by N. P. Martin
"Corvin," Amelia said, standing with her arms folded next to her captive, looking as drop dead gorgeous as ever all dressed in black, despite the grimness of the surroundings, and the situation itself. "I’m glad you could make it."
"What’s going on?" I asked her, still keeping my distance. "This scene looks horribly familiar."
"It’s not like that."
"It sure seems like it to me."
"You fucking this one, are you?" the man in the chair said to Amelia, before looking at me. "You like a bit of elf, do you?"
Amelia came around the front of her captive, and then suddenly slapped him on the face, the sound echoing around the room slightly. "Have some respect," she said to the man, whose head was still to the side, which he turned slowly to smile at Amelia as he licked a trace of blood from the corner of his mouth.
Inwardly, I sighed. Here we go again, I thought. More violence. Just what I need in my life.
"Who is this guy?" I asked Amelia as I came toward her. "And why the hell are you keeping him prisoner down here?"
"It’s all a big mistake," the man said, not even trying to hide his insincerity. "That’s what I’ve been trying to tell her since last night."
"He’s been here since last night?" I said.
"Most of it," Amelia said. "I had to swipe him from Dundalk first, and then bring him here. He’s been my guest ever since."
Dundalk? I thought the man’s accent sounded northern. Maybe he was from the North originally. He didn’t appear to be Touched either, or a vampire, or anything else supernatural as far as I could make out. "Why is he here?"
"I told you," the man said. "It’s all a big—"
Amelia slapped him again, and once again he just smiled back at her, as if he was enjoying the punishment she was happily dishing out.
"Maybe you should stop speaking," I said to him. "At least for now. Actually…" I turned to Amelia and motioned with my head toward the entrance. "Can I talk to you for a moment, please? In private."
Amelia nodded and then turned to her captive. "Don’t go anywhere, will you?" Her tone was menacing and mocking at the same time, reminding me all too much of her uncle’s tone when he spoke.
"I was actually thinking of going out for pizza," he said, going to great lengths to show that he wasn’t affected by her treatment of him. "Do you want anything when I’m out?"
Amelia gave him sarcastic smile. "Funny." She then used her magic to seal up his mouth with his own skin. "Enjoy your pizza."
A fury came into the man’s eyes now, and I probably would’ve laughed if the situation didn’t disturb me so much. Giving him a final look, I walked ahead of Amelia, up the stone steps to the hallway, half expecting to see Simoa hanging around, but she was obviously of doing whatever it is she did. "What the hell, Amelia?" I said, not even trying to hide my anger. "What the hell is going on here? Who is that guy and why is he locked up in your damn dungeon? You know how I feel about that kind of shit after the last time, so I can’t understand why you would ask me here."
Amelia just stood with arms folded. "Are you done?"
"I will be, if you don’t start explaining."
"I’m trying to. You aren’t giving me the chance."
I shook my head, infuriated by her calm demeanor. "Start blood talking then."
She smiled slightly. "You look cute when you’re angry."
"I’m glad you’re so relaxed about all this. That man you have strapped to a chair better be the bloody devil himself, otherwise you have no reason to have him there."
"Not the devil," she said. "But close enough."
"What do you mean?"
"His name is Declan Fox and he’s in the business of victim procurement."
Frowning, I shook my head. "Victim procurement? What the hell is that?"
"Well, if for some reason you need a victim to say, sacrifice in a blood magic ritual, or you just need someone to do unspeakable things to, then he’s your man. He’ll go out and get you whatever kind of person you happen to need, for a price of course."
I stood gawping at her for a moment, hardly able to believe what I was hearing. "Are you shitting me?"
"Nope."
"So if I’m some sicko in need of a person to kill or do whatever to, this guy just goes out and gets me someone?"
Amelia nodded. "That’s about the height of it. He even delivers to your doorstep, no questions asked."
"So what the hell is he doing here then? Is this some vigilante justice thing?"
"Not exactly, though there will be justice."
"So what then? What’s he have to do with you?"
"Come on," she said, heading down the hallway. "Let’s get a drink and I’ll explain everything."
"Yeah," I said beginning to follow her. "Good idea. I think I need one now."
As we were crossing the entrance hallway, I saw Simoa standing talking to two other elves, both male. She smiled when she saw Amelia, a smile which faltered slightly as she looked at me, as if she had a problem with me being with her cousin. "That thing we discussed earlier," Simoa said to Amelia. "It’s being taken care of now."
Amelia nodded as she continued walking. "Good. Keep me up to date on it."
"I will," Simoa said, looking at me one final time before turning her attention back to the other two elves.
"Your cousin creeps me out slightly," I said to Amelia as we entered the east wing and began walking down a long hallway.
Amelia smiled slightly and shook her head. "Simoa can be a little intense at times, but she’s okay once you get used to her."
"I think she has a thing for you."
"We’re cousins, Corvin. Wise up."
