“If I’m not back in an hour, leave without me,” she said to Pallas.
“Tempest…”
“They’re going to kill us all no matter what; you have to take the chance to escape, Pallas. You have too.”
“We will,” Abbott said and stepped forward to hug her.
“Promise me.”
“I promise,” Pallas whispered. Her lower lip trembled; her hands shook when she rested them on Abbott’s shoulders.
Tempest pulled the backdoor open and stepped into the shadowy dusk enveloping the town. In the distance, the forlorn hoot of an owl echoed through the valley. Her eyes searched the mountains and backyards before she stepped off the porch and hurried through the thigh high snow toward the road.
She made her way toward the street and stepped onto the well-trodden road. The snow had compacted so she could walk on top of it down the road. Her head bowed against the wind blowing down the roadway between the houses. Murmurs and questions about what was going on followed her as she walked. She could almost feel their curiosity as they tried to understand what had unfolded today, and just who was the vampire they’d dragged off to the queen.
From the whispers, some assumed he was deranged, and others believed the king had sent him. Her ears perked at that theory, but even as she tried to glean more about it, they were already speculating it had been someone Kane owed money to. The money one seemed to be the prevailing theory she realized as she strained to hear more of the rumors bantered about.
Turning down the road, she walked past the house she’d shared with Pallas. Her eyes slid to the side to take in the darkened building she’d considered her home. At the end of the street, she made a right and slipped into the side yard of a large chalet. The building had been the school to vampire children for her entire life. Since the war, it had educated both vampire and human children before the town had been taken over. Arriving at the back of the empty school, she knelt behind the wooden building by a basement window.
Her fingers slid over the window until she found the bottom of it. The window squeaked when she pulled it open. She froze; her eyes darted around, but nothing moved in the night, and no one was about. Turning back to the window, she tugged it the rest of the way open.
She removed one of the rags from her cloak and a bottle of the oil. Drenching the rag with the oil, she pulled out the lighter and flicked it open. Her fingers fumbled with the flint before finally getting it to light. The rag flared to life, fire danced over her face and the surrounding snow.
Leaning back, she tossed the rag into the basement. She didn’t have to look inside to know the room was full of old desks and furniture. It had been that way since she was a little girl and had attended school here. She’d resented almost all of her time here, and she had stopped coming when she was thirteen.
To make sure the fire would stay lit, she watched the flames from the rag she’d tossed inside until they caught on a cardboard box. Leaving the window open to allow air to flow in and feed the fire, she crept away from the school and headed toward the library next. The idea of burning books didn’t sit well with her, she’d never been much of a reader, but she’d always enjoyed the smell and feel of them.
However, she planned to try to start as many fires as possible in places she knew were empty, and that would easily catch fire, before moving onto the residential homes. The fires wouldn’t be noticed until it was too late if they were in uninhabited places. Books were more easily replaced than the life of someone who could be an innocent.
The library didn’t have any basement windows, so she slid down the side of the building and climbed onto the small back porch. Wrapping a rag around her hand, she busted out a pane of the window in the backdoor. Careful not to let the glass fall to the floor, she kept hold of the pieces. The snowdrift next to the porch engulfed the shards when she released them. She lit the rag and tossed it onto the stack of books by the door.
Turning away, she continued through the backyards until she came upon the tailor’s store. No one had been in there for a while, and it was nearly a mile away from where she’d started the first fire. She tossed another lit rag inside before turning and heading toward the more human part of town. She’d started fires in three of the bigger places within the town; now it was time to start some smaller ones.
The humans no longer resided in their businesses and homes. The thought of killing anyone made her stomach turn, but if they were inside of the human residences, then they shouldn’t be in this town in the first place. She’d trade their life for William’s and the children’s any day.
- CHAPTER 25 -
William could feel his injuries healing, but he kept most of his weight on the two vampires still holding him. They still believed they were helping to hold him up. He didn’t want them to know how much better he already felt or to suspect he’d regained any of his strength. Weakness was his friend right now, if he had any chance of escaping this mess.
The minutes ticked by, the only sound within the room was the restless shuffling of the vampires around him, and that was sporadic. Most of the vampires were as still as stone, but he could feel the excitement coming off them in waves. He could almost hear them salivating over the anticipation of seeing their queen and hearing what grizzly sentence would be handed down upon him. Goran hadn’t moved so much as a muscle; his hands were folded behind his back, his gaze steady on William.
It wasn’t so much that he saw or heard anyone approaching from the shadows of the stage, but more sensed a presence coming toward him. His head turned toward where Goran had emerged. Around him the vampires shifted, their heads bowed, and a small murmur went through the crowd. He had no idea why, but a shiver went down his spine; his skin became electrified by the enclosing presence and the power wafting from it. The hair on his arms stood up. The energy coming from the other room emitted an aroma that brought to mind the scent lightning emitted when it scorched the earth.
