“Are we going to get an explanation for what this is all about?” I forced myself to say.
Paige and Brianna gave me a hopeful look that served me the strength to remain standing.
Erik threw a bored look at Clarice who promptly stepped forward.
“You're the luckiest humans in the Realms,” she announced with undisguised excitement. “Every year a handful of you are tested for the quality of your blood. You've all passed with flying colours which means you're very valuable to us.”
“In what way?” Frank asked, taking my cue to rise from his seat, too.
“By the end of the formal ritual, all of the girls will be officially paired with a Count and the men will be paired with me.” Clarice beamed, but the men shared anxious looks.
I eyed the girls who shifted nervously in their seats.
Clarice went on. “In the sake of fairness, we're giving you four days to make your own choice. You don't have to choose the Count who picked you, ladies, but I'm afraid the men are stuck with me. However, as I prefer to have a willing harem, I will offer the men another choice which will be discussed in private.” She grinned mischievously.
“Why would we choose any of you?” My hand tightened around a dinner knife I hadn't realised I'd been holding.
Erik's eyes honed in on me, but it was Clarice who answered. “Because if you choose to pair with one of the Counts, they will one day sire you.”
Breaths were sucked in around the table, but I didn't know what that meant and clearly a few others didn't either.
“What does that mean?” Paige asked before I could.
Fabian's eyes clawed over her. “It means, we'll turn you into vampires and bestow on you the greatest wealth in the New Empire.”
Silence.
My heart ticked painfully in my ears. From the expressions on Justin and Luke’s faces that possibility was a godsend. But Frank looked angry and both Paige and Brianna shared a look of fear. The idea of being sired made me sick to my stomach. So much so, my legs grew weak.
“And if we still don't choose?” I pressed, fighting deep for my courage.
A ghost of confusion gripped Clarice's features before she answered. “Well...”
“You'll be sent to the nearest blood bank,” Erik said with a grim look.
My jaw literally dropped. “I thought you said I could go back to the Realm.”
“I lied,” Erik replied coolly.
“So we don't have a choice?” I choked out, my throat constricting further and further.
“You do,” Miles replied with an encouraging smile. “But granted not a huge one. We all understand the difficulty of your situation and don't expect you to acclimatise immediately. But you must try to look at the positives in the situation.”
“Positives?” Paige whispered. “What about our families? My mom's back in the Realm, she's going to be sick with worry.”
“If you cooperate and choose well, your families may be moved to more comfortable houses in the city,” Fabian said in his deep tone. “We will try our best to make this transition as easy as possible for you, but the rules are the rules. You will make your choice in four days time.”
“How are we supposed to choose?” Brianna piped up, her deep brown eyes sparkling with concern.
“You will be given the opportunity to spend time with all of us over the next few days,” Clarice answered with anticipation dripping through her expression.
My gaze roamed over the three Counts at my disposal. I already held so much hatred for Erik that I immediately ruled him out. From the remaining two, I preferred the light aura that Miles gave off. Fabian seemed too cold, too forbidding.
Erik's shoulders stiffened. “You will be cared for by the Count or Countess who selected you initially until the day of the choosing.”
The words were spoken to the room, but his eyes bored into mine, confirming they were for me. It was a warning. For whatever reason, he was possessive of me. And I suspected there was much more to the so-called gift of being sired than the vampires were letting on.
“Yes, I was getting to that,” Clarice muttered to him then her sunbeam smile was directed at us again. “Tomorrow the girls will spend the day with their original royal, then each day after that, the Counts will alternate so that you are given time with each of your potential suitors. Each of the men will get a day with me too. And on the fourth day, a ball will be held where you’ll all make your official choice.” She bounced on her heels, evidently excited by that prospect.
My shoulders sagged. The walls seemed to close in on me. But I didn't have any time to process that news as the door opened and a vampire walked in, stealing everyone’s attention. As I turned to him, recognition snatched my breath away.
General Wolfe was flanked by two officials in uniform as he took in the room with his hellish eyes. “Forgive me, your highnesses, but I need to speak with you on an urgent matter.” His gaze scoured the space then landed on me. His jaw clenched and his expression morphed with realisation. He took a purposeful step toward me, but Erik flew into view at an impossible speed, blocking his way to me.
“You have my attention, General. Now step outside or I'll have you reprimanded for your impertinence.”
“Yes, sir,” Wolfe snarled, turning on his heel and marching out the door.
When the doors shut behind them, Clarice clapped her hands. “The guards will escort you back to your rooms. Make sure you get a good night's rest before tomorrow.”
The screeching of chairs sounded around me but my feet were rooted to the spot. My heart trembled with the aftershock of seeing Wolfe. The man who'd accosted me and arrested my father.
He must know where my family is.
