04 Silence (9 page)
Authors: Kailin Gow
Briony watched Elise go, blurring off from the room. She didn’t know whether that was a good thing or not. On the one hand, it got rid of a vampire who had already asked to taste her blood. On the other, it left her alone with Barron.
Barron smiled over at her. “I knew your mother quite
well,
you know.”
“How?” Briony asked.
“I watched her when she first entered Palisor from the mortal world. I thought she would be the one to help us.” Barron’s eyes clouded over. “She was your age, young, confident and very lovely. I see where you get your looks, Briony.”
Briony wasn’t sure that she wanted another vampire around her who spent his time complimenting her. Not when they invariably wanted something from her, at least.
Barron went on. “I thought I was the first one to see your mother come through the gate. When she came over, she was lost, and I helped her get her bearings. For a while, I was intoxicated by her, the
smell
of life, the feel of warmth on her skin. It made me remember what it was like to be human…so long ago before I found Palisor.”
“Shouldn’t finding Palisor make you want to forget everything about the mortal world?” Briony asked. “Isn’t that’s why you’re here?”
Barron smiled slowly, “On the contrary, I am like
all
the vampires who have made it through here – the old ones, the ancient ones. We yearn for this place so much so precisely because it offers us the ultimate gift, the ultimate power here in Palisor.”
Briony knew she had to ask. “What is that?”
“Life.” Barron said it simply, but Briony could hear the yearning in it. That was what the vampires wanted here? Just to be alive? To be human again?
“Don’t underestimate it,” Barron said, obviously reading her mind once more. “To become human again, to feel blood, our own blood, rushing through our veins again… there is something special to that, Briony. And we could achieve it so easily.” Barron moved so that he caught Briony’s chin, turning it up to look at him. “We simply need the scepter, and someone who is
still
human enough.”
“Which means I am the way to meet both of those needs,” Briony guessed.
Barron nodded, obviously pleased.
“Precisely.”
Briony laughed to herself.
“What is it?” Barron asked. “
You
’ll
have to think more clearly if you expect me to understand.”
That, Briony decided, could quickly get annoying. “It just occurred to me that Pietre and the others like him spend so much time trying to get here, thinking that it
will
make them more powerful vampires, and here you are saying that the big prize of Palisor is to be human once again.”
Barron shrugged. “Even among creatures as long lived as us, lore shifts and changes. Stories don’t say what they origina
lly
did. Meanings shift.
People mishear, or hear what they want to. I am sure you have seen it before.”
The stories about vampires and werewolves back home sprang to mind.
Still
Briony wanted to be clear. “So, if you get the scepter, you
will
turn back into mortals once again?”
Barron nodded. “Assuming that we have a human around so that the scepter can have a life essence to copy and give to us.”
“So why fight with the Hugtandalfers?”
Briony asked. “If you truly intend to become human again, then you don’t need to antagonize them or their king. Why steal me away like this? Why sneak into their castle?”
“Why not just ask for it?” Barron finished for her.
“Would you stop doing that?” Briony nodded though. “Yes. Why not just ask?”
Barron smiled once more. “If it helps, I am asking you, Briony. Help us.”
Briony thought about it for several seconds.
Her first instinct was not to trust this man. This vampire. For
all
that Barron had said, he had
still
kidnapped her. Yet, if
all
he wanted was to be human…
Briony nodded. “
All
right. I can find the scepter for you and perform this transformation There’s a price for it, though.”
“Name it,” Barron said.
“You don’t harm anyone else. I’m doing this to curtail a war.”
Barron’s smile became
brilliant
. “That’s exactly what I wanted to hear you say, Briony. I can accept your terms.”
“You
still
haven’t told me why you didn’t just ask King Waltham, though,” Briony pointed out.
“Surely he would have helped? I mean, why
wouldn’t
he and his people want to turn the vampires back into mortals?”
Barron’s eyes narrowed, and Briony knew that she had said the wrong thing. “Because we are evil, and you do not help evil things. That is what they
call
us, anyway. We are the ‘evil ones’, our corner of their world is the Dark Kingdom. They need to feel that they are good, and for that, they need someone to label as evil. It is the same in your world, though at least there, humans have a reason to fear those of us who have not shifted to more civilized means of feeding.”
“You sound like you hate King Waltham.”
“Hate?” Barron’s voice grew lower. “Hate can barely begin to describe what I feel for him. He hunts us down,
calling
us monsters. He has denied us our right to the scepter’s power. He has kept us from being… human again. To me,
he
is the monster.”
Barron seemed to make an effort then, composing his features. “And yet I
will
do what you asked, because I am not.”
Barron looked like he might say more, but he found himself interrupted by a sudden explosion of voices beyond the room. Barron winced.
