"You--you sent for me?" Jaden cleared her throat. Ragnhild threw back his covers revealing a woman hidden beneath, clinging to his waist. The woman yawned, blinking as she looked around in the firelight. Then, with the passionless grace of one of the zombie servants, she slipped on her clothing and left.
Seeing the pale vampire unabashedly naked, Jaden diverted her eyes. The act of modesty amused Ragnhild greatly and he laughed, murmuring in a language too old for her to understand. With no gesture from him, the fireplace blazed at his side with a brighter flame. For a moment, he studied her in the firelight.
"You have eaten," he said matter-of-factly. Appreciation of beauty alighted on his feature in a brief cast. "It has done you very well."
Jaden shivered at his husky tone. She glanced behind her to the closed door. Ragnhild ignored her discomfort as he slipped breeches over his legs, letting the laces hang open at the side. Then, staying bare-chested, he crossed over to the trembling young one.
Jaden’s thoughts raced frantically. She hugged her arms about her tighter. She could feel a potent sexuality coming from the ancient Norseman.
Ragnhild leaned over, murmuring into her ear, "I have no use of you that way, little one. As you have seen, I have a servant who sees to those needs."
Jaden jolted, relieved and alarmed. Ragnhild paused to sniff her, sensing Tyr’s recent claim. When he had paced fully around her in inspection, he went back to the bed to lean on the end.
"Why have you sent for me?" Jaden managed quietly in growing trepidation.
"Certainement," he murmured quietly in a perfect accent. "Apprendre vous."
Jaden eyed him, unsure how to answer. Weakly, she repeated, "Certainly…?"
"You don’t understand me, do you dhampir?" His brows furrowed quizzically on his handsome face.
Jaden shook her head.
"And," Ragnhild began in a murmur. He turned, producing the damning folder from beneath the fur at the end of his bed. He held it up for her inspection. "You cannot read this."
"No," she admitted weakly. "I can’t. I don’t know what it says."
"I figured as much. But because you cannot read it, does not mean you were not involved with it. Your ties to your uncle run deep, do they not?"
"Yes," she answered honestly. Quietly, she added, "He raised me when my mother died."
"Ah, Rhona, was it not?" Ragnhild asked.
"Yes."
"And Bhaltair?"
"He was my father." Jaden looked him square in the eye. Not waiting to be asked, she said, "His death was my responsibility."
"Ah," Ragnhild said thoughtfully. "Taking full responsibility for it?"
"Yes," she whispered. "I am."
"And do you believe that you should be punished for it?"
Jaden instinctively knew this creature could probe her and find the truth. But instead he waited for her to answer. She didn’t dare lie to him. In a solemn whisper, she said, "Yes."
"And the mortal we have captured?"
"He has nothing to do with this and should be set free. He is an honorable man who was only trying to rescue me out of a misplaced sense of duty." Jaden refused to meet Ragnhild’s eyes. "If you let me talk to him, I can assure you he will cause you no more harm. He belongs in the human military and I have told him as much. Humans are always on the brink of war. He will be busy and needed."
Ragnhild waved his hand as if unconcerned for their mortal prisoner. His face was blank, not even drawing in thoughtfulness. It was as much of a dismissal as she would get from him. The same servitor who had awakened Jaden opened the door and stepped in. Gently, the woman pulled on Jaden’s elbow to signify that she was to follow.
Jaden left, wondering at the strange interview and not knowing if what she had said made a bit of difference. Ragnhild was too old and powerful for her to try and sense. Even her developed dhampir senses wouldn’t have detected him unless he so wished it. It was like reading a corpse in the grave--nothing but infinite blackness.
Jaden trailed silently through the hall, making her way back to Tyr’s room. The servitor left after opening the door for her. When Jaden walked inside, Tyr was gone.
Chapter Sixteen
Tyr eyes roamed evenly over the council hall. He could still smell the light scent of Jaden’s body on his skin--exotic as cinnamon--and he knew that the elders must have detected it also. They didn’t question him about it and he didn’t offer. Clenching his fists, he could still feel her soft flesh on his palms. The curves of her lip were still imprinted to his mouth.
