Bloodcraft (20 page)

“She is dangerous.”

Lucian shrugged. “Tell me something I do not already know. I saw her blood possess another vampire to the point of making him do its magical bidding.”

“You have seen the Cruentus Curse in action?”

“Yes.”

Freyja frowned. “And yet you live to tell the tale.”

Lucian smiled. “My brother saved me. He was the one it possessed, you see. She gave him her blood to save him and it did. Only it had other designs for him once he was under its spell. He almost killed everyone in that room with that blood magic, until she exorcized it.” He could see the disbelief in Freyja’s eyes. His tale sounded fanciful to his own ears, but it was the truth and he hadn’t spoken of it to anyone, not since that fateful day in the underground room in New York. He shook his head. “Trust me, I know how it sounds, but it is true.”

“And the witch?”

“She is more powerful than the Witch Clans and the warlocks combined. And her power was only fledgling when I saw her last.”

“Is that why you were looking for her?” Freyja asked and smiled at the look on his face. “That was part of our plan. We heard you were looking for young witches. Roan’s idea, actually, and it worked.”

“I lost my last witch to her,” Lucian snapped. “I needed a replacement. Magic has its uses, even to us vampires.” He knew he had nothing to lose by confiding his plot to her. “I wanted to use the prophecy to retake control of the Vampire Council, but her loyalty was to my brother, not to me. He was the one to take the power of her blood into himself.”

“Her loyalty?” Freyja asked with a frown. “You said that she offered it to him. Why would she do that? Knowing he was a vampire?”

Lucian smiled and played his hand. “Haven’t you heard? She is my brother’s consort.”

“Consort?” Freyja repeated.

“Yes.”

“A witch and a vampire,” she breathed. “It is forbidden. The Clans would never allow it, nor would the Council.”

Lucian winked with a lewd grin. “See? Not as farfetched as it seems. And forbidden or not, neither the Council nor the Clans can stop them. She compelled an entire room full of vampires at our headquarters with a single word in a room warded for magic.”

“How do you know it’s her?”

“I saw her blood with my own eyes,” he said. “I smelled it, too, when she teleported from vampire headquarters a hair’s breadth from my fingers. Black as midnight and as decadent as the blood of the Goddess herself.”

Freyja’s eyes widened. “Where is this witch now?”

“Alas, that is where I cannot help you. She is training with the Witch Clans. It took them longer than I expected to pull them apart, but they have succeeded. They refused to teach her about her magic unless she left my brother. And she did. And as far as I know, he wasn’t very happy about it, but he agreed because it was what she wanted. They didn’t want a vampire having undue influence on the wielder of the Cruentus Curse, you see.”

“I fail to understand how that helps us, Lord Devereux, if what you say is true and that she is no longer with your brother.”

Lucian walked to the table where the servant had left the glass of whiskey. He raised it in a toast and drained the contents. “We have both lived so long that we have become jaded, don’t you see? It’s true love, Freyja.” Sarcasm dripped from his every syllable. “They
love
each other to the point of destruction. And this little witch will do anything for my brother and vice versa. Get my brother and you get her.”

“You would sacrifice your brother?”

“I would sacrifice my firstborn son if I had to.” He smiled. “Most of the rumors you have heard about me are true.”

Freyja lifted an arm and, suddenly, a dozen warlocks pooled from the shadows, including the one who had brought Lucian here, Roan. “You have heard this vampire’s testimony. He speaks the truth.”

Lucian exhaled. Of course he had spoken the truth. Any witch or warlock worth his or her salt would know when someone was lying. And he wasn’t about to risk his neck by telling falsehoods or exaggerating what he knew, not with the most powerful warlock he had ever met. He felt a twinge of guilt for what he had done, but he did not owe Christian anything. He was doing him a favor, after all. Christian had never wanted to become a vampire and now he would be free from his curse.

“What are you going to do to her?” he asked Freyja. “The witch.”

“She is dangerous.”

“You said that already,” he said dryly, raising an eyebrow.

“Not that it matters to you, vampire, but her powers upset the balance of magic on this plane. She is—as the humans say—a ticking time bomb, one with the potential to kill every supernatural being in this realm.”

“So you mean to kill her.”

“Yes.”

She eyed the warlocks in the room. “We have a new target. Lord Devereux’s brother. His Grace, the Duke of D’Avigny.”

Lucian felt his stomach clench at the sound of the title—yet one more thing Christian had stolen from him. Jealousy burned within him with the force of a thousand suns. Christian had always been the bane of his existence, and when he was gone, it would be the beginning of a new era … a new start without the shadow of his brother looming over him. He raised his chin and squashed the remnants of any guilt. Christian would get what he deserved.

“He is not to be harmed,” she warned her followers. Her gaze fell on Lucian. “And Lord Devereux is now under my protection.”

Roan’s lips curled over his teeth and Lucian could see his fingers clenching into fists at his side. He was not pleased by Freyja’s announcement, Lucian knew. They did not trust him and with good reason—he had killed thousands of them over the years. When this was all said and done, he would make sure that Roan was added to the list.

Freyja addressed him. “What is her name?”

“Whose name?” Lucian asked, distracted.

“The name of the witch.”

He cleared his throat. “She is the descendant of the Duchess of Lancaster.” The room went silent at his announcement. Every witch or warlock knew the stories of who she was—and the blood madness that had consumed her. If they doubted him before, they did not now. He could smell their collective fear. He kept his smile carefully contained, keeping his face expressionless. “Her name is Victoria Warrick.”

