“Gods damn it, Caine,” she said. “It would’ve been nice if you’d murdered the Hunters before they lit everyone on fire.”
He frowned, half tempted to put the gag back on her. As if he didn’t have enough guilt weighing him down already. He spun her around and slid his blade through the rope binding her wrists. “I thought they were bringing Hunters here for training. I had no idea what they had planned until it was too late. It’s not as though I could have predicted it. They haven’t been executing people in broad daylight since the seventeenth century.”
“They’re regressing.” Aurora rubbed her wrists where they’d been tied. “And they don’t think we’re people. We’re monsters, remember? In the future, assume they’re going to slaughter everyone around them, and act accordingly.”
Caine loosed a breath. “You do remember that I’m your General, don’t you? You don’t give me orders.”
Suddenly somber, she traced her fingers over her blistered arms. “They carved up my back in the Chambers with iron. They’re torturing people. I’m pretty sure they enjoy it.”
Horror coiled through him. Malphus is still in there. His brother could withstand a bit of torture, but Caine couldn’t let him die. “Did you see my Malphus?”
She shook her head, her large eyes glistening. “They never let me out of my cell until today. All I know is, the whole building is rigged with iron dust and stakes. They scan their eyes to get in and out of the building. It doesn’t look like much from the outside, but it’s a complete fortress.”
Caine glanced out at the smoking corpses, and hollowness welled in his chest. Had Valerie been tortured? “I had no idea Valerie had been arrested.”
“Valerie? How do you even know her name? She was just a foot soldier,” Aurora said.
“We were friends.”
“You don’t have friends.” She eyed him. “Oh, I get you. It was a euphemism. You have a lot of those kinds of friends.” She nodded at one of the piles of ash. “One less to fight over you now. Too bad you took your time before intervening.”
If he hadn’t gone full-blown primal wrath on the two Hunters, maybe he could have saved Valerie. But even for someone with his speed and strength, there wouldn’t have been time to save all the vampires. “We need to do something about the Brotherhood. They’re out of control.”
She gazed at him, frowning. “What we need is to talk to Ambrose.”
CHAPTER 2
With Aurora by his side, Caine strode through the long entrance hall of Ninlil Castle, in Lilinor. With its impossibly high arched ceilings, towering above like the ribcage of some enormous demon, the place had been designed for pure intimidation. Paintings and tapestries of leering monsters festooned blood-red walls, and bejeweled human bones adorned Ninlil’s Great Hall. If Caine’s own mind hadn’t already been poisoned by violent memories when he’d first arrived years ago, he might have found it off-putting.
Perhaps it was precisely because of the darkness in his own soul that he’d always felt at home here.
Even so, he wasn’t looking forward to this conversation with the Vampire Lord. Ten dead soldiers. His own failure gnawed at him. He should have saved them.
As he walked through the hall, he tried to ignore the throbbing pain in his chest. He cast a quick glance at Aurora, her blue dress singed at the shoulders where her flesh had burned. Thank the gods she’d made it out alive, even if a network of scars now marred her back.
At the end of the hall, Caine and Aurora climbed a few stairs to the enormous oak doors. He chanted a spell, feeling his aura rush over his skin. The doors groaned, opening into Ambrose’s Great Hall.
He never knew how Ambrose managed it, but whenever Caine needed to speak to him, the Vampire Lord was there, seated in his silver throne. It was as though he never left this room. Today was no different, except that Ambrose sat next to his consort, Erish.
Caine stalked into the hall, casting an appreciative glance at the queen. Ambrose’s lover never failed to catch Caine’s eye, even if her toxic presence poisoned everything around her.
In any case, she was stunning. Her deep brown hair draped over a sheer black gown, its hem slit up to her thigh. She crossed her long, golden legs, eying Caine hungrily. The sight of the succubus was almost enough to tear his mind away from what had happened this morning, but even her beauty couldn’t lift his mood.
The Vampire Lord’s features were cold and still as marble. “Caine. I take it you have something important to tell me.”
Caine straightened. Might as well get to the point. “Ten of our soldiers were slaughtered by the Brotherhood this morning. I didn’t get to them in time.” The words tasted like poison in his mouth. “They were dragged into the daylight to burn. Aurora was the only survivor.”
Ambrose’s features clouded, and he glanced at Aurora. “Tell me what happened.”