Chapter 30 #2
He knocks back the contents of his drink before placing the empty glass on the wooden table that sits between us and the Vancovas.
Vincent’s eyes scan me from head to toe, and the lust in his gaze cannot be missed.
He flicks out a tongue to wet his lips, and it sends memories of his warm breath against my ear, his mouth still hot with Jace’s blood.
“I have become quite fond of this one, gentlemen,” Karius says, breaking my train of thought. He inhales deeply against my hair.
“I can see why,” Vaughn says, sitting forward as he adjusts the bulge in his pants. Bile rises in my throat. Another sweep of Karius’s thumb steals my attention from the disgusting creature for a second.
“Did you know that I took her from Lissian Blackwood?”
The two men exchange wicked smiles, as though impressed by the entire thing.
“You should have seen it,” Karius continues. “He was very disappointed that I took his prize away from him. She was one of the most desired purebloods in Blackwood bloodhouse, but then you must know that, Vincent, since you were a regular patron there, were you not?”
Vincent smiles, his eyes coated with lust as the tips of his fangs peek from beneath his lips. Karius squeezes me against him tighter, but all I want to do is get out of this room and run away.
“I am a frequent patron indeed.”
Karius leans back in his chair, his thumb constantly sweeping up and down my skin. Anger sizzles inside as I fight the urge to enjoy how good it feels. He’s treating me like an object, like a possession, and the last thing I want to do in his presence is feel good.
“And I bet you got a good taste of this one, didn’t you?
” he says, sweeping my hair off my shoulder.
I recoil, anger seeping through me at the thought of what the hell he is doing.
Was this his plan all along—to use me to gain more vampires to renew their vows?
My temples start to pound as the blood in my veins begins to set ablaze.
I grit my teeth to control it. Fighting against my power’s need to take over. To hunt. To kill.
“I have indeed. She is one of a kind.” Vincent’s eyes darken as he speaks.
Karius laughs at this. His hand slides to my thigh, resting there, though it feels stiff.
“And what else have you done to her?”
Vincent looks up at Karius with glee, excited to have someone impressed by his depravity. His gaze falls briefly to the scar on my wrist, and instinctively, I cover it with my hand.
“I left her with a sweet little reminder of what happens when she forgets where she is on the hierarchy.” He gestures to my wrist with his head, and I feel Karius stiffen beneath me.
“As I thought.” His words are a harsh whisper. “Get up.”
His words are clipped, and all humor has died, confusing both me and Vincent.
Vincent tries to laugh it off. “Your Majest—”
“I said get up.”
Vincent’s face falls, and confusion widens his eyes. He looks from me to Karius as he slowly rises to stand.
“Kneel.” Karius’s voice is commanding, and the deathly tone leaves no room to deny the anger that lingers there.
“What is the meaning of this, Karius?” Vaughn interrupts.
“I said to fucking kneel.”
He ignores Vaughn as though the only people in the room are the three of us. Vincent hesitates a second too long, and without warning, shadows shoot from Karius’s hand, wrapping in a hold around Vincent’s throat. The dark mass drags him to the floor, his knees smashing against the hardwood.
Vaughn shoots out of his seat.
“You take another step, and I’ll kill you where you stand,” he warns, and Vaughn takes the threat seriously.
My heart races uncontrollably as the scene unfolds before me, and I sit not knowing what will happen next.
The shadows drag Vincent, his fingers clawing at the darkness in desperation, but he is no match for the overwhelming strength of Karius’s shadows.
His legs kick against the floor as he is pulled right in front of where we sit.
The dark tendrils lift him by his neck until he is in a kneeling position once again, and his eyes bulge as they flick from Karius to me.
Karius leans forward slowly, and though I cannot see his face, I know he is looking down at Vincent.
“Beg,” he sneers. “Beg her for your life.”
“Karius, this is insanity! You cannot expect him to do such a thing for a human.” Vaughn says the word human as if it’s something filthy—something to be looked down on.
Shadows suddenly surround his feet, and from them rise three shadow figures. He desperately tries to step back, lifting his hands to shield his face.
“Please, I’m sorry.”
“Speak again, and I will have them deliver you back in pieces to your estate.”
Vaughn nods incessantly, his eyes flicking between Karius and the shadows he commands. Coward. If this were Willow here, I would die a million times in her place.
The shadows squeezing Vincent’s throat fade away, and he falls forward at our feet as he gasps for air. He holds onto his neck, and tears fall in streams down his cheeks. He looks up at me wide-eyed and terrified.
“I’m sorry,” he says. His voice hoarse and croaky.
“For what?” Karius asks. His thumb has not stopped brushing against me this entire time, and I find a strange form of comfort in it.
“For burning you and threatening your life.” His eyes clasp onto me in desperation, and I almost feel sorry for him.
I do not. This is everything he deserves, Athriel hisses.
My eyes narrow as I remember Jace’s severed head at my feet and how he and his friends laughed, as if he were nothing—like his life meant nothing. And now he is the weak one, the one begging for his life from me.
“And for Jace?” I say, finally finding my voice.
Confusion washes over his face in waves.
“Who?”
Heat fills my face, and my head pounds like a drum at the revelation that he can’t even remember his name.
“The newblood you decapitated while making me watch,” I hiss.
Recollection fills his eyes, and I see that the idea of apologizing is so beneath him, but then his gaze flickers up to Karius’s again, and he remembers the situation he is in.
“For him too. I’m sorry.”
Liar, Athriel hisses. Filthy bloodsucking liar. He feels no remorse.
Athriel is right. He is only doing this because he is being forced.
