Lucas walked back to the dais, his sword held loosely in one hand. His gaze caught hers, held her so that she was unable to look away as he advanced towards her in a graceful, predatory walk.
He’s going to drink me now.
His brows lifted in a slight look of amusement and disdain that was undermined by the copious amounts of blood that trailed from him and dripped to the floor.
She wondered how severe his injury was, but his gaze said something different: look how easy this is.
He handed the sword back to the guard before heading back to the center of the room and making a low bow to Marion. Lucas extended his hand to her, “My love?” His voice was dark and seductive, a quiet ruthlessness underlying his tone.
Marion jerked out of her chair and stalked towards him in a fury. Things had obviously gone much worse that she'd expected.
She'd been a fool for doing this and her expression said that she knew it.
As Marion neared Lucas he closed his eyes, his brows pulled together in a frown. She stopped and seemed to shrink back for a moment before forcing herself to move forward again. He made a disappointed noise in his throat and spoke in a clear voice. “Who helped you? I smell the power and know you are no longer second to Rachel in power. Tell me who.”
Marion gasped, her gaze jerking back to Rachel and around the room, seeking out those who'd donated blood and power to her cause.
Frozen in place, she didn’t speak.
“Why don’t you whisper it to me?” he said.
She gave a little nod and he leaned in listening while she said something to him. He nodded and looked around the room.
The audience was still, like wax figurines. Marion licked her lips in a nervous gesture, “What about me?”
“What about you?” he said with obvious disgust. The accent was back, his words having an odd cadence.
“You would not spare me also?” Her voice was hesitant.
“You are the organizer of this treason. How could I spare you after this? With all these witnesses. Have a care for your memory, Marion. Where is your conviction?” he mocked.
Marion blinked rapidly, her chest rising and falling as she breathed quickly. Her voice was breathy and distant, “Me, Margaret, my little girl...all those years, all our time together. You couldn't. You couldn’t be so cruel to me.”
Valerie wondered if Marion was that crazy, that it hadn’t really occurred to her that Lucas would kill her for trying to take his throne?
“Shall I assume you don’t wish to fight?”
She nodded tightly and flushed, her shoulders hunching in like a beaten dog.
Was that it, Valerie wondered? Was Marion really giving up now?
Lucas seemed impatient. “Kneel.”
Marion looked back, frantically trying to catch sight of Rachel who was leaning forward in her chair as though ready to spring forward and rescue Marion if she had to. Val could see Marion's will deflating before her eyes, like melting snow in the bright sunshine.
Trembling, Marion fell to her knees, head bowed, cowering slightly away from him as though to protect herself from a blow.
Rachel moved from her chair, coming forward and standing behind Marion, her hand on Marion’s head to protect her.
He looked to Rachel, “I expected more from you. You were supposed to keep her under control.”
Rachel spoke calmly and angrily, “It was the Fey, they killed her daughter and now you want to bring them back to the world. She snapped.”
Lucas huffed, “The plague killed Margaret, the Fey had nothing to do with it.”
Rachel's voice held conviction, “She was convinced it was the Fey that brought the plague. She told me the story of her village, how they had been protected for decades and then, after the summer solstice, when they didn't offer a virgin, the Fey punished them, letting the plague cover the town like ivy.”
Lucas ran a weary hand through his hair. “Bring in the coffins.”
Guards moved to the doors and opened them, moving aside for the guards who brought the coffins in to the middle of the room. Three humans came in at the end, clanking silver chains piled high in their arms. They threw them into a pile that glinted like jewels in the torch light.
Valerie felt herself relaxing now that she thought she might live to get out of this. Her thighs and arms throbbed, blood rushing back into the clenched muscles.
He looked to Rachel, features hard. “Who was it? Who was stupid enough to give her more power?”
“She already told you.”
Lucas waited and Rachel looked like she was going to refuse to answer but Lucas raised his hand, pointing a blood covered finger towards her.
She dropped her eyes and gave a quick nod, rattling off some names before the crowd began talking and moving, pushing some vampires forward to take their punishment.
Lucas beckoned to the coffins and those from the crowd shuffled forwards. There were five of them, two women and three men, and they all climbed into the coffins and laid down without protest.
Two of them beseeched Lucas to be kind to their companion's or kin. Lucas said nothing, watching disinterestedly as the guards nailed the coffins shut and wrapped them in chains.
