The Vampire Gift 3: Throne of Dust

by E. M. Knight

  To my relief, none are.

  After a long and trying passage, I find myself near the ruined castle. I get the smallest whiff of blood. My body straightens like an arrow, and I race toward it.

  The mad rush meets a humiliating end. My knee collides with a jutting boulder. The unexpected impact sends me to the ground. Pain rushes through my leg, and I curse, hating my futility, hating my pervasive weakness.

  It takes a gargantuan effort to pull myself up to hands and knees. I begin to crawl. Pathetic. But it is safer than running, for a blind vampire.

  I tilt my head up and take a series of deep breaths, searching for that lingering scent of blood.

  It’s coming from beneath an enormous pile of rocks. I begin heaving them away. Each one I cast aside makes the scent a little bit stronger.

  The promise of blood energizes me. I move with a newfound vitality. Even if I can’t see, I begin to form an impression of the place I am in, drawing upon all my remaining senses to do so.

  I cast the final stone away and find it. A tiny pool of human blood. Most has leaked through the cracks in the porous earth, but this tiny reservoir remains.

  I sniff at it, first, to make sure it isn’t tainted. It’s not.

  Once that reassurance hits, I dive down and begin to suck at it through dry, parched lips.

  The first drop hits my tongue, and immediately I know where the blood came from. It was of Mother’s private stores. The most valuable blood in all the kingdom…

  I finish the last of it. There wasn’t much, but what I had immediately makes me stronger. I wait anxiously to see if my useless eyes might pierce the dark once more.

  They do not. The entire world remains shielded away from me.

  I mutter a curse and haul myself away. I know that the longer I remain, the more I risk. So I stand and taste the air, searching for the hint of a breeze that might lead me out… out and away from battle.

  Chapter Three

  RAUL

  DEEP BENEATH THE HAVEN

  I come to with an enormous gasp. My chest feels like it’s filled with ice. I have no sensation in any body part below my waist.

  Alarm rips through me—but not for myself. For the villagers. For my coven vampires.

  For Eleira.

  “I’m right here,” she says.

  I turn in surprise. Sitting at the side of the bed is the girl I live for.

  Seeing her there, alive and well, makes all the chaos in my head quiet down. For a moment, everything is at peace.

  She takes my hand. “You’ve been muttering my name for days,” she tells me with a weary smile.

  Wait. Days?

  “She hasn’t left your side once,” Phillip adds.

  I look past her and see my younger brother. He looks absolutely exhausted. And with that, my mind is back on overdrive, and I grapple with everything that I must have missed.

  “The battle!” I exclaim. “What happened?”

  “We won,” Phillip says grimly. He rubs the side of his face.

  There’s something he’s not telling me. “But?” I ask. I turn to Eleira, who’s suddenly taken a great interest in a spot on the floor.

  “But…” Phillip exhales. “It came at a cost.”

  “Cost? What cost?” I try to push myself up and am surprised when my body doesn’t immediately respond.

  “Your injuries, for one,” Phillip says.

  “Forget them,” I growl. “I’m alive. I will heal. What happened to the humans? The Convicted? And—” I look around the darkened, unfamiliar room. “Where are we?”

  “In a palace, carved deep underground.” My Mother’s voice rings out from the shadows. “One of the last available strongholds of The Haven.”

  I peer at her. “I didn’t know there was such a thing,” I say.

  “Many do not,” is her vague response. “For the longest time, I thought none did, other than me. I was proven wrong.”

  She sounds even more exhausted than Phillip looks.

  “Wait,” I say. “This doesn’t add up. Why are you all here? I mean, I appreciate the concern—” I squeeze Eleira’s hand, “—but if I was out for days, and Phillip is here, and so is –”

  “The Queen?” Mother interrupts. She gives a small and fragile laugh. “How can The Haven be ruled if its most powerful vampires are locked underground? Is that what you’re asking?”

  I try to push myself up again. Apprehension takes hold. “Yes. Exactly that.”

  Eleira, Phillip, and Mother all look at each other. The silence is deafening.

