“We’ll start spreading the word immediately. It shouldn’t be too hard to get more supporters. Have you talked to Peter yet?”
“No, I haven’t found him.”
“I just spoke to someone who saw him outside Minsk. You might want to look for him there. He won’t want to be left out of this.”
“Thank you, friend.”
“We’re on our way to Egypt. Is there anyone you’d like us to keep an eye out for?”
Egypt? For some reason in Michael’s mind, this battle was confined to Europe, but he supposed there wasn’t any reason for that to be the case, especially when vampires claimed no nationality.
“No one specifically. I’ll leave the southern countries to you. We were planning to focus on Europe for now and then on to Asia.”
“They’re already talking about it as far away as Cape Town.”
“Really?” That was the first thing Michael had said other than a greeting.
“Yes. Marcus and Jacob sent word to their children and they to theirs and so on. Word is spreading quickly.”
“And what are people saying?” Michael found it strange to think of people they had never met speaking about them.
“Many like the idea, but there’s hesitance to join, especially until the veracity of the rumors is verified. Most people are getting this through third, fourth, and fifth-hand accounts. It will help that we can honestly say we’ve spoken to you directly about it, that we’ve met Amaia, and that Liam vouches for her. There is worry that given her reputation and the power she could wield that she’ll simply step in to fill the void left by Zenas’s clan. However, I feel confident we can assuage those fears. It seems obvious she wants the same thing we all do.”
“Thank you, Boris.” Amaia nodded to him. “You’re right, all I want is to live a peaceful life with my mate.”
“The fact that you refused to teach Jacob and Marcus how to do what you do is proof of that. If you wanted to make a play for power, it would have been with those two.”
“Thank you for your trust.”
“Liam and Meg have earned it. I trust you because I trust them.” Boris focused his attention back on Liam. “If you need to contact me, remember that I’m one of Casias’s children. Get word to one of my siblings or one of Octavia’s children, and they’ll get the message to me.”
“We will. Safe travels.”
“You as well.”
Liam didn’t even wait for Boris and his mate to leave before he started making plans for their next move. “I want to go straight to Minsk. The sooner I get Peter’s commitment, the better. He holds sway with a lot of the smaller clans who may be persuaded to come to our side.”
“But I thought we were fighting the whole clan system?” Michael didn’t like the idea of forming alliances with people who they would eventually need to fight.
“In theory we are, but not all clans are the same,” Meg said. “Most nomads would say that we’ve formed our own little four-person clan. There are others out there like us who have formed their own groups out of friendship. Then there are children who are still with their sire because they haven’t mated yet and groups of unmated vampires who stay together until they mate. Liam’s talking about clans of six to twelve people. They see clans as a family unit, not as a mechanism for power.”
Michael continually felt as if there was an entire vampire culture that he still knew nothing of. He didn’t know if he’d ever take part in it. Immediate concerns overshadowed any thoughts of a normal future. Perhaps someday he would know as many nomads as Liam and Meg did.
As his feet nimbly navigated the terrain on the way to Minsk, Michael’s mind whirred with thoughts about the clans, the coming battle, the future with Amaia, and how he’d ever find his place in this new world. For so long, all he’d wanted was to be Amaia’s husband. He had that now, and if all went well, he’d have it for a long time to come. He needed to figure out how to take his place in the world.
A thick, dark aura enveloped his skin for a brief moment before he outran it. He whipped his head around to catch sight of the area before they got too far away. They were in the woods, and he hadn’t been paying too much attention to his surroundings. When he looked in the direction of the aura, he could make out between the trees a man in shackles being led into a fortified building, most likely a prison.
“What are you thinking?” Amaia no longer let him get away with keeping quiet for too long.
“I thought we were staying away from populated areas, but I just felt an aura.”
“It’s a secluded prison. Don’t worry, the forest is too thick and we’re moving too fast for them to notice.”
“I wasn’t worried.” He’d made no progress in reconciling what happened at the Red Lion. They’d been too busy for him to give it much thought. Or rather, it was easy to make excuses to not try to figure it out with everything that was happening. However, he needed to plan for the future, for a life as a vampire living with Amaia. “It’d be interesting to stalk a prison. There isn’t a much better place to learn about evil auras. If I’m going to make sense of my experience at the Red Lion, I need to learn more about auras and the people who produce them. I’m hoping for some clarity.”
“If you think it will help, we’ll do it the next time we stop. It shouldn’t be hard to find a prison. I think you’ll be surprised by what you find.”
Michael didn’t doubt that. He knew so little that surprise was the only option.
* * *
“Liliana said Peter’s out feeding. I’d rather wait until he gets back so we don’t have to go through it all twice.” Liam had just returned from the cottage they’d been told Peter lived in. The rest of them had waited out of sight so as not to appear threatening.
“We should probably feed as well. With all this traveling we’re doing, we’re not taking enough time to eat,” Amaia said. Michael knew she’d be fine, but the rest of them needed to eat more regularly. She could feed off people’s energy as long as they came within a reasonable distance.
“Good idea. Where should we go?” Meg asked.
