What the hell was he doing in my bedroom right now staring at me like he wanted to eat me?
He stayed silent as I observed his features. His mouth turned up into an evil smirk.
“We need to leave now, Reagan,” he said in a rough voice, moving toward my broken window.
How the hell did he know my name? He was crazy if he thought I was going with him without getting any answers first. He was my enemy; we weren’t to mix with vampires. It was against the rules—which I had broken by getting close to Killian.
I took a step backward. “I’m-I’m not going anywhere, especially with-with you,” I said, stuttering, though trying to sound powerful. But my voice had been weak. He threw off serious power, and I didn’t want to do anything that might put me in danger, but I also didn’t want to go willingly.
“I’m not asking.” He snarled and advanced directly toward me.
I tried to move away, but he was in front of me in a second. He grabbed ahold of my arm and yanked me toward the window. I tried to pull free, but he was too strong for me. Before I had even thought to use magic on him, I was falling through the broken window, heading straight for the ground. Then everything went black.
Screams filled my ears. What the hell is that?
I tried to move my hand out to switch off my radio alarm. But as I reached out, I felt nothing but air. Odd. Another scream pierced my ears. I rolled over to stop it. Instead of my warm comfortable bed, I felt the hard ground below me. Groaning, I opened my eyes to find I wasn’t in my bedroom. Then all the memories from the night before hit me all at once.
The vampire in my room. Then him throwing me out of my window to my death.
I gasped and quickly checked myself over for damage, but nothing seemed out of place. I wasn’t hurt. But the clothes on my body were not mine. Instead of my pajamas, I was dressed in a skin-tight black outfit that was a little more revealing than I would have the guts to wear. I wasn’t sure if the material was leather or vinyl or something else.
Where the hell am I? And who dressed me in this?
I scanned the room. It was a large bedroom that reeked of money, judging from the large chandelier that hung in the center of the room to the ridiculously large bed that was next to me. I pushed myself off the hard ground where I sat. Whoever had put me here had either not bothered to put me in the bed, or I had fallen out of it.
Another scream tore through the air.
And then he walked in.
He wore the same black cape he had on last time, but now the hood was off his face, just like it had been last night. He looked me up and down with dark eyes, causing a shiver to prickle its way up my spine. He was beyond creepy. One of those monsters you dream about. His eyes met mine and then he smirked, his fangs showing over his bottom lip. My body went into flight mode; I needed to get out of there immediately before anything else happened. My eyes darted around the room trying to find my escape, but there weren’t any windows. I was in a box of four walls and a single door. He noticed my attempt and laughed.
“There’s no getting out of here, Reagan, not unless you want to be eaten alive.” He licked his lips.
I wanted to vomit. No wonder we weren’t meant to associate with these psychopaths.
“Come,” he said. “We have business to discuss.”
Business?
He moved back out the door, but I was frozen. Should I follow him out and finally find out who he was and why he needed me? Or should I attempt to escape and risk getting eaten alive? My legs moved me toward the door to follow him out, so I guessed that was my answer. No way I was going to be someone’s meal, not today.
Stepping out of the bedroom, I followed him down the narrow corridor, making sure I took in every little detail. How many doors were there? I counted four on each side. We made it to the fifth one to our right, and he stopped. The door opened, and he disappeared inside. I took three deep breaths before I went in after him.
I found myself in another clean, polished room with a giant dinner table that could seat up to twenty people. It was fully decorated with high-end cutlery and a vase of roses, a massive chandelier hanging above. Nothing was out of place. This guy had to be someone important or high up in the chain of the vampires to have all this.
As soon as he sat down at the head of the table, a butler appeared in a black suit and poured him a glass of red wine. The butler then placed a crystal bowl on the table filled with some kind of nuts. Then I realized what they were. The limodangious nuts from the plants in the forest by the school. These were the nuts we were meant to track down. They’d all been from the Vampire Lord, they had to be.
My host gestured for me to take a seat next to him. I pushed myself forward on shaky legs into the seat, then waited for him to speak. He went to open his mouth when another scream echoed through the space. My eyes darted around the room, trying to find the source, but I was met with the dark depths of his eyes. He smirked, taking a sip of his wine. He then scooped up a handful of limodangious nuts and placed them in his mouth, chewing merrily.
“You’ll have to excuse my indulgence,” he said. “I’'s necessary, you see.”
Those nuts helped to overcome protection spells. He was eating them around me, which meant there must have been some spell he had to overcome to come near me. It was the only explanation I could think of.
Another scream tore through the air.
The Vampire Lord studied me and smirked. “I’m sure you’re dying to know who those screams belong to. But first I’d like to introduce myself, as I’m certain you are curious. I’m Sir Nathaniel Allesandro.”
My eyes widened at his confession. My breathing came out in short gasps. He was the Sir Nathaniel Allesandro? All the color drained from my face. If I thought I was in trouble before, this was a million times worse. I would be lucky to get out of here alive.
I was in the house of the Vampire Lord. I was done for.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“What do you want?” I asked. “Why am I here?”
