Two familiar shapes moved around his bed. Helena and Ursula attended to him. With a flick of the wrist, they made the sheets pull up and smooth out the wrinkles. Anything broken in the room mended itself. The curtains closed, shutting out the moonlight.
Her father entered the room. He stopped by the bed and said something to the two elder witches. They answered him, and he shook his head. He laid a hand on David’s chest, said something to him, and kissed his forehead. Nothing happened. The High Prince stood straight. He nodded to the two Ladies and left the room.
The images flickered out and were gone. The memory of the three women flashed to the front to replace them. Then she knew. David slept, alright. He had been enchanted. But by whom?
Cassy blinked hard several times and took a few deep breaths to clear her head. She had to find Ronan. He had to send her home right away. David needed her. She did not know how to help him. She only knew she could.
The ivy door covering parted as she approached. Lost in thought, she ran headlong into Ronan. She gave a yelp of surprise.
“Oh! I’m so sorry. I didn’t listen for signs of anyone being outside before coming through. Are you okay?” Cassy felt her cheeks tingle with embarrassment. If she had fed, she knew they would have blushed. Thinking about feeding made her fangs extend to their fullest potential. The burn associated with thirst did not bother her so much in this place, but her instincts told her she needed to tap a vein soon.
The elf just smiled at her. “Yes, Cassandra, I am quite well. Join me for morning tea?”
Ronan stepped aside and motioned her to a small table by the front window. On it were small, colorful fruit bowls topped with fresh whipped cream and tea for two. A wild honeysuckle vine in bloom curled around a small vase between the place settings.
Cassy nodded and took a seat. The food held no appeal. She wanted to try the tea, in hopes it might help her thirst. The thin, fine china cup seemed too delicate for her fangs, but she could not retract them as long as the hunger grew. She turned her head one way and then another in an effort to avoid chipping the fragile item. No matter how she tilted it or her head, the cup was too narrow. She gave up and sat it back on its saucer.
She looked up to find Ronan watching her. His smile spread even wider. A twinkle glimmered in his amethyst eyes. It was as if he were watching a victory unfold in front of him.
“Ronan, I appreciate the house-space and the clothes, but I need to get back home. Will you help me?”
Cassy did not want to seem pushy. However, the love of her eternal night lay enchanted in a deep slumber. She wanted, no, needed to get home as fast as possible. The witches took care of him. She saw that much in the vision shared by their magical bond, but she needed to be by his side.
“Let me share a story with you. Please be patient. It is relevant,” Ronan requested. “Once upon a time, in a realm called Avalon, a king and queen ruled together. They were happy, for the most part. The magical land gave them everything they and their subjects needed but one thing. Children. For that, they needed to go out of Avalon to the living world.
“Some liked it so much they stayed. Some fell in love with humans and some with fae not of Avalon. The population of Avalon grew at a steady and slow pace, which suited the king and queen, as elves are immortals.
“One day, a child was brought home to the magical land of Avalon by his parents. Instead of amethyst-colored eyes, this child’s face held a silver-gray. Something was wrong with his teeth. The canines were sharp and would extend below the level of the others. His parents reported his diet was not food but blood.
“This fascinated the king. He wanted the child raised in Avalon, but the child frightened the queen. What if he was dangerous? What if his condition spread to others? What if his parents produced more like him? He had to go. To protect her people, the child needed to be killed or banished. The king did not agree, but the people of his kingdom ruled in favor of the queen. The queen foreswore the king’s bed in retribution for going against her, and the king left the fortress.” Ronan paused, sipping his tea.
This gave Cassy time to think about what he had said. Everything lined up with the dream she had. The new detail mixed and replayed in her head. The boy was clearly a genetic fluke, a vampire born of elf parentage. Without further explanation, Cassy knew the outcome of the story. The boy suffered banishment.
The idea of being separated from the people who should have loved him made her sad. Fear was a powerful thing. It often made people do irrational things they ordinarily did not do. She understood Mab’s reasoning but did not approve. She felt her face scowl with annoyance. Tension tightened her shoulders. Not wanting to seem angry with her fangs extended, she tried to relax.
