“You are too late,” Alana gasped, her teeth stained red with my blood. She ran her tongue over her pointed canines to prove her point. “I already took my fill.”
Those were coherent sentences.
Spoken from someone who had been mostly nonverbal a few short moments ago. I angled my head toward Alana, wiping the blood off my neck with the collar of my shirt. My eyes were semiunfocused, but I was regaining my strength by the moment. I narrowed my line of sight with effort so I could take in her appearance. Her head was almost fully back to normal. She was changing, morphing into what must have been her old self as I watched. My blood was healing her too quickly.
I inhaled, and her real scent hit me.
It was crab apple.
“Wait!” I shouted at Rourke. He had backed her up against a wall. Her eyes were beginning to roll back in her head. “Put her down. It was her ward we just felt in the hallway. She can cast spells, and she’s a vampire! Just like the Queen.”
“Are you sure?” Rourke replied through clenched teeth. “I’m having trouble … wanting to let her go. She’s a menace and needs to be stopped. What if she goes after you again?”
I placed a hand on his outstretched arm, his muscles corded like steel, just like he’d proven to me a few minutes ago. Alana was no match for his strength, which is why she hadn’t struggled. The hierarchy was certainly in place here. “I’m sure. Let her go. We need information more than we need to take her life. If she can cast spells like the Queen, I want to know why. There’s a link we’re missing. Let’s fill it in and then we can decide what to do after we hear it.”
Yuri staggered to stand, finally recovering. His face was bloodied, but he was rallying. “Yes,” he urged. “Please let her go.”
Rourke released her and took a step back. She dropped to the ground.
Alana stood for a second, a lopsided grin on her face, and then she began to clap like a little girl. She gazed at me. “Bravo! It is exactly as I had hoped it would be. Your blood is like an ocean of power coursing through my veins. I’ve waited so long for this. Oh, how I can
I tried not to show my surprise by her complete 180, or her predictions. “How is it that you can cast spells?” I asked, ignoring the comments about my blood. Having it running through her veins was not at all optimal. I had no idea what she would be capable of now, or if we’d be linked, and I really didn’t want to think about killing her. One thing at a time. “Are you related to the Queen by blood?”
“Of course I am,” she replied. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“That’s not really an answer,” I pointed out. “If you’re both related to the Queen by blood, that means”—I turned my head toward Yuri, who looked agitated—“you married your cousin.” I glanced back at Alana. “I’m right, aren’t I?”
“Yes,” Yuri said quietly. “We are distant cousins.”
I turned back to Alana. “What are you? You were turned into a vampire, but you were supernatural already. If Eudoxia could defeat Vlad as a fledgling, and she can cast spells, you both have to be something more.”
Alana sized me up, still grinning. “We are fae.”
23
My mouth hung open. Fae had not been the answer I expected. I don’t know what I’d been expecting, but possibly something along the lines of nymph or pixie. “Fae have been rumored to be extinct for centuries. There hasn’t been a single sighting of one since before the birth of my father,” I said, still feeling slightly astonished. “How can this be?”
Alana strode from the wall and Rourke shot his hand out in warning. She stopped. “We are half fae, if you must know,” she said, “which you do, so I will tell you. Long ago our race was in threat of dying out and we were forced to breed with humans or become extinct. We chose humans with wealth and power, naturally, and kept our existence well cloaked.” Her hair had darkened considerably, and her cheeks had become a more palatable color than dead, bleached bone. Her eyes were now a luminous brown, not glowing pewter.
She appeared … strangely normal.
Not someone who’d spent eons as a spooky ghoul locked in a cell. She continued. “I am telling you this because it will aid you later. Much later. But we are running out of time and you must go or things will shift once again.”
Shift? “I’m sorry, but I’m not going anywhere until I understand what you’re talking about,” I said firmly. “You’re a seer and blood-kin to the Queen, but she kept you locked up. Why did you continue to aid her?”
“It was necessary,” Alana replied. “After hundreds of years of cruelty at the hands of Valdov, my mind had shattered. A newly made vampire starved for blood becomes damaged beyond repair, but a fledgling vampire who is also a seer who is also half fae is irrevocably lost. Because the Queen is powerful, and my kin; she alone could coax me into intermittent sanity. But she could not stay with me twenty-four hours a day.”
I nodded, not because I understood, but because it was all so insane. “So the Queen knew Valdov was a spy.”
“Of course,” she said. “She knew his true nature when she found out about us. But she needed to keep him for this very day. So he lived.”
“The Queen orchestrated the events today. Why?”
“Valdov and Eudoxia would’ve ended you together if you had come when your oath demanded. When you showed up early and unannounced, it put their plans askew. She came down to consult with me once you were granted entrance into the mansion. I told her what must be done.”
“She wants my blood.”
“She
My eyebrows arched. “She needs it like you needed it?”
“No,” she answered. “Your blood has cured my madness. It was necessary and the only thing that could bring me salvation, but your blood will bring her to
I was stricken to silence.
“Vampires can’t attain godhood,” Rourke growled. “You’re lying. A god must be born, not made.” Vampires were “made” into supernaturals by powerfully magical blood, while shifters, witches, and most of the others were born.
Alana smiled. “Ah, but she was born a supernatural, was she not? Eudoxia’s destiny is vast. But what she does not know is … I have lied to her. Repeatedly. It was a shame, but necessary. If I had not, her path would have turned very dark, and even in my madness I still loved my niece.”
“Godhood?” I said. “No wonder she’s on a rampage. A vampire in line for true immortality is very rare.” Once a supe reached godhood, which only very few could, it meant the coupling of vast power and true immortality. A regular supernatural could live for thousands of years but could be killed a number of ways.
It was almost impossible to kill a god.
“Fate weaves a path for you at your birth, as it does for us all, and thus far you have stayed true to yours.” She stepped closer and I nodded to Rourke that it was okay. “If you continue to choose the right course, it will lead you to greatness. If you do not, it could be detrimental to us all.” She peered at me, her eyes hooded, like she was trying to see into my soul. “It is unclear how this will end, which is puzzling.”
That wasn’t exactly comforting. “How am I supposed to know which one is the right path?” I asked, frustrated. “That’s a lot of pressure, especially since making the wrong choice
“There is one path for each of us.” She held up a finger. It was free of wrinkles, but the nails were still yellowed. “But it comes with many detours. Some will circle back and some will not. It is fluid, yet set. The true mystery lies in all of us and what our hearts desire.”
