’re looking for the entrance to a cavern.” Celticad spoke with certainty as his eyes scanned the landscape.
The King was tense, moving swiftly through the garden, but he didn’t see any way in. Before they had much time to look a voice crackled to life. The noise came from the communicator on one of the dead vamp’s body’s, “Report. Over.”
The King looked at Celticad. They’d know he was here any moment. There were two posts down on this side of the palace. He didn’t have time for this. As if he read the King’s mind, Celticad walked over to the vamp and lifted the white box from his belt. Pressing the button on the side, Celticad said something the King knew to be a report, but the way that it was spoken concerned him. The report had to be given a certain way, parts of it in code. Celticad spoke fluently, like he’d done this many times before. Celticad knew the Queen’s codes. While the King didn’t know all of the code, he knew enough of it to recognize it when he heard it spoken.
When Celticad finished, he said, “Over,” and clicked the thing off, tossing it to the ground on top of the dead vampires. Every single one was killed the same way—decapitation. Vacant eyes were still open in shock, like they couldn’t believe that they were attacked.
“When were you in the Queen’s gua
rd?” the King asked suspiciously, ready to destroy one more vampire. Another body was nothing, not with his power.
“After I was turned,” Celticad replied, his voice angry.
“Then, why should I trust you?” the King asked, gaze narrowing. He didn’t expect the vampire to speak truthfully. He expected lies, a faulty reason why he knew the Queen’s code.
“You shouldn’t,” Celticad said plainly. The large vampire looked directly into the King’s face as he spoke, not making any apologies for his past. “You’d be a fool if you trusted anyone. Make no pretense for me, your Majesty. Assume I’d kill you, if I had the power. You’ll live longer.” Wind whipped Celticad’s dark hair. He stood rigid, ready for the King to attack.
After a moment, the side of the King’s lips pulled up into a sadistic smile, “A man after my own heart.”
Celticad nodded once. “Exactly,” he said gruffly. “Now, let’s find that door before someone realizes we’re here.”
CHAPTER 29
“This is stupid, Reggie.” Kahli grumbled for the fourteenth time in five minutes. The guards already spotted their vehicle and they were being escorted toward the palace, flanked by the Queen’s vampires. They were surrounded by various forms of snow mobiles and ice bikes like the one Will rode when he chased her from here the other night. There were six, total. That was too many to overpower or outrun. Turning their fate over like this made Kahli nervous. It meant relying on a person that was totally crazy. Reggie was guessing his sister’s next move, but that meant she was predictable and in the short time Kahli was at the palace, the one thing she learned for certain was that Sophia was completely unpredictable.
Reggie ignored her. He continued to drive slowly toward the palace. Speaking to Will, he said, “I’d question your loyalty after all this. If you didn’t have my rune scarring your shoulder, I would have thought you were trying to help her escape.”
Will glanced at Reggie out of the corner of his eye. “And, go where?”
Reggie didn’t look at him, but Kahli did. Her green gaze was burning a hole in the side of his face. She’d know everything—he offered her that—if he’d bitten her. Looking down at the seat, her eyes fell on Will’s hands. They were strong and smooth. There was no trace that he was thrown from a motorcycle yesterday. Her blood healed him. She wondered if Reggie knew how much blood Will had drank from her.
Reggie made a noise that sounded like he was clearing his throat. “You shouldn’t have been able to do it—go after her, I mean.”
“It didn’t violate your loyalty, Reggie. If anything, risking my life to save Kahli proved the opposite.” Will’s blue eyes were narrowed, watching the guards as they drove. If Kahli didn’t know better, she’d have thought he was counting them, getting a vamp total as they drove. She was doing the same thing. So far there were six vampires, plus Reggie, plus two guard posts. That didn’t include those she couldn’t see, the vampires that lined the perimeter of the palace at other posts. And as they got closer to the palace, Kahli knew that number would only go up. Escape was looking less and less likely.
“This is stupid,” Kahli said again, gazing out the window, her eye catching another guard. The vampire was large, dressed in white. He looked like a snowman walking through a snow globe. The wind whipped up the snow, swirling it in the air and making visibility completely awful. Nightfall made it worse. Reggie’s headlights only blinded them, reflecting back in their faces. He switched them off again and they traveled toward the palace, darkness falling around them like a thick blanket.
“What would you have us do?” Reggie finally asked, his head turning to Kahli. She’d pulled her knees to her chest and had her hands gripped tightly. Her fingers were white.
When he asked her, she released her legs and looked at him. “Are you serious?”
