by E. M. Knight
“Cute,” Mother says. The word, soft but precise, does a better job silencing the clamor than any shout or demand. “Using my own torrial against me to hide these other vampires.” She gestures at the audience I just discovered. “What other tricks do you have up your sleeve, Smithson?”
“I assure you,” he smiles. “That was the final one.”
“I’ll hold you to that,” she says, as calming as if she doesn’t have all her angry subjects screaming for her head.
“I expect nothing less.”
“So.” Mother addresses the assembly. “I am still Queen, is that what you’ve concluded? How nice of you to take your time about it.”
“We had to be sure,” a beautiful vampire with flowing, raven hair says from the other side of the table, “that it was not you who caused the castle to fall. That it was not you who unleased The Convicted.”
Mother stares right back at her. “These are doubts that crossed your mind, Deanna?”
“With the erratic way you’ve been acting, we couldn’t be sure!” Carter, one of the most vocal opponents of the Queen back when she listened to the advice of the Royal Court, accuses. His grey hair and pointed goatee make him look more a fantasy-trope wizard than a sophisticated vampire. “We needed time in the aftermath of the battle to consult, and decide amongst ourselves, what the right way of moving forward would be.”
Before Mother can respond, Raul steps forward. “You all are fools,” he says, “if you think that cowering here beneath the earth, and locking away the most powerful witch in existence, will help repair the damage that’s been done. Or if you believe that Morgan is responsible.”
“And what about you?” another member of the Royal Court reproaches. “How do we know you’re not in league with her? How do we know you didn’t conspire to take down The Haven?”
“That’s what you’re accusing me of?” Raul’s voice becomes sharp, precise, and dangerous.
“We saw your bravery on the battlefront,” another vampire interjects. “But if it wasn’t for your Mother, none of this would have happened! She was the one who opened the doors of The Haven to a rival coven. You think we’re supposed to accept as coincidence that the day they arrived, calamity struck? How many of us were killed in the fight against The Convicted? Look around you, how many seats are empty? How many faces that you’ve known will never be seen again?”
“Hear, hear!” a voice cries out from the surrounding mass. “The Queen failed to protect us! The death of our own lie at her feet!”
Raul turns toward the assembly. His red eyes flash. “This is what you’ve been discussing with us locked away?” He turns to the Royal Court. “This is how you’ve been spending your time? Not figuring out a recovery, but arguing onto whom to place the blame?”
“The blame is your Mother’s!”
“The blame—”
“SILENCE!”
Morgan’s sudden shriek rings out like a thunderbolt. The air cackles with a cold electricity as her command whips into all the vampires and she exerts her strength.
The room goes completely quiet. But I can feel the discord building in the air. I can feel the tension growing like a giant trap being set. At any moment, the jaws will snap shut and annihilate anyone caught in the snare.
“That’s better,” the Queen says. She stands up and begins walking around the table. As she does, she brushes a hand over the back of every occupied seat.
Some of the Royal Court ignore it. Others visibly shiver with her so close.
She addresses the vampires on the outside instead of those of the Royal Court. “You all fought valiantly for your kingdom,” she tells them. “But you made a mistake when you allowed Smithson to lock me away. How many days have been lost? How many nights have come and gone while you hid down here like cowards, like scheming thieves?”
She pauses as she passes Smithson. He watches her, completely impassive.
She touches his cheek. “This man claims to have put me under guard for my own protection. It is a noble claim. An even bolder act. As a showing of good will, I will not punish him for it—though all of you know it is well within my power, and my right.”
“Power?” Deanna sneers. “What power? You’ve crippled The Haven with all that you’ve done. When the castle fell, the wards disappeared—our safety is no more! The sun rises above the sanctuary now. Any can come upon us from the Outside. We are exposed; we are vulnerable! Smithson led us down here to safety—”
“Where you could lick your wounds, caring nothing for the future of our sanctuary!” Raul snaps.
“Our future would not be under threat were it not for the actions of The Queen,” Carter says softly. “She isolated herself in her rule. She did not take council when it was offered. And worse, above all—she locked away the witch!”
With that, he flings a finger right at Eleira. For the first time, all the attention falls on her.
Something clicks in my head. I stand up.
“That’s what all this is really about, isn’t it?” I ask. Vampires who are unused to me speaking look my way in surprise. “You’ve been skirting the subject, but it’s all about Eleira, isn’t it? It’s all about the succession. That’s what frightens you.”
“The hell with the succession,” Tristan spits. “How do we even know she is who The Queen says she is?” A murmur of agreement comes from the assembled vampires. “Have we once been given proof of her abilities? Do any of us even know if she is a witch?” The murmurs grow louder. “All we have to go on is The Queen’s word. And as she’s proved in recent weeks, it’s highly unreliable.” The murmurs pick up. “We are supposed to just accept this—this girl—as the natural successor to a Queen who led us to ruin? I say, put her to the test! I say, let her prove her worth!”
“If that is what you really think,” Raul says, “then you are all bigger fools than I first credited you for. Tell me if you cannot feel Eleira’s strength. Tell me if she is not the most powerful vampire here!”
