I turn my head up. The top of the cave seems to go on forever. There is a mystical beauty here. It’s almost like standing in the pits of a great cathedral and looking up at all the images of the human’s false gods.
They are false
, of course, because my immortality has shown me the truth of the world.
The only beings who deserve such reverence are my brothers of the night.
It’s a conviction I’ve not forgotten, despite what these last few weeks have put me through.
“What is this place?” I wonder aloud.
“These,” Dagan grips my shoulder, “are called the Paths. They are a relic of an ancient time, when magic was not forgotten, nor feared, in the world. The only way in, or out, is through the use of a portal such as Riyu summoned.”
“We’re… underground?” I ask, thankful Dagan is feeling talkative.
“You could say that. The Paths were created as a secure, covert way for witches and warlocks to travel. Without arousing suspicion from the outside world. They
are
beneath ground… but exist on a parallel plane. You cannot simply dig your way here. Magic must be used to enter.”
“Who uses the Paths now?”
If Mother knew about such magnificence…
But then the glitter of the crystals catch my eye. In a flash, I realize I’ve seen the same sort of stone before.
Mother’s crystal throne is made of the same stuff.
Dagan grins, almost like a proud father. “None but those granted permission by our King. Knowledge of the Paths has been eradicated from the world. The only ones to still know of them are members of The Crypts. The Paths are a closely guarded secret. Now that you’ve seen them?” he smiles a cruel smile. “You are bound to us for life.”
So that’s why he’s so willing to divulge information. He wants to trap me.
“I already made my allegiance known to Father,” I tell him. “My loyalty is only with your coven.”
Dagan scoffs. “We’ll see about that.” He looks at Riyu. “Ready?”
The weaker vampire nods.
Dagan gestures for him to move. “So lead the way.”
***
We journey slowly through the interconnected network of tunnels that make up the Paths.
After leaving the monstrous cave we arrived in, the space becomes significantly tighter. There were parts where we had to squeeze through gaps in the crystals with our shoulders rubbing against the walls.
The deference these vampires give Riyu is strange. He’s so weak. But they obviously respect his knowledge of magic.
After hours and hours of walking, we squeeze through a narrow chasm, and I find myself in…
A cavern that looks
exactly
like the one where we first arrived.
It’s identical. Down to the very last fleck of crystal on the ground, it’s the same.
I spin around in confusion. Have we turned around? No, we only went straight. We only went one way.
Riyu walks to the middle of the cavern. The other vampires form a tight circle around him. No words amongst us are spoken as Riyu begins to chant in that other-worldly tongue.
Another burst of light, another blue sphere. Riyu brings it close to the ground. The spinning globe does not take away the light in here. If anything, it seems to make the cavern glow brighter.
“This time,” Dagan says, appearing behind me. “You go first.”
He shoves me through the portal.
Pain such as I’ve never known takes me. It’s worse than silver, worse than torture, worse than anything I’ve ever experienced in my existence. Coming into the Paths, the pressure was external, pressing into me. That at least made it bearable.
Coming
out
, going through the portal this way, it’s all from within, like a foreign energy fighting to get out. My body feels like it’s going to explode. Like my skin will rupture, and I will combust.
A burst of blistering light, then heat, then the coldest cold I’ve ever known takes hold of me. Then my feet hit solid ground, and I crumble down, gasping for breath, my knees unable to hold me.
“You disappoint me, son,” a grim voice says above my head.
I crane my neck up, and stare at the visage of my Father.
“A member of the Inner Circle needs to be strong. He needs to be mighty.” My Father starts circling me. “He cannot be seen
grovelling…
” Father plants a foot between my shoulder blades and applies pressure, “on the ground, like a pathetic worm!”
The sound of more feet landing comes. From the corners of my vision I see the vampires of my company stream out of the portal. They land right on their feet, none showing any ill-effects, and stream into formation by the far wall.
Military precision,
I think.
“Good,” Father says. “The rest have arrived.”
