The Vampire Gift 2: Kingdom of(51)

Chapter Thirty-One




JAMES



As the other vampires make their preparations, I sit huddled alone on the spot assigned to me, thinking furiously.

Dagan’s voice was in my head. That shouldn’t come as a big surprise given what I’ve already experienced. But the fact that he knew what I had thought…

It’s a terrifying proposition.

Every now and then I cast a glance at him. If he notices, he does not show it. I try to simultaneously keep my mind blank while maintaining my thoughts in the background, just beyond the edge of consciousness.

If he is in my head, how much can he glean? How much can he hear? Can he see my whole mind?

How far does the power of the torrial go?

Look at me, you big, ugly brute, I think.

Dagan doesn’t so much as hitch his shoulders.

LOOK AT ME! I scream inwardly. SHOW THAT YOU CAN HEAR ME!

Nothing.

I growl with displeasure. Dagan is not my friend. That much is clear. And he is not my enemy—yet.

The most dangerous type of foe is one you do not understand. Because those you do not understand, you might underestimate.

Just like I did with Riyu.

Finally all preparations are complete. I’m called to join the pack.

“Give me your hands,” Dagan says.

I scoff. “Why?”

He takes out a pair of manacles. “Because these are to go on your wrists.”

I meet his gaze. “No.”

He sneers. “Do you really wish to challenge me? Again?” The vampires around me take a menacing step inward. “We own you, James. Either you put them on willingly, or we use force.”

“Why now?” I demand, my pride making me obstinate. It was always a prickly thing, that pride. “You freed me from the collar, and now you want to bind me in chains.”

“The collar was silver. It affected your head. These—” he hefts the manacles in his hands, “—are made of iron. They are meant to keep you in line.”

“If they are iron you know how easily I’ll be able to break out.”

Dagan’s lips twitch up in a half-smile. “Then you should not protest against putting them on.”

The vampires around me are watching the interaction with hungry eyes.

Finally, I give a resigned sigh and offer him both arms. “It’s a shame you don’t trust me.”

“It’s not me,” Dagan says as he clamps the cuffs over my wrists. “It’s your Father. And, yes, I think it’s a shame, too.”

He smiles in satisfaction once they’re secure. “Now, on to The Crypts. Riyu?”

The weakest of the vampires steps forward. He stops right beside me. I look at him. I don’t like the secretive smirk that’s on his face.

He winks.

A bright blue flash streams out from where he’s standing. I shield my eyes with one arm against the light. When the spots in my vision fade, I look back—and discover a rotating sphere hovering above the ground, approximately waist-high.

None of the other vampires look the least bit impressed. But I stare at it in wonder. It’s obviously magic—but magic the likes of which I did not know existed in our world.

The sphere starts to spin faster. As it does, it exerts a suction on the air, almost like a black hole. The cavern we’re in is unlit, but because of our vampire vision we can all see through the dark. Yet as the sphere spins and spins and spins, I find my vision diminishing. The corners of the room become cloaked in a black that my eyes cannot pierce.

It’s more than unnerving. It’s downright terrifying.

But it is fascinating all the same.

Riyu begins to chant. It’s a low, slow incantation. The cadence builds until the pace of his words matches the frequency of the spinning orb. The cavern walls completely disappear from my vision. Not long after, the vampires on the other side of the orb become hidden, too.

Riyu’s words grow louder. The very air shimmers. A similar resonance to that I felt right before the ground gave way in my prison beneath the earth is at hand here.

The orb expands and flattens at the same time until it’s the size and shape of a round café table. Dagan gives a command.

One by one the vampires around me leap into the spinning blue light. I watch as it swallows their forms, and they wink out of existence.

Eventually it’s just me, Riyu, and Dagan. “You next,” the huge vampire grunts. “Quickly.”

“How do I know it’s safe?” I ask.

“You don’t.” Dagan grins.

And, just like that, he shoves me inside.





Chapter Thirty-Two




ELEIRA



Raul storms off after Morgan’s declaration about the human slave. Phillip and I look at each other, unsure of what to do.

“Oh, go!” the Queen says. “Go chase after him, go bring him back, go do whatever it is you need to do.” She grimaces at Bradley’s body. “Somebody will need to clean this mess up.”