Poisonous Temptation: Division 2 (The Berkano Vampire Collection)

by Isadora Brown

  Ashana looked to Carter and Olivia, her mouth dropped open like a fish. Aurelia had to bite back a smile. No wonder Adela had called her a fish all this time. She could certainly see how she might be confused for one.

  “That ruins our entire plans, Aurelia,” she said. “We’ve been planning this for years, and now that we have the perfect person to do this…” She let her voice trail off. “What are we going to do?”

  That question was directed at the two humans.

  “We’ll figure it out,” Olivia said with a small smile. She placed a reassuring hand on Ashana’s shoulder. “We always do.”

  They continued to walk down the dirt road. There were a few times it appeared they were going to be approached by either humans looking for help or looking to take out their aggression on someone, or by vampires looking to start a fight or looking for a new group to be part of. Every time they were approached, Ashana cast a protection spell, and Thyos placed Aurelia behind him. The others fell in line as well.

  Nobody thought it best to mess with Thyos, and even if they wanted to, Ashana’s protection spell prevented them from doing so.

  “Ashana,” Aurelia murmured, keeping her voice low as she hung back in order to catch up with her sister. “Do you know what happened to our sisters? Since you’ve been with me, you have not mentioned them.”

  Ashana clenched her jaw and looked to Aurelia. Aurelia could tell it would be difficult for her to speak and that immediately made her tense up.

  “They’re angry, Aurelia,” Ashana finally said, looking over at her sister.

  Without warning, Aurelia felt Thyos slide his hand over hers, offering her support. She looked up at him in surprise, but he continued to look forward, as though he didn’t notice what was going on between them.

  “They’re angry with you, they’re angry with what happened,” Ashana said. “The minute the emperor died, Mother and Father fled. They knew witches would not be held in the highest regard. They felt the only ones protecting witches were the humans.”

  “That makes no sense,” Aurelia pointed out.

  “Believe me, I am aware of that,” Ashana said, shaking her head. “They offered us the chance to flee with them. Knowing their daughter was responsible for the devastation of an empire, they figured their best chance was to run for the borders, hoping their abilities were enough to get them through, to help them survive.” She looked back at Aurelia, her eyes serious. “No one took them up on their offer. Not even Augusta, and she is not as powerful as I am or Adela. Or even you.”

  “Me?” Aurelia asked softly, her eyes wide.

  “I saw what you did that day, Aurelia,” Ashana said, her voice somber, her eyes a cool gold. “Everyone did. Perhaps you don’t know yet how to harness your power, how to control it, but once you do acquire the knowledge, you might rival even me. I can teach you, if you want to be taught. There is a school, a university, for witches.”

  Aurelia’s eyes widened. “Really?” she asked.

  Ashana nodded. “In the heart of the city,” she said. “Mother was against us going. She did not want an outsider teaching us magic.” She sneered at the memory. “Mother believed that an outsider teaching us magic was akin to a nursery raising her children. She wanted to be the sole person responsible for teaching us. This was admirable, but if we had multiple instructors teaching us multiple things, imagine the talent we could have had.” She looked back at Aurelia. “I was lucky to have my group. I was lucky to learn and to train with someone outside Mother because I learned more than she could have taught me. I honed my craft and developed more ability than I could have imagined, let alone Mother. But I had to keep it a secret.”

  “Why?” Aurelia asked. “Why would Mother want to inhibit your learning, your talent?”

  “Because Mother liked to be in control of everything and liked to take responsibility for our looks, our talent,” Ashana said. Her lips curled up into a smirk. “It’s one of the things that I appreciate about you. Your golden hair was clearly something she could not take credit for. And while I hated Paletyn more than I think I’ve hated anyone before, I had to appreciate that he gave you something Mother could not.”

  Aurelia was not sure what to make of that. It almost sounded petty and unnecessary. “We should continue on, Ashana,” she murmured, looking at the ground.

  Aurelia was not sure how to feel knowing she had inherited her hair from her father—her true father. It was not something she liked to think about. The father who had raised her had been aloof at times, but he was always there. The emperor had known who she was to him and had not seemed to care about her one way or the other. Only when she was found out and her relationship with Thyos brought to light did he finally decide to officially introduce himself to her.

  “Aurelia,” Ashana murmured, and Aurelia could tell her sister was ready to argue.

  “No, Ashana,” Aurelia said. “I will not lead. I will go with you to the Colosseum, and I will show my support by standing beside all of you. By that is all I will do. I will not speak. I will not lead. You should step into that role. You think I was born for it, but the truth of the matter is, it was always you.”

  Ashana clenched her jaw. She could say nothing. Aurelia had been very clear about what she felt from the beginning. She listened to what everyone had to say and gave it careful consideration. For now, she did not think she would make a good leader. But she loved that they were trying. She loved that they were moving forward instead of staying stagnant. It was progress. And progress was something.

  “Think about it,” Aurelia said, raising her brows and then continued walking.

