League of Vampires Box Set: Books 1- 3

by Rye Brewer

  “Oh, not to worry. I’ve already obtained a host body.” Her tone was chilling. She lifted a hand to point to another corner of the room.

  For the first time, I was aware of a body slumped there.

  Chained to the wall.

  22

  Philippa

  I squinted to make out the body in the corner. There was enough light to make out the thick, heavy chains around the wrists and ankles. I could see arms, legs, and a head hanging low.

  A dark head.

  Then, slowly, the head lifted.

  I blinked hard, stunned.

  Then a shriek nearly tore me in two as I ran to Vance.

  Jonah tried to hold me back, but I shook him off and fell to my knees.

  “Vance! Oh, no! Not you!” I whirled on Nivia—the mirror image of my mother. “Let him go! Release him immediately! I will not allow this!”

  “That’s impossible,” she replied in the voice that was so not like Mom’s. “The chains are enchanted, so he cannot escape, and there is no way I’ll release him. He’s too important. I’ve already explained to you how important he is.”

  “No. This can’t be happening.” I looked at him again, sure my heart was breaking.

  Not Vance.

  I wouldn’t watch him being forced into something against his will. Just seeing him looking so pathetic, chained to a wall, made me want to tear Nivia’s throat out.

  “Vance?” I reached for him. My hands ached to touch him. How could I ever have hated him? Was I insane?

  He glanced around. When he laid eyes on Fane, they went wide with surprise. Then, he saw me.

  I expected him to be happy to see me.

  Instead, his eyes narrowed dangerously.

  “You? You’re with him? You did this to me!” His voice was weak, but there was enough power behind his words to chill me.

  “No! I didn’t do anything!”

  “You’re the only one I told about my mission. The only one. You never told me you were collaborating with Fane!” He almost spat his words at me.

  “I didn’t even know him yet! Vance, I swear, I didn’t betray you. I would never do that. Please, believe me.”

  I would’ve done anything to make him understand, but the anger in his eyes told me my words fell on deaf ears. He didn’t want to understand. I tried to put myself in his place—how would I feel if I were chained to a wall? Would I be reasonable?

  “So, this was your contact?” Jonah asked. “This is how you knew?”

  “You told them?” Vance asked.

  Just when I thought he couldn’t sound more disgusted with me, he did.

  “I didn’t mention your name, as Jonah said. I never told them how I knew. But, Vance—”

  “Don’t bother trying to explain. I have bigger problems right now.”

  “Enough.” Nivia’s voice cut through the air like a knife. “I’ve waited too long for this. Valerius has as well.”

  “No!” I jumped to my feet. “Don’t do this!” I turned to Fane. “Please. Don’t let her do this.”

  Meanwhile, Nivia produced a bronze goblet inlaid with jewels, along with an old knife. Its handle was heavy, carved ivory. “Send your sons forward.”

  “Sons?” Vance asked, but I brushed it off.

  “Please, don’t let her,” I begged my father. “Please.”

  He hesitated then looked at the boys. They glanced at each other, and only someone who knew them the way I did would have noticed the tiny nod they exchanged.

  “No way,” Gage said. “You can’t make us do it.”

  “Maybe I can’t,” she said.

  Suddenly, both of them doubled over in pain. Their faces contorted in agony—meanwhile, even from a distance, I could see the brands growing bigger.

  Jonah yelled, and the veins on the side of his neck popped out as he went rigid all over.

  Gage dropped to his knees, rocking back and forth, gripping his arm.

  Anissa appeared stricken as she hovered over them. “Do something!” she shouted to no one in particular.

  I knew how she felt for once. I was totally helpless.

  “This can stop very easily.” Nivia’s words carried above the overlapping voices. “It doesn’t have to be this way. You can make the pain end right now.”

  I glanced at the Ancient, asleep, almost too weak to breathe. But he still had the ability to put my brothers in agony.

  How powerful would he be when he had his full strength?

  “It’s… killing me…” Jonah gasped.

