“I don’t lie to you, Eleira.”
“Right.” She crosses the room, looks out the window. Then she turns around, arms crossed, and faces Raul.
“You were supposed to be the one to infuse them with the serum,” she says, sweeping an arm out to take in the three witches. “Not Phillip.”
“I know,” he says. “I’m sorry.”
“What the hell happened?”
“We… fought,” he admits. “And Phillip betrayed me.”
“I’ll give you credit, brother,” I say with a crooked smile. “We were pretty evenly matched. If you hadn’t held back at the end, you might have even won. But that would have ended badly, for I was the only one who had the ability to break through their defensive forces. There was angry magic in that chamber, Eleira, guided by some sort of spirit. Raul could not have in any way gotten to the Sisters. It had to be me.”
From the corner of my eye, I see Allura break her mask of indifference and actually smile.
Eleira notices the change in expression too. “Do you have something you’d like to add?” she asks. I note that she addresses the witches with respect, despite the vast difference between them on that hierarchy.
“Only that Phillip was very brave, facing off against the spirit haunting the mountain.”
“You know this, how?” she asks. “As far as I’m aware, you were all unconscious.”
“We were always connected to our special chamber from the Demon Realm,” Lorne says. “We could trace the movement of the spirit who grew jealous of what we’ve done.”
“What happened to the spirit in the end?”
“It was destroyed. My sisters and I did it. With the new vampiric gifts invigorating our bodies, it was an easy thing.”
“And then you somehow linked Phillip to Raul, is that right? So that Raul depends on Phillip to survive?”
“It was an emergency measure. Raul was close to death.”
“Because of what Rebecca did,” I point out. “Not because of me.”
Eleira quirks an eyebrow at Rebecca. “Is that true?”
“The vampire I’m drawing on is sustained by Raul’s blood. The procedure I used required Royal Blood. It was the only way.”
“Wait,” Raul says. “Does that mean Cassandra is still alive?”
“She’s alive,” Eleira confirms. “I’ve seen her. But she is aged badly. It’s like Rebecca took everything in her that gave her vitality.”
“So, we kill her,” Raul says, taking a threatening step toward Rebecca, “and Cassandra is freed?”
Rebecca flips her hair back and laughs. “You kill me, and your precious Cassandra dies also. Her soul would flee my body. It will go where all souls go. It will not return to her except through the proper spell.”
“So, what are we waiting for?” Raul demands of Eleira. “Have it done! Make her do it!”
Eleira regards Raul with a stony look. She appears unimpressed. She does not answer.
Raul screws up his face. “Eleira? You’re going to make her do it. Aren’t you?”
Our Queen spreads her hands. “I am not so sure,” she says. “I know you saved Cassandra. I know she is your fledgling. I know you care for her.”
Raul remains quiet and still.
“I cared for her, too. She was important to Felix. But Rebecca is more important to me. She knows things nobody else does.”
“You’re not going to let her simply get away with it,” Raul asks, aghast. “Are you?”
“No. She will be appropriately punished. But that punishment will happen on my time, at my discretion.”
Raul frowns.
“Rebecca is valuable to all of us. She is the only one alive who knows the intricacies of a soul transfer. She has done it, and she built a whole army on the principle. I cannot let that knowledge slip out of my grasp.”
“Much like you can’t let Morgan’s knowledge die with her,” I say, feeling finally vindicated. “You should thank me for what I did.”
That was the wrong thing to say. Immediately, Eleira’s eyes light up with a fiery rage. She flings her arm out at me. A solid wall of Air collides into me, and I’m sent flying back.
I hit the wall with tremendous force, and only just manage to land on my feet where I fall. I wobble.
“Do NOT,” Eleira warns, “mock me like that again! I am your Queen, Phillip, not some tavern whore! You will show the proper respect.”
“Could’ve fooled me,” I murmur under my breath, soft enough that none can hear.
Eleira glares at me. “What did you say?”
“I said that it will not happen again.” I fix her with a sickly smile.
She gives me a stern look, not appearing at all convinced.
She turns to the three witches. “Is the spell you cast on Raul reversible?”
“Yes,” they say. “Everything we did can be undone.”
A shiver crawls down my spine, yet again, at how perfectly synchronized they are.
Eleira looks at them and shakes her head. “There’s something you’re not telling me.”
They answer without hesitation. “Raul’s life will be in jeopardy if the spell is removed.”
“Because of what Rebecca’s done?”
“Not only that. The wound afflicted upon him will not heal. We’ve studied the vampire essence. It is not enough.”
“How could you possibly know that?” she asks. “When did you have time to study the essence?”
“On our journey here. As we flew.”
My eyes go to Raul, who is standing stiff as a statue.
I don’t like this revelation any more than he does.
“You told me I would have my magic back,” I say, turning on them.
“We did not.”
“Yes, you did,” I pick out Allura and stride toward her. “You said it would only be temporary.”
Her eyes flicker away from my hardened gaze. It breaks their synchronization for a moment.
She is the only one who speaks next. “If we told you the truth, would you have saved your brother?”
“GODDAMMIT!” I roar, my anger erupting like a burst dam. “You lied to me, you tricked me, only to save his life?” I fling an accusatory finger at Raul. “Why? Why would you care what happens to him? I was the one who freed you. I was the one who fought the spirit in the room, who gave you the serum, who granted you eternal life!”
“Yes, you did some of those things,” Allura says. Her sisters have stepped aside so that she is alone in the middle. “But you did it with power stolen, not power earned.”
“What the hell does that mean?” I rage. “It is you and your two girlfriends who did not earn the vampire gifts! And yet you were given them, anyway, and you owe it all to me! How do you repay me? By tying me to him!”
Again, I throw an arm out and point at Raul.
“We did what we had to do to save you, Phillip.”
My fists clench, and I hold them tight at my sides to stop myself from doing anything stupid.
Especially with Eleira watching.
“Just what,” I say very softly, “are you talking about?”
“I sensed the evil lurking inside you, Phillip. I sensed the taint, the corruption. It was I who made the decision to do what we did.”
“What evil? What are you talking about?” I bark out a cruel laugh. “Look around you! We’re in The Haven. You’re surrounded by vampires. Our very nature is evil!”
She shakes her head softly. In a distant part of my mind, I wonder how it is that Eleira has not interrupted yet.
I look at the Queen and see that she is paying rapt attention to everything that’s being said.
“The vampire core is not, at its heart, evil. It is a thing not of this world, brought here many eons ago from a different realm.”
“The Demon Realm?” Eleira asks softly.
“No,” Allura says. “A world apart from that. The Demon Realm, however, is full of evil—and that is the magic you were channeling, Phillip.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Blood Magic is a corruption of the Elemental Forces. It is not beautiful. It is not pure. It was meant only for destruction, and when it takes control of your mind, there is no return.”
“How do you know?” I challenge. “How do you know anything about Blood Magic? How do you know that it corrupts?”
“Because our last sister, the one whose casket you found empty? She embraced it, and it turned her against us, and against this world.”