“He collapsed in my arms. I panicked. I missed him so much, and I was so lost and lonely and filled with guilt, so I bent to his neck and drank, pushing my wound to his mouth to pour my blood down his throat.
“I pulled him into my coffin, hiding us both from the sun while the Kiss took effect. I thought I could convince him that we weren’t evil. I thought that if I had him by my side, he might bring meaning to my wretched existence. But when he woke from the Kiss, he cursed me, told me that I had made him a monster. He wept for his lost soul. The moment my back was turned, he thrust his own silver-inlaid sword through his chest rather than stay with me.”
I nod to the sword sticking from the floor. Winnie’s eyes widen, and a tear spills down her cheek.
“When I found him, my shame was an ocean rolling over me. I bathed his body in the Rhine and wrapped him in my cloak, and sang to him the songs my mother sang to me. I laid his sword in his hands, kissed his cold lips, and swore that I would be a better monster than I was a man.
“That same night, I fled Callista’s court. I wanted to prove to Hrodebert that our kind could do more than destroy. I thought the only time in my life when I was truly happy was making swords with my father in his forge. I wanted tocreate. And so, I made my way to the seat of the Midnight Court in Vienna and threw myself at the mercy of their queen.
“The Midnight Queen saw an advantage in sheltering Callista’s favourite son, and so she granted my asylum. I passed many years there, learning to paint and sculpt and sing. I met Perdita, and we would often paint or play music together. Even then, the queen wanted us to wed, but I was already growing to hate court life. So I ran from there, too.
“This time, I found myself in England, the rumoured seat of the Dusk Court, although none outside their allegiance have ever set foot in their palace, nor can even find it on a map. But I had no intention of aligning myself with vampires who wield their kind of magic. I wanted only to be left alone. I wanted to lock myself awayand cause no more harm. So I disguised myself as a mercenary and found myself in the employ of an outlaw baron. I helped him to unseat a cruel lord and take that lord’s castle, and then I slit the baron’s throat and kept Black Crag for myself.”
“And you’ve been here by yourself ever since?” Winnie asks in a small voice. “Apart from Reginald?”
“I found Reginald half a century ago after it became increasingly clear that I couldn’t survive in the modern age without help. Before him, I had only myself and my artistic pursuits for company. I have tried to remain locked away up here, out of the way of the world, but there have been times when my hand was forced. Occasionally, armies tried to take my castle. That I could not abide. And, of course, the hunger has drawn me outside Black Crag’s protective walls, although I have never made another vampire, and I never will.”
“Did you …” Winnie struggles with the words. “I know that vampires used to kill …”
“I never killed my sources, Winnie. But I did not have the options of synthesised blood, feeding clubs or aging and storing the blood of deceased humans. I could not always offer the courtesy of asking for consent. I could survive for many months on the blood of the deer and wild dogs that lived in the woods, but Iama predator. When the hunger grew too great, I would drag highwaymen off the roads, or leap into the carriages of those who dared travel at night, and sometimes even steal into homes in the village while all were in slumber. I took only what I needed to sate my thirst, storing a little for the coming months, and tried to leave my victim safe and comfortable, with a little coin for their trouble and no trace of my feeding. Sometimes I would be seen, sometimes the villagers would find the fang marks and grow suspicious of the lord who never left his castle during the day and didn’t age, and they would come for me.”
“The paintings,” Winnie whispers. “I saw them in the dining hall.”
“Yes. Those that are not by my hand are documentations of my trials and executions. I have had many over the centuries. I have been burned alive, staked, buried in six feet of dirt,bled out, and several other tortures too imaginative and horrific to recount, but each time, I have remained. But you might see how you are the first …” My throat closes over. “The first human I have ever trusted.”
“Oh, Alaric.” The softness in Winnie’s voice … I wish I deserved that softness. “Thank you for telling me about your life.”
“Do not cry for me, Winifred. I’m no longer a man, but a monster. I have no heart, only hunger. I’m not in danger from the world. The world is in danger from me,” I growl.
“That’s not what I see,” she says with that sad smile of hers, as another tear rolls down her cheek. “I see a man with a heart so bruised that he feels too much. If someone cuts your body, you heal. But if they injure your heart, it’s like that scar from your mother’s knife – you carry that wound with you always.”
I find myself quite unable to speak.
“We both need to learn how to lay siege to the walls around our hearts,” Winnie says. “And I think you’ve taken the first step in telling me your story.” She looks at me with such tenderness I can barely believe it. “There’s one thing I still don’t understand though – why is your mother here now and why is she insisting you marry Perdita? Why does she hate the idea of our pretend engagement so much?”
Our engagement.
It takes me several shuddering breaths before I can speak again. “There is unrest within the courts. The world has changed so fast in the last century, and our society has not kept up. Now there are two rival factions within the Midnight Court – those who believe the court should become more progressive, and more invested in issues like climate change that impact vampires even more than humans. The opposing faction believe that the court has becometooinvolved in human affairs, too influenced by human art and culture at the expense of our own. This faction is being stoked by forces from within the Dusk Court who seek to sow discontent for their own reasons. The Midnight Queen seeks to marry her daughter to someone in the more traditional Nightshade Court in an attempt to mollify her enemies. This will show that she respects Upyr culture. Callista’s othersons have all been married off, and the eligible lords from the other ancient bloodlines are too busy sowing discord in European politics to care what happens to the Midnight Court. So I’m the only option.”
“What does Callista gain from this marriage?”
“Like all the noble families of the Nightshade Court, Callista keeps a standing army of Upyr soldiers. The clans love to involve themselves in human skirmishes, settling centuries-old scores on the edges of human conflict. But modern warfare has increasingly become distasteful to our kind. We are bred for war, but in the blink of an eye wars have gone from being fought with steel and valour to drones and bombs. Not even the most powerful vampires can survive having their heads blown off. It rather takes the fun out of war. And if you’re a warrior who has known only bloodshed for centuries, you start glancing around, looking for something better to fight. And you start looking at the person who made you into a war machine in the first place.”
“You’re talking about revolt?”
“It’s possible. The Nightshade armies are growing restless. Some have already rebelled against their lords and taken their lands and castles for themselves, wiping out ancient bloodlines for the sake of boredom. Callista wishes to stop this happening to the Blood Valerian. She needs to give her army a cause they can fight in our old ways. If I’m wed to Perdita and our courts are joined in alliance, their cause will be putting down the simmering rebellion against the Midnight Queen.”
Winnie rubs her eyes. This is a lot for her to learn tonight. “Okay, fine. But what does she hope to achieve with this ball?”
“My friend Gideon is building a vast property development on the edge of Argleton?—”
“The Sanctus Estate. I heard about it. The Nevermore Coven thinks it might have a connection to Danny’s murder.”
“That is certainly likely. The estate is for vampires. The houses are specially designed to suit our needs with UV-blocking windows, blood delivery services, and secret rooms for our family heirlooms. Many high up in the Midnight Court have bought houses there – many noble clans, famous artists and even a couple ofrockstars – as well as solitary vampires who’ve chosen not to align with a court. By hosting the ball here, she establishes herself as a friend of the court – provided she can prove that the Lady of Agony can throw a ball that will wow them. Midnight Court vampires try to outdo each other with their lavish parties, and if my mother wants to compete, she must have a spectacle. That is why she wants to surprise them with my wedding to Perdita.”
“But you refused to go along with this?” Winnie asks.
I say nothing. I will not lie to her.
