by Ciara Graves
“Why do you look so nervous?” Lacy asked, running her hand along the back of my shoulders. “You have no bad news to report. We even have a new batch of fae coming in.”
“We don’t know if they’re usable or not.”
“Not yet, but we will.”
“You and I both know the number of fae with good blood is dwindling drastically, year after year. Unless we find a way to get our hands on some full-blooded fae, the dust trade is likely to dry up in less than a decade.”
Many fae had integrated with the humans, and it diluted the bloodlines over time. The best fae blood came from royal stock, but was the hardest to procure in Otherworld, and rare to find here in the human realm. Very few ventured so far away from their homes. Royal blood was hard enough to handle as it was, seeing as it was toxic to our kind.
I spun the goblet around and around, my throat starting to burn with hunger. I gave in. The blood soothed my burning throat, but as soon as it touched my stomach, I resisted the urge to vomit.
Lacy wouldn’t approve, and though she said she was here for me, everyone with eyes and ears knew she worked directly for Rudarius, the master of this coven.
Technically speaking, I did too, since I was also part of the Black Hawk Coven, but I was far from happy about it. Not as if he was the most grateful or caring coven leader.
And I had more reason than most to despise him. I hid it well, very well, especially around those like Lacy, who constantly wanted to please him. It had been a long time since I’d seen my true face in the mirror. Some days, I was sure I forgot who I was.
I stood up, needing to move, and paced the length of the grand hall.
The mansion resided in the middle of nowhere on the outskirts of Boston. That was the way we liked it. Less likely to have unwanted visitors. And it cut down on the phone calls to the police about all the screaming that echoed upward from the lower levels.
“You should have another goblet of blood. Or perhaps you’d like something fresh?” Lacy suggested. “I can have someone brought in.”
“No,” I hissed through my teeth. “I will be fine, thank you.”
“If you say so.”
“Why don’t you go and see to the others? I can wait for Rudarius on my own,” I suggested, facing the tinted windows that looked out over the grounds surrounding the mansion. “Go, Lacy. I am not a newborn who needs to be watched over.”
“No, of course not. Hitting two hundred and ten soon, aren’t you?”
“Something like that.” I glanced over my shoulder when she said nothing else and found myself alone. “About damned time.”
I clasped my hands behind my back and willed time to speed up, so I could get this unscheduled meeting over with.
Rudarius hardly left Otherworld. He checked in usually, once every couple of months at most, to ensure everything on this side was running smoothly and that I was still loyal to him, and only him. When we received word he was coming tonight, I feared an issue had arisen that I wasn’t aware of, and was about to get lectured like a bloody child for it. He was nearly two thousand years old, one of the oldest of our kind still living, and he seemed to believe that made him invincible and in charge of every single vampire, whether they were in his coven or not. Granted, the Black Hawk Coven had slowly taken over most of the smaller ones, though there were still several that could pose a threat if they wanted to.
Not that they ever would. Their leaders were too cowardly to make a move against Rudarius. They knew far too well what happened to those who failed in their efforts to stand up to him.
A scream resounded from the lower levels.
I snarled, stalking around the room until it finally ceased.
I would have to see to the soundproofing and improve it. I hadn’t started living here until a few months ago. Before then, I resided in Otherworld where Rudarius could keep an eye on me. Then I killed four Feds that were breathing down his neck, and now he trusted me.
I saw their faces in my nightmares, the light leaving their eyes as I drained each one of them dry. Each one of them died believing I was a monster and there was no changing that fact. How long Rudarius’s faith in me would last, I hadn’t the slightest idea, but if I was going to be stuck here, I was going to be comfortable. Hearing the screams of our victims did not put me anywhere close to a good mood.
Voices eventually sounded down the corridor, and I made certain to be facing the door for when Rudarius would enter. Never turned my back to him if I could help it. Being so old made him incredibly strong and faster than any other vampire. He was exactly as the stories and rumors said. Dangerous. Damned dangerous.
The doors opened, and said vampire himself strolled in, head held high, shoulders back, red cloak dragging the floor behind him. The man’s sense of fashion was trapped in the Dark Ages. Not that fashion really changed much in Otherworld anyway. He had black breeches with knee-high black boots, a white blouse shirt beneath a black, silk vest, red scarf at his neck, and wore several rings, rubies, and pearls, all of which he gained from his victims over the years. Fae rings. I assumed he wanted them as trophies since vampires did not have control over any form of magic except mind control. He spread his arms wide in greeting as he neared me, and I bowed low from the waist.
“Oh, come now,” he said in a happy tone of voice I didn’t expect from him. “I have traveled here to surprise you with a feast and news from Otherworld. You can save the bows for another time.” He grabbed me by my arms and looked into my eyes.
“Master Rudarius, it is good to see you in such high spirits.”
“Yes, it is indeed.” His eyes, always red from the amount of blood he consumed, glimmered back at me with hints of a plan he hadn’t shared with me yet. His blond hair was pulled back, giving his face a stern, taut look. He might be an evil bastard, but even I had to admit he was good-looking. Classically handsome is what some of the female vampires called him, always hanging around, waiting for him to take another bride. The man was up to four, last I heard.
