by Brandon Witt
My voice came out as if from someone other than me. I was horrified at his tale but completely captivated. “Their potency?”
The smile that broke across Gwala’s face was genuine and full of pride. “Yes, potency. That is the crux of it all. The secret to all power and fortune. The power of life, you see.” He motioned toward the ceiling, as if a hole existed that led to somewhere other than this dungeon cavern. “The mers’ blood gives us the ability to walk in the sun, warlock.”
He knelt down until his face was even with the merman’s. Gwala reached out and clasped the merman’s chin in his fingers, forcing him to look in his eyes. “Isn’t that right? The blood of mer slaves is the secret ingredient to truly living a full life. I ask you, what point is immortality if it is spent in the darkness?”
The memory of the redheaded vampire strangling my young nephew in his arms flashed through my mind. I saw him, out in the shadows, at the dusk of the day, when my family should have been safe. I could still see the blood running down Peter’s neck, as the vampire bartered Brett’s life for my nephew’s.
And this was it. The thing that had started it all. Brett’s blood giving that random vampire a taste of the sun, and he’d wanted more.
I almost laughed out loud. We’d searched so hard to discover why the monster had been obsessed with Brett. And here it was, now that I wasn’t looking, now that it didn’t matter. Here it was, chained up. Captive. The reason my family was torn apart.
Gwala yanked on the merman’s hair, twisting his head back, revealing the thick muscles of his throat. He bit down slowly, almost lovingly.
I watched as he drank. Already, it seemed commonplace, not that I’d seen him drink from someone. It was right. Expected. The vampire king drinking from a slave. I’d be a fool to suppose anything else.
I had been a fool.
The merman hadn’t even flinched. He’d known it was coming before I had.
Gwala didn’t drink for long, and he licked the wound clean as he pulled away. His words were whispered and had the tone of a lover as he continued addressing the creature. “Yes, my prized bull. You have been the best breeder I’ve had. Your offspring have been the purest of any we’ve had in centuries.”
My mind played catch-up entirely too late. Offspring. Offspring. The merman’s children. I’d known what offspring meant, but giving it the correct label made it all the more horrific. The merman was having children to be devoured by the vampires.
The chains around the merman’s wrists sparkled in the light. The merman was being forced to mate in order to have children that would be killed by his captors.
I couldn’t hold my questions inside. “Do you kill the chil—the offspring, or do you only eat from them?” Maybe it wasn’t quite as bad as I assumed. Not that the idea of Gwala using them as a living buffet was any sort of pleasure.
Gwala looked over at me, as if only just remembering I was there. “No, the entire mer must be drained to have effect. It matters not if they are young or adult.” His hand ran down the length of the red hair, the strands falling in a fan from Gwala’s fingers.
The merman’s eyes met mine. I saw no hate. No pain. Just fathomless emptiness.
Twenty-Two
FINN DE MORISCO
“For the thousandth time, it’s fine. Truly.”
I stretched out my hand and lightly traced the costal veins of Schwint’s injured wing. He really did seem okay. I couldn’t see any fractures. The stained-glass-like segments were crystalline and whole. If I hadn’t seen the wing in its crumpled form, I never would have believed it had been damaged. “I just wish your leg was better.”
Schwint shrugged. “If I had to choose, this is what I’d pick. Wings over legs. Always. Between Newton and Caitlin, I came off a lot better than I might have. A little pain and limp aren’t too big a deal.”
“I know. I just hate I wasn’t able to stop Omar. Even with how much we’ve been working and how much my magic’s grown, it didn’t do any good.”
“We’ve been practicing like crazy, and you’ve increased your magic quicker than I would have thought possible. Besides, it’s not as if I wasn’t there and don’t have my own magic as well.” He leaned back on the bed, supporting his weight on his arms as he stretched out his right leg, his face scrunching slightly at the effort. “He caught us unaware. Even though I was nervous about him in the beginning, he’d become nothing more than a pain-in-the-ass old man. We won’t make that mistake with Gwala or any of the vampires.”
“I still can’t believe that Gwala actually had you taken to Caitlin and Newton.”
“No joke. What’s even more surprising is that he let them stay where they are. I mean, we knew that he was aware they were there, he had to be. It’s another thing to think he’s just going to let them stay there without taking action. I can’t fathom his motives.”
“I don’t think we can trust that Gwala won’t do something.”
A short laugh burst from him. “You think! As soon as we can figure something else out, we need to try. Not that I think we can get anything past Gwala in his country, let alone here on the peninsula.”
“Considering we weren’t able to get anything by him when we were in San Diego, I’d say that’s a safe bet.”
The ironic humor faded. “And maybe that’s the whole point. Why bother with them until he needs to? He’s got plenty to hold you to him the way it is. No reason to use all his leverage at once.”
“He didn’t seem to know Omar wasn’t helping me strengthen my power. So he’s not omniscient or anything. I just don’t know how to determine when we’re safe and when we’re not.”
“I think we have to assume we’re not. Always.”
We sat on our bed in silence, fingers intertwined as our hands pressed down into the soft bedspread. Schwint kept extending and flexing his leg, the entire time keeping a slow and steady beat of his wings, as if fearing that stopping might reverse the healing process.
