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Chapter Three

MORTAL WORLD

VICTOR

That’s right. Sneer down your noses. For today, those who believed themselves superior to me would judge me for the last time.

Just yesterday, I was one of the most powerful vampires in the nation.

Titled. Influential. The leader of North America’s Eastern Territories.

Currently, I stood before the High Court in chains, stripped of my rank.

My peers gazed down at me in disgust. It was an experience I hadn’t had since I was young.

Back when I was a penniless wretch cast from my birthplace into this land of mortals.

Apparently, I would leave this world much as I had arrived.

When I was last in this court, with its domed ceiling, soaring marble pillars, and meddlesome spectators, I was an honored member of the hidden underworld hierarchy.

Today, I stood imprisoned in a containment field meant for the worst of our criminals.

Criminals I, myself, had pulled off the streets.

Criminals I’d hunted down and brought to justice while the spineless bastards before me sat on their asses, criticizing my every move.

“Master Ignatius, what is your ruling?” my nemesis, Magister Tiberius Steele, asked.

Smug bastard. Oh, how I’d love to carve the triumph off the conniving jackal’s face.

“Guilty,” the High Court justice replied from the raised dais.

Despite my portrayal of cool indifference, rage seared my insides. To think I’d served this realm and all its supernatural inhabitants for the entirety of my long life. Ungrateful pricks. All of them. The entire underworld deserved what Tiberius had in store for them.

“Master Crenshaw, what is your ruling?”

“Guilty.”

Those furious embers flared brighter.

Few gathered knew Tiberius’s true agenda. For a while now, he’d led a hidden life, working behind the Council’s backs to eliminate the ruling party and claim control for himself.

It was too bad I hadn’t thought of it first.

Sadly, Tiberius would succeed, partly due to my failings. I’d become complacent in my role as clan leader. Grown too comfortable playing diplomat, sending others to do my bidding. It was my downfall.

“Master Rumsfeld, what is your ruling?”

“Guilty.”

Again, the fury flared, scorching my chest.

Oh, yes. I was guilty. Guilty of so many crimes the Council knew nothing about.

Because they had preferred to ignore my little indiscretions.

They didn’t care how I accomplished a job, only that I succeeded.

Hungry to further my political position, I complied.

But not without compensation. Every backstabbing male in this court owed me a favor.

Favors, apparently, I wouldn’t be around to collect.

“Master Reynolds, what is your ruling? ”

“Guilty.”

My throat squeezed, a roar pushing up from my burning chest.

I was the dirty little secret they all kept in a shoebox at the back of their closets. I knew the secrets of every leader of the High Court. Secrets I, at times, exploited as was my due. In destroying me, they covered their own asses. Or so they believed.

Tiberius was about to turn this realm on its head. The pathetic fools couldn’t see what was right under their noses.

Finally, the last guilty ruling was counted.

Magister Tiberius strolled to the boundary of the containment field, a satisfied glint in his eyes. “Victor Custodis, the High Court has rendered its judgment. You are hereby found guilty of your crimes against the Council.”

The verdict came as no surprise. Tiberius had fabricated enough evidence to bury me. It was laughable to be sentenced over crimes I hadn’t committed when there had been so many I’d covered up over the years.

“The sentence for these crimes is,” he paused, lips curling into a smug smile, “banishment. You will be cast into the prison realm, never to return.”

Never to return.

An ancient image of my mother flashed through my mind—so old it had blurred and splintered with age.

Still, I remembered. I’d made a similar promise to her when she sent me to this mortal world as a child.

Thanks to Tiberius, I was about to break that promise.

For the first time in centuries, I would set foot in the realm of my birth.

To a place that had battered, abused, and rejected me.

To a place I loathed even more than Tiberius.

To a shit-hole kingdom in a neighboring realm. The fools believed it was only a dumping ground for our criminals. Few were still alive to remember it was, in truth, the land of our origins .

“Due to the serious nature of these crimes, this sentence will be carried out without delay.”

Of course it would. Tiberius couldn’t risk me leaking his secrets. I wasn’t the first to fall during this witch hunt. Nor would I be the last. He was eliminating anyone who might pose a threat to his plans. I was most definitely a threat.

Tiberius glanced over his shoulder. The head of the High Court sat on the raised dais along with his brethren. “Lord Kaius, please release the prisoner.”

