by E. M. Moore
That question would be answered sooner rather than later.
“I’d like to talk to Soren,” I said to their backs.
“Why?” Lex snapped. “We have Dumont. Soren is of no use to us anymore.”
“He would know best about clan dynamics. He could answer questions for us that we can’t trust Dumont to answer truthfully.”
Lex stopped. She breathed out a heavy breath and then faced me. Her face was hard, but she was fighting for control. T.J. put a hand on her shoulder. “Let’s go get a coffee, Lex. You need to calm down. We’ll hear back from Gregor, and then we can start to make plans, no matter what they are. Everything will be fine. Gregor has never failed you before.”
He turned her away and then looked back at me. I gave him a small smile and he returned it. He’d said exactly what Isabelle had told me. Everything would be fine. I just had to believe that.
Once they were out of earshot, I walked quickly toward the holding cells. Guards stood at windows that overlooked the lawn, each of them fidgeting. The tension in the air was thick as dark, dense smoke. Each time the clock ticked, the tension ratcheted up that much higher. There was a lot to lose. But there was also a lot to gain. The moment was approaching when everything would come to a head. For better or worse, we would start on a path we couldn’t return from.
The cells in the Ravana Estate were a little dirtier, mustier than they were at The Fort as if they’d been there for centuries. It looked like that was the last time this part of the estate had been cleaned too.
When I walked in, Soren sat in a corner of his cell. There was no cot here like there was at The Fort. Just him and cobwebbed walls and a damp, cold floor with the thinnest layer of concrete at his feet. His eyes were closed as I made my way to the cell, but they opened when I grasped onto the old bars. A smile turned his lips up. “Young One.” He looked even more frail than he had before. I know they were feeding him only enough blood to keep him alive, and considering it wasn’t the fresh blood he was used to, it could’ve been having an even more damning impact on his system. “I see you’ve…” He bent his head toward Dumont’s cell several down. There was a guard off to the side. We’d decided he should be on observation for however long he was around.
“Yes,” I told him. My mind still hadn’t come to terms with the fact that Nic was back and safe. My lips trembled a little as I said it, thinking about all I could’ve lost.
His brows furrowed. “And?”
I heaved a sigh and sat in front of the cell, my sneakers looping against the bars to hold myself upright. “How many of you are there, Soren?”
“How many of me?”
“Followers? Family? Clan members? How many of Dumont’s people are we going to piss off if he gets what he deserves?”
“They’re on their way aren’t they?” I nodded and he inched closer to me, his clothes showing their wear from the time spent in captivity. “It will be a big fight, Young One. It is what you’ve failed to realize all along. This army, as you called it, they’re not just his subjects. They’re family, they’re clan, they’re as loyal to him as you are to Gregor.”
“But you told me once that it’s more beneficial to have people beside you and not behind you. I thought that meant their ties to him aren’t as strong. But you still think it will be a tough fight?”
“You’ve forgotten the key factor. They must first have knowledge that life can be another way. These vampires have followed him for centuries. They’ve known no other way but his and you aren’t going to convince them otherwise in the span of time it takes for them to breech the estate.”
I leaned in and Soren did the same. I wasn’t afraid of him anymore. He couldn’t hurt me, and in fact, he’d done so much to help he was practically my ally. “I think he wanted to come here. He didn’t put up a fight when we took him and neither did his clan. We were pursued, but not engaged.”
Soren hid a smile.
“What?”
“Sometimes I forget how little you know and your ignorance is funny. Of course he wanted to come here. This was his home, Young One. What better way to take over the Ravanas and reclaim his position than from the very spot in which he was overthrown? You heard his pretty speeches earlier about honor and integrity. Sure, you believe in one side, same as the others who believe in the other side. Who’s to say who is right? Dumont led like a dictator. His will was everything. Say what you want about that, but he brought the vampire world together. He instituted laws when there were none. He organized us into a thriving society for many centuries before his people started to speak out. You must remember that vampires are eternal. Half a century is like one year to the mortals. We never age, we never die, but the world changes around us rapidly from one fad to another. Newly turned vampires have different notions, born with different ethics, and different ingrained beliefs. We did not realize what we’d done until it was too late. The revolt happened suddenly, blindsiding Dumont who still lived within his century when family honor meant more than anything else. He never expected it.”
I narrowed my gaze at him. “So it’s okay to treat people poorly if you have the excuse of being elderly? You don’t expect me to buy this, do you, Soren? He was a thoughtless, careless manipulator who did things on a whim to please himself and only himself.”
“So says your new age ideals.”
“Oh spare me the nonsense.”
He cracked a smile. “You are only proving my point. I’m not saying Dumont isn’t those other things, I’m just saying that back from the time he came from, it was right to be that way. The men ruled the women absolutely, and the head of the family’s wishes were carried out without concern or thought except that he said it should be so. They were like gods. Revered and trusted that their wisdom was far more superior than the layman’s. Dumont was to ruling as your grandparents are to using a smart phone. He just didn’t fit the newness.”
