Stormy was tied to Azazel’s horse and was following diligently behind.
The scenery stretched upwards toward the crest of the mountain. The snow sparkled like diamonds. It was that cold. There was a part of him that didn’t care if he ever saw snow again.
Finally, they reached the top. Mathias felt like his skull was going to split in two. The pressure was that bad. Nossy had to be close, but where?
He peered down the other side of the mountain. Down in the valley, there was a huge castle. Its stone was completely black and polished. Now that was a possibility.
“What is that?” Mathias asked.
“Snegurochka Palace. Snow Queen Palace. The Russian stronghold of a very powerful witch. She hasn’t been on this side in some time,” Azazel said.
Mathias blinked so he could see better. The fact that Azazel suddenly knew what it was didn’t escape his notice, but he was more interested in the queen and what she had to do with Nossy. “Where is she?”
Azazel pointed downward with his finger.
“Did Lilith ever come here?” he asked. This was the sort of place he could imagine her living in. Someplace cold and, well, evil-looking.
Azazel laughed. “The Snow Queen is not dead. So, to answer your question, no, Lilith did not come here.”
The explanation made no sense at all. If the Snow Queen was in Hell, then why wasn’t she dead? “So why would she be involved with Nossy’s kidnapping?”
Azazel’s eyes darkened. “That is what I intend to find out.”
They rode down the other side of the mountain. The trip down seemed so much easier than the trip on the other side. Every time Mathias blinked his eyes, they were a little closer to the castle. The closer they got, Mathias realized something odd. This castle had no windows and no doors. It was like solid rock had risen out of the ground in a castle shape. It was one of the strangest things Mathias had ever seen.
“How are we going to get inside?” Mathias asked. There had to be a door somewhere. And, well, he couldn’t imagine some magic spell to transport him inside by way of fireplace or something stupid like that.
Azazel set Mathias down gently off the horse. “That’s going to be up to you.”
“Me?” he asked. “Why me?”
Without even a hesitation, Azazel said, “Because you are the only one strong enough to break her spell.”
Mathias froze. Right now, he wasn’t strong enough to do shit. He could barely stand from the pain. “No one said anything about spell-breaking. I don’t even know magic.”
Azazel winked. “Sure you do.”
Chapter Ten
A few days later, the room that housed the Ring of Immortality was bedecked in white tablecloths and black accent pieces of cloth. The Ring, itself, was actually a monstrous stone tower that stretched well over 200 feet tall and had a diameter of 100 feet. Stuart had never bothered to find out what the exact dimensions were. He hadn’t needed to.
The sconces around the room were lit with candlelight to give everything a warm appearance. At the far wall, there was even a bat-shaped ice sculpture. It seemed like too much. Too over the top. How the people wouldn’t see this as a trap, he didn’t know.
Stuart looked over at Vlad. “An ice sculpture?”
Vlad was futzing with a flower arrangement near one of the tables. He was bedecked in a black suit that had a slight sheen to it. Stuart was reminded of a 1970’s Disco suit. The only difference was that Vlad was not wearing bell-bottoms.
Stuart kept his mouth shut. He could just see how much of a disaster this could turn out to be. He, himself, was wearing a normal modern suit. But then, Vlad always had been a bit flamboyant.
“What?” Vlad asked.
Stuart fought not to roll his eyes. “That’s overdoing it a little, don’t you think?”
Vlad turned to Stuart. “Overdoing what?”
Stuart allowed his eyes to roll this time. He needed to stop messing with the damn flowers and pay attention. “The ice sculpture?”
Vlad laughed. “Just you wait. Overdoing it is precisely what is going to make this work. A few will arrive to check things out. Then, they will let the others know that there is, in fact, a party.”
He turned back to the flowers and finished arranging them to what Stuart supposed was his liking. He grumbled to himself and tried to ignore Vlad’s oddness for a while.