The heavy coffins were lifted and taken from the room but at the door someone started screaming and a coffin lurched sideways as the woman inside thrashed, trying to get out.
Lucas looked at several people in the audience, the kin and companions of those who’d been taken away. “A century. I will review their punishment then.”
The room burst into noise, a woman in the front who was wearing jeans and looked vaguely like a has-been pop star wailed and cried in anguish that the punishment was too harsh, while a few others clasped hands as though relieved that the sentence was not worse.
After a few noisy moments Lucas silenced the audience with a glare and turned back to Rachel and Marion. Rachel had sunk to the floor and was holding Marion against her, letting her cry, Marion's brown curls pressed tight under her chin. Lucas knelt down beside them, his larger form eclipsing theirs.
He held out his hand and Rachel took Marion's limp arm and passed it to Lucas. His head descended and he pierced Marion's wrist, drinking from her in huge draughts. Marion seemed to collapse in on herself, her flesh becoming paler as he drank the power from her.
A great deal of time seemed to pass before he dropped her hand and went back to his throne. He sat down and waited while Marion and Rachel huddled together on the floor.
Marion's hair was dull, her cheeks hollow, the veins in her hands and arms bulging like a famine victim.
“Rachel,” Lucas said, deceptively mild.
It took Rachel a few tries to speak. “My Liege.”
“Drink from her.” Rachel's head snapped up, her gaze finding his. Her brows furrowed together as though confused. Why would Lucas make Rachel stronger if he was going to kill her?
“How much?”
“I will tell you when to cease.”
Rachel studied him for a moment before speaking to Marion quietly, “Will you let me, my love?” She petted her face gently.
Marion tilted her head in agreement, exposing her neck. Slowly, she bit down on Marion’s jugular, wrapping her arms around the frail body. Marion became more brittle, older, caving in on herself. Her flesh becoming coarser, more wrinkled, she was no longer human. Tears were streaming down Rachel’s face and it looked like Marion was dead. How could there be any life left in her? Her skin was already ashy.
“Now, crawl to me,” Lucas said in a tone to make the devil proud.
Valerie shivered at the command and bit her lip to try and distract herself. The room waited, looking between the two of them as Rachel slunk forward on hands and knees, all feline grace, her moves almost seductive. She tried not to feel too jealous. Hello, traitor.
Her moves were sinuous as she crawled up the steps. Rachel stared fixedly at Lucas, waiting for him to tell her when she was close enough, her head now level with his knee.
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br /> He was like a statue.
Valerie could see Rachel trembling, tears on her lashes as she waited for Lucas to give her some sign of what he expected. She slanted him a quick look under her lashes, but he was still, waiting for her to figure out what she should do next if she wanted to survive.
Hesitantly, she moved forward, her lips going to his shoe. Rachel opened her mouth, her tongue rasping against the soft suede. After a few moments he waved her away and she backed down the stairs, careful to avoid eye contact. Lucas signaled to the guard and another coffin was brought in and placed on the floor.
Rachel flinched but Lucas gestured to Marion, “Put her in it.”
Marion looked like a bundle of bones tucked into a dress, half the weight she’d been before. She looked like a bundle of sticks shifting away, too weak to crawl as Rachel approached her.
Rachel reached Marion, touching her lightly on the back, and Marion moaned piteously. Batting at Rachel pathetically. Ignoring her struggles, Rachel leaned down, swung Marion into her arms and subdued her, kissing her face and neck as she walked her to the coffin.
Rachel lowered her down, like putting a child to bed, arranging her arms in the coffin, straightening the crimson skirts. Then she stood, stepping back slightly, tears running down her face. A human moved forward, carrying a hammer and nails.
“No. She will do it,” Lucas said.
The human nodded and dropped everything to the floor, backing away with wide eyes. Rachel flinched like she'd been struck and turned a murderous gaze on Lucas.
“Should I just kill her then?”
“No.”
Slowly Rachel took the lid to the coffin and placed it on top. She hammered in the nails steadily and when the lid was secure he told her to get the silver chains.
“Wrap the coffin. No gloves,” he said, beyond bored.
Rachel went to the chains, looked at them and hesitated. She touched a link, and smoke rose from her hand. Breathing deeply, trembling, she reached out again, grabbing the chain with two hands and rushing to the coffin, throwing it away from her as quickly as she could.