  “What aren’t you telling me?” I ask, my voice low and dangerous. I look around the room. “Who else knows about this place?”

  “Apparently, Smithson does,” Mother says. “After the fight was over, he and his guards—my guards—escorted us down here.” She waves a hand around the room. “We’ve been locked away ever since.”

  My gut clenches. I never have trusted the vampire Mother took in as Captain Commander.

  “We’re prisoners?” I ask, the disbelief filling my voice.

  “That’s not how they put it,” Phillip says. “We’re here for our own ‘protection.’ While The Haven is under threat, its royalty must be kept safe, was the explanation we were given.”

  “So it’s a rebellion,” I say. I look at my Mother, “I warned you this would happen!”

  “Raul…” Eleira says my name, trying to calm me.

  “No,” I snarl. I point a finger at The Queen. “This is her fault! We’ve been here for days? Lord! But you said we won the fight. Fill me in. Tell me what happened.”

  Mother just glares at me but doesn’t talk. It falls upon Phillip to give an explanation.

  “You rallied The Haven’s vampires against The Convicted. That act of bravery gained you respect. It might be the only reason any of us are still alive.”

  “We fought The Convicted,” Eleira steps in. “All of us, until they all fell. But there were casualties on all sides…”

  “How many?” I ask.

  “Most of the humans are dead,” Mother says without emotion. “And nearly forty vampires were killed.”

  Forty vampires. The number staggers me. I feel like I’ve been punched in the gut.

  “That’s nearly a tenth of our coven,” I breathe.

  “So you can see why the survivors would be unhappy,” Phillip says. “Smithson rallied them together when you were found unconscious. He now holds command of the Royal Court.

  “They’re all eating from the palm of his hand,” Mother spits. “It’s despicable.”

  “But you’re still Queen,” I insist. “The rule is still yours!”

  “With the castle fallen? And the wards broken?” She shakes her head. “Being Queen accounts for precious little in the aftermath, I’m sorry to say.”

  “The wards are broken?” I gasp. “But—but they’re the only thing keeping The Haven safe! Without them, we’re exposed to the outside world, and, and—”

  “Trust me, Raul,” Mother says. “We know. They know. In fact, we suspect that’s the reason Eleira and I are still alive.”

  “They need us to resurrect the wards,” Eleira says. She makes a point of not looking at the Queen. “But I haven’t been taught how.”

  “Girl, it’s not as easy as muttering a few special words and flapping your hands around,” Morgan snaps. This sounds, like an argument they’ve had before.

  “Well, maybe if you told me what to do, I could try,” Eleira fires back.

  “Easy, easy,” Phillip says, stepping between the two women. “There’s no use turning on each other. They’d want to fracture us. We have to stay strong.”

  “Phillip’s right,” I say. “Unity is the only thing that will keep us from breaking.” For the third time, I try pushing myself up, and—once again—discover my body unwilling to respond.

  I grunt. “Why can’t I move my legs?”

  Mother flows up to me. She takes Eleira’s spot at my side. “We were hoping,” she says, pulling
away the blanket covering my lower body, “that you could tell us exactly that.”

  My pants have been stripped away and my legs are bare. I suck in a sharp breath when I see my left leg.

  There is an angry, pulsing wound running over my quad, from my hip right down to my knee. The skin around it is black and corrupted.

  Beside me, Eleira makes a choked sound a lot like a cry.

  I bring a hand forward and poke the flesh at the side—I feel nothing. No nerve impulse, no pressure—nothing at all.

  Mother swats my hand away before I get another chance. “Don’t touch it!” she hisses. “Do you want to make it worse?”

  “They found you passed out and bleeding after the battle,” Phillip says. “But none could remember seeing what happened—or what did this.” He gestures at the wound.

  “Raul, listen to me,” Mother says. “I’ve devoted all the magical energy I have to keeping you alive these last few days. This is no ordinary wound. Silver alone could not have done this.” She looks me right in the eyes. “We’ve been waiting for you to wake so you can tell us exactly how you sustained it. If you do not—you will die.”

