Chapter 3 #2
My uncle strode down the same wide hall from yesterday and glanced over his shoulder at me. “By definition of death, yes, I suppose you are. Yet, what you’ve become is so much more.”
My jaw felt as if it dropped to the floor, and I briefly comprehended that my head no longer hurt from the multiple blows I’d suffered prior to the potion. My eyesight was sharp again too.
I stepped closer to him. “Can you undo it? Please? Can someone somewhere undo this?”
“No. No one has ever reversed the course once they’ve turned into a vampire.” His statement was said so matter-of-factly.
I somehow managed to contain my shock and growing fear, and a part of me was overwhelmingly relieved to know that I could still feel, even if it was terror. And I still remembered who I was and where I came from. I hadn’t changed completely, but I was also entirely different.
“Will I need to drink blood?” I could barely get the question out, but it was what Nathaniel had told me he’d learned of vampires, as repugnant as that was.
“Of course, you will,” my uncle replied, again in that very practical tone, as though he hadn’t just turned his niece into a horrific creature. “And if you asked that question, it seems you are more knowledgeable about vampires than I have given you credit for. Very good, Primelle.”
He led me to the stairway and traipsed down it, his steps light and buoyant. “And in case you’re wondering, you’ll no longer need to sleep unless you prefer it, and the urge to drink blood will at times feel uncontrollable, but you shall learn to control yourself.”
I barely felt the steps passing beneath my feet as I kept pace behind him. “What do you mean I won’t need to sleep?”
“Sleep isn’t required for vampires, although some choose to keep that habit. But now that you’re fully transformed, you’ll no longer need to sleep. However, if you choose to always stay awake, you’ll have to hide it lest others become suspicious of what you’ve become.”
“What?”
We reached the bottom of the stairs, and with a start, I realized we were back in the entryway, the same one that I’d been in yesterday, except instead of turning toward the library, my uncle led me down another hallway toward a corner door.
“After I give you your orders, you’ll be returning to Whiteolf under a glamour that you’ll continually need to replenish to hide your paler complexion.
You shall also always keep your fangs retracted, only letting them come forth when the need to feed arises.
And when you return, looking exactly as you always were, your Imperial Warrior will accompany you so as not to raise suspicion, and then you’ll carry on with my instructions. ”
My thoughts whirled as my uncle’s insidious plan fully took root. My uncle had indeed changed me into a vampire to control me, and he planned to send me back to Whiteolf to do who knew what. But if he thought a glamour could fool other fae, he was an absolute idiot.
I snorted angrily. “How do you expect that to work? My heart no longer beats! Everyone will eventually know.”
“True, very true,” he replied calmly. “But when anyone begins to suspect that, you shall enter their minds and erase all of their suspicions.”
My jaw dropped again, and genuine panic began to consume me, yet nothing inside reacted because I was technically dead.
The urge to collapse hit me so hard that my feet stumbled, but just as fast, I regained my footing because something inside me said that I must carry on. Arnel had commanded me to follow him. I must follow.
My stumble did little to slow me. I moved so easily now, so fluidly. Yet, I didn’t feel like me. Despite still having my emotions, I felt other.
My uncle opened the door in the corner, revealing a dark circular stairway that led downward, and it struck me again that nobody was about. No servants. No sounds. It was as if his entire castle was completely empty.
Don’t go. Resist him. Don’t go down there, Primelle!
I planted my feet to the floor, and Arnel began to descend.
Tension coiled around my muscles, my feet trying to lift.
No. Fight it. Don’t go.
But my foot lifted.
And I was following my treacherous uncle.
Stupid, betraying body!
Somehow, I managed to control my howl of fury and disbelief and bit out, “Doesn’t anyone work here? Why is nobody around?”
“I have staff, but they only come one day a week. I don’t like fae milling around my home, so, right now, no. The castle is empty save for my trusted followers.”
I seethed. “Trusted followers? Does anyone actually trust you?”
“I don’t like your tone, Primelle.” My uncle’s voice grew cold, commanding.
Guilt burned through me so hotly, and words tumbled from my lips instantly of their own accord.
