Eternal Conflict - Book 7 (The Ruby Ring Saga) Read online

  My stomach clenched.

  “Am I getting to you, my Queen?” Armand asked.

  “Do you do this to all your victims or just me? What’s with the head games?” I demanded.

  “I have the power to make people see deep down into their souls, and I take pleasure in helping them see the truth. So many are far too naïve, and they are not living the happy, innocent lives they pretend to be living. Not only do I drink blood, but I also feed on my victims’ energy in the process. The more spirited the feast, the more heightened the sweetness of the blood. You, my dear, are very spirited indeed.”

  A vampire who feeds on energy and blood? That’s definitely different. Wait. Did he say it heightens the taste of the blood? Is he really going to kill me? I thought, and my hands began to tremble again. Still, I courageously met his gaze straight on. “Your magic and tricks won’t work. I know that every word you speak is to manipulate me, but you won’t break me down. Yes, Victor killed many warriors in battle, but—”

  “Not all in battle, you pitiful fool,” he hissed.

  “Victor has repented, and he feels truly sorry.”

  He inched closer, closing the distance between us. “So there really is redemption for dark souls?”

  I nodded, just centimeters from the monster’s hideous face. “I believe there is.”

  “I had no plans to end my life, Majesty. I want the mystical battleaxe in my possession so no one can use the weapon against me.”

  “To protect yourself? I understand.”

  The vampire squeezed the glowstone in his hand, and it shattered into dust. He then threw it on the ground.

  “What are you doing?” I asked, as I had no idea how the magic rock worked.

  He gazed deeply into my eyes. “Your allies have betrayed you, dear Queen. This stone will not help me, and it certainly will not break my curse.”

  “So it’s a fake?” I said, aghast and a bit embarrassed. “I-I didn’t know. We thought—”

  “No, it is not fake,” he hissed and trailed his black nails down my face, giving me shudders. “Are you truly happy?” he asked. “Sarah, do you even know the purpose of your existence?”

  “Yes, I’m very happy, and I believe I’m here to make this world a better place for my people, for my family, for my husband.”

  “I sense something deeper,” he breathed into my ear, stinging me with his rancid breath. “You can’t hide it from me. You are disgusted by your husband, by his acts of violence, just like Della was. You want to believe life will get better, but will it? Can it really?”

  “What is your point, vampire? I won’t let you feed off my energy, if that’s what you’re up to. My life is perfect, as I see it. Yes, I go through hardships and struggles, but I have a loving husband and beautiful child. They are all I need. They’re my world, and I love them with all my being.”

  “Yet, as much as you claim to love Victor, you loathe his past,” he surmised. “How could a sweet, caring, compassionate queen such as you not struggle with it? He’s caused unspeakable grief and misery for so many. We both know the world would be a better place without him in it.”

  “No!” I shouted at him, enraged.

  Suddenly, a picture from the past flooded my mind, a depiction of Victor mercilessly slaughtering warriors in an epic battle. It was bloody and brutal, so much so that my stomach turned. “Turn it off!” I ordered.

  “It is unsettling, is it not? Why do you put up with it? I sense that it is a heavy burden. It is why the people chose Ethano over your king. Why do you keep fighting? You say you are trying to save this world, but the people here do not want you. They despise you and Victor and your son, the spawn of one of the most wicked bloodlines in our history. You can do no good in this world…or in any, for that matter. You are fighting a losing battle, with a bloodthirsty maniac on your front lines.”

  “That’s not true.”

  “No matter how many people you help, you will never make up for Victor’s past. There is no atonement grand enough to cover his countless sins. His hands are stained with the blood of thousands, and your love for him only tarnishes you as well. I can see deep into your soul, Sarah. I know how your heart cries out.”

  Admittedly, it was difficult for me to deal with Victor’s tumultuous past, however, I had forgiven him long ago, and I wasn’t one to harbor resentment or anger, least of all for the man I loved.

  Armand touched my face, more gently this time. “Just say the words.”

  “What words?”

  “If only…”

  “If only what?”

