Refugee (The Captive Series Book 3) (10 page)

Gideon signaled for the woman who
reappeared with a bottle of something. She topped off Braith and
Gideon’s drinks, though Braith required far less of a top off than
Gideon did. “They do,” Gideon confirmed when the woman was gone.
“We do not have blood slaves and we do not force people to give
their blood.”

Gideon’s gaze latched onto her neck.
She hadn’t realized her hair had fallen back until Braith tugged it
over the marks he had left upon her.

“Most give it willingly, either by
allowing us to feed from them or by donating their blood. Just as
most vampires don’t like the intimacy and vulnerability that the
exchange of blood can produce, neither do some humans.” Braith
didn’t move his arm, but his firm jaw flexed as Gideon’s gaze
dropped to the bite marks on his inner wrist. Gideon’s left eyelid
ticked. “Though, the connection between a human and a vampire is
never as strong as it is between two vampires. I’ve never allowed
another to feed from me, and I have never fed from another. I don’t
know many vampires that have.”

“What do you mean by donate?” she
inquired. She knew what “donating” meant in her world. The people
who were not purchased as blood slaves were taken to be drained of
their blood, and their bodies were callously discarded
afterward.

“It is given willingly here. If they do
not care to give, they do not have to.” A small smile played at the
corner of Gideon’s mouth as he lifted his goblet and swirled the
liquid inside. Aria frowned and leaned over Braith’s shoulder to
peer at the contents of his goblet. It was the color and viscosity
of blood as it gleamed in the candlelight. She glanced up at
Braith, who nodded briefly, confirming what she suspected. He
didn’t seem to be enjoying it very much though as he’d only taken a
few small sips. “There is enough for everyone to go around here,
and we live in easy, relative peace.”

Aria sat back. “Relative?”

Gideon frowned as he nodded firmly.
“There are always those that break the rules. I think you
encountered a few of them on your way here.” He glanced pointedly
to the bandages on her arms showing from the edge of the cloak that
had slid back. “Humans are not to be hurt here, not unless they ask
for it, of course.”

“So those humans in that section of
town back there, and that girl at your home, they were…
ah…”

“They are willingly there. We do not
force humans to do anything they do not want to do, some simply
have lustier needs than others, and they like to fulfill those
needs. Besides, most of them are vampires, not humans, and we have
far lustier needs, don’t we Braith?”

Aria fought against the blush creeping
up her neck and across her cheeks. She was well aware of Braith’s
needs, even if she hadn’t satisfied all of them yet. “Gideon,”
Braith warned.

“She’s a big girl Braith, she can
handle it, stop being such a bear.” Braith’s jaw clenched, his
hands fisted on the table. Aria grasped hold of his arm; his biceps
bulged beneath her hand as he fought the urge to punch Gideon.
“There is a no tolerance policy here against hurting humans that
are not willing and eager. Those offenders are dealt with swiftly.
We do not kill our own kind, but we do not allow them to stay
either. Although, most of them would probably prefer death to the
banishment they are given.”

Aria glanced at her bandaged arms.
Gideon was probably right, those pitiful creatures probably would
have preferred death to the life of starvation and struggle they
now endured. “And what are the rules for the humans?”

“They are the same for both species. Do
no harm to others, no stealing, and no false accusations are to be
issued. Our justice system is swift and decisive. The humans are
also banished; most of them end up in the border towns where their
rights are stripped away by the vampire’s presiding there. Some of
us didn’t care for the king’s new rule, and fought to keep things
the way they were. Others liked the idea of no longer hiding, of
letting their cruelty reign, but they didn’t like the rules and
tyranny of the palace. Those vampires reside in the border towns.
You passed through one such town before arriving here, that’s how I
knew you were coming.

“We trade human food, clothing, and
other goods with them and in exchange they alert us when anyone may
be coming to look for us. Though we do not actually hand them the
humans that are banished from here, or deal in slavery, it doesn’t
hurt that most end up seeking shelter and protection in the
towns.

“The vampires within the towns are used
to dealing with The Forsaken Ones, as we have started to call the
banished, and are usually able to avoid them in order to reach us,
though sometimes they do get lost. However, if they hope to keep
receiving food they have no choice but to aid us. We need to know
when someone is coming, or when the king has sent one of his
raiding parties to attempt to find us. The Forsaken Ones are
hazardous, and we’ve been having increasing problems with them
lately, but they come in handy as a defense against the king’s
soldiers, and other unwanted guests.”

Aria hadn’t realized what that town had
been; it was a little unnerving to know they had been being spied
on, and monitored, the entire time. “They asked to buy me though,”
she blurted.

“No dear, it was Braith they were
interested in. It’s been awhile since they’ve seen the prince, and
they were a little surprised by his appearance. Though, they would
have taken you if Braith had been willing.” Aria sat back, she was
flabbergasted by this revelation. “Truth be told, we had once hoped
that Braith would come here to do something about his father’s
policies. We had given up that hope though.”

Gideon’s gaze was irritated as he
turned his focus to Braith. “Why would you think I’d come at all?”
Braith’s voice was hoarse, grating.

“You were never a malicious bastard
like your father or Caleb. I thought you would eventually grow
tired of the brutality, the unfairness of it all.”

“You could have started your own
rebellion.”

Gideon shook his head, though he tried
to appear casual, tension hummed through his shoulders. “Not many
of us escaped Braith, certainly not enough to challenge the king
again, not with the power he wielded. The number of vampires was
just as badly decimated as the number of humans, especially
vampires that didn’t agree with your father. We would have been
massacred.

