Don’t be watching. He hoped Tempest was nowhere near the window anymore. That she had fled the living room when Kane had started to approach the building. He hadn’t planned on any of this to happen near the orphanage, but he’d had to stop Kane from going inside.
Hands grabbed at the back of his cloak, jerking him to his feet where more blows landed on his stomach and face. Blood exploded into his mouth when his cheek smashed up against his teeth. His nose shattered with a loud crunch. Agony lanced through his head; his vision blurred, but he couldn’t grab at his nose like he wanted to do as his arms were being held by two other vampires.
Another one stepped forward, but before the vamp could start to beat on him too, a commanding voice rang out, “Stop!”
Distorted and a little garbled most likely from blood in his mouth, William still recognized it immediately as Kane’s voice. Parting the vampires surrounding him, Kane stepped before him and grabbed hold of William’s chin. He tried to jerk away from Kane’s repulsive touch, but Kane’s fingers dug into the flesh of his chin and held firm. The left side of Kane’s face still looked like a smashed pumpkin. The right side had fared better, but not by much.
Kane’s eyes were questioning as they searched his battered and bloody face. “How are you still alive?”
William could feel the blood from inside his mouth smearing across his teeth when he smiled at him. “Funny little thing about my family, we’re tough to kill.”
Kane’s eyes glistened with red, his jaw clenched so tightly that William could hear his teeth grinding together. He continued to smile at Kane, even with knowing what was coming next. His head shot back when Kane punched him square in his already battered nose. Blackness swept over him, threatening to drag him into its depths, but passing out now would get him nowhere and ruin everything.
His head lulled on his shoulders; stars burst before his eyes. He blinked back the blood trickling from his forehead into one of his eyes as he strived to keep his eyes open. The broken vertebra was making it difficult for him to continue standing. It felt like someone was digging needles into his spine and twisting them around in there.
“You have no idea what you walked into here boy, but you will most certainly come in handy,” Kane replied.
He’d been hoping Kane would think him useful when he’d set out to find him. Kane casually wiped his hand on the front of William’s robe, drawing his attention to the once pristine material. Splatters of blood had turned the white robe into a macabre painting of red and pink that matched the snow beneath his feet.
Certain he wouldn’t pass out, William lifted his head to meet Kane’s gaze. “I am going to kill you,” he vowed.
“Doubtful, especially with your aim.” Kane gestured at where the stake had pierced him just shy of his heart. The only sign he’d been impaled there was the hole in his shirt and the large bloodstain around it. “Not as tough or as lethal as you thought you were.”
William smirked at him in response; he’d never missed before, and he hadn’t this time either. Kane’s scar pulled awkwardly at his lips when he sneered at him.
“Are we taking him to the prison?” one of the men holding his arm inquired.
“No, he’s going to the hotel. The queen will want to meet him,” Kane replied.
“Why would she care about this little piss ant?”
“He’s far more than what he seems.”
“Then what is he doing here?”
Kane grinned as he leaned closer to him. “I killed him once and apparently it didn’t take. It will next time. A pity, you made it this far, survived for this long, and all for nothing. How does that make you feel?” he taunted.
“Like a champion.” William smiled back at him before spitting a gob of blood into the snow at Kane’s feet.
Kane’s hand lashed out to strike him across the face so fast he barely saw the movement before his head jerked to the side with enough force to give him whiplash and make his head spin even worse.
“Search him!” Kane commanded.
Before William could recover, the cloak was ripped from his body. The harsh jerk caused the cloth to cut into his neck. He could feel the line of warm blood tickling down his neck and back. Hands searched rapidly over him, grabbing at his armpits, waist, groin and legs. The stakes and crossbow still on him were thrown into the snow.
“This way.” Kane jerked his head down the road toward the hotel.
William struggled to keep his feet under him as he was propelled down the road in between the two men. Four more men flanked him, two on each side. He remained as unresponsive as possible, searching for weaknesses in the guards surrounding him. He had to play opossum, even though he could feel his broken bones knitting themselves back together already. Tempest’s blood in his veins helped to accelerate the process; he hoped it would be fast enough.
He subtly stretched his back, relieved to find the vertebra completely healed. He didn’t understand the strange power of Tempest’s blood continuing to swirl through him, but he knew it would help to get him through the rest of this.
***
“Tempest, you can come down now.”
Tempest’s head snapped around when Pallas’s whispered voice floated up the stairs. She’d fled to the attic when she’d seen Kane walking toward the home and spent the past ten minutes restlessly pacing the floor. Her nails would be nothing but nubs if this continued. She glanced in disgust at the dried blood on her index finger from where she’d bit her nail to the quick. She forced them down to her side before rushing over to the other door.
How could she possibly go down there? Kane had been about to enter the house when she’d last seen him, unless William had somehow found him before he could come back inside. She’d never heard the front door open, or the sound of their voices. She had no idea what had happened, but she couldn’t shake the certainty something had gone wrong, and now she’d be separated from William forever.
Fighting back tears and the lump in her throat, she opened the door and poked her head around to peer down at her friend. The color of Pallas’s face and the haunted look in her hazel eyes told Tempest immediately her concern that something had gone wrong was correct.
