The Vampire Gift 1: Wards of Night

by E. M. Knight

  “Please!” I say.

  Raul strolls to the armchair and settles down. He gestures for me to come to him. Instead, I sit on the edge of the bed. Raul goes still as a statue and a silence stretches between us. It lasts one minute, two, three.

  He’s completely unperturbed by it. But I get uncomfortable. I pick at the hem of my dress, suddenly feeling too exposed in the lacy garment.

  “That dress, or one very much like it, once belonged to someone special to me,” he announces. I stare. “That is why I reacted the way I did when I saw you. That’s not to say — I never meant — that you are not beautiful.”

  He thinks me beautiful?

  I blush and shake my head. “Explain the other things. Please.”

  “Well,” he exhales. “Let’s start at the top. By now you know where you are. This is The Haven. It is a sort of sanctuary for…” he pauses. “My kind.”

  “For vampires,” I breathe.

  “Yes,” he says. “For them.”

  Suddenly, he stands and walks to the balcony. He is more restless than I. “This place was established over six-hundred years ago by the woman you met. She has ruled ever since. I —” he gives a mock bow, “— am one of her three sons.”

  I nod. More pieces are falling into place.

  “The Haven is protected by a powerful series of wards that hide it from those on the Outside. Vampires are the ruling class.” He gestures around the room. “We live in modern luxury. The people down there…” his fingers press against the glass, “are trapped in an older age. It’s easier, you see,” he sneers, “to keep them ignorant of how much the world has changed.”

  My stomach seizes up in disgust. “That’s horrible,” I say.

  “Yes,” Raul agrees. “But necessary. If any of the villagers had an idea of the things humans are capable of now…”

  He trails off, shaking his head.

  “You keep them as slaves,” I mutter. “Blind and deaf to their potential. And you feed on them! Don’t you? I heard the screams.”

  “Usually, it’s not so violent,” he says. He faces me. “You understand why I’m explaining this to you, yes? Because there is no going back, Eleira. The things you’ve seen, all that you know, even if I wanted to let you go, I could not.”

  My breath catches. “You… want… to let me go?”

  “I didn’t say that.” He grunts. His hands open and close. “You weren’t supposed to be thrown into the midst of things the way you were. There was a process that was supposed to be followed, and… Argh! It kills me that it wasn’t adhered to.”

  “You planned my abduction.” I shiver. “How long have you been watching me?”

  He gives a mirthless laugh. “Do you want the truth?”

  I nod.

  “Since the day you were born.”

  I gasp.

  “Your birth was written in the stars. And I know that is such a cliché, it’s so trite and perhaps even expected, but it’s the truth.”

  I swallow the lump in my throat. “What makes me so special?” I wonder.

  “Your ancestry does,” he tells me. “And you have… The Spark.”

  “The Spark? The Spark of what?”

  “Of magic,” he says, completely poker-faced. “You are like Morgan. You possess her powers. And you —”

  I can’t help it. In light of everything I’ve seen and been told, I burst out laughing.

  “You think — you think I can do magic?” The laughter is uncontrollable now, and probably of a hysterical sort. “No, no. No, no no. I don’t have a speck of extra ability anywhere inside me.” I spread my hands. “What you see is exactly what you get. I am one hundred and one percent human. Always have been. You should check the charts you consulted again, because I’m sure you have the wrong girl.”

  I stand up and start for the door. “I’ll be going now, if that’s all right with you —”

  “Sit down, Eleira.”

  Raul’s voice whips through me in command. My knees fold of their own accord, and I’m right back on the edge of the bed.

  Raul comes toward me. “I thought I was doing you a mercy, explaining the how and why of things. But I can see that I made a mistake. I thought that you were mature for your age. But I was wrong there, too. Goodbye, Eleira. I’ll see you after you’ve calmed down.”

  “No, no, wait, wait, wait!” I grab his hand and pull him back. “I’m listening, please, don’t go.”

