by Iris Walker
“Stop!” he begged, writhing weakly under the chains.
She watched him, feeling the energy course from his body into hers, relishing the power underneath her fingertips.
“Didn’t anybody ever tell you it’s not nice to play with your food?” Darian’s voice sounded out from behind her.
She jumped slightly, releasing the vampire and catching her breath. Energy tingled underneath her skin, warm and buzzing and pulsing with power. Robin turned, looking at Darian, who was half-concealed in shadow, stepping towards the vampire in chains.
“I was just getting answers,” Robin murmured, crossing her arms.
“I’m sure he was just freely giving them,” Darian said with a sliver of a smile. “Couldn’t sleep?”
She trained her sight on the silver-haired vampire, his red eyes burning brighter than usual in the shadowy chamber. “Didn’t even try.”
“Ah,” he hummed, glancing at the trembling prisoner. “You seem to be doing better.”
Robin flexed her fingers, searching her body for any sign of what Calliope had warned her about, but finding no damage. There wasn’t even an ache as her muscles hummed with the power she’d taken from the vampire. Tension faded, and she let out a long breath. “Well I’m not going to combust, so there’s that.”
“And now you’re just searching for answers,” Darian continued, stepping closer to the vampire. He wound his long, pale fingers through the man’s hair, pulling his head up and studying his sunken face.
“Wouldn’t you?” she muttered.
“I suppose. But I would caution you,” he said, releasing the prisoner’s hair and letting his head fall down with a thump. “Be careful from whom you get those answers.”
A glimmer of fear sparked in her chest. Does he know about Calliope? Robin stowed it, shoving the feeling deep down. “What are you saying?”
“You’re a powerful being, Robin Wright. There are many creatures out there looking for you, to hold you captive, and manipulate you into serving their purposes.”
She narrowed her eyes and steeled her voice. “Many out there, and one in here.”
Darian threw his head back and laughed, like silver and moonlight. The sound made Robin queasy. “Yes. But I wasn’t exactly concealing that from you, was I?”
Robin scowled. “What do you want, Darian?”
He cocked his head slightly and studied her. “Many things…”
A shiver ran up her spine, and Robin forced herself to maintain the posture, tall and feigning confidence, even though the thudding inside of her ribcage had increased steadily, like a bird flapping against bars.
He knew that, sensing it, feeding off of the fear that now coursed through her body. His red eyes flared with power and something else, something that terrified her to her core.
Robin swallowed, letting her eyes flick to the door, across the chamber, past a set of stairs. “Right, well…” she said, stiffening to step towards it. A wave of freezing air hit her, and in an instant, Darian had materialized in front of her.
Robin inhaled sharply, stepping back in a jerky motion. Too slow. Rough rock dug into her back for just a moment before Darian’s ice-cold hand wound behind her, immovable, frozen like a statue. His other hand met the wall directly above her shoulder, trapping her there as he leaned closer.
That bird, thumping against her ribcage? Now it was in a full-on frenzy, slamming against the walls of her chest, her breath frozen like ice inside of her lungs.
“Let me go,” she whimpered, her voice cracking.
Darian said nothing, watching her with those burning, hellfire red eyes. His breath washed across her face; cold, too cold, like a gust of wind on a winter night, reminding her of what he was. Death.
“Don’t,” she warned, her voice still shaking.
He leaned forward, his mouth coming closer to her neck, and she tensed, bringing both hands up, searching for that core of energy.
But she found nothing.
Her eyebrows pulled together, breath coming in short gasps, pressing her hand harder onto his icy chest. “What…?”
He was so close that Robin could feel her pulse jumping underneath her skin, feel his presence over that vein. The stinging memories of Magnus and so many others rose to surface, like a red-hot iron in her mind.
“You won’t be able to use that on me,” he whispered. “You might be powerful, Robin, but I am very old. I have been around for a great deal of new creations, and I have cautiously waded through the aftermath of their births, and yours. I would not be taken advantage of so easily.”