“Please, sit down,” I said, motioning to the table behind us.
He clapped his hands as he approached the table and four servants hurried in, carrying jugs and goblets. They set them on the table as Lacy and several more vampires joined us.
Rudarius sat at the head sat, his cloak spreading out around him like a pool of blood. The smile he wore would’ve made any other vampire in his coven excited.
Me, I wondered what he was up to and who he would make me kill to get what he wanted.
The servants poured the blood, hands shaking, making the chains around their wrists and ankles rattle.
When one took too long, I hissed at him and waved him off, impatient to get this meeting started.
“I’ll do it myself.”
He set the jug down, bowing his head low, and scurried to the back of the room to wait with the others. Where minutes ago I wasn’t thirsty at all, now my throat burned like a newly-turned vampire’s, and I wanted to down the entire jug right there.
“Now. then,” Rudarius said loudly, “it has come to my attention that in recent months, our fae dust production has gone down. May I ask why?”
“There are less and less fae with the correct blood makeup,” I explained.
“Is that so?”
“Here in this realm, yes. I am sorry, Master, but that is the way of it.”
“And what of the fae in Otherworld?”
I blinked a couple of times, fighting the urge to laugh in his face. “Master?” It was rare we took any fae from the kingdoms in Otherworld. To do so was a suicide mission none of our kind were willing to undertake. They were too heavily protected and had magic on their side. Not to mention, sunlight. “You want us to start taking fae from the kingdoms?”
He grinned, so his fangs hung over his lower lip. His finger swirled the blood in his goblet then he removed it and licked it clean. “I must confess, all this time the fae dust trade here in the human realm has all been a ruse for a much greater plot. For far
too long, our kind has been forced to remain in the darkness. Forced to be labeled as the underbelly of all societies. Here and in Otherworld.” He sipped from his goblet, swirling the blood around in his mouth, then swallowed. “What if I told you I had a way to change our current position for the better? Permanently?”
I wasn’t the only one who looked at him confused. “And how would we do this?”
“Fae dust.”
This time I shook my head slowly. “You want to use a drug against them?”
“It’s never been about the addicts,” he hissed. “The money was a bonus, of course, to help convince others to join our cause. No, fae dust is much more volatile in the right form. It’s why the fae kingdoms are so against the dust trade.”
I glanced around the table, but no one else seemed to understand what he was talking about.
“Why are fae so much better than us?” he asked as he pushed back from the table and stood. “Come now. It’s not too hard of a question.”
“Their magic,” Lacy spoke up and beamed when Rudarius smiled at her.
“Their magic. Magic we vampires have long coveted but could never have. So many other races have magic running through their veins, but we only have whatever blood we’ve drunk in ours. And though we can drink fae blood, those with true power would kill us the moment their blood entered our bodies. Nice way of preventing us from absorbing their magic all these years. However,” he said, holding up the hand with the rings on it. “Times change.”
From inside his vest pocket, he removed a small velvet pouch and opened the drawstring. Inside was fae dust. A puff of light fluttered out telling us that much. He reached in and picked up a pinch. I waited for him to ingest it, thinking our dear old leader had finally lost his mind and his brain was addled with the dust, but then he sprinkled it over the rings on his fingers. The rings sparked and sputtered as if woken from decades of sleep.
The vampires closest to Rudarius shoved their chairs back, worried looks on their faces.
I leaned closer, watching the pearls and rubies pulse with life.
“How is this possible?” I asked.
“Years of searching for the correct fae carrying the correct blood,” he said quietly, glancing down at the rings on his fingers. “Years spent believing their power was forever beyond our reach. No longer.” He curled his hand into a fist and spun around, aiming it at one of the servants.
The man’s hands shot to his throat as he was lifted off the floor by Rudarius. “
See what power I have now.”
The man choked and gasped, pleading for his life.
Rudarius twisted his fist, and the man’s neck snapped. He dropped him to the floor without a care.
“And that my children, is only the beginning.” Rudarius turned again and aimed his fist at the wall.
When he pulled his arm back with a jerk, a bolt of pure, white fae light shot out of the rings and struck the stone. It exploded, creating a hole in the wall leading straight to the outside. Those closest scattered to avoid being struck by debris, but I was on my feet hurrying over to examine the damage done.
“Quite impressive is it not?”
All this time, the weapon I needed was right under my nose. All this time. Slowly I glanced back to see those red eyes watching me closely. Careful to keep my face set, I bowed to Rudarius.
“It is magnificent. But if I may ask, what are your plans now?”
He curled his fist against his chest and stalked toward me. “My plans are to do what I have waited centuries to do.” He said nothing else until he stood right in front of me, eyes narrowed with hatred. “Take back the lands that were ours from the fae scum who stole them away in the first place.”
“You want to declare war,” I said slowly, “on the fae kingdoms?”
“Not just the fae, Draven. All of Otherworld will fall to our might.”