Valerie covered her mouth with her arm, trying to breathe in the smell of her wool coat instead of the stench of burning vampire that was growing stronger each time Rachel touched the chains.
As the minutes passed the vampires became more discomfited, the majority of them not wanting to watch Rachel's flesh sizzle down to the bone. But there was also a sizable minority that watched avidly, absorbing each flicker of Rachel's pain and despair like they were watching a play.
“It doesn’t hurt so much when the skin is gone. The bone doesn’t burn, don’t you find that interesting?” Lucas said to her.
Eyes as wide as saucers, she looked at him, seemingly unable to respond.
Lucas forced her to continue, watching with a dispassionate gaze as she stumbled, trembled and cried.
Finally, the coffin was wrapped.
He stood and Rachel fell to her knees, head bowed to the floor, careful not to let her ruined hands touch anything. “Swear allegiance to me and beg my humble forgiveness.”
The words tumbled from her lips, like she wanted to say them before he had a chance to take it back, or before she was sick. Val bet on being sick. I want to be sick.
“Marion is alive. Are you pleased?”
Rachel's voice was high and wobbly, “You are a gracious lord and master. I am pleased.”
“Do you want to know the conditions for her continued existence?”
Rachel waited, head lowered, unwilling or unable to nod encouragement. “It's you, Rachel. I keep her alive so that I have your loyalty. Fail me and she will never come out of that coffin. It could take her two hundred years to die in there. You don’t know the pain and hunger of being trapped in a coffin, young as you are, lenient as I have been. But you see, don’t you. That it is a torture?”
Tears splashed onto the floor in front of her. “Yes, my lord. It is a torture.”
“Come here so I can tell you how you will please me.”
Guards came and grabbed her, hauling her up the steps and dropping her in front of Lucas. Her short hair was tangled and streaked with…everything. Blood, tears, worse. He spoke to her softly but Rachel’s face froze in horror at his muffled words.
Straining with all her might, Valerie tried to hear what he said but couldn't. Not completely. The guards came back and picked her up again, dragging her from the hall as Valerie thought about what he might have said. She'd only heard one word clearly: “Roanoke”.
Chapter 17
Prague, Czech Republic
Rachel was carried away and all the vampires filed out of the room, meeting adjourned. The room was empty but for Val and Lucas.
His eyes were closed but he opened them when she approached, looking at her as though surprised she was still in the room. His eyes were sky blue and he seemed tired. That was her guess, anyway.
“You didn't protect me,” she said.
“Didn't I?”
“Marion expected you to save me and you didn't. If you had died in this fight, she would have killed me too.”
He gave her a condescending smile, “If I had perished you would not have lived. She would have tasted you and known what you were. She'd have used you, bled you over and over again, whoring you out for power and favors until you were dry and broken.”
“How flattering. The only reason I’m in danger is because of you.”
“Now that is an unusual picture. Jack and your father are just as guilty as I for involving you in our world. Do you not blame them as well?”
Valerie was angry. It was now or never and she was going to be free of him if it killed her. “The difference is that I love them. I would die for Jack and he would die for me. I won't do this anymore. You don't really need me anyway. This is some elaborate scheme to get into my… blood. It's nothing to do with me as a person, but as a toy for you, the novelty empath.”
He raised a finger as though he was going to urge her to be quiet, or make a point and wanted her attention. “Don't pretend to know my motivations. For you or the Others. I want them back. And I want you.”
“Whatever. Just let me go. Let me leave and live my life. If you did actually care for me then you wouldn't want me involved in this.”
“You want me to be unselfish? A vampire is selfishness. We kill so that we can survive, that is the ultimate selfishness.”
She changed the subject, looking for more arguments to try to convince him to leave her alone. “I won't be a vampire. I'd rather die. If you changed me I would kill myself at the first opportunity.”
Lucas chuckled humorlessly, “It is easy to be righteous when you speak of the unknown. You do not need to persuade me. You may go.”
“What's the catch?”
He smiled. A genuine smile that crinkled his eyes and made her think of him as the man he used to be instead of the blood spattered monster sitting on a throne before her.
“I don't need one. Go to Jack. Convince him of your love and the future you will have. When he decides to kill me, come back and beg me for his life. We need discuss nothing until then.”
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