Betraying Blood (Stand Alone Tales Book 5)

by Viola Grace

He nodded, and his engineers returned to him. Additional places were set, and Vietta looked devastated not to be alone with them.

  Elurra took the teacup and smiled. “This is the first warm beverage I have had here in years.”

  Vietta sat with her cup in her hands.

  Elurra asked coyly. “Aren’t you drinking?”

  Vietta put the cup to her lips.

  Elurra took the tea and swallowed it, feeling the toxins zipping through her. She filtered them, and then, she spit them back out into the cup. A teaspoon of smouldering acid.

  She got to her feet. “I drank mine, now you drink yours.”

  Alric put a hand on her shoulder, but she said. “Let me do this.”

  She darted around to Vietta, grabbed her hair, and tilted her head back. The cup of tea went down her throat with a lot of choking and spluttering.

  With that done, Elurra walked her back to the throne room. She tossed her to the floor and stood in front of the throne. “For plotting to kill Queen Raina, the sentence is death. For issuing assassins to murder the queen before marriage, the sentence is death. For twelve hundred attempts on the life of the king, the sentence is death.”

  Elurra listed all of those that she had killed who had only attempted to help her. “For their murders, the sentence is death.”

  Vietta was beginning to feel the pain of the toxin. “If I tried to kill the king, why did he live so long?”

  Elurra smiled sadly. “I filtered his blood for him. Each day, each night. I took out the poison and healed him. He knew you were doing it, but there was something that he had set in motion, so he tried to hang on as long as he could. Eventually, his heart simply gave out.”

  Alric came up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders. “How long does she have?”

  “If she is resistant, hours. If not. Oh, there she goes.”

  The evil queen arched her back, and her heels drummed on the stone. The courtiers simply watched in horror as the despot turned iron black and died.

  Elurra took a deep breath. “That feels better. I would like her dragged into the village square and burned, please.”

  Alric nodded. “Of course. Anything else, my queen?”

  She looked at the castle around her. “Take it down. I don’t want to see this farce of stability and justice anymore.”

  Duke Mring cleared his throat. “Does this mean that you are assuming the throne, princess?”

  “No, I will be here as consort to King Alric Kharmin. I am done trying to help the nobility get richer with fertility spells and my blood in the land. The sandmen are coming, and they will set up their own organizational system. I am not part of it.”

  She watched the shocked murmur roll through the court.

  Alric murmured, “What do you mean, blood in the land?”

  “Metguard is bio-locked. My father’s family produces a mineral that completes a fertility cycle and lets the crops grow and the trees bear fruit. The price of that fertility is our blood on the land. It is a simple spell that I was taught when I was a child. The citizens here have been leaving en masse in the last few years. The wealth of our world had been left unused, and there is no reason for me to keep them alive.”

  He murmured, “What about my people?”

  She stared at him. “I thought they would have another method, perhaps clone my blood and use that?”

  He sighed. “I will ask this of you in return for whatever you like.”

  “You want my blood?” Her surprise was running through her. She had been on a whirlwind, and her mind couldn’t focus. After her aunt’s death, everything had blurred.

  “I will give to you, as you give to me.” He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her.

  She went up on her toes and leaned into his kiss. When he lifted his head, he said, “Everyone leave the castle. It is about to be renovated.”

  Elurra blinked. “Renovated?”

  “Yes, don’t worry, it will have the bones, but the flesh will be gone. Come on, let’s speak with the engineers. That should make things clear.”

  She frowned but walked out with him to the gardens, and the engineers came out. A few displays later, and she understood what they were doing.

  She pointed out the location of the secret room, and they marked it. More sandmen arrived and soon surrounded the castle.

  They did a complete check of the building to make sure that there was no one left, but when it was empty, the hundreds of sandmen faced the castle, and Alric kissed her forehead before he joined his men.

  There was a hum that started in the soil, and then, the wind began to take up the note.

  Elurra watched as stone rose from the ground, and it began to whip around the castle, scrubbing the rock and removing the sharp edges. The castle changed from a solid block to a brighter building with elegant towers and plenty of light.

  The building’s footprint expanded tremendously, but her gardens remained intact.

  When the sandmen were done, they collapsed. Well, all except Alric collapsed. She caught him.

  “That is amazing. It looks like a completely new place.”

  He looked down at her and smiled. “It is. It is made of the interior of the stone that was never cut to be seen. Would you like to go inside?”

  “I think you need to wait. You look a little pale.”

  He chuckled. “I will recover. Come on, I want to show you our new home.”

  She sighed. “Fine, but lean on me.”

  “First, we will go to the hidden room.”

  “Thank you.”

  He walked with her, his arm casually over her shoulders, and only the most intent observer would notice that she was taking some of his weight.

  She walked toward the private offices, or where they had been. There was nothing. Her heart sank. “Where did they go?”

