Jaden trembled as he hauled her behind him. There was no love in his chilled touch, but she desperately drank in the feel of his palm to her skin. He stopped before an empty chair around the center circle. Taking her by her slender shoulders, he held her firmly in his grasp. Jaden’s face lifted, catching his passionless eyes with her own. A shock fell over her, a powerless urge to kiss his disapproving lips. He didn’t return her look as he levitated her above the ground. Tyr brought her into the center circle, landing on the lowered ring beneath the floating torch stand. Letting her go, he stepped away.
Jaden shuddered weakly. Her eyes automatically looked up to see if the torch would fall. It held steady. To her great relief, Tyr didn’t fly away but stayed beside her. She unconsciously leaned towards him. The council’s eye became more intense, prickling like needles to the flesh.
Jaden jolted slightly as Shiva landed noiselessly next to her. Her round eyes sought him in surprise. He stiffly nodded before turning forward, the friendliest gesture she had yet to receive.
Jaden jolted again as Tyr spoke. The low, accented tone of his words reminded her of how much they had been through together in only a short time. Lifting his hand, his low voice quietly introduced her to the leaders. She managed a weak nod to each as she stepped around full circle. She hesitated only once, seeing Pietro’s face. It tugged at the back of her mind like a far away dream. He didn’t acknowledge her as he turned his expression to the floor. In an instant the sensation was gone and she again faced the vampiress lounging decadently in her chair. The council stayed quiet through the formality of introductions, not making her welcome with words or expressions.
"What is this you bring us?" Theophania asked after a long, brooding silence.
"This is Jaden MacNaughton," Tyr answered. Jaden glanced at his face to see if any softness invaded him as he said her name. There was none. He ignored her. Jaden turned her eyes forward, lifting her chin. She drew strength from Tyr’s nearness, whether it was his intent or not. A shiver racked her, as Tyr added cryptically, "the dhampir."
"She is no mortal," Chara stated with a tap of her fingers on the wooden table before her. She glanced at Andrei for needless confirmation.
"The bloodstalker," Andrei murmured adding, "the one who killed her father."
"Ungrateful child," Chara pouted with a sneer to her full lips.
Jaden lowered her head, the memory of it hitting her fresh, like ice water to the skin. To hear them dispassionately speak of it, as if it was nothing to her, cut deeply. Not even Rick’s soft assurances whispered in the dark cell could convince her it wasn’t her fault.
"And who changed this dhampir?" Amon asked.
Tyr turned slightly to acknowledge the vampire leader. "I did."
That statement caused a look of speculation to rise between the elders. Amon nodded, pressing his lips together thoughtfully.
"And you remember, Dark Knight," Vishnu said coolly. "That you are not to make more of yourself. Your blood is not to be passed on."
"Yes," Tyr said. His expression became tight.
"Then do you mean to disregard our laws?" Vishnu queried, daringly. "Do you no longer obey them?"
"I understand and respect our laws," answered Tyr.
"And you made her anyway?" Ragnhild asked in surprise. Tyr turned back around to face him and nodded.
"Yes," Tyr said. "I invoke the right of the knights, the right to break a law for the greater purpose of the council. This dhampir was dying. My order was to bring her in. I thought it best, save the circumstances, to do so."
"And how was she dying?" Theophania questioned, straightening her limbs only to rearrange them and lounge in the opposite direction of her sister. She, like the others, already knew part of the answer. Only by Tyr’s bite could she have been dying, for his blood to have changed her. "You could’ve given her your blood and saved her mortal coil."
Tyr’s cheeks would’ve stained with embarrassment if he hadn’t been so practiced at hiding it. Tightening his face, he tried to block Jaden’s trembling from his mind. She stood beside him, shaking like paper in the wind.
"I was--" Tyr began.
"He was trapped inside a chamber while retrieving documents," Shiva said. "By the time Jaden released him, the bloodlust transformed him. He attacked her in his frenzy, drinking her blood. Then, when sanity returned and he had seen what he’d done, he turned her. I saw the change and wouldn’t have acted differently."
Tyr glanced briefly at Shiva, nodding his head in quick thanks.
"Very well," Theophania said. "It is done and matters little to me."
