by E. M. Knight
I turn toward the door. “I came here because you two—” I look at Eleira and Raul, “–promised to help. Now I find that promise is a lie. I should have bloody expected it, of course. So here I leave you. I’ll be taking my coven with me when I go.”
“What, on the litter?” Eleira snorts a laugh. “Come on, James. Even you can’t be as juvenile as that.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“That you can’t see past the end of your nose in matters that concern you most! Let’s just say you get your fledglings away. Say some—say all—miraculously recover. Even if that happens, they’ll still be touched by that taint. They’ll still be slaves to the Black Sorceress, just as The Narwhark is!”
“I’ll heal them,” I bluff. “I’ll find a way.”
“James,” Raul walks over and puts a hand on the door. “We can’t allow you to just walk away, knowing what you know.”
I eye him dangerously. “Don’t stand in my way,” I warn. “Little brother.”
“Whether you like it or not,” Phillip says, approaching me from the other side. “You’re bound to us now. Raul is right. We can’t let you leave.”
I stare at him. My muscles tense.
“The two of you are looking for a fight,” I say softly. “Aren’t you?”
“Oh, for crying out loud,” Eleira says. “James, I forbid you to leave!”
And on her words such an indomitable expression of her will crashes into me that I stagger under its weight. The vampiric influence she wields is enormous. I’ve never experienced any of its like before.
My jaws clench together, and I snarl through gritted teeth. “That is what you’re reducing yourself to,” I hiss.
“It’s you,” she says. “You’ve forced my hand.”
Raul stares at her as if it’s the first time he’s seeing her.
“I… fine!” I spit. “Fine, I’ll stay!”
And just like that, the pressure ebbs away. I stand back up.
“This isn’t over,” I tell her softly.
She shrugs and looks at the back of her nails. “I wouldn’t expect it to be.”
Suddenly. I like her, for that spunk and a whole lot more.
“So what is it you suggest, with all your infinite wisdom gathered from having been a vampire for less than a month?” I ask.
“Phillip?” Eleira says. “It’s your call.”
The Captain Commander—my youngest brother—looks at me.
“They burn,” he says.
Chapter Fourteen
APRIL
PHILLIP’S BEDROOM
The door to Phillip’s bedchamber slowly creaks open. I look up from my spot on the bed, expecting to find the vampire who most recently drank my blood…
Instead, the one standing there is Carter.
He looks both ways, then behind him, before slipping through and sealing the door shut. “Ah,” he says. “I was hoping to find you here.”
My breath catches. I haven’t seen him since he sought me out and asked me to deliver that message to Smithson. “And who’s this?” Carter asks, taking in Cassandra. “Phillip brought you a companion.”
“Her name is Cassandra,” I say. “And I very much doubt you’d want to get on her bad side.”
My new friend and I share a look.
“I would never,” Carter says, stepping to us and taking her hand. He brings it to his lips and places on its back a chaste kiss.
I know it takes her all not to pull away, given the history between them. But I give Cassandra credit; she reveals none of her hatred or disgust.
“Wait a second,” Carter says, tapping his lips. “I remember you. You were the village girl who hid her child from us, weren’t you?” His hand juts out, and he grabs her by the jaw. She gasps at his icy touch. “My, my, but it’s been almost a decade since then, hasn’t it?”
“Twelve years,” Cassandra says darkly. She jerks away.
“And you’re still as beautiful as ever,” Carter murmurs.
Then he turns to me, leaving the other woman completely forgotten. “Come. I have something to show you.”
I start to stand—but Cassandra takes my hand. “You don’t have to go with him,” she says. Her eyes flash in defiance. “Phillip brought both of us here. We’re under his protection. This… vampire—” she spits the word, “—has no say.”
“On the contrary, dearest, you’ll soon find I have quite a bit of ‘say.’ Once your transformation is complete, you’ll know.”
She gasps. Carter gives a stoic laugh.