  “Second floor. A more secure location. The engineers moved the room.”

  “Oh. Why didn’t you say so?”

  He grinned. “I am just enjoying your curiosity.”

  She grimaced and elbowed him lightly. “Come on. I need to check on those books.”

  He steered her slightly to the new stairway, and she walked up the stairs, down a hall, and into the library off the king’s bedroom.

  The podium was there, her mother’s journal was there, and the walls were filled with empty bookshelves. The two shelves that were most important to her contained the books and scrolls that her father had used to teach her.

  She hugged Alric and sighed. “Okay, you have held up your part of the bargain. I will do the ritual for the land tonight.”

  “You don’t have to do it tonight.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “Yes, I do. The planting season is nearly on us, and the red mist has to travel around the world. I need to get this going.”

  He smiled. “Just like that, I give you a library, and you spill your blood?”

  “Well, as long as you are my husband, I will protect your people. If the sandmen need the land, I will make sure it will grow crops for them.”

  He leaned down to her ear. “Are you hungry?”

  She chuckled and whispered back. “You are currently weak and feeble; you wouldn’t be much of a meal.”

  He looked at her with narrowed eyes. “Did you just insult me?”

  “No, I am caring for your wellbeing. It just looks like an insult.” She smiled. “If you would like to help, though, I can take the sample from your arm.”

  He nodded. “Please. You turned even greyer than normal after that poison.”

  She shrugged. “It had to be done. Now, please, indicate where I am allowed to bite.”

  Alric pointed to his bicep, and she frowned but moved in close and tilted her head to drink.

  He said. “Perhaps we should go to the bed platform. I might get weak-kneed again.”

  She closed her mouth with a snap. “I don’t have to.”

  “No, no, I definitely want you
to. Come with me.”

  He backed into the bedroom and sat on the stone block that he called the platform. “There. Now we are safe. Hmm. Perhaps I should brace my arm on the platform.”

  He set his arm down, and she began to clue in that she would have to straddle his thigh to reach him.

  She smiled as she deliberately lifted her skirts and straddled his thigh to take the promised bite. He was flexing his arm, so he slowed things down even more while his free hand slid between them and rubbed at her clit.

  It wasn’t the most dignified feeding she had ever had, but it was fun.

  Epilogue

  Elurra had never done this with a live audience. Still, now, she was standing in the gardens of the palace with a dagger and wearing the sleeveless top and narrow skirt of the sandmen.

  Alric was wearing formal wear, which was pretty much the same thing she was wearing. His skirt was a heavier fabric and split to mid-thigh.

  The Dhark and their family were watching on the broadcast. Dwell was fascinated by the concept of a fertility ritual that involved vampire blood.

  Elurra looked at her husband and took the dagger. She lifted it high and whispered, “Call to the land, time to wake. Call to the sky, time to rain. Call to the sun, time to shine. Call to the wind to carry my blood.”

  She whipped the blade up her inner arm, across her palm and outward. The sandmen gasped as the blood left her, formed a roiling ball of red mist, and then, it darted away.

  Elurra dropped the blade, pressed her hand over her arm, and tried to chant the healing spell. It slowed the flow but left the long crimson stripe. She was tired.

  Alric caught her and lifted her up.

  She looked around. “Where did I drop the dagger?”

  One of the men tried to pull it from the soil, and she stared as instead of him pulling it up, it was pushed up by the tree that was beneath it.

  The young man asked, “Is it supposed to do that?”

  She blushed. “Yes, that’s fine. Thank you. I will be able to reclaim it in the winter.”

  Alric scowled. “Why in the winter?”

  “Um, the tree is sleeping; it isn’t watching like it will be for the next ten months.”

  He tensed. “Ten months?”

  She blushed. “Stop staring at me like that. The soil knows before anyone else.”

  There was a squeal from the Dhark video feed. The ladies were excited, the men were amused, and Teth was smiling like a proud uncle.

  One of the sandmen murmured, “How does the commander know it is his?”

  She squirmed to be let down, and Alric complied. She stalked over to the gossiper and beckoned for him to bend down. When he did, she gave him an uppercut that snapped his neck back and left him dazed on the ground in shock.

  “Now, if any of you have any doubts about my virtue, please, ask me directly and don’t go whispering. I really hate whispers. It denotes a lack of courage. So, since you need to know, the first man to have me was the commander. We had been together on the dreamscape before we met in person, so our first intimacies were... prolonged. The tree has indicated I am carrying. I still do not know if it will stick. Being cursed has certain challenges, and carrying to term is one of them. I didn’t wish to find out that I was possibly pregnant and then immediately have my honour challenged. If you would like to try again tomorrow, I would recommend that you not bend down where I can reach you. I have a devastating uppercut.”

  Alric was behind her, and she swayed. He caught her again.