"She is sickly," Andrei whispered good-naturedly to break the bleak ambiance. Chara giggled. Andrei made a great show of sniffing the air. "What have you been feeding her, Tyr? Rats?"
Jaden gulped and looked at the ground in embarrassment. Her bony hands wove together, the knuckles sticking out of the skin. Theophania and Ragnhild’s chuckles joined Chara and Andrei’s. Even Vishnu and Amon managed small smiles of amusement.
"I know you’ve never been a father, Tyr, but surely you could manage to better care for your benighted child," Chara teased with approval. "You must feed them if they are to survive. Why deny her the thrill of human blood? Let her taste the other side of things."
"Bloodstalker turned nightstalker," Andrei crowed in a sanctimonious cry. "What a perfect irony!"
"Do you know why we call you bloodstalkers?" Chara asked.
"We call you bloodstalkers, because you stalk your own blood," Andrei continued. "Because you take with you a part of the vampire’s remaining humanity and then use it to destroy us. To vampires, dhampirs who hunt are less desirable than living with a festering corpse."
"And now you are what you hate," Chara finished happily.
Jaden had no defense. She pressed her protruding knuckles to her mouth, a look of agony marking her wan features. She bit her flesh, a droplet of blood running over the back of her pale hand. Tyr smelled the blood and jerked his eyes about to her. At his direct look, she dropped her knuckle to her side and hid the wound beside her leg. Blood trailed down her finger and dripped onto the floor. The droplet resounded like a loud splash in vampire ears. Jaden grimaced like a scolded child. Her bottom lip pulled out a fraction. Tyr blinked heavily, looking away.
"And what of the documents," Ragnhild said, eager to resume the judgment. His eyes narrowed carefully on Tyr, able to feel the torment wafting through him. Tyr was connected to all the elders, but was felt by his true father the most.
Tyr peered coldly at Jaden, lifelessly taking her in. Jaden’s lips parted as if she would speak to him. She pressed them shut, unable to tell him what she must. Her heart ached for him. Her body longed for him. She was in love with him. She loved him. Her heart exploded with it. But she couldn’t say it, not here. And if she could, if she froze time and it was just the two of them, would he even believe her or care?
No, Jaden thought in dejection. It doesn’t matter. None of it matters. They might as well kill me. Without Tyr I am nothing.
Inside she wavered, her stomach turning with hunger and defeat. Healing her shoulder had taken a lot out of her. Even the small puncture wound on her finger refused to heal itself shut. The hunger made it hard to concentrate, to focus on what was being said. She closed her eyes, swooning slightly with the desire to bite something. But there was nothing around but the smell of the grave--no fresh blood to ease the ache. She felt the bloodlust swimming in her eyes. She wondered if the orbs were pulling red as she had seen Tyr’s do.
What a fright I must be! She snorted wildly to herself. At the sound all eyes turned suspiciously to her. Tyr’s words shook her from her trance.
"I have them," Tyr said sternly. Jaden saw his look of warning and wrinkled her brow in confusion. With an effortless bend of his legs, he leapt over the table only to leap back with the folder. Jaden gulped, wishing more than ever she had discovered what was inside. How could she defend what she didn’t know? Tyr lifted up the files for all to
see before setting them before Ragnhild.
"They are in French," Ragnhild said. Changing his tone, he began to read. Jaden studied his lips--enthralled by the way they moved and formed. She couldn’t make out the foreign words but she listened to the low rumbling voice. A trance came over her senses, like a babe listening to a lullaby. Her numbed mind floated with her eyes, over rocks and symbols, torches and pale flesh. Ragnhild’s song lingered on for a long moment. The words were fast but melded into a complete rhythm. All of a sudden, she felt sick. Tyr and Shiva visibly stiffened. Eyes slowly turned to glare at her.
Stopping after reading a few pages, Ragnhild frowned. Out of deference to Jaden, he spoke again in English. "There are pictures within and many more documents. I have no wish to waste the council’s time reading them all here. Let me take them tonight and tomorrow I’ll report on the evidence within."
The council nodded in agreement, trusting Ragnhild to see to it.
