by A. D. Winter
But it didn’t matter.
He wasn’t part of Greta’s plan and therefore wasn’t suitable to live. In desperation, he began to summon a boundary of light around him, but he was old and out of practice. His arm was sliced off at the elbow, and a rush of blood sprayed the floor. He dropped to his knees, clinging to his stump as he pleaded with Greta for mercy. “Please, my love. Spare me.”
The vampires came to a halt, their mouths dripping with blood as they waited for their mistress’s reply.
But I knew what her answer would be.
She was a cold-hearted monster who cared for no one but herself.
I caught Igama’s gaze and shook my head in regret. Sorry, old man.
“You were once a good servant,” Greta admitted with an arched brow. “Up until the point you betrayed me.”
He hung his head between his shoulders. “But I couldn’t let her die.”
“And for that,” Greta replied, “you must pay.”
The sound of his screams was excruciating. It filled my ears with regret, and I had to look away as he was descended upon by a wave of vampires.
When they were done, they backed away from his body, and I saw a shriveled-up corpse lying on the ground.
Igama …
I turned my gaze back to the stage. Greta was glaring at me with a grin, her satisfaction sparkling in her eyes.
Anger began to pump through me as I’d never known, and I rose to my feet, keeping my gaze fixed on the woman who’d tortured me as a child.
“Ivy …” The word was a curse from her lips. “How fitting that you’re here on the eve of my victory.”
“I’m going to rip out your worthless throat, you merciless hag,” I said.
A brow lifted in amusement. “I see you’re still as polite as ever.”
“I saw you,” I said, stepping toward the stage, where I was held back by a rank of her vampires. “You were dead on the table.”
She gave a derisive snort. “You saw what Igama wanted you to see. A lifeless body about to be incinerated into dust.”
“But you were dead,” I said. “I checked your pulse. I felt your skin. You were gone.”
“Well, you know what they say …” Her eyes flashed red, and I saw a pair of sharp canines curling over her lips.. “You have to die to become a vampire.”
A vampire? I staggered back in disbelief. “You did all of this just to become a bloodsucker?”
She shook her head in disappointment. “Don’t be so stupid, Ivy. Do you really think I would’ve sold my soul just to be a simple vampire?”
“What are you, then?”
“Something greater and more terrifying.”
Before I could reply, she disappeared from the stage, and I suddenly felt a hand gripping me by the throat. It lifted me off my feet and constricted my windpipe, cutting off my breath. “A goddess,” she whispered in my ear.
I stared into her eyes, horrified by what she’d become.
Vampire goddesses were creatures of the dark past, ruthless entities who’d been wiped out during the Battle of Soiled Ground. There hadn’t been a single sighting of one in decades, and for good reason.
The price of sacrifice was too great; no one dared paid it. No one except for Greta, apparently.
I glared down at her spider legs and frowned. “Why?” I managed through her grip. “Why are you doing this?”
She loosened her fingers, and I dropped to the floor. “Because I learned the truth.”
“What truth?” I rubbed the pain from my neck as I rose to my feet.
“The truth that has been hidden from you since birth.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
“The fae,” she said. “They lied to you, to us all. And now I’m going to make them pay by revealing the truth in the cruelest way I know how.”
“But the fae saved us,” I said. “They built this city as a refuge.”
“Lies!” she growled. “This world is nothing but a prison, a crucible designed by creatures who were too scared to lose power.”
“You’re not making any sense,” I said.
“I’m not?” Her eyes drew to slits. “Think about it, Ivy. The reason you can’t read books from the human world. The reason you’re not allowed to watch movies or television shows. The reason I was ordered to abuse you.”
My mouth slipped agape, and a smile curled along her lips.
“Oh, yes, Ivy. All this time, you’ve believed that I treated you so harshly because I was a monster. But in truth, I did it because I’d been ordered to—by the same figures you serve so dutifully.
“You see, Ivy, to control a slave, you must condition them from birth with pain and fear. That way, they’ll always be too scared to ask for the truth.”
“And what’s that?” I asked.
“That you were never chosen by a goddess but stolen by a fairy.”
I glared at her in confusion, searching for a sign of falseness in her appearance. Yet the further I looked, the more horrified I was to see that she was speaking the truth. Panicked, I rushed to defy her argument.
“That’s impossible,” I said. “I know what I am. The goddess Danu—”
“The goddess Danu?” Greta burst into laughter. “The goddess Danu hasn’t spoken to the fae in centuries, not since they fled the world of man to create their selfish paradise. This city is a salvation all right, only not for any of us but for the fae and their wretched helpers.” Her gaze fell to the dead elves littering the floor around us.
“This can’t be true,” I said.
“Oh, but it is,” she replied. “And I think, deep down inside, you know it.”
I lowered my gaze as I scrambled for a retort. “Okay, then,” I said. “If I was stolen, then what of my parents? You’re telling me that they wouldn’t have noticed my absence?”
“Ah,” she said with a smile. “And now for the cruelest part of it all.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You were replaced, Ivy.”
“Replaced?” I asked. “With what?”
