A Life In Blood (Chronicles of The Order Book 1) Read online

My hand tightened just a little more on the hilt of my blade, and I nodded as I fell in behind them.

  I was led up several flights of stone stairs, through a handful of corridors and finally to one massive, thick oak door, studded with iron spikes in the fashion of medieval castles.

  Maybe it was one. I never asked.

  As I was about to knock on the immense door, one of the guards handed me a handkerchief and growled, “you’ll need this.” I wasn’t sure what he meant, until I approached the door-

  - and my nose started bleeding, as the door opened of its own accord.

  I could feel my migraine building the minute I entered the room, and I pressed the small piece of cloth to my nose to stem the flow as best I could. The whole act was clichéd and unnecessary, intended to simply show the Countess’ power. There was certainly no constructive purpose to the display.

  The first thing I noticed was the room. Although it stopped fairly close to my right, it stretched for several feet to the left, ending in a massive bookcase that stood floor-to-ceiling and ran from one end of the room to the other. Along the right wall were several shelves, holding assorted random items from a variety of centuries and countries. The Countess was certainly as well-travelled as she was ancient.

  There were also no electrical lights in the room. All the lighting was either from natural light, pouring in through the huge window directly opposite me, or from the many candles around the room and mounted in the chandelier that hung over the centre of the room.

  In front of the aforementioned window was a large desk, made of rough wood and looking more like an ancient torture rack.

  To this day, I’m still convinced that’s what it used to be.

  After I’d finished admiring the room, however, my eyes fell to the figure stood at the window, staring out across the German coast, not turning to greet me for now.

  More posturing. Typical aristocrat.

  From what I could gauge, the woman was over six feet tall, of slender build and - judging by her attempts at intimidation - a powerful psychic. That she was a seer, a prophetess or whatever else you wanted to name her precognition, was nothing new - that she was highly telekinetic was.

  Her hair was arranged in a long french braid, but neither the style nor the gold pins keeping it in place were the most interesting fact about her hair.

  It was pure white.

  I eventually reached the appropriate distance and dropped to one knee, finally getting my nosebleed under control, and offered the traditional greeting expected of me.

  “Ish’ta saren, verehk shan thasaen,” a phrase which simply means ‘so summoned, I answer your call.’ Although not used so much these days, it’s a phrase used when greeting a superior who had summoned you, as the Countess had with me.

  The woman behind the desk finally turned, accompanied by the rustle of her dress and the slight metallic scrape of shifting armoured plates.

  “Serahl,” she commanded, and I stood in compliance, adopting the military ‘at ease’ position I was already used to.

  As I had suspected, the Countess even dressed to show her wealth. Her dress was a black, single-shoulder affair that accentuated her curves - something she sorely needed, since she had so few of her own - but attached to the dress were armoured sections, again more ostentatious than practical. A black, lacquered lorica breastplate covered her torso, formed to fit her narrow frame and with each segment of plate cut into an angular, arrowhead shape. The layered shoulder guards were of a similar design, and both breastplate and shoulder guards had gold scrollwork inlaid into the metal. She also wore a vambrace on each arm, made in a similar fashion to the rest of her armour. The vambraces ended with a pointed plate covering the back of her hands, from which extended five small chains connected to clawed finger armour covering each digit.

  She looked beautiful, wealthy and utterly ruthless, which is precisely what she was.

  “Not many mortals take the time to master our tongue, Mister Black,” she told me, a wry smile tugging at her thin lips. “I might even consider being impressed. Please, have a seat.”

  She gestured to the chair opposite her, thankfully refraining from moving it telekinetically.

  I took the offered seat, and waited a moment as she poured a drink from a crystal carafe.

  “I would offer you a pleasant drink as well, but I already know you would refuse anything alcoholic while you consider yourself to be on duty,” she told me, her voice always strong, always confident.

  Perhaps that stemmed from always knowing almost everything.

  “May I ask why you summoned me, My Lady?” I asked, unsure what I might have done to earn her ire.

  “To talk,” she replied simply, and I frowned.

  “Forgive me, my Lady, but...you summoned me all the way from England, just for a friendly chat?”

  “I never said ‘friendly,’” she told me, sipping her dark beverage before continuing. “And yes, I did. I would summon you from the other side of the world just to poke you with a stick, if that were my will.”

  She set her drink aside and leafed through a thick notepad in front of her, before frowning in confusion.

  “Forgive me, Mister Black, but how old are you at the moment? Twenty-something, I presume?”

  “Just twenty, My Lady,” I answered, and she seemed to grow more confused.

  “Oh my, I am a little out then,” she muttered, flicking backwards through the notepad, pausing to read something for a moment.

  “I do apologise, Mister Black,” she said with a sheepish smile, “I spend so much time reading the future I can often forget where I am in the present.”

  I simply nodded. I wasn’t sure what to say to her, or what to think of her yet. I just knew I didn’t trust her at all.

