by Raven Steele
Everyone’s heads rotated toward me, smiling and giving nods of approvals.
"Aris, will you please rise?" he asked.
I cleared my throat and slowly came to my feet, really wishing I had changed my clothes.
"I'm sure most of you heard, but for those who haven't, Aris Crow just destroyed one of the largest new vampire burials we’ve ever had in the city."
The crowd cheered and clapped, and a couple of men shouted, "Hear! Hear!"
Bastian focused on me. "In your honor, you may choose any of these humans. They will be yours to drink and yours alone."
"That's not necessary …" My voice trailed off, as my eyes traveled to the humans just standing there like candy bars on a rack at a gas station.
"If you will not choose," he said, "I will choose for you."
He approached the line of humans and inspected each one. His gaze finally settled on the largest and tallest. My fangs became sharp as razors in my mouth when I thought of how much blood the man had pumping inside of him. After everything I’d been through the last few days, I deserved this.
"Come, Aris," Bastian said. "Claim your reward. The rest of you, join him. We will share this feast together."
I didn't feel so awkward now that the others were standing, too. I stepped in front of the tallest man whose blank expression revealed nothing of the fear he should be feeling. The others circled the remaining humans. No time was wasted.
The sound of teeth ripping into flesh only flamed my bloodlust. I wasn’t gentle when I stabbed my eyeteeth into his salty skin. The action was brutal and primal, meant to cause pain. I sucked fast and hard, pressing him to me as if I could squeeze the blood faster into my mouth like a juice box. Some of my anger dissipated along with my hunger.
After what must've been several minutes, his body crumbled to the floor just skin and bones. I stumbled back, nearly drunk from over-consumption. I sucked in a breath, trying to bring some clarity to my mind.
Bastian approached me and laughed, slapping me on the back. "This is going to be one incredible night."
I dug my palms into my eyes. I needed to focus!
In a dream-like state, I was guided from the room and into one I’d never seen before. This one was much different from the rest. Darker with lights turned low. Blacks and reds covered the walls and curtains, similar in color, draped from the ceiling. Benches were set up all over and on them sat humans wearing provocative clothing.
Bastian leaned toward me and whispered in my ear, "Time for dessert."
I backed toward the door, the warmth of the criminal’s blood turning cold, but Annabelle caught my arm and pulled me forward. I wasn’t physically or mentally strong enough to resist. What was wrong with me?
"I haven't had my time alone with you yet," she purred.
My blurry gaze found her face, circled her delicate features and settled on her bloodstained lips. I licked my own absentmindedly.
She guided me to a padded bench and sat down, taking me with her. "You seem nervous.”
I looked around the room at all the dark colors, listening to the sound of the music that had changed from beautiful classic to something dark and melancholy. This isn't where I should be. This feels wrong. I furrowed my brow and tried to shove the fog from my mind.
Annabelle ran her fingers up and down my arm. "I'm still a little hungry."
At the thought of more blood, my gaze returned to her lips, and my tongue slid across the sharp point of my eye tooth.
She looked across the room toward a woman wearing a short, red skirt and a matching halter top and motioned her over. The lanky woman strolled over, her head held high and a smile touching the corners of her mouth. Her blue eyes were unusually vibrant. "May I help you?"
Annabelle scooted away from me and patted the seat between us. "We are a bit hungry, Lucy. Can you assist us?"
“It would be my pleasure.” Lucy lowered between us and extended her arms out front.
Annabelle leaned forward and looked at me. "You will be able to control yourself, correct?"
I nodded dumbly, staring at the veins on the slender woman’s wrist. Just a little more. Then I will leave this place.
I lowered my mouth to her wrist and pierced the sweet tasting vein. The blood melted past my tongue and down the dark corridor of my throat, but the moment it touched my stomach, I felt something more than satisfaction. It was an explosion of electricity that raced through every nerve in my body, exciting everything it touched. I kept drinking, wanting more of Lucy’s honeyed flavored blood. I had never felt this alive before! Or had I? The feeling was familiar, but I couldn’t remember why or where.