“I apologize, Uncle. I truly don’t want to offend you.
” The remorseful statement left my lips before I even knew what I was saying, and strangely, I actually felt remorse, even though a second ago I’d felt nothing but burning frustration and roiling anger.
But now . . . I felt bad that I’d upset him. But I didn’t even like him.
I barely had time to process that before we were at the bottom of the stairs and entering the dungeon. My eyes widened. Six males and Tylen were there.
The males all stood to attention when my uncle entered, their gazes reverent, their auras filled with awe. But Tylen stared at him with hatred that rivaled my own.
My uncle stopped in front of them and clasped his hands behind his back. “Primelle, seize Tylen’s mind and erase all memories he has of me, my home, what he did here, and what he did to you. After that, make him sleep until you’ve taken him back to the sea.”
The second my uncle’s request left his lips, my magic rose, and it hit me just as fast that my magic no longer felt like mine.
Magic speared out of my body and shot straight for Tylen. It flowed like a river from me, shredding right through the Lochen fairy’s Shield as though it were tissue paper.
Tylen’s eyes widened briefly, alarm skating over his features, but I was already inside his head, already undoing every encounter he’d ever had with my uncle and me, and it didn’t even matter that I didn’t want to do this.
I rifled through his thoughts so easily, not even slowing.
Erase, erase, erase.
My uncle’s command held me in a chokehold, and shame washed through me that I was doing exactly what I’d always been taught not to do.
It didn’t even matter what Tylen had done to me.
Tylen might have assisted my uncle in turning me into a vampire, but the Lochen fairy was just as much a pawn in my uncle’s game as I was.
Every thought I erased from Tylen’s mind revealed my uncle’s coercion.
Every memory showed that Tylen had been forced to use his magic just as I was being forced right now.
All because Arnel had captured his young son and was holding him captive, only willing to release him if Tylen did as he instructed.
And with every second that passed, Tylen’s expression grew less and less aware.
He had no idea what I was doing to him.
Agony ripped apart whatever soul I had left. I was using my forbidden magic so easily, so carelessly. Before my eyes, the Lochen fairy’s eyes dimmed. Recognition no longer filled them. Nothing filled them at all as my immense magic ate away every part of him that recalled what my uncle had done.
And it didn’t even matter that I wanted to stop. Arnel had commanded me, and apparently, because he was my Maker, I couldn’t have stopped if my dead heart depended on it.
It wasn’t until everything in Tylen’s mind that involved me and Arnel was entirely gone that I receded. It was laughable how easy it was. Within minutes, I’d erased everything, and I’d done it as easily as breathing had once been.
My magic sucked back inside me, and Tylen slumped to the floor.
As commanded, I’d rendered him unconscious, similar to what I’d done to the would-be murderers the night Kole had saved the wildling mother and her babies all of those weeks ago when I’d been hunting the Wishing Stone.
And thinking of Kole, thinking of how he would react if he saw me now . . .
Shame flowed through me so hotly that it felt like a river of fire.
“I hate you,” I whispered, relief flowing through me that I could at least get those words out despite Arnel’s control of me and the vile urge I had inside me to please him.
But my uncle didn’t even glance my way, and I knew he didn’t care how much I despised him.
Because his attention had turned elsewhere.
I followed his line of sight and froze.
Royden stood tall and strong, his hands gripped around the cell caging him, his expression that of shock and anger as he and my uncle engaged in a staring match.
But while relief hit me that the Imperial Warrior was awake and appeared unharmed, my uncle’s next words had coldness flowing through me like an icy river.
Arnel waved a hand toward the Imperial Warrior.
“Primelle, your warrior’s next. Erase his memories of what truly happened here and create new memories that show his time here being nothing but boring and uneventful.
But leave him with a positive outlook on me.
He’s to do nothing but sing my praises.”
Come nightfall, I’d done everything my uncle had commanded of me.
I’d mistphased Tylen and his young son back to the sea, only after I’d also taken away the toddler’s memories too.
Even though I’d tried with everything I had not to harm the young child, I hadn’t been able to fight Arnel’s control.