  He looks at me in wonder. “I could end your life with one bite,” he says. “Does that not scare you?” He glances at our linked hands. “Does who I am not repulse you?”

  “I… I don’t know,” I admit. I let his hand go and sag down. “This is all so overwhelming. How can I deny what I see with my own eyes? Then again, everything I see goes against every bit of knowledge I have in my head…” I trail off. “It’s just so confusing.” I almost cry. “I feel like I’ve been through the ringer.”

  Raul’s gaze softens. “I understand,” he says finally. “But it doesn’t mean I can afford to take sympathy on you. I’m sorry. That’s the way it has to be.”

  He turns and walks again to the door.

  “Oh. One more thing,” he adds before he leaves. “Just in case you’re wondering: the sun does not shine here. It’s always night. That is one of the protective spells that keeps The Haven safe. I understand it adds to the confusion for a human brought in from the Outside.”

  And, on that note, I’m alone again.

  ***

  Morgan enters my chambers a few hours later and immediately expresses her delight with what she sees.

  “You look wonderful!” she exclaims, gliding to me and beckoning me to rise. “Oh, just look at you! You see, I knew you had enough feminine beauty for it to come out given the right circumstance.”

  I’m not sure whether that’s a compliment or an insult.

  I try to give a proper curtsy, of the sort I’ve only read about but assume she would expect. After all, if she’s been Queen for five centuries…

  Well, I consider it my best course of action to act meekly around her.

  “No, no, none of that,” she chastises. “You’re doing it all wrong anyway. You put one foot back and bend the knee, like this. Do you see? Oh, don’t bother. There’s no need for that between us, and besides, you don’t have the natural grace to pull it off.”

  That was definitely not a compliment.

  “Raul has been by, yes? He’s seen you like this?” The Queen smiles. “It must have pleased him to no end to find you so beautiful.”

  “I wouldn’t exactly say that,” I mumble.

  “Speak up, girl. It won’t do for our newest member of royalty to be seen as weak.”

  I stiffen. “Whatever you’re offering, I don’t want it. I don’t need it. I never asked for it.”

  Morgan gives me a sympathetic look. “I know, dear. I know. But it is not in our hands to change the tides of fate. You are here now. You are ours. Well —” she laughs, “— you’re mine. And there’s nothing you can do to change that. Oh, you might resist, but I sincerely advise against such stupidity. You’ve been to The Catacombs. I think you’ll consider your lodgings here a vast improvement over that dark and dingy place. And think! All this and more can be yours, if you but lend me a tiny bit of your trust.”

  How can I trust someone who rules a place like this? I wonder.

  Morgan sees the shift on my face. “You’re troubled,” she notes. “Conflicted, perhaps? Hmm…” she taps her lips. “I have a little surprise for you. I meant to save it for later. Though, perhaps, now you’ll take it as a token of goodwill. Hmm?”

  She stands up and claps her hands. “You may come in now,” she calls.

  The doors slowly open. And standing on the threshold, I find a very stoic…

  “April,” I gasp her name. She looks up and our eyes lock. Hers are storming with all sorts of emotions.

  She quickly suppresses those emotions and stands meek as a lamb.

  “April here,
” Morgan says, flowing around her and taking her by her shoulders, “has admitted to being your friend. And I thought, how wonderful! So I cast a little counter-spell…” she snaps her fingers in front of April’s nose. The girl flinches. “And ta-dah! Her mind has been restored, and her eyes have been opened to all that she knew before. She came from the Outside, too, you know. But unfortunately, we still can’t allow her to think too much of her previous life. It’s just safer for all involved. I’m sure you understand.”

  Morgan smiles. “Well, I’ll leave you girls to it. I’m sure you have plenty of catching up to do.”

  April shuffles in. Morgan gives her a dainty kiss on the cheek. Then she closes the doors.

  April wastes no time striding right across the floor and swinging her hand at my face in a vicious slap.

  “I hate you,” she announces.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  RAUL

  “I kissed her.”

  Phillip’s head jerks up from the computer screen. “You what?”

