It’s time to let go.
It’s time to finally surrender.
Chapter 19: Kiev
After the alcohol had drained from my system, memories of the night before came trickling back. I remembered Helina leading me to the cave. The large round stone. The witches and my siblings standing around me uttering strange words. The terror in the human’s eyes before I half-turned, then murdered, her.
I need answers.
Early the next morning I sought out my brother and sister. I found Erik still resting in bed with Julisse, while Helina was already up and about her apartment. I led them both out of the castle until we reached the woods for some privacy.
“You’d better give me some damn answers, or I swear—”
“All right,” Erik said, holding up a hand. “All right.”
We stopped walking and turned to face each other.
“These witches are not ordinary witches,” he began. “They’re a darker breed than you’ve likely ever come across.”
Tell me about it.
“They’re a splinter group. A cult. They consider themselves to be the only hope for the revival of their race’s true glory. They are on a mission to restore the power that their distant ancestors once had. They call themselves Revivalists.” Erik paused. I stared at him, my mouth agape. “When the three sisters rescued fifty of us from Cruor,” he continued, “it was not out of the goodness of their hearts. They had a reason.”
“They wanted us for a specific ritual that they perform once or twice a month,” Helina explained. “They needed at least fifty of us to be present for it—that’s what their scrolls stated. In exchange for our cooperation, they gave us full protection from the Elders… and a supply of human blood. We also run errands for them sometimes—”
“Human blood. Those humans… where the hell do they get them all from?”
“We don’t know, Kiev,” Helina said wearily. “We don’t like to press them with too many questions. As long as they keep supplying us with them, what does it even matter?”
I rubbed my hands against my face as the gravity of the situation settled upon me.
“So basically, you’re slaves to a group of fanatics.”
“We were desperate, Kiev,” Erik said in exasperation. “How could we refuse? Besides, it’s not a big deal having the coven around here for just a few days once or twice a month. They come for three days, they dine, they perform their rituals, then they leave. We are left with the three sisters, and they’ve never been a nuisance.” He must have caught the way I was eyeing him, because he added, “And our love is real, by the way. Julisse and I fell for each other the first month that we were together here—”
“And last night,” I said, cutting through him, heat rising in my voice. “You both knowingly led me into a blood pact with these deranged zealots… while I was drunk?”
Helina stamped her foot on the ground in frustration.
“Damn it, Kiev. Last night, we had to initiate you the same way we’ve initiated every vampire on this island. Or the witches wouldn’t have allowed you to stay here. You need to understand: they’re purists.”
“Oh, I think I’ve gathered that.”
I heaved a sighed and look from one sibling to the other.
“And why you? Why did they pick you as Lord and Lady—whatever those useless titles even mean?”
“We were the oldest vampires of all of the fifty they chose,” Erik said. “The other vampires all looked up to us, even when we were back in Cruor. We were the natural choice, especially being brother and sister. They knew we’d make a good team.”
“And what exactly is this ritual they come to perform every month?” I asked, not certain that I actually wanted to know the answer.
“It’s probably best you just witness it for yourself. Though it’s not dissimilar to what you experienced last night. The main difference is that it’s the witches who drink the half-turned vampire’s blood.”
I paced up and down in front of them.
“You also occasionally run errands for them, you mentioned,” I said, looking at my sister, “Is that what you were doing when I first arrived on the island? The only person here was Damion.”
She nodded.
“What errand was that?” I asked.
Erik sighed.
“They needed a specific type of very rare and valuable seaplant that only grows near The Cove—the realm of mermaids. Rather than get it themselves, they thought we might as well do the job for them.”
“And that’s why you’re known for being such notorious pirates,” I muttered. “You plunder others on the witches’ orders. You can’t afford to fail.”
They both nodded.
“I suppose your speed and strength—which is greater than most vampires I’ve ever seen—is also due to the witches?”
They nodded again.
An unsettled feeling took hold of me as we made our way back to the castle. My siblings had boasted about how great their life was now that the Elders no longer ruled over them. They could do whatever they wanted, they’d said. It was clear now though that all that was self-delusion. They had simply put themselves under the control of a different kind of evil.
It was obvious though that my siblings didn’t appreciate my pessimism. Besides, it was true what Erik had said. It wasn’t like they had a choice in the matter. They’d traded themselves in to the witches and there was no going back. Even despite the witches’ darkness, it did seem that—at least thus far—life was better being ruled over by them rather than the Elders.
The real test would come when either the witches abandoned their blood ritual, or started making demands that we could not meet.
I wondered whether Julisse loved Erik enough to stay behind, even if her coven disapproved of her action. Somehow, I doubted it.
I was lost in thought as I made my way back up to my chambers. I wanted peace and silence to think over everything that had just been revealed to me.
Instead I was met with a stroppy-faced teenager sitting cross-legged on my bed.
I groaned. “For the love of… Not now, Celice.”
“Not now. Not now. It’s always not now,” she whined. “You can’t just make a promise to me and not keep it.”
“Well, thanks to your sisters,” I said through gritted teeth, “I have nowhere to take you anymore even if I wanted to. So take your huffing and puffing to their rooms, and leave me in peace.”