The Vampire Gift 2: Kingdom of(44)

I gape up at him. He must be seven foot three, seven foot four. It’s not just his height that’s impressive. His entire body is knotted with thick, tight muscle, the sort I’ve only seen on a bull.

He speaks. “You are the one known as James?”

It takes a few moments for me to regain my breath. I push myself up to my hands and knees.

“Yes,” I finally say. “I am.”

“James Soren?”

“The one and only.” I spread my arms and give him a deep, mocking bow from my knees. “At your service.”

The strike of his club blindsides me. I go back down, sputtering.

“You will show proper respect, worm,” he warns. He plants a foot between my shoulder blades and pushes me to the dirt. “Or I will make your life a living misery. Understood?”

I mumble something I hope he takes for agreement. It’s hard to form words with all the raw earth between my teeth.

The giant bends down. He grabs my hair and jerks my head up. “We may have been sent to retrieve you,” he says. “But we weren’t once asked to ensure you were in top condition!”

He spits in my face. A surge of anger rushes through me but I push it down.

I can be deferential when I suspect it’ll save my life.

He stands, and pulls me up with him. “My name is Dagan,” he tells me. “You would be smart to remember.”

In the back of my mind, I add “Dagan” to the list of vampires I intend to kill.

“Where is The Ancient?” I ask when I’m upright. “He is the one who spoke to me. I need to confer with him.”

Laughter, bounds of jeering laughter, meets my proclamation.

“The Ancient is safe in The Crypts,” Dagan sneers. “What makes you think he would risk himself coming for you?”

“He can’t be,” I say. “I heard him in my mind. He could not have communicated with me through such a distance. He is the one who made the earth break. Isn’t he?”

“My, my, but you have a lot to learn,” Dagan grunts. He shoves a pendant from around his neck into my face. “You see this? This is called a torrial. It is a special type of object that can temporarily hold magic. It can also enhance a magical spell. The Ancient’s power flows through it.”

Is that what the chalice Victoria told me about is? A torrial?

My mind wanders at all the possibilities. The potential strength that something like that can give its owner…

Without conscious thought my hand moves to touch the pendant. But Dagan sweeps my feet out from under me before I can make contact. I fall on my back again.

“Never,” he growls, looming high above me, “try to touch the torrial again. I am the one it’s entrusted to. I am the only who will hold it. Any who defy me face death.”

A harsh silence falls from the surrounding vampires.

Struggling to keep my anger in check, I push myself up. I shoot a grudging look around the group, then say, “I respect a leader who can keep his soldiery in line.”

Dagan snorts a laugh. “Your respect won’t net you anything. Being quiet will. We came to retrieve you. Our mission is done. You are with us.”

He looks back and whistles. On his cue, another dozen vampires appear from the trees. I didn’t even sense them!

It’s the damned silver collar.

“If I might beg a single indulgence…” I begin. I hate grovelling, but I’ve known vampires like Dagan before. It’s the only way to get in their good graces.

Dagan looks at me. “Go on.”

“This collar,” I gesture at my neck, and roll my head side to side. “It’s not the most comfortable of adornments. A gift from my Queen Mother, but one I’d rather do without.”

Dagan grunts and nods at one of the other vampires. “See if you can get it off.”

A slender male who looks like he was barely a teenager when he was made separates himself from the group and comes up to me. He has dark, hooded eyes.

“I thank you, friend,” I say.

He doesn’t answer. He spins his finger for me to turn around.

I do. Once my back is to him, he mutters something in a strange tongue. The words are foreign, but the cadence unmistakable.

It’s the same language Mother uses when casting her spells.

The collar drops. Relief washes through me. I rub my neck and take my first full breath in ages.

I turn to face the vampire who freed me. With the collar off, I can take measure of his strength.

For a second, confusion mounts. This vampire… he’s barely stronger than a human! He’s weaker than even the weakest I’ve ever encountered—weaker than Phillip, weaker than any fledgling newly made. He’s so weak, in fact, that I doubt I could sense him were he more than a foot away.