He slowly placed his glass of wine on the table as if he were deliberating what to say. “Reagan, believe it or not, I have been looking for you for a long time. But certain spells had been cast, and it was impossible for me to locate you. And then you began attending that school… though that damned protection spell made it impossible for me to get to you. Even these—” he fondled a few limodangious nuts in his palm. “—only helped enough to get me on the school grounds. Still, the closer I tried to get, the stronger the school’s spell seemed to work. Of course, I did have someone on the inside who could help.”
Someone on the inside? Had the Vampire Lord hired or glamoured someone to spy on me?
“And now that I’ve finally found you, I have big plans. Not just for me, but for both of us. I’m about to change your life forever.”
I shook my head. “I don’t understand.”
“My dear, you must have heard of the Reaping.”
I swallowed hard. “Y-Yeah.”
The butler appeared and served two silver-covered plates in front of us. When he removed the covers, some kind of red, bloody meat sat on our plates, garnished with parsley and rose petals. I blinked at what I guessed was supposed to be my meal and swallowed hard. I wasn’t hungry before, and now I believed I’d lost my appetite forever.
When the butler left the room, the Vampire Lord leaned forward on his elbows, lacing his fingers together. “You have a very special power, Reagan.”
I wanted to deny it, but I couldn’t speak.
“This power of yours—this ash conduction—interests me very much.” He smiled, his fangs catching the light from the chandelier.
I sucked in a breath. “Why?”
“Because I want it.”
I scoffed. “What do you mean you want it? As if I could just give it to you or something.”
His smile faded, and a deadly cold chill made my blood feel frozen. “You won’t have to give it to me. I ca
n take it.”
My throat went dry. I needed water. I reached for the glass in front of me, but my hand shook so much, I could barely get the glass to my mouth without spilling. The sip I took did almost nothing to help me. I replaced the glass and dared to look at him.
“Mr. Allesandro, I’m afraid I don’t understand… well, I don’t understand how I’m supposed to help you.”
He gave me a small grin, then picked up his knife and fork and began cutting into the bloody meat on his plate. Was it a steak? I wasn’t sure. I suspected it was a cleverly cut heart, but I didn’t want to dwell on it for fear I’d be sick to my stomach.
“You see, dear,” he said, “one of my powers is to syphon from other supernaturals, like yourself. The only problem is, the supernatural has to actually be using the power in order for me to syphon it.”
“So you want me to use my power so you can suck it out of me?” I had no problem with that. I didn’t want to turn people to ash. But then it hit me. He wanted the power so he could turn people to ash. If I simply gave him that power, he could destroy anyone he wanted to with it. “Don’t you have enough powerful magic? What do you need my power for?”
He took a bite of his meal, and a trail of blood trickled down from the side of his mouth. He closed his eyes as he chewed, a satisfied expression changing his features. Then he swallowed his bite and licked his lips. He lifted his chin, focused back on me, and lifted his cloth napkin to wipe the dripping blood away.
“I do have powerful magic, that’s true. But, you see, it’s not enough. You see, my dear, the Reaping is underway. And only the most powerful will survive.”
“Surely you already fall under that category,” I argued.
He let out a sigh. “What you need to understand is that I do have my enemies. There is another notorious vampire on the rise. He has gathered much power from other supernaturals. Though he is not a syphon like me, he has attained the help of a sorceress to transfer others’ powers to him. He has not yet reached my level of power, but he’s getting closer. And I can’t let him overpower me. Hence my interest in you. With your power, I will be one step ahead of my enemy.”
It took a moment for me to take all the information in. One evil Vampire Lord was bad enough. Now there were two to worry about? Did the other evil vampire know about my power? I suddenly felt very small and helpless.
“What if I refuse?” I asked.
He slowly and deliberately set down his knife and fork. “Then I have means to convince you.”
“Like what?” Something told me I wouldn’t be pleased with how he’d answer me.
“I’ll show you.” The smirk that appeared on his face sent a deathly shiver down my spine.
Flames burned in sconces in the hall, the flickering of fire casting dancing shadows on the walls. The Vampire Lord brought me to a stairwell made of cement. It wasn’t nice, like the rest of the mansion. It was dank and damp and dark, and it gave me a feeling of hopelessness peering down into the depths of wherever it led. Every time a flame from the sconce jumped, it caused my heart to jump as well.
“What’s down there?” I asked, my voice barely audible.
He gestured for me to descend. “Let’s see, shall we?”
I wanted to turn and run, but I was quite aware that he wouldn’t let that happen. Also, I needed to know who was screaming… and why.
I turned and placed my hand on the cold iron railing, forcing myself to put one foot in front of the other. As I descended the stairs, I felt my heart muscles straining, as if a hand were squeezing it of all its blood. I placed my free hand on my chest, begging for the ache to stop. Behind me, the Vampire Lord was silent. The only sound—aside from the heavy breathing and groans of pain from whoever was at the bottom of the stairs—was the delicate swishing of Sir Nathanial Allesandro’s cape as he traveled down step by step at my back.
