Chapter 24 Aurelia
Aurelia
The Underground was a dark and dingy place that made my skin crawl.
It wasn’t accessible to most vampires since those here were on the rougher side. It was rumored to be filled with mostly criminals and rogues who were cast out from society and said to house some being hunted by the organization.
But luckily, thanks to my connections, I had found a way in.
Many feared the horrors that waited below. But I needed exactly that.
Adrian was about to be unleashed onto the world. The prophecy dictated that the Castle family needed to be ruined when the bloodline came to maturity, and the ceremony was only a day away. If I couldn't finish it, I was positive that a lot more horrors awaited us.
So, whatever was rumored to be in the Underground was probably the type of disturbing creatures I needed.
The real question was if they would want to work with me.
Thanks to Caspian, I had more than enough resources at my fingertips, but who knew what they would want? Or if they would even care?
“Who knew the Underground was actually underground?” I grumbled as I almost lost my footing on a loose rock.
This entrance was at the base of a mountain, likely an old mine shaft they had repurposed for their dealings. It was dusty and smelled like old blood.
I had left Vesper and Cedar at home, telling them I was going to meet Caspian, and gave them a task to find something in the palace. Since I didn't let Cedar go to the witches, we were running on the little information we knew.
And because we were assuming this had to be some type of witch ritual, I asked them to find runes. I wasn’t sure if they truly bought it, but it would at least give me some time. I needed to keep my feelings in check so as not to disclose anything through the bond.
I was starting to doubt if Adrian truly was using a witch ritual. Especially after what Solei said. But I didn't have time to entertain silly notions such as that.
I wrinkled my nose as I walked further in.
There were no lights, with likely all their people relying on their vampire senses to make it in safely.
“Sometimes the best disguises are the simplest ones.”
A voice came from the darkness. I squinted, but even my vampire sight felt useless here. I could make out their movements as they walked, but the darkness seemed to cling to them, creating a shadow of a person.
Then I smelled it. A pungent, burning smell of wood.
“I didn’t know they accepted witches,” I noted and tried not to freeze when the voice spoke right by my ear.
“We have creatures you never even thought walked this earth hidden away. But one thing’s for sure: we don’t accept your kind, Princess.” The voice was clearly feminine. Her hand reached out to touch me, and I turned to face her.
The sunlight coming from behind her blocked out the majority of her features, but I could make out the white-streaked short hair and glowing red eyes.
“You found this place, which means someone has a big mouth. Either they decided you needed our help, or they sent you as…” She was suddenly behind me again. “Bait. Which is it?”
“I’m surprised you don’t know. After all, you are the ruler of this place, are you not?” I asked, ignoring a shiver. “There is a thorn in my side, and I am in the process of getting rid of it. I came to inquire if the Underground would like a stake in it.”
The chuckle she let out had the smallest bit of fear spiking in my heart. She sounded almost as crazed as my brother.
I just hoped she was more willing to listen than him.
After all, she would get the most out of this.
“I never said I was the ruler,” she said.
“Don’t try to act modest now,” I answered with a smile.
She scoffed.
“We don’t want anything to do with the above-ground world. All you do is fight us. Harm us. Throw us away like trash.”
Her hatred feels real.
“I see you care for your people,” I told her as her magic surrounded us. It went around my arms. My legs. Throat. Then it squeezed. “I care for mine too, that’s why I’m doing this.”
“I don’t take kindly to liars. Try again.”
She squeezed harder, making it difficult to think through my panic.
“It’s truly a part of it,” I forced out, my hand coming to grasp at nothing.
“But not all,” she hissed. “One more time, try again.”
“For the people I love!” I said hastily. “For us. I want to end this prophecy and live the life we deserve.”
She let the words linger in the air as if tasting them.
“There it is,” she cooed. “The selfish princess. But still, the Underground wants no part in this—”
“I don’t want your people to get hurt. I don’t want any more lives lost. That is why I need you. Please. We have others. Royals. Hunters. Another witch. But numbers are everything. I’m… I’m calling a Royale.”
