Crown of Smoke and Blood

by Sadie Jacks

  An idea went off in my head. “Are you Fae-descended?”

  Ambrose burst into laughter before he slapped a hand over his mouth. His eyes danced over his hand as he shook his head.

  Hector tittered beside him. Like a couple of girls in a gossip circle, they shared significant glances that no one else could interpret.

  At least, that’s how I assumed gossip circles looked and functioned. I mean, my sisters and I didn’t really sit around and chat. Gossip or otherwise. We were too busy trying not to get dead.

  Koehn smiled. “No, Vari. We have many origin myths that humans like to give us, but none of them are true.”

  “Then how did you come to be supernatural?” I asked. This I had to hear. Magic from somewhere other than the Fae? Riiiight.

  Koehn’s smile turned into a smirk. “What do you know of the human genome? Genetics of any sort would help this discussion.”

  I shook my head. “I have no idea what those words even mean.”

  He nodded. “Suffice it to say, that we are the outcome of magic and what is now known as genetic experimentation.”

  My mouth dropped open. “You literally just said that you didn’t know about the experiments. Were you lying?” I could feel my anger burning in my belly. I didn’t like being made to look the fool, and all three of them had done it.

  Koehn tipped his head to the side slightly. “And we don’t. We’re speaking of our origins. Not yours. I thought I’d made that clear.”

  I gritted my teeth together. “Magic and experiments. That is my life, what I was just speaking of. I’m the product of said combination.” I stabbed a thumb into my chest.

  He blinked rapidly for a second, his mouth hanging lax.

  Hector spoke up. “My dear, are you saying that the Fae have been combining magic and scientific inquiry to create offspring?”

  I snorted at the pseudo-professional phrasing. “If you want to be so proper about it, then yes.”

  “And you’re the twenty-third daughter of this King Atavian who has been the head of such experiments?” Ambrose jumped in.

  I nodded. “Yes. That’s exactly what I’m telling you.”

  Koehn shook his head. “No. Our kind killed all of them. A long time ago. There haven’t been any new experiments in over six hundred years.” He looked at his Council members, raised his dark brows high. “Correct?”

  They both nodded. “Indeed. It was a bloody war that nearly wiped all of us out. But we prevailed in the end.” Ambrose nodded, the loss of that war still etched on his face.

  “Then it seems we need to be having a different discussion. How did vampires come to be?” I asked. Folding my legs up under me, I pushed back the growing urge for food. Knowledge was more important right now.

  Ambrose cleared his throat. “I’m the oldest, I’ll share our history.” He looked down at his lap for a moment, seemed to fight an internal war. When he looked up, a dangerous light had filled his eyes. “In the early to mid-1300s, magic wielders of all known faith systems gathered. They wanted a race of automatons—robots, we call them now. A fierce and indestructible breed of humanoid beings that could travel with them and protect them from the marauders and angry people they swindled.”

  Ambrose licked his lips. Looked back up at me. A fierce smile broke over his face. “They were very good, but lacked a certain level of knowledge found in today’s sciences. We are not now, nor have we ever been, automatons.”

  My flesh chilled at the promise of violence on his face. This man had done many things in the name of survival. His own and those of his family.

  Just as it should be.

  I nodded.

  He dipped his chin. “The scientists responsible used horrific means to get what they wanted. Added to that the magic that was available back then…” He held up his hand. Twisted it back and forth under the light. A heaviness filled the air as he stared at his hand.

  After a long moment, he came back to the room. Shook his head. “They depleted a good portion of the natural magic our world held. Made it more susceptible to diseases and plagues.”

  Hector nodded. “Are you familiar with the Black Death that ravaged Europe and Asia?”

  I shook my head. Earth history and events weren’t really in my knowledge base.

  Ambrose shuddered. “Be extremely glad.”

  “Are you saying that the Black Death was a direct consequence of these magical experiments?” I asked.

