by Bea Paige
We reach the front of the hall, where on a raised platform is a throne made of human bones. They are stark white against the black stone of the walls. The seat is empty. Rhain and Ezra exchange glances.
“It has been, what, ten moon cycles?” a voice says from the shadows in the corner of the hall. “You have been busy, my Dark Knights.”
Rhain and Ezra immediately drop to their knees, their heads bowed. It gives me a direct view of the woman walking out of the darkness. The woman that is Queen Adrielle. She is exquisite. Long, raven-dark hair hangs in perfect waves down her back. Skin as flawless as cut glass glows in the strange light. She is tall, with an hour-glass figure. Perfectly proportioned, perfectly sculptured. Frighteningly beautiful. Yet I can feel the putrid evil pouring from her even from where I stand. My instinct is to run, but I am a deer caught in headlamps. I cannot take my eyes off her. She approaches me, her black chiffon dress swirling about her as she moves. It reminds me of the darkness gathering in my dream. The ring burns on my finger, and I bite down on the pain.
“I see you’ve brought a plaything. Which one of you does she belong to?”
Ezra stands. “Me.”
“Yours?” Queen Adrielle screeches. “Since when does the cold-hearted Ezra have a plaything?”
“Her blood tastes good. The rest, well, it’s not worth much.” He shrugs, casting me an uninterested look.
The Queen laughs, a high-pitched cackle. She stops in front of me. “No, she’s not exactly attractive.” Her cold, black eyes meet mine. I am staring at the woman who murdered my parents, cursed the clans of Ever Vale and murdered Ezra’s family. There is no kindness in her gaze, nothing but obsidian darkness and hate.
“I’m disappointed, Ezra, I thought you had better taste.” She steps back, placing a hand on his chest. “Drink,” she orders. His head snaps up.
“You don’t wish to?” Her eyes narrow. He opens his mouth to speak but she places a finger over his lips. “Rhain, get up,” she says.
Rhain stands. “My Queen?”
“According to Ezra, this woman’s blood is delicious. Would you like a taste?”
A smile pulls at Rhain’s lips, it covers the twitch in his jaw. A twitch that tells me he is not happy about this turn of events. I have a feeling I am being used as a pawn in this game the Queen has decided to play. I watch as she removes her finger from Ezra’s mouth.
“From this moment on, whenever Rhain wishes to feed, he shall feed from this woman and you shall let him.”
Ezra simply dips his head in acknowledgement.
“Feel free,” Queen Adrielle says to Rhain. She takes a seat at her throne, crossing her long, slim legs. A look of pure malice ripples across her face. She flicks her wrist, and from the shadows members of Clan Lux step out. There are about twenty of them, and all of them have their eyes on me. They look hungry.
Rhain stalks towards me. Gone is the man I know, replaced instead with this predator who is looking at me like I am a nice plump steak. Behind him I see Ezra watching us, watching the other vampires around us. He pretends to be relaxed, but I can tell by his stance that he is far from it.
Rhain stops in front of me. He is so tall to my now shorter frame that I must tip my head back to look at him. My hair tumbles over my shoulders, revealing a large expanse of flesh across my neck and chest. I watch as his teeth drop from his mouth. Rhain has not bitten me yet. In our lovemaking he has still not acted upon that impulse, so to have him bite me here, taste my blood in front of the Queen, in front of Ezra, these vampires, makes my heart trip sadly in my chest. I had wanted the first time to be special, private, between us. Instead, we have a room full of blood-thirsty vampires and an evil, sadistic bitch watching us.
“And make sure it hurts,” Queen Adrielle sneers from her spot on the throne.
Rhain looks into my eyes. His are void of emotion, but I know he is in there, that he cannot say or do what he wants because of the situation we are in. I take a deep, even breath and slowly blink my eyes, trying to tell him that it’s okay.
He grasps hold of my hand, bringing it towards his lips. As he does so he very gently presses the pad of his thumb into my palm before sliding his fingers upwards, touching the ring of my middle finger. No one will have noticed that small act of defiance, or what it means. Rhain is telling me the only way he knows how that he is still the man I love, that this cold indifference is all an act. Then he bites me, hard.
