Bloodcraft (28 page)

“Tori loves you,” she’d said.

“I wish I could believe that.”

“You have to. She needs you more than anything, but she’s confused and being pulled a thousand different ways. She’ll come around, don’t worry.”

“I hope you’re right.”

She’d shot him a plucky smile. “I am.”

They had searched everywhere, called Holly even, but there was no sign of Victoria. It was as if she’d vanished off the face of the earth. He knew that wasn’t the case—she had to be somewhere. If anything, it meant that her powers had somehow been inhibited. An icy sensation had crawled along his spine. That insidious feeling that something had happened to her had made him go to the one place where he wasn’t welcome—the high priestess temple that lay hidden in the center of the Bois de Boulogne.

While they waited, Christian’s eyes wandered the room. A trickling waterfall graced one end of the space and vines wound across the top, tying into the nearby trees. The temple was designed in relaxing hues of yellows and greens, with the exception of one wall on the far end, which seemed to shift with the room’s occupants. Right now, it exhibited a complex landscape of angry reds with swatches of intertwined grays and blacks. It was an accurate representation of his current emotional state. When Angie had entered, it’d been lavender and orange. He knew the minute Aliya walked in because the far wall shifted into hues of soft whites and blues.

Aliya stared at them, shock etched in her features. Her gaze darted to Angie and her frown deepened. “Your Grace, to what do we owe this visit?”

“My apologies,” Christian said with a short bow. Angie nodded imperceptibly to him, and he knew that she had just scanned Aliya’s aura. He hadn’t expected Aliya to be their enemy, but he had to be sure. “I went to your home and was told that you were here.”

“I understand,” she said, but Christian knew she didn’t. Vampires didn’t make it a practice of intruding on the temples of the Witch Clans. One, they were warded from discovery, and two, it simply was not allowed. Christian didn’t have time for propriety, however, or explaining to Aliya how he’d managed to find their most sacred of spaces. Time was of the essence. “Why are you here?” she asked.

“May we speak in private?” he asked in a lowered voice. “I am here to discuss a matter of sensitive nature.”

“Of course.” She dismissed the four witches with a nod and they slipped from the hall. Christian noticed that the far wall had darkened considerably with more midnight blue hues taking precedence. She followed the direction of his eyes and frowned. Instantly, the wall shifted into a pale neutral shade. “It’s a moodscape,” she explained. “It shows the mental state of anyone here. We are alone, Your Grace. You may speak freely. But first, who is your friend?”

He nodded to the girl at his side. “This is one of Victoria’s friends. Angie. She is an Aurus.”

“Ah,” Aliya nodded as if answering an unspoken question. “That is how you were able to find the temple.”

Christian nodded shortly and wasted no more time. “Victoria. Is she here?”

“You haven’t found her?”

“No. I am sorry I did not contact you as I said I would. I had … a minor disagreement with my brother, the details of which I won’t bore you with. But prior to that, I received a garbled message from Victoria a few hours ago, asking for my help. It was disjointed and didn’t seem like her.” He stared at Aliya, wondering how much the witch knew and how much a part she had played in Victoria’s decisions. “Given that we are no longer together, I didn’t expect to hear from her of all people, and by the time I tried to respond, I couldn’t reach her.” He cleared his throat. “You have been a longtime liaison to the Council, and I know that relations between us have been strained lately, but I need your help.”

“Does this have anything to do with the attack at Belles Fontaines?”

Christian’s mind was racing. It was something he hadn’t considered. His brother and the warlocks had attacked the school together. Had they meant to take Victoria then? And somehow failed? He had believed Freyja when she’d said she didn’t have her.

“I don’t know,” he answered. “Can you and the other priestesses try a location spell?”

Aliya shook her head. “We can try, but it won’t work. We have tried it many times when we heard that the prophecy had come to pass. Her blood has a unique cloaking mechanism that renders it invisible to any other magic.”

Christian tried not to let his disappointment show. She couldn’t have just vanished. If the warlocks didn’t have her and the Clans didn’t, then that only left the vampires. Was there some power-seeking vampire other than his brother that he hadn’t considered?

“Is there anyone at the school who would want to harm her?” Angie asked, interrupting his train of thought. “I would know if they meant her ill.”

