Patrik was the second to realize the gravity of what I’d just said. His forehead smoothed, his lips pressed tight as he glowered at Emilian, who in return gave us a very baffled expression.
“No, I didn’t,” he shot back.
“Yes, you did. You said ‘Shaytan’,” I insisted, suddenly feeling like I was being taken for an idiot.
“You told us his name.” Emilian then flipped, changing his story. My hand slowly slipped down my side, looking for my sword handle.
“No, we didn’t,” Blaze replied. “We never mentioned his name.”
The longest moment squeezed through in perfect silence as we all glared at the Lords, who seemed genuinely befuddled—except Emilian. He was getting angry. I could almost hear the blood bubbling in his veins. Nowhere as hot as mine in this instant, but still, he was raging on the inside.
He’d made a terrible mistake.
He’d given himself away. It suddenly became impossible to think that the others didn’t know about Darius. Emilian knew. Despite Caspian’s oath of silence, it was safe to assume he was also aware. Would Farrah, Rowan, and Rewa be kept in the dark, then? Or Vincent, for that matter?
Rewa kind of answered that question when she burst into a short cackle, then wiped the crocodile tears from her face. My stomach dropped. It was one thing to suspect it, and a completely different thing to have your worst fears confirmed.
The Lords were in on it… They’re conspiring with the daemons!
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Caia scoffed. “You all knew.”
“In all fairness, they were bound to find out sooner or later.” Vincent looked at his mother, who rolled her eyes, her displeasure obvious. They were all uncomfortably calm, considering what we’d just discovered about them. The knot in my stomach throbbed painfully, slowly making its way up into my ribcage.
“It didn’t take them too long, though.” Farrah nodded with what looked like some kind of sick, perverted appreciation toward us. What the hell is going on here?
“True. Had Emilian kept his stupid mouth shut, we could’ve stretched this for at least a couple more days, until we could catch Hellswan and her clique of self-righteous worms,” Rowan spat. Emilian scowled at her.
“It was an innocent mistake!” he shot back.
My head turned from left to right between them, as if I had a front row seat at a tennis match. I really didn’t know how to fully process this. They had simply transformed before our very eyes—from the graceful, eloquent, and innocent Maras to this bickering pack of monsters in expensive silks.
“Well, your ‘innocent’ mistake now makes you look like an idiot!” Rowan replied, raising an eyebrow.
“It takes one to know one,” Emilian sneered.
“At least we don’t have to pretend anymore.” Rewa rolled her eyes.
“You people are sociopaths,” Scarlett gasped. “Full-blown sociopaths. You’ve been acting this whole time. This… This was all just… theater…”
“Ah, she’s catching on,” Rewa snickered, crossing her arms over her chest. Her features had turned from soft and sweet, beneath that pixie haircut, to filthy and ice cold, as pure evil seemed to flicker in her jade eyes. “You’re not as stupid as I thought. Consider it a compliment.”
“Vincent,” I muttered, noticing his cool demeanor, while Rowan, Farrah, and Emilian kept snapping at each other, hurling all kinds of insults. “You knew.”
Our eyes met, but I could no longer recognize the Mara with reddish hair and pale green eyes. The Vincent I knew was gone. He was probably never real, anyway. The guy replacing him put on a mirthless smile, and I finally understood why my skin had been crawling whenever he’d looked at me. My instincts were never wrong. I’d gotten a whiff of what we were getting ourselves into from the moment Caia and Blaze had told us about Darius. Something just hadn’t clicked for me then.
“My darling Fiona, of course I knew,” Vincent replied. “We all knew. Did you really think Darius would do something without us signing off on it?”
In retrospect, he had a point. But the Maras and Imen who had died in the explosions had provided enough doubt for us to not immediately jump to that conclusion.
“You killed your own people with those explosions,” I said, my fingers slowly curling over my sword handle. The cool ivory grip helped me focus on the next steps. We obviously had to do something, but I wasn’t sure what.
“Collateral damage,” Vincent replied. “We had to make it believable.”
