by Sara Thorn
“What kind of threat?”
“Dhampir have all of the powers and abilities that vampires have, but none of the weaknesses. I can walk in daylight and am immune to most things that would kill a common vampire. Dhampir are a superior species, and common vampires are typically afraid of us since we have but one weakness to their many.”
“What is it, your weakness?” I asked.
Cassius laughed. “Do you really think I would tell you what my weakness is?”
No, I guess I didn’t. But perhaps he’ll still tell me a few other things.
“Why are relations between humans and vampires forbidden?”
“The common vampires are a large population, and they do not wish to lose their power and be ruled over by Dhampir. If the Dhampir were to increase in number, even by a small percentage, we would ascend to rule, and the common vampires would have no choice in the matter. Because of that, a law was created to prohibit relationships between vampires and humans and to prevent the birth of any more Dhampir.”
I thought quietly for a moment, and when I asked my next question, the words that came out of my mouth surprised us both. “What about relations between a Dhampir and a human? Is that allowed?”
Cassius looked suddenly uncomfortable as if he’d just been stripped bare. I didn’t even know why I had asked that question, curiosity I supposed.
“You need to leave,” he said abruptly as he turned around and walked back to his chair.
“You’re the one who called me here,” I retorted. He made me so mad I could scream.
“Has anyone ever told you how exceedingly obstinate you are?” he asked as he threw himself back down upon his chair and reached for a carafe of what I assumed to be wine, although it seemed to be way too early to start drinking.
“Has anyone ever told you how exceedingly arrogant you are?” I shot back at him with hatred in my eyes. I detested that I was trapped here. I loathed that I was taken away from my life just when I was so close to achieving my dream of becoming a professional dancer. And I despised Cassius for being the one who kept me prisoner.
He glared at me from his chair, and it looked like the tips of his knuckles turned even whiter than his usually pale skin as they gripped the edge of the chair’s arm. There was a feverish tension brewing within him, and I could see it start to rise to the surface. I backed up toward the door, still unsure why he had even called me in here if all he intended to do was chastise me, but I couldn’t read exactly what his expression now meant, and it made me nervous. When my hand reached behind me and touched the door handle just enough to jostle the metal, the door swung open, and Quinn grabbed me by the wrist quickly and pulled me out of the room.
“What happened?” he asked as we walked together quickly down the hall.
“I’m not really sure,” I answered. “He told me he was a Dhampir and called me obstinate.” I’m sure there was more than that, but at the moment, it was all I could remember.
“He told you about being a Dhampir?” Quinn looked shocked that Cassius would have revealed that information to me.
“Yeah, but I’m still not sure why he wanted to see me in the first place. He didn’t really ask me anything.”
“Maybe the point was that he simply wanted to see you,” Quinn said.
It took me a second to realize what he meant before I remembered the look of desire on Quinn’s face when I first put on these clothes. Could that really have been it? Was it possible that this all-powerful, elite vampire desired me? I found that difficult to believe, and even if it were the case, Cassius had made it very clear that it was forbidden. Besides…I hate him.
Quinn led me toward the main hall, where he said Cassius held most of the festivities that kept him, and the others, entertained. The main hall looked like a grandiose indoor opera house, with a giant raised seating area in the center that held a throne-like seat I assumed was for Cassius. On either side of the throne, there were two smaller chairs, both with elaborately carved wooden armrests and puckered red velvet cushions. I imagined these seats were for Cassius’s guests of honor, whoever they might be.
Strings of sparkling white fairy lights were draped from the corners and ceiling, casting a magical illumination over the entire space. The floor here was smoother than the stone throughout the rest of the place, more like polished marble that made it look almost reflective under the lights. Several natural elements looked real, but I couldn’t imagine how they possibly were. All around the edges of the huge room, trees lined the walls, making it look like a great indoor forest. And through their branches, the light of the moon seemed to cast its glow upon the room, all of which seemed highly improbable considering the lack of any natural light in whatever dim and cavernous place we were. Perhaps it was magic. Quinn was a fae, and fae folks were magical, hell maybe even vampires were magical; this stuff was all new to me. Whatever the origin, it was breathtakingly beautiful.