  “So. An interesting life you have had with us, so far - joined at eighteen, very quickly brought into the Sentinel programme, and you have embarked upon a relationship with your superior and base commander. I am interested to know...why?”

  I paused a moment before I responded, unsure of exactly what she was asking.

  “Why...what, My Lady?”

  “Any of it. All of it. Start with your decision to join us.”

  I cleared my throat before answering, unused to being asked this sort of question.

  “Well...I joined mainly because I realised I had been lied to my whole life,” I told her honestly. “My father, my brother, my family and my family’s friends, all of them had drilled it into me that vampires were a plague that needed to be eradicated. Corvina and the rest of the staff at the base showed me there was a lot more to it than that.”

  “Is that cause enough to betray your entire family, to turn your back on everything they have done for you and given you? What would your sister think, I wonder?”

  “My sister never wanted that life, for herself or for me. She’d be proud that I got away from it.”

  “Would she?” she asked me pointedly, and I resisted the urge to swear at her.

  “With all due respect, My Lady,” I started, sounding less respectful than my words implied, “I think I know my sister better than you, regardless of your abilities.”

  The Countess looked at me, her expression blank for a moment, until at last she broke into a low chuckle.

  “I beg your pardon, Mister Black, I do find it easier to read people when their ire is raised,” she told me. “Your training is very good though, you maintained excellent mental discipline.”

  I took a deep breath and allowed myself to relax. Now I knew what kind of woman she was - a manipulator.

  “Thank you, My Lady. It’s the training your organisation has given me.”

  “Quite so. I am intri
gued, however, why you decided to learn Ancient Vampiric. It is hardly a topic of interest to many mortals, even those who serve us.”

  “I saw it as a tool. If I was to serve The Order, then I figured I needed as many of The Order’s tools at my disposal as I could acquire. Plus, I actually found it quite enjoyable to learn.”

  “And may I ask you about your relationship with Corvina?”

  I smiled slightly.

  “Can I refuse? You do outrank me by a very significant degree, My Lady.”

  She laughed at that, and shook her head.

  “No, I suppose you can not. However, rudeness is so intolerable in others, I see no reason why I should be the same. Please, tell me. Why her? Why the Blood-sworn Bond?”

  For once, I had no straight answer. So much of our relationship was emotion and instinct, and so difficult to put into words, but I was practically being ordered to talk about it, so I had to try.

  “Why her...in all honesty, I’ve spent the past six months actually asking ‘why me?’ She’s over a thousand years old, a peer of the realm, a base commander...aside from that, she’s beautiful, graceful, intelligent, funny...I could go on for hours, but simply put, she’s the most captivating woman I’ve ever met.”

  “You would not be the first mortal to say that of their vampire lover,” she interjected, “but one of the few I have met who has enacted the Blood-sworn Bond. Why did you choose that?”

  “I...honestly can’t explain it, My Lady. I had come across it in my readings, and I knew by then that I loved Corvi completely...it just seemed right to show my dedication to her.”

  The Countess nodded slowly.

  “Are you aware she is a killer as well?”

  I snorted derisively, without even thinking about it.

  “I’ve witnessed it first-hand, My Lady. She saved my life by pulling another vampire’s head from his shoulders. I watched as she shredded the mind of a man who had wronged us both. I’m not naive, My Lady. I know that almost every vampire past a certain age is going to have had some...darker moments in their life. It goes with the territory. But in a war for survival, you have to do whatever it takes.”

  She laughed again, louder, fuller. The sound chilled me.

  “My dear Mister Black, spoken like a true vampire!” she said, still shaking with mirth. “A shame you would not want to be one of us, when you already share our ideals.”

  She took a sip of her drink again, and leaned back in her large chair, her emerald eyes narrowed in thought.

  “Do you know how old I am, Mister Black?”

  I was taken back by the sudden question, and I stumbled over how to respond.

  “I, uh, abou-”

  “I am three thousand, seven hundred and thirty-two years old. I have witnessed entire civilisations rise and fall. I have ruled this organisation almost since its inception. And yet,” she paused dramatically, leaning forwards. “I have never met someone quite like you. Someone who would give his entire life to us on a whim, who would pledge himself to one of my kind, seeing not a vampire but a woman as worthy of love as ay mortal. It is part of the reason why I wanted you with us.”

  I knew it. I had known, since I first joined, something wasn’t right.

  “So you arranged everything to happen that night, just to have me on board? You couldn’t just ask?”

  “Everything that occurs within this entire organisation happens according to my design, Deimos Black,” she told me, her voice taking on a much harder edge. “You would do well to remember that.”

  “Right,” I answered, my respectful tone forgotten, “so those bases in and around Oxford that were attacked, our traitor problem, those happened because you willed it, as well?”

  “Of course they did, child,” she growled. Good. At least I knew she could be provoked. “Now I would advise you to watch your tone in future.”

