“Well-kept humans,” I muttered, taking my fill of one and then the other. No doubt they were a gift from my sister, and I didn’t want to hurt her feelings. I’d be doing more than that soon enough, when I proved to her once and for all I was and would always remain ruler of the vampires—when I possessed the power of all magics inside the gem Abernathy had given me. That would be soon. I still needed the essence of a vampire and the blood of a hunter. I wondered if I would have to slay my sister to retrieve her essence—not that I could. I also pondered which hunter I would need to drain in order to give the blood to the gem.
When I finished with the humans, I sent them away and had my servants bathe me. I stepped from the water and they wrapped me in thick towels, rubbing my furry skin dry. Once they were done, I went to my favorite golden chair, allowing my servants to brush and groom.
Zenny, the little imp Abernathy created for Sharra and me when we were young, peeked at me from one side of the gilded oval mirror hanging on the wall. His lemon-yellow hair swirled like frosting over his head.
“Hello, Zenny. Have you missed me?”
He gave a deep bow and I hid a laugh behind a hand. His brightly colored plaid clothing always provoked my amusement. “Of course. Did you do anything fun while you were away?”
I thought about all that occurred since I went to see the dragon. “I wouldn’t use the word fun, but it’s been interesting.”
He leaned over and beckoned me to come closer. “I need to tell you something—privately.” He sniffed his nose haughtily at the human vampires working through my sapphire blue hair and snarled fur.
“Get out,” I said, waving the girls away. I didn’t care that only half my long hair was combed or that my fur still looked matted. I only groomed myself for my sister anyway. She was always making comments about my appearance. I thought she was too vain for her own good. Always wearing fancy clothes and peculiar shoes on her feet. When they were gone, I leaned in. “What’s going on, Zenny?”
I’ve met Zenny. He looks the same, Snow said.
I didn’t respond to her but waited for Zenny. The little imp was sweet, but I wondered where his loyalties lay—with my sister or me. I would know soon enough.
“I adore both you and Sharra,” Zenny began, running a hand over his tiny copper-colored face. “But you are the queen, and I feel obligated to tell you I think Sharra is planning to dethrone you.” His light brown eyes darted from side to side, as though he was worried someone would hear.
“Go on,” I prodded, a thick worry forming in my gut.
“I heard her talking to Gabriel about making sure you were permanently gone before they began the war.”
“What? What war? Sharra doesn’t have the courage to go against me.” But I thought of all she did in the last millennium and my worry changed to dread. And Gabriel? Surely, he was on my side. If she was planning something, he would only be pretending to do what she asked. Right?
“Sharra intends to take your place as ruler of the vampires. Her magic has become so strong, Silindra. It’s troubling.”
Anger burned away my dread. “Don’t you dare worry about me. My sister doesn’t have the resolve. And if she does, she’ll soon learn she has no idea who she’s messing with.” I wrapped my fingers around the gem hanging at my throat. “Are you sure she was speaking to Gabriel? My Gabriel?”
“Yes,” he nodded, his poofy hair bobbing in earnest.
Was he truly conspiring with Sharra? Had Gabriel betrayed me? I remembered our times together and couldn’t believe it. I would find him and ask. If what Zenny said was true, Gabriel would die. Exiting the bathroom, I moved swiftly through my bedchamber, heading to the window where I searched for Ryden. She wasn’t far, speaking with another pixilette. I waited until they were finished and then waved her over.
“Silindra, I was just coming to speak with you.” Ryden landed on my shoulder and nestled up to my ear. “Something is going on. I’m not sure what. Two of Sharra’s hunters have broken the bond Sharra held over them and the chayot are rumored to be coming out of hiding to go against her.”
The end is coming, Silindra. I’m so sorry. I sensed an acceptance come over Snow. I longed to ask her what she knew. I had a feeling it was important, but I needed to talk to Ryden, and I needed to find Gabriel.
“Ryden, we need to talk.” I went back to my room and sat on the edge of my bed. Ryden flew from my shoulder so I could see her.
“I have so much to tell you, but no time to do it,” I began, feeling frantic.
