Page 13 of Ever Dark Academy, Vol. 3

Friend Or Foe

“ A maris! Kayne!” Siban whispered the names, but it was clear she meant the Vampires in front of him. “You’re here . After… after so long.”

The female Vampire with the gold wire and feathers in her hair lifted her head at what must be her name. “Siban, you survived and…” Her silver-eyed gaze shot to him. “And have found your place. How glad I am for you.”

Ryder frowned a little at that. Amaris didn’t sound as if she had expected anything good for Siban.

Because Siban is a War Childe. Amaris is Second Generation, Weryn’s voice echoed in his head. Not our Childe, but our Childe’s fledgling.

And the male Vampire? Kayne? What about him? Ryder asked, surprised, but pleased at getting actual useful information from the normally taciturn Weryn..

Amaris’ Childe. A follower of the axe. A grizzly bear to her harpy eagle. Land and sky, Weryn answered .

So neither of them are our Children like Siban, but we knew them? Ryder pressed, trying to figure out if he could trust them at all.

We knew them well… Weryn’s voice drifted off and Ryder knew there would be no further answers at that moment.

Damnit. Not what I needed.

But he found that whenever he reached for more information about the past, more memories, the farther they receded from his grasp. He wanted to use his life as Weryn as a history book, but Weryn wasn’t going to allow that, evidently.

“Please rise,” Ryder said and gestured for the kneeling Vampires to get to their feet.

They had all fallen to their knees at some point and he hadn’t even noticed. He wasn’t embarrassed or uncomfortable by it. In fact, he realized he was used to it. Being worshipped. Being the leader. But not this life. Before.

Pack. Family. Blood, Weryn murmured.

Yes, but are they still?

No answer.

He gritted his teeth. He needed to have Grayson test them for the structures in their minds, but that couldn’t happen now. And there were over one-hundred Weryn Vampires before him. He imagined them all being surrounded by Grayson’s power and squeezed . He almost let out a wild laugh.

These were old Vampires. Ancient. Before the War.

He could tell from their stillness, from something in their silver eyes, and the hint of memories in his head.

While he had no doubt that Grayson could handle them all, if he did, no one would think he was some innocent human. No, they would recognize Ashyr reborn.

But he had no idea who was friend or foe at this moment.

Who should he trust? Seeing their reaction to him had disarmed him for a bit.

It had shocked him to be seemingly so beloved in these older Vampires’ eyes.

But he was not Eyros. He could not read their minds, and he had no memory of the way they moved, if their eyes shifted when they lied or if they stared straight at him and unblinking.

They were foreign to him. But he couldn’t leave them standing out here. He had to decide what to do with them.

Some of them have rooms in the palace. Ones that I granted to them long ago, he thought. But I don’t know them now. I have no idea where they’ve been all these years or what they’ve been doing. Who says I would still grant them such access? I only trust Siban and Demos.

“You have returned to us, Weryn. We waited,” Amaris said, her voice filled with longing.

But was that false? Was she merely a good actress? The faint sheen of tears in her eyes could be a lie. The Sect of Dawn might have a greater hold on her than the pack ever had.

“He’s been returned for several centuries now,” Demos remarked dryly, crossing his big arms over his muscled chest, and adjusting his legs so that they were shoulder-width apart. Demos was playing the part of an unmovable mountain that he would let no climber scale.

Amaris turned her head towards his best friend. There was a sharp light in her eyes. She likely wasn’t used to younger Vampires--especially in this Bloodline--to speak to her thus.

“And you have been by his side since the beginning,” she said with a nod and smile, stifling whatever anger emerged quite successfully.

Did this make him trust her less? That she held her temper? She was a bird shifter. Always, he found them to be hugely strategic. Control was their watchword. But someone who wanted to ingratiate themselves with him for evil purposes would do the same.

Demos turned a cold eye upon her. “And here you are now when there’s a palace to be had.”

“You think that’s what brought me here?” Amaris’ lips were curled into a half smile as if amused now by his boldness. “A physical place to lay my head?”

“I think we’ve been in Hell for several centuries and you were like smoke on the wind,” Demos answered her.

She went very still. That could mean anything. Offense or acknowledgment of failure.

Demos’ eyes swept the entire group of ancient, powerful Vampires. “Any one of you could have ended Lawson ages ago and put things right. Brought Weryn back to himself. Eliminated the evil in our midst. But you chose not to. Yet here you are.”

