Page 33 of The Vampire’s Mercy (Blood Melody #1)

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

SILVANUS

The vampire slammed himself into the bars of his cell, having the audacity to spit at his king.

His globule of saliva missed me, but this was a terrible affront to the one who kept him alive.

My guards surged forward but I lifted a hand to stop them.

I folded my arms, considering him, all of them. The other seven vampires cowered in the corner of the large cell, having lost their usurping luster after being thrown into this dank, lightless place.

One of the men begged their mouthpiece to stop while a woman cradled him in her arms.

Killing them would hurt me, a pain beyond grief and sorrow. But if I had to cross the line, I would.

“You’re a pathetic coward!”

“Gilbert!” a different vampire wailed.

He growled, spitting behind him before turning his eyes back to me.

“Weak and broken. What sort of life is this, living under a king who won’t kill and fucks with our heads?

Living in a soft world where we cannot hunt?

You need to step aside and let someone with bigger balls rule. So many vampires think this.”

Absolutely. From him to the highest of nobles. Force me to become a powerless monarch, a king in name only. Goodness, these idiots were ridiculous. Why did they want a tyrant ruling with a violent fist? How did another war serve anyone? Because there would be war if I broke the peace accords.

“How were eight of you supposed to kidnap me?” I asked. “Shouldn’t you have come in greater numbers?”

Gilbert gave me such an acerbic sneer I felt it curdle in my veins.

Unlike thralls, I couldn’t force vampires to do anything. A pity, seeing as I would have loved to command him to smash his face into the bars a hundred times.

“You’re ridiculous,” I added gently, quietly seething on the inside.

A stray thought rang in my head.

What would you do with these vampires, brother?

“We remember the other king,” Gilbert said. “We remember he was better.” He winced, sucking in air between his teeth. “But not much more.”

King Lucius…

“You’re not doing anything about us,” Gilbert seethed.

“Locking us away, feeding us blood, keeping us safe. How is that ruling properly? Why not kill us? Torture us? Do something to show us you’re not so weak.

Like His Majesty, King Lucius.” His hands dropped from the bars, a visible shiver passing through him.

Every vampire in the cell gasped sharply, whispering my brother’s name. I ached suddenly, grief tearing into me with wicked claws.

How did you die?

Gilbert pointed at me with an angry finger, his lips drawn back in a snarl. But he didn’t berate me, the man who’d been in the woman’s arms did. He jumped up and charged at the bars, hands balled into fists.

“You’re a failure,” he barked. “You need to be stopped.” He came to Gilbert’s side, gesticulating as he ranted further about my uselessness, defecating over my legacy.

I saved you all.

I love you all.

But those things didn’t matter to these vampires. And this smug, dismissive attitude they harbored was an afront I wouldn’t tolerate for much longer tonight. “I know.”

After years and years of this nonsense, my walls were beginning to crack.

Isn’t that exactly what they want to happen?

“Then why do you let us live?” he asked. “Any king worth his salt would—”

I grabbed him by his jacket and yanked him forward. His face slammed into the bars, his nose breaking with a disgusting crack. The others yelped, Gilbert jumping back.

“Majesty, I—”

I plunged my other hand into his chest, finding his heart. It withered at my touch, beating rapidly with fear, completely at my mercy.

Blood gushed over my hand, rivulets streaming down my arm. The scarlet light in his eyes flickered, more blood oozing from his mouth.

“Did you forget this part of your wretched life?” I questioned, squeezing the only truly vulnerable organ in his body.

“Majesty, please,” Gilbert begged.

“I thought this is what you wanted from me?” I countered.

Outside of an executioner’s stakeblade and sunlight, I could destroy a vampire’s life just by ripping out the heart or crushing it inside the chest.

“How easy you forget,” I said, the Heart of All aching from my move. “How easy it is for me to end you.”

It would certainly send a message, a snuffing stomp on the fire of their nonsense.

Yet, the fire of rebellion had spread too far and wide, dissatisfaction here to stay. I could kill a thousand vampires, and it wouldn’t be enough.

They’d never get what they wanted.

I closed my hand around the wet organ, watching the vampire’s lips tremble. His heart slowed, his eyes losing most of their color.

“Please,” Gilbert tried again.

Should I give in and show them a new me? Stumble directly into the runaway train of their wishes? Or did I continue to show strength in peace?

“While I’m here,” I said, pausing my crush. “I want information from you.”

