Chapter 92 - The King's Bite

Allegra turned to Nik with a raised brow, clearly waiting for an official introduction. The vampire that stood before them – Leander – looked like he was doing the same. She studied him. He stood only slightly shorter than the Prince with dark hair and eyes to match. He looked older than her husband and his siblings, however, which hinted at him being turned in his later years. His evenly coloured eyes, however, showed that he was far from being recently turned. The tension with which they both held each other suggested the two vampires were familiar with one another. In any other circumstance, she would be curious about their shared history, but this was neither the time nor the place.

She subtly cleared her throat, and it was enough to snap Nik out of wherever his mind was.

“This is Allegra. You obviously know who she is, considering you addressed her by her proper title,” Nik said with an unexpected amount of snark. “Allegra, this is Leander. An old friend.”

Leander maintained his cool. If the disdain in Nik’s voice bothered him, he certainly did not show it.

“Where are my manners? Please come in from out of the cold,” he said for appearance’s sake and Allegra’s benefit. “Follow me to the greeting parlour.”

With that, they stepped foot into Gatterlein Castle. Allegra could not help but study it curiously as they walked past the corridors in silence. The interior was much more modern than Kalitsk was. Not as minimalistic as Rafael’s apartment, of course, but modern all the same. The juxtaposition between it and its ancient exterior was a bit jarring, but she did not dwell on it for too long. It was hard not to pay attention to the multiple footsteps that echoed as they stepped on the tiled floors.

She had not looked back to see how many vampires on their team had followed them inside, but judging by the sound, she would probably put it at about ten. The silence was stifling. Every now and then they would pass a vampire idling by against a random wall staring at them curiously, each and every one with those chaotic eyes. It seemed they had not yet mastered the art of only being seen when necessary, like the vampires of Kalitsk had. They eventually stopped at a pair of large, wooden double doors. Leander opened them and waved them inside.

“I’m sure you’ll understand us having some of our team setting a perimeter around the place,” Nik said as he stepped up beside the shorter vampire with something akin to a challenge in his eyes. “One can never be too safe, after all.”

“I wouldn’t expect any less,” Leander said with a stiff smile.

He waited for Nik, Allegra and Mystik to walk into the room before he followed them and shut the door behind him, not making a fuss about the multiple strange faces left waiting outside. The Duchess and her brother-in-law sat next to each other on a sofa while their host and Mystik each took an armchair for themselves. Leander seemed uncertain who to address, as it was unclear who was in charge. Allegra thought he looked happy enough to just let them sit in silence until one of them broke it, but he soon spoke.

“I would offer you some refreshments, Your Grace,” the vampire said charmingly. “Perhaps a cup of tea to battle the cold at this time of night, but I'm afraid our servants are not live-in. I don’t think you want to chance having one made by a vampire.”

“No, that’s quite alright,” Allegra said, relieved that he had broken the silence. She doubted that she could stomach anything right now, but his warmth was reassuring and exactly what they needed to proceed. “And, please, call me Allegra. Any friend of Nik’s is a friend of mine.”

Leander’s answering smile died on his lips at the Prince’s next words.

“We aren’t friends,” Nik said tersely.

Allegra did not let herself panic at the awkward silence that followed.

“Well, you introduced him to me as your friend,” she said lightly as she turned to him, fixing him with a glare that screamed ‘don’t fuck this up for us’.

“Correction,” Nik said as he leaned back and crossed his ankle over his knee. “I said he is an old friend, meaning he is no longer one. That was a long time ago.”

“Let it go, Niklaus,” Mystik said chastisingly.

“I'm just saying that friends don’t go a century without contacting one another,” Nik said with a false lightness to his tone. “When you disappeared, I assumed you had left Nefolktu and distanced yourself from Rafael. When I heard nothing from you for years, I assumed you had left Nefolktu and were probably killed. To think you've been here all this time. Incredible. At least you gained your eye colour back.”

Leander noticeably cringed at Nik’s unsubtle chastisement before Allegra could see defensive walls being built up around him right before her very eyes. She could have strangled Nik at that moment if she had thought it would work.

“Yes, well, when my eyes cleared I knew you would expect me to leave... something I did not wish to do,” Leander said. “I also knew you would react in a manner similar to how you are now, so it seemed easier to just go silent on you.”

“You didn’t want to leave?” Nik asked with a disbelieving laugh that sounded somewhat cruel to the ears. “Because spending the rest of your immortality as a practical babysitter was so appealing? Tell me, how’s that working out for you?”

“Niklaus, enough,” snapped the Duchess. The heat behind her tone was enough to have the vampire snap his mouth shut even as he glared at her. She looked at their host in an effort to re-establish the warmth that had been building up between them before. “As I was saying, please call me Allegra. It would make things much less tense than Niklaus has made them in the past two minutes.

