Captured Sun

by Shari Richardson

  Alfred had left to find a car to rent. I'd paced the width of the international arrivals concourse more times than I cared to count by the time he returned and ushered me to the curb where the black luxury sedan awaited us.

  As I had paced, I had thought of nothing but the pain Mathias must be suffering. I knew he'd be eaten up with guilt over the girl he'd fed on. Instead of seeing her death as Serina's doing, he would take full responsibility for it. He'd see her death as his own failure to keep his promise to me. He'd never understand that I wasn't angry with him, could never be angry with him for surviving.

  Alfred seem to get stronger with each mile we traveled, but I still didn't trust him. He'd betrayed me once. I believed he'd do it again if it meant he could save Mathias. I wanted to hate Alfred for what he'd done and what he might do, but I couldn't. We'd both do anything to save Mathias. How could I hate someone who loved Mathias as much as I did?

  So here I was, trapped in a car with a vampire who hated me, barreling down some back country road in England. Alfred hadn't spoken since we'd left the city and I didn't feel compelled to start up a conversation. As far as I was concerned, Alfred and I had said everything we would need to say to each other until Mathias was safe. I could only pray that with each passing mile we were not giving Serina more time in which to inflict any more damage on Mathias' body or soul.

  ***

  Mathias screamed. The silver chains binding him to the bed sank ever deeper into his flesh as he pulled against them, desperate to escape their bonds. Smoke billowed from his wrists and ankles.

  "Oh do be quiet, Mathias," Serina said. "I'm trying to enjoy my dinner."

  The young man who knelt before Serina twitched when she sank her teeth into his neck. On the bed, Mathias moaned as the room filled with the scent of blood. Mathias' eyes burned with his thirst and his throat worked convulsively. Serina glanced up from her meal, obviously relishing Mathias' suffering. She let the young man go and licked her lips, stepping over the limp body of the young man to cross to the bed.

  "You suffer so beautifully, Mathias," she said, running her fingers lightly down his chest. "Perhaps that is why Alfred loves you so much. He always did find such pleasure in suffering."

  Mathias cringed away from Serina's hand. "My father is not the sadist you are, Serina. You are a monster," he said softly.

  "And so are you, lover. Do you not see the corpse you left on the floor?"

  A shudder ripped through Mathias' body. He tensed, pulling against the chains and forcing them deeper into his flesh. He glanced to the far wall of the room where the body of a young woman lay.

  "It truly pains you to kill, doesn't it." Serina's voice was soft with wonder. "They are nothing but sheep, food. You need not concern yourself with them." Serina lay down next to Mathias, wrapping her body over his. He turned his face from her, disgust twisting his features. Serina frowned and turned his face back to her.

  "Why do you not want me, lover? Do I not give you pleasure that your human can not? Do you not find me alluring? Are you not satisfied with the satiation of all your desires?" Serina flung her leg over Mathias' hips, straddling him and rising above him. "There has never been any who did not want me. I could call in any of the many men who wait upon my word and they would come at a run. You run from me. Why?" Serina's expression was honestly perplexed.

  Mathias' dark eyes smoldered with hate. Desire for the blood which still scented the air and for the sexual promise offered by the woman who ground her hips down on his could not overrule his disgust. "You hold me here against my will," he spat. "Only your word that you will not take my Mairin's life keeps me here, gives you the power to torture me. Without that, I would find a way to escape you, even if it meant my complete death." His lips twisted into a grimace. "You disgust me."

  Serina's head snapped back as though he had slapped her. "The human? You refuse me because of the human? What can she be to you but food? You will not make her immortal. You cannot touch her without harming her fragile human body. You cannot drink of her without killing her. She is nothing."

  Mathias blinked slowly, disdain clear in his gaze. "You know nothing," he said. "You have only slaves who have no free will and who do your bidding because they must, not because they wish to. Certainly they run to you, are used by you and may even enjoy you, but have you given them the choice to come or no? Do you fear they would not come to you if you gave them the choice?"

  Fury washed over Serina's face, twisting it into something dredged up from the edge of hell. "They love me," she said.

