by Sarra Cannon
The first Hollow turned his head and looked straight at me.
“The Council will see you now,” he said.
The two Hollows opened the doors to the castle, their bodies stiff. Hollow souls. Beasts who were nothing more than a shell, but they were very difficult to defeat if it came to a fight.
I shivered as the wind kicked up around us, as if the night itself knew what was about to happen.
I lifted my chin and straightened my shoulders. I wanted my brothers to see that I was unafraid. That I was confident we had done what needed to be done, despite the ancient rules of the Brotherhood.
I would not let them beat me down, and if I died, I would do it with my head held high.
I felt the weight of this moment in every footstep as we approached the main doors of the castle and stepped inside.
The smooth stone floor of the entryway was covered in red velvet carpets.
Two large paintings hung in the entry room just inside the main doors. Portraits of the founders of the Brotherhood. True brothers themselves by birth, and more ancient than any other member inside.
Solomon with his black eyes, dark-blond hair, and pale skin towered over us all. He was portrayed as a king with a heavy obsidian crown on his head as he sat on a golden throne. He rested one foot on the back of a cowering witch in dark robes. A silver goblet with a sapphire stone was clutched in the witch’s hand, a symbol of the Brotherhood’s power over the Order of Shadows.
The Devil was represented in the second painting with his fangs protruding from his sickly face and lowered toward the neck of a pale witch in a white dress. At his feet, the bodies of women and children stretched out as far as the eye could see across a desolate countryside.
I turned away.
I did not regret putting an end to that vampire.
“Keep your head in there,” I said softly to the group that stood behind me. “Let me speak, and no matter what they say, don’t react until I give the go ahead. Let’s try to handle this politically and avoid a fight if we can.”
The others nodded, but I could feel their tension buzzing around me. I knew that if it came down to a battle, they were ready.
All I could hope was that at least half the vampires inside felt the same way.
I took a deep breath as the doors to the Grand Hall opened before us.
The large chamber inside was as silent as a tomb, despite the thousands of vampires gathered inside. They stood in perfect rows, their bodies still except for the occasional head turning to watch us walk inside.
From where we stood in the back of the room, I couldn’t see the members of the Council up on their golden thrones. I had hoped I would be able to see the decision in their eyes the moment they looked at us, but the hall was far too packed for me to see them from here.
I stepped forward, feeling the pressure of all my past sins weighing on my shoulders.
I kept my head high as I walked down the rows and rows of silent vampires. I didn’t look at anyone’s faces. Instead, I kept my eyes forward, waiting for the moment when the Council would come into view.
If they intended to sentence us to death, I knew I would see it in their eyes.
But when the first member of the Council came into view on the far left side of the platform, it was anger I saw in his eyes. Gideon sat on the first golden throne, his red robe pooled on the floor at his feet.
At the top of his throne was the symbol of his seat on the Council. A circle with the roman number V carved inside. I knew that the same symbol was carved into the flesh of his wrist when he joined the Council, proof of his power over the Brotherhood of Darkness.
I’d expected to see a smug expression on his face. A hint of the truth in his eyes. This was the Council’s chance to show their power in a mighty way. They had us against the wall, and the three remaining members of the Council had been looking for a chance to put me in my place for more than sixty years. Ever since I’d given up drinking the blood of innocent witches.
Gideon most of all.
His anger, though, was unexpected.
The second member of the Council appeared in my view.
Abagore.
The symbol on his throne was a circle with a roman numeral IV inscribed in its center, as he was the fourth brother to be anointed to a seat on the Council. Beneath the symbol, his body tensed as he clutched a tall, golden scepter in his hand. He looked confused and something else I couldn’t quite define from his expression.
Disappointed?
Abagore was a tall, thin demon with skin as black as night and eyes as red as rubies. He trained those eyes on me, and I met them directly, showing no fear.
He was the first to look away.
Hope sparked in my heart. Something had happened here during their meetings in seclusion, but what?
When the third and final member of the Council came into view, the tension in my shoulders relaxed slightly. Raum—a wrinkled, ancient vampire who’d been the first to join Solomon and the Devil in their Brotherhood—glared at me. Furious, he sat beneath a golden circle carved with the number III.
If they were planning to put me to death tonight, they would have been buzzing with excitement. Sitting at the edge of their thrones in anticipation or leaning back with smug expressions on their ugly, aged faces.
I had to keep myself from smiling. Something had disrupted their plans, and I couldn’t wait to hear what it might be.
I didn’t have to wait long.
As I came around the last of the rows of vampires to see the full platform of thrones reserved for the five Council members, I expected to see two empty thrones.
The Devil’s throne was empty, as expected, the circle containing the number II carved into the wood just above where his head used to rest.
But there, sitting on the final throne beneath its circle containing the first number—a roman numeral I—was Solomon’s son, a large black stone hanging from a silver chain around his neck.
