by Cindy Mezni
“I have to tell you what you’ve just done annoys me a little.”
I retorted nothing, knowing he wasn’t finished. This little pause was only here to give more impact to his next words.
“The last weeks were . . . how should I say it . . . a bit painful for me. I wasn’t able to appease certain needs. And here you kill the one who satisfied them.”
He feigned being bothered before smiling to me.
“Fortunately, I had another solution,” he added, his gaze contemplating me, knowing perfectly how to formulate his sentences to make me angry. “You’re here now and you can remedy my problem.”
“I’d rather burn in Hell for eternity than let you lay a finger on my body again!”
“We can always take care of this demand later,” he said in a derisive tone.
Daring like I’d never been with him before, I came toward him until a few centimeters separated us. With no hesitation, I spat at his feet. He disgusted me and he could be sure he’d never touch me again.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” he said through pinched lips before slapping me with all his strength.
He brutally sent my head flying to the side. I felt the taste of blood on the tip of my tongue.
“I knew you wouldn’t be cooperative . . . at least in the beginning,” he confided to me, having regained his composure in no time at all. “It’s partly why I respect you so much. You’re not of those who let themselves be pushed around. You’re a fighter and you always win your fights. Suffice it to look at the sights of this very street.”
He stretched out his hand and made a circle around us to indicate the corpses all around and, in particular, that of Denaë.
“And I intend to come out a winner of this very battle,” I added to confirm his statements.
He chuckled briefly. Once again, it sounded fake. How the Devil had I not realized that all his expressions, all his reactions were false before today? That he was only an empty shell, without any emotion? Nothing had ever been sincere in all our story. I’d just been the hidden ace in his game he’d kept until the proper time to use it in order to reach the top and stay there. Nothing more, nothing less. If truly realizing that did me nothing, remembering I’d been manipulated during so much time made my blood boil. I clenched my teeth, focusing on stopping myself from committing a stupid act which would earn me more than just a split lip.
“You don’t lack of self-confidence,” he noted with satisfaction. “I like that,” he concluded as he brushed my lips with his finger, looking thoughtful.
My body and my mind were dying to rebel against this gesture they considered as an aggression. A part of me was dying to react and give him a punch that would erase this damned arrogant expression of his face. I restrained myself. Letting him believe the situation was in his hands and striking him when he would least expect it, it was what I had to do. Otherwise, I would have no chance. And while waiting for this moment, it would be necessary for me to bear it and Satan knew to what extent it was difficult.
I caught sight of one of the exiles of Ezekiel dragging a corpse by the leg. When he was close enough, I noticed the body was the one who’d fled when I’d burned his vampire accomplice. Given the teeth I caught sight of, he’d been Nëphyr and, considering the gaping hole in his chest, he was definitely dead. I frowned.
“Dead?” Ezekiel asked without the slightest emotion, not even looking at the corpse.
“Yes,” the henchman of Ezekiel said right away.
“Good. He had the fate he deserved, then. Even if I’d have preferred to inflict him a slow agony, then put him to death for his desertion.”
“‘Desertion?’” I repeated, incredulous. “He ran away to avoid being set on fire by me. This is the way you treat the members of your clan when they want to save their lives? What should he have done? Killed me? You would have executed him if he’d disobeyed your orders.”
The icy blue stare of Ezekiel turned in my direction.
“He ran away. Which meant he was a coward. Cowards don’t deserve to live.”
“Well, you should apply that to you, then,” I retorted with irony.
Ezekiel’s hand found itself around my neck without me seeing it coming. I swallowed a hiccup of surprise.
“Never compare me to this Mëvia again. I’m not like him. He was worthless. I’m not.”
“Modesty isn’t your strong suit, huh?” I commented with difficulty because he was practically crushing my throat with his hand.
