Emerald Keep

by Edmund Hughes

  “I’d caught one of the participants of the Night Chase,” said Jack. “A teenage girl who had a nice scream. She managed to slip away from me, and Babish tried to steal her for himself.”

  “There are no official rules to the Night Chase,” said Volandar. “He didn’t do anything wrong. She was not yours just because you saw her first.”

  “Babish said something similar,” said Jack. “I said something back. And the situation got violent.”

  He tried to shrug as casually as he could. The last thing he wanted to do was let Volandar know that he was afraid. And he was afraid, more for Katie and Mira than for himself. He’d put their lives into Volandar’s hands through his own carelessness. There were a dozen choices he could have made along the way that would have led to a different outcome.

  “So you killed him.” Volandar flashed another ambiguous smile and let out a low chuckle. “He was strong. Not the strongest vampire who serves me, but capable. Full of potential. Not unlike you.”

  “I’m not sure I appreciate the comparison,” said Jack. “Babish was erratic. I didn’t kill him. I put him down.”

  He felt his heart pounding in his chest. He needed to present at least a veneer of strength. He needed to leave Volandar wondering if he had something up his sleeve.

  “You’re spirited,” said Volandar. “I do like that. Your father has… similar personality tendencies. He’s unpredictable these days. Just like you.”

  Jack hated Volandar for bringing up his dad. It was not what he needed to be thinking about under the circumstances, but he could already feel the foolish hope of potentially discovering the truth of what had happened to him sapping away at his resolve.

  “Do you still want to know about your father?” asked Volandar. “Or have you changed your mind? Do you think I’m lying to you?”

  “To be honest, I don’t know what to think,” said Jack.

  “Then let me tell you a story,” said Volandar. “We’ll come back to the topic of your patronage later. But for now, let me tell you about how I was, when I was around your age. As a vampire, that is. I was in my thirties when I received the Embrace.”

  Volandar leaned back in his chair. He noticed the wine on the table, and quickly poured some into each of their goblets. Jack waited for Volandar to take a sip before trusting that his own probably wasn’t poisoned.

  “I lived a double life,” said Volandar. “I was a reserve sergeant in the United States Army. This was back after the First World War, mind you. It was a different time, back then, but even still, vampires were hunted and hated. I had to be careful.

  “I didn’t lack for victims. I lived on a military base, just outside of a major city, and I always went outside of my own area to feed. More often than not, I waited until I almost couldn’t bear the bloodthirst. I was ashamed of what I was in those days, and it was almost my undoing.”

  Volandar smiled and tapped his fingers on the table. He shot his eyebrows up at Jack.

  “Have you ever drained a victim before, Jack?” he asked.

  Jack shook his head.

  “It leaves a… very interesting style of corpse,” said Volandar. “After a while, the local police chief began to catch on. His name was Michael, and one evening, I paid him a visit in his home.

  “Michael was a smart man. He and I were able to come to an arrangement. At his suggestion, I began leaving clues on my victims. Tiny little things, notes, scraps of torn clothing, cufflinks. Bits of evidence that pointed toward specific people. Those clues let Michael hunt down the criminals he couldn’t otherwise capture, and in return, he made sure that I was never put under any real pressure.”

  Volandar sighed and shook his head, letting the silence build.

  “All through my life since then, I’ve looked for Michaels,” said Volandar. “People, who for one reason or another, I can enter into mutually beneficial agreements with. Jack… you are like Michael. We can help each other. Truly, we can.”

  Jack didn’t say anything. The way Volandar was continuing to court him as an ally felt wrong, especially after what he’d done to Babish.

  The worst part was that it was working. He wanted to know what Volandar could tell him about his father, and given how the situation seemed to be on the cusp of collapsing, it felt as though it was now or never.

  “We are a dying breed, Jack,” said Volandar. “Individually, we are strong, but as a supernatural race, vampires are weak. We aren’t the warlords and tyrants anymore, not as we were a millennium ago. It’s part of the reason why I returned to The Origin. It should be the most compelling reason for you and Mira to both join with me.”