  Anissa turned toward Fane.

  He was barely holding himself in check.

  “Make it stop, please!” Gage begged.

  I could just make out the sound of sizzling, and it turned my stomach.

  “It can stop easily,” Nivia almost shouted. “All you have to do is give me your blood.”

  Anissa bent over him. “Jonah, please. Give her what she wants!”

  I didn’t know what to think. They would use Vance. I looked down at him.

  He was still furious with me, though what was going on around him shook him up. He grimaced when Gage screamed in agony.

  It was a knife to my heart to hear him.

  “All right! Please, make it stop.” Jonah struggled to his feet and went to Nivia.

  Gage did, too.

  I knew it was the last thing they wanted to do, but they didn’t have a choice. I watched as Jonah took the knife from Nivia’s outstretched hand and sliced into his wrist.

  Gage did the same.

  They both held their wrists over the goblet. With the pain no longer an issue, they breathed easier.

  “That’s enough.” Nivia’s eyes were wide, and her nostrils flared as her chest heaved up and down. She had been waiting a long time to do this, and her excitement was obvious. I looked down at Vance again, and he stared up at me. I couldn’t imagine what would happen to him.

  Nivia raised her arms, along with the goblet, and chanted in a language I didn’t understand. Maybe it was from back in the time when she and Valerius were what they were before.

  We all watched, frozen.

  Once the chant ended, she bent to put the edge of the goblet to Valerius’s mouth.

  I gasped when the glowing began.

  It was almost blinding. It started at his mouth then ran over his face, down his neck, and through his body. His skin smoothed as his face filled out. He wasn’t gaunt anymore, or even old. The centuries fell away, and he became a rugged young man—though his hair was still long and white—a fae trait.

  Nivia let out a cry of joy.

  “Whoa,” Gage whispered, holding a cloth over his wrist to staunch the bleeding.

  It wouldn’t last long. We healed quickly.

  Nivia bent to stroke Valerius’s face. “My love. You’ve come back to me after all this time. Speak to me, please.”

  “I’m here.”

  Only the voice didn’t come from the body in the roots. I jumped up, away from Vance, when I realized the rumbling voice had come from him.

  It was like seeing Mom for the first time all over again. The body was Vance’s, even though the face looked slightly different. The features were the same, but the way he held his head wasn’t the same at all. He stood, and the shackles around his wrists and ankles released without his doing a thing.

  “No,” I whispered. “This isn’t real. This is impossible!” Rage boiled over as I threw myself at Nivia. “Get him out of Vance’s body! Now!”

  Fane caught me and pulled me away just before I had the chance to sink my claws into her.

  “Easy,” he said. “Don’t do something that will get you killed.”

  “But Vance!” I screamed. I struggled against his arms, but Fane was much stronger than me.

  Nivia’s expression didn’t change. She didn’t even flinch. “I can’t remove my love from this human body until I bring together a witch and a necromancer to reverse the spell.”

  I collapsed against Fane. It was too much to handle, all o
f it. Like a nightmare for the first time in all the years I had been a vampire. If I could still sleep, I would swear it was a terrible dream.

  “Do not lose sight of what is important,” Nivia said. “The body I’ve chosen for Valerius is the perfect vessel for the tasks ahead of him. Do not worry. I don’t care for this body at all.” She went to him, running a hand over Vance’s shoulder then down his arm.

  Bile rose in my throat.

  She smiled eerily. “I can be patient. So can Valerius.”

  Vance—no, Valerius—looked at her.

  “I liked your old self better,” he said in the unsettling voice that didn’t belong to Vance but was coming from his mouth. “I don’t know how I feel about this new body of yours.”

  “As long as it allows us to be together again, my love.”

  The two of them gazed adoringly at each other while the rest of us looked stunned, disgusted, or angry. An overwhelming aura of power surrounded them.

  Fane’s arms relaxed, and I broke free.

  I ran to the old body, the one Valerius had been trapped in for so long. It was still surrounded by roots.