Leander’s lips twitched in reluctant amusement.

“You’ll have to forgive him,” Mystik inserted smoothly. “It’s a very trying time for us. I think discovering you’re still alive has put even more weight on his shoulders than he has already.”

“Oh?” Leander asked, curiosity shining through his eyes, even as Nik rolled his.

“Yes,” Allegra took over. “A dear friend of ours was taken from Kalitsk and it’s caused quite a strain on everyone.”

The plan was to be careful not to let them catch wind of the fact that Vladislav and Milena were already leading a team to Drausia as they spoke. They did not want to tip Rafael off. All three of them noticed his reaction to hearing the words. For the first time, Leander looked away from all of them as his posture once more became defensive. Allegra eyed Mystik and he gave her an affirmative nod.

“We know Rafael took her and we know they’re in Drausia,” Allegra said bluntly.

What they would not let them know was that they had two secret weapons – Cedai and Zallius. They had to let Leander believe that they were scrambling to open a portal to Drausia through the proper channels – which normally took a while to organise and only ever in the daytime. As far as he knew, Rafael still had time.

“That is a very serious allegation,” Leander said as he relaxed a bit, taking comfort in his false knowledge of Rafael still being safe. “Furthermore, why would King Vladislav let his wife, of all people, come here to question me about such an unfounded accusation?”

“Vlad is still under the impression that Rafael had nothing to do with this,” Allegra lied easily. They had not discussed this in their planning, failing to predict the question altogether. Still, it was the first thing that came to her mind and it was plausible. “But I know better, so I took matters into my own hands. What the King doesn’t know won’t hurt him.”

“From what I understand, there was a very healthy number that showed up at Rafael’s flat yesterday afternoon,” Leander said suspiciously. “That doesn’t sound like the act of someone who believes in Rafael’s innocence.”

“What can I say?” Allegra asked a bit cockily. “If you make enough noise, action can be taken. Even if it’s just to shut you up.”

Leander’s lips quirked.

“I’m sorry about your friend, but there’s nothing I can do to help,” said the dark vampire. “I have no knowledge of her whereabouts.”

“You see, Leander,” Allegra began as she leaned forward, “the problem is that I just don’t believe you. You tried to feign ignorance when this conversation began, but then you admitted to knowing about our security team being in Rafael’s building. How can I take you at your word?”

He remained still and silent as ever, refusing to say anything.

“We know you don’t know exactly where she is,” Nik said, trying a different tactic. “But you know Raf took her somewhere in Drausia. True or false?”

Not a peep came out of Leander’s mouth. Nik turned to Allegra.

“If you’ve noticed, he hasn’t lied at all so far,” the Prince said. “It’s because he knows I can tell when he lies. If I were you, I’d take his silence as an affirmation to anything that incriminates Rafael.”

“Duly noted,” Allegra said dryly.

“You don't know who I am anymore,” Leander said haughtily. “The vampire you knew a hundred years ago is no more.”

“Oh, I know that,” laughed Nik. “The vampire I knew a hundred years ago would never have let another guy's libido lead him and the dozens under his care into certain death.”

“What are you talking about?” Leander asked, completely perplexed.

“Rafael made an agreement with Azil the fae. In exchange for Cilla, the vampires under his command are to fight on the side of Drausia against Espa and Ostar,” Mystik explained. “The problem is that Nefolktu is allied with all three of the fae kingdoms, so King Vladislav has made it clear to all three of them that no vampires from Nefolktu would be involved in what is essentially a civil war. This entire thing is Azil’s way of getting around that decree.”

Niklaus studied the other vampire’s countenance as he listened. He barely showed any reaction, but he knew him too well to miss what was really going on. By studying his face, he could tell that Leander was aware of the former part of Mystik’s delivery, but not the latter.

“Essentially, what we’re saying is that you will be committing treason if you fight for Azil, Nik said to hammer the point across home. “Vladislav won’t care that you all acted without full knowledge of the situation, especially because you’ll be tied to the abduction of someone under the crown’s protection. You will all be exiled and if you try to come back... well, we both know you don't want to do that.”

“And what else happens if you do go and can’t come back?” Allegra piled on. “You can’t survive on fae blood and there aren’t nearly enough humans in Drausia to keep all the vampires in this castle satiated.”

“You’d have to leave for the human world,” Nik said, “but you know half of those under your care aren’t ready to live in that world. You’d be fine, but they would be doomed.”

“So, now that you’re aware of all the facts, can we speak candidly?” Allegra asked him. “Let’s not waste any more time because, for all we know, that portal could be opening up at any moment now.”

Leander swallowed as he took all this new information in. None of them spoke as they all understood it was a lot to handle.