  "They fear you. That is not love," Mathias said. "Look at what Alfred did to escape you. He sought for a stronger love, a stronger bond so you could not hold him. He only gave that up to save me, not because he loved you."

  "You do not fear me." Serina said, understanding dawning in her eyes.

  "No. I pity you."

  Serina threw herself off the bed. She paced the length of the room. "You dare pity me," she screamed. "I have everything. I am everything. You are nothing. Nothing."

  "I am the one thing you can never be, Serina," Mathias said.

  "And what is that?"

  "I am free."

  Screaming, Serina fell upon Mathias. Her hands curled into claws and she began to rake them down his body. She flayed the flesh from him, screaming and cursing, until Mathias lay still.

  "Be free then," she said softly and called to the guard who had watched impassively from the corner of the room. "Take him to the tower room. I tire of him."

  ***

  "Mairin. Mairin, you must wake," Alfred's voice broke through the darkness to bring me trembling into the present. Alfred had pulled the car to the side of the road and was attempting to wake me without touching me. I was surprised to realize he had taken my request to not touch me as a permanent order. Alfred didn't strike me as the type of person who would put up with orders from someone he considered no more influential than cattle. I pulled my knees up to my chest and clutched them to me. I had to find a way to hold myself together. Mathias would not survive if I lost it now.

  Alfred glanced at me and then pulled the car back onto the road. He waited silently, but I could see his questions in his stiff posture and flickering glance.

  "What's in the tower room?" I asked finally.

  Alfred sucked in a breath, letting it out in a long hiss. "You are certain?"

  Terror shot into me. Alfred was afraid. Such fear could not be good for our mission. "She said, 'Take him to the tower room. I tire of him.'"

  "Could you tell when?"

  I looked at the country wheeling past as we flew down the road. The sun was rising to the east. "It was dark. The middle of the night, I believe. Last night."

  Alfred's hands clenched on the steering wheel and he pushed the rental car even harder. I tried not to see the speedometer peg at over 150. "Tell me," I whispered when I could no longer stand the silence.

  "The tower room is her torture chamber and where she ends the lives of the immortals whom she no longer desires."

  "Oh my God," I whispered. "How...you said it's difficult for vampires to die. What more can she do other than burn and scar him with silver?"

  "The tower room has a table in the center and a sky light in the roof. For those she no longer wants, Serina has them bound to the table and allows the midday sun to take them."

  I shook my head, confused. "But I've seen Mathias in the sun. We've spent whole days on the beach. It's never hurt him."

  Alfred pushed the car even faster before answering. "Has Mathias never told you of the reason he can live in the light?"

  "He told me it had something to do with home soil. That was why he was in Highland Home when he saw me the first time." I remembered seeing him at Kathryn's grave, taking soil so he could leave me last spring. My heart thundered in my chest as I realized I was much more likely to lose him this time.

  "Vampires can be in the sun only when their heels rest on the soil of their home land. Most of us wear shoes in which
there are reservoirs of soil built into the heels so we may walk among the living without notice. Mathias has always been careful to keep his supply of home soil plentiful because of his hatred of the dark. The hours he spends in the sun wears down the usefulness of the soil very quickly. If Serina takes the soil from him, the sun will consume him."

  "Flames," I whispered. How many times had I dreamed exactly that? Though in most of those dreams, the flames had taken me as well. Would we reach him in time to save him or would I be able to join him?

  "Yes. It is a dramatic and spectacular end to an immortal. She will be sure to have an audience for Mathias' end. What did he do to make her tire of him so quickly."

  I swallowed hard. "He told her no."

  Alfred's glance flicked to me again. "That was not all he did." It wasn't a question.

  "No. He said he pitied her."

  Alfred cursed. "His pride will be the death of him."

  "You have to hurry, Alfred," I said. The sun was only just touching the edge of the horizon. "We still have time."

  "Time, yes, but no plan. We still have no way of stopping Serina."

  "Won't the sun take her too?"

