by E. M. Knight
But what I do see is ghastly. It’s like a wound has been ripped in the earth right where the castle stood. The drop to the bottom is long and perilous. It’s a wonder any of us survived the fall.
I look at the Queen. Now I can truly appreciate that it was only by her protective spell that we still live.
Smithson’s guards follow a safe distance behind us. They’re far enough away to give the illusion of privacy. But I know with their vampire senses, they can hear every word we speak.
Raul had wanted to come up with us but his mother forbade it. In a whisper that only I heard, she confided that the more stress he put on his body, the quicker her healing spell would fade. He argued against staying put, but in the end saw reason: he would be no good to anybody dead.
I hate that that thought even crossed his mind. Vampires aren’t supposed to die, not from a knife wound. Raul stood for me when I was in trouble. I want to do the same for him.
But the thing is, I feel utterly helpless to affect anything.
Phillip and Smithson remained at the edge of the woods. Once Morgan and I complete a circle of the crater, we rejoin them.
“Are all the vampires from the Wyvern Coven gone?” Morgan asks.
Smithson nods curtly. “They deserted when the castle fell. They took advantage of your generosity for sanctuary, but they would not fight.”
“And now word of The Haven’s weakness will spread,” Morgan sighs. “Soon vampires the world over will know of our failure. Of our vulnerability.” She turns on Smithson and pulls herself up to full height. Her voice rises. “If you thought you were doing this coven a favor by locking me away…! How many days have been lost? While our enemies have been gathering their strength, we’ve been hiding, trembling underground because of you!”
The guards see the looming confrontation and run closer. Smithson gestures for them to stand down.
“My priority in all of this has been to ensure your safety, my Queen,” he says. “Until I was certain another attack would not come, I had to keep you there. You are the only one who can restore the wards. If you fell in a secondary assault, what would happen to The Haven then?” He looks her up and down. “I am your man, as I have always said. But in this decision I had the support of the Royal Court.”
“Don’t speak to me about them,” she hisses. “They are frightened and cowardly, just like—”
Morgan stops when she notices how close the surrounding guards have come. She softens her voice.
“Of course, the Court’s wishes must be respected,” she says.
Smithson gives a toady smile. “I’m so glad you and I see eye-to-eye. Shall I show you the rest?”
We begin our trek toward the village. “With the casualties sustained by The Haven’s vampires,” Smithson says as we walk, “the Royal Court has also motioned to bar the creation of any more Convicted. Not that you would consider turning any of your remaining vampires into one of those horrible creatures, of course.”
“Of course,” Morgan says tightly. For half a second, I see past the mask of eternal youth on her face, and glimpse the tired, old woman underneath. But a breath later, it is gone.
We walk a while longer. Another creeping silence falls.
“I trust you have other guards posted at the outskirts of The Haven?” Morgan asks. “To alert you of any potential intruders?”
Smithson shakes his head. “I’m afraid I do not have sufficient numbers for that, my Queen. But worry not. The entrances to the underground stronghold are properly guarded.”
“So while all of our vampires are locked underground, the rest of The Haven is completely exposed?” Morgan asks. “Anybody could just walk in and ransack us.”
“With all due respect,” Smithson continues, “the lives of The Haven’s vampires take priority over material possessions.”
“Hm,” she says. “And the Royal Court…?”
“Agrees with me completely,” Smithson finishes.
“No.” Morgan shakes her head. “This is wrong. The Haven is no longer a safe place. I will not resurrect the wards until you know the area has been swept. I need to know there are no stragglers remaining from the Wyvern Coven. And if you argue against that, Smithson, it will prove to the Royal Court how misaligned your loyalties are.”
He bows his head. “I am here only to serve and obey.”
“I, for one,” Phillip says all of a sudden, “find it hard to believe that our vampires would give up the luxuries of their usual residences above the trees so readily. Or,” he continues, “that they would stay underground once it’s been established that the threat has been eliminated. The Convicted are all gone. Who else would attack? And if, let’s just say, another coven decided to go against us, would we not be better served readying our defenses?”
“What are you suggesting?” Smithson asks.
“Allow the vampires to return above ground. They need to go back to their regular lives. We won the battle against our enemies. That should be a cause for triumph, not fright.”
“That is a proposition you will have to bring before the Royal Court,” Smithson says smoothly. “I am not one to decide such things.”
Phillip scoffs. “You hold enough influence to—”
Morgan stops and places a hand on his shoulder. “Now is not the time for us to bicker,” she says.
Phillip glares at her. I’ve never seen such aggression in him before.
“He’s using you,” he spits at his mother, then turns and strides off, breaking through the ring of guards as if they don’t exist.
“Do we follow him?”
The Captain Commander considers… and shakes his head. “The Queen is whom we need to protect,” he says. “Her son is less important.”
I don’t know if it’s my imagination, but at that moment, I think I see a black speck float across the white of Smithson’s left eye.
I blink, and it’s gone.
“Important or not,” Morgan says, “you will have to answer to the Royal Court if harm befalls him. I would send your guards to follow. Just in case.”
Smithson hesitates. He could easily reject the request. But why would Morgan want Phillip to be watched?