  “Just tell me,” I hissed, ignoring her caution, “if they happened according to your design, why do you insist on holding Corvina responsible? If you knew all this shit would happen, why not keep her in the loop? What do you think you-”

  I was cut off when my throat constricted unexpectedly, with the feeling that someone was deliberately choking me.

  Which she was.

  “Do not mistake my politeness for weakness, Deimos,” the Countess snarled. “I have an organisation - that spans the entire world - to watch out for. I have to witness the futures of hundreds of thousands of people, vampires, bases, safehouses, all of it, so when I tell Corvina that I can not be watching every base every time, I mean it. To that end I expect her to do her job, and not miss all the signs because of her infatuation with you.”

  At that she finally let me go, and I gasped hungrily for breath.

  “Let me make one thing clear, Deimos Black,” the Countess said as I wheezed in front of her, “I am here to ensure the survival of my kind. I will do what must be done to make sure that happens. There is no thing and no one that I will not see laid to ruin in pursuit of survival.”

  “Survival,” I rasped, “or conquest?”

  The Countess glared at me.

  “Who says the two must be mutually exclusive?” She paused, then dismissed me with a casual flick of her hand. “We are done here. Go. Prepare for what is to come. I assure you, it will not be pleasant.”

  I stood, still nursing my throat, then decided to play a hunch.

  “You say there’s no-one you won’t sacrifice...does that mean your own family?”

  A look of disdain crossed her face at that, and I realised my hunch was right.

  “If you mean my daughter, then yes, I would sacrifice her as well. That degenerate has done nothing but bring shame to the family, and I would gladly see her ended for it.”

  “If you wish to see my best friend dead,” I warned her, “you’ll have to go through me first.”

  “We shall see, Deimos,” she said quietly. “We shall see.”

  The flight back passed relatively quickly, or at least it seemed to - I was more preoccupied with thinking over the strange meeting with the Countess. She was clearly a woman who, like Irenae, hated to be confronted, seeing herself as above any law, vampiric or otherwise. That she would willingly sacrifice anyone who served her - including Levaertes, her own child - was a cause for significant concern, and certainly an indicator that she was not someone who deserved the loyalty her subordinates swore to her.

  I barely noticed we’d landed, until the pilot came back and told me. I was still preoccupied when I stepped from the aircraft, so much so that when Lev met me at the entrance to the base it took me a moment to register what seemed so out of place.

  “Lev,” I began slowly, as my brain finally caught up with itself, “why are you wearing a dress?”

  In all the time I’d known her, Lev never wore anything that covered up too much. She was an extrovert, and loved to flaunt her body, frequently dressing in a fashion that would have most mortal mothers dying from shame.

  Except this time, she was wearing a plain, floor-length crimson dress, and matching high-heeled shoes. She actually looked quite spectacular.

  “Mister Black,” she replied, with a formality she’d never used before, “I have been tasked with taking you to our Lady, immediately. If you could follow me?”

  I stood there for a moment, staring at her in confused disbelief.

  “What...what is this all about, Lev? I don’t get it.”

  She sighed for a moment, and I could almost see her usual personality sliding back into place.

  “Listen, D, Corvi wants to see you. Now. It’s important, and waiting until tomorrow is not an option. Please?”

  “But why the dress?” I asked aga
in, and she growled at me slightly.

  “Because there are some things in life that require a formal touch, regardless of your personality. This is one of them. Now will you please follow me?”

  I nodded reluctantly, and she led me back into the base, but I was no closer to understanding what was happening.

  The walk from the landing platform to Corvi’s quarters was mostly uneventful, except for one brief moment near the Ops room. As we were walking, I spotted a familiar face coming towards us, her raven hair tied back in a severe bun, her self-important swagger still in evidence.

  “You,” Irenae stated, pointing a threatening finger at me. “Come here, little mortal, we have unfinished business-”

  Her threat was cut off as Lev grabbed her by the throat and slammed her against the nearest wall.

  “Listen to me closely, you stuck-up bitch, and listen really, really well,” Lev threatened. “You are not in command here, regardless of what the Countess has told you. On top of that, Deimos is my friend, your sister’s lover and a loyal servant of our order. You will not touch him without due cause, and if you try you shall have me to deal with.”

  The cold menace emanating from Lev was almost palpable, and I think I saw Irenae swallow nervously.

  I sure did, and she wasn’t evening threatening me.

  “One other thing,” Lev continued, “today is rather important, for both of them. I am not about to let you spoil that. So you just keep on walking, sweetheart, and I won’t pull your spine out through your chest. We clear?”

  She finally let go of Irenae, and Corvi’s sister glared at Lev before carrying on past me.

  “We are not fin-”

  “Walk!” Lev commanded, and Irenae continued on her way with a muted snarl.

  “One day,” Lev said as soon as she was out of earshot, “I am going to bring that bitch down a peg or five.”

  “I look forward to that,” I chuckled, then gestured for her to continue. “Come on. You said Corvi wasn’t wanting to wait, so let’s not keep her.”