Roots Of Rage: A Vampire King Paranormal Romance (Transfusion Saga Book 9)

by Stephanie Hudson

It was all starting to make sense in an unforgiving way, I could barely believe that my own brother had done this to me. It would have been like finding Adam stood at my back after the knife had pierced through my heart from behind.

  But then there was no other explanation, and right now I only had one option left, to imprison my brother, and interrogate him, extracting any information from him any way I could.

  I gave the nod to Vern after releasing a pained sigh, knowing this wasn't going to be easy for both my brother or I. Vern picked up Nero and carried her over to his brother for it would look too suspect had he had just left her on the floor.

  He nodded toward Dariush in acknowledgement before carrying Nero over to the steps that led up to the level of my throne. He whispered something down to her that I couldn't hear but whatever it was, it made her blush. Then after this, he walked back to Gryph just as I was walking up to my brother,

  “Where have you been?” I asked knowing this was the question he would be expecting first.

  “I should be asking you that same question seeing as you flew out of here pretty quickly.”

  “I had a vision of where Amelia would be, granted to me by the Eye,” I told him taking careful note of his reactions to this.

  “And were you successful, for I see you retrieved the witch at least, although she does look to have seen better days?” he commented, and knowing what I knew now it was a struggle not to punch him.

  “She will survive, but I need to speak with you, for there is much for us to discuss.” Dariush actually had the audacity to sigh as though this was all very taxing, before running hands through his hair.

  “Yes, well you charged me with finding information about this witch, that was never going to happen by having my ass sat on a throne or behind a desk,” he said in his defence, and I had to say his act before today would have been quite convincing, but then I had to question just how many years he had been this convincing? For this wasn't something that had simply occurred in the last few weeks, months, or even years. No, a plan of this magnitude took decades at least, meaning that the brother I once knew who stood before me now had been nothing but a lie.

  I was killing mad, beyond furious and I wanted to make him pay. But the conflicting feelings inside me were ones I wasn't used to, for it wasn't often that I had to fight against someone that I cared about or considered family. Thousands of years we had been brothers, fought wars together, battled realms of Hell to possess what we did now. But, fuck me, he was practically a King of this place for I was hardly fucking here! And I had been happy to let him rule in my place, what more did he fucking want?!

  None of it made much sense, but then again, without knowing the reason from his own lips, then it never would.

  I motioned the McBain brothers closer, letting my brother see openly so he wouldn't suspect anything more except believing what I had to say next concerned them also. However, the moment they approached close enough I asked my brother about the witch.

  “And tell me, brother, what was it that you found out?” The moment I said this, and he heard me confessing his connection to me in front of others, he knew something was wrong. He knew he'd been discovered for his look of shock turned into a scowl. Then, before he could act, the brothers sprang into action, restraining him either side, at the same moment I took hold of his neck and squeezed. I held on tight in an unyielding grip as I choked him of air, having to force myself not to go too far and snap his neck.

  “What is the meaning of this?” he wheezed out, and I got closer to his face, and snarled,

  “The meaning of this is treason.”

  ***

  A little time later I was in the dungeon wiping the blood off my knuckles and doing so with a crack that happened upon straightening my fingers. I had worked over my brother pretty good and with every single blow I inflicted, my soul darkened further. I had felt every hit delivered as if it had been to my own gut, as to know that my brother was a traitor it was like swallowing acid, one that churned inside of me and stayed there.

  It was a pain I had once felt before, only not in this life but that of my first, for I would not speak his name, vowing never to do so once he passed. As for my brother, he was currently chained to the wall at eight different points of his body, and each chain was connected to different points in the room. This may have seemed overkill, but it was so he had no means of escape through a quickly created portal. He had fought all three of us to get him down here and in truth, this had been where he'd sustained most of his injuries. However, every time I inflicted more, each one had healed, meaning it became a vicious circle. For I only ended up splitting the skin once more. Fuck, but he was practically healed already, and I had only just finished punching him bloody, breaking his nose, jaw and cheek bone. But no matter how long I had been at it for, he still would not confess.

  All I had wanted to do was leave to go and find my girl, but unfortunately, I also knew that without me here he would have had the power to manipulate others to let him free. Meaning I had no other choice than to play his jailor and leave the retrieval of my Chosen One in the hands of others. I had sent the McBain brothers to look for her, after first retrieving Trice to aid in their search.

  It pained me to do this but having my brother escape, knowing that he was the one who had been pulling all the strings was far more dangerous.

  “I want a confession out of you,” I told him yet again.

  “Then you'll be waiting a long time for it is not one I will ever give you.”

  “You won’t give me the satisfaction of one then, is that it?”

  “I won’t give you the fucking lies of one…that is it!” he roared back in anger making me shake my head in frustration.

  “Your future is already damned as the evidence against you is immeasurable,” I informed him, and once more it felt as though I was just going over old ground and repeating myself.

  “And all I can say is that you have been fooled, and most likely by the work of a witch for you're about to kill your own brother for nothing.” I inwardly winced at the thought but hid it well, as I had been doing since I dragged his ass down here with the help of the brothers.

