Blood Ties Page 17

  Lucidia nodded to him, and watched as Tycho walked out of the room, closing the front door and leaving them all in confused shambles.

  Lucidia

  It was Darian’s turn to go brood on the beach. Her eyes trailed over his form, his robes, standing in front of the dark ocean like Poseidon himself. Chadwick was still sulking in his lab, leaving just herself, Robin, and Reykon in the living room.

  “When is this gonna be over?” Lucidia muttered.

  Reykon let out a bitter laugh, shaking his head. “You say that like there was ever an end.”

  “You two were out,” she said. “You could have been out…”

  “And you’d be dead,” Reykon countered.

  Lucidia gave a shrug. “But-”

  “Don’t you dare,” Robin snapped. “Not after everything you did for me, don’t you even try to say that. Family is family, no matter where you’re from, and if I hear you even start that sentence again, I’ll beat you up myself.”

  Lucidia raised an eyebrow, a wide smile spreading on her lips. “Alright, then.”

  “That’s what I thought,” Robin muttered, pushing a hand through her thick blonde hair. “So, what happens next?”

  “Darian decides whether or not he wants our help, and we decide whether or not we want to give it to him,” Lucidia said.

  Robin’s eyebrows drew together. “Why wouldn’t he want our help?”

  “Vampires are chock full of pride,” Reykon said bitterly. “It’s one thing to admit to allowing strongblood protection, but another thing entirely to convince an army of vampires to fight alongside and even under creatures that they think are below them.”

  “You guys have some serious discrimination problems,” Robin scoffed, shaking her head.

  “Tell me about it,” Lucidia sighed, looking at her arms. “They might just execute us on spot for taking the bindings off.”

  “Nobody is executing anybody,” Robin said fiercely. “Not on my watch. I’ll go supernova if I need to.”

  Lucidia eyed her sister, studying Robin’s marks, her glowing skin, and her composure, oozing confidence and power. She still remembered the first time she saw Robin, briefly in the cabin in Colorado, a scared little girl being ganged up on by wolves, and then in Cain’s prison, terrified of the half-form vampire. Now, she was an entirely different person, marked by power and strength, nearly radiating it. “You’ve changed, Robin. And in a very, very good way.”

  “Yeah, well, being faced by death and passed between ultra-powerful dictators does that to you. I’m a little paranoid, I guess.”

  “It suits you,” Lucidia said with a smile.

  It was about an hour later when Darian walked back into the room, a solemn expression on his face. “Summon the caster, please,” he said softly.

  Lucidia saw Robin’s eyebrows quirk together. “He’s right over there. Go knock on the door.”

  Darian made no move, and Robin’s scowl deepened. “Chadwick!” she yelled, causing everybody in the room to draw in a sharp breath and turn to her. She just shrugged. “I told you to knock.”

  Chadwick opened the doors and walked over, arms crossed. “What?”

  “I am prepared to make you an offer,” he said. “All of you.”

  Chadwick raised an eyebrow. “I thought you were too concerned with my loyalties? After I saved your precious subject and didn’t kill you in your sleep, that is.”

  “You are running from the Legion, for reasons only partially known to me. In exchange for your services as a free and equal associate to my people, I will protect you from them, Chadwick.”

  “Equal?” Chadwick scoffed.

  Darian turned to Lucidia, Reykon, and Robin. “I have no interest in amassing enemies in times such as these. We have thousands of refugees living in House Albus, and thousands more in camps and shelters surrounding the stronghold. Satellite houses are filled with injured, with sick, and all of them need more help than we can give. My people are suffering, and their pain is on my conscience, and mine alone. In short,” he said, steepling his fingers and pressing them to his lips. “I am in need of help. I come to you all not as a vampire master, not as a being capable of forcing you to work for my cause, but as a friend. The past has been rife with conflict, some of it caused by me, but the future does not have to follow suit. If you choose to help me win this battle, when the fighting is over, I will allow every one of you to go, unharmed and unpursued, forgiven of any and all crimes, into the human world. You will be known as an ally to my people, and any harm that comes to you at the hands of vampires or their subjects will be treated as harm against myself.”

