The thunderous sound of stomping feet met my ears, a crescendo of sound that threatened to bring the building down. Reggie looked apoplectic. He waved his hands around and then finally slammed his meaty fist into the button that raised the cage.
The rattle joined with the roar of sound, the floor shuddered beneath us from the stomping and rising of the cage. My body felt flushed. My Sigillum blazed. Light reached out and touched every single one of the people there.
They took up arms. They pledged to fight for their city. Their home. Reggie shook his head at me, but I noticed he armed himself as well.
The arena had been a place for me to make a name for myself. To fight in a way that I couldn’t growing up the daughter of the Champion. There was no judgement here, only the rapture of the crowd. There was no sanctimonious spymaster telling me I was a child. No rules and restrictions for a princess of the vampire council. There was fight or not fight. Money to be earned. Respect to be found.
It was my home when my home was often a political battleground.
My mother had taught me well. She’d raised me to be the best Nosferatin I could be. To hold a Svante sword for hours. To spin and dance through battlefields. My father had taught me differently, but no less importantly. In my dreams, he’d loved me freely. In my waking hours, he’d taught me how to survive.
Survive at all costs.
I was half vampire, half vampire hunter. My parents had done well.
“At this moment,” Hakan murmured beside me. I turned and looked up into stunning silver and ice-blue eyes. “You are a queen.”
I offered him a small smile.
“My Kafinefendi,” he said, and then fell to one knee before me and bowed.
Now the crowd went wild. They’d only been warming up before. Now they went ballistic.
Reggie’s Bar would be the talk of town.
If town survived.
16
Let Her
We marched up Queen Street. The crowd that followed behind Hakan and I grew larger as we approached Mayoral Drive. Word carried fast on the streets, and word the vampires who protected the city were in trouble and needed their help set a fire under a few butt cheeks.
There were a few Norms who turned away in disgust. Some fled in fear like cowards. Others hurled bottles at us. But the crowd didn’t retaliate, the Norms of the city weren’t our enemies. The enemy was at The Plaza.
And The Plaza was sick. I hadn’t sensed it before, but maybe the Norms who had busted in the front door earlier had triggered something that had been meant for Luc and me. The hotel was covered now in a red substance which on closer inspection looked like a climbing ivy. But The Plaza was over twenty floors high, and ivy wouldn’t stick to metal and glass like that.
And yet the building was crisscrossed with spindly red vines that wormed their way into the structure itself, threatening to make the entire thing topple.
It shouldn’t have been possible. My father’s wards should have prevented such an invasion. Which only hammered home to me how much trouble he and my mother were in. How much trouble the Iunctio was in as well.
“All that power,” Reggie said at my side, “and they couldn’t stop a plant from eating it?”
“That’s no ordinary plant,” I said. It was a parasite.
We approached the City Council building across the street from the hotel. Georgia was already there. Standing beside her was Jett Vardi. The Master Vampire of Auckland City. His crooked nose and long, curly black hair hadn’t changed an iota since I last saw him. He stared up at The Plaza with narrowed eyes. Sanguis Vitam thrummed all around him.
I might have been the daughter of the Champion, but Jett was Auckland’s Master Vampire.
I walked across the carpark and fisted my hand on my chest and bowed.
“Ellie,” he murmured. “Welcome back.”
He stepped forward and wrapped me up in a hug. He released me quickly, his eyes tracking Hakan.
“Hakan Bahar,” I said, indicating my vampire. “Jett Vardi, Master of Auckland City.”
They nodded heads to each other. Technically speaking, Hakan should have expressed his appreciation for being in another Master Vampire’s city.
Jett let it go which said a lot about how troubled he was at what he was seeing.
“Georgia says it’s a parasite,” Jett murmured.
“The Ljósálfar brought it.”
He nodded. “Any idea what will happen when we enter?”
“It can infect vampyre,” I said.
Jett swore softly under his breath.
“We need a fairy,” he said. None popped into existence at his side.
“Aliath is not listening,” Gigi muttered.
“Can you go get him?” I asked my friend.
Jett growled low. “She will not be entering Álfheimr until we sort this.”
“Now, hold on just a goddess-damned minute,” Georgia snapped.
Jett let out an impressive growl. Those Norms in the crowd shuddered. Every vampire turned and watched out of respect. The rest of the Supes just watched warily. An angry Master of the City was not something to be messed with.
The throaty purr of an expensive sports car arriving announced we had reinforcements, and broke the stand-off. Reggie let out a little squeak and slunk into the cover of the crowd. Frank, the head ghoul, stepped out of the red monstrosity to stand beside Ediz, Lucien, Zahra and Samson. Frank smiled a toothy smile and then clapped his hands together.
“I hear there’s to be a fight, vampyre,” he said to Jett.
“You hear correctly, ghoul.”
“My men are coming on foot. Ten minutes out.”
I wanted to be inside the damn building in ten minutes, not waiting for ghouls out on the sidewalk.
“Do we wait for the Fey?” someone asked.
Jett turned and looked at me.
“Do you think your man on the inside will convince Aliath?” Georgia must have told him about Goran, then.
I shrugged. “I wouldn’t count on it, but he does have a vested interest in all of this.”