"So? Feelings are feelings, cousins or not."
"She looks up to me, that’s all."
"You brought her here to run things?"
We turned a corner into another hallway. Even before we got there, I knew we were heading to Iolas’ old office, which made me slightly uneasy, to know that Amelia had seemingly filled his shoes in his absence.
"Yes, I did," she said. "It was either that or dissolve everything, which I decided not to do."
"Why not? It’s basically a criminal empire."
We had reached the office, and Amelia opened the door and went inside, immediately going to sit behind Iolas’ old desk. As I closed the door, I looked around as if I was revisiting an old haunt I hoped never to see again.
"I know that." She filled two glasses on the desk, one with whiskey and one with vodka, handing me the whiskey as I sat down opposite her. "But the fact is, Iolas maintained order amongst the criminal gangs of the city. His network stretches everywhere. If I just pulled the plug on it all, chaos would most certainly ensue as the gangs fought for supremacy. Plus, he has other more legitimate businesses that need running."
I looked at her as I sipped my whiskey. "So you’re like a crime boss now, in charge of everything?"
Amelia smiled slightly as she held her drink. "Pretty much, for better or worse. Simoa handles most of the day to day stuff. She’s very organized, and intimidating when she wants to be."
"I’ll bet."
"You don’t like her, do you?"
"She makes me uncomfortable, I don’t know why."
"You’ll get used to her."
"I’m not sure I want to."
She shook her head at me as if I was being snobbish, which I wasn’t. "So what happened in Belfast while you were there?"
"I thought we here to talk about the man in the dungeon?"
"We are, but first I want to hear what you’ve been up to. Did you kill Constantine? I haven’t heard that you did."
"That’s because I didn’t. I killed his brother, though."
"Darrick?" She turned her nose up at the mention of him. "Good riddence."
"You knew him?"
"We met on a few occasions. He tried to put his hands on me once."
"I’m sure that didn’t end well."
"It didn’t, for him. I broke his wrist."
"His sister? I didn’t know he had a sister."
"Me neither. Her name’s Adrina. She helped me after…"
"What?"
I shook my head. "After Darrick turned me into a vampire."
Her eyes widened slightly. "Are you serious? You were a vampire?"
"Yep, and it isn’t something I want to be again."
"Did you drink blood?"
I looked away for a second as I thought of the dead girl in the hotel room, and the homeless man that Adrina and I both drained. "I didn’t have a choice."
Amelia nodded, seeming to sense that it was a sore subject for me. "I understand. You did what you had to do."
I nodded. "Anyway, I had the chance to kill Constantine, but I chose not to."
"Why?"
"Because I didn’t see the point. What good would it have done?"
"I thought you wanted revenge."
"I did, but then I realized that revenge is pointless. It wasn’t going to bring anybody back."
"So Constantine lives on."
"He has his sister there with him now. Adrina will keep him in line."
Amelia smirked. "Adrina? Did she keep you in line as well?"
I made face and shook my head at her. "She’s actually okay. She just got a raw deal. I’d probably be dead if it wasn’t for her."
"I suppose I should thank her then, when I see her."
"When you see her?"
She nodded. "As you know Iolas had business ties with Constantine. No doubt our paths will cross soon enough."
"I’m sure they will," I said, sliding my glass over to her for a refill. "Are you going to tell me what you’ve been up to now, or are you just going to keep me in suspense here?"
Amelia nodded as she refilled my glass and handed it back to me. "It all started when you soul gazed me that time…"
Chapter 2
When I soul gazed Amelia shortly after we’d just met, the process had brought forth a memory in her, one that I remembered after she described it to me. She was just a child at the time, and she had walked in on some sort of ritual that was attended by a number of people in dark robes. From my point of view, the memory had only lasted a few seconds, and I wasn’t able to see much of what was going on. Amelia, though, remembered a lot more after the soul gazing.
"After I walked into that room," she said, still sitting behind the desk, "one of the robed figures turned around, and it was my father. He looked annoyed when he realized it was me, and quickly shoved me out of the room, telling me not to meddle in things that didn’t concern me."
"I see," I said. "Do you have any idea what kind of ritual it was? How do you even know it was a ritual? And where was this, at your house?"
She nodded. "My parents had a country mansion in Kilkenny. People came and went all the time, people I didn’t really know. Most of them frightened me, or gave me the creeps at the very least."
"Why? Who were they?"
"I just said I didn’t know. I still don’t know. Some were elvish, some were human, others were…" She shook her head. "Something else, darker than the others. Demons maybe."
"Demons? You’re sure?"
"Not really. I was very young at the time. I just know they were…scary."
"What were your parents doing associating with such scary individuals then?"
"I think they were all involved in some sort of cult, my parents included."
"A cult? Does the sound like your parents?"