  “Please, wake up!” I screamed. “Please, get out of Vance! Leave him alone! We’ll get you out of here so you can use this body instead!” I pulled at the roots, thinking I could break them, but they were stronger than steel.

  It didn’t matter, anyway. He never flinched.

  “He’s not in there,” Nivia called out. “Your words are wasted.”

  I turned to her with a snarl and flung myself at her. If I couldn’t hurt Valerius, I would hurt her. Before I could reach her, she held up a hand, and a force like a shockwave hit me and knocked me to the floor.

  “Fine! He can’t stop me, can he?” I scrambled to my feet and went back to the unresponsive body. I would show her how it felt to watch somebody she loved getting hurt.

  “You can’t!” she cried out. “If you harm his body, his soul can never re-enter!”

  That stopped me.

  “You’re lying,” I spat, claws raised. I couldn’t reach much, but I could reach his face if I needed to.

  “Philippa, stop this. What if she’s telling the truth?” Fane’s voice was low and soothing.

  He thought he could calm me down that way.

  All he did was stop me. I was not calmed.

  I couldn’t hurt Vance, either, as much as I wanted to. Anything to get the Ancient out of him. Where was Vance in there? His soul had to still be inside. He had to be aware of what was happening. Just thinking about it was excruciating.

  I stepped away from the roots. There was nothing I could do. I had to watch Vance being used.

  It seemed Allonic didn’t feel the same way. He pushed past me and attacked the root tomb.

  I had no idea he was so strong—his hands tore at the roots around Valerius’s throat and threw them in every direction.

  “Stop that! What are you doing?” Nivia screeched when Allonic’s fangs appeared.

  He plunged his head down to meet Valerius’s neck and started drinking.

  Everything happened at once after that.

  “No!” Vance roared. He clawed at Allonic, but couldn’t pry him away. “Get away from my body!”

  Nivia jumped on Allonic’s back to help. “Get off him! Stop this!”

  She and Vance attacked Allonic, who wouldn’t let go no matter how hard she kicked and he clawed.

  Gage and Jonah took hold of Vance, pried him away, and slammed him into the wall. He bounced back, hissing and snapping his jaws with his fangs extended.

  Gage swung at him and made contact with his jaw while Jonah went for his midsection. Vance laughed and threw them away from him. They hit the floor but leaped to their feet and attacked again.

  Vance flicked Gage from him like he’d flick a fly, but Jonah was stronger. He couldn’t shake him, so he did something else.

  Vance sank his fangs into Jonah’s neck. Jonah slammed his fists into Vance’s face and shoulders, but there was no freeing himself.

  “No!” Anissa screamed. She ran, jumped, and landed on Vance’s back.

  I wondered for just a split second what she could do to someone so strong before she slid the silver blade from her boot and plunged it into his back.

  Vance let go of Jonah, who slid unconscious to the floor.

  “Get it out!” he shrieked, but he couldn’t reach the blade—and even if he could, he couldn’t touch the silver handle without it burning him.

  I watched in horror as he started withering before my eyes—his face contorted into a mask of pain and horror, frozen that way, as a strange almost gray color started spreading over his skin.

  “What’s happening?” I realized he was petrifying, and it had something to do with the blade in his back.

  I reached for it before I could stop myself and closed my hand over the handle. The metal seared my skin, making me scream, but I still tried to hold on. Except, I couldn’t get a strong enough grip to pull the blade out. It was eating my skin away and not allowing me to keep a firm grasp on it.

  “Help him!” I shrieked at her. “Get it out!”

  She was on the floor with Jonah, cradling his head in her lap. He was still unconscious from the effects of being bled.

  “Forget it! I don’t care what happens to him!” She looked down at Jonah, stroking the hair back from his forehead.

  “No, no!” I took Vance’s face in my hands and wept as he turned to stone in front of me. Then I searched the room for Fane. “Make her help! Please!” I begged.

  In that moment, he was my father, and I was his little girl, and I was begging for him to help me.