"So be it," Theophania said. She then turned her attention to Jaden. Looking down her nose at the young one, she said, "We will read this file and tomorrow we will make judgment. We know you worked for Alan MacNaughton, your human uncle. We know that he has been involved in numerous crimes against the vampire as well as smaller, less important crimes against humans. He has made vampires only to watch them die. He has extorted money by helping humans avenge themselves against each other, by making the enemy one of our kind and allowing the patron to torture said enemy at his leisure."
Jaden became pale. She saw the truth in all of them and they believed she had something to do with it. Her mind numbed, flying rampantly for an excuse, a defense. She came up with nothing. Any argument died in her throat.
"Rape," Theophania continued, "murder, blackmail, larceny. The list is endless."
Jaden got the impression Theophania liked doling out the charges in detail. Just as she could tell the vampiress cared nothing of Mack’s mortal victims. Jaden could see the disdain on the woman’s delicate features as she muttered the word, humans. Jaden glanced at Tyr. He refused to acknowledge her.
"Many are the MacNaughton family crimes against the vampire," Theophania stated. "You’ll be given your chance to answer for them tomorrow. It would be wise of you to consider what you say very carefully. The more you tell us, the more lenient we will be with you."
Silently, Theophania directed, we want names, dhampir. Expose the others and spare yourself. Either way, we will discover them.
"Do you understand?" Chara insisted when Jaden didn’t move.
Jaden nodded weakly. She felt the black hole of fate beginning to close. She hadn’t a thing to say. She knew nothing, could name no one.
"Take her to your chamber, Tyr," Ragnhild said. "Keep her close to you. There you will be fed. Bring her back at dusk."
Tyr nodded. His stomach tightened as he took Jaden’s elbow in his tight grip. Jaden winced at the pain of his sharp hold. He couldn’t look at her. Couldn’t trust himself to get caught in the sorrow her eyes.
"And Tyr," Chara called. Tyr turned to the vampiress, dragging his prisoner with him. "Do clean her up. For, if only briefly, she is one of us. This," Chara waved an appalled hand up and down Jaden’s form, "smell will never do. It is too reminiscent of the Barbarian age."
Tyr nodded, "I’ll see to it."
Chara nodded, pleased. "I’ll have my girl bring her clothes."
Jaden watched on silently. Tyr turned to her in warning, squeezing her arm in expectation.
"Ow," Jaden gasped, glaring at Tyr. Seeing his ice blue eyes, she calmed. She bowed her head at the vampiress. "Thank you."
Chara smiled benevolently. Then, wrinkling her nose, she waved them away with wiggling fingers. Her amused giggle followed.
Shiva followed as Tyr escorted Jaden over the table. Their feet landed with a soft thud and Tyr continued walking. The three left out one of the doors. Jaden sighed with relief once they were out of the council hall. Her body swayed as if she would collapse.
"You did well," Shiva murmured in mild approval.
Tyr glared at him. Shiva shrugged. Without breaking stride, he skirted past them, disappearing down the stone carved hall. Jaden looked after him. The hall was lighted by torches, though it was cleaner than the prison passageway. The stone was smoothed to rectangular perfection, the stones polished to a black gleam.
"Why didn’t they put me back in the prison with Rick?" Jaden asked. Tyr growled brutally, forcing her to follow by his grip on her bruised elbow. He hastened through the passage, flying by endless doors in blurring madness. Jaden stumbled behind him, her feet tripping. When he didn’t answer, she snapped, "Aren’t you going to at least talk to me?"
Tyr stopped. Pushing open a door with the Drauger symbol over a shield that matched his brand, he shoved her inside. The room was dark. Tyr fixed it with a wave of his hand. A fire blazed in a stone hearth, candles lit in an overhead chandelier.
A fur rug covered part of the stone floor, a matching white pelt on the large rectangular bed. Jaden bit her lip. There was only one bed. She guessed she’d be sleeping on the floor.
A writing table was situated against the far wall. Books lined a shelf above it. The room was smaller than his cave, but still very luxuriant in style. Turning, Jaden noticed a large tiled bathtub, minus the nozzles for water. She swallowed, spinning quietly away to watch Tyr.