  "No. Serina draws her life force from each vampire she has created. She does not need home soil to walk in the light. In the six centuries of my second life, I have never seen any method of killing her. Sun, silver, these have no affect on her. Even denying her food will not kill her as she simply takes energy from those she has made. I am not strong enough to rend her limb from limb for her hold on me will prevent it. You certainly are not strong enough to remove her head from her body and her guard would destroy us if we tried."

  Despair rose to choke me. There had to be something we could do. I refused to believe Mathias was lost.

  "What about the blood of another vampire?" I asked.

  Alfred started. "I don't know," he said softly. "I don't believe anyone has ever tried that method on Serina. She would not willingly drink from another vampire and there is no way to force her to ingest the blood of another vampire."

  My mind raced as I attempted to work out the puzzle. I heard the rushing of the ocean and the crashing of waves as Alfred maneuvered the car down a winding road next to the cliffs. Ahead of us, I could see the tower rising out of the brightening horizon.

  Alfred swung the car in a wide arc, stopping in front of the door to St. Mawes Castle. He was up the stairs and through that door before I could get my seat-belt unlatched. I raced to follow him, mindless to the danger I was in. This castle was filled with vampires and led by one who not only thought of me as cattle because I was human, but who also saw me as a rival for the affections of the man who had told her no, and had dared to pity her. I knew I would never again leave this castle. I said my goodbyes to the sunrise and dashed into the darkness.

  No one stopped me as I made my way to the tower room. It wasn't difficult to find. The architecture of the castle was such that there were only a few halls and fewer possibilities. A guard stood impassively at the door which could only lead into the tower room. He blinked slowly when he saw me, but he didn't stop me from entering. The door swung open on my worst nightmare.

  Alfred knelt in front of Serina, his face contorted in agony. Behind him, Mathias was bound to a stone table with smoking silver chains.

  "You think to save him, do you?" she snarled. "Why should I allow him to live? He no longer amuses me and I want him gone."

  "No!" I screamed. Alfred's eyes flicked to me, but he did not move. Serina turned slowly.

  "This must be the human," she sneered. "So touching. Have you come to beg as Alfred has begged?"

  "Yes," I said, slipping to my knees.

  "Mairin, go now!" Mathias screamed. I could see him struggling against the smoking chains. "I forbid you to sacrifice yourself for me."

  "Shut up, Mathias," I said, smiling. "I'm busy."

  Serina laughed. "Your pet speaks to you so disrespectfully, Mathias. Why do you permit that?" She walked around me slowly. My skin jumped and twitched, but I stayed on my knees. "I must say that you are rather amusing for a human," she said. "Perhaps I should let you live long enough to watch your lover burn. I could allow the flames to take you both."

  Alfred struggled to rise. "Serina, I beg you not to do this," he said as he gained his feet. "You gave your word that he would live if he went with you."

  "And he did live, Alfred," she said. With a wave of her hand, Alfred collapsed to his knees again. "Somehow this insignificant boy took you from me. I want you back in my control. I want him to see he has no power here. If you will give me your allegiance once again, Alfred, I will consider allowing you both to survive this day."

  Alfred glanced at Mathias who struggled helplessly on the stone table.

  "No, Alfred," Mathias said. "Take your freedom and leave. She will kill us all regardless. Do not allow her to have your soul again. I am not worth that." A cry slipped past my lips. Alfred's eyes flicked to me again and I saw resignation in them.

  "I cannot lose you, my son," Alfred said. He turned to Serina. "I am your servant, my queen."

  Serina's smile was stunning. "Then rise, Alfred, and take your place among the witnesses."

  Alfred rose stiffly, as though his movements were not under his sole control. He stood beside the olive-skinned vampire from my dream and waited. His eyes locked onto the thin tendrils of sunlight cast into the room from the arrow slits high on the walls. He did not look at me.

  "Now, what to do with the human," Serina mused. "Shall we let her perish with Mathias? The flames will be so lovely."

  "You gave me your word, Serina," Mathias snarled.

  "I lied," she said, smiling. "I think I will let her watch you die, Mathias. Once you are gone, I believe her suffering will be wonderful to behold. And her blood will be so sweet."

