“What he did was not only against the rules, but it is against everything we believe in regarding our Bridge. Our Bridge is made for peace and if you do anything horrific enough to betray what our species has done to come together, not to make our Bridge, but to take what it symbolizes between species-,” As his voice became higher he was accompanied by the raging cheers and he stopped speaking. I found myself understanding what bad Pete had done and after all these years I realized that I had not comprehended the passion the creatures of Catastrophe felt for what the Bridge symbolized. I felt myself become angrier toward him and I joined the creatures in their hatred against him.
“Mind control,” I found myself saying and Valon had heard me, his face expressed with even more disgust than before.
The creatures and immortals stood up in fury and raised their fists chanting in the same tone. “Half-mortal! Half-mortal! Give him the heart of a dead man! Take away his powers! He doesn’t deserve them! He doesn’t deserve Chenille!”
Others said, “Get that disgrace off our planet!”
Valon looked over them, his fists remaining tight on the lions. His face was tight with anger. I could tell he wanted to join their chanting, but he was not allowed, as the keeper of peace. They raged on, several creatures attempted to climb over the benches to the front, trying to grab Pete’s cape, trying to throw anything they could in his direction. Valon actually left his chair to stop those who managed to reach him and tried to pull him out of his chair, probably to drag him across the Bridge themselves. A few creatures would risk it if they knew there was a band of hundreds behind them who burned with the same passion and hatred toward him. I wasn’t sure how Valon could silence them all, but I knew he had experience with these kinds of things so I was sure calming the revolting creatures came natural to him.
They were eventually quiet, but I could tell there was still adrenalin pumping through them. Valon was out of breath as he turned his head to scan the fueled crowd and could not even look at Pete even though he was addressing him.
“I have decided and it seems so have the witnesses. Pete’s bond will be broken with Chenille so she may perform her Ceremony with Fitzray. Depending on the punishment, Pete may not have the opportunity to say he will ever have an Eternal Mate again, but if so, then he may perform a Ceremony.”
There were several shouts from the crowd regarding his punishment. “Without a Ceremony we can throw him over the Bridge and he won’t be reincarnated.”
Others seemed pleased with this idea and started to suggest it. They all started to yell it and waited for Valon to approve it. Instead, he raised his hand, closed his eyes and waited for silence. The creatures could not quiet themselves down fast enough, and sat patiently for him to speak.
“It is not only up to me to decide what is best for Pete’s punishment, though that suggestion may possibly be an option to consider. Several other hierarchies and I will find the best punishment suitable for Pete. It will be announced in the palace dungeon. All may attend to see his fate. But before I conclude this Ceremonial Trial is there anything else you may like to add? Chenille? Fitzray? How about you Pete? Any last words you’d like to say?”
Fitzray and I remained quiet, but Pete rose from his seat and turned to face the crowd who gawked in disgust. I waited for the riot to start up again, but they all wanted to hear what he would say.
“All of what I did happened years ago. I was unworthy to anyone years ago and I admit I did some illicit things, but anyone who has been alive to see me rule since Chenille’s death all know that I have changed. Today I would never wish for anything that I did to happen to anyone. Anyone who only sees what I did in the past is blind to see what I have done for this planet in the past years of ruling. You don’t know what a mistake you would make if you just threw it all away for them to have their precious Ceremony-,” he was about to continue when the crowd started up again and Valon raged over them all.
“The Ceremonial Trial is over! Take him away!”
Several immortals came up to Pete, instructed by Valon to take him away. They bound him in chains and led him out to the dungeon. Surprisingly he had accepted this and did not fight them, even as the creatures booed and spat at him as he left.
I was escorted out by several attendants and met Fitzray in the kitchen.
“Are you ready for our Ceremony? I’ve had a special Ceremonial dress made for you. It’s in your room. I’ll come get you when you’re ready.”