“It was a long time before we were able
to establish this town. The first twenty or so years after the war
were spent moving constantly, trying to avoid the hunting parties
he sent after us, but eventually he grew tired of hunting us and
became more concerned with the rebellion brewing in his own
backyard. We continued to move about for a few more years, but
there’s nothing out there anymore. Nothing Braith.”

Braith shook his head almost sadly and
took another sip of blood. “We eventually found an underground
water supply here that we were able to tap. It took a lot of work
but we established an environment where humans and vampires could
coexist peacefully.”

“We never knew much about The Barrens,
but none of us suspected this existed amongst them,” Aria
murmured.

“Nor did we want you to.” Gideon idly
twirled the goblet in his fingers, his gaze pensive as he stared at
the shiny metal. “The last thing we needed was an influx of humans
leaving the woods to come here. We may not have everything we once
had, may not live in the lap of luxury, but look around you, these
people are happy.”

Aria studied the occupants of the
restaurant. They were smiling and they were healthy. They weren’t
dirty and bedraggled, they weren’t too thin or sickly like some in
the woods. They weren’t pale and drained like the blood slaves. The
most amazing thing though, was that they weren’t afraid. They
weren’t hiding and screaming, they weren’t struggling to survive,
they were sitting in the open, surrounded by vampires, and they
showed no fear. It was wonderful.

“We weren’t going to let the word out
until we were ready.”

“Ready for what?”

“For a revolution,” Braith informed
her.

Gideon shrugged as he leaned forward.
“Perhaps, but it still would have been a long time coming. Our
numbers are not as strong as we would like, and to reach out to
your little rebellion would have been risky.”

“Little rebellion?” Aria demanded in
indignation.

“Even you must admit that you don’t
accomplish much more than being a thorn in the king’s
side.”

Aria’s jaw clenched as she leaned
across the table. “At least we’re not hiding in the middle of the
desert!” she snapped at him. “We’re there, we’re fighting now, and
we’ve come to you to join this fight!”

Gideon arched a brow at her as he
leaned closer. Braith rested his hand on the table, twisting so
that his shoulder was in between them. Aria sensed no hostility
from the man across from her though, just a desperate need for her
to understand something. “You have no idea what the king is capable
of, what humans are capable of when their livelihoods are
threatened. Rushing into something, and getting ourselves killed,
wouldn’t do anyone any good.

“The king has a way of drawing everyone
in, of making them believe things that they wouldn’t normally
believe. It is how he was able to wrest control, how he was able to
inflict the damage upon the world that he did. By the time any of
us realized what he had in mind, and the lengths that he would
eventually go to, to get it, it was too late to stop him. We were
outnumbered and overpowered, getting ourselves killed by rushing
heedlessly back in would not help us one bit. Of course not
everyone was on board with the king at first, which is why your
mother was killed, something I think you now realize was your
father’s doing.”

“Yes,” Braith acknowledged.

“
Vampires gobbled up the
crap the king was spewing, bought it hook, line, and sinker. Even
then the king was the most powerful, the oldest, and though he
didn’t control everything, we looked to him for leadership and
guidance. We were fools. He took everything. And when he was done
with the humans, he turned on his own kind. There were those of us
that disagreed with what he was doing all along, and those that
realized to late what he intended. The world had gone to hell,
blood and death ruled. Though I do enjoy my fair share of blood,
killing indiscriminately was never my forte, or anything I took
pleasure in.

“These people, and these vampires,” he
gestured around the restaurant, “Are the survivors, and their
offspring. The factions surrounding us are led by the other
aristocrats that escaped, and the humans that fled from the fallout
of the war. Some of the humans are descendants of the early
escapees from the palace.”

“My great grandfather escaped the
palace when he was thirteen, he started the rebellion,” Aria
muttered.

“So you’ve always had rebel in your
blood?” Braith inquired as his finger briefly rubbed the back of
her hand.

She smiled as she shrugged at him. “I
guess so.”

Gideon shook his head as he took a sip
of blood and looked at Braith thoughtfully. “If it hadn’t been for
Ashby’s bomb, I think you would have come to see what your father
was a lot sooner. I still can’t believe you survived that thing.
You were a mess; your arm was barely attached, your torso… We all
thought you were as good as dead.”

Aria didn’t like the picture that
Gideon was painting. She couldn’t imagine Braith so vulnerable and
broken. “So did my father,” replied Braith. “I think surviving it
in the first place, even more so than mastering my blindness, was
the thing that convinced him to let me live.”

“Your blindness?” Gideon inquired,
though his gaze was focused on Aria.

“Don’t play stupid Gideon, I heard you
questioning Ashby about us.” Braith’s body vibrated like a tuning
fork as his chest pressed against her shoulder. His hand fell to
her waist, pulling her possessively closer to him. “I think you’ve
figured out the extremes that I will go to, and that there isn’t
anything I won’t do, any one I won’t destroy, to protect
her.”

The words, growled and cold, caused the
hair on her neck to stand on end. Gideon quirked an eyebrow, a
small smile of amusement flickered over his full lips. “Easy there
watchdog, I mean no harm, to either of you. Like I said, we’ve been
waiting for your arrival. I’m not going to ruin that now. Yes, I
already figured out that there’s something going on between you
two. I’m not exactly sure what, but I’m guessing that it’s far more
than you’re willing to tell me right now, and that it has something
to do with the return of your sight. Though, I think it will be
best if this is kept from the others, at least for now.”

There was something more beneath his
words. She suspected the “for now” was just to appease Braith, and
that this was really something Gideon meant to keep secret for
good. A part of her knew he was right, and that part terrified
her.

“And you truly think things will be so
different if you return now?” Aria inquired, proud her voice
remained strong.

“I know they will be,” answered Gideon.
The way he stared at Braith made it clear why he believed things
would be different.