When we reached the bottom of the stairs, a flash of heat hit me—so unbearable, I almost dropped to my knees. Fire shot up in spurts from a grated floor. And chained to the wall opposite me was Killian.
Killian, no!
His scream echoed around me. Sweat covered him, and his body was marked with scorch wounds as he flailed, the flames licking his limbs, his torso, his face. The fire subsided, and he would instantly begin to heal, but I knew the fire would return. He was being tortured, burned in erratic intervals, unable to escape.
I took off to run to him, but the Vampire Lord grabbed my wrist.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” he warned. “There’s no telling when the next surge of fire will erupt.”
“Why are you doing this?” I screamed, trying to wrench my wrist free.
That same disgusting smirk appeared. “Leverage, of course.”
I grit my teeth, glancing back at Killian. His wrists were cuffed to chains that were bolted to the wall. He looked so close to death that I was surprised he was still standing. Hung along the side walls were weapons: long daggers, swords, ancient-looking spears, axes, and maces. I shuddered at the thought of those things being used on Killian. On anyone.
“What do you want me to do?” I asked, my voice shaking.
“The choice is simple, Reagan. I need you to use your powers so I can syphon them while in use. So either you use them on Killian, or I destroy him.”
The world seemed to stop, as well as my heart. Use my powers on Killian? This vampire was truly evil.
“Why him?” I asked, choking back my tears.
He released my wrist, only to push a strand of hair away from my shoulder. I flinched but stayed in place. “I’m surprised no one taught you about your emotions and their connection to your powers. Every witch should be aware of the connection. But I suppose you are young and have not been educated on the matter yet.”
“What do my emotions have to do with this?”
He laughed. “Do not think I don’t know how you two feel about each other. When I learned about you attending that school, I instructed the boy to collect you for me—so convenient that I had a servant in place before you even got there. But you see, the boy’s loyalties seem to have wavered. I demanded he bring you to me, yet he found an excuse each time he returned to me as to why he had not. It didn’t take long for me to figure out that it was his feelings for you that prevented him from doing as I’d asked. And judging from your reaction to seeing him tonight, I’m convinced you feel the same for him.”
My eyes drifted back to Killian. He looked at me with hopelessness etched in his features. But the softness in his gaze told me the Vampire Lord’s words were true. He’d been instructed to sacrifice me to Sir Allesandro, but he hadn’t been able to do it. He cared about me so much, he’d disobeyed the most evil vampire in the world.
“Why didn’t you just come for me yourself?” I asked. “To the school? Or to my home?”
“Yes, well, it seems those dwellings—your home and your school—have some sort of spell put on them that… leave me without the most of my powers. Even the nearby woods of your school have a draining effect on me. Too close to the magic. I needed Killian to bring you out, and I needed to get you as far away from those places as possible.”
“Surely you have other servants,” I said, seething with anger. “Why Killian?”
Something flashed behind his eyes. As if there was a mystery there he wanted to keep hidden. Something he didn’t want me to know.
“Now, Reagan,” the Vampire Lord said. “Let’s not delay this any further. I have big plans, and I’ve been waiting long enough.”
He put a hand on the small of my back and urged me closer to face Killian full on.
“I… I can’t,” I said.
Sir Allesandro’s creepy, long-fingered hand was on my shoulder. He squeezed. It wasn’t entirely painful, but I was completely uncomfortable, and I knew it would get worse. “I was afraid you might say that.”
The roar of the fire that shot out from the grated floor was deafening. I had to throw my
hands up over my face to withstand the heat and the light. And the screams that filled the space broke my heart into a million pieces.
I screamed too. I screamed for Killian. I screamed for the fire to stop. I screamed at the Vampire Lord to end the madness.
The fire finally receded, and Killian hung limply, smoke coming off of every inch of his body.
“You can end his torture, Reagan,” the Vampire Lord said. “Use your power and put him out of his misery. He’ll be dead instantly. No pain. No screaming. No agony. And you’ll be free to go.”
Tears filled my eyes, and I found it hard to breathe. How was I supposed to do this? I couldn’t kill someone on purpose. And I definitely didn’t want to kill Killian.
“Do it, Reagan,” the Vampire Lord said, his voice getting louder. “Or do you want his torture to continue?”
My hands were shaking, and my knees barely supported me. As I sobbed, I stretched out my fingers toward Killian. Then my hands. And then my arms. I shook my head, even as I imagined the smoke, the burning, the pile of ash.
“I can’t!” I screamed.
The floor roared with fire. Killian shouted out in anguish.
“Do it!” the Vampire Lord yelled.
I couldn’t take the sight of Killian flailing against the flames. My heart hammered so hard in my chest, I thought it would explode. “Okay!” I hollered. “Okay! Just stop!”
The flames dissipated. I could hear the Vampire Lord breathing impatiently behind me. I knew he wouldn’t hesitate to burn Killian again if I didn’t go through with it.
Cauldron of Ash Page 13