Chapter Six
“That’s enough,” Queen Adrielle says.
Rhain has taken a lot of blood. Enough to make me feel light-headed, enough for me to sway on my feet. I am fighting the urge to faint. The experience had not been pleasant. There were none of the erotic feelings I’d had when Ezra bit me, and my heart aches a little at that. Rhain pulls his teeth from my arm, then ever so gently licks the puncture wounds. To those watching it looks as though he is savouring the last drops of my blood, but I know differently. The firm press of his hand on my lower back and the slow draw of his tongue across my skin tells me he is sorry, that he didn’t want to hurt me so.
“I said ENOUGH!” Her order echoes around the hall. Rhain lets me go and steps back. Without his support I stumble. My vision blurs, dark spots dance in front of my eyes. The vampires around me seem to loom closer. Some of them are laughing. Queen Adrielle definitely is.
I stagger back, expecting to find myself in a heap on the floor, only to feel an arm wrap around my waist, hauling me upright. It isn’t Rhain, he is standing in front of me, my blood still dripping down his chin. His eyes are glazed, unfocused, as though he is feeling the effects of my blood as much as I am from losing it. And it isn’t Ezra, he is further away. I see the muscle in his jaw jumping, the look of quiet rage rippling just beneath the surface of his outwardly uncaring countenance. If it isn’t either of them, then who? By the look on Ezra’s face, it isn’t someone I want to hold onto me.
“We meet again,” the voice says, whispering into my ear. I am so weak and disorientated that it takes me a moment to register who the voice belongs to.
“Ether. So good of you to join us,” Queen Adrielle says sarcastically.
Ether props me up. I am like a child standing next to him, he is so tall. I get the familiar feeling of both deep dread and attraction. Not the same kind of attraction I feel for my men, not at all. More like a moth to a flame. He is dangerous. Deadly.
“Apologies, my Queen. I would have escorted Rhain and Ezra here, but Devin required my assistance in the South tower.”
Queen Adrielle is about to speak when a chink of light cuts through the dark in the corner of the hall. A door opens and in steps Lissandra. She looks briefly at me in Ether’s arms, but her expression remains impassive. Uninterested. “Queen Adrielle, may I enter?” she asks.
“What is it?” Queen Adrielle says, annoyed.
Lissandra looks at the other vampires in the room. “Perhaps if we were to step outside a moment?”
She raises an enquiring eyebrow at Lissandra.
“My Queen, this news shouldn’t…” Lissandra starts. Clearly, whatever she has to say to the Queen she wishes to do so in private. I hope Lissandra isn’t about to betray us. The Queen saunters over to her, and they leave the hall for a moment. I don’t get a chance to worry about what they are discussing as my skin ripples with a strange sensation. I feel as though I am getting sick, real sick. A bone chilling cold creeps over my skin. Ether is holding me gently, helping me to stand in fact, so why then do I feel a million times worse? What had Rhain said earlier? This man is an Angel of Death. It certainly feels like death is coming for me now.
“Ether, the woman,” Ezra says, his eyes flicking to me. “I’m not done with her yet. It would be such a waste if you suck the life from her before I’ve had my fill.”
Suck the life from me? Is that what Ether is doing? I try to pull free, but find that I have even less strength than I had a moment ago. Rhain seems to snap out the blood coma he is in and lunges forward, grabbing hold of my arm.
“You heard Ezra,” he says, his voice steady, controlled. “Let. Her. Go.”
“As I thought,” Ether murmurs under his breath. The moment he lets me go my body temperature rises. I step away from him, my teeth chattering with the aftershock of his touch.
“Fear not, Dark Knights, I am not interested in this woman,” Ether says, moving away from me. The other vampires in the room creep closer. Every single one of them has a look of hunger on their faces.
“Back off,” Ezra snarls at the approaching vampires, just as Queen Adrielle returns to the room. Lissandra is nowhere to be seen.
