Chapter 3 Chapter Three
Medical practitioners usually say that humans can stay in shock for a few hours. They were wrong. Briar was in shock for three days. She didn't want to believe what was happening. Not when Alaric and Azriel flew her to the palace. Or when she was taken to her room and locked up. Not even when human servants came to serve her food which she didn't touch. Neither Alaric nor Azriel had come to see her since. Maybe they were trying to fatten her up so she could make a good meal.
All she did was stare at the window, staring at the vampires that flew past. The only thing that made her certain that this was real was the eternal night. The sun never rose, just a blood red moon that gave the atmosphere a red eerie hue. She refused to touch the clothes they had given her remaining only in the camisole and sweatpants she had worn before she was dragged here. It was cold but she would die before she received warmth from a vampire.
She nearly had a heart attack when the door creaked open slowly. She stood heart racing waiting for a vampire to appear. None did. The door just stayed open, nothing but darkness beyond it. Briar took her chance. She ran out of the room and into the dim hallways. Briar ran down the twisting corridors no idea where she was going but hoping it would lead her out of this castle. Instead she found herself in front of a door. Probably ten feet high, sealed shut. Before she could take another step, it opened for her. Briar stepped through it. She seemed to be in some sort of throne room.
Blood red curtains framed tall ceiling high windows, an elaborate chandelier with candles that flickered and of course a throne that looked like it had seen better days on a raised dais.
“I knew you'd come. Humans are always so curious.”
Briar turned to see Alaric appear from nowhere. The way the darkness seemed to part for him was unnerving. She stiffened, balling her fists and backing away from him.
“Take me back to Creekwood.”
“I'm afraid I can't do that.”he said, hands in his pockets. His hair looked a little damp like he had just taken a shower. Not that she noticed.
“Why?”
“Because, Briar Morwen, you are a very valuable woman. If I didn't take you, another vampire clan would have and they would not have been as merciful as I.”
She scoffed. “Merciful? You call capturing and keeping me locked up merciful?”
“Certainly more merciful than being killed.”
She gritted her teeth and said slowly. “Tell me why I'm here.”
He smiled a bit, his fangs gleaming. “ You're finally asking the right questions.”
Alaric began to walk over to her slowly. Briar forced herself to keep still even though she had the urge to flee from this monster. He stopped in front of her barely a hair's breath away, Briar craning her head up to look at him. Then he began to unbutton his shirt.
Huh?
“If you think I'm making out with…” her breath caught in her throat at what she saw.
Crimson and black veins burned from the center of his chest, spreading like cracks through glass. Her lips parted and she didn't even know when her hand moved to feel it. He grunted in pain and she withdrew her hand quickly.
“What the fuck is that?”
“ A curse. I'm… dying. All vampires are dying.”
She gave him an incredulous look. “You know this is a Hunter's wet dream right?”
Alaric sighed . “Yes,I know that Briar.”
“Then why are you telling me this?”
In a split second, Alaric grabbed her right hand and bit her wrist, feeding. She cried out in pain and rage trying to get him off. Briar was prepared to strangle him when he did let her go but her eyes nearly popped out of her sockets when she saw the veins on his chest starting to fade.
“Because you're the only one who can save me.”
Five hundred years ago
Kora ran as fast as her legs could carry her through the woods, her son Aren wailing from where he was strapped to her back. Kaelith’s men were hot on her heels she knew. She only hoped the diversion spell she had cast would be enough to get them off her trail. After a while of running she decided to rest and catch her breath under a tree holding Aren in her arms and breathing hard.
She sang for him trying to soothe him even as tears fell down her own cheeks. A life on the run wasn't what she wanted for him. She wanted him to be safe, happy. Now it seemed that wasn't possible any longer. A twig snapped and kora gasped,instantly on her feet clutching her son tightly.
Out from the shadows came the monsters she had been running from all night. The vampires. They had found her. They prowled closer from every corner of the forest, Kora could see no escape. Her fear heightened when she saw them part for their king–Kaelith. Kora whimpered. His immaculate face was morphed in fury like she had never seen before. She had only ever seen his anger on others, not on her, never her but she knew it was an ugly, cruel thing.
She dropped to her knees bowing her head.
“My Lord…please forgive me…I'm sorry I…”she said, sobbing the words dying in her throat. From where she knelt on the ground she could his boots as he stood before her. She felt his cold hand on her chin as he squatted to her level. She looked up and was surprised to see love in those red eyes.
“Kora, my dearest. Of course I forgive you.” He said softly, a tone that immediately put Kora at ease. She felt safe, protected like she always did when she was with him.
“You shouldn't have run away.” he said and kissed her on the lips. Kora instantly melted into the kiss. The sound of Aren wailing broke her out of her reverie. She pulled away from the kiss to see he was no longer in her arms–one of the vampires had snatched him away when she was distracted dangling him upside down.
“No!”she screamed
“The child stinks of the mortal. You of all people should know I don't take lightly to filth, Kora” Kaelith said with a sneer. Another vampire came and dumped a bloody head at her feet. At first Kora couldn't recognize it because it was covered in so much blood and gore. But then she looked, really looked. She would recognize that nose anywhere. The head was Cassian's, Aren’s father. A moment's weakness that overtook her when Kaelith had spent too long fighting his wars. That was all he was to her yet Kora couldn't help but feel sorry. She would mourn him later.
Not now. Not when her child was at Kaelith’s mercy. Tears ran down her face as she begged. “Please spare my son…I…I promise we'll leave. We'll never return. Please.”
Kaelith growled. “I'm never letting you go Kora, you know that.”
Aren was crying harder now.
“Your child on the other hand…has to go.”
In a split second, the vampire holding Aren snapped his neck silencing his cries. Kora watched him drop limp to the ground, his little body twisted and deformed. Eyes wide, body shuddering, she crawled slowly to him. Kora carried his broken body in her arms, rocking him softly, willing him to wake up, to cry again. But he didn't. There was only silence.
Then Kora screamed.
A scream so loud it was later told that people in the human realm could hear. A scream so loud, every supernatural creature near and far paused to listen. The ones nearest to her fell to the ground, their ears bleeding. She screamed, the ground quaked,the wind coming to her aid carrying her voice.
“Kora stop this!” Kaelith yelled
from where he was on the floor covering his ears.
Kora did stop. Not just what he intended.
“I curse you kaelith.”she said, willing the earth to her cause, already feeling the bitter taste of the curse in her mouth. “You and all your kind. You are already dead but you will die again slowly and painfully. You will become like the mortals you so despise. Nothing will be able to save you. Except the living blood of the one you just spilled.”
Kaelith’s eyes widened at the realization of what had just happened.
“No. Revoke it now!” he said, his voice heavy with compulsion. It was a desperate move as they both knew his compulsion didn't work on her. Not that it mattered. Kora was already one step ahead. She took the knife that was strapped to her thigh and plunged it into her heart. The last thing she heard before her life left her was Kaelith's livid roar.
