by E. M. Knight
Somewhere in the midst of my euphoria, I realize why. April was on the very cusp of death. The other Fang Chasers who I’d converted were burned and hurt by the flames I made them walk into, but they were still alive.
April, when I laid her down, was all-but-dead.
And so it required more than a transfusion, more than a mere mixing and churning. It required a conscious effort, an act of will, on my part, to make her live and impart all the Dark Gifts that I have into her.
And then it’s done. I fall away. Exhaustion takes me.
April lies there, on the floor, still as a slumbering baby, looking perfectly radiant in her new, vampiric skin.
A darkness washes over me. I close my eyes.
Chapter Sixteen
ELEIRA
THE STRONGHOLD
I watch in a mixture of fascination and fear as James feeds April his blood.
Fear because I don’t know how successful he’ll be. I have no idea what my friend is doing here—how she keeps getting herself involved in all our troubles. But she is so close to death as to be a corpse already.
And yet, as the infinite seconds tick away, signs of life start to show in her body. Her burns begin to heal. Her ruined hair grows back. A flush enters her cheeks, and then, with eyes still closed, she clutches at James’s hand and draws his blood.
Relief courses through me then. And, at the same time, a hint of her vampiric presence—just the tiniest bit—flares into being and announces her full entrance into our world.
My attention is ripped away by the fire still raging the store room.
I run to the entrance. Phillip is already there, taking stock of what’s happening inside.
“Look at them,” he says. “Look how easily they burn. It’s like they’ve been doused in gas.”
He turns his back on the scene. “I have to know who’s responsible.”
I continue to watch. With the way the stronghold is built, there’s no danger of the fire spreading.
To me, the flames are purifying. Somehow, they seem to feast not only on the decomposing bodies of those poor men, but on the vileness that tainted them, as well.
“Fire cleanses,” Raul says, coming up beside me unexpectedly. He puts a hand on my shoulder as we watch. “It burns away the evil of this world.”
“Do all vampires...” I shift, slightly uncomfortable. “Do all vampires burn like that? So fast?”
“I’ve only seen one vampire perish in flames,” Raul says. “And it was nothing like this. He fought against them as long as he could. His body kept trying to heal, but he had no escape. It only prolonged the agony. These… men? These fledglings? It’s like their bodies welcome the flames.” He looks at me. “I think fire is the only thing that could defeat the corruption.”
I shiver. “Let’s pray Morgan is not like that.”
“She’s not,” Raul assures me. “We’ll see her soon.”
I nod. Suddenly, a noise like a gasp makes me spin around.
April has awoken. She’s bolted up. Her eyes are wide, her chest is heaving. The expression on her face leaves no doubt:
She’s craving blood.
But before she can do anything, Phillip is at her side. He has his arm around her shoulder and is whispering furiously in her ear.
She nods, then shakes her head, then closes her eyes and squeezes his hand. He holds her tight, holds her to him, in an embrace that makes it obvious to anybody watching how much he cares.
My stomach turns over at the thought of James.
He’s just picking himself up off the ground. I still can’t feel him—the spell has shown no signs of wearing off. He looks kind of dazed, slightly out of it. He’s woozy as he stands.
Then his eyes latch onto April and Phillip and his whole demeanor changes.
The trace of empathy I saw in him is gone. An ugly darkness, a pettiness, a sort of jealousy crosses his face. I don’t know how I can tell, exactly, only that I am certain it’s what those feelings are.
His eyes become hooded. His body shifts, muscles tightening, and he looks ready to attack.
“Raul,” I nudge his shoulder. “Look.”
Raul sees what’s happening and hurries to James. He takes him by the arm and turns him away. James goes, not reluctantly, but defiantly, sullenly.
For a minute, I don’t know what to do. I want to give all of them sufficient space.
But then I pick up the presence of another vampire, one I’ve entirely overlooked coming toward us.
Carter.
He walks casually, not from the depths of the stronghold, but from down the steps leading to the exit outside. His eyebrows go up when he sees the scene before him.
“My, my,” he mutters. “What happened here?”
Philip is on his feet in a flash. “What are you doing?” he demands. “Don’t you know the danger of being outside?”
“Oh, I do, and I don’t need you to lecture me,” Carter says, obviously bored. “For what it’s worth, I found myself hungry. I fancied a little drink. And since you’ve proved so negligent in establishing the new feeding regiment, I took it upon myself to go outside and hunt.”
From behind his back he pulls out the body of a limp rabbit. There are two red marks stained on its white fur.
“In truth?” Carter continues. “I found its blood repulsive. As I’d expected. Really, Phillip—” a peculiar look passes between the two men, “—I don’t know how you managed to hold out for so long.”
With that, Phillip’s confidence falters. Only a tiny bit.
But I notice. Ever since drinking The Ancient’s blood, I’ve become sensitized to the most subtle shifts in a situation.
“But all in all, once I’d gotten over the taste? The blood was nourishing. To a certain degree.”
Finally, Carter seems to notice April. “Oh, hello,” he says to her. “You must be the newest member of the Incolam. How curious. The Queen wouldn’t like that very much, but she’s incapacitated at the moment, isn’t she?”
