by E. M. Knight
“You may be his kin,” I say. “But trust me when I say, he will never see you as a daughter.”
She glares at me. “Why?”
“In all the years I’ve known him, he has not mentioned you once. He is not aware you exist. My feeling is you were born before he met me. He wouldn’t know that you’re alive.”
“How do you know he didn’t turn me himself?” she demands. “How are you so sure of yourself in this venue? What are you trying to hide?”
“Nothing to hide. If you’re expecting some great reunion followed by an incredible revelation, I advise you to stop.”
She peers up at me. “What are you afraid I’ll find?”
“You want the truth?”
“Always.”
“Then I’ll say it. You’ll find heartache and disappointment. Your hopes will be crushed. I saw the change in you when I mentioned your birth. It means the world to you.”
“And knowing that,” she says softly, “you want to bar me from it?”
“I want you to avoid being hurt, dammit!” I snarl.
She walks away. “So you care about me? Typical man. One good lay, and now you think we’re kindred spirits.”
“I didn’t say that,” I growl. I advance on her. “You best watch your tone.”
“Or what?” she challenges. She holds forth her hand, and blue flames appear, dancing around the fingertips. “You think you frightened me with your brute strength? The strength I match you on, for that matter?”
“Put that away,” I say, looking in disgusted at her hands. “You are better than that, and you know it.”
The flames slowly ebb away. “You do care for me,” she murmurs, voice full of amazement.
“Let me ask you a question then, Dagan. Why do you hate witches so much?”
“It’s not witches I have a problem with,” I say. “It’s magic. It’s people meddling with forces of nature they should never touch. It’s made worse when in the hands of a vampire. There is no limit to the destruction we can cause.”
“No.” She shakes her head. “That’s not it. You’re lying.”
“I’m telling the truth.”
She regards me in a penetrating way. “Something happened to you. Didn’t it?” she asks. “Something you have never recovered from. Something to do with magic.”
“Never,” I lie.
“Aha!” she exclaims. “There, there it is. I see it in your expression.” She looks at me with the eyes of a cat who’s just cornered her prey.
“What are you talking about?”
“You don’t hate magic, Dagan. You envy it.” She raises her hands on either side, palms-up, and two scorching fireballs, like miniature suns, flare to life on either one. “You envy us. You want to control the Elemental Forces.”
“Nonsense,” I scoff.
“Oh, no, but you do. You do. Let me think...” The two fireballs wink out. Beth taps her lips. “What is your greatest source of pride? It’s not your coven, otherwise you would not have left. It’s not your allegiance to the King, otherwise you wouldn’t have disobeyed his order.” She gasps and snaps her fingers. “I know! It’s your combat skills.”
I look at her with a featureless expression.
“And somebody must have used magic to best you,” she continues. “Somebody you thought weaker, worse, was able to defeat you because of his or her command of the Forces.”
“What do you mean, his or her?” I ask. “Riyu is an anomaly. Regular men cannot do magic.”
“What about the King?”
“Different. He was corrupted. Seduced.”
“By the Forces?”
“No. By that poisonous snake, Beatrice.”
Her eyes light up even more. “So that’s what you intend. You want to bring him her head, in the hopes that it will dissuade him from using magic again!” She gives a light, girlish laugh. “Well, I hate to disappoint you, but once you’ve had a taste, you can’t go back. Magic is the single most addictive substance of all time.”
I do not like where this conversation is headed. “I’m not nearly so noble as that,” I say. “Logan is doing his Blood Magic thing, and that is on him. I would never presume to believe I could change that. But if the other vampires see Beatrice dead…” I trail off. “Well, that provides an environment ripe for discord.”
“That’s what you want? Discord?”
“I want the King to be whole,” I say. “He gave that away in his vain pursuit of more power. He is not my King anymore. He is not the coven’s. The others will soon realize this.”
“You want an uprising.”
“No. I want The Crypts to be pure. Then I want our might to be realized. Logan and I always shared that vision. Uniting all the vampires on this earth, all under one ruler.”
“And what happens next?” she asks. “What does that achieve for you, really? You still haven’t addressed the issue I have with The Crypts.”
“Remind me the issue again.”
“That its strength is an illusion. That you would not stand a chance against some of the truly great covens out there.”
“If you’re talking about The Haven...”
“I’m not. But I could be.”
“The Haven is not greater than we are. And there are no others.”
“Oh, but that’s where you are wrong, Dagan. So very, very wrong. There are hidden, ancient covens all over the world.”
“Now you’ve lost your mind,” I say with derision.
“Not so,” she says. “I’ve been to them. They are small, much smaller in size. But the vampires within have strength such that you could never dream of.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“When were The Crypts founded?”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“Answer me.”
I grunt. “Half a millennium ago.”
“So the fifteen hundreds. And The Haven?”
“Around the same time,” I say.
“So you truly believe that covens made one thousand five hundred years after the start of the Common Era are the strongest in our world? What, do you think Vampirism popped up just five centuries ago, too?”
