Ace of Swords (The Vampire Swords Book 2), page 14
I ignored him and the desperate urge to strike out to fight for my life. Once again, I concentrated in the hope of bringing more of the ramparts to the ground and block Gabriel’s path. Gabriel manoeuvred his horse around the debris and was on the verge of breaking the horse out into a gallop when I finally succeeded in my quest and exceeded my expectations in my mental feat.
Part of the ramparts gave way and the whole of the small Eastern tower fell towards us. My fear must have been acute as Gabriel’s horse backed away and he shouted at Camille to do the same, for Nathan’s consciousness penetrated my mind like a hot stinging needle demanding to view the source of my sudden great distress.
I knew Nathan was coming to my rescue as I slipped from the horse and fell to be trampled upon. I curled up into a ball to protect myself. I was not the only one to fall from the horse. Gabriel was to follow me. He recovered quickly as the dust and debris settled to dirty the virgin snow that lay around the large courtyard.
It was all I had in me in my present condition and I prayed that it was enough. But Gabriel was immediately on his feet coming for me. I was sore and believed some of my ribs may have been broken from the horse trampling me underfoot. I bravely tried to turn over carrying the burden of the heavy necklace and manacles and attempted to crawl from his grasp. But he was upon me, pulling me up by my hair. I squealed with the agony of his treatment.
To my relief his hold was not too last. I found myself falling face down back into the snow when Gabriel was attacked by a lycan. I lifted my head to see three lycans surround Gabriel and another three circle my fallen body in protection.
Camille was down from her horse and screaming, begging them to leave him alone but Gabriel was not about to give up possession of me. He charged towards the lycan at a speed that blurred the eye barring his teeth to jump and sink them into the throat of the lycan. But the others were quick to descend upon Gabriel. I could not help but to turn my face away, unable to watch the bloody spectacle.
I felt a presence and somebody was allowed to penetrate the circle the lycans had created around me. They slid across the snow in an effort to slow the speed they had been travelling at and sank to their knees. It was not Nathan but one of my other knights. I heard a familiar voice call my name with great concern. Jason Alexander’s cool hand moved up my back in a soothing motion. I felt him take hold of the iron collar and I called out for him to stop lest it harm him but he would not be mindful as he looked for the lock. To my relief he was to receive help from one of the lycans who took the metal in his hands and ripped it apart and the manacles around my wrists were to follow.
I leant on my elbow for support as I dared to view the noisy gruesome scene expecting to find Gabriel in several bite size pieces scattered across the courtyard. Surprisingly, he was still whole but leaking blood from many cuts and vicious rips upon his flesh. He looked a fearsome site. His skin was almost translucent and as white as the snow that lay on the ground.
Two lycans stood either side of him, each one holding one of his arms out to the side, forcing him to bend forward. Jason helped me to sit and closed his arms around me. I felt exhausted and sank into the gentle comfort he offered in his arms, resting my weary head against his chest. He held me tightly as I was distracted by Nathan’s presence walking across the courtyard and over the debris. He was carrying his sword by his side as he walked with Marcus, back in his clothed human form. I grew afraid for Gabriel.
I struggled to rise in Jason’s embrace but he was to restrain me with ease and keep me seated when I discovered from Nathan’s thoughts that he meant to end Gabriel’s life. He was to be a father. I could not deny the child a father. The demon was not impressed with my pity and rebuked me, reminding me of Taleian law and Camille’s treachery. They had brought it on themselves. Nathan and the rest of my knights were unanimous, they would not tolerate anyone ready to defile their Queen and force her into slavery, especially one of their own.
As though to confirm Nathan’s statement, I felt the sudden weight of all the thirteen other knights weigh heavy upon me with their resolve. I also felt their admiration as they all gathered over in the courtyard fresh from winning their battle with Drusilla’s army and viewed the results of my attempt to stop Gabriel taking me from them. Gabriel had betrayed their Queen and them. They did not respect elders or their wisdom. Their duty to their Queen always came first.
In matters of this nature that concerned the Queen’s safety I was out ruled by The Knight of Swords. I would not be allowed to spare Gabriel’s life. It was Nathan’s right alone to bestow the penalty of death upon anyone who committed treason against the crown of Talus and the Queen herself. Nathan was keen to point this out to me. I had no choice in the matter. It was his role to ensure my safety. I may not be able to bare it but I must accept.
Nathan approached Gabriel and the only sound audible was Camille’s crying. I struggled once more. Jason directed my head to his chest and kept it pressed there as he kissed the top of my head to soothe my distress.
‘Don’t look, my Queen. It must be done. We all know Gabriel. He will never give up. Nathan must take his life.’
I clung to Jason as though my life depended on it and gave up my struggles. To my shame, tears began to run down my bruised face and onto Jason’s coat. He rubbed my back.
Gabriel spoke as Nathan came to stand in front of him.
‘You had better end my life, Knight of Swords, if you are man and vampire enough,’ he panted with anger. ‘I will never give up. I will hunt Juliet down and kill whomever tries to stop me from taking her and making her mine to rule. I simply ask you spare the love of my life and our child. Prove yourself as the true Knight of Swords, Nathan. If you love Juliet, protect her and . . .’
