Julius switched the cellphone off and silence fell among us.
“See?” Montana said in a small voice, turning her eyes on me. “He’s trying to fix this. They’ve banished Wolfe; ripped out his fangs and told every vampire in the New Empire that they can’t bite humans.”
I shifted back as I tried to hear what she was saying. I could see how desperately she wanted to believe that Erik Belvedere had some good in him but banishing Wolfe wouldn’t bring our father back. The fact that he still drew breath only told me that the vampires valued the lives of their own so much more than ours.
“They left him alive,” I replied eventually. “That monster tortured Dad for days-” My voice cracked but I forced myself to go on. “He was covered in bites. You know how painful their venom is. And he was beaten too, chained from the ceiling and starved...”
Montana’s eyes filled with tears and she squeezed my hand tightly as if she expected me to pull away from her.
“Erik didn’t know,” she whispered. “He sent Wolfe to bring Dad here. He was meant to be setting him free-”
“Free?” I stared at her in disbelief. How could she have possibly thought that Erik had ever had any intention of freeing him? “If Erik Belvedere cared about you so much that he was willing to set Dad free, then why was he still happy to keep you captive? Surely he’d have given you freedom too if he loved you?”
She shook her head like she wanted to deny what I was saying but I knew she could feel the truth in my words. He’d kept her caged and in the end she’d had to run from him because of it.
Magnar and Julius stood and moved away from us, clearly deciding this was something we had to discuss alone. They headed outside and the silence thickened.
“He did let me go,” Montana breathed, her voice barely audible. “In the end. He let me run with you.”
I chewed on my thumbnail as I tried to contain the outburst which was desperate to part from my lips. When I was sure I could contain my anger I closed my hand into a fist and dropped it into my lap.
“The only reason the Belvederes are still standing is because of this mark on my hand,” I said evenly. “Magnar had Fabian defeated and if I’d been able to fight alongside them properly then we would have destroyed the others too. Erik didn’t have a choice in letting you go. If he’d tried to keep you he knew we would have finished the lot of them.”
Montana shook her head again, her gaze beseeching as she ached for me to understand what she was feeling but it was so difficult for me to even attempt it. The vampires had caused us so much pain and heartache - how could I just turn a blind eye to that because they claimed ignorance or regret?
I felt like the two of us had landed on differing sides of some great fissure and I had no idea how we could bridge it. This war had been raging for a thousand years and somehow we’d found ourselves on opposite sides of it. Erik had managed to convince her so thoroughly that I could see I wouldn’t be able to change her mind back. But asking me to alter my opinion too felt like asking me to change the tide. I’d felt our father’s blood pouring from his body. I’d been with him in his dream when he’d had to say goodbye. And the creature responsible for it still walked the Earth.
“I just... I don’t understand how you can be so loyal to him when you just watched him set Wolfe free. So he lost a few teeth? They’ll probably grow back! He won’t even suffer from those injuries for any real amount of time... I can’t- I just don’t get it.” I gazed at her imploringly, begging her to help me understand because if she couldn’t I didn’t know how we could move past this. It felt like she was saying that what they’d done to Dad was okay and I knew that couldn’t be how she felt. But making excuses for them didn’t change the facts.
“I know,” she said and a tear slid down her cheek. “Erik was going to kill Wolfe. He was going to let me do it; I was standing over him with Nightmare in my hand-”
“So why didn’t you kill him?” I demanded and she flinched away from my anger.
“I would have! I tried - but before I could land the blow, Fabian stopped it. He said it went against their laws. That’s why they had to go through with the banishing instead. They said killing him would incite the rebels and-”
“And our father’s death was less important to them than their shiny castle,” I growled.
“I don’t know what to say. I want him dead just as much as you do. But so much else happened between me and Erik. It’s hard for me to explain... You said that Fabian showed you himself as a human though? Didn’t that make you question anything? They never asked for this.”
My heart thumped against my ribs painfully as I was reminded of the Belvedere brother who’d claimed a portion of my soul as his. I’d never asked for the bond between us but I couldn’t deny what she was saying. Seeing him in his mortal form had stirred doubts in my heart and though I’d refused to face them all day, I forced myself to do it now. Not for him. And not out of any desire to see him as anything other than a monster. But for my sister. Because she was looking at me like every word I uttered was breaking her in two and I had to find some way to fix it.
“He showed me what happened when they were first cursed,” I said slowly. “They were driven mad with the thirst for blood... The four of them killed their entire village. Every man, woman and child. Even the animals. They drank the blood of their own family members.”
Montana pressed a hand to her mouth as the abhorrence of what had happened to Erik and his immortal siblings washed over her.
“You saw it?” she asked in horrified fascination.
“Briefly.” I nodded, though the imprint of that image was seared into my brain. I’d felt the mountain of guilt which filled Fabian’s soul when he’d come to his senses again. I knew how he’d wished for death himself. I even knew that he’d tried to do just that several times in the years that followed; hurling himself from a cliff and cutting his own throat before he found out that their kind could only die one way. Only his love for his siblings had stopped him from plunging a blade into his own heart in the end. “I know how much it cost them.”
