by Maya Daniels
“It didn’t need to be said.” Andrei sounds insulted, but I don’t give a shit how he feels right now.
“Clear,” Marcus says after a long silence.
With a sigh, I climb the stairs unhurriedly, my hands in my pockets, the jacket pushed aside by my forearms. Nice and easy, don’t let them see through your plans. Just blend in with the crowd. Passing through the wide-open front doors, I have to keep repeating that in my head. It’s nothing like last time we were here.
Runners are covering the tiled, empty hallway, our shoes sinking in the plush fibers with a muffled sound. No lighting is set up, no candelabras line the walls. Our enhanced eyesight leads us through the darkness that stretches in front of us like a gaping hole leading to the pits of hell. In the distance, the light of the throne room beckons like the light at the end of a tunnel, its significance not lost on me. The message the Council is trying to send is: When everything is dark, we are here to bring the light. The self-proclaimed saviors are mocking us to our face.
My hands clench into fists in my pockets, my outer calm not giving away the storm brewing in my chest. They think they’ll celebrate the death of the one I have claimed as mine. The one that, to my astonishment, claimed me back. Their blood will paint the walls of this building tonight.
My lips curl under the stoic mask I hold on my face.
Classical music drifts to my ears before we reach the entrance of the throne room. Squinting my eyes from the drastic change, the light from the dangling chandelier and hundreds of lit up candles is too harsh on my sight. Another powerplay, to make all of us disoriented while the eight of them watch like hawks from their thrones. Pushing away from the discomfort, I pretend that I’m struggling to adjust, all their eyes moving away from the three of us in disinterest.
“Spread out.” With a quiet command, I move away from Andrei and Marcus.
Circling the edges of the vast open space, I scan the area as inconspicuously as possible. Eyes following my movement are like a wooden steak between my shoulder blades. Forcing myself not to turn and find the threat, I grab the first human within arm’s reach. Dragging her closer, I push the mask aside and press my nose to her neck, hiding in her hair. Repulsion makes me shiver as I sniff the cloying scent of decay coming from her skin. For the love of anything sacred, what are they doing between these walls?
“Humph…I could’ve sworn…” Kali’s softly spoken words make me squeeze the human’s wrist harder than necessary, her pained whimper adding to the illusion of my fangs being embedded in her neck.
I feel her moving away from me, my muscles relaxing from the stiffness I’m hoping she didn’t notice. Still holding the woman pressed to me, I turn us slightly around, searching for Andrei and Marcus through the crowds. The human claws at my shoulder with her free hand, pushing me to growl menacingly so she gets her hands off me. I see Andrei nod from next to the thrones, his partial mask enough to hide his identity. Marcus is nowhere to be found, but a hush falls over the room and I’m out of time to search for him. Pulling my mask back over my face, I shove the human away, sending her sprawling on the floor.
“You must be wondering why we are celebrating tonight.” Khan’s voice bounces off the walls around us, coming from everywhere at once. The throne only amplifies it. “With the unexpected attack by the rebels…” He smirks, making my claws pierce the skin of my palms. “You thought the Council was weak. We have grown complacent over the years.” Lifting himself up, he spreads his arms wide. “We still hold the power. It will never be given to anyone else and those that want it will be turned to dust. It is easy to play a victim, so you catch the disease trying to plague our kind. And we did.” Grinning wildly, his eyes glint with madness when he surveys the room. “We have the disease, and we will cure you of it once and for all.” Waving a hand at Irina, his fangs drop from under his lip. “Bring her in!”
The rest of the Council sits impassively on their thrones. All but Eshe. She is clutching the sides of her throne with clawed hands, her dark eyes sparkling with rage, nostrils flaring and lips pressed so tight together a trickle of blood slides from them down to her chin. Her breasts are heaving, the long-beaded chains on her chest dancing with the movement.
They roll in a large wooden cross, just another mockery of the human faith that this building belonged to because of the woman stretched out on it as if crucified. Khan is almost vibrating where he stands, his face twisting in an ugly mask of lust and hatred at the same time. Bile rises in my throat at the sight. My fingers are twitching with the urge to rip his head off his shoulders.