Ronan kept smiling as he watched her. The gift he looked at seemed to be getting better and better. He picked up his fork and took a bite. He seemed pleased with her annoyance, happy even. When he finished eating, he leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms, and held his unfinished tea.
After another long moment of watching her, he continued. “What the king did not know was this boy was not the only one. The parents had been only one couple out of six who had a child born with this condition. The others stayed in the realm of man for fear their offspring would be destroyed. The boy brought home by his parents came for a cure. Instead, the children were used as changelings from noble households in what became Eastern Europe.” He paused again.
“There is no cure. There is no reversing something gene deep. We knew this long before we knew what genes were and the role they played in our magic. So, the world received a new breed of creature, the born vampire, and we lost a generation of young. No one knows why it happened. It hasn’t happened since. Mab made her decision long ago, and now she must live with the consequences of it,” Ronan said somberly. He finished his tea and sat the cup down.
Cassy took a few minutes to absorb what she heard. The history of the born vampire’s origins intrigued her and made her angry. Born vampire history had been taught as being sketchy, at best. The new information thrilled her. On the other hand, born vampire clans existed on Earth because they were rejected by elvish society. The banishment smacked of taking out the trash. Those poor children were swapped for human children for no other reason than their differences at birth. Now, a use had been found for them, and they were suddenly wanted.
Tears stung her eyes but not tears of sorrow. Her emotions rose. Anger, resentment, and need to do something on behalf of those abandoned and neglected by those who should have loved them fought with her self-control. She stared out the window at the utopia that changed the course of human history and felt loathing. There came a moment where she suddenly understood her father’s rage. It was a part of her, too.
Ronan’s voice broke through her building fury. “If you want to go home, Cassandra, I need to find a balance between the hatred you feel in this moment and your self-restraint. This is another fight for your freedom. Mab took their choice from them centuries ago because she saw them as lesser than elves. That choice is again at risk. You have to make her see she was right from the beginning. She controls the portal magic in Avalon. No one leaves without her permission unless you have a portal amulet, and those have all been used or destroyed. But, I cannot allow you to give in fully to your nature.” He touched the back of her hand and stroked down the length of her fingers.
A soothing calm came over her. The strong emotions still boiled beneath the surface, but she maintained her self-control better. She kept staring out the window. Ronan’s words finally sank in, now that her anger was in check. Show Mab she was right?
“I don’t know what you mean. Fight Mab? She possesses magic I don’t. She’s guarded by elves with powers I can’t defend myself against. How am I supposed to show her she was right?”
A flicker of doubt crept into her mind. She was one vampire against an unknown number of magic-using elves. What were her odds of winning? On the other hand, maybe Ronan’s suggestion had nothing to do with
winning, only showing the potential danger. She entertained thoughts of feeding her way to the fortress gate.
The burn of thirst made itself known once more. The magic of Avalon held it back. She knew she had the power to ignore it, knew the bloodlust was restrained. There was only one thing wrong with her ability to set aside her nature. She did not want to.
Ronan remained silent. She could tell he was giving her time to process. The silence allowed her to come to her own conclusions, make her own plans. It allowed her the freedom to make a choice.
“Okay,” Cassy said, breaking the silence. “Okay, I’ll do it. I’ll make her sorry she brought us here. Tell me how.”
Ronan gave her an approving nod and big, toothy grin. “You only have to be yourself, Cassandra. Be the vampire you were born to be. You are the daughter and Scion of High Prince Vlad Tepelus IV. You are a Dracul. For the first time in your long life, really act like it.”
Chapter 16
Cassy sat across from Ronan. Thoughts whirled and tumbled inside her head. Need for blood warred with logic. Her instincts told her to cut a bloody path to the fortress gate, tearing into the soft, warm flesh for the sweet, rich, coppery goodness beneath. Logic tried to reason with her. It reminded her she was a civilized creature and not a monster. The monster within had to be contained.