“A changeling,” she replied.
“A changeling?”
“It’s what the fae call it. An empty vessel, a magical being meant to look like you, smell like you, even talk like you. But they never survive. They always die a few months later, driving the parents to grief and despair.
“Don’t you see, Ivy? The fae are selfish creatures, and to them, you’re nothing but a slave. The Minstrel knew this, and now so do you.”
I staggered back in a daze, overwhelmed by the startling revelation. I had been stolen from my parents? Replaced with a … changeling? This couldn’t be true. I couldn’t accept it. I whirled on my ex-headmistress and yelled, “You’re lying!”
She laughed. “Denial—the greatest weapon a master can instill in their slave. Trust me. I was a believer as well. I took pride in what I did, and I was thankful for the life I had. It was just enough.”
Her eyes flared with anger. “But it was you who took all that away from me, that cold winter morning when you decided that you’d had enough.”
I blinked as I was reminded of that dreaded memory, my hands bruised and bleeding, my bones nearly shattered from a night of extra attention from the headmistress.
I’d done my best to hold back my tears, but the stench of hopelessness was all around me. I couldn’t take it anymore, and something in me finally broke, enough to lead me to her room with a box of matches.
“I wasn’t trying to kill you,” I said. “I just wanted … I wanted it to stop.”
“Perhaps,” Greta conceded. “But in the end, what you did was much worse. You opened my eyes to the truth. And like all truths, it was too great to bear.
“You see, your little fire drew the attention of the Order, and when I was arrested, I had no choice but to turn to those who I’d served so dutifully. But in the end, I was betrayed.
“After that I became a pariah, a public disgrace, who was quickly sentenced to life i
n prison. My life was over, my reputation in tatters. All I could do was end it all. And I was going to, until that fateful morning, when I heard the voice.
“It came to me in that cold cell. A voice unlike anything I’d ever heard before. It revealed to me the harsh truth of our existence, and it gave me a chance for revenge, to make things right and restore my position, my … purpose.
“Can you believe that? The enemy who I’d fought so hard against, granting me absolution? I was ashamed. As you should be now.” She laughed, and a cold smile stretched across her face. “Of course I took it. What other option did I have? And with the help of Igama, I was able to fool you.”
“But what about the fae?” I asked. “The potion? Why did you have Frederick take her to the old world?”
“Because I knew you were dumb enough to chase him,” she said. “You see, my revenge wouldn’t have been enough until I put you through the same torture that I was put through. I needed to disgrace you, to imprison you, and take away everything you had.
“So when my spies at the Order told me of your obsession with the Thorns, I knew I had the perfect bait to lure you into trouble. And what else could be worse than being found in the human world with a dead fae?
“But my plan failed. I never expected Frederick to be dumb enough to leave the vial on the fae’s body. And then there was Igama …” She glanced at his corpse on the ground. “I underestimated his love for you. He freed you from the cells and sent you on a wild-goose chase, hoping to keep you out of this.
“But none of that matters now.”
“So that’s your plan?” I asked. “You’re going to possess the fae so that you can force them to reveal this supposed truth?”
“Of course that’s what I’m going to do, you idiot. But first I’m going to instill fear in them. And what better way than to publicly torment those who have so willingly participated in their lies?”
“And how do you plan on doing that?” I asked.
“The best way I know how,” she said with a grin. “Through their children.”
She nodded at one of the vampires, and my heart sank into my stomach as I saw Crag and Sophie being dragged into the room.
No!
Crag’s arms were bound behind his back, and his face and chest were covered in fresh cuts and bruises. Sophie was crying, her haughty shell broken by fear.
I glanced back at Greta, hands clenched into fists. “Let them go,” I ordered.
“I can’t,” she said. “There’s still one child missing from the procession, the daughter of one of Salvation’s most powerful.” She waved Sophie forward, and I saw the little girl give me a frightened glance.
She was surrounded by the people who had slaughtered her family, the people who had hurt Crag and were now about to hurt her.
I took a step forward, hands clenched in anger, but was warded off as the vampire at Sophie’s side pressed a dagger to her throat.
“Come, my dear,” Greta assured her in a sweet voice. “It’s okay.”
I watched as Sophie was ushered forward, forced into Greta’s embrace, where she lingered, frightened.
“Ivy?” Sophie’s voice was trembling. “I’m scared.”
“It’s okay, sweetie,” I replied. “It’ll be okay.”
I looked back at Greta and whispered, “I’m going to rip off your nasty face, you rat-monster.”
“Promises, promises.” Greta pulled out a purple vial from the sleeve of her robe and opened the stopper. Cupping Sophie’s chin, she tilted the girl’s head back and forced the potion into her mouth.
Sophie winced as the potion began to work, and she quickly shut her eyes, struggling against the magic overtaking her.
Then, all at once, her eyes opened, and I saw the ominous glow of dark magic staring back at me.
She was possessed.
Crag struggled to break free but was quickly silenced by his captors. They punched him in the face, kicked him in the stomach, eventually having to hit him in the back of the head with the hilt of a sword to get him under control. His head hung between his shoulders, bleeding.