Silas had come, after all.
Family
Franki
It was a long time before I could stand, but I knew Rend wouldn’t want me here falling apart in his absence.
He had saved me from the Devil, breaking the laws of his Brotherhood because he loved me enough to keep me alive. He had shown nothing but strength when he faced the Devil, and I would do the same now for him.
My legs ached from lying on the floor so long, but I was determined to be stronger than this. I had no idea if it would take hours or days for the Council to announce their decision and hand down their punishment, but I wasn’t going to spend that time curled up in a ball on the floor of Rend’s living room waiting for him to return.
There were others who would want to know he was gone.
I stared down at the ruby communication stone in my hand. As much as I really didn’t want to have a bodyguard at my side for the next who-knows-how-long, Rend had put a plan in place, and I was going to do my best to follow it.
I waved my hand over the stone, and a deep red glow lit up from within.
“Rend, don’t tell me it’s happening already,” Connery said through the stone.
“It’s Franki,” I said. “And it’s already happened.”
My voice choked on the words, but I managed to get them out without letting any more tears fall from my eyes.
“I’ll be there as soon as I can,” he said, his voice more serious than the first time we’d met. “Wait for me.”
“Come to Venom,” I said. “I’ll meet you there.”
The light inside the stone dimmed, and I placed it in my pocket.
I still had flour and cookie dough smeared on my skin, and I laughed at the thought of Rend standing before the Council covered in white flour. With a broken heart, I remembered the cookies still in the oven, and I made my way to the kitchen to take them out.
They were burned to crisp, and I threw them all in the trash and turned off the oven.
When Rend came back, we would try again. We
had decades left to do mundane things together like baking cookies. I refused to believe anything else.
Still, the smell of burning food only made me feel sad and lonely. I couldn’t stay here, not knowing he was gone. I needed the noise and energy of the club, and to be surrounded by my friends. People who wanted Rend to return just as badly as I did.
I made my way upstairs to the bedroom we shared, and I quickly showered and braided my hair. I dressed in a simple black tank top and a pair of worn jeans and made my way up to the third floor and out into the Hall of Doorways.
When I got to Venom, Connery was already there waiting for me, and from the look on Azure’s face as she sat on one of the glass bar stools, he had already told her about the summoning.
“Thank God you’re here, love,” Connery said. “I was just about to come searching for you. Rend would skin me alive if he returned to find anything had happened to you.”
“I’m here,” I said, having a hard time forcing any joy into my voice. “I don’t understand why he thinks I need a bodyguard while he’s gone, anyway. It’s him who’s in danger, right? Why are you even here?”
Connery smiled. “Because he trusts me to look after you and keep you safe if you need it,” he said. “He told me there were those who would be waiting for you to become vulnerable in his absence, but I didn’t understand it at first. I thought you were just an average witch. Now that I know who you truly are, though—the daughter of a crow witch and a vampire king—I can see why these vamps would want your blood. Not to mention the Mother Crow, I imagine. Rend told me she’s been looking for you for a long time, eh?”
I shrugged.
“I honestly don’t know,” I said. “She left me with my aunt when I was a baby. I thought the woman was my mother, but it turns out she wasn’t. She was supposed to return me to the Mother Crow on my eighteenth birthday, but I have no idea why. All she said was that the Mother Crow had plans for me.”
“Well, those plans can’t be happy ones,” he said. “Not from what I’ve heard about that evil witch.”
He shuddered.
“I’m sure they aren’t,” I said. “But she doesn’t know where to find me, anyway.”
“Rend is worried that she knows exactly where you are now,” Azure said, standing.
“What?” I asked, shaking my head. “He never told me that.”
“He didn’t want to freak you out,” she said. “Why do you think Marco’s been following you around everywhere you go lately?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. Because Rend is overprotective.”
“No, because you’ve had a crow watching you for months,” she said. “Not the Mother Crow, I’m sure, because I doubt she hardly ever leaves the safety of whatever village she’s created for her family since the battle in Peachville, but she’s got someone watching you.”
I swallowed and crossed my arms.
“We don’t know for sure it’s someone who was sent by the Mother Crow,” I said. “My real mother is still out there somewhere. She’s the one who sent me that original invitation to Venom, and I know she’s looking out for me. Maybe it’s her.”
“I doubt it,” Azure said, coming around to the other side of the bar. “But either way, you need to be extra careful. It’s possible the crows haven’t attacked you or tried to kidnap you because you’ve been safe here with Rend watching out for you. Once they find out he’s gone, it will be their best chance to attack you. That’s why Connery is here.”
I took a deep breath. Why hadn’t Rend told me this before he left? He could have told me in Paris, but he hadn’t even mentioned anything about the Mother Crow while we were there. I didn’t even realize he knew about the crow who had been watching me.
I bit my lip and brought a hand to my cheek.
Azure tensed, her eyes widening.