“Let’s split up. We don’t want to infringe on Peter’s territory by all eating together.” Michael had no desire to inadvertently rouse the vampire’s ire. Besides, he wanted to steal away with Amaia to see a prison.
“He won’t mind. Besides, he knows us. If he sees you two feeding, he won’t know who you are,” Liam said.
“Amaia can mask our energies. We won’t be detected.”
Meg narrowed her eyes slightly and nodded. “All right. We’ll meet back here in an hour.”
“How about two?” Michael countered.
Meg smirked. “Fine.” She and Liam went on their way.
Michael took Amaia in his arms for a quick kiss, thankful for the rare moment alone. “I spotted a prison nearby.”
“Let’s eat first. It will give us a chance to find out the rumors about the prisoners which will help me come up with a plan to get us inside. I could just use manipulation, but it’ll be easier if I at least have the name of a prisoner to visit.”
Michael knew she’d have no problem getting them inside. Some days he doubted there was anything Amaia couldn’t do. He liked watching her exhibit her talents. She so rarely displayed them.
One of the only things he’d enjoyed about their recruiting efforts was watching her use her talents to validate the rumors about her to the vampires who questioned them. Their fight would be so easily won if she’d simply consent to teach others the secret to her power. But they both knew that the worst of human nature remained in the immortal, and it could not withstand the temptation her power would present. The only reason Amaia appeared immune to it was because she had only ever wanted love, even if she wouldn’t admit it. That’s why power held no appeal for her, even though—or perhaps because—it came so easily to her.
She taught Michael, but only for their mutual protection. His talent did not come anywhere near hers, but he could already feel the danger that lurked
in it should he become too enamored with his own abilities.
Michael quickly fed from a woman and then watched Amaia at the bar of a seedy tavern that serviced the prison workers. She’d be far better than him at getting the information they needed. Even before she’d become a vampire, she’d been able to get people to tell her anything. God knew she’d gotten him to open up to her right away.
“I’ve got it. Let’s go.”
Michael waited for her outside so the man wouldn’t see them leave together.
“Did you eat enough?” Amaia seemed perpetually concerned with how much he ate.
“Yes.”
Amaia glared at his short tone. “You know it’s harder to resist temptation if you’re not eating enough.”
“I assure you, I’m fine.”
“Good. We’re in luck. I got the name of a baron who’s being held. They won’t deny him visitors. He’s being held in one of the upper levels, so we’ll get to have a good look at the whole place.”
It didn’t take much to get inside. Amaia used the baron’s name and purported to be a lover of his. Michael was her escort. To be safe, she did quite a bit of manipulating as well. The admitting guard wrote them a pass and they were permitted entrance.
Michael steeled himself for what would come. Evil auras were thick and murky. He’d fear suffocation from them if he needed to breathe.
Instead of drowning in dark auras, he didn’t feel any out of the ordinary at first. It took several cells for him to finally feel one.
“That one there, several cells down on the left. Is it the first?”
“Yes.”
He thought perhaps he had missed one. “Not even a little evil in the others?”
“No, nothing.”
There were more on the first level, but not nearly as many as he had expected, less than half. He knew people didn’t need to be evil in order to break the law, but he’d anticipated something entirely different.
Amaia didn’t seem surprised by the auras they encountered. She simply peered into a few of the cells as they passed. “Such a dreary place. I wonder why more of them don’t kill themselves. What makes them hold on to life so tightly?”
“Hope.”
“Really? I would have thought you’d say the fear of committing such a great sin.”
“There were times when I pondered killing myself, but there was always the hope of seeing you again. I feared that killing myself might somehow end the cycle that kept bringing you back to me. It was the hope of a better tomorrow that stilled my hand, not the fear of God.”
Amaia stopped walking and met Michael’s eye. The tender look on her face warmed him. It was that picture of her that had kept him going during the tough times through all of his lives. He gave her a little smile and then continued down the corridor. The sooner they explored the rest of the prison, the sooner he could get Amaia away from this depressing place.
As they approached the stairs, Michael slowed his pace to a crawl. A particularly oppressive aura overcame him. It only got stronger as they grew closer to the end of the corridor.
A burly man guarded the door to the stairs. Amaia handed him their pass, and he admitted them. The slam of the door shutting behind them reverberated through the narrow, stone stairwell. As they ascended, the aura gradually faded.
“It was him, wasn’t it?”
“The guard? Yes.”
“But how? I’ve never felt anything that horrible.”
“You think the hiring practices of this prison preclude those with dark auras? It doesn’t surprise me at all. People who you would call evil have always been attracted to positions of power over others. A prison guard is a great profession for such a person.”
As they walked through the third floor where the higher class, richer prisoners were held, he felt more dark energies than down below. He supposed it made sense. Very little stood between a man with no conscience and wealth.
“How many people with black auras do you think were at the court of King James with us?”
“Hmm. I don’t know. I’ve never really thought about it. There had to be some. James and George weren’t like that. I would have sensed it, even then. If I thought about it, I might be able to name more than a few.”