“Someone you know?” Briony asked.
Vampires sauntered into the room. They
were not as
well
-dressed as Barron, favoring leather and furs, studs and spikes that made them seem somewhere between the goths back at school and the real life barbarians of that name. They were joking among themselves, laughing raucously as one of them with shoulder length white hair told a story of some kind.
“And then
I
’ll
probably start on the Hugtandalfer women and children. You know how delicious fear tastes in that last moment.”
“So you wouldn’t just rip out their throats, Marcus? Take the blood?”
“Why? If being here has shown us one thing, it’s that there are better things than blood. Oh,
we
’ll
probably have to
kill
a few quickly, but
it’s
better if we take our time. Especia
lly
if we want to do it publica
lly
, so that the other things that live here learn their place.”
“Marcus.” Barron managed to
fill
that one word with more disgust than he’d managed even when speaking about King Waltham. The white-haired vampire looked around,
falling
silent.
He was
tall
,
over six feet, which would probably have made him a giant of a man when he was alive, and every bit as handsome as Barron. In fact, the two looked so similar in their features that Briony knew they had to be brothers. When the newcomer’s gaze slid from Barron to her, Briony felt a shudder go through her. Briony could see in that moment
all
the things that this vampire wanted to do to her, and it made the charm of Barron in the past few moments melt away like mist. These vampires were every bit as bad as Pietre, if not worse.
“
Well,
well,
” the
tall
,
white-haired vampire said, stepping out of the group. “You’ve been holding out on us, brother mine. A human? And one so lovely…we haven’t seen a human for a long time.”
Barron glared back at the newcomer, his fangs extended. They were long, almost like a saber-tooth tiger’s. “Hold off, Marcus.
All
of you. She is Waltham’s daughter, heir to the throne of Palisor.”
“But she’s human,” Marcus pointed out.
One of his cronies appeared next to Briony with the speed of one of the old vampires, extending a hand out to touch her, almost as though he couldn’t believe there was a human in front of him. Or as if he simply couldn’t wait.
Barron was immediately at Briony’s side, his hand grabbing down on the other’s wrist with a crunch of bone. He pushed him back away from Briony, before reaching into his jacket and drawing out a stake. His arm blurred forward to impale the other vampire.
“I said hold off.”
Briony sat there in shocked silence at that.
Barron had just
killed
to protect her? Though from the looks that passed between him and his brother, there was no love lost there.
“No one touches her,” Barron repeated in a clear loud voice. “She is the heir to Palisor. She is human. She has the bloodline that
will
break the vampire’s curse.”
The white-haired vampire appeared in front of Briony, leaning down towards her. He kept an eye on Barron. “Don’t worry, I don’t plan to touch her, brother. Not yet.”
He stayed where he was, and Briony realized then that he was sniffing her, like an animal. He took a deep whiff of her and looked towards his brother once more. “She smel
ls
of human and Hugtandalfer both. Interesting. How, brother?”
Barron, Briony noticed, seemed to be on edge.
He clearly did not want to be saying any of this, but he did so anyway. “We underestimated Waltham, Marcus. He had more charm than us vampires, wooed the human woman who made it through the gate, and got her with child. Then, he hid the woman back in her mortal world where she raised the child as a human…
with no knowledge of Palisor, the Hugtandalfer people, or the scepter.”
Briony listened as intently as Marcus. Did everybody but her know about her past?
Barron continued. “Waltham took it further than that, though. He had his brother’s daughter help raise the child, training her to hunt and
kill
vampires, without magic or supernatural strength.”
Several of the other vampires grimaced as Barron said that.
Marcus laughed, his reddening eyes peering closer at Briony. “The pathetic specimens in her world, perhaps. Maybe even those fools who fol
low
you, brother.”
“Careful, Marcus.”
“But to suggest that
this
could hunt one of the true vampires here in Palisor?” Marcus leaned in so close to Briony that he could whisper directly into her ear. “You think vampires in your world are frightening? We are worse. I see you shuddering, little girl. I hear your heart grow faster and faster like a little bird’s. It would be so easy…so easy to squelch that. Hunter, ha.”
“Marcus,” Barron snapped, putting a hand on his brother’s arm,
“would you think for a minute?
Would you think about what this means?”
“Oh, I have thought, brother.” Marcus moved, twisting Barron around expertly, then putting his hands on either side of the vampire’s head. “And what I think is that, with this girl here, it is fina
lly
time to be rid of you. Goodbye, brother.”
Marcus twisted, and Briony heard the snap of breaking bone as Barron’s neck broke. Marcus caught the stake that dropped from his brother’s nerveless hands, and drove it up into his heart, pushing Barron away to die. In those last moments, Barron’s eyes reflected his shock, as he stared at Briony from the carpet until the familiar blue flames claimed his body.