If he weren’t, I have no doubt that he’d kill again.
He will taunt and torture more humans and think nothing of it.
He will take control of Vancova House, and the humans will be hurt in ways I cannot even begin to imagine.
He cannot be left alive to bring such horrors to life.
Kill! Kill! Kill!
Gods, I want to. I need to in order to silence the pounding inside my head. To cool my blood again and feel alive. He shouldn’t walk this earth while all the innocent victims that he has slaughtered had theirs cut short.
A soft touch on my leg reminds me where I am, drags me back to reality. The vampires who stand watching, they cannot know what I am, what I can do. I can’t use that weapon, so I use the only other one that I have.
“You’re not sorry,” I say. “You’re a monster.”
Vincent’s face contorts in anger, as if he knows what my words will cost him, and he decides to take his final chance. But before he can even lift off the ground, shadows erupt through his chest, forming the shape of a hand. It’s as if the entire world stops for a moment.
Vincent freezes, his mouth open wide, and his eyes fill with unshed tears.
His eyes fall to the shadowy hand holding his still-beating heart, clutched in its grasp as crimson red drips from its tendrils.
Vincent looks back up at Karius one last time before his body slumps to the floor with a thud as the shadows disappear.
His heart comes to a fall right beside him, his face still fixed in horror. A gasp comes from across the room.
“What have you done?” The words are a horrified whisper from Vaughn.
“What you should have done a long time ago,” Karius answers.
Vaughn lifts his eyes to him as if truly seeing him for the first time. Then they flicker between us.
“Why?” The words are genuine as he attempts to understand why a vampire would kill one of his own for a human.
“Because I can,” he says. “You all want a ruthless monster as your leader to ensure the strength of this court, well, now you have one.”
Silence passes between them for a long moment.
“I suggest you select your next heir more thoughtfully this time.” He raises his hand to the two guards, and they hurry to pick up Vincent’s lifeless body and heart, escorting them from the room in a blur.
The shadow figures surrounding Vaughn disperse into thick clouds that slowly make their way back to Karius.
Vaughn spares one last glance before he hurries from the room.
As soon as the door closes, I’m on my feet and putting distance between me and Karius. I turn to face him, but he has not moved from where he is seated. Our eyes meet in the silence, but his expression tells me nothing.
“You killed him.” I breathe, but he says nothing. His eyes flicker over me as if assessing my reaction.
He moves quickly from his seat and is in front of me in a second, the strands of my hair lifting from the force of the wind he produces. He slides a finger under my chin and tilts my head until I am looking up at him.
“Does that bother you?” he asks, and I’m surprised by the softness of his words. I shake my head slowly, my eyes not leaving his. Is that relief? “Then why are you looking at me like that, little witch?”
“The other nobles—”
“The other nobles respect a show of power. It’s how things are.”
“But Vancova's House will not renew their vows after this.”
A small smile fills his face.
“They will. Vaughn will be too afraid to gamble on another crown who may wish to go up against me. Fear has always kept him in line, and it always will.”
I step out of his touch so that I can think clearly.
“You should have told me what you had planned. I thought…”
His eyes narrow. “Thought what?”
“The things you were saying…bringing me in here with that monster…”
“You are always safe with me. I have no desire to hurt you.”
I snort.
“Only because you will die if you do.”
A serious expression fills his face. “The bond has nothing to do with it.”
“It has everything to do with it. You forget that I watched you slaughter a room full of purebloods.”
He blows out a breath before running a hand through his hair.
“They were not purebloods. They were impures.”
“I don’t understand.”
“That entire meeting was a setup, Adina. You were the only pureblood in there. That’s why I took you. I was curious.”
I shake my head. That doesn’t make sense… Amabel. She said she knew about Willow, that it was her idea. Did she set up the entire meeting to try to have him killed? I look up at him.
“And all the other humans you killed in the throne room the day I left the dungeons?”
“They were just corpses ready for the burn pit, designed to scare you. Evidently, it didn’t work.
You’re too stubborn for that.” He pauses.
“My brother was killed by humans, Adina. He and my father wanted to find a way for our two kinds to co-exist, and he went to a meeting to try and make that happen, but he was set up. They were working with impures, and they murdered him. It’s what started the war. ”
“I didn’t know that.”
“That’s intentional. Vampires have hidden this fact to stop others from discovering our weakness.
I hated humans for a long time. I’ve made many mistakes, but I still want to build the kind of world my brother dreamed of.
Once the blood vows are over, once I have secured their allegiance, then I will. I promise.”
He steps forward, his hand stretched out to cup my cheek, but I move away.
“I want that too, but you still agreed that we would work together. You can’t do things like this without telling me. I need to know what is happening if we are going to be allies.”
“You hid the fact that he hurt you,” he says.
“Because it doesn’t matte—”
“It matters to me,” he says softly. “Adina, I will burn this entire realm and every vampire in it to ash if they even think of harming you.”
“That’s the bond speaking.”
He shakes his head. “No, it’s not.”
He moves to take a step forward, but I raise a hand to stop him.
“Don’t.”
Before he can say another word, I bolt out of the room.
This is too much. The bond between us is clouding things and making us act foolishly.
He’s a vampire, and the more I learn that he may not be the monster I thought he was, the more my feelings and the bond get blurred.
And if I’m going to save Willow and make sure that Tori didn’t die in vain, I cannot allow him to cloud my judgment.
I will not allow myself to feel these things.
It goes against everything I have ever believed.
It’s a betrayal to every human who has ever died under the watch of a vampire, and I can’t carry the weight of that on my shoulders. I cannot be a traitor to my people.