by J. D. Brown
He backed into a corner and stood with his arms crossed over his wide chest. A sigh blew from my lips and my shoulders relaxed, but it was short lived as guilt wracked my heart.
Move away from the shadows before you get hurt, you big oaf.
More Council members arrived through the arched bricks while others sank through the ceiling. Each one had an opinion about Victor that matched Stefán’s. Naamah and I did our best to calm everyone, promising that all would be answered in time, but the lie singed my soul. Each promise of loyalty, servitude, trust, cooperation, was another flame held under my heart.
The murmur of opinions buzzed through the room as the chamber quickly grew crowded with vampyres. I stopped paying attention to their chatter, their suspicions. They were all about to die and none of them suspected a thing. It wasn’t right; to die without the chance to defend one’s self. My stomach twisted in knots. Some of them might have challenged me and my husband’s authority over the years, but they were all our friends, even that thundering ogre, Stefán.
My senses were acutely aware of the Master’s presence. He wasn’t truly in the room with us, but small traces of his essence stretched thin over the area like and invisible net. He most likely read the waves of energy in the room, getting a feel for the situation. The majority of him waited someplace else entirely, probably in the forest above ground. The distance masked his scent and feel from the unsuspecting crowd. It was difficult to discern our individual scents when we were all tightly packed in the same space. But if they had known, if they had any suspicion of him at all, they would have seen through his decoy like a blaze in a haystack.
My husband gently, yet swiftly wrapped an arm around my waist and leaned close to my ear. “They are all accounted for, my love.”
I wet my lips and then whispered under my breath. “We best not keep the Master waiting.”
Naamah met Victor’s gaze and nodded. Victor nodded back and then mumbled in a soft tone. I caught sight of Stefán in the corner of my vision as he half-phased, half-marched through the crowd, advancing toward us.
“Incoming,” I warned my husband.
“Naamah, Maria, we are all in attendance. Tell us now what this meeting is about.”
“Yeah!” everyone demanded.
I inhaled sharply and looked at Naamah as his muscles tensed against my touch. I gathered my courage and squeezed his hand for support. His spine straightened and his chest puffed as he inhaled a deep breath. He opened his mouth to address his colleagues—but stopped short as Victor stepped around us and met Stefán’s gaze.
“He is no longer your Second-in-Command. He has been demoted.”
Stefán unsheathed a dagger and swung his arm around. “I am tired of your disrespect—”
“Stefán, no!” I shoved Victor aside and took his place before the Icelandic vampyre. My hands went to my side to block the dagger’s path to my kidney. Stefán’s eyes widened in panic and he halted his attack, but not in time. The tip of the blade pierced my palm. I winced, forcing my hand to disperse into a mist and dissolve the weapon along with it.
“Why did you defend him?” Stefán’s grip fell away from the molecules of his dagger and the weapon reformed in my hands. Naamah placed a hand on my shoulder and stepped forward, forcing Stefán to back away.
“What Victor says is true. I am not your Second-in-Command anymore. Victor is.”
A collective gasp sounded throughout the room. Then everyone started talking at once.
“Only Prince Jalmari has the power to reinstate a Hand without a vote!”
“The Prince should be here, where is he?”
“On the contrary,” Victor’s voice rose over the crowd. “There is one man whose command trumps your pathetic prince, and that is the King.”
Everyone narrowed their gazes at Victor and, for a moment, I worried he would lose his life to the angry crowed. Then a voice bellowed over them.
“Right you are, soldier.”
My breath hitched and I quickly hid the dagger into my skirt pocket. A chill seeped under my skin as my gaze found the Master. He strode across the platform, a foot above everyone else. Naamah gently tugged my elbow and we floated silently into the shadows along the corner of the eastern wall. Victor moved with the same stealth to the western corner. The crowd didn’t notice as all eyes watched the stage. They murmured Apollyon’s name to one another, first as a question, then as a conviction.
