Bloodspell

by Amalie Howard

  Victoria felt all eyes in the room boring into her. Now it was her turn to grasp the arms of her chair with bloodless fingers. Through the haze, she felt Christian gently brush her mind giving her strength even as she could feel his restrained wrath beneath it. The amulet stung the skin of her chest as the stares converged upon her and she fought the urge to flee.

  Enhard cleared his throat. "Lord Devereux, what is this about?"

  Lucian faced him, his face a mask of cold rage. "My point, my lord," he said, "is that you censure me for seeking a better future when he seeks to destroy us all." Lucian spat the last words viciously staring at his brother with venomous eyes. Christian remained unmoved, his face chiseled from granite. The Council members muttered among themselves staring from Lucian to Christian and back again. The witch and wizard remained silent though their attention was clearly centered on the two brothers.

  "Ask him," Lucian jeered. He indicated the woman sitting beside him. "Lena has seen his disgrace with her own eyes."

  As Victoria heard the name, her eyes snapped to the woman who turned in slow motion, her eyes connecting with Victoria's. The malice in their ice blue depths was obvious, and Victoria recognized her as the woman who had attacked her as well as the one from Christian's memories. She felt her blood surge.

  "My Lord Devereux is correct," Lena said. "His Grace brings dishonor to both our worlds by his ... affiliation with this witch."

  The whispers in the room became deafening. Victoria could feel the heavy weight of the stares of the witch and the wizard boring into her on top of the dozens of eyes already locked onto her. She sat coolly, her head high even though her skin was flushed.

  "Lord Devereux, this is a grave accusation!" cried a Council member, supported by vocal affirmations from several others. Lucian's ferocious scowl silenced the Council member who had spoken and the vampire shrank back, cowed. Lucian's lip curled in ominous fury as if daring any of them to speak again. They did not look at him. The tension in the room thickened like quicksand.

  Suddenly Christian stood and the room became still. "Cease," he commanded. "Lord Devereux is correct in his statement." Dead silence followed his statement amidst shaken looks. Enhard seemed physically pained. Christian continued. "She is under my protection as Lord Devereux's companion has attacked her twice now. Given the strained relationship between our societies, I thought it best to take her under my protection. Our laws do not forbid this."

  "If by protection, you mean something else entirely, then I will say she is surely well protected," Lucian said, his insinuation clear. The room twittered in response. Christian's hands clenched at his side, and Victoria knew that it was time. He couldn't do this alone, not without her help. She stood, walking to the middle of the room and commanding everyone's attention.

  "My Lords," she said, addressing the Council, "I confirm that I have been attacked twice by this woman and threatened once by Lucian Devereux himself. In fact, the protection of His Grace," she said, echoing Lucian's sarcastic emphasis as well as Lena's strange formal address to Christian, "is the only reason I stand here before you today."

  Victoria didn't mean to consciously do it, but her sincerity was delicately and cleverly amplified by her magic. The Council nodded in unison, some even sitting forward in their seats at the unexpected power of her simple words. She heard the soft gasp of the blond witch sitting behind her, and could feel their startled glances. Compulsion on one person was not something easily done—it took immense skill and concentration to magically sway conscious thought. Compulsion on a roomful of vampires in a space warded against magic was another thing entirely.

  "But I saw him with her!" Lena said. "He wants her!" Christian turned but Victoria beat him to the punch.

  "Of course he does, he wants me to be safe from you," Victoria said, deliberately misunderstanding her words and diffusing Lena's poisonous exclamation. Lena opened her mouth to argue but Christian's crisp command pierced the room.

  "Leave us, please," he said quietly. Victoria was amazed that everyone left without so much as a whisper in deference to his command, and the room emptied until it was just Lucian, Lena, Enhard, herself, and Christian. Lucian had told Lena to stay which seemed to anger Christian. He turned to him. "You forget your place, brother," Christian said.

  "And you forget your duty!" Lucian said. "She is a witch!"

