The Vampire Gift 6: Secrets of Hope

by E. M. Knight

  “What sister? Who are you talking about?”

  “Isn’t it obvious? Cierra. The Black Sorceress. She is Morgan’s younger sibling.”

  The same thing Felix had said. But how would Carter know about this when I didn’t even know? I bark a laugh. “Right.” He’s obviously trying to provoke me. “How did you get in here?”

  He sighs. “I told you. Magic. You’re not hallucinating, dear Prince. Everything is as it should be. I came to help.”

  “You, help me? I find that hard to believe.”

  “You don’t belong here. I came to get you out.”

  “We are not allies.”

  “But neither are we foes… despite what you might want to believe.”

  “This can’t be real,” I murmur. “You cannot really be here. If you were, I would feel your presence!” I start breathing harder. Something strange is happening to me. A stark heat builds in my chest.

  I turn away. I cannot face him. “This is an illusion, this is a trick, this is a lie...”

  Carter moves in front of me again. “No trick.” He offers me his hand. “I give you my word. We can call it a truce.”

  I look at his open palm warily. I remember last time I tried to touch him.

  “It’s quite solid now, I assure you.”

  For some reason I decide to give it a shot. I reach out and put my hand into his…

  The moment our skin touches a whirlwind force takes me. Immediately, I’m pulled out of the cell, teleported to the other side.

  Carter smiles as he lets go. I feel like I’ve been put through the wringer.

  “Does that squash your doubts about what is real?”

  “I still cannot sense you,” I mutter, not knowing what to think.

  He clicks his tongue. “That’s because I’m cloaked. I’m also not fully a part of this world. When I was in The Paths...”

  He trails off. His eyes take on a glazed look.

  Then he shakes his head and snaps out of it.

  “Well, let’s just say that when I was in The Paths, I was shown a side of the world few have ever seen.”

  “You said my Mother has a sister.”

  “True.”

  “Why did you tell me that? How did you find out about Cierra?”

  “So you understand that I am on your side. Cierra is the one giving me the ability to do this. She intercepted me while…”

  Again his face goes blank. It’s almost like his conscious thought process has been turned off.

  He shudders and changes topics.

  “I’m in between worlds,” he says. “Not quite there, not quite here. It will not last much longer. You have to do as I tell you if you want to save your girl.”

  There’s a distinctly… robotic… quality in his voice. The speech is stilted.

  Somehow, it almost feels like it’s not him speaking, but somebody else putting the words in his mouth.

  Ridiculous.

  “You know what’s happening to Eleira?”

  “Oh, yes. Morgan intends to kill her. But you and I… will not give her the chance.”

  Carter grabs my hand. That enormous suction exerts itself around me. Reality spins, twists, warps, and I get the sense that I am throttling through the air at enormous speed.

  Then I’m released and find myself in an entirely different location.

  “Morgan and the girl are in there,” Carter says, pointing down the cavern to a great set of doors. “But there’s a dome of energy around it that we cannot break through.”

  “The shockwave...”

  “Came when Eleira or Morgan erected the shield,” he confirms. “They’re in a capsule, locked outside of time. It’ll be impossible for us to penetrate.”

  “How do you know all this?” I demand. It doesn’t even sound like Carter talking anymore. “When have you ever paid attention to the real workings of magic?”

  “You doubt me? Did you not just teleport through so many miles of land and end up here?”

  I eye him with open suspicion. “What is this dome? I don’t see anything.”

  “Of course not.” He sounds angry. “How could you, you don’t have the gift!”

  “What gift? What are you talking about?” I square myself to the doors. “If Eleira is in there, we need to get in.” I shake my head. “I can’t believe I’m considering you an ally.”

  “We both want the same thing,” he says softly. “The dome begins five feet from the doors. Go on. Test it. You won’t get through.”

  Gritting my teeth, I run forward.

  Sure enough, five feet away, I hit an invisible, impenetrable barrier.

