“Yet you drank from me,” Allantra pointed out, not accusing just stating a fact.
“Yes, I am not proud of that fact. You can be quite… distracting.” He allowed a tiny smile to play on his handsome face. “However, I will not make excuses, your blood was intoxicating but it did not render me helpless.”
“What a way to charm a girl,” she teased him, smiling.
It was the first time Khaelen noticed she had but one dimple in her right cheek. She was absolutely adorable. He was willing to admit he felt far more for her than he had felt for anyone, and yet he did not know her very well. He knew her nature however; she was just the right combination of woman and warrior. Not self righteous but having a healthy dose of morals, not to mention when it came to fucking she was hot as hell. If he wasn’t careful he might find himself falling in… Abruptly, he let the thought seal itself. This was not the time for that.
“So, are you going to tell me something about you that no one else knows?” she queried again, not allowing herself to be put off.
“Are you familiar with the hierarchy of Vampire clans?” he asked her solemnly.
When she shook her head vaguely, he continued. “We try to keep some things away from the common people.” He smirked seeing her indignation flare then settle. “A father is Master of his clan, when he dies the eldest son is Full Caste, you know what that means, yes?”
“It means they have a Master’s position without the family, meaning wife and kids.”
“Very good,” he teased before he went on. “My father died a mysterious death, his ashes were found inside of his sleeping chambers not too long after my mother mysteriously died. The family knew that my father’s mistress had murdered her in order to become Lady of the family. Father refused an investigation into Mother’s death, claiming it to be no more than an accident. How one can accidentally be beheaded is beyond me.” Bitterness laced Khaelen’s words.
“The mistress claimed she was attacked by a Shifter when she was walking on the estate’s gardens. She ran and, grabbing a sword left by a guard while on break, she swung without looking, not realizing my mother was taking her nightly constitution as she always did upon rising, this was a fact known to everyone in our home.”
“You must have been angry at your father for betraying your mother like that. Not once but twice.”
“Yes, I was. I could no longer love the man, only despise him, but I hid it from him. I arranged a meeting with my father in the very gardens my mother died. I trapped him and tied him to the bench she sat on every night to watch the stars. I let the sun have him. The next night, I returned, put his ashes into an urn and dumped them into his sleeping chambers in the middle of his bed. I then pretended to be the worried son. Asking who had seen my father last. No one ever suspected that I was the one who’d done it.
“My brothers, who hated the mistress as much as I did, accused her of killing our parents. They had her beheaded.” The small area of the woods that Khaelen and Allantra now occupied was completely silent. It was almost as if the wood’s natives knew the enormity of what had been revealed and did not want to intrude upon the heaviness. Allantra sucked in her breath as Khaelen finally exhaled. He had never told anyone that, not even his brothers.
To confess to such a crime meant instant death. He had given Allantra a lot of power.
No more power than you have over me. She whispered in his mind.
How do you figure that one?
You know what I truly am. I would be put to death instantly as well.
What a pair we make.
Yes. She agreed.
Out loud she said, “Thank you.” He merely nodded his head in acknowledgement.
“So what’s the plan when we get to the Elders?”
“Try to convince them of Wulf’s treachery.”
“And if that doesn’t work, which by the way I’m quite sure it won’t.”
“Then I have my suspicions, but I would need to speak with them first. You might be the bargaining chip that saves us.”
“It will be morning in a couple of hours, we should go.”
“Yes, we should.”
They piled into the jeep. Khaelen tried not to show his surprise and pleasure when Allantra laced her fingers with his. He gave her hand a squeeze and ventured into what he hoped was not the end of their lives.
* * * *
The Elders’ council chambers looked deserted. Khaelen knew that to be a ploy. This place was heavily guarded, but he knew a way in. He turned to Allantra who was crouching behind him in the small area between two buildings that faced the council chambers. One was a museum that had been closed for twenty years or more, due to the council’s ruling that only the privileged could enter by arrangement only. It had its own built-in security system and since no one ever tried to break in, the council did not waste men on guarding it. Not with the council across the street. Guards could be there in seconds. The other building was a church only the Elders attended, apparently too good for the masses. It was deserted now and this is where they crouched.
“What’s the smallest animal you can shift into?’
“Why?’
“Just answer the question.” Damn, why did she always have to question everything?
“A rat.”
“Perfect.” He smiled, showing perfectly white sexy fangs. Sexy fangs? What was wrong with her? A few good runs in the sack and she sounded like a whelp.
“Perfect for what?” she cleared her throat, and simultaneously tried to clear her libido.
“This place is heavily guarded against anything wanting to go through those doors.”
“So a rat is not going to work for me.”
“We’re not going through the doors.” He deliberately cast his eyes skyward then back at her.
“Rats can’t fly, Sherlock.” She let the sarcasm drip freely.
“Falcons have been known to fly.” He crossed his powerful arms across his chest waiting for her to latch on to his idea.
“Oh no, you want me to ride piggyback on you! Are you crazy!” she hissed at him, panic and anger in abundance. “What if I fall?”
“Then hopefully you’re talented enough to shift into something that might make landing easier.” He wasn’t openly laughing at her but she felt that he was.
