Blood Melody

by Val St. Crowe

  Of course, maybe they didn’t come after me just because it was daylight, and sunlight weakened them.

  Maybe I could stay away from the vampires and stay free. I would hide out here, keeping to the shadows, and I’d figure out where it was that Aston Waterfield was.

  I spent the rest of the day and into the night in the park, hiding under benches and beneath trees. It would have been easier in the summer, but it was winter, and there wasn’t a lot of leaves or growth or cover. Still, no one saw me, probably because people didn’t tend to go out for strolls in the park in the winter either. Well, unless you were Hadrian, I supposed. Unless you were taking your blood slave out to get killed by a bloodhound.

  But I was free of all that. Now, I simply needed to focus on Aston. But the city was big, and he could be anywhere.

  Maybe Landon would know. Was there a way I could talk to Landon? Where was he, anyway? Prowling around on the outskirts of the city? He was meeting with Desta every morning, apparently, but I didn’t know where.

  Maybe I should go to Desta. I did know her building. It was across the way there. But I couldn’t go in as a wolf. I’d have to shift. And I couldn’t go in naked either. It might not be that strange for blood slaves to be wandering around without clothes, but it was strange for them to be wandering around alone.

  Anyway, it was a bad idea, because someone would recognize me. They’d kill me.

  Or even if they didn’t, and I made it to Desta, it would put her in a bad situation.

  I wouldn’t go to her.

  As the night progressed, I fell asleep, telling myself that I would go exploring in the morning, and that I would find Aston then.

  But I woke abruptly in the night to hands on my body, searching for the scruff of my neck.

  I growled and writhed and snapped my teeth, and the hands fell away.

  “Stop that,” said a voice.

  I could smell them. Vampires. There were three of them, and they were peering down on me.

  “Just be a good puppy, won’t you?” said one of the vampires.

  I didn’t recognize any of them.

  “Yes, just let us get this collar on you,” said another.

  I growled at them.

  They backed away, unsettled.

  “She’s going to bite us all, Molly,” said one of the vampires.

  “Not if we’re careful,” said another, presumably Molly.

  I decided to make a run for it. They were afraid of me. That meant something. I charged them, and they scattered, and I took off running as quickly as I could.

  A loud crack broke through the air, an echoing noise.

  And then pain in my flank.

  A gunshot. I’d been shot!

  More shots. More pain. I tried to keep running. A werewolf couldn’t be killed with a gun, not in wolf form. But the shots came again and again and again, and I was badly wounded, and I couldn’t run, and I collapsed on the ground, howling out my pain, and then I lost consciousness.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  I woke up, and I’d shifted back to human form, seemingly out of instinct. Shifting had healed my wounds. I guessed my body had done it so that I would be whole again. I was wearing what seemed like a nightgown. It was pink and silk and edged in white lace. It reminded me of the kinds of nightgowns I’d had as a little girl. Hand-me-downs from Desta that she had called her princess nightgowns.

  I was lying on a plush red velvet mattress that was contained in a cage with golden bars. The room around me looked like a bedroom, but a huge one. The master bed was covered in piles of blankets and pillows, all askew. The sheets were silk. Across the room was an aquarium that took up the entire wall. It was full of glowing, neon fish.

  “Oh, Desta, you really shouldn’t work yourself up like this,” a voice was saying. It was far away, but it was getting closer.

  The door to the bedroom burst open, and there he was. King Viggo, the vampire king.

  He was a handsome man. He appeared to be in his mid-twenties. He had golden curls that fell tousled around his face and eager green eyes. I had seen him on television numerous times, thanking people for the sacrifice of their blood, promising that he and the vampires would protect all humans from the werewolf threat. But now, here I was in the same room with him.

  My sister Desta followed him. “How can I not be worked up, Viggo? This is my sister we’re talking about.”

  “Your werewolf sister,” said Viggo. “Really, Desta. It’s as though you’ve lost all sense of the way the world works.” He shut the door after her, and then he crossed the room to my cage. He gestured. “Look, here she is, safe and sound.”

  Desta ran over to me and grabbed the bars. “Camber? Are you really okay?”

