Poisonous Temptation: Division 2 (The Berkano Vampire Collection)

by Isadora Brown

  “You are supposed to show forgiveness,” Ashana said in a quiet voice. “What better way to do that than right now?”

  Aurelia clenched her jaw and let out a growl that rivaled Thyos’s. Finally, she released her sisters, allowing both of them to collapse into a pile on the floor.

  The entire Colosseum was silent. They were not sure how to react to what they had just seen. Aurelia took a deep breath, and then another. They were waiting for her to speak,

  They were waiting for her to lead.

  “From this point forth,” she said, taking a step toward Thyos’s unconscious body, and then another. She did not care about uniting the factions. She did not care about leading. All she cared about was getting Thyos some of her blood and forcing him to rest. She did not want their greedy eyes on his body. She did not want them looking at him at all. But the quicker she got this over with, the quicker she could get to him. “There will be no crimes against another person based on what faction they are from.” She shot her sisters a glare. “Consider this your warning.”

  She looked over at two vampires who were presumably guards Carter and Olivia knew.

  “Would you like us to take them to the prison?” one of them asked Aurelia.

  Aurelia blinked in surprise. She had not expected them to look at her as their leader, definitely did not expect them to ask her permission on what to do with her sisters.

  “Put them in a contender’s room,” Aurelia instructed after clearing her throat. “If we have two witches to spare in order to ensure they do not try to escape, that would be extremely helpful.” She forced a smile. “Please. And thank you.”

  “And him?” one of the witches asked, nodding their head in Thyos’s direction.

  Aurelia dropped her eyes to Thyos’s crumpled body, and her heart leaped into her throat. She hated this. She hated seeing him look like this. Unconscious. Powerless. It did not suit him. Not when he was supposed to be strong and vital.

  She turned to Ashana, her eyes wide and pleading. She did not have to open her mouth to ask. Ashana gave her a single nod, and within a moment, she and Thyos had vanished, leaving Aurelia in front of the spectators, looking down at her and waiting for what would happen next.

  “Thyos,” she began, turning her eyes to the crowd, “is my lover.” The crowd was immediately silenced. One of the nearby witches amplified her voice with a spell, so that it was loud and reached even those in the highest seats. “I do not have to explain anything to you, and yet, I am told my story might be helpful in understanding that the three factions would do better uniting rather than fighting.” She took a deep breath and tilted her chin up. She would not be ashamed of Thyos, but more importantly, she would not be ashamed of her previous mistakes. Each one was a domino, falling into place so she could be exactly the person—the witch—she needed to be.

  “Thyos saved me after a human attacked me,” she told the crowd. “That human tried to rape me in an alley in East Babylon, an alley I probably wouldn’t recognize if I walked it now. When I fought him, when I told him no, he took his dagger and sliced my chest at my collarbone. When I screamed, Thyos was the only one who saved me. He rescued me from the human, and he healed my wound. He took me back to his home and gave me something to change into because my expensive gown was ruined. And after that, he walked me to my city, to somewhere familiar to me.”

  She turned so she could look at a different crowd. “What you saw two days later was punishment bestowed on both of us by the emperor,” she went on. “you heard him say that Thyos should not have saved me, and I should have let the human use my body any way he wanted and then thanked him for it. If this is the sort of empire you want to be part of, if that is the behavior you approve of, you can leave now. That will not happen here any longer. The women of Citta di Paludi—all women, humans, vampire, and witches alike—should feel safe to walk alone in any neighborhood without fearing they may get attacked. Each faction should be able to congregate and live in peace. If you preferred the old empire, with blood sports and separation and violence, you can leave and find it elsewhere.

  “We are giving you the opportunity to choose for yourself what kind of world you want to live in,” she said. She was closing up, deciding she did not want the attention when she did not think she had a right to lead these people in the first place. But Carter could. Ashana could. Thyos could—even if he did not believe in himself. “From what I’m told, voting booths are set up outside the Colosseum where you can register your information and vote on what you want. If you do not agree with uniting the factions, there is a space for you to suggest your own solution to this problem. But mark my words, we need a solution. We will designate three members from each faction to count the votes in two days’ time, and then we will see what the majority has voted for. But this city does not belong to any one person. It is ours, collectively.”

