The Devil's Liege (The Mathias Saga Book 2) (11 page)

Hell, he even wished he could nab some of his dad’s old blood pressure medication, not that Mathias thought that would actually work, but whatever. He’d do just about anything at this point to make the pain stop.

He knew humans couldn’t live without sleep for a long period of time, but vampires? Who knew? It was too late to worry about it now. He’d dealt with a lack of sleep before, but this was different.

The pain of this spell was worse than Lilith’s torture if such a thing was possible. At least, when the torture got to be too much, he’d passed out. But this, so far, the pain wasn’t putting him down for the count. Wonderful.

He wished he understood how this spell worked, but since it had required that he lay down amongst the candles, he hadn’t seen much. He saw Azazel wave his hand and blink all the candles lit. Then, there had been a lot of chanting. He might as well have been watching one of those old Christopher Lee movies where they brought Count Dracula back to life with a mixture of old Drac’s blood and some random crap.

Laying down during the chanting hadn’t been too hard, just weird. The fang being inserted into his arm long ways had sucked, but it wasn’t anything he couldn’t handle. This pain, however, the pain of the completed spell, it was like nothing he could have imagined.

“Hope he doesn’t expect me to fly,” he mumbled.

Mathias could just imagine leaping into the air, the flash of pain, and him promptly crashing into a tree like that old cartoon he used to watch on TV. It has disaster written all over it. Plus, it didn’t help that he was already a klutz. He didn’t need any help.

He had to figure out a way to make himself not notice the pain so much. Distraction sure as hell wasn’t going to work. So, that left him getting used to it, and the only thing he could figure is that it was going to take time.

They said you could get used to anything. Guess he was going to test that idea out himself. Too bad no one he knew had done this before, otherwise at least he’d have someone to ask for advice. Technically, he guessed, he could ask Azazel, but he still didn’t trust him, not yet anyway.

He knew of no spell that would help him out, and even if he did, the pain made concentration practically impossible. Besides, this was meant to help find Nossy. He’d already had the spell done. He might as well see it through.

* * * * *

“I don’t like this,” Vlad said in the other room while watching Azazel shove food and other items into large packs. It didn’t seem like nearly enough for a long journey. If he had his way, Mathias would have stayed there and rested like he was supposed to. Now, the boy was going off half-cocked. At least, he was going with plenty of fluids in his system.

“Too late for that now, don’t you think? I mean, the pain can’t stop until Nosferatu is found,” Azazel said.

Vlad watched him toss some extra sweets into the pack meant for Mathias. While, kind, not exactly comforting.

He shook his head. He knew he never should have agreed to allow Mathias to do this. Now, they were stuck with the aftermath, whatever it turned out to be. He just hoped that Mathias would not come out of this permanently damaged. If he did, Vlad wasn’t sure he could live with himself. “What if you can’t find the body?” he asked.

Azazel blinked. “Oh, we always find the body. Even if we have to climb down a crevice in a mountain.”

That didn’t leave Vlad feeling very relieved. Best case scenario, both Nossy and Mathias would come out of this okay. It wasn’t looking very good for Nosferatu. “We’ll just have to hope that Nosferatu remains in someplace safe,” Vlad said. He was starting to wish Stuart had stayed to deal with this, but he’d gone off to deal with what was left of the Order. If they weren’t behind the family, things were going to get much, much worse.

Chapter Seven

“Mathias, get up,” Azazel said.

Mathias jerked awake. His heart hammered in his chest. Azazel’s voice had been right next to his ear. Just like
her’s
. His lungs felt funny. He looked around for a minute while he got his brain working right. Azazel wasn’t next to him at all. Very odd. Sadly, the pain was still there. “I can’t believe I fell asleep.”

Azazel nodded. “It is amazing what our bodies will do to survive.”

Mathias watched Azazel look him over. Every place his eyes landed, Mathias felt a slight chill.

“Are you ready to go?” Azazel asked.

He gingerly sat up. The pain made his muscles clench, so his movement was very stiff. He felt like he hadn’t gotten out of bed for at least twelve hours, and he hadn’t even been down for two. “I guess.”

Azazel patted Mathias on the shoulder. “Good. Get a shower and put on these clothes.” He pointed to a stack sitting in the chair next to the window. “Then, meet me in the main room in twenty minutes.”

Mathias watched the man walk out and close the door behind him. The light was a lot dimmer than earlier. The days were so short here in December. The urgency of the situation didn’t escape his notice; it just felt like the end of something.

It was almost like it had been before when he went to fight Lilith. The trepidation. The stress. He’d barely survived. And then, he didn’t have the pain coursing through his body. If he was placing a bet, he sure as hell wouldn’t place it on him.

He shook the thoughts from his head and took his shower. It wasn’t an easy thing to do. Every time he moved, the pain would hit and he’d get off balance. Hell, when he got out of the shower, he almost busted his ass trying to step out of the stall when a pulse of pain hit. Cracking his skull open would have been a great way to begin this trip.

Drying off went okay. Mathias found that if he kept his teeth gritted, the pain was bearable. Almost. Logically, he knew he couldn’t grit his teeth all the time, but knowing that it helped was something useful to know. Or maybe, it didn’t help at all, but his brain was satisfied.

Getting dressed was a little easier, only because he could sit down to do some of it. He only had to stop a couple of times. The pants were this weird plastic material. The shirt was somewhat similar. It didn’t shine or anything, but you could tell it wasn’t regular like cotton or something similar.

Like much else in the castle, the clothing had been brought by an unseen servant. Well, Mathias had seen them, but they usually slipped in and out of the rooms when he wasn’t looking and wasn’t paying attention. In this case, they must have brought everything while he’d been in the shower.