The door opened and Ragnhild entered. Tyr nodded to the vampire. Ragnhild took his place amongst them, turning to look at Tyr with the same uniformity the others displayed.
"Where is the dhampir?" Tyr asked, unable to resist knowing. His hand trembled and he balled it into a tight fist. "Has she been sent to her punishment?"
"No," Ragnhild clipped evenly.
Tyr felt relief sweep him. He hadn’t realized the fear that had overtaken him since discovering Jaden was missing from his bed. He had reached for her before fully waking only to find her gone.
"Let us get to the point," Chara sighed. She cocked her head, her eyes boring into Tyr’s. "Do you think she’s guilty of killing her father?"
Tyr considered lying. It rose up on his lips. Remembering his promise, he couldn’t do it. Nodding his head, he said, "She is inadvertently responsible though she did not deal the death blow. However I do not think she meant it."
"Meant it?" Andrei laughed. "Bhaltair is dead. There’s enough meaning in that."
Tyr nodded.
"And of the other crimes, do you think she has committed them?" Ragnhild asked.
"Yes," Tyr answered, his jaw becoming stiff. "She had the folder in her bag. When I abducted her from her uncle’s building for questioning I took the bag not knowing its contents. She then later omitted telling me of the existence of the documents on several occasions. I found them."
"And do you feel that she has committed these crimes?" Ragnhild asked. To their highly evolved senses, feelings were just as important as logic.
Tyr swallowed. He couldn’t keep the truth from being voiced. "No. I don’t sense the cruelty in her."
"Is it true," Pietro stated in distaste, "that you have become … involved with this dhampir?"
"Yes," Tyr answered. There was no point in denying that either. They could smell it on him.
"His judgment is affected by a weakness of the flesh," Pietro muttered cruelly. "I say we kill her and be done with it."
"Pietro," Chara said. "You grow wearisome in your old age. I think you wish for the entire world to die--including yourself. If you are so miserable, why don’t you find yourself a nice sunrise to watch? I am sure the brilliant colors will make you happy."
Pietro grumbled and held silent.
"What, no response?" Chara goaded.
"Is your judgment affected?" Theophania asked quietly, readily breaking into her sister’s verbal attack on Pietro.
"I do not believe that it is," he answered. Daring to turn his eyes around to Pietro, he whispered, "Duty is duty and I have always done mine. Feel inside me if you think me dishonest."
Pietro waved his hand, disinterested. Tyr nodded and turned back around to Theophania.
"Do you think to love her?" Curiosity burning brightly in Theophania’s eyes, as she continued to speak, as if uninterrupted, "Do you remember what love is, Tyr? Can you feel it coursing in your veins? Because what you feel cannot be that human love echoing in your mind. Vampires are not made for love, for the emotion is not made to last for an eternity. The sooner you kill any inkling of it, the sooner you’ll find some sort of peace. I have seen the greatest brought low by the memories of it. I had thought you old enough and wise enough to know better. For our kind, especially you my dark knight, it is better to be alone. So, tell me, Tyr of the Drauger. Tell me, do you think to love this dhampir?"
Her words were soft. As she finished, Theophania eyes narrowed in sorrow. Something i
n her was daring him to deny her, begging him to. Tyr hesitated, not knowing how to answer. Could he lie? Did he even know the truth anymore? The elders watched him carefully for a response. They all knew the myth of the vampire being an unfeeling being was just that, a myth. Vampires were like humans, only more. They were driven by more, felt more, craved more. They could feel and in the beginning did so often, reveling in the pleasure and pain of it all, conquering the world like Gods. But, as it must, time hardens what is left of the soul if ever a soul they had. The only certainty was that time for them would go on. And time held a great many changes. There was no reason to cling to what must inevitably pass.
Tyr’s eyes fell to the ground. He knew the council would try to save him from himself. How could he admit what he didn’t himself know? If he did think to love her, would they kill her to protect and keep their soldier? Lust, desire, need--these were things he could know for certain. They were superficial, temporary, readily discovered all over again. As they waited, Tyr didn’t speak. There was nothing he could say.