“Bastard,” she grumbled in a lower voice.
“No, truly, my parents were married for one hundred and fifty years.” And this time he laughed low, sending shivers straight through her.
“Fine, is this the only way?”
“It’s the safest and surest bet we have into getting in undetected.”
“If you drop me, so help me, I’ll turn into a dragon and burn you to a crisp!” She bit out before shifting, not even bothering to see his reaction to her threat, no doubt he would find it amusing and piss her off even more. She watched in rat form, her beady, chestnut eyes waiting for him to shift. And truly he was beautiful as a falcon, black as midnight, which would make it much easier to hide in the night.
The bird lowered its head in an elegant and inviting fashion, she scrambled on top of its back and purposefully dug her tiny but sharp nails into its feathers. The falcon did not flinch. With its eyes closed, the rat wrapped its tail closely to the falcon’s body. The sensation of flying was both terrifying and exhilarating. She dared not look down, not that she would see much. She concentrated on feeling the muscles of the bird work beneath her body.
They circled twice, and then Allantra felt a quick drop in her stomach as they began to land. With one hop the bird stopped, waited then began to slowly hop. Keep holding on, this is the tricky part, he said in her mind. She kept her eyes squeezed shut and just went with the feeling of movement. They descended slowly down what was probably a flue of some kind as she heard his wings brush metal a few times. There was a bump then he stopped. She felt him lower his head, and she opened her eyes. They were in the largest fireplace she had ever seen.
They hid in the shadows far away into a corner
while she looked around. The bird cocked his head to listen. Shift but remain in she shadows, he told her.
“I told you they would come to us,” said the voice of an Elder. “Won’t you two please come out and greet us properly?”
Chapter Nine
Khaelen grabbed Allantra’s hand as they half crawled out from the shadows of the fireplace. The room was cold and not furnished. Sconces lined the walls giving the room an eerie glow. Shadows flicked here and there. Allantra thought she saw the form of an Elder only to have it move so fast she couldn’t be sure as it blended into the shadows. “Elders, I greet you,” Khaelen said in his loud formal voice. “I believe you know my companion, Allantra.”
“Companion?” the Elder scoffed. Its voice could not be pinned down to any particular shadow in any place in the room. “You are aware we have seen the disk that makes the two of you slightly more than companions, Executioner.”
“Yes, well, I am aware now that you have seen it.”
“She is a Shifter, yes?” another Elder inquired.
They seemed to keep moving; a trait that always annoyed Khaelen.
“Yes, Elder. But neither she nor I were responsible for the death of my brother.” Khaelen stated boldly.
“She admitted to injecting him, and we were told he died from an injection, surely you can see the logic that she indeed is responsible.”
“She was set up.”
“By whom?” purred the voice of a female Elder.
“Wulf.”
“We sent him to arrest you, where is he now?” the voice continued to purr, and softly move around the room.
Allantra kept turning her head, trying to track them to no avail. She couldn’t even make out a single form.
“Dead.” The Elders grew quiet with this information and seemed to whisper among themselves. Allantra squeezed Khaelen’s hand for support. These Elders were creepy, they reminded her of ghosts.
“That makes two deaths at your hands, Executioner,” came the verdict.
“Deaths necessary to ensure our survival.” Khaelen voice sounded hard, not in the least bit impressed by the power the Elders were generating.
“Why would Wulf want to set you up? He seemed reluctant to be appointed in your place. What need would he have of your death?” Another much deeper voice of an Elder joined in this time. Much more ancient.
“He wanted another Mass Execution.” Khaelen let the words hang in the air before he continued. “He felt you were giving me much too much power and that the low-enders were multiplying too fast. He felt it was time to clean house, as the humans say. He could only do that as Executioner.”
“You’re argument has some merit. However, you broke laws, Executioner, you took blood from this Shifter, a law you yourself put into existence. You fucked her and you have sought to protect the one person responsible for your brother’s death. It looks like treason to us. She cannot be allowed to live and, you cannot be allowed to as well.”
“We cannot look weak in the face of those we rule. All are subject to our laws and punishments, including you! ” came the ancient voice, bordering on anger.
Khaelen turned to Allantra and with his eyes, begged her to trust him. She assented and allowed him to disentangle her fingers from his, leaving her feeling vulnerable to these powerful creatures. Khaelen disappeared quickly, only to reappear on the other side of the room. He seemed to merge right inside a blurry form of an Elder.
The Elders gasped and sought to hide further into the shadows. Khaelen followed, always seeming to appear inside of their forms. He materialized at her side and grabbed her hand again, he never looked at her just took it for granted she would offer her hand, which she did. “It is what I have suspected for a long time, Elders.” Insolence was apparent in the very timbre of his voice.
“How dare you speak to us in such a manner!” The female voice raged, she brushed by them sending cold air down Allantra’s spine. “We will murder you where you stand.”
“Then do it, Elder. Show me your great power!” Khaelen challenged. The voices went up in a flurry. It seemed to roar in Allantra’s ears. The sounds and whispers brought her to her knees. She wrenched her hand from Khaelen’s and placed both of her hands over her ears, trying in vain to drown out the voices. They kept telling her terrible things, terrible things about the man in front of her. Tears streaked down her face from the pain of the voices. It’s not real. She chanted to herself.
