Chapter 29 #2
“But it’s someone you trusted.” Belladonna stroked the side of his face like a lover might.
“It has to be. I just need more time.” He didn’t meet her eyes, it was like he stared past her. I knew him well enough to tell that her touch was unwanted. My traitorous heart began to ache for him. I mustn’t feel sorry for him.
“My precious Vander. Can I trust you?” Belladonna stood and stared down at him. “We still need you on the inside.”
He nodded. “Yes, my queen. I’m a vampire. There’s nothing left for me there.”
Belladonna smiled. “Stand up, Vander.” The tension in his shoulders loosened and he rose up from bowing on the steps.
“Do you need a drink?” she asked. “I’m sure it’s difficult hiding your vampirism all the time.
You must be deprived even with a willing source.
She can’t be cut up and bandaged often. It would be suspicious. ”
He nodded but his eyes narrowed slightly. “Yes, a drink would be appreciated.” One of the wolves nudged his palm and he petted its head. “Hi, Dahlia.” The wolf stood and rubbed against his legs.
He reported to a wolf? I knew there was intelligence in those eyes. Belladonna or the twins must be able to get into the minds of these animals.
“Well, you don’t have to hide here. Go get one.” Belladonna looked up at me. Vander followed her gaze and finally saw me. I couldn’t read his face. He was stone. I stilled, swallowing the shot of fear rising in me.
A drink... from me.
With pleased smiles, Mars and Quinton looked at each other. “Yes, and why don’t we share also? She did smell delicious. I want a taste.”
Vander’s throat bobbed, but he ran a hand through his hair and gave a charming smile. “Since when do we share claimed sources?”
“Everyone shares with their kings when we want them to,” Quinton replied, dragging his tongue hungrily over his bottom lip.
Vander chuckled. “Of course I’m willing to share with my kings, but you don’t mind if I have a drink first, do you? It’s been a couple of days. I’m starting to feel agitated.”
Belladonna dropped into her throne and her wolves trotted up the steps to sit beside her. “I don’t know how you do it, Vander. You’re so unique.”
“Go ahead and have your fill first,” Mars said, while he and Quinton stepped past him. Side by side, they strutted in the direction of the main doors. “You work hard for us.”
The double doors were pulled open and the party guests slowly filed back into the room.
Vander kept his eyes on me as he hurried down the steps and to the chain on the wall that held up my cage.
With quick clinks of metal from above I was lowered closer and closer to the ground.
It stopped with just a few feet left to go.
A moment later he was in front of me with a key he must have gotten from the wall.
With a quiet click, the door creaked open, and he held his hand out to me. For the first time since he’d walked into this room he appeared broken, desperate. That arrogant swagger vanished like a whiff of smoke.
I stared at his waiting hand. I didn’t have another choice, but I didn’t want to touch him.
All the trust that had been built in our time together was gone in a single night.
It was one thing to find out he was a vampire turned against his will and loyal to LOA.
It was another thing entirely to know he worked for the twins and Belladonna.
A traitor.
And now he wanted to drink from me and share me with his kings? I couldn’t even look him in the eyes.
“Aesira,” he said softly. “Please. If you play along, I will take you out of here. Just know I may do and say some things you won’t understand.”
I rubbed my hands down my face, shaking my head. I couldn’t believe how fast everything had changed. I felt like I was still in a nightmare waiting to wake. Drawing in breath was harder by the moment.
“Play along as your pet?” I jerked on my collar. “Like a dog?”
His eyes were glassy. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “That’s how they think of people who aren’t vampires, but you need to act like you’re in love with me. You’re an assassin and they know how loyal assassins are, this is the only reason they would believe.”
I sneered at him. “In love with Vander the assassin or Vander the traitor?”
He winced and pressed his lips together. “Please. I promise to get you out if you listen to me. I promise to tell you everything.”
“As if I could believe you.” If his plan didn’t work, I would die.
If I stayed, I would die. After all the lies, could I even trust he wanted to get me out of here?
Was it even possible they would let me go?
