by E. M. Knight
I sigh and turn for the stronghold, where the excavation should be complete. I promised my subjects a proper gathering in a few days. They will get that. But for now, I think it wouldn’t be an awful idea to have them see me taking care of outstanding affairs.
I reach the excavation grounds and am pleasantly surprised by the order I see there. All the artifacts and treasures from within are carefully laid out on an enormous canvas on the ground. There are a few Royal Guards keeping watch on the outside.
They salute as soon as they see me.
“Is Geordam near?” I ask.
“The Captain Commander left us soon after this was complete,” one of them answers, gesturing to the canvas behind him. “I’m afraid we weren’t told where to.”
“That’s fine,” I tell him, then, forgetting my place for a minute, ask, “May I?”
“But, of course,” he says, bowing deeply and gesturing me through.
“Thank you,” I say, and walk toward the canvas.
I stop on the edge, looking at all the various artifacts on display. From this close I can tell at least a few of them are torrials—the Currents shift oh-so-slightly to accommodate them.
I frown, a bit surprised at my own sensitivity to things like that. I don’t think I would have noticed the difference in the Elements unless I were consciously seeking it out before.
From the corner of my eye, I notice the delegation of vampires who have followed me already has doubled in size. I raise my voice and address them.
“I know you are thirsty,” I say. “Soon, Phillip will return with a new stock of humans. All of you will be satiated in just a few days.”
An extremely nondescript vampire steps forth. He is also very weak. He is one of the Incolam, then.
“What about us, my Queen?” he asks. “We know the Elite will be fed, but we Incolam are the ones most suffering.”
“The Incolam will be fed first,” I answer him. “And there will be enough to go around. I—”
I cut off as a massive surge of power collides with the wards. I feel the shock in my system, and it’s so strong it makes me stagger back.
A second later, a bright flame explodes high in the sky above us. It hits the barrier, flares, expands, and coats the entire protective dome in a terrorizing, raging fire.
The worst sort of dread stabs my gut. Is this the attack?
So soon?
I grab hold of the Elemental Forces and reassert my link to the throne. I am one with it instantly. My spirit is lifted, my consciousness leaves my body, and I have a perfect sense of the totality of the wards as a whole.
My mind flies to the point of the barrier, high above, where I felt the explosion. But I find it untouched. No damage, no strain—nothing.
The wards were not attacked from the outside.
I shoot back into my body, entering it with a gasp. The vampires around me are staring at the sky, mouths agape. They saw the fire explosion, too.
But the wards are solid, healthy. Nothing above us suggests an attack from outside other than the memory.
Confused and frightened murmurs come from the gathered vampires. I open my mouth to assure them nothing is wrong—and then the black cover of the wards is peeled back, like skin being ripped off a chicken, and the full midday sun pounds down onto the earth with its lethal, unrelenting force.
Vampires scream as their skin burns. The rays hit me, so much stronger than what could be expected from the regular sun. Pain erupts all over my body. The clothes I have on are doing nothing to buffer the rays.
I push through the agonizing pain and am once more one with the wards.
To my great horror, I find nothing wrong.
They are exactly as they should be. The weaves making them up are untouched, solid, as strong as ever. Even worse, from this vantage, I can tell that it is night outside in the real world.
So, what the hell is this?
“Get to cover!” somebody screams. “Get to shade!”
I’m lost somewhere in the Currents, not quite here and not quite there. I keep searching desperately for a flaw in the wards. If there is a break, I can correct it. If not…
I’m jerked back into my body as one of the guards nearby tackles me. I start to fight him, instinctually, before realizing he is helping me to cover. My consciousness shoots back to myself, and I pick up my feet as we race for the safety of the trees.
We get there. The sun is so bright, it is impossible to see anything. I have absolutely no idea what’s going on, and that terrifies me. Screams of pain surround me, given off by all the vampires who’ve been badly burned.
I don’t have time to pity them. I push through my own pain and take hold of as much of the Elemental Forces as I can. I let them flare out above us and quickly construct an impenetrable defense of Earth and Fire, meant to block out the sun.
But for some reason… it doesn’t work. The barrier floats above us. No light rays come through it… but the blistering, deadly UV light remains.
