Blood Huntress (Ruled by Blood Book 1)

by Izzy Shows

  She wouldn’t affect me now. I’d close my heart to her, and she’d learn what it meant to anger a vampire.

  “Gray, what’s going on?” Alex came jogging up to me, concern on his face.

  I supposed it must look odd indeed to see the King dragging his favorite pet through the foyer towards the stairs that led to the dungeons.

  “It’s her,” I growled.

  Alex’s eyes widened, but he said nothing.

  What was there to say?

  No one could possibly understand the pain in my heart, the constant beating inside me that told me this whole situation was wrong, wrong, wrong.

  What could I do but put her back in a cell until her fate could be decided?

  The Council would have her executed for all that she’d done. It wouldn’t be enough to throw her in the cells with the other blood mages. She’d escaped once before, and she’d do it again given the chance.

  She would destroy us all, viper that she was.

  We reached the door at the far end of the hall, and I threw it open.

  Now, she really began to panic.

  “No, Gray, no! Don’t do this! Please, please, don’t do this. I can’t go back there. I can’t.” She was sobbing now, and damn if her words didn’t tear at my heart.

  “Silence,” I said, the words coming out as sharp as a whipcrack.

  I spoke them as much for her benefit as my own. My mind was going round and round, trying to make sense of what had happened and somehow figure a way out of it for both of us.

  There would be no happy ending here. She’d made certain of that.

  “Grayson...” It was Alex who spoke now. He was standing in the doorway. We’d only made it a few steps down, and I paused to look back at him with one eyebrow raised.

  The fingers of my free hand trembled, the only indication of the barely contained rage inside me.

  “If you do this, there’s no going back.”

  I reared back as if he’d struck me and regarded him as if he were a different man. “Why would I want to take this back?”

  “I’ve seen the way you look at her, Gray. This is going to break you. Give it a day. Think it over.”

  “Are you still not getting it? She’s the blood mage. She’s the killer. She’s been murdering our people, and you want me to wait?”

  What treachery was this?

  Alex looked down at the floor, heaving out a sigh. “I don’t want to see you hurt.”

  “She’s in your mind, Alex. Fight her.”

  “I’m not!”

  I looked down at Nina. It felt like I was looking at her from a thousand miles away, as if she were somehow separated from me.

  “I’m not in his mind,” she said, her lower lip trembling. “I wouldn’t do that to him. I wouldn’t do that to you.”

  Her words were soft, as if she didn’t dare raise her voice.

  Good. She should be afraid. She should fear my wrath, for these next few days would be nothing but painful for her.

  “Your word cannot be trusted,” I said, and with that I yanked her farther down the stairs, leading her to her doom.

  I heard the sound of the door closing and assumed that Alex had left us alone.

  “Gray, please—”

  “Don’t call me that,” I snarled.

  I couldn’t bear to hear my name on her lips.

  Had she used that nickname before? I couldn’t remember. Only my mother and Alex used it. It was a very intimate form of address, and an hour ago I would have yearned to hear her say it. I would have died a thousand times to have one moment with her when I knew she wanted to be with me as much as I wanted her.

  Now, every word she spoke was a shard of glass in my mind.

  Her voice had been the sweetest music to my ears, and every look she’d given me was so beautiful and refreshing, but I couldn’t risk that now. I couldn’t risk her turning me from my course of action.

  I couldn’t let her in again.

  She’d destroy me.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

  “You’re sorry?” I bared my fangs to her and whirled to press her against the wall with my forearm pressed to her throat. “What are you sorry for? You used me. You tricked me.”

  She shook her head. “I never touched your mind. Everything between us, it was real.”

  “Liar.” I couldn’t believe that. Couldn’t believe I’d been so weak.

  It was only by believing that she’d tainted my mind that I could live with knowing that I hadn’t noticed what she was before now.

  I felt her pulse beating against my arm.

  Her fear poured out of her in waves.

  She clung to my forearm, letting a tear fall. “Don’t do this. Please.”

  “You’ve sealed your fate.”

  She broke. Sobs escaped her lips, and her whole body trembled against mine.

  How was it that she could still have this effect on me? How was it that all I wanted to do in that moment was cradle her in my arms, wipe her tears, and tell her everything would be all right?

  I disgusted myself.

  I pushed away from her, grasped her forearm again, and continued down the stairs.

  She went quietly now, her only sound being the soft sobs bubbling out of her.

  I dismissed every guard we walked past, ordering them out of the dungeons. I couldn’t stand to have them see this.

  Even now, after all she’d done, my instinct was to protect her from the shame, the embarrassment of having others watch her descent into the dungeons.

  Down, down, down we went.

  We passed the level for the cells she’d lived in before and kept going.

  I felt the weight of her gaze settle on me, but I refused to meet her eyes.

  “Where are you taking me?”

  I didn’t answer her.

  Her breathing picked up to hyperventilation levels.

  Was she claustrophobic?

  I hated that she worried me. I hated that I cared how she felt. I hated that she’d done this to me.