Dagan comes through the portal last. He offers the King a respectful salute.
“You’ve brought my son back. Was the rest of the mission a success?”
“We ran into no problems,” Dagan answers. He goes to one knee, takes the amulet off, and offers it to my Father.
Father’s cascade of chains and rings rattle as he takes it from the larger vampire. It quickly disappears in one of his robe pockets.
I watch all that with half a mind, because, in truth, most of my attention is stolen by the vampires on the far wall.
I can feel their true strength
.
The moment they came through the portal, I felt it. They’re not weaker than I am—not at all.
They are, each one, many, many times stronger than I.
How…?
It makes no sense. A vampire’s strength cannot simply change. And I
knew
their strength before, I
felt
their weakness, I spent time in their company!
Yet awareness of their new, collective strength crashes into me like a tidal wave. Some catch me looking. A few sneer.
One, so boyish in appearance that he might be confused for a woman, offers an apologetic shrug.
Dagan grabs me and hauls me to my feet. Embarrassment streams through me at being manhandled in front of my Father. I push off and steady myself.
If only I could somehow steady the turbulent thoughts in my mind.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Dagan says. Even
his
strength has expanded. He’s bigger, more powerful, more
forceful
than before. He looks at his retinue. “You are wondering…
how
.”
Father chuckles.
Dagan beckons for Riyu. Out of all the vampires, only his strength is unaltered.
Yet the stronger vampires regard him with reverence nonetheless.
“The King and I thought it prudent—” Dagan tilts his head to my Father, “—for us to take precautions before approaching The Haven. Riyu cast a spell on each of us that cloaked our strength.
“Because otherwise, how could we have gotten so close to your coven without arousing attention?”
Suddenly it all makes sense.
Cloaking
. That’s
why
I couldn’t exert control over any of them when Dagan left us alone in the caves.
“You’ve all done your duty,” Father says. “Go and enjoy the reward given to those who please me. Each of you will feast on a limitless supply of blood. And, at the end… you will be given a sip from the chalice.”
On that pronouncement, a raw hunger, a blistering excitement shines in the eyes of the vampires by the wall. I’m not immune. I feel it, too.
The chalice. The one Victoria told me of, the one that spreads The Ancient’s power.
Father looks at me. He sees my greed. “Not you, son,” he tells me.
That comes as no surprise. The fact that I so openly displayed my eagerness
does
.
The vampires file out of the chamber we’re in. Riyu is the last to leave. He stops and casts one look over his shoulder at me.
Then he’s gone.
But in that split-second, I catch a resemblance I never noticed before.
He looks like Father.
“It seems you have an admirer,” the King says softly.
I still the features on my face and don’t react to the provocation.
Father starts to walk away. “Come with me.”
I follow him through a series of empty halls. A set of doors lead into the throne room. Shivers crawl up my spine from my last memories of the place.
He almost killed me here. This is where Victoria saved my life.
I hide my discomfort. Father continues to walk.
We go through another set of doors. The halls become tighter. Father takes a turn, and then one more, and another…
And suddenly I find myself standing in front of the doors that lead to the treasure vault.
I misplace a step. Father looks at me. “Something wrong?” he asks, too casually.
“No,” I choke. I can all but feel the invisible noose is being lowered around my neck.
“Good. There’s something in here—” he nods ahead, “—that I want you to see.”
I swallow my sudden fear and walk with him into the room.
It’s exactly as it was when I was last here: the fallen chalices on the floor; all the spilled blood; the destruction from the fight between me and Eleira and Victoria and Raul…
“Nobody has been allowed in since your escape.”
I almost choke. The noose is getting tighter. “It wasn’t an escape. It was an ambush.”
“You and Victoria tried to betray me.” Father kneels down and touches the dried blood on the floor. He brings it to his lips.
“This…” he tells me slowly, after tasting it, “…is the blood of a great witch.”
He surges up, and before I know it, his hand is around my throat, the other on my chest, just above my heart. His claws extend and he digs through my shirt. There is deep-set fury in his eyes.
