“Just wait. I dare say even after your first decade here, you will still be discovering new and glorious things to fill your senses.”
My heart clinched at his words. Ten years! I could feel the vast procession of vampires fall in line behind us, but I refused to look over my shoulder. In front of us, Gwala followed Veronica. I watched as her long hair swayed with her movements. After a bit, I noticed that she stepped around the pools of light that streamed in through the windows and openings in the ceiling—even the distorted colored light that appeared to be coming from the crevices that were covered over with quartz crystals. Gwala, on the other hand, walked in a straight path, his obsidian skin gleaming in the direct sunlight.
After continuing down the hallway for a long time, we entered another huge room. Veronica waited outside the door, letting us pass. Despite myself, I gasped as we entered. The room was a huge oval. The floor was a burnished gold, glistening in the sunlight. Looking up, I saw only the sky and clouds overhead, framed by the jagged ridges of the mountain that formed the walls of the room. No adornment hung on the wall, only curtains upon curtains of flowering vines cascading down from the opening above. Brilliant birds glided through the room. As I gaped in awe, a gigantic blue morpho butterfly flitted in front of my face, its blue-and-black wings glistening.
I turned toward Schwint, who was keeping his eyes straight ahead. Following his direction, I looked at Gwala. He was staring at me, a genuine smile on his face. “There are more ornate rooms, ones with much more riches, and others that are truly not of this earth. However, I believe this is my favorite place in the Cathedral”—his lips curved into that wry smile once more—“maybe my second-favorite room.” He looked up, his fangs gleaming in the sunlight as his grin broadened. “I’m sure you cannot fathom the sensation, but as a vampire, even after all this time, the sun has not lost its glory.”
I glanced around again. The vampires with us seemed nearly as entranced as Gwala. Only Veronica stood outside the room, bathed in shadow, looking in but not joining. So not all the vampires in the Cathedral were Royals.
Gwala pulled my attention back to the long table in the center of the room. Like the floor, the table was golden, and like everything else I’d seen in the Cathedral, it seemed to rise out of the floor itself. No seam or separation existed, as if the floor had one day decided to sprout a table. Likewise, the benches—bench, actually—was one solid mass around the perimeter of the table. The only difference was that the bench gradually transitioned from gold to brushed silver.
After taking a brief look at the table, I glanced over to Gwala to see if any type of smirk would give him away. There was none. Maybe he’d been serious, or maybe this was still a game or test of some type. Whether he’d expected only me or knew Schwint was coming, the table had enough food to feed every vampire in the room. He had to have known about Schwint, which meant he surely knew about Caitlin and Newton. Maybe Gwala hadn’t known about Schwint until we started walking up to the Cathedral. Maybe, but I knew better.
Gwala gestured toward the table. “Please take a seat.”
I hesitated, then shook myself. I wasn’t going to do any good worrying about Caitlin. If anything, if there was a chance he didn’t know about her, my pounding heart might give her away. I was here, and I could see no way of getting out, so I might as well do what the king said. The less I seemed to resist, the sooner I might get to see Cynthia.
While I wasn’t getting out anytime soon, the abundant access to the outside made it all that much easier if Schwint needed to escape. That gave me a sense of relief. This time, I took Schwint’s hand and led him over to take our place at the table. As I sat, a small purple bird darted away from the bread it had been picking at on the table.
“All right, my family. Please go about your business.” Gwala made a grand sweeping gesture, motioning the other vampires from the room. “I must spend some quality time with my guests!”
Each vampire gave a little nod and then exited the room. If they were annoyed at being dismissed, none gave any sign. Nor did they look toward Schwint and me. After the last vampire exited, I caught another glimpse of Veronica’s hair as she shut the door.
As the door closed, Gwala turned, flicking the long train of his robe behind him. This was it. This was the time he would fall upon Schwint, if he was fast enough, and then imprison me. I wished I hadn’t been so quick to sit down. Maybe it wouldn’t have made any difference, but I felt threatened in this position.
“I trust the food is to your liking?” He smoothed out the thin skirt as he walked toward us. “If there is something you crave that is not here, you only need to ask.”
I felt my brows furrow as I leaned toward him from across the table. Was he serious? He had us to himself and he asked about dinner preferences?
When he said nothing else, I felt my daring rise. “Where’s my sister?” I was surprised I sounded neither angry nor nervous.
He balked, as if taken aback by rudeness. “Now, Warlock de Morisco. Let us not forsake the chance to get acquainted. You have my assurance your sister is in good health and is well taken care of, and in a vast amount of luxury, if I may say so.”
“I want to see her. Now.” I felt Schwint’s hand squeeze my leg under the table in warning.