  Chapter 28

  When they got to the Colosseum, Thyos felt himself go still. He always went through the back entrance. He could not be seen going through the front, where the other humans went. A vampire was segregated into the tunnels below. If they were slaves, they went where their royal masters told them to go. If they were warriors, they were imprisoned below until it was their turn to battle, unless they won, which meant they could live on their own until they were forced to return to the arena when they were called.

  Thyos felt Aurelia hesitate next to him as well. He did not know much about the witches’ experience, but he knew they were kept separate as well. Witches were employed, but they were never spectators. They did not sit in the stands and watch battles like it was sport. Each witch had a purpose, and the purpose was serving the emperor to the best of their abilities. They could not get distracted.

  “Which way are we going?” Aurelia asked. She looked at both Carter and Ashana, who stood side by side, leading the couple into the arena.

  “The front,” Carter said, as though it was obvious. “You are a ruler now, Aurelia. You do not walk through the side. And you, Thyos, you do not walk through the back.”

  “We are rulers if the people choose us to be rulers,” Aurelia said. “Witches have nearly vanished from the city, afraid of the vampires extracting their revenge on keeping them cursed and controlled. Vampires are ready to unleash their true powers. And humans are ready to kill everything with two feet.”

  “Unless we give them a ruler,” Carter pointed out. “Or, in our case, rulers.”

  “A population is like a child,” Ashana said. “It needs structure. Since they’re not being supervised, since they don’t have any rules, they are acting out. But give them someone to listen to, give them someone to respect, and they will stop.”

  “I do not know if I want to rule,” Thyos said.

  “You must,” Ashana pointed out.

  “You do not tell me what to do or how to feel, witch,” he growled through his teeth. “I am loyal to no one. I do not need to do anything that I do not want to. And ruling is not something I ever saw myself doing.”

  “But is it something you could see yourself doing?” Ashana asked. Thyos could tell she was trying to curb her impatience, which he could appreciate. “The vampires look to you.”

  “I am Berkano,” he snapped as though
it was the most obvious thing in the world.

  “Your name does not define you,” Aurelia said gently, looking up at Thyos. “If you want to rule, you should. If you don’t, you should not have to bear that burden. But what my sister and what the humans are trying to say is that you have already earned your faction’s respect.”

  “We cannot do this without you, Thyos,” Carter said. “We called a meeting with the population of the city, promising them an equal opportunity to speak on behalf of their faction. We are going in there to tell them our plans on how we would rule, the three of us, together. Each faction would get representation. There would be no class system. Everyone would be equal, and the law, our new law, would enforce that. Hate crimes would be looked on with deadly consequences, where serious action should be taken.”

  “You do not have to preach your system to me, human,” Thyos said, almost dismissively. “You have already told me multiple times that this is what you want. That does not mean that this is going to happen.” He narrowed his eyes. “Aurelia has already said she does not want to rule, and yet you are forcing her to walk through the front doors of that arena after everything that has happened there in order to deceive your public.”

  “It is not deception,” Olivia pointed out. “If she is not going to represent the witches, she can go as a partner to you, Thyos.”

  “If she is not ruler for the witches, then who is?” Carter demanded. “We need all factions represented or this means nothing.”

  “Ashana,” Aurelia said with a small smile.

  “What?” Ashana all but yelped. “I cannot lead!”

  “I think you would be perfect,” Aurelia said. “You kept a big family secret and managed to keep Adela in line when she wanted to reveal it. That burden should not have been placed on you simply because you are the oldest sibling, and I am sorry you had to suffer it because of me. But you did. And though there were times I did not understand why you were so cold when we were young, I understand much more now. And I appreciate all you have done for me. For who I am.”

  “Bring a good sister does not mean she is a good ruler,” Thyos pointed out.

  Ashana nodded. “For once, I agree with the vampire,” she said.

  Aurelia smiled. “Exactly,” she said. “It would be easy for me to slip into role of leader because Thyos and I are lovers. We get along. But if you take a witch and a vampire who do not get along and present them to the people to show that despite differences, we must overcome and unite, your message will be stronger.”

  Carter rubbed his fingers across his chin. “Actually, that is a good idea,” he said. “Ashana, what do you think? Would you be willing to represent your faction?”

  “I, uh.” She glanced around the small entranceway, not sure how to respond. Aurelia could hear the screaming and chanting from where she stood. The crowd was getting restless. They needed to go out there now to see if it was even possible to calm them down. “I mean…”

  “This is a waste,” Thyos put in. “How dare you put all of this pressure on your sister and when the tables are turned, you cannot form a single word? Why is it okay for her to rule? Why is it okay for that burden to be placed on her?”

  Aurelia stepped between them. “Ashana, you would make an excellent leader,” she said. “I’m sure your friends would agree.” She looked to Carter and Olivia for confirmation.

  “I actually think it makes perfect sense,” Olivia said. “Ashana, you’re one of the most powerful witches I know. You’re in control of your powers, and it’s easy to respect you. The fact that Aurelia is your sister who is in a relationship with Thyos will help you, but you will win the people on your own.”

  Ashana looked away, her gaze hard. She did not say anything.

  “The people are waiting,” Carter pointed out. “It’s time for us to go.”