“Obviously not,” I say. “But before us, vampires were scattered. They never gathered in a place and called it home.”
“Unbelievably short-sighted,” she sighs. “I will enlighten you. The only reason The Haven and The Crypts know of each other’s existence is because their respective founders were linked.” She holds her two index fingers out and hooks them in front of her face. “If Morgan did not know about Logan, and Logan did not know about her, things would have developed very differently.”
“So what, you’re claiming that there are other vampire covens, hidden from us, that are somehow stronger?”
“Of course there are,” she says. “In Rome, in Warsaw, all over Europe. There are covens in existence in Africa that have maintained their secrets for thousands of years. In Macedonia. In the lands of ancient Egypt, in the Nile Valley. All over the world!”
She looks at me in a curious way. “And no Dagan. They are not ‘somehow’ stronger. They are stronger because the vampires inside are older than even The Ancient.”
My eyes fix on her. “If they are so strong,” I say. “Why haven’t they made their presence known?”
“Because I told you, once before. They exist in secrecy. They don’t need to call attention to themselves. They don’t need larger numbers. They don’t recruit wandering vampires to their ranks. You were either there, with them, at their inception, or you were not. Nothing more.”
“Yet somehow you managed to penetrate their ranks?” I cross my arms. “Call me skeptical. And cover yourself up, woman. You’re distracting me.”
“Oh, really?” She perks an eyebrow but goes and picks up a sheet and wraps it around her body. “Better?”
“For now,” I grunt. “You’ll need to get some proper clothing. You cannot go out there looking like that.”
She
laughs. “You think I give two second’s thought to what those vampires out there think? I’m in command here.”
“Given all you’ve done,” I say slowly. “It’d be wise to avoid more suspicion.”
She sighs. “Fine.”
“Back to the topic. How can you expect me to take you at face value about the other, mysterious covens? You’ve given no proof.”
“Is my word not enough?”
“We’ve only met.”
“And yet already we’ve made big plans together.”
I chuckle. “You like goading me.”
She twists a strand of hair through her fingers. “Sometimes.”
“Sometimes, my ass,” I mutter.
Still, a part of me finds it hard to believe I just slept with the King’s own daughter.
“Look at it this way,” she suggests. “You think The Crypts are the most powerful coven in existence. And yet, I managed to get this far without any trouble.” She looks at me and narrows her eyes. “If I hadn’t revealed to you what I did to you, you’d all be duped. Do you really think it was difficult for me to break into the others?”
“The way you make them sound…” I begin.
“I have one great advantage, don’t forget. I had no affiliations. I had no memory of who I was. So, of course, I’d go out searching. And nothing in my psyche was tainted by preconceived notions.”
“Fine,” I tell her. “Let’s assume you’re right. Why don’t you take me to one of these covens, to prove your point?”
“Why, Dagan,” she smiles. “I thought you’d never ask.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
Riyu
Outside the Paths
I almost feel like an idiot, but when the portal winks closed behind me, I see that I’ve made the right choice.
The Haven stretches out in front of me, unguarded, unwarded, more or less abandoned, and for all intents and purposes… pretty much dead.
I never thought I would willingly go back to enemy territory. My allegiances haven’t shifted from The Crypts to The Haven.
But I know of no better place where I can be safe.
That is, once their Queen erects the wards, and I am contained on the inside.
The decision came down to a few different things. One, I knew the wards had been broken. That gave me a chance to come onto the grounds undetected and hide there until they were back.
Two, the presence of Eleira and Morgan—two very powerful witches—gives a sort of assurance, should the Black Sorceress find me. If I went anywhere else, entirely on my own, it would be a constant game of cat-and-mouse. And when the cat found me, claws extended and all, I would be helpless to defend myself.
At least here, I can rely on the combined power of Eleira and Morgan to fight back against the sorceress.
There is also, obviously, still the standing issue of Beatrice.
I do not think whatever offer she made to Eleira was proposed in good faith. Moreover, with her attack on me, she revealed herself to be false.
Uniting against Beatrice might be enough common ground for myself and Eleira to keep from trying to destroy each other should I be discovered.
And, of course, there is the great crystal throne torrial. The most powerful such object in existence. If Eleira’s and Morgan’s combined strength, funneled through it, are not enough to stop Cierra… then nothing is.
I do a quick scan of the surroundings with my vampire senses, then dart in.
I almost expect a chill to wash over me when I cross the boundary into The Haven. But no such thing happens.
Well, that just speaks to the overwhelming success of my coven’s attack.
Once I’m in, I take care to sneak from tree to tree, making as little sound as I can. This, I’m good at. It’s easy to remain unseen and unnoticed, especially when nobody expects you to be there.
I slow down once I’m past the initial boundary. The village where this coven keeps all of their humans should be just ahead.
I inhale deeply through my nose. I don’t smell any human blood.
Could we have killed all of them in our attack?