“I had no idea about all of this,” he finally spoke after a few moments. “I should probably have been aware of the socio-political background with the fae, but I rarely keep up with the outside world anymore. I have my hands full here in the castle. When Rafael reached out and asked for our assistance, most of us were thrilled. It was a chance to escape our monotonous lives here, if only for a while. And they were looking forward to spending time with their maker. Perhaps I was, too, considering how rarely we all see him.”

Nik looked away for a moment and Allegra could tell he was regretful of how harsh he had been with the other vampire.

“You’re loyal to a fault, Lee,” the Prince said. “You were as a human, so it’s no surprise that you have continued to be the same as a vampire. Your problem is that you’ve wasted so much time lavishing that loyalty on someone who doesn’t deserve it.”

“It doesn’t matter at this point,” Leander said. “Like I said, the others have their hearts set on doing this. There is no doubt that they will walk through that portal when it opens.”

“Unless you convince them not to,” Allegra said suggestively.

“It can’t be done,” Leander said decisively.

“It can if you explain everything to them the way we have,” Mystik said as he pulled out a photocopy of the royal decree refusing any involvement of citizens of Nefolktu in the fae war.

Leander took it and read through it.

“Even if they insist on going on with it after this,” Allegra said as she thought of Mace, “I think you all underestimate how capable of reasoning newly turned vampires are. You’re the one who has been here preparing them to integrate into vampire society for a century now. They barely know Rafael when you think about it. Surely, their loyalty to you is far more unwavering than the loyalty they have to him.”

The vampire barely showed any reaction to any of their words, his eyes still resolutely fixed on the paper in his hands. He sighed heavily.

“Fine,” he said as he finally made his mind up. “I will talk to them, but I suggest you leave. The youngest ones are so quite volatile and I have no way of predicting what their reaction would be. I’d hate to put you in danger, Your... Allegra.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Nik said. “There’s a reason she has a security detail. No one will come close to even touching her. Besides, we need to keep an eye out to find those least receptive to the idea. They might need watching.”

Leander stood.

“It seems you really have thought of everything,” he said. “Come on, then. Off we go. The sun will be rising soon. Hopefully, by the time it does, we’ll all have answers.”

***

“You alright?”

Vladislav looked up from where he was perched on a rock. He had chosen this location because it was furthest from where the text of their party stood in wait. His younger sister approached him and he made space for her to join him. She leaped onto the rock effortlessly and sat beside him as they watched the rest of them.

They had reasoned that Azil would not take Priscilla to his home as it was too obvious of a location. The decision of where to land had been left to the fae as they knew their land better than anyone else. That was how they found themselves waiting in the middle of nowhere, in a clearing surrounded by nothing but forestry. Locating her was taking much longer than any of them liked, but they understood that it was not a process to be rushed. Cedai sat on the ground with her legs folded beneath her and her eyes closed. The look of concentration scrunched up her normally serene face.

Everyone else maintained almost total silence so she could work peacefully. Thankfully, it was no bother for immortal beings to stand still for a couple of hours. Vlad turned to look down at his sister, only remembering that she had just asked him a question.

“Perfectly fine,” he said emptily. “Why do you ask?”

“Just because I have no friends does not mean I am ignorant about how conflicting it must be to come to terms with having to end their life,” she responded.

“You have friends,” Vladislav said, latching onto that bit of her sentence to avoid answering her query. “Allegra is your friend. She considers you one, at least.”

“Allegra is my sister,” she said stubbornly. “There is a difference.”

Vladislav refused to let her know how pleased that statement made him.

“What about Priscilla?” he argued. “Do not think I am the only one to notice how distressed this entire situation has made you. Usually, you would deem a task as mundane as this beneath you.”

“That... is different,” Milena said, although she refused to expand on her point.

The two of them had an unspoken rule not to discuss their love lives with one another. They both got more than enough of that from Nik to last them several lifetimes. Still, he was vaguely aware of her ending things with both Priscilla and Mason. He was also aware of how much she had cared for both of them, but he had no idea how to even begin comforting her. Did she even need comfort when she was the one to pull the plug?

“We will get her back,” he said reassuringly instead of pressing the matter further. “And yes, a big part of me is conflicted, but I have to admit that I may have aided in his behaviour by looking the other way one too many times. I hope I can manage to save him from himself, but if I cannot... then I have come to terms with what I must do.”

“I can do it for you if you would prefer,” Milena offered.

“No,” Vlad shook his head. “The responsibility falls on my shoulders. I would not want you to carry that burden.”

“Oh, you misunderstand,” Milena said with a hint of an impish smile. “I would actually enjoy it.”

Vladislav chuckled lightly. “If it is all the same to you, I think I should do it.”

Milena shrugged just as they saw a purple haze in their periphery. They both turned to see Cedai standing up, her eyes glowing in the darkness surrounding them. She spoke to Zallius, who then turned to immediately open another portal.

“I found her,” Cedai said. “I know where she is.”