Kayne took a step towards Demos, fangs exposed, but Amaris put a hand in front of his chest. Not that it mattered. Ryder had not given Kayne permission to enter the Weryn Palace grounds. Half an inch more of that booted foot on his land would have given the powerful Vampire an unpleasant jolt.

“He merely speaks the truth, Kayne,” Amaris said, but then added, “From his point of view.”

“And there’s another?” Ryder asked quietly.

Amaris grimaced. “That you were brought back to us through Lawson and the ones we left behind would indicate otherwise. We are the Weryn. Lawson was… an outcast. The people here… they are not pack.”

Hearing this, Ryder was almost sent reeling back. What she was saying… that could not be true! They were the Weryn! They were the ones that Daemon talked to!

No, he talked to me. He only ever talked to me really.

“Wait a minute,” Demos growled, “are you saying that you thought of yourselves as the true Weryn, and we were just all… what exactly?”

“Detritus from the War,” Siban filled in for her. Their expression was cool and smooth and unruffled, but Ryder knew they were hurting as they said this.

He put a hand on Siban’s shoulder. “You are my Childe. You are my treasure. You are true Weryn.”

Siban blinked up at him, their eyes filled with tears for a moment. “Yes, my Master. Thank you.”

“And you, Demos, you are true Weryn. My blood runs strong and pure in you,” Ryder told him. “You are my right hand and my best friend. My Blood Brother.”

Demos gave a nod and a tight smile. “Always, Ryder. I am always with you.”

“But I don’t know any of you,” Ryder said to Amaris and the others.

“You do not remember?” Amaris asked.

“I remember what I have to,” Ryder answered, not liking to admit what was a weakness. But unless he wanted to lose himself entirely to Weryn, this was how it would have to be for now.

“The other Immortals are the same, it seems,” Amaris said softly, more to herself than to him. “Lost to this life. Some choosing it.”

Ryder’s gaze skimmed over them. He’d not seen so many old Vampires such as these before. “And Demos is right, as he often is, that you appeared when there was something in it for you. Not when there was only suffering.”

“We are your pack, Weryn,” Amaris said with a flash of light in her eyes of conviction. “True, we closed our ranks. We turned in to each other. We were… mistaken to do so. But surely you know what it is like to make a mistake?”

Internally, he flinched. He knew all about making mistakes, and she probably knew his far better than he did.

And while he was judging her for leaving Lawson and the others on the outside, he had judged those same people even more harshly.

Demos and Siban were the only two that he found he trusted.

Could he blame her for making the same determination?

Could he blame her for not doing what he had not done until recently?

But, for all I know, they are Sect of Dawn. Each and every one of them could be traitors and I wouldn’t know. Not yet anyways.

Ryder blinked slowly. “I have people in this city who I’ve known for over four centuries that I exiled from my Bloodline. These two ,” Ryder kept his hand on Siban’s shoulder, but put another on Demos’ to show they were in this together, “were the only ones I found worthy.”

Amaris nodded. “Wise choices. And I understand the urge to draw inwards. To… eliminate what appears wrong. Like I said, that was what we did… and we missed you.”

“Probably best,” Ryder said with a tight smile. “Every Immortal so far has killed the one that turned them this time. All for very good reasons, I might add.”

But that won’t be true of Grayson, I hope. It can’t be true of Grayson, because whoever he chooses he will love and they will love him.

But thinking of that caused him to feel like he wasn’t quite tethered to the earth.

He felt like he might fly off into pieces at the thought of Grayson being so close with another, putting his mouth on their skin, drawing their blood into his body.

Not a human, but another of their kind. He shook the images away.

“Lawson could not be saved. He was tainted by Legion. And the others, too, were not… pack .” Amaris compressed her lips. “And you found them lacking yourself. You knew their character. Give yourself a chance to know us. To remember.”

Ryder looked over at Demos. His Blood Brother lifted an eyebrow.

Demos wasn’t sure if they were friend or foe.

And since he wasn’t saying kick them out, it meant that he should give them a chance to prove themselves.

They were old and powerful and maybe useful in this upcoming war.

But they weren’t coming into the palace to live. Not yet.

“You can find accommodations in the city. I will make arrangements for you with Eyros,” Ryder said, using Balthazar’s Immortal name. “And then I will meet with you individually and see if you are pack.”