by Rye Brewer
When I looked up into his eyes, I wished there was a way to get through to the real Vance, to let him know I knew what was happening. To assure him it would all be over soon.
I hoped it would, at any rate.
“I don’t want to lose you again,” he whispered, running his fingers over my cheek, stroking it with his thumb before cupping my chin and pulling me in for a kiss.
It was sheer force of will that got me through it without screaming as his mouth moved over mine. I was right. His kiss wasn’t the same at all. How could I have been so determined to believe him?
Because I loved Vance and wanted the lies to be true.
I forced a laugh after the kiss ended, and we stood in each other’s arms, foreheads touching. “You’ll never lose me.” I closed my eyes and allowed myself to pretend I was talking to the real, true Vance. “You know how we are. We fight, we snipe at each other, but we always find a way back to what matters.”
“I love you.”
My skin crawled, but I focused every bit of concentration I possessed on pretending. “I love you, too, Vance. I always have.”
It was a relief to pull away, to end the moment. I wasn’t sure how long I could pretend his touch didn’t nauseate me. “And you know what else?”
“What?” He was still so tender, so gentle.
Vance had to know what was going on, didn’t he? What was he going through? Anything like what I was suffering?
I forced a smile. “I was wrong to be so stubborn. There’s nothing wrong with you knowing where the body is; it makes perfect sense. I’m sorry I started a fight. You don’t deserve that.”
If he sensed something was off, he didn’t show it. “You’re sure? I don’t want you to feel like I’m pushing you.”
It was almost enough to make me laugh, the whole charade. Did he feel the same way? I would’ve bet it was all beneath him, having to pretend this way, debasing himself when he was the most powerful and fearsome of the Ancients.
“I’m sure. I don’t want anything standing between us now. Let’s start off with a clean slate, and this is the perfect way to do that.”
“All right. If you want to.”
Was Vance looking through his own eyes, or had Valerius pushed him back into some dark corner of his own mind? I searched those familiar eyes for some hint, some trace of him, and found nothing. How did I ever believe him? It was a sad example of what a person in love was willing to explain away if it meant having their loved one back.
I took him by the hand and led him out through the front door, to the elevator. Would Fane’s plan be in place? I could only hope so. While I didn’t want to rush things, I also couldn’t stand the thought of being with Valerius for another minute. I wanted to scrub off my skin anywhere he’d touched me.
“Where are we going?” he asked as we stepped into the elevator car.
“You’ll see.”
“Is it far?”
“Not very.” I glanced up at him. “Why would I want to be far away from the body, right? I’ve been guarding it with my life ever since that day.”
I didn’t need to explain which day I was referring to. We both knew all too well.
The corridor was dark, as usual, lit only with a few work lights.
“In the basement?” he murmured, looking back and forth. He was on edge, uneasy. Did he expect something? Sense something off?
“A little more secure than that,” I assured him. “We’re not rubes.”
“Oh, I know, I know. You would never be sloppy with something this important.”
I almost bit my tongue off, wanting to thank him for his faith in me and my family. He was the one being sloppy with his choice of words. If I didn’t know who he really was, we might have had a fight over it right outside the vault.
“Here we are,” I announced, coming to a stop next to the familiar door. It looked just like any of the other doors we’d passed, and with good reason. We could hardly have hung a sign announcing the room’s true purpose.
“This?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
“You’ll see.” Oh, you’ll see, all right. I could hardly wait, even as my heart hammered out of control while the door swung open and led to the second door with its electronic keypad.
“A vault?” he asked, and I caught a hint of appreciation in his voice.
“Impressed?”
He chuckled. “A little.”
If he thinks this is impressive…
I mentally crossed my fingers as I entered the code to unlock the vault. If there was no one but Valerius inside, we were all sunk. What would I do if that was the case? Lock us all in? What if he could escape through the walls or something? Create a portal? Please, be in there, Fane.
At first, all I saw was the same body, against the wall and wrapped in blankets, as I’d left it. My heart clenched in despair, until I noticed a shadowy figure in the corner, not ten feet from the body.
Valerius didn’t notice. He was too busy hurrying inside, making a beeline for his body. It wasn’t until I closed the door behind us, sealing the room off, that he turned with a look of confusion.
“What are you doing?” he hissed.
“Philippa, stay far away.” Fane stepped out of the shadows, into the light of the single lantern which burned at the side of the body.
I knew well enough not to ask questions, pressing myself into the corner by the door. Scott was nearby—I had never been so glad to see him, and I reached for his hand. He clasped it, moving closer to me, shielding me—I supposed from what was to come.
“What is this?” Valerius glanced around through Vance’s eyes, taking in the scene.
One by one, others stepped out of the darkness.
A beautiful woman in robes the color of red wine, with black hair that tumbled down her back, and large, all-seeing eyes.
A black-haired man who wore an expression I could only describe as haughty. He gave me a bad feeling.
The entire situation gave me a bad feeling, as Fane and the other two closed in on Valerius.
“What do you think you’re doing?” he snarled. “Who do you think you’re dealing with?”