  “I know, I know.” I slouch against the wall opposite him. “I couldn’t stop myself.”

  “And she’s… still… I mean, is she—”

  “She’s alive,” I grunt. “Unharmed.”

  “Astounding,” Phillip marvels.

  “You have no idea,” I emphasize.

  “Before you said I do,” he reminds me.

  I shake my head. “It’s totally different. It’s not just hunger. I mean, I’ve felt hunger before. Real hunger, raw hunger, uncompromising hunger that consumed my whole body and soul.”

  I snort a laugh. “I’m starting to sound like a poet. But imagine the most terrible hunger you’ve ever felt, multiply it by ten, and it still wouldn’t hold a candle to the desire I feel for Eleira.”

  “Wait.” Phillip pushes his glasses up. “Desire? Like… between a man and a woman? I thought we were dealing with hunger here?”

  “Oh no,” I say. “And that’s the screwed up thing. I want her, Phillip. I want her unlike I’ve wanted anyone before.”

  “It’s a good thing she’s been promised to you —”

  I turn around and punch the wall. My fist forms a deep indent. “No!” I snarl. “It’s not that simple. She’s terrified of me. She puts up a front, but I know. Our kind, what we do, the life we’ve formed here in The Haven — it disgusts her.”

  “Just be patient,” Phillip advises. “The venom will take her before long. When the transformation begins, all her qualms will disappear. She’ll feel the bloodlust, too, and everything will make sense.”

  “I don’t —” I take a deep breath. “I don’t think I can do it.”

  “Do what?”

  “Let her transform.”

  That gets Phillip’s full attention. “What? You know the prophecy. You know what Mother thinks. You —”

  “Yes, yes,” I interrupt. “But you don’t know her. She’s sweet. She’s precious. To take all of that, to take it and strip it away, to destroy all that she is… I can’t. I won’t be able to live with myself if I do.”

  “Good thing Mother chose James for the trick,” Phillip says.

  I slam my fist against the wall again. “You’re not listening to me!”

  “I am,” Phillip promises. “It’s not my fault if you’re speaking nonsense.”

  I glare at my brother. He has always been someone I could come to for good advice.

  This isn’t the sort I thought he’d give.

  “Look, Raul,” Phillip says. “She’s already been infected. Her blood’s tainted. Even if you wanted to change it, what could you do? There’s no vampire alive who can reverse the poison’s spread.”

  “There must be some way,” I say. “You’re the scholar, you’re the intelligent one! Go to the library, see what you can find. We were not the first vampires on earth, no matter what Mother makes the others believe. And we’re not the only ones here now. Maybe the other covens know something we don’t. Maybe —”

  “You’re speaking of treason,” Phillip murmurs. “You won’t go against our coven just for her.”

  “I’m not going against anyone!” I snarl.

  “You know communication between covens is forbidden.”

  “By our own Mother!” I nearly scream. “We’ve followed her rules for so long —”

  “Because she’s the Queen,” Phillip says.

  “So?” I demand. “We both know she wants out. That’s why she needs Eleira. Mother is bound to The Haven. She cannot leave, not like us. She’s going crazy. She won’t say it, but she cannot stand the idea of being here for another five centuries. That’s why the succession is so important to her. Eleira will take her place, Eleira will be bound to us, and the same spells that keep Mother here will lock Eleira away from the world for good!”

  “Don’t tell me your loyalties have been shifted from your own family.” Phillip’s voice is soft but stern. “We need you, brother. Would you forget who you are and what we’ve done for the sake of a human girl?”

  It’s not that simple, I want to say again. Instead, I sigh.

  “I don’t know,” I admit. “I just — do me the favor, won’t you? See if you can find anything about reversing the curse. I know it’s unlikely, but I have to know.”

  Phillip looks at me and then nods. “I’ll see what I can do.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  ELEIRA

  “What the hell is wrong with you?” I scream at April.

  “Me?” she demands. “Me? It’s you who’s ruined my life!”