“What, did you think I wouldn’t be able to tell? It’s your eyes, Cassandra—the eyes are what change first. I’d ask you how it was done, and by whom, but frankly, what do I care? My only piece of advice? Don’t let any grudges from your time as a human… carry over. You’ll find your life as a vampire quite miserable if you do.”
He pulls me out of her grip. “And you, my darling,” he snarls, “need to learn the proper amount of respect. When a vampire of the Elite asks you to do something—you do it. No matter where you think your allegiances lie.”
Without warning, his other hand flies out, and he back-hands me. Pain explodes in my cheek. I cry out as I hit the floor.
Cassandra is at my side in an instant. “You bastard!” she swears. She looks at me. “April. April, are you okay?”
My whole head feels like it’s been knocked loose. I can taste blood in my mouth. I bring a hand up to my face and wince.
Already, the skin is puffy. There is going to be an enormous bruise.
Before anything else can happen, Carter hauls me up. I’m helpless to fight him. And now that I know, thanks to Cassandra’s story, of the cruelties he is capable of…?
Well, the most basic instincts of self-preservation compel me to go limp.
We’re out the door and far down the hallway before I get my wits back. “Let go, let go. I can walk!” I say.
Carter releases me. He looks at my face. “Shame,” he says. “That you forced me to do something so unlike me. You have very pretty eyes, April. I’d hate to be the cause of making them go red.”
“I’m not crying,” I spit. I point to my cheek. “I’ll wear this as a badge of honor. However long it takes to heal.”
“Will you, really?” he muses. He brings his own wrist to his mouth. His fangs come out, and he bites two small incisions into it.
Vampiric blood drips out.
My breath catches. My eyes go wide. I know all the stories—I know how vampires are made.
“If you’d been only slightly less certain,” Carter smiles, “I might have offered you a quick fix.” He holds his hand out between us. “But, alas—” he snatches it away. “You are so very resolute. I wouldn’t want to tempt your will-power, no, no.”
He licks the blood off his wrist and the two tiny wounds close. My chance to accomplish my ultimate goal disappears just like that.
I sag back, feeling a crushing sense of defeat. The creep was just mocking me, I’m certain, there’s no way he would have really given me his blood…
But still. Still, the mere suggestion of me taking it—
Well, Christ, I know how Cassandra was made.
“Oh, don’t look glum,” he says. “Come on. Cheer up! It’s a wonderful day for a reunion.”
“Reunion?” I ask.
“Oh, yes. You think I would come to you for no reason? I am your humble servant and, like I said once before, one of your only friends.”
I scoff. “Yeah. Likely.”
“You don’t believe me?”
“I don’t like you.”
“Aw, and here I was thinking you did. My, whatever will I do, now? A teenage girl, human, I might add, has a poor opinion of me. My life is ruined!”
He turns away, chuckling to himself. “Well, come on. There are people you’ll want to meet.”
I go after Carter, eying him cautiously the entire time.
There’s something about him… something very, very sleazy. Somethi
ng very much off. I think, though I can’t be sure, that he is almost yearning to cause trouble in The Haven.
He strikes me as the sort who likes mayhem simply for the sake of mayhem.
He seems like someone who’d set his own house on fire, trapping everyone inside, while he dances a jig around the flames.
After a few turns, I realize we’re heading toward the exit. It’s been so long since I’ve tasted fresh air, I’m basically starved for it.
Two guards stand at the end of the hallway. They both bow respectfully to Carter as we pass.
That’s curious. I’ve never seen the guards bow to Phillip, who is now their Captain Commander.
We reach a large wooden door. Off to the side are steep stairs leading outside.
Carter catches me looking at them. “Oh no, my dear,” he says. “We’re not allowed to leave the stronghold. Your surprise is in here.”
He flings the door open and pushes me inside.
It’s pitch black. I stumble, trip, and fall—and land on something rigid yet forgiving, almost like a human body.
