by Cege Smith
Angeline heard Malin sigh behind her. She patted Joseph’s arm and tried to ignore the siren call of his blood. “You and your friends were separated. Then what happened?”
Joseph frowned. “I just passed through the gate when I saw her.”
“Who?”
“I didn’t catch her name,” Joseph said. His voice grew weaker. “I couldn’t believe a lady as pretty as her would even look twice at me. But she grabbed my arm and pulled me off to the side. Everyone was laughing and kissing and having a good time. I couldn’t believe my luck.”
Angeline’s insides grew cold. “Did this woman hurt you, Joseph?”
His face clouded. “Hurt? No, ma’am. When she kissed me it was like...heaven.”
“Then how did this happen to you?” she asked. She leaned forward slightly. “Tell me what this woman said.”
Joseph’s face seemed to go slack for a second. “I don’t remember. She kissed me, and the next thing I know I was leaning against the wall so weak I almost couldn’t stand. The pain was horrible. But she said that I was going to go see the queen so I should know exactly what to say so I didn’t say anything stupid.”
Chills ran down Angeline’s spine. Joseph seemed to have drifted off into his memory. His eyes were glazed over and it was like he was looking through her.
“I told her I’d never meet the queen, but she insisted that I would. So she told me what to say.”
“What was that, Joseph?”
“This is just the beginning,” he mumbled.
“That’s it?” Rhone grumbled.
“Was there anything else, Joseph?” There had to be more to the message, she thought.
Joseph’s eyes closed and then his breathing slowed. It was like he had gone to sleep. Angeline saw Rhone was reaching to shake him awake and she pushed his hands away. “Let the healer help him, and then we will question him again.” She gestured for him to join her and Malin in the corner away from the table.
“I don’t think we know any more than we did before,” Malin said with a frown. “We can’t be sure that this is vampire work. They don’t exist anymore, remember?”
Angeline wanted to speak to Malin alone, but it would look strange to order Rhone out of the room now. She knew that Malin was trying to downplay the possibility of vampire involvement, but if there was a vampire loose in Brebackerin then her soldiers needed to be prepared. Both she and Malin knew that vampires still lived and thrived just across the Solera Valley.
“Even if you don’t believe the vampires are back, we have to take every precaution,” Rhone said. “Someone out there is targeting the queen. You heard the threat yourself.”
“Whoever it was counted on the fact that you would bring that boy straight to her,” Malin said. “Someone could be trying to cause mass hysteria on the eve of her Ascension.”
“To what end?” Angeline asked.
“To call into question your ability to rule,” Malin said with a grimace.
Angeline drew herself up to her full height. “If that is truly their intention, they will find out the answer to that question soon enough. I will not have my people used as puppets in some elaborate game.”
“Your Majesty?” Joseph’s voice floated back to them and Angeline turned to find the boy on his knees on top of the table watching her. His eyes were delirious with pain.
As Angeline moved toward him, he put his hand up. “There was just one more thing.”
What happened next happened so fast that Angeline had no warning. Joseph pulled a wickedly sharp knife that was hidden in his trousers and held it high in the air. Malin and Rhone both cried out and surged forward, but Joseph wasn’t looking at them. His eyes held hers fast.
“The Master sends his regards and says that he will see you soon.” Then Joseph swung the knife down and drove it deep into his stomach.
Angeline cried out and in that moment of shock, she felt an altogether too familiar surge in the back of her mind. Joseph’s blood spilled from his body and the smell made her mouth salivate. She clung to her consciousness by a thread.
“Malin!”
Malin spun around and his eyes widened as he realized what was happening. He dove toward her and caught her in his arms just before she bolted for the table. A voice shrieked in her mind for release. It wanted to join Joseph on the table and lap up every last drop of blood there.
“Rhone! Get the guard in here. Get this cleaned up,” Malin yelled. “Majesty, I need to get you out of here. Can you hear me?”