My vision began to blur, then focus again. The swirling pattern of the rug at my feet popped as if in 3-D. I giggled around Lucy’s wrist and continued to drink, no longer caring about anything, except for the rug’s pattern that had begun to spin in and out of each other.
Lucy’s wrist fell from my mouth, whether by her own doing or mine, I wasn't sure. I leaned against the wall behind me, warm liquid running down my chin. My eyes found the elaborate ceiling sectioned off in squares by white, crowned molding. There were paintings between the gridded pattern, like in the formal living room.
Angels with great wings floated through a blue sky. I focused on a raven-haired woman with a golden staff. She was beautiful with long hair and gentle eyes. I flinched when her head twisted toward me suddenly. Her mouth opened and a tongue snaked out, the tip split in two like a viper’s.
A cold, icy sensation zipped up my spine, and I shivered.
The woman's tongue slithered back into her mouth but was replaced by a terrible cry that shook the room. When other angels added their voices to the thunder, I covered my ears. The warrior cherubs winged across the ceiling, swords drawn, and fought against another set of angels with blond, almost white, hair.
I lobbed my head to the side and stared at Annabelle. Her eyes dropped to mine, too. The girl between us was gone.
"Do you see them?" My gaze lifted to the ceiling again. She did the same. I don’t know if she answered. All I could hear were the sounds of metal clashing together, along with the grunts and cries frequently heard in war.
Away from the fray, four separate beings, not quite angels, but more human in nature, sang songs and danced in a small orchard, oblivious to the raging war. The women’s white dresses swayed around their full hips, and they smiled at their companions. Their voices were sweet and might’ve soothed my nerves, had it not been for the battle going on three ceiling squares over.
The scenes continued to play out before me when something else caught my attention. Little black demons, their skin like worn leather, crawling up the curtains. They eyed the sweet angels in the orchard hungrily. The joyous beings were clueless to the approaching danger.
I reached my hand out as if to warn them, but I had lost my voice. Annabelle giggled.
The demons leaped from the curtains and landed on the ceiling, attacking the unsuspecting angels. They clawed at the angel’s fair skin and reached down their throats to rip out their vocal chords. An angel’s head was torn off in the madness. It fell to the ground in front of me, purple-ish blood pooling where a neck should’ve been.
I jumped to my feet. I had to get out of here.
With the room spinning, objects thinning and stretching and colors flashing and changing, I stumbled toward the door. A human woman appeared in front of me with long brown hair and eyes like Emma's. "Blood?"
She tilted her neck to the side, offering herself to me. It didn’t cross my mind to refuse. I pierced her neck and filled my body with even more sweet blood. This time it was me who collapsed to the floor. It didn’t feel good.
I stared at the ceiling. Angels were losing their fight with the demons. They fell all around me, their bodies broken and bloody. I couldn’t help them. Tears wetted my eyes.
I closed my eyelids, unable to watch anymore. My body rocked, as if on a boat, lazily moving back and forth on a gentle sea. I though
t of nothing, and it felt good.
At some point, my body jerked, like I was being dragged somewhere. My eyes opened. I was lying next to Lucy, the girl who had so graciously given her blood to me. She had tasted good, but the aftertaste had been bitter.
Her face was inches from mine, her blue eyes wide open. They didn’t look as vibrant. A milky film dulled their once glossy surface. A dead angel laid on her shoulder. There was something beautiful about the image.
I rolled my head to the other side. More humans and angels. By the look in their eyes, they were all also dead. And I lay in the center of them, riding the waves of an unseen ocean.
Music continued to play, but it was much louder than before with deep bass hammering my insides. Occasionally, a shock of pain would rip through me, and I twisted into a tight ball.
I'm not sure how long I was lying there, but the sound of my name jarred my eyes open. The colors in the room blurred. People moved in front of me much too fast for my brain to make sense of them. Again, my name. Louder this time. I tried to sit up but collapsed back onto my face.
