Queen of The Hill (Knight Games) (23 page)

“You need to levitate,” Poe said as if it were painfully obvious.

I scowled in the darkness and closed my eyes to get a grip on my racing thoughts. Once I had clarity, the instinct to float came from within. The air lifted me, or maybe my body became helium-light. I’d practiced this dozens of times with Rick, and it paid off. I landed gently on the lawn and laid Julius’s body in a patch of grass. The vampire was emaciated. Completely empty of blood.

“He looks better than usual,” Poe said, then chuckled at his own joke.

“I’m waking him up. We need to know what happened and if he can help us get Rick back.”

“In the entire history of ideas, this one might be in the bottom five,” Poe said. “A ravenous vampire is hardly an ally. He’ll have no control.”

True, Julius was ancient and dangerous. Fully fed, the vampire had almost killed me once—lost control while tasting my blood and practically drained me dry. Rick was able to bring me back from the brink of death, but Poe’s warning rang true. If I wasn’t careful, Julius would turn into a ravenous monster, and I would be lunch.

But the vampire had also saved me twice: once from Anna Bathory’s torture chamber and once by challenging Bathory when she’d been ready to tear out my heart. The second was more of a coincidence, I supposed. I didn’t owe him anything. I’d already spared him his life. Still, I needed help, and he was my best hope.

I had so many unanswered questions. All the time I’d spent searching for Julius, he’d been here under this tree. Why? How did he get here? Only one way to find out.

Drawing Nightshade, I ran the blade across my wrist. Blood gurgled out quickly, and I shot the trickle out over the gap of his shriveled lips. The wound would heal if I didn’t concentrate on keeping it open. Just like Rick’s teeth, my flesh moved aside for Nightshade. The magic was necessary as many of my spells required blood. I’d be a mass of scars if the cuts were the human variety. I was thankful for the phenomenon now, as control was exactly what I’d need to bring Julius back safely.

At first the ruby drops rolled over his leathered tongue and dribbled down his throat without any assistance, but eventually the muscles of his neck rippled with a swallow.
Drip, drip, drip
. His lips plumped and his parchment skin became soft and supple. Eyelids and eyelashes extended over his Caribbean blue eyes and the white tufts of hair fell out, replaced by a chocolate brown coif.

Julius flinched toward my wrist, and I pulled it away. Immediately, the flow stopped and my wrist healed. He licked his lips and opened his mouth like a baby bird, lungs not developed enough to support his desire to speak. He made a sound like a hum from his throat.

“Hold your horses, cowboy. I’ll see what I can do.” I lifted my gaze to the woods beyond the fallen tree. The albino buck was back, staring needfully at the fallen fruit with eerie red eyes. Or maybe it was a different buck. Now that I thought about it, this one looked younger, with a smaller rack of horns. I left Julius’s side and plucked a fruit from the tree. I held it out toward the deer.

“Come,” I said. The command was ordinary enough but charged with my witchy intention, it drew the animal to me. Natural magic. It wasn’t
Star Trek
style. The deer wasn’t caught in my tractor beam or anything. A strong breeze, coupled with a more subtle, imperceptible draw, coaxed the buck in my direction. When he was within an arm’s reach, I tossed the fruit between us. The deer stretched his graceful neck to take a bite, and I swiftly used Nightshade to slit its throat.

I underestimated the blood. It gushed over me, spritzing across my long-sleeved black T-shirt. Pinching the gash with one hand, I gathered the front legs under my arm and dragged the kill to Julius, who stretched toward me with open lips. I released the wound over his mouth, and in seconds, his arms were strong enough to haul the body into his lap. Expertly, the vampire pinched arteries and tipped limbs in a way that ensured every drop made it into his stomach.

Poe landed on my shoulder and whispered in my ear. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

I gave him a harsh glare.

Faster than I expected, Julius tossed the drained body of the buck aside and stood. Unlike me, he was impressively free of blood. How did he do that? Did they teach young vampires not to spill a drop? Or had he spilled but extracted every bit from his skin and clothing?

However he did it, I hadn’t fared as well. I was a bloody mess.

“Grateful Knight,” he said, bowing at the waist. “Of all the people I envisioned coming to my aid, you never crossed my mind. I am in your debt.”

“Yeah. I didn’t have this on my to-do list either,” I mumbled. “Plenty of time for gratitude later. How the fuck did you end up in that hole?”