“What kind of information?” Gilbert answered rather enthusiastically. “Anything, my king.”

The others came forward, also offering up their services.

“Any information you have on illegal feedings will be appreciated,” I answered.

A series of glances between the vampires, followed by lots of quizzical expressions.

“We don’t know anything about that,” Gilbert finally answered.

Of course not. “I see. What is this man’s name?”

“Bryan.” The woman who’d been cradling him spoke up. “The love of my life.”

She didn’t seem as terrified as the others. “And you are?”

“Tilly, Your Majesty.” She bowed respectfully.

There were nine of them originally; Paris killed the one called Kevin with his strange crystal blade.

“Do you know anything?” I pressed.

Tilly folded her arms, disappointment etched on her face. “Why do you care?”

That caught me by surprise. “I care deeply.”

She shook her head. “We don’t believe you.”

The heat of my fury dialed up a notch. “Tread carefully here.”

She scoffed. “Why? For you to spare my love? Because you will. Because all we’ve seen over the years is weakness from you, King Silvanus. You have reduced us to nothing more than—”

I silenced her with a loud, “I’ll have your tongue.”

“It will grow back,” she countered.

Her tone of disappointment grated on my patience.

“What would happen if I killed him right now?” I said.

She took a moment to answer. “I would be sad, but it changes nothing. Everything stays the same.”

Was she testing me, pushing me to kill him?

Don’t rise to this.

I put a question to these treacherous vampires. “If you can’t remember what came before the war, then how can you be so sure I’m failing you? What if I am doing the right thing by being peaceful, and avoiding killing those of you who step out of line?”

Tilly didn’t even consider my words. “Because the bloodthirst tells us so. You must feel it, too. The desire to hunt.”

I’d hunted many mortals across this world, drank their blood, killed them in return for killing us.

Sating a need, exterminating a threat. Stalked city streets, lurked in shadows, listened to the frenetic heartbeats of my prey, reveled in the heat of their blood gushing down my throat, seasoned with their fear.

Dark days.

Exquisite days.

Days when I was respected, quick to slay a dissenting vampire. But the Heart of All couldn’t bear any death of my kin.

“I was a different king then,” I muttered. “I had to change to save you.”

“Why?” Tilly asked.

I stared at her for a full minute. “Because we weren’t achieving anything. We had to join the mortals to neutralize the frostbrood better, to stop the violence.”

“What’s wrong with violence?” a man spoke from the back of the cell. “It’s exciting.”

He wasn’t wrong.

“I…” I drifted into the fragment of the recently restored memory of chasing the man through a forest.

Hunting…

No. That wasn’t right. Things were better now, things were peaceful.

And you’re lost and drifting…

“We believe we’ve been neutered,” Gilbert chimed in. “That you’ve taken us away from our true nature.”

I released a growl. “This isn’t our world.”

“Then why bring us here?” Tilly said.

Was she really saying this to me? She knew I didn’t know why. “Maybe you should pour your focus into helping me find the truth rather than acting up. Because you will only remember if I remember. Wanting to lock me away makes no sense. You have to be—”

She had the audacity to interrupt me. “We’ll take care of you, make sure you’re fed and comfortable. But everything else will be different with a new monarch in charge. Changed for the better.”

Being around these rebels wasn’t good for me. These were vile words, so ungrateful, such a betrayal. But I wouldn’t give in to them. I’d put them on the correct path.

I released Bryan’s heart, shaking his blood off my hand. He staggered back into his lover’s arms, safe to live another day, bleeding profusely but already healing.

“Are you okay?” Tilly asked him, cradling his head in her lap.

Her anxiety reached me as a slimy caress, which only confused me further. According to her beliefs, she wanted me to kill him, but at the same time she loved him.

I shouldn’t be down here.

“Majesty,” Gilbert spoke. “Please.” He was on his knees, his hands clasped together in prayer.

“Please what?”

“Please be the king we need.”

The king he needed was already on the other side of the bars. He got to live freely because of me. What if I put his life at risk? What if I offered the Heart of All to Paris right now? What then?

They’d be bone dust.

“No blood for a month,” I said.

A collective gasp came at me.

Being denied blood didn’t kill a vampire, but it did put them into a coma. Only blood would bring them out of it.

I left before anything else could be said. A toxic force clung to the air, insulting me, wounding me. I needed to be anywhere but here, anywhere with a richer, more vibrant atmosphere.

Why my feet brought me back to the door of my chambers, I didn’t know.