by Izzy Shows
Blood Slave
Book Two of Ruled by Blood
Izzy Shows
Copyright © 2017 Izzy Shows
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
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Contents
Mailing List
Also by Izzy Shows
1. Nina
2. Nina
3. Grayson
4. Grayson
5. Nina
6. Nina
7. Nina
8. Grayson
9. Nina
10. Grayson
11. Nina
12. Nina
13. Grayson
14. Nina
15. Grayson
16. Grayson
17. Nina
18. Grayson
19. Nina
20. Nina
21. Grayson
22. Grayson
23. Nina
24. Grayson
25. Nina
26. Nina
27. Grayson
28. Nina
29. Nina
30. Grayson
Also by Izzy Shows
About the Author
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Also by Izzy Shows
The Codex Blair Series
Grave Mistake
Blood Hunt
The Fallen’s Crime
Dark Descent
Wild Game
Grim Fate
High Stakes
The Fallen Hunter
Ruled by Blood
Blood Captive: Origin
Blood Huntress
Blood Slave
Blood Exile
Space Mage
Provoked
Enslaved
1
Nina
The hatred in the room was palpable, threatening to choke me if I so much as inhaled in the wrong way.
Ten pairs of eyes bored into my soul, judging me, finding me wanting. Aside from the Dowager Queen--Grayson's mother--they were all men. Oh, there was some diversity to the Council; there were young and old men and a smattering of races present, but the bias against the female gender was quite evident.
It didn't matter. The only woman on the Council was looking at me with just a bit less hatred than the men, and that was only because I'd saved her life.
Not too long ago--actually, just a few days, based on what Grayson had told me when I woke up--the castle had been attacked by hybrids, an unholy mixture of vampire and werewolf. I had returned from trying to throw myself on my mentor's mercy and being turned away in the hopes of finding some sort of life waiting for me here. Instead, I'd found war.
And I'd done the dumbest thing possible. I'd thrown myself in the path of a murderous hybrid intent on taking down the Dowager Queen. And in doing so, I'd saved her life.
You would think that would be enough to spare mine, but apparently, all it got me was a hearing to find out if I would be spared or not. Stay of execution.
My crime?
Being alive.
I was a blood mage, which was simultaneously the only thing keeping me alive and what might get me killed. See, blood mages are tricky little creatures, and everyone hates us. My abuelita had told me that all blood mages were made to heal, that we were supposed to use our powers for good, but that didn't translate very well, I guess. It might have something to do with the fact that blood mages are the only creatures capable of killing vampires from a distance.
That certainly hadn't scored us any points when the vampires rose to power all those years ago. They'd discovered a way to meld ancient magic with iron, the element that shouldn't have been able to work with magic because it was the antithesis of magic, and they had created collars that inhibited a blood mage's ability to access their magic.
Why didn't they just kill us?
That's what makes us tricky. Blood mages have something called a 'death curse'--anyone who kills us is destined to be haunted by their worst nightmare and driven mad, until all they can think about is finding the final escape in death. To kill a blood mage is to sign your own death warrant, and no one really wants to do that.
Some of the vampires had forgotten about it, now and then, but the old ones were careful. They knew they didn't want to end up that way; they were much too attached to their lives by that time.
I'd been collared and jailed when I was just six years old. I'd lived in the dungeon of this very castle for twelve years. Twelve years of walking from one corner of a small cell to the other corner, of having no one to talk to, of being beaten and whipped on an almost nightly basis.
"Are you paying attention, blood mage?" The snarl of one of the younger Council members yanked me from my reverie, forcing me to pay attention again.
I lifted my chin. "Of course, sir, I would never think to so disrespect you."
The slight tightening of the skin by his eyes told me that he understood the insolence in my tone, but that was the only evidence of a reaction I would get.
Vampires are notorious politicians--they don't let anyone see them sweat if they can help it. Emotions are never to be exposed, and control is valued above all else.
I kind of sucked at that, seeing as how I hadn't exactly been socialized while I was growing up, but then again, I wasn't a vampire. It wasn't something I had really needed to work on, when you thought about it.
"What do you have to say for yourself?" another of them asked.
"As I've said three times now," I replied, "I would like to offer myself as a double agent in exchange for my life and freedom from the dungeon. Before I left here, I held a position of some importance with the werewolves--"
There was a rumbling of discontent from the Council as soon as I said the word 'werewolves.' I fought the urge to roll my eyes.
