by Ward, H. M.
“Then take me to the delightful woman, and let’s just be done with it.” Reginald seemed annoyed, like he had places to go, people to see, and this was an inconvenience.
The guard’s chubby chin flapped, hanging open, “You don’t want an audience with the Queen. Relinquish your cargo here, and I’ll tell them that you sent your apologies. I won’t say nothing about the girl. We’ll stick her back into one of the camps and nobody will know.”
“The hell you will,” Reginald leaned in close, his pointy nose nearly touching Bordon. He pointed back at the truck. “Those are my things. If you touch them, I’ll kill you. I’ll rip your throat out before you can even—”
Bordon rolled his eyes, ignoring the threats. “You know you can’t kill me. Queen’s protection sucks for the most part—except that. I may not be as powerful as you, but I’ve got her blood. If you decide to kill me, you gotta kill her first.”
Reginald’s nostrils flared before he straightened his back. He nodded once and plastered a huge smile across his face, “Excellent idea. Best thing you’ve said all night. Take me to the beast, and let’s be done with it.”
Bordon reached for the strap to pull down the rolling door at the back of the truck. He glanced at Kahli once and shook his head, muttering to himself.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Will managed to get back and was dressed in his best black suit before supper. The Queen demanded his presence. Taking out a comb, he smoothed back his tousled hair. Will looked in the mirror before heading down the back staircase. Some days he wondered what he was doing, if he was insane. Defying the Queen was a death wish. He shook the thoughts from his mind as he made his way through the building. The Queen’s mansion was sprawling. It stood on a lonely hill, covered in snow. There were a million passageways through the place and Will knew every single one.
Winding past the kitchens he heard a female voice call out, “Better hurry, Will! Her brother’s here again.” Will slowed and looked back at her. Rachel stood with a pot in hand, drying it with a towel. She was easy on the eyes, and completely forbidden, but it didn’t keep him from looking.
Gratefully, he answered, “Thanks. When?”
“Just now. Patrol brought him in with a truck full of exotics.” She leaned in the doorway, her slim hips curving into her jean-clad legs.
Will’s face paled. “Exotics?” She nodded. Fury exploded within him, but he bit his tongue. That fool. Will knew the Regent did exactly what Will told him not to do—piss off the Queen by traveling right in front of her house with a truck full of illegal animals. Will wanted to pull his hair out, but instead he smiled at Rachel and hastened his walk toward the dining hall. It was all part of the game, he told himself.
The palace was busy tonight. Servants bustled through the halls, preparing for the Queen’s party. Will didn’t know what the celebration was for this time. Maybe she got a new necklace, or maybe it was her birthday. Either way, the woman threw more parties than he cared to go to, but he had to. It was part of the agreement. Tension built in Will’s shoulders. Every step closer to the Queen made him want to scream, but when he rounded the corner he was every bit as dashing as always. A warm smile spread across his lips as he stopped at the grand archway into the dining room. The floors were white marble, and the Queen had decorated the vast room in draped turquois silk. Golden candles glowed softly, casting a romantic light throughout the room.
The Queen noticed him immediately. Though he was forbidden, she enjoyed looking at him. Her Majesty sat dressed in a formal ball gown at the front of the room on a gleaming dais. Her skin was like snow, cold and pale. She smiled softly at him, but the gesture had no warmth. It was the look of a monarch who was bored to tears and glad to see someone else to talk to.
Will approached her with his shoulders back, a confident swagger to his walk. Stopping before her throne, he bowed deeply, “Your Majesty.”
“Will Tatum,” Will looked up at her and she smiled sincerely, “it seems my idiot brother decided to provoke me at the worst possible time.”
“He usually does,” Will replied, carefully.
“Yes, well, this will be the last time. I’ll deal with this quickly. If he gets blood on my dress… ,” her voice trailed off leaving the threat hanging in the air. Her slim delicate fingers were gripping the arms of her dais so tightly that the wood began to crack. Although most vampires were in a weakened state from the blood shortage, the Queen was not. She’d suck dry as many humans as she needed to maintain her power.