  "That didn't stop you from wanting her, did it?" Christian's retort was just as quick. Victoria noticed the stunned look that flashed across Lena's face. "And why is she here?" Christian said, indicating Lena. Lucian looked at him coldly, spitefully.

  "She is, after all, your Companion, is she not?" he said, his eyes glittering.

  Christian glanced at Victoria, seeing shock crack her composure. "Lena chose another path, Lucian, you know that and she knows that," he said, but Christian knew the intended damage had been done. Victoria refused to look at him. "What do you want, Lucian?"

  "You know what I want."

  "I have already given you control of the House of Devereux. Anything more is impossible, you know that," he said.

  Christian stared at Lucian, knowing exactly what was going through his head; there was another alternative, the right of succession. Lucian wanted the title Christian held as the first-born Devereux son. But Lucian was too cowardly to fight him in a fair fight, and he was afraid of the combined strength of the Council and the sway they held over the six other vampire Houses. Lucian believed that if he controlled Le Sang Noir, then he would have complete dominion over Christian and over all the Houses.

  Challenge me then, Lucian, Christian silently said. Take what you think is rightfully yours. Slowly and with open loathing, Lucian stared at him.

  Another day perhaps, brother. The time will soon come, that I promise you.

  Lucian turned on his heel and sat insolently in his chair. Christian did not respond to his barely veiled threat and after a few moments, he signaled Enhard to bring in the Council. He wanted this over with quickly, so he could turn his attention to Victoria. He could already feel her anguish consuming her.

  The Council members resumed their places, and as the meeting came to a close, Victoria slipped out the doors feeling Christian's eyes follow her exit. She went to the small room they had been in when they had arrived and collapsed onto a chair. Christian had a companion. She didn't have to be a vampire to know what that meant.

  The very same woman who had tried to kill her, the one that she herself had said would be perfect for him. She felt sick with jealousy. Christian had made someone. He had loved someone enough to have made them a vampire. He'd made her. Hot tears leaked from her eyes as she sat hunched over. After everything they'd been through, the betrayal was crippling.

  Hearing voices, she hastily composed herself, standing just as Enhard escorted Aliya and Fardon into the room. Without looking at her, Enhard explained courteously that they had wanted to meet the witch responsible for the death of the traitor. It was the last thing Victoria needed, but she forced herself to be civil and introduced herself. When she touched the woman's hand, the spark of energy between them did not go unnoticed, and Fardon eyed her with sharp interest.

  "It's good to meet you," Aliya said smiling, her voice musical. "Do you mind if I ask how you ..." Victoria knew what she meant even before she finished her sentence. They wanted to know how she had killed the witch.

  "I'm not entirely sure how, but I destroyed a crystal necklace she had," she said evasively, trying to avoid reliving the ugly memory of the witch's power running through her veins. Aliya nodded as if the simple explanation made sense.

  "I see how that could be effective, considering that she was an exile and forbidden to wield magic," she said. "Are you self-taught?"

  "My ... familiar helped with my training."

  "And the compulsion in the meeting room? Where did you learn that?" Victoria was startled. "Don't worry. Some of us have natural gifts." Aliya smiled again, and Victoria felt her discomfort recede as quickly as it had come.
Aliya's gift was clearly her ability to control emotions.

  "You're a high-priestess?" Victoria asked. "You seem ... young."

  A smile. "I am entering my fourth century as the liaison for relations with other societies, like the vampires, so not that young."

  "And him?" Victoria asked, indicating the silent man at Aliya's side.

  "Fardon is a Seer," she said. "He sees the unconscious mind of a person, and their true intent." At Victoria's confused look, she continued to explain. "A witch or wizard, or vampire for that matter, can block their conscious mind with the proper training but the unconscious part is more difficult to veil, just as it is also more difficult to interpret. Fardon sees what is hidden." She waved a hand to indicate where they were. "Which is also why he is here with me. If the vampires meant us harm, we would know it even before they did on a conscious level. We can't use offensive magic here, but we can teleport if we need to leave quickly."

  Victoria nodded. It made sense that the vampires would have their own protective wards in place to inhibit a magical attack from the witch delegates. Smart.

