Page 11

CHAPTER 11

I t took several heartbeats for Pan’s eyes to adjust to the gloom. Vampire houses and palaces were usually well-lit, with sunlight streaming through the windows in the roof and bouncing off mirrors and marble to create a soft illumination.

Now it appeared that the sun had been blotted out, and they were living in permanent night. The only illumination was the faint glow the walls held. Pan swallowed and took a cautious step forward. This was not the grand entrance—the door wasn’t ornate enough for that.

The solid shadows became items of furniture. A bed. He was standing in a bedroom. He glanced behind him, not sure how that had happened.

“You entered via the balcony. How?” The man’s deep voice came from a chair in the corner.

“It was the only door I could find.”

He grunted. “You call yourself Silas Wilde…a name that has power. Yet you reek of death and dragon. Like selkie and sorrow. But no magic.”

“You are correct on all accounts.”

The man stood, and metal rasped. “So you are a liar, impersonating a god?”

Pan stepped closer and drew up every scrap of energy he had, which was a mote over nothing. The mote only existed because Noah had given him a prayer. “I am the god, Pan. Our world no longer exists, but your people need you.”

The man laughed and slumped back into his chair. “Tell me, how did our entire world cease to exist? And then I will decide whether to drain you.”

First the dragon, now a vampire…it was a pity Noah hadn’t offered. There was still time. Assuming the vampire didn’t get there first.

“Our world collapsed into the human world. A world I had avoided for two hundred years. Much has changed since then. The most obvious being that there is no magic here at all. I am disconnected from the source that sustained me.”

The vampire remained silent for several breaths. “You have no magic in your blood?”

“Do you want to bite me to confirm? Perhaps then you will taste the truth that I am Pan.” He couldn’t believe he’d sunk to offering his blood to a vampire. He must be desperate.

“I will consider your offer. I have never tasted a god.”

“There’s a reason for that,” Pan growled. If he had magic, his blood would kill a vampire.

“I’m sure there is… However, since you do not have a connection to magic, are you a god?”

Pan tapped his foot as annoyance surged through him. “Your people need your help. Many died.”

“You believe I’m not aware?” The vampire roared as he once again stood. “Many of my family died. Many who served me died. My uncle died.” He gave a bitter laugh. “He threw himself off the stairs. The room you’re standing in is four floors up. There are bodies up to the first landing. I did not have the guts to follow them. So I sit in darkness to hide from the truth.”

It took a moment for Pan to understand what the vampire said. The palace was underground; only the top part of what would’ve been the family rooms was visible. That meant all the doorways were beneath the ground. And buried by bodies. Was that the screaming Noah heard yesterday?

What had happened to make a vampire end their long life? “Why did they jump?”

“Because when the building settled and the ground stopped shaking, we were no longer ourselves. The older the vampire, the worse the changes.”

What had happened to the vampires? It couldn’t be worse than what happened to the selkies. They didn’t even have a choice if they wanted to live or die.

“How dare you sit there and bemoan the fact that you are alive?” Pan took a step forward. “The selkies were stripped of their skin, their bodies left broken and bent and bloodied on the beach where they had partied only a heartbeat before. I picked up one of their coats to wear. That is why I smell like death and selkie. The selkies are gone. Erased from this world. From existence. While you hide, your people suffer.”

“And what are you doing about it, god ?” The vampire didn’t bother to hide the sneer.

He would pay for that one day. “I have been acquiring human assistance. The humans who live here know how this world operates.” He had acquired exactly two humans, and they hadn’t done anything to help yet. “One of the city’s dragons is missing. I have no idea where the knight or Strega are. In fact, I do not even know which city this is. I came to the palace to seek the lord.”

“The lord is dead.”

Pan wanted to walk over and shake the melodrama out of him. “Then who was next to be lord? You? Are you now in charge of the city?”

“You have no power. You can’t force me to do anything.”

Pan paced closer, well aware he was unarmed while the vampire had a blade of some sort. “I do not force. I ask. If you will not serve your people, who else can step up and offer guidance? Who still lives?”

“The unblooded.”

Children. Literal children. He needed someone to take charge of the city and its occupants, not someone to be responsible for. He closed his eyes and drew in a breath that wasn’t calming.

“Fine. Tell me what city this is, and I will seek the other rulers.” There was always a Strega and, most often, a knight. Some cities had a lord and a king, one for diplomacy and one for war. Others combined the role. “And leave you to contemplate your death.”