  I grunt. Then I turn around. “Now what do we do?”

  But Carter is not paying the scarcest bit of attention to me. Instead, he’s cocked his head one way and seems to be listening to the wind.

  “Carter?” I demand. “Carter!”

  He starts muttering words I do not know under his breath. His eyes roll back. All I can see are the whites.

  “Carter!”

  Without warning his arms lash out. From his palms sprouts a giant, blue flame.

  I leap out of the way to avoid being hit. The flame crashes against the invisible barrier. It warps around it, pulsing, pushing, seeking to destroy…

  And then, suddenly, it dies. Carter slumps forward. He nearly falls, but I’m at his side fast enough to catch him.

  He blinks. He looks dazed, confused.

  After a few moments, his eyes focus on me. Stark terror shows in them.

  “You!” he hisses and pushes away.

  I let him go. But as soon as I do, he stumbles and falls. Still, that mask of terror dominates his face. He starts squirming, whimpering, pushing himself away, but incapable of finding a proper grip on the earth.

  I watch the scene unfold in utter disdain, unsure of what to think. The blue flame was undoubtedly magic. Did the power he wielded damage his mind?

  Before I can do anything, the sound of stamping feet reaches my ears. I look up just in time to see a half dozen of the Royal Guards racing toward us with my brother Phillip at their front.

  My claws come out. I ready myself for a fight.

  But Phillip, the Captain Commander, the one who betrayed me so recently, doesn’t so much as acknowledge me. His focus is all on Carter, shivering in a heap on the ground.

  Phillip breaks from the group and rounds on the disgraced member of the Royal Court. He seizes him by the lapels and hauls him up. He forces him back so that his shoulders are pinned against the rock.

  “What did you do?” Phillip demands. “I feel the taint, dammit, what did you do!”

  At the same time, the caravan of guards makes a circle around us, holding their ceremonial spears out to block me from my brother.

  Carter’s head rolls around from side to side. His eyes are glistening. He starts a hysterical laugh.

  The maniacal sound is enough to make me cringe.

  “I know you’re wielding magic!” Phillip slams his back against the floor. “The impression of what you did is clear in the air! You caused this. You did this. I know it!”

  He flings a hand out and points at the edge of the invisible barrier.

  Carter doesn’t answer him. He just laughs and laughs.

  Phillip’s gaze intensifies. He grasps the sides of Carter’s head with both hands.

  I feel an unexpected cackle of energy rip through the air.

  Phillip grunts in disgust and releases Carter. “There’s nothing left,” he announces to the group. “The entirety of his psyche has been destroyed.”

  He steps away. Carter collapses into a heap on the ground.

  “Destroyed?” I ask. “Phillip—look at me! Tell me what you mean.”

  A cruel smile forms on my younger brother’s face. He turns and takes me in fully.

  “I will, Raul,” he says slowly. “Trust me, I will.” He motions to the guards. “Take Carter above ground. Keep him near ones blocking the upper entrance. He may never come back to himself�
� but then again, vampires always heal.”

  He cuts off. “Just don’t let your guard down around him. He, like Eleira before, was possessed.”

  The guards follow orders without a word. They trail out, leaving me alone with my brother.

  This was not a confrontation I thought I would have so soon.

  “They’re both in there, you know,” Phillip says softly. He sounds not like himself.

  At least, not like the Phillip I grew up with. He’s colder, more determined, more angry.

  “You sabotaged me and Eleira,” I accuse. “Why? What did Mother promise you in return?”

  He sneers. “She didn’t promise me anything, Raul. She simply opened my eyes to my true potential.”

  “She made you feed. That happened a long time ago.”

  “No. Not that. This.”

  He spreads his arms, and a flickering white flame leaps from one palm to the other.

  Dark specks stream through his eyes.

  “Magic,” I hiss.

  “Seems like everybody is using it these days.” He chuckles. “Who knows, Raul? Maybe you have a little bit of it in you.”