“And Lord Kifo?” Patrik asked, as I briefly caught a glimpse of the increasing number of Correction Officers gathering on our level as well. They were already surrounding us. “Was he a part of your plan? Was he in on it?”
Emilian, Farrah, and Rowan suddenly remembered that we were still there, partially crippled by sheer astonishment. “Oh, Lord Kifo knew,” Rowan scoffed. “He couldn’t do anything about it, though. He tried to be a rebel, but it didn’t work out too well for him and his adoptive father. His parents tried the same crap, and look where that got them.”
“So he was against all this,” Patrik replied. I could see his gaze darting across the platform, as he registered the Correction Officers closing in a circle around us.
“Yes, that self-righteous little rat,” Emilian muttered, hatred almost oozing out of him. “We tried to keep him in check. We even got him to swear a blood oath, just to make sure he wouldn’t talk. I see he’s decided to care more about some outsiders than his own people.”
“If he was such a nuisance, why didn’t you just kill him?” I asked.
“We tried to steer him back on the right track. He’d even promised that he was on our side, that he would never betray us. It’s why we put him under that oath. We can’t really kill off our own so liberally. It’s not like there are so many of us, in comparison to daemons,” Emilian said.
“What makes you think he won’t tell Harper and the others the truth? How long do you think before he will break his oath?” I raised an eyebrow.
“It’s not a regular oath he’s under.” Emilian grinned. “If he talks, he dies. We actually thought he was finally coming around. Then that harlot Hellswan showed up. That boy cannot see straight when she’s around.”
“You better mind your tongue,” Caia hissed, flipping her lighters open.
Emilian and the others took a couple of steps back, visibly uncomfortable in the presence of raw firepower. Rewa snapped her fingers, and the Correction Officers moved closer toward us, their swords screeching as they left their scabbards.
It was about to get crazy, fast. I counted at least fifty of them on the second level with us, along with about thirty or forty on the third level above.
“What was your plan, exactly?” I growled, my gaze shifting from Vincent to Emilian. “What were you hoping to get out of this, out of duping us?”
I needed to prolong this for as long as possible, to give myself and the others some time to think things through, and to come up with a smart exit plan. My only hope was that Avril and Heron were going to show up soon. We needed the extra pairs of hands.
“At first, we wanted to just capture you all as soon as you landed,” Emilian said. “But then we saw the dragon, and, well, we didn’t know how susceptible he was to our mind-bending. It was too soon for us to try anything, and, frankly, we wanted to see how well we could pull this off without throwing you all in cages. Know thy enemy and whatnot. We couldn’t mind-bend any of you vampires and Maras, and we would’ve had to catch Blaze alone, without any of you to quickly figure it out. Much to my dismay, you kids just can’t be apart for too long. Always together, always with your guard up. So, we decided it was best to simply let the daemons get you, sparing us the trouble of such an effort.”
“Why, Lord Obara? Why are we here?” I asked, my muscles jerking with anticipation.
“Why, for sustenance,” Rewa replied with a smirk. “Souls are incredible. The strength they give us, the energy they fill us with… You have no idea how wonderfu
l that can be. Unfortunately, it is also addictive. Once we got into it, we didn’t really want to stop. And why should we? We are so powerful and capable. Your presence here alone is a testament to that. Just look at how good our acting was, how convincing! The setting is perfect!”
“How is bringing us here an example of your intellectual prowess?” Caia retorted, no longer concerned about hurting anyone’s feelings. I knew she’d held a lot back in previous days, when Rewa was giggling and flirting with Blaze. “We just discovered what you’ve been up to. And we have a dragon.”
“And don’t think I’ll be holding anything back,” Blaze added, straightening his back.
Rewa chuckled, then looked right into Blaze’s eyes, hers shimmering gold. “Well, I don’t know about that… Blaze, darling, do me a favor. Don’t turn into a dragon. Don’t use your fire against us.”
Oh, crap.
