The Vampire Gift 2: Kingdom of Ash (6 page)

I try to hide my surprise but the effort is wasted. A sharp intake of breath is all it takes for me to give myself away.

“Oh, yes,” she continues, keeping her head aimed at me, as if the velvet barrier is not even there. “I know how long you sought The Ancient yourself. But you never found him, did you, Smithson?”

“That’s enough,” I growl. My response to the initial query was all the evidence I needed of Victoria’s trickery. Usually, I’d have enough self-control to hold that intake of breath in. But she’d exerted her influence over me in the most subtle way possible, subtle enough that I didn’t notice. Had her attempt to control me been more overt, I could have barricaded my mind from it.

But Victoria is slippery. I’m more aware of that now.

“Is it now?” she wonders. “Look at where we are. Alone. Underground. I could kill you, hide your body, and run free in The Haven if I so wanted.”

“There are two hundred guards watching these corridors,” I bluff. “You wouldn’t get ten feet past the exit.”

She laughs again. “Two hundred guards? Is that supposed to impress me?” She lowers her voice. “I know it’s just you.”

“The silver addles your senses,” I tell her. But a bead of sweat trickles down my spine. “Your sense of the other vampires is inaccurate.”

“Are you saying that to convince me or to convince yourself?”

“Neither,” I tell her firmly. “I am simply stating it as irrefutable fact. Now come on,
princess
. I don’t care who you were in your other coven. Here, you’re a prisoner of my Queen, and you’d best remember that.”

“Or what?” she asks. “You’ll skewer me with your little sword?”

“Yes,” I grate, pressing it into her belly. “I’ll do exactly that.”

“I don’t think so,” she sighs. “You wouldn’t kill me.”

“And what makes you so confident?”

“Because of the link I have with your Queen’s most prized possession.”

Is she talking about…

“Eleira,” Victoria says. “My blood was the first she drank. It wasn’t from the vein, but from a chalice infused with magic. You kill me,” she laughs, “…and you write your own death sentence. Because if my link to the girl breaks, so will her mind. And we’ll see how well Morgan’s succession works then.”

I shake my head even though I know she cannot see me.

“You’re wrong,” I say. “The Queen has taken precautions. Eleira is at no risk. Besides, I don’t even know why I’m entertaining this conversation with you. So I won’t. Another word, and, link or no link, my sword goes through your pretty little heart.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” she hisses.

I grab the silver layer of her sack and pull it up to see her eyes. Burning pain shoots down my arm, but I force the sensation down completely.

“Just try me,” I snarl, so close to her that I can feel her breath on my face.

She looks into my eyes and sees that I am serious. We clash for a strong, silent moment.

Then she nods in final defeat.

As I lead her the rest of the way to her prison cell, I cannot do anything to stop the triumphant smile from spreading across my face.

Without knowing it, Victoria has just given me more information about the Queen’s succession plans than I could have hoped to discover by myself in an entire year.

All because she thinks my loyalty lies completely with The Haven’s monarch.

What a sweet, naïve little fool she is.

JAMES

“Mother,” I say grandly, stepping off the plane and placing my foot on the safe, familiar ground of The Haven. “Are these handcuffs really necessary for the triumphant return of your eldest son?”

I roll my shoulder and bring my bound arms forward. Mother’s eyes gloss over me, just as they’ve done so many countless times over the centuries.

Everything I’ve done and she still hates me,
I think.
Some things will never change.

For a long moment she considers my request. And then:

“Un-cuff him,” the Queen orders a member of her guard.

“And when did you find this one, I wonder?” I ask after my arms are free. He’s a fresh-faced vampire I’ve never seen before. I rub my wrists. “A castaway from one of the neighboring covens?”

“Easy,” Raul warns from my side.

I look at my younger brother, and then back at Morgan. “So,” I say, “Is it true? Did you really send Raul after me and threaten to kill Phillip if he failed to get Eleira back?”

Morgan doesn’t answer. Instead, she sweeps up right to me, and slaps me across the face.

My head snaps to the side. I scowl as I straighten and rub my cheek.