Before Will could say a soothing comment, Regent Reginald stood in the doorway across the room. Guards flanked him on both sides. Will stepped back, moving to the right hand of the Queen. He placed his hands behind his back, expression blank, and stared straight ahead like he had no opinion on anything. Appearances were deceiving, especially in the palace. In his mind, Will was fuming. He trusted this idiot to do as he was told, and the arrogant fool did the exact opposite.
The Queen’s voice was frigid, her eyes narrowed on her brother, “This is beneath you, Reggie. It really is. Tonight is All Hollow’s Eve. You know it’s my favorite event of the year and you have to show up and ruin it.”
Her brother bowed low after crossing the room. The candlelight flickered in his dark eyes as he glared at his sister. A smile twisted his mouth in a way that chilled Will to the bone. Reginald had a reputation for leaving a wake of blood in his path, but his elder sister was the one to watch out for. This temper tantrum she pretended to throw was a rouse. Will knew the only color she was seeing at that moment was red. “Sister, every holiday is your favorite.”
Will groaned inside. The mindless banter between these two made his skin crawl. He wished one would just kill the other and be done with it. Then he’d only have one crazy vampire to deal with.
The Queen’s lips pursed into a thin line, her brown eyes narrowing, “How dare you cross my thresholds and behave this way. How dare you break the law and trample across my front lawn ridiculing me like a monarch that can’t even control her own family!” She stood and walked toward him. Long brown curls were pinned to the back of her head, her bodice hugging tightly to her narrow waist. She didn’t look a day over twenty, though Will knew she was at least a few hundred years old. She was one that survived the flood and the freeze, so did her wicked brother.
Reggie scoffed, turning as his older sister held her skirts in her hands and glared at him, “I was doing nothing of the sort. But you, Sophia Analese,” he stepped closer to her, his body towering over hers, “cannot control me.” As he finished speaking, his hand flew out, reaching for her neck.
Sophia’s instincts were notorious. Before his fingers hand a chance to wrap around her delicate throat, she’d grabbed his wrist and twisted. Hard. The sound of wood snapping made Will flinch, but he didn’t move. He wouldn’t move unless he was bidden. This was the Queen’s guilty pleasure. She liked exercising power over people. Though she acted like it ruined her evening, her confrontations with her brother tended to do the opposite. Her crimson lips were pulled back into a sinister smile as she twisted, showing her perfectly white teeth.
“I can and I will, little brother,” she hissed while smashing his wrist in her grip. When she felt his bones snap, she released him.
Reginald’s body shook with anger. As soon as Sophia released his wrist, he saw his opening and took it. His older sister’s side was exposed, her hand moving a stray hair from her cheek. A knife appeared and he jabbed it into his sister’s side. Blood poured from the wound, soaking her gown. Sophia’s gaze narrowed, the muscles in her arms flinching. She reached for his wrist and withdrew the blade, sending her brother—and the knife—sailing across the room into the opposite wall.
Sophia’s movements were too fast for Will too see. Before he could blink, the Queen had her brother by the throat with a razor-sharp strangle cord biting into his neck. Her white gloves were stained in blood, and protected her hands from the sharp wire. “Oh, how I’ve waited for this day.” She tugged on the
cord and it cut open the skin on Reginald’s neck. “Mother always said you were more likely to make something of yourself. She had no idea how wrong she was.” Sophia was trying to control herself. She wanted to do this slowly. She wanted to hear him beg and listen to him suffer. A lifetime of torture wouldn’t heal what he’d done to her in their youth. It took every ounce of restraint to not pull the cord and lop off his head.
Reginald’s hands were on Sophia’s wrists. He shook, trying to pry his sister off his neck, but he was losing. She was stronger, better fed with a better blood supply. She would always be stronger, unless something changed. His mind drifted to Kahli and he wished he hadn’t left her, but it was too late now. Remorse didn’t help win wars.
Will remained still, watching, hoping one of them would destroy the other. It would make his life so much easier, but things never went that way for him. Life was always one hard knock after another, and most of those contusions came from the two vampires in front of him.