“And here she is.” Irina pushes the cross to the center of the room, her thick accent making her words choppy and harsh on the ears. “Your matron.” Throwing her head back, she laughs, her platinum blonde hair swaying behind her. “A pathetic, little, human.” Irina sneers in the woman’s face.
To my surprise, the woman only smiles. Not a trace of fear can be felt or seen on her, and the genuine smile stuns even the crazy bitch that was getting in her face. Tension is so thick in the air you will need to claw through it if you want to move.
“You fucking little bitch!” Irina screeches, lifting a clawed hand in the air and swiping at the woman’s neck.
“Irina!” Khan roars, while my body coils up to attack, but none of us should’ve bothered.
Wind rustles my suit jacket a second before a vision in a blue and silver dress appears between Irina and the woman. Her hair is styled in a crown on top of her head, long curls falling down the back over her bare shoulders. Power like I’ve never felt before pulses through the air, leaving me breathless.
Irina’s eyes bulge out, her hand still up in the air, and everything is frozen in place for a second. Then April jerks her hand back, a sickening, sucking sound permeating the air. She lifts her clawed hand up with Irina’s still-beating heart between her fingers. Thick red blood runs down her forearm when her fingers tighten, squeezing the organ until it bursts.
“Surprise bitch!” the woman tied to the cross says a moment before Irina disintegrates to dust, laughing in the faces of the stunned, mute Council.
April giggles.
“I believe you were looking for me, Khan,” she says softly, licking the blood from her hand.
“Now!” Marcus roars from somewhere in the crowd.
April
All hell breaks loose in the throne room. The guardians swarm through the doors, killing everyone that stands in their way. Blood sprays like someone throwing buckets of paint in the air, the coppery scent making my fangs throb in my gums. Shrieks and roars create a cacophony of sound, replacing the soft music that played not long ago. My eyes stay locked on Khan. He hasn’t moved from his place, his face still twisted in a grimace that is, I’m assuming, supposed to look intimidating. Tilting my head to the side, I scrutinize him. Or maybe he is constipated. He does look little pale.
“Not feeling well, tesoro?” I can feel Sebastian at my back, jerking like I’ve slapped him at the word. He knows nothing of my history with Khan. But he will. “Oops…I didn’t mean to kill your whore. Forgive me?” Batting my eyelashes innocently, a smug smile stretches my lips. “It’s a shame, really. She did help you kill me, after all.”
“Vincenza.” From the corner of my eye I see my old friend, Eshe. She calls out, rushing through the fighting bodies, throwing people like dolls left and right in her hurry.
“It’s April, my friend.” Grabbing her arm when she reaches my side, I still don’t look away from Khan. “Vincenza died centuries ago. She was a little too soft hearted for the likes of those like him.” Pointing my chin at Khan, I hear Eshe laugh softly. “She also had poor taste in men, I must say.” This time Eshe laughs out loud, and I chuckle. “April fixed that little problem.”
Reaching behind me, I grab hold of a still-stiffened Sebastian and pull him next to me. Without looking, I flick the mask off his face. Eshe laughs harder. I wonder if she will do it for much longer after I say my peace.
“You see S
ebastian.” He turns his face to me, his intent gaze like a caress on the side of my face. “Khan here was my consort centuries ago. I bet all the scrolls and texts never revealed that little detail. He is too smart to have that just lying around.” I can feel the muscles on his forearm turn to granite under my hand. “It wasn’t all of them together that killed me and cursed my blood. It was him and his mistress, Irina. Piercing my heart with a wooden stake carved with runes. They took everything from me and cursed you all, humans included, to this exitance.” My gaze finally swings to each of the others sitting stunned on their thrones like the dumb puppets they are. “And he planned to kill all of you tonight. Isn’t that right, Khan? How did you put it…Ah yes!” Mimicking his voice, I still don’t pull off the crazy edge in it. “’I will get rid of all of you tonight. It’s a new era, and it will be mine.’ Did I get it right?”
“She lies, trying to turn us against each other.” Finally snapping out of his trance, he waves his hands when the rest of them jump off their thrones. “Don’t you see she’s the disease that we must get rid of?”