  “I want that confession,” I told him again, hating that every word out of his mouth was a lie or a way to try and twist the truth and get me to doubt my own actions.

  “And like I said, you will never get it for I'm not speaking lies to alleviate your guilt when it comes to delivering my death.” I closed my eyes and released a sigh as I faced the bars away from him for the sight of him pained me.

  “Then your death is all I have left to offer you,” I told him.

  “That is not true for there is something else that you could offer me.” I frowned in question and turned a little to ask over my shoulder,

  “And what is that exactly?”

  “Other than your benefit of the doubt.” I snarled back at him as was my answer to that.

  “I wish you to grant me until the morning.” Now that was a strange request.

  “Why? Tell me why I shouldn't just kill you now and alleviate my own suffering at knowing that my brother who betrayed me is dead!” I snapped the question.

  “Then if that is how you feel, you may class it as my last and only dying wish, for I wish to see out one more night, for if new evidence hasn't come to light by then, then I doubt it ever will and you can kill me knowing you had little choice.” His words troubled me, for I didn't know if they were a trick or he actually thought with time his innocence could be proven. I fucking hated being put in this position. I hated knowing that I was to be judge, jury, and executioner against my brother. For I would have no one else take his life but that of my own hand.

  I released another sigh, one this time I didn't try to hide letting him know how heavily this lay on my mind, and just before he was about to speak I held up a hand to stop him. I turned my back on him, walked to the cell door, and told him,

  “You will have your night, and if there is any evidence of wh
ich you speak, I will spend the night having all at my disposal searching for it, because you are my brother and it is worth every minute spent to me trying to prove your innocence.” He closed his eyes at this and was about to thank me when I stopped him,

  “However, if I do not find anything, then you will not see another day past this one, on this brother…you have my word.”

  “In that case, I have nothing left to offer but my hope that you find something.” I looked back at him over my shoulder and said as my parting words,

  “You are not the only one with that same hope…

  “Brother of my Blood.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Amelia

  Mighty Little Green Things

  The moment I realised that the man stood in front of me was none other than Trice, my reaction had been instantaneous. I had literally thrown myself at his back and hugged him as hard as I could. I then hummed,

  “Thank the Gods!” Doing so as I don't think I had ever felt so relieved in all my life. His head turned and he looked down at me over his big shoulder before saying,

  “Do ye mind, lass, only a'm trying tae look lik' a bad ass here ‘n' that's kinda hard wi' ye clinging tae mah back lik' a dirty wee monkey.” I winced at this and then as I let go I patted him on the bicep and said,

  “Oh, right…yes, okay…I uh…see your point, I will just let you do your thing…go get ‘em Tiger...” As soon as this new brand of stupid came out of my mouth he raised a brow, lifting his scar and the mirth in his silent question could easily be seen.

  “Erm…scrap that, I don't actually know why I said that.” On hearing this obviously embarrassing back tracking of mine, his bad boy smirk lightened up his hard features and he winked at me.

  Then he put a hand to my belly and pushed me back into the corner. After this he took care of business, which in other words meant drawing out his long sword and engulfing it in blue sparks that displayed the threat of a dangerous power. This acted like a warning light for anyone who wanted to come near me, and it took only seconds for everyone to go back about their business. Schlong demon and his jealous lover included.

  The gatekeeper threatened him to keep me out of trouble although I couldn't help but notice he did this while backing out of the door. I guess he wasn't stupid after all. Then, once the threat was all over, Trice turned back to me and just as I opened my mouth to say thank you, I suddenly found my torso being flipped upside down over his shoulder. Naturally, I screamed out in shock making a few of the customers chuckle.

  “Yep, he's claiming his bounty alright, claiming it to grind his cock!” One of them said, making Trice pause his steps and with the sword still in his hand, without looking he extended it out to the side, meaning that the demon who had made the comment was now facing the tip of his blade a centimetre off the end of his nose. He swallowed the hard lump that had formed at the sight of this and held up his hands in surrender.

  Trice hadn’t needed to say anything in response to this, he merely lowered his blade, putting it back in its sheath and continued on towards the back of the pub. his arm remaining hooked over my waist keeping me to his shoulder, doing so as if he was carrying a tree trunk through the forest and back to his woodcutter’s cottage.

  “You could probably get away with putting me down right about now,” I told him, and I felt his chuckle at my belly before he told me,

  “Now why would ah dae that, as it seems tae me that whenever ye'r on yer feet ye git yourself into trouble 'n' lost in Hell,” he said full of humour. Well, I'm glad one of us was finding all this funny! It was of little wonder why my reaction to this was me making a simple, but I like to think effective, ‘humph’ sound.

  I watched as he made his way to a wooden staircase that was on the far wall past the bar, and was one that I gathered led to the rooms that for a coin you could stay in for the night. I watched him take the steps three at a time thanks to his long legs and his impressive strength, for it seemed as if he wasn't even carrying anything at all.

  “Shit me bit ye stink, whit ye bin doaein' playing in th' mud 'n' then huv a go 'n' wash yersel' aff in th' shitter?” he said as soon as he put me down, after first kicking open a door to what I presumed had been his room. I also had to say as far as compliments went this wasn't my finest moment. However, I pushed back my mud-soaked hair and looked up at him with my hands on my hips,

  “Now listen here you! I only caught half of that Scottishness but the parts I did get I didn’t like!”

