He raised his hands in defense. “No, Ceyla. I worked for her father and I knew her, but we barely spoke. Marianela is a worthy opponent. Don’t let her get inside your head.”
Seeing the wild look in Ceyla’s eyes, I sighed. “I can’t believe you would lie about what we shared, Declan. It was so intimate and special. I believed you when you said that you’d never love another.” It took all my self-control to sell my lie without laughing.
Ceyla screamed and launched herself at Declan, who caught her arms before her claws tore through his chest.
Landon stepped forward to punch me into silence, unsure if I was telling the truth or not, but I side kicked him in his balls. He doubled over and went down on one knee. Extending my fangs, I threw myself forward and sank my teeth into Landon’s neck. I needed to weaken him to keep him out of the fight.
Snarling, he grabbed my hair and tried to pull me off his neck, but I dug my claws into the front and back of his neck. It was a move of desperation, but he was smart enough to understand that if he pulled me off him, I would tear apart ¾ of his neck, causing substantial blood loss. It wasn’t a move the average vampire would make in a friendly dispute. It was a move used on the battlefield when you wanted to kill your enemy, proving to Landon that I wasn’t playing around.
He immediately let go of my hands and held them up to yield the fight to me.
I heard Ceyla stop yelling at Declan and gasp.
“Let him go, Marianela. You really are outnumbered. Declan will rip you apart if you don’t release Landon.” I could hear the fear in Ceyla’s voice. It was a shame that she truly cared about Landon because I planned to use him as leverage to neutralize Declan.
Well aware of Declan’s ability to kill me and his moral ambiguity to commit to the act, I had to be smart.
I released my teeth from Landon’s neck to glance up at Ceyla. “Let me go, and our fight ends here.”
Glaring at me, she crossed her arms. “Did you really sleep with Declan?”
“No.” I told her the truth in good faith, hoping that she agreed to release me.
Ceyla frowned and patted Declan’s cheek. “Well, I guess…”
A sharp pain tore through my back, cutting off my breath. Kayden had snuck up behind me and shoved a blade into my kidney. I couldn’t believe I had lost sight of him in the middle of everything.
Gritting my teeth, I chuckled. “Always keep your eye on the weakest member of the group.”
Ceyla grinned. “Oh, the look on your face is precious. You really thought we were negotiating.”
Kayden grabbed my shoulder to push the blade deeper. Releasing my claws from Landon’s neck, I snatched Kayden’s hand on my shoulder and dug my claw into the back of it. Yelling, he let go of the blade so he could pull his hand out of my grip and retreat.
Landon fell to the ground, unconscious from the blood loss.
Rushing towards me, Ceyla extended her fangs and claws, intending to rip out my throat. I ripped the blade out of my back and whipped around, slicing Ceyla across the throat, halting her attack.
I spun again to throw the knife at Declan’s stomach, but missed. With the excruciating pain in my back, I wasn’t fast enough to avoid Declan’s punch to my side. The bastard knew the exact spot that would send shooting pains through my entire body, causing my legs to cave.
Ceyla’s stunned face as she put pressure on her neck wound proved that she truly thought she would kill me without much resistance.
Breathing through the pain, I watched Declan retrieve the dagger from the wall where it landed and walk back to stand over me. Declan’s cold eyes stared down at me. “For you, Ceyla.” He flipped the dagger over a few times in his hand to feel the weight of it so he would know exactly how to inflict the most damage with it.
Giggling as best she could with her throat injured, she smiled. “Give me the knife, Declan. I want to do it.”
He frowned at her over his shoulder and shook his head. “No you don’t. Marianela isn’t your average vampire. She won’t go quietly. I don’t want to see you get hurt.
I laughed as best I could. “I told you. He doesn’t think you can kill me.”
As she released her wound, I watched the blood spill down Ceyla’s uniform as her cut began to heal. She came closer with her hand extended to Declan, licking her lips. “Give me the knife, my love. I’ve waited too long for this.”