Aliya shook her head. “No. That is absurd.”

“I’m afraid we have to consider all options,” Christian said. “It is a valid question. Too many people know of the existence of the curse and one taste of such power can corrupt the most virtuous of hearts. One of her teachers? One of her friends, perhaps? What about Madame Starke or that boy who was with her at your house?”

“Starke is one of our strongest leaders,” Aliya said grimly. “She was opposed to Victoria’s matriculation to Belles Fontaines because she was worried about the safety of the other students. But despite her personal feelings on the matter, she’d never hurt another witch. She was my protégée. She should have been a high priestess, but was chosen to run the school instead after her training.”

Christian recalled Starke’s position when the warlocks had shown up and nodded. She’d appeared to defend the school to the last. “And the boy?”

“Panthèse?”

“Would he wish to coerce her?”

“
Coerce
her? He is her friend and her mentor,” Aliya said. “And Pan is one of the most gentle people I know. He’d never hurt her.”

Angie exchanged a glance with him, pain shadowing her eyes for a second as the memories of the past year resurfaced. “Sometimes the ones we trust the most are the ones we should fear the most. My brother was the warlock who hurt Tori last year. I trust no one. And until I can see their true nature for myself, you shouldn’t either. If this Pan is her friend, he’ll know where she is or at least be able to help us.”

Aliya closed her eyes for a second, concentrating hard for a moment. “He lives in the tenth arrondissement. Rue de Pareil.”

“Thank you.”

Christian turned to leave just as his senses tingled. Angie tensed, too. When they emerged from the foyer, a semi-circle of three dozen witches met them, their faces grim. Madame Starke stood at the center of their ranks, unveiled hatred on her face.

“Detain this filth,” she shouted. “He and his vampires have killed hundreds of our people. And now he has taken the Cruentus Curse.”

“Odette,” Aliya gasped. “You overstep your bounds. That has not been proven.”

Odette Starke stared her down, her obsidian eyes unblinking. “Oh, don’t think I haven’t noticed your unnatural affection for these blood-drinkers. If it were up to you, the future of our race and this thing”—her scornful eyes scanned Christian from head to toe —“would still be living together.”

Aliya approached the witch with caution, as two other priestesses from inside the temple joined the three of them. “This is a place of peace with innocent children inside its walls,” she said, frowning. “And Lord Devereux is here under our protection.”

“Then you and those with you are as guilty as he.”

“Victoria is missing—”

Odette hissed. “Of course she is missing. He took her.”

Christian nodded imperceptibly to Angie, whose gaze was unfocused as she assessed the line of witches opposing them. She stared back, her fingers closing around the hilts of the crossbow tucked into her waistband, confirming his suspicion. This was a coup and Starke and her followers wanted payment in vampire blood. Aliya hadn’t quite caught on, but Christian knew a rebellion when he saw one. The Clans were scared and Starke was capitalizing on their fear. He wondered what her endgame was and then remembered Aliya’s words—she’d been in training to be high priestess. Was this what it was about? Sour grapes? He met Odette’s cold eyes and exhaled. That and power. Everything fell into place.

“It was you, wasn’t it?” he asked, his voice mild.

“How dare you address me, vampire?” she snarled. A wave of angry murmurs pressed through the crowd at her back.

“You do know where Victoria is, do you not?”

“How dare you?” Odette repeated. “When you are the very one who took her? Admit it—you were against her schooling from the first. You wanted her powers for yourself.”

Christian smiled. “I have already sampled the power of Le Sang Noir, and trust me, I wish to have no part in it.”

Odette’s lip curled as she spat to the side. “Scum like you has no business wielding the magic of our bloodline. That privilege belongs to us.
She
belongs to us.”

Aliya stared from him to the headmistress and back again. “What is this?” she whispered as if finally starting to put the pieces together.

“Your time is over,” Odette said. “You had your chance to do what was right and you let this piece of filth defile our temple. You let our people die. You wanted peace with these creatures and for what? For a massacre? Well, the time for goodwill is done. And we’re going to start by sending this one back to his people piece by piece.” She eyed her longtime mentor. “You can join us or join them, your choice.”

“This is madness,” Aliya said. “The vampires have had casualties as well. We have no proof that they are the perpetrators.”