  “Tell me about my father,” said Jack, “and you’ll have yourself an ally.”

  The words felt damning, though he wasn’t sure why. Volandar seemed to be treating him fairly, even after what had happened with Babish. But something felt off about it.

  “Were it still that easy,” said Volandar. “No, Jack. I need more from you than just that. From my discussions with Mira, it’s become clear that she… is not like Michael was. Not like you are.”

  Jack tried to control his expression as he bristled at the characterization.

  “I don’t mean to offend you by saying that,” said Volandar. “I just mean to say that you are in a position to help me. What I need from you is to convince Mira to swear herself to my cause. I want her to take a blood oath in my name. I want you to tell Mira that if she does not do this, I’ll allow one of those who mourns for Babish to issue a death challenge against you.”

  Jack frowned and shook his head.

  “I don’t know what that means,” he said. “Blood oath? Death challenge? You’re going to have to—”

  Volandar exploded forward in a rush of movement, leaning over the table and slamming his hand into Jack’s neck. He stood up, lifting Jack into the air as easily as a person might carry a kitten by the scruff of its fur. Except his grip was crushing Jack’s windpipe.

  “Jack,” said Volandar. “Don’t ask questions. Be like Michael. Do you understand?”

  Jack couldn’t breathe, let alone answer. He tried to focus and channel his blood essence, but the fight with Babish had already exhausted him. He could already feel the panic setting in as his body tried and failed to muster a desperate response. His consciousness began to slip away, the blackness and terror taking him somewhere new.

  Then he was on the ground, gasping and coughing. Volandar finished his own goblet of wine and then began sipping on Jack’s. He shouted something toward the door, and Vyara entered.

  “Take him back to his room,” said Volandar. “Remember, Jack. Be like Michael. For your sake. For Mira’s sake. And for your thrall’s sake.”

  CHAPTER 24

  Volandar’s threat echoed in Jack’s head as he followed Vyara back downstairs. He silently cursed himself for all the mistakes he’d made that had led to his current circumstances. This wasn’t the same as being the sole vampire on Lestaron Island. He wasn’t the predator here, or at least if he was, he’d recently been shackled.

  Mira was waiting for him in the hallway outside his room. She was frowning slightly, and her arms were folded over her breasts. It was hard for Jack to meet her gaze without feeling the weight of the guilt he harbored for lying to her.

  “Mira,” he said. “I need to talk to you.”

  Mira glanced over at Vyara, who shrugged her shoulders stiffly.

  “Do not attempt to flee…” said Vyara, in her weird intonation. “You will be restricted to this floor of the keep until my father… decides what to do.”

  “Right,” said Jack. “Thanks for letting me know.”

  Vyara drew in close to Jack as she continued down the hall, inhaling through her nose and thoroughly creeping him out. Mira waited until she’d disappeared around the corner before looking at Jack again.

  “Let’s speak inside my room,” she said, stiffly. “Yours has your thrall in it, and I’m not interested in hearing her input.”

  “Yeah,
” said Jack. “I know the feeling.”

  He followed Mira into her room. It was basically the same as the one he shared with Katie, except with slightly nicer-looking sheets on the bed. Aiden was nowhere to be seen.

  “We should probably talk about what happened before, first,” said Jack. “About how Katie isn’t really my thrall.”

  “If by we, you mean you, then I agree,” said Mira. Her tone was cold, and her expression was even colder. Jack felt like a fool for abusing her trust, especially after the way things had gone during the Night Chase. It was time for him to come clean.

  “I had an ulterior motive for agreeing to come here with you,” said Jack. “As you probably guessed. A few members of the Order of Chaldea know about me, Mira. One of them… wants me to help steal an artifact that’s supposedly located within the Emerald Keep.”

  “You didn’t feel the need to trust me with this?” said Mira. “From the sounds of it, you’re being blackmailed. And you, being the stupid, foolish boy that you are, thought the best course of action was to go along with it?”

