The room could seat thousands, but instead, she saw it only seated one. A dark figure even amongst the shadows watched their progress from a vaulted throne. No one said a word until the three of them lined up at the foot of that throne. Violet swallowed her nerves as they looked up at the man cloaked in night from his seat of power. Now, she wished for a flashlight, if only to make out his features amongst the gloom.
“Gwendolyn. Explain.” He spoke first, his voice deep and smooth, the kind she heard on the radio. It occurred to Violet that he spoke in unaccented English, something that should be impossible for a person who’d slept through it becoming a dominant language.
He didn’t sound angry, simply bored. She wondered what such a mighty person was doing, sitting alone in the dark when a whole new world was waiting for him outside his moldering palace. “I bring this young couple to you for sanctuary,” Gwendolyn said. “This is Alexander Rehnquist, a shapeshifter from Sirius’s bloodline. And Violet Reynolds, a new Sorceress.”
Adrius stood, descending the steps to his throne to loom over them. The shadows seemed to follow, clinging to his form as he went straight to Violet. She guessed him to be somewhere above six and a half feet tall, with the same muscular bulk as Julian. Alex tensed out of the corner of her eye as she met Adrius’s dark gaze. Per Gwendolyn’s instructions, she’d taken out her contacts to show her true nature at first glance.
“Sanctuary. Here?” His laugh was like a roll of thunder, deep and foreboding. “Where shall I put them? Shall they sleep in the stands, Gwendolyn?”
Violet quailed away from him as she caught a hint of gleaming fang in the midst of a snarling, bearded face. He turned toward the other Ancient in the room as Alex put his arm around her, drawing her a few steps away. “Should we say something?” she whispered.
“No. This is not our fight,” he murmured back.
Adrius loomed over Gwendolyn now. He didn’t shout, but fury underscored every sharp word. “How do I provide anyone sanctuary? My loyal men are dead. There’s no trace of thousands of people in this palace except the corpses of the fish that fed on their marrow. How dare you come here asking anything of me.”
“I’m sorry.” She slipped it in while he paused, breathing like bull about to charge. “Fell madness—”
“Did you ever consider the hell you nearly condemned me to?” The shadows around him coiled in tighter.
“Every day. You have no idea—”
“Save it,” he muttered bitterly. “And go.” He turned his back, shielding her from the barely leashed violence storming around him.
“You can’t sit here forever,” she said to his profile. “Lucia plots in your absence.”
“So? I’m sure you have some brilliant, self-sacrificing plan to thwart her.”
This response, not his anger, seemed to deflate her. “I can’t do it alone.”
A sigh drifted from his shadows. “Go away, Gwendolyn. How many times do I have to say it? There’s nothing for you here. No more blood to squeeze from this stone.”
“You’ve given up.” She shook her head, inspecting her boots.
From how Adrius’s shadows slouched, Violet wondered if he was doing the same thing. “And whose fault is that?” She felt his attention on her and Alex, as if only remembering that they were there. “You may stay here. Modern mortals crawl over the city like ants. What’s two more people?”
She winced, but Alex bowed deeply. “Thank you for your hospitality,” he said, sounding genuine.
Adrius scoffed and returned to his throne seat, waving his hand in a clear dismissal. Gwendolyn opened a portal, nodding to the two of them. “Good luck. I’ll be in touch once you get settled.”
She disappeared through that hole in reality, leaving them alone in the dark. “Where are we supposed to go?” Violet asked Alex, sure that they weren’t going to get anything else out of the king.
Instead, she heard another sigh from the shadows. “Go back to the foyer,” Adrius answered. “Jaromir will find you a safe place to stay. You will address him as Prince Mender, as befitting his status.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” Alex said crisply, shouldering their supplies and nudging Violet. They went back the way they came, breathing a shared sigh of relief to be away from the man and his wreathe of shadows.
“This feels like a terrible decision,” she admitted. “I don’t think abandoning us in an empty palace is the best form of protection.”
