Love Is Fear (35 page)

One of the wolves snapped. Emotion overcoming him, and he rushed forward, out of the forest’s safety, charging Lucas, unable to control his animal instincts. A vampire ran up beside the wolf, appearing out of nowhere, pulling the wolf down to the ground. They wrestled, the vampire laughing as it tried to sink its teeth into the wolf’s neck. The wolf snarled, foam gleaming from its maw as they fought.

The vampire screamed as the wolf burrowed into its chest cavity. Lucas continued forward, ignoring his subject’s desperate cries, focused only on locating the villagers. He passed the outermost edge of the village. Moving silently towards the forest, as though he could hear the villager’s hearts beating in fear.

Return to me, Ajax heard Cerdewellyn say. And it sounded like the wind sighing.

Cerdewellyn’s call was impossible to ignore, and Ajax heard whines of fury in the air as the wolves tried to disobey and follow their bloodlust. They did not want to go back. Did not want to escape. Calm rationality slipped away from Ajax as the wolf’s rage unfurled inside of him. The Dark Lord would pay for his sins.

A few of the Wolves turned, running back to Cerdewellyn, not strong enough to resist his call now that the pack was bound to him. But Ajax held out, waiting a moment longer, desperately wanting to attack Lucas. He moved a paw forward, then stumbled as blinding pain ripped through his skull.

Cerdewellyn’s commands coiled inside of him, contracting tighter, the pain growing, and he knew it would only get worse until he obeyed. With a furious howl Ajax turned, sprinting through the forest as fast as he could. The pain disappeared and he felt a gladness inside of him, pleasure at obeying Cerdewellyn’s will.

Cerdewellyn urged Ajax into the flames, and he ran straight towards it, felt the heat of the blaze on his muzzle, the blinding light of the fire searing his eyes as he stepped close. Fear made him want to stop but Cerdewellyn urged him onwards and Ajax gave in, kept running, closing his eyes at the last moment and prayed to survive the flames. Not to God. Not anymore. Now they prayed to Cerdewellyn
.

Chapter 
38

Lucas saw Cerdewellyn’s castle up ahead and stopped running, slowly approaching the edge of the tree line that gave way to a cleared area before the high castle walls. It was beyond aggravating that he could not teleport himself from location to location. Another manifestation of his weakness in the Fey realm. The castle walls were thirty-feet high and, if he had to guess, four-feet thick.

He crouched low to the ground, staying hidden for a moment and examining everything around him. Closing his eyes, he listened intently, blade out and ready. The snap of a twig, a rustle of an animal, the steps of a man as he tried to approach undetected.

Nothing.

This was nothing like the land he had heard of. Centuries of encounters both mysterious and fantastical, told that deadly and seductive creatures lurked around every corner.

But this place had an air of emptiness, a loneliness so complete that, if he had emotions, he might have wept for the sense of loss around him.

Desolation.

This was a failed civilization. Everything gone. But for whatever reason, Cerdewellyn had managed to survive.

That
 was going to change.

Valerie was here because of Lucas’ mistakes. He’d tasted her, felt the gentlest 
hints
 of emotion, and decided he wanted things that were beyond him. Things that turned a man weak and made a vampire an easy target.

He could not afford to be vulnerable. She was his only weakness. So what did Cerdewellyn do? He took her. Cer had been out of the game for 500 years, back for less than twenty-four hours, and already he knew Lucas’ weakness and had exploited it, reducing his strength and power by bringing him here.

Lucas felt a pang, almost like a splinter of emotion at the thought of what the future 
needed
 to hold. Get Valerie out of here. And no more blood. He would never drink her blood again. If he had not been so desirous of it and her, he would not have left her alone in that wood back in Roanoke. And she wouldn’t have bled on the ground, allowing Cer a way to control her.

If Lucas had not imbibed her blood, he would not have cared about seeing her with Jack. Would not have orchestrated Jack’s appearance to judge their relationship—because sharing her would have meant nothing to him.

But he 
had
 drunk her blood, and it had made him careless. She had called him a monster, compared him to one of the vilest men on Earth, felt her revulsion ring through his body like a pike slamming into armor—painful and crushing. He was now useless and susceptible to sentimentality.

Pathetic.

He was not a man. He would never 
be
 a man. Happiness, family, the simple pleasure of a summer day. And in truth he could not even remember what that had been like. He had put all of them in danger for a ridiculous quest.

Never mind. 
The mistake was done. He would go in, get Valerie out and they would start again. He was a vampire, a murderer. Unconscionable. He would embrace that, and she would obey or else.

No more compromising.

Lucas looked at the top left turret of the castle, which was at least a hundred feet in the air. Lightning struck the roof repeatedly, clouds churning like an angry sea. They were gray and unnatural. That was the portal back to the mortal world, and it was only accessible via the roof. Plus, he would have to find Cerdewellyn and sever his link to Valerie before she could leave. Cer would not want to let her go. Centuries of hatred for Lucas would be focused on her as part of his revenge.

At least, that is what I would have done.

Cer thought to control 
him
? Lucas knew what he would do to Cerdewellyn. He remembered. There were means of torture that universally broke people. Those were boring. It was not the common things—splitting a tongue, removing an eye, or slicing off a penis that caused bone-deep terror.

No, he wanted Cerdewellyn to be so afraid that he would piss himself with fear. Lucas was going to find him, rip his stomach open with his bare hands, take out the Fey’s heart and eat it before his very eyes. And if that wasn’t enough to make Cerdewellyn release Valerie, he would become creative.

Satisfied that no one was lurking nearby to attack him, he made his way around the castle, looking for the entrance. He walked further, further, until he returned to the spot where he had started. There was no entry.