“You never let me finish saying anything. You’re like an old crown that dribbles on because she likes the sound of her own voice too much to shut up.” He spoke matter-a-factly, like his sister wasn’t trying to kill him. Sophia’s eyes blazed. She shook trying to kill him slowly, even though she didn’t want to wait anymore. Maybe that’s why he said it, maybe that’s why he offered, “I brought you gift upon gift, and instead of saying thank you, you sick your guard on me. I didn’t even get a chance to wrap anything.”
“You’re a bad liar,” Sophia laughed like a crazy woman and kicked him in the stomach. The cord cut deeper, drawing more blood, weakening her brother and causing his back to slump.
Reginald gasped, “If you destroy me, I won’t get to tell you the secret—”
She hissed in his face, “There is no secret. You’re a cat who has exceeded his nine lives.”
“Ah, there you’d be wrong. Tell them to bring in the girl and see for yourself. She’s filthy, but you’ll see what she is and what she’s not.” Will stiffened. His jaw tightened to keep himself from reacting. Reginald didn’t know why he had Kahli. No one did.
Sophia tugged the chains once more, tightly. A sadistic smile lined her lips, “I’ll see nothing, but another crass attempt at you trying to preserve your overly-long life. I’m bored with this Reggie. Really, I am. I expected more from you.” She smiled at him. Pressing her forehead to his, she said, “Say hello to Mother for me,” and tugged.
“She’s wild!” the words rang out before the Queen had time to pull the cord all the way, before she could severe her brother’s head and end his annoying life.
The wire slackened in her hands. Blood stained the front of her ball gown, but Sophia ignored it. “Wild?” She sat back, dropping the cord, sliding it off his neck. Her big brown eyes looked up at her little brother, his neck spewing blood like fire-hydrant spews water. “That can’t be—”
Her brother sat leaning against the wall, his dark eyes narrowed in hatred, hands clutching his throat. This was the closest she’d ever gotten to killing him, and the condition he was in now didn’t allow him to fight back. Giving up the girl was the price of freedom. Besides, he could steal her back at a later date. “It’s true,” he rasped.
The Queen stood, brushing the blood off her gloves onto the skirt of her gown. She turned to the guards. They watched the entire scene without blinking. This was old news to Will, but to outsiders it looked like the fight of the century. Pulling off a bloodied glove, she snapped at them, “Fetch the girl. Bring her here.” When the guard didn’t move, a dark brow shot up Sophia’s face—a look you didn’t want to get from her. “NOW!”
The two ran out of the room. Sophia eyed Will and glanced back at her brother. She tapped the glove to her lips, not caring about her blood-stained gown or her ruined party. “What do you think of this William? Could there be a wild human?”
Will answered factually, “They are extinct in the wild, Your Majesty.”
“I know that,” she snapped, “I meant do you believe him? Is it possible that we missed one? That a single girl could have survived this long on her own?” Sophia tapped the glove to the side of her lip, leaving a smear of blood on her face. Her slender figure moved slowly, pacing, thinking what it would mean if it were true. She turned to her brother, “You will die more horrifically than you ever dreamed if you deceived me tonight.”
Reggie’s wounds were healing slowly. He pushed himself upright against the wall, still sitting in his blood. “And since I want to live, I wouldn’t lie—not about this.” He spared a glance at Will, but made no appearance that they knew one another, outside of their relationship with Sophia.
“Do you know what this would mean?” Her eyes were wide, filled with wonder and promise of things long forgotten. Her power would be unending. A pure blood supply from a human not ridden by disease of weak blood. She was practically giddy.
“Of course I do—”
Sophia cut him off as she saw the guards drag in a girl between them. “This is it?” she asked. Her lips pulled into a sneer, like she was disgusted. Kahli’s clothes were still crusted with blood and hanging in shreds. Her hair hung in knotted clumps around a face that was stained with blood and dirt. She had stitches in her arm and her shoulder was still bandaged, reeking of ointment. “What’s wrong with her?”