  “What am I supposed to do?” He appeared completely out of his depth. “I can’t make her do anything!”

  Nivia’s roar of rage and terror when she stopped fighting Allonic long enough to see what was happening with Vance split the air in two. “This must not be!” she roared. “If he dies, Valerius dies with him! Lucian will be unstoppable!”

  Fane’s eyes met mine then darted down to Anissa. “Take out the blade. Please.”

  I was surprised when he said please, but it got through to her.

  She rested Jonah’s head on the floor with a heavy sigh and did as he’d asked, pulling the blade out and dropping it to the floor with a look of disgust on her face before going back to Jonah.

  His eyes opened, and he gazed up at her.

  Nivia went back to Allonic, who was still crouched over Valerius. “You must stop. Please. Before it’s too late!”

  Allonic rose with blood dripping from his lips.

  I wondered why he’d done it, but didn’t have time to think much about it since the petrification was reversing and Vance started sliding to the floor.

  I caught him and lowered him along with me, holding him tight. He was still in there somewhere. I knew it. I didn’t want to let him go.

  “Vance. Come back to me,” I whispered as I stroked his face with the backs of my fingers. “Please. I need you. Come back.”

  His eyes flickered open. For just the splittest of split seconds, he was Vance again.

  I knew him.

  Then, his expression shifted.

  “Nivia?” It was Valerius’s voice.

  I winced and looked away. He still wanted her.

  My love, calling for my mother. No, not my mother—a creature who was using my mother’s body.

  I let him go.

  Nivia didn’t hear him.

  Though Allonic had finished bleeding Valerius, she attacked him with claws bared.

  He ducked her swinging arms and picked up the blade Anissa had dropped to the floor. With one swift motion, he plunged it into Nivia’s chest.

  “No!” Four of us screamed at once.

  Seeing her… her body… getting stabbed… though it wasn’t her, it was still her. Just as seeing Vance with the blade in his back had been too much to take.

  Fane rushed to her and took her in his arms as her knees gave way. She scrambled to pull t
he blade out, but couldn’t.

  “Elena,” Fane said. His body shook. He stroked her face the way I had just stroked Vance’s.

  Seeing them together, even the way they were, was like going back in time. I had wished with all my heart to see them again. But not quite like this… Still, it was something.

  Jonah got up with Anissa’s help. “She’s not Elena. Remember that.” He touched Fane’s shoulder. “It’s not our mother. It’s not Elena.”

  “I know,” he muttered. But he wouldn’t let go of her as she sputtered and struggled.

  I was so busy watching I hadn’t noticed at first that Vance had gotten to his feet until he stumbled across the room. With a shredded piece of his shirt wrapped around his hand, he went straight to them and pulled the blade from Nivia’s chest.

  Then plunged it into Jonah’s back without a word.

  Fane let go of Nivia as he turned to Jonah.

  Vance caught her and lifted her in his arms.

  He was a blur as he coursed out of the chamber.

  23

  Philippa

  Anissa’s horrified scream rang through the chamber.

  Just the way Vance had, Jonah’s body started to petrify. It must’ve had something to do with where the blade had slid home—I’d never seen anything like it happen before.

  I struggled to my feet and went to him.

  Anissa pulled the blade from him, but it was too late. He was already dying.

  He dropped like a rock, frozen from the waist up.

  Anissa’s eyes were wild as she looked up at Allonic. “Help me!” she sobbed. “I can’t let him die!”

  “Give him your blood,” he ordered. “Quickly!”

  She reached into her boot for another blade and slid it across her wrist. Like magic, the thin red line pumped rich, red blood. She held it to his lips.

  She was defying league law. We all knew it. None of us said a word about it. As if I was going to criticize her for trying to save my brother’s life. Not a chance.

  At first, he didn’t move. The blood ran down his chin.

  “Drink!” she urged. “Come on! Drink!”

  His mouth moved. His throat worked. It was happening. He was drinking.