He gestured toward the tree. “The fruit is toxic. Enchanted. Tabetha fed it to me.” He gritted his teeth and smoothed back his hair. “She came to the Thames asking for an alliance. When I refused, she offered me a slice of pie as a symbol of our continued peace.” He pointed toward the fruit on the ground, its bright red skin split open to reveal the purple flesh and green seeds. His polite features morphed into something feral. “One bite of that fruit makes you her slave, and once she uses you and tires of you, she buries you here as supernatural fertilizer for her fucking magical trees.”

“Used you?” I said softly. My mind drifted to Rick.

“In more ways than one,” he spat. “The tree drained my life force, but as a vampire, I cannot die. I did not understand until I was in the ground that I’d become the source of her power.”

I narrowed my eyes, his words sinking in slowly, like water into sand. “This is why she’s so strong. She doesn’t just pull power from her small cemetery; she pulls power from immortals. She feeds off others’ power.”

He nodded. “When
she
eats the fruit, it strengthens her. She’s able to tap into the immortals buried under these roots.” He pointed at the row of trees. “A legion of supernatural lovers feeding her limitless appetite.”

“That’s why she wants Rick,” I said softly. “A caretaker would be the ultimate source of power.” Rick wasn’t just the man I loved. We healed each other and ruled my realm together. His blood kept me from aging. I was effectively mortal without him. If Tabetha succeeded in burying him beneath one of her trees, not only would she gain his power, but without his blood, I would slowly age and die. Then she’d move in on my territory, her ultimate goal.

Julius frowned. “She has your caretaker?”

“Yes.” The word came out broken and hollow. I shook with anger.

“I am truly sorry. Her cruelty has no bounds, and I am a veteran of cruelty.” His eyes flashed to mine and for a moment I saw straight into his vampire soul. He’d been both victim and perpetrator in his long life. Pain was no stranger to this vampire. He’d had to do things he didn’t want to do to survive as long as he had. I felt a special kinship to that history, not because of what I’d done in the past but because of what I was about to do.

A seed of change took root within me. My human life seemed far less important then the supernatural injustice Tabetha had waged upon the vampire and me. I heard my goddess mother’s voice in my head.
I give you permission to kill Tabetha.
Only this time, I didn’t find the words harsh; I found them hopeful.

My eyes drifted from Julius to Tabetha’s brick mansion, and a darkness stirred within my soul. I inhaled deeply through my nose.

“You will not succeed,” Julius said as if he’d heard my thoughts. “It is foolishness to confront her here.”

I trudged to the fallen tree and plucked one of the red orbs from the branches. “Do you think this fruit only gives Tabetha power, or any Hecate?”

Poe grew restless on my shoulder. “I don’t like this. It’s too risky. You could end up her slave.”

Julius had a much different reaction. His eyes narrowed to slits. “Do it here, and if it intoxicates or subjugates you, I will throw you over my shoulder and care for you until it wears off.”

“Don’t trust him,” Poe warned. “He
cares
for you the way you care for a fine wine. He’ll drain you dry if he gets the chance.”

“I will not,” Julius insisted.

“You have before,” Poe reminded him.

“That was an accident.”

“Stop,” I said, holding up one hand. I stared at the fruit. “I’m not leaving here without doing everything in my power to end this. I’m not leaving without Rick. Hecate said I could beat Tabetha by turning her own power against her. She implied I could use her progeny to tear her apart. There’s nothing closer to Tabetha’s children than these trees. I can’t think of a better way to do that than this, can you?”

Julius gave Poe a smug grin. In response, Poe rotated on my shoulder so that his back was to the vampire.

“Relax, Poe. It’s the best plan we have.” I dug my nails into the red skin and broke the fruit open, my fingers going numb where they touched the purple flesh. I didn’t let that stop me. I buried my face in the fruit, gulping down large bites. “The texture is like kiwi, but it tastes like lychee,” I said around a mouthful.

“You’re still speaking. That’s a good sign,” Julius said.

In fact, the numbness in my hands had abated, and a warm vitality filled my abdomen. I finished the fruit.

Poe lifted from my shoulder and circled above my head. “You’re glowing.”

“I can feel it,” I said. I picked another fruit, tore it open, and ate the flesh. The fruits had to weigh a pound each, and my stomach protested near the end of the second one. I tossed the skin aside.