He bowed his head to her and handed over the knife. He stepped back so that Ceyla could crouch down in front of me.
I looked up into her excited eyes. “Go on then. Let’s get this over with, Ceyla.”
She bit her lip and sighed. “Oh no, Marianela, this is just the beginning.” She leaned in closer to whisper in my ear. “I want you to suffer as I have.”
Jamming the knife into my stomach, I gasped. She was going to draw this out for as long as possible, which was exactly what I wanted.
Breathing in short breaths, I smiled. “You are so eager to play with me that you ignored the advice of your general. Big mistake.” I sucked in a breath, knowing how much pain I was about to endure.
Without warning, I grabbed Ceyla’s hair and tore into her neck while I pulled the knife from my stomach. Before she could pull away, I slashed her upper legs to keep her from running.
Declan and Kayden rushed forward to grab me but I released my teeth from Ceyla’s neck. “Come closer, Declan and I will carve her heart from her chest.” Thrusting the knife up between her ribs, I held the knifepoint just over her beating heart.
The shock in Ceyla’s eyes quickly faded and she began to laugh. “Damn, you are good.” She waved at Declan and Kayden, who froze before they could touch me.
“Yeah, I am. That’s why my plan to kill my brother would have worked if not for one tiny mistake. I didn’t listen to my general because I was too excited to finish the fight. Now, I’m going upstairs to take a nap and you are going to reflect on how I spared your life tonight.” Seeing the fear in Declan’s eyes, I knew I had him. For whatever reason, he cared enough about Ceyla to accept defeat so he could save her.
Ceyla sighed. “Oh, come on! I had a spectacular victory speech planned. You would have loved it. Fine. I yield. Get the god damned knife out of my chest.”
“Fine.” Removing the blade from her chest, I heard her snickering between the gagging coughs caused by the pain of her injuries.
Confused by her laughter, I looked up to see Declan and Kayden smiling as they slowly backed away. Behind them was Nikkos.
“Marianela. I see that you’ve been busy.” He held out his hand for the dagger.
Ceyla coughed some more as she glanced up at Nikkos. “Nikkos, thank goodness you arrived when you did. I called and called for help, but my men arrived too late. I thought she was going to kill me after what she did to poor Landon.”
I blinked a few times while my brain shifted gears to understand what had just happened. This was a set up. She wasn’t trying to kill me, yet. She was fucking with me. She truly was going to make me suffer by exposing our brutal fight in front of Nikkos.
The urge to shove the knife back into Ceyla’s chest was overwhelming, but having more blood on my hands wouldn’t help my case.
I flipped the knife around and handed it to him hilt first. Slowly, getting to my feet, I saw Ceyla wink at me a second before she launched into her bullshit story about how she was the innocent victim who was just minding her own business when the merciless Marianela jumped her.
I flashed a look of warning at Declan, who seemed pleased by his performance. Never in a million years would I have believed him capable of such deception. As he had said, we both knew what kind of person he was. He was cold, calculating and ruthless, but he wasn’t a liar. He could stake a man in the heart without blinking, but lying about the stake was never his thing. Knowing that Ceyla had brought out another side to him made me smile. Now that I knew the bastard had a heart under all that ice, I had a new way to fight him and Ceyla.
Chapter 7
&nbs
p; “Fighting with shifters, fighting with other vampires and disrupting classes with unauthorized content are serious offenses.” Nikkos didn’t sound angry or upset. He seemed more excited to have another chance to torture me into submission. His broad smile made my skin crawl.
“I’m only guilty of one of those charges, not that you care. For the record, I saved a raven shifter and I was set up by Ceyla. But, you probably knew that part.” I stood in the metal cell and stared at the ceiling, waiting for it to close down on me and crush me or to burst into flames.
He shrugged indifferently. “I’m just happy that she knocked you down a peg. I’ll bet that stung.” He pointed to the bloody hole in my stomach that was starting to heal.
