Crouching behind a tree, he closed his eyes against the distracting shadows. Drawing upon the senses he’d honed during his hundred years of blindness, he was able to get a clearer picture of what was going on around him than if he had been using his broken eyes. His ears alerted him to the approach of the men, his nose picked up their scent long before they reached the crest of the hill. He was as still as stone as he listened and waited for the soldiers to move closer.
Then, as the men rounded the top of the hill, and all he knew was the darkness that the world had become, he slipped from behind the tree and descended upon the men like an avenging demon. Something he feared he might actually become. He felt dark enough to be one, felt hollow and hate filled enough to have come straight from the depths of hell. Even before he grabbed hold of the first soldier, he knew there would be no survivors.
As he drove the first soldier into the ground, he realized that he hadn’t slipped into the darkness that a demon would possess. He’d slipped into the darkness that the king possessed. What was inside of him now was what he’d often seen reflected in the eyes of his father. The worst part, he realized as he destroyed first one vampire, and then another, was that he didn’t care. He welcomed it, embraced it, and relished in the death around him as it briefly calmed his tormented spirit.
CHAPTER 5
“Aria?”
Aria roused herself from the dirt floor. It was filthy in here, dirty in ways that even the caves weren’t dirty. Her nose wrinkled, she tried to block out the scents around her, but it was impossible. She had lived in some pretty hideous places, been cramped and filthy and foul more times than she could count, but the smells here were some of the worst she’d ever encountered. The air was ripe with mildew, the copper tang of blood, body odor, human excrement, and fear.
It was the smell of fear that hung the heaviest in the cramped dungeons beneath the palace. She shoved herself into a sitting position as she strained to see the source of the voice through the darkness. “Aria?”
Aria’s legs shook as she climbed to her feet; her muscles were cramped from blood loss and being curled in on herself. Her hands were raised cautiously before her as she moved toward the bars trapping her within the small four by four prison. “Who’s there?” she asked softly.
There was a small exhalation, almost of relief. “It is you.”
Yes, it was her, or what was left of her anyway. She could feel blood trickling from Caleb’s vicious bite marks, but she didn’t even attempt to wipe the blood from her body. What had been such an intimate and bonding experience with Braith, had been twisted into something repugnant and cruel, something dirty and wrong and she couldn’t bring herself to touch the reminders of that. The taste of the king’s foul blood seemed to have been burned into her throat and seared onto her tongue. She believed Braith would come for her; she just wasn’t sure what he would find when he arrived. They were just getting started, she was certain of it.
She grasped hold of the bars as she fought against the overwhelming urge to simply curl into a ball and let it all go. Her middle finger protested the movement, but the king’s blood was already having a healing effect upon it.
“It’s Mary,” the voice responded.
Aria’s mind spun as she tried to place the woman, and then she recalled her. “Mary,” she breathed. She was amazed the woman was still alive as they’d been captured together; it was Mary’s son that Aria had allowed herself to be captured in place of.
“Yes. Yes, it’s me,” Mary said eagerly. Through the darkness she heard others moving about. She’d had only a brief glimpse of the other cells when she’d been pulled down here. She had no idea how many people were trapped with her, or who they were. “What are you doing here? The prince...”
Her voice trailed off; there was a small muttering amongst the darkness. Whispers floated over her. “We assumed he’d killed you.”
“No Caleb will wait…”
“Not that prince, the other one, the one that bought you.”
She was astounded by the insinuation. “Braith? Braith would never hurt me.”
“He hurt the others,” someone else whispered.
Aria shuddered as she rested her head against the bars. These people had seen Braith at his worst. They had witnessed his plunge into depravity and violence. She rubbed her chest over the place where her heart throbbed. What was he like now?
“Was it true then Aria, did you escape?”
“Yes,” she breathed.
There was a collective inhalation. “How?” A man asked hopefully.
“It’s a long story.”
“We have nothing but time in here.”
Aria released a humorless laugh. It was true, there was nowhere for any of them to go right now. She told them that Jack was the king’s son, and that he had chosen the rebel cause over the king. She told them how Jack had taken her from here the first time, but she didn’t reveal to them that it was her absence that had been the catalyst that sent Braith spiraling out of control.
“Will Jack come for you again?” Mary inquired hopefully.
Aria hesitated for a moment. “Braith will.” There was a collective inhalation as she continued to speak. “He’s not a monster.”
“Maybe he’s not as bad as his brother, but he is a monster.”
“He’s not a monster,” Aria insisted. “I know what he has done in the past, but…”
“You don’t know what he’s done,” Mary interrupted abruptly. “You weren’t here.”
“He told me what he did, and he is a good man.”
“He’s not a man Aria.”
No, he isn’t a man, she thought to herself. He’s a vampire and he’s wild, powerful, lethal, and he would come for her. She just wasn’t sure how much destruction he would wreak in the process. “He’s good Mary.”
“He sure didn’t act like it when he was pulling women from here.”