  Both Ambrose and Hector nodded. “There was no way for the magical healers to utilize the magic because it had all been stripped and put into our creation.”

  My mouth dropped open. “How many of you are there?”

  Ambrose shook his head. “That information is not shared outside of our kind.”

  I nodded, understood the concern. I didn’t want anyone to know about me or my siblings. Allowing information dissemination created unnecessary security issues.

  Something niggled in my brain. “If you were created back then, then why is Koehn so much younger than you both?”

  All three of their mouths dropped open as they stared at me. “You can tell our ages?” Hector asked.

  Shite. After a moment, I nodded, a little unsure if I should have said anything. “Is that abnormal?”

  They nodded in unison. “Very. Our magic is so different from any other supernatural creature that we are left to our own devices on the outsides of the community.”

  My brow furrowed as my heart pinched for them. I knew what isolation was like. Had felt its keen edge too many times to count. “You didn’t answer my question.”

  Koehn cleared his throat. “Our magic is patriarchal. Certain rituals are completed near death—if we are…lucky enough.”

  My brows winged up. “You only have male vampires?”

  Koehn nodded. “For whatever reason, the females of the original lines were unsuccessful in transitioning to what is now vampire.”

  “But a female can mate and produce children with a male of your line and any male offspring will be carriers of this magic. Left untapped until death and this mysterious ritual.”

  Koehn nodded again. “Yes.”

  I nodded. “Do many of you choose to reproduce?”

  Ambrose cleared his throat. “That is an intensely personal decision.”

  I bit my lip at the weight in his voice. It was better to leave that avenue alone right now. Which was probably for the better. Something he’d said before pushed at my mind. “You implied that the world’s natural magic helped as a barrier to diseases and plagues.”

  Hector shook his head. “Not necessarily as a barrier. But it allowed magic wielders a ready source to help heal the land, the people, and all living creatures. With the magic gone, the world was left to her own devices for healing.”

  I nodded as I rolled all the information around in my brain. I wasn’t a genius, but I certainly wasn’t an idiot—no matter what my father said. If vampires were created—and by magic outside of the Fae race—then they could be exactly what I needed to complete my goal.

  Looking at Koehn, I ran through all the things that didn’t work right when I was near him. Strength being one of the most obvious. I was weak as a babe against him. But only sometimes. It was as if my body was trying to decide if it wanted…what? My thought path went up in smoke.

  I glared at him. “You can hurt me. And move me around like a piece on a game board.”

  The three men went quiet and stared at me.

  Koehn nodded after a moment of silence. “Are you making observations? You’re lighter than a feather, your hair is black and blue like a raven’s. See? I can do it, too.”

  Ambrose and Hector snickered.

  Until I glared at both of them.

  “You also get around the magic in our minds if you are able to speak directly into his brain,” Hector added. His smile was huge. “I wanted to play as well. This is fascinating.”

  Ambrose snorted. “You killed Michael and tossed us about in the lawn.” He elbowed Hector.
“You’re right. This is fun.”

  “Which reminds me: We still need to discuss what’s to be done with Vari about Michael’s death,” Koehn added.

  Ambrose and Hector nodded, turned to face me. “If you can reach into Koehn’s mind, then I assume Michael’s was child’s play. You mentioned that he had five women. Could you elaborate on that?” Ambrose asked.

  I sucked my bottom lip between my teeth. To answer his question fully, I would need to give them some background. And that background could end up getting one, or all of them, killed.

  “We took your blood oath, Vari. You can tell us,” Koehn said.

  I nodded, took a deep breath. “Like I said, I’m the twenty-third daughter of King Atavian.” I tried to settle my belly as the words rushed to the back of my throat. “What I didn’t add was that I’m the only successful experiment of the Vast children.”

  Collectively, their brows lowered as confusion crept over their features.

  “What are the Vast?” Hector asked softly.

  “Variance A, Substrate Theta. We are the latest cycle of experiments.”

  “How many of you are there?” Koehn asked.