* * * *
Jaden sat alone in Tyr’s room, unable to move from her place on the end of the bed. Closing her eyes, she tried to feel him. Her memory sensed him on the coverlet--the scent of him, so familiar. She had no idea how much time passed before she was retrieved by the same servitor. The woman led her needlessly to the hall. Jaden could’ve found her way. The sensations behind the thick oak door willed her onward.
As she entered the hall, she glanced around. Tyr was gone. Her heart thumped solemnly in her barren chest. Remembering his words about strength, she walked forward, her chin not too proud and not too meek. Looking at the hollow table, she stood on the outside edge.
The tribal leaders stared at her in expectation. Theophania waved her into the middle. Jaden nodded. Going forward, she hesitated before reaching to climb over the Moroi spot on the circle. She struggled with her skirts, trying not to let them ride up as she sat and swung her legs over to the side.
Andrei laughed in self-amusement. In a low murmur, he whispered to no one in particular, "He hasn’t trained her to her nature at all. So young she is."
Jaden hopped down to the ground, feeling as if she was stepping into a pit of snakes. Facing Theophania, she came to stand by the torch that settled from the ceiling to rest on the floor. She felt Pietro’s eyes boring into her back and did her best to keep her mind blank as she waited.
Chara’s head cocked to the side and she smiled. Letting her eyes roam sensually over Jaden’s body in appreciation, she murmured, "So pretty. So fresh."
Andrei’s gaze alighted on her and he gave her a wicked, lopsided grin of appreciation.
"You stand accused of experimenting on defenseless vampires for the sake of human knowledge and gain," Theophania began without preamble. "Name the vampire who helped you in this, and we will be lenient."
"I don’t know who did it. But--" Jaden was cut off with a hard look.
"Will you let us inside of your head to prove the answer we seek is not there?" Chara asked.
"I know it’s not," Jaden said. She looked at their cold faces. She didn’t want them to read inside of her, to invade her. They might find her love for Tyr. They might discover how she fooled him into becoming locked in the prison. She didn’t want him hurt. "I didn’t know about the experiments until I found that folder."
"Then why did you try to hide the evidence of it?" Amon asked.
Jaden looked around helplessly.
"What are you hiding, dhampir?" Vishnu asked.
"Let us in," Andrei cried.
She felt them all coming at her. She lifted up her hands, fighting off the invisible attacks. Falling to the ground, she lifted her hands over her head and rocked herself.
"Stay out, stay out," she exclaimed desperately. Suddenly, the onslaught stopped. She raised her eyes from her place on the floor. Not bothering to stand, she whispered miserably, "I have killed vampires. I admit to that. I’m a dhampir and bloodstalker. I’ve sat in judgment of the vampire kind. But I hunt no more and now I’ve been made one of you. I don’t know what it means to be one of you. I never asked to see an eternity. In fact, the night I found Tyr, I only asked for death."
The council held quiet, listening patiently to her words--analyzing them desperately for their answers.
"I don’t know anymore if what I have done is just. It isn’t in me to decide. I did what I had to. I did my duty." Jaden looked around at the cold, unmoving faces. She saw her guilt reflected in the blank features. They condemned her before they met her. There was nothing she could say to change that. If she couldn’t defend herself, then she would just say want she wanted to say. "A human life is nothing to you, a single grain of sand on an endless beach. But the humans were my people, my tribe, and I was protecting them."
"But you have a new tribe," Theophania said. "You are no longer human."
"Yes," she answered. Jaden looked over at Ragnhild’s immovable face. "I am vampire, descendent of Ragnhild of the Drauger. But I am also the dhampir, the ex-bloodstalker, daughter of Rhona and Bhaltair. I was once human, as were you all. I have not forgotten that."
"We speak of crimes, dhampir," Chara whispered briskly. "Not loyalty."
"But being a bloodstalker was done out of loyalty," Jaden answered from her place on the floor. "Loyalty to my dead mother and to her people."
"We understand loyalty, dhampir," Ragnhild said. He placed his hand on the thick stack of papers sitting before him. "That does not explain the atrocities shown here."