Without thought, I charged from the room, darting into the gleaming hallway where Erik stood before Wolfe with his arms folded.
“-from the Realm. It will cause quite the scandal if word spreads-” Wolfe's words died on his lips as he spotted me.
Guards poured from the room behind me and I sped toward Wolfe, fear and anger forcing my legs to move.
“Where are they?!” I cried at him, not caring one bit about the scene I was causing.
Erik raised a hand to halt the two guards who were inches from grabbing me.
Wolfe's sharp blue eyes crept over my face and a scowl skewed his beautifully harsh features.
“Where's my family?” I demanded, my body beginning to quake as I stared at him, desperate for him to answer.
“What's this about, General?” Erik growled.
“This girl is related to the fugitive,” Wolfe replied in an icy tone.
A hundred emotions flowed through me. Fugitive meant Callie. It had to. I'd seen the vampires catch Dad, so it had to be her he was referring to. But what did that mean for Dad?
My heart burst with pain and I threw myself at Wolfe, pounding his iron chest with my fists. “Where's my dad, what did you do with him?!”
Erik seized me from behind, pulling me away.
Wolfe surveyed me with satisfaction spreading into his cool eyes. “In the blood bank of course, where all the traitors go.” His eyes flipped to Erik behind me. “It may help my case if I could speak with this girl.”
“Interrogate me, you mean,” I snapped, a ripple of fear radiating through me. I wrestled against Erik’s solid arms, but couldn’t get free.
A beat of silence hit my ears before Erik responded. “That won't be possible. This girl is under royal protection.”
“But, sir-” Wolfe started.
“No, General,” Erik growled. “Go to my office if you wish to discuss this further.”
Wolfe stalked away and Erik released me.
Hot tears spilled from my eyes as my worst fears were confirmed. Dad was in the blood bank. Callie was free. But for how long? And what would they do to her if they caught her?
“Go to your room,” Erik commanded, pushing me toward the royal guards.
I spotted the humans being escorted past us up the stairs and Paig
e gave me a concerned frown.
I didn’t follow, determined to remain there until I got some answer.
“Take her,” Erik snarled and the guards dragged me away.
My body went slack as I gave in to their superior strength, sobbing as they took me back to my bedroom and shoved me inside. A key twisted in the lock, but I didn't care. I threw myself onto the bed, curling into a ball and crying into my pillow.
Despite how hard I tried, I couldn't get myself to calm down. I was stuck here, unable to help my family.
The image of my dad's strong body strung up in the blood bank filled my mind, completely paralysed but entirely awake. Was that how it was in that awful place?
I unravelled further, hating how weak I felt. How useless I was to help him.
Oh Dad, hold on. I'll get you out. I'll find a way, I promise.
Our journey through the woods only lasted a few hours before we came upon the remains of a city destroyed by the bombs.
As far as I could see, mounds of rubble and half-collapsed buildings filled the area. Patches of long grass and several saplings had sprung up between the concrete where nature had begun to reclaim the ground. But with the onset of winter, everything was dying off and the landscape was predominantly grey.
It was depressingly reminiscent of home.
I gazed at the open land with more than a little fear. So far we’d managed to travel within the shelter of the woodlands but once we stepped into the ruins we would be a lot more exposed.
Magnar stopped at the edge of the trees between two huge pines and looked out across the ruins with a frown.
“I grew up learning everything there is to know of vampires and yet I never heard of them causing this kind of destruction before. How did they accomplish such devastation?” he asked.
I was surprised enough that he’d asked me anything that it took me several seconds to form a response.
“This wasn’t the vampires,” I replied. “Humans did this to each other in the Final War.”
Magnar turned his golden eyes on me searchingly. “How?”
I hesitated under the heat of his gaze. He was always so intense that it made answering him difficult. I felt too much pressure not to get anything wrong. “It ended the year before I was born and I’ve lived my entire life inside the Realm,” I began so that he would excuse the holes in my knowledge.
“You’ve never been beyond those fences before?” he asked with another frown.
“I... No. In the last few days I’ve seen more of the world than I did in the last twenty-one years. That’s how humans live now.” I shrugged defensively as I saw pity flash in his eyes but it was gone as quickly as it had come.
“But you do know how the world came to be this way?” he asked, his tone a little gentler than before. I bristled against the change in his attitude. I didn’t want him to pity me. I was sure he already saw me as weak enough without him feeling sorry for me as well.
“My dad told us the stories,” I confirmed. “There have always been wars so I’m sure you can understand that much. He said that the more power people got the more they wanted and they would sacrifice anything to get it.”
“That has always been the way of men,” Magnar rumbled. “If they had banded together, they might have been able to wipe the vampires from this earth a long time ago but every time they came close, their own selfish desires got in the way. That is why the slayers stopped asking for their help. Humans cannot get out of their own way for long enough to see what truly matters.”