Robin trembled, a mixture of anger and terror and biting frustration, knowing that he was trying to demonstrate that power, trying to show her how she stood no chance against him. “Okay, you’ve made your point,” she seethed, voice bitter and wavering.
“I don’t believe I have,” he murmured, his lips just brushing the skin of her neck, leaving frozen, burning ice in their wake. She felt his smile, which brought up another wave of nausea and disgust, before he pulled back just enough to look into her eyes.
She was glaring daggers at him, which seemed to only amuse the vampire further.
He exhaled slowly, through his nose, and quirked an eyebrow. “Now, for argument’s sake, let’s say that I wasn’t wearing my talisman, and you could use your abilities on me. You are quick, no?”
Robin’s scowl deepened and she called on Lucidia’s steely voice. “Very quick.”
In an instant, the hand behind her back vanished, and she felt a sharp point on her jugular, hooked at the fleshy spot underneath her jaw. She froze, stiffening in place, stuck to the wall, his nail ready to slice her throat. Adrenaline coursed through her system in a tidal wave and her blood pressure increased, every pulse pushing against the razor-sharp presence on her vein.
“Not that quick. You are more formidable than you used to be, and that may give you confidence, but do not delude yourself into thinking that you are the quickest,” he said with a cutting tone. “It will be a mistake that you are only allowed to make once.”
“Let me go,” she repeated, voice barely audible.
“Why?”
“Please,” she whispered, straining away from his nail.
“And if I decide not to? Then, what will you do?” Darian murmured.
“I… I don’t…”
“What can you do?”
“Nothing,” she groaned. “Alright? Nothing.”
“Exactly. If I wanted you to die, you would be dead. If you had attempted to siphon any energy from me, the fight would be over before you even brought your hand up. In fact, if I asked you to do anything right now, you would be forced to do it, and have no other choice, yes?”
Another wave of anger boiled through her, and she was thrown back into the night of the ceremony, that horrible night where Magnus had trapped her and she was forced into the circle, feeling his razor-sharp fangs rip into her.
Darian pressed slightly, the sharp tip of his nail digging into her neck. “Yes?” he repeated.
“Yes!” she cried, voice desperate. Her pulse was in her throat, hot and thick and roaring through her mind.
He released the pressure on her neck, and Robin let out a ragged gasp, legs shaking underneath her. Darian hooked his finger underneath a strand of her hair, pulling it forward and inspecting it in the warm firelight. “It is that easy to gain complete control of a person. Any person. Do you understand that?”
Her face was set in a deep scowl, eyes glaring out of rage and helplessness. “Yes,” she pushed through clenched teeth.
“There are many people out there that would do much worse to you, in order to gain control of your abilities. And if you give them the chance, they will succeed. That is how this world – your new world – works; the strong take what they want, whenever they want, because they can. The weaker either comply or they are crushed and beaten until they do, even if it ends in their demise. There is no third option. Your only protection as a weaker creature in this world
is to align yourself with a stronger one. This is why Cain didn’t touch Lucidia even when he had her in chains, at his disposal. This is why neither Fausta nor Cain nor Calliope have found you as long as you have been in my care. Because I am a being of immense power, and here, with my people, you are safe. You may call it slavery, but among us, if you serve, you reap the benefits, and the protection that servitude brings. My protection is a privilege that not many outsiders are offered.”
“I get it,” Robin seethed. “You’re top dog.”
A sly smile curved on Darian’s lips. “Feeling this helpless bothers you, does it not?”
Her blue eyes flared. “Of course.”
“It is not so fun being on the receiving end of such treatment,” he murmured, glancing over to the prisoner. “I believe he would agree.”
Robin scowled. “What do you care about how he’s treated? He attacked you. You had Ezra torture him.”
“He attacked my stronghold because those were his orders. I do not take it personally, nor would I inflict my justice on him, when he was only doing right by those that commanded him. You would be wise to treat others with the same respect, even if you are just ‘getting answers’.”