“I’m inclined to agree, but we’ll see.” Alex’s green eyes were a bright spot amongst the gloom, crinkled at the corners from a thoughtful frown. “You know how Gwendolyn walked into our safe zone without trouble? Any powerful vampire is like that, either through stealth or force. Being here, in the proximity of similarly powerful vampires, is worth more than being comfortable in New York if there’s even a small chance it’ll deter Lucia.”
“Honestly, that’s terrifying,” she said. “After that showing, I wouldn’t stake my life on King Adrius.” Strong or not, they were wandering quite far from his throne of shadows and stone. The foyer was still empty when they found it again, so they set down their supplies and waited.
“There are more Ancients here than him. I look forward to meeting my first Blood Prince,” he said, taking the moment to draw her close. She sank into his embrace and the safety of his warmth, his lips the only promise of protection she wished she needed.
That was how their first Blood Prince found them. A throat was politely cleared from someone who’d entered the palace on cat-silent feet. Violet jumped in surprise at his seemingly sudden appearance. “Are you Prince Mender?” she asked, blushing as she parted from Alex save for an arm around him.
The man before them was slender and stately, dressed in a fine suit tailored to his narrow frame. He inclined his head, a tentative smile at his lips. The only hint to his age were his maroon eyes, piercing and intense in a way she’d observed in the older vampires. His fair hair stood out in the darkness. “Call me Jaromir,” he said. There was a sigh in his voice, a weariness he didn’t wear outwardly. “Adrius has already shared his offer of sanctuary. If you would come with me.”
She shared a glance with Alex, who shrugged. They gathered up their equipment and followed him down a different wing of the palace. “I must apologize if Adrius gave you a poor first impression. It’s nice to see new faces. Perhaps you can tell us more of the outside world,” Jaromir said, his voice echoing strangely down the white stone hallway.
“Could you answer a question for me first?” Violet blurted.
“Of course, madam.” His courtesy reminded her of a butler of old, drawing out a smile. It was heartening to meet an Ancient vampire who was more open. They could learn more from this man.
“How do you know English?” she asked. It’d been bothering her ever since Adrius had opened his mouth.
“The first thing you should know of Nyixa is that it’s steeped in magic. Myself and my fellows all speak the language we are most comfortable with, but the magic translates it instantly to something you recognize.”
“Really?” she gasped. “That’s so cool.”
Jaromir stopped in front of a hallway that also smelled of cleaning products. He smiled politely, but his brows drew together in puzzlement. “Pardon?”
“It’s cool that magic can do that?” she tried again. Maybe the magic wasn’t working fully after all.
“Cool is slang. It means she admires the magic you just described,” Alex said, biting his lip to hold in a laugh.
She elbowed him. “Yeah, that’s what I meant.”
“Well, yes, it is quite admirable.” Jaromir gestured behind him. “This is the wing where I live with my fellow Blood Princes. It’s the safest place on the island. We are currently using paving stones for privacy.”
“When we get back to New York, remind me to buy these people the services of a carpenter,” Alex murmured to Violet. As described, each doorway they could see was either partially or completely obstructed by a block of white ston
e. Only vampires can live like this, she thought.
“Let’s just take them back right now and introduce them to technology,” she whispered back.
Alex shrugged in reply while Jaromir led them to an unoccupied room with a freshly uprooted stone taller than Violet at the ready to serve as their door. “It’s not much,” the Blood Prince said, shaking his head. “We’ll certainly know if you’re serious about needing protection if you stay.”
“Well, it’s from Lucia, so…” she drifted off, lips quirking. From what she could see of the room, it was blank stone, without a window-hole to the outside world. Like a tomb in the dark of this unnatural place. Trepidation itched her spine to even go in such a place.
“You have news of Lucia. We haven’t seen her since we woke up.”
“Must’ve bolted straight to New York then,” Alex remarked.
Jaromir blinked slowly, not comprehending. “A city you haven’t seen yet,” Alex supplied.
“I surmised from the context. However, she’s left the island?” He stepped forward, leaning in like it was vital information. Violet exchanged a puzzled glance with Alex, as it was apparent that Lucia had left the island long ago.