"We speak of vampires turned and raped repeatedly for cruel pleasure and money--ravished during changing, during death," Theophania put in. "We speak of prolonging the agony of vampiric death by serums and torture. We refer to the denial of blood. These things cannot be tolerated. Humans are beneath us, dhampir. They are cattle to us. Wouldn’t your humans seek out and kill the farm animals that ravished and killed mortals? Would you not have them slaughtered?"
"But vampires commit worse crimes unto each other," Jaden answered wisely. "I’ve seen it."
"That’s our business," Chara stated with a hard toss of her head. The others nodded in agreement. "We have our own laws."
"Do you deny you have done these things?" Amon asked pointedly.
"Yes," Jaden answered. "I deny it. I have told you what I have done. I was a hunter. I hunted. I never captured. I never tortured."
"Then you’ll let us read you," Ragnhild whispered logically. "If you told us everything, you have nothing to hide."
"Why waste the time?" Pietro bemoaned, secretly fearful of the confidences she might hold within.
"We must know who betrayed us!" Chara growled violently. Her eyes flashed as she stared angrily at Pietro. Her hatred of him bubbled forth.
Jaden watched in fascination. All of a sudden, she understood. The ‘trial’, the intentionally fearful anticipation of waiting, the little show they put on for her laying out her crimes, it was just a way to get her to confess. It was an elaborate scheme to get her to reveal who they believed her to know. They were fearful of the vampire who dared to betray them, the one who dared to defy the council of vampire elders--the one who evaded them. And being the supreme beings they believed themselves to be, they didn’t know how to handle that fear and doubt. They didn’t care about her. They didn’t care if she lived or died. They just wanted a name, a face that they could go after.
They probably didn’t even care about Mack except that he offended their bored pride. And bored they were, these archaic relics gleaning onto the past. Jaden could feel their boredom, their tired eternity. Beyond that, she could feel their dying essence. They were immortal--all powerful beings--and yet they were powerless against the onslaught of ever-changing time. They were lost in a modern world, one they didn’t have the energy to understand. And, in being lost, they were immobilized against it. Not even their judgments could assuage their exhausted wisdom of forever. They were beasts that needed to be quickened and yet couldn’t find the spring from w
hich to do so.
"Read me," she said finally, knowing that her relationship with Tyr wasn’t what they looked for. "Do it and be quick."
Jaden stood. She raised her arms out in offering of her body. She stared directly into Theophania’s eyes. The vampiress’ orbs glowed with an eerie green. She felt the woman enter her. And Theophania wasn’t alone. Amon and Vishnu joined her and then Ragnhild, Chara and Andrei. She could hear them in her head, talking in a dead language, chanting out her secrets. Finally, they were joined by a reluctant Pietro, who seemed to keep his thoughts on the outermost edge of hers. Pietro didn’t probe, only watched and listened.
Her head rolled back. Her body suspended off the floor as she was forced up into the air. Her limbs dangled like a rag doll. All her past deeds flashed in an instant, every emotion she had ever felt, every lustful encounter, every embarrassment, catching up to the death of her father. She felt the pain anew, swift and strong and so surprising. She felt as she did in the alley facing Tyr. She felt the lethargic need she had for death and realized that she didn’t feel that way anymore. That she hadn’t felt like that in a long time--not since meeting him. Tyr made her feel alive.
Unexpectedly, her love for Tyr burst forth like a ray of light. The council drew back almost instantly as they sensed it. Their eyes cleared as Jaden lowered to the floor in exhaustion. Her body shook, violated and cold and so very weak.
Theophania raised a hand. A servitor entered. With a sigh, she voiced lowly, "Call Tyr."
Jaden waited anxiously on the floor. Her eyes stared at the velvet drapes. Her heart thudded with nervous anticipation. She wondered if she had done the right thing.
Then suddenly he was there, striding into the chamber. His eyes found her in the circle. In a flash he was next to her, standing proudly before the council. Jaden wanted to reach out and touch him, to pull his hand into hers. But her body was weak from the elder’s intrusion. It took all her will to lift her head to look at him from her place on the floor.
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