“We know who we’re dealing with, Valerius,” Fane announced.
“You’re wrong. I’m Vance.”
“No. You aren’t.” My voice was shaky, but loud. “You’re not Vance. I should’ve seen it from the beginning. I know he’s in there, but you are, too.”
“And it’s time you returned to your own body and left the rest of us in peace.” Fane made a move as if to take him by the arms, but Vance’s body was younger and faster than his. Maybe even stronger.
He ducked Fane’s lunge then moved toward Scott and me.
Fane glanced at Scott, who understood his silent command and sprang into action. He let go of me and threw his arms around Valerius’s shoulders, knocking him off-balance just long enough for Fane to take hold of one of his arms. Scott took the other one.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Valerius yelled in Vance’s voice. I wanted to cover my ears and pretend I couldn’t hear any of it, that it wasn’t happening. When he looked so much like him and sounded like him, it wasn’t easy to separate the two of them.
I didn’t want to think of Vance hurting, but it needed to be done. He had to be freed.
“What has to be done,” the dark-haired man replied in a deep, sonorous voice. He exchanged a glance with the woman, who nodded.
The two of them closed their eyes, both chanting in unison just under their breath.
I couldn’t understand what they were saying, only that the energy in the closed-off room seemed to heighten. It made the hair on the back of my neck stand straight up.
“What? No. No!” Valerius fought against Fane and Scott, who grunted in the struggle to hold on to him.
A halo of light surrounded the two chanting figures, which then extended itself to wrap around Valerius’s body and Vance’s. He closed his eyes, his head snapping back.
“Don’t hur
t him!” I gasped, but the sound of my voice was lost in the chanting, grunting, and fighting. I reached for them but didn’t leave the corner, afraid to move in case I got in the way or destroyed something.
The energy spiked, the force pressing me against the wall, ripping the air from my lungs. Valerius or Vance or whoever he was by now cried out once, in pain or anger, or both, before convulsing violently.
Fane and Scott exchanged a look of panic as the body in their arms shook as though it was being electrocuted before it went limp.
And then, everything stopped.
The glowing light seemed to evaporate, the chanting went silent.
I could breathe again. “Oh, no,” I whimpered, my eyes filling with tears as I went to Vance. “Is he breathing? Did he—”
“He should be fine in a little while,” the woman said in a soothing voice. “He’ll need to rest.”
“Why won’t he open his eyes?” I demanded, never looking away from him.
His head lolled onto his shoulder, eyes closed, mouth half-open.
“Are you certain it worked?” Fane asked, sounding as uncertain as I did.
“If I didn’t know better,” the dark-haired warlock or whoever he was replied, “I would think you were questioning my abilities.”
I turned to him, ready to mouth off and likely get myself into trouble, when movement from the floor caught my eye.
For the first time since we’d brought him to the vault—no, since before then, since before he’d been imprisoned in that tomb of roots which had kept him in place for endless years.
Before I could call anyone’s attention to him, Valerius’s eyes opened.
19
Scott
Vance was dead weight in my arms, out like a light.
Philippa did everything but hang off him, wrapping her arms around his neck.
“He’s already heavy enough,” I grunted.
“Let’s set him down over here,” Fane suggested, and we half-dragged him to the wall before letting him slide to the floor.
Philippa sank to his side, holding him up, stroking his head as it rested on her shoulder.
“Vance, please, wake up,” she blubbered. “Please, don’t leave me again.”
“He’s definitely alive. He’s breathing, see, his chest is moving.” I touched her shoulder, but she didn’t seem to notice. She was too wrapped up in him.
There were other things happening. Such as Valerius sitting there with his eyes open. But that was the only part of him that had moved up to this point. He might as well have been a wax figure.
Elazar and Branwen had done it. I had to give her credit for whatever part she had taken in the spell. For someone as small as she was, there was a lot of power in her.
Was I praising a witch? Even to myself?
There was no time to explore this, as Valerius began to fully awaken.
I tensed, as did everyone else in the room, other than Vance, who groaned softly in Philippa’s arms.
I glanced down to find her holding him tightly, staring daggers at the ancient one across the vault.
He blinked, looked around. Emitted a growl. “What have you done to me?”
“What needed to be done,” Fane reminded him, taking two steps closer.
Valerius fought his way to his feet slowly, so slowly, and I found myself straining to hear if his old bones and joints creaked in protest. His skin was like paper, revealing every vein running under it.
I wasn’t sure how he was still alive after what he’d just gone through. I had held on to Vance during all of it and had felt the way his body shook and convulsed as energy pulsed through it.
“How dare you?” he growled, glaring at each of us in turn. “How dare you think you have the right to infringe on my plans? Who do you think you are?”
“I believe you know who I am,” Elazar reminded him, smirking as always.
“Oh, yes. I know all of you, and still, I ask how you can begin to believe you have any right to interfere with forces so far beyond you?”
“Spare us.” Elazar sighed. “If you were so far beyond us, we wouldn’t have been able to get you down here and pull you out of that young vampire’s body. You aren’t impressing any of us with your grand statements.”