“Not as much as the knife in my back. At least she learned the hard way that I play rough.” I pretended not to care about miscalculating her battle strategy. I had expected a dirty fight, though I hadn’t planned on her snitching so someone else could finish me off.
He chuckled. “And you learned the hard way why she’s at the top of the food chain. She’s not one to run from a battle, but she likes to toy with people first.”
“Thanks for the warning.” I tipped my head, accepting his advice.
“I admit that I underestimated you. I was warned to skip the bath water trick because it wasn’t your greatest fear, but I just couldn’t help myself. I thought that it might register on some level, but I see now how stubborn you really are. Or maybe you’re just more broken than I originally thought. Regardless, I’m going with the tried and true methods this time. I’m going to show you what you truly fear.” He tapped the walls and raised his eyebrows ominously. “Say hello to the bastard for me, will you?” The door closed and I was surrounded again by darkness.
My blood chilled when I figured out what he was planning to do. I didn’t know how he would accomplish it, but any place with witches and creatures who could sniff out a person’s darkest fears could certainly accomplish what I hoped was impossible.
Steadying myself, I waited for something to happen. The hair on my arms stood up in anticipation. I had to remain calm and keep my wits about me.
“Marianela, stop crying! How will you ever take my place if you can’t control your emotions?”
I flinched when I heard my father’s voice. It wasn’t an imitation or a trick; it was his actual voice.
Turning, I looked down to see that I was bound with chains to a thick tree in the middle of the field where we had trained, far away from the comforts of home. The whip came down on my legs, cutting through my leather pants. Unable to control my scream, I cried out in pain. “Father, please stop.”
He laughed at my plea. “You are weak, Marianela, yet if I brought your brother here, he would die of fright. You are the only one who can rise up and lead the coven. I will whip you senseless until you are strong enough to endure anything.”
The whip came down on my other leg. Tears fell down my cheeks uncontrollably. I had come to the countryside with him under the guise of learning from the great leader of the Mielcarek Coven, the wise and powerful man who oversaw the covens. He was to teach me everything he knew about diplomacy, warfare, history and most of all, the secret to keeping the masses loyal to him. So far, he had only taught me how to bleed and beg for my life.
“What does this have to do with leading the coven?” I’d asked the question before, but he always replied with a question of his own.
“How can a lovesick girl rule the most powerful coven of all time?” The whip cracked again, coming down on my arm. We’d been at this for almost an hour without a break. His leather pants and tunic were dripping with sweat from the effort of berating me and whipping me.
“I hope your arm falls off.” I didn’t know why I was stupid enough to talk back to him but I blamed the pain for my outburst.
He stepped forward and slapped me. “Your arm will fall off long before mine.” He went back to his starting position and gulped down water from the rain bucket.
I longed for some water to quench my thirst.
“Why not choose a different successor if you expect me to be such a failure? Why bother beating me for my failures as a daughter?” This time, I blamed my anger for my outburst.
He flashed a cruel smile. “If only it were that simple. It’s your name that people will fear. I need you, not some worthless successor with no name. It’s up to you to be worthy of the Mielcarek name and legacy.”
I learned a hard lesson in the first few days of our training. If I didn’t figure out how to be the person my father expected me to be, my suffering would never end.
Hours passed as my father continued to whip me and shout insults. Every cruel thing he said to me stung worse than the whip, which I wouldn’t have ever thought possible. By the time the sky brightened in the horizon, he was barely able to stand, while I had lost all feeling in my body from the pain and blood loss.
He finally cut me down and dragged me to the small hut where we took shelter during the daylight hours. Throwing a wet rag at me, he told me to clean up, but I was too tired to move. The following three days were the same. They blurred together until I lost all sense of time.
As the sun rose at the end of the third day, I looked to the bright sky and prayed for death. He would never stop because I would never be good enough.