Nathan swung his sword high in an arc and did not waste any further time. Gabriel’s head fell loosened from his shoulders to land in front of his headless corpse. A terrible scream of grief and anger welled from deep inside me to echo out from my lips in unison with Camille’s.
I struggled to free myself like I had never done before. Nathan was to come to my aid but I did not want him near me. I had seen too much, witnessed too much death in my young years. Camille was collapsed upon the ground and I could only think of her child, however, cruel her behaviour had been to me.
I succeed in my endeavour and before Jason and Nathan could take grasp me to them I backed away holding out my hand for them to halt. I wanted to be alone. I wanted no one by my side. I felt heartily sick of my existence and the role I was required to play. I was done with all of them and their rules and the insane mating ritual.
I loved Nathan but I kept thinking of the witch’s parting words that I would never have him whole again and the demon would always reign supreme inside him. I fancied Nathan could not face himself and what he had become just as I could not endure my own new identity. It would be easier for him to hide behind the demon. I also had the suspicion he wagered that if he stayed the demon he could protect me better and had lost faith in his ability for such a task as a human.
The witch had left a cruel legacy in which Nathan could not forgive himself for forcing me to jump from the hill into the loch. He could not have prevented it. The witch had full control of his nature at that point. As long as Nathan hid behind his demon persona I could not comfort him nor he myself. We were cut off from each other.
I needed to escape, to rest and decide what I should do. I wanted to have Nathan as my mate but not in his present state and I refused to take another. Nathan would come to me whole or not at all for our joining. I thundered my reasoning to them but they were to take little comfort in it. They believed me tired, exhausted and in need of rest.
‘I am leaving. I need some time to decide what I must do. At this moment, I cannot be your Queen. I cannot endure anymore violence and treachery. I want to be alone and you must grant me that peace.’
‘No,’ Nathan was firm. ‘It is too dangerous. I read Gabriel’s mind. The elders are set upon their course of action, they wish for you to be suitably controlled and under their power for their political needs with the warring clans abroad. They will send another knight and more if he fails to make you his. Word has spread that you are still not joined and many knights journey across the world to take you,’ Nathan snapped with impatience. ‘Do you believe that I will allow you to be unprotected from them?’
‘I am unafraid,’ I challenged.
He laughed with sarcasm. ‘You are foolish!’
Jason interrupted, indignant to the demon’s insensitivity to my distress.
‘I will take you wherever you wish to go, Juliet, and keep guard. I will allow you all of the time you need.’
Nathan glared at him.
‘No, Jason, thank you but I want to be alone or I fear I will lose my mind.’
It was then that Marcus stepped forward.
‘I believe you should listen to your Queen. She needs rest and should not be bothered by the mating ritual until she is well again . . .’
But Nathan was to interrupt his speech.
‘She must. For every moment she denies me she places herself in danger.’
‘You have not finished fighting the challenges yet, Nathan. You are not yet allowed to make her yours until all the true challengers have been defeated. I am one and may I remind you, Sebastian is yet to be defeated. And what are we to do about Xavier? He is also a challenger.’
‘Xavier is defeated.’
‘He still lives.’
Nathan moved towards him frustrated. He wondered if I was ever to belong to him. I felt the same despondency.
‘No,’ I shouted. ‘No more violence. Enough, I command it,’ I said with anger.
Marcus interjected again on my behalf.
‘Act like gentlemen, your Queen has given you a command. This ritual makes you insane. I am glad my kind are not party to it.’ He turned to address me, his hand on his heart.
‘I am forever grateful at your sacrifice and the way in which you saved the lives of my children. I and my clan and the lycan kind are forever at your disposal. If you should need my assistance you know where to find me,’ he informed me with deep gratitude.
To my surprise I felt Marcus open his mind and invite me in to show that he could be trusted. I nodded my own gratification.
‘I will leave you now. When you have come to your senses, Lord Valancourt, I will see you but not until then,’ I informed in a haughty regal manner.
‘Now is not the time to act the suffragist, Juliet. I will not tolerate your behaviour . . .’ Nathan rebuked me in a severe voice but was made to abruptly finish his sentence as I evaporated my body into the fine mist, once again.
I knew the witch’s power would not last much longer for it was dying it, only a momentary benefit from the transfer of power. But it was sufficient to spirit me away to freedom leaving a shocked Nathan and my knights anxious as to my state of mind and the danger I had placed upon my person.
Chapter Twenty-Two
I made my way to London. I journeyed there with caution and disguise once I could no longer use the witch’s power. Nathan’s warning echoed in my mind and I could not look upon any man without suspicion. My imagination was active and I tried to console myself that I would recognise a Taleian Hybrid knight when I saw one. They were striking in their handsome looks and I am sure I would sense their presence around me before it was too late.
I procured some money from the allowance given to me from my uncle’s inheritance in the relatively quiet haven of Baker Street in rooms. My life was a dull one. I kept myself to myself and rarely went out. I had not fed since Xavier made me and although I could go for a few days without feeding before feeling the serious effects of hunger, just as a human, I now desperately needed to feed.
