Chapter 31 #2
“The people I work for, the Authority, they are the ones who cursed Valeria and I. She probably told you that already, but you need to understand something, Levette; it is not that I do not try to save Ria, it is that I am incapable of doing so. They have control over my life and treat me like a puppet, a toy that they can play with until they are bored.” She licked the tips of her fangs, and I knew she was thinking of what it would feel like to use them on the men controlling her.
“Each time I try to interfere, every time Ria finds me and I try to prevent her death, it gets worse for us both. They add years to the time in between Ria coming back and do whatever they can to place obstacles in her way so that she cannot easily find me. And for me? No punishment is enough to break me or stop me from trying, but they are certainly creative in finding new ways to torture me.”
“Putain de merde!” I spat, running a hand through my hair. “There is no end? A way to break the curse?”
Lena leveled me with a stare that made me feel incredibly na?ve.
“You think I have not tried? Levette, I am the original vampyre. This curse started with me and is something I have never been able to break over hundreds of years. The Authority are cruel, evil people and if I am not careful, they will end Valeria’s existence entirely.
For right now, they believe the most wicked way to hurt me is to dangle a life with Ria in front of me before snatching her away. ”
I tilted my head as I looked at her with narrowed eyes. “Is it not?”
“Any time I have with Ria will never be punishment. It is the greatest blessing in my life. They think they can use her against me, but it is something they have been doing for centuries. I am not so easily broken.”
To have the person you loved most taken from you time and time again was an act of true evil.
They were monsters, toying with Lena for her entire existence for being a child that did not want to be controlled.
It was a level of unholiness, complete and utter immorality that I could not fathom.
I often viewed myself as a monster, but if I was a monster, what did that make them?
I could not help but picture Warren and imagine the devastation I would feel in my soul if he were to be taken from me in such a way. As much as it pained me, I would rather have him leave of his own volition than be stolen from me as a way to discipline me.
“There are no words that I can say that will mean anything, I know, but I am sorry for your pain, Magdalena. I am sorry that your love was turned into a weapon against you. You may be a pain in my ass, but I would never wish such a thing on anyone. You and Ria do not deserve to be pawns in a game of demons.”
Lena nodded and looked away, uncrossing and crossing her legs. If she had been the master of her own emotions, I knew she would have let those suppressed tears free, but Magdalena Vulpe was not ruled by her emotions.
“Why tell me?” I asked. It had been decades since I had first encountered Lena and thus started our tit-for-tat acquaintanceship, usually fueled by my anger towards her. In all that time, she had never dared to tell me anything willingly. I was curious as to what had changed.
“She died in my arms this time,” Lena admitted quietly, closing her eyes. “Whenever I close my eyes, I see her perfect face streaked with tears and contorted with pain. It haunts me each moment of every day.”
She opened her eyes and held out her hand to me.
I apprehensively took it, curling my fingers around her palm.
An onslaught of images filled my mind, hundreds of variations of Ria dead or in pain, Lena by her side and screaming her name.
I gasped as one final scene flashed in my head; Lena curled around Ria’s dying body, her tears falling on Ria’s pale skin.
Suddenly, metal chains were wrapped around her limbs, burning into her skin.
The Authority kept her strung up so she could watch as they ripped Ria apart before her eyes, feasting on her blood even after she was dead.
Lena let go of my hand, handing me a napkin to wipe my face. The things that those vile people had done to her, to Ria, was unimaginable. I had spent so long blaming Lena, and all the while she had been facing that devastation alone.
“Lena, I—”
“Please do not apologize. I do not need your pity. I showed you because I hate seeing you look at me like I am a monster, as though I do not love Valeria enough to save her.” She got to her feet, dusting herself off as though she was dirty from sharing her emotions.
“Ria loves you, and so I showed you so that you can truly understand what we have gone through. I will never stop fighting to find a way to end this, but for now, I can only count down the days until I see her again. Levette, never again will I allow you to blame me for her dying. I blame myself enough.”
I nodded, unable to find the words. I was sorry, not completely for my anger but for the fact that I had been blind enough not to see her pain. The situation was unbearable and I had contributed to making it worse.
“If I can help, if you ever need something…” My words seemed weak, pitiful in the grand scale of things. I was powerless against people like the Authority, and Lena knew it. Still, she attempted a half smile.
“All I can continue doing right now is my job. If you want to help, supply my ball with alcohol.”
“Very well.”
“Remember,” she said, lacing her voice with deadliness, “I will make the Authority look like timid house-pets if you dare to breathe a word of what I told you. Their time will come—but only when I decide.”
I rolled my eyes dramatically at her, trying to restore a sense of normalcy between us, even if her threat made my insides shrivel. “I know, Maggie. I heard you the first time.”
Lena made it to the door before looking back over her shoulder. “Will you come to the masquerade? I know you received your invitation.”
“Why?” I queried. Just because she had shared vulnerabilities with me did not mean a friendship had been formed, that much I knew.
“Because you need to save Warren, too. He is at war with himself, and I have exhausted all avenues of helping him. My last resort is you.” She sighed, opening the door. “You must remind him who he really is.”