Marcus turned around to look at Briony, tossing the stake aside. “Now,” he said, “where were we?”
Briony watched Barron’s
still
body for the seconds that it took for flames to consume it. She wasn’t entirely sure why she felt anything at that death; after
all,
he had been the vampire who ordered her kidnapped from her father’s castle. Yet she did. Briony couldn’t help thinking of the sheer waste of a life there.
She was actua
lly
starting to understand him, she thought.
Not to mention what it might mean for her own safety. Marcus was
still
staring down at her with pure malevolence, after
all,
while even most of the vampires in his group were looking at Briony like she was nothing more than an interesting diversion.
Something to be used up and then discarded. It wasn’t a thought Briony liked at
a
ll.
Even Pietre hadn’t
killed
quite so utterly without reason.
“You
killed
him,” Briony said. “You
killed
your own brother.”
Marcus shrugged. “You say that as though I should care, little human. Little
princess
.”
“He was your brother,” Briony insisted.
“He was weak!” Marcus moved to sit beside Briony on the red chaise lounge. He leant closer to her, one hand brushing Briony’s hair just barely. “
Shall
I
tell you
about the world we inhabited as humans, my brother and I? A world a thousand years before Rome was more than a cluster of houses? In that world, there was no room for the weak. It is a lesson my brother forgot.”
Briony shook her head.
“Oh, you don’t like that?” Marcus said. “It is true. Barron has been pushing his brand of weakness on us for years,
telling
us that we should hold ourselves back. That we should feed only on emotions and stay meek so that the Hugtandalfer would not hunt us down for taking their blood.” He stood, looking terrifying in his furs and leather. “
Well,
it stops today. We need to be strong.”
“For when you have the scepter?” Briony guessed.
“Ah, of course you would know about it.”
“I only know what Barron told me,” Briony said. “He told me what you wanted with it, nothing more.”
Marcus regarded Briony carefu
lly
, his hair
falling
across his eyes so that he looked even more barbaric than before. “You don’t know its location?”
Briony shook her head. “No. I swear.” She did her best to swal
low
her fear. “What do you plan to do with me?”
“Ah, what a question. What should I do with you?” Marcus was behind Briony then, his hand catching her hair,
pulling
her tight back against the chaise lounge. “Perhaps I should show you some of the things that my brother and I did with Roman matriarchs when that city fina
lly
fe
ll.
It would be a fitting tribute to his memory, don’t you think?”
Briony steeled herself, and did not respond.
“Such a brave one,” Marcus said, relaxing his grip just a little. “Trying to be, anyway. Your fear rea
lly
is delicious, girl.” Marcus laughed then, letting go of Briony completely. “If you are truly Waltham’s heir, then you
will
be of use to us. If not, then I
will
wring every last drop of fear and pleasure from your body before I ki
ll y
ou. I
will
take your blood too. Thanks to my blasted brother, I have had to restrain myself for far too long there.”
“What about us?” One of the other vampires asked.
“Oh,” Marcus said casua
lly
, as though it was nothing. “
You
’ll
all
get your turns with her. Besides, I know you, Tribrand.
You
’ll
be lapping up the waves of fear with the best of them while I feed.”
The other vampire shrugged. “Waste not, want not.”
“I
am
Waltham’s heir,” Briony said, trying to regain some control of the situation. “So, if you need the scepter, I can get that for you.
You
’ll
have to let me go to get it, though.”
“Do you think I’m stupid, girl?” Marcus demanded. “You just told me that Barron told you what we planned to do with the scepter. Do you rea
lly
think that I would believe Waltham’s heir would go along with that? It would go against everything Waltham stands for.”
“But we both want the same things,” Briony said. “I want to see peace among vampires and hugtandalfs, peace among vampires and humans. If it makes you human, the scepter
will
bring that, right?”
At the very least, Briony thought, it would do something to weaken this terrifying vampire to the point where he wouldn’t be such a threat. He would merely be a muscular man with a bad attitude and worse taste in clothes. If anything, Briony was even more
willing
to help make Marcus human than she had been to help his brother.
To Briony’s surprise, Marcus began to laugh. It was a
full
-throated laugh, the kind of laughter that Briony could imagine coming from some barbarian warlord on the demise of his enemies.
“Barron, Barron, Barron. My brother amused me so much, sometimes.”
“Perhaps you should have kept him alive then,” Briony suggested.
Marcus moved back around until he was in front of her, kneeling before Briony, just inches away from her. “Did I ask for your opinion? Such a naïve vampire
hunter
, and she thinks to
tell
me what to do.”
“I don’t understand,” Briony insisted. “Isn’t getting the scepter a way for vampires to return to being human? That’s what Barron told me. He said that he didn’t want to have to fight constantly. He didn’t want people to see him as a monster anymore.”