He chuckles.
“What I want to know,” Phillip says. “Is exactly what happened here.”
“Oh yes,” Carter agrees. “As do I. Perhaps our young fledgling might have an explanation.” He brings a hand to his nose. “And what is that awful stink! Something must be burning.”
The fire in the storeroom is still going strong, so I’d call that the understatement of the year.
Phillip looks at April, who is still sitting on the ground, half her clothes burned away. She seems oblivious to just how much skin she’s showing.
“April?” he says. “Do you have anything to tell us?”
“Yes April,” Carter adds, fixing her with a certain predatory stare. “We’re all so curious as to how you ended up here.”
All eyes turn to her, except James’s and Raul’s. Those two are locked in a heated exchange of whispers, mostly driven by Raul.
April licks her lips. She looks conflicted for a second. She blinks, frowns, opens her mouth to speak—
And I decide it’s finally time for me to step in.
“Can’t you see what she’s gone through?” I demand, striding to her. “The poor girl’s frightened! Have you forgotten what it’s like?” I put an arm under her shoulder and help her up. “She’s experiencing a whole plethora of new sensations! And her hunger—the hunger must be immense.”
April mumbles something incomprehensible under my arm.
“There is the rabbit,” Carter notes dryly.
I show him an evil glare. “Does anybody have any blood? Any real blood, any human blood? Carter, I know the Elite have their stores—”
“Unfortunately, all have been exhausted,” Carter says. Phillip shifts slightly on his feet.
I notice. “Phillip? Do you know anything?”
A part of me is astonished at how easily I’ve assumed command here. Chalk it up to greater confidence and a full embrace of the vampire inside me, I guess.
“Mother might have… one or two… small v
ials… left,” he admits.
April tenses beside me.
“Well go get them!” I exclaim. “April needs the nourishment. She won’t be able to stave off her hunger forever.”
I sniff the air. Thankfully, I only get the thinnest sense of the villagers’ blood. If I can barely smell it, there’s no way April can.
Not yet.
That’s a huge relief, because, knowing what I do about the transformation—having gone through it myself so recently—there is no way she’d be able to stop herself from feeding on them.
My foremost goal, for the moment, is to ensure that doesn’t happen. An order was passed that the villagers were not to be touched. It would ruin all the tenuous trust between us and them if that peace were to fracture.
We need every single member of The Haven, human and vampire alike, to be on one side in the coming war.
“That… might prove difficult,” Phillip hedges. “Look. I’m not denying what April has to go through will be hard. And I’ll do everything I can to ease the process for her. But the vials are locked away in a safe that only Mother knows the location of, and—”
I look at him in disbelief. Is he… lying? Something tells me that yes, he is, but why would he?
I don’t get a chance to say any more. Phillip is interrupted mid-sentence by a harsh and bitter laugh.
It comes from James.
He has broken away from Raul and is standing on his own.
“Difficult?” he says darkly. “Difficult doesn’t even begin to describe the process April will go through.”
We all stare at him. “What do you mean?” I ask.
He walks toward me with the gaze of a stalking wolf. He does not once look at April. His eyes are focused solely on me.
“You are the strongest vampire in the vicinity,” he tells me softly. “But I will have no problem going against you if you do not release April immediately and hand her to me.”
“Hand her to you?” I scoff. “She’s not some toy to be passed around!”
“She belongs—to me,” he says. He grabs her free arm. “She is coming—with me.”
Suddenly, all the tension in the room shifts.
“Let her go,” I warn.
“No,” James snarls. “If you want her, you’ll have to fight me.”
“I would destroy you,” I say.
His claws extend. “I’d like to see you try.”
Suddenly Phillip is between us. “Both of you, let April go,” he says. “I’m bringing her back to my rooms, where she’ll remain and be safe, until we can figure out what happened.”
James laughs again. It’s a cruel, hard, harsh laugh.
“Ask her what happened,” he says. “She’s the only one who knows. Oh, but she won’t say a word, will she? Something’s caught her tongue.”
“April?” Phillip says. “You have a voice in this, too, you know. Tell us what you want.”
“Blood,” she whispers.
“Ah, you see!” James exclaims. He tugs her closer to him. “Only I can give her that.”
“Yeah? How?” Phillip challenges.
“By taking her with me,” James says. “I’m still on your mission, aren’t I? You still want me as The Haven’s personal bounty hunter, do you not?”
“Oh, this is juicy,” Carter says from the sidelines.
“April’s not leaving us,” I say. “Are you insane?”
“Don’t butt in where your opinion isn’t wanted,” James growls. “You hold no influence in this regard, Eleira.” Before I can object, he turns on me fully. “Your little tricks with the powers you stole from The Ancient will not work again. I know how to counter it. So don’t stand in the way.”
Raul breaks into our tight circle. “You will not speak to her like that,” he says, anger flaring.
“It’s okay,” I tell him. “I can handle myself.”
“April was made by me. She belongs to me. She is of the Nocturna Animalia, not of The Haven. We broke your bonds when she fed on my blood.”
