10. Meanwhile…Far, Far Away…
Chapter ten
Cassius
Vesper was dead. Was it possible? Could it really be true? I’d felt our connection snap, as had we all, but Elias had insisted it was nothing. That he hadn’t felt anything, and Vesper would be back. Yet, we’d all watched our Maker crawl into his coffin, and he’d never risen.
As the setting of the sun brought me back to wakefulness, I hurried to bang open my own sleeping confinement. My brethren sucked, and I generally didn’t even try speaking with them since I knew they had no urge to interact with me, but this was too important. I didn’t want to miss a thing.
Like we’d all had the same thought, the clang of lids being thrown up echoed around the chamber. Elias was already standing near Vesper’s golden shrine.
Voices murmured around me. Some were excited that Vesper was dead, while others looked as though they dreaded the unknown. A new Master who we didn’t know. We didn’t know yet how cruel he was. If he lied, or if his words were true.
He said he wanted to be our friend, but could that be possible? Master Vesper had brought others, those he called his siblings, and they’d been as cruel as him.
“Elias, is Master Vesper really gone?” someone yelled.
“Lift the lid,” another said.
From where I stood, I could see the indecision on his face that he tried to mask with his cool tone. “I will not disturb our Master. I don’t know who that counterfeit was, but no one could take down Vesper. He’s the greatest in all vampire kind.”
Holy shit. I knew Elias’ nose had been buried up Vesper’s ass for as long as I’d known him, but was he for real? He’d really drank the Kool-Aid, apparently. More than I ever had.
As far as I knew, Vesper hadn’t asked for anyone’s consent before changing them. At least no one in our den. It might be different other places, but here, we were all prisoners and slaves to a madman.
I’d never been able to decide if the rest of them were just too scared to ever show their hatred for him, if they were scared of Elias hearing them and outing them to Vesper, or if I was in a den of Stepford Wives?
Maybe that was why I’d been different from the others.
I’d read the book and watched the movie before I’d been savagely yanked into the back row of my favorite movie theater.
My mom had been a kickass feminist, and I’d proudly been her son.
Pushing back thoughts of my mom—because no good could come from falling down that rabbit hole of depression—I tuned back into chants of, “Open it. Open it. Open it.”
Elias looked like he wanted to gut every person in the room, but he wouldn’t, couldn’t, do it. He came across as mean as a viper—or Vesper, if you will—but he was all bluster. His teeth might rend human flesh, but I had serious doubts about his skill level against the rest of us.
“Elias,” I said, softly, stepping out of the group and toward him.
The chanting went quiet.
“What do you want, Cassius? Know your place and get back in line.”
“I just wanted to suggest that it might be best to wake Master. I know why you don’t want to disturb him, but I think he’d thank you later. I can’t imagine he’d be okay with another vampire running around pretending to have killed him.”
Elias’ scowl turned victorious, like it had been his idea.
Whatever it took to get the lid off that damn coffin.
I knew that Vesper wasn’t there—had felt the connection snap and knew he was dead—but confirmation would be…
salvation. Motivation. The genuine rebirth we hadn’t experienced as one of Vesper’s vampires.
We were nothing but tools and bodies to him.
He stepped up the two stairs leading to Vesper’s resting place and threw open the lid triumphantly. The room went still, like we were all holding our breath, like we’d reverted to human and still needed air, but chose to forgo it to be present in this moment.
Elias’ shoulders slumped—just a fraction, for just a second—but that was enough for me. Vesper had been here. He’d been in that coffin. And now his body was gone. Our Creator was dead.
Turning to go back to my plain wooden box, all Vesper had ever given me for a coffin, all he’d ever given any of us, I saw the wariness on the faces around me. Glancing back over my shoulder, understanding washed over me as Elias stood on the top stair, glaring down at us like our Master used to.
This vampire, Lysandro Moretti, had slain our tormentor and freed us, but we weren’t free, not truly, because Elias had decided to take Vesper’s place.