“This is where you will dance,” Quinn said as he looked around the magical room. “Beginning tonight.”
“Tonight? But what am I even supposed to dance to?”
“Cassius will have musicians playing. You’ll be expected to dance for as long as he wishes to watch you.” Quinn noticed my look of apprehension. “There will be wine, trust me it would be wise to drink some. It helps a bit.”
I spent the rest of the afternoon alone, well mostly alone, as alone as one could be while still sharing a room with several other girls. All of us were in different outfits, all of which were varying shades of shimmering and revealing metallic fabric. We looked like a beautiful assemblage of hostages, awaiting our fates in silence. There wasn’t really much to do except wait.
Quinn had told all of us that we were forbidden from wandering around the caverns. We couldn’t rehearse whatever it was that we were supposed to perform tonight because no one even knew what it was that we’d be doing. Most of the other girls were silently crying or mumbling to themselves about how they were going to be eaten by vampires. Honestly, I thought it was pretty pathetic, and I didn’t have the patience to deal with right now. There were a few guys who were chosen to go with Cassius’s group, too, but they were in a separate room somewhere.
I lay back on my bed and folded my hands over my chest and closed my eyes. I wasn’t tired, despite barely having gotten any sleep. I imagined the Boston Opera House in my mind; it was so beautiful. The rounded ceiling was painted and sculpted with an extravagance that made me feel like I was sitting among the gods. And the stage—oh my gosh, the stage. I wanted more than anything to dance there in front of an awestruck audience that sat in the dark theatre with expectant anticipation. I knew now that dream wasn’t likely to happen. So I let myself drown in the imaginings that played out in my head.
I had no idea how much time had passed when I heard Quinn calling for us. Some of the girls wiped their teary eyes and fell into line beside him as they readied to go to the party we’d be entertaining at. I sat up on my bed slowly, and Quinn looked at me as if he were wondering if I was going to comply or if he was going to have to walk over and convince me to follow the orders he gave. I would go, and I would dance for the simple fact that I had no choice. But I wasn’t about to make it easy for anyone. It was likely that I would die here, without ever realizing my dream at the Opera House, so why give them all the satisfaction of doing it without protest. I smiled secretly to myself, which seemed to make Quinn look even more nervous, and I thought about how many ways I could make this party as deliciously and defiantly entertaining as possible.
Cassius would regret keeping me hostage here, and Athan would regret ever having met me on the city street. I wasn’t too sure about Quinn yet. He seemed to be doing the best he could alongside us, so I would try my damndest not to get him into trouble. I walked over to the group and wedged myself between Quinn and one of the other girls so I could be at the front of the line.
“Are you okay?” Quinn whispered to me once we had all left the room and started walking toward the
main hall.
“Yep,” I said, smiling at him as though my lips were infused with sweet honey and oozing with a syrupy fakeness.
“Are you sure?” he asked again. “Because you’re kind of making me nervous.”
“Why am I making you nervous?”
“Well, for many reasons,” Quinn darted his eyes across my face and body. “But currently, because you seem like you’re about to do something stupid.”
I suddenly found myself wanting to know what “many reasons” he was talking about, but I needed to stay focused and not get distracted. I shoved my thoughts about Quinn down deep and answered in the most incredulous way I could think of. “I’m human, remember? We are always getting ready to do something stupid.”
Quinn was about to say something to that, but we had just reached the doorway, and two other fae men, who were standing on either side of the doors, swung open the giant slabs before we had a chance to prepare ourselves for the sight inside. The giant, magical space that I remembered from earlier looked even more enchanting and beguiling. However, now it was also filled with vampires who were drinking, dancing, and engaged in an undercurrent of conversation. I must have frozen in place because I felt Quinn’s hand push against my back to walk into the room. I had only taken two steps inside when I saw Cassius, sitting on his throne and staring at me as though everyone else in the room had just vanished.