“Yes,” he grinned, “it is I, King Apollyon, and I have been watching you… all of you. It is a shame not a single one of you remained loyal to me. Not one of you took advantage of the beautiful heaven I left behind when you thought my life had perished. Not even my own son had the sense to be grateful and nurture the empire I’d left him.” He paused and chuckled to himself. “I lay in hell in vain.”
He paced the other way, his gaze narrowed as he looked over the Council members. They gaped back at him, some shaking their heads in disbelief. The fear mounting inside them as their faces paled was almost palpable. Only a few members were old enough to have known Apollyon in his first life, but the rest knew of his legend, of the things he had done and was capable of doing. I held tight to Naamah’s arm in anticipation.
“Victor was the only one to hold fast the life I tried to give you,” he continued. “So yes, I promoted him, and now, I am demoting all of you.”
With a wave of his hand, thick clouds of sand burst forth from the ground, quickly forming into flesh and scales, muscles and fangs. The Saga-Giga surrounded the room, their gigantic forms commanding the space.
Before the others realized what was going on, the snakes wound themselves around several Council members and struck. The venom burned like acid, eating through their bodies before they could heal. They dropped dead in seconds, nothing more than blackish-red bubbling puddles of flesh.
Some fought back, and some managed to phase away, but so many more faces I knew one minute were dead and gone the next. The desire to jump in and fight erupted in my chest. A deep growl reverberated from my throat and I struggled against Naamah’s hold. He held tight, his arms wrapped around my shoulders and across my chest, his every essence fighting to keeping me from phasing.
“Let go,” I shouted through the screams of my peers.
“Maria, stop! Think of the consequences.”
“To hell with the consequences!”
Dying in battle was an honor. Watching my friends being slaughtered in an ambush was cowardly. Rage built fast inside me and I did not want to control it. How could Naamah hold back? How could he stand to watch this massacre?
A woman shrieked. The scent of her pain and fear was almost a physical blow to my senses, forcing my attention to the source of the sound. Apollyon stood in the center of the chaos, hunched over someone. I couldn’t see who as too many bodies flittered in and out of my vision. I trained my hearing on the Master’s voice and tuned out the rest of the crowd.
“Where is my ring?” he shouted.
The woman’s voice was a throaty gurgle. “I don’t have it!”
My eyes widened with recognition. Helldora. He has Helldora! I wriggled against the weight of my husband.
“I know my boy gave it to you,” said Apollyon.
“I… don’t… have… it.”
“Then where is it?”
“I’ll never… tell… you.”
A deep growl was followed by Helldora’s screams. I couldn’t take it anymore. I writhed around and bit Naamah’s neck, holding nothing back as I clamped down on his jugular. His breath hitched and his muscles stiffened as he tried to keep his hold. My lover’s blood flowed freely over my mouth and I sucked it in, taking full advantage of the effect it would have on him.
He grunted and I moaned as a tingly heat raced to my womanhood. My fingers dug into his biceps as our pulses began to shift, mine slowing and his speeding up. He growled in attempt to fight it, but the climax quickly passed through him and his concentration faltered, causing his grip to loosen. I dispersed my ele
ments and shot away, ignoring the tremors in my groin and the sting in my chest as adrenaline coursed through my blood.
I solidified seconds before hitting Apollyon. My hands drew Stefán’s dagger from my pocket and I shoved my entire weight against the hilt as the blade sank into Apollyon’s shoulder. He staggered back, shock and bewilderment coloring his features. I paid him no attention as I dropped to Helldora’s side. Red stained the lovely Norwegian vampyre’s abdomen and pain glazed over her dark eyes. I raised my wrist to my lips and tore open a vein with my teeth, intent on helping her heal with my own blood, but before I could lower my arm to her mouth, a hard blunt object suddenly struck the side of my head. White stars danced in the periphery of my vision as I fell onto my side. Helldora’s eyes slowly rolled crosswise to look at me. Her lips moved and her gaze pleaded. If any words came from her lungs, I missed their meaning in the savage battle cries of the scene around us. My head swam and I struggled to push myself up when a second blow knocked me unconscious.