But I was reluctant. A curious depression had come over me. I was disgusted with my existence and repelled by my need to feed from humans. I could not stop my mind endlessly ruminating about the violence that surrounded me and the weight of my responsibility for it. I thought of my treatment of Xavier, then Gabriel, the humans who had suffered and the poor elderly housekeeper of my lodgings I gazed upon with greedy eyes as an appetising meal. And after considering my recent past I saw my future as a bleak one. I was greatly ashamed. I could not resign myself to my fate and sought to take matters into my own hands.
Perhaps, it was better that I did not survive. I lay upon my small bed looking out upon the foggy sunlight of London during the day and the stillness of the night contemplating this fact as the hunger rumbled inside me, increasing with each passing hour and the fight to keep my control around the humans began to erode. The idea that I may consume animal blood in quantity and end my life came to dominate my thoughts.
As I wrestled with the subject of suicide and often I would fall into sleep and dream. Time and time again I would jump awake in a fever of fear believing that Nathan stood over me and once that Gabriel did without his head. My need for blood and company made me delirious. I ached to feel Nathan’s presence, his tender loving arms around me and then I would remember the cold demon that inhabited his soul and who he would only show to me. At that moment, the demon’s hold alone would have sufficed if my will had not been strong upon the matter.
Nathan had made many an attempt to contact me and penetrate my consciousness but now my power was returned so far my efforts to repel his invasion into my mind were holding. But the silence and the loneliness without the flow of his thoughts was too much to bear. I needed to make a decision to live or die before the demon inside myself took control and killed to satiate its desire for blood.
My deteriorating health caught the observant attention of my landlady Mrs Gray. She did not like the pale colour I was turning nor the way I did not seem to eat a morsel of the food she provided. She told me that a doctor lived at her friend and neighbour’s lodgings not too doors up, and I should go and see him. A doctor could not help me, however much I wished he could.
On the third day I made a decision. I had thought much on the subject and decided that just because my circumstances had altered and I was a Taleian hybrid vampire would it not still be a sin to God to take my own life? Was I to be exempt from this rule? I did not consider myself as so. My new existence was a challenge perhaps set by God. I had been given the responsibility as Queen to care for my people and to protect their needs. If I died I would be letting more than myself down and deserting those I loved most. I had a duty even if it was not an altogether pleasing one and it was one I would master for others if not myself. Maybe in time I would learn to accept my role and my new identity with open arms even though the notion of it at that present moment made me nauseous with fear.
I needed to learn to hunt without causing too much hurt to anyone and exposing my identity if I was to survive alone. I would take some time to recover from my ordeals and decide how I could best effect my rule of the Taleians and reunite them in friendship. There was also the need to deal with the diabolic trade of the slavers who took the Taleian women and the elders. I found some strength in logical matters of state and closed my mind to further discussion of my existence. If I was to carry out my plans I needed to first master the skill of hunting.
I found myself walking in London late afternoon down by the river as the sun began to set in the winter sky. The neighbourhood was not fit for a lady but I hoped to find a person alone, preferably female, maybe one of the prostitutes who frequented the area who I could easily overcome. I ventured further into the housing that led to the docks at Wapping finding no suitable person. It was then that I felt a Taleian presence and I knew I was being followed.
I looked up at the houses and down the small dirty street I was in but I could see no one. There was more than one and they were mixed with human heartbeats. I grew afraid and began to blindly run sensing their intention to capture me. Tonight was to be my first encounter with one of the knights who came to make me his own and I was too weak without blood to fare well in our confrontation. Even now as I ran my legs felt difficult to move and my vision was blurred.
I ran as fast as I was able down a small dark alley and another, knowing that they followed me. I journeyed further into the slums of the poor on the docks. There were prostitutes on the corners heckling their foul language at the drunken men who passed them. They whistled and laughed at me, mocking me for my fine clothes and class. Perhaps I was mistaken in believing I was a lady for no lady would be seen here. I had to agree with them.
I know the men that chased me did so over the rooftops of the small houses and nautical shops. I could see their shadows dance across the dimly lit walls as I ran down to the docks themselves as night came to rest on top of the fog. They were nearly upon me. Never had I felt so vulnerable despite the return of my powers. Now I understood why the Queen was bestowed with the protection of her Knight of Swords. I was on the verge of regretting my decision to leave Nathan but if I wanted to gain my independence, my freedom and my equality in our race I had no other choice but to fend for myself.
I ran out onto the docks, only to be startled by a hansom cab. I shrieked with fright believing I was about to be run down. I was brought to an abrupt stop. It proved fatal to my flight from the Taleian men. I turned hearing two of them jump down from the rooftops to land at my feet. I backed away towards the fishing boats in the water that bumped lightly against the sides as they barred their teeth and hissed at me.
The fog was thick and heavy around us now and I sought in vain to hide myself from them in it. I threw energy from my mind towards them that was sufficient to propel my would be assailants back and up in the air to land against the brick wall of a building. I turned to run along the docks and into the fog but another two men appeared in front of me. One of them held a sword and was clearly the knight who meant to make me his own, the rest were simply party to his plan.