Chapter Seven
“Welcome to our newest guests!” Athan said as he walked toward us and threw an arm around my shoulder. I don’t know why, but I was surprised to see him here. Since this was Cassius’s party and at his home, I just assumed he wouldn’t have Athan in attendance.
“Don’t you mean captives?” I said in as hostile voice as I could muster. It still turned my stomach thinking about how Athan had betrayed me, how he kept up this guise for years, pretending to be something he wasn’t just to ensnare me, and how he wasn’t even a living creature.
He smacked me on the back, a little too hard to come across as joking. “You never were good with following the rules, Mara, were you?” Athan laughed, and a crowd of nearby vampires chuckled right along with him as if on cue.
I looked up to see Cassius; he wasn’t laughing. In fact, he looked almost as if he were getting ready to launch off his throne.
“Why are you here?” I asked as I shrugged my shoulder out from his reach.
“I’ve come to check on the new recruits, of course,” Athan smiled. He was starting to look more and more like a vile snake. His dark eyes were slightly lighter than Cassius’s black irises, but they seemed to hold far more darkness than they should be capable of.
“Don’t you have your own recruits?” I asked, remembering how Athan got the humans who were deemed fit for being trained as warriors. Which reminded me, Why does he need warriors if he is already the ruler in this world?
“My recruits are all well and settled in. They've already begun their training, and I expect them to be exceedingly fit for the task,” he answered smugly.
“What task?”
Athan glared at me, and when his mouth formed a cruel smile. I thought I could see the tips of his fangs breach the top of his lips. As tough as I was trying to be, I was scared. I turned my head from him and looked at Cassius instead and began walking on a straight path toward his throne in the middle of the room. But instead of moving forward, I fell backward onto my butt on the floor when Athan pulled my arm behind me. I looked up at him with shock as he stood over me. I could feel Quinn standing at my side, and I could see his clenched fists that lay against his thighs at my eye level. I hoped he wouldn’t do anything stupid that would end up getting us both killed.
“I think maybe I’ll trade you for this one,” Athan called to Cassius. “She was my student for several years after all, and I think she might have enough spunk in her to prove to be a good warrior after all. Perhaps even a better fighter than a dancer.”
I looked over at Cassius and watched him rise from his throne with such slowness and restraint that it commanded every eye in the room to watch.
“I don’t think so,” Cassius answered as he strolled toward us. He had been holding a glass of wine in his hand, which was now empty as he tossed it into the air beside him. A fae servant caught it before it hit the ground. They must be highly trained, I thought. Or highly tortured.
“Oh come now, brother. Surely you don’t care if this one stays or goes. I’ll trade you whichever of my recruits that you would like,” Athan said with a domineering grin at Cassius.
“We aren’t brothers,” Cassius growled. “And, since you seem to have such an interest in this girl, that makes me want to keep her even more.”
Athan pushed his chest forward as if he were getting to posture for command, which, since he was the ruler here, I would imagine he could.
“Easy, Athan,” Cassius said coolly. “Everyone here was at the sorting. Every vampire in this room saw you get your fair choice of recruits. You wouldn’t want your followers to think you favor yourself to be above our laws now, would you?”
Athan’s dark pupils glanced at the crowd around him. Then, he burst out into a laugh that seemed too loud and too forced to be genuine. “See brother, this is why Father always favored me. You don’t have the clear-headedness to rule.”
Cassius walked closer to Athan until their faces were nearly touching. He whispered to his half-brother, loud enough that I could barely make out what he said.
“Father never favored you, Athan. If he had, then he wouldn’t have left the rulership to me. You are the one who favored him. And to this day, I will never understand why. Our father was a cruel and power-hungry demon, who let his lust for control and abuse of power destroy his marriage and the woman he loved.”