The vampires fall back. I wonder why the Queen says nothing, it’s not as if she doesn’t notice. Then I realise, Ezra is one of her Dark Knights and I am his property in her eyes. It is one thing for her to order Rhain to feed from me, but quite another for Ezra to allow these vampires to do the same. I don’t feel any safer knowing that. All it would take is one order from the Queen and I would be devoured by these vampires, should she allow it.
“Ezra, Rhain, Ether, stay. The rest of you leave. I have things to discuss with my Dark Knights, with my Angel of Death.” With a flick of her wrist, the vampires surrounding us file out of the hall. Once they are gone the Queen settles back onto her throne. Something close to satisfaction flickers across her face.
Rhain wipes my blood from his lips, his eyes flicking to the puncture wounds on my arm. They are already healing. He knows it, and without saying a word is warning me to make sure no one else notices. I place my hand over the area and pull my arm to my chest as though to stop the blood flowing, but really I am trying to hide the fact that I have already healed.
“Now that we have some privacy, I need you to explain why it has taken you so long to return to me,” she says. Her voice is light, unhurried, but even I note a distinct undercurrent of anger beneath it. “I understand you’ve been preoccupied with Clan Spiritus these past ten moon cycles.”
“That is correct, my Queen. They were elusive. We eventually tracked them to the mountains in the north,” Ezra says.
“They did not return to the desert plains? How strange.”
Ether is frowning at Rhain and Ezra. Queen Adrielle notices. She narrows her eyes at him.
“Something wrong?”
“Wrong?” Ether laughs lightly. “You could say that. I’m just trying to figure out why Ezra and Rhain are lying to you.”
“WHAT?” Queen Adrielle screeches. “What do you mean, lying?”
Ezra opens his mouth to speak but his voice is silenced with one flick of her wrist. Rhain attempts the same, but he too is prevented from saying a word.
“Speak, Angel!” she demands.
“One of them got away. They did not kill them all.”
Queen Adrielle is too busy scowling at Ether to notice the surprise on my face. What is he talking about, one of them got away? The whole story is a lie, why the hell would Ether perpetuate it with another lie? I glance at Ezra and Rhain, both of whom are frozen by the Queen’s powers. This time there is no hiding the fear in their eyes. They are every bit as worried with what Ether is playing at as I am.
“Who?”
“A wolf-shifter named Blake,” Ether confirms.
Blake? The man who helped kill the halflings back on Earth? The man who was looking for their own missing clan daughter. I let out a surprised gasp. Queen Adrielle comes striding over to me and grabs my face between her fingers.
“What do you know?” she screeches, digging her nails into the soft flesh of my cheeks.
“I… I don’t know anything,” I stutter. Her face is so close to mine I can see swirls of black smoke in her eyes. Just like the clouds in my dream. It’s not pretend, this fear I feel, I am terrified. But I am not afraid for me. I’m afraid for the men I love, but there is also a rage within me too. A rage I am trying hard to not let show. If she sees it then I know, without a doubt, it will be the end of all of us. So, I push it down. I play my part.
“Blake was found in the flatlands hiding amongst the common folk. He was injured, one of the families took him in. He is in the South tower now,” Ether says nonchalantly.
The Queen lets go of my face and whips around to face him. “Took him in? Why would one of the families take him in? Clan Spiritus are feared by the common folk,” she screams. It is so loud I must cover my ears.
“Fear not, my Queen. I shall deal with the family,” Ether says, his eyes colder than ever.
“Make sure they suffer,” she says, her lip curling in hatred.
“As you wish.”
Seemingly satisfied, the Queen stalks towards Ezra and Rhain. She raises her arms wide and as she does so they are both lifted up into the air, hovering above us. I watch helplessly as my men are held aloft by Queen Adrielle’s dark magic.
“You dare lie to me?” she seethes. “You dare cover up your inadequacies. You dare come back to my castle defeated! I should kill you both now for such insubordination.”
No. No, please. I take a step forward, but Ether holds his arm out in front of me. He shakes his head. The icy stare is gone, replaced instead with concern. I stop. What is going on here?
“My Queen,” Ezra starts, his voice back now. “I am sorry. We failed you.”
“You lied to me!”