Juice dripped down my chin. Blood pulsed in my temples.
Lub-dub. Lub-dub.
I lifted both hands, tingling with power. The normally blue hue of my veins purpled under my skin and the muscles in my forearms bulged.

“Your eyes,” Julius said. “The power is in you. Are you still of your own mind?”

“Hell yes!” My magic threatened to burst the seams of my skin, but it didn’t own me. I was still me. “I’ve never had such clarity.”

“Excellent.” Julius clenched his hands into fists and looked toward the house. “Let us teach Tabetha the ultimate lesson.”

“No,” I said. “Tabetha is mine. Besides, I need your help with something else.”

He scowled at me. “What?”

“Dig up the rest of the trees. Pull them up by the roots. Free whoever is underneath.”

A smile stretched across his face. “Disconnect her power source.”

“Exactly.” I pointed my chin toward my familiar. “Poe, I need you to help him. Catch animals to feed whoever is buried here.”

He landed in a nearby branch. “As you wish.”

“While I am doing this deed, where will you be?” Julius asked.

I turned toward the house, rolling my shoulders back and drawing Nightshade. “I thought I made myself clear. I will be taking my fiancé back … and killing Tabetha.”

N
ightshade in hand, I strode up the veranda’s stone steps two at a time. Power, pure and unadulterated, pulsed aura-like around me and gave off a telltale shimmer. The air was thick and tingly. As far as I could tell, the fruit had the opposite effect on a Hecate as it did on other supernaturals—it amplified my control, made my mind sharp, and my magic more accessible.

I thanked my goddess mother I’d had the courage to try it. I’d need all the help I could get if I was going to take down Tabetha. I shivered apprehensively but shook it off. Fear was a luxury I couldn’t afford.

As I approached the door, the carnivorous flowers swayed in their pots. In two swipes of my blade, I beheaded the plants, and then carefully avoided the sap as it leaked around my toes. It sizzled menacingly on the stone. I pushed through the unlocked door.

“Hello again,” the bow tie-clad man said. His vacant smile took on new meaning now that I understood Tabetha’s power. He wasn’t an overzealous employee. This man was drugged on fruit-filled pastry. He didn’t attempt to stop me as I climbed the stairs. His eyes drifted back toward the door. How long had he been standing there? How long would he stand there?

The tangle of roses grew faster as I passed, their heady perfume filling the hallway. This time, the fruit I’d eaten seemed to protect me from the neurological effects. I didn’t feel dizzy or anxious in their presence. With a clear mind, I barged into Tabetha’s room.

A naked Rick still lay on the bed, but he’d turned over to face the door. With a clear view of his face, I could see his eyes were glassy and his breathing as shallow as if he might be sleeping. Drugged.

Naked Tabetha drew a finger down Rick’s outer arm. “You’re back,” she drawled. “A glutton for punishment?”

“I came for my caretaker.” I clutched Nightshade in front of me with sweaty palms.

“
Your
caretaker.” She scoffed. “Not anymore. You did not relinquish your territory to me, and I am due blood. He is mine now.”

“You are due nothing,” I hissed. “Rick didn’t follow through with your spell. I offered you fair payment, a spell for a spell. It’s not our fault you didn’t accept.”

She crawled off the bed, lifting a kimono patterned silk robe from a hook on the four-poster. She wrapped it around her shoulders and tied it at the waist, her gold scarab talisman peeking from the vee of silk at the neck. “Rick is here because he wants to be here. Right, sweetheart?”

“Yes,” Rick said flatly. The word was a dagger to my heart.

“Only because you’ve drugged him,” I said. “What did you do? How did you get him to eat the fruit, Tabetha?”

“Ah, the fruit. Frankly, I’m surprised a baby witch like you figured it out.” Her features changed. She shed the pretense of Rick wanting to be there, in lieu of arrogance and ego. “Persigranates. My own personal hybrid. An act of pure magical genius on my part.” She picked up her wand from the nightstand. “An endless source of power and a convenient way to dispose of enemies. You want to know how I got Rick to eat it?” She pouted at me with full red lips. “A heart-shaped tart.” She giggled and rolled her eyes. “Men are so gullible. I left it on his counter with a note that it was from
you
, the witch who never cooks, in honor of your new beginning. How could he turn down such a sweet gift on your wedding day?”