by E. M. Knight
“This is your night of reckoning,” the man says. “I’ve been watching you from afar. You have an indomitable will to live.”
His voice is smooth yet raspy. He speaks with an utter confidence and complete calm.
I cough in response, because that is the only thing I can do. My eyes roll backwards groggily.
“I told myself that if you survived the third night you would be worthy of joining me,” he says. He takes his hand away and looks up. “Yet there are hours left till dawn, and you are on the very precipice.”
“Who… what…” I murmur. My words slur together.
“I know you’ve seen her. Dagan. I know she spoke to you. I know she let you live. What I do not know—what gives me pause—is if she knows I am following her. If she kept you alive just to tempt me.”
I have no clue what he’s talking about.
“Perhaps it’s a trick,” he confesses. “At first I thought this was a trap. The danger of that seems to have passed. That is why I said three nights. The question is… do I break my word to myself and bring you in? Or do I take the risk of losing you forever? You hold such potential, and yet…”
A sound comes from the bush. Abruptly the man breaks away. He crosses the space so fast he is a blur to my eyes.
I chalk it up to another affliction of the fever.
Yet a second later the man returns. “Only a fox,” he tells me. “Once a powerful sigil in these lands, unless I miss my guess.”
A sudden spasm takes me. Enormous amounts of pain shoot through my body. I cough and spit up blood.
“You will not last until the morning,” the man says. “But you have proven your strength so far.”
He directs his gaze once more to the night sky. “So be it. The fates have spoken. I will bring you in. And together, we shall hunt the witch… and exterminate all of her kind.”
And suddenly the man’s head snaps down, his teeth pierce into my neck.
A hot stream of venom enters my body and makes me black out.
And that was that.
It was how I was made a vampire. The blood given to me by my maker healed all afflictions and closed all my wounds. Together, we hunted the witch… to no avail.
But the purpose of that dimmed in significance compared to the beauty of my new life. Such extravagance I had never known before. My body was still mine, yet altogether different. I became enraptured by all the new sensations I experienced. Most of all, I became obsessed with my new strength.
I gained a perception of myself I could never imagine before. My might with a sword became transcendent. If I thought I was good as a human, well, it was nothing compared to how skilled I became as a vampire.
And the fact that I had all these new senses and perceptions and abilities meant that the limits of what I could do expanded tenfold. I was no longer at the peak of my abilities, because now, there was room for me to do more.
Years passed, and the rest, as they say, is history. I had no problem following Logan because of how he made me. We shared similar distastes.
Yet now, with the new information he’d revealed to me…
I lower my head, hitch my shoulders, and hurry on. The sounds of the celebrations fade behind me. For the second time in days, I find myself in the quarters belonging to the worst of The Crypt’s filth.
Yet as I approach Riyu’s room, far, far away, I get the distant feeling that something is wrong.
Call it a sixth sense or a premonition. Whatever it is, that feeling has never let me down before.
I slow my steps to a cautious walk. My mind scans the surrounding room for other vampires. Most are empty. Their owners are no doubt at the feast. But one or two are still occupied, which is pretty much what would be expected.
It’s not that, then. It’s something else.
I reach Riyu’s door. I cannot feel the wily vampire on the other side, but I know why that is. He likes to set spells around his chambers to give himself more privacy. What he does in that privacy, I’d never actually wanted to find out…
I make a fist and bang on the door hard, three times, as is proper to announce my arrival.
I wait. No answer comes. That feeling of unease creeps down my back.
It feels like I’m being watched.
Of course that is ridiculous. There are none here who would spy on me.
Still, I cast a furtive glance over my shoulder. As expected, the hall is empty.
Scowling, I turn and knock again.
When a minute passes and no answer comes, I decide to take matters into my own hands. I use The Mind Gift to flip the lock and then push the door open.
Riyu’s rooms are empty.
I curse. If he’s not here, and he’s not at the festivities… I mean, yes, The Crypts are enormous, and he could be anywhere, but those are the only two places where he could be rightfully expected.
I’m about to leave the room when Beatrice appears in the doorway.
I freeze. I hadn’t felt her approach.
But I can feel her now. Which means she isn’t cloaked. Which really means that I’d let my guard down enough to let her catch me unaware.
That is a dangerous state to be in knowing my new orders from the King.
“Ah,” she smiles. “Dagan. Looking for someone?”
I have to keep up appearances and act like nothing is wrong. I don’t want to set off her suspicions.
“This is a matter of the First Guard,” I tell her. “It does not concern you.”
“On the contrary…” she steps into the room, and lets the door close behind her. “Everything to do with you and Riyu concerns me.”
My eyes narrow. “What do you mean? Why wrap us together like that?”
She gives a beguiling grin. “It’s what the little vampire wants. You are the greatest object of his desire. Or didn’t you know?”
My gut churns in disgust. That peculiarity was also something I never was willing to admit.
“If you’re looking for him,” she continues, “I can tell you, he won’t be found. He is assisting me with a project of the greatest importance. I can ask him to come find you, though, when he’s done. I’m sure he would love to hear that you came to see him.”