Gwala’s eyes lost their shimmer for a moment, and I could once again read the centuries behind them. “There will be a time for that later. Right now is the time to get to know one another and dine.” His smile flashed predatorily, so briefly I easily could’ve convinced myself I’d been seeing things. “Of course, it is not my time to dine. I’m afraid my dining habits might spoil your appetite.” And with that, the hint of the monster was replaced by the effeminate boy king. “So, do tell, is the food to your liking?”
I forced myself to look away and inspect the food covering every square inch of the table. So many meats, I couldn’t even begin to name what they all were—an entire roasted pig, a leg of cow, a huge turkey, the head of a sheep, and several other dishes I couldn’t identify. The offerings of meat, each impaled on a long golden spike, were arranged down the center of the table. Around the meat were platters of cheeses, breads, cooked vegetables, fruit salads, candies, and pastries.
“If I recall, and as I stated before, it has been quite some time since a fairy has been within the walls of the Cathedral, fairies eat mostly fruit and flowers. Is that correct?”
Schwint nodded. “Yes, we are vegetarians by species, sire.” I’d never seen Schwint eat flowers. Maybe he just didn’t want to contradict Gwala.
The king sat down across the table from us, lifted a crystal decanter, and poured a dark-red liquid into his goblet. “I trust you wouldn’t begrudge your host a drink while you eat.” He gazed back and forth between the two of us, as if giving us a chance to protest. When we remained silent, he lifted the vessel toward us as if in a toast. “Well then, let us not speak for a time. I am sure you are both famished from your travels.”
I turned to Schwint, but he kept his eyes fixed on the table. What if the food was poisoned? That would be ridiculous. I had to remind myself they didn’t bring me here to kill me. I looked at the hunks of meat that I couldn’t identify. What if they were human?
Deciding on one of the dishes I easily recognized, I lifted a silver serving fork from the side of the turkey and sank it into the center of the bird where it had been carved. As the slices pulled away from the golden spike, I realized the table and the floor were a solid piece with the spikes jutting forth from the table—with no platter under the meat. I glanced down at the row of spikes, an image playing behind my eyes. A picture of vampires clustered around the silvery benches, feasting on writhing people impaled on the skewers, blood running over the tabletop, splashing onto the floor, butterflies drinking in the warm nectar. For a moment, bile rose in my throat. With effort, I swallowed it down and transferred the breast meat from the fork to the plate. Unbidden, my eyes flicked over to Gwala, who was watching me intently. Refusing to give more of a reaction than I already had, I reached across the table and spooned up some of the red potatoes drowning in melted butter. Had Gwala put that image in my head?
With the vision still fresh, I couldn’t force myself to take a bite of the food yet, so I made a measured show of inspecting more of the countless food offerings, gradually filling up my plate. As I did, the living creatures grew accustomed to our presence, and soon the birds and insects returned to feast upon the spread laid before us. Luckily, I didn’t notice anything gross like spiders or ants, only butterflies, iridescent beetles, and such. Even so, it was an act of pure force that made me put the first bite of food in my mouth. Force and a refusal to let Gwala see the meal get the best of me. While I ate, I detected no flavor and paid no attention to which part of my plate I chose from. After a while, I noticed Schwint was eating as well, though I couldn’t focus on what he’d chosen.
I’d expected something horrible when we entered the Vampire Cathedral. Actually, I didn’t think we’d get that far. There should have been chains, bars, shackles, and probably blood. The last thing I’d expected was to be unrestrained, let alone sitting down to a feast with the vampire king. My brain tried to make sense of our situation, to guess at what Gwala was trying to discover or trick us into. At last I simply gave up. There were too many possibilities, and in none of them would I be able to outsmart or escape him, at least not until Cynthia was safe. Better to focus on the here and now and not miss details or nuances of something that might come in handy later. And if imprisonment lay in store after the meal, I probably would curse not taking the opportunity to eat my fill while I had the chance. In that frame of mind, I let loose and ate, still not tasting what I chewed and staying far away from items I couldn’t easily identify as nonhuman.
I had refilled my plate at least twice by the time Gwala paused from his drinking. From what I’d seen in my periphery, Schwint had finally adopted the same strategy as me, and, sure enough, I noticed he did choose some of the flowers to put on his plate—even going so far as to pick a flower from the vines encircling us to pop into his mouth. It looked like Schwint was returning to his typical audacious self.
“It appears the meal was to your satisfaction?”
“Yes, there was more than enough to eat.” I knew I should thank him, but I couldn’t force such words from my throat. Instead, I settled for overstating the obvious. “I’ve never seen a table with so much food.”
