Chapter 478: Travesty
And that was that. Ceremony over, all said and done, nothing to see here, move along.
Margaret looked impatient, clearly wanting to zippity-do-da her way back to Delusionland. But no way was she going while Mom still hovered, her Enforcers gathered around her in a tight, angry knot.
Mom, I sent, feeling the rush of her relief when she felt my magicks were partially at my disposal. Just go. It's cool. Go.
With a firm nod and a flash of blue power, she did, her Enforcers with her, so fast Margaret grunted at the rapid departure before waving irritably at the lot of us.
"Behave," she snapped. "Or else." Then, she gathered up her own posse and left.
Wow. Effective. Wish I'd thought to try telling the Queens not to hurt me.
Snort.
Batsheva turned in her throne and glared at Pannera. "Your turn," she said, all illusions of niceness, as thin as they were, vanished with the witches.
Pannera simply reclined further in her own seat, a little smile on her stone face. Did wonders for her beauty, though I highly doubted she smiled for the right reasons anymore.
Their particular battle was going to have to wait. Charlotte still growled beside me, the low hum of her unhappiness putting my teeth on edge and I wasn't the only one. Batsheva turned her sharp-eyed attention from her fellow Queen and focused on my wereguard.
"As your ruler," she said, smirk returning, "you must obey me. You understand this?"
I was not going to like what she said next. Was not.
"I order you to eliminate the dog clinging to you." Batsheva sat back then, hands pressed together as she cackled in glee. "Personally."
I'd felt compulsion before, the urge to act, driven by some power or another's need for me to pay attention. But I'd never felt anything like this. As I drew a breath to tell her where to stuff herself, a deep, burning sensation began somewhere in my guts and spread outward, the pain growing as each second passed until I stood clutching my stomach and gasping for air, still fighting the need to turn and rip Charlotte's throat out.
Honestly? If I hadn't had my demon, Shaylee and the family magic holding me back, I would have killed the girl without hesitation and been left to cry over her dead body later.
Yet another reason to be grateful for my multiple occupation and to hate Batsheva from the bottom of my heart.
Instead, I spun, sucking in air, and gasped a name. "Uncle Frank."
He disappeared in a rush of shadow only to reappear at my side while Batsheva's-dear elements and all that was clean and beautiful, my-family of vampires hissed at him.
"Take her." Wow, I managed to squeeze out two more words while the world closed in around me, black-edged, my insides devouring themselves one burning bite at a time.
He didn't hesitate, nor give Charlotte a chance to argue. His fist lashed out, caught her in the jaw. The weregirl crumpled with shock and hurt on her face, into his arms and, as I fell to my knees, he shuddered into darkness and vanished.
Taking Charlotte with him.
The pain went the moment she did, blessed relief as I huddled in a puddle of skirt with both arms clutching myself, panting over the carpet while Batsheva laughed.
Two footsteps sounded next to me before hands touched me gently, lifted me to my feet. Sunny's eyes flashed with fury as she spun on her old clan, sparks cascading from her hands as she gestured toward them.
"How far you've fallen, my old family." Wow. I'd never heard that level of disgust in someone's voice before. She must have been boosting the feeling with magic. And it looked like it was working as the vampires on Batsheva's side winced and flinched from my beautiful friend. "Yvette, our mother, she was hideous, but she led us clearly and with foresight." Sunny barely spared a glance for Batsheva, the Queen spluttering on her throne, but I kept a close eye both on her and Celeste who hovered behind the throne.
Sunny let me go, taking another step forward while I wavered, but held my feet, strength returning. "To allow this travesty of a leader in your midst, to accept such a sub-standard Queen to rule you." She shook her head, disappointment the chastising of children who had let her down. "Revolting."
What was funny? Most of the gathered vampires seemed to agree with her. Which led me to believe Yvette wasn't the only one who Batsheva influenced with the power of the Brotherhood.
Batsheva spun on Pannera. "It's time you take your foul-mouthed underlings and left my castle." Nice to know Sunny got to her.
Pannera didn't move, still smiling a little. "You invited me here on good faith," she said. "We are both to share in the essence of our creation. When you approached me with this plan, it was a partnership. Are you now planning to betray me?"
Batsheva thudded back against her throne, glaring.
"If that were the case," Pannera said as she leaned slowly forward as though in answer to the other Queen's retreat, "I would have to declare war. And you don't want that." Pannera laughed. "Even Yvette was smart enough to know peace meant prosperity."
Vampire games. Like reindeer games, with fangs.
Seriously, were they this close to war all the time?
How sad, my vampire sent before quietly retreating inside me and going silent.
This was worse than Demonicon. At least there they were outward about their attack methods. I knew where I stood. Vampires? Diva drama Queens, literally, pushing each other back and forth, a pair of whiny cheerleader captains who just happened to have enough power to make it a problem for half a continent.
I was sick of their crap already and it had only just gotten real.
Celeste whispered in Batsheva's ear and, though the other woman waved her away with clear irritation, she finally smiled back at her rival.
"Here we are ignoring the guest of honor." She refocused on me.
Oh goody.
"Indeed." Pannera turned to me, too. They had to pick now to find a common enemy? I would have preferred to stand back and watch them tear each other apart.