  Aurelia took a step breath, taking a breath. She was ready to leave now, ready to see how this would be sorted out.

  She needed to see Thyos. But first, there were two other people who required her attention.

  --

  The prison in the Colosseum was at the very back edge of the circular building, between a staircase and a food stand. It was dusty and dank. There were no beds, and if a prisoner had to use the restroom, he or she had the option of one of four corners to use. A strong stench of lingering shit, piss, and sweat assaulted Aurelia’s nose. There was a part of her that almost felt sorry for her sisters. And then she remembered what they’d done to Thyos and her heart was steel, her resolve unflinching.

  “Well, well,” Adela sneered from her cell, standing at the bars and cooking her fingers around them. “The prodigal daughter returns. You look like shit.”

  “How could you bond with a vampire?” Augusta said from her cell, adjacent to Adela’s. Her face was streaked with dried tears, but her eyes were a dangerous gold color.

  “No one said anything about bonding,” Aurelia pointed out, keeping her voice calm despite Adela’s tone.

  “I can smell it on you,” Augusta snapped. “The minute you were home, I could smell it on you. I wanted to be wrong, but when you were required to report to the Colosseum…” She looked away, her face full of disgust. “I knew. And now, I know you exchanged more than just blood.”

  “You fang whore,” Adela snapped.

  Despite their insults, the disgust so clearly written on their faces, Aurelia’s smile did not falter. “I forgive you,” she murmured. And then, louder, she said, “I forgive you both. For everything.”

  “We didn’t ask for your forgiveness,” Augusta said, looking at Aurelia as though she was an idiot.

  Aurelia let it roll of her shoulders. “I’m not forgiving you for you,” she said in a low voice. “I’m doing it for me. Because if I did not, my confusion and the bitterness and my hate for you would fester and turn me into something. Something like you. Something I don’t want to be.”

  “You love the vampire,” Adela said with a sneer and a scowl. “You’re filth. Your so-called love is going to cause something like the Rift. It’s going to ruin everyone and everything. But you’re so naive that you don’t even realize it. You are not my sister. To me, you are nothing.”

  Aurelia opened her eyes and gave Adela a long look. “I love you, Adela,” she murmured. “You’ve taught me many things. You made me realize I have a strength I didn’t think I had. I will never be as fierce or as passionate as you are, and that’s okay. I pray to the gods that your soul will eventually change. For now, however, you will be here for as long as it takes.”

  “You cannot force me to believe in something I refuse to accept,” Adela snapped, her eyes fire. The knuckles on her fingers turned white with how tightly she gripped the steel bars.

  “That is true,” Aurelia acknowledged with a nod. “You are correct. However, you cannot think that you will never change. You aren’t completely closed off, are you? Adela, I understand that right now, you will never understand this world we are
trying to bring to life. And I’m not naive enough to think it will happen overnight. But it will happen.” She rubbed her lips together, sighing through her nose. “And I have to say, Adela, sincerely, I hope you’re open enough to experience it when it happens. I’m always here when you’re ready.”

  “Shut all that sniveling,” Augusta said from her cell. “We don’t want to hear it. Let us rot.”

  “I will always be thinking of you,” Aurelia said after a tense moment of silence. “Both of you. I meant what I said: that I want you to be part of this new world—”

  “Why would I want to be part of the new world, a world where vampires—the sole reason for the Rift that put us in this predicament in the first place—would be equal to me, to other humans?” Adela snapped. “Leave us to rot, Aurelia. It is over. You have won. I would rather lose and not be anywhere near you, near here, again.”

  Aurelia opened her mouth, but after a long moment to really contemplate what Adela had said, she finally nodded her head. She could not force someone to change her mind. She could not force someone to feel any differently than she already did.