I stared out the window, not that I could see much from the angle of where we were positioned on the bed. It seemed impossible that it had only been a few hours ago that Sonia had been standing there, strangely linking my past life to this new, darker version.
A warm breeze swept through the room offering relief from the heat. When we’d first gotten to Costa Rica, I’d used my power to stay cool, but it was such a constant that I’d been too drained to do much else. The little of the sky I could see showed a rather gray sunset. Just a hint of diffused white light cut through the heavy clouds that gathered. Even as I mentally predicted an intense storm for the evening, thunder grumbled off in the distance.
The howler monkeys would be screeching when the sun went down.
“You know, I can’t blame him.”
Schwint’s words cut through my thoughts, bringing me abruptly back to the moment. “Who?”
“Omar.”
I twisted my face into a grimace of distaste. “Don’t blame him? Are you kidding me? I blame him! He nearly killed both of us, not to mention he’s the one who alerted Gwala that I existed. He started this whole damn thing.”
Schwint turned toward me, bringing his left leg up to rest on the bed while letting the injured one dangle off the side. He placed his right hand over where our hands were still grasped. “Nah. He’s no more responsible than we are. From what you said, Gwala was using his wife’s life to control him.”
“That still doesn’t make it okay.”
“Yeah. I know. However, it sounds like Gwala’s putting you in the same position.” He raised his hand and held it up, cutting me off before I could argue. “It’s not a judgment or anything, just a fact. If you don’t do what the vampires want you to do with the mers, they kill me and your sisters. And anyone else they think will make you obey them.” He shook his head and looked away. “I’m still surprised there are mers. I’ve heard other fairies talk about such things, and while I didn’t completely discount their existence, I definitely didn’t believe any were left. And to think they
’re here. Have been here. Doing nothing more than being a delicacy for overprivileged vampires.” He turned back to me. “Did he say if there were more mers out there, or do they have all that’s left?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think he said anything about it.” I wasn’t worried about the species as a whole. Schwint comparing me to Omar was hitting a little too close to home. “Actually, yeah, I think there has to be more out there. If they were getting too inbred and he needed fresh blood, he had to get the redhead from somewhere, right?”
“Oh, right. That’s a good sign. I can’t imagine if there were only a few fairies left and we were nothing more than slaves.”
“So, you think I’m like Omar?”
Schwint’s gaze refocused on me, realizing how I was taking his thoughts. “No. Not like that. He’d lost all semblance of any soul he might have ever had.”
“But that could be true for me too, if I have to do what they are telling me. I’ve got to basically force two people, two mers, to… I don’t even know what to call it… rape each other? All for the purpose of having the offspring of that rape be nothing more than a meal for a vampire so he can be out in the sunshine?” Hearing it out loud, it sounded both more horrifying and ridiculous than it did in my head. “And who knows what else is coming. He said that’s the most important thing. Just think about what Omar was doing to me back home, the whole time he was doing the mermaid thing. Maybe every minute of every day, he was being forced to do some fucked-up thing to keep Hazel alive. And it could have gone on for centuries.” All of a sudden, I was fully getting on board with Schwint’s point of view. At some point, Omar might have been a normal warlock like I had been. Maybe discovered in the same way by the very one whose spot he’d taken.
Schwint squeezed my hand, thankfully not attempting to soothe with words. No words could help. It was strange to see this side of Schwint. Most of the time, even since we’d been at the Cathedral, he was always the light and funny one. The one to be overly flirtatious. A little arrogant. Offering a simple sense of ease and joy. Having him be deep and reflective doubled my own natural tendency to be that way as well.
Though his words were addressed to me, Schwint seemed lost to a world far away. “Hazel and I didn’t always get along. We had several times where we needed what the other could provide, but our relationship was tenuous at best. If I had realized what she was going through, I might have been a little more patient with her bitchy ways.”
I’d gotten the impression Schwint and Hazel had some sort of history together, but I’d never asked what it had entailed. She’d been such a strange woman. “Why do you think she tasted my blood?”
He shrugged but brought his attention back to me. “I have no idea.”
“I kinda got the impression from Omar that was part of the reason she was killed. I’m not sure. Omar did the same thing, though.”
“You’re the witch. Is there some magic spell or something that ingesting another’s blood will help with?”
I laughed. “Are you kidding me? I didn’t even know I could do half the stuff I’m learning now. I’d have no clue about dark magic that would require blood.” Gwala’s voice telling me that he’d give me more transfusions to keep me alive filled my memory. “Maybe having to drink Gwala’s blood—I assume Hazel did too—made them crave blood.” I could hear the panic rising in my voice.
“It’s possible.” Schwint stretched out his arm, his fingers curling around the back of my neck, pulling me closer to him. He leaned in and pressed his lips to mine with a long, soft kiss.
My eyes burned as he kissed me, but no tears fell.
“I love you. We’ll figure this out.”
I laughed, and the tears that wouldn’t fall threatened again. “Really? You think we’ll figure this out.”
His silence answered louder than words. He smiled a sheepish, apologetic grin. “I love you.”