"And I'd be a valuable resource in garnering information from them for you to use as you will. I know you don't have any information on them. I know you don't know where they are or how many of them there are, so I know this information is useful to you."
"You have no idea what we know, child."
"Then, why didn't you send an army of vampires to wipe us out?" I asked, smiling in an almost kind fashion at him. "Why didn't you stop us from hunting your people? Why didn't you stop me from killing your precious vampires?"
That earned a response. The young vampire who had spoken before twisted his lips into a snarl.
"Her insolence deserves death."
"Would you like the mercy of my death curse?" I asked, my tone sweet and innocent.
The pallor that claimed his face was answer enough. No, he didn't want to risk that.
"I didn't think so," I said, carrying on. "And you shouldn't have to. I'm not threatening you, I'm merely stating the facts as I see them. I came back to you when I didn't have to. I defended you and fought alongside your warriors, and now I'm offering you my help. All I want in return is my life."
The false bravado was helping to keep my heartbeat slow, but inside, I was panicking just a little. I shouldn't have pushed the vampires so hard, shouldn't have threatened
that one with my death curse, and I definitely shouldn't have pushed them when they pretended to know anything about the wolves.
This was a game of politics, one I wasn't any good at.
But if I lost...
I wouldn't be killed, but I would be thrown into the dungeon again. My palms began to sweat at the very idea of returning to the dungeon. I managed not to shudder as I pushed the memory that rose back somewhat, but it lurked at the corners of my consciousness.
It whispered to me of a cell with no light, with no guard on the other side to respond when I broke down and had to talk to someone, with no one bringing me meals while I slowly wasted away into nothingness.
Forgotten.
The claustrophobia started to choke me, and I had to fight against it.
No. I won't go down there again. I'll kill myself first.
Gray had thrown me into the dungeon himself, but I wouldn't give him the opportunity this time. I would fight every last sonuvabitch on the Council until they had no choice but to kill me.
Surely, they wouldn't try to subdue me. Surely, they would kill me to save their own lives.
I had to hope for that, at least.
Just thinking about him brought my eyes to where he was sitting, silent, at the table. He hadn't said a word since he'd soothed me when I woke up--in his bed, of all places--and then he'd brought me here to the Council. He'd been so kind and gentle when I'd awakened, but now he was cold. Unreadable.
I didn't know what he was thinking, and all I wanted to do was ask him if he'd forgiven me.
For lying to him. For betraying him.
He'd always been honest with me. He'd been a perfect gentleman the whole time I'd been his thrall, and I'd repaid the favor by killing vampires behind his back, playing the part of the thrall and giving in to the call of the hunt while he slept.
I'd been awful to him, and even the thought that he was a vampire and therefore the most vile thing in existence didn't assuage my guilt in the way I would have thought it would.
"What do you say?" I asked, forcing my attention back to the other Council members.
They all looked at one another and spoke in hushed whispers that I couldn't quite catch until they turned back to me.
"We accept." It was the Dowager Queen who spoke in a voice like steel.
Relief swamped me, but I fought to keep my face calm, to not let them see how I'd been affected.
"Thank you," I said, bowing my head.
"There are conditions," she went on.
My heart sank. What conditions? What were they going to do to me?
"You must be enthralled. We cannot allow you to carry on without being able to measure and track you. And--" She cast a stern look at her son. "You and the King are not to interact again."
This was the first time Gray appeared to come to attention, to give any indication that he was listening. The slight twitch of his lips and the shifting of his eyes told me how he felt about what his mother had said, but he didn't speak.
It felt like a vise was closing around my heart.
I don't care. It doesn't matter if Gray wants to talk to me or not. He means nothing to me.
That was what I told myself, but it didn't quite ring true. I was surprised that he wasn't even going to fight them on this. He'd saved me, after all. I knew it was he who'd kept the hybrid from killing me after I'd blocked the blow meant for his mother, and he'd taken me to his bed to recover.
All of that indicated that he cared--not that I wanted a vampire to care about me--but if you looked at the calm passivity on his face, you wouldn't think he was feeling anything at all.
Fine. If that was how this was going to go, I wasn't going to fight it, either.
"Who will enthrall me?" I asked, choosing to focus on that.
"I will," Gray said, finally speaking. He sat up a little straighter in his seat, his silver hair shifting about his face, his eyes unreadable.
"Grayson, I don't think that's wise," his mother said.
"I concur. The blood mage tricked you once before," the young member on the Council said.