Her insinuation makes my skin prickle. I turn to the offensive. “What are you doing here, Beatrice?”
“That’s easy.” She smiles, and shrugs. “I saw you leaving the ceremony without so much as taking a sip. I thought to discover what could drive your attention away like that.”
“You followed me,” I growl. She and I are near-equal in strength, though that had not always been the case. I suspect she’s persuaded the King, with all her influence over him, to give her additional helpings of The Ancient’s blood.
Still, even if we are similar, I still have the advantage of rank and position. Few stand above me in the disciplinary hierarchy of The Crypts. The fact that Beatrice managed to sidestep all that by ingratiating herself to Logan matters not.
She still must defer to me.
“On the contrary,” she says plainly. “I think what happened is that our paths led the same way.”
I make a sound of displeasure in my throat. “Don’t play politics with me, woman,” I warn. I step forward, using my impressive height as an intimidation tactic. “We both know the leniency Logan has given you now hangs by the barest of threads.”
“Is that so?” she murmurs. “And what, I wonder, gave you that impression?”
She puts a hand on my chest and blinks longingly up into my eyes.
I swipe her aside with contempt. “You think to win me over with your looks?” I sneer. “You will have to try harder than that.”
“Why so aggressive, Dagan?” she wonders. “We are alone here. None can tell what we do.”
No, so few know what you do, either, I think.
“You’re not still bitter about the blade I gave, are you?” She makes a pouty face. Then she sighs. “The real reason I’m here, Dagan, is that I wanted to offer you something… s
imilar. But improved.”
“I do not want your weapons,” I say.
“But you haven’t even heard me out.”
“Anything to do with magic is a corruption of who we are,” I say. “For a small time I thought it a necessity. Now I know better.”
“Don’t let one bad experience taint your entire perception of the field,” she mutters.
It was a whole lot more than one, I think.
“What I want to offer you has nothing to do with magic in either way,” she says. “You said you came here on business of the First Guard. Well, as their lieutenant, who better is there to make decisions for the troop?”
“What are you getting at?” I ask. My patience with her is growing thin. It is not helped at all by knowledge of the King’s new order.
“I want to offer you a glimpse into what could be, she says. “You’ve heard the rumors of my experiments, I’m sure. Now, I want to show you what I’ve done so that you know the truth.”
At that, my interest piques. “Yes?” I say. I still make a point of looking past her, to the door. “Get on with it, and be quick.”
“The First Guard is limited in that they can only operate at night,” she says. “But what if you had an army of vampires immune to the sun? What if your entire host of saplings could brave those harsh rays without succumbing? What then?”
My military mind starts to hum with the possibilities. Such a fantasy…
Is impossible.
“Nothing, then,” I say, harshly. “Vampires cannot be made to stand in the sun.”
“Ah, but Dagan… I am not talking about vampires. I am talking about hybrids.”
The ones Logan asked me to destroy?
“…Go on.”
“You know The Convicted. Morgan’s daft little experiment?” Beatrice laughs. “What I have done is a hundred times greater. My children… can withstand the sun. I’d like to show you, and offer you an army of such. An army that you and I would control.
“And the King?” I ask, testing her loyalty.
“Of course we are both sworn to him,” she says quickly. “His will is ours. But he has enough anxieties on his mind. He needn’t be troubled by such petty things.”
Already she’s trying to play me against him, I think.
But I can turn that to my advantage. I almost laugh. What luck! I thought that I would have to steal my way into Beatrice’s section of The Crypts.
Yet here she is now, extending an invitation.
“Show me,” I say.
Chapter Five
Raul
The Stronghold
“It was a trick,” I say. “It had to be!”
I’m with Eleira and Phillip in the relative privacy of my rooms. Mother invited Felix, the apparent leader of the vampires we found feeding on the humans, for a private audience with her.
Geordam and the two guards have rejoined the others and are now following Phillip’s orders to re-secure the stronghold. The Haven’s vampires who dissented, who left to follow Carter and Deanna, have been locked out in the night… for now.
And the humans have been taken up from their dark and miserable space and been given access to the entire meeting hall, where once the Royal Court had assembled to decide their fate. Eleira and I ensured that they were all in good enough shape, that none had suffered debilitating injuries from the careless feeding. Then we led them up there, did a headcount, lit all the candles in the room, and locked them securely in.
Even now, we are no more than a few hundred feet away. The doors to my rooms are open, meaning we have a full view of the hallway.
No vampire can sneak and try feeding on the humans without our knowing.
But that matter is scarcely the most important subject of concern.
Mother’s trick with the dead vampire is.
“Eleira?” I look at the woman I love. “Don’t you have some instinct? Can’t you help us figure out what she did?”
Her hands open and close in obvious frustration. “She didn’t use magic,” Eleira says. “Not the sort that I know.”