“No, I’m joking,” Reggie said dryly. Then he snapped, “Of course, I’m serious. It’s not like your plan would have been better, but since you keep mentioning it and we have a ways to go—”
Kahli rolled her eyes. “All of us going in together, walking straight through the front door is stupid. You’re relying on Sophia being predictable. You see the problem?” She sighed and pushed her hair out of her face. “She’s crazy. She’s going to do whatever she wants. If she feels like killing all three of us, you’re the only one who can fight her, and we aren’t even sure of that.”
“I am,” Reggie muttered.
“Well excuse me if I’m not willing to throw my life in your hands. I seriously doubt Will would have opted for this plan either.”
“He could have protested.”
“He did, you ass. You blew him off.” Kahli’s tongue was sharp. She plowed ahead, ignoring Reggie’s reaction to her foul mouth. “There are too many unknowns. Last night when I left, I killed three guards. The King was still alive. He’s a factor, too. And the number of guards on the grounds is insane. Have you ever seen this many vampires outside the palace? Where’d they come from? I’ve never seen so many in one place before.” They drove up the road, passing vampires dressed in guard uniforms every few feet. Reggie glanced around, like he hadn’t noticed. “You knew she was expecting an attack, didn’t you? So, what’s your plan, Reggie? Walk up to her and stab her in the heart?”
Reggie sighed. His shoulders slumped forward like he was tired of driving. “Will, explain to her what we’re doing.”
Will glanced at Kahli. She wanted to talk to him so badly. There were so many things to ask. He was loyal to so many people. What would happen to him when he stood before all of them, and they all told him to kill each other? Which rune would win? Did it work like that? Kahli didn’t know.
“I have no idea what we’re doing. I agree with Kahli. This is reckless. The best I can come up with is that you offer the Queen your services and a peace offering—me and Kahli—and hope she doesn’t lop your head off before you finish speaking. Sorry, Reggie, but that’s a weak plan.”
Reggie didn’t speak. Kahli looked horrified when she turned back to Reggie. “That’s it? Are you insane?”
“Blood of a feather, kills together,” he said.
Kahli’s lip curled. She glanced at Will and mouthed, Is he crazy, too?
“Maybe,” Will smirked. “We’ll have to wait and see. Since, Reggie prides himself on being smarter than everyone else, we just have to hope he is.”
Kahli exhaled loudly, “How can you be so calm?”
“What would you have me do?” Will asked.
Kahli looked at him. She didn’t want Will in that throne room. She knew what he was, what Reggie planned on doing with him. Will was a walking sacrifice, a slave. He threw himself through Reggie’s window to save her, but by putting himself in Reggie’s presence, he endangered himself. If the vampire wanted to, Reggie could destroy him. There were so many things she wanted to say to Will. Now she’d never have the chance. Glancing through the front windshield, Kahli knew this was her last chance. The gates were getting closer, looming in the distance like charred bones jutting from the snow.
Kahli made sure she didn’t glance at the door this time. Instead she smiled sadly at Will, only one corner of her lips rising. “Something else, somewhere else. I have a feeling that I’m going to be your undoing.” Without warning, Kahli grabbed the door handle and pushed.
Will’s brow pinched together before his eyes widened. “Don’t!” he yelled, snatching at her hand, but Kahli already had the door open, and had thrown herself out.
Her body slammed into the ice, and rolled toward the bank, careful to avoid the other vehicles. The snowmobile to the right of the truck nearly ran her over, but it veered at the last second and crashed into the snow bank. Gasping, Kahli jumped to her feet. She threw herself over the top of the snow bank on the side of the road, clinging to the ice as she went, and slid down the other side. Jumping to her feet, Kahli ran into the darkness.
Reggie continued driving. He didn’t even brake. A growling noise filled the cab. Will slammed his head back into the seat
, frustrated, his hands pressing into his eyes hard and muttering curses.
“Well?” Reggie asked, irritated. “Go after her! None of this works if we show up without her. Go!” The truck slowed and Will jumped out the door, flinging himself from the truck. Reggie yelled, as he leaned across to yank to the door closed, “Find her!”
Kahli ran hard, her feet getting just enough traction to keep her from sliding on the ice. The new layer of fresh snow helped. Heart pounding against her ribs, Kahli ran. She ran away from the vehicles and into the orchard where the snow mobiles and bikes couldn’t follow. It was too dark and the snow was falling too hard. Visibility sucked, and that was the only thing working in her favor. As it was, she barely had a head start, but it was enough that the vampires didn’t find her right away.
A plan started to form in her mind, coming together like pieces of wet paper. She shifted them around in her head until she came up with a scenario that worked, and gave her a chance to get to Cassie. Grinning like she was crazy, Kahli thought, It doesn’t matter if they find me, I just have to get to the palace first.