“All you need to do is give in to your instincts, Cassandra. Just don’t follow them to kill. You have the control. Use it gently. You must be brutal but not fatal. Be the nightmare Mab always feared,” Ronan coaxed. His smile shifted from mischievous to almost cruel.
He got up and moved to stand behind her. He braced himself on her shoulders and pressed down hard, holding in her chair to look out the window. Leaning in close to her ear, he spoke in a harsh near-whisper.
“Look at what most of the chosen do to your kind. They tossed aside a defenseless babe for an imagined sin. What a life of peace they denied him and the others. The perfection of a happy home was denied out of ignorance and fear. And now, Mab needs fresh DNA. Who did she turn to? Not the humans. Not the other fae. Oh, no! She went after the children she rejected centuries ago.”
“Suddenly, when she has a need, the born vampires are welcome in Avalon. In fact, she worked with a made vampire to collect and trick them into staying. She took delight in separating you from your beloved David. If she has her way, you will be nothing more than a brood mare, passed around from man to man to diversify the failing breeding stock,” he said. There was real emotion behind every word. A chill rose through her as if his hands sucked away Avalon’s magical protection.
Cassy felt the sting of rejection, the anger of betrayal, and the rage of being forced to stay. Mab’s laugh from the night before sounded in her ears and echoed in her head, just as it had in the stone hall. Her fangs extended down so painfully hard they felt as if her gums would explode. The scratchy burn in her throat turned to an inferno. The magic of Avalon no longer held the thirst in check. The need to feed became bloodlust. One final message from Ronan made its way through the building frenzy.
“Do not kill. I will defend what is mine,” he ordered, painfully squeezing her shoulders.
The order became an edict she knew she had no choice but to follow. The small, logical part of her acknowledged the magical limit with gratitude. The monster growled in frustration.
The weight on Cassy’s shoulders lifted in an instant. She sprang out of her chair and bolted for the door. She paid little attention to Puck holding the ivy curtain open. He did not smell like food, like the blood in her breakfast.
“Happy hunting, Princess! The fortress is that way,” Puck said with gleeful giggles and pointed back down the stairs.
Cassy did not bother with the stairs. She jumped over the balcony to the wooden walkway. The foot bridge pathway shuddered with the force of her landing. The momentary sway did not slow her as she sprinted headlong to her goal, the first warm-blooded pulse.
She gave herself over to a side of herself she had never seen. Nothing but animal instinct ruled. Blindly, she followed her nose to the first smell of food.
She took the man by surprise from behind. Tackling him, she took him the ground, wrenched his head to one side, and sank her fangs into his neck.
He screamed. The screams brought no mercy. He fought back.
She held on tighter. Liquid life, hot and metallic, flooded her mouth. It rolled down her throat. Each swallow eased the hunger, but the burning thirst clawed at her throat. As his heart slowed, she felt compelled to release him. Her monster roared at her to finish. Ronan’s edict kicked in, and she forced herself away from the man.
The scene repeated itself over and over. The man came first. A woman was next. Another victim. A fourth. A fifth. She stopped caring about the gender. The counting stopped. Quenching the burning was all that mattered. Throat after throat gave up its prize.
The physical hunger dissipated with each passing mouthful until only the insatiable anger remained. The anger goaded her on with Ronan’s words. How dare Mab toss us aside and then use us like animals? Mab took my David from me. She. Must. Pay. The phrase became her mantra. She must pay. She must pay.
Someone tried to grab her from behind. Mills’ training kicked in automatically. Her head flew back, breaking a nose. Her elbow drove into a set of ribs. They crunched and collapsed. Reaching over her shoulder, she grabbed a fistful of fabric and brought the body of a man over her shoulder, bouncing him on the footpath at her feet. He screamed as she pounced on him, burying her face in the side of his neck. Once again, the edict stopped her from doing irreparable harm, and her monster unhappily complied.