“I’m listening,” my little pixilette friend hovered in front of me.
I grabbed the gem dangling at my neck. “See this?”
She nodded.
“I’ve been collecting important components that have to do with the seven magics. Abernathy said I needed them to defeat Sharra. So far, I’ve retrieved five. A piece of Abernathy’s soul, the eternal sight of an elf, the strength of a troll, the healing horn of a unicorn, and the giving heart of a fairy.”
She nodded again, her gauzy wings and daffodil hair moving as one. “To what end?” she asked.
I shook my head. It didn’t matter now. “I still need two more magics: the essence of a vampire and the blood of a hunter.” I clenched my hands together, trying not to believe what Zenny said about Gabriel. “I’m not sure how to collect those, but I’m working on it. The thing is...” I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. It was becoming clear I would need to kill my sister to win. If that was what it took, I would do it. “If something happens to me—”
“Nothing will,” Ryden interrupted, wringing her hands.
“I know, but if it does, I need you to promise me something.”
“Anything.” She flew around with nervous worry. “I need some watermelon juice to calm my nerves. You shouldn’t talk like this.”
I held out my hand, hoping she would land. Thankfully, she did, but started pacing around my palm and up and down my fingers. It tickled. I smiled. “Just promise me you’ll take this back to Abernathy. Can you do that?”
She stopped and put her hands on her hips. “You’re asking me to willingly enter the cave of that dragon?”
“If necessary, yes, that’s what I’m asking.”
She took in a long, shuddering breath, her whole body and her wings shaking in fear. “Fine, I’ll do it. But nothing, and I mean nothing better happen to you. Understand?”
I laughed. “I understand, my friend.”
Snow sighed.
Recognizing she intended to go to her time, I went to the chair by the window and sat down.
“What is it, my queen?” Ryden asked, concern evident in her high voice.
“Nothing, I just need a minute.” My mind pulled from my time to Snow’s.
… “You’ve got to get up,” Heathcliff said. “Spring is here. I don’t understand how you’re still sleeping after eighteen months. I brought you some of your bloodlust tea even though I know it’s a waste. I’d offer you my blood if I thought that would assist you in waking. Anything to help. Even a kiss…”
His lips touched mine. He definitely wasn’t my true love.
“Nope, I should’ve known kissing you wouldn’t do any good. I love you, Snow, but we both recognize our love is more along the lines of brother and sister than that of lovers. Oh well. I tried.”
I sighed, feeling such gratitude for him.
Chapter 43
Gabriel knocked on my door and walked in. He glanced at Ryden as he placed a light kiss on my lips. “I need to talk to you—alone.”
“I was just leaving.” Ryden sniffed, rolling her eyes.
After she was gone, I stood, feeling oddly nervous to be in his presence. Had he betrayed me? “What is it? Everything alright with you? You seem… out of sorts.” I studied his face, searching for a telltale sign that what Snow White and Zenny said was true.
Gabriel grinned and my insides turned to mush. “Of course. I just wanted some alone time with you. Ryden is always around lately. Plus, I have
a surprise.” He knelt in front of me, grabbing my hands and lifting his face. I bent down, planting a kiss on his glorious lips. Gabriel wrapped his fingers in my hair, deepening the kiss, entwining his tongue with mine. My body responded with a deep hum. No way could he be plotting against me. He said he loved me. After several long minutes, he pulled back, standing. “That wasn’t your surprise. Come on.” His eyes twinkled and I couldn’t resist.
I followed him out of my rooms, though several hallways, down a dozen set of stairs, past the kitchen, and into the cellar.
Snow White seemed skittish, her thoughts a jumble or nerves until I was ready to scream.
The happy giddiness I felt from Gabriel’s kisses and the way he looked at me wore off, and a nervous anger settled in. When we reached another door, I stopped. “Is this necessary? What kind of surprise is down here?”
“Trust me,” he smiled.
Did I trust him? He’d never given me a reason not to. Always the perfect gentleman. Kind, sweet, caring. He would never harm me. But the feeling, the one that told me to slaughter the deceiving bastard, kept getting stronger. The cellar held endless barrels of wine mixed with blood. The sweet aromas along with the smell of old wood and dry earth did little to settle my nerves.