  Lucidia leaned forward, bracing her elbows on her knees, thinking about the implications of what he was saying, thinking about the vampires that she’d known and the life she’d been raised in. “Your acceptance is charming, but the others won’t go for it, Darian. The royals.”

  “I am the head of this house,” he muttered. “I am the storm breaker, the great navigator, Polaris in the dark… If I tell them that this is the way, they will follow me, or I will throw their dead weight from the side of the ship.”

  “What are you saying?” Robin asked.

  “I am saying that I offer you, a conduit, and them, unbound strongbloods, equal status in our world. Equal status to the vampires, and all the rights and privileges therein. You will not be bound by law or consequence. You will be free agents, masters, or representatives of your own races, cooperating with my kind for the good of us all. You will fight side by side my people, and when it is done, you will choose your paths, of your own volition.”

  Reykon’s eyebrows ticked together. “You’re asking us to risk our lives for you. To put ourselves directly in the line of fire, and make it known to every vampire that we’re freely unbound. I mean, Robin alone is a weapon to them. They’re not just going to ignore that.”

  “I am asking much of you, yes, and I have little to offer in return.”

  Robin was quiet, studying Darian’s face, until she stood and smoothed out her pants. “They’re exactly as afraid of unbound strongbloods as they are of me, and probably as afraid of us as we are of them. If we don’t do this, they’ll always be afraid of us, always trying to kill us, but if we join them for this one battle and fight, we have a chance to show them that we’re not just weapons, and that we’re not a threat to them.”

  Reykon glanced to her, a look of love and understanding passing between them. “You’re okay with this?”

  “We could have protection, Reykon. I mean, think about it.”

  He nodded, his eyebrows pulling together. “You’re sure about this?”

  “A sword can be used both in anger and self-defense,” she muttered, her crystal blue eyes snapping to Darian and then back to the strongbloods. “If we defend them when they did nothing but hunt us down, we’ll buy our freedom. We’ll be able to focus on the real threat: Xerxes. But nobody ever did well fighting a war with two fronts, and we’ve only made it this far by burying our heads in the sand while people out there are being ripped to shreds. Maybe it’s time to face the world and set the record straight.” The strongbloods nodded, considering the proposal, and Robin turned to her husband, looking at him earnestly. “Reykon, it’s ultimately your decision, and I stand by you no matter what you pick.”

  Reykon stood, nodding to Robin. “You’re right about the threat coming from both sides. It’s a smart move, so if you’re for it, I am too.”

  “Your sacrifice will not go unrewarded,” Darian said softly. “I am aware of the price this request carries.”

  “Well jeez, this got heavy. I guess I’ve got nothing better to do, now that my bachelor pad’s been blown to pieces,” Chadwick muttered bitterly. “What the heck? I’m in.”

  All eyes turned to Lucidia, and she knew it, too, her leg bouncing a hole in the floor as she considered what he was asking. “I cannot do this without you, Lucidia Draxos,” Darian said quietly.

  Her blazing purple eyes snapped to his, and she sa
w in them all the sorrow, all the regret, everything he’d done to both her and Kenzo. She saw the past, she saw the present decision, and she saw the future. If Fausta wasn’t stopped, she’d never see her father again. Darian would never pardon him, and he would remain disgraced, laughed at, rotting in prison. I’ll do it, she thought bitterly. But not for you. “I’ll fight with you, as an equal,” she said, rising slowly. “And when it’s done, both Kenzo and I will leave, together, free of any ties to you. These are my terms.”

  Indecision wrestled in Darian’s gaze for a moment before he nodded. “You and Kenzo will both choose your fates, when the battle is won.”

  A hush fell over the room, everybody in pensive silence, a tornado of buzzing emotions welling up inside of Lucidia. Hatred, love, nostalgia and bitter regret, all swirling together in storm clouds as dark as the ones that brewed outside.

  “So, what happens next?” Robin asked, rocking back and forth on her feet.

  Darian let out a slow exhale. “Now, we return to House Albus and introduce you to the rest of my subjects. After that, we will prepare for the ensuing battle and hope that it is enough to save us.”