Almost as though I was in a trance, I went up to my room to put on the dress, while still feeling the shock of what had just happened and how unjust I felt. I realized I had no right to protest against him when I really had no idea what he had done while I wasn’t alive. I put on the dress, still not completely realizing that I was about to perform a Ceremony. I simply admired the dark red dress that trailed behind me and threw my ruined gold dress back into the closet. I waited for as long as I could, hoping Fitzray would take a while to get himself ready, but I was disappointed to hear him waiting for me in the hall.
“Are you ready Chenille?
“Yes.”
“Close your eyes.”
I did as I was told and after a moment, I felt warmth around me.
“Open your eyes.”
I looked around me. Beside me was the blazing fireplace, the white rug, the velvet chairs. I was standing barefoot on cold marble tile. I was in Fitzray’s home. He walked down the stairs in a suit, a jacket with gold buttons and a cape the same shade of red as my dress hung over his shoulders fastened by an emerald the size of my fist. Charlene was perched on his shoulder. When he stepped down to my level, Charlene flew off.
“May our bonds be brought together in this place, for what was broken will now be healed by us.” He paused to put the Ceremonial Ring on my finger. “May you be mine forever, for I am Fitzray Silver.”
“I will be yours forever.”
“You listen to me Chenille. If you feel any pain, you let me know. I know this whole Trial has shaken us up, but I don’t want this to turn into a bad experience.”
I knew that if a vampress were to feel pain from the bite of her vampire during a Ceremony it meant that there was an unsure feeling or fear of her vampire. Though pain was usually not accepted and sometimes ignored or denied during a Ceremony, I felt comfortable enough to tell him if something was wrong. I knew that sometimes pain could even jeopardize the whole Ceremony so I would have to stay calm and make sure my thoughts wouldn’t drift to the Trial.
“Shall we begin?”
I sat down on one of the velvet chairs and nodded my head, constantly reminding myself that this was what I wanted. He held onto the chair and looked at me. His body blocked the firelight. He began his work by rubbing my neck to desensitize me and preyed upon me. I was fine, at least I tried to convince myself I was. He checked in with me while he was still in a good mental state to respect my wishes if I was having any doubts, and when I said I was fine he continued. I sat back to think, wondering what was happening to Pete. What was his punishment? What was he going through? I visualized him back in the meeting room, bound in chains and being spat at.
This whole thing was my fault. My fault, I thought. Within seconds, I started to scream. Burning poison on my flesh made me scream. His poison never hurt me before. I immediately tried to push him back, but the emerald on his cape only jabbed harder into my chest. I knew he could hear me, but he wouldn’t hear me. He didn’t want to stop even though he knew he could because he knew I wanted him to stop and he wouldn’t have that.
I managed to take the Ceremonial Ring off and pressed it into his chest, hoping he would feel it digging into his skin and stop to look at me. It wasn’t worth it for this much pain.
“Stop, please stop Fitzray.” I pleaded.
“No.” He paused to look at me and I felt sickened to see my own blood running from his greedy fangs. “Put it back on.” I knew he meant the ring. He looked down at my hand, still clutching the ring against his chest and pushed
it back. He bent over my neck again and stopped himself, hearing my weeping.
“Take it back,” I begged pressing my fist against his chest again. I felt his muscles beneath my hand grow tense and he tightened his grip on the chair.
“Put it back on,” he repeated. Before he could start again I summoned my strength and pushed him away, sending him to the floor.
I moved from my chair and thought I could find a way to escape when I found myself unable to move. He held me from behind, his instinct causing him to disregard my feeling and not allow me to escape. I managed to twist away from his grip and once I turned, he caught my hand clutching the ring and shoved it back onto my finger. He then sat down and I did the same, panting, hoping he would relax.