“It is not death I crave. I’m contemplating life.”

The vampire was very much alive, which was more than could be said for some people. “What is your affliction? Are you missing all your skin?”

The vampire laughed. “I wish.”

“You do not—trust me.” That was going to give him nightmares for the rest of his life, which might only be as long as a mortal’s. He shuddered at the disconcerting notion of both nightmares and being mortal.

“There is a sheet on the wall. Pull it free to let the light in.” He lifted his hand and pointed.

Pan strode over, his boots crunching over glass. The sheets had been stuffed into what must have been the glass over a light tunnel that went to the roof. He pulled the sheet free, and light flooded the room. Sharp and unfiltered.

He blinked a couple of times and then turned to the vampire.

The vampire held his hand over his face as if adjusting to the light. But from where Pan stood, the changes were obvious. The man’s cheeks were lined as though he were a human of eighty, and his skin was the dull gray of a week-old corpse.

Slowly, he lowered his hand. “I am only thirty. Barely blooded. Imagine the faces of those who are older.”

Pan frowned. Vampires looked like elves, eternally beautiful. They had once been the same kind, but long ago, their bloodlines had split when vampires had chosen blood magic. He had vague memories of the split; it had been acrimonious, and there had been bloodshed over whose use of magic was correct. Over time, the use of blood magic had changed them enough that they were no longer elves.

“The lack of magic took your beauty.” Pan’s voice was soft.

“That is the best theory anyone has suggested.”

“Your uncle put his vanity above the well-being of his people. I will not mourn him. You should not mourn him.”

“He raised me, and he has abandoned me.”

Pan clamped his teeth together to stop the words from spilling out. He failed to stop his eyeballs from rolling. Was he going to have to do everything himself?

Apparently, so.

“I must return to the humans. They have offered food…perhaps the unblooded may appreciate a meal. Or do you intend to let them starve while you hide?”

“They have food. I’m not a monster.”

No, but humans might think he was. Vampires were something humans had feared for a long time, though he wasn’t sure why. He could imagine that vampires had misbehaved in this world and earned their reputation at some point.

“Your balcony door leads into a human tavern. The people who own it are under my protection.” Which amounted to a whole lot of fuck all at the moment. “Do not harm them. Or eat them. They are busy befriending the dragon. The dragon will not like it if you eat the humans who are feeding him.”

“You don’t need to threaten me with my own dragon.”

Well, what did he need to do?

“Would you consider meeting with the humans? Or sending some servants or guards, someone to assist with the search for the missing dragon and to gather your people? Can you give orders even if you cannot face the world?”

“I will think about it.”

Pan cursed in a language that had been long forgotten on this world and raked his fingers through his hair.

“I can see that you care about our people,” the vampire said, slumped in his chair.

“Of course I fucking do. Their worship gives me magic. The sooner I can gather them and receive prayers, the sooner I can start fixing shit. Do you see my problem?” He paced, the green boots squeaking on the floor.

“Do you think a few prayers will bring back your power? You said there was no magic in this world.”

Pan waved his hand. “That’s like saying there is no water in a desert…there is, it’s just very hard to find and not enough to sustain me. Yet, I have tasted the tiniest raindrop, and it has given me hope.” And that raindrop was called Noah.

Pan vowed that he’d do whatever it took to hear Noah call out his name and truly mean it. It was too easy to imagine basking in the afterglow and bathing in the magic.

The vampire considered him for several heartbeats. “You are in Beita. And while I am not ready to face this new world, I can offer you fresh clothing and to safeguard the coat.”

The cry that it wasn’t enough formed on his lips, but he released it as a sigh. It was an offer, which wouldn’t lead to more if he slapped it away. “Thank you. It will be nice to no longer smell of death.”

“I will request a pitcher of water and soap so you may bathe as you are offending my nose. While you do that, tell me what you have seen in this new world and what you remember of it from your last visit.”

“You cannot order a god?—”

“You confessed to being mortal and are in need of my help. Humor me.”

Pan gritted his teeth. He hadn’t confessed to anything, but the vampire had drawn the correct conclusion. “Your people need your help.”

“And I will help them via you. I will tell you of my people and give you a map of the city.” The vampire pulled a gold ring off his finger. “And the city’s ring. So they will know you act for me.”