“You brought her here!” he rages at me. “You brought the witch, you had her under my nose, and you did not give her to me! After I offered you the gift of sanctuary! After I spared your pathetic, miserable life! You are a traitor!”
His hand crushes my windpipe. I cannot speak.
“Well?” he brings his face closer. “What do you have to say? Think carefully before you speak. Your precious Victoria is not here to protect you.”
I choke out a single gasp.
He turns an ear to me and hisses, “Yes?”
“I…”
Whatever remaining strength I have is being sapped from my body. I’m fading. Under Father’s strength I am nothing. I hate this feeling, I hate how pathetic it is, how damn pitiful it makes me feel…
“It
was
betrayal,” Father growls, tightening his grip over my heart. “And I only brought you back to me for one thing.”
He lets go, and the sudden release makes me stagger and fall.
“So that I could kill you myself.”
Just as he’s about to attack, a female voice from the background stops him.
“I would not be so hasty about ending this one’s life if I were you, my King.”
Father freezes. I look past him and see a beautiful raven-haired woman flow into the room.
A gown of the deepest maroon hugs her curves, and then flows out behind her in a long train glittering with jewels. Her face is painted with smoky makeup, emphasizing her dark, dark eyes against the pale complexion. She’s stunning, and, in short—just my type.
She comes up to my Father’s side and places an arm around his back. He grabs her and pulls her to him, kissing her passionately.
An ugly spark of jealousy rears inside of me at the ostentatious display.
When he lets go, she turns to me. Pity shows in her eyes.
In that moment, such a violent torrent of anger surges inside me that I nearly lash out and attack Father. I know full well I would lose.
But
pity
from a beautiful woman is amongst the most humiliating feelings that I know.
“Why do you toy with him so, my King?” she asks. “The vampire who spoke at his induction was right. He has your bloodline. In it, there is strength.”
“Strength to defy me,” Father says.
“Look at him.” She motions at me. “He is proud. You shame him and expect respect in return?”
“He is too arrogant. Such arrogance—”
“—is mirrored in you, my love.” The unnamed woman smiles sweetly at him. “Could you blame James for his behavior, given the circumstances of his upbringing?” She lowers her voice. “He’s been corrupted by your first wife. There was a reason you left her for me.”
“Don’t speak of such things in front of the boy.”
I cringe at being referred to as ‘boy.’
The beautiful woman offers me her hand. “Let me help you up.”
I swat it away imperiously. “I don’t need your help.”
“But you are in need of my protection.” She glances around her. “Had I not stepped in, your blood would already be on these walls.”
I cast a surreptitious look at my Father. His face is blank.
“I’m sure,” the woman continues, “that you had reasons for hiding the witch from the King. So tell us, while your ruler is in an indulgent mood…” she strokes his arm, “…what that was.”
“I brought Eleira here, it’s true,” I say. “But she was still human. The transformation had not yet taken her. All this—” I gesture at the cups lying scattered on the floor, “—was meant to expedite the process. I wanted to present her to the King when she was ready. As both a powerful witch
and
a vampire, that he could do with as he pleased.”
“And yet you failed,” Father says in a low voice.
“She… overwhelmed us with her strength,” I admit. “Neither Victoria nor I thought the ceremony would accelerate her transformation so much.”
“She was alone?” Father asks. There’s a dangerous current in his voice.
I eye the fourth chalice on the floor and decide to offer the absolute truth. “Raul was here, too. I captured him when he came for Eleira.”
Father’s eyes widen with sudden fury. “YOU BROUGHT MY SECOND SON TO ME,” he screams, “AND YOU LET HIM ESCAPE?”
“Shh, shh,” the woman coos. “Don’t get angry.”
“To hell with that!” Father flings her off. He stalks towards me. “You,” he says, “do not deserve to leave here with your life.” He grabs me by the throat and hauls me up, then pins me to the wall. He takes a dagger from his robes.