“But fair—”
“Fairness had nothing to do with it!” I leaned away from the cell and Soren frowned. “One day you’ll have ideals that are outdated, Young One, and maybe you’ll understand then. I’m telling you all this to make you realize that his people will fight for him. Either they have been with him for centuries, or they have been brought up in his way of living where his word is everything. If you choose to fight—”
“If we choose to kill,” I said, interrupting.
“Then you will have a war unlike any you have ever seen.”
“Then how does one win this, Soren? How does one move on from this? We can’t let Dumont go on threatening to take over the Ravanas and move everyone back into the Dark Ages. There will be too many senseless deaths. He can’t win. There must be another way for us to come out on top.”
“Does anyone really ever win war, Young One? I don’t expect you to know with your limited experience. Though they think differently from you, there are good people who follow Dumont. Any deaths would be senseless on both sides. All would be fighting for what they think is right. Each of you yelling to the other that you know the best way, that you think the other is wrong, that you think the way they live is reprehensible, and that yours is better. Get ready for the nature of war because there it is. Two ideals using their human hosts to fight it out, both sides self-righteous with ignited fury. ”
I swallowed a gasp and pushed back from the cell, my legs and arms turning numb with the acknowledgment of what Soren had just said. Yes, I was a guardian. Yes, I fought for what I believed in. But at the very center of all that wasn’t to take out those who thought differently from me. It was only the safety and security of those I loved, those I was stationed to that drew me to this life. I didn’t want any more lives to be taken away, whether human or vampire. I only ever fought back against those who threatened mine and those around me, and at this point in time, it was only Dumont. He was the real culprit, his elderly excuse or not, he was trying to take something away from me that could never be replaced. I would die fighting for it. I would die fighting th
ose who dared tried to take it from me. That much hadn’t changed. And would never change. But what of the rest? What of the people who were just brainwashed, going through the motions in life by those who had power over them?
Soren followed my retreat, his face fitting just between the bars, his eyes wide and dangerous. “I can tell you what he wants, what will appease him. Go to the library and find the laws from his reign. Look up the way to settle disputes. Look up the way to challenge him. He will not refuse it. I can’t guarantee you victory, but it will spare lives.”
Excited shouts erupted from around us. The sound of footfall thumping started my heart racing again. We were too late. Dumont’s clan was here, and nothing had been decided.
“Go!” Soren shouted, his hands reaching out to grab mine. “Go, and be safe, Young One.”
I clasped my hand over his, squeezing it once before taking off and running down the hallway. The echo of Dumont’s sinister laugh following me as I made my way forward. After all, there was no other way to go than ahead.
Chapter Twenty-Six
I skidded to a stop in our library right in front of Stephan who I’d called and asked to meet me at this exact spot. He might as well have been a librarian for the amount of time he spent in this place. I’d be looking around the space for hours for the text Soren shared with me, and time was one thing we didn’t have.
His eyebrows furrowed. “What’s wrong?”
“Soren says we need to find the book where Dumont’s laws are written down. He says there’s a ruling, a law, in that book that might be able to help us save lives. Something about a way to challenge him that he won’t be able to resist.”
Without needing anything further, Stephan ran to the other side of the room, his finger scanning through book on the shelves. I joined him seconds later, my eyes trailing over the titles, trying my best to keep up with him. Finally, he said, “Here.” He handed me a book and I took it to the big, wooden table. “I’ll keep looking, but start there. That should have something in it.”
I opened the book up to the beginning. ‘Dumont Clan Reign: Notice of Laws’ stood out in old lettering. The pages were brittle and browned with age. I turned the next page softer than I had the first, hoping to find a table of contents or otherwise I was about to waste a good amount of time searching through every last text in this ancient thing.
My heart leapt when I saw a list. I scrolled down it, finding the words I needed and then flipped to the page it told me to. My finger scanned under the words as I read everything as fast as I could. Just as fast as my heart beat in my chest, it sunk lower and lower as the words I’d read chiseled out a place in my soul. Challenge. Fight. Warrior. Death.
No.
The color drained from my face and I sat back in the chair that was thankfully right behind me. I blinked at the words on the page, never before having seen such an inanimate thing like words change the course of my life so extraordinarily.
“Stephan…” He was by me in a second. I looked up, already feeling my lips tremble. “How did…how did the Ravanas take the reign from the Dumonts?”
He knelt in front of me, his worried eyes looking into mine. “What’s wrong, Ariana?”
“How did they do it?”