  A thick darkness claimed us as we descended into the bowels of the castle, farther down than anyone normally went. There were no guards down here, because there were no prisoners down here.

  Yet I could still see. The vision of a vampire wasn’t impeded by darkness.

  Hers was, though. The rate of her stumbling picked up, and now she was clinging fully to me.

  Only when she fell, slamming onto her ass and nearly yanking me to the floor, did I stop.

  “Get up.”

  “I can’t.” She shook her head, folding in on herself. “I can’t. I can’t do this. Please, just kill me.”

  Her words knifed through me. She wanted to die?

  I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t kill her any more than I could have killed her when I caught her in that room.

  She’s yours to protect.

  No. No, I wouldn’t listen to that treacherous voice now.

  With a grunt, I swept her into my arms and carried her down the stairs. She rested her head against my chest, and her sobs subsided.

  “Please. If you ever cared about me, you’ll just kill me now. I can’t go back to the cages, Gray.”

  “Why did you have to be this, Nina? Why did you have to be this person?”

  Bitter laughter greeted my ears. “What would you have me be?”

  “Anything other than this.”

  She fell silent.

  It was a lie, and I knew it. Would I love her if she were anything other than this fierce creature who had driven me mad with her wild behavior? Everything that went into her creation had led to the person she’d become, and if I changed any of it, she wouldn’t be the same woman.

  In my heart, I knew that.

  She isn’t anything you thought she was. She’s a snake, capable of transforming herself to be whatever she needs to be. Capable of transforming the minds of those around her so they accept her. Nothing you felt for her was real.

  I told myself this to ease the ache
in my heart.

  To pretend that it wasn’t her soft form cradled against my chest that was calming me.

  At last, we reached the final floor, the last level to the dungeons. So far down that there would be no one to see what happened.

  No one would ever come for her down here, yet I knew that didn’t matter.

  She wouldn’t survive the week.

  I placed her on the floor, my body screaming at me for letting her go, and dragged her the rest of the way to her cell.

  I opened the door and shoved her inside. She stumbled and fell to the floor, looking around wildly. Trying to see, though the darkness choked her.

  “Please...”

  She couldn’t finish the thought. I didn’t know what she would beg for, and apparently, neither did she.

  She closed her eyes and buried her face in her hands, letting out a rough sob. The sound tugged on my heartstrings, and again I felt the urge to go to her.

  I crushed it with a ruthless fist.

  This was the pathetic creature she’d made me into. Caring for the enemy.

  I’d do anything in my power to forget her now. She wouldn’t have dominion over me ever again.

  Go now, while you still can.

  Why didn’t I? Why couldn’t I leave her down here?

  I closed my eyes, fighting an internal struggle worse than any before.

  My mind was torn in two. Half of me wanted to go to her and half of me hated her for what she’d done. For what she was.

  I turned and left, at last.

  Every breath I took as I walked away from her hurt, like dragging shards of glass into my throat, and every step felt as if I were walking on knives.

  My feet carried me up the stairs somehow, and once I was certain that I was far enough away from her that she couldn’t hear me, I turned and slammed a fist against the wall.

  “How could you do this, Nina?”

  30

  Grayson

  The pain hadn’t abated one bit, but the world spun on, and so did I.

  Now, I was sitting at the head of the table where the Council had convened. Another emergency session, but this was one that I’d called.

  No one knew, and perhaps they wouldn’t find out if I didn’t tell them.

  Alex had begged me not to.

  I knew that if I didn’t do it now, weakness would claim me and I wouldn’t be able to do it later.

  Could her magic reach me from down there? I hadn’t put the iron collar on her, distracted as I’d been with the pain in my heart.

  That would have to be corrected, but later.

  “How could this happen?” It was my mother who spoke, and I felt her disappointment radiating from her. The look in her eyes spoke volumes, more than words could ever say.

  Yet I didn’t hang my head in shame as I might have wanted to. I met her eyes with the empty void I felt inside.

  “You let the thrall distract you,” Isaiah said.

  “She’s a blood mage,” I said, breaking through the disjointed, panicked uproar that had taken over the Council when I informed them of Nina’s arrest. Decorum had been abandoned, and accusations were flying free through the room.

  The consensus was clear—I’d failed in my duty to them.

  I didn’t even try to deny it. I’d failed in the worst possible way.

  The only thing I had left to cling to was that I hadn’t taken her to bed.

  I didn’t sleep with the enemy.

  A corner of my lips twitched, as if some part of me wanted to smile, but I schooled my expression to reflect the void within.

  There would be no laughter in my life. Never again.

  “What do you mean, she’s a blood mage?” my mother prodded me. She was the only one who dared to speak now.

  “I’m sure we all recall when a blood mage escaped four years ago, when Father was alive.” I made sure to point that out so they couldn’t lay that blame at my feet as well. “The mage was never recovered, and it’s now very evident that she joined with the other hunters.”

  Murmurs filled the room again. Horror and dismay. No one knew what to think, what to say, so they said everything that came to mind. No one thought to control their words now, and who could blame them?

  We’d never had to deal with something like this.