Chapter 10
I paced from the kitchen to the living room. Jesu had excused himself so he could “freshen-up.” Meanwhile, I had changed into something that I hoped would be appropriate for meeting royalty. My fingers twitched as I slid my hands over the knee-length skirt and then muttered curses under my breath as the sweat wrinkled the chiffon fabric. I went to the bathroom and checked my reflection for the one-millionth time. I wore a powder blue cardigan that fuzzed like a molting blue jay. It was the only article of clothing in the wardrobe that had deep front pockets that I could shove my hands into without looking suspicious. I didn’t know how much longer I could keep my missing finger a secret.
A knock sounded at the front door. I opened it with my left hand, shoving the right into the depths of the sweater. Jesu stood in the hall dressed in a black button-down shirt and dark blue jeans with his signature biker boots. He scanned me and then cocked his brow.
“You look, um…”
“Frumpy?” I offered.
“I was going to say wooly.”
“Can we just get this over with?”
He nodded. “Bring the sunglasses.”
I patted my pocket to indicate that I’d already thought of that. Jesu nodded in approval and then stepped aside. He followed me into the elevator. A minute later, we entered the lobby. Kirstin glanced at us from under down-cast lashes as she chatted softly into the headset. I wondered if she knew what was going on. Had her cousin, Heidi, told her about my disappearance? Had King Nikolas contacted Heidi last night? Was Heidi the one who told Jesu of my summoning? If that was the case, the whole hotel staff would know by now.
The same gentleman who drove us here just four days ago came through the main door and held it open for us. I swallowed my nerves and then phased the back of my neck, which was covered by my loose hair. Human energy carried on the light morning breeze billowing into the lobby. The energy found the invisible particles of my neck and seeped into my body. It filled my lungs with a calmness that spread outward to my fingers and toes. It settled in my stomach, dousing the fire that I had come to associate as the thirst.
Breathing a sigh of serene relief, I solidified my neck, put on the sunglasses, and confidently exited the hotel. I didn’t wait for the driver to open the limousine door. I climbed right in, using only my left hand for balance as I scooted to the other side. Jesu joined me, his own black glasses firmly protecting his eyes from the washed-out daylight.
The driver circled around the block and then turned down a main road, headed toward the thick of downtown. This time, I kept my eyes glued to the sights outside the tinted windows. Colors and details were difficult to discern, even through two layers of tinted glass filtering the rising light, but I was determined to see some of Berlin, especially if this was to be my last day here.
Pedestrians strode along the sidewalks, groggy from the early hour. I knew I could kill them easily. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I would always be aware of how fragile they were, but for the first time, I didn’t crave their life force like a drug junkie. I breathed in and then sighed in contentment.
“You are a little too calm for someone who is going to trial,” Jesu murmured.
“It’s not every day I get to see Berlin.” I turned to face Jesu. “Really see it, not just its humans.”
Jesu was still for moment then nodded in understanding.
“Oh, look.” I leaned across him and gestured past the window by tilting my head. “It’s the Brandenburg Gate.”
I marveled at the gigantic gate made of twelve pillars and concrete panels. I gawked like a silly tourist, but I didn’t care. I didn’t get to see much of Helsinki and I wasn’t going to let circumstances repeat. The famed tarnished bronze statue of a woman riding a chariot drawn by four horses at the top of the Brandenburg gate was difficult to see from my angle inside the limo. I sighed anyway, taken by the majestic architectural beauty and the history hidden beneath.
“The Quadriga of Victory is a symbol of peace, you know. She’s so beautiful and free up there.”
“Perhaps that is a good omen,” said Jesu.
I pushed away from him and sat upright. Maybe I should’ve been thinking more seriously about the meeting with King Nikolas. Jesu cleared his throat and then crossed and uncrossed his legs before folding his hands together on his lap. Oh yeah, he was nervous, but I could only see this trial going one of three ways and no matter how I played the scenario in my mind, every outcome seemed to be in our favor. Unless… unless there was something Jesu wasn’t telling me. I tried my best to word my question delicately.
“Will Bridget meet us there?”