Everything had happened so fast, the revelation so mindboggling that none of us had thought to worry about the Maras’ mind-bending ability affecting our non-vampire friends until this horrible reminder. If they’d been trying to earn our trust until now, by not attempting any mind-bending on our dragon, well… that was done. The cat was out of the bag. Blaze stilled, his expression blank and his arms limp. Caia gasped, then turned to face him, gripping his shoulders and desperately shaking him.
“Blaze! Don’t listen to her! Blaze! Look at me! Please, look at me,” she pleaded with him, but he was unresponsive. Rewa then giggled, making me really eager to chop her head off.
“Blaze, darling,” she said. “Be a doll, choke the life out of Caia. She was the first on my disposal list anyway. Not a soul I’m interested in tasting.”
Before either of us could react, Blaze brought his hands up and grabbed Caia by the throat. Fires roared through me, and I drew my sword.
“You’re not going to get away with this!” Patrik snarled, then tried to get between Blaze and Caia in an attempt to stop him from choking her.
“Of course we will!” Emilian laughed, his voice dripping with mockery and disdain. “We have something that you don’t. We have a swamp witch.”
All hell broke loose in the following second.
The Correction Officers came at us, their blades up. We immediately reacted, fighting back with everything we had. The Lords slowly shuffled toward the stairs, watching us with delight and amusement, as if we were putting on a great piece of entertainment for them.
Just as I’d originally thought, it got crazy fast. Scarlett flashed from one Mara to another, using her lightspeed to deliver swift and deadly blows. Her blade cut through Mara flesh with such ease, she could easily handle four to five opponents at once.
Patrik brought out both defensive and offensive Druid magic, blasting blue fireballs at the Correction Officers, alternating with heavy sword hits, while blocking attacks from the side. Had I not been so busy with my own share of enemies, I would’ve gladly sat back and watched him. The Druid had some insane fighting skills, as he’d already proven back in the gorges. I just couldn’t get tired of it.
I unleashed my full strength on the Maras coming at me. Rage fueled me, and I spared no punches, striking viciously at my opponents. Blood gushed from their open throats, and I quickly moved to the next two Correction Officers who were bold enough to take me on. I heard bones cracking beneath my knuckles as I punched my way through the increasing crowd of hostiles.
I was trying to get to Blaze and Caia, as she was struggling to set herself free from his deadly grip. There was no way in hell that I was going to let any of my friends get hurt or die in this nicely decorated hellhole.
Caia
(Daughter of Grace & Lawrence)
Flashing little white stars were covering the image in front of me—an image I was having a hard time registering, despite the strong hands tightening against my throat and cutting off my air supply.
I knew Blaze didn’t want to do this. Mind-bending was a powerful tool, especially in the hands of a giggling psychopath like Rewa. I caught a glimpse of her grinning with satisfaction as she watched from the edge of the stairs.
“Blaze… please, you’re hurting me…” I croaked, unable to breathe.
My hands covered his, and I used all my strength in a desperate attempt to pry them from my throat. It was impossible. He was too strong. There has to be a way…
“Blaze… you don’t want to do this…”
I could feel darkness creeping up on me, my consciousness slowly slipping through my fingers. But what really broke my heart were the dark blue flames burning in his eyes. Beneath the glassy façade of hypnosis, Blaze knew what he was doing to me—and he couldn’t stop it.
It was up to me to put an end to it. Rewa’s snickers reached my ears, as my eyes were beginning to roll back in my head. I found one last ounce of energy to look at her, and I realized that there was one way, one surefire way to stop Blaze, so I could get my lighters back from the ground where I’d dropped them when he’d first grabbed me.
My knee came up fast and rammed into his groin. His face contorted with pain, and he immediately let me go, falling to his knees. Both his hands covered the affected area. My legs were just as weak, and I nearly landed flat on my face, coughing and wheezing, my lungs readjusting to normal breathing.
“I am so sorry, Blaze,” I whimpered, then looked around for my lighters, which were only a couple of feet away to my left. Blaze had rolled to his side in a fetal position.