Imagining myself burning up in the sunlight, I felt a kind of peace. I was free from my father for a few seconds as my body burned away. It dawned on me during my seconds away from him that he couldn’t mentally defeat me. Sure, he could physically harm me if I couldn’t block out the pain, but my mind was safe from him if I blocked out his cruelty. I could master my emotions if I stopped caring about what he thought of me.
I opened my eyes and smiled at him. “Your words are meaningless if I don’t give them power. Pain can blur together until it forms a kind of numbness. You overplayed your hand, Father. As long as I remain conscious, I can ignore you. Hell, I can even hurl insults back at you if it pleases me. Once I lose consciousness, you can’t do anything to me if you wish to keep me alive. You said it yourself, you can’t kill me. I’m too important to you. That means I have no fear of dying at your hands. If there is no fear of death and my mind is shielded from you, my pain will eventually subside. Once that happens, I will have nothing to fear from you. You will mean nothing to me.”
A genuine smile filled his face as he dropped his whip. “You can be taught. Congratulations, dear daughter, you finally understand. A ruler only needs to fear death. Beyond that, everything in this world can be controlled by you in one way or another. This knowledge will make you a fearsome foe to any who would oppose you. It will make you stronger than any who wishes to overthrow you. Once you surround yourself with those loyal followers you can manipulate, you will be invincible.”
He patted me on the shoulder and cut me down from the tree. I took a deep breath and looked up at the brightening sky. I had no idea that the rising sun would help me realize my greatest lesson. The one thing that could kill me had saved me.
“Thank you, Father.” I didn’t know why I was thanking him, but it felt like the right thing to do.
“Tomorrow, we will begin the rest of your training.” He held out his hand and lifted me off the ground.
I learned something else during that lesson. I never wanted to be like my father. He could train me to fight all he wanted, but I would never live my life based on his principles of instilling fear and demanding respect. Sadly, despite my desire to be the opposite of him, Marcario’s betrayal had turned me into the very thing I hated.
Uninterested in seeing the next three months of utter failure at the hands of my father, I used what I learned that day to shut off my emotional reaction to the memories. I’d already lived through the experience so it was easier to roll my eyes at my father’s cruel methods, including cutting me in every possible place with his sword so that I would learn to fight through the pain and shock. I wasn’t sure what kind of magic was controlling the visions, but they we
re just that, visions. I could look at them objectively and accept the pain inflicted upon me because it wasn’t real. My body was safely inside the cell in the detention center.
It didn’t take long for me to understand what my father was really doing to me during those days. He wasn’t preparing me to be a leader or a warrior. He was trying to mold me into his exact image. Despite my realization, I felt no kinship to him. I still hated the bastard.
Of course, I knew he had been trying to harden me into a version of himself, but it went deeper than that. He was literally trying to invoke the same cruelty and heartlessness inside of me.
I wasn’t sure how long I was in the cell but my vision quest ended when my father had me down on the ground with a sword pointed at my throat because I had lost my footing during sword practice. He had beaten me so thoroughly that my body was unable to continue the fight.
“Did you enjoy your trip down memory lane?” I opened my eyes to find Nikkos smirking at me from the doorway.
I stood up, brushed off my healthy body and winked at him. “You stopped just before the best part. Though I was completely exhausted, my father made a mistake that day. While he was leaning over me, yelling at me to get up, I pulled a dagger from my shirt and stabbed him in the stomach. That night I fed well thanks to my small victory over him.” I patted him on the shoulder and walked past him.
He frowned as he looked at me from head to toe. “You are a tough one to crack, I’ll admit it. But, we will find a way. I promise you.”
I smiled at him over my shoulder. “If you believe that then you didn’t know my father as well you think. He made me the woman you see before you, right or wrong. He made sure that people like you could never harm me.” I stepped closer to put my hand on his cheek. Leaning in, I whispered, “He also made sure that people who tried to harm me would feel my wrath tenfold when I was finished with them.”
His arrogance seeped from his face and eyes. His mouth fell open and his eyes softened. “I don’t know if I want to bow to you or kiss you.”
Bloodlust: House of Vampires Page 6
