Chapter 38

Gideon

Before I could gather my wits enough to deal with the tangled mess of lies that was my mistress, I heard an alarm sound.

“Stay here,” I ordered, and rushed out into the hall.

Jasper ran up to me. I didn’t bother to ask how he knew where I was. It was his job to know and he was usually good at his job.

“Vampires,” he said, breath coming fast and hard. He must have run straight here from the wall. “It’s not mercenaries or Rogues or their vassals this time. We’re under attack by the vampires themselves!”

It could not be a coincidence. A vampire spy was uncovered. The moment night fell, we were attacked.

“How many?” I asked.

“At least a dozen, maybe more,” Jasper said. “I counted that many myself. Reports from the wall are confused. We’ve lost contact with the guards on the south wall and the stables.”

Confusion was natural. Vampires could confuse the mind, make you see what wasn’t there and not see what was.

“Casualties?” I asked, bracing myself for the worst.

“A few injuries, no deaths,” Jasper reported, then added, “Yet.”

One vampire had held his own against a dozen guards. There were at least a dozen vampires attacking my home now. How were we going to defeat them? The only advantage we had was numbers. But that would only work if we were organized. The sudden attack had scattered our defenses, caught us off guard.

I had to fix that.

“I will reinforce the south,” I declared. “You take the east. Find Marcus, he’ll take the west. Father will secure the north.”

Jasper nodded and bowed. I had taken the hardest hit area for myself, and left the easiest for Marcus. I ran for the guard barracks, where the fighters who had been sleeping were gathering their weapons and waiting for orders.

I divided the remaining guards. I took only one squad to fight at the south wall, and left the most guards to back up my brother. Marcus was a fine fighter, but he had never been in open combat. I hoped he was up for it.

The south wall was in chaos. I saw several guards on the ground. More ran around, shouting orders and questions. I saw two guards herding a mass of panicking servants towards the interior of the compound.

What I did not see was a single vampire.

Clara

I waited in my cell. They still hadn’t bothered to give me a blanket. I was going to spend my last night alive on a cold, stone floor.

I thought about shifting. My wolf would be able to sleep more comfortably. But then she would spend her last night howling in a cage. I couldn’t do that to her. Even though the ability to howl would make me feel better.

How were they going to do it? The king had promised to be merciful. Would it be poison? A knife in my heart? What did they think was a good way to die?

At least I wasn’t going to be killed in front of everyone, tied to a pillory in the courtyard.

I heard a commotion, and several guards ran past my cell. I leaned against the bars, trying to see where they had gone.

What was happening?

Everything was quiet for several minutes. Then there was a soft hiss of sound, and something moved in front of my cell. I couldn’t make out any definite edges, just the shifting of shadow on shadow. I shrank away from whatever it was and waited.

Then I heard the metallic clang of cell doors opening, one after another. I heard hushed voices. Someone had come for the other prisoners. I silently wished them luck.

There was another shifting of shadow and wind, and then a voice cried out.

“Kara!”

I looked up, confused by the voice from the shadows. I couldn’t see anything outside my cell, but that voice had come from just beyond the bars.

“Can’t be, sweetheart. You know Kara’s been gone all these years now.” A second voice, this one melodic and low, probably a man, answered the first.

“Look, it’s Kara! They’ve had her, here, all this time. Look at her!” The first voice was high pitched, maybe a woman. She sounded desperate.

The shadows outside my cell shifted and twisted in on themselves, and then I found myself facing four strangers. Three of them were gaunt, and dirty, and I was pretty sure they were prisoners.

The fourth must be their rescuer. He was slender and shorter than I would expect from a warrior. He would come up to Prince Gideon’s shoulder, I think. His hair was dark and his eyes were piercing crimson.

He was a vampire. Which meant the other prisoners likely were, too. I shrank away.

“Kara, come on, talk to us,” the woman said.

I shook my head. I wan’t “Kara,” and I couldn’t talk, anyway.

“That’s not Kara,” the vampire rescuer said, “but I do see what you mean, sweetheart. She’s the very image of your sister, isn’t she?”

The two other prisoners, both men, nodded.

The man crouched in front of me. “What’s your name, pretty one? And why are you in this dank, deep pit?”

I stared at him, and motioned to my throat, shaking my head. The guards had taken my slate.

“Can’t talk?” he guessed.

I nodded.

“We need to go,” one of the others hissed. “The others can’t keep the wolves distracted forever.”

“I am not leaving her,” the woman insisted. “That’s Kara!”

“That is not Kara,” the impatient one said. “Are you, girl?”

I shook my head. I was not.

“I don’t care, I’m not going,” the woman said. “This is the first hint of Kara we’ve ever had!”

The vampire crouched in front of my cell tilted his head, studying me for a moment.

“Don’t suppose you know anyone by the name of Kara,” he asked.

I shook my head.

“We can’t leave her,” the woman pleaded.

“No,” the vampire agreed, “We can’t.”

He did something to the door of my cell and it swung open. I hesitated. They were vampires. Who knew what they planned to do with me?

“Well, you coming?” the vampire asked. “I’m sorry, pretty lady, but we can’t wait forever for you to decide between our fine company and this nice, comfy cell.”

I didn’t know what the vampires would do to me. But I knew exactly what the werewolves, my own people, planned to do. They planned to kill me. I would die if I stayed.

I stood up, and stepped to the door of the cell. I would take my chances with the vampires.

“Are you sure, Ronan?” asked the impatient prisoner. “Can we trust her?”

“We can trust her just as much as she can trust us,” Ronan answered. He flashed a grin, showing off a hint of fang. “Which I realize isn’t much at all, but what choice do we have, huh?”

I nodded, and extended my hand. Ronan tilted his head, and then took my hand in his. He squeezed my hand once, briefly, and let go.

“Yeah, you’re coming with us,” he said. “I’d tell you to keep quiet, but I don’t think you have much of a choice, do you?”