“Power… strength… vampiric ability…” a familiar female voice comes from deep in the shadows. “It is all an illusion. As I have demonstrated to all those here who have been willing to watch.”
Victoria steps out to the front of the mass. She’s wearing a rich velvet dress, and her hair is perfectly done. She looks nothing like the wretched creature she was last time I saw her.
“You,” Mother says.
Victoria gives a keen smile, then a shrug. “Yes, me. Who else? Weren’t you the one who warned me that you could take away my borrowed strength? Well—” she gives a little laugh. “I didn’t need you to do it. I made the choice myself.”
The magnitude of that admission takes a moment to sink in. When it does, I am almost staggered.
That’s the source of the discomfort I felt when I first saw the assembled vampires. None showed any signs of injury from the battle. And even though days have passed, they could not have healed so fast—not without fresh human blood providing them energy for the process. And after the fight, there definitely weren’t enough of our humans around. The stock in the bloodbanks was destroyed when the castle fell.
So, the question was, how did they all heal?
And the answer is staring right at me. They were given Victoria’s blood.
My eyes dart from vampire to vampire in the crowd. Guilty looks pass across many of their faces. Clearly, they weren’t ready to admit such a breach of law just yet.
“I’m glad you could find such pretty clothes,” Morgan says primly. “It’s a shame they do nothing to hide the hideousness of your soul.”
“Bitch!” Victoria snarls. She rushes forward, but Smithson catches her before she can do anything stupid.
Victoria takes a moment to calm down.
“Smithson,” Mother asks. “Why is our prisoner not under lock and key?”
“Because, my Queen, she has proven her worth. The members of the Royal Court did not see that she was fit to remain chained any longer.”
Morgan ar
ches an eyebrow. “Even with this display?”
“She was provoked.”
A visible tremor passes through Mother. She is obviously unused to being a puppet Queen.
“Very well, then,” she says. “What else happened in my absence?”
“I told all of them—every single one—how Eleira was made,” Victoria announces. There’s victory in her voice. “They know her powers are borrowed. Just as mine were. Just like mine now—” she shrugs, “—are gone.”
“Not gone, but lessened,” someone notes. “Restored to what they should rightfully be.”
“Just as the false witch’s will be!” Carter proclaims. “Smithson, get your guards—and seize her! Let’s see what happens when Eleira’s blood is spilled!”
But nobody at all moves, because at that moment, a blue light erupts from around Eleira. It flows out from her and covers her like a shield.
She takes a step forward. Next thing I know, she’s floating, right up above the table. She speaks in a terrible voice:
“You think I don’t know what you think of me?” she asks the assembled vampires. “You think I don’t hear your sneers, your japes, your quiet whispers? You think I do not notice the hateful stares, or feel your enmity?”
The glow around her expands, until half the vampires are shielding their eyes. She continues to hover half a foot above the table.
“You think that I asked for this?” Her voice booms. “You think I wanted to be ripped away from my life, from my family, and be cast amongst you as a creature of darkness? You think I wanted never to see the sun again, to never look upon a human being without feeling that insatiable urge to feed?”
In front of her, the light starts to gather. It collects into a roiling cloud, which then soars and rises above her head. Blue sparks of electricity cackle within it like mini lightning bolts.
“But most of all,” she continues, the rage clear in her voice, “You think that I dare pretend to be a witch? You think that I dare play with powers none of you can understand?”
The storm grows larger. Louder. More violent. Some of the vampires start to edge away.
“I could destroy each and every one of you where you sit,” she proclaims. This sounds nothing like the Eleira I know. “Do you want a demonstration? Do you want me to prove my might?”
She points at Deanna. “You? Do you wish to die today?” She shifts her gaze onto Carter. “Or you, who dare threaten me?”
“Eleira,” Morgan says firmly. “That’s enough.”
The girl turns on my Mother. “Or you,” she screams, gathering a roiling ball of energy in her hands and readying to throw it at her. “Are you the one who will die today?”
In a sudden violent jab, she thrusts her hands out. The ball of energy flies right at the Queen.
None of us can react in time. But just before it hits, Morgan flings an arm up and stops the projectile a hair’s breadth from her heart.
And then a second glow erupts from around the Queen. This one is large and powerful, and it swallows up Eleira’s like the sun swallowing a candle. Eleira gasps, and her face twists in rage. But Morgan is already on her, and before I know it, the two women are wrestling, as magical energy rages on around them.
They fall as one to the floor. Nobody else moves. It takes me an extra second to realize why: we cannot.
All the occupants of the room, save for the two witches, are locked in place, unable to lift so much as a single finger.
Eleira snarls and hisses as if possessed. Her claws come out and she tries to rip at Mother’s heart.
But The Queen is more experienced in hand-to-hand combat. She deflects the attacks easily. They scuffle and roll some more, and then Eleira is pinned to the ground.
Mother roars above her. She screams in a language none should know or speak. It’s cruel and harsh and sadistic, and—somehow—it makes Eleira give out.
The glow around her dies. She slumps to the ground. A moment later, Mother’s glow winks out, too, and the vampires are all released.