  "And what do you see then, with me?" Victoria directed her question at Fardon, who smiled at her boldness and then frowned soon after, his eyes widening.

  Aliya was right, Victoria couldn't distinguish between her conscious and unconscious, but her blood certainly could. She let her energy flow, following the guidance of the blood magic, and kept her mind a blank slate. The harder Fardon focused, the more elusive what he was searching for became. She could feel his mounting frustration and smiled inside.

  "I see nothing," he said after several minutes. He exchanged a baffled look with Aliya who had put a calming hand on his arm as if she'd also sensed his frustration. She watched Victoria circumspectly.

  "That's impossible," she said slowly. "No, not impossible, but it would take a very accomplished witch to block Fardon. Not many can thwart his Seeing ability. And yet you do so effortlessly ... and untrained

  "Maybe there's just nothing to see," Victoria said.

  Fardon frowned. "There's always something to see!"

  Victoria remained silent, and they stood staring at each other, at a curious impasse until a knock on the door interrupted them.

  Christian walked into the room without waiting for an answer, clearly looking for Victoria. He took in the scene right away—Victoria's discomfort, Fardon's interest, and Aliya's frustration. As soon as Victoria saw him, he didn't miss the immediate darkening of her eyes or the walls that fell into place over them. He cursed Lucian's earlier revelation for the hundredth time.

  "Will you please excuse us?" he said to Aliya and Fardon.

  As Aliya left the room, she looked at Christian with a shuttered, speculative expression as if she had detected something transpiring between the two of them that had made her suddenly uneasy. She frowned but left as he'd asked.

  Christian closed the door. He stared at Victoria where she sat on one of the chairs staring into space, steadfastly refusing to look at him.

  "Tori, please talk to me," he said. "It was a long time ago, and it ended a long time ago."

  "Why didn't you tell me?" Her voice was a whisper.

  "Because it doesn't mean anything. You have to believe that."

  "She still loves you, you know," she said finally, looking him in the eyes. "And I can never compete with that, Christian."

  "Compete with what, exactly?" he said, detecting a strange finality in her voice.

  "That she is a vampire, like you, that you gave a part of yourself to her. She is who she is because you chose her. She will always have that piece of you ... that I won't." Victoria pressed her hands to her face, her torment apparent. Christian knelt at her feet and took her hands in his. She tried to pull them away, but he held on tightly. "She doesn't want to let you go, I saw it in her eyes."

  "Victoria, that doesn't matter. Do you know why?" he asked. "Because I let her go a long time ago. I don't want her. I want you. I love you."

  "You love me?" she echoed dumbly.

  "What do you think this is all about?" he asked. Victoria turned her face away, unwilling to look in his eyes, knowing what she saw there would be her undoing. She shook her head in angry denial, refuting his gently given words.

  "No. You were right. What we are doing is wrong. There's a reason for the laws," she said, bleak. "They hate us ... they hate me." And then fire flashed again for an instant in her eyes as she remembered something else. "And I can't believe you never told me you're a stupid Earl or whatever!"

  "A Duke. My father was the cousin of the King of France. Remember? I did tell you that he was the Duke of Avigny." As he said the words, Victoria remembered that he had said that, but at the time she had been more concerned with what had happened to him to make him what he was, rather than details about who he was. She nodded. "Well, that same title has passed to me and its royal lineage is recognized in our world," he said.

  "And Lucian?"

  "He has other titles, but as first-born, I inherited this one. Although it means little to me, and I would give it up in a heartbeat if I could."

  "Couldn't you?" she blurted out.

  "Only by dying."

  Victoria blanched at his response, knowing that Lucian would be more than happy to have him dead.

  "It doesn't matter," he said. "Don't you know by now that I do as I like? Tori, I gave you my mother's ring because it is my pledge to you, not to anyone else ... to you. It doesn't matter to me what the rules are in my world or in your world, I only care about us and our world because anywhere that is, is where I want to be. It's the only place I want to be," he said, desperately willing her to believe him, to trust him.