  This time there is absolutely no mistaking it: Eleira starts to cry.

  Chapter Four

  RAUL

  DEEP BENEATH THE HAVEN

  I spend the next hour or two relaying as much as I can about the fight with the massive vampire.

  I tell them about the weapon. Mother presses me on it, wanting to know every last detail. But no matter how much I tell her, it doesn’t seem to be enough.

  “There has to be more to it,” she stresses. “It was not an ordinary blade.”

  “I’ve been telling you as much!” I exclaim. I’m starting to feel extremely frightened. Eleira and Phillip have retreated to whisper together in a far corner of the room. “It glowed blue, but just faintly, and—“

  “You think that description helps?” Morgan hisses. Her impatience is showing, too. “A blue glow is just something the untrained mind imagines it sees in the presence of a spell being cast! It’s an illusion, it’s not descriptive; it doesn’t help me. True magic is a swirl of colors and patterns in a pulse of gossamer threads and fantastic shapes. A single spell makes a beautiful kaleidoscope, a wonderful tapestry, in the mind of the witch who casts it.” I notice Eleira edging closer, hanging on to every word. “The blue glow is what all others see. So of course a spell was cast, of course the weapon was cursed, but what I don’t understand—” she spins away angrily, and almost slams into Eleira as she does, “—is how.”

  “Well, I’ve told you everything I know!” I fire back. “You don’t think I want my leg to get better?”

  “Forget your leg,” Mother snaps. “I’d cut it off and make you a cripple if I could be sure it would save your life.” Eleira gasps. “But the corruption is worse than that. It’s already in your blood. It will spread through your body. I’ve kept you alive, but these healing spells are not my forte.” She curses. “How I wish Xune was still alive today!”

  “Who’s Xune?” Eleira asks softly.

  Mother turns on her. “Never you mind. Shouldn’t you be back simpering by my son, or—”

  Eleira slaps her. “I do not,” she announces, standing up to full height, “simper!”

  Morgan laughs. “You want to challenge me, little girl?” She draws her lips back to show her fangs. “I could end your life in a second. And I would, too, if it would save my son.”

  Phillip rushes in before the situation can get out of hand. “Relax, both of you,” he says through gritted teeth. “We’re not out of the woods yet.”

  Just at that moment, a distant door opens. A Haven guard—alone, unprotected—comes inside.

  “We thought we heard voices.” He sees me and gives me a curt nod. “You’re up. Good. You’ve been summoned.”

  Morgan faces him. “Summoned? By whom? I am your Queen, and I will not stand for my son being taken away from me—“

  “Actually,” the guard interjects. “You’ve all been summoned.”

  “Your trial is set to begin before the Royal Court.”

  Chapter Five

  PHILLIP

  ASSEMBLY ROOM BENEATH THE HAVEN

  I walk last in the line of prisoners. The Queen is first, Raul and Eleira are second. My brother struggles on a pair of crutches, while Eleira is ever-at-the-ready to catch him if he falls.

  I keep my eyes straight ahead… but that does not stop me from seeing the guards in the shadows from my peripherals. They’ve been trailing us the whole way.

  Does Smithson really think we’d try to escape? None of us would ever leave Raul. And The Haven, for all its faults, is our home.

  The passage we take winds deep underground. Eventually we come upon a large meeting room. A silence falls over all the attendants as we’re ushered in.

  Smithson is at the head of a grand table. He stands when he sees us.

  “My Queen,” he gives Mother a deep and gracious bow. He has the nerve to smile. “How pleased I am to have you join us.”

  All the vampires of the Royal Court sit still around the table. They keep their expressions stony as they watch the exchange.

  “And your sons, too. Both in excellent shape, I see.” Smithson’s eyes fall on Raul. “He looks vigorous. And strong.”

  He walks around the table and clasps Raul on the shoulder. My brother grits his teeth as Smithson applies downward pressure. “Sit,” he whispers. “Why don’t you?”