  “I didn’t know how you’d react,” said Jack. “And it’s not just about me. Katie would be in trouble too if I hadn’t agreed to this.”

  Mira glared at him. Jack had only seen her like this once before, and they’d still been enemies at the time. He ran a hand through his hair, knowing that there was nothing he could say to salvage the situation.

  “So you thought you’d take advantage of my trust,” said Mira. “I presume that if I hadn’t discovered the truth about your ‘thrall,’ you would have continued this farce?”

  “Mira, please,” said Jack. “I’m sorry. I really am.”

  “I’ve heard those words so many times before,” said Mira. “From you, and from Peter. You’re an echo of who he was, in so many ways.”

  There was a sharp, reprimanding tone in her voice, though it sounded like it was meant as much for his grandfather as it was for him. Jack exhaled through his teeth and tried to step closer to her. Mira shot him a sharp glance that made him stop in place.

  “There’s more,” he said. “During the Night Chase, I killed Babish.”

  “So I heard,” said Mira.

  “Volandar is trying to use me to get what he wants from you,” said Jack. “I’m not sure what he meant, though. He said he wants you to swear something called a blood oath to him? And if you don’t, he’ll let a death challenge be issued against me.”

  Mira’s expression darkened. She massaged her temples with her fingers and gave a small shake of her head.

  “Perhaps we’re both fools,” she whispered. “I suspected he’d try something like this, but I’d thought… I’d hoped that this time could be different. It’s very likely that he engineered this situation, my sweet Jack. He probably pushed Babish to take an aggressive approach with you, knowing that this would be the outcome.”

  “What does it mean?” asked Jack. “I can guess at what a death challenge is, but what’s a blood oath?”

  She walked over and sat down on the bed. Jack resisted the urge to sit down next to her, but only just barely.

  “The death challenge is what it sounds like,” said Mira. “Volandar is threatening to let one of the members of the Jade Circle force you into a duel to the death. A duel that you would almost certainly lose.”

  “I managed to kill Babish,” said Jack. “I think I could handle another Valerian vampire.”

  “Babish was one of the weaker members of Volandar’s flock,” said Mira. “No, he would have someone capable issue the challenge. Someone who you wouldn’t stand a chance against, my sweet thing.”

  She glanced up at him. There was still irritation in her expression, but it was mixed with the genuine concern that Jack so often saw her directing his way.

  “Volandar wants me to swear a blood oath to him,” said Mira. “It’s a ritual spell rarely used amongst modern day vampires. It would, in essence, grant him the same control over me that I have over my thralls.”

  “What?” Jack scowled and shook his head. “That’s insane. There’s no telling what he might force you to do if you take that route.”

  “No,” said Mira. “There isn’t. Volandar… is a man of his word, however. The one thing that I am reasonably certain of is that he would spare your life in exchange for my servitude.”

  “You’re not actually considering it, are you?” asked Jack.

  Mira didn’t say anything. He was a little surprised by how much her silence upset him. They’d been enemies before, and lovers, but most importantly, she’d become his friend. He didn’t want to lose her, and he especially didn’t want to see her sacrifice herself for his sake. It wasn’t something he could live with.

  “You and your grandfather,” sighed Mira. “I wish I could adequately describe the way you make me feel. You stupid, foolish boy.”

  “Mira,” said Jack. “Let me face the death challenge. It’s a better option than having you sacrifice your freedom. I’m strong. I’ll win.”

  Mira smiled slightly, the first one Jack had seen from her in a while. She gave him a complicated look.

  “I’m uncertain about what to do,” said Mira. “Or if anything even needs to be done. This is your mess, dearest Jack. Perhaps I’m just being naïve in trying to clean up for you.”

  She stood up and walked over to the door. A couple of seconds passed after she’d opened it until Jack finally took the hint and realized that she was politely asking him to leave.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, as he walked out. “And you’re right. This is my mess, Mira.”