  He could see her on the verge of it, just about to grasp the hand he offered, when suddenly the door swung open and Enhard walked in, taking in the scene of Christian, a vampire royal, kneeling before Victoria.

  His glacial response was all Victoria saw, and the tiny flicker of warmth struggling to stay alive between them abruptly faded, her expression deadening in seconds. Christian clenched his jaw swallowing his ire at Enhard's untimely entrance and whispered, "Please Tori, trust me."

  "I can't, Christian." Her eyes closed in distress. "I'm sorry." She couldn't even look at him, knowing what she would see in his face.

  Tori ... please.

  I can't. We are impossible. It has always been impossible. No matter what we tell ourselves, there can be no happy ending for us. We are just another tragic love story waiting to be written.

  Before Christian could even guess at her intent, he saw her grasp her amulet and she disappeared before his very eyes. He was left holding air as her hands vanished, leaving nothing but a cold memory of their presence. She had left him, he thought desolately, and he sank back to the floor his head in his hands. Enhard looked completely shaken by Victoria's unexpected exit, but the sudden lifeless expression on Christian's face troubled him far more than her startling vanishing act.

  "Christian?"

  "I'm sorry, Enhard." Christian's voice was like a staccato. "I can't let her go."

  "You can't be serious, Christian. You do know what this means, don't you?"

  "I don't care what it means." His words were hard, final, implacable. "I won't live without her."

  VICTORIA HAD MANAGED to teleport herself without any lasting damage to Holly's house. It was the only place she could think of besides her apartment, and she did not want to be alone. Leaving Christian had been one of the hardest things she had ever had to do. Her heart felt like it had been cleaved into two pieces, the other half abandoned halfway across the world.

  On top of that, teleportation over three thousand miles had left her utterly drained, physically and mentally. She'd had to depend on some of the energy in her amulet to complete the transfer but even so the actual shaping of the spell had required a colossal amount of her own energy. If she had given herself time to think about it, she probably wouldn't have done it.

  She lay on her bed shivering in a
cold sweat, trying desperately to keep the post-traumatic nausea at bay, and struggling to figure out what she could possibly say to Holly to explain her sudden arrival. She checked her watch realizing that it was almost five a.m. No wonder the house was so dead quiet. Victoria pulled her blankets up to her neck.

  Her eyes were so heavy she could barely keep them open. She wondered groggily where Leto was for a second before darkness overtook her and she fell into a black, dreamless sleep.

  When Victoria awoke many hours later, the sky was still dark and she flew out of bed at first, having no memory of where she was in the blackness of the room. The alarm clock's red numbers said it was seven in the morning, and everything came back to her in a sudden rush. She had to take several deep breaths to stop the rush of hysteria from settling in. She'd slept more than twenty-four hours. Victoria rubbed the sleep from her eyes and walked to the landing.

  "Aunt Holly? Anyone home?" There was no answer. She poked her head into Holly's empty room and noticed that the bed had not been slept in. Was Holly away? She peered down the stairs. The entire house was shrouded in darkness, and Victoria felt the first stirrings of unease at the abnormal quiet.

  "Illustro," she said, walking downstairs as all the lights turned on with her low command. She froze in horror at the state of the kitchen.

  It was like a whirlwind had crashed through it. There was broken china strewn everywhere. The table was flipped onto its top and several chairs lay in a haphazard heap to one side of the room. Newspapers and magazines that had been in a neat pile on the kitchen counter littered the floor.

  Victoria felt panic build in her body, and she opened her mind to search for Holly, at first in the house, then in the immediate surroundings, then in the town. She was nowhere to be found. Victoria pulled out her cell-phone and dialed Holly's number, and heard the answering ring coming from the kitchen drawer. Holly never left her phone at home!

  Fretfully, she chewed her lips until she felt a sharp sting and the salty taste of blood filled her mouth. Where was Leto? If something had happened, he would have contacted her. The strange sense of foreboding grew and she repeated the same mental search for Leto. This time she sensed something faint in the back garden. She raced out there without thinking.