“And since you already had your revenge on Lucian,” Fane added, “what purpose was there in possessing Vance any longer?”
A slow smile spread across his face, the faded eyes lighting up. “I had several further uses for his body.” He looked at Philippa, his smile widening.
Fane almost got to Valerius before I could stop him.
“He’s just trying to get under your skin,” I muttered as I held him back. “Don’t give him the satisfaction.”
“Don’t speak of my daughter that way. Don’t you even mention her,” Fane warned.
I half-expected his fangs to descend. Until I remembered he no longer had them.
“Enough of this,” Valerius announced, the light extinguishing, the smile vanishing. “Where is Nivia? We’ve waited far too long already.”
Uh-oh. I had forgotten about her. Fane stiffened; clearly, he had, too. We looked at Elazar. It seemed his news to tell.
I wondered if we should be here, if I should take Philippa and get out. Memories of what had happened on Shadowsbane flashed through my mind as my eyes darted back and forth between Elazar and Valerius.
“What should we do?” I whispered to Fane.
He shook his head only once. To silence me? To admit he didn’t know what to do? I couldn’t tell.
Elazar raised his chin, staring at the ancient one down the bridge of his nose. “She’s dead.”
I tensed, ready to defend myself and my sister if need be. It seemed the entire room held its breath as Valerius processed this.
“What did you say?” he murmured.
“I said, she’s dead,” Elazar shrugged. “At my hand. I killed her on Shadowsbane Island. Ask Fane and the boy.” He pointed my way. “They were there.”
Valerius didn’t confirm this information with us. He never took his eyes from Elazar’s smirking face.
He then raised his hands, intent on tearing into that face as he flew toward his enemy. An ear-splitting scream of rage filled the vault.
Elazar merely raised a hand, shooting a bolt of pure energy at Valerius. It was as though he hit an invisible wall, his body stopping suddenly before rebounding and hitting the floor.
I knew the feeling. Elazar had done the same to me back at the mausoleum.
Only I had lived through the experience.
Valerius had not.
His eyes were wide, unseeing, as he settled against the concrete. Then, in front of all of us, his body decomposed. It dried, crumbled, turned to dust surrounded by old robes.
The entire process couldn’t have taken five seconds.
Philippa’s long, low moan pulled my horrified attention out of the situation. “What… what did you just do? He’s dead? Just like that?”
“What does it look like?” Elazar studied the dust that had only moments earlier been a living, breathing person. “Good riddance. He lived far too long and caused far, far too much pain.”
“I don’t believe this. After everything that’s happened.” Philippa stared up at me, searching for answers.
I was at a loss. “Trust me. Things happen that quickly sometimes. You don’t even want to know what I’ve seen.”
“What about the line? The bloodline? If we are all descended from Valerius, and when he dies his descendants will die…”
Branwen shook her head. “The line was broken.”
“What?” I looked at Philippa and Fane. “Did you two know of this?”
Philippa shrugged. Of course. All she cared about was Vance.
So I looked to Fane again. “Well?”
“I wasn’t aware.” That’s all Fane said.
I frowned, baffled.
Elazar glanced up at us after examining his handiwork. “Well. I believe my job here is done.”
And like that, he was gone. He disappeared.
I looked back at Philippa, who was more dumbfounded than ever.
“See what I mean?”
20
Vance
Of all the surreal, unthinkable things that had gone on in my life to this point, the most surreal of any of them was opening my eyes and finding myself in control of my body again.
I blinked once, twice, flexing my fingers, moving my toes. They seemed to work, though it felt like I was moving through semi-set cement. Even that tiny movement was exhausting.
“Vance? Are you there? Are you with me?” I was in Philippa’s arms, resting against her body, and that was good.
So very good. I could finally feel her instead of knowing it was Valerius who touched her, who kissed her.
“I’m here,” I mumbled.
Even my mouth felt too heavy to move, my tongue like a thick slab in my mouth. My body was mine again, but not mine. If the exhaustion hadn’t been so complete, I might have been angry. As it was, all I wanted was to sleep.
“Please, open your eyes and look at me. Please.” She touched my chin, tilting my head back against her shoulder. She was so warm, soft but strong. She was always strong. And she had found a way around his lies. She had seen through him, the way I knew she would.
I had warned him.
During our walk, when he’d nearly put my fists through window after window of the shops we’d passed on the street. He’d finally resorted to balling my hands up and shoving them into my pants pockets. They had clenched tight enough to hurt.
You’re pushing too hard. I knew you would, I had taunted him. How does it feel to know you’re not in control, the way you thought you were?
He’d snarled loud enough to get the attention of a couple walking past. They had hurried on, heads lowered.
I’ll kill her and make you watch, just like I killed that weak little witch in ShadesRealm. You thought that was bad, I know. You all but begged me to stop. It was your hands that did it. You felt her hot blood on them, didn’t you? And you wanted to drink it, because that’s all you are. A weak, pitiful vampire who can’t control himself when there’s blood in the air. I wonder what Philippa’s blood will smell like? I wonder if you’ll want to drink it?