  “As Prince,” Raul hisses, and the disgust in his voice is obvious, “I’d rather stand.”

  Smithson lets go. I let out a small sigh of relief. That Raul even let Smithson touch him is a measure of how badly the wound is affecting him.

  Smithson passes over me with nary a glance. “How many of our kind did you kill during the battle, I wonder?” he asks in a stage-whisper. The words echo through the entire chamber. “The bloodlust must have been impossible to restrain for one who has so recently been exposed to the wonders of proper feedings.”

  “Enough,” Morgan says. Even here her voice carries. “No more of this charade.”

  Smithson turns to her. He blinks. “Charade? No, no, my Queen. This is no charade. It is simply the new order of things. The Royal Court—” he gestures at the seated vampires, “—has taken strategic control of The Haven in light of your failures.”

  “And who gave you permission to lead?” Morgan questions. She glares at the impassive vampires. “I am still your Queen! What you are doing is treason. But—” she softens her tone, “—relent now, and stop this usurper—” she motions at Smithson, “—and your crimes will be forgiven. All of them.”

  Smithson returns to the head of the table. I notice he’s purposely avoided Eleira.

  “What makes you think,” he asks softly, “that we have crimes that need forgiveness?” He puts both hands flat on the table. “We are here to discuss the state of affairs that have befallen our sacred sanctuary. For too long you’ve ruled with no respect for your Royal Court. It’s come time to give those vampires a voice.”

  Mother looks each one of them in the eye. “This is how you challenge me?” she asks. “With an outsider at your helm?”

  “An outsider brought in by you!” Tristan, a vampire who’s always been prone to fits of passion, exclaims. All heads turn to him. “An outsider who you put in control of your guard, when any of us here would do.”

  “That’s what this is about? Your petty jealousy?” Morgan laughs. “None of you were fit to lead. The protection of The Haven had to be charged to the most capable vampire.” Her eyes grow dark. “I see, now, that is what has happened.”

  “Tristan.” Smithson gestures at him to settle down. “You will get your turn. You all will get your turns. For now, let me do the talking.”

  Those of the Royal Court who looked ready to jump in sit back instead.

  “It’s true that I collected these vampires. It’s true that I brought them here today. But I am no usurper, my Queen.
I have no use for your throne. Only a woman can rule The Haven.” His eyes flash to Eleira. “That much is known.”

  He stands up again. “So here is my suggestion. Why don’t you and your sons take your rightful place at the table. I’ve been sitting in your seat, but only because you were otherwise occupied.”

  “In rooms that you locked me in!” Morgan hisses.

  Smithson shrugs. “A necessary precaution, all things considered. In the mayhem going on outside, who could say what harm could befall our Queen. You mistake my purpose if you think I want to steal your power or influence. My only cause is my Queen’s protection. Given that you are alive and unharmed today? I’d say, so far, it’s been a success.”

  “Alive because you locked us in a dark room for a chance to spread your vile whispers in the ears of my Court,” Morgan snaps.

  Smithson shakes his head. “Whispers? No, there have been no whispers. Keeping you locked away while the danger was still high, was a democratic decision reached by all our members here today.”

  Morgan looks at her Royal Court. “Is this true?” she asks.

  One-by-one, they nod their assent.

  “Now that The Haven is… relatively secure… I am more than willing to step aside,” Smithson says. “So take your seat, my Queen. It belongs to you by right.”

  A nasty feeling of suspicion crawls down my back as Smithson ends his speech. Mother must feel it too, because she hesitates before taking him up on his offer.

  The pause is momentary, but from a woman who usually acts with nothing but absolute conviction, it’s loud as a thunderclap.

  Smithson steps away to give her room to approach. She reaches the seat. He pulls it out for her a fraction of an inch more. She looks at the surrounding vampires… and sits.

  As soon as that happens, an uproar of voices explodes from around us.

  There are jumbles of angry screams. I look into the shadows—and gasp. Somehow, all the vampires of The Haven have been concealed there the whole time. I did not feel their presence once.