  I nodded.

  “When they brought you in, there was so much blood,” she said.

  “I shifted,” I said. “I healed.”

  “Right, of course.” Desta put her hands to her mouth. She looked like she was going to cry.

  “You’re going to make yourself sick,” said Viggo, putting a hand on her shoulder. “All is well. Go back home. Drink some blood. Have some wine.”

  Desta turned away from me to face the king. “Let her go.”

  “What?” Viggo laughed softly. “Have you gone mad?”

  “Please,” said Desta. “Please, for me?”

  “Desta, darling, there are many things that I will indulge you in, but tell me, how can I do this? She’s a werewolf that severely wounded a vampire.”

  “Hadrian’s fine,” said Desta. “He’s healing. And I told you that I would personally make up the difference in funds for his lost blood slaves.”

  “There’s also the matter of his thinking that I sent your sister to him.”

  Desta swallowed.

  “You told him that, didn’t you?” said Viggo.

  Desta nodded.

  “You lied.”

  “I…” Desta took a deep breath. “Listen, Viggo, it’s my sister—”

  “You knew she was here, and you knew she was a danger to all the vampires, and you did nothing. You have ties to the werewolves. Now, if I indulge you, it sets a bad precedent. People are already going to think that it’s bad form for you to be so close to me when you have family that is furry. They’ll think that you’ve gotten close to me on purpose. They’ll think you mean me harm. That you mean the government harm.”

  “No, Viggo, it’s nothing like that,” said Desta. “I would never—”

  “Of course you wouldn’t.” Viggo gave her a cold look. “Of course not.”

  Desta straightened. “You don’t suspect that I…”

  “That you’re trying to help the werewolves overthrow the vampires and kill us all?” Viggo shook his head. “Of course not. Why, as we all know, you love me ever so much, don’t you?”

  “I…” Desta twisted her hands together. “I have always been honest with you about my feelings, and I thought that you appreciated that. You said that you were sick to death of sycophants who only said what they thought you wanted to hear.”

  “Yes,” he said, reaching out to cup her face. “You are my challenge, and you amuse me. But you know what doesn’t amuse me? Paranoid vampires.” He leaned forward and planted a kiss on her forehead. “There’s no need to worry, of course. We’ve ruled for hundreds of years. There is no chance that the werewolves could possibly overthrow us. It’s ridiculous. But I can say that all day long, and they’ll still panic. So, no, I’m not letting your sister go.”

  “But…” Desta’s voice broke. “They’ll want you to kill her.”

  “Yes.” Viggo shrugged.

  “You can’t.” Desta turned back to look at me. “Please, Viggo, if you care about me at all, you cannot kill my sister.”

  Viggo didn’t say anything. He had crossed the room to his aquarium and was inspecting his fish.

  “Desta, don’t cry,” I said. “I got myself into this. I should never have involved you—”

  “Oh, I involved myself,” she said, and
tears were leaking out of her eyes. She rubbed at them angrily. And then she ran across the room to Viggo. She grabbed both of his hands. She got down on her knees. She kissed his fingers. “I’m begging you. I am begging you, please—”

  “Well, well, well.” Viggo was smiling, clearly enjoying himself. “This is a side of you I haven’t seen before. I rather like it, I must say.”

  She sucked in a shuddering breath. “My parents are mortal. They will die and I will live on. But my sister is a wolf. She will live a long, long time, and I need her. She will be my only family. I will never have children. She is all that will live on, Viggo. You cannot hurt her. I’ll do anything.”

  “Anything?” Viggo’s smile widened. “Anything at all?”

  “Yes, yes, of course.”

  “No,” I called out. “No, Desta, don’t agree to that. Who knows what he’ll make you do.”

  “The possibilities are endless,” said Viggo, “or so it seems.”

  Desta nodded. “Come to my bed tonight, if that’s what you want. I won’t put you off any longer.”

  Viggo wrinkled up his nose. “Don’t be disgusting, Desta. I’m not so desperate that I’ll be bought off by the promise of your spreading your legs.”