If this did work, it was almost diabolical when he really thought about it. Inviting people to a party where they had the chance of dying was really cruel. “You really can be evil sometimes.”
Vlad turned around and smiled. “And to think this is mild compared to what I did long ago.”
Stuart shook his head. Even this was far beyond what he did in his work. He usually just up and killed whoever needed to die. He never played with his prey.
“You have the book?” Vlad asked.
The book was a bound leather thing that had every name of the guard, the messengers, and the Order members. Vlad had presented it to Stuart just that morning with a huge smile on his face. As far as Stuart was concerned, it was just a book, but apparently to Vlad it meant something else. As soon as the guests arrived, Stuart would make sure that the guest entered the room. Once the guest entered, the book would magically check them in and ward them against leaving the room.
Stuart hadn’t asked Vlad where he got the spell, and honestly, he really didn’t want to know. Still though, he could think of many situations, including the day Mathias captured so many people his first day as king, where that spell would have been useful. Too bad Vlad hadn’t been in the room to help Mathias. No wonder the kid was so messed up. And, well, it made him wonder what else Vlad was hiding.
* * * * *
“I almost forgot,” Azazel said.
Mathias was in the middle of approaching the castle. He groaned. He was half-way stumbling with the pain and now Azazel had to add something else to this whole thing? He turned around. “What?”
“We won’t come out of here the same way we went in,” Azazel said. He was still astride his horse. His hair sparkled from where the ice had frozen to his braids.
Mathias pursed his eyebrows together. Here we go again. Why can’t he just give a straight answer? “What the fuck are you talking about?”
Azazel motioned with his hand around the valley. “The castle and the grounds don’t follow the same rules of time as the rest of the world.”
That was really astute and it made no damn sense. “If you know so much about this place, why didn’t you just come here to look for Nossy?”
Azazel’s eyes darkened. “Because I didn’t know Nossy was here without the spell, remember?”
Mathias felt like an ass now. The man was right. Just because he knew where the castle was didn’t mean that Nossy was hidden there. Better switch gears. “Okay, back to the time thing. What do you mean that the rules don’t follow? It doesn’t make any sense.”
Azazel laughed. “You aren’t thinking maliciously enough. The Snow Queen has spelled these lands so that the longer we stay, the faster time speeds up.”
He took a moment to let that sink in. It was totally fucked up. “So, how much time will have passed by the time we get Nossy?”
Azazel looked down at the ground for a moment, and then looked back up at Mathias. “Nobody knows. It is completely random. It could be minutes or it could be months.”
“Shit.” For this evil bitch to think of such a thing, she really had to be on a whole other level. Hell, you could die being there for five minutes. Well, that is when you tried to go back home anyway.
“Probably a good idea to figure out how to get us in there, huh?” Azazel asked.
Mathias turned his back on Azazel. “Blow me.”
* * * * *
Vlad looked around the Ring of Immortality. The “guests” seemed to be enjoying the chance to mingle. Plenty of them had flutes of champagne in their hands. In some cases, they were mingling with people that usually ignored them. Still though, eve
ryone seemed excited about what was to come. That was a good thing. Little did they know that the plans for the evening were going to take on a decidedly sinister tone.
He looked over at Stuart who was still manning the door. Stuart seemed, uneasy. His wings kept twitching. Vlad looked at those standing near Stuart. They didn’t appear to notice anything amiss. Good. Hopefully, after tonight, he would calm down.
Finally, Stuart nodded to him. That meant all that were coming were accounted for. It was time. He walked over and stood very close to the other vampire so he could speak without the others hearing.
“How are the numbers?” Vlad asked.
Stuart looked down at the book. “Not bad. Only a couple missing.”
Vlad grunted. He knew better than to expect things to go easy. It was too bad really. A shame to lose more lives, but then, perhaps, they had a reason to lose them. Besides, maybe some not showing would make the whole event more realistic.
“Close it up,” he whispered.