He said as much, drawing a curse from Jaromir. “It makes far more sense than her hiding on the island somewhere…but it shouldn’t be possible,” he said, shaking his head. “Nyixa is a magical island from another land. It needs a tether to stay here, and for many years, that was Lucia. If she leaves, or—as we’ve experienced—falls into a state of deep unconsciousness, the island will sink.”
“Maybe sinking the first time changed those rules,” Violet suggested.
“Hmm.” He eyed her more closely. “If anything, it proves how fickle magic truly is. The sun does not shine upon Nyixa, my new friends. More magic. But I can tell the end of our day comes to a close, so the other Blood Princes will be returning shortly. Before we retire, they should meet you.”
“Of course. I’m sure there will be questions on both sides,” she said.
“May we all come away enriched,” Jaromir said mildly.
Chapter 24
Alex
ALEX FELT LIKE a chihuahua in a dog park full of great danes as they sat in a semi-circle on unforgiving stone with some of the world’s most powerful vampires. Sure, he’d thought up until the moment of meeting them that he was a big dog, but now he saw how far he still had to go.
These men and one woman were the origins of the vampiric race, the pinnacles of power and fortitude. And being in the same room as them was nearly as unbearable as Adrius’s concentrated bitterness. There were no smiles or camaraderie, only sullen stares. Not that he could blame them, waking to an entirely new world after a betrayal and with more problems already afoot.
Five sets of haunted maroon eyes were fixed on him and Violet as they described why they were there. There were other Blood Princes, they’d shared. Prince Elandros, the Legion, had disappeared on the same eve as Lucia, and Prince Taryn, the Blade, was jailed somewhere for everyone’s safety. They hadn’t asked any questions of that.
“So, she’s figured out a way to leave,” said Prince Sirius, the Dawn, whom Alex had taken the keenest interest in. The eight main bloodlines of vampire kind were named after the Blood Princes, and he was primarily of the Dawn line. His inner beast cowed in his elder’s presence, recognizing a powerful and Ancient beast within Sirius.
Of all of them, Sirius was the most alert, his hands balled into fists at his side. He wore a workman’s overalls and heavy boots, modern clothing found or borrowed from the mortals somewhere on the island. They were at odds with the shaggy, dark hair he wore long and a well-groomed beard patterned with several intricate braids and knots from battles long-ago won.
Alex wondered uneasily what these Ancients had told those mortals and if their secrets would soon be outed since they hadn’t known better than to share. They’d discovered quickly that Nyixa was a dead zone for electronics. Any messages in and out of the island would have to be relayed when the sender was back with civilization. But if those messages were already en route…there was no way to stop them now.
Sirius shook his head with a frustrated growl. “She’s always ahead of us. We should’ve killed her while we could.”
“Gwendolyn squashed that plan, remember?” rumbled the big man to his side. Clearing nearly seven feet tall was the largest man in the room, Prince Korin, the Bane. He spoke with slow authority and gentle, languid motions, but Alex wasn’t fooled by the gentle giant act. Korin had all the muscle and easy menace as the ideal warrior of old. Considering he’d survived the war on the Fell species, he must’ve been deadly indeed.
“How could I forget?” Sirius bit off, his lips drawing back in a snarl that’d make Alex’s inner beast quake in fear. “We need a plan. A new plan. I’m sick and tired of cleaning and babysitting fat mortals.”
Violet covered her mouth to conceal a gasp while Alex understood the insult for what it was. In their time, a well-fed person like the modern mortal was a rarity. These people had so much to learn; he wondered how exactly to get them started. To drop a Blood Prince in the middle of New York would be to overwhelm them with noise, lights, and technology all at once. But that’s exactly what they might need to do so they could confront Lucia directly.
“Keep your head on your shoulders,” Jaromir said, raising a brow over at him. “Making decisions in anger will not improve our situation.”
“At least I want to make decisions.” Sirius crossed his arms. “Our glorious leader just wants us to rot away here.”