“I sense no lies in her words.” Niklas squares off with Khan, his glass blue eyes glinting angrily. “You, however, reek of it.”
Kali throws herself at me like a whirlwind. Sebastian materializes between us, intercepting her with a loud crash of bodies, both of them taking the wooden cross down from the force. I turn to look for the woman only to find her gone. Good, the two guardians did the job I gave them well, taking her to safety. The screeches and roars are lessened with each passing moment. A yellow blur comes my way, but Eshe steps in the way, coming face to face with Elizabeth. With a grin, Eshe attacks, sinking her fangs in Elizabeth’s shoulder. I guess everyone is busy with their own favorites. It’s time I deal with mine.
Walking up to the thrones, Niklas moves fast, showing up in front of me with his claws extended and fangs bared. His eyes bulge out of his head when he jerks abruptly to a stop with my hand wrapped around his neck. Grinning, my hand sinks in his chest, and he blinks stupidly at me when I rip his heart from this chest. Opening my fingers, it plops at my feet and, still looking at his astounded expression, I sink the thin heel of my sandals in it.
“You almost got me when I was saving Sebastian.” He turns to dust, and I wave my hand in front of my face to clear the air. “I didn’t like that very much.”
Facing the three remaining Council members, I smile.
“And what shall we do with the three of you?” Guardians have surrounded them, keeping them seated while their bodies tremble with rage and the need to attack me. Tapping a finger on my lips, I feel the blood dripping down my chin. My tongue sticks out, cleaning it off my lips. “Whoever survives between the two of you can join me,” I tell Abraham and Sharif.
Without a second to even think about what I’ve said, they turn, ripping at each other. How disappointing. Glancing around, I see the guardians have cleared out the throne room. Body parts litter the once sparkling-clean floor, everything covered in sprays of red like a masterpiece. Eshe and Sebastian stand close, also covered in blood. A shiver runs down my spine at how sinful Sebastian looks, disheveled, his intense eyes glimmering. Abraham lifts off the dust that used to be Sharif. He looks at me expectantly. Searching the room, my eyes lock on Marcus. I nod, and the next second, he is behind Abraham, his hand bursting through the front of the Council member’s chest.
“Loyalty can’t be taught,” I tell Abraham evenly before he evaporates.
When only Khan is left, I stand there watching him. The idiot doesn’t even try to run, or bargain. I definitely expected a deal from the sleazebag. He keeps staring, madness swirling in his dark eyes. The silence is too loud in the room.
“Stand back, Sebastian. I’ve waited a very long time for this.” A humorless smile lifts my lips. “I guess it’s you and me, Khan. Just like the old times.” With a roar, he slams his shoulder in my chest.
The air is knocked out of my lungs, leaving me gasping until I remember that I don’t necessarily have to breathe. Khan sinks his claws in my arms, the ripping of skin under their sharpness fueling my determination to see him suffer. He expects a scream, but he receives a grin instead. My own claws rake down his sides and back, his pained roar making me chuckle.
Khan snaps his jaws too close to my face, his madness making him reckless and wild. One sharp fang splits the skin on my cheek, and the stinging is forgotten from the putrid smell of his breath. My stomach rolls from the stench, allowing him an opportunity to wedge himself between my legs, his erection pressing on my belly through the thin fabric of the dress. Bile like acid floods my mouth, and I throw him off me, gagging. He is back in a flash, lifting me up and slamming me on the ground. Tiles crack under my body, my bones rattling under my skin. Anger bubbles in my chest, and something snaps in my brain, causing me to shove him away with everything in me.
“Aww, does it hurt?” I send him flying into Irina’s throne, breaking it in half. “Oops, we broke a throne.”
Lifting up, I stalk to where he is sprawled on the ground, groaning. Blood runs freely from his wounds. I can feel it from mine too, warmth spreading down my shoulders, but centuries have passed, and the thirst for revenge is stronger than blood loss.
“Get up!” I kick him, and he slides a few feet, writhing on the ground.