At the same time the most god-awful stench hits me. It rides up my nostril and seems to take permanent residence inside my skull. I gag, and somehow, the smell intensifies, becoming like a thick layer of slime covering my tongue.
“Stop flailing around!” Carter commands. Then he remembers himself. “Oh that’s right,” he says with a chuckle. “You cannot see.”
I hear a strike, like a flint against steel, and a bright torch erupts into flames.
“Better,” Carter says. “Yes?”
I look down to see what I landed on—and instantly scramble to get away.
Lying on the floor are a pile of the most sickly-looking bodies I’ve ever seen.
For a moment, I think they’re dead. But then a muted moan rises from one of the shapes. It’s echoed by another.
I shudder and do my best to edge away. Carter catches me by the shoulders and holds me in place.
“What’s wrong?” he asks. “I thought you’d be delighted to see your old friends.”
Confusion grips me at the comment. Friends?
“Look closer, April,” Carter says. He brings the torch to one of their faces. “Surely you recognize him.”
I gasp. I do. It’s Oscar, one of the highest-ranking members of the Fang Chasers.
“Ah, there it is,” Carter says. “The sweet sound of recognition.”
My heart starts to beat fast. Beside Oscar is Cameron, and Brock, and Norman, and…
They’re all there. All the senior members of my cult.
“What’s happened to them?” I breathe. “How did they get here?”
“So you admit to knowing them?”
“You wouldn’t bring me here if I didn’t!” I snap.
“Just checking,” Carter says smoothly. “I had to be sure. These are the Fang Chasers. Correct?”
I swallow and give a little nod. I feel bile rising up in the back of my throat.
“And you are one of them!” Carter says triumphantly. “Your highest life aspiration is to be turned into a creature like me. Isn’t that so?”
Wordlessly, I nod. How can I deny it when I’ve already given away what Carter already clearly knows?
“It’s interesting, really,” he continues, “how you’ve managed to penetrate our little sanctuary. And then to align yourself with Eleira, imagine that! The next vampire Queen. You thought she would do it for you, didn’t you?”
I start to deny the accusation but he speaks right over me.
“Oh, no need to answer. All your secrets are given away by those shining eyes of yours. How frustrating it must be, though, April, to see all your human friends being made into vampires, while you alone—you, who was here first!—get left behind.”
He begins to circle me. “Shall we do a count? First came Eleira, of course, we both know that. But then—oh, even Phillip changed, with the help of your blood. And Cassandra, who wanted nothing to do with us. And now, all of these men. All of these proud, determined members of your cult.”
I want to get out of the room but I’m trapped. Suddenly I feel very, very vulnerable. The bodies on the floor—I’ve never seen skin take on such an awful corruption. And the smell is overwhelming, it makes me feel sick…
Carter stops behind me. He brings his body close, sweeps away my hair. His lips come right to my ear. “You crave the Dark Gift still, do you not?” His long-fingered hand slides down the base of my neck. I shiver in displeasure. “If you do… simply ask.”
And then he breaks away. He jumps over the bodies and lands on the other side of the room in a flash.
“Ask!” he calls from across the room. “Ask, and you shall find me merciful! Ask, and I will grant you your heart’s desire!”
All my instincts rebel against what is happening. I know it will never be so easy. But that longing, buried so far in the depths of my soul, has been awakened.
The two parts battle each other. Logic tells me this is a trick. Common sense tells me that Carter is playing me.
But my heart… he is right, my heart wants it. It wants it bad.
“Ask,” Carter repeats, swishing the torch before his face. The fire makes ugly shadows flare across the room. “Ask for my blood, April.”
“I want it,” I whisper.
“What?” He brings a hand to his ear. “I couldn’t hear you. Speak louder.”
“I want it.”
“Again.”
“I want it.”
“Say it with meaning.”
“I WANT IT!” I scream.
And then he laughs. “And thus, you show how young you truly are.”