I hadn’t been able to refrain from it. Unsurprisingly, his grip on my neck still increased but, suddenly, he released me and imposed a certain distance between us. While keeping an eye on him, I caught my breath little by little. Given his expression and his slightly shining look, no doubt he still wanted to kill me and the space between us served to prevent him from succumbing to temptation.
“Obviously, you’re a little too sure of yourself for your own good,” he said with a cutting voice.
It was clear that if I kept on this path, I was signing my death sentence. Still he wasn’t in a position to speak about a surplus arrogance, he who was a master in this respect.
“Whether you like it or not, you’re a Mëvia, Ezekiel. And a Mëvia of the worst kind, who killed his King and Queen, they who gave you their complete trust. If it isn’t cowardice, then nothing is.”
Ezekiel laughed curtly.
“You look so much like me that it’s disturbing. It’d seem that thanks to my departure, I finally reached my purpose and made you my equal.”
I wanted to say something but he didn’t give me enough time to do so before he went on.
“And, for your information, you have to know my status of Mëvia is far from being justified. Efflamm and Mischa had asked me to kill them and, in exchange, Efflamm had assured me the throne would be mine. They didn’t want to live anymore. Dying was what they wanted, Nemesis. I carried out their last wishes. They were cowards, in the end, incapable of killing themselves.”
I stared at him with resentment and disgust. How dared he?
“Your lies are as vile as your person,” I told him with coldness after a moment of silence.
He merely smiled haughtily as if what I’d just said was funny.
“I knew that you’d react like this, that you wouldn’t believe me. Unfortunately, I need your cooperation so I had to… how could I express it? Let’s just say I had to cover myself in case I didn’t succeed in convincing you and took out an insurance plan so you would grant my . . . requests,” he concluded, pausing before saying the last word.
My eyebrows furrowed with incomprehension. What did he mean by ‘cover myself?’ More important, why had he spoken about ‘requests?’ According to the latest news, the only thing he wished was to kill me. And maybe to sleep with me before. Oh, Lucifer, all this didn’t presage anything good . . .
“What are you talking about?” I asked, suspicious.
“You’re about to understand, my Queen,” he assured me, making a vague gesture to point something behind me.
I turned around to see what he was speaking about. I discovered then what he reserved for me. You disgusting piece of shit! I thought, revolted and angry like I’d never been in front of the view before me. I hadn’t been wrong. Things kept getting worse.
21
Last Embrace
I was petrified and beside myself with anger at the same time. I remained impassive for the moment, but I knew that I could explode any time. Yet I had to stay in the state in which I was right now. It was necessary. It was a matter of life or death.
“See, you’re like me,” he began to explain with his usual haughty tone. “I knew that whatever I did, you’d eventually know or at least suspect I was behind everything. This is why I had to attack your Reserve for you to focus on your clan’s problems and not take a closer look at what I was doing if you heard the rumors about me. It also allowed me to test you to the limit and see if you still had guts. And you didn’t disappoint me. But, because th
ere’s always a but, from that moment on, I knew I couldn’t leave you alive because besides your betrayal, you were now succeeding in thwarting my plans. And I couldn’t tolerate that. Thus we had to find ourselves face to face. I also knew we couldn’t have some peace and quiet with your watchdog Nathanael, your Reaper, Caine or even Drake. So we have to get rid of them. I made sure one of my subjects encouraged the humans to enter your territory by persuading them that the Nëphyr of New Hell were responsible for the death of their friends and relatives. As those humans were extremely visible in the media, I thought the army would intervene here, sooner or later. After all, thanks to me, they’d officially announced Nëphyr of New Hell were guilty and threatened to step in if their government did nothing. Yet, these stupid humans from the government didn’t move an inch! I had to opt for a more radical solution: perpetrating dozens of massacres on their lands and putting the blame on the Ameïan clan once again. After that, as soon as the army had intervened and busy as you all were, taking you by surprise was child’s play because nobody was here to stop me from doing it. But I know you, Nemesis. I needed a bargaining chip because I knew you wouldn’t give in to my requirements without a good reason to do so. Especially since I couldn’t threaten your life as your fate was already sealed. So while Denaë and the others watched you, I looked for what could be useful for me to make you cooperative. It was simple. You’re like me, you care for nobody. Thus, I had to think differently. What would we have used against me? The person who cares the most for me, of course,” he finished, almost triumphantly.