Smithson grunts. “Go,” he tells two of his men. “But if he wanders past the boundaries of The Haven, he’s on his own.”
The Queen smiles. “Thank you for granting my request.”
“It was a wise one,” Smithson tells her.
“Now,” she says. “I want to see our humans.”
Chapter Nine
PHILLIP
THE HAVEN
As soon as I’m out of the line of sight, I take off at a blistering run. I race through the familiar trees of The Haven’s wooded forest.
It feels good to simply move. To feel the wind against my face. To escape the suffocation brought upon me by being held prisoner, first by my Mother, then by Smithson, over these last few weeks.
But no sooner do I get half a mile away than I hear the sound of pursuit. I slow down. I should have known better than to expect to be left alone.
I look back and see two vampire guards trailing me. I hail them with a salute.
What can I do other than to acknowledge their presence?
They stop a long way off. Neither of them raises his hand.
For the first time, I realize that I don’t recognize these two. Obviously, I know all the usual residents of The Haven.
That means these guards came from somewhere else. I’ve been so preoccupied with the thoughts raging through my mind that I didn’t notice it earlier.
Quickly, I expand my mind to judge their strength. They are both stronger than I. Did they become so after sharing Victoria’s blood? Or is it something else? Where did they come from? Are they—
A black blur suddenly streaks out from amongst the trees. It moves so fast toward the guards that they cannot react before it strikes.
The Narwhark leaps at the first and tears out his throat. He goes down in a gurgle of blood. It might just b
e me, but the demon seems… bigger, somehow. More solid. More menacing, than the first time I’d glimpsed it.
I react without thinking. No matter what some of the coven’s vampires think, I am not a coward. My legs start to pump as I run to help the remaining guard.
But I don’t get even a quarter of the way there before he’s down, too. The Narwhark sits on his chest, sinking its jagged teeth into the fleshy part beside his collarbone.
The vampire screams and struggles to fling the demon off. But he has no idea what he’s up against. The malicious black beast lifts its head up and roars, making a sound like a sheet of metal being ripped in two. Then it rips down and crunches the vampire’s vocal cords.
The screams die on the wind. The Narwhark takes another bite of the dead vampire’s flesh.
Then, to my horror, it digs its claws into his chest and feasts on his heart.
This time there’s no mistaking it. The Narwhark visibly becomes more solid. As it eats the heart, the blackness of its body thickens, swirling around and into it like gathering storm clouds. Its leathery skin seems to harden.
It swallows the last bit. The air surrounding the demon actually shimmers, then starts to tighten and constrict as if the demon is pulling in the energy of this world to strengthen itself.
The self-preservative part of my mind tells me to run. I saw what the creature did to these two vampires, both of whom were more capable of fighting it than I.
And yet I can’t look away. Something about the display is so visceral, so gruesomely fascinating, that, despite all sense and logic, the dark part of my vampire psyche is drawn to it.
I cannot fight that feeling. Seeing the demon feed is vicariously exciting. It’s almost like reliving my first experience of taking blood. There is a level of transcendence that falls upon me from watching the affair.
The pint-sized demon tosses its head back and makes that awful metal-ripping sound again. Then it jumps to the other mutilated body and starts to feed on the second heart.
Run, Phillip! a pressing voice tells me. Run while you can still get away!
But both my feet are rooted to the spot.
The Narwhark finishes its second meal. Slowly, and with absolutely no urgency on its part, it turns toward me.
My body tenses. But… I don’t feel threatened. Ironic, given all I’ve seen. Logically, I know I will meet my end. When the Narwhark attacks, it will kill me.
The only thing to do is to go down fighting. I ease on the tight hold I always maintain on my vampiric darkness.
The moment I do, it surges through me in a sudden rush of power. My body’s instincts flood into me. Adrenaline pumps through my veins, blood fills my muscles, and my mind goes blank.
I only know one thing, and that is the insatiable urge to fight. To kill.
To feed.
But the Narwhark does not move from its spot. It simply stares at me, as if I’m an oddity on display in a museum.
I think I see a spark of intelligence in its eyes.
And then, before anything else can happen, it dashes off into the trees.
I nearly stagger backward from shock. It didn’t attack me.
Why?
I have precious little time to consider the reasons. The sound of running feet reaches my ears. I turn around and see Smithson and his guards, plus Eleira and Mother, rushing toward me.
Smithson is the first to reach the clearing. His eyes fall on the two downed men. Then they come to me.
Rage as I’ve never seen it explodes on his face.
“YOU!” he screams, pointing at me, doing nothing to hide his hatred. “YOU KILLED THEM!”
With a snarl he throws himself at me.
A surge of madness takes hold, because the moment he attacks, I start to laugh. I was ready to face the Narwhark. What threat could a vampire possibly be in comparison?
I crash with him to the ground. His fangs are out and his claws are extended. We grapple with each other for position, and I keep laughing and laughing. I see the surprise flash in his eyes as he finds me a more capable combatant than he first assumed.
The laughter pours out of me as I fend off his attacks. I’m not even trying to strike back. I just take perverted delight in the struggle. The vampiric darkness makes me feel more alive than I have in ages.