Amelia took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "If you had asked me that a few days ago, I would have said no. My parents were just business people as far as I was concerned. My father worked in finance, my mother in corporate law. They were gone quite a lot when I was growing up, leaving me in the care of various minders. The they were around, though, they were just loving parents. A little stern maybe, especially my father. Maybe a little weird at times."
"Weird? How so?"
She shrugged. "Just in the way they would look at each other sometimes, as if they shared some secret between them. I used to think they had smiles when they spoke in cryptic sentences sometimes." She shook her head. "I don’t know, I was young, as I said. I could’ve been reading them wrong."
"But you don’t think so."
She gazed at me with her mesmerizing blue eyes. "No, especially not now…"
"That you know they were in a cult."
"Exactly."
"Do you know which cult?" I asked, thinking about the Order Of The Serpent.
She shook her head. "Not yet."
"So how do you know it was a cult they were in? It could’ve been just some silly gathering, no more than a pantomime to amuse the rich."
"What I saw was no pantomime," she said. "I saw over a dozen people standing inside a magic circle, and the middle of them, on the floor, was a bundle."
I frowned. "A bundle?"
"There was something wrapped up on the floor, and it was moving. I think it was…" She shook her head as though she couldn’t even bring herself to say the next part. "I think it was a child."
I stared at her a moment. "You were just a child yourself, you could’ve been mistaken."
Amelia shook her head. "I saw a small arm protruding from the bundle," she said. "And fingers that were moving."
"Jesus," I breathed. "You’re sure?"
"I ended up blocking that memory out because of what I saw. My parents also died shortly after, so I thought no more about it."
"Until I dredged it back up."
"Yes."
I sat in silence for a moment as I thought about what she said, the horrible implications of it. "So you’re telling me that you think your parents were involved in a cult that…sacrificed children?"
"I don’t think, I know."
"How?"
"Two days ago I drove to the old house in Kilkenny, just to see if I would find anything. I hadn’t been near the place since I left as a child. Plus, Iolas never sold the place after my parents died—after he had them killed, I should say—and I always wondered why. Now I know."
"Why?"
Amelia looked away and sighed before speaking again, and when she did, her voice became slightly distant, as if it was painful for her to even speak. "I found nothing in the house itself. It was stripped bare for the most part. But outside…" She trailed off as she shook her head. "There’s an old orchard around the side of the house. I used to see my father in there sometimes, and when I would go to him, he would tell me to go away until he had finished."
"Finished doing what?"
"Burying things."
I stared at her. "You mean bodies?"
She nodded. "I asked him once what he was burying, and he told me it was foxes, which he’d killed as he caught them trying to get into the pheasant pens out the back of the house."
"Pheasant pens?"
"My father liked to shoot, and he often organized pheasant shoots on the grounds for his business associates."
"I see. So I take it these weren’t foxes he was burying then?"
"No, unfortunately not. I started digging around the orchard when I was there the other day." She stared at me as she paused for a second. "I found the remains of people, Corvin. Some of them only children." She looked away as her hand went to her mouth. I was almost shocked to see tears in her eyes. It was the first time I had ever seen her cry, or get any way emotional.
I sat in the tense silence for a moment before asking if she was all right. "If you need time…"
She shook her head. "Don’t be silly," she said, wiping the tears from her eyes and then pouring herself another drink, gulping half of it down straight away. "I’m fine."
"I don’t see how you could be after finding that out." I was thinking of myself now, how I’d felt after Constantine had laid out the truth about my father, and how it hurt like hell to know that he wasn’t the saint I thought he was. However bad
he was, though, my father didn’t kill children for blood magic rituals. Not as far as I know anyway, realizing I would never really know the full truth about he was.
"I’m not saying this is easy," Amelia said. "It isn’t. But I’m dealing with it by trying to get to the truth about it all, just as you did with your mother."
I nodded. "I know, and I’m still working on that. I’ll fill you in later. In the meantime…" I got up and came around to give her a hug, but she just stared at me when I did.
"What are you doing?" she asked, frowning.
I suddenly felt awkward. "I was about to hug you."
"Why?"
"Because that’s what people do when they see someone in distress, they try to comfort them."
Amelia shook her head as if she didn’t need comforting. "I’m fine, Corvin. Go and sit down."
I’ll admit, her response was like a slap to the face, and I couldn’t help feeling a little angry as I went and sat back down, grabbing my drink as I did so, staring out the window at nothing.
"I’m not used to that kind of thing," she said eventually, I assumed by way of apology.
"Don’t worry about it."
"You’re annoyed now."
"Just still trying to get used to your ways."
"My ways? Is that a nice way of saying my lack of emotion?"
I turned my head to look at her. "It’s not that you lack emotion, Amelia. It’s just that you don’t know what to do with it, since you’ve always been taught to keep it locked down. It can make you a little cold at times."
"Cold?" She nodded as if I had slapped her in the face this time.
"Don’t take offense. We’re still getting used to each other, that’s all."
Eventually she sighed. "I suppose we are. I’m still getting used to a lot of things these days."