Athan was even more pale than usual. He tried to laugh, but it sounded more like an amusing choke as his voice shook when he answered Cassius. “Your mother was our father’s weakness. Had it not been for my presence to counterbalance her twisted influence over our father, the fae would still be free to rise against us. It was her human frailty and disgusting compassion that held him back. I will not ever make that mistake; I will never let the distraction of insignificant emotions or loyalties get in the way of my vision as king.”
“King?” Cassius laughed so loud that the trees lining the walls seemed to echo it. “You may rule the vampire clan, and you may have been successful at enslaving the fae, but you will never be king, brother. You don’t have the constitution for it.”
For a moment, I thought the two of them were going to burst into a fight. I felt Quinn’s fingers touch my shoulder as if to let me know that he was there and ready to run with me at a moment’s notice. But surprisingly, both men backed down. Athan took a step back as if he had only been pretending to be the alpha this entire time, and Cassius turned to look at me with his hand extended.
I reached up to take it, expecting it to be cold or smooth, or one of the many characteristics I’d read about in all the countless YA books I used to devour in high school. But instead of anything that I had expected, his touch sent a wave of heat throughout my entire body, which lingered in places that made me blush. Once I was on my feet again, Cassius moved his hand to the small of my back and turned to walk with me back toward the elevated pedestal that his throne sat upon. Both seats next to his were still empty, and I wondered if maybe he planned to put me in one of them. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
“Dance,” Cassius commanded as he let go of my back and climbed up onto his chair. He waved his hand around in the air, and immediately, two beautiful immortal females sat beside him, one of which brought him a freshly filled wine glass. He threw one leg over the arm of the chair again and looked at me in amusement as if he were awaiting my reaction. I stood there, on the floor in front of him, completely frozen.
“I said, dance!” he bellowed a second time.
I couldn’t move. I wanted to cry but fought not to let myself show weakness. I heard Quinn’s voice as he ran up to
stand next to me and launched into some futile explanation to Cassius about how we needed more time to adjust to this new world or something. Everything seemed blurry and slow to me, and all of the voices started to melt into a sea of incomprehensible sound.
Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Quinn be ushered away by two more of Cassius’s fae servants. And I was left alone, in front of an ocean of vampires, commanded to dance to the sound of nothing.
I closed my eyes and envisioned the opera house again. In the recesses of my mind, I could hear soft music start to swell. It was the orchestral composition that I would use for my audition when I was ready to apply to some of Boston’s most prominent dance companies. I had already chosen the song. I’d even started working on my choreography, although I hadn’t told Athan that yet. I was keeping it a surprise until my graduation date got closer. Softly, and without needing to be forced, my legs start to move beneath me. I let myself be carried by my thoughts and by the music I heard in my head. I danced and didn’t care if anyone was watching, or if anyone was in my way. I danced my entire choreography, and when it ran out, I simply started over and danced it again.
Perhaps this is what going completely mad feels like. , not that it matters now.
Finally, when the muscles in my legs were too fatigued to move anymore, I stopped and sat down on the floor. I opened my eyes, breathing heavily from what must have been at least a solid hour of exertion, and strained to adjust my vision to the twinkling lights illuminating the room.
The other girls had started dancing, too, and the center of the hall had filled with both men and women dancing in every style one could imagine as if an undulating sea of bodies had overtaken the entire room in movement. The immortal vampires seemed pleased as they watched and frolicked and munched on foods I had never seen before that were handed to them on bone-white plates. Athan was engaged in deep conversation with his sidekick, Dregon, who occasionally looked over at me and sneered. Quinn was still missing from sight, and it was difficult to make out what else was happening at the lavish event since my line of sight met with most everyone’s knees. But when the dancers in front of me moved out of the way, I was able to look up at Cassius’s throne.