  “I respect your wishes,” she finally said, her voice a low murmur. She took a step back, looking at both of her sisters one last time.

  Aurelia felt her heart squeeze, but she also felt her shoulders roll back, as though her burden had fallen away and she was free. Free from the torment, free from never being good enough, free from comparing herself to these women she once looked up to.

  She felt her lips turn up into a smile as she took a step back from the cell. She needed to get Thyos back to the cabin. He needed to feed on her and replenish his energy.

  That was all that mattered now.

  Chapter 30

  Thyos felt his nose twitch at the familiar scent of her blood. Immediately, his eyes snapped open. If anybody hurt her, he would rip them to shreds with his bare hands and wear their blood like armor.

  What he found was Aurelia, kneeling over him, her wrist dripping with a thin red line of blood. He blinked, slowly sitting up, frowning in pain as he did so.

  “Hey, now,” she murmured, leaning over him and gently prompting him back down. “Rest.”

  “Where am I?” he murmured, grasping his head with his hand.

  “I’m surprised you don’t recognize your cabin,” she said, drawing the back of her fingers against his cool cheek. He leaned into her touch, reveling in the calm she made him feel.

  “Was it…” His eyes snapped into hers once again and his brow pinched with questions. “Was it all a dream?”

  “The revolution?” Aurelia shook her head, two stray strands of blonde hair following her gesture. “No, that was my sisters’ attack on you. But we managed to detain them.”

  “And?” Thyos promoted.

  Aurelia gave him a teasing smile. “I did not think you cared, Thyos,” she said.

  He shot her a look, and she giggled. While he could admit just fine that he cared to himself, he did not have it in him yet to vocalize such feelings to Aurelia. One of the best things about her, however, was that he did not need to.

  “All right, all right,” she said. “They received a warning. The next violent act against a member of a different faction is imprisonment.”

  “And the people?” Thyos asked.

  “The people have the right to vote in what they want,” she murmured, brushing a lock of hair from his forehead. He did not understand how every touch seemed to relax him and strengthen him. “They know who I am, but they also know I killed their emperor. There is a very good chance you will be voted in. And Carter. I wish Ashana would step up and be a leader. I think she’s perfect for it. I even recommended her to the people.”

  “And why not you?” Thyos asked in a soft voice.

  He watched as Aurelia shrugged her shoulders and looked out the bedroom window. He still had memories of her standing there in nothing but a bed sheet.

  “I still have so much to learn,” she replied honestly. She placed her head on her forearms, tilting it to the side, resting it on the surface of the mattress. “I do not think I would be a fit leader. At least, not right now. I would rather research the storms and possibly see if there’s a way to explore beyond this Division.”

  “You would leave me?” Thyos asked. He was surprised by his vulnerable question. About how much it would reveal about him and his attachment to her.

  “Would you ask me to stay?” Aurelia asked.

  “Are my feelings such a game to you that you would ask me to prove them?” Thyos asked.

  Aurelia wrinkled her nose. “You are cranky,” she told him. “You must eat.” She offered him her wrist.

  His eyes never left hers as he brought her wrist to his mouth and drank. He wanted to keep his eyes on her, to show her that he did not need her blood to feel the pleasure it brought him, but he could not sustain the cold mask of indifference for very long. His eyes rolled to the back of his head, and his lips pressed against her skin, desperately sucking at the crimson liquid that belonged to him and only him.

  When he finished, he brushed his long fingers against the inside of her forearm, hoping to ease the tingly ache that blood loss caused. He loved how soft her skin was, loved how milky the color was, especially after the blood loss. Everything about her was his favorite thing.

  “I suppose now would be the best time to discuss what this thing is between us,” Aurelia said in a low voice. She almost sounded shy.

  “This thing?” Thyos asked, quirking a brow.

  “Between us, Aurelia repeated. “Do not pretend that you don’t know what I’m referring to, Thyos.” She locked eyes with him, and it took everything in him not to smile with amusement at the serious look on her face. “Thyos. Are you telling me that you would be okay if I left you right now, and we never saw each other again?”