“I suppose there could be worse ways of greeting me,” I grumble.

“Be thankful I granted your first request,” she says. “It was not an act of mercy, nor do you deserve to be free. But you are right. A member of the royal family should not be held prisoner without trial.”

“Is
that
what you intend?” I can scarcely keep the incredulity from my voice. “You want to make an example of me? Just like you wanted to do of Patricia and Jacob?” I look at the rest of her guard.

I don’t see my friends in their numbers.

“Where’s Andrey?” I ask.

“Dead,” she says flatly.

The revelation staggers me. From the corner of my eye, I notice Raul stiffen.

“Along with three of those closest to him,” Morgan finishes. Her eyes swerve over me, searching for any emotion on my face.

I keep it locked inside. News of his death comes as a shock, but I cannot show it with the audience around us.

“It seems your rule is crumbling around you, Mother,” I say under my breath. “No wonder you went through such extremes to ensure Eleira’s arrival. But don’t worry,” I gesture back to the plane. “The girl is on there, stronger than even you could have envisioned her to become.
All thanks to me
.”

I take a bold step forward. If Morgan calls me on my bluff, I might suffer the consequences for decades… but if I can angle my perspective properly…

“I’d always intended to bring her back,” I announce grandly, so that all the vampires around me can hear. “I saw what Father has done in The Crypts. It’s quite extraordinary. You sent me there to destroy him—” Gasps sound from the vampires surrounding us. Usually they are not privy to the inner workings of the royal family, “—But I did you one better. I earned his
trust
. And with it, free passage in and out of the coven. He commands power such as you’ve never seen. It’s harnessed from the blood of The Ancient. Had you had just a little more patience, Mother, I could have brought you a vial of that vampire’s most powerful blood. I’m sure with your advanced witchcraft you could have made great use of it.”

I sigh and tilt my head to Raul. “But instead you send him to bring me back prematurely. I cannot fault my younger brother for listening to your command. I only wish you would have had the foresight to realize that all I did… was done for the good of The Haven.”

I stop talking and wait for her reaction. Tension rises in my body, but I do a great job masking it. I’ve laid it all out on the line: lie after lie after lie after lie.

Now we see if Mother takes the hook.

The silence stretches. I can tell Raul is eager to speak his bit. But I also know that he’s nearly as cunning as I am. He understands my gambit. He knows what I’m playing at.

Above all, he understands just how precarious our Mother is.

And because of that knowledge, I can rely on him to keep his mouth shut.

For now.

“Oh James,” the Queen says finally. “How I wish it was only
foresight
that I lacked.” Her voice takes on a mocking quality. “But the truth is, my son, it was my trust that you were misusing.”

She gives a sad smile. “And my trust that you will never have again, after insulting me with that barrage of untruths.”

She withdraws a whip from her sleeve and snaps it forward before I can react. The end coils around my neck.

Panic rushes through me.
It’s silver!

I try to grasp for the end but the pain that takes me is staggering. I fall to my knees. I try to fight, but it’s not just silver—the damn whip is infused with some sort of magic that makes it stronger. One of Mother’s accursed spells is augmenting the silver’s effects and making the anguish a thousand times worse.

“I sentence you to become one of The Convicted,” she announces. Her voice soars through the clearing as pure horror washes over me. “You will not see the moon or the stars again for as long as you linger. You will not have another taste of blood for the remainder of your existence. From this day on, I disown you as my eldest son. From this day on, I have only two male heirs—and I will treasure them for all they’re worth, because neither has ever dreamed of going against me as flamboyantly as you have.

“Your imprisonment will begin the day after the next Hunt. I want you to see what you’ll be missing—what you will never again have access to.”

“Mother!” Raul exclaims. His voice is filled with urgency. “You can’t! Think of the consequences. You mustn’t—”

Through the shock of her pronouncement, through the pain lashing through my body, I still find the ability
to be astounded that Raul would stand up for me.

“You have
no right
to speak to me!” Morgan shrieks. She’s suddenly hysterical. “No right at all! My word is law! The sentence is final!”