For a moment he did nothing, but then caught his breath and once he sensed I was calm, I took off the ring and threw it at him. He launched at me and tried to grab me. In defense, I scratched the side of his neck, and though I would never have wished to make such a deep wound, he fell back onto the rug and remained there in shock. He stared up at me as I stood and slowly, he closed his eyes. I was sure he just wanted me to continue the Ceremony since I had made such a deep wound, but then I saw his head fall to the side and I realized he had fainted. I seized my chance to run before his eyes opened to mark the start of his phases.
My senses sharpened and my legs took me out of the house, through the woods into darkness. I felt drawn by a scent I knew well that took me to a clearing where a massive house stood. The rumbling of a distant storm made me go further as to open up the door and go inside.
A figure sat in front of the fireplace, a bottle in hand. The stench of plumeberry juice filled the air around me making me feel lightheaded.
“Pete.” His name rang in my ears, but hung in the air and dissipated as though it had no importance. He didn’t move, not even to face me, not filled with astonishment as I silently hoped for.
“What did they do to you? Tell me. What have they done?”
Now he turned his head and I could see his profile against the blazing flames.
“Go away. Go back to Fitzray.”
“No.”
He was silent, turned back to the flames and downed the rest of the juice in his bottle. “What do you want?” he groaned. He threw the empty bottle aside and stood from his chair. The sound of the shattering bottle echoed, filling my ears with sudden fear.
“I want to know what happened.”
He turned, walked up to me. “What did they do? You really want to know?”
I nodded my head. He looked me up and down, disgusted to see what I was wearing. His gaze became stern and his eyes rolled to somewhere distant.
“They hurt you.”
He looked back at me. “You don’t want to know what they did to me. Why are you here? Did you even perform the Ceremony?”
“I screamed-,”
“I’m sure you did-,”
“Because of you.” I interrupted. “And Fitzray fainted, so I didn’t complete the Ceremony.”
The way he looked at me now was different. His eyes seemed to have a glint in them. They weren’t as dark as I expected. He was different, his tone of voice seemed weak and almost unconfident to me now. He looked destroyed.
“What did they do to you?” My eyes welled with tears in pain, unable to imagine what they must have put him through.
As I reached up to touch his face, he turned his head letting out what sounded to me like a gasp. His skin was warm against my fingertips. My palm gently caressed his cheek and I felt a gentle pulse vibrating against my skin. I touched his neck where a light fluttering throbbed against the pads of my fingers, causing him to swallow warily. He looked at me from the corner of his eye, backed away from my trembling fingers. He took off his cape and stood breathing heavily, waiting for me to speak. He opened his mouth, parting his lips first then clenched his teeth to which his canine teeth were normal. They were not fangs. He pulled off his shirt revealing to me his fluttering chest where I could see his pulse. His skin was darker with color and he was full of life.
“They turned me into a mortal. They took my poison and in turn poisoned me with medicines, extracted my mutated DNA, and replaced my heart with a once half-mortal’s.”
“Whose heart?”
“There was only one donor compatible that my body would accept, one with similar blood.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You can only become a mortal if your heart is replaced by someone else’s. That someone must have died at some point, meaning they must have been a mortal or a half- mortal. When a half-mortal dies, his body fades and all that is left is his heart. Half-mortal hearts are stored and used to perform torturous procedures such as turning a vampire into a mortal. That’s what they did to me.”
“You can never be a vampire again?”
“I can, but it would be very difficult because I have a half-mortal’s heart and poison could cause reactions in the heart to make me into the heart’s original person. The Pete as you know would cease to exist and the half-mortal that owned this heart would live again. That’s how it works, so I don’t plan to be a vampire anytime soon.”
“What if a wolf bit you?”
He shrugged. “The same would happen.”
“So who are you?”
“I’m Pete…for now.”
“And do you know whose heart you have?”
He looked down, placing a hand to his chest. “I have Lucian’s heart.”
“Lucian.” I said quietly. In disbelief, I stepped back.
“I’m going to Earth tomorrow. If I don’t leave, every forsaken creature on this planet will chase me off.”