“If we wait for your proof, how many more must die?” someone shouted from the rear of the line. “The vampires have waged war on us for centuries, and now that we have the Cruentus Curse in our grasp, they are picking us off one by one.”

Aliya tried one last time. “Listen to yourselves. You are going to war on a whim based on the word of one witch.”

“Step aside, Aliya,” Odette said, blue fire crackling from her fingertips. “Or die with your new friends.”

To Christian’s surprise, Aliya stood her ground. “I pledged a sacred oath to defend this temple and the truth with my life.”

“So be it.”

He dodged the first blast Odette threw his way as the line collapsed toward them. “Run,” he shouted to Angie. Without magic, she wouldn’t be able to defend herself. Once more, he found himself taken aback as Angie dove behind a stone pillar and pulled what looked like a mini collapsible automated crossbow from her backpack. He could barely keep up with the toothpick-sized darts flying from it. One by one, the aggressors in front of her fell.

At his look, she grinned. “Had to come up with something to defend myself in this world of supernatural crazies. Nothing like a teeny little sleep dart … works like a charm every time.”

He had no time to ponder Angie’s inventiveness as a group of witches converged upon him, muttering a variety of curses and hexes. Christian was a blur as he weaved his way through them, his vampire senses taking over. He could see the spells streaking toward him in slow motion and he dodged them with graceful ease. His newfound powers flexed within him, and after a few minutes, he came to a pause, looking at the pile of bodies. They weren’t dead—he’d made sure of that. Inasmuch as they’d attacked him, he did not want to start a war. Not now, when they had a new common enemy.

Odette snarled her frustration as Aliya and the other two priestesses finished conjuring a shield spell over the temple. The air crackled with electricity as the rest of their offensive spells bounced harmlessly off its surface. Christian watched Odette carefully as she reconsidered her options. She stood with a handful of her remaining followers and they, too, looked uneasy as if they weren’t quite certain of their leader’s motives. She was acting on her own without the sanction of the high priestesses.

“You cannot possibly believe a word that she has told you about the vampires. She’s only using you,” Aliya shouted, coming to the same conclusion. “She is going against all our laws and the truce we have with the vampires. Are you willing to put all of us at risk? I am the moon priestess of this coven. Lay down your arms and go, and I will take that into account when the time for reckoning comes.”

“Don’t listen to her,” Odette snarled. “Stand your ground.”

Angie’s eyes narrowed as she invoked her gift. “They’re not all bad,” she said. “You are right that they’ve been sold a good story by that one. She is consumed by her lust for power—it’s hovering all over her like a poisonous green stain.” She pointed to the headmistress, whose face had taken on an ugly scarlet hue at Angie’s words. “She wants the Cruentus Curse for herself.”

“Are you certain?” Aliya asked.

“Yes.”

“Aliya, hand over the vampire.” Odette’s eyes flicked to Angie. “And the Aurus, too. And I promise no harm will come to you or the residents of this temple.”

“I will not.” Aliya waved a hand. “And you can no longer penetrate this barrier, so we are at a stalemate. Until the others arrive, that is.” Aliya would have summoned reinforcements—those still loyal to her. Sure enough, Christian sensed their arrival as shadows appeared on the horizon beyond Odette in an ominous line. She glanced over her shoulder and gritted her teeth, her hands fisting at her sides. Within seconds, six of the remaining seven witches teleported for parts unknown, as if realizing the predicament of their situation, and Odette stood alone.

“Surrender now, Odette, and face the consequences of your actions.”

“This is
your
last chance, Aliya,” she countered with an icy smile. “Join me and live. Oppose me and die.”

“You are outnumbered.”

“Not for long.” She hiked her chin, her eyes glittering with cold madness. “Do you think it matters whether I am on my own? They are a means to an end—one that is almost in my grasp.” Her eyes slid to Christian, now that the pretense was over. “I wanted them to punish you, of course, for tainting one of ours with the stench of your touch. How dare you presume to come between a witch queen and this coven? You are beneath her—a bloodstain on the earth. What lies between the two of you is an abomination, and when I am finished, any memory of you will be nothing but an ember in the ashes. Victoria will see you for the scourge that you are, and soon she will be ready to take her rightful place with me at her side.”