She didn’t like to think about what her absence had driven him to, but she had to acknowledge it. She’d had good reason to leave him. Her life had been in jeopardy, and he’d never told her about his fiancé, but she hadn’t spoken to him about leaving before actually making the decision to leave. It was her sudden disappearance that had driven him to do things he’d never done before.
“Many didn’t return,” Mary pressed.
Aria wanted to tell her to shut up; she didn’t want to hear anymore. She wasn’t a coward though, she’d never backed down from anything before, and she wasn’t about to start now. Braith had told her these things already, he’d tried to make her understand what he was capable of, but though she had acknowledged it she’d never truly realized what it entailed until now. He couldn’t go there again.
Dread trickled through her, she fought the urge to kick and scream and beg to be let out; she needed to get back to him before something terrible happened. She remained immobile though, her hands clenching around the bars as sweat trickled down her back. Humiliating herself down here wouldn’t do her any good. She’d plotted with Jack and Gideon to leave him, to move on when the war was over in the hopes that he would be able to keep control, but what if he didn’t?
She thought he might let her go if she asked him to, he would do anything he could to make her happy, but if she just up and left again with his brother, or if she died, he would lose it completely. His father had just forced his foul tasting blood into her, and yet she still felt the soul deep bond she had with Braith. He was inside of her, intrinsically engrained into each of her cells, and the very fabric of her being. The king’s blood, though inside her, was not a part of her, she could feel her body rejecting it, feel her cells struggling against the aberration in her system.
Braith was a part of her, he always would be. She was a fool and an idiot. Even if she left him, even if he succeeded in controlling himself, and ruling as he should, she would never be able to sever the bond between them no matter whose blood was forced into her system.
It took everything she had to keep breath
ing.
He was in her heart, in her soul, and there was no way she was going to just abandon him again. She didn’t know how Gideon and Jack would react to her new decision, and she honestly didn’t care. They would have to find another way. Braith would have to agree to try and change her, or perhaps she could simply live out her life with him, but not be accepted or acknowledged as his queen. It wasn’t a pleasant notion, and she didn’t even think she would be able to accept such a life, but she wasn’t going to be able to carry out the life that she’d plotted with Gideon and Jack.
“We’ve all made mistakes Mary. Braith will lead us to a better life though.”
“My mistakes didn’t involve me murdering someone,” another man sternly interjected.
Aria fought the urge to shy away from their resentment and condemnation, but if she survived any of this, then she was going to have to get used to antipathy from those around her. She gathered her strength as she pressed her forehead to the cool metal bars. She braced herself for their disapproval.
“His mistakes have made Braith who he is. They have made him a leader and they have made him strong. He will come here, and if he is successful, he will free us all.”
“And do what with us?” another woman asked. “Drain us dry like he did the others?”
“No he will give us freedom, real freedom. You can return home, or you can stay within the town, but no matter what you decide, it will be your choice to make.” There was a protracted moment of silence, of breaths held in hope and disbelief. Most everyone here had been a part of the rebellion. This was what they had been fighting and hoping for their entire lives. “He’ll do good, real good in this world,” she insisted. “My father believes in him.”
There was a shifting and then suddenly a hand seized hold of hers. Aria jumped and bit back a cry as the large hand wrapped around hers. It was a man’s hand, calloused and roughened from dirt and labor. “David trusts this creature?”
The creature comment irked her but she didn’t pursue it. There were some battles that weren’t worth fighting. “He does,” she confirmed as the man’s hand tightened around hers. “And so do I.”
“He bought you,” Mary whispered.
“He saved me,” Aria corrected.
“He didn’t save the others.”
“But he will save the ones that he can, now. I wouldn’t lie to you about this, I wouldn’t steer you down the wrong path, he is our future, our hope; you must trust me on this. How many are down here?”
“There were fifty-two of us, but Walt hasn’t returned since they pulled him up yesterday. There will soon be another auction; they usually run at least once a month, sometime’s more depending on the number of raids. There will probably be around another fifty people in here with us after that.” Aria’s skin crawled, it was awful enough down here now, never mind cramming another fifty people in. “Have you seen my son Aria? Have you seen John?”
It was the hope in Mary’s voice that pierced Aria’s morose thoughts. She would like to give Mary the answer she sought, but she couldn’t. “I’m sorry Mary, I haven’t.”
Aria’s hand was still wrapped within the man’s as she listened to Mary’s faint sobs. “I’ll find him,” Mary whispered. “If I somehow get out of this, I’ll find him.”
Aria tried to free her hand from the man next to her but he held on. “What of you Aria?” he inquired.
“What of me?” She was growing annoyed by the fact that he wouldn’t give her hand back to her.
“You really trust this creature?”
Aria frowned, his voice was familiar and for a moment she couldn’t place where she’d heard it before. Then she recalled her capture, her time within the holding pen before she’d been brought on stage to be auctioned off. There had been a man that had told her to be strong, and though she hadn’t seen him or known who he was, she recognized the voice now and knew it was the same man. “Completely.”
“It can’t be any worse than it is now,” the man murmured as he squeezed her hand again and released her.