On the bed, a thick winter coat with a fur lined hood was draped over the gold brocade comforter. Near as Mathias could understand, it was possible for him to freeze to death. But, there was some possibility that he could be brought back to life if thawed out. Still, frostbite was an issue.

What type of life would he have if he froze off half his foot or something? That would kind of negate the advantage of being a vampire. If that ever happened to him, he might as well just be human. Too bad the clock couldn’t be turned back.

He grabbed the coat and headed out to the main room.

* * * * *

A zinging jolt of pain shot through Nossy’s body. It flashed through his skull like a brilliant light, and then faded. “What the hell was that?”

He looked around, but saw only the darkness that had been his friend for so long now.

“Great. They’ve decided to torture me now. I probably should have heeded the Greek warning about Pomegranates.”

The pain kept pulsing. If he hadn’t already been sitting, he would have sank to his knees. “Probably punishment for taking off the hood,” he mumbled. Nothing would surprise him, especially since he hadn’t had food or water since before he was captured.

No direction he moved seemed to stop the pain. It was in sync with his heart. This was the last thing he needed. The hunger had been had enough. Now, he had this to contend with. It made things so much harder.

There was nothing left to hope for except a release from the pain. And, well, the easiest way to get release was for him to die.

He glanced around the blackness again and still saw nothing but the darkness in front of him. He steeled himself against the pain. The longer this went on, the more of a chance there was that he wasn’t going to be rescued. That wasn’t an easy pill to swallow. He didn’t want to die. He still had so many things he wanted to do. He could only hope that Mathias would raise revenge. Now that would be something to live for

* * * * *

“Ready to go, Mathias?” Vlad asked when Mathias walked into the main room.

Mathias draped his coat over a chair. Could he really ever be ready for this? Probably not. “I guess.”

“There’s still time to back out,” Stuart said from his chair next to Vlad at the table.

“No, there’s not,” Mathias said. If he backed out, he’d be a coward, and of all the things he’d been called over the years, that wasn’t one of them. “If I don’t go after Nossy, I won’t be able to live with myself.” It was true too. His dreams haunted him badly enough without guilt. If he had something to feel guilty about…

“Or live at all,” Azazel countered.

“What?” Mathias asked.

Azazel clicked his tongue against his teeth. “You can only put up with the pain for so long. Eventually, it could drive you insane. And perhaps, to suicide.”

Mathias put his hands on his hips. “And just how does a vampire commit suicide?” Not that he would do it, but it wouldn’t hurt to know.

Azazel blinked. “You should know.”

Mathias paused. Yeah, technically he’d starved himself to death in Lilith’s rose garden. He remembered what that felt like. But, his body had also been broken to the point of no return. Who would want to live forever being practically a vegetable? Well, it wasn’t quite that bad, but he’d been a warrior and been reduced to being an invalid. It was better to die. At least he stopped the torture. Still though, he would have loved to kill her then. Even in this life, he’d been too weak to do it. Maybe that’s why he still had the dreams.

“Okay,” Mathias said. “How are we going to find our direction?”

Azazel smiled. “We go outside and where you feel the worst, that’s where we’ll go.”

The pit in his stomach grew larger.
This is going to be so much fun
. Even he couldn’t stop the sarcasm in his thoughts.

“Mathias?” Stuart asked.

“Yeah?”

“Vlad and I plan to continue the investigation while you are gone. If we find more that are associated with Nossy’s kidnapping, what do you want us to do?” Stuart’s eyes seemed a little droopy. Almost like he’d either not been sleeping enough, or he’d been worrying himself sick.

Mathias didn’t even have to think. “Kill them.”

“And what shall we tell the people?” Vlad asked.

He wanted to say, “Fuck the people,” but that wasn’t right. Most of them had nothing to do with the kidnapping. The time to be nice was long gone. He looked at Vlad. “That this is what will happen to those who do not respect their king.”

Vlad nodded.

“Put on your coat,” Azazel said. “We might as well get started.”

Mathias complied. The material magically adjusted itself around his wings. He was ready.

* * * * *

The air was brisk, and yet, not uncomfortable. Not yet. In only a month, the winter would be really bad. But, for now, it was still bearable. Granted, there was snow on the ground, but it wasn’t all that deep yet. If he rubbed his foot a few times, he could see grass.

Mathias followed Azazel to the outer gate. The wind blew around outside the walls of the castle and soon the snow drifts would climb up the wall. The grey stone looked stark against the grayish-blue sky. It was a cold place.

Azazel was dressed exactly as he was. On top of the coats, they had large heavy packs. They fit neatly in between their wings. The magic, however it worked, made it so the arm loops didn’t have to go over the entire wing or anything. Mathias hadn’t bothered to ask what was in them. It didn’t take a genius to guess they were full of regular camping gear and some food. If they went through their food supplies, they’d have to start hunting. Hopefully, though, it wouldn’t be that long of a trip.

Of course, if the pain wasn’t so distracting, they could just focus on the pain link and blink themselves to where Nossy was. But Mathias needed to concentrate to do that, and, he’d never had anyone else blink him in tandem, so on foot it was. Flying had already been put out of the question. Since it had never been brought up, Mathias assumed that they all had had the same thought he’d had. That it would have been a disaster. As it was, he couldn’t see how the trip was going to go smoothly.

“Okay. We will walk around the castle. Let me know the areas the pain is worse and I will make note of it on the map,” Azazel said.

Mathias nodded and started trudging through the snow. As had been the norm with this spell, with every heartbeat, the pain pulsed. After a while, the extra weight of the snow on his feet made him move slower and slower. Time seemed almost at a standstill except for the scenery moving along as he passed. Nothing changed. The pain remained the same. In fact, he’d gone almost a full circuit around the castle before the pain spiked so hard that he fell to his knees.