Raul is first on the table beside the pair. “Get away from her!” he screams at Mother. She does not fight him, but simply steps aside.
“She is alive, do not worry,” she says, in a voice meant for Raul but reaching the whole assembly. “But once more, she was possessed. The Royal Court is right. I have failed them. But now is not a time to bicker. The wards must be resurrected. Because without them…” she casts a heavy look around, “Without them, the possession can come again. And when it does, Eleira will kill.”
Chapter Six
ELEIRA
DEEP BENEATH THE HAVEN
I open my eyes and discover a strange pounding in my head. It’s like my skull has constricted, and my brain is fighting against it with every beat of my heart.
I look around. I’m not in the assembly room anymore. This place is pitch black and smells of mold.
Thanks to my vampire vision, I see I’m not alone. The Queen, Raul, and Phillip are conferring in hushed voices in a corner far away.
How did I get here? I have no recollection of the journey.
Phillip is the first to notice me up. He gives a start and points the others over. He and his brother rush to me. Morgan takes her time behind them.
If it wasn’t for Raul’s leg, he’d reach me first. I wince when I see how hard it is for him to walk.
“What happened?” I ask when they arrive.
“Eleira,” Raul cups my face with his hands. “How much do you remember?”
“We were summoned by the Royal Court. They started saying these horrible things about me. And then—and then nothing.”
A grim expression falls over Raul’s face. “It’s as Mother said,” he mutters.
“What did she say?” I ask.
“That you blacked out,” Morgan answers as she steps into our little gathering. “You were provoked and angered. You do not have control of your emotions yet. Clearly. You are barely more than a child.”
“I’m seventeen,” I say through gritted teeth. “Almost an adult.”
“Almost,” Morgan sighs. “But you will never get there, will you? Not with the gift that you’ve been given.”
The vocalization of that thought makes me shudder.
“You’re also newly-made,” Phillip says.
“The bloodlust took hold of you at the assembly,” Morgan continues. “That is why you don’t remember. That, coupled with…”
A horrible realization takes hold. “Possession?” I whisper.
Morgan gives a solemn nod.
“Did I—did I do anything?” In a softer voice, I add, “Did I kill anybody?”
The three vampires share a look that does not give me any confidence in my innocence.
“Not quite,” Morgan says.
Raul looks at his mother. He seems conflicted. “Let me just tell her!” he says.
She lays a hand on his shoulder. “We agreed to break the news properly.”
“What news?” I ask. “Stop playing these guessing games! I’m on your side—it’s the whole Royal Court that’s turned against you.”
“Yes,” Morgan says, a slight smile playing on her lips. “That was the situation that we faced. But you helped remedy a large part of that.”
I blink. “How?”
“You threatened all the vampires there,” Raul says. “After they put your abilities under doubt. You cast a spell—more than one—and frightened them. And then—” the tiniest spark lights up in his eyes, “—you attacked the Queen.”
I gasp. “I didn’t!”
“With magic, too,” Raul says.
“You tried a particularly nasty incantation against me,” Morgan says. “Had I even a tenth less ability, you would have killed me.”
Shame and regret flood through me. “But why would I attack you?” I say in a small voice. “Am I so lost to the vampiric darkness?” I finger the empty spot on my hand where Raul’s ring used to be. I wish I still had it.
“No,” Morgan says. “I
n fact, your recovery proves your resilience. But when the bloodlust took over, your mind became vulnerable. You could not prevent somebody—an enemy—from exploiting the link that was created when you opened the Book of the Dead.”
My head starts to spin. Fear takes me. If I don’t even have control of my mind…
“What do they want?” I ask quietly. “Why are they using me? Can we… stop it?”
“The pressure you feel in your head,” Morgan says. “That is a protection spell I cast around your mind while you were unconscious. It’s only a temporary measure, unfortunately. But it protects you for now.”
Raul grumbles something under his breath. I don’t think anyone’s meant to hear, but my superior hearing allows me to pick out his words: “We should have waited to get her permission.”
I don’t quite understand his concern. If the spell protects me…
“Thank you,” I say.
Morgan gives a grim smile. “If only it were that easy,” she says.
“There’s more?” I ask.
“She’s not going to like this,” Phillip mutters.
“The spell establishes a connection between our minds,” the Queen continues, looking off into the distance. “Not a telepathic one, nothing of the sort you share with Victoria—”
“Shared,” I cut her off. “Past-tense. It’s not there anymore.”
Morgan’s head snaps to me. “What? Since when?”
“Since the Narwhark attacked,” I say. “When Victoria almost died, the connection between us was severed.”
“No.” Morgan shakes her head. “No, that’s impossible. No, that would mean one of you should be dead!”
“I’m still here,” I say softly.
“Well I can see that!” she snaps. She starts to pace back and forth. “I should have suspected something when the spell on your mind fell into place so easily. Or when I saw Victoria. She’s changed. I thought it was because she gave away her blood, but no—it was because of you.
“That bond must have been passed off to someone else. Yes. Certainly. That is the only thing that makes sense. There has to be a bond between you and another being, Eleira. You cannot survive without it. Because of the way you were made…”