  Sorrow yanked on my heart, tried to set it on fire. “We were close to four hundred. We now number fewer than twenty.” Anger and a fierce hatred ate away the sorrow. It left nothing but revenge and a dark desire that would be satisfied by nothing less than King Atavian’s heart pulsing in my bare hand.

  Chapter 24 – Koehn

  Did she realize her eyes glowed as her fists rhythmically opened and closed? That she almost vibrated with so much emotion that I was incapable of taking my eyes off her? And that emotion pulled at me like a moth to the flame. One I would willingly die in. So much about this woman drew me in. The fire that seemed to glow just under her skin was merely one of those things.

  “What comprised the Vast experiments?” Hector asked softly.

  Vari shook herself slightly. Blew out a breath. When she focused on me, I saw the hesitancy that slid through her petite frame. “As you know, Fae are already magical.”

  I nodded.

  She mimicked my movement. “Did you know that there are over 150 different types of Fae?”

  My eyes widened. “No. I would have figured closer to fifty or sixty.”

  Her smirk was bitter. “That would be a good guess. If we weren’t discussing King Atavian. He’s locked up the surviving pairs of extinct species. Forces them to mate and breed.”

  “To save them from full extinction?” Ambrose asked.

  Vari shook her head as she snorted. “Not even close. Most of the breeds that are close to gone have very specific traits that he wants to breed into his children.”

  “Gene splicing and genetic experimentation,” I said, my voice nothing but a horrified whisper.

  Vari nodded. “Exactly. The Vast have a base set of five essences. Outside of those, each child was given a specific set of creatures culled for unique properties.”

  “What tried to overtake you in the basement.” My voice was soft.

  Vari looked at me. “You saw them?” Her cheeks blanched under the golden tones of her skin.

  I nodded. “I recognized only one. And I’m not even certain it was real.”

  She tipped her head to the side. “What did you see?”

  “A lamia?”

  She sucked in a noisy breath. Nodded. “She’s a bitch.”

  “What are the base essences you carry?” Ambrose asked when Vari didn’t say anything else.

  She studied the ancient for a very long time. “We Fae take our vows very seriously. If you speak about me, I’ll know. And I will kill you.”

  Ambrose nodded. “I will not break your trust, child.”

  Vari was quiet for a few more minutes. Then she nodded and licked her lips. “We all carry species directly related to the five elements: wind, water, earth, fire, Aether. Within those species, there is some wiggle room depending on the creatures selected as the final additions to the child.”

  “What do you carry specifically then?” I asked her.

  “Djinn, phoenix, kelpie, succubus, and I am Fae—so that takes care of the earth element.”

  I blinked at the list. Those were quite the collection. And probably explained a few things about her. “All of them are essentially immortal.”

  She nodded. “Yes. There are only a few ways to kill a Vast. But I won’t tell you that.”

  I could understand that. “What creatures did he give you?”

  Her back stiffened. “He didn’t give them to me. He forced them on me. In me. They had no choice in the matter. Neither of us did.”

  I sat back from the lash of her anger. Nodded. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by that.”

  She blew out a breath, squeezed her eyes shut. “I’m the one who’s sorry.” She wiped a hand over her face. “As far as I know, I have four creatures.”

  My mouth dropped open. I shook my head. “Vari…” I swallowed. “I counted no fewer than five creatures when we were in the basement.”

  Her face paled until she looked more like one of my kind. She swayed for a second before she tumbled off the countertop.

  I darted to her side. Not fast enough to catch her before she crumpled to the floor, but fast enough to drag her up and into my arms before her eyes opened again. Her lower lip was trembling as her pupils went to pinpricks. She shook her head.

  Feck. I bit back the knowledge of Roarke. Did he count as one of the creatures? Had I seen his true form as her body split apart and not known it?

  “What do you think you carry?” I got to my feet. Laid her down on the kitchen island. Hector got up and bustled around the kitchen, grabbing a small stack of towels for her head.

