Shadow of the Vampire (29 page)

         
"Yes, the proclamation from the dark council after the war," she said, nodding her head. However, the Queen shook hers in disagreement.

         
"No," she said with a gasp. "When vampires feed off one another, or even humans, the memories we imbibe along with the blood are too much for most to deal with and stay sane. Your dreams become haunted, your past, future and memories bleed together into one not entirely your own."

         
Alexia's thoughts immediately shot to Declan. They had fed from each other. Was that what all of this was? Why his presence in her life knocked her off her feet?

         
"It's why some say the dark prince went mad. He became addicted to the taste, the rush that followed the feedings. He abused it, eventually becoming paranoid, suspicious of even his most trusted associates and supporters."

         
"I don't understand."

         
"I think you do."

         
Alexia stared in mute horror as her mother again lifted her wrist, offering it to her.

         
"Quickly, there isn't much time."

         
Alexia licked her lips, willing her fangs to lengthen. Doubt, fear and the cloying scent of betrayal filled her lungs. "I can't," she whispered, closing her eyes.

         
"You can and you must. Before I'm dry and cannot help you."

         
Alexia forced herself to reach out. Her hands trembled as they cradled her mother's slim forearm, her skin ice-cold against Alexia's warm palms. Lowering her head, Alexia brought her mother's wrist to her mouth. Parting her jaws, she positioned her bite along the veins visible beneath the nearly translucent skin.

         
"Hurry," the Queen urged. "I'll try to focus in on what I want you to see."

         
Alexia nodded, again feeling the burn of unshed tears behind her eyes. Yet it wasn't until her fangs punctured the smooth flesh of her mother's skin that the tears fell.

         
The moment the metallic flavor of blood hit her tongue, a jolt cracked through Alexia's body. Dense and heavy, a gray fog swirled over her irises, blanketing her vision in a haze until it was all she could see. Unlike the time she had fed from Declan, it all happened so fast. She couldn't have stopped it, couldn't have pulled back from her mother's arm if she'd tried. The fog held her now. Its pillowy mist filling her lungs with each intake of breath. So thick she could taste it, smell it, feel it throbbing through her skin, down her arms and legs in a powerful tremble that rocked her. Part of her realized the energy rush came from her mother's blood ripping through her veins. Realized she now tasted the madness that Lotharus sought his whole life and the addiction that had changed the history of her people forever.

         
Sudden shapes began to form in the swirling, colorless matter floating around her. First merely dark outlines, indistinguishable shadows moving behind a curtain. Then slowly layers began to peel away and fold back, revealing bits and pieces. The shapes became people. The constant roar of blood behind her ears became voices. Sounds, once muffled as if she were underwater, began to prick her ears in distinct consonants and tones. One recognizable voice lifted above the others.

         
The Queen's voice, low and hushed, filled the room along with two others, a male and a female. Alexia squinted, willing the images, the memories clearer. As if the thought begot the act, the fog lifted completely, unveiling a picture before her.

         
The dungeon. Alexia would know it anywhere. However, at the sight of the other two people whose voices she'd heard, Alexia reeled back, almost tipping off the bed.

         
The dragon King and Queen!

         
Her heart kick-started in her chest, racing at a breakneck tempo. She had been right. Her mother did have something to do with all of this. Pinching her eyes tighter, Alexia willed herself to focus, to listen, to hear.

         
The three of them stood in the corner of the dungeon, not far from where Declan's wing had been clipped. The King and Queen, much like their son, were bloody, filthy from their time spent in the horde's version of hell. Alexia stared at them with curiosity and wonder. Goddess, Declan was right. His father was huge. His broad back and shoulders ate up the vision, commanding nearly all of it. Bulges and valleys of thick corded muscle rolled over his back, his powerful arms. Intricate tattoos wound around each biceps, and ancient lettering had been penned with a delicate hand up his spine.

         
Slowly, Alexia let her gaze drift to the small female the dragon King shielded protectively under one massive limb. Her delicate shape appeared so fragile and small next to his mighty dragon form. There was no mistaking she'd been born a human.

         
Alexia recalled how Declan had spoken of them both, the sadness in his soul over their deaths, and her heart swelled with pride and grief. The emotions were so overwhelming, she nearly choked on them. Swallowing down another mouthful of the Queen's tart, hot blood, Alexia focused on what the memory was showing her. What her mother was trying to show her.

         
"Why should we trust you?" Declan's father spoke, his voice firm and determined. The inflection and tone of it instantly called Declan to mind.

         
"You don't have any other choice," her mother answered. "You stay, you die."

         
"But I don't understand," the dragon Queen said. "Why are you helping us?"

         
"My reasons are my own. All you need for them to succeed is to live."

         
Another silhouette emerged from behind the Queen. A fourth person Alexia had not seen until now stepped from the shadows and into the low light of the dungeon. When he stepped fully into the light, Alexia gasped in shock.

         
"Yuri?" she breathed. The uncle she thought had died alongside her father stood beside the Queen. Tall, handsome, with dark hair framing his face and mouth, he looked at the dragons with neither contempt nor empathy.

         
"This is my brother," the Queen said, motioning to Yuri. "He will take you where I cannot."

         
They must have sensed the same palpable indifference emanating off Yuri as Alexia had, as neither of the dragons seemed pleased with the plan.