He stepped back as Stuart walked over and closed the great stone door. Once it made contact with the door jamb, there was a metallic boom. Stuart then stepped away. He was glad to see the boy didn’t bother locking it. There really wasn’t a need with the spell. Besides, the visual would only cause a panic. They didn’t have to know that only he and Stuart were free. Minus those that didn’t show that is. They would get taken care of later.
He made his way through the crowd to the podium. Once there, he looked out over the sea of expectant faces. They were ever so trusting. It made him smile. He cleared his throat. “I want to thank you for coming this afternoon. You’ll find, though, that this isn’t exactly what you thought it was.”
A nervous titter traveled throughout the hall.
“Is this about Nosferatu?” One vampire with dark hair asked from the back of the crowd.
Vlad smiled. He was one of the younger ones, not usually very important, but he still had to make sure he had nothing to do with the kidnapping. “It’s about a lot more than that. You see, we know Speaker Tallus was not acting on his own when he called for Nosferatu’s kidnapping, which brings me to today’s festivities.”
The sconces suddenly went out and were replaced with a few white lights that still illuminated the room, but made the room look stark. Everything was black and white. No color. No respite. Nothing like a few special effects to change the tone of the evening.
“If you look to the door, Stuart has a sign-up sheet,” he said. “To help us with the Nosferatu conundrum, it has been decided that you all must submit to the worthiness test.” Yes, it had been Lilith’s excuse for trying to put Mathias to death, but there was one aspect of the test that did prove a vampire was loyal. And, that was the ability to get into a position to kill the tester, and then not do it. Those involved with what happened with Nossy wouldn’t be able to do it. Their rage would be too much. They valued life too little.
Some of the people shrugged. A few others frowned, but obediently lined up to sign their names on a piece of paper Stuart was holding. The cattle were so easy to lead.
“You can’t force us to do this,” an elder vampire croaked from the side of the room.
Vlad turned his head. It was one of the old Order members. His name, ridiculously, was Nimrod. We shall see just how much he is willing to push.
“Does this mean that you will not submit to testing?” Vlad asked. He almost hoped that the man refused. A little killing in public would go quite a long way.
The old vampire gnashed his teeth together. They were yellowed and snarled, much like the rest of him. “Of course not. I just think it is inappropriate.”
Vlad stared him down. It was too bad. He would have enjoyed dispatching with this one. “What you think is of no consequence. Now,” he said, pointing at Stuart. “I suggest you go put your name on that list.”
The stooped figure hobbled over toward Stuart. Vlad almost missed the days when people really did try to stand up to him and failed disastrously.
Vlad was glad that there had been some objection, actually. If everything had gone smoothly, then the test couldn’t have been trusted. It would have mean that the real reason for the event had been compromised.
“Who is on the list first, Stuart?” Vlad asked.
Stuart looked at his list and then looked at Vlad. His eyes were dark. “William D’Anjou.”
Vlad smiled. This was going to be interesting. Old William had been known as a hell of a conqueror at one point. He’d been itching for a fight. Perhaps this was meant to be.
The man stepped out from the crowd dressed in a modern black suit. His was a bit nicer than Stuart’s. Stuart tended to buy off the rack a little too often.
“Am I to have a weapon?” William asked.
Vlad stepped down from the podium. He removed his silk jacket and laid it on the end of one of the banquet tables. “You may have any weapon you like.”
William smiled and a great broad sword appeared in his hands.
Vlad blinked his own sword, a silver long sword with a bat on the hilt, into his hands. It was probably just a little too showy with the red ruby for the bat’s body, but Vlad didn’t care. He liked the sword. “Let me know when you are ready.”
The crowd pressed themselves against the wall creating a large space so that they could fight, hopefully without causing any innocent casualties. Before Vlad had the time to think about his first move, William leapt into the air.
The height with which he leapt was amazing, almost halfway up the tower.