“I’m sure you’re so high and mighty that you’ve never abused your power.”
“I don’t need to exert my power for others to know it exists.”
She ground her jaw together. “Then why pin me to a wall and force me to listen to your deranged monologue?”
“Because I am worried that you have not experienced true fear, or true captivity,” Darian said, releasing the strand of hair and smoothing it down with the back of his knuckle. “The kind of chains that are wrapped around one’s mind and are secured with locks that have no keys. Lucidia, for example, has declared independence, like a rambunctious child, but just because she ignores the fact that we are bound to each other does not mean that those chains are released. She is just as much mine as she’s always been, and likewise, I am beholden to her.”
“Things can change,” Robin insisted, glowering at the vampire. “The world changes.”
Another featherlight laugh escaped Darian’s lips. “Yes. Some things do change, but others do not. Our world will not be changed so easily.”
“You sure about that?” she asked, mentally kicking herself for pushing him. But that red-hot anger coursing through her had a mind of its own, and it would not be quieted.
“I am, and I believe that one day, you will be as well. I just hope that the lesson from which you learn it would be as painless as the one I showed you tonight.”
Robin suppressed a shiver and forced herself to make eye contact with him.
They held each other’s gazes for a moment longer, locked in a battle of wills, before Darian released her and stepped back in an elegant movement.
Robin let her hands fall to her sides, her fists clenching, as she walked across the room with heavy, angry steps, towards the staircase.
“I do hope sleep finds you, Robin,” he called.
She paused, anger and tension bunching up her shoulders in the same way Reykon’s did. “Yeah, and I hope you find the wrong end of a stake,” she muttered, storming up the stairs.
His laughter echoed throughout the chamber, grating against her ears as she slammed the iron door behind her.
Reykon
They’d been driving for about an hour, racing through the side streets of Seattle and heading east, through winding, two lane freeways. Lakes and lush greenery blended together in blurry streaks.
Or, maybe that was just the blood loss.
If Reykon was being truly honest, he shouldn’t have been behind the wheel.
But Noomi was still floating around another plane, locked in the vial. Reykon had to assume that Landon’s people had been alerted of the breach, and were in pursuit, but he had no idea how far behind they were. He pulled over to the side of the road, a runaway truck ramp somewhere in the nearly identical hills of northwest Washington.
“Think Reykon, think,” he muttered, shaking his head.
He had to make a plan. Noomi possessed something he needed; she had intel that would lead them to Calliope. Noomi had said that Calliope was important, the key to Robin’s safety. He needed to know more, more about Noomi’s knowledge, and about how Calliope and Robin were linked. Most importantly, how to break that link.
Reykon glanced around, making sure that no tactical caravans were swerving around the corner, and reached for his bag, wincing against the pain. He grabbed the vial and the pair of magical handcuffs – that is, handcuffs that inhibit magic, and popped the lid off, watching as a cloud of dust and ash and some glittering something or another nobody had really termed clouded into the passenger seat, forming Noomi’s figure.
She scowled in confusion, whipping her head around just in time to feel the handcuffs click. “What…?” she gasped, looking around. “Where are we?”
“Somewhere other than House Prior,” Reykon said, voice straining at the edges. Pull it together, Rey.
“No,” she moaned. “No, no, no!”
“Okay, settle down. We’re just-”
“You absolute idiot,” she said, her voice rising in desperation. “You don’t understand. I was safe in House Prior. They couldn’t find me because of the runes.”
“Who?” Reykon said, grinding his teeth in irritation.
“The Legion. They’re after both Calliope and I, and now that I’m out in the open, they’re probably already on my scent.”
Normally, panic would have been a good response to this.
Instead, Reykon had what he liked to call ‘robot brain’. It was his way of coping with unexpected information. He became cold, calculated, and hyperrational. Reykon paused, running through every route that they could take, every safehouse at his disposal, and every method of evading the Legion.
Conclusion: there weren’t many.
