I nodded. Mark and Lyn O’Hara had been in charge of a criminal gang back in London. Despite their profession, I’d liked them both. “How?”
“I went to them—they were so shocked to see me. And then I butchered everyone in the house. I would have killed Holly, but she lives with her new husband in Scotland, and frankly I didn’t have time. Maybe later, though—I hear she had a kid. Did you know that I really don’t care how old my victims are? The bloodlust is insatiable. I just need to feed, and prey is prey.”
“So, how’d you get turned into a vampire?”
“Abaddon found me. Searched me out because she knew how valuable I was to the plans. She introduced me to this older guy, who had these containers of blood. I had to drink some. They told me it was the blood of a god, a vampire sorcerer. That it would change me. It certainly did that, and I became something better. A vampire the likes of which is rarely seen. And with that power, I was taught how to use it, how to be the man I needed to be.”
“In a year?” I asked. “It takes decades.”
“They hooked me up to a machine,” Lee said. “They made me live my life in my mind, years of life all in the space of six months’ real time. They called it—”
A shiver went up my spine. “The Harbinger trials,” I finished for him.
“You heard about them,” he said with a smile. “The man said you’d recognize it. He told me to tell you all of this. He wants you to know that you’re going to watch your friends die. He wants to break you.”
“Who is he?”
“Told me his name was My Liege. That was all he said. I dealt with Abaddon more than anyone else. She told me that you’d come. She said you’d arrive in Shadow Falls.”
“She sent you here to cause fear and confusion.”
Lee laughed. “And I’m not done yet. I knew you’d want to help the second you heard my name. You and Galahad are friends, after all. And he’s the kind of person who puts trust in his friends. Much like you. You’re going to take me to see Galahad.”
“Are you about to invoke the Accords? Because I really don’t have the time or effort to give two shits about them.”
Lee laughed. “The Accords are as worthless as the paper they were written on. You know, I was told to keep you alive, but your blood, it smells so . . . nicccccce.” His speech became almost a hiss as his spoke. “I can smell the power. It’s smellssssss so good.”
The torrent of fire that left my hands smashed into Lee the second he leapt toward me. Unlike on the Earth realm, the microscopic particles of the crystals in the air of Shadow Falls made my magic unpredictable. A small amount of fire could cause an inferno with ease. And down in the ruins, far away from anyone who might get hurt, I didn’t hold back. The flame turned white hot in a second, and it took more than a little effort to switch my magic off before it started to adversely affect the stone supports.
The stone floor remained bright red for several seconds as Lee’s smoldering body lay on the floor. His clothes had been burned away, along with his skin, and a large amount of muscle. White bone showed on what remained of his legs. A breath escaped his body.
“Still alive?” I asked.
He moaned in pain.
“Why were you down here?” I asked, looking around. “What were you doing?” I wasn’t expecting an answer; I wasn’t even sure he was capable of speech. I was mostly just talking to myself as I performed a circuit of the room, looking for hidden exits and trapdoors.
Zamek, Lucifer, and Selene rushed into the room. “We didn’t hear fighting,” Lucifer said. “We figured something must be wrong.”
They all looked down at Lee. “Fucking hell,” Zamek said. “Did you do that, Nate?”
“Yeah, he tried to kill me,” I explained. “And I really didn’t like the idea. He’ll live and heal. It’ll just take him a while.”
“What about the answers we need?” Selene asked.
“He doesn’t know anything. He was sent here by Abaddon to just cause trouble. But I don’t think he was down here by accident.”
“What are you looking for?” Selene asked as I started to tap on the walls.
“Something doesn’t feel right. He let his bloodlust override his common sense, but he was meant to be captured.” I looked at my friends. “I guess he got his wish.”
Harrison and several troops arrived, making the room a little more crowded than it was when it was just me. “Holy shit, is that Lee?” Harrison asked.
“He wants to see the king,” I said. “He wasn’t very hospitable about it.”
“Fuck him.” Harrison stepped forward before anyone could stop him, and Lee moved slightly, causing at least one of the guards to jump.
“Don’t let him bite you,” I said. “Blood will heal him. And right now I’d rather he wasn’t healed.”
“How do we get him back to the castle?” Harrison asked. “He looks like he’ll fall apart once someone touches him.”
“Bring the prison cell here. I’m sure he was in these ruins for a reason. I think we need to search them—something doesn’t feel right.”
“Do you have any idea how far underground these ruins go?” Harrison asked. “Leonardo hasn’t even finished mapping them. There could be miles and miles of tunnels that stretch as far as the realm allows.”
“Then we’d better get searching, because he came here for a reason. He was going to allow himself to be taken, for a reason. He wants to see Galahad for a reason.”
“Maybe he wants in the palace?” Lucifer asked.
“That’s where he would have been taken,” Harrison confirmed.
I was about to say more when a young guard ran into the room. She saw the charred living remains of Lee and blinked before looking up at Harrison. “King Galahad sent me, sir,” she told him.
“What does our king want?” Harrison asked.
She pointed at me. “Nate needs to come back to the palace,” she said. “Arthur has arrived.”
CHAPTER 27
Nate Garrett
It took me an hour of jogging to get back to Solomon, where I found Galahad outside the palace waiting alone. “I heard Arthur arrived,” I said, and accepted the pitcher of water that Galahad had brought for me.
“Feel better?” he asked as I downed the cool drink.
“You are a beautiful person for bringing this.”
“Arthur is waiting at the Mill. I had word sent that I’d be a few hours, as I was waiting for you.”
“And how was that received?”
“Arthur took the time to go have a nap.”
“That doesn’t really sound like the behavior of someone who wants to overthrow you and your government,” I said as we entered the palace.
Galahad didn’t bother to reply, instead allowing me to fill him in on what Lee had said and done. With that finished, and with Galahad seemingly lost in thought, we made our way through the palace and into the throne room. The high ceilings and ornate decoration were something that I knew Galahad was less than happy about. He’d never been into the grandiose side of things, but he’d once told me that being king meant an expectation of a certain level of pomp and ceremony, so he put up with it.