  “If only you hadn’t walked through the portal into our world!” he shouted at me, his yellow eyes blazing like the sun itself.

  “No!” I roared. “You’re wrong. I haven’t lost anything by coming here. Instead, I’ve gained an opportunity to rediscover myself and be the woman I want to be.”

  “You are totally alone! No one understands what you are going through, the torment that haunts you. Your sister has a very loving husband. His causes only a fraction of the deaths Victor does, and only in battle. Liz cannot possibly understand your dilemma, nor can your parents. How could they? You must stop holding on to false hope, Highness. Why see him through all this madness? Make the decision to stop loving him!”

  “I won’t listen to this line of crap you’re feeding me,” I snapped. There was no way I would ever stop loving Victor, and certainly not a the command of a homicidal freak. I still remembered the moment I decided I wanted to be with Victor forever, just before I left through the portal. At that very second, thanks to some great advice from my sister, I knew I would love Victor for the rest of my eternal life, and nothing was going to change that.

  The vampire, frustrated that his manipulation wasn’t working, tried to employ a new strategy. He cocked his head and stared at me. “I know about your nightmares, Sarah. I know you worry that you cannot keep your son safe. It’s emotionally devastating for you. This life is much too hard.”

  “The journey is hard, but it is so worth it,” I said.

  “You live with the hope of a happy future, but you know as well as I do that it will never come to be. You were thrown into an immortal world, a world of magic, a world that is not your own. You struggle greatly. You always have. Let me take all your worries away. Just close your eyes and go to sleep. It is that easy.”

  “You won’t lure me into suicide,” I said. “You may kill me, but I won’t go willingly.”

  “You despise the monster he keeps caged up, the evil buried deep behind your husband’s blue eyes. You know it’s there, lurking beneath the surface. Every time you kiss him, your lips are touching a hidden beast, a murderer.”

  “Stop this!” I shouted.

  “Your feelings are raw and honest. You despise what he did.”

  “I forgave him long ago…and I love him.”

  “Your forgiveness is his freedom, but how can you forgive a monster?”

  “You’re one to talk!” I said, pointing at the bed of bones. “His past actions torture his conscience, and he has nightmares of his own. Victor is filled with deep shame and guilt. I don’t condone or accept or forget what he did, but I won’t forever hold it against him either. In forgiving him, I’ve shifted my energy from the ugly past to the future, so we can both focus on healing. You cannot bait me, Armand. Do not try to tell me this world will be better off without us, because that is a dark lie right out of the pits of Hell. Victor is not the man he used to be, and together we will make a huge difference in the lives of others. We are dedicated to restoring our kingdom and maintaining peace and love.”

  “Then why hasn’t Victor found peace?”

  “He cannot just turn it off and on. He’s working through his issues.”

  “You cannot erase the twisted monster Victor became. Deep down, he is still that. He is just hiding it well, and you are naïve enough to buy it.”

  “He’s not a monster anymore!”

  “So you admit that he once was? That h
e caused unspeakable misery? I also sense that you fear your child will follow in his father’s atrocious footsteps.”

  “That won’t happen. I won’t allow it to. We’re devoted to Alexander, and he will grow up with high moral standards. And as for my husband, Victor is truly sorry for all the pain he caused.”

  “How touching.”

  “Our story is something special, where hopelessness met hope.” I gazed at him deeply. “If you’re so brilliant and perceptive, why can’t you sense all the love I have for my husband, how deep it runs and flows through my veins, how abundant it is? You will never manipulate me into loving him any less. He is my life, my world, and I won’t let you poison my thoughts any longer. I came to make a fair deal with you. Now I just want my sister back and safe passage off your land.”

  His lips curled into a smile. “You truly have no idea of the trap you walked into.”

  “Trap?”

  “Gwendolyn gave you the glowstone, silly Queen, as a way to rip your powers from you. She could not fight you as you were, so she crippled you and sent you to me.”

  “That’s impossible,” I said, holding my hand over my mouth to stifle a gasp as I backed up. “She chased us down, and… Besides, we read in the ancient volumes that the glowstone would help you.”