I swallowed against a lump in my throat, not wanting to admit to more. If I let myself see the vampires as anything other than monsters then what did that make me? What did it make Magnar and Julius? They’d killed countless numbers of their kind.
“All Erik wants is to break the curse,” Montana said quietly, seeing the crack in my resolve. “He doesn’t want to be the creature we grew up hating.”
“But he is,” I said, unable to break through that final barrier and see them as she was clearly starting to. “Even if I allow for the fact they they never asked to become what they are. Even if I understand the loss and the pain they’ve endured. They still chose to create more of their kind. They still caged us and drained us and treated us as if our lives meant nothing at all until it suited them to see us differently.”
“I don’t think Erik expected to see me differently,” she said in a dark tone. “But since he has he’s been listening. He’s been trying to change things for the better-”
“And what if we hadn’t escaped the wedding? What do you think would have happened to me if Fabian had kept hold of me? Would Erik have stopped him?”
“He had a plan to get you out of there. I got Magnar and Julius involved to rescue you, but if they’d failed I knew Erik’s people were planning to get you away too-”
“And what? Set me free?” I raised an eyebrow doubtfully and I could see in her eyes that she knew that wouldn’t have been the case. “What if both plans had failed and Fabian still had me? Would Erik have fought against his own brother to save me from his marriage bed?”
“He never would have let Fabian hurt you-”
“Are you sure about that? Because Miles and Clarice were definitely okay with it. I mean they spouted some shit about me being strong enough to survive giving birth to his demon children - in the undead sense of the word - but they were definitely up for giving me to Fabian and letting him do whatever
the hell he wanted with me.”
“I know. But it’s just because they think that’s how they’ll break the curse. I’m not saying it makes it okay, but Erik doesn’t believe any of that, he’s never taken wives or had children. He thinks we’re the answer. You and me-”
“How?” I demanded.
“I don’t know. But Julius agrees that it could be possible. There’s a prophecy and some of it sounds like it could apply to us.”
I sighed, rubbing a hand over my face. I didn’t know what to think of all of it. All of my beliefs were being challenged and I wasn’t sure I could just flip the switch on them. My hatred for the vampires was ingrained into my bones. How was I supposed to try and rewrite an entire lifetime of seeing them as my enemy? “I can’t think straight. My brain is so full of everything... I just need to sleep. But I promise I’m trying, Monty. Maybe, I dunno, give me a bit of time?”
She nodded and I pushed myself to my feet. I folded a blanket to lie on even though it was still a little damp then settled down beside the fire with my arm beneath my head.
Montana glanced over at me then slowly reached for the phone Julius had left lying on the floor. She tapped the screen a few times and I wondered if she was looking for Erik on the CCTV. Did she miss him that much? She noticed me looking and quickly placed the phone back where she’d found it again before laying down to sleep too.
I closed my eyes and thought about what she’d said. If she really believed there was something good in the Belvederes then maybe I owed her a chance to find out if she was telling the truth.
I wasn’t entirely sure how I’d ended up inside people’s dreams before but as I concentrated on the idea of what I wanted to do, I felt it. It was like there were hundreds of little pinpricks of light in the distance, each of them a sleeping soul waiting for me to join them. One of the lights shone brighter than the others and as I focused on it, I recognised it as Fabian.
I felt for the souls sleeping around him and brushed up against another one I recognised. I didn’t understand how I knew it but I could tell it was Clarice. The other Belvederes didn’t appear to be sleeping and I was glad; I had thought to confront Erik myself but I wasn’t sure I was brave enough to face him yet.
I turned my attention back to Fabian instead. His newfound affection for me would probably make him the easiest monster to question anyway.
My heart fluttered excitedly as I moved towards his dream and I ground my teeth in defiance. I wasn’t visiting him for any reason other than to try and understand what my sister saw in these creatures and I refused to recognise any other emotions which tried to present themselves.
Slipping into his dream felt like diving into an icy pool. My skin tingled all over as the light grew brighter and brighter...
I was standing in a wooden room with a wide bed taking up almost all of the space before me. As I’d chosen to come here myself this time, I was dressed the way I wanted to be in a simple black outfit with Fury at my hip.
Sunlight shone in through an open window and the view outside was of a sprawling mountain range tipped with snow.
Two figures moved beneath the sheets, moaning in pleasure at each other’s efforts. I presumed one of them must have been Fabian and heat crawled up the back of my neck as I realised what kind of dream he was having.
I was half tempted to leave again before he noticed I was here but I’d come for a reason and I wanted answers.
Steeling myself to front out the situation, I folded my arms and cleared my throat loudly.
Fabian threw the covers off of him and looked up at me with wide eyes. He was in his human form and was totally naked. I set my face to a scowl as I refused to let my eyes dip below his waist. I glanced at the girl beneath him and a mixture of embarrassment, horror and mortification washed over me as I realised she was me.
