Page 7 of Soulbound Shadows: Part 1

“Perhaps you should bring in reinforcements if you’re going to go after the ascendancy array,” Marcus said, snapping me back to the here and now. “I believe Isabella might be able to help you with this. I cannot shake the feeling that things are going to get complicated, and having a dark witch on your side might be useful.”

“A reformed dark witch,” I said. “Isabella only uses the techniques for good. Or, uh, for neutral things. Not for evil things, anyway. You’re right, though—she could be able to help. I’ll drop her a line when she gets back from that conference on hex construction.”

Marcus raised his eyebrows. “And I’m sure she will bring back many informative books, and perhaps a few whimsical tote bags. In the meantime,” he said, rummaging in a pocket, “it may be useful for you to keep this close at hand.”

He passed over a small black plastic box wrapped in a tangle of colorful wires. A few lights blinked in the casing, although if there was a pattern to the blinking, I couldn’t work it out. It looked familiar.

“Is this…?”

“The device from the lab during the Le Fanu job a few months ago, yes. The original design was quite promising, but I’ve made a few tweaks here and there,” Marcus said. “It should be able to track dark magic. If the artifact you’re looking for was crafted with the stuff, this might be able to help.”

4

GABRIEL

The citadel’s meeting hall was full of vampires. It was technically my parents’ section of the massive, sprawling fortress, which was made up of interconnected strongholds, each one home to a different ruling family. The vampire meeting hall was a huge space with tall, vaulted ceilings and intricate tapestries. Every inch of it had been carefully designed to convey power and unquestionable authority.

At the front of the hall stood a table on a raised platform. It was the same polished mahogany as the others that formed long lines down either side of the hall, but it was inlaid with the De Montclair crest. The design—a raven with the sun in its beak—had been crafted with materials I had no doubt were rare and very expensive.

Roland De Montclair sat in a throne-like chair at the high table. He was a tall, imposing man with sharp features and sharper eyes. Next to him sat Iskra De Montclair, regal and unreadable as a Byzantine icon. Jewels sparkled in her dark hair, and her hands had been thoroughly scrubbed to get all the blood off. The two of them had recently celebrated their 1050th anniversary. Most days I wasn’t sure if they actually liked each other. Some vampires were very affectionate. My parents were not.

As tradition dictated, I was seated to my father’s left, but I couldn’t help feeling that my position was mostly symbolic. I was there to represent the lineage and keep quiet.

I swept a glance across the assembled vampires, who were all listening attentively to my father, granting him the sort of attention and respect they had never granted me. I, like many of the heirs present at the meeting, occupied an odd position. I would only ever advance to clan head if my father was killed.

“As clan-leader Drehermann so helpfully pointed out,” my father said, “the disappearances have been continuing. However, so far, all the missing vampires are relative unknowns. It seems foolish to assume that this is some sort of organized attack.”

“You think the disappearances are just coincidences?” one of the clan leaders asked—a slim, pale woman who looked uncannily like a porcelain doll.

My father waved a dismissive hand, his rings glinting in the light. “I think these so-called disappearances involve vampires with very few ties to Eldoria. Don’t look for trouble where there is none. It seems more likely that they simply moved on to another city. We shouldn’t worry ourselves over a handful of clanless vagrants.”

I clenched my hands into fists under the table, forcing myself to keep my face neutral and my shoulders relaxed. Maybe if the vampires had had the support they needed, they wouldn’t have been forced to move on. We were supposed to protect the people we ruled, not just use them to boost our own egos.

“With all due respect, Lord De Montclair,” said one of the heirs; a vampire of barely a hundred. “Even if the missing vampires are clanless, shouldn’t we try to ensure their safety?”

My father smiled thinly at the vampire who’d spoken. “I won’t dictate how the individual clans use their resources,” he said. “If Clan Alinejad wishes to spend their time looking for those missing, I have no interest in stopping them.”

Just as I’d suspected, this meeting wasn’t going to change anything. As my father changed the subject to tithes, I let my focus drift. If my family wasn’t going to do anything about the disappearances then I would have to redouble my efforts. The sooner I could get some time with that book, the better. Of course, that would mean compromising with that irritating witch. I wasn’t used to being spoken in such a manner, and I was more than a little aggravated by how easily she’d managed to get under my skin. The worst part was that I hadn’t managed to get the graceful lines of her collarbones out of my mind, as well as the bright green of her eyes, or the jasmine and vanilla scent that emanated off her.

If she wasn’t a witch, I would’ve flirted with her—there was no question in my mind about that—but witches and vampires, historically speaking, had never gotten along. Vampires had originally been created by a coven attempting to find the secret of eternal youth. Technically, they had succeeded, but not in the way they’d hoped. The first vampires were borne of their dark magic, and, driven mad by their newfound bloodlust, had turned on their creators, who reacted with ruthless lethality. It had been a long, long time ago, but immortals could hold a grudge for millennia.

The sound of quiet footsteps snapped me from my reverie. A massive vampire, square-jawed and bulky, had wandered around the back of the podium. He leaned forward discreetly and murmured something into my father’s ear. My father nodded, then stood.

“Kith and kin, you’ll have to excuse me,” he said. “I fear I’m needed elsewhere. This meeting is adjourned. We’ll gather again in a fortnight. Enjoy the rest of your evenings, and please, do feel free to stop by the cellar on your way out if you need any refreshments.” With that, he swept away into the twisting hallways of the citadel.

The assembled vampires stood and gathered in small clumps to speak to each other. My mother joined them, holding court in her own way. In every group she joined, all the attention was immediately hers to command.

I treated myself to a tired sigh and paced to the back of the hall, where there would be fewer eyes on me. The man who’d whispered to my father followed me.

“Damien,” I said, giving him a nod. Damien had risen quickly through the ranks to become my father’s right-hand man, and although I didn’t particularly like him, I did have some respect for the way he could stroke my father’s ego without coming across as a brownnoser.

“Gabriel,” he replied. “Another meeting that could have been an email, huh?”

I snorted. “Honestly, sitting through the meetings probably isn’t as bad as teaching some of the clan leaders to use a laptop would be.”

Damien gave me a closed-mouth smile. A long time ago, one of his fangs had been knocked out in a fight, and he was still self-conscious about the gold tooth that had been put in its place.

“If you want an excuse to get out of here without having to deal with all the politics, I can tell people you’re heading out on patrol,” he offered.

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