Page 85 of The Star's Sword

He put up a hand to the vampires who were standing in the hallway, as Cayne’s blood thralls rushed to a halt, as if they couldn’t attack Simon.

“Get out of the way, Simon. She’ll escape!” Cayne yelled.

Simon straightened, but didn’t move, just shaking his head slowly. “You can’t do this, Cayne. Not tonight. You can’t hurt any more of my vampires.”

Cayne paced, looking wild. “I can’t leave this unavenged.”

“You need to think of a higher purpose,” Simon said. The blood thralls paced around him, but he didn’t let them by. Then he turned and motioned for the other vampires to leave. “Go, now,” he said. “Before I can’t hold him back anymore.”

“Your herd needs to be culled,” Cayne said. “Let me do it. They are disloyal.”

“They are confused,” Simon shot back. He still looked pale and damp, and his fangs were still prominent.

I heard flapping and then more glass breaking and looked up to see Mark and Zadis flying in. They landed on both sides of Simon, and grabbed him by the arms, pulling him back with them toward the window.

“He got away from us, broke the ropes,” Mark said. “We got him now though.”

Simon struggled against them and managed to break free. His breath was still coming in pants of steam, but he did look better than before. He held up a hand to Cayne. “I’m fine. No harm, no foul.” He looked around the hall.

“They protected her,” Samael said, coming forward. “They called her queen and attacked Cayne.”

Simon glared at the blood thralls, and then at the other vampires. “They are as good as dead, then. But let the blood loyalty kill them.” He looked around. “Cayne, you have already done irreparable damage with the vampires.” He leaned in to whisper. “They will never trust you or Cleo now.”

Cayne pulled away from him. “They never were going to give us a chance in the first place. They don’t want a Morningstar to rise. Don’t you get it, Simon? They aren’t good like you. They don’t want justice or fairness. They’d eat your humans in a second if they could. Wake the fuck up and stop letting them betray you!”

Simon blinked, odd hurt filling his eyes as he stared at Cayne, then looked around at the others.

His hands dropped to his sides. “I suppose I am a very silly vampire. I never seem to know when people hate me.” He raised both hands. “I invoke blood loyalty on everyone in this hallway. Any blood provided by me is now withdrawn.” He closed his hands and a sound like lots of steaming teakettles filled the air, as unearthly screams arose from all the vampires around us at once, including Cayne’s thralls.

They all began shaking, and screaming, and though I couldn’t make out what was happening due to their dark robes and the moonlight, they appeared to be melting to the ground, and whatever they were melting into was hissing as it hit the marble floor.

Soon, we were the only ones left in the hallway, and Simon was standing there swaying, staring at the ground, his face shaded by his curtained black hair.

Then he looked up, and his expression was lost as he stumbled toward Cayne, who grabbed him.

“Damn it, after all that, I’m hungry again,” he said, sinking his fangs into Cayne’s shoulder as he fell into his arms.

I was used to the sight of the blood during feeding now, so I just stood back quietly with the others, shocked by what we had all seen.

When Simon was done, he passed out again, and Cayne picked him up in his arms and slung him over his shoulder.

He turned to the broken window, which looked out on the night, and slumped slightly, as if everything that had happened had finally hit him.

He looked to me, his arm wrapped around Simon, who was hanging down over his back. “I’m sorry, Cleo. I couldn’t help it.” Then he jumped down out of the window, and disappeared, leaving me alone with Samael and Zadis.

We looked around us at the steaming piles of what was left of the vampires who had betrayed Simon.

“Does anyone else understand what just happened?” Zadis asked, lifting a foot distastefully at the sticky mess on the ground.

“Blood disloyalty,” Mark said. “I’ve never seen it invoked. Card must have been angry.” He looked at us. “The two of you okay?”

I nodded.

“Then I must go see to my people. As an elder vampire, I do have some control over calming their minds. I’ll try to find Vasara as well. She must answer for this. There are rules, even among vampires.” He shook his head. “The three of you should get as far away as possible