Aria didn’t respond. She absently rubbed her wounded finger as she strained to see. She wished that she could part the shadows, rid the world of the darkness enshrouding it, but that was impossible. The darkness was absolute, complete, there was no parting it. There was no escaping it.
***
Braith moved through the trees with ease. He knelt at the edge of the tree line, his eyes closed as he opened his ears to listen to the sounds of the day. David and Daniel knelt beside him, Daniel unraveled the designs that he had illustrated and laid them out. Though he didn’t open his eyes to see the dark shadows of the drawings, he knew the boy was talented, he’d seen some of his other work. Daniel outlined the attack plan for the town with the ease and knowledge of someone far older than his twenty-one years.
“This area here is large enough for us to move everyone into the town without becoming hindered by the forest.” Braith kept his eyes closed as he felt the open space around him that Daniel described. The wind moved freely through the area as it was less crowded with trees and obstacles. “Setting fire as we go will confuse them and drive them from any hiding spots they may have. They won’t know what to expect from us.”
“So this is where we will split off from?” Xavier inquired.
“Yes, from what Braith has described the entrance to the tunnel is in this area of the woods.” Daniel’s fingers skimmed over the drawings causing them to rustle slightly. “If you split off from here you’ll be hidden within the forest until you reach the mountainside.”
“Are you sure the king doesn’t know about this tunnel?” Ashby inquired.
“I created it as an escape route from that man in case it became necessary. No one knows about that tunnel, except for me,” Braith told him.
“Must have taken awhile,” William muttered.
Braith shrugged, his fingers and muscles clenched at the mere thought of the king. “You do what is necessary, no matter what the cost,” he added bitterly. “I’ll take twenty in with me when we first enter.”
“You can’t go into that palace so unprotected,” Gideon protested.
“If I take more than that it will be impossible to move them through undetected.”
“The tunnel is our best advantage to get more men inside without being seen,” Gideon insisted.
“If they know we are inside they will make sure that they have Aria with them,” Braith growled.
“Braith…”
“No!” he barked. “No more arguments Gideon. This right here, this, is not a democracy! Not when it comes to her. I will go in there with only twenty. We will have one hour before others may follow, but I will have that hour to try and locate her first. When the others enter they can make their way to the main gate, but I will remain inside until I find her.”
“Can we take all of the troops through the tunnel?” Frank inquired.
“No, there’s not enough room to maneuver that many men through undetected. They would discover us and we would be trapped, pinned down by the king’s men if we try to move everyone inside the palace that way. It will be hard enough for the three hundred that enter behind us, but it will be doable.”
They uneasily shuffled around him. “It’s a solid plan,” Ashby finally agreed.
Braith listened as Daniel rolled the designs back up and tucked them into his shirt. “Of course it is.”
Braith normally would have felt some amusement over Daniel’s self assured response, but he was incapable of feeling such a thing right now. He rose to his feet and rolled his aching shoulders as he tried to ease some of the tension within them. “When will we be ready?”
“Tomorrow, two days at the most. If we wait until nightfall there will be even less resistance,” Daniel answered hesitatingly.
Braith’s teeth clenched, his jaw throbbed from the pressure on it. Two days, it was far more time than he had expected. Two more days of Aria trapped in that palace, at the mercy of his father and brother. Taking d
own his father’s soldiers had assuaged some of his bloodlust and his craving for death, but it was coming back tenfold right now. It thrummed in his temples and pulsed through his body with every second that passed. “Two days it is,” he grated.
There was a collective exhalation of relief. He turned away from them and moved deeper into the woods. He had to get away from them. Rage was burning up his chest, surging up his throat, strangling him with its intensity. He moved through the trees that Aria loved so much, taking refuge in the forest that she cherished as he climbed the hill. He could almost feel her here, amongst them, laughing as she jumped from tree to tree and limb to limb.
He was thankful that most of their troops were still in the caves, he couldn’t deal with anyone else right now. Arriving at the top of the hill, he turned back toward the town and the palace. The shadows shifted and blurred before him but he could make out the silhouette of the king’s home. It wasn’t anger that tore through him now but a sense of loss so profound that it nearly drove him to his knees. He couldn’t think about what was being done to her, what she was going through because of him.
It had just been a simple mission, and he’d lost her. He’d let her down. He’d vowed to keep her safe and he’d failed miserably. Even if he did get her back, he didn’t know if he would ever be able to make up for the torture he was certain she was enduring. He shuddered as his hands fisted. “Focus,” he told himself firmly.
The only problem was that there was little to focus on besides her. It was why he’d come here. He couldn’t see the boards scattered about him, but he knew they were there. William, Daniel, David, Max and Jack had helped him to carry the wood here. Even Ashby, Gideon and Xavier had wandered to the clearing to see what it was that Braith had in mind for all the lumber.
“You can have mine,” Ashby had offered when Braith stated he planned to build a tree house.
Braith didn’t want the memories that came with Ashby’s though. He wanted something untainted by his father, something that was entirely for Aria, and he was going to build it for her. It was the only thing he could think of to do, the only thing that even remotely helped to ease some of the pent-up rage burning inside of him, besides killing. It would be hers alone when he finally had her back.