  Alfred tensed. I could see his struggle as understanding dawned in him. Serina was still going to take Mathias' life. He had handed Serina his free will for nothing. He had bound himself to this evil creature and she rejoiced in his suffering.

  Chapter 8

  Despite knowing it would be fruitless, I held my hands out to Alfred, begging him to see me. "Alfred, you have to do something," I cried.

  "Alfred will do nothing, human," Serina said, caressing Alfred's cheek. "I made him. He has returned his allegiance to me and so he cannot disobey. Can you, darling?"

  Alfred's jaw clenched. The sound of him grinding his iron-hard teeth was loud in the stone chamber. "I cannot."

  Light filtered slowly into the room. The rising sun cast long, thin tendrils of itself along the floor from the high arrow slits. Every moment we delayed brought those tendrils closer to Mathias' unprotected flesh. My heart thundered in my chest. I had to find a way to help Alfred break the chains of servitude Serina had cast upon him.

  "He is your immortal son, Alfred. Isn't that a stronger bond that the one Serina holds over you? You were willing to betray me and my family to save his life. You were willing to let him go if it meant he lived. How can you let her take his life now?"

  Serina laughed. The sound sent chills down my spine. "Only a human would believe the bond of affection between two immortals would be stronger than the bond of a maker to her child. Nothing you say can break my hold on Alfred, or stop the sun." She glanced at the lengthening strips of sunlight stretching farther across the floor. "Best you say your goodbyes now, human."

  Mathias strained against the chains which held him to the stone table in the center of the tower room. His feet were bare, something I realized I had never before seen. Without his heels on home soil, the sun would devour him as it had so many times in my nightmares. Of course, that was Serina's intention. At the peak of the tower a trapdoor had been thrown open to allow the mid-day sun to stream in uninterrupted when the sun reached its zenith. The tendrils of sun from the arrow slits would burn him, but not devour him. Only the mid day sun's strength would take him from me now. The silver chains binding his arms and legs to the table had sunk
deep into his flesh, leaving raw edges. Even now I could see where his flesh had attempted to heal over the chains. Removing them would tear the flesh from his bones and leave horrific scars, but scars would mean he lived.

  Mathias met my eyes, pulling against the chains, driving them deeper into his flesh. "Mairin, please, let me go." he implored. "I have lived far longer than God ever intended. I have had the gift of your love and I can happily leave this world. Flee while Serina will let you."

  I stepped into the center of the circle of vampires who surrounded Mathias. None moved. They knew I wasn't strong enough to free him and that I was no threat to them or their mistress. I was nothing but a fragile and weak human. What could I do to stop the progress of the sun or the plans of their mistress?

  "You are not going anywhere, Mathias. I need you." I said, caressing the twisted scar that encircled his neck. I wondered if it were as permanent as the one Alfred had shown me on his own neck. Would it be an eternal reminder of this time, of his servitude given in exchange for my life. Would he ever forgive me for that scar? For the others he was sure to have when we left this horrible tower? I prayed that he would one day forgive me for everything I was about to do.

  "How touching," Serina sneered. "I shall be certain to preserve a bit of ash for you to take home, human. If I allow you to leave, of course."

  Mathias screamed in frustration. He knew begging for my life would be more likely to end it than if he remained silent, but he seemed unable to stop himself.

  I lay my hand upon his chest, tracing the pale scars Serina's nails had left behind. He stilled beneath my hand, his eyes burning with emotion and desire. I'd never had such freedom to touch him before and despite the situation at hand, I reveled in the opportunity to demonstrate my love for him through touch. A tiny smile lifted my lips before I brushed them over Mathias' forehead, lips and neck. "I love you," I whispered.

  "As I do you, my sun," he said. His voice held the tone I had hated from the first moment I'd heard it in his home when he'd told me he was a vampire. The joyful, loving tone I lived for had been replaced with the resignation I knew meant he had lost his hope. Rather than attempt to give it back to him, I turned my back to the man who held my heart and faced death with all the strength I possessed.