Angeline gripped his arms. She wasn’t sure if she was trying to escape them or trying to stay inside of them. The two halves of her were in a locked battle and she couldn’t think straight. She managed a short nod.
Malin’s arms were tight around her as he half pulled, half pushed her out of the side door. The guard just outside flew past them with a questioning look, but Rhone was howling for him inside the room. As soon as the guard was out of sight, Malin swung Angeline up into his arms. She didn’t fight him. The struggle was all in her mind.
Her breath was coming in short gasps and she groaned from the mental pain of keeping her wraith at bay.
“Stay with me, Angeline. We’re almost there,” Malin whispered. She couldn’t remember him ever calling her by her name.
As her thoughts finally started to feel like wholly her own, Malin entered her bedchamber. He barked at her chambermaid to go retrieve some cool water, and then carefully set Angeline into one of the cushioned chairs next to the fire. He knelt down beside her and brushed her hair away from her face where it clung to her cheek from the sweat.
“I thought you said my wraith was bound in Craven,” she said. She didn’t bother trying to keep the accusatory note out of her voice.
“I didn’t know that could still happen,” Malin said.
“Tell me what just happened in there, Malin.”
His expression was pained. “I fear Joseph was right, Majesty. It is just the beginning.”
CHAPTER NINE
For the second time in less than a month, the drunken feeling that accompanied feasting on human blood overtook Connor. He couldn’t deny the appeal of it. His limbs felt looser, his muscles felt stronger, and it was like his whole body was singing a glorious melody. All too soon, he tasted the bitter sweetness of the end. The woman’s skin was cooling, as the blood inside of her body was almost gone.
As his eyes popped open and the woman’s bloodless shell slid to the ground, he found Elvry crawling up into his lap. “I knew you still had it in you, lover,” she purred.
His mind wasn’t functioning properly. The blood lust almost completely overwhelmed him. There was a reason that he knew he should resist Elvry, but his thoughts weren’t forming coherent sequences. It was like his entire existence had been condensed down into this one moment in time and the voluptuous woman who was trying to entice him.
Elvry’s dress rode up her legs as she straddled him and Connor was helpless as she sank her teeth into his neck. He grasped her thighs and pulled her closer. He didn’t even think, but just bit her shoulder in return. Her blood was different than the human’s; it was thicker and more pungent but it satisfied his beast’s hunger like nothing else could.
Then his mouth was empty as he found his chair shoved backwards so hard that it slid all the way across the floor and hit the back wall with a thundering crack. Connor scratched his way back to coherency. Elvry stood tall with her legs wide apart and a wide grin on her face. Her lips were stained with blood and she licked them with obvious zest.
“I’m satisfied with his commitment,” she said over her shoulder. Then she winked at Connor. “For now.”
“Barron, Viktor,” Monroe said. The two vampires stood and advanced on Connor.
He knew that he should fight back, but his head was full of the scents and sounds of first the human woman’s blood and then Elvry’s. He didn’t even flinch as the first punch swiped his head to the side and broke his jaw. Viktor grabbed the back of his hair and brought Con
nor’s head down to connect with Viktor’s knee. Connor howled in pain and rage. As he tried to shake off Victor, Barron landed another blow straight across his back and Connor fell to the floor. Then a sharp kick hit him in the side, toppling him over onto his back. Just as he saw Viktor lift his boot to stomp his face, Monroe’s voice carried over to them.
“Enough.”
Barron then took one arm and Viktor took the other, pulling Connor to his feet. He sagged between them, alternating between pleasure and pain. He could feel Elvry’s blood combined with his own mending all of the wounds that had just been inflicted in his body. Soon he’d be brand new again; one of the few benefits of being a vampire.
Monroe made his way around to the other side of the table and perched on the edge. Elvry sidled up to him and Monroe put his arm around her. That was new. Monroe had never disguised his dislike for Elvry, but now it appeared that something had changed. Monroe waved for Barron and Viktor to bring Connor closer. They stopped just a few feet away.
