AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What is this!?” Marius growled.
“A trick!” Jak snapped.
I could not fight the smile as their shock melted into expressions of interest. Noses flared and tongues pressed beyond lips as they glanced at the marks my teeth had left upon Gildir’s throat.
“We could offer you beings that live as long lives as you. Whose bodies, if cared for, would continue to thrive and provide you an eternal source of the blood you cherish so dearly,” I said, revelling in the reaction of the creatures.
Jak broke free from the trance first. “If you are right, one would not be enough.”
“Then I would provide you more,” Faenir confirmed.
“WhatKingwould throw his own people into a pit of snakes?”Jak’s question hung between us.
“A desperate one,” Auriol confirmed, looking between us all. “It is time our kinds come together instead of tearing one another apart, don’t you think?”
“Careful, human. Let us not get away with ourselves.” Marius’s glowing eyes snapped between Gildir and Auriol as though unsure who deserved his attention more.
“I understand the decision has come upon you quickly, but an answer is required before we depart,” I said.
Faenir gripped my thigh beneath the table and squeezed. His touch thrilled me. Even in the presence of such creatures, I could not hide my lust that spilled from my pores in waves.
Marius seemed to notice. Jak too, as they both licked their lips hungrily.
“And if we refuse your offer?”
“You die,” Auriol said quickly.
“But we are already dead,” Marius replied through a wide grin. “That has brought you all here, has it not?”
“You do not know death as I do, vampire.” Faenir stood from the table, his hand leaving a mark of warmth upon my thigh. “I wish for you to have the choice of how this meeting ends. Do not mistake my offer for anything more than a request of allied peace between us.”
“Peace,” Jak barked. “Humans never wanted peace. If they did, we would not be sitting here discussing such matters.”
“Yet here we are, together, with a choice to change the world or destroy it.”
Marius pondered Faenir’s words in a moment of silence. He looked back to Gildir, whose soul had been broken. He no longer moved or made a sound.Auriol’s doing.
“Such an interesting offer. I admit you may convince me, but the creatures that dwell within the shadows of Darkmourn do not follow my command. Even if I agree, they still have their own desires.”
Faenir nodded to Marius in understanding. “I propose a covenant, one that protects our kinds from one another. There would be rules, ones on which we must each agree upon, rules that we would each be responsible for ensuring that our respective people would follow or be punished.”
Marius stood from the table and faced Faenir. Both creatures equalled each other in height. But in power? That was not determined. Faenir did not wear his crown by choice. Our presence in Marius’s domain was threatening enough; being recognised as a King would paint a bigger target on his back.Faenir was not the King of vampires, nor humans; he had made that clear to me it was not his desire.
“I am interested,” Marius said finally, reaching out for Gildir, who did not flinch as the vampire drew a nail across his skin. A bead of deep blood blossomed beneath his mark. Marius drew a finger to his lips, eyes rolling back into his head, as he savoured the taste of an immortal.
Jak stood, unable to resist the smell of the blood; even I struggled to stay in my seat.
“If your suggestion is to work, it may take time,” Marius murmured.
“Then we are blessed to have such a concept in the palms of our hands.” Faenir lifted an arm and held out a hand in offering. “Are we not?”
Marius looked again to Jak, searching for agreement. The freckles across Jak’s nose wrinkled beneath the scrunch of his nose. I readied myself to hear his refusal, but then he nodded.
“There is much to discuss,” Marius said, turning back to Faenir. He glanced towards his extended hand as though it held dangers.
You have no idea, I thought as I watched Marius reach for Faenir.
The King of Death and the Lord of Night clasped hands in agreement.
It was done. It had worked.
Auriol relaxed back in her chair, tension evaporating with a sigh. I looked towards her, feeling a swell in my hollow, still chest. It was such a human feeling I almost forgot my lust for blood.
The covenant had been agreed between two great powers of death to cherish life above all else.Yet, as we raised a glass of blood, or wine, I could not ignore the voice that lingered in the far reaches of my mind.
Just as it was Auriol’s suggestion for the evening’s meeting, it was Faenir’s to refrain from mentioning the halflings in our conversation. They were our failsafe, as he had explained. Only time would tell if this agreement would work. And if it did not, there were means to deal with the traitors even if it meant we would be reduced to ash.