Marcus reached up to wipe the beginnings of a tear from Briony’s eye. “As I said, my brother was weak. He and those that fol
lowed
him might have wanted that, but no true vampire would. Why would any of us want to be mortal again? To grow old and die. Don’t be a fool.”
“Then what?” Briony asked.
“The scepter is power,” Marcus said.
“Generations of power. The power of each Hugtandalfer king and queen flows into it upon their death. Waltham’s
will
when we
kill
him. With it, I could do far better things than my brother imagined. I could open
all
of those irritating gates the Hugtandalfer insist on using, for one thing. My kind could come and go as they pleased. And of course, with so many new vampires flowing into Palisor, it would be easy to take control here. And the human world...
well,
that wouldn’t take very long at
a
ll.
”
Briony shuddered. “Conquest? Is that a
ll y
ou can think of?”
“What else is there?” Marcus laid the gentlest of kisses on her forehead. It was, Briony knew, nothing more than a way of showing that he could do whatever he wanted to her. “Ultimately, sweet human, everything comes down to it.”
Briony shook her head. “I don’t believe you.”
Marcus smiled, and as he did so, his fangs extended. They were as savage and long as his brother’s had been. “You
wi
ll.
”
Briony tried to fight him, but it was useless.
Marcus had her arms trapped in an instant, and her neck
pu
lled
taut a moment after that. He hesitated just a moment, with his fangs poised above Briony’s skin, and Briony knew that he was drinking in the too rapid flutter of her heart, savoring the raw fear like the finest of wines.
Then he bit her. It was savage. It was worse than savage. With every other vampire who had bitten her, there had been pleasure. Even with Pietre.
Marcus’ gift, however, was fear. Fear, and more fear, and more
still,
heaped upon itself so that Briony could only scream in mute terror as he drained her blood, utterly paralyzed with it.
Marcus’s mouth stayed on her, taking more and more blood, until Briony thought that he might have lost control, that he might actua
lly
kill
her with it. It was just one more thing to be terrified about. Traces of blackness began to appear on the outside of Briony’s vision, and she thought that she could feel her heart struggling to pump in her chest. A little more, and she was sure that she would die from it.
Marcus
pu
lled
back as though that was just what he was waiting for. He lowered Briony to the couch almost gently.
“Mmm. Of course, I could have done this without the blood, but why pass up the chance to taste such a rare type of blood? Human and Hugtandalfer both. Delicious.”
He left Briony there, sobbing in her fear, for several seconds.
“Hush. I won’t ki
ll y
ou yet, girl. I want you to get me the scepter, remember? You’re just drained to the point where we can be sure you won’t run off. Now,
tell
me where the scepter is, or as soon as you have regained a little of your strength, we
will
begin again.”
“I told you before,” Briony managed, the words coming out as a bare croak. “I don’t know where it is.”
“Liar!” Marcus leaned down until Briony was staring straight into his eyes. “You said before that you could get the scepter. How could you do that if you did not know where it was?” His breath, so soon after taking blood, was hot on her skin. “If you do not
tell
me, then I
will
drain you again, and again, and again
until
you
do. I can make you feel whatever I want while I do, girl. Did you like your little taste of fear?”
“P-please,” Briony heard herself beg. “I don’t know where it is. I rea
lly
don’t. I swear.”
Marcus stood, moving back to the other vampires. They looked strangely satisfied, and Briony realized that they had been feeding off the fear even as Marcus took her blood.
“I hope for your sake that you are lying to us, Briony,” Marcus said. “I rea
lly
do. Since you are part hugtandalf, it
will
not take you long to regenerate blood, so you
will
not die from this. I
will
not let you. I
will
take your blood
until
you
tell
me, and I
will
do worse things. Do you believe me, Briony?”
“Yes.” Briony had no trouble at
all
imagining
all
the things that Marcus might do to her. Every one of them made her shiver with fear. And there would be no hope of stopping him. Marcus was right about that.
Even strong, she would have stood next to no chance.
As weak as this,
all
Briony could do was suffer.
“I
will
be back in an hour or three,” Marcus promised, his fangs returning to normal. “We
will
see how you do then. With your Hugtandalfer side, I believe that
will
be enough time. When I come in, I
will
ask the location of the scepter exactly once. If you do not answer me…
well,
then I
will
get to taste your blood
all
over again. Think about it until then, Briony.”
With that, Marcus turned around, heading for the door without so much as a backwards glance at Briony. His vampires fol
lowed
in his wake, leaving her. Alone,
all
Briony could do was lie there, and shiver, and hope that something would happen in the next three hours. If it didn’t…
well,
she didn’t want to think about what would happen if it didn’t.