He picked up his cape and returned to his chair in front of the fire. I fell to my knees. “This is my fault. If only I’d convinced Fitzray to forget the Trial.”
“There’s nothing you can do about it now. The two of you wanted to get back at me for what I did and I don’t blame you. I’m not your Eternal Mate anymore. I’m not a vampire anymore, not even a half-mortal, I’m just a mortal.”
“You know I didn’t perform the Ceremony. I couldn’t do it.”
“And you think I’d be grateful for that? All of that hard work for nothing, I almost feel disappointed. It doesn’t matter though. My plans have failed me before.”
“What do you mean?”
“Leaking information from the Allies was all my work. I had Raven do my dirty work for me.”
“And what was the purpose of that?”
“I needed a distraction from everyone focusing on me. For months, I knew Fitzray was making plans for a Ceremonial Trial and for months, I tried to stop him, but I knew my fate was sealed. I just didn’t think it would be this bad.”
I walked up to him and he didn’t bother to look at me. I hugged him and found he hugged me back. His voice turned to a whisper as he begged me to kill him.
“Put me out of my misery,” he begged, “and perform the Ceremony with me. It will either kill me or make me your Eternal Mate. If I survive I will go to Earth, but if I die leave me here and don’t let yourself be seen.”
“I can’t…how could I do that to you?”
“Please,” he begged, “please just try. Kill me.”
He took off my Ceremonial Ring and placed it on the arm of the chair. He took off his cape and put it over my shoulders. “I can’t live like this. Just bite me. I won’t bite back, I promise.” He rested his head on my shoulder and his pulse throbbed violently against me, emotion shaking his body to tears.
“Please do it now. Make it fast. If I become a half-mortal, I will go to Earth and get bit by a vampire. Then, when I become one, I’ll come back to you. I’ll be a good Eternal Mate. I’ll be a good King.”
“Ok,” I breathed, “ok, take the juice. Drink it down so you don’t feel anything.”
“Have you ever tasted mortal blood?” He asked curiously as he opened another bottle of plumeberry juice.
“No.”
“It’s go
od. You’ll enjoy yourself.”
“I don’t even see how this is a Ceremony. I won’t turn you into a vampire and it’s not like you can even bite back.”
“Your poison is enough to kill me a little bit. If it doesn’t kill me completely, it will turn me into a half-blood. That’s obviously what we want. And many half-bloods have fangs, as Lucian did. So I will complete a Ceremony if it starts.”
“Sit down.”
“Where, here?”
“Sit wherever you’re comfortable.”
He sat down in front of me on the floor. He tossed his shirt and cape aside and let out a deep sigh. “Do you know what to do?”
“I think so.”
“No, you have to do this right.” He pointed to the side of his neck. “Don’t take too much. Don’t drain me completely. Give yourself a moment to let your poison set in…and trust me, even though a vampress has weak poison I will feel it. You’ll know when you’ve waited enough. Take your time. You have all night to do this right. Got it?”
“Yeah,” I said nervously.
“Take off your cape. It’s going to get really hot, really fast.”
“What if you start to suffer…or something happens?”
“Just relax. I won’t hurt you, simply because I won’t have the strength. If it works it works and if it doesn’t…well we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”
“Do you have a ring or something?”
“No. I’ll have one made. Don’t worry about it. A ring is just a symbol. It has no significance to the Ceremony itself.”
I took a breath and just stared at him. “This is happening so fast…I just got out of a Ceremony with Fitzray.”
“Look at me and relax. Don’t think about any of that. You’re helping me. Well, either that or killing me, but we’ll see what happens.”
“Do you want me to start?”
“Start when you’re ready.” I edged forward and his hands flew up. “Wait. I just wanted to apologize for everything that happened in the past. I wasn’t a good Eternal Mate to you. I will make it up to you this time.”
I kissed his face. “Ok. I’m starting now.”
Candescent (The Opalescent Collection Book 1) Page 7