“What interest?” Fairies rarely showed interest in anyone else’s lives. And just because Luc and I were Aliath’s self-chosen godchildren didn’t mean a damn thing to a Fey King, I was sure.
“They’re at war with the Ljósálfar,” I told the Master of the City. “What happens here has consequences in Álfheimr.”
It didn’t mean Aliath would come himself. But he would send someone. I just hoped he didn’t send Goran back by himself.
Lucien stepped up to my side. The familiar weight of his shoulder pressing against mine almost made my throat close up. I blinked my eyes dry.
“I say we head in,” he murmured.
“I agree.”
“Rushing into danger is not a good strategy,” Jett offered.
I turned and faced Vardi.
“It’s served me well until now. Why stop?” His lips twitched. “Our father is in there. Our mother. We can’t feel them.”
Jett didn’t show an ounce of compassion on his face, but I knew this vampire. He’d feel it.
“A corrupt king is coercing the Mhachkay,” I said. “This battle has been five hundred years in the making.”
“Then delay it a while longer so we can work out a decent plan of attack,” Jett said steadily.
Figures slid through the crowd toward us; it wasn’t until Alain stepped out into the open that I realised it was him.
“They’re in the chamber,” he announced. The Iunctio chamber. “The councillors are contained by that red vine.”
The parasite. I sucked in a breath of air and held it.
“The Mhachkay King sits upon the Champion’s throne and waits,” he continued. “His vampyre have killed the Norms who entered his domain and left them out for the Enchanted to find. A message.”
“And what does a message like that say?” I asked.
“Their throats have been sliced open. Their blood has been spilt. Wasted.”
/> They didn’t drink it.
“Disrespect,” Georgia growled.
“A show of power,” Samson added. “They do not need to feed; they’re already strong.”
“The parasite,” Zahra said, staring up at the hotel tower. “The bodies will be contaminated, and they’ll expect a Nosferatin to check each one.”
“Why infect us?” Luc asked her.
“To control you,” she said. “The parasite controls the Ljósálfar.”
“And the Kral controls the parasite,” I finished for her. She nodded her head.
“So we avoid the foyer,” Luc offered.
“The bodies are everywhere,” Alain told us. “Every floor my vampires went to, they found a Norm dead.”
“Did they touch them?” I asked.
He frowned at me. “Why would they?” he said.
I rolled my eyes. Eating leftovers wasn’t something a vampire did. And caring about the fate of a few Norms when their world was under attack would not be a high priority either.
I stared across the street at the hotel. The foyer was out. Every floor was booby trapped.
The wards were all down.
I turned to Hakan.
“I don’t have a convenient tunnel dug into the side of my castle,” I told him. “This hotel might be decades old, but it's not a historic building.” Not like his Mhachkay mosque was. “We use the front door. The backdoor. And a door that only the Iunctio know about. And that’s it.”
He studied me and said nothing. No one else said a thing too.
I was giving away Iunctio secrets. The ghouls were practically salivating at the mouth. Jett was impassive, but then he wasn’t an Iunctio councillor; he was the Master of the City and the city was his bottom line. He’d help. He’d fight. But when push came to shove, his tie to the city would win out.
Alain, on the other hand, watched me with fire in his eyes. No, not just fire, but smoke. Zahra’s Black Magic rose along with his ire.
I ignored him. He could have all the hissy fits he wanted; we had to get into that building.
“There is one other access into the hotel and consequently that chamber,” I said.
“The roof,” my brother supplied.
In the end, the divulging of secrets would be equally shared between us. Like so much was in our life. Luc looked at me and smiled. His eyes swirled with smoke and something else, something powerful, something Black but also not.
It will change them, Zahra had said.
I looked at the Mhachkay witch. She studied my brother, a crease marring her brow.
“I can take a few,” Hakan replied, his voice mellow and soothing as if he knew what divulging my father’s secrets had meant. “Zahra can take some too, but a portal would be better.”
I turned around and scanned the crowd. There were fairies amongst them. But not my Hyrða. I didn’t trust anyone else. Fairies could be tricksters. They’d just as soon send you through a portal to a desert island than send you where you wanted to go.
My eyes met Georgia’s. The Dark Shadow peeked out.
“Little one,” it said, and then Georgia stepped back and fell through a portal to Dökkálfa.
She couldn’t make portals herself, and she only had access to the one that led to Aliath’s Dark Fey Court. But she knew how to use it and use it well. Just like she did now.
Samson roared his fury. Jett joined him. Sanguis Vitam swelled. The rest of the vampires couldn’t help but react to it. Fairies scattered. Norms froze in fright. The ghouls all crouched, ready to fight something, anything; if it moved, they’d pounce.
Power swelled all around us, higher and higher, stronger and stronger. I hadn’t realised how close to the edge both Samson and Jett were. I flicked a glance at The Plaza. The vine that crept over its surface pulsed with red. Pulsed as if possessed with magic.
Was it tainting the air? Had it infected them?
I looked back at the two vampires. They were inconsolable in their rage. Hakan placed a hand on my shoulder. Luc urged Zahra to step back. The Black Witch ignored him.