         
"Why can we not simply return home?" Declan's father asked.

         
Alexia saw the pulse increase in the carotid on her mother's neck, anger ignite in her usually serene gaze. "This is not a game, Derkein, and time is a commodity you do not have. If you live, it's by my hand, by my rules. Do you understand?"

         
Without waiting for their reply, Yuri shouldered around the Queen and stepped forward. His intense onyx gaze fixed on the two dragons. Declan's father shifted, putting his body in front of his female, shielding her in a protective move. However, Yuri stopped a few feet away and made no attempt to physically touch either of them.

         
Alexia looked on in awe as her uncle's pupils sparked to dazzling white as if someone had flipped on a light switch inside his head. By fractions, the light expanded, eating up the black iris and beyond until both of his eyes shone like headlights.

         
It all happened so fast, it took a moment for Alexia to realize what she was seeing. Took another moment for her to realize what her uncle was doing. What he was.

         
A Medij, her mind whispered.

         
Vampire Medij were rare and feared by almost everyone for their invasive abilities. Alexia had only heard stories of his kind and the amazing psychic skills they possessed. But it was said they could occupy a mind with a look. Read thoughts or even place their own in yours. Touch your psyche from miles away with their powerful telepathic force. Some even had the gift of divination, the power of precognition to tell the future or possible futures. Others had been said to be able to move things with their minds. Goddess knew what else a true Medij of her uncle's age and station could accomplish. The possibilities astounded her.

         
Blinking, Alexia looked back to the scene before her. Under Yuri's Medij stare, all signs of tension left the dragon King and Queen's bodies. Their muscles and posture relaxed. Their defensive walls dropped. For all intents and purposes, the two became mindless slaves to Yuri's will.

         
Alexia inhaled sharply. To think, if power like Yuri's fell into the hands of someone like Lotharus, if he knew her uncle still lived... A shudder passed through her.

         
Bit by bit the light faded from Yuri's eyes until they were once again a dark onyx. Without uttering a single word, he pivoted back to the Queen. He paused beside her, their shoulders almost touching. After a moment's hesitation, he looked over at her. His black eyes glittered with commitment and resolve.

         
"My daughter must be found and brought back to me."

         
The Queen swallowed and licked her lips. "I swear it."

         
"Do you? Do you vow to keep your promise to me, sister? That after we are free of his yoke, you'll go down the mountain and find her? You'll right your wrong."

         
Catija nodded in agreement. Yuri's shoulders dropped slightly, followed by his chin. Although his accusatory words came out smooth and powerful, Alexia saw nothing but guilt in his posture.

         
After a few hushed words Alexia could not distinguish, the siblings acknowledged one another with a nod. Yuri took a folded piece of paper from the Queen's hand and started walking toward the dungeon doors. The two dragons followed behind him in mute and mindless acquiescence. Their stance and carriage indicating they knew they had to be not only stealthy but quiet.

         
Alexia marveled at his mind control over them, realizing he must have put them in a powerful hypnotic trance so they could all flee to wherever he was taking them without resistance. Although she had never thought of it until now, such a mental state explained why no one had seen the dragon King and Queen. Why they had not tried to return home since being set free. They were still being controlled by him, which meant that in order to find the dragons she had to find Yuri.

         
But where had he taken them?

         
The edges of the memory began to blur. The heavy mist closed in again. Wind whipped around her, pulling her hair around her head like a sack. Fear seized Alexia. She hadn't seen enough, hadn't learned enough. But she was powerless to stop the vision from fading. First Alexia could not make out distinct background images. Then, after a few more moments, the entire picture began to lose clarity until everything faded into a whitewash.

         
Broken and faint, her mother's heartbeat once again thudded in her ears, commanding attention. The pungent taste of quickly chilling blood settled in Alexia's mouth. With the vision gone, reality snapped back upon her like a bucket of ice water. Alexia pulled away from her mother's wrist, gasping for air.

         
Reality smacked her hard and fast. The force of it tipped her world sideways. Off balance, she rocked backward, her hip slamming on the floor beside the bed. Propping herself up, Alexia leaned her back against the bedside table. She was trying to recover from the physical and mental onslaught she'd just endured, to tame the stampede of powerful blood jolting through her body. An unbearable gnawing sensation clawed at her insides. Icy hot skewers of pain lanced through her skull in a driving headache that nearly made her vomit. But she had to combat them all. Had to get off her ass and get back to her mother's side.

         
"It's...my time," Catija said between gasps. "The burden...on my shoulders...lifted."

         
Although undeniably weak, her mother's voice sounded emboldened with strength at the same time, and waved warning flags in Alexia's heart. She rolled to her knees.

         
"No. Wait," she breathed, a flash of white lights bursting behind her eyes. Clasping the edge of the bed, she moved to pull herself up, struggled to get vertical. When that failed, she rested her head on the bed and closed her eyes. Listening to the rhythmic pull and push of her mother's breathing, she tried to get hers under control.

         
A hand clasped hers and squeezed. Alexia lifted her head, thankful it did not throb in protest. "Promise you'll be the Queen I see in you, Alexia. Search your heart and decide who she must lead, who she must be," Catija said in one long breath, as though she was trying to force the message out of her mouth before it was too late.

         
"But I don't know what to do," Alexia said. "I don't know where any of them are."

         
"Do you...have...crystal?"

         
"Yes."