The Vampire Gift 2: Kingdom of(85)

The creature stops its hissing. It looks at me…

Then turns around and flees out the door.

I stare after it, stupefied.

That was all it took?

Then I hear Victoria groan below me. Immediately I twist back. Blood is oozing from her wounds. It’s not healing as it should.

I fall to my knees beside her. I pick her up and cradle her head in my arms.

“Victoria… Victoria, no,” I say. A torrent of unwanted and unexpected feelings gush through me. Fear. Failure. Guilt.

“I’ll get you out,” I say. I lift her up and stagger to my feet. She feels so frail beneath me. I can feel the life force draining from her body. Her eyes flicker back and forth from seeing to unseeing. The wounds smell ripe with corruption.

Stumbling and disoriented because of the silver, I manage to find my way out of the room. I fall against the wall in the hall, a strange fatigue setting in.

I hear footsteps racing up the stairs.

I curse. If I stay, my whole purpose here would be compromised. If I’m caught now, I might as well forsake my own life.

As gently as I can, I put Victoria down. She groans as her body touches the floor. I look through the open door of the cell and see her blood staining the stone.

My hand still feels like it’s on fire, despite having wiped all of the creature’s internal fluids off.

The footsteps get louder. I can feel two—no, three vampires running up toward us. I look around.

The stairs are the only way down.

I’m trapped.

From below me I hear the creature’s hissing shriek again. A blast shakes the chamber, like a stick of dynamite going off. The castle rumbles. From around the corner comes the briefest flash of blue light.

Those snarling, hissing, guttural sounds of the creature continue on below. It’s engaged with the three vampires, one of whom is Mother, I’m sure.

My eyes search the walls for a cavity, for some sort of hiding place. I find one, far in the corner, right by the second closed door.

“Don’t move,” I tell Victoria. A part of me wants to run down and aid the others in the fight. Not from any great sense of altruism, but because I want the opportunity to finish the thing that maimed Victoria and embarrassed me so.

Whoever heard of a vampire being bested by a rat?

She groans something incomprehensible in response. I debate just pulling her with me, but her strength would give us away. The only reason I stand a chance hiding is Riyu’s magnificent cloaking spell.

So, feeling both a coward and a fool, I jump into that tiny pocket of darkness, hoping against hope that whoever comes up and discovers Victoria won’t notice me right away.

Three against one aren’t the best of odds… but with the element of surprise on my side, I reckon I’ll be able to do a little bit of damage if it comes down to a fight.





Chapter Fifty-Four




ELEIRA



Something jerks my attention to the door. The view latch slides open… and James peers inside.

Shock ripples through me. What’s James doing here? Could I be seeing things? Could my senses be so addled by the silver?

But no, it’s him. I’d recognize those cruel, vindictive eyes anywhere. Although, now, they look somehow… subdued. Somehow… haunted.

A million questions rifle through my mind. Where did he come from? Why did he come? Is he searching for… me?

I stand up and raise one arm. James makes no response. His eyes glide over the entirety of the room, completely unseeing.

Morgan’s spell is still active.

Then abruptly he slams the latch shut. I start to sneak for the door. If he swings it open…

But he’s gone. The faint hint I had of his presence disappears like the scent of a wilting flower on a cold wind.

I return to the middle of the room. Barely any time passes before I hear a blood-curling scream.

I blink in confusion. Victoria?

Suddenly a torrent of images pours into my head:

A dark, silver cell nearby, identical to this one. James is standing at the door, having flung it open. Movement, dark movement, movement that’s getting nearer, nearer…

I grunt and blink through the barrage of images, bringing a hand to my head. They’re so real, it feels like I’m seeing them before me now, like I’m in some sort of vivid dream.

They continue to assault my mind:

A streaking black object leaping into the room. Panic flaring. James throwing the door shut in my face…

I hear it slam shut and realize that what I’m seeing—it’s happening in real time, in another cell nearby.

I’m looking through Victoria’s eyes.

But how can that be? I thought I’d blocked her off. The connection—

The connection suddenly flares into life once more, and there is no hesitance, no doubt this time: I am completely in her mind.