It had been one of the few promises I’d managed to keep to myself.
Until now.
Now seems to be as good a time as any to break it. I would break it anyway. Because everything in my life breaks sooner or later.
I reached for the bottle, unscrewed the cap and downed a gulp. Then another. And another.
With each gulp I took, the screaming in my head dulled. The images of Matteo’s men, my comrades, strewn on the ground. Brett’s terror. Saira’s disappointment. Matteo’s words. The waste of all the years of work into building that island up into a place they could inhabit. All seemed to fade like an old painting.
I got up, walked out onto the balcony and leaned over the railing, the bottle still hanging from my hand. It was then that I noticed Julisse and Arielle sitting in the courtyard by the lily pond, deep in conversation.
Those bitches… They ruined my brother and sister.
As I stood there looking down at them, I remembered something that Clara—of all people—had once said to me when she was trying to convince me to do some kind of abominable act.
“If you’re going to accept a dance with Darkness, dance full swing.”
I downed the last of the bottle. Then, smashing it against the floor, I ran out of my room and along the corridor until I reached the stairs. Extending my claws, I raced down them—too fast for my inebriated state. I missed a step and crashed to the bottom of the stairs. I swore as I staggered to my feet.
“Kiev?”
Celice.
She walked toward me cautiously, eyeing me like I was some kind of animal.
“Your sisters,” I grunted, “are bitches. Heartless bitches.”
Celice’s eyes widened as she stepped back.
“You’re drunk,” she said. “Kiev Novalic, I don’t like you when you’re drunk. And I needed to talk to you about something important.”
“I don’t—”
“Kiev.”
My sister must have heard all the commotion and she came running down the stairs.
“You’re a wreck,” she said, frowning as she looked me over.
“I think it’s time,” another female voice called from the doorway across the main entrance hall. I looked up to see Julisse and Arielle standing there.
“Bitches,” I muttered again.
As soon as I said the word, Helina’s hands wrapped tightly around my mouth, choking me.
“I don’t care how lost you are to alcohol, Kiev,” she hissed into my ear. “You must never insult our witches. Do you understand?”
I refused to nod. Why shouldn’t I call them what they were? She kept her hands around my mouth. Then she blocked my nose so I couldn’t breathe at all.
“Kiev. Brother, please. Tell me that you promise.”
Her change of tone had shaken me, and even in my drunken state, I decided to heed her words. If only to not cause my sister distress. I nodded slightly and she let go.
“Never forget that, Kiev.” She looked at me, her face contorted with worry. “Never forget that.”
Barely had she finished speaking the words than Julisse and Arielle reached us from across the room.
“It’s time,” Julisse muttered to Helina, eyeing me disapprovingly. “I think he’s ready.”
“Ready for what?” I blurted out.
“To take your place as a Lord of The Shade,” Helina said, wrapping an arm around my waist to support me in standing. “As a Novalic.”
“We’ll need Erik,” Arielle said.
“I’ll get him,” replied Julisse. “In the meantime, take them to the spot.”
“I’m already Lord of The Shade,” I slurred, as Helina escorted me out of the entrance.
Helina ignored my last proclamation as she led me across the courtyard and into the woods. I asked more questions of her, and she ignored them all. In fact, she didn’t speak again until we arrived at the beach.
“Where are we going?”
“We’re almost there,” she said, pointing to the entrance of a large cave about a mile away.
As we stepped inside, several lanterns lined the jagged walls. The floor was covered with straw and in the centre of the cave was a large circular rock. Carved into it were words of some ancient-looking language I wouldn’t have been able to recognize even if I was sober, let alone drunk out of my mind.
I motioned to sit down on the rock, but Helina grabbed me and pulled me away from it.
“Sit on the floor if you have to. But don’t ever sit there unless you’re instructed to.”
A few minutes later, all three witches arrived. All three of them were dressed in long black robes.
“You need to change first,” Arielle said, eyeing me and my sister.
She handed two robes to us. Helina helped pull one of them over my head, while she donned the other.
I’d gotten past the point of asking questions since nobody seemed to be paying any attention to them. I just kept quiet and watched as the scene unfolded.
“Erik?” Helina asked.
“He’s coming,” Julisse replied.
Helina sighed and looked down at me. “Okay, Kiev. Now you can sit on the stone.”
I sat down and watched as all four of them gathered around me, holding hands to form a circle around me.
What the hell is going on? My muddled brain toiled to make sense of the situation. It wasn’t clear any more what was my imagination and what was reality. I really shouldn’t have had that drink.
Erik arrived a few moments later, and with him, a human girl attached to him by a chain. Her blood agitated my senses and my first instinct was to stand up and launch myself at her. But Helina caught me and, with the help of the witches, pushed me back down.
“All in good time.” Erik smiled down at me. “You’re going to enjoy this, Kiev. Trust me.”
The gagged girl struggled more violently as he tied her to a corner of the cave. Then Erik took his place in the circle between Julisse and Helina, linking hands with both of them.
And then began the strange chant. I was surprised to see that it wasn’t only the three witches chanting in this strange tongue. My sister and brother also joined in. Each verse rhymed and grew louder by the minute. They reached a crescendo and stopped all at once. They looked down at me.
“Now,” Julisse whispered. “Turn the girl into a vampire.”
Turn her?
I had turned many a human into a vampire during my time. It wasn’t as pleasurable as just drinking their blood, but it certainly wasn’t disagreeable.