  My teeth grind together. “Now what?” I ask forcefully. “Are you going to try to kill me?”

  He laughs. “My, my, you really think I’ve changed, don’t you? No, I’m not going to kill you, brother. All I want is for us to be on the same side.”

  My turn to speak. “After what you did? After the way you betrayed Eleira and me?”

  He spreads his hands. “Sometimes things like that are a necessity.”

  “You have changed,” I say. “Something bad happened to you.”

  “Awakening to one’s true potential should never be considered bad,” Phillip states. “But I do understand. You’re unused to me like this. You want me to be the same cowering, meek mouse I was before.”

  “You weren’t meek,” I state. “You had principles. You had values.”

  “And now I see the truth of the world. I understand our place in it so much better than before. Eleira was prophesied to bring great change. This is the manifestation of that.”

  “Wrong,” I snarl. “Your mind has been poisoned by Mother.”

  He chuckles. “Why must you speak of her with such disdain?”

  “You know why,” I say. “You know who she is, what she’s done. You know how she operates. How could you have gone over to her side?”

  “There are no sides amongst family, brother. It is your flaw that you do not see that. It is your weakness, because you’ve been blinded by love. Eleira has ruined you.”

  I take an aggressive step forward. “Don’t…” I warn in a low voice, “speak ill of her again.”

  He laughs and turns away from me with a flourish of his cloak. “Or what?” he asks. He strolls casually to the edge of the barrier. “You’ll attack me? You’ll fight?”

  On the word, he spins around and flings an arm out at me. An invisible force, almost like a gust of wind, slams into me and throws me against the far wall.

  Phillip’s eyes blaze with fury. Those dark flecks stream across the whites. His stance shifts, he faces me directly, and his other hand juts out.

  The force blowing into me doubles. Its strength is immense. Its power is insurmountable. I strain and fight against it, but I’m as helpless as a bug caught beneath a pane of glass.

  Suddenly, Phillip relents. He drops his hands. The wind cuts off. I fall to the ground, catching myself on one knee against the floor.

  “Truth is, you can’t do anything against me,” Phillip says. “Nobody can.”

  I eye him warily. He’s my brother, my own flesh and blood! If Mother infused this madness into him, it’s my duty to cast it out.

  “So, don’t even bother,” Phillip continues. “It’ll only end in your humiliation.”

  “You always knew you could do magic,” I say, suspicion forming. “Didn’t you?”

  He shows his teeth in a vicious grin. “Oh, yes. Mother informed me of the potential shortly after I turned twenty. She told me I had The Spark. She told me I could be the most powerful of all her sons.”

  “But you resisted,” I say. “For so long, you resisted the siren call.”

  He grimaces. “I was a fool. The power I wield now...” He flexes and unflexes his fist. “You cannot even conceive of it.”

  “You were happy before,” I say. “You were content.”

  “Ha!” he barks. “I was living a lie. Denying myself my true nature. Rejecting the man I would be. Why do you think I always wore these glasses, why do you think I constantly dressed down? It’s because I did not want to draw attention to myself.”

  With a quick swipe of his hand he tears the glasses off and hurls them against the wall. A lens shatters.

  “I rejected my vampire powers. The ones I inherited as my birthright. The ones you never had any qualms about developing!”

  “So that’s what it is, then?” I question. “An act of rebellion? You’re lashing out now because of what you failed to do before.”

  “Don’t insult me!” he screams. His hands are quivering with rage. “Don’t—don’t do that, Raul!”

  I take a step closer. “You’re not going to hurt me,” I say. One more step. “I’m your brother. You and I have always gotten along.”

  “Stop!” he commands. “Don’t come any closer.”

  I plant my feet and look deep into his eyes. Those black flecks, the marks of corruption, remain as residue over the white.