Maybe he has a new blood wine to show me? I hoped that was it.
But he didn’t stop when the wine barrels ended, continuing down another damp corridor. Magical blue light lit the walls, giving Gabriel’s skin an odd hue. When we reached another door leading to another set of stairs going deeper into the earth, I planted my feet. “Seriously, Gabriel. What do you have to show me that would require us to go way down here? You know I’m not a fan of being this deep underground.”
“Not too much farther,” he said.
There’s still time to kill him, I thought, knowing I would if I had to. He was strong, but he was only a human vampire while I was an original. I followed him, working to make my breathing and my steps sound confident, relaxed. But the odd feeling in my stomach grew.
We walked past the dried meats, kept to feed our non-vampire guests, and arrived at another set of downward spiraling steps.
“I’m not going any farther until you tell me what is going on,” I finally said, flexing my wings, preparing for whatever he might try to do.
He rushed toward me, kissing me with such passion and fire, my knees went weak, and my hunger for him intensified to the point of boiling over. Moments later, he released my lips and gave me a seductive look.
“You know we don’t have to go so far to hide our affections. My…” My head became foggy. I felt tired.
“Close your eyes, my queen. It’s for the best.”
Had he poisoned me? I did as he said because my lids were too heavy to do otherwise, but not before I noticed the wisp of a malevolent gleam cross his features.
It won’t be long now, Snow whispered through the dark.
I know, I responded, letting the anger evaporate into an overwhelming sadness. I didn’t know how, but Gabriel intended to kill me, and he found a way. In that moment I understood whose blood would seal the gem. It would be Gabriel’s. I didn’t know how it would happen, but without a doubt it would. I didn’t believe Gabriel could betray me. It seems my arrogance has gotten the best of me.
I’m sorry Silindra, Snow said.
… “Oh, man. I can’t believe Professor Pops and the guys talked me into this,” Daniel said. Daniel! He wasn’t dead. A chayot had stabbed him at my birthday party. His blood had been everywhere. But he was alive and I was so happy. Relief rushed through me and I wondered if perhaps he was a supernatural as well. “They’re confident one of us is your true love. Remember those times we used to sleep out on the tramp? I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately. Even then I thought you were beautiful. And I do love you, but I’m not in love with you. In fact, I’m in love with a girl by the name of Jaycee. Okay, she isn’t just a girl. She’s part chayot and I only met her through Gabe, but man, she takes my breath away. She’s strong, willful, kind of a total pain in the ass, but she’s also sweet and giving. She’s awesome—”
“Stop whining like a baby and kiss her, Daniel. I’m next.”
“Salvatore, get out. This is my time with Snow.”
“Fine but hurry up.”
“Okay, so here goes…”
Daniel pressed his lips to mine, but there was no spark. Not even a little bit.
“Yeah, nothing. But I’m not surprised. You know, I’m just going to say this. You don’t need some stupid dude to kiss you to wake up. You know that, right? I mean, sure, we all love you, but I hope you love yourself enough to know that you’re way better than all of us combined. This isn’t a fairytale; this is real life, and you’re way cooler than any princess from some kid’s movie. So, do yourself a favor and wake the hell up.”
Chapter 44
My head was foggy, as though I’d been in a long, drug induced slumber. Snow was still there, inside my head, but she seemed to be hiding. What’s wrong, I asked. Then I remembered Gabriel and tried to sit up. But my hands were tied above my head.
“Gabriel,” I hissed. The hunter had kissed me, poisoned me somehow, and I was lying on my stomach on a slab of white granite. The ropes he bound my hands with were stronger than any material I ever encountered, and I guessed magic was infused within the chords. I tried to lift my wings, knowing the edges could cut through anything, but my wings were also bound tightly, as were my feet. I turned my head, trying to locate Gabriel.
“I’m here,” he said, though his words sounded harsher than any I heard from his mouth when he spoke to me.
“How dare you do this to me? Release me this instant and I might let you live.” The words tore from my throat in a violent frenzy.