Khaelen knelt down beside Allantra, trying to reach her mind. But the Elders told her what he was. He was demon. He wanted her soul. Look at him, they beckoned. See the monster. Kill him; as long as he lives you’re tainted. The voices whispered continuously and Khaelen sounded so far, far away.
“Don’t listen to them, Allantra, they can’t hurt you.”
She wanted to hear Khaelen but the voices got louder. Look on the wall, it’s a weapon for a demon, wield it and you destroy him! Allantra’s eyes went to the far wall; a small glimmer caught her eye. He can’t touch it. It’s holy. They whispered to her.
“No, Allantra, don’t do this. They speak to me as well, drown them out.” Allantra could only see the demon in front of her with golden eyes and a huge gaping jaw full of razor teeth. It drooled as it spoke to her, not wanting to die. But it had to die.
Yes, it has to die! The voices agreed. She approached the wall, Khaelen firmly refused to let her move.
“Listen to me, Allantra.”
Don’t let him touch you. He’s full of tricks. The octave of the voices rose even higher, trying to drown out Khaelen. Demons and their tricks. Allantra tried to fight the voices, but they were trying to save her. We want to save your soul.
“Can’t you see they’re using you to try to kill me? They have no power, they haven’t had any in over a hundred years!” Khaelen practically screamed at her. Perhaps it was the sheer volume of his voice. Perhaps it was the desperation, but something clicked and Allantra struggled hard to turn down the voices in her head.
“That’s it, baby, fight them.” Khaelen encouraged staying at arms length, not wanting to frighten her. “They have no power, take what little they have from them,” he begged her. In that moment Allantra fought hard inside of her own head. The voices felt evil. Khaelen’s did not. This time when she looked at him, she saw her handsome vampire; his arms outstretched waiting to stop her, with no intention of hurting her. The voices in her head stopped as she blocked them out at last.
“You bastards!” she sneered at the blurry forms. “Stay out of my fucking head!” The forms in the room grew quiet. Stunned that they had been found out.
Khaelen’s next words sent them into a panic. “I’ll make a deal with you scum. I won’t tell the public that their very much feared Elders have no power at all, if you tell me what I ask of you.” The voices murmured and shapes flitted about the room in agitation before one spoke.
“You are wrong, Khaelen. We are not completely powerless. We have reigned as long as we have by controlling mind, getting others to do our bidding and making them believe we executed the actions. We were afraid you would one day be too strong for us to handle. However, we can summon a number of guards in here to kill you on the spot, we are not without our resources.”
“If I teleport us out of here, what then, Elder? By the time your men find me your secret will be all over the world.” The predator in Khaelen surfaced.
The Elder hesitated before he spoke. “What is it you want to know?”
“Do not think me foolish, I can hear your men outside. If I hear a knob turn, I will take Allantra and be out of here faster than you can blink. Do you want to take that chance, Elder?” The guards outside the door halted as the Elder gave them a mental command. Allantra more curious now than mad, sensed something truly historic was about to happen, and a low-ender such as her was about to witness it.
“Proceed,” came the ancient voice.
“Am I right in assuming you would have never made Wulf executioner?”
“Yes,” s
aid the female voice in a guarded tone.
“You never believed I killed my brother did you?”
“No, we did not,” came the collective answer.
“Then why try to have me killed?”
“You were becoming too powerful, we feared you would one day not be susceptible to our mind machination. We feared you would… figure things out. Wulf merely provided the perfect opportunity to get rid of you.” The last was said with great weariness. “We could not risk him becoming executioner, he wanted another Mass Execution, thereby possibly killing any True-Bloods in the melee.”
“You are not substantial forms, I suspect have not been since the Mass Execution. This in some way ties in to why only Shifters’ blood is tested when they are arrested. Explain.”
“Do you need to open that particular book? We have helped you enough…” an Elder began before Khaelen cut him off.
“Allantra is a True-Blood,” he declared. “If you do not answer my question I will not give you what you have been seeking.”
“Excuse me?” Allantra turned to Khaelen, clearly offended that he had reduced her to a bargaining chip.
Go with it and shut up.
He said the last part gently but she knew he meant it. Bastard! She shot back at him but pinned her mouth closed, she trusted him.
“Do you know this for certain?” the female voice piped up, clearly excited.
“Yes, I have witnessed it myself.” Khaelen replied, pleased they took the bait.
“We must witness this for ourselves before we go any further,” another voice said, one that had not spoken before.
Khaelen turned to Allantra and spoke so that only she could hear them. Please do this for us. This might be the key to stop them from hunting us the rest of our lives. I know it’s humiliating, I would not ask if it were not important.
What would I have to do?
I assumed they would want you to perform, so to speak, for them.
Fine, but when this is over, your ass is mine! She hissed in her mind
I was hoping you would say that. He countered lewdly, and in spite of the circumstances she found herself getting hot for him.
Bloodlines 1 Alliances Page 9