“What is it?” she demanded as she practically flew down the stairs to her friend. She didn’t think her feet touched a single stair on the way down.
“They have William,” Pallas murmured.
Tempest fought back the waves of panic trying to drown her. Her stomach twisted in such a way she feared she might vomit for the first time in her life. If this didn’t work, if William couldn’t get free, she may have just lost him forever. A sob lodged in her throat, a strangled sound escaped her as her hand flew to her mouth.
What had they done? Why had she agreed to this plan? She should have tried harder to get him to agree to leave. Then she recalled his words about war and saving lives. Recalled the haunted look in his eyes when he’d spoken. She knew he didn’t sleep well at night, knew his memories of battle haunted him, and he was determined to prevent that from happening to someone else. This was the right thing to do. She kept telling herself that, but all she really felt like saying was screw it all; none of it mattered, she wanted him back.
“Come,” Pallas said and rested her hands comfortingly upon hers.
Tempest’s legs quaked as she followed her to the steps and down to the first floor. Abbott stood by the front window with the same appalled look on his face Pallas had. “Where did they take him?” Tempest demanded.
“The hotel,” Abbott replied.
“At least that has gone right,” she murmured.
Abbott glanced outside before focusing on her again and giving a brisk nod. “Yes it went… ah… well.”
“What happened?” She hurried over to join him by the window.
Abbott tried to hold her back, but she nudged him out of the way and pulled the curtain aside to peer out. Her eyes went instantly to the shattered porch railing and the blood stained snow. There was so much blood. Str
eaks of it stood starkly out against the gray exterior of the orphanage and a thicker red puddle had formed beside the porch. She couldn’t think about the cause of it or who had lost the most; she knew her answer would be William.
“Oh.” Her hand flew to her mouth. She took a step back before moving forward and practically sticking her nose to the glass of the window.
Pallas rested her hand on her shoulder. “It was what he planned, and not all of the blood is his.”
“How bad was it?” Her voice squeaked when she spoke through the lump in her throat.
“Bad, but if he hadn’t planned to be taken alive, he would have killed Kane. Kane never saw him coming and got an ass whooping he won’t forget anytime soon,” Abbott gushed out. The excitement in his voice caused her to shoot him an angry look. “What?” he asked as he held his hands innocently out before him. “It sucks that’s the way it was supposed to play out, but it was pretty awesome to watch. I don’t know where or how you found him, but he is freaking impressive.”
“Boys,” Pallas said with a roll of her eyes. “But he’s right, it was impressive. Is he really who he says he is, Tempest?”
“Yes.”
“Wow,” Pallas breathed. “Let’s just hope the rest of this works out the way he planned. You trust him?”
“With my life.”
Pallas folded her hands before her. “That’s good enough for me.”
Tempest couldn’t look at either of them again; her gaze was drawn back to the blood stained snow. Lifting her eyes, she stared at the hotel beyond. More vampires than normal were milling around the hotel and gathering on the street. The numbers were swelling to the same as those she’d seen gather during the first burning. They pushed closer to the door, but the curtains remained drawn over the windows.
He was in there, in the middle of the lion’s den, and now it was up to her to help him get out again.
- CHAPTER 24 -
William pulled his feet forward, forcing himself to walk in time with the men dragging him toward the hotel. The vampires outside of the hotel had stepped out of their way to allow Kane to pass through. Kane may not be high enough in the ranks to warrant staying in the same building as the fake queen, but the vampires here still respected him.
Once inside the hotel, the vampires pressed closer against them. Their curious murmurs filled the air as he was led down the red-carpeted hall toward two massive wooden doors at the end. Before they could reach the doors, they were pulled open to reveal what he assumed was the ballroom beyond.
The hotel wasn’t overly large; the ballroom took up about a quarter of the first floor and was about a hundred feet by a hundred feet square. The room became much smaller with all of the vampires trying to cram inside to see what was going on. The scent of so many bodies pressing against him filled his nose. The aromas of blood, body odor, perfume and cologne mingled together to make his already pounding head throb more. He almost lost his footing again, but he somehow managed to keep his feet under him as he was dragged toward the stage at the front of the room.
“What is the meaning of this?” A vampire with nearly white hair and eyes so pale blue they were almost white demanded as he strolled in from another room.
Pulled up before the stage, William’s arms remained clasped as he was held before the man. The vampire’s bushy white eyebrows drew together over the bridge of his prominent, roman nose. The line of his thin lips were compressed so firmly they nearly disappeared from view. The man towered over him on the stage, but if they were on the same level the man would only be an inch taller than him. William was certain he’d be able to count every one of the ribs beneath the elegant, velvet blue cloak and fine silken clothes the vampire wore.
The man’s eyes came back to him before traveling to Kane and the other vampires surrounding him. “Why would you bring this villager in before the queen?” the man demanded.
“This is not any villager, Goran,” Kane replied in a smug tone of voice that caused loathing to slither through William. “The queen will be extremely interested in this young man.”
Goran snorted and folded his skinny arms over his slender chest. “And why is that?”