  “But—”

  “I’m not going to kill your sister.” He let go of her hands. “Get up. You’re making an ass of yourself.”

  “Oh, thank you, thank you,” said Desta. “I’m so grateful to you, Viggo. You have no idea—”

  “Stop.” He glared at her. “I’m not sure if I like this side of you, after all. You’re snivelly and frightened. Not at all my proud Desta.”

  Desta swallowed.

  Viggo made a dismissive motion with one hand. “Go away. Leave me alone before you ruin my mood, hmm?”

  * * *

  After Desta left, Viggo left the bedroom too, not acknowledging me at all.

  I decided to try to get free. I tested the bars. They were strong, and they were too close together for me to squeeze between. I shifted into a wolf and ran at the bars a few times, but that didn’t work either. Sulkily, I stayed in wolf form, resolving to myself that I would find some way to bite Viggo.

  Even if it didn’t get me free from the cage, he deserved biting.

  I wasn’t entirely sure what a wolf bite did to a vampire, but it apparently took a while to heal, if Hadrian wasn’t already healed completely from the wounds that Judah and I had given him. I figured that hurting Viggo would be pretty satisfying. Of course, it would probably mean that he killed me.

  I didn’t have a death wish or anything.

  It would be better if I could live and find Aston Waterfield and get back to my pack, actually.

  Maybe I wouldn’t bite Viggo.

  It wasn’t as if I had any hope of getting out of the cage or anything, but if I was alive, there was more hope than if I was dead. Being dead made any hope of helping my pack impossible.

  Sighing, I shifted back into human form and put my princess nightgown back on. I climbed onto my velvet mattress and curled up into a ball. I was tired, even though I’d been unconscious for a long time. It was probably because of having to heal those gunshot wounds. I yawned.

  I shouldn’t fall asleep. I should stay awake and try to figure out a plan to help my sister, help my pack, and help myself.

  But I fell asleep anyway.

  * * *

  Later, I woke up when Viggo came into the bedroom and put on the TV. He was only wearing a black silk robe over a pair of silk pajama pants. The robe gaped open over his pale chest. He didn’t acknowledge me, just sprawled out on his bed and flipped the channels for a very long time.

  He only stopped because someone knocked on the door.

  “What?” called Viggo, sounding annoyed.

  “Your Majesty, I’ve found Octavion and his spawn.”

  “Ah,” said Viggo. “Excellent, bring them in.” He sat up on the bed. He didn’t bother to pull the robe closed over his skin.

  A bloodhound escorted two chained-up vampires into the room. The bloodhound kicked both of them until they knelt in front of Viggo.

  Viggo eyed the two of them. “What’s his name, Octavion?”

  One of the vampires met Viggo’s gaze fearfully. “Please, Your Majesty—”

  “I asked a question,” said Viggo mildly. “I’d prefer that you answer instead of begging. Truly, begging bores me.”

  “Ken,” said Octavion. “His name is Ken.”

  “And why did you turn him?”

  “Listen, he’s happy to go to exile in Pattos,” said Octavion. “We both are. Please, we won’t be any trouble to anyone—”

  “You broke the law, Octavion,” said Viggo. “You realize that, don’t you, or are you a colossal dolt?”

  Octavion bowed his head. “I… I’m sorry, my king.” He sounded close to tears.

  Viggo rolled his eyes. “You, then, Ken. Why did he turn you? Did you ask him to?”

  “I, uh, I did?” said the other vampire.

  “Why?”

  “I’m dying,” said Ken. “Or, I was. Cancer. I didn’t have much time left. Since we’re here, I guess I still am dying.”

  “So, you reckoned you had nothing to lose, then?” said Viggo. “Everything to gain, nothing to lose. Yes, in your position, I’d do the same thing. But how did you convince Octavion to break the rules? What did you give him in return?”

  “I just did it, Your Majesty,” spoke up Octavion. “It seemed like a good thing to do. We’re supposed to be protecting the humans, aren’t we?”

  “Just out of the goodness of your heart?” said Viggo.

  “Yes,” said Octavion.