Phillip’s eyes are dark and hooded as he regards us from his corner. “We all saw what happened in The Paths,” he says. “The magic Mother is wielding now is not the kind any of us have experience with.”
Phillip shakes his head. “It’s power, all right,” he says. “I’ve learned enough not to presume anything about magic. We all know how unpredictable Mother was when she felt her grip on power crumbling. Now…?” he trails off. “We must simply wait and see.”
“But we can’t take on that risk!” I insist.
“Raul,” Eleira says my name softly. “Even if we knew what happened to her… what could we do?”
I grunt. That’s the one thing that’s been looming over all of us.
With Morgan back, and seemingly in possession of a whole host of new abilities, who can stand against her? Who, if she begins to act out of control, can rein her in?
Nobody.
“The Royal Court has splintered,” Phillip says. “The Haven needs a ruler. It does not happen by committee. Our vampires need to be governed with a firm hand, if they are not…” he gestures around him. “… things like this happen.”
“Then we should be working together with Morgan,” Eleira says. “Not plotting against her!”
“That’s not what we’re doing,” I say. “We’re considering our options.”
“It sure sounds to me like that’s what we’re doing,” Eleira says. “What about the threat from The Crypts? What about the prospect of an open coven war? What about Beatrice’s horrible, deprived creatures, what about the prophecy, what about the King? His offer of truce was only until Morgan woke up! Now that she’s back, who’s to say he won’t just attack?”
She’s sounding more and more frantic by the second. I want to put my arm around her, to hold her tight and assure her that everything will be okay, but in the face of our adversaries, it seems an ill-timed thing to do.
“Only a few hours have passed,” Phillip reminds her gently. “Word of the Queen’s return will not yet have reached The Crypts. Even if they have spies infiltrating our coven.”
My head snaps to him. “Spies? Are you serious?”
He gives an obligatory shrug. “Assume the worst,” he says. “And prepare for it as if it’s true.”
I grunt. He’s taken on a new cynicism since adopting the role of Captain Commander. It is entirely unlike the Phillip I grew to know.
But I do not think I’ll ever get that version of my younger brother back.
“And what do we do about Carter?” Eleira asks.
“Mother seemed certain that Deanna is dead,” Phillip says. “How she would know that…?”
He trails off again. He is in the room with us, but his mind is somewhere else.
“So is that it?” Eleira asks. “Everything we have left to do depends on the Queen? We’re all just sitting ducks until she calls us to her?”
“And she doesn’t yet know of anything we saw in The Crypts,” I say. “Not about the offer, or the invitation, or…”
“Do you think she will go?” Eleira asks. “Now that she seems strengthened?”
“One thing I know about Mother,” I say bitterly. “Is that she thrives on being unpredictable.”
And there is still the whole issue of the succession taking place before the next full moon.
A silence slowly comes over us as we each retreat into our own thoughts.
Eleira is the first to break it. “What I have to know,” she says, “is what connection Morgan has established with the Narwhark. And how it affects…” she falters for a second, “…me.”
“Agreed,” I tell her. I look at the open door. “How long has Mother been entertaining Felix in her chambers? It’s almost as if she’s doing it to spite us. She knows the importance of what we have to discuss.”
“Maybe not,” Phillip proposes. “When the demon stabbed her, The Haven at least had a semblance of order. She returned, and i
t became much worse.” He pushes off from the wall and strolls to me and Eleira. “It doesn’t matter that the disaster happened while we were trying to rescue her. She left with us in charge, more or less. In her mind, the failure lies with the three of us.”
Eleira makes a face. “That’s hardly fair.”
“And completely illogical,” I add.
Phillip spreads his hands. “That’s just the way things are.”
“Another half hour,” Eleira says. “We give her that long, then we go to her. And we demand answers.”
I give a wan smile. At least Eleira’s determination is back.
Chapter Six
Eleira
The Stronghold
We pound on the door to Morgan’s rooms, which has been unceremoniously sealed shut from the other side.
Phillip stationed Geordam and six more of his most trusted guards around the entrance to the meeting hall now housing the humans. After all the efforts we’ve gone through to protect them, it would be a horrendous miscalculation to let up now.
We wait for an answer. I feel the shifting magical energies on the other side. Out in the hall, they are relatively normal. But past the physical barrier…
The door opens. Morgan pokes her head out.
She smiles widely when she sees us.
“Children,” she says. “About time you showed up. I’ve been waiting for you.”
I share a quick look with Raul. He’s got his poker face on, though, and it betrays none of his emotions.
The Queen opens the door wider and beckons us in.
There, I find a tray set with three full goblets on the table. Otherwise her room is empty. Felix is not there.
I wonder how long ago he left.
“I set those for you,” she says, gesturing to them. The potency of the blood hits me with full force. I can barely restrain myself from running toward them and choking down each cup.
Phillip, for what it’s worth, seems to be even more tempted by the offer. His jaw locks up. His muscles go rigid.
“Please,” Morgan says. “Have your fill.”
“When did you get this blood?” Raul asks. Of the three of us, he seems the least tempted.