Jesu’s pallor dropped a few shades lighter and he swallowed, but when he looked at me, his brow pulled together and his voice was stern. “Of course not. Why would she?”
“Just want to be prepared.” I shrugged.
He pressed a tiny button near the door handle and a panel rose to block the driver’s view. Jesu’s expression softened. “King Nikolas and his wife are… well… they are very old. They expect manners. Curtsies, polite conversation, that sort of thing.”
“I can curtsy.” Really, was I that un-ladylike that Jesu felt he needed to warn me?
“Just remember to let me speak for you, all right?”
I wanted to protest. Instead, I sucked in a deep breath and nodded in cooperation. Jesu knew these people who were going to be judging me, and I didn’t.
“Do you know who saw me phase? I mean, do you know who reported it to King Nikolas?”
He paled again. “No, I do not know who it was.”
“I just think it’s curious that a random Good Samaritan would report me. I mean, how many vampyres here even know my name? I can only think of three, besides you.”
Jesu chewed his lip, but didn’t say anything or even look in my direction. I dropped the topic. It was obvious talking about it made him nervous.
The limo slowly rolled to a stop in front of a sky-rise building made of reflective glass and metal beams. The design was modern and I couldn’t tell if I was looking at office units or an apartment complex. The driver opened the door and I scooted out after Jesu. The man then went ahead of us and opened the main door of the building, ushering us inside. I wasn’t sure I’d ever get used to being waited on, but I was grateful for the service as I buried my hands deeper into the cardigan’s pockets.
Florescent lights lit the lobby. This struck me as odd for a building used by vampyres. I winced against the bright yellow haze, only barely tolerable under my black sunglasses. The sweet scent of human flesh wafted into my nostrils and quickly doubled in strength as we neared the receptionist. She greeted us with a fang-less smile and a few pleasantries in German. Jesu gripped my shoulder and squeezed hard. I wondered if he was expecting me to pounce on the woman. Usually he would’ve been correct to be cautious, but in this moment I had no desire to harm the woman. The thirst in my gut remained in check by the energy I had absorbed before leaving the hotel.
“We ha
ve an appointment with Nikolas der Wölfe,” Jesu spoke. His grip stayed strong on my shoulder and the tingle of pressure was getting annoying. I tried to casually shrug him off, but he didn’t take the hint.
The receptionist’s pulse quickened and a scent rose from her skin. I could only describe it as fear. Was she afraid of us? Did she know what we were? I wondered which of us frightened her more and figured it had to be the pale blue undertones of Jesu’s skin. Her chair squeaked as she shifted her weight and pointed down the hall.
“Die aufzug. Siebzehnten etage.”
Jesu tensed behind me, gently tugging my shoulder to signify that I should follow. I wriggled out of his grasp and scowled.
“You could’ve let go.”
He stared at his hand apologetically and then smoothed his palms over his jeans. “Sorry.”
I scoffed and then looked to the elevators, waiting for him to press the button. Instead, he jerked his chin in the direction of the stairwell door. “Let’s walk it.”
“Okay.” My brow arched as I followed him. “What floor did the receptionist say to go to?”
He shoved both fists into his jeans pockets and started climbing. “Seventeenth.”
I paused mid-way between two steps and glanced up at him. “Seventeenth?”
“Seventeenth,” he repeated.
“If I was still human, I’d laugh my butt off and take the elevator without you. Any reason why you want to walk that many flights?”
He shrugged. “To prolong the inevitable?”
“I’ll say. Won’t that look suspicious?”
“We can always say the elevator broke.”
I scoffed. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to know that he was still trying to figure out what exactly he’d say to King Nikolas on my behalf. I didn’t think there was anything Jesu could say that would make much difference, but I kept quiet and allowed him a few minutes alone with his thoughts.
By the time we reached the tenth floor, a pleasant ache manifested in my calves. Jesu and I ascended the stairs side by side, the only sound coming from the soles of our shoes. His gaze locked on the floor, no longer thoughtful, just spacy. I figured he’d finished formulating a plan and was content in the silence.