A body flew into the air and crashed onto a chair, shattering it into pieces. I squinted my eyes, trying to bring the images into focus. Someone else had a dagger shoved into their heart, but I hadn't seen anyone touch them. Dust polluted the air. Two more turned to ash spontaneously. It was as if an invisible hand was destroying us all.
Maybe I was hallucinating again. I noted the missing angels on the floor. Only dead humans remained. Did I do that?
"Aris! Get up!"
The invisible hand. It’s coming for me.
I lifted my head, wanting to face death. But it wasn’t death. It was someone much worse. Roman.
Chapter 35
I closed my eyes tight and opened them again. Roman was still there. I parted my lips to tell him to leave, but no words came out. He shouldn't be here.
"Leave now," Bastian said, his voice sharp and commanding.
"I'm not leaving without Aris."
Roman had his hands up in front of him, and whenever a vampire attempted to reach him, he shocked them back with powerful magic. I had never seen him fight like this before. The power pressurized the air in the room.
I attempted to get up again, but the whole room spun, and I fell back down. I had consumed too much tainted blood. Rhino dust would be my guess.
A dark figure arrived, and I recognized the long gown. The witch, Jade. She stared at Roman, and her dark eyes turned a brilliant white looking like Roman’s.
"Leave," I gasped and reached for him, but he didn't see me. He was too busy fighting off the witch in a mental battle, his hand outstretched and brow furrowed.
Grinding my jaw together, I raised up as much as my body would allow and began to crawl toward him.
"Go," I begged. My leg slipped out from under me, and I dropped to my stomach. I tried again, nearly losing the contents of my stomach when I had to crawl over a dead body. The motion was too much for me. My hand slipped in fresh human blood. The crimson color was everywhere. What have I done?
I looked up just in time to see Roman's arm snapped by an invisible force. His left arm followed the motion, and he cried out in pain. With his concentration broken, his body was attacked next. He spiraled backward and crashed into a wall behind him. He fell face forward. He lifted his head, and his haunted gaze met mine.
"I have failed," he whispered, his voice full of agony, but it wasn't because of physical pain.
Bastian squatted down next to him. "Had you left when asked, I might've shown you mercy. But there are rules. You were not invited here, and you have incited violence against vampires. The punishment is instant death."
"No!" I said and tried to move faster, but my body wouldn't respond.
Bastian gripped Roman's neck and snapped it hard to the left. The sound of his spine breaking stabbed at my chest. I was almost to him.
"Roman?"
He didn't respond.
Bastian straightened and looked down at me. "You must know this man. Too bad. If only he would’ve followed our rules. You are one of us now, Aris. You have dined with us and shared in a feasting. Break our trust, and we will kill you and anyone close to you."
He turned his back on me and walked away. I barely registered his words. I couldn't stop staring at Roman's expressionless face. I had caused this.
For the next few hours, I watched Roman's body, hoping to see some kind of change in him. He could become a vampire like me. It was possible, but as more time passed and there was no movement, I knew his time had come. He had not survived the change. Roman was dead.
I rolled onto my back, facing away from him. The pain was excruciating, and I sucked in tiny sips of air. Most of the other vampires had left the room. Whether they returned to wherever it was they lived, or to another part of the house, I couldn't tell. My senses were still dulled from the poisoned blood I had ingested. The only vamps who remained were passed out on the floor, uncontrolled like me. Annabella wasn’t among them.
The human bodies had also been removed. So easy to cover up our sins. It’s like they didn’t even happen. Maybe for them. I would always remember.
At least Bastian was gone. I sat up, my head spinning slightly, but my mind was clear. With clarity came an overwhelming, nearly crushing, feeling of guilt and horror at what had transpired. Why had Roman come here?