Walking up to him, I grab his robes, yanking him up. His eyes glint with triumph when I lift him to face me, my claws shredding the fabric of his robes. Too late I notice the movement of his arm. Searing pain like my body is burning from the inside out spreads through me. I try to stumble away from him, but I can’t. Looking down between our bodies, I see his hand gripping a large piece of the crystal throne that he pushed between my ribs, sinking his hand all the way to the knuckles inside me.
He grins victoriously.
A red haze overtakes my vision, bathing everything around me in swirls of pulsing rage. Not again! He will not win this time even if he takes me with him. Yanking him closer, I stifle a scream when the shard sinks deeper in my side. Finally, the terror he should feel widens his eyes a second before I strike, ripping half of his neck with my fangs. The hot, sour taste of tainted blood sprays my mouth, face, and neck, but I keep tearing the flesh, tendons, and bones until his head drops with a heavy thud at my feet. Disgust makes me spit the remaining blood out of my mouth, and I shiver from the bitter aftertaste.
“Pathetic for a god, don’t you think?” Shaking him like a dog would a bone, I watch his headless body with loathing.
A roar echoes around me from the guardians. Startled out of my killing lust, I turn to see them all down on one knee, heads bowed together with whoever was left alive of the guests to this debacle. Eshe and Sebastian are, as well, their heads lifted while they watch me with reverence on their faces.
I wipe my hand off the sodden skirts of the dress, my fingers brushing over the wooden stakes. I don’t have time to take a full breath before the bond with all my kind snaps back into place. Forgetting that it will happen now that Khan is dead, it brings me on my knees. My back bows, bending me backward, my arms flinging back to my sides. An awful scream of pain shatters every glass in the room into dust, the walls around us cracking when the remaining crystal thrones amplify it.
It echoes a very long time, no doubt heard by everyone in a hundred-mile radius, leaving all those kneeling around me sprain on the floor with their hands pressed tightly to their bleeding ears. My throat feels raw, and vocal cords are ripped apart. When I finally drop on the ground, blood sprays through my lips when I cough. The blurriness clears after a moment, millions of emotions from around the world hitting like a tsunami in my chest, leaving me breathless.
Strong, calloused hands lift me up, and I press my face to Sebastian’s chest, inhaling his familiar scent. Sebastian. My eyes snap open, and I lift my face to his. His dark gaze full of concern is intent on me. My hand glides down his chest to my lap, then further down my hip to my thigh. Pain stabs my chest, but I push it away. This is the way
it has to be. Reminding myself sternly, I look around, searching for Andrei. He is nowhere to be found.
Good.
Locking my gaze on Sebastian, I lift my other hand, cupping his face and pulling him down for a kiss. His eyes close, and he comes eagerly, his tongue parting my lips, sending a burning desire through me. I can never get enough of him. I kept lying to myself all this time that I hate him, that I can never forgive his treachery for turning me into something I hated. I was an idiot. He is like a drug, and I am a willing addict. You must do this April. The voice in my head pulls me out of the lust clouding my mind. My fingers tighten around the wooden stake, and in one smooth motion, I pull it out, plunging it in Sebastian’s heart.
He jerks back, eyes widening on my face. Slowly, his head tilts, his gaze moving to the wood sticking from his chest. My hand still wrapped around the runes, I expect to see hurt or betrayal when he looks back at me.
Acceptance and love shine strong, even through the bond I still hold blocked between us. A soft smile lifts his kissable lips, and his trembling hand grazes my cheek.
“La mia redenzione, ricordati di me.” ‘My redemption, remember me.’ I find it difficult to breathe, when I hear his words. His hand falls limply to his side, my body following his when he drops on the ground. I can’t pull my eyes away from his, but my heart breaks because it has come to this. Holding on to the block on the bond, I watch his angelic face shrivel and dry out, the muscles that I traced with my hands while he was filling me turning into nothing next to me. Tears trickle down my face like rivulets gathering under my chin before dropping on my chest.
Silence.
Lifting my head, I look at the faces around us. Disbelief, shock, and horror, mixes with tears and blood over their skin. They blame me at this very moment for taking him away from them, as if I didn’t take him away from me too. The last thump of his heart is like I have plunged the same stake in my own chest. Turning away from their judgment, with a trembling hand, I pull the damn wood from his heart. Ripping my wrist open, I press it on top of his dry lips.