Chapter 11
Chapter
Eleven
Irolled all the parts of Grisela away from each other just in case, using the last of my magical strength to push them all into opposite ends of the cavern, then I turned around to find Donovan. I knew he was okay. A part of my attention would always be on him.
While I was pulling apart his former nanny, I heard his grunts and his curses; I knew the sound his dagger made when it sliced through flesh. Then, I recognized the sound of his quick breath as he panted, trying to catch it the second the fight was over.
Finally, when the pieces of Grisela were far away from each other, I let out a long, relieved breath and turned around.
Donovan was done, too. He walked towards me, an expression of triumph on his blazingly handsome face. “Chosen.” He caught me as I stumbled closer, my knees shaking too much to hold me up anymore. “You did it.”
I smiled up at him. “I did.” My smile faded. “And I’m sorry if you, uh, if you were fond of your nanny at some point in your life. Because she’s now in tiny pieces. Rest in pieces, Grisela.”
Exhaustion made me ramble. It was lucky Donovan was holding me up, because otherwise I’d be lying next to Cecil on the ground.
“I am glad.” Donovan pressed his lips to mine, then drew back to look at my face. “Any love I had for Grisela vanished after she started trying to kill me every five minutes.”
“Oh. That’s good, I suppose.”
His gaze flicked towards the round scattered rocks that used to be Grisela. “Connor corrupted her, just like he corrupted my swordmaster and my mage tutor.” His brow furrowed. “To this day I am unsure how he did it. Trolls in particular are supposed to be unwaveringly loyal to their charges.”
“Connor was her charge, too. And he bound her with his corruption,” I mumbled.
“He talked them all into consuming the blood of innocent creatures so they could follow him into foreign realms, and that formed a bond of evil that you didn’t share because you didn’t have that corruption.
They were all bound to him in darkness. Or something like that,” I added lamely.
“Hmm.” He stroked my cheek with his thumb. “Perhaps you are right. Magical bonds are subtle and powerful. Maybe it is as simple as that.”
I was too exhausted to think about it anymore. Killing Grisela had almost wiped me out completely.
“Uh, Chosen?” Cecil wriggled on the floor a tiny bit. “Your Majesty? Could someone pick me up, please?”
The rogue vamps lay in pieces behind us. Jillian, her face spattered with blood, stood among them, panting. Her lip curled as she kicked a severed leg. “Assholes.”
She stalked towards us, and we turned to face the Ancients.
They stood in a line in front of the black marble table, facing us, deathly still. Kathryx held their spark stone in her hands. She bowed her head very slightly and kept her eyes to the ground. Her mouth opened, then shut again. She appeared to be finding it hard to choose the words to say.
They were probably telepathically arguing amongst themselves.
Finally, after mouthing like a beautiful blonde goldfish for another full minute, a word fell softly from her lips. “Sorry.”
My eyebrows rose. “Sorry?”
She inclined her head. “Yes.”
“For…?” I prompted.
There was another long silence. “We promised you no harm would come to you. We were confident our security could not be breached.” Her lips twisted for a second, and a flare of fury flashed in her eyes.
“And it was.” She clearly wasn't going to say it, so I would. A little lesson in humility would help them ensure that they weren’t so arrogant next time a genocidal maniac decided to attack them.
“An intruder hid amongst you, hiding in plain sight—probably for days. And some of your own people breached the security of your most sacred space to attack us, your guests.”
Her lips pouted, just a tiny bit. “Yes.”
“You were outplayed in your own realm. Outsmarted by a fae man, not a vampire. A fae who used your own people against you.”
Her pout deepened. “I suppose that is fair.”
“You didn’t allow for adequate defenses while you were energetically depleted, so you were left vulnerable after retrieving your stone.”
“That, too.”
“And you had no energy to defend yourselves from the attack. Grisela would have taken the stone, and the rogue vampires would have destroyed you. Game over,” I said, rubbing it in. “No more spark stone, no more Ancient vamps. No more… Fortnite.”
The boy Ancient glared at me.
Kathryx held up her hand. “We owe you a debt.”
“Damn right. You owe Jillian, too.” Might as well get on her good side. My accountant was good, but he wasn’t Jillian. If I could get on her books, I’d never have to worry about my finances ever again. “She brought me here, and she protected you with her life.”
“Her bravery will be rewarded. And as for yourself, you may call on us for a favor when you are in need. Call, and the Ancients will answer.”
“Cool.” A vampire army would definitely come in handy for the upcoming war.