  It had been centuries since the blood mages had been a true problem. And now we had one to contend with again.

  One who’d infiltrated the castle and distracted everyone, endearing herself to the nobility and making friends left and right. No one who’d talked to her had walked away without a smile on their face.

  She’d done her job well. I could respect that.

  It didn’t make me feel any better.

  “Still, how did you allow this to happen?” Isaiah spoke up. “How did you allow her free roam of the castle?”

  “Clearly, I didn’t know what she was,” I said, my voice icy. “I believe she’s been using her magic on me since the day of the Choosing. I don’t know what she came here for, but it’s clear enough that she had much to gain by having me Choose her.”

  There was silence in the room at last, as everyone absorbed what that meant.

  If she’d been using her magic on me—and that was the only acceptable explanation for everything that had happened—then she’d been using her magic on all of them.

  They’d have to reexamine everything they’d done since she arrived at the castle, and I was sure they’d each find at least one thing they’d love to blame on her.

  You’re ruining her.

  Shame washed through me. No one would ever look at her the same again. No one would trust her.

  That’s the way it’s supposed to be.

  I told myself that, but it did nothing to ease my conscience.

  It had to be her influence, but somehow, I still wanted her safe and at my side. I wanted everyone to love her as I did and accept her as a staple in my life.

  But that never would have happened, even if she hadn’t been outed as a blood mage. No one wanted to see a thrall in polite company, no matter how common their presence in our lives was. They weren’t present at our balls, they didn’t greet guests, they didn’t partake in formal dinners.

  They were silent shadows.

  Or at least, the others had been. Nina had never been good at that part, and yet no one had objected before.

  Everyone had wanted to talk to her. Everyone had been willing to overlook her status to have a moment in the sunshine of her smile.

  Magic. It was her magic that made them react like that.

  “Well, this is all well and good, but what are you going to do about her now? Where is she?”

  I slid my gaze over to Isaiah, regarding him with cool eyes. I wanted to hate him, but at the moment I was numb.

  “The pit,” I said.

  My mother flinched. She’d been particularly fond of Nina, and I knew she must be feeling a similar number of conflicting emotions at the moment.

  Neither of us wanted Nina in the pit, but it was the only safe place to keep her until we figured this out.

  It’s not where she belongs.

  Shut up.

  Under the table, my hand clenched into a fist. I’d have my control, damn it.

  The woman had shaken me from every semblance of control I’d had, and now I didn’t know what to do with myself.

  I was a broken man without her.

  “She needs to be executed,” Isaiah said.

  My lip curled, and I barely controlled the instinct to rip his throat out. He dared to suggest laying a hand on the woman who belonged to me?

  How dare he?

  She was mine.

  I held back a gasp as I realized what I’d just thought.

  Nina wasn’t mine, not anymore.

  I should want her to die as much as any of these people did.

  “There is another option,” my mother said, and all eyes moved to her. “We could use her. She could be a very valuable weapon.”

  I didn
’t like that anymore than I liked the idea of killing her.

  Nina couldn’t be trusted, not to kill for us. She’d already proven herself capable of treachery, and she could easily slip in and out of our minds.

  Another Council member—Susan—gave voice to my thoughts. “She’d turn on us the moment we let her out of the pit.”

  “Not if she was properly enthralled,” my mother said, arching an eyebrow at me. “I don’t suggest that you keep her; obviously, that’s out of the question. But if she was enthralled, you’d always know where she was. What she was feeling. You’d be able to detect it if she was about to turn.”

  I inhaled harshly.

  She wanted me to enthrall Nina?

  The idea of sharing that intimate moment with her left me aching and repulsed me at the same time.

  She’d already betrayed me once. I didn’t think I could survive it if she did it again.

  The Council broke into argument as they tried to sort out what to do, but I tuned them out so I might be alone with my thoughts.

  There was no good option here. There was no way out of this that would leave me whole again.

  Nina had taken my heart the moment she’d revealed herself, and I knew I’d never fill the void she’d left behind. There was nothing left in me now.

  I couldn’t muster the strength to care about this discussion. Didn’t care what these fools thought should happen.

  I wanted to be left alone with my rage and pain so I could nurse my wounds.

  Alex was right: I should have taken some time for myself before I informed the Council what had happened. At least long enough to put myself somewhat back together.

  I knew I’d never be complete again, but surely I’d reach a point where I could care about my people once gain.

  “What do you think?” Rachel asked, drawing my attention and shushing the rest of the Council.

  They were all staring at me, waiting for me to give them an answer.

  I realized that mine would be the deciding vote, as it should be. I’d have final say in this, as in all things.

  Nina’s fate lay in my hands.

  Would she die?

  No, I couldn’t bear it.

  What did I think?

  I groaned internally. I knew what I wanted. I wanted Nina back, the Nina from yesterday, the sweet thrall whose gentle strength I’d admired from a distance. I wanted to go back to the days when we’d communicated with stolen glances and veiled comments. When we’d sat side by side on the chaise longue, inches away from touching one another, enjoying each other’s company.