  He growled a few pithy statements about respecting women in general and Elurra in particular. While he talked, she squirmed around to get comfortable. She was dozing against his shoulder when the lecture was over, and she only woke up to him when he was naked under her with her head tucked in invitation against his shoulder. She moved down to his chest and bit, her hips rocking until he shifted them both to connect them.

  Usually, the sex came before the bite, but she was a rebel, and Alric didn’t mind the sharp piercing of her teeth. Her father had been right, they were a good match.

  She was curled against him, stroking his chest with her left arm. He kept looking at it and shaking his head in amazement.

  “I can’t believe I healed that.” He was smug.

  She chuckled. “Of course. Only you. You know, since I have been feeding from you, I haven’t been hungry. Normally there is a gnawing feeling in my belly, but now, nothing. I am very content.”

  He smiled. “Do you think you are pregnant?”

  She shrugged. “I think it is too soon, but the magic thinks I am.”

  He placed his hand over her belly. “A tiny little sandman with big sharp teeth.”

  “Or sandwoman. We could have a little girl.”

  “It is unlikely; we have a skewed population. We only have one woman per eighteen males, so we breed out to many other species. The result is always pure sandman.”

  She laughed. “Welcome to Metguard, where your rules don’t apply. Whatever science built this world became magic, and that magic parted ways from rules and logic.”

  “Right. Speaking of logic, where did the queen keep her poisons.”

  “She grew her herbs in a secret grove of apples. That is why the poison was so hard to detect. It tasted good. I can take you there tomorrow and destroy the trees, or at least remove the toxins. It has been on my list of things to do, but I haven’t been strong enough... until now. Thanks for that.”

  He wrapped an arm around her hip. “If you are going out to exert yourself tomorrow, you should really gather strength today.”

  She laughed and slid her leg to the top of his hip. “Well, if you insist, but you have already given so much today, I should probably do most of the work.”

  He grinned and nodded. “I think that is an excellent idea. Let me know if you need any help.”

  She snickered and got him to his back, where she could start her newly favourite procedure for getting his blood. It involved focus, attention to her partner, and not letting herself get out of control.

  It was an exercise of focus, and she was so happy to be able to practice.

  * * * *

  Sixteen years later.

  “So, Snow, this is what you will have to do one day.” Elurra explained the ritual, and then, she straightened her ritual costume. The vampire curse was remarkably handy for one thing, after every child, her body had bounced back rapidly.

  Snow frowned. “Why does it involve blood?”

  “Because everything does. The animals we eat, the birds in the trees, even the trees themselves have a version of it.”

  “Why do I have to do it?”

  “Because you are the eldest. It doesn’t have to be a solo duty. As your siblings come of age, they can help you, but for now, I am here, and I will do it. Are you ready for the procession?”

  Snow nodded. She and her six sisters lined up, and as Alric held Elurra’s hand, the entire family entered the expanded garden.

  The sandmen bowed as the royal family walked to the center of the garden. There was a line of men vying for Snow’s hand, but it would be her decision.

  Elurra had gotten lucky with her father’s choice. Still, Snow definitely had a mind of her own and two parents to encourage her. She was not going to be left on her own. Blood was good for a lot of things.

  She smiled at her husband and her children before lifting the knife. “Call to the land...”

  When the ritual was through, she went to get her knife, and it was stuck. She looked up at Alric, and he was laughing in delight. “You have to be fucking kidding me.”

  Each of their daughters had been announced in this way, and their family was the envy of the sandmen colony. There was no doubt that Alric was the father of each of her daughters. They were all taller than her by over a head, even the ten-year-old, and they had their father’s golden hair and her blue eyes with their skin a creamy gold.

  Seven pretty vampires and one
more on the way. She was putting the Dhark to shame.

  The End

  Author’s Note

  This book was part of a writing prompt that a friend posted. (Thanks to Dawn Montgomery for the idea and Stephanie Burke for yelling ‘doooo iitttt.’) I know that Snow White has been a vampire before in many, many books, by many, many authors, but this one was mine. (And the 2nd one I have done. Lol)

  So, I have decided that next, I am going to take a run at another fairy tale, sci-fi it up, and see what happens. It is called Legacy Contract and will be out in a few weeks. I have already been sharing the cover in my readers’ group. Fairy tale, sci-fi, superheroes... all my favourite things.

  Thanks for reading,

  Viola Grace

  About the Author

  Viola Grace (aka Zenina Masters) is a Canadian sci-fi/paranormal romance writer with ambitions to keep writing for the rest of her life. She specializes in short stories because the thrill of discovery, of all those firsts, is what keeps her writing.

  An artist who enjoys a story that catches you up, whirls you around, and sets you down with a smile on your face is all she endeavours to be. She prefers to leave the drama to those who are better suited to it, she always goes for the cheap laugh.

  In real life, she is now engaged in beekeeping, and her adventures can be found on the YouTube channel, Mystery Bees Apiary. Just look for the cartoon kittens.