I feel a sudden warping of the Forces, a sort of suction from the direction of the apartments.
I turn my head that way just in time to see an avalanche of black roaring toward us.
I brace myself for impact. The black hits, and…
Relief.
Complete, utter, total relief. The healing processes inside pick up, and within seconds, my residual pain is gone.
I stand up to see the Forsaken Sisters rushing toward us, the black pushing out from them.
They get to me quickly. “Are you all right?” Allura demands.
“Yes,” I say. “The others—”
“They’ll heal in time,” she interrupts. I see the blue glow connecting the three witches. I know Allura is channeling their collective force.
“I checked the wards,” I tell them quickly. “There’s nothing wrong. They’re whole.”
“We know,” she says. “There isn’t an attack from the outside. It is an attack from the Demon Realm.”
“What?”
“Get your vampires underground,” she tells me hurriedly. “Get the word out. We can stave off the worst of the light for now, but we can’t do it forever. Get them underground, now, so that they are safe.”
“You heard her!” I scream to the guards. “Get all the vampires beneath the earth. Go!”
The guards run off to relay my orders. The rest of the vampires stream for the stronghold.
I look at Allura. “How do we stop this?”
She looks deadly serious. “For now? We can’t. The Haven is built on grounds that once contained a portal to the other realm. It was sealed shut by the witches—but clearly no longer.”
My heart starts to race. The Haven lies on a seal?
“Whoever is doing this commands vastly more power than we know,” she continues.
“Cierra,” I say.
“No.” Allura shakes her head. I’ve never seen her this worried. “Not even Cierra has so much might. We are dealing with an entity not of this earth.”
I swallow.
“The vampires are all inside.” Allura notes, nodding to the stronghold’s entrance. “You go with them. We’ll scour The Haven for more. Once they’re found, we’ll join you.”
“I want to help!”
She shakes her head. “The spell needed to create this darkness is too dangerous for you to attempt now. You risk burning yourself out. We are buffered by each other because our magic is joined.”
“So, draw on my strength! Let me join you!”
“You are here to lead, Eleira,” Allura stresses. “The vampires underground need you more. Go now. We won’t take long.”
“What about Morgan?” I ask, suddenly remembering the former Queen.
“She is in the apartments. We could not take her with us. After the remaining vampires are gathered up, we will get her and join you. Go!” She pushes me forward. “The most important thing to do is find the seal. As long as we don’t know its condition, we don’t know how we’ll to defend our
selves.”
“Morgan could know!” I gasp. “We have to get her—”
“Morgan doesn’t know,” Allura cuts in. “We grilled her.”
“But—”
“No buts, Eleira. Go now! You are only of any use when you are safe, and, for now, safety lies underground. Run!”
I hesitate, then, realizing that I’m only holding them back by my stubbornness, take off at lightning speed for the stronghold.
By the time I’m through the threshold, the Sisters are gone. With them goes the darkness they cast, forcing me to shield my eyes against the sun.
I turn away and retreat into the ground like a coward.
THE END
EPILOGUE
Yrak
I sit back in my chair and giggle as I cast a little ball of light onto the scale model of The Haven sitting on my desk.
So much power, I think. So much influence, from so far away.
I let the ball of light float on its own as I turn away and shift my attention to the other models I have of Earth’s human cities and vampire covens.
All of them will feel my wrath soon enough. It would be so easy to just reach out and lay waste to them all…
But that would be premature. The seals to those places are not yet broken. Weakened, yes… but not broken.
What use is terrorizing them if nobody knows who you are?
So, with a lamentable sigh, I turn back to The Haven. I concentrate a bit more, increasing the output of the light.
If that doesn’t help Logan succeed in his fool quest, I don’t know what will.
“You see, darling, I’m not such a bastard after all,” I say out loud, before descending into vast gales of laughter.
The End
E.M. Knight
2019.
Haven Publishing, Limited.
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Copyright
Welcome...
Books by E.M. Knight
The Vampire Gift Audio Books
The Vampire Gift 9: A Taste of Crimson
Book Description
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
EPILOGUE
The End
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