“They swept in and threw them out. The story goes that our grandfather and a few others hated Dumont’s controlling ways. He made poor decisions. As the number of vampires grew, he became hungry for power, not caring who or what they fed on. But several hundred vampires feeding on humans became more noticeable than just a few. He tortured humans like they were our slaves, our only source of food. The decision came to overthrow him when he organized a direct attack on the royalty line in England. He thought if they could take over the crown, they would rule the most powerful country in the world, thereby bringing the vampires in charge of everything. A few of the men who knew this would end in nothing but the destruction of our entire kind decided to overthrow him. They spared his life, but made him step down, removing and banishing him to Australia.”
I closed my eyes. Soren’s words coming back to haunt me. Both sides in a fight thought they were right. Each had their reasons and believed in them so implicitly that they would fight until their death. For Dumont, he’d waited all this time based on the slight to his honor. He sat back, waiting for the perfect moment in time to take his power back. If we didn’t want an all-out war on our hands, this was the only way. But was it even a way? Should it even be considered? “Read this,” I told Stephan, pointing to the start of the law that the Ravanas and their allies had broken so many centuries ago.
“Clan disputes shall be challenged with honor, dignity, and respect. The offending parties will battle until there is only one winner, determined so by death. Any uprisings or action against the leading clan will also be treated in such a manner.”
I sucked in a breath, waiting for Stephan to read the next part.
“The four best warriors from each side will be sent into an arena to fight against one opponent from the other clan until death. Whichever clan has won the most fights out of four will be declared victors and either shall keep their reign, or be overthrown. If the four fights end in the same amount of victors for each side, the leader himself of each side will don their armor and step into the arena to prove heir honor to their followers.”
I watched as Stephan’s face went white. “Soren says this is the way.” He was right. This would certainly stop the senseless bloodshed of guards and vampires alike, but the other outcome? Deaths of our most skilled guards, or possibly even Gregor. It set my teeth on edge.
“It makes sense why the Dumont Clan was never overthrown before the Ravanas did it. Who else would have warriors at their disposal like the reigning royalty? It would’ve been a bloodfest. The other clans weren’t warriors, they were farmers, noblemen, or peasants.”
“We have to show your father this. We have to give him this other option.”
Stephan filed his finger in the book, and then shut it. Outside, sounds of angry men on both sides permeated the stone walls of the estate.
“Go,” I told him, knowing he would be quicker. “Go now and I’ll be right after you.”
Stephan swooped down to kiss the top of my head and then was gone from the room. He moved with such quickness it took my breath away. Guardians were to go against those who could move like that? We trained for it. But what Stephan said about the past still rang true for the current times. Dumont had spawned warriors. Had centuries to prepare for this where we hadn’t. Our guardians were tough, fierce even, but who knew what kind of men Dumont would throw in front of us?
I ran a hand down my face and took off after Stephan, my mind already filled with which four warriors our side would send in to fight for the good of our people. It would’ve been Lex, T.J., and Matthews with one other, but since Matthews was still slowly recovering from his injuries, he was out. Sending him in would be a sure loss for our side. So now there were two obvious choices and two who would have the great honor, yet great sacrifice of all time, to fight for the way they wanted to live. The two would have to be the best of the best. Sending Gregor in to fight was not an option. I’d never seen him lift a hand in fighting. I didn’t even know if he knew anything about it. Sending him in would mean certain death. Then what would become of our people, of my princes, of the path laid out in front of me?
And me? I wouldn’t pretend to be unafraid. I wouldn’t pretend to be anything other than petrified for my life against the warriors of Dumont’s Clan But if chosen, I would do everything I could to secure a victory for us.
After I took the stairs three at a time and pushed past others until I got to the Council meeting room, I walked in to find Gregor pacing again. A guard came in right behind me. “Sir, they’re at the gate.”
“Hold them!” Gregor bellowed. His eyes locked on mine after the guard cowered out of the room. Then, he moved to Lex. “What is your opinion?”
“It would save lives, Sir. We send out everyone now,
we may not have the guards or people left to protect. If what Soren and our other informants have said hold true, he will agree to this and abide by the rules because they are his. He outnumbers us and has had centuries to prepare for this fight that we knew nothing about. Right now, this might be our only chance to survive without a complete decimation of your people.”
Gregor’s shoulders fell forward. I’d never seen the impact of such a decision hit someone so hard. He’d taken control over the Council to bring a better world and equality to the vampires and guards, and now he was faced with their utter annihilation. For myself, I didn’t think Dumont would stop any other way. His army would breech the estate. They would free him and take us all out. Not without a fight, of course, but with a victory out of sheer numbers. All the monitors surrounding us showed a wall of people just on the other side of the gate. When they decided to come at us, no matter our strength, no matter our heart, or who was right, we would lose. Nicolai was correct. There was just too many of them. An army created while Gregor stayed cocooned in his own world. But, who would have thought this would happen? Time passed differently for vampires, but centuries was a hell of a long time to wait for revenge. It was unfathomable.
“Bring Dumont to me,” Gregor said.