“That’s all right.” He should have known not to mention it. While he didn’t believe it did Amaia justice to pretend as if she had never been a courtesan, he didn’t like to think about it too much.
“It’s adorable that you’re jealous over men who are long dead and who I never loved.”
“You loved King James and Buckingham.”
“Perhaps, but not the way I love you. Never like that.”
They were approaching the door to the baron’s cell, and Michael realized they had no plan for what to do now.
“Oh, my!” Amaia exclaimed. “I can’t believe I’ve been so silly. I’ve forgotten the very note I came here to deliver. It’s sitting in the carriage.”
“Not to worry, ma’am. I can retrieve it for you.” The guard closest to Amaia in the corridor stepped forward.
“Isn’t that kind? I’m afraid it won’t do, though. You’d have trouble finding it among all the purchases I made in town today. And I can’t send Nikolay here because he can’t leave my side. Oh well, I suppose I shall just have to fetch it myself.” With that she twirled on her heel and headed back the way they had come.
On their way out, Michael noticed something different on the first floor. He could have sworn a prisoner with a dark aura had been in the third cell on the right, but Michael felt nothing out of the ordinary now, just an energy buzzing at a high pitch, as if frightened. There was a new darkness up ahead, though. As they passed, Michael peered into the cell. Inside, he saw a guard viciously beating a prisoner. It was the guard. The energy had moved because he had, going from one cell to another to terrorize defenseless men. There was no telling how many of the evil auras had been guards and how many had been prisoners.
When he stepped out into the sunlight, Michael was no closer to reconciling his conscience.
Chapter 28
A week after the incident at the Red Lion, Amaia was happy to see that Michael had finally learned how to feed without her help manipulating his victims’ auras. She didn’t mind helping him, but she knew relying on her grated on him.
He’d wanted to feed on his own, so they’d parted as soon as they entered the town. The village they were in had an impressive church at its center. Grand stained glass windows that appeared far too majestic for such a quaint village decorated the walls. It’d been so long since she’d been inside a church that she decided to wait for Michael there.
The interior did not disappoint. Gorgeous icons, gilded statues, and intricate stonework greeted her. And, of course, there were parishioners. She sat in a back pew and listened in on a confessional. At the front of the chapel, a few people knelt in prayer. Another person lit a candle in a sea of dozens of them. It all amused her and, at the same time, comforted her. There was something nice about the steady traditions of religion that carried throughout time, hardly changing. If she ignored the dress of the people present, it would be easy to imagine that no time had passed at all since she’d first become a vampire.
“Silly, silly girl.”
Amaia froze as if she were made of stone. Lawrence’s voice in her head sent chills through her. She wished there were some way to prevent him from being able to speak to her mind, but the only way it would ever stop was if one of them died. As much as she detested Lawrence for everything he had done to her, she still couldn’t bring herself to kill him or even to want him dead very badly. She might not be able to stop him, but she could ignore him. He’d say what he wanted, regardless.
“Zenas has heard of your little plan. You didn’t think it’d really take long after Marcus and Jacob lent you their support, did you? Word travels among the nomads quite quickly, and you know Zenas is aware of everything that happens.”
She didn’t know if he waited for her to sho
w surprise at this, but she had no intention of filling the break in his monologue. While she had hoped they would have a little more time before Zenas found out, she wasn’t surprised. They would simply have to act quickly. Their chances of success were less, but they had known from the beginning that this would be a tough battle.
“Don’t worry, though, my dear. Zenas is quite amused really. He’s decided to wait. You know how he loves facing down his adversaries in a fair fight. So go ahead and gather the nomads. Form a little army of your own. This dispute will be resolved on the battlefield. You’ve given him quite an easy solution to the nomad problem. Nothing like a good purge to solidify his power.”
In a battle, Zenas would have the advantage of his link with his clan, but Amaia didn’t underestimate the power of the hatred that burned within the nomads toward the clans. Zenas’s army would fight because they had to. Amaia’s would fight because they wanted to.
“Such a lot of death all on your account. So many lives permanently ended. They won’t reincarnate the way your pet did. The Amaia I knew detested killing her own kind. Such a change to see that your cold-blooded ways have extended from humans to vampires. You really are a traitor to your species.”
Lawrence was correct. Amaia had always found killing vampires distasteful, but she’d done it nonetheless. In fact, she was good at it. As much as it felt wrong, she had no problem letting herself be swept up in battle, slaughtering every vampire who stood in her way. The last time she’d been on a battlefield, she hadn’t even been provoked. She’d charged in, ripping off heads long after Zenas had recalled his troops. Then again, she’d also been trying to distract herself from Michael’s death. Later, when she’d executed vampires for Zenas, the killing had seemed unnatural, but she enjoyed it anyway, even if it was less pleasurable than killing humans.
But the vampires who would die fighting Zenas were friends, vampires who would fight alongside her because they believed in something. They supported her. For the first time, she felt the crushing responsibility of what she had undertaken. The feeling wasn’t completely foreign. She’d felt it toward Michael, and that responsibility had been hard enough to bear. Now she bore it for hundreds more.
Immortal Echoes (Haunting Echoes Book 2) Page 17