Seeing the Narwhark feed somehow freed the last of my inhibitions about being who I am. I’ve resisted for so long, but what Mother told me when she made me drink April’s blood resonates with full force now:
“’You were always the intelligent one. You sensed the same darkness inside you that I did when you were made. You knew it could overtake you, if you only let it, and you knew that its power would be unrivalled by any in our coven. You knew that had you embraced it, you would have risen in power, and, eventually, stood above even me.’”
If I don’t hold back, I could be her most powerful son.
Smithson yells obscenities at me as he tries to claw his way past my defenses. My mad laughter fills the air. Even though I’m on my back, I fend him off with relative ease. He’s strong, no doubt, but I’m quick—or at least, I discover myself to be now that my restraint is gone.
He strikes at my shoulder and gets past my guard. My blood pours free. I cry out in delight—I’m too far gone to feel pain. The fool doesn’t know what he’s doing. He doesn’t know who he’s up against, or what I’m capable of… should I turn my mind to it.
The time to do that is now. Enough play. The madness spreads, the darkness grows. With all the force in my arms, I push him off. As Smithson stumbles back I jump to my feet. I ready myself to leap at him and tear his throat out, to feed on his heart, just as I’d seen the Narwhark do—
I do not get the chance. From the sidelines, a blue glow flashes like a thunderbolt. Silver chains streak out from under Mother’s sleeve.
Next thing I know, they are wrapped around Smithson, holding him tight.
“How dare you?” he rages at her. “Release me! Release me now!”
“I will do no such thing,” Mother says calmly. She steps to my side and softly touches my arm.
The contact brings me back to myself. I realize my chest is heaving, my body is lined with sweat. All my muscles feel as if I’ve been submerged in an icy bath.
She squeezes once. At that moment, all the fury drains out of me. It’s like a valve has been turned loose and eased all the pressure.
Realization of what I was doing hits me. Sudden alarm rips through me at my recklessness. What was I thinking? What—
“You were just witnessed attacking another member of the Royal Court,” Mother tells Smithson. “An unprovoked attack, not in self-defense, but in a blind rage.” She motions at my bleeding shoulder. “You drew blood. By the look of it, you intended it to be a killing blow. You aimed for his neck. You are lucky Phillip was able to deflect it, else you would be tried, found guilty of, and executed for murder.
“As it stands,” she faces the guards, “Captain Commander Smithson went against a direct edict of the Royal Court. No vampiric blood is allowed to be spilled. The edict was passed to prevent such heedless violence. Passed, I might add—” she smiles, “—while I was locked away.
“As such, it is fully within my right to take the Captain Commander into custody.”
“You cannot do this!” Smithson roars. “Guards—apprehend her! Get these chains off!”
His men do not move.
“I think,” Morgan says quietly, “that you will find these men not loyal to me or you, but to the letter of the law. That is how you intended things to be while I was gone. Wasn’t it?”
“Phillip killed two guards!” Smithson screams. “The bodies are right there!”
“And yet his hands are clean,” Mother says to the entourage. “When we arrived, he stood a dozen feet away. Their murder does not fall upon Phillip.” She steps towards Smithson. “Come now. You and I both know the type of creature capable of doing this. But you haven’t told the other vampires of the threat, ha
ve you? The surprise on the faces of these guards,“ she gestures at them, “tells the whole story. You did not tell anybody about the Narwhark. You hoped to use it to rally more of my vampires against me. Yet that plan has backfired on you now, hasn’t it?”
Mother moves to stand near the two mutilated bodies. “This,” she says to all the vampires now watching her, “was the result of a demon attack.” She tosses her end of the chain to the nearest guard. “Take Captain Commander Smithson to the stronghold’s prisons. Inform the Royal Court of what happened here. Assemble all the coven’s vampires and let them know… that their Queen is back.”
Chapter Ten
RAUL
DEEP BENEATH THE HAVEN
News of the Narwhark attack spreads like wildfire through the underground stronghold.
Whereas before, vampires were fine going anywhere alone, now they only travel in twos and threes. A pervading sense of fear has taken root. Dread has settled into every heart. If there is a creature out there, a demon, who can destroy two vampires so easily, then all the security Smithson promised is scarcely more than one extra illusion.
Mother has successfully taken back control of the Royal Court. Still she answers to them, but no longer are their decisions influenced by Smithson’s desires.
It took just one meeting to dismiss Smithson from his post and anoint Phillip as his successor. Carter and Deanna argued against it, as expected, but the rest of the Court members were persuaded by both Phillip’s rational, level-headed nature, and the guard’s depiction of how well he handled himself in the fight against Smithson.
Surviving the Narwhark attack also gave him a little bit of a mythical status.
“I never asked to be Captain Commander,” Phillip gripes to me in private. “But Mother was dead-set on the nomination. Once she made her opinion known… the others quickly fell in line.”
I wasn’t there at the meeting where it happened. I’d been stuck in my rooms, nursing my leg.
Phillip gives an uneasy laugh and scrubs a hand through his hair. “What a reversal of fortune, huh? From prisoner to Captain of the Guard.”