His last sentence implied I was this person. It was false. I opened my mouth to point it out to him. He stepped in front of me and put two fingers on my lips to silence me. I was tempted to cut them with my teeth but thought better of it when I glanced at the five silhouettes not far from us. It wasn’t the wisest thing to do if I wished for tempers—including mine—to not flare. I looked back to the traitor in front of me when he snapped his fingers near my ear to catch my attention. I was walking a tightrope here. If I made any faux pas, if I acted impulsively, I risked doing something irredeemable.
“Stop it!” Ezekiel said before clicking his tongue with annoyance when my eyes wandered toward them again. “You’ll take care of that,” he said with disgust while casting an irritated glance behind me, “when I have explained the compromise I offer you.”
I clenched my fists.
“Explain yourself,” I told him without emotion.
He flashed me his trademark delighted smile.
“Here’s the Nemesis who pleases me! You know these years far from me made you incredibly more . . .”
“ . . .of a turn on,” I finished in his place, tired. “Yeah, I know. Your minion has already told me that earlier.”
My words made him lose his arrogant expression. Suddenly, he seemed colder than ice.
“Who is—”
“He’s dead,” I interrupted him. “So you won’t need to castrate him or whatever. Now, could we come back to this so-called compromise you were talking about?”
“I was saying,” he continued, “that I had to imagine what my enemy would have to do to have me at their mercy. As I knew you were after my own image,” Those words almost made me lose my self-control I already had a hard time maintaining, “you had no ties to anyone. But I found something. Since you cared for me and I esteemed you, there was necessarily somebody for who you felt the—”
“Nathanael, I know,” I cut him off through clenched teeth. “I remind you he’s lying at the feet of one of your fucking servants so I think I’ve already understood what was your ‘bargaining chip’ to make me submit to your requirements. So could you get a move on with your explanations?”
Slowly, the azure of his eyes became more intense and began to shine. Idiot, I admonished myself mentally. It wasn’t good. Not good at all. Hardly had I realized my mistake that Ezekiel was already grabbing my hair and pulling my head back for his face to tower over mine, his sharpened teeth close to my lips. He gave a hard pull on my scalp that he was holding with an iron grip.
“Don’t ever interrupt me again,” he articulated very clearly. “Whatever I say, even though it doesn’t please you, you listen to me and you say nothing before I let you speak, is that clear?”
I kept my mouth shut. Even if it felt to me like the most difficult thing I’d ever had to do, I followed Ezekiel’s orders. I who’d sworn I wouldn’t obey him anymore, I was spectacularly failing.
“Do you understand? Answer!” he said, his patience reaching its limits.
He told me to keep silent and, now, he wanted me to speak. Couldn’t he make up his mind?
“I can see where the macho mentality of your subjects comes from,” I said, omitting voluntarily to give him the answer he wanted. “The female, poor and submissive little thing, below and the male, irradiating of power and dominance above her.
A fleeting and lustful smile played on his lips. His eyes shone with a gleam I’d seen on many—too many—occasions in the past.
“I like the image you used to illustrate your words,” he said to me, desire emanating from him.
It wasn’t hard to assume what he had in mind. There was no way it would become reality. Or, rather, that it would become reality again.
“What do you want from me?”
He pulled on my scalp again. I bit my lower lip until it bled as I felt the roots of the handful of hair he was holding giving in little by little.
“You speak when I allow you to do it. Am I clear enough this time? I warn you, I won’t repeat myself a third time. At the next lapse, you’ll pay the high price.”
A menacing grin contorted his mouth.