If that’s the case… well, then The Haven is in a much worse position that I thought. Without humans present, they have no lifeline. The beating heart of the vampire only persists in conjunction with the existence of humans. Without a food source, The Haven is in dire straits.
Then again, not that much time has passed since the attack.
I glance up at the sky and am impressed by the strength of the pale, bluish moonlight. Even though it’s not a full moon, the sliver I see is very bright. It illuminates these woods in an almost eerie way.
Closer and closer to the village I sneak, when suddenly, I get the premonition of stark danger.
I freeze. My vampire senses don’t alert me to anyone’s presence. But that extra sense, the one I developed while I was still human, warns me of something powerful lurking nearby.
Slowly, I turn my back, trying my best to pierce the dark foliage for a hint of whatever’s there.
My heart is pounding so hard I feel each beat against my ribs.
And then, out from the side bush, the leaves rustle. A noise comes, like a very heavy and deep exhale.
A dog unlike any other emerges from the trees.
The beast is massive. It’s entire coat is pure white, but it looks to be the white of an albino. Two small, sharp red eyes peer at me from behind a monstrous muzzle. I feel the strength radiating from the beast, as well as the immense danger.
Very, very carefully, making sure not to make any sudden or threatening moves, I turn to face it. The creature stands there, two giant paws resting on an upturned boulder, and regards me as if it’s trying to decide whether I am its prey or not.
Tersely, I try once more to gauge its presence with my vampiric gifts.
And I am astounded that now I can feel the creature in full.
It’s not merely powerful. It’s so much more than that. In the beast, I feel a mix of the vampire essence, mixed and coupled and perverted by something else.
The thing is many times stronger than I am. I’ve never, ever come across a non-human being that possesses the vampiric gifts.
But this massive dog does.
My mind races to come up with an explanation. Vampirism cannot be passed onto animals. Can it?
The truth is, I’ve never heard of anyone trying.
Suddenly, a blast of the vampiric influence hits me, right from the dog. I stagger back. I feel the influence forcing me to my knees. I am helpless to resist.
My legs fold, and I fall to the ground.
The dog approaches me. My eyes bulge out of my head when I see its paw prints, left on the rock. When it steps on soil, there is nothing. It’s like the ground does not recognize its tremendous weight. But when it touches a boulder or stone, a deep imprint is left in its wake.
I swallow and look up, half-terrified, half-fascinated.
The dog stops right in front of me. Enormous heat radiates from its body. Its lips curl back. A row of sharp, pointed teeth is revealed to me.
It growls, and the sound sends a shiver down my spine.
But even though the beast is powerful, even though its exerting an influence it should in no way possess, I do not feel threatened by it.
Not necessarily.
A twig snaps somewhere behind me. Just like that, the beast darts off. It’s gone so fast, even with my vampiric senses I saw no more than a blur.
I barely even start turning my head when something sharp, and definitely made of silver, presses into the back of my neck.
“Well, well,” a gruff voice says behind me. “Look what we have here. A trespasser, on Haven land.” The sharp object presses harder against my skin. “A castaway of the Wyvern Coven, perhaps?”
A pair of silver handcuffs are tossed in front of me.
“Put those on.”
I don’t immediately move to comply.
That angers the other vampire.
&n
bsp; “I said,” he repeats, “put those on. Or else my boys and I will bring your carcass back to our Queen.”
A chorus of snickers comes from around me, and I realize I’m outnumbered at least eight-to-one.
“You’ve got three seconds. Three… two…”
With a muttered curse, I grab the handcuffs, burning my palms, and snap them onto my wrists.
“Very good,” the vampire prods. “Now get up. There’s a great ceremony tonight. And you picked a fantastic time to join us.”
More laughter comes from the guards. I stand again, very slowly, and turn to face them.
None of them I recognize. So, they’re just regular Haven riffraff.
I hate that I was caught by vampires so… pedestrian.
But the dog-wolf, whatever it was, was unlike anything I’ve ever encountered before. The encounter obviously rattled my senses.
“Come on,” the lead guard says, prodding me with his long-tipped spear. “I know the Queen will be very pleased to have someone like you presented to her on the night of her coronation.”
He nudges me forward, and I start to walk.
It would be a simple thing to distract, or even destroy, these vampires with my magic. With the help of the torrials I have on me, at least.
But I did not come here for that reason. So despite everything, I have to absolutely keep my head down… until I get an audience with someone in a position of real power.
At least, the important vampires will know who I am when they see me.
The guards lead me through the village, which is very much abandoned. I do not see a single hint of inhabitance.
We turn away from the treetop apartments, though, and head to the one place familiar to me.
The site of Morgan’s destroyed castle.
From far away, I get a feeling of many vampires gathering outside. I don’t need to see the crowd to know it’s there. We pass a turn, and then the assembly is revealed to me in full.
All of The Haven’s vampires are there. They must be. The crowd is teeming with excitement. In front of them, barricaded by a row of guards, stand the massive crystal throne.
And on it sits Eleira.