The Legion terrified him to his core; they were rather similar to the strongbloods, running out on missions for the elite guild casters, except they were a whole lot more… mutant. And they used magically poisoned weapons that could take down even the most powerful creatures.
“Christ,” he muttered, realizing the gravity of their situation.
“There’s a place we can go,” she said quickly. “But we have to hurry.”
“Oh, I’m sure you’d love that,” Reykon threw back. “We’re not going to whatever connections you have.”
Noomi set her jaw, her dark eyes flaring in anger. “I don’t care about what’s most convenient for you. Frankly, you look like a minnow compared to those sharks. It’s a place where other bastard casters congregate, okay? We’ll be hidden, and we can find Calliope and then go after Robin.”
Reykon studied her face, looking for any sign of a trap or dishonesty. But he knew just as much as she did that they didn’t have another option. “If you’re messing with me...”
“The Legion is coming,” Noomi said, fear plain on her face. “I’m not messing around about anything.”
“Where?” Reykon said with a clenched jaw.
“We have to make it to Foxborough, Massachusetts. There’s a place there. People we can go to.”
Reykon rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Are you crazy? That’s across the damn continent.”
She leaned towards him, piercing his gaze. “I can get us there safely, but you need to take these off.”
Reykon shook his head. “You’ll vaporize me.”
“I need you,” she said, gripping his hand. “Calliope doesn’t stand a chance, and honestly, neither do you, but maybe if we work together, we can find Robin, fix the problem, and then disappear for good. You care about her, but I care about Calliope, and the link goes both ways. Besides, she’s important, more than you know, and if I show up, she’ll never trust me. If you’re with us, she’ll come willingly. It’s crucial that she stays in the right hands for what’s coming.”
“You’re scared of something,” he said, narrowing his eyes.
“Yes,” Noomi snapped. “The Legion is on their way-”
“Not the Legion… someone else,” he pressed. “I’m trained to read people, Noomi.”
A look of calculation crossed her face; calculation and prediction and raw terror. She swallowed hard and ran a hand through her hair. “I’m scared of a lot of things, and they’re all going to catch up with us unless we stop messing around. Now drive,” she growled. “And take these off.”
“Why?”
“A concealment spell. It won’t stop them, but it might buy us a couple of minutes.”
She was afraid. Truly afraid.
And as much as he hated to admit it, she was also correct about needing both Robin and Calliope to dissolve the link and get to safety afterwards. Reykon’s eyebrows pulled together in a moment of deliberation, before he cursed under his breath and undid the cuffs.
Noomi nodded, a spark of determination in her eyes. “Now drive.”
Lucidia
She scowled, the smell of jet fuel and rubber-soaked air thick in her mouth. Whirring plane turbines and jet engines buzzed all around her, as her thick black sunglasses caught the setting sun. They were in the small, private airplane side of SEA-TAC, the sprawling monstrosity that it is. “What are they doing here?” she murmured, watching an approaching plane.
“Who knows,” Pax said. “But I’m not a big fan of flying.”
“You only hate it because the vampires do,” she scoffed.
“Yeah? Well they hate it for good reason. It’s because they can hear the creaking, and the groaning. I’m just not a fan.”
“Weren’t you in charge of stopping that mutiny in the Boston satellite house?”
“Me and about forty others,” he muttered.
“How do you charge headfirst into an unruly rebellion, but don’t like the idea of soaring through the clouds?”
“It’s the hunk of metal that’s taking us that bothers me,” he grumbled. “Just drop it.”
Lucidia shrugged, eyeing the incoming plane. It was a large silver jet, something that might transport a president.
And it was coming right for them.
The booming engines slowed to a stop, and a side door popped open. She shot a questioning look to Pax, who just shrugged at her. They approached the plane cautiously, tension thick in the air. Her muscles were tight, ready to attack, as she crept towards the hulking machine. Lucidia peered up the metal staircase, trying to get a good angle inside, when an impatient voice called out.