  “Aye, a second ago ah was her hero 'n' noo ah be th' villain,” he muttered to himself, still looking amused I hasten to add. I chose to ignore this and said,

  “Do you have any idea what I've been through in the last twenty-four hours?”

  “Well, seeing as ye covered in shite 'n' reek lik' a demon’s ass, ah would say whatvur 'twas, it was ney pretty.” After hearing this and after deciphering it, I closed my eyes, held the bridge of my nose and counted to ten just so I wouldn't knee my saviour in the balls.

  After this I said the first thing that needed to be said…

  “Please tell me there's a bath in here.”

  ***

  A short time later I found myself in a small slice of Heaven in the form of water encasing my skin. Of course, with this little slice of Heaven first came a bit of the Hell that I was most definitely getting used to. Meaning that before this point of the night first came the weird. Something that started when Trice picked me up by my waist and strangely, walked me over to a bucket, and stood me in it.

  Then, when I started to complain and asked him what he was doing, he told me not to move. Of course, I didn't feel as though I had much right to complain, not considering I was safe and out of the rain. But I had to confess the moment I finally got my muddy butt inside a warm space then standing inside an empty bucket was not what I had in mind.

  I was also concerned about the actual use for this empty bucket seeing as it was behind a wicker screen that looked to have seen better days. Which quickly told me that whatever was done behind here and in this bucket, it was most likely something the people would like to keep private.

  But then I had looked down at my dirty feet and my ruined flat shoes and after that took note that every inch of me was covered in mud. I quickly made the decision not to give a shit if I was in fact standing in a bucket that people usually took a crap in, even if it was from a demon and trust me, those were some big buggers downstairs!

  Yes…I was that dirty.

  All I cared about was the fact that it was empty, and Trice clearly had a plan. A plan I soon discovered the moment I heard someone enter the room and of course, I couldn't help but sneak a look. A small being covered in a cloak walked over to an empty copper bath and after Trice spoke to him in a different language, one I couldn't understand, and this time not just due to his accent, the hooded being started dancing his fingertips over the bucket. I watched in amazement as it filled to the brim doing so solely by magic.

  Then, after the bucket was full, he moved on to doing the same to the bath and I could feel myself getting giddy at the thought. But as my attention was still on the bath, I screamed in shock the second water was poured over my head. half of which filled up the bucket I was standing in, the rest however simply went everywhere, flooding the floor. I looked up to see Trice holding the empty bucket over the screen with a grin, I then stomped out of the bucket, rounded the screen, and whilst shaking a finger at him asked him what he was playing at.

  He nodded down at me with a smirk and a mischievous glint in his eye, when he told me

  “I didnae think ye wid be wanting a shite bath.” Then when his gaze lingered elsewhere, I, too, was forced to look down at myself to see that he was right, most of the mud had come off meaning that I wouldn't be sat in my own filth when taking a bath. However, this wasn't the only thing I noticed, and so did Trice. As thanks to the colder air hitting me, and wearing a once white material with no bra, I now looked as though I was entering a really crappy we
t T-shirt contest. One you would have found in some Hick town when nobody gave a shit what they were wearing, as long as it was white for the sole purpose of becoming see through. I looked like I had a couple of pencil erasers stuffed down my top, for Gods’ sake!

  Naturally, my reaction was to cross my arms over my chest and storm back behind the screen with a huff. His deep manly and throaty chuckle was as annoying as it was sexy…damn him!

  A short time later and I was in that Heaven I spoke of, finding myself in the bath, relaxing back after scrubbing my skin and my hair clean. In fact, I had nearly wept with joy when Trice had handed me a simple bar of soap. After this he had left, surprisingly like a gentleman after first moving the screen so it covered me in the bath. I didn't need to question why he did this considering if anyone had just walked in the room, then seeing me starkers and ringing wet would have been the first sight to greet them.

  However, the moment I heard the door open, I had called out asking who it was.

  “Tis bit I, lass.” As soon as Trice answered me, I relaxed back against the edge of the tub knowing that he couldn't see me. But then the second I smelled it, my hands gripped the sides of the bath and I bolted upright, making water spill over the sides and splash onto the floor.

  “Oh, my Gods. If you tell me that is food I can smell, I will think you're an Angel on the wrong side of the tracks, I told him making him laugh before shouting,

  “Heads up.” This was before I saw a bread roll being thrown over the top of the screen, making me catch it quickly before it could drop into the tub and become nothing but a mound of soggy bread in my hands. I couldn't help but moan around the first bite, feeling as though it was the best thing I'd ever tasted, I was that hungry.

  “You sound like a wild hungry bear,” Trice commented, clearly amused and I answered him unashamedly, and with my mouth full I told him,

  “I feel like one.” It was after this that I ended up having the strangest conversation, not only because of all the things I had to tell him when explaining to him exactly what had happened, but also because I was sat in the bath and there was nothing but a screen in between us.