“If you think it’s that simple…” Phillip begins.
“It is that simple. Weakest,” James says.
Phillip stiffens. I’ve heard that term whispered as a nickname for him before.
He does not like it.
And then Carter is on us, breaking us out of the gridlock.
“I have a solution,” he proposes. “Why don’t we let the Royal Court decide?”
The suggestion is said so innocuously, so innocently, but it carries enormous weight.
Again, the tensions shift. Raul and Phillip and I all know the Royal Court to be the ultimate trump card.
“Screw the Court,” James hisses. He is the only one outside its influence. “They hold no power over me.”
“On the contrary,” Carter begins—
“NONE!” James explodes. He’s shaking with rage. “I am my own vampire, I am not of The Haven, and neither is April. Not anymore!”
“Temper, temper,” Carter warns. “Phillip, are you going to stand for this, as our appointed Captain Commander?”
Phillip eyes Carter. Another look passes between them. Are the two collaborating?
“No,” he finally sighs. “No, I will not—”
“Do you want to know what happened here?” James interrupts. “Do you want to know who’s guilty?” He points at Carter. “This man.”
Carter shrugs with casual indifference. “I have no clue what he’s referring to.”
“Oh, don’t you?” James sneers. “That’s what you’d like for all of us to think, wouldn’t you? And you’ve scared April enough to keep her lips sealed. But no such fear holds me.”
James finally releases April and takes an aggressive step toward the gray-haired Royal Court member.
“Fire,” James says. “Fire is key. Fire opens up the connection between vampire and fledgling. I’d only suspected it before, when I made the first of my coven. But now I know.”
Carter looks at the rest of us in clear confusion. “Can anybody tell me what this lunatic is going on about?”
“I saw the moments before their deaths,” James continues. “And when I made April, I saw through her eyes. Her memory of the final moments of her human life came to me. And it was you who lured her here. You who struck the torch that killed my fledglings. You who pushed April into the flame.”
I take a sharp breath. Could that be true?
Knowing what I do of Carter, I have no doubt.
“He’s clearly delusional,” Carter says uncertainly. “He’s given away a spectacular amount of blood. Such a loss has no doubt affected his mental capacities.”
“I should rip you to shreds,” James continues. He’s right in the Royal Court member’s face and not backing down. “I should claw your heart out right now. I should kill you for what you’ve done. I should drop you to the floor and make you suffer what my fledglings suffered.”
Carter licks his lip, a little less sure of himself. “Phillip?” he asks. “As Captain Commander, are you going to stand there and do nothing while he threatens me?”
“I don’t know, Carter,” Phillip says slowly. “Something tells me my brother is telling the truth.”
Finally, Carter blanches. “But this is an outrage!” he protests. “I am a distinguished member of the Royal Court!”
“Then perhaps, as you so often like to say… we get them to chip in, hmm?” Phillip asks. “James.” He touches his brother gently on the arm. “You’ve said enough. Leave him be.”
“If it’s my word against his,” Carter says. “There should be no uncertainty about whose carries the most weight!”
“Ah, but the Royal Court needs to be impartial in any accusations,” Phillip reminds him. “Luckily, we have a third witness for that. April.”
He looks at her.
She’s withdrawn into herself. “Blood,” she says in a small voice, and gives a shiver. “I need blood.”
“You’ll get it,” Phillip promises her. “I’ll find a way. First, we�
�ll go to the Royal Court—”
“No,” James interrupts. “No. April is coming with me.” He shoves Carter in the chest. “The only reason you’re still alive is that attacking an Elite would be an act of war between our covens. And the Nocturna Animalia has no enemies—or allies—yet.”
I stare at him. I can’t believe he’s still on about this!
“James...” Phillip begins.
“No, brother. Don’t interfere! I don’t care if April shared your bed while I was away. What’s done is done. But she is mine again.”
“I never...” she begins, with a longing look toward Phillip. “We were never intimate,” she admits softly.
“Hah!” James barks a laugh. “All the better for me, then.”
“If you think we’re just going to let you take her,” I begin.
“Oh, yes, Eleira,” he says. “That is exactly what you are going to do. The moment my blood fused with hers, she became part of the Nocturna Animalia. Part of the second wave. I let you destroy the first. But stand in the way of me and my coven again...? And you will find yourself deeply regretting it.”
He breaks away from our group. “April,” he calls over his shoulder. “Come.”
To my immense surprise… the blonde-haired girl steps away.
“No,” I whisper. “April, you don’t have to go.”
“You don’t understand, Eleira,” she tells me softly. She sounds like she’s in a trance. “None of you do. James is my maker. I do belong to him.” She looks at Phillip. I think I see a tear in her eye.
“I’m sorry,” she whispers, and then she runs after James, who’s purposefully taking the stairs out two at a time.
Chapter Seventeen
RAUL
PHILLIP’S COMMAND CENTER
“Well, that was very nearly a disaster,” I tell Phillip, back in his command center.
He glares at me. “Nearly?” he asks. “Nearly? That was a full on, bona fide catastrophe, Raul, and you know it!”
“It could have gone worse,” I offer.