“What now?” I asked.
She gave a quick shake of her head. “Nothing,” she said, pretending to organize a stack of glasses. “Just haven’t seen that ring before. Is it new?”
I held my hand out for a moment and then shoved it in the pocket of my jeans.
“Rend gave it to me in Paris,” I said.
She cleared her throat, and Connery whistled.
“It’s a beauty,” he said. “May I?”
He motioned toward the hand buried in my jeans. I glanced at Azure and slowly brought it out for Connery to take a look.
He leaned closer and nodded. “Brilliant,” he said. “What type of stone is that, exactly? I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it before.”
I opened my mouth to answer, but Azure spoke first.
“It’s the first stone Rend ever created in his lab as a young alchemist,” she said, swiping at a tear that ran along her cheek. “It’s beautiful. Congratulations.”
She turned away, her head down as she walked toward the black velvet curtain leading back to the dressing rooms.
“Azure, wait,” I said, but Connery grabbed my arm to keep me from following her.
“Maybe give her a minute,” he said as I pulled my arm away. “This can’t be easy for her, either.”
I shook my head and stared after her. He was right. I knew how much Rend meant to Azure. They had been together for a very long time, and they were best friends. They’d been through a lot together. Hell, they’d started Venom together more than sixty years ago.
I didn’t want my presence or my joy to be a source of pain to her, but there was no getting past it. I wasn’t about to take this ring off just to make her feel better.
Still, it was hard. We should have been comforting each other right now. Instead, I felt more alone than ever. I could only imagine how she must have been feeling.
“So, what’s the plan?” I asked. “Did Rend say what we were supposed to do while he was gone? Before he was taken, all he said was to contact you and to let everyone here at Venom know what happened. And he told me to only come here or his house.”
“That’s basically what he told me, too,” Connery said, casually leaning against the glass-top bar with its colorful tubes of liquid locked inside. “He warned me that you tend to do what you want, though, so if you decided to head to class or out with friends, I was to join you no matter what.”
I laughed, but only because I was determined not to cry.
“Of course he did,” I muttered. “I don’t have class again until Monday, though, so hopefully he’ll be back long before then.”
“I hope so, too, love,” he said. “In the meantime, what do you want to do? Stay here tonight and work, or head back to his place? I make a mean pepperoni pizza.”
I shook my head, finding it hard not to smile at him. He simply had a way about him that seemed to drain the tension from a situation.
“I think I’ll stay here and work,” I said, glancing at the empty cages on the dancefloor. “I think I’ll dance. Try to forget everything for a while, if I can.”
“Whatever you like,” he said. “I’m just along for the ride.”
As soon as the other dancers—Lyla, Peri, Shay, and Misty—arrived, I joined them back in the dressing rooms and explained to them what had happened with Rend.
The four other girls pampered me and sat at my side as we talked about how scared we all were. They also fawned all over my new ring and started talking about what kind of wedding we planned to have when Rend came home. Which was exactly what I needed tonight.
I hadn’t even had time to daydream about an actual wedding, but it was nice to get lost in that for a little while.
They even helped me play around with a few glamours, trying out a new, shorter hairstyle for a change.
As soon as I was dressed and ready to go out for our staff meeting, Lyla handed me a shot in a long glass tube.
“I think you’re going to need this tonight,” she said. “I slipped a little extra in there to help you forget about your troubles, if you know what I mean.”
“Thanks,” I said, grabbing her hand as I downed the shot of Dragon’s B
reath—Rend’s special potion for the dancers.
Immediately, the tension in my shoulders disappeared and my entire body relaxed. Everything felt warm and fuzzy, and all I wanted to do was dance as hard as I could tonight. To leave my troubles out there on the dance floor instead of worrying about what might be happening at the Council meeting.
Together, the five of us walked out to the main part of the club where Azure stood with Rend’s clipboard in hand and gave everyone the news of Rend’s disappearance.
Beside me, Lyla slipped her arm in mine and Peri took my hand.
In that moment, I knew I was exactly where I needed to be at a time like this. Surrounded by family and the people that loved Rend just as much as I did.
We would wait for him together.
The Enchiridion of Darkness
Rend
I nearly stumbled as I took the last steps through the long aisles of the Grand Hall.
Silas met my eyes, and I searched them for any sign of his father’s darkness. The way he clutched that black stone scared the shit out of me.
He had never destroyed it, after all. What the hell had he been up to for the last few months? And why didn’t he at least contact me to let me know what was going on?
For him to show up here without telling me what he was up to first felt like betrayal, but at the same time, he met my eyes easily, tipping a very slight nod my way.
I wished I’d had some kind of warning about him being here tonight. We could have planned everything so much better if we’d known he would be sitting there in his father’s place.
And what exactly did it mean that he was sitting on that throne? Had he been anointed to the Council in his father’s place? Or was he simply sitting in?