  He turns his head toward the door barred from us by the magical dome. “Mother is doing what she has to do,” he tells me softly. “The sustenance of The Haven is her greatest priority. Our coven needs to thrive, Raul. We have more potential here, within us—” he touches one hand against his chest, “—than all the vampires of The Crypts, of all the other covens, combined.”

  He turns back and looks at me. “Eleira was a distraction. We need a Queen, but that girl will not be the one to lead us. We will have the one we always deserved.”

  My heart clenches in sudden fear.

  What are you saying?” I whisper.

  “I’m saying,” he says softly, “that when this barrier drops, only one of the two women inside will emerge.” His eyes sear into mine. “And you can bet your last breath it won’t be your precious girl.”

  Chapter Seven

  Eleira

  The other side of the portal

  I crash down and hit the ground hard.

  For a moment, I’m completely dazed. I open my eyes, groaning, and—

  Eyes! I have eyes!

  In a fury of movement I surge up. I look down at myself. I can see my body. I run my hands over my legs, my hips, my stomach…

  Oh yes, I’m definitely here in the flesh.

  But I have no idea where “here” is.

  I look at the earth. It’s all black, charred sand. I look up to the sky. Angry dark clouds linger over everything. They seem somehow closer than they should be. At the same time, they are more ominous, more menacing…

  I swallow with sudden apprehension and cast my gaze around the rest of this world.

  The land is barren. There isn’t a tree or a shred of vegetation anywhere. No wind. No sound.

  No movement.

  The black, ashy landscape stretches out forever into the distance. I cannot see anything beyond it. Even with my superior vision I cannot break through the overwhelming, bleak pallor of this environment.

  Wait a minute. I blink, and frown, and try to focus on a small circle of rocks far in the distance. They’re close enough that I should be able to see them clearly. And yet…

  And yet, they are blurred the same way they would be were I still human.

  My apprehension threatens to evolve into something much stronger.

  I trace my tongue over my upper row of teeth. I stop at the incisors, right where my fangs should be.

  I focus and try to get them to come out.

  Nothing happens.

  A wave of dizzines
s takes me. I stumble, suddenly unsteady, and fall on my butt.

  Pain shoots up my tailbone.

  Pain? From something so small?

  I try to jump back up. It’s a disgraceful move. I don’t have any of my sprightliness, none of my grace, none of my speed.

  Panic flares. I’m alone in some unfamiliar, otherworldly realm.

  And I don’t have any vampire powers.

  I start breathing hard. I feel disproportionately vulnerable. At least, somehow, I’m not choking to death. The portal could have easily transported me into a world with a noxious atmosphere.

  Calm down, Eleira. Think this through!

  But the last time I was this scared was when I woke up in The Haven atrium, after being kidnapped from my university.

  At least you’re out of Morgan’s grasp.

  Yes. Yes, that much is true. I am out of her reach…

  At least, for now.

  Who can say how long it will last? If I am physically present here, what does that say about my body back in the stronghold?

  My mind races, considering the infinite possibilities.

  But as always, practicality wins out. I cannot affect anything other than what I have here in front of me. There is no use worrying about things I cannot control.

  In truth, it seems like a century since I’ve had any sort of control.

  I clear my mind and focus, searching for the Elemental Forces. Just because I don’t have my vampire abilities does not necessarily have to mean my magical talents have been taken away, too.

  I concentrate, and… there! There, I feel them!

  The Forces are here!

  They’re faint, almost imperceptible, but they are definitely there.

  That gives me a sense of safety. Anything is better than nothing.

  Once more, I look down at my body. It didn’t hit me the first time, but I am completely naked.

  There’s an odd sort of sensation running over my entire body. I don’t feel the need to cover up. Realistically, I don’t even feel naked. It’s like I’m somehow one with the planet, or land, or realm, or reality, or whatever this is.

  Trivial things like clothes don’t matter.

  Still, just to test out the Elements, I pull on two thin strands of Fire and Earth to make a sort of primitive gown from the ash around me.