I only had seconds before he’d recover and come at me again, Rewa’s mind-bending still in full effect. With one last push, I managed to grab my lighters, then flipped them open as my gaze shifted to Rewa. That smug smile on her face vanished when she realized what was coming next.
“How’s this for crispy?” I smirked, then shot out a flurry of fireballs at her and the other Lords.
She squealed, then dodged along with the others, my flames barely brushing them. I was too weak, still trying to come to my full senses. But Patrik reacted fast, just as Blaze was in the process of getting up. Patrick’s fist nearly dislocated his jaw, but the impact was strong enough to knock him out.
He then helped me to my feet, firing blue flames at the Correction Officers coming at us.
“Make sure he stays down until we get out of here,” he breathed, then went back to fighting more Maras.
I briefly shuddered, shaking my head in an attempt to regain my focus. The Lords were scrambling farther up the stairs, but none wanted to leave. They scowled at me and continued watching the fight. I wanted to go after them, but several Correction Officers reached me, and I had no choice but to focus on them.
Fortunately, not only was my inner fire itching to burn them all to a crisp, but the rest of my team was also kicking major ass. From the few glimpses I caught of Scarlett and Fiona, they were mowing Maras down like training dummies. I could hear bones breaking, yelps and screams of agonizing pain, and bodies hitting the ground, unable to withstand the strength and speed of the Novaks.
I slipped to the left, dodging the sword of a Correction Officer, and fashioned my own flaming blade, the incandescent concentration of pure fire that I’d recently learned to master. The Maras didn’t want us dead, since they were after our souls—except Rewa, who had a bone to pick with me… I did hold hope that the other Lords would hold her back, though, since our souls were supposedly rare and “extra tasty”. They were aiming to hurt us severely enough to allow our capture.
It gave me a slight advantage, as none of their hits were going for any of my vital organs. I, on the other hand, was going straight for the kill.
“Oh, no, you don’t!” Avril’s voice shot through.
I rammed my sword through a Mara, his flesh sizzling from the fire blade, his eyes popping out as he stared at me in disbelief. I kicked him back to retrieve my precious flaming weapon, then saw Avril and Heron joining the fight. They didn’t stop to think. They simply reacted and started blocking hits, and chopping the limbs off any Maras who tried to get close
to Blaze. Their orders were probably to snatch him while he was still unconscious.
“I’m not even going to ask what’s going on here,” Avril quipped, bringing her sword down on a Correction Officer. “But just so you know, the Maras are eating souls!”
Her opponent collapsed in a puddle of blood, and she didn’t give him a chance to get back up. Her blade whistled through the air before it removed his head from the rest of his body.
“Yeah, we just figured it out ourselves,” I shot back, dealing with my own side of hostiles.
Their numbers weren’t shrinking fast enough, as more Correction Officers poured in from the upper levels, but we had enough anger pumping through our veins to take them all on, even without Blaze.
“So I take it we know who the bad guys are,” Heron said sarcastically as he drove his sword through a Mara’s neck, severing his spinal cord. Another came at him from behind, but Heron executed a swift and flawless hundred-and-eighty-degree turn with his blade perfectly angled to decapitate the Mara.
“And here I thought you were the slow one in the bunch,” Avril snorted as they moved back to back, Correction Officers gathering around them like hungry vultures.
I almost smiled, but my new opponents were determined to keep me busy. I brought my flaming sword up, allowing it to cast its warm light on my face, before using it to bring death to the creatures that had so horribly betrayed us.
We had to get out of here, of course, but we also needed to leave them with enough casualties to keep them busy for the next couple of days, until we got a chance to regroup and once again come up with a new plan.
Fiona
(Daughter of Benedict & Yelena)
I had a bone to pick with Vincent. All these Correction Officers felt like annoying obstacles, since all I wanted to do was to look that bastard in the eyes and rip the heart right out of his chest. However, I wasn’t getting much luck with getting closer to him. He and the Lords had weaseled farther away from the fight, taking refuge on the stairs, as they continued to watch the show.