Ezra and Rhain start to choke. They grab at their throats; their faces start to turn red then purple as she squeezes the air from their bodies. I move forward, but this time Ether grabs hold of my arm. He looks at me, and I am caught by the shards of white ice within the blue of his eyes. That same ice-cold feeling creeps up my arm just as my heartbeat begins to slow. “NO,” he mouths, then lets me go.
The Queen releases her hold on them. They suck in air, the colour returning to their skin.
“You are lucky I am feeling generous today. Tell me why you failed, and I shall review my decision to return you to the Light.” She keeps them floating above her, not quite ready to release them from her magic.
“We killed all of the pack bar one, Blake. We tracked him for weeks, but we lost his trail at the edge of the Forbidden forest. We thought he had entered. We assumed that he wouldn’t have survived the Fae… We thought he was dead. We did not knowingly lie to you, my Queen.”
“Devin arrived two days ago. Why were you not with him?”
“We split up so we could cover more ground. He must have headed back early after tracking Blake to the forest before us.”
Queen Adrielle considers them both for a moment. She stares at me, a sneer spreading across her face, then she claps her hands, as she does, Rhain and Ezra crash into each other. I can hear bones crack at the force. They fall to the stone floor, groaning from the impact. She flicks her wrist again and Rhain and Ezra kneel at her feet, their heads downcast. Ezra’s arm is hanging limply at his side and Rhain’s nose and leg are clearly broken. I clench my fists at my side at the pain she’s caused them, at their enforced submission. But Queen Adrielle is far from done.
“Your lie cannot go unpunished. Now, let me think,” she says, tapping her chin. “What shall it be?” She practically skips with excitement, her long black hair swinging behind her. She stops in front of me once more and presses her finger against my nose. I try not to flinch.
“Tell me, Ezra, what would it feel like to know this delightful creature is being devoured by another? Rhain has already had a taste…” She turns to Ether, a slow, cruel smile curving her lips. “Take her to Devin. Tell him he has free rein to do as he pleases.” And with that she flicks her wrist and I hear Ezra and Rhain’s necks break.
Chapter Seven
Ether walks with me along a series of corridors. The sound of Ezra and Rhain’s necks snapping reverberates through my thoughts. I can’t seem to get their lifeless bodies out of my head, the twist of their necks, the empty look of their eyes. Ether had picked me up and removed me from the room before I was even able to react. Now, my eyes are streaming with silent tears.
“They are not dead,” Ether says. “Fear no
t, they will live to see another day.” Ether pushes a door open to his left and beckons me through it.
“I’m not crying because…” I falter, wiping at my tears. Why would he assume I was crying over them? I mean, I am, of course I am, but he wouldn’t know that.
He looks at me, unconvinced. “Come this way. This is the corridor that leads to the South tower. Aside from the prisoners and the handful of Punishers, no one enters this portion of the castle. We will be able to talk more freely.”
“Talk?” I murmur. What would he possibly wish to talk to me about?
He holds open the door, suddenly polite. Not having any other choice, I walk into a dimly lit corridor on the other side. It is dark and dank.
“Follow me,” he says. About half way down he stops and looks in both directions before he begins to talk. “I know who you are.” His eyes flick to the ring on my middle finger. “I know what you are to them.”
Instead of answering straight away, I wait. This could be a trick.
“You are wary of me? I do not blame you in the slightest, but I am not your enemy. Like your vampires, I must play my part.” Still I say nothing. I shiver from the cold, and from the strange feeling I get whenever I am near this man.
“If I hadn’t intervened then you would be dead now, fed to her loyal vampires. Queen Adrielle knew Rhain and Ezra were lying, so I gave her something to punish them for without giving away the true lie; that you are the missing daughter, that they are yours now.”
“How do you know all this?”
He looks down the corridor, making certain there is no one else about. Then he places his hand in his pocket and pulls out a blue stone, the same size and shape of the ruby Rhain had used to find me, of the emerald the fae had used to find Clover.
I look up at him in shock. “You are one of the three fated to find the missing daughter of Clan Vitae?” I ask.
“Yes, alongside Gabe and Mihr, my fellow Angels of Death, as everyone likes to refer to us.”