  Thyos took a deep breath. He still had no idea why he was here and what he was going to do. As much as he hated to admit it, Carter and Olivia’s words began to sink in to the point where he could see himself keeping control of the vampires and working with the other factions to bring peace to the Division. Every part of him screamed to go back to the way things were, before Aurelia, before everything when all he had to care about was himself.

  But his feet started to move. He was watching Aurelia, watching the back of her head. The golden hair looked like a halo above her head. She was angelic, otherworldly, something that should not be in such a dismal, dirty, corrupted place. And he found that he needed to be close to her always, he needed to stay in that light.

  The dirt started to accumulate on his feet, his sandals worn and dusty. It was odd to walk in this way and not from a contender corner. The lights were bright, shining down on the audience and masking their faces. Some of them began to applaud as he made his way into the center, though whether it was for him or someone else, he did not know and did not care.

  Ashana muttered something under her breath and then nodded to Carter. Carter gave her a smile before turning back to look at the crowd.

  “Citizens of Citta di Paludi,” he began. “Thank you for taking the time out of your day to come and listen to us speak. We need your help in achieving greatness. Since we have no leader, it is up to us to come together to decide how we want this Division to continue moving forward.”

  Before Carter could even continue, marble splintered, rubble flying everywhere. If Ashana didn’t have a protective shield up, the five would have been hit hard.

  “Aurelia!” a familiar voice sing-songed. “So good of you to join us.”

  Thyos knew that voice. He remembered her admonishing Aurelia during their first encounter, how she had laughed, how she had treated Aurelia, how she had yelled at Aurelia when Aurelia had protected him. He did not even know her name, and he found that he hated her. That he wanted nothing more than to snap every bone in her body and toss her into a swamp and watch her sink.

  Thyos watched as Aurelia’s entire body tensed, and she turned, looking over at Adela and Augusta approaching from the east contender’s entrance and walking to the middle of the arena. Both sisters looked enormously pleased with themselves, as though they were both Cheshire cats who had pounced on canaries.

  “Ashana,” Augusta said, her brows furrowed as she shot her older sister a look. “I’m surprised to find you here with the Sangre whore. I never would have taken you as someone who would support an abomination.”

  Ashana did not even flinch as her two sisters approached. Thyos did not think Ashana actually expected them to show, but she did not look entirely surprised to find them there.

  “I do not particularly care what you expect of me and what you do not,” Ashana said with an elegant shrug over her shoulder. “I do what I want for myself, and that’s it.”

  “You selfish whore,” Adela spat.

  “You know, Adela,” Ashana continued in that calm, dismissive voice, almost as if she were trying to get a reaction from her younger sister. “You are quite good at calling us names, but your magic lacks control. It’s merely anger that makes you powerful, not ability. Not talent.”

  Adela tilted her lips into a smirk and shifted her eyes to fix on Aurelia. Thyos wanted nothing more than to push her behind him, to shield her from Adela’s vicious glare, but he knew Aurelia was fully capable of protecting herself. Instead, he positioned himself behind her and glared an icy glare at Adela, squaring his shoulders and preparing f his body for an attack, just in case.

  “Aurelia, you are much more powerful than I gave you credit for,” Augusta said in her soft-spoken voice. “I thought you were an airhead who just liked to read romance novels and fantasize about sexual encounters you’ll never have.”

  Aurelia’s brow actually shot up at this comment. Augusta had never been aggressive with her, and while she had never gone out of her way to be particularly kind, she always thought Augusta was silent but supportive, backing her up when she needed it the most.

  Augusta’s golden eyes fixed on Thyos, and her nose twitched
. “I see I’m wrong,” she murmured, her lips curling into a coy smile. “Well? Do tell. Are vampires as good as everyone says they are?”

  Thyos snarled.

  “I know,” Adela said, wrinkling her brow by raising it. “Why don’t we find out?”

  Without warning, both witches shot a spell Thyos did not know straight at him. Ashana was not strong enough to protect him; perhaps she thought that since the vampires trusted and respected him, she didn’t need to protect him.

  Thyos fell to his knees as a scream ripped from his mouth. He could not keep his eyes open, no matter how hard he tried. The pain was too unbearable. He was going to die, he realized. There was no way he would be able to survive this.

  Chapter 29

  Aurelia turned to Augusta and Adela, her eyes wide with surprise. Thyos was on the floor. He was going to die if she did not do something. Choking her sisters by using her abilities was not going to do anything.

  “Aurelia,” Ashana said, her voice sharp but soft. “He is going to die if you do not release them and focus on Thyos. I promise you, I will not let them go. But you must take care of Thyos. He is as important as you are, as Carter is. We cannot have him succumb.” She glanced around, her eyes going over to the stands. “The vampires are getting restless. The few witches we have that have not made for the borders are getting depleted. The humans are too far from range for the witches to energize themselves.”

  Aurelia did not look away from her sisters. She had never had the desire to kill before in her life, and yet, as she stared at the witches who had possibly killed her lover, she was ready to slaughter them.

  Until Ashana’s words sunk in. Until she realized that Thyos could still be saved if she gave up her desire to extract revenge on her sisters.