Chapter 10 Vesper
Vesper
Iwas getting antsy as the vampires started to fill the small space.
Our meeting place of the day was a random, seemingly abandoned bar on the edge of a desolate town on the outskirts of Atlas’s clan borders. It was run by a human, looked like it had had no customers for decades, and there was a special backroom that we used for this illicit meeting.
It smelled of stale beer and dust. My nose itched, and I fought to stop myself from sniffling. The tension rose as vampire after vampire ducked through the small doorway, their eyes always landing on me first, then Cedar, then Atlas.
Even though I was a vampire now, my training had me on edge and watching all of them on the off chance they’d attack.
My mind supplied me with some of the names and lineage, but mostly I had no idea who they were and how Atlas found them. The boarding school the hunter organization put us through had extensive backstories on the most prominent families, but we skipped over any they thought unnecessary.
My eyes shifted to Atlas, trying to use her as a gauge, but I couldn’t tell whether she actually liked any of them. They were all met with the same deadpan stare.
She was wound extra tight after the wedding. If I was being honest, we all were.
Aurelia had offered no explanation. She simply told us to trust her. Given that she had left in the middle of the night to pledge her allegiance to her brother, it was hard to.
But no matter how mad I was, my heart told me she wouldn’t tie herself to him. If anything, she may have been taken against her will and was trying to make sure we wouldn’t cause a scene and make it worse for her.
Maybe she’s protecting us. Anything made more sense than her wanting to go off and marry that random vampire.
Caspian Hart.
I tried to search my memory for him, but I was drawing a blank.
That’s what I get for focusing more on combat than history.
When the last vampire stood around the table, silence fell around us. The dim lighting hanging overhead flickered. Everyone looked to Atlas to speak, but she made no move to. It was too tense to sit. Too tense to talk.
Cedar was by my side, her arms crossed, staring down at the vampires across from us. I didn’t realize until that moment that she must be feeling very out of place. When one of them looked at her a little too long, I shifted so I was in front of her.
She caught my eye, and my mind went right back to the moment she woke up from her nightmare. That had been days ago, but she had one every night, and I hadn’t been able to wake her since.
It hurt to see her in pain, clinging to the pillow and calling out for her parents.
I tried to hold her. Shake her. Call her name. Nothing worked. I was even considering biting her if it would pull her from her nightmare.
It would go on for a while. Hours sometimes, constantly stuck in the dream. Sometimes, when I thought it was over, she’d just start breathing heavily again, her heartbeat would pick up, and it would resume.
She woke up exhausted the following day, and even when I probed, she didn’t want to talk about it. I knew it was about her parents, but I couldn’t help but think that the stress from everything that was happening only made it worse.
My eyes shot back to Atlas. Things were getting uncomfortable.
“What are we waiting for?” I hissed at her under my breath. Her arms were crossed, and she kept her eyes trained on the door.
She dressed surprisingly casually today. Her coat lacked the jewels she normally wore, and there wasn’t a strand of gold or silver in sight, but there was no mistaking the regal power she held over everyone in the room.
“One more,” she grumbled, not looking at me.
“While we wait, I believe there are other matters we need to discuss,” one of the older vampires said, his eyes traveling around the room. “The princess and her marriage.”
My invisible hackles raised when she mentioned Aurelia, my hand coming to my side only for me to realize that I didn’t have my sword or daggers with me. The council had taken them all away.
“I thought she would hold out,” another said with a huff. “But she kneeled to her brother’s whims, just like she did to her father’s. It complicates things.”
“Did you hear they already transferred three hundred vampires?” someone else asked. My fists balled, the urge to tear their throats out for even mentioning her threatening to overtake me.
“She’s actively making this harder for us. We should include what to do about her as a topic in this meetin—”
I opened my mouth to shut him up, but the door slammed open, and all words dried on my mouth.
“I didn’t know that I was such a hot topic in these parts.”
Aurelia stood there in an all-black dress that hugged her figure. Her dark brown hair was in waves around her, framing her face. Her eyes were turning red, the threat of her anger clear as day, lips a matching blood red, looking ready for us to ruin.
Notably, her husband was missing from her side.
An audible gasp filled the room.
She looked over every single vampire, almost as if she was forcing them to recognize her.
The power she held over them was greater than Atlas’s.
As soon as she stepped inside, all eyes were on her, and people turned their bodies so they were facing her.
She had this magnetic pull, and fuck, did it make me angry.
I held back after what the seer told me, though. I didn’t want to ruin this. I wanted to trust her.
But why the fuck did she have to go and get married like that?
No matter what anyone said about fixing fate and the prophecy, I just couldn’t get behind the fact that a random man was calling my bonded his wife.
“Great! Now, if we’re all done complaining, we can get down to the actual work.”
I shot Atlas a look, but she ignored me once again. She obviously knew Aurelia was coming but chose to keep it from Cedar and me.
“He’s getting stronger,” Aurelia said, addressing the room.
“I don’t know how, but I’m working on it.
I have people in the castle reporting his moves, but he rarely leaves.
Even so, it’s a notable difference from when he first took over, and even then he was able to kill my father without blinking an eye.
If we want to act, it needs to be soon.”
“What can we even do?” one of them asked.
“Right. We’re outnumbered. He has more guards at his disposal now that your husband gave him some,” someone spat. “Even if we gathered everyone we have, it still wouldn’t work.”
She let out a low growl. A zap of excitement went up my spine.
I had always loved the feisty version of her, but now that I was a vampire, it was even stronger. Like my feral side was reacting to hers.
“Even half of the original Castle guards would demolish all your clans combined,” she hissed. “We need people, but that’s only one aspect. We are missing power. A power that they don’t have. We need…”
Her eyes shot to Cedar. Oh no. I couldn’t help the growl that came from my chest.
“We need witches at our side.”
My eyes shot to our witch. She met Aurelia’s gaze head-on, not flinching. The tension skyrocketed, the two of them locked in an intense battle, neither wanting to be the first to give in.
I tried not to shift as heat curled in my belly. Seeing the two of them go against each other did something to me that I never expected. This was really not the time and place to get turned on, but here we were.
I missed them. I missed us. I wanted to push them both inside a room and f—
“So you’re here to order us around now?”
Aurelia’s lips quirked.
“Is that how this is reading to you, witch?”
The last word was spoken in a low, deadly tone.
My brat is coming out to play.
Judging from the electricity bouncing between them, I could tell they were both thinking of our time together at Atlas’s castle.
“She’s here to help,” Atlas hissed at Cedar.
I straightened up to my full height and turned to Atlas, giving her a warning glare. One she returned with even more venom.
“I think she’s asking for it instead,” Cedar said and crossed her arms over her chest, a cruel smirk spreading across her face. “Say it again, Princess.”
That smirk looked so unnatural. The witch I’d grown to love had never been cruel.
Is she mad?
My hand found hers, and she faltered just slightly.
“I am,” Aurelia said, not breaking character. “In order to bring him down. We all need to pitch in to do that. The prophecy warned us of this, or did you forget?”
At the mention of the prophecy, Cedar stiffened.
“I remember,” she spat. “But this won’t be easy, and I won’t be putting my—our—lives on the line without something in return. And I have a condition.”
Aurelia smiled. “Name it.”
“Out. Everyone.”
The vampires looked at each other at Cedar’s command. Then there was a small chuckle, no one even bothering to move a muscle.
I growled, not liking how they were belittling her.
“Surely it can be said in front of the whole group,” Aurelia offered.
But Cedar was the one smiling now.
“I’m calling in my favor, Princess.”