  “The lamia.” Vari licked her lips. Fear skittered through her eyes.

  I nodded. “What else?”

  “Ankou, Shideem, and Rakshasa.”

  My brow furrowed. “I don’t know what those are.”

  She jerked back as if I’d stabbed her. Shaking her head, she looked away. “It’s fine.” She rolled up and away from me.

  I gritted my teeth. Fought not to pull her back into my arms. Where she belonged. Even if she didn’t know it yet.

  Jumping down from the kitchen island, she resumed her seat on the far countertop. Folded her legs back under her body. “What else did you see come out of me?”

  Her voice showed no emotion. As if we were discussing the weather—in some other state or country. It didn’t impact her. Didn’t even touch her.

  She was sitting in the same room and she was a million miles away. I needed her back here. With me. Even if she hated me for it.

  “What are the creatures you named?” Might as well piss her off. It seemed like the only time I got any real answers from her.

  She glared at me. Her amber eyes darkened. “What other creatures did you see, Koehn?”

  I propped my elbows on the counter, gave her a smirk, but didn’t answer. I could be just as reticent as she was. And I knew I was far more stubborn than she ever hoped to become.

  All of a sudden, she sat back, straightened. Looking away from me, she smiled. “Would you like a demonstration of my power?”

  Vari’s smile made my balls draw up in fear. Oh shite.

  Beside me, Hector and Ambrose nodded like children offered candy. I was pretty sure Hector was going to start clapping his hands like he was a performing seal.

  Looking back at me, her eyes bled from the glowing red orange of amber to a black so deep there was no delineation between iris and pupil. Her beautiful golden skin seemed to retract against her frame, leaving her a gaunt specter of bones and ghostly flesh that made my skin crawl.

  Her chest moved as she pulled in a huge breath. Everything inside me tightened as I felt the magic that animated me try to leave. To follow her unspoken demands.

  “Well, I say, guv, what’s the meaning of this?” an unfamiliar voice asked to my right.

  Struggling against the pull of Vari’s magi
c, I turned and saw the same ghost from earlier today. But gone were his spats and nice clothes. This time he looked like a street urchin of old. Very Charles Dickens.

  “Roosevelt. How good to see you again,” Vari asked. Her voice had turned to smoke. An almost visible cloud of charcoal and ashes that drifted on the currents of air in my kitchen.

  Roosevelt turned, his ebony skin going pale as he stared at her. “Mistress Anouk.” He bowed low, his head disappearing into the kitchen island.

  “Rise, my friend.”

  Roosevelt straightened.

  “What news do you have for me?”

  With what felt like all the rapidly dwindling willpower left to me, I turned back to Vari. Or what was currently using her body. A small curved dagger danced through her boney fingers, a soft click, click, click whispered through the air with each twirl of the handle.

  Roosevelt moved forward slowly. His posture was no longer the cocky youth, nor even the pompous Ton member. But one who was in fearful awe of the being in front of him.

  “Mistress Anouk, they still reside in the catacombs. He has taken to torturing them with more beings. Seeing how many he can stuff into each form.” Roosevelt’s words trembled as his body quivered.

  Vari caught the dagger and sent it flying through the air. I felt the wind breeze by my head right before it thumped into the wall behind me.

  “How much time, Roosevelt?” she asked.

  The ghost shook his head. “I know not, my queen.”

  Vari nodded. “Thank you, Roosey. You’re free to go.” She waved her hand. With a slight pop that felt like my ears were too full, the man disappeared.

  Vari turned back to me and exhaled. Immediately, my magic returned. If I had a soul, it was now bursting with energy. As I watched, Vari changed back into the woman I was mildly obsessed with. Within the span of a breath, her skin was golden once more, her amber eyes housed controlled flames, and her lips were ruby red.

  “What other creature did you see, Koehn?” Her voice was low and throbbed through my body. A particular coldness had infiltrated her words. Her very being.