  “She knew Liz had nowhere else to go. One becomes very predictable when they run out of options. We knew she would seek help from a loyal ally. Those pages were inserted in the hopes that you would find them.”

  My hands shook because I knew I was in a very dangerous predicament. “They were…planted?”

  He actually had the audacity to laugh. “The glowstone was nothing more than a ruse, a way to disable your powers.”

  “So Gwendolyn promised you the battleaxe?” I asked.

  “Yes, in return for your demise.”

  My heart sank. “But she’s Victor’s friend.”

  “Yes, she has been loyal to him, but times are desperate. Also, she knows Victor will not hesitate to kill her one true love. It was a painful decision for her, but she had to choose between the two, her lover or her childhood friend.”

  “So she chose Ethano,” I uttered, shocked by her betrayal and deception. I was now suffering pain of my own, as well as rage, terror, sorrow, anguish, bitterness, and fury. It was a violent blow to my heart, mind, and soul in every way. I’d trusted Gwendolyn, a traitor, and I’d walked straight into a death trap with my eyes wide open.

  “I believe she chose wisely. She loves Ethano, in spite of his faults. You, of all people, should understand such a love. I will end you and Victor with you, and that will secure the victory for Ethano.”

  “Even after Victor is dead, his men will fight…and with a vengeance.”

  “I shall join the war and wipe out your husband’s men.”

  “But you can only come out at night.”

  “Not once I am cured of this affliction.”

  I stared at him hard. “You said the glowstone is useless.”

  “It is. What I need is a queen’s blood, which you have plenty of. I required a queen to walk into this castle on her own free will. That, my dear, shall be my cure. No queen has ever volunteered before, but now I have you.”

  “Gwendolyn really did send me to my death,” I whispered in disbelief. “She sent me here as a sacrifice, so Victor will be killed and you can be restored…so Ethano will win the war. I-I can’t believe it.”

  “She betrayed you and Victor, but only because she had no other choice. So is life.”

  His words and the matter-of-fact tone in his voice stung. I’d fallen for the entire charade, like some sort of fatal episode of Punk’d. How could I have been so stupid? The most heart-wrenching and confusing part was that Victor loved and trusted her. I could feel the love she felt for him through the power of the ring. How can she watch him die, just to win a war? Whether she did it for love or not, she was just as evil as Ethano.

  While I was lost in that hurricane of dark thoughts, the vampire seized the opportunity to lunge at me. I sidestepped, and he crashed into the wall, sending stone and rubble crumbling down on top of the pile of bones.

  “You cannot outrun me, Sarah,” he said. “It is your destiny to die here, to free me.”

  “And who are you to determine my fate?” I cried.

  I didn’t have my powers, but I still had access to my immortal strength and speed. In the blink of an eye, I destroyed a wooden chair, then pulled the leg off it. When he came at me again, I thrust the stake deep into his heart. I stepped back as he smiled at me.

  “What would make you think that would kill me?” he asked.

  I shrugged. “Hollywood blockbusters.”

  Armand cocked a brow, as if baffled by my words, then glared at me. “Only the battleaxe of Ania can destroy me, luv, and you will not get out of this castle alive to retrieve it.”

  “You like to play cat-and-mouse,” I said, “and you sicken me.”

  “True. I could’ve killed you the second you walked in, but I do find life a bit dull and lonely here, among these gray walls. I enjoy taunting, and your shock is priceless. I knew all along while you were really sent here, but toying with you has been delightful, Majesty. Sadly, I now find myself tiring of the game, so it is time for me to make good on my promise to Gwendolyn. Tomorrow morning, I will see my first sunrise in 100 years.”

  Then, in a blur, he came at me. I screamed as his fangs sank into my neck. I was overcome with unbearable horror, and the bite hurt so damn bad, followed by the nauseating feeling of him suckling the blood from my throat.

  “Victor!” I screamed. “We’re dying.”

  “Sarah!” his voice called back to me. “Ignore the pain. Gouge out his eyes.”