  “I want your happiness,” Thyos told her honestly. “If leaving me and traveling and researching and all of those things you wish to do without me would make you happy, I would be forced to support it.”

  Aurelia let out a breath, her arms crossed over her chest like a petulant child’s. “You would be all right if I allowed another man to touch me the way you touch me?” she asked in a low whisper. “Kiss my neck and take my blood? Fill me with his cock and make me cum and scream his name?”

  Thyos narrowed his eyes, his teeth clenched together so tightly he nearly popped his jaw out. Of course, he did not want it. Just the thought of someone else inside of her, just the thought of someone else’s name on her lips was enough to drive him insane.

  “Do not even verbalize such atrocious things,” he said through gritted teeth. “How fucking dare you?”

  “How dare me?” Aurelia asked, furrowing her brow at his attitude. “How dare YOU.”

  “What would you like me to say?” he demanded, his brows pinched, his fangs out. He knew it wasn’t her fault, and he was angry because of her words rather than anything she’d actually done. But the fact remained that it maddened him that she would even say something about being with someone else intimately, allowing someone else to learn about her body, what pleased her, what did not. “Do you want me to tell you that you are the one I crave? Only you, and not anyone else? Do you want me to tell you that I am addicted to your cunt and your face and your laugh and your Sangre and your heart? That I cannot be with another because no one else will do? Do you want me to tell you that I love you, witch?”

  Aurelia smiled down at him, but it was not arrogant and it was not wicked. “Yes,” she said in a soft voice, “but only if you mean it.”

  Thyos flared his nostrils in annoyance at her petulance, even though he knew he probably deserved it.

  “I know,” Aurelia said, deciding to speak after Thyos kept silent. “I know that I love you.” Thyos’s brow furrowed, but he looked at her with curious eyes, biting the inside of his bottom lip so as to not interrupt her. “I know you probably don’t believe me. And I know that you also might not love me. And both of those feeling
s are okay. I’m only telling you because I need to tell you, because I think you should know it. That you are worth loving.” Her lips curled up. “I mean, you’re going to be a ruler, after all. That has to make you a little bit lovable.”

  “I cannot rule,” he said, his eyes on his hand as he reached out and grabbed Aurelia’s, “without you by my side, Aurelia. But I refuse to force you to stay here if you want to travel and research.”

  “I am flexible,” Aurelia said, tracing mindless patterns on his palm. “I can research at any point. Perhaps take a vacation once a month so we could travel to the borders together. I also want to go to school for research, and being a student again would force me to remain in one place.” Her eyes found his. “I will not leave you.” She squeezed his hand, hoping to emphasize her point.

  “You are a wonderful creature,” Thyos murmured before he could stop himself. With his free hand, he reached out and cupped her cheek with his hand. “I do not deserve you.”

  “And that’s where you’re wrong, my love,” Aurelia murmured, turning her face so she could kiss his palm. “But I will always be here for as long as you’ll have me.”

  “This world…” Thyos let his voice trail off, clenching his jaw so hard it popped. “This world will not accept us.”

  “Not at first,” Aurelia agreed with a small nod. She smiled, and he could feel it in his palm. It warmed him, made his insides smile and relax. “But we do not care what everyone else thinks, do we? We are here together because that is what we want. Because we care for each other. Because we love each other.”

  Thyos turned his lips up into a small smile. “And what of your sisters?” he asked.

  Aurelia sighed. “I think I’ve managed to convince Ashana to step up as a leader. She’s hesitant, but not completely resistant, which is good. Adela is as hateful as ever. It will take a while before she decides to change her mind. I hope she will. Maybe if we give her time. Augusta is quiet. It’s always hard to tell what she’s thinking. I used to think it was because she was contemplative, but she’s good at hiding her true feelings. I never would have thought…” She let her voice trail off. Thyos looked up and realized her voice had caught in her throat. He clenched his jaw, immediately hating everything Augusta had put her through, even if she didn’t know it. “It’s her betrayal that hurt the most.”