Monroe stood and grabbed Connor’s hair, yanking his head back. “Listen to me, boy. I’ve lived twice as long as you have been alive. You won’t play games with me. I won’t let some whelp of mine think that he knows more than I do. Consider that a small reminder. Believe me, the Master would have done much worse, but I think there’s still use for you. That’s the only reason I haven’t staked you yet.”
“Yes, Monroe,” he said. His words came out all wrong because his jaw was still in the process of resetting, but he thought that he had given the inflection of the words the right amount of deference. Any other time he would have gladly told Monroe to go to hell and hoped to be put out of his misery, but today was different.
Her face blossomed in his mind; her dark black hair, violet eyes, and smooth white skin. Angeline trusted him and was depending on him to help her. He had a reason to live. What that meant was that at that moment he needed to do whatever it would take to convince Monroe that he was a loyal subject of the Master. He knew that by doing so, though, he might be forced to do something that Angeline could never forgive. But as long as he could help her that was a risk he would have to take.
Monroe released his grip and then his hands moved so quickly that Connor didn’t even see them until the wooden stake rammed into his chest, on the opposite side of his heart. Pain flared anew and ripped through his mind. He screamed, and Barron and Viktor let him flail to the floor once again. As he slammed to his knees, his hands found the stake and yanked it from his body. He glared up at Monroe, who was watching him with a look of utter calm.
“Next time, Connor, I can assure you I won’t put it on that side,” Monroe said. “I knew you were here the moment I stepped foot inside the city walls. You forget that once a blood bond has been created, one can always feel the presence of those he sired.”
It was something that Connor knew, but it hadn’t crossed his mind, as he hadn’t planned on encountering Monroe in Brebackerin. He wondered what else his mere proximity to Monroe had given away. Connor had only been in town for two days. He had spent most of that time prowling around the palace grounds; that he had not lied about when Monroe asked, so he thought his deception was covered. As long as Monroe didn’t know about his visit with Angeline, all would be well.
“Had I known you were here, I would have come right away,” Connor said. “There is no need for this, Monroe. I told you what happened. I explained what I’ve been doing since I arrived. I have offered my assistance in whatever mission you are on here in the capital. What else do you need from me to prove my loyalty?”
Monroe stared at him, and then he laughed. “There was a reason that I chose you, Connor Radwin. You don’t back down even in the face of certain defeat. As long as we have an understanding then, I welcome you to join us. The night grows shorter, and we still have work to do.”
Connor worked his jaw back and forth. It was almost completely healed. The stab wound in his chest would take a bit longer. He slowly got to his feet and was relieved to find that his knees didn’t give out from the effort. It was the infusion of blood that had made him stronger. He wondered if that hadn’t been part of Monroe’s plan all along too; to remind him how much more he could be if he just gave into his beastly nature.
“What is the mission?” He was afraid to find out. If the Master sent the four Death Bringers, then that could only mean one thing: total mass chaos and destruction. Brebackerin hadn’t seen a vampire attack in over three hundred years. The people wouldn’t know what hit them. His heart ached for Angeline. If he couldn’t help avoid this, then she was about to be put to a very dangerous and horrendous test. He hoped that somewhere along the way, some knowledge had been properly passed down that would allow her to mount a counteroffensive.
Then he realized that as soon as she knew that vampires were in the city, there was a good chance that she was going to believe that Connor was involved and had lied to her. He had to find her and warn her before it was too late.
“The mission is already underway, thanks to Elvry,” Monroe said, nodding in her direction. “By now our little missive should have reached the queen’s ear.”
Connor felt his insides grow cold. “What kind of missive?” He struggled to keep his tone even, and hoped that any tension in his voice would be attributed to his injuries.