Age old anger sprouted in my chest, but I swallowed down the hiss that started to form and bowed my head instead. “And they will all fall to you, I have no doubt.”
“None at all?”
“Master?”
He raised my head using his sharp nails beneath my chin, his eyes searching my face.
“I have new orders for you and those here,” he told me. “As I said, only certain blood works. You must find any fae left here in the human realm who bear rings such as these.” He held up his hand, the magic already fading from the stones. “As you can tell, the magic does not last long.”
“How much do you have?” I asked, hoping I didn’t sound too eager.
“Not enough to win a war, but plenty to get one started.”
He patted the pocket of his vest where the pouch was. Whatever else there was would be back at his home in Otherworld under heavy guard. Rudarius was many things, but sadly, a fool was not one.
His eyes narrowed. “We need the fae dust and the rings. You understand me? And you must keep them together. It’s the only way this magic works. The longer the fae live, the more dust we can get from their blood.”
No wonder it took so long for him to figure out how to harness their magic. In years prior, all Rudarius cared about was slaughtering fae in droves and getting what dust he could from them. He was too impatient to understand how their magic worked. Now that he knew, he was kind enough to share it with the rest of us. My lips twitched in a smile, and I mentally cursed when I realized my mistake.
Rudarius’s eyes zeroed in on my smile, and he lifted his hand. “Leave us!”
The vampires quickly exited the room, the servants scurrying out behind them with their chains clinking. The doors slammed shut behind them, and Rudarius backed away from me, his hands clasped behind his back as he walked the length of the hall.
“Have I done something to upset you, Master?” I asked, holding myself perfectly still.
“Have you?” he asked in turn.
“Not to my knowledge, no.”
“Fascinating, isn’t it, how two people can be in a room and see two completely different situations, when it’s all the very same one.” He ran his fingers along the table, walking until he reached his chair again.
“I’m afraid I don’t follow, Master.”
“I believe you do,” he hissed quietly. “Do I need to question your loyalty, Draven?”
“Of course not.” I squared my shoulders and stood tall as I held his red gaze. “I am loyal to you and this coven. No other.”
“And yet I sense a change in you. And just when I believed you had finally come around. It would be a shame to have to return you to the dungeons back in Otherworld. If you are wavering, I will have no choice, but to do so.”
My skin crawled at the mere mention of going back to that decrepit and dark place. “I swear it. I am behind you, truly. I have no reason not to be.”
“Don’t you though?”
“Master, I—”
“Don’t lie to me.” He bellowed so loudly it shook the windows. “I gave you a chance after your coven fell when I removed your father’s head. A chance to become someone so much greater than you ever could have been, trapped in that weak, pathetic coven of yours. I let you live. I let you become a part of me.”
“And I am forever grateful,” I insisted.
“Are you? Why do I feel as though you are simply biding your time when you can get your revenge? Hmm?”
“I don’t know, Master, but I swear I have no intentions other than to fulfill your orders.”
“And if I ordered you to take your own life?”
This test of loyalty was not new to me. He did it to many vampires, but me most of all. Without any hesitation, I withdrew the dagger at my hip and pressed the tip against my chest, right where my heart resided. “Then simply say the word, and I will do so, Master. My life is in your hands.”
“And your desires?”
“My desires are yours. To see the fae kingdoms fall. To have all Otherworld bow down before our great coven, with you as our master.” I emphasized the last words. My fingers itc
hed to lower the dagger, but I forced myself to hold it in place.
He returned to me, and when he reached for the dagger, I expected my life to end right then. His hand wrapped around the hilt and the tip pressed through the fabric of my shirt, pricking my skin. Warm blood oozed around the blade, and I made it a point not to move. Not even blink. He twisted the dagger slightly, then lowered it, placed it back in my hand, and smiled.
“You truly have changed then. That is good to know. I will need you when this war begins, Draven. A vampire with unwavering loyalty. Unlike some of your kin.”
“Master?”
“There are those within this coven that would like to see me without a head. I want you to weed them out and kill them. I cannot go into a war with enemies on both sides,” he told me. “Find them. Destroy them. Then you and I will march on Otherworld with an army at our backs. We will be victorious.”
“Yes, we will, Master Rudarius,” I said, bowing again.
“Good. Very good.” He strode for the door but paused when he reached it. “And Draven, if you do decide to betray me, know that I will make you suffer far worse than I did your father. Can you handle centuries of pain and torture? That is what will await you.” The smile he gave me was far from friendly, and then he exited the hall.
I hissed quietly under my breath, studying the hole in the wall.
For many years I’d been waiting for my chance to get my revenge against him, but I wasn’t strong enough. Now with this new discovery, I just might have my chance. I owed him for killing my father and half of my coven when he attacked us. I owed him for all the blood spilled in the name of his glory. Owed him for the years I spent in agony trapped in that dungeon begging for every new day to bring my end and be finished with it.
I was alone in my fight against him. Though I had turned two men recently, only one knew of my overall scheme. The other, well, he wasn’t exactly the sharpest mind around. One day he’d have his use.