I wondered if anyone would back me if I yelled, "Cat fight!"
"A feast." Batsheva swept to her feet while I shivered from the reference. As long as I wasn't on the menu. "A banquet the likes this castle hasn't seen in an age. For you, Sydlynn."
Right. For me. For the show, she meant.
At least I wasn't dead yet. Bonus.
She wasn't kidding, though. By the time we sat down, it was well after midnight, but my vampire clock didn't seem to care. And my empty stomach was happy to sample some of the multiple dishes delivered to my gold-edged plate. The company I kept didn't encourage my appetite, Piotr glowering on one side while Celeste sat like a stone statue on the other. But at least I had Sunny, Sebastian and Uncle Frank across from me so I had a nice view.
I didn't bother asking Uncle Frank how Charlotte was when he arrived back just before we sat down at the table, now spread in the center of the throne room, to dinner. It didn't matter. She was safe and, if I survived this, would punish me when I got home.
Piotr isn't all bad, Sunny's mind touched mine. But he is misguided and very loyal.
Misguided, huh? Do you think he might be under influence?
She nodded, hiding it by smiling at Uncle Frank as though he'd spoken. I do.
Which means they all are. Suspicions confirmed, or at least solidified.
Or were. She touched her hair, eyes drifting sideways, further down the table. Yvette was horrible, Syd. Don't get me wrong. She played this game like no other Queen, had been at it even longer than Pannera. But she, too, was loyal to her family. Anyone, from the most powerful to the lowliest could count on her to stand for them in times of need. She was a brilliant leader, if a sick and twisted soul. But she was my Queen and I had her confidence for many years. For Batsheva to defeat her, she must have had access to powerful magic.
Oh. Right. I filled her in quickly on what Demetrius told me and, for a moment, I worried Sunny might blow our secret little conversation.
She did what? Choked, furious.
I'm sorry, I sent. I forgot I told Mom. Not you.
It was a long time before Sunny reached for me again and when she did, her mind was cold. But not because she was angry with me, I knew it right away.
I'm going to kill her myself, she said.
You can't, I sent back. You won't survive, remember? You're not of this clan anymore.
She squirmed in her chair, eyes finally meeting mine. I'm counting on you, she sent. No mercy.
As if.
Sunny spent the rest of that long and tiring banquet filling me in on the vampires in the room. My family. They were a bunch, that was for sure. From murderers to thieves and bandits turned to vampires, Yvette seemed to have had a knack for attracting the worst common denominator to her clan and gentrifying them.
On the surface, Sunny sent. Only on the surface.
Which made me wonder about my friend's past. Not that I cared. She was on my side and I loved her. No matter what she did when she was a member of this sick collective.
Um, yeah. The same one I was part of now. Yet another lovely family to get to know. Though I had a quick laugh thinking what my Demonicon relatives would do if I arranged a whole-hog reunion.
Epic.
I tried not to give in to the growing doubt I felt, that I'd chosen the wrong side after all. There was nothing I could do about it, not now. I did catch Pannera staring at me, and knew if I wanted to switch sides she'd probably go for it. But I had a plan and I needed to stick to it.
I just needed Demetrius to come back with my crystal.
Batsheva ended the banquet abruptly, rising and leaving as though bored with the whole thing. I could only guess her mind had a limit now that she was around the bend. It was Celeste who stood and clapped her hands, declaring the feast over.
I didn't exactly feel safe being escorted to my quarters by my "family", but no one gave me a choice. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised to find we took a few wrong turns along the route and ended up in a part of the castle I didn't think I'd seen before.
Dragging the new girl out to kill her, were they?
As my mind worked over a few ideas on how to deal with the problem, I happened to glance to my left through a doorway, surprised to find I was in the same section Charlotte and I explored earlier, the one with all the portraits. But the woman staring back at me from a giant canvas wasn't Yvette this time.
Nope. But now, from a distance and with shock filling my mind, I saw the family resemblance.
Holy.
No time to act on what I'd just learned or even think about the repercussions. Not when I was forced to halt in the middle of the corridor because the two vampires ahead of me had turned and were grinning at me with their fangs hanging out.
"Far enough," one of them said. Did I know him? Irrelevant. Been threatened and attacked by one crazy vamp, been threatened and attacked by them all.
"This is for Nicholas," another snarled behind me.
I laughed. Didn't mean to. "You'd better talk to Sebastian about that," I said. "Looks like you bunch were handed some inaccurate information." Batsheva and her lies. Tiresome.
That actually made them pause. "You killed him," the first vampire said.
"No," I spoke slowly, keeping it casual though my heartbeat sped up in preparation for the inevitable. "Sunny did. Because Sebastian couldn't bring himself to put down his own mad brother."
"It's true." Sebastian melted from the darkness, Sunny on one side, Anastasia on the other. "Sydlynn had nothing to do with Nicholas's death."
I was still expecting a fight. But nothing happened. My vampire guides looked first angry, then sad, turning as a group, vanishing into shadow.
I wanted to say something, an apology for calling Nicholas crazy, even though he was. But Sebastian didn't give me a chance. Instead, he held out one hand to me.
"Come," he said. "Our Queen would like a word with you."
***