I let my cheek rest in his hand. “Yeah, why is that again? Your life has been nothing but hell since we started dating. I’m not that good at sex.”
His smile broadened into something genuine. “You are, actually. And as far as loving you, I could list a billion reasons already, and it’s a sure bet the longer we’re together, the more that will arise. Despite that, or because of it, the truth is, I can’t honestly tell you why. I wanted to go out with you, fuck you, but I wasn’t planning on falling in love with you like I did, not as quickly as I did. It wasn’t like I was looking for something serious. In fact, as damaged as Brett left you, it seemed like a pretty safe bet that serious wasn’t going to be in the cards for a long, long time. It simply happened. I don’t have a choice in it. I love you.”
“You’re choosing to be here.”
Again he shrugged, as if such a decision was no big deal. “Yeah, I’m choosing to be with you. Not to love you, that’s not a choice. And since I love you, that ultimately makes everything else not a choice either.”
“That’s pretty black-and-white logic for such an easy-come, easy-go fairy as yourself.”
“I can’t say I understand either. Doesn’t change the truth of it, though.”
I leaned into him again, kissing his beautiful lips with all the emotion I was afraid to put into words. If I started talking about how much I loved him, I’d start to expel all my other thoughts and feelings. The fear of what I was going to become if I did what Gwala commanded. Of what would become of everyone else if I didn’t.
A knock interrupted the kiss. Schwint pulled away and looked toward the door. “Must be time. I still can’t imagine what they want. We’ve never been commanded to join him for dinner before. Or invited, as Gwala called it.”
Releasing his hand, I slid off the bed and walked over to the door.
I opened it to find Veronica, the red-haired beauty we’d seen the first day. She seemed to be Gwala’s personal go-fetch-it girl, as, any time I’d been summoned, she was the one to do the attending. It was painful for her at times, since she often had to get me during the day, and she’d have to weave all over the hallways to avoid cascading sunlight. She seemed embarrassed by her deficiency, to the point that she acted in deference to both Schwint and myself. She was the only vampire I’d seen that seemed the least bit human. Though she’d never spoken more than absolutely necessary, I’d grown to like her—something I never would have considered a possibility.
“May I escort you to dinner?” Her voice was soft and childlike.
“Of course. Thank you, Veronica.”
I waited for Schwint as he got up from the bed and walked toward us. It was bizarre to see him with a limp, however slight. Despite his recreational Spor habit, he’d always seemed impervious to any physical ailment. My heart clenched at this sign of mortality.
I turned just in time to see the expression on Veronica’s face. My first thought at seeing her in the doorway was how she might respond if she knew about the mers and how they might change her life. Though I’d never wish such a thing since it would mean her ending one of the mer’s lives, but if any vampire deserved to be in the sun, it was Veronica, with her sweet nature. However, as she observed Schwint’s limp, I couldn’t suppress the superimposed image of a lioness eyeing an injured gazelle and planning on separating it from the herd.
At my attention, her gaze darted to me, then fell to the floor. Without a word, she turned, knowing we would follow.
A look at Schwint told me he hadn’t noticed her reaction to his new physicality. Before, I might have wished to see a vampire try to attack Schwint, certain he’d be able to shrink to the size of a speck of dust and dart away if need be. Now, after Omar, I wasn’t quite so sure.
No weaving was required on Veronica’s part. The sun had set, and she walked through firelit hallways with typical vampiric grace and surety. I’d always had a ridiculous amount of candles in my house, preferring their soft light over the harshness of overhead lighting. If I ever had the chance to return home, the first thing I was going to do was throw away every damn one and flip on every
single switch in the house.
Typically, no matter what time of day we traveled through the Cathedral, we’d run into at least two or three vampires, if not more. This night, we were the only three wandering around. Our footsteps echoed through the chambers, giving it more of a haunted-house feel than was typical. With everything emerging from the mountain and being formed from organic materials, the Cathedral was more a natural wonder than anything else. At times like this, though, its true nature seemed to shine through.
Even Gwala’s chamber was empty, both thrones shining like beacons from the countless sconces around the space. I wondered if Sonia had sat upon her throne yet. I was certain the human she’d been wouldn’t have cared about such a status symbol, other than liking its beauty. The vampire that I knew better than the woman, I was certain cared even less. Nor had I detected any emotion directed at Gwala when the three of us had stood poolside—neither love nor fear. I couldn’t fathom what her motive was in choosing to be Gwala’s queen. Maybe she was as much a slave as I.
Then I remembered Gwala inquiring if she was going to spend the day in the sunlight. She was a Royal, and I was willing to bet, a new one. There must not be any part of the human Sonia left in her if she was able to kill one of the mers so she could be in the sun. Of course, she only had to kill one. I was going to be responsible for killing countless numbers.
The door to the oval dining chamber was open, and Veronica walked through ahead of us, not having to worry about the moonlight flooding into the space through the open roof.
As Schwint and I followed her, I could barely make out the golden table or the multihued bench that surrounded it. It looked as if every vampire in the Cathedral was in attendance for this meal. More than could even fit around the huge table.