There was a pause, then she let out a booming laugh, her red glowing eyes coming up in front of me.
“A Royale? You against him? You’ll never win.”
The Royale was something only royal vampire siblings could call.
A duel to determine the rightful ruler of the throne.
It became more common after the fall of the hunters when the vampire population boomed.
Clans and royal families started producing heirs left and right, and when the time came for someone to sit on the throne, too many people wanted it.
They solved it in the simplest terms that would leave no question.
A fight to the death.
The last secret I am keeping from my lovers.
It was the only way I knew to get his defenses down. It would just be me and him.
“I won’t, which is why I’m recruiting.”
“And breaking the rules?” She pulled away with a raised brow. Her surprise must have made some of the magic disappear, as I was able to make out her scarred face.
“I either break the rules, get cast out, and win, or…”
My throat closed of its own accord. I had considered this possibility, but I was having a hard time saying it out loud.
“Or you die, and everyone else jumps in to avenge you. So sweet. Didn’t take you as a sacrificial lamb. Though you were the hottest gossip when you sold yourself to your husband.”
She turned her back on me. An insulting gesture that told me that, even with her back turned, I posed no threat to her.
“But that still doesn’t tell me what’s in it for us.”
“Land,” I said. “Inside a barrier where no one can find you. It must get stuffy here.”
If that piqued her interest, she didn’t show it.
“Last I checked, you weren’t in a position to offer Castle land.”
Nor would anything to do with Castle property appeal to them. Once a family was plunged into ruin, no one wanted the remnants for at least a millennium, for fear of what curses the land might hold.
“I’m not,” I admitted with a smirk. “My husband’s land. He’s terribly bored with the fortune his family left him and is willing to give it up.”
“The Hart family,” she mused. “He does have a good section, and it’s near the mountains, so we could extend our Underground there…” She rubbed her chin. “How much?”
My smirk widened.
“All of it.”
She froze and turned to me.
“You’re lying.”
I puffed my chest and put my hands on my hips.
“I know you can tell I’m not.” Or at least I think that’s what her freaky power does.
“And the people?” she asked, her voice coming quicker.
“Just like the Castle family, they will be let go and free to roam to whichever clan or family suits them.”
She let out a hum. “Maybe you’re not as cruel as the rumors have you out to be.”
“My people have suffered under my family, then were used by Prince Icas, only to now fall under the rule of my brother, who has been murdering them left and right. They deserve freedom.”
“I want them.”
My heart sank. My fists balled at my sides.
“No.”
Her smirk was so wide that I caught not one, but two of her shiny canines, giving her a total of four on each side.
I’ve never seen a vampire with a mutation like this. It scared me to think I had no idea of what type of creature I was dealing with.
“Even if it’s the difference between your life and death.”
“Even then,” I said and stood tall. My people were nonnegotiable. I might not be their princess anymore, but I would do what I could to help with their suffering.
She held my gaze before delivering another one of those skin-crawling laughs.
“I told you, Princess; we have other creatures in our depths and have no use for your kind. I just wanted to see your reaction. I will provide some of our strongest, but don’t expect an army.”
Relief washed through me. Even if I couldn’t win this… they could. It hurt to think of what would happen to Vesper and Cedar when I was gone. Especially when we had just been reunited again.
“My husband will see to the land. Show up tomorrow, and it’s yours.”
I walked past her, not willing to stay any longer in such a claustrophobic place. It felt like the walls might collapse on me.
“Just a warning, Princess. If we see this Royale going south, we are backing out. Silently and without warning. Even a whiff that it is doomed, and we are gone.”
“I would expect nothing less from a ruler who cares for their people,” I said and continued my exit.
“Good luck, Princess. If fate allows, maybe the world can finally see what true nightmares lie below the surface.”