“Oh what the fuck is this?!” I exclaimed as the false me stared at Fabian like he was some kind of god. She was butt naked too and her hands were reaching out for him like she desperately desired his attention again.
“You’re back?” Fabian asked in astonishment before sheepishly glancing at his fantasy version of me. She vanished and some pants appeared to cover him up.
“No shit,” I replied, hoping my bravado was veiling my embarrassment and forcing myself to hold his eye.
“Did you want to take her place?” he asked hopefully.
“No thanks,” I replied lightly. “It sounded like she was faking it to me.”
“I assure you she wasn’t.” He prowled towards me and my gut tightened at the look in his eye.
I pushed aside the unwelcome desires and held my ground as I concentrated on our surroundings. The room faded away and houses sprung up around us. People started screaming and the streets ran red with blood. There was so much that I could smell the iron tang of it in the air. The other Belvederes leapt between the fleeing townsfolk, ripping out throats and feasting on blood.
“Stop it,” Fabian gasped.
I could feel him trying to reclaim control of his dream but I had it in my grasp. I batted aside his attempts with as much ease as if he were a fly buzzing around my head. His own body was coated in blood and I pushed against his resistance until he started chasing after the townsfolk too.
I could feel his panic as I wrangled the nightmare around him and guilt stirred in my gut.
I snapped my fingers and it all disappeared. I gave Fabian control of the dream again and he stared at me as though he were afraid. It took him a moment before he managed to think of anything to add to the darkness which now surrounded us.
Slowly, a table appeared between us and I lowered myself into a comfortable chair opposite him. A faceless vampire laid two glasses on the table and placed a bottle of amber liquid beside them before disappearing again. We were inside but there were no other details to the room apart from the table and the two chairs.
Fabian didn’t move to pour the drinks so I did it for him. I slid a full glass across the table to him and some of the contents sloshed over the edge.
“That’s seventy year old scotch,” he said quietly. “You don’t drink a full glass of it.”
“It’s dreamed up bullshit,” I replied evenly. “So I can bathe in it if the notion takes me.”
He nodded slowly and lifted the glass to his lips before draining the full contents. The haunted look in his eyes was beginning to fade and I bit my tongue to stop myself from apologising.
I took a sip from my own glass then spat it out. “That tastes like crap,” I said in disgust as my throat burned.
Fabian chuckled. “It can be an acquired taste.”
“Well I won’t be acquiring it any time soon.” I blinked at the glass and replaced the drink inside it with a clear liquid.
“Gin?” he asked, eyeing it.
“Water,” I replied with a frown. “What’s gin?”
“Oh, I forgot you don’t drink alcohol in the Realms.”
“Water is the only drink in the Realms,” I replied. “But no doubt you have many more options than we do. We’re only the food supply after all.”
“You know you’re much more than that to me,” he breathed.
I decided to ignore that comment. “I’m surprised you aren’t having blood anyway. I didn’t know you could drink other things.”
“Yes, we can enjoy other drinks but we need blood to sustain us… Are you going to tell me why you came or was it just to terrorise me?” His eyes were filled with betrayal.
“I wasn’t terrorising you,” I replied. “I was... trying to figure you out I suppose. I wanted to see what you’d been through again. I wanted to be sure I hadn’t imagined the regret you felt for it the last time you showed it to me.”
“Why not just ask me then instead of forcing it from me?”
“I could say the same to you about our wedding,” I hissed.
“Well the difference is I wouldn’t have said no.” He leant forward and reached towards me. His fingertips brushed against the back of my h
and and a thrill raced along my skin in response. I slid his fingers between mine for a moment and my heart leapt with excitement.
I gritted my teeth as I tried to remember why I’d come here and managed to pull my hand back.
“Why do you fight it?” Fabian whispered. “I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life. Come back to me. Be mine. I will give you the world. I can change everything to suit your desires. I’ve already divorced my other wives and I’ve sent all of my sirelings out to improve the Realms-”
“I hear you’re putting up statues too,” I said, rolling my eyes.
“I only want everyone to worship you as I do. What can I say to make you return to me?” He reached for me again and the table disappeared. His hands were upon me before I could react to the change in scenery. “I can make you feel things no other man can...” He dipped his mouth towards mine and my mind was filled with thoughts of Magnar.
I forced the dream to bend to my will again and Fabian found himself clutching nothing as I reappeared standing beside him.
“No,” I growled. “I came here to ask about you and your siblings, not to bow to your sordid desires.”
“Okay. Whatever you want,” he said as he seemed to realise I was considering leaving. “Ask me anything you want...”
“I want to know why my sister thinks you’re not all evil. Why she thinks Erik isn’t evil.”
“Erik? He loves her as I love you. The four of us can all be together here if only you’d come and-”
I imagined the sun into existence above us and forced its burning rays to slam down on him as I returned him to his vampire form. “Answer my question,” I growled, not wanting to hear any more of his damn declarations.
He collapsed to his hands and knees as the sun continued to blaze and I slowly withdrew it, hiding it behind a cloud of my own design.
Age of Vampires- The Complete Series Page 92