  Chapter 9 Tested

  Megan

  The second Fausta strode into the room, Megan knew something was terribly, horribly wrong. The vampire queen had the same icy, determined look on her face, but this time it was hardened, carved out of stone, like a statue trying to mimic human emotions. Her burning red eyes flicked to Megan’s, sending a wave of prickly adrenaline into her. She didn’t know what was wrong, but she knew that it was severe, and from what Megan had observed, it took a lot to get under the vampire queen’s skin.

  “Come,” Fausta said, a little sharply.

  Fear spiked in her veins, her skin hot and itchy. Megan stood, walking quickly to the vampire, passing guard after guard, their red eyes watching her like vultures, ready to swoop in at any moment. Their steps echoed out across the cold stone stairs, down further, two floors, then three. At the last landing, Fausta paused, her head cocking to the side in a jerky, irritated motion. She drew in a sharp breath and then turned on Megan, closing the distance between them in a flash, the wind blasting her hair back. “I can hear your pulse quicken,” she warned. Megan’s chest clenched. She didn’t know what to say to that. She had no idea what angle to play, no Todd to help her find it, and an intense, paralyzing fear of lying to Fausta again, intentionally or otherwise. Fausta leaned in further. “Why do you fear me?”

  Megan drew in a small, gasping breath, shaking her head in a trembling motion. “I… I-”

  “Speak,” Fausta snapped.

  “You’re scaring me,” Megan whispered, her head lowering in an instinctive movement, like she was curling in on herself.

  “You have nothing to fear from me, so long as you are loyal to me and me alone,” she said. “This is the case, is it not, little wolf?”

  “Yes,” Megan gasped.

  “You would do anything for me?” the vampire asked, her red eyes flaring.

  Megan nodded, forcing herself to make eye contact. “Yes.”

  In an instant, Fausta’s hand wrapped around her head, resting on the column of her neck. Well, not resting. It was rigid, nearly trembling, as though she were trying not to break Megan, and it was nowhere near the soft brushes that the vampire normally gave her. Fausta tightened her grip slightly. “Even if what I asked of you was difficult, even if it felt impossible, you would do this for me because you trust me, yes?”

  “Yes, Mistress Fausta.”

  “Those who serve me will be rewarded in abundance, little wolf. The road ahead of us is one of peril and hard decisions, but the pain and suffering of today will bleed into tomorrow if it is allowed to go unchecked. Do you understand this?”

  Megan’s heartbeat soared in her chest, that sinking, crushing despair rolling over her. “Yes,” she whispered.

  “Not everybody agrees with my decision to bring your kind into our palace, among our ranks. If your people are to flourish here, to live, and to grow, to prosper, then action must be taken swiftly to correct injustices. This is the most important thing I can impart to you. Unrest breeds chaos and chaos breeds crime, and as the alpha, it will be your job to cut that violence out before it can poison the litter. I ask you once again, Megan, are you worthy of this task? Are you worthy of my trust?”

  Megan’s breath was like dry ice inside of her lungs, sharp, shooting pains each time she inhaled. Even in the face of such fear, her body knew what to do, and didn’t even think twice about nodding deeply. “Yes, Mistress Fausta. Always.” Every time she said it, the claim sounded a little better, came out a little easier, and grew a little more believable. Fausta gave a sharp nod, and then they were walking, down the remaining stairs, to the large marble room that unfurled before the doors to the grand hall. She could hear the rumblings of an anticipatory crowd, shaking the foundations even out in the chamber. Her mind tried to snap back into that horrible, horrible day, it kept ticking back to the sea of blood that lapped at the marble floor, and she pushed it back, focusing on the here and now.

  Memories couldn’t hurt her if she just kept outrunning them or drowning them. But the here and now, that could certainly kill her. One wrong move and she’d be on the other side of Fausta’s good graces. Failure was not an option. She felt that distance, that strange fuzziness that overcame her more and more in the face of the vampires and their sadistic whims. The distance was her friend. It was like her secret superpower, actually. It only happened at the precise moment that she needed it to, and just before the surge of emotion, of fear or terror or burning sorrow smacked into her, she’d feel that distance lift her up instead. Numb. Cold. Safe.