And they may all be scorched in the end, he realized. A pale hand wrapped around the curtain blocking the side of the stage and pulled it back. He’d meant to keep his face impassive, but his eyes widened on the woman who emerged from the shadows. He didn’t have to be told who she was, or how old she was; the vampire inside him instinctively knew the power she possessed was ancient.
For the first time fear curdled in his belly, not for himself, but for all those he cared for and loved. He’d believed this rebellion would be squashed beneath the power of Braith’s family and The Council; he realized now he’d been greatly mistaken. This woman would not be taken down without a massive fight, and he understood now why her followers had grown so rapidly.
Her kind of power would be addicting, thrilling, and the prospect of being able to get a small piece of it would be enticing, even to those who didn’t believe the human race should be kept beneath the boot heels of vampires. It would be irresistible to those who did feel the human race deserved to be kept down and used only for their bodies and blood.
There were vampires who resented Braith for making them equal to humans, for taking away their ability to rain cruelty down upon the human race with ruthless glee, and no apprehension about receiving punishment for it. Those who would want things to return to the way they’d been and would believe this woman wielded more power than Braith, and they may be right, he realized with a sinking sensation.
Striking wasn’t the word he would use for her, or beautiful. Ice would be the best description for her. No matter how perfect her facial structure was, or how eye-catching her coloring, with her utter lack of warmth he couldn’t consider her beautiful.
Old, it was the first word to go through his mind when the woman stopped before him.
His skin prickled as she stood over him on the stage. She looked him over from head to toe and back again with a leisurely perusal that made his hackles rise. He’d have no shot against her, but she was the first woman he’d punch in the face if ever given the chance. Her antipathy for him radiated from her in waves,
and he was certain she could notice the same emotion coming from him. He’d love to see this woman taken down a hundred pegs; he wasn’t sure he’d ever get the chance to witness it, or if it would be possible.
The woman’s fingers seized hold of his chin, careful not to touch the blood drying there. Her lengthy, blood red nails rubbed over his torn flesh. His jaw jutted out as he held the eyes of the woman staring mercilessly at him. She could have his head ripped off before he blinked, but he was counting on her deciding to keep him alive in order to draw Aria and Braith out by using him as leverage.
She had to keep him alive, he had to get free of here; Braith had to know what he was going to be up against. For once in your life, keep your mouth shut and play nice, he told himself. It would kill him to do so, but this woman didn’t come across as the type who handled any kind of insolence well.
“So you are the imposter queen’s brother.” Her sweet, girlish voice was entirely out of place with the rounded, sensuous curves of the woman across from him.
“The queen is my sister,” he replied. So much for playing nice, but then he hadn’t spit at her feet and called her a bitch like he longed to do, so he believed it was an improvement. “My twin actually.”
“Twins,” her green eyes lit with keen interest at the word. “They say twins have a special bond.”
“I believe the imposter is the one who turned him from human to vampire, your majesty,” Kane murmured demurely from beside him. William sneered at the man; he’d known he was a coward, he hadn’t expected him to be such an ass-kisser too.
“Hmm,” the woman said in a purring tone of voice, her index finger tapping against his chin. “Is this true, did your sister change you?”
“She did,” William confirmed.
The woman’s full, blood-red lips pulled back to reveal all of her perfect white teeth. The regal red cloak she wore was of the same fine quality as Goran’s and emphasized her pale complexion. “That makes your bond doubly special, doesn’t it?”
William refused to respond, she already had her answer. She was unlike anyone he’d ever seen before; yet, there was something strangely familiar about her. His eyes narrowed as he searched her broad cheekbones and slender nose for some spark of memory as to where he might have seen her before, but he knew there was no way they could have ever met before. Even if he’d still been human, he would have felt the wash of power she radiated, and he didn’t think he would have survived an encounter with her.
Then what was it about her that was so familiar?
“Who are you?” he inquired.
A malicious smile curved her mouth. “That’s for me to know my dear.” The woman’s fingers slipped under his chin and lifted it up. He stared into eyes the color of grass on a late spring day as she bent closer to him. “What brought you to our town?” she inquired.
His gaze flickered toward where Kane stood. She followed his gaze, a smirk curving her mouth. “And what did you do?” she asked of Kane.
“I mistakenly believed I’d killed the bastard,” he replied.
A small laugh escaped the woman; her gaze came back to him. Her fingernail scraped against his flesh, drawing beads of blood when she began to stroke under his chin. “So you came for revenge?”
“I did,” William said.
“It looks as if you may have gotten some.” She glanced back and forth between him and Kane before leaning so close to him that a strand of her floor length, black hair tickled his cheek. “How did you get into our town?”
“I walked,” he replied.
“No one could walk down that street without my people knowing they were there. How did you get here?”
“I’ve been following Kane’s trail for weeks, hunting him through the towns. I was born and raised a rebel and lived amongst caves and forests for most of my life. I’ve found my way into places far more challenging than your town.”