Vlad did his own leap and met him in the air. He pulled his sword just in time to match William’s blow. The clang of metal sounded so loud in the tower.
William struck again and Vlad pushed off the wall with his feet and hovered behind William. He swung with his sword and sliced into William’s ear.
William roared. He turned around and attacked with a new vengeance. The blows kept coming. Soon, they were faster than what Vlad was used to keeping up with. Vlad kept dodging in the air, but finally, William caught him, held the sword to his throat, and cut him—ever so slightly. He grinned, and pressed the sword a little harder. Just long enough so that a rivulet of blood snaked its way down his throat and to his chest. Then, the vampire drifted back.
Vlad began to applaud as he lowered himself to the ground. His hands pounded together creating a din. It had been an amazing fight. Too bad Mathias hadn’t been here. He would have enjoyed it. “Congratulations, William,” he said to the winner.
Vlad felt the cut on his neck seal itself back together. Then, he looked around the hall. Most of the vampires had huge grins on their faces, much like those at a concert, but there was one group that wasn’t even facing him.
The group of five young male vampires were pushing at the door to the room. All, he recognized, were messengers. So, these were the cowards who thought they needed a new king? Their backs were to Vlad, and so wrapped up in their task, they didn’t even realize the hall had grown quiet. Vlad smiled.
He held his finger to his lips and crept over to the “men”. He made sure his footsteps were silent on the stone floor. Once he got within a few feet, he spoke. “Having a problem, boys?”
One near the back of the pack jumped and squeaked. The others visibly froze. One stepped forward. “I … I was just trying to go to the bathroom.”
“Enough!” Vlad looked around the room. All eyes were on the traitors. Vlad turned to Stuart. “It appears we have traitors in our midst.”
Stuart smiled, and then spoke loud enough for the crowd to hear. “I think we should let the people decide what should be done with these men. Because of them, the entire kingdom’s been punished.”
Vlad nodded. “That’s a wonderful idea,” he said to Stuart. To the people, he smiled. “We will abide by whatever it is you decide.”
Several of the vampires crept forward. Vlad stepped out of their way. The crowd surrounded the five to the point that Vlad could no longer see them. Then the screams began.
“I thought it was going to be a disaster,” Stuart said to Vlad in between screams.
Vlad nodded. “Sometimes, we get lucky.”
Now was not the time to point out to the boy that he’d been worried over nothing. The result was what mattered.
Vlad watched Stuart glance at the mob, and then back down at the floor.
“What are we going to do about the ones that didn’t come?” Stuart asked.
Vlad patted him on the shoulder. “Well, this mob seems pretty happy. Why don’t we announce who couldn’t be bothered to come?”
Stuart blinked. “Is that wise?”
Vlad shrugged. “It isn’t like someone missed due to illness. We would have been notified.”
Stuart flapped his wings a little. For all of his bravado, he wasn’t used to dealing with depravity. “I’d still prefer to be sure.”
When the screams stopped and the bloody mob stopped ripping the bodies apart, Vlad stepped forward. “You should be aware that a few that were invited did not show. Specifically, Eric Marten and Lars Ericcson. If you find them, bring them to me.” Hopefully, that would ease Stuart’s sensibilities.
The mob nodded, almost in unison. He’d directed them to go after specifics. There should be no extra casualties.
Vlad motioned to Stuart who mumbled the releasing spell and the mob poured out into the castle.
“That was monstrous,” Stuart said.
“It was meant to be,” Vlad replied.
Chapter Eleven
“Why is it that I have to break us in again?” Mathias asked. It made no fucking sense. It wasn’t like this castle was all that far away from the school. They had to have known about it. Besides, Azazel was strong enough to get in this damn place. There was something else he was hiding.
Azazel ruffled his wings. “Because you are the one with the connection to Nosferatu.”
That made some sense, but still, something seemed off and it wasn’t just the pain. “All right I’ll buy that. But, why did it take so long to find this fucking place? It isn’t that far away.”