I’d perhaps delayed my uncle’s commands by a few seconds, but that was it.
No matter how much willpower I put into not being his puppet, the puppet master so far had always won.
And when I’d stood on the Nelive Sea, a place that had previously brought me solitude with Kole at my side, bitter frustration and fury had filled me.
Even worse, as I’d stood alone and unguarded on the beach, and the opportunity to flee had been right in front of me, I hadn’t been able to escape.
I’d tried with everything I had to mistphase back to Whiteolf, but Arnel’s command to return to his castle the second I finished with the Lochen fae had fired inside me like a raging wildfire.
I’d let it burn. Fighting it. Hating it.
It’d given me a few more precious seconds to stand as rigidly as a stone wall while watching Tylen holding the hand of his young son as they transformed into their fish-like bodies, their legs morphing into a single, powerful tail.
Stars had shone in the sky, and moonlight had reflected off the water.
Tylen and his son splashed into the sea, swimming away.
They never once looked back at me because to both of them, I didn’t exist.
I wanted to swim away too. I wanted to hide myself amidst the waves and sea, but even though I managed one step into the cold, salty water, that was as far as I got.
Because my uncle had commanded me to return.
Magic rose up inside me, and the mistphase took hold of me.
In my next blink, I reappeared in Arnel’s castle, and my blast of mistphasing magic calmed.
And even though all three moons were high in the sky and the hour had grown late, I wasn’t tired.
I still felt energized, awake, alive . . . even though I was dead.
And I couldn’t even process that because the second I returned, my uncle was striding toward me.
“Primelle, I have something for you.”
Sobbing sounds reached my ears, coming from another room.
My brow furrowed. My senses had sharpened more and more as the day went on, and the heightened hearing was still something I was getting used to. So many sounds hit me at once that I winced.
“Come.” My uncle gave me his back, striding down his hall, and once again, I followed like a docile vox, perfectly trained and exceptionally obedient.
My uncle opened the door to a small sitting room, and before me was a young female. She was likely around my age, and her wide, tear-filled eyes lifted to mine.
“Who is she?” I asked as dread grew low and deep in my belly.
“She’s to be your first meal, Primelle. It’s important that you drink blood monthly.
Any less than that, and you’ll start to feel the effects.
Without blood, those around you will begin to notice a change in your health even if you keep your glamour constantly replenished and your vampiric scent hidden. ”
I stared at the female. The thought of drinking her blood should have brought a repugnant sense of disgust to me, but already, the thrum of her rapidly beating heart was pulling at me. Calling to me. It thrummed steadily in her chest, pattering away like a scared bird.
An ache pierced my gums. Fangs abruptly lengthened in my mouth, and a moment of surprise hit me. Tentatively, my tongue darted forward. A razor-sharp tooth nicked my tongue, and a trickle of my own blood filled my mouth, but just as fast, the wound sealed, as though I’d never been cut at all.
My mind raced, and I tried to recall if rapid healing was also a trait vampires had, but Nathaniel hadn’t mentioned anything about that, and the call of the female’s heart mesmerized me, halting any further reflections.
My eyesight sharpened, and my lips peeled back.
My uncle stepped closer to me, and my attention automatically shifted to him. I stood on the balls of my feet, my balance precise. Somehow, I knew if I wanted to, I would be able to cross the distance between the female and me in one pounce.
But my uncle had drawn near, and he wanted something.
My head angled toward him, moving at an unnatural speed. Something about him pulled at me, owned me, and no matter how hard I tried to fight it, I couldn’t.
He frowned. “In the other realm, it’s considered bad manners for a vampire to walk around with their fangs out, not to mention, it will draw attention to you, so you’re only to grow them when you’re feasting on a fairy’s blood, and you’re not to let anybody see you do so. Understood?”
I dipped my head and worked my jaw. It positively ached. “Yes, Uncle.”
“And you’re to control your movements when you’re around others. You’re not to move too fast or too slow, or in any way that conveys that you’re no longer fae. Understood?”
“Yes, Uncle.”
My uncle smirked. “Very good. That’s all for now, Niece. Now, you may enjoy your first meal.”