by E. M. Knight
She begins moving her hands in the pattern of the spell, anyway. A blue glow starts to surround her, the energy coming from the crystals on the sides.
“What to do, what to do?”
The glow grows stronger, and just as she’s about to cast the spell, Phillip states, “Let Eleira do it.”
The halo around Morgan winks out. “What?”
“Eleira,” Phillip repeats. “We all trust her.” He looks at the girl by my side. “Are you up for it?”
She gives a fierce and determined nod. “Yes, I am.”
I touch her arm. “You’re not still...”
Tired, I was going to say, but the warning look she gives me is enough to make me cut off.
“Hah!” Morgan laughs. “That’s what you’re reducing me to, a mere sidepiece? Fine, go, be done with it.” She gestures in an agonized, flippant manner. “Let’s see what she can do. Let’s see how much I’ve missed.”
Eleira steps forward, away from me. She closes her eyes and concentrates.
A second later, a blue light flares around her, a portal opens in the air, and the blue light disappears.
She opens her eyes and gives Morgan the most victorious smile. “How’s that?”
“...Impressive,” Mother admits. “You manipulated the weaves very fast.” She peers at the opening, looking at those threads of magic I cannot see. “It appears strong enough to ferry all of us through.”
“Oh, it is,” Eleira states. There is no doubt in her voice.
I love how strong she is becoming.
Not in her magic, not in her vampire side, but in herself.
“I’ll go first,” I volunteer. “That way I can make sure we’re all safe returning.”
“It’ll take you right to the spot we left,” Eleira says.
I nod. “See you on the other side,” and I step through.
A barrage of sensations crash into me, assaulting my body from all sides. Reality shifts and distorts dizzyingly. It’s not entirely unpleasant… but this sort of travel, I’ll never get used to.
In either case, the effect lasts only a moment before I land on my feet, back in the stronghold.
Immediately, my senses flare. But the room is empty. Satisfied, I step away and wait for everyone else.
They come through one-by-one. First the two guards, then Geordam, then Phillip. When I realize the order they’re going in, a jolt of alarm hits—Eleira is alone there with Morgan. What if the Queen actually is possessed—but it lasts no longer than the time it takes to blink, because Mother arrives right on Phillip’s heels.
Finally Eleira emerges. As soon as her feet touch the floor she swoons.
I rip across the room to catch her.
“Are you all right?” I ask, worry filling my voice. There’s nothing physically wrong that I can see in her, but the side effects of doing magic manifest themselves in undeterminable ways.
“Fine.” She smiles almost drunkenly up at me. “So long as you’re here.” Then she regains her strength and starts to push off, righting herself…
“Not so fast,” I say, and I grab her and spin her and seal her lips with a kiss.
She blinks, startled, when I’m done.
“See what I mean about every opportunity?” I ask with a sly wink.
She hides a giggle behind one hand.
“And now that we’ve had enough of that?” Morgan says, very clearly impatient. “Eleira, the sooner you close the portal the safer we’ll all be.”
She gives a start. “Right.” Again, that brief flicker of light bursts and dies in a flash around her. And the portal is gone. “Sorry.”
“Don’t apologize,” I say, at the same time as Morgan mutters, “Apology accepted.”
I cross stares with Mother.
Phillip takes command of the room. “You have to tell us what happened,” he says. He points to the door of the room. “Before we go out there.”
Mother looks at the guards. “With them present?”
“We trust them,” Phillip says. “They are the ones who brought news of your abduction. They could have gone to the Royal Court. They didn’t. They came to me. Geordam—” he points out the vampire he’d named, “—is my First Officer. He’s proven his loyalty to our coven many times.”
“Wait a minute,” I cut in. The entire time we’ve been back an eerie feeling of emptiness has loomed over me. Only now do I understand why. “I can’t feel any vampires around. Where are they?”
Phillip’s head snaps to the door. “You’re right,” he murmurs.
Eleira looks confused, too. “I don’t feel any either.”
“The spell you put on this room only works one way, right?” Phillip asks her. “You did not change it?”
Eleira shakes her head. “No.”
“Oh, my,” Morgan says, with nearly complete indifference.
“Something’s happened while we were away,” I exclaim. I bolt to the door and open it just a crack.
The scent of spilled human blood taints the air.
Chapter Fifty-One
ELEIRA
THE HAVEN’S STRONGHOLD
My heart pounds as we race through the compound, searching for trace of any vampire. But Incolam and Elite, they’re all gone.
We follow the smell of blood. It’s obvious early on where it will lead us:
The human sanctuary.
We crash through the entrance, and there, on the edge overlooking the camp, come to a staggering halt.
Below us is a scene of mayhem.
The humans are clustered together in a tight circle bound by a ring of snarling vampires. Some try to break out, some try to break free, but they are thrown back as easily as if they were dolls.
The source of the discord? On the other side of the rock, a smaller circle of vampires is toying with five humans. Three men and two women. Each have bite marks over their bodies. Blood stains their ripped clothes.
Crude laughter comes from the vampires playing with their prey.
And yet another group, smaller than the second, is overlooking things from a distance with a sharp, clinical eye. I recognize a few members of the Royal Court. And also—my eyes nearly bulge out of my head—Cassandra.
We watch for a stunned moment as hungry vampires from the first group move to replace those who have fed in the second. The humans are screaming, yelling, crying out about betrayal, all the while trying to fight against their captors. Laughter roars loudest from the first vampire ring, and a loud voice calls out, “You are our slaves! You are our cattle! What did you expect would happen? The Queen is false! There is no one to protect you now!”
“Actually,” Morgan says softly beside me. “I am quite real.”
And with a blast of magic of a type I’ve never felt before, she strikes the offending vampire down where he stands.
Shockwaves from the blast ripple through the cavern. Every head whips toward us.
Some of the smarter vampires go down to one knee.
Morgan floats forward, propelled by a magic I cannot feel. As she passes me, I get the briefest look into her eyes.
A churning, speckled stream of black runs across the sclera.
And in my gut, instinct tells me what I fear most.
She is using dark magic.
Epilogue
SMITHSON
THE ORDER’S SECRET FACILITY
I crawl out from the wreckage of the ruined vault, only barely mustering enough strength to push forward.
My body is battered and burned. It will heal, but that will take time. The weakness is pervading, it’s horrible—but it withers away to no consequence when I see what’s been done to my precious Order.
Bodies lie strewn across the ground. So many dead, I think in wonder. So many dying.
It feels like I’ve been caught in a bad dream.
Small fires continue to smoke in various parts of the facility. The sprinkler system has put out the worst. Pained moans come from the many humans. I smell the spilled blood, but it is burnt
and repulsive to me.
My eyes go to the side wall, where a chunk of rock has been blasted out. No doubt that’s where the Black Sorceress made her escape.
Cold, high-altitude air rushes in, stealing away the heat, making all this feel even more surreal.
And then I see Sylvia.
She is facedown on the floor. Her body lies in a ruined heap. It looks like her back’s been broken.
But then I catch a hint of a pulse, ever-so-weak, in a small vein running along the side of her neck.
She is still alive!
Ignoring all my own pains, I fly to her. Yes, yes, I can feel her pulse!
I cast a furtive look around. Nobody is watching. None have noticed me.
And then, in a moment of ultimate contradiction, I part her lips and make her drink my blood.
Because, with Cierra running wild… only Sylvia can help me recapture the witch.
The End
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