  We’ve both gotten our fair share of slaps and hair pulls in, and we’ve now resorted to having a war of words. Or a screaming war, in any case…

  “I saved you from being taken!”

  “Yeah, and I saved you from The Convicted! So we were even, and then you had to go and — you had to go and get the Queen involved!”

  “Me?” I can’t hide the incredulity in my voice. “You think I have any influence over what the Queen does?”

  She gives me an evil look. “Don’t pretend ignorance.”

  “Um, hello!” I cry out. “I’m a prisoner here, in case you haven’t noticed!”

  “Oh yeah,” April scoffs. She looks around the posh room. “You’ve got it real bad here.”

  “You — arr, you’re infuriating!” I hurl myself on the bed.

  “Look at yourself,” April sneers. “You’ve got the best rooms, the prettiest clothes, and you’re complaining? What’s wrong with you?”

  “What is wrong is that I don’t want any of this!” I say.

  “Well, wake up and smell the roses, Princess, because it’s what you’ve got! And now, thanks to you, I’m completely ostracized. Even worse, I have my memory back!”

  “You say that like it’s a bad thing.” What I wouldn’t give to be able to remember the hours — days? — between my stop in the library and waking up in The Haven.

  “Of course it’s a bad thing! Now I know where we are.”

  “Like you didn’t before?”

  She exhales and brushes a loose strand of hair from her face. “Before, I knew where I was, but I didn’t know it in relation to what’s Outside. I was blissfully ignorant.”

  “But you came from there!”

  “So they locked away those memories of before. And now, thanks to you, they’ve all come back, and, and…”

  She breaks down and falls into a chair. She starts to cry.

  “I remember it all, Eleira,” she tells me between sobs. “I remember my mother, my father. I remember my younger brother Robin. I remember high school. I remember my friends. I remember my life!”

  “I thought you’d be thankful if you got that back,” I say.

  She glared at me through red-rimmed eyes. “You don’t understand anything, do you? Those memories do not belong to me anymore. They are not a part of me anymore. I can — I can never go back. Obviously not, none of us can, not after we’re taken. But the vampires do us a favor by wiping our minds, Eleira. They do it to reduce th
e pain. This is the life we know, the life we have.” She stabs a finger into her palm. “Here, at The Haven. Not out there. Not Outside. Here! And I was happy here, before you came along and ruined everything!”

  “You were brainwashed,” I say. “When you were taken… or rather—what did Raul call it? You were… bewitched.”

  “Yes! And that gave me peace, don’t you see? Peace that I will never have again.”

  Once more she breaks into sobs.

  I hesitate. April is vulnerable. She’s vulnerable because of me.

  I push myself up. I’ve never been good at giving comfort. But right now I owe it to April to try.

  I come up to her. I bend down and put my hands on her knees. I look into her eyes.

  “Listen,” I say. “I’m sorry for all of that. It wasn’t my intention to get you involved. But since we can’t go back in time and change things, we might as well try to make the best of it. Don’t you think?”

  She eyes me skeptically. She runs her palms over her cheeks to wipe away some of the tears.

  “I remember who I was, too.” I continue. “And I haven’t given up. Not even close. I have every intention of getting out, of escaping —”

  “You can’t.” She gives a sad laugh. “Trust me. I know. That’s the first thing that came to mind when the Queen… restored me. And you know what she said? Do you want to know what she told me, right after she cast the counter-spell?”

  I shake my head. “What?”

  “She said I’ve been marked. She warned that if I try to leave The Haven, all she’d have to do is give a quick snap of her fingers —” April demonstrates, “— and she’d stop my heart. Just like that.”

  “No,” I breathe.

  “Oh yes.” April smiles. “So you see? The situation is hopeless. It’s not like we can even get past the wards. We—”

  “Wait a minute.” I stress. “The wards! Didn’t Raul say something, back in the Catacombs, about James leaving? And they brought me in from out there, just like they did you! If there was a way in for us, there must be a way out…”