Chapter 11: Chapter Eleven

“It’s okay you can tell me what happened.”Alaric said soothingly to the sobbing female sitting in front of him and the rest of the court trying to recount her story. It'd been a day since she arrived, bloody and bruised. Anxiety had him pacing and punching things, eager to hear what she had to say. Now that all the clan leaders were here, they could discuss whatever this was.

“What’s your name?” He asked.

“Drea, sire.” She said sniffing. Good. She was ready to talk. “What's your clan?” He asked.

“The twelfth.”

Lysander's Clan. Alaric took his eyes off from Drea, searching the room.

“Don't bother.” Drea said her teary eyes turning serious. “He's dead. They're all dead. Every last one of them.” Her last sentence ended in a broken whisper.

“What do you mean ‘Dead’? I saw Lysander a week ago.” Velina said.

“ Of course you did.” Kieran snickered and a few joined this. Velina’s eyes turned to slits and she looked like she was ready to pounce.

“That's enough.” Alaric said giving the both of them glaring looks. He faced Drea. “Tell me more.”

She swallowed, her eyes taking on a faraway look. “It…it was so sudden. One minute I was cooking dinner for my family…the next, it was a massacre. They came…out of nowhere. These creatures…nothing could kill them. One bite was all it took. Vampires were killed where they stood.” She shook her head, fresh tears flowing. “ The whole Clan sire…reduced to rubble. My…my son…” Drea broke down in tears, covering her face in her hands. He gave a signal for a guard to take her away.

It was only when the doors were closed he spoke. “Kieran?”

Kieran nodded. “It's true. Too vivid to have been conjured directly from the mind. The creatures looked humanoid, but with wolf-like features.”

“Werewolves?” Cenred offered.

“Werewolves haven't been seen for thousands of years. They're probably extinct by now. And if it was, a werewolf bite can't kill a vampire instantly, just paralyse them for a while. No, this is something else.” Tobias said behind him.

“How could this even be?An entire Clan? How did they even get in?” Said Rayden. Alaric's frown deepened as he listened to them. Wiping out an entire clan was no joke and that unsettled him.

“I can think of no other plausible explanation than the witches.” He said after a moment of silence.

“How so? I thought you killed them.” Cormac said in a somewhat accusatory tone.

Alaric’s jaw clenched. “The fortress collapsed on them. If that didn't kill Amara, then it's certainly not my fault.” He didn't have the strength for Cormac's bullshit today.

“I'll send some men to check it out. It's best to keep this quiet as quiet as we can so as not to spread panic. All in favour?”

They all raised their hand apart from Cormac but Alaric was used to that. “Dismissed.”

“Wait.” Cormac said. Everyone looked at him. He stepped forward. “Alaric, isn't there something you want to tell us about the turned human?”He had a stupid smirk on his face that Alaric was itching to wipe clean. He didn't even want to guess how Cormac found out. Spies were everywhere.

Alaric took a deep breath. “She’s a bloodweaver.” Collective gasps rang across the room.

“What?!”

“And you didn't think to tell us?”

“That's not even remotely possible.She was just a measly human a week ago.”

That last comment made an eye twitch but he reined in his temper raising a hand to silence them. “I don't know how it's possible and I've already informed the Von Heller's. They'll handle it.” His tone brooked no argument. “Dismissed.”

The nobles filed out slowly leaving only him, Tobias, Azriel and Kieran.

“Cormac isn't going to leave this alone. I could see actual gears turning in his mind.” Kieran said, playing with his claws absentmindedly.

“I’ll have his head if he tries anything stupid.” Alaric said as he walked out of the courtroom. He needed to talk to Briar. Ever since the incident in her room, he hadn't. He had to admit, it was unsettling. Having his body become numb instantly like that…it actually gave him the chills. It was no wonder bloodweaving was so feared and respected. Through scent alone, he found in the armory with her sister, Brooke.

Alaric had always been drawn to her scent. From the first time he got a whiff of it in that forest in Creekwood, he had been addicted but he chose to ignore it, blaming her special ancestry. Even Kieran wanted a taste. But now she was a vampire, she didn't even have that Vampire scent. She didn't smell of death. And it didn't help that he was the one that turned her. It was only going to make him more attuned to her now.

Vampires bowed as he made his way towards them. He wasn't too surprised Briar would be here. As a human she was a hunter so weapons were a specialty. Brooke however, with her purple dress, looked sorely out of place.

“Hi Alaric.” Brooke said, waving. Briar rolled her eyes. No surprise there.

“Hey.” He said to Brooke. “Briar, I need to talk to you.”

“I’m busy.” She said testing a crossbow.

“I didn't ask,”he said , his patience fraying.

“And I don't care.”She shot back. Alaric was very aware of other vampires within earshot in the armory. His eyes narrowed.

“Briar for Goodness sake, hear what he has to say.” Brooke said as she stood to go. “I'll leave you two to it. Briar, be nice.” She said and left.

Briar continued checking out the Crossbow completely ignoring him.

“Briar. Look at me.”

She took an arrow, notched it and aimed at his chest. “I wish I had put a stake in your heart that night.”

The tension radiating from the Vampires around could be cut with a knife. But Alaric wasn't fazed. His lips merely tilted a little. Briar let the arrow fly and he caught it with ease, snapping it in half.

“You've grown rusty.” He said with a smirk.

“What do you want, Alaric? Don't you have a Kingdom to rule?” She asked, her red eyes flashing. The way her eyes matched her hair colour made her appearance even more striking. No one asked but he found her more beautiful.

“I wanted to talk to you about your bloodweaving. The nobles know about it and they’re not particularly happy. I think it's best you…don't use it on anyone.”

“If anyone provokes me, I'll use it.”

God, why did she have to be so damn stubborn.

He scoffed and walked till they were a hair's breath away from each other.

“Maybe you don't understand how things work around here. This isn't your human realm. It's eat or be eaten. You have an ability that hasn't been seen for centuries. Everyone is going to want a taste of it. They'll come with promises and threats. Don't think because you're a vampire you're immune. Nothing's stopping you from dying twice.”

Briar looked up at him swallowing and he followed the movement of her throat trying–and failing–to ignore the heat that pooled in his gut. Her sweet scent was overriding his senses. Ever since he’d had a drink of her blood that day, it was like a switch had been flipped inside of him. Ever since she became a vampire, he couldn't explain it but the pull was even stronger. All he could think about was her scent and taste. It was intoxicating.

Call it intuition but Alaric could see it in her eyes too. She was as drawn to him as he was to her. W

hatever this was, they'd both be fools to ignore it.