  And it made it easier to control her body. Now, as she approached the doors, she felt the fuzziness, the buzzing, start along her shoulders and move across her scalp, pulling her further and further away from the horrors that waited beyond those doors. Her shoulders straightened, the real Megan pulling this one like a puppet on strings, molding her exactly as she knew Fausta needed her to be. Confident, strong, and most importantly, not afraid. The massive doors parted for them, and Megan floated down the aisle, safe in her cocoon of distance, like she was watching herself in a dream. She paid no attention to the vampires and their high-necked black uniforms, their deep amber sashes. It was almost funny, up here, to watch them and pretend that they all had the same face or blur their faces out entirely. She’d watched a documentary once about trauma survivors, and distantly remembered the word dissociation. Yes, she knew it was dangerous. Yes, she knew it was a slippery slope. The narrators had painted it out to be a bad thing, but as far as Megan was concerned, it was the best thing her brain had ever done for her. They made it up to the throne area, and Fausta led Megan to her spot, at the left side of the throne. Megan stood where she was supposed to, her chin held high, her body unwavering, doing everything she could to make Fausta proud. To make Fausta content.

  The vampire’s razor-sharp nails clicked on the arm of the throne as she drummed them against the thick wood, breaking the unsettling silence that had fallen over the room, her vampire subjects staring at her like stone soldiers, carved, perfectly positioned. Just like you, Megan thought with a strange touch of amusement. She found a lot of things irrationally funny from up there, things that she knew shouldn’t be funny at all, but were so ridiculous that she was worried she’d accidentally laugh at them.

  “We are gathered here today in the midst of a great tragedy, and a great, great crime. One of our own has been viciously stolen from us, by the vermin who snarl and growl at us like rabid animals.”

  A wave of unrest ripped through the crowd, and Megan’s eyebrows crunched together slightly as she drifted closer to herself, trying to make sense of the situation.

  “But we do not let such crimes go unpunished. I promised you, all of you, that under my rule, vampires would come first. No longer do we cater to the humans, nor the corrupt vampire masters. No longer do we put the wellbeing of
others before our own.”

  A wave of applause rumbled out from the crowd, and Megan barely felt it against her feet, her bare soles.

  “Bring out the offender,” Fausta commanded, her voice like an axe in the air. Megan heard chains rattling, chains that reminded her of Magnus, and it wasn’t until her distant eyes fell on the figure in front of her that she was slammed back down into her body, a burst of fear driving through her mind.

  The prisoner was Clay.

  All of Fausta’s words crashed into Megan’s mind now, her warning, her promise of a reward for subservience. This was her fear, that being faced with Clay would prove her disloyalty to Fausta, or rather, her lack of complete loyalty. To the vampire queen, the two were one in the same.

  Megan’s mind screamed at her that it couldn’t be Clay, that he wouldn’t be stupid enough to kill a vampire, that he would have done the smart thing and pledged his loyalty, kept his head down, but even as she thought the words, she knew they weren’t true. She saw it in his eyes. Fight. Rebellion. Fire. He was nowhere near broken, and Fausta knew it. And it scared her.

  No, Megan thought in terror. No, no, no.

  “The guilty wolf stands before you!” Fausta announced, her voice like venom into the air, reaching higher and higher until it spread through every corner of the massive room. “But he is not mine to punish. This is the crime of a wolf, a race of creatures who are subservient to us. To me. And those who endanger the pack are not tolerated by their own kin.”

  Megan’s breath was coming in short pants as her eyes swiveled to Clay’s, finding his drilling into hers. She could feel everything now, every biting, sizzling nerve of fear that jumped underneath her skin, every sharp pang of terror that coursed through her chest. She was present, she was exposed, and without her numb detachment, she felt naked.

  “The sentence is mine to pass, but not mine to enforce. The wolves who show loyalty to us, who exist to serve and who deserve the benefits of their fealty will not be besmirched by one degenerate with no care for their place in the world.” Fausta thundered down the stairs, her cloak whipping behind her as she came down to Clay, chained between two brutish vampire guards. “I have given this much deliberation, filth. My first thought was a life for a life, to leave your mangled body hanging in the rafters of the prison for the other stubborn dogs to see. But I am a kind and compassionate mistress, and while your crimes are unforgivable, I think that given time, we can turn you into a common house pet just like the others. What better example to set for the rebels than to break their fearless leader?”