I didn’t have any other idea how to escape this tomb still breathing, so what choice did I have other than to follow his lead like I had done since the day I met him?
His eyes softened, begging for the trust that was shattered.
Even if he was a traitor to LOA, I did believe he cared enough about me to save me if it was possible.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t be here now. Anger burned through my veins, but I finally took his hand.
His fingers tightened around mine. This was my only way out of here alive.
He helped me onto the glossy floor. The music started again.
A group of people carried Dravyn’s stone body away, and a few others mopped up the blood.
I folded my arms against a sudden chill and glanced around as more vampires filled the chamber.
Vander slipped off his long coat and put it around my shoulders. It smelled like the woods, like him.
The weight of it was comforting but my first instinct was to throw it back to him. I had to settle that and instead slipped my arms through the sleeves. I had to be compliant. Play along and maybe I would get to see another sunrise.
He took hold of my wrist, leaned close to my ear. I tried to pull away but he gripped harder. “She’s watching and is going to expect me to drink your blood in front of her. She’s testing me.”
“I don’t care,” I snapped. “I have never given you my blood. I don’t want to start now.”
“They don’t know that. And you will if you want to live,” he said through his teeth.
He tugged me along behind him, weaving through the throng of monsters.
They stared at us. Some whispered about Vander killing Dravyn without consequence.
Others wondered who I was and why I was important to him.
The way they spoke his name was almost in reverence, perhaps because he was a new daywalker, but there was an underlying unease.
They feared him, I realized. They moved back when he drew too close.
A hand brushed my arm and my skin crawled. I recoiled to find a man watching me as he licked his lips. The hunger in his eyes unsettled me enough that I inched to Vander’s side and grabbed onto his black tunic. He put his arm around my shoulders, holding me flush against him.
He guided me to the table where a tray of clean needles and tubes sat beside a dozen or more empty glass goblets. He pushed my sleeve back and took a deep breath. I lifted my gaze to his. I wanted him to look at me while he did this. It was his fault I was here and in this situation.
His blue eyes flicked back and forth. He looked more nervous than I felt.
“It will sting for a moment,” he murmured so quietly I barely heard him.
I gritted my teeth but nodded, telling myself yet again I had to do this to get out of this den of vampires.
He pushed the needle into the bend of my elbow.
I winced at the sting and looked away. A moment later, he twisted the tap and the sound of my blood trickling into the goblet made my stomach turn.
Oriana appeared, worry plastered all over her.
“Vander, what is going on?”
He turned a sharp eye on her. “I’ll deal with you later.”
“Vander,” she hissed. “You are acting irrationally. I can’t believe you killed Dravyn in the middle of the throne room. Have you lost your mind?”
“All vampires understand is violence.”
She glared at me. “And now you’ve made a thrall out of your LOA apprentice? They won’t let her leave here without turning her, and are you somehow going to make her a daywalker before me?”
“I told you I don’t remember how or who.”
“It’s probably Aunt Murial. You were always her favorite.”
Vander growled and bore his teeth—his fangs—at her.
She shook her head and put on a fake smile as she backed into the crowd.
The dancers swallowed her up and I lost sight of her.
I’d gathered pieces of Oriana’s story from what had been said tonight and it sounded like she willingly went with Dravyn.
Had she wanted to be turned? I was so disoriented, I didn’t know up from down.
Vander suddenly twisted the tap, cutting off the blood flow and gently pulled the needle. He immediately pressed a white bandage to the puncture. “Do you feel alright? Are you dizzy at all?”
I ground my teeth and shook my head. My mind was as sharp as it had ever been. I was surrounded by monsters that would kill me for my blood as sure as the sun would rise.
I couldn’t believe this was the same man who’d gently kissed me hours before. Who’d confessed his feelings for me. Who claimed to have chosen me. The man I’d fallen hard for.
“Shall I wrap the bandage for you, sir?”
I turned to the human man who’d spoken. He stood on the other side of the table, holding white medical tape in his hands. There were no chains on him. Did he volunteer to be here? Sickening.