  “How puzzling,” said Viggo. “You didn’t think I would find out?”

  “Obviously not,” said Octavion.”

  “But now you see that you cannot conceal things from me.” Viggo studied his fingernails. “I have eyes everywhere.”

  “Yes, my king,” said Octavion.

  Viggo considered. “If you’d loved him, I might have killed him slowly and made you watch. But in this case…” He got up off the bed and strode over to the wall where there were several swords hanging. Underneath the swords were rows and rows of car keys. I supposed Viggo had a lot of cars.

  “Wait,” said Octavion. “Why can’t we go to exile? What is one more vampire? You allowed the creation of Desta.”

  “Yes, I did,” said Viggo. “But you oughtn’t take my past behavior as a prediction of my future behavior.” He took a sword down and tested the sharpness of the blade. “There, now. Wouldn’t want to behead you with a dull blade. That’s hardly polite, is it?” He chuckled.

  Octavion tried to struggle to his feet.

  The bloodhound kicked him back down.

  “Not going to beg for your life, Ken?” said Viggo.

  “You said begging bored you,” said Ken.

  Viggo laughed. “I did, didn’t I? Well, at least one of you was listening.” And he swung the sword so fast, I didn’t see him move. The only way I knew that he had was that Ken’s head toppled off his head and rolled onto the floor, all the way over to Viggo’s bed, leaving a trail of blood.

  Viggo kicked the head back towards Ken’s lifeless body. “We’ll need someone come in to clean, Joe,” he said to the bloodhound.

  “Understood, Your Majesty,” said the bloodhound.

  Octavion gaped at Ken. “My king, you—”

  “Shut up,” said Viggo.

  “I had just given him another chance at life, and you ripped it away,” said Octavion, indignant. “And for what? Why? Because of your stupid rules?”

  “Because there are too many of us already,” said Viggo slowly and distinctly, as if he was speaking to a small child. “Because I must not allow others to think that I tolerate this sort of behavior. Because if we keep making vampires, we will outpace the humans’ reproduction rates, have nothing to eat, and then all starve.”

  “How can you be so heartless?” said Octavion.

  Vigg
o wiped his sword with the hem of his robe and then shrugged it off. Shirtless, he put the sword back on the wall and selected a knife that hung next to it.

  He strode back over to Octavion and gave him the knife. “Stand up.”

  Octavion got to his feet.

  Viggo moved close, staring into Octavion’s eyes. “Cut off your own head.”

  My lips parted.

  Octavion looked at Viggo with glazed eyes. “Yes, Viggo, of course. I’ll cut off my head.” He was compelled. I had heard that the vampire king was so powerful he could compel other vampires.

  Viggo folded his arms over his chest, waiting.

  Octavion brought the knife up with a steady hand. He plunged it into his neck.

  Blood spurted onto Viggo’s face and chest.

  The vampire king didn’t wipe it away. He laughed. “Oh, I never do get tired of this. Does it hurt, Octavion?”

  “Yes,” came Octavion’s voice, ruined by the knife. He was sawing with the blade, trying to get through his sinews, muscle, and bone.

  “You wish you could stop, but you can’t,” Viggo whispered. “It’s the most horrid thing you’ve ever experienced. You try to fight it, but you must do as I tell you.”

  Tears were leaking out of Octavion’s eyes. “Please,” he said. “Please.”

  Viggo giggled, his eyes dancing, his face spattered with droplets of red. “More blood, less begging. I told you. Begging bores me.”

  * * *

  “Oh, little wolf,” crooned a voice.

  My eyes snapped open.

  Viggo was at the other side of my cage with a golden key. He fit it into one of the bars and the bar opened outward on a hinge. He did it to the bar next to it as well, making a tiny space just big enough that I could barely squeeze through.

  I could shift into a wolf and run through it and start biting Viggo right now.

  But hadn’t I decided against that before I watched Viggo compel a vampire to kill himself? The room had been cleaned and the bodies taken away, but I thought the air still smelled of blood.

  I sat up and didn’t move.

  “Don’t you want out of your cage, little wolf?” said Viggo. “Don’t you want to be free?”