  “I can’t! Nothing will kill him but Gwendolyn’s battleaxe, and it’s not here!”

  “Fight, Sarah!”

  “I can’t. I’m…paralyzed. He’s controlling me somehow! Gwendolyn tricked me, robbed me of my powers. Gosh, Victor, I’m so sorry I came here, so sorry that this is going to destroy you too. I’m so, so sorry to leave our baby without his parents!”

  “You will do no such thing, Sarah. Fight this! Do not give up so easily. You are stronger than you believe yourself to be. You always have been.”

  “I wish I could. I love you…always.”

  Suddenly, in the depths of my mind, I heard Victor groan. “I’m so weak,” he said.

  “We’re dying…and it’s all my fault, my love. I have destroyed us, ruined everything you’ve fought for. I—d”

  “No. I sense your heavy burden, your guilt, but you mustn’t feel that way. You fought so we could have a life here, a life with no enemies. I will see you in the next life, in Heaven. I’ll be waiting for you, holding out my hand.”

  “And what about our Alexander?”

  “We will both watch him grow up into a fine young man.”

  “I don’t want to die,” I said, with tears streaming down my face.

  Chapter 13

  I was sure I was going to die as the vampire fed off of me.

  Suddenly, a towering figure wrapped his arms around the vampire. Then, with brute strength, he pushed the creature off me. I blinked back tears, unable to believe what I was seeing. Did I lose too much blood? Am I imagining things? I wondered, trying to focus on the man and his warriors. I couldn’t believe I was staring at Jackson.

  The vampire lunged, but Jackson quickly hurled a lightning ball that knocked Armand to the floor. Since he hadn’t been near the glowstone, all his powers were still intact. He swung the battleaxe in an arc, then quickly swung down, severing the creature’s bald head. Blood squirted from the vampire’s headless trunk, almost black, like used motor oil.

  “Victor,” I said in my head, “we’re going to be okay!”

  “I know. I already feel my strength returning.”

  “Me too!”

  “We owe Jackson much gratitude.”

  “Sarah!” Jackson said. “You’re bleeding.”

  �
�I’m okay now, but Liz is—”

  “She is fine. My men have her,” he said.

  Relief flooded through me as I stared at him questioningly. “I thought you were dead.”

  “You believed the illusion of a witch?”

  “It seemed so real!”

  “You saw what she wanted you to see. I sent most of my men to help Victor.” Without another word, he ripped a strand of cloth from his shirt and applied pressure to my neck wound.

  “Is it bad?” I asked.

  “Yes, but you’re immortal. You will heal.”

  “Will I become one of those things? Please tell me I’m not going to go bald and grow fangs.”

  “This isn’t like the movies back home. I studied the books this morning before I came. You won’t be infected. Otherwise, there’d be vampires all over this place instead of just bones.”

  “True. I wondered why he didn’t have security.”

  “He worked alone, with no minions. It was part of his curse to live a lonely existence.”

  “Gwendolyn sort of…cooked the books,” I said. “We don’t even know if what you read was true.”

  “She didn’t mess with the ones I looked at. Don’t worry. You’ll be fine.”

  I nodded. “If you’re wrong, I’ll bite you first,” I teased.

  We walked through the corridor and made our way outside.

  “Thank you for saving my life,” I said.

  “There’s no need to thank me. I owe you much, and I know you were only on this quest to retrieve the book I wanted so badly.”

  “Jackson, quit being so humble. You’ve saved my life more than once, and I’m indebted to you forever.”

  “I am far more indebted to you, my Queen. You helped me get my world back and retrieve this,” he said, then opened a satchel and pulled out a huge, leather-bound book. “I’d say we’re even.”

  “The book! You got it?” I said, smiling from ear to ear and overcome with joy. “That’s the most fabulous news I’ve heard all day!”

  He placed the book back in the satchel and patted it. “Let’s just hurry and get the hell outta here.”

  As we made our exit, we ran into a group of Jackson’s men. Liz was hanging limp in a soldier’s arms, but they assured me she was fine. She was, because the second we left the grounds, Liz came to.