Her eyes burned into his as she pondered his words. Her fingernail slipped away; she grabbed hold of the healing skin on his chin before ripping it away to the bone again. His teeth clamped together as he fought back a snarl. The last thing he needed was his arms snapped by the vampires holding him, or torn from his body by the woman across from him. He would need them sooner rather than later.
“I see,” she murmured. “Pity you aren’t a true vampire; you would have been a strong addition to our growing army. You may come in handy before it’s all said and done, and I’m sure you’ll be fun to play with.”
William’s upper lip curled in revulsion when the woman’s gaze raked him in a lascivious way. The warm color of Tempest’s doe eyes flashed through his mind. This woman was perfect in her icy beauty, but the idea of ever having to touch her made his stomach turn.
“I don’t play nice,” he growled.
Her fangs glinted in the light when her lips skimmed back in a smile. He didn’t think he’d ever seen fangs so long or razor-sharp. “I’m counting on it,” she replied; her tongue slid over her lower lip and flicked over her fangs before they receded into her gums. “In fact, that’s the way I like it.”
He’d rather be killed outright than be used in such a way, but there was still a chance he could escape this mess. “Take him to the prison and lock him up with the others,” she commanded. He’d been somewhat expecting this, but had been hoping she would find somewhere within the hotel to imprison him. It would be easier to escape a hotel room than a cell, but at least he would be further away from this woman and her cohorts.
“Do you think others may have come with him?” Goran inquired.
“No,” she replied. “But notify the guards to be more alert and place more of them on the barricade at the end of the street. He’ll come with us, when we leave. His twin’s ability to track him may be her downfall.”
With a flick of her fingers, she dismissed him as if he were no more than an annoying gnat. His first reaction was to flip her off, but he thought better of it. She’d probably enjoy ripping off the finger he would soon need. The vampire’s hands on his arms squeezed more firmly; he kept his legs weak as they turned him away from the queen. The curtain rustled when it fell into place behind her. She’d left the room, but now that he’d encountered it, he could still feel the pulse of her power against his flesh.
Another vampire came forward with a length of rope he wrapped around William’s wrists and cinched tight. His pinched skin turned red almost immediately, but he didn’t protest. He continued the façade of being weaker than he felt as they led him past the crowd of vampires who parted to get out of his way. Stepping outside again, he caught a whiff of acrid smoke in the air, but he couldn’t tell if Tempest had succeeded in starting the fires, or if they were the fires burning in the hearths to ward off the chill of the night.
Murmurs of excitement and interest followed him as they pulled him down the street toward the prison. He barely glanced at the vampires still in the stocks outside, but their heads raised to take him in. His feet clomped up the stairs as he was hauled inside of the brick building with Kane leading the way. Four vampires inside leapt to their feet from behind the desks they’d been sitting at. They weren’t wearing the white cloaks of the traitors, but he spotted the cloaks hanging from hooks on the wall.
They glanced questioningly at each other when he was led toward one of the cells. “Keys!” Kane barked.
One of the men jumped forward and pulled the keys from his waistband. William glanced over the other guards, one other had his keys at his waist, but the other two didn’t have keys on them. He wondered if they had sets of keys, or if they had them stashed somewhere else.
Kane snatched the keys from the man and turned toward the cell door. The door opened, Kane thrust it back with a clang that rattled through the building. The ten vampires imprisoned within, rushed to the bars lining the back of the square cell to cower within the shadows. His eyebrows rose at their action and the black and purple bruises marring them from head to toe.
The vampires holding him shoved him ruthle
ssly forward. He stumbled but managed to catch himself before he fell against the bars separating his cell from the one next to it. The eight vampires within that cell pressed further against the bars of the back wall.
Turning, his hands still bound before him, he met Kane’s despised, smiling face as he slammed the cell door shut. “These cells are designed to keep a vampire locked away.” Kane’s hands ran almost lovingly over the thick bars as his gaze lifted to the bars running across the top of the cell. His smile only grew when he focused on William again. “You’ve come so far to find me only to have you’re revenge denied, how heartbreaking for you.”
“What can I say, life’s a bitch,” he replied dismissively.
Kane smirked at him. “And soon you will become one. What the queen will do to you will make you wish you’d died when I ran you through.”
William smiled at him as he took a step closer to the bars. “I am going to kill you, and when I do, I want you to remember this moment and this vow. Your blood will be on my hands, and I’m going to savor ripping your heart out of your chest.”
Something in Kane’s eyes flickered, for a second William believed he actually saw distress there, but it quickly faded to a look of malice. His eyes shimmered with red as he held William’s gaze. “When the queen is done with you, I will have what broken bits are left, and I will crush them.”
“Are you sure about that?” William taunted. “Your queen didn’t seem to have much regard for you.”
A muscle jumped in Kane’s cheek; William could hear his teeth grating together. He stared unblinkingly back at the man until Kane spun away from him. “Break his legs and arms if he goes near those bars!” he barked at the four men still standing by their desks.