Of course there was a way in. 
Illusion
. He could not see the entrance, but it had to be there. He walked up to the wall, checking above him periodically to make sure no one would attack him. It was habit. Never walk below an enemy’s walls. Sliding his hand along the stone, he searched for the slightest difference in texture, temperature or sound, looking for any variation to show where the illusion ended—ideally a big hole that he would be able to walk through with ease.

He was conscious of time ticking by as he circled the castle walls again. He was back where he had started—again. Lucas stepped backwards slowly, surveying everything around him. He scrubbed his hand across his jaw as he contemplated another way to approach this.

This was easy. It had to be. There was an entrance.
Somewhere. 
He went back to the tree line and stared at the wall, looking for patterns in the rock. There were none. He looked for any places where the color was too uniform. 
Nothing
. No well-worn paths that led the way. Nothing.

He looked at the sky and was shocked to see that it was almost dark. How long had he been here? He’d arrived at noon, had walked around for no more than 30 minutes, yet it was almost nighttime. He swore. This was what happened in Fey. He was at Cerdewellyn’s mercy. All these spells, all this glamour and illusion, time out of balance.

Someone was coming. He pulled himself up into the boughs of a tree and out of sight, hiding his sword so there would be no glint to give his location away as he waited for them to come into sight.

Jack. Rachel. 
He jumped down and both of them whirled.

“
What are you doing?” Rachel asked, surprised by his sudden appearance.

“
There is no way in,” Lucas growled. “I cannot find it.”

Jack looked at him like he was an idiot. Perhaps the day would come when Lucas would kill him anyway. Despite his promise to Valerie. It would improve his mood.

“
It’s right there,” Jack said, pointing directly behind Lucas.

“
Truly? You see the way in?” Lucas asked.

Jack nodded.

“
And you?” Lucas asked, looking at Rachel.

“
Nope. He’s human. Fey glamour is harder to work on humans than it is on Others.”

“
Why? That doesn’t seem very likely,” Jack muttered, clearly disbelieving humans could have any advantages. Until this moment, Lucas would have agreed.

Rachel shrugged. “Don’t know. It’s one of the very few advantages humans have. Be happy about it.”

Lucas turned and saw nothing. “I have touched every section of this wall and looked everywhere. If you see it, lead us. But first we must discuss the plan. We go inside. We find Valerie and Cerdewellyn. I will convince Cerdewellyn to allow Valerie to leave, and then we will depart from this beleaguered land and never return.”

“
I like that plan. Its beauty is its simplicity,” Rachel said, looking around unhappily. “Man, this place has got some seriously bad mojo.”

Lucas addressed Jack. “I want her out. I want us all out of here. Take direction or be left behind. Do you understand? Now go.” Lucas nodded towards where Jack had pointed.

Every thought Jack had was on his face, painfully predictable. So earnest and passionate as he looked daggers at Lucas. Such a fool. He may as well have said: 
Give me the chance. Just one chance to kill you and I will take it.

Was it this…
passion
 that drew Val to Jack? Or perhaps it was his simplicity. Jack wanted to kill Marion, but his desire to kill Lucas was almost equal in its intensity. Perhaps it was even worse, because Jack was a man now and might actually be able to prevent Valerie coming to harm. Jack must know there was nothing he could have done to forestall Marion. It had been vaguely difficult for 
him
 to stop Marion. Although he preferred to think that apathy on his part was what caused the trouble.

It was hard to maintain a killing rage for decades. Lucas knew that all too well. There always came a point where that flame of rage ran out of oxygen. Became a smolder and then nothing but black smoke.

Jack managed to bite back his pathetic death threat.
Good
. Lucas was not in the mood to coddle him.

“
Yeah, cause the two of you at my back is going to make me feel safe,” Jack said, moving towards the wall.

Lucas called him to stop. “Before you go in, take Rachel’s hand. If the magic allows you in, we do not want to get separated as we pass through the barrier.”

Jack snorted. “What might happen if we got separated? You wouldn’t die, would you?” he said sounding hopeful.

“
I have no idea what would happen. Potentially nothing. But how do you think you would get Valerie out of here on your own? What purpose does it serve to antagonize me?”

Jack gave Lucas a feral smile, a baring of teeth. “No purpose, it’s just cheap entertainment.” Then he held out his hand and took Rachel ’s. Both of them wearing pained expressions, attempting to convey just how much they did 
not
 care that they were touching each other.

Childish.

Lucas took Rachel’s other hand as Jack led them to the wall and through it. They emerged into an empty courtyard, opening their eyes to a new backdrop. There were troughs for horses and a smithy. Carts, long disused, the wood split from weathering, lay abandoned on the dirt ground.

Plague. 
The thought flashed though his mind again. But even when a whole village was wiped out, there had at least been animals. There was an impressiveness to nature’s reclaiming of what man had stolen from her. Here there was nothing.

The drawbridge was down, and they made their way forward, silently. The only sound was their footsteps, Jack ’s breathing, and their heartbeats. The keep was dark except for lit torches embedded in the walls. There was something nostalgic about a torch. The heft of it, the sense that 
anything
 might be just out of sight. Lucas breathed deep, tried to sense where Valerie was.

Lucas let Jack take the lead, knowing the human would be the only one able to see any tricks or traps. After several moments, they came to the first room.

Jack gasped, frozen in the doorway.

“
What do you see?” Lucas asked, staring at a boring, but grand, dining room. There was nothing here to elicit such a startled response as far as he could see.

“
You really don’t see it? The table is filled with…
bodies
. Corpses. And there are bones everywhere. Jesus. A whole pig carcass is there. Just… bones on a plate.”