“Just us twelve, though,” she clarified. “And Azraeel over there,” she said, pointing a long claw at the boy. “He’s not allowed out by himself after dark in the human realm, though. Social services have a whole file on him.”
I barely had the energy to shrug. “Okay.”
“Furthermore.” A crafty look came into her eye. “As a token of our appreciation, we would like you to close our spark stone.”
“Oh, come on,” I groaned. “I didn’t want to do it in the first place.”
“Consider it our gift to you,” she added loftily.
I sighed. These guys were unbelievable. I looked at the enormous glittering crystal in her hand and almost groaned again.
I was weak as a kitten, worn down to nothing, and still edgy about it giving me more power than I could handle.
Especially now, since I’d just managed to access my matter-manipulation magic and pull apart a full-grown troll.
All I wanted was to go home, have a bath, put a mud-mask on, and watch reruns of Buffy with Donovan until I got my equilibrium back.
No, maybe Charmed. I’d had enough of vampires for today.
The blonde Ancient carefully arranged her facial features as if she were commanding them one-by-one to behave. Eyebrows pinched together, lips slightly pouty, bottom one wobbling just a tiny bit. “Please?”
I was all groaned out. They’d learned their lesson. The vampires, in their arrogance, had grossly underestimated the danger that Connor presented. And they knew they were still vulnerable while their spark stone remained open.
“Fine,” I sighed. “Give it here.”
A blast of air rushed past me. Suddenly, the blonde vamp was standing in front of me, holding the blood-red crystal in her arms. She held it out to me.
I reached out and took it.
It tingled under my fingers, chilly but pleasantly so, as the tiny drop of vampire blood within me connected with the source of its magic.
The power within the stone reached up to meet me.
The distinct vampire magic coiled inside of it almost stole the breath from my lungs.
It was like putting out your hand to stroke a kitten and finding a black panther underneath your palm.
I greeted it silently. I’m sorry I gave your people a hard time.
It tingled lightly under my skin, speaking back to me without words, and I found I understood it perfectly. Our people. And they deserved it.
They did. A smile pulled at my lips. I agree. Power is worthless when you are careless with it, but I think they have learned their lesson.
The spark stone gave a distinct Count Dracula mwa mwa mwa vampire laugh. I made sure of that.
An image bloomed in my head—the blood red-stone nestled happily in the endless blackness of the pocket dimension, watching the circle of Ancients use every ounce of their strength to tug it out.
Aha. I understood. The stone had done it deliberately. They needed to be reminded. Arrogance breeds foolishness.
I nodded. Damn straight. That was smart.
“What is she doing?” I heard Jillian whisper from what felt like very far away in the distance.
“Shooting the breeze with your spark stone,” Cecil replied.
Jillian hissed softly. “She can do that? She can actually talk to our stones?”
“Yes. How do you think she asks them to close?”
“I don’t understand. I thought she could close them. That’s her magic. She manipulates matter. That’s the whole point of the Chosen One.”
“Yes, but it’s probably a lot easier for her if she just does her thing and asks the stones to close themselves.”
Jillian gave a huff. “This whole thing could have gone a lot smoother if she had just told the Ancients that in the first place.”
The stone purred. But then the lessons would not have been learned.
I almost rolled my eyes. These spark stones were insane. Like mini gods in solid form. But I kind of understood them—even the ones that hadn’t spoken directly to me like this one.
They weren’t just the essence of a realm’s magic.
They were the essence of their people themselves.
A symbol of their best traits that made them unique.
The berserker stone was all about rising to the challenge.
The brethren stone wanted everyone to do better and be better.
The elon fae stone sought the truth in all knowledge.
The siren stone… I couldn’t remember. Something about good hair and vocal fry, probably.
But this vampire stone was strong, wise, crafty and, to be honest, it had a bit of a superiority complex, too.
I held it closer to my chest. Thank you for my lesson. I understand now why I was so reluctant to close any more stones.
It preened smugly. You are welcome. And I will not gift you any of our magic if you do not wish me to.
I smiled down at it. I would appreciate that. Will you close, now?
It gave another mwa mwa mwa laugh, and I felt the magic begin to condense, to retreat further into the enormous stone.
The edges of the crystal hardened, becoming darker and darker—fresh blood, then cooled blood, then, finally, it turned the color of dark, old blood.
I felt the atoms move, and the magic crystalized in the core, behind an impenetrable hard layer.
It was done. The stone was closed.