“As Sharra’s personal assassin, I wouldn’t be very good at my job if I freed you, now would I?”
Sharra’s assassin?
Snow White was breathing heavily, hyperventilating. It’s happening. I can’t believe it’s happening. Her frantic panic calmed me for some reason.
“You know the word assassin comes from the fact that to be one—an assassin—you have to be double the ass, right?”
Gabriel chuckled. “You always were quite clever.” He knelt so I could see his face. “Here’s how this is going to go. As per Sharra’s instructions, I’m going to kill you.” A flicker of pain crossed his brow. “You know, there’s still a way out of this. Take on a human body. Become the vampire you were meant to be and then this will all be over.”
I tried to yank myself out of the ties. “Never! I like who I am,” I growled. “If Sharra wants to torture and kill me, then tell her to come down and do it herself. I want to see her face.” I wanted to know what power, what magic he possessed to kill an original, but it seemed pointless to ask.
“The torture is all me, Silindra. Sharra wanted me to end your life quickly, but how would that do any good? Accept a human body. Then we can be together, as we are meant to be.” He pointed to the corner of a room where I saw a human girl huddling, her arms and feet covered in dirt, her face covered by her knees. “I’ve marked her. She is all prepared for you, my queen.” In that moment, he seemed the slightest bit sad, even hopeful I would do what he wanted.
But his sadness only infuriated me further and I snarled, tugging the ropes again. “No! You marked an innocent girl and now you want me to steal her body? You disgust me. I can’t believe I ever thought I loved you.” I rocked back and forth against the ropes. I wouldn’t give up. There had to be a way out.
“Don’t bother trying to escape. You’re secured with cords dipped in dragon’s blood and sealed with the healing power of a unicorn and something else. What the something else is doesn’t matter. It’s a secret I’ve been commanded never to reveal. Just know you will never be freed, and you will be able to feel pain, unless you agree to take on a human body.” He paused, picking up a cat o’ nine tails, the edges covered in jagged metal. “Only I can free you.” He bent down so I could see
his face. “Just accept what’s meant to be. Evolve like the rest of your kind and take on this human form.” He pointed at the girl in the corner again and she started to cry.
I had no idea how to put myself into a human form, and I didn’t care to know. “Never!”
The cat o’ nine tails whipped the backs of my legs. I felt the ends cut into my thighs and waited for them to heal, but they didn’t, and I realized his weapon must’ve been doused in magic as well. But what kind? Originals couldn’t die and any injury healed almost immediately.
“Stop it, Gabriel. Please. I don’t want my life to end, but if that’s what you’re here to do, then do it. Don’t torture me. It’s beneath you.”
He made a face like he’d eaten something sour. “The torture is for all the times my body was beneath your disgustingly hairy one, all those times your rough, gigantic hands touched me, and in ways no man should be touched by an animal like you.”
His words cut worse than the whip, and I felt something inside me break, shatter into a million pieces. “You never loved me?” I whispered. Obviously, the answer was no, but I had to ask. It didn’t help that Snow was crying.
“How could I love you while you wear that disgusting body? You’re a freak!” he shouted, whipping my legs again.
His words infuriated me. I was the first. An original. A creature born of all seven magics and a portion of them dwelled within me. The way I looked, the way I acted, every part of me was precisely right. “You’re the freak!” I shouted. “You live only because the blood of a vampire flows in your veins. Don’t ever think you’re better than me. You’re nothing but a whipping boy, a slave to the real master. If not me, then my sister.”
He hit my wings this time, and I felt whatever was on the ends bite deep. Then his face was next to mine. “You were born first. That is true. But that doesn’t make you better. It makes you old. It makes you inadequate. You refuse to see what is right in front of you. Evolution is the answer to eternal life. Instead of choosing to progress, like the rest of the vampires, you stay like this.” He yanked on my hair. “In an ugly, good for nothing body. You could’ve been so much more. Your sister wants that for you. I want that for you. Now it’s too late.”
Fate and Magic: Snow White Reimagined with Vampires and Werewolves (Seven Magics Academy Book 2) Page 16