“And how many others have a problem with what I have asked?” Cyrus says as he suddenly looks away from the woman. “You, Judith? Godrick?” They shake their heads vigorously. “X?”
“Of course not, your majesty,” she says, bowing her head, even though her eyes betray her.
“So, it appears it’s just you, Antonia,” Cyrus says. “Let me save you the pain of humiliating yourself by doing what your King has asked.”
In a blur of motion, Cyrus is across the room. Blood sprays across the table, hitting those beside her. His fangs have sank into Antonia’s neck, and he pulls back in a quick, sharp jerk, taking with him a huge chunk of her throat.
He flings his face to the side, spitting out flesh and blood, where it hits the wall and slides to the floor in a bloody slick. Antonia collapses forward onto the table, a river of blood leaking out onto the polished wooden surface. Gasping, wet sounds erupt from the hole in her throat. Her body spasms, and her eyes flash open and closed.
“Does anyone else have a problem with my request?” Cyrus demands.
He stands there, a river of blood cascading down from his lips, over his chin, down his chest, staining his white shirt. His fangs are fully extended, his eyes glowing.
“No, your majesty,” echoes as those around the table reply in fear.
“I didn’t think so.” He whips out his blade once again and buries it deep into Antonia’s back, through to her heart. She stops moving and instantly grows ashen gray.
This. This is the King of the vampires.
“Pack your supplies,” Cyrus instructs as he wipes his mouth with the back of his sleeve. “You all leave in thirty minutes.”
It takes less than one second for the room to clear.
“Sometimes as a leader, you have to do bad things for the greater good.” I turn to see Cyrus studying Antonia’s body. His eyes are glazed over, empty. His words may be deep and meaningful, but it’s easy to see he doesn’t really feel them.
He killed this woman because she questioned his authority. He hasn’t been the only leader of a very powerful race for thousands of years without doing some very dark things.
Without saying a word, I walk over to Antonia. I heft her up and over my shoulder with no effort at all.
“What are you doing?” Cyrus asks in disgust.
“This is still my home and I don’t approve of bodies lying around,” I say as I look back at him with cold eyes. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
Without waiting for him to answer me, I leave the room in a blur.
It only takes me two minutes to move across town, to the edges, toward the swamps. To where Ian planned to feed me to the alligators once. I hear them hiss and snap the moment I get to the boggy water.
“Eat up,” I say as I fling Antonia’s body toward the shallow water. She snaps the sheets of ice. A set of huge teeth clamp down on one of her arms, and she’s drug down into the icy depths.
Covered in someone else’s blood, I head back to the House.
When I get back to Main Street, I slow to a walk.
The church by the river that once housed the few remaining townspeople is now empty. The front doors hang open. Snow blows inside, piling inward. The Hanging Tree is coated in snow, its dead and barren branches buried five inches deep. The shops have boards over the windows. Garbage pokes out from the snow. Frost clings hard to the windows at Fred’s.
It’s a ghost town.
“Do you still believe this storm is for you?”
I look up to see Raheem standing in the middle of the road just twenty yards away.
“I don’t know,” I answer honestly as I continue walking toward him. “I feel like I don’t know much of anything anymore.”
“You’ve been reborn into an entirely new life,” he tells me as he slowly walks toward me. “It’s okay if you feel as if you need to relearn yourself.”
“I’m not who I thought I was,” I breathe as we stop just two feet away from each other. “I’m not as strong. Not as sure about right and wrong. Not as founded with my values. Not as innocent.”
He takes half a step forward, and his hand rises up to touch my cheek. “I told you that vampirism brings out our true selves. It’s not a lie. Embrace who you truly are, Alivia. Let yourself discover your truth. Don’t fight it.”
The breath catches in my throat. I want that. I want to be able to just accept who I am. Every step I’ve taken for so long seems to toe the line between right and wrong. I want to accept that most everything in my life is gray now.
“Don’t fight it,” Raheem breathes. He’s so close. My heart is hammering. I want to break out of this terrified shell I’ve found myself inside of. I want to breathe. To fly. To just be me. “Don’t fight it.”