Reginald, pushed himself off the floor and walked over, “Attacked by wolves, or so I was told. She was wandering up in the old Empire region. I bought her off a trader who patched her up.” He ignored Will as he spoke, acting like the man who sold her wasn’t standing right in front of them. Things had always been this way, for as long as Will could remember.
“What makes you think she’s wild?” Sophia’s eyes examined Kahli, sliding over her again and again, appraising the legend standing before her.
Kahli didn’t say anything. She wasn’t sure what was happening. When they brought her inside she half expected to see Reggie had killed the Queen, but the Queen was still alive. Her Regent captor on the other hand, didn’t look so well. Her emerald eyes shifted between them, failing to notice one other person standing in shadow.
Reggie sighed, running his fingers through his black mane, “Her inking is wrong. Her coloring is wrong. Her build is wrong… Damn woman, look at her! Does she have muddy eyes and inky hair? Does she have that gangly build you used to find so appealing? The creature is all color and curves! We didn’t breed anything like that.”
Sophia listened as he spoke, knowing all the things he said were true. This human wasn’t bred from her camps. Everything from her shape, to her coloring was different. It made her wonder if her blood would be different as well. Hope swam inside of Sophia’s head. “And her blood?”
Reggie shrugged, as Kahli’s eyes darted between them. “No one knows. When I got her, she hadn’t been tasted. The traders who caught her said she had no marks.”
The Queen’s eyes went wide, “She’s pure? Nearly grown and never touched?” She reached for Kahli’s face, as if she were reaching for a dream. This girl could fix everything. Her blood could restore them to their former glory.
Before the Queen’s fingers touched Kahli’s cheek, she snapped. Kahli couldn’t stand it. She wrenched her wrists free from the guards holding her back, making her shoulder scream. Will shook his head, eyes wide, trying to tell her not to—but it was too late. The girl didn’t see him. Kahli had already ducked out of the guard’s reach, ready to run. The Queen grasped her neck, plucking her out of the air like a fly. Kahli gasped, her feet kicking off the floor as Sophia twisted her face one way and then the other. Kahli made a gurgling sound as her face turned red, her fingers clawing at the Queen’s hand.
Hastily, Will spoke without permission, “If you intend to keep her, you might want to let her breathe.”
“Oh,” Sophia giggled, putting Kahli’s feet on the floor. The girl gasped, her throat burning as badly as her shoulder. Will remained motionless behind her. Kahli turned her head slightly, eyes going wide when she recog
nized him. Before she could speak, the Queen said, “Good observation, William. Do me a favor…” she grabbed Kahli’s wrist and pulled the girl across the floor toward the dais, stopping before Will. Sophia thrust the girl at him, “Take her to be cleaned and then bring her back. I want to show her off.” The Queen clasped her hands together, nearly squealing with glee. “I want to show everyone the present my brother brought me!” Sophia turned on her heel, grinning widely at Reginald, who said nothing. The man smiled and bowed like a loyal subject who didn’t enjoy plotting to kill the Queen.
Will grasped Kahli by the forearms stiffly—as if she didn’t matter to him. Will eyed the Queen, asking, “Of course, but are you certain? She has never been at court. We don’t know how she’ll behave. This human could embarrass you.” This was a sore spot for Sophia and Will knew it. Bringing a wild girl to a party would make her the envy of every other vampire in the world, but if that wild human misbehaved, the Queen would likely drain the girl before sunrise. Will didn’t think the red-head would survive the night. Not from what he’d seen of her. Odds were that she was silently accessing every situation looking for a way to escape. The effects of the bread should have worn off by now, no matter how she was acting. It was a ploy, he decided. The girl was smart, she had to be intelligent and shrewd to survive so long on her own.
Sophia laughed at Will’s suggestion, her voice high and flirtatious. Reaching for Will’s chin, she turned his face gently. Her hands were freezing, and he repressed the urge to shiver as he always did when she touched him. Sophia’s eyes were like molten chocolate, “Nonsense. What’s the point in having something like this, and not showing it off?” The Queen snapped her fingers, and servants appeared to tidy up the mess she left behind.
Will groaned, watching her walk away. The Queen regarded the girl as an object. Great. This was going to go well, he thought.