“So we appoint another leader.” Prince Qin, the Ascended, spoke. He was an East Asian man, his upturned eyes always roving. There was a calculating mind there. Unlike the others, Alex wasn’t convinced he was a warrior, but it may have been his easy smile and a body gone softer with what he’d assumed was a courtier’s life. He was constantly moving in some way, even if it were just with a white coin flipping through his fingers.
“He has a point,” Jaromir said, speaking quickly before Sirius could snap another biting response. His tone gentled. “We’ve done what we can for your brother. Almost no one remembers the king he used to be. We can honor his edicts, as we have by taking in the two people he’s offered sanctuary to, but we can also move on.”
The last Blood Prince, the woman, shook her head with a scowl biting into her face. She hadn’t said a word, not even in introduction, but Jaromir had told them she was Prince Neala, the Wraith. She was a redhead with a jagged, knife-cut, bowl hairstyle, doing more homely features no favors. Her face was marred by scars, the most prominent cutting the corner of her mouth and preventing her from making full expressions.
He wondered if she was about to speak or just let the men lead the conversation. There were obviously thoughts there and rage barely leashed behind eyes of flaming red. Apparently, he wasn’t the only one who noticed her gesture. “Yeah?” Sirius said, elbowing her. “Speak. I still cannot read minds.”
She flipped him a more universal gesture with a glare. “Fine. Just sit there then. Useless as Adrius,” Sirius muttered.
Jaromir sighed, sparing Alex and Violet a glance. “My friends have always been characters. I’m afraid our long rest has only brought out the worst in us.”
“That’s quite all right. I wouldn’t expect anything less,” he said.
“After the carpenter, maybe we could also hire a psychologist,” Violet suggested privately. She’d nestled herself in the crook of his arm for comfort.
Alex chuckled to himself. “Six. One for each Ancient here.”
They shared a tense smile, both as taut as bowstrings while they watched these Ancients interact. Neala in particular seemed like she was one bad comment away from snapping and punching someone in the face. He imagined she was only here out of formality for her status. He cleared his throat, nervous just to speak up to this group. “On the topic of plans, have you considered that Gwendolyn already has one?”
He immediately regretted mention
ing her. Only Jaromir really listened while four pairs of hostile eyes turned to him immediately. “No!” Sirius shouted, a fist thumping on the stone. “We’re not working with her. You’re lucky we even let her leave you here!”
Alex held up his palms. “Okay. Just saying.”
“I’ll lead us if I have to. But we’re not just going to sit around on our thumbs again. I’m done. I’m done with Adrius,” Sirius continued, his pupils mere slits, as if his inner beast was close to the surface.
“And maybe I’d listen to you if you stop yelling,” Korin complained in his slow roll of a voice. “You’re scaring them. Especially the Sorceress.”
To his credit, he seemed to listen, glancing toward Violet as he took a few deep breaths. “Maybe you two can give us more information about the outside world.”
Though Violet nodded, he was the one who spoke for them, explaining modern vampirism to an increasingly horrified audience. They questioned everything. The territorialism, the secrecy, the numbers. As he’d predicted, the numbers were the most shocking part, with an exponential rise in vampires for the boom of the mortal population they’d been absent for.
“Gwendolyn made us weak,” Sirius said at the end of it all. “Our blood runs thin. The young are barely vampires.”
“At least she has a handle on the Fell Madness,” Qin offered, smiling to himself when Sirius growled.
“Thank you, Elder Rehnquist. Perhaps we should retire,” Jaromir said loudly as Sirius raised a fist, looking like he was about to start shouting again.
“You retire. I’m going to plan,” Sirius muttered.
Jaromir rose to his feet with grace, offering a hand up to Qin. Everyone but Sirius and Korin stood, starting to leave the room. “Wow,” Violet sighed, clinging to Alex’s side as they headed for their room. The other Blood Princes retired to their own rooms, except for Jaromir.
Alex glanced over at him, raising a brow. “I have a favor to ask,” the Blood Prince said. When he gestured to go on, Jaromir spoke in his mind. “When you next see Gwendolyn, I wish to be present at the meeting as well.”
Dream Walker: Blood Legacy Series Book 1 Page 14