“Unless I decide that your dear ex-lover will pay through the nose for it. Hmm . . . I think I’m going to opt for this solution. If you disobey, he’ll suffer.”
He knew how I worked. He knew that pain, when it was leveled at me, didn’t frighten me in the least. On the other hand, it was totally different if a member of my clan was hurt by my fault. And Nathanael at that. I had a very precise view of things and it didn’t include letting anyone pay for my errors. And it was even more true when it was Ezekiel who played the torturer. If I made a mistake, Nathanael was probably going to be killed. And this scenario couldn’t occur. I refused it. Categorically.
“The contract is simple. You accept all my clauses and I let your Nathanael leave in one piece.”
No. It was unthinkable to accept this compromise without knowing all the details. But, obviously, I couldn’t protest as long as he hadn’t allowed me to speak. To be forced to be so obedient drove me crazy. Hell! I cursed myself for being so weak when it came to Nathanael. All this because he wouldn’t have hesitated to do the same if the roles were reversed. And after everything he’d done to help me to run my clan, I owed him at least that. For once, the only time, I had to do the same for him, no matter the price I’d have to pay.
“So?” Ezekiel said near my ear before licking me from lobe to neck where, to my disgust, he lingered. “I find you very pensive,” he added, his burning breath against my skin. “Are you hesitating to accept?”
Repelled by his contact, I mulled over his proposal. I doubted. Even if I were ready to pay the price to save Nathanael, was he really going to do as he said? Ezekiel was far from being the kind to spare somebody’s life.
“Who’s to say that if I give you what you want, you’ll let him go?”
He chuckled curtly. His feigned laughter was like some alcohol on a gaping wound, like Emenaïd propagating in my blood. I finally realized that, first, if I accepted, I was going to suffer a lot before dying. And secondly, I’d never know if Nathanael had survived. I’d be dead before being able to see if Ezekiel kept his word. Either way, I could have no certainty and I lost. The only nuance lay in the fact that either I was directly responsible for Nathanael’s death or I gave him a chance to live, even if it were a small one. For me, on the contrary, it was already over. With all that had happened, even if
I managed to emerge alive from the trap which Ezekiel had laid for me, beyond any doubt I was going to be executed or, even worse, be subjected to the Selem Sescä. Better then to sacrifice myself and pay off the debt I owed Nathanael. My motivations weren’t heroic at all but maybe Nathanael would take control of the Ameïan clan and would prevent it from declining if Ezekiel showed leniency toward him. I hoped things would go that way.
“He’s waking up!” one of the henchmen of the Träditra said to his master.
Ezekiel grinned disdainfully. He knew he called the shots. He adored that.
“What a wonderful piece of news!” he exclaimed, overplaying his enthusiastic reaction. “The most pleasant part of my plan is finally about to begin.”
The most pleasant part of his plan, huh? This swine had planned everything, had considered the slightest last-minute changes and even any flaws in his trap. I had to recognize he was damn talented and devilish. My two mistakes had been to not have guessed earlier he was behind all my problems and, more particularly, to have underestimated him. I was paying a high price now.
“What the Hell?” Nathanael said, sounding groggy, eyes finally opening.
I stared at him without saying a word. He was still too confused to have noticed my presence. It wouldn’t be long before he did, though.
“Bring him over here,” Ezekiel ordered one of his accomplices.
Nathanael’s body froze. Slowly, he turned toward us. His nostrils flared when he saw the Mëvia. And then he caught sight of me. The muscles of his jaw relaxed a bit, the sudden tension in him decreasing imperceptibly. Without really knowing why, I tried to offer him a smile to reassure him—his concern toward me was easily discernible in his gaze—but, seeing the way he reacted, it looked more like a grimace. No doubt, you’re gifted, Nemesis, I thought, sarcastic. The subordinate of Ezekiel eventually did what he’d been told and brought Nathanael near us.
“Did—” Nathanael began while observing me inquisitively.