“Are you saying you’re not human?” I asked with a frown. My memories of my dad’s stories were pushed from my mind as his history intrigued me yet again.
“Slayers are something more than human and something less. We were given gifts by the gods to help us fight the fanged demons. But those gifts come with a price. We value our cause above our lives individually. Nothing is more important to us than destroying the vampires. We give our lives to it but that means that we don’t always get to make our own decisions about things that most humans take for granted.” He shrugged dismissively like that was a price he had long since decided to pay and it didn’t bother him.
“Like what?” I asked, fascinated despite myself. I was doing a terrible job of avoiding asking him personal questions but I’d never met anyone like him before. I’d never really wanted to know about someone the way I did about him.
“Love. Family. Where we go and when. Do you think I wished to sleep for a hundred years? When I was due to wake, everyone I’d ever known would already be dead and I’d have to start anew with their great grandchildren. At the time I’d thought my brother was to join me in our slumber so I was to have one familiar face when I woke but now...even he has been taken from me.” He sighed. “But that is what it is to be a slayer. We don’t get to choose what we do with our lives. Our sole purpose is the eradication of the vampires. Which is why I want to know about the world as it is now. I need to know how they seized this power.”
I wanted to say something to comfort him about the loss of his people but I didn’t even know how to start. I reached out to him on instinct, my fingers brushing the back of his hand for a moment before I drew away. He glanced at me in surprise and I felt heat rising in my cheeks. I hurried to tell him what he wanted to hear so that neither of us had too long to think about the awkward gesture.
“So, my dad said that the war escalated quickly. There was a lot of politics involved and one country threatening another which went on for years and then one day someone launched a missile. No one even knows which country fired first. Before the first bomb could drop, all the other countries had hit the red button to fire their own. In the space of a few hours pretty much every major city in the world had been destroyed.
Billions of people were killed. In this country alone pretty much every central and southern state was destroyed. Apparently it’s all just a wasteland of parched desert now. The few survivors pretty much all live on either the west coast like us or the east. Dad said the missiles aimed at those cities were intercepted.
And then while the survivors tried to salvage something from the wreckage, the vampires appeared. Dad said they must have been waiting for us to be weak enough. Biding their time until the world was on its knees and they could sweep in and take control.”
Magnar sighed heavily and I frowned up at him. “What?” I asked, wondering why he didn’t seem to understand what I’d said.
He folded his arms and tilted his head before voicing the issue. “And what, exactly, is a missile?”
I stared up at him with wide eyes for several seconds and then let out a laugh. “Right. There are probably quite a few things like that that you have no idea about.”
Magnar grunted in irritation and started to head out into the wreckage left by the bombs. I jogged to keep up with him and fell into step by his side.
“I can try to catch you up on things while we walk. If you like?” I offered.
“Please,” he replied tightly.
I gave him an encouraging smile as I tried to figure out where to begin. A thousand years was a hell of a long time to have missed out on and my sheltered life hardly made me an expert on much, but I was willing to try and help him figure things out. At least it would go some way towards paying him back for helping me find my family.
“I find it hard to believe that a metal box could ever fly through the clouds,” Magnar said in disbelief several hours later. I’d been trying to describe an aeroplane which was pretty damn difficult considering the fact that I’d never even seen one for myself. Dad had been adamant that they really had existed once though so I didn’t doubt it. Like Magnar, I’d always found it pretty hard to imagine too.
“It’s true,” I insisted with a smirk. Hours of discussing the things he’d missed out on had gone a long way towards thawing our frosty relationship. It wasn’t like he’d started smiling or anything but my stories had definitely captured his interest and had gone some way to help him forget a little of h
is misery for a while.
He even seemed to have moved past the embarrassment of having to ask for so many explanations. He accepted the holes in my knowledge without judgement too and I was grateful to him for that. My life had been immeasurably sheltered in comparison to his but instead of the pity I’d noticed when I first told him about my incarcerated existence, it now seemed to kindle anger in him. I could feel his simmering rage at the hold the vampires had on the human population and it was stoking the flames of my own anger too.
For so many years I’d had to accept my lot in life. Dreams of escape had come frequently but I’d never really believed I might live to see them fulfilled. I’d always accepted that my fate wasn’t mine to choose. My life would end when the vampires decided it should and not a moment of it would ever have been my own.
Thinking about that now made me angrier than I could describe. I’d finally made it out of their clutches and I’d sooner die than allow them to take me back to the Realm or anywhere else. Once I’d gotten my family away from them, I fully intended to get as far from the vampires as humanly possible and live out my days beneath the sun.
Eternal Reign (Age of Vampires Book 1) Page 12