“Now,” Greta said, watching as Sophie was led out of the room. “If there aren’t any more interruptions, I’d like to continue this celebration from the balcony, where I can keep watch over my children.”
“What about them?” asked one of the vampires. He motioned to Crag and me.
She gave an absent shrug. “Kill them.”
I watched as she stepped over the graveyard of corpses with her spider legs, completely oblivious to the deaths she’d caused. But I couldn’t let her get away, not this time.
“Hey!” I called out.
She stopped to turn, arching a brow at me in confusion.
“You think you’ve won,” I said, “but you’ve forgotten one little detail.”
“And what’s that?” Greta asked.
“I still beat you.”
Greta’s eyes narrowed. “What are you talking about?”
“It’s true,” I said. “You said it yourself. All of this is because of me. The arrest. Your shame. Your suicide. I’m the author of your misery.” I motioned to the eight appendages beneath her waist. “The reason why you’re now a freak.”
Her face twisted into a look of hate, and I could sense the fury rising off her in waves. She knew I was right. And she couldn’t stand it. No, she needed to make it clear that she’d won in the end, and there was only one way to do it.
“Free her,” Greta ordered as she scampered back toward me, her eyes filling with fury. “And give her a weapon.”
36
Ivy
“Mistress?” The vampire appeared baffled by the request. “Are you sure?”
His caution angered her, and she quickly hit him with the back of her hand, shattering his jaw and spinning him around. He fell to the floor, motionless.
“Does anybody else want to share their opinion?” Greta asked.
The other vampires glared at the body, then back at Greta, their mouths agape, their red eyes still and full of fear.
“Weapon.” Greta held out her hand, holding me in her gaze. “Now.”
The surrounding vampires rushed to hand her their swords, but it wasn’t until she was handed the longest and the sharpest of the bunch that she finally nodded her approval.
She gave an evil grin as she saw the steel blade glinting in the light of the club.
“Here.”
I turned around to find one of the vampires handing me something from the side. It was a rusty old blade with a cracked pommel, completely unbalanced and ridiculously heavy. I ran a finger along its blunt edge and frowned. “Wow, thanks a lot.”
“Sure thing,” the vampire said and backed away.
It’d been years since I’d last fought Greta, not since I’d attacked her before the fire. But now she was a vampire goddess. One hit from her, and she’d probably knock my head from my shoulders. I needed to be careful.
The ex-headmistress glided toward me on her spider legs, her face a pinched look of anger.
How many times I’d imagined this moment. How many times I’d smashed through bricks during my training, wishing that they’d been her face instead of rock. But now that I was here, I was distracted by the weight of my doubt.
“I’m going to make this quick.” Greta slashed at the air, accustoming herself to the weapon.
“Funny,” I said, trying to mimic her confidence. “I was about to say the same thing.” I slashed at the air with the same commanding force, only my display wasn’t as impressive.
The pommel unlatched from the sword, and it quickly dropped on my foot, nearly breaking my toes.
The surrounding vampires exploded into laughter, and I could only hop on one foot, face flushed with embarrassment.
You’ve got to be kidding me.
Greta scuttled out at me like a hungry spider, swinging her blade in an intricate pattern. It was so fast, so clean. I barely had time to react. I blocked it with my blade and retaliated
with a swing of my own.
But it was worthless.
She deflected it with a simple parry, then slapped me across the face, sending me across the room, where I crashed into the wall of mirrors behind the bar. Pieces of glass fell on my head as I struggled to my knees, and a sharp pain coursed through my back. But I had to get up; I had to beat her.
“Okay,” I called out from behind the bar. “Now I’m angry.”
I gripped my sword, rose to my feet, and stretched my back.
Greta was grinning at me from across the room. “Still the same old Ivy, never knows when to quit.”
“Lady, I don’t know the meaning of the word.”
“You will,” she promised in a menacing voice. “You will.”
I glanced at the room, noticing the ranks of watchful vampires. There were so many. Even if I were able to kill Greta, which, by the way things were looking, was pretty much impossible, I’d still need to face them.
Still, there was more at stake here than just my life.
I glanced at Crag, who was still on his knees. His face was bruised and his chest was dripping with blood. How was I going to save him? And more importantly how was I going to save Sophie?
The way I always saved lives, I told myself, by fighting.
I wiped the blood from my nose, took in a deep breath and cracked my neck. Next, I drew upon the power of my spirit, filling my body with a rush of strength I rarely knew. The power of it was incredible, as if the spirit itself was aware of my desperation, and I was suddenly ready to crack a mountain.
“Okay, you hag,” I said quietly to myself. “Let’s finish this.”
Gripping my blade, I somersaulted over the bar and charged at Greta with all my strength.
Bad move.
She merely dodged my strikes with ease, insulting me the entire time. “My, my, Ivy. You move like an old lady.”
“You’re an old lady,” I said, swinging even harder.
I pressed and pressed, trying to advance my position. But she was too strong, too fast, and eventually, I made the mistake of tiring myself out.
And that’s when the real struggle began.