I wasn’t sure if it would work, but I had to try.
I pulled on their Sanguis Vitam like I’d pulled on the Iunctio’s power in the Council chamber at Alain’s and my joining. I pulled and pulled until Samson and Jett calmed down. They slowly turned and looked at me.
In fact, everyone was looking at me. Norms. Fairies. Ghouls. Vampires. Shapeshifters.
The secret’s out, I thought and snorted. I’d spent the better part of my twenty-five years keeping mum about my powers. One little vampire tantrum and it all comes spilling out.
I released the Sanguis Vitam back into the ether and arched my brow.
“You done?” I asked.
They both snarled.
“In that case, you get to stay here and wait for Georgia and Goran,” I told them.
They blinked at me.
I turned to Hakan and Zahra.
“How many each?” I asked.
You would reveal our secrets too, hayatim, he said inside my mind.
How many? I shot back.
I can take you and Ediz, Zahra can probably manage your brother and his kindred as they are all connected now.
So, you’re telling me, you can only walk with your entwined and familiars between worlds?
He lowered his chin and stared at me through narrowed eyes. I crossed my arms over my chest and arched my brow.
Yes, Kafinefendi, he said.
I smiled.
“Change of plans,” I announced. I looked at Jett and Samson. “You guys wait for Georgia and storm the castle as our backup.”
“Castle?” Jett said as Samson scoffed, “Backup?”
I ignored them.
“We’ll head in and knock on the door,” I finished.
“Éliane,” Jett said as Samson muttered, “No, El.”
“The vines are growing,” I said softly.
Everyone turned to look at the hotel.
“If they’re growing out here,” I said.
“Then they’re growing inside,” Luc finished for me.
“Our parents,” I said.
“Our family,” he vowed.
We looked at each other. Luc looked like Luc until you looked him in the eye. I didn’t know what my brother had become, but I did know my brother. He was my twin. My other half. My soul mate. My best friend.
We’d entered this world together, minutes apart. If we had to leave it together, we’d do it the same way. By choice. Because of our shared love.
“Let’s do this,” he said.
“Let’s kick some arse.”
“Are you just going to let her waltz into a war zone?” Samson asked Hakan.
“Èliane is a Kafinefendi of the Mhachkay. I would raise my sword at her side.”
I beamed up at him.
“It’s a trap,” Jett said.
“Of course, it is, vampyre,” I drawled. “But that doesn’t mean we don’t want to trigger it.”
Jett growled low at me for my disrespect.
I fisted my hand across my chest to him and smiled.
“Your father will kill me if I do not attempt to stop you,” he murmured.
“My father may already have met the final death,” I told him.
Silence met my words. I nodded my head.
Slipping my hand into Hakan’s, I looked at my brother.
He was staring at the Black Witch.
“Wanna hold hands?” he asked her, smirking.
“That is the only thing of yours I shall hold,” she said.
He laced his fingers with hers. “Feels good doesn’t it?” he purred in her ear.
“Spymaster,” she snapped, ignoring Lucien. “Give me your hand. Now!”
Alain arched his brow but acquiesced. Wise man.
“She’s got wicked callouses, eh Dupont?” Luc said.
“I hadn’t noticed,” the vampire replied evenly.
“Knows how to handle a sword, I imagine,” Luc added.
“Please stop,” Alain begged.
“I wonder what type of sword she likes,” my brother mused. “Long and thin, like a rapier. Or thick and short…”
Zahra pulled them through whatever conduit the Mhachkay used to get around, and they winked out of sight.
Hakan stared at where they’d been standing, looking bemused.
“He will not win her like that,” he said.
“But he’ll have a lot of fun trying,” I said and tugged on his hand.
I’d take Lucien any way I could get him and seeing him flirt was a welcomed relief. But it wasn’t all of what he was now. I knew there was more. Flirting might be familiar, but what else would he do now? How else would he pursue her?
Did I want to know? Was Black Magic kinky?
I stepped onto the roof of The Plaza Hotel barely making a sound. Luc and the others were over by the door. Alain was using some sort of device to peer under it. We crossed the open space and watched the spy at work.
He held a small screen which showed the interior of the building. The wards would normally have been displayed on the screen in blue lines. But there were none to greet us.
Thankfully, there was also no red vine.
“They didn’t think we’d approach from the roof,” Hakan said.
“Or they haven’t found the door yet,” I offered. “It’s physically hidden as well as warded. And if they broke the wards in one hit, they wouldn’t have had time to trace them to their origins.”
“Good point, sis,” Luc said.
“My video feed to the council chamber has gone dead,” Alain advised.
So that’s how he knew what was happening inside there. I wondered if the Champion was aware of what his spymaster was up to. I doubted it.
But Alain had had his men in the building too.
“How did your spies get inside?” I asked.
“Through the front door.”
“Just like that.”
“Just like that,” the spymaster said.
“Did they all get out again afterwards?” Luc asked.
Alain scowled down at the screen and then pocketed it.
“Coast is clear,” he said and picked the lock on the door and opened it.
Blood Enthralled (Blood Enchanted, Book Three): A Vampire Hunter Paranormal Romance Series Page 15