Before she knew where she was going, Cassy found herself outside the fortress gate. She sprang up as high as she could and landed on the wall beside the gate. Her fingers and toes gripped the stone. Without shoes, she was able to scale the wall at maximum speed. She ignored the things that fell past her, dodging the ones that came close to hitting her.
At the top, her first victim did not have time to draw his sword. She drained him until Ronan’s magic kicked in, preventing the man’s death. She dropped him, where he lay screaming in terror.
A sharp pain between her ribs drew her attention to her right. Another guard brandished a thin blade and pointed the red-tipped weapon at her. He trembled, causing the sword to shake to and fro. Fear filled his eyes, and she saw he worked hard to keep a straight face. The adrenaline wafting from his skin in the warm, summer-like breeze hit her with full force. The burn and hunger reared their ugly heads. The monster inside felt pleased at the chance to feed again.
As she heard his heartbeats slow, Cassy gave in to the familiar force pulling her away. She turned the man loose. Before he hit the ground, another sensation came over her.
A metallic mesh covered her, searing her skin. She hit the ground and curled up into a tight ball. She used her hands to shield her face. Unlike last time, no one approached her or gave her instructions. The net’s edges pulled closed. She was trapped inside the silver net as the guards rolled her down the stairs from the battlements to the courtyard.
Cassy hit the ground with a heavy thump. The impact knocked the breath from her body. Another wave of hunger and anger washed over her. She gasped, hoping to regulate her breathing before the next attack came.
Several kicks landed along her back and ribs. Each blow allowed the silver rings to dig into her skin. Sneering and jeers rained down on her. Something wet hit the side of her face. She knew someone spat on her, and the anger seethed even more.
Cassy dared to peek between her fingers. She saw a guard lifting a broad sword above his head. She gave a defiant hiss and bared her fangs at him as she realized he lined himself up to take her head.
He gave her a cruel smirk. As he brought down the blade, a bright ball of light hit him from the side. He and the sword fell to the ground and rolled out of the way. The light faded to reveal Puck sitting on the elf’s back.
Surprise at her rescuer pushed aside the anger. The sight o
f the satyr brought her a small trickle of hope. If he was here, Ronan was sure to be close.
“’Tis good to see the fun you bring, Princess. I will be sorry to see you leave!” He laughed so hard a bleat broke through the happy sounds. He ignored it and kept chuckling as he calmed down.
He head-butted the elf, knocking out the man. Puck managed to jump back up on his hooves. He made a little clopping noise as he approached her. With deft fingers, he opened the silver netting, freeing Cassy.
“Thank you, Puck. You may go now,” Ronan said, walking to Puck’s side.
“’Twas good to see you again, Princess,” Puck said and gave her a bow from the waist. He turned and gamboled his way back through the gate. His braying laugh floated along with him.
Cassy stood up and tried to brush the dirt from her clothes. The blood-soaked garment allowed most of the filth to stick. So, she tugged everything back into place instead. Her hair escaped the combs and hung loose about her face. She raked an offending lock out of her eyes and looked at Ronan.
“Thanks,” Cassy said, offering him her hand.
He smiled, placed a hand over his heart, and gave a slight bow instead.
She looked at the blood-covered hand she presented him and gave an uncomfortable giggle. “Sorry.”
“It’s quite all right. You did a marvelous job. We tracked you here by the carnage you left behind. I couldn’t have asked for a better show,” he told her with a twinkle in his amethyst eyes.
“Your magic worked. I think it’s the only reason most of those elves are still alive,” Cassy admitted. A deep-seated shame washed over her. The monster inside shook his disappointed head and bedded back down.
“They will heal, in time. Now, let’s go see Mab, shall we?” Ronan walked across the courtyard to the door leading back into the fortress.
Cassy tagged along behind him, not wanting to get caught up in another net.
As they walked down silent corridors, Cassy noticed the rooms looked abandoned. Dishes and cups were left untouched. Embroidery hoops and spools of thread lay on the floor. Discarded books splayed open in a window bench seat. The occupants fled, leaving disarray in their haste to get away from the impending threat.
Scion's Avalon [House of Dracul 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) Page 13