“There’s little sense in playing coy, is there, Connor?” Monroe said, crossing his arms across his chest. “If, as you say, the queen was kidnapped by Searon, then the secret of the vampire’s existence is finally going to come out in the open. Alair Robart was a fool to think that he could keep us hidden away forever, and it only seems fitting that the vampire returns to power at the same time the first blood-born Robart queen is crowned. It’s poetic, really. She needs to know that. She needs to know that we are here to stay.” Monroe’s face wore a wicked grin. “The Robarts have gotten entirely too content thinking that we were weak. We are not. And starting tonight, we are going to prove that to everyone, including Angeline Robart.”
It was a twisted plan that was classic Monroe.
“A pretty little thing that I picked up outside one of the taverns in town was just dying to be able to catch a glimpse of the queen. I did a good service by helping him out in that regard,” Elvry said.
Connor could only guess what kind of fresh hell Elvry had delivered to Angeline’s doorstep. He couldn’t be there to help her. He couldn’t do anything until his own position within the mission was established, and he needed to find out everything he could about Monroe’s plans.
“How can you be so certain that she will understand?” Connor asked. He didn’t really want to know.
“Just the right words, and lots and lots of blood,” Elvry said with a crass chuckle.
Connor felt his heart speed up. He had to trust that the Clan’s magic would indeed control Angeline’s wrath. If Elvry’s missive somehow managed to awaken Angeline’s blood lust, everything that Angeline had fought so hard to maintain would come crumbling down around her. And once news reached Monroe’s ears that a wraith existed again in the world, he would stop at nothing to put her down.
Vampire law forbade wraith creation. What some might think would be the perfect hybrid of human and vampire qualities was viewed by vampires as a threat to everything that they held dear. Wraiths were wild and uncontrollable, and given that they could walk during the day, if they turned their attention to vampires instead of humans, they could wipe vampires to extinction in the blink of an eye.
Connor plastered a smile on his face. “That is one of your specialties, if I recall correctly,” he said.
Elvry looked pleased at his compliment and she curtsied to him with fake demure. She leaned an elbow on Monroe’s shoulder. “What should we do with him?” It was a mock whisper that was loud enough for everyone in the room to hear.
“Connor, I want you to draw up a map of everything you know about the palace grounds,” Monroe said. “When we last were inside the city walls, the royal palace had not been buil
t yet.”
Connor nodded. He knew that he would be sure to include a few elements of misdirection in his drawings for good measure. “I can do that.”
“I assume that you have been taking note of the guard rotations?” Monroe was all business.
“I have.”
“How experienced are the soldiers?”
“Most have never even seen a skirmish.” Connor felt terrible admitting these details to Monroe, but it would be expected. Altera had been under the Robert reign of peace for three hundred years. The closest any of the soldiers would have gotten to a real fight would be breaking up disturbances in the provinces. That wasn’t battle.
Monroe had required each member of the Master’s personal guard to win ten rounds of hand-to-hand combat before he was satisfied that a vampire was experienced enough to go into active duty. He ran skirmish drills weekly, and those often had a way of turning deadly. Even though it was difficult to kill a vampire, it wasn’t impossible. Although the measures had depleted the vampire ranks, Monroe believed wholeheartedly in survival of the fittest.
“Excellent,” Monroe said, flashing his bright white incisors. “Now, let’s talk about the children.”
CHAPTER TEN
“What do you know, Malin?” Angeline felt fear gripping her. She forced herself to take a deep breath and keep her voice even. Queens did not panic. She had to get all the information and then she could make a logical decision based on fact. Emotion had no place there.
“I don’t know anything about this,” he said simply. “If I did, I would tell you.”
“Is this Clan work?”
“No.”
“Why should I believe you?” Angeline found it hard to believe anything that Malin said, but he was her conduit to the Clan whether she liked it or not, and the Clan held the key to her and Connor’s destinies. She had to know if what was going on was by their directive or not. Too many things were unraveling too fast.