Page 24

Luc

Harris asked me to come to the Castle to meet him.

“You will be safe,” he said.

“No assassination attempts?” I asked him, only half-joking.

“We have upped security. No unscheduled visitors, only top command.”

I met him in his office and noticed that he was looking stressed.

When I commented on it, he gave a dry laugh.

“I can see those days off have been good for you.” He was having a go at me, for being able to step away from the war. The implication was that he couldn’t. I let it go.

“What’s the situation?”

He ran his fingers through his hair.

“There are complaints of vampire attacks on humans all over the area. Outside the Capital and inside.”

“In the Capital?” That had not happened for many years.

He nodded. “Some of it is malicious gossip, but I have asked for reports and it does check out. The humans are concerned. Understandably.”

“Turning against us?”

He nodded. “I think they may want us to leave the Capital. Go into some kind of coalition government with the shifters.”

I shook my head. “No, we can’t leave the Capital! We have been here for centuries! It is our home as much as theirs!”

“If the shifters and the humans combine forces we will have an escalation of the war to such an extent that we risk destroying everything,” Harris said. “Vlas won’t have it. He’s said to make peace at all costs. Reduce tension with the humans. Protect our blood stores.”

“How is he?”

Harris pointed to the door. “See for yourself?”

We went up the staircase to the private residence. I noted the upped security everywhere. Guards at every corner, glaring at me. They loved their king, I remembered that, Vlas was popular throughout the empire.

But when I entered the royal bedchamber, it was clear that he did not have long to go.

As we came in, Taheera and some others left, keeping their heads turned away, their voices low.

His eyes were closed, his skin even paler than usual.

“Your highness?”

His eyelids fluttered. “Ah, Luc. You’re here. Good.” The effort to speak seemed to cost him a great deal. “I don’t have long. We must talk… succession.” I glanced at Harris who gave a small nod of the head. “My son, Vermont. What do you think?”

Vermont was Vlas’s biological child with a human mother. He had turned in puberty, on his own wishes, joining the royal army. He’d been posted in the North. I didn’t know much about him but I’d heard that he got on well with humans and had a good reputation with them.

“Or… you?”

I thought I hadn’t heard him properly.

“Me? No!”

I glanced at Harris who looked away. Had he known about this?

“After this war, I’m leaving the capital,” I said. It was a thought that had been brewing in my head over the last few days. I didn’t want to be a part of all of this anymore. I wanted to go back to my land. I wanted to take Ruby there.

Vlas nodded.

Harris said, “So, then Vermont?”

Vlas muttered, “War… must… stop.” He said, each word costing him so much energy.

I knew that a dying king would weaken our cause and could turn the vampire houses against us. They believed in strength over everything.

Vlas grabbed my hand. “You… good friend.”

I felt something like sadness at seeing him fade like this.

Harris and I made our way back down in silence.

On the bottom floor, I paused.

“We may need to plan a final push against the shifters. Wipe them out with a weapon of mass destruction.”

Harris’s eyes narrowed. “You warned of consequences before?.”

I shrugged. “What will the repercussions be? Fines? Come on.”

Harris seemed to consider it.

“Ask Saufin.”

Getting hold of the old wizard was not as easy as one might think. I knew this. You needed an in, someone to make an appointment. It used to be Alexandra for me but I didn’t want to use her now.

I went into the heart of the Capital, the seat of government. Again, I marveled at how the humans scuttled about, like ants, so busy, busy, busy. It was as if they were scared to stop, to breathe, to notice that they were alive. Saufin had an office here but he was almost never there, preferring to do most of his work from his temple, situated on a hill outside of the city. There was a walled gate with a guard and I informed him that I had urgent business with the wizard.

“He is in meetings all day,” I was informed. I switched my eyes on and easily got past him but once inside, the park was huge, green fields and trees that stretched for miles. I knew there was a wooden temple near a river, a deceptively simple structure without any ornamentation. Saufin was known for humility and tranquility. He was wise and knowledgeable. Not a great friend of shifters or vampires, but he did believe in peace. I zoomed in over the estate, spotting various guards and trained eyes noting my arrival but I had urgent business of the state with him.

I found the wooden house between the trees easily enough. I sensed armed men coming towards me and held up my arms, calling out loudly, “I come in peace. An urgent message from King Vlas the First.”

One of the men came up to me, pressed a rifle against my chest.

“Identify yourself!”

“Lord Luc D’Essay, counsel and general to King Vlas the First.”

A voice floated up to us. “It’s all right, Mitch, I’ll take it from here.”

“With all due respect, my Lord, we don’t know his intentions!” the masked guard objected. “I think if he wanted to kill us, we’d already be dead,” the wizard remarked with a chuckle.

He was a small man, with long grey hair and a wispy beard. He perpetually had a smile on his face as if he was in on a joke no-one else understood.

“Walk with me,” he said to me and turned to walk down a wooden walkway leading to the river below. As we came closer, the water gurgled pleasantly. It was a lovely setting, I could understand why he’d want to talk here.

“Troubling times, no?” he said to me and I nodded.

“The king wants peace,” I said.

“I hear he is dying,” Saufin said, looking at me.

“It’s true,” There was no point lying to the old man. “He is willing to negotiate, but I fear the tide is turning against us in the Capital.”

Saufin nodded. “There is fear, and where there is fear, the door opens to darkness.”

“And you? Where do you stand?”

“I am but an emissary of the people,” he said, quietly. “I do as they command.”

“What if they choose to align with shifters?”

“Perhaps they already have?”

He confirmed my worst fears. “My counsel is to destroy them in one fell swoop. They have damaged our relations with you by damaging the blood stores. I would not consider this unless I felt I had to but their actions have prompted it.”

Saufin looked at me, considering. “This act may tip the scales,” he warned. “You have lost favor already…”

“We could make gifts of reparation, give land, properties?”

The old man stopped walking. “The Straits?”

He was talking about our seaside operations, the gas and oil in the Hattari waters. Taking these over would significantly boost their coffers. Of course, we could always take it back later, buy them out when these generations had gone.

“We’d be willing to offer them up.”

He nodded. “Very well, thank you for informing me of your plans.”

“We want to repair our relationship with humanity,” I said. “We have always relied on your good will as you have on ours.”

“Indeed, as much as the prey can rely on the predator,” Saufin said, casting a wary eye on me.

He disappeared among the trees, leaving me to ponder his words.

I walked back slowly, enjoying the tranquility of the water and the trees. When my mobile rang, I was jolted back into reality.

I saw it was Dennington.

“Yes?”

“She’s gone,” he said, sounding stressed.

“Who is gone?” But I knew what he was going to say.

“Ruby! She gave us the slip at the hospital and we can’t find her. She must have thrown away the mobile!”

“What about the mother?”

“No trace of her. There were shifters at the hospital but there is no proof of her leaving with them.”

I ended the call. This was bad. Very bad. I couldn’t lose Ruby but I knew if something had happened to her mother, it would be over for Ruby and me. She would never forgive herself.

I was torn between going back to the Castle and organizing a final push on the shifters and trying to find Ruby’s mother. There was also the concern that the mother had been kidnapped and was being held in the tunnels. I didn’t want them to be unintended victims of our attack.

I had to find Ruby and her mother before the swamps were torched.