“I would prefer to speak with her majesty,” Kane replied.
A crackle of power slid over William’s skin as Goran’s eyes briefly flashed red. The vampire may look like a reed, but he was far more lethal than his form revealed. Around him, all of the vampires took a step back. Even the ones holding him moved away, drawing him with them. William had felt Braith and Jack’s power ooze from them before; this man may not have that vast quantity, but it was more than Gideon or Ashby possessed.
Who is this guy? His gaze ran over his high quality clothing and the ruby rings on each of the fingers of his right hand. Wealth and a whole lot of power, William noted before lifting his head to Goran again.
“I didn’t ask what you would prefer,” Goran replied in a crisp voice that caused more of the vampires in the room to fall back a step. “You never should have brought a vampire so bloodied and disheveled anywhere near her majesty. It is disrespectful.”
Kane, seeming to realize this man would rip his head off, and he didn’t have as much sway as he believed he did, bowed his head and folded his hands demurely before him. “I apologize; I did not mean any disrespect. I was so excited when I realized who he was that I brought him here immediately.”
Goran’s eyes came back to him, a caterpillar brow lifted into his hairline. “And just who is he?”
“He is the imposter queen’s brother,” Kane replied, his voice filled with excitement.
William’s head turned toward him, his nostrils flared as he glowered at Kane standing to the left and slightly in front of him. “My sister is not an imposter,” he grated through his teeth. “She is the one who rightly should be called queen.”
Kane’s eyes slid toward him, but before he could speak, a hand snaked out and grasped hold of William’s chin, jerking it forward so he was eye to eye with Goran. His lip curled as he stared at the man.
“Our queen rightly belongs upon the throne,” Goran replied, his voice deceptively smooth. “Your sister and her husband are imposters, if she truly is your sister.”
Kane straightened; he tugged at his ruined shirt as he thrust his shoulders proudly back. “She is. I encountered them both before joining the real queen’s ranks. In fact, I ran this one through with my sword, when he was still human. He should be dead; someone must have turned him before he could die.”
Goran snickered at Kane’s words. William continued to hold Goran’s unrelenting gaze. “So you are another perversion of our race, and a weakening of our blood, just like your sister.”
William shrugged as best he could with the vampires still grasping his arms. “I am what I am.”
A circle of red blazed around Goran’s eyes; his fingers tightened until they pierced the skin of William’s chin. Trickles of warm blood slid down his chin, but he kept his face impassive as drops of it fell on the floor. “Such a flippant response only shows your class. You’re a waste, a detriment to our kind. Your watered-down blood will only create weaker versions of the race who should rightly rule this earth.”
“I’ve actually heard something like that before, except it was the human race that was such a waste the last time I heard it,” he replied. He tried to smile, but his busted lips were in the process of healing and made it difficult to do so.
Goran snarled at him; he tore gouges of skin away from William’s chin when he jerked his hand away. William tried not to let the pain show, but he was unable to stop himself from wincing as he felt air brushing over the bone exposed by the motion. Goran turned to one of the vampires hovering by his side on the stage.
“Get the queen,” he commanded brusquely.
The vampire blanched visibly. “Should we ah… clean him up first, sir?” the man stammered.
“There is no scrubbing the filth from this vermin,” Goran replied.
William added another nam
e to the list of those he’d like to see dead. He may not be strong enough to kill this one, but he’d really enjoy watching Braith tear Goran’s cotton ball head from his shoulders. William forced himself to remain unmoving as he waited for the woman who believed she would take Aria’s place.
***
Tempest waited until the sun slipped behind the mountain, just as William had told her to do, before pulling the hood of her cloak over her head. She didn’t bother with the shoe polish again; most of the vampires who had invaded their town were gathered by the hotel, drawn by curiosity as to what was going on. The ones who remained in the street were mulling about with each other, or standing by and watching the hotel. She counted on the ones gathered within the mountains also to be busy watching the hotel.
She doubted any of them would notice her; one white cloaked figure walking through the yards wasn’t suspicious to them.
“Here.” Pallas handed her two containers of the oil they used to light the lamps. She tucked the cans safely into the inside pockets of her cloak before accepting the ball of rags and lighter Pallas handed her next. “Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you?”
“No,” Tempest replied. “Stay here with the children. Have them ready to leave when I get back.”
“Abbott can do that.”
She grabbed hold of her friend’s hands and squeezed them. “If something happens to me, you’re the only other one who can get them through the mountains, and they’ll need you.”
“I’m not sure I can remember how to get out,” Pallas whispered tremulously. “I never spent as much time in the mountains as you, and I only went out that way with you one time.”
“You’ll remember when you get into them. You’ll see, it will all come back to you. Besides we only have the one white cloak and it will be easier for me to move about by myself.”
Pallas closed her eyes, her hands clenched around Tempest’s before she finally released them. Abbott and Pallas followed her through the dining room and to the backdoor. Tempest had no concern about going out there, or for herself; she was more concerned she would fail in her mission, and in doing so she would lose William forever. No matter what happened out there, she could not fail. Even if it meant she was captured or killed herself.