Silver Flame (Vampire Girl #3)(48)

I nod, and then lead Dean to the inn. It’s still early, but the clouds turn dark with a coming storm, and rain begins to fall. The Bloody Mare stands in the oldest part of town, the rotten corner by the wall where beggars and whores dwell and bandits practice their trade. I make sure my cloak doesn’t cover my blade to keep the hungry and desperate away. People will turn into beasts when all human things are taken from them. And I do not blame them.

A man and woman scuffle down an alley. At first, I think it a brawl, but then I see the blood on her neck. He’s feeding off her. I charge forward and ram my fist into the vampire’s gut. The woman, a human with pale skin and dark eyes recoils away. At first I do not know why, but then I see it. She fears me. Even more than him. She thinks I beat him so I can take her for myself. The very thought disgusts me. "Leave. Both of you." As the man scrambles away, I turn to the woman. "Get somewhere safe. Not all have forgotten the way things were. Soon, Stonehill will be a place of peace once more."

She nods, though I can see in her eyes she does not believe me. Then she runs.

Dean puts a hand on my shoulder. "Do not blame yourself, brother. This is Levi’s doing."

"It is my failure that gives him the power." I look away, the human blood in the mud drawing at my senses. I have prohibited human feeding in Stonehill for ages. And Levi has desecrated even that.

Before the pull of blood grows stronger, I continue on, and reach the inn, where a sign of a red mare hangs.

I knock on the door just as the sky turns dark and thunder crashes. Someone opens a slit in the wood. "Closed we are," says a man. "We be making repairs."

I lean in closer and speak softly. "Fenris Vane still lives."

The man closes the slit in the door. Then metal screeches as a lock is unlocked and the inn opens. "Welcome, brothers. Welcome!" The man wraps me in a hug so hard my spine cracks, and I see he is even larger than I. "I be Bolsten," he says. Then motions to the rest of the inn, a collection of men and women, some vampire, some Shade, drinking and smoking in the dim light cast by torches. "This here be all those who don’t support that lying-son-of-a-whore Levi."

Dean raises a finger. "If Levi was born to a whore, what does that make his brothers?"

Bolsten shakes his head. "No way Levi and the other princes share a mum. Just no bloody way."

I can’t help but grin. "I believe you’re right, my friend. I believe you’re right more than you know." Bolsten smiles and steps to the side, and Dean and I take seats at the bar. My brother orders drinks.

The liquid is thick with blood and alcohol and something sweet. I don't usually partake in drink, but after today? To hell with it.

After a while, the alcohol begins to take effect, and I begin to mingle more than I usually would. This does not seem a trap, for a trap would have already sprung. I drink some more and listen to the others.

"I can’t believe they hanged the prince," says Mary, an elderly woman who was once human, but was turned many hundreds of years ago.

"No they didn’t," says Roke, a tall, spindly Shade who pours the drinks. "I’ve met the prince. He’s far taller than that bloke they beheaded."

"And where was his wolf?" says Veni, a Shade girl with bright green hair, smoking a pipe in the corner. "Everyone knows he never goes anywhere without his wolf."

"Trickery," says Bolsten, the giant vampire. "Tis magic trickery. Keeper was always loyal, he was. But if you walk close enough to Stonehill, you can still hear the screaming."

I clutch my mug harder, praying I can do something to ease Kal’s pain. Soon. Soon I will. I raise my drink. "Fenris Vane will return," I say. "And on that day, the very hounds of hell will ride at his heels."

Everyone at the inn throws back their heads and howls. "Aye," says Bolsten. "Fenris Vane be the greatest of all seven princes, you hear?" He reaches his mug out to my brother.

Dean speaks through gritted teeth, as if he were taking a vow of celibacy. "Yes… greatest of them all."

They toast, and I can’t help but grin.

Then Bolsten leans closer to us both and lowers his voice. "You two seem on the right side of things, I can tell. So, I’m letting you know, there are plans in the making. Me and other folks, we’re rallying. And not a small group either. I’m talking an army. We’re getting ready. And soon, we’re going to tear that bastard down from the castle, and string him up just as he done to the Shade."

I sip my drink, careful with my next words. "As much as I like drinking, I’d much rather be fighting. Tell us more, and we’ll stand at your side."

Bolsten seems to think it over, then smiles. "Stay around a while. We have an important member arriving later. He'll tell you more then, if he deems you be right and all."

I nod. "Thank you."

In time, day turns to night, and Dean and I slip away to a private booth as we wait for the important member to arrive. I feel heavy with drink, and say things I perhaps shouldn’t. "So why are you helping me, truly?"

Dean lowers his voice. He stares at the fireplace roaring across from us. "Believe it or not, I care about you, brother. I remember when mother brought you back home as a babe. The others, already cast out, already scarred by war, resented the idea of another sibling. But I, perhaps because of my own curse, was thrilled at the idea of a little brother. I could see the beauty in it, the potential. So I took you as my charge. You may think of me as your smaller brother, but I was bigger once. I remember teaching you how to cheat at cards. Sneaking you your first wine." He smiles and refills our cups from a bottle. "I care for you, Fenris. I always have. And I will fight for you to the end."