"You are here because you are mine," he said quietly, answering her question from the hall. Jaden glanced up to study his face. His jaw lowered possessively. His head cocked to the side with seductive precision. "I made you. I am responsible for you."
"Oh," she whispered for lack of a better word. A dim hope tried to light within her, but she was no fool as to fan that flame.
Tyr lifted a hand to her skeletal chin. His thumb stroked her sunken face. He felt the loneliness inside of her, knew her fears. He also knew that this might be her last night. Gently, he said, "You did well in there."
"I did?" Jaden whimpered in awe at the kindness in his voice. She closed her eyes, drawing comfort from his large hand. A part of Tyr’s iron control crumbled. It had been so hard to deny the feelings he had for her. Now that they were alone, perhaps for the last time, he couldn’t hold himself completely back.
"Yes." Suddenly, as he looked into her jade eyes, her past didn’t matter. He didn’t want her dead. He didn’t want this to be it. Even if he could never forgive her, maybe he could forget. "Character and strength matter to the elders. And you showed much of both."
"No," she mumbled, unable to take his touch, feeling dirty and ugly in her grimy clothes. She pulled back, putting distance between them. She didn’t want him to look at her. She didn’t want him to see her broken and lost. "I was weak and scared and they know that. I felt them looking inside of me. I felt them searching me, violating me."
"That is part of the test," he answered, spurned by her rejection.
"Then I failed it," she breathed. "I know I did."
"Not everyone can stand before them. I have seen the oldest of vampires brought low by the mere sight of them." Tyr kept his distance. He could hear her heart fluttering like the beating wings of a hummingbird. Lowering his tone, he whispered, "I have seen men cry out with fear and run themselves headlong into the stone walls trying to escape. You stood before them bravely."
"They have already found me guilty," Jaden said. "I could feel their anger."
Tyr said nothing. He had felt it too.
"You think I am guilty, too, don’t you?" she whispered remorsefully. Her mournful tone tore at him. Her lips quivered. "I can feel it in you. You think I’m capable of what is in that f--"
"Don’t," he growled. His gaze darkened in anguish. "Let us not speak of it."
Tyr couldn’t stand to think of her sins. He couldn’t consider them, wanted to forget them. He couldn’t bear to hear more of her lies. Even as a vampire, in his centuries of taking life, he had never performed such cruel experiments on humans or immortals. It sickened him that she could’ve been a
part of it. Even in the days when war was all the land knew, the warlords had been merciful enough to let their enemies die.
She was involved in her uncle’s business, watching rapes and murders, catering to sick mortal fetishes. By the evidence in the folder, that was only the beginning. That it could’ve been her hand sawing into flesh countless times, tearing off limbs that would never grow back, torturing vampires and humans on devices meant to kill not prolong agony. That it could’ve been her finger taking the memento photographs of what was done. It made Tyr sick to think on it.
Only the sickest of minds could perform such atrocities. Only the basest of all creatures would keep the photographs with them. He knew what she was, but when he looked at her, felt inside her, he didn’t see it, and that baffled him. He knew she was a talented dhampir and that accounted for the deceitfulness. He wanted to hate her, tried his damnedest to. But faced with only one night, it was more than he could do.
Jaden knew he already condemned her. It tore at her heart to think he believed her capable of something so bad that it turned a hardened vampire’s blood cold. She had seen the reaction of the council. She loved Tyr so desperately and he couldn’t even believe in her a little. She would’ve denied everything, fought everyone, if she thought he would believe her.
"Your bath," Tyr said.
Jaden’s brows rose in question at the statement. The door to the room opened and a woman entered carrying a basket of towels, perfumed soaps and hair rinses. She was swathed in white from chest to toe. Jaden smelled the mortal woman’s blood. Her eyes leapt with hunger. She took an entranced step forward, her eyes greedily scanning over the smooth, brown skin of the woman’s neck and arms.
Tyr’s hand shot out to stop her. He pulled Jaden to his chest. His arms wrapped about her from behind like a vice, hugging her close to his solid form. The feel of his skin broke through her mind’s lethargic hold. Leaning down, he whispered, "Look at her eyes."
The Jaded Hunter Page 26