“Or they will think I killed you for it.”

The vampire laughed. “In either case, you are now the acting lord.”

Pan stopped just before he touched the ring. He didn’t want to be the acting ruler. He wanted his magic back. And while it was just a gold ring engraved with the city’s knotwork and held no magic, it did have power. “What will you have me tell them? I cannot say the true lord is in hiding because he is no longer beautiful.”

The vampire flashed his fangs in warning. “You will say that I am ill or injured…” He sighed as if even breathing was too much effort. “There will be other vampires in the city who are also afflicted. You may send them here.”

“ Here is a tavern that belongs to humans.” And he didn’t want to be gathering vampires; he had a dragon to find. Yet he needed worshippers.

He also needed that bath and a change of clothes and safe storage for the coat. It was not the kind of thing one left lying around.

The ring glinted. A weighty burden that promised to distract him from his own goals. But if he didn’t help the people of Beita, he wouldn’t be able to encourage anyone to praise him. As delightful as Noah was, he wasn’t enough.

The vampire smiled, fangs hidden. “Would it help if I got on my knees and prayed for Pan to assist with the rescuing of my city?”

That did sound pleasant. Though with a face like that, no one was going to slide into the Lord’s bed. Not unless they kept their eyes closed and the lights off. “That depends on what you’re doing on your knees.”

The vampire grunted. “You were never my favorite god.”

“Which explains why I preferred to party with the selkies.” He’d been to Beita, but not in a century. He wasn’t even sure they had a temple dedicated to him. Every town and city-state had its preferred gods.

“We did a lot of trade with them. And I must confess to being jealous that they didn’t suffer.” The vampire spun the ring between his fingers. “Do we have a deal?”

He didn’t make deals. People begged him for favors. This time, there was no begging, and if he didn’t help the vampire, he was only stabbing himself in the hand. “It is temporary.”

“It is.”

“Then how shall we determine what is the end?”

“I do not know. When you have reconnected with magic and are a god again? But what if that never happens, Silas ?”

Pan swallowed. That was the lump of ice in his stomach that he didn’t want to think about. “And what if you never regain your beauty? I might be stuck as acting lord of a broken city forever?”

“I propose that we renew this agreement on each full moon, sealing it with blood and a prayer. "

Pan gave a bitter laugh. “My blood and your prayer, I suppose?”

“Who better to detect traces of magic in your blood than a vampire?”

That was true, and if they turned it into a ritual, then perhaps they might scrape together whatever magic was available in this world. “Very well. I agree with those terms.”

“We will seal our agreement once you are clean. The stink of you is giving me a headache.”

He didn’t stink that much, but then a vampire’s sense of smell was more delicate than a human’s. And the stench of dragon drowned out most things. “I would like you to meet with the human owners. If I am to bring more vampires here, then their passage needs to be negotiated.”

“That is your problem as acting lord.”

Pan grimaced. Technically, the vampire was correct. “And food and water for your unblooded?”

“That is something you need to arrange. We have enough for a few more days.”

“And your dead?”

“I will have them wrapped and brought out for burning. You will need to arrange the burning.”

They hadn’t even sealed the agreement in blood, and already the list of demands was growing. He didn’t know how to do any of those things. He used magic to grant prayers. He gave people what they thought they wanted, which wasn’t always the case, and sometimes magic made things go askew…but that wasn’t his fault. He was merely a conduit.

He wasn’t even that at the moment.

He was a useless mortal.

A mortal with a to-do list.

Ugh. Could things get any worse?

He hated this place and everything about it, especially the lack of magic. Magic was being shoved to the bottom of the to-do list because he couldn’t ask people to pray to him if they were busy dying—that wasn’t his connection to magic.

“Can I ask which gods your city favored?” Maybe they were here. Or were they like him and visiting some other place that worshipped them?

“We had temples for Rhiannon and Arawn. I do not know what personal shrines people kept.”

Great, Rhiannon, also known as Epona, the odds of people praying to him decreased. Perhaps he could encourage them to broaden their prayers to any nearby god without mentioning his name.

Pan held out his hand to accept the ring. The ring was too big for his pointer finger. Instead, the vampire slipped it over Pan’s thumb. He was a god; he wasn’t supposed to have favorite cities, or to work for one. This place was a long way from being his favorite, though.

And he was a long way from being a god.