I cradled my head in my hands, my elbows resting on my knees. The ache in my heart would surely never go away. I would kill Bastian for this, but I couldn’t forget his words. I believed him when he said the Principes Noctis would kill everyone I know. I needed to be careful.
"You look better," Bastian’s voice said from the doorway. I hadn't heard him come in.
He walked over to me and stared down at Roman's body. "It's unfortunate that this had to happen. If only he would’ve listened to reason."
I came to my feet, swaying slightly. "I want his body."
He studied me carefully, probably wondering how far to push me. "You may take him. A sign of good faith between us, but I want something in return."
"What?" I rubbed my fingers across my forehead trying to soothe a growing headache. I’d never had one as a vampire before. I didn’t think it was possible.
"I want you to bring me Victor. He has betrayed us, and for this, he must suffer death. Our plans for the city have not changed. We want to work with humans, not be their enemy."
"And what of the people who were killed last night? Did you want to work with them?"
He worked his jaw as if trying to keep calm. "Sometimes, Aris, humans are sacrificed for our kind. We are the greater species, after all. But we aren’t monsters. The humans we selected were carefully screened. They had no lives to return to, no homes. We consider our actions toward them mercy."
I lowered my gaze to the floor unable to look at him, or really, unable to look at my reflection in his eyes. “I will bring you Victor but,” an idea came to me, “I want one more thing.”
"You’re testing my patience."
"I want to be the one to kill Victor.”
A smile tickled the corners of his mouth. "Then you shall have your revenge. Bring him tonight, after you've rested."
I bent down and scooped up Roman’s body. He was already stiff and cold as ice. This revelation further pained me. I had hoped he might still change.
Darkness enveloped me, as I carried his body outside. The warm air felt sticky and smothering. The sun would rise soon. Part of me wanted to keep walking, never to return to the darkness again. I was slowly losing the people I cared about. At this rate, who would be left?
The entrance to Ironwood wasn't far away. I continued moving, not attempting to conceal myself even when two vehicles drove past me. Who would they call for help? The police wouldn’t come, not until I gave them back some power.
Roman’s body was heavier in my arms than he should be. I would see him buried back in Louisiana on the Bisou Islands with the Ames de la Terra.
I reac
hed the entrance and carefully maneuvered Roman down below. I attempted to continue, but I dropped to my knees instead. Pain wracked my chest even harder now that I was in my own world. I set his body down and straightened, pacing back-and-forth, my hands opening and closing and hot tears stinging my eyes. I punched at the wall and let out a monstrous roar. I punched it again, over and over, letting out all my pent-up rage, most of it directed at myself, but some of it at Roman. Why had he come?
I slumped against the wall and down to my bum. I had to make this right somehow. I should never have let my bloodlust, no matter how strong, control me.
Rebecca appeared not far from me and gasped when she saw Roman’s body. "What happened?"
I wiped at my eyes. "He showed up at Bastian’s home. Bastian killed him."
She stared at me, aghast. "And you let him?"
"I couldn't stop it," I stuttered. How could I admit the truth?
Her face paled, and she stumbled as if she couldn’t support her weight. "This is all my fault. I should've been with you."
"You are not to blame for this. I bear the responsibility alone." My head jerked up. Maybe there was someone else who held the blame. "Where's Victor?"
"He's back in Ironwood, hiding from the Principes Noctis. They’ve been searching for him." She glanced behind her as if she might see him walking toward us. "He wanted to see you first, but I told him to wait."
I nodded my head in silent agreement, as I came to my feet. I don’t know how I would’ve reacted had I seen him first.
"I want Roman buried with the Ames de la Terra," I said and inhaled a hitched breath I hadn't expected.
She touched me tenderly on my forearm. "I'll take care of everything. I'll leave as soon as I can."
"Thank you." I bent down and scooped up Roman's body again.
As we walked, I asked, "Did you ever find Hacksaw?"
Her expression darkened. "He got away, probably escaped the city, but I will find him. He will pay for what he did to me."
"When the time comes, I want to be there to help you."