Four guards surrounded me on all sides. Blue energy crackled at the ends of their submission rods. The scent of ozone was thick in the air. Kaius twisted the ring on his bony finger, and the containment field dropped to the floor.

Before me, the heavily secured gateway loomed, its massive metal doors carved with the image of a stout tree with five thick branches. A jagged fracture sliced through the trunk.

The keeper of the gateway hobbled forward.

His long robes hung from his narrow shoulders.

With gnarled fingers, he twisted multiple dials, aligning the sacred emblems. Gears whirled, bolts slid free, and the doors glided open on their heavy track, parting the splintered trunk.

At its center, a glowing fissure appeared—a violent tear between worlds.

Unlike the magic-infused portal that had once brought me here, this gateway was a scar—a remnant of when our kind had battered their way into this unsuspecting realm.

Though I had little understanding of what made it work.

One thing I knew for sure. It only worked in one direction.

I could not use it to return to the mortal plane.

From the opening, a strange energy sparked over my skin, crawling like a thousand fire ants. The Arbor Realm’s gaping maw was eager to consume me.

This was it. No one would arrive to save me from this travesty of justice.

But what of loyalty? Some would ask .

My men. My soldiers. The warriors whose loyalty I’d paid handsomely for fled the moment the Council seized my assets. Those who sympathized with my plight dared not challenge the Council and magister on my behalf.

As for family? I had none. No mate. No younglings.

Nobody to inherit my confiscated legacy.

The so-called legacy I’d bled, begged, and bartered to achieve.

I’d made sure of it, never claiming a Bride in all my years.

Although I’d been tempted a time or two.

But only for political reasons. Never love .

Never would I fall prey to that tender emotion. Love made males soft. Weak.

Vulnerable.

And so I stood.

Alone .

Masking the rage that boiled behind my carefully crafted mask, I strode to the gateway.

Clad in nothing but tailored slacks, a collarless shirt, and an embroidered jacket, I was ill-prepared for the unpredictable elements in Carcerem.

My long white hair was a beacon to predators.

While I carried no weapon, at least my hands were unbound.

Tiberius dared to meet my heated gaze. “Victor Custodis, do you have any final words before you enter the gateway and accept the repercussions of your crimes?”

I turned my head slowly. In a low voice intended only for my nemesis’s ears, I whispered, “I know who you are and what you’ve done. Soon, they will, too. When that happens, they will turn on you as they have on me.”

Tiberius leaned in, his breath a whisper of venom. “I know you as well. You’re nothing but a filthy gutter rat. The bastard son of a whore who cheated his way to the top. It’s no wonder they’ve abandoned you. It’s past time someone returned you to the slums of Carcerem, where you belong.”

No one here knew of my shameful past. That Tiberius did enraged me. Could it be he hailed from that same disgusting land?

Fury seethed in my gut, searing a path up my chest, refusing to be contained.

In a rare burst of emotion, I lunged at Tiberius, snapping my hands around the monster’s throat.

Before I could enjoy his pained expression, electricity jolted up my spine.

The guards beside me nailed me with their energized rods.

My muscles seized, my limbs no longer my own.

“Again,” Tiberius snarled.

Fire licked my nerve endings, sapping my strength. My body convulsed.

“Again!”

My blood boiled. Liquid trickled from my nose and eyes as my fangs tore into my lips.

“Magister Steel, enough,” barked an aged voice. “If we wanted him dead, we’d have ordered his execution.”

“Fine then,” Tiberius conceded. Quieter, for my ears only, he snarled, “Watch that first step. I hear it’s a doozy.” To my guard, he commanded, “Send him through.”

The guard slammed his foot into my stomach, and I plunged into the portal.

Swirling lights flashed in my vision. Icy fingers ripped at my flesh.

Pressure built in my head, spikes driving into my eardrums. I spun in a vortex.

I had vague memories of the sensation of being everywhere and yet nowhere while plunging through space.

Nausea twisted my innards. My brain spun inside my skull.

Just when I feared the torment would never end, it stopped.

I windmilled my arms for balance, my legs wobbling. Sunlight stabbed my eyelids, its harsh light searing my skin. If I’d been a youngling, my pale vampire flesh would have fried on the spot. Fortunately, age had its benefits. Once my vision adjusted, I took in my surroundings .