Without another word, he drops the torch onto the bodies.
I cry out as they go up in flames, easy as dry tinder. The fire explodes into being. The heat beats against my body, my face.
I stumble back. The stench, the stink of corruption, it’s like a fuel, and it feeds into the fire and makes it so much stronger than it should be.
Panic takes me. I turn to run, to get out—but Carter is right there, blocking the way.
His face looks hideous in the light. “You want the Dark Gift,” he says. “I’ll give it to you. But it won’t come from me.”
And with that, he takes me by the shoulder and shoves me into the flames.
Chapter Fifteen
JAMES
THE STRONGHOLD
A torrent of sudden, unexpected pain crashes into me. I lose my footing and stagger down, clutching Phillip’s desk for support.
“James?” Eleira asks. “James, what’s wrong?”
With the pain comes heat, enormous heat. It washes over my body. I feel it as acutely as if I’d stepped into a fire.
And then a very human shriek comes from the distance.
Instantly, I recognize that voice. I’m on my feet in a flash, casting aside the sensations that had staggered me, wrapping them up into a tight little ball and chucking it to the back of my mind where I can’t feel them so acutely.
“April,” I gasp, and I go running out the door.
I fly to the storage room from where the scream originated. The pain, the heat, the burning feeling—all of it comes from my distant awareness of the members of my coven.
One of those connections winks out. I feel a sudden blow to the chest. I stagger from the force, then right myself, and continue my dead-run.
Another of the Nocturna Animalia has died.
I blister past the guards, ignoring their shouts of surprise and admonishment when they see me appear. Nothing gave them warning of my approach. I reach the doors and smell the acrid stink of smoke.
From the crack underneath comes the dancing rays of firelight.
I slam my shoulder into the wood. It doesn’t give. I do it again, and this time I break through.
I discover a scene straight from hell.
The entire room is in flames. All of my coven members are burning. Their bodies soak up the fire like gas-soaked torches. It takes on
ly an instant for me to know that I’ve come too late.
But then my eyes latch on to another figure, screaming in the flames.
I fly inside and go against every single damn vampire instinct when I willingly throw myself into the fire. My arm wraps around April’s tiny waist. In a flash I pull her out.
In the hall, I throw myself over her to smother the flames. I use my body to cut off the oxygen required for them to spread.
The others—Raul, Eleira, Phillip—have caught up. But I pay them no attention. All of mine is on this human girl.
My former lover.
Another of the Nocturna Animalia succumbs. The loss feels like a thousand sharpened needles piercing my skin.
But that is in the background. Right now, all that matters is April.
I don’t know what compels me to do what I do next. Maybe it’s the act of defiance against Phillip’s latest verdict. Maybe it’s the need to have something show for the whole ruined Nocturna Animalia venture.
Or maybe, just maybe, it’s that I’m growing soft, and realizing that this girl could actually mean something to me.
I slash a cut in my wrist and push it to her lips. “Drink,” I say. I press it to her, forcing upon her that life-giving nectar that will let her heal. “Drink!”
And she, weak, burned, and pained as she is, opens her mouth and sucks at the wound.
Immediately, all the pain sensations flow out of me. The connections to the other Nocturna Animalia are severed. I don’t know how, I don’t know why. Frankly, I do not care. April drinks my blood. I extend my fangs and sink them in her neck, injecting the vital serum. She drinks my blood and I drink hers, and we are two lovers again, lost in the most intimate embrace, as our two pools of blood merge and mix and become one.
I drain hers and she drains mine. All I know is April. All I care about is April. The acknowledgment, hell, the mere recognition of that is so unlike me… but what can I do?
This time, in this transformation, I actually feel my powers being passed on to her. I’m not merely sharing them, I’m giving them away. Speed, strength, grace, stamina. Immunity to all disease, immunity to time, The Mind Gift, or what little bit of it I have. Faster healing, better sight, better senses. All of it is given to her in this transfusion.