Mother tugs on my chain. It drags me to her, making me feel pathetic as a bag of suet. I kick at the dirt and thrash against the onslaught of pain. But there’s nothing I can do to lessen it—nothing I can do to ease the horrid sensations raging through my body and mind.

“I’ll take him to the prison cells myself,” she says to the gathering. “And after… we will welcome our returned runaway, Eleira.”

ELEIRA

I’ve been on this plane for what feels like hours. I’ve been by myself after James left, waiting for Raul to return and bring me out.

I wonder what’s taking him so long. He was supposed to be quick. I can feel the presence of The Haven’s vampires surrounding the plane.

What will their reception of me be?
I wonder. Now that I’m one of them…

But I’m not. Not really. I’m removed from what they are because of how my transformation came about.

Because of how much stronger I am than any of them.

The trouble is that I don’t understand what that means for me now. Raul’s warning about the vampire hierarchy is something I took to heart. I’ve been thinking about it ever since.

If the Queen is out there, amongst the mass—as I know she is—then I’m stronger than her. Does that undermine her rule? Does that make me easier to
hate
?

I sit upright as I feel a vampire approaching. The cabin door opens.

Morgan steps inside.

She’s dressed in an extravagant red gown. It flows around her body and hugs her shape. The rubies around her neck remind me of the ones used in the chalice during the ritual in the Crypts that transformed me.

For some reason, she’s carrying a staff. She grips it hard, putting most of her weight on it as she walks.

It's made of black ivory and comes up just past her shoulder.  The top is carved into a menacing, snarling wolf's head.  Above it is a fat ruby that looks like a demon's eye. Dark imperfections run across the surface, giving both it and the staff the impression of great age and power.  At the opposite end is a speared tip with yet another, smaller, complementary jewel.  The edges of that look sharp as a huntsman's axe.

What happened to her?
I wonder.

Quietly, she closes the cabin door. The space inside immediately grows colder. She turns around and I gasp.

Her eyes are glowing.

An incandescent blue surrounds them. I have the faintest hint of a memory of that color. It was the same blue that exploded from out the witch’s cavern that I discovered as a little girl.

She steps toward me. For the briefest moment, her face looks tired and old. One more step, and the lines around her face disappear. She’s fresh
and young again, and none of the fatigue shows.

She gives me a smile full of secrets.

“You can see past the vampire mask,” she tells me. “It is both a gift and a curse. Only those who belong to the ancient witch bloodline have the ability.”

The blue glow fades. But the iciness in the cabin still remains.

I start to push myself up, but she stops me with a wave of her hand. “I should be deferring to you,” she acknowledges. “Of course, it would not do to have me admit that in the presence of others. A Queen has to rule, after all. Even in the face of an upstart young vampire such as you.”

She sits down across from me. “So,” she continues, “just so there’s no confusion. You are stronger than I. But your instincts are not honed enough for you to make use of that strength. If you let me, I will teach you to harness your powers. Both those granted to you as a witch—” she holds her hand out, and a small blue glowing orb appears in her palm, wreathed in flame, “and as a vampire.”

The orb vanishes. She turns her hand the other way and extends her claws.

“However,” her eyes flash, “should you refuse, you will find me an uncompromising adversary. You best me in pure strength, but I am superior in knowledge and experience. I am going to set out a series of rules for you—”

“Wait,” I say. She’s been talking to me as if I have a full understanding of what she wants, whereas in truth, I know nothing. “What about The Hunt? What are you going to do with me? Am I still going to be made prey?”

She laughs. “That? That was nothing. A test for my sons, all three of whom failed. You were never in any danger. I’d never let a vampire taste your blood.”

My eyes narrow. I don’t believe her. But I know better than to voice the doubts out loud.

“When you walk off this plane,” she says, “every vampire in The Haven will be in awe of your strength. They will hate you for it. They will whisper amongst themselves and say that your powers were stolen, not earned. They will be envious of the speed of your ascent. They will loathe you for your introduction into the royal family. But most of all—most of all—they will fear who you have the potential to become.