"As I recall, not a single one of you believed her to be anything other than a thrall," Gray drawled. "Let's dispense with the idea that I was the only one taken in by her lies and perfidy."
OK. Wow. That stung.
"I will enthrall her for one simple reason: we all know the only way to break a thrall bond. It is least likely to occur with me as her master."
There was silence in the room as they all processed what he'd said.
I noticed that he hadn't come out and said what would have to happen to break a thrall bond, as if he thought I didn't know and wanted to keep it from me. To keep me from killing him.
Because that was what it took to break a thrall bond. The vampire had to die.
I would never kill you, Gray. I saved your life, too. I killed the hybrid that was about to rip your throat out—don't you remember that? That's how you found out what I am. I saved you. I would never kill you.
The words burned in my mind. My lips even parted, I wanted to say them so badly.
But I didn't dare remind anyone what I had done, what I was, for fear they'd go back on their word and send me to the dungeon if I said the wrong thing.
So, Gray was going to enthrall me...
I pushed the thought quickly out of my mind. I wasn't sure what the process entailed, but I had a feeling I wasn't going to like it. I knew, though, that I'd like it even less coming from any other vampire. If it had to be anyone, I could deal with it being Gray.
You mean the King. You have to stop thinking about him as Gray. He isn't your friend. You can't use his nickname.
Right. I had to remember that. He was the one who'd told me not to call him that.
And, anyway, I didn't want to be his friend. He was a vampire. I was a blood mage. We had been enemies at birth.
"Richard," the young vampire said, gesturing to one of the servants standing near a wall. "Bring her clothes."
I glanced down at the tattered gown I was wearing--the remnants of one of my thrall gowns. I'd worn it in the final battle, and —Grayson hadn't removed it when I was unconscious.
For that, I was grateful. But apparently, it wasn't good enough.
"You will be provided with your...prior attire," he said, his lips curling into a sneer at the end. "So that you may pass amongst the wolves as one of them."
My hunting gear? They were going to give that back to me? For the first time in a long time, I felt almost happy.
I might not have a lot, but I was attached to what I did have.
"It is necessary for you to blend in, I assume, and we would not want you to get caught for something as slight as that. If that is all--"
"Actually," I said, keeping my voice soft so as not to offend. "When I went to the wolves, I may have said something about you finding out about me."
He frowned. "That will make things difficult, then."
"Not entirely. I can explain that away, but I'm going to need something to curry favor again. Something to convince them that I'm still in good standing here."
"And what do you propose?"
"Well, you could give me some information, something you don't actually care about, and I could present it as something I found out. Something I could only know if I was still in favor in your court."
Their faces were as impossible to read as ever, but I thought I detected a slight distaste in their eyes. They didn't like what I was asking.
"You are supposed to be spying on them."
"I know that," I said slowly. "But I need to convince them that everything is OK."
"Very well. You may tell them of the attack you fought in when you returned."
"That isn't enough. Anyone could know that."
The young vampire narrowed his eyes at me. "We cannot give you sensitive information."
"I'm not asking you to," I said, fighting the urge to huff out a sigh. They were being so difficult. "It doesn't even have to be true--j
ust something that I would only know if the King was still my vampire. Maybe something I could have overheard, like how you're going to deal with the hybrids."
"Tell them we don't know what we're going to do," Grayson said quietly. "Tell them we're scrambling, that our numbers were decimated, and that we're weak."
"Grayson!" his mother snapped.
He arched an eyebrow. "What? None of that is true. If they choose to act on such information, we'll be able to kill them."
It would have been true, if I hadn't come back to help you.
I chose not to say that, to keep it to myself, but I burned to point it out. These vampires needed me; they were just too stubborn to admit it.
"Fine, tell them that," the young vampire said, waving a hand.
Richard, the servant, returned at that moment. "Sir."
"Yes, give her her clothes."
He did, and I held them tight to my chest. They were a comfort to me, a reminder of what I was.
"You may wear them when you go to the wolves, but we expect you to dress appropriately within the castle. For all that anyone else may know, you are still the King's thrall. You will act with proper subservience, defer appropriately to your superiors, and hold yourself with the standing of the position you hold. We acknowledge that you may need to display yourself in the King's presence, but beyond that, you are not to interact with him. Is that understood?"
"Yes, sir," I said.
"You may go now. We expect you to return to the wolves come sunrise, and return with information."
I nodded, then dropped into a low curtsy--something that had taken me absolutely ages to learn how to do properly when I'd first come here.