THIRTEEN

The Immortal Son

Christian felt the tug deep in the marrow of his bones. Lucian was in trouble. They had always been connected as twins, but the vampire connection between them was even more powerful. He fought the immediate urge to rush to his brother’s defense. Lucian had made it clear that he didn’t want his help. He was so stubborn that he’d rather face execution at the hands of the Council for his perceived crimes than ask for help. And now, even though every cell in his body warned that his brother was in jeopardy, Christian ignored the insistent pull of it.

Standing in the massive boardroom in the Tour Areva of the vampire headquarters, he surveyed the city of Paris, his eyes pausing on the elegant lit frame of the Eiffel Tower. It was one of his favorite monuments, along with the Notre Dame cathedral, also visible in the distance. He’d planned to take Victoria sightseeing to all of his favorite places, but they hadn’t made the time. He swallowed hard, his fingers clenching at his sides. And now neither of them would have that chance. She was gone.

Composing himself, he focused on the matter at hand—Enhard’s letter. He’d read it a hundred times, but hadn’t found the answers he’d sought. He had asked his assistant to summon David. As if on cue, he felt the Elder’s presence, swirling among all the other energies in the building. Christian frowned—being able to distinguish identities was yet another new development in his growing array of skills.

The power worried him. He knew nothing much about the Reii other than they were the founding fathers—the original vampires—of their race. They were powerful, their blood undiluted by time or generation. And it seemed that he had been graced with their strengths. He knew that it had to be because of Victoria’s blood—it was the only thing that explained his accelerated changes.

Enhard had written that he would inherit his maker’s memories and her strengths, but only when his body was able to control such tremendous and dark power after many,
many
years of life as an immortal. It seemed that Victoria’s blood had expedited that, spreading within him and forcing him to evolve or die. And so, he had evolved … enough to inherit a legacy he had no inkling of.

“Your Grace,” David said as he entered the room. He bowed in deference, even though at the moment he was by far the stronger vampire of the two. “You wanted to see me?”

Christian glanced at the old vampire and nodded. Enhard had said that David was only three generations removed from the Reii. He held up the letter. “Please, have a seat. You know what Enhard wrote in here.” He paused. “Of the truth of my maker.”

“Yes.”

“And you also know what I have told you about Le Sang Noir and what happened in New York. Do you believe that it caused me to evolve?”

“When you took Victoria’s blood, did she remove it completely?”

“As far as I know,” Christian replied. “Although it has left an indelible mark.” He jabbed a finger toward his eyes. The black ring around the silver of his irises had not disappeared and was a daily reminder of how potent the blood’s magic had been. He fought back a shiver at the visceral memory of it and turned his attention to the Elder. “Enhard wrote that you went through a version of the change?”

David nodded. “When I had lived seven centuries as a vampire and was old enough to withstand my inheritance, I did.”

Christian withheld his gasp. He had barely claimed two centuries as a vampire and he was nowhere near that age … nowhere near ready. “What was it like?”

“Overwhelming,” the vampire said with a rueful smile. “The memories were fragmented, agonizing to piece together at first, but it became easier. And the gifts, they came more gradually.”

“What kind of gifts?”

“My sensory abilities sharpened a thousandfold. I developed psychic powers and was able to read people, see their truths and lies, understand their desires and their fears. My speed … well, let me show you.” He smiled and blinked, but did not move.

Christian’s eyes narrowed on him. “Are you going to demonstrate?”

“I already have,” David said, opening his fist to display a strawberry. Christian turned around in disbelief, his gaze falling on the fruit platter sitting at the far end of the table on the other side of the room. He was a vampire with formidable vampire strengths of his own and he hadn’t seen David move.

“Do it again,” he commanded.

David nodded. This time, Christian felt the slight disturbance in the air, but he still did not see David leave his chair. The only indication that the vampire had moved was the glass of water now sitting at the edge of the table.

“Impossible,” Christian murmured, even though he could see evidence of David’s speed in the materialization of the glass.

“Enhanced speed, enhanced strength, enhanced everything,” David said, taking a casual sip of the water. “Everything you were able to do before, you can do it better. Shifting into other forms will be like breathing. Advanced healing. Super strength. And as you have no doubt already discovered, you do not need to feed as often.” The vampire eyed him. “But you will still need to feed, Christian. Blood, as always, remains our one sustenance. And the more you use your new powers, the more quickly your strength will drain.”

Christian paced, his mind spinning with the new knowledge. “What of dark magic? Enhard’s letter said that the Reii have control over it.”

“I expect that the presence of such magic is what Le Sang Noir responded to in you. Your powers of compulsion will grow. Few will be able to resist your will, animal or human.” David eyed him. “And you will be less susceptible to the magical powers of witches.”

Christian froze, thinking back to Victoria’s fire and frowned. Her hex had been powerful, but he had barely felt it. A lesser vampire would have been incinerated and turned to dust. But he had withstood the spell and healed.

“You will also have the power to call on other vampires and the ability to communicate with the dead.”

“Call on them how?”

“You can take their strength, drain their power if you had to.” David flexed his fingers. “If you needed my power, you could command it.”

“But I am not your maker. How is that possible?”

“Because you are a Reii and that power transcends any other bond.” David leaned forward in his chair, threading his fingers together on the table, his eyes thoughtful. “With the threat of war looming on the horizon, this could not have come at a better time. The witches have their weapon, and now we shall have ours.”

“Their weapon?” Christian said carefully. “You mean Victoria.”

“They won’t hesitate to use her for their own ends, Christian. You have to see that. No matter what you feel for the girl, her loyalty will always lie with her own kind. Enhard told me of what lies between you and we shared the same concern. Relations between our species are forbidden for a reason. No good can come of it, no matter your feelings on the matter. Love in times of war is a liability.”