  She didn’t meet his eye as she closed the door.

  The hallway was deceptively empty outside the room. Jack knew that he probably wouldn’t make it much further than around the corner if he tried to run. He took a breath, fighting off a shiver of claustrophobia at being trapped within the moldy, ruined keep.

  CHAPTER 25

  Jack opened the door to the room he and Katie shared and froze when he noticed that she wasn’t alone. She was sitting on the bed next to Pierce, and the two of them were talking in quiet, serious voices.

  “What are you doing here?” hissed Jack. He hurried to close the door behind him.

  Pierce smiled and gave an animated shrug.

  “I’m trying to salvage the situation,” said Pierce. “I’ve already heard the details from Katherine and a few of the chattier thralls.”

  Jack ran a hand through his hair. He wasn’t a fan of Pierce’s attitude oftentimes, but having him around right now could be useful.

  “Volandar is using the threat of the death challenge to pressure Mira,” he said. “But that goes out the window if I can manage to win. Any chance you still have that sunstone on you?”

  Pierce winced.

  “Unfortunately, I haven’t gotten a chance to charge it since our little scuffle,” he said. “It’s a very temperamental toy. As the name would suggest, it needs a lot of time out in the sun in between usages.”

  “That’s too bad,” said Jack. He tried not to let how much that disappointed him show on his face.

  “It wouldn’t be wise for you to pull out something like that, anyway,” said Pierce. “It would cause damage against a Valerian vampire, but it would also strip you of your abilities. Oh, and of course, Volandar would likely murder you immediately just for possessing it.”

  “Right.” Jack took a slow breath. He glanced over at Katie, but she wouldn’t hold his gaze for longer than an instant. She looked uncomfortable, but there was resolve in her expression.

  “Besides,” said Pierce. “The death challenge, as grisly of a predicament as it is for you to have gotten yourself into, poses an opportunity for us. All of the vampires will be there, watching on. Including Volandar and his Mithridian daughter.”

  Footsteps sounded from outside the room, moving along the hallway and echoing against stone. Jack froze and held his breath as someone passed by the door and kept going.

  “This is helpful,” he said. “But you c
ould have texted it along. Coming here in person so often is suicidal, Pierce.”

  “I have my ways,” said Pierce. “It was also necessary. I’m also here to get Katherine to safety.”

  Katie fidgeted on the bed. She seemed unwilling to offer much to the conversation, and it reminded Jack a little of the way she’d take a step back whenever he was dealing with her ex-fiancé, Bruce.

  “Katie isn’t in danger,” said Jack. “Well, at least not that much. And I need to have a thrall here with me, for appearances and for practicality’s sake.”

  “Jack…” Katie said, in a soft voice.

  “She’ll… be in danger after the death challenge,” said Pierce.

  It took Jack a couple of seconds to realize his implication.

  “Why, because I’ll be dead?” he said. “You’re assuming that I’ll lose?”

  “Do you think you’ll win, Jack?” asked Pierce. “Are you willing to bet Katherine’s life on it, along with your own? She’ll be an orphaned thrall in the aftermath, at least to the eyes of Volandar’s flock. One of them will claim her, and… it won’t be pretty.”

  “Are you planning on getting her out of here?” asked Jack.

  “I’m planning on finding Zedekiah’s Scepter,” said Pierce. “Given that we already know about the door it’s likely behind, the distraction of your death challenge will provide the perfect cover.”

  “So that’s a no, then?” asked Jack. “You really expect me to trust that you’ll be able to keep her safe while leading her even deeper into the keep?”

  “Of course,” said Pierce. “I trusted you to do the same, almost against my better judgment. You’re a nightwalker, dangerous to yourself and those around you. Hell, I—”

  “Enough!” snapped Katie. “I don’t need the two of you arguing over who can protect me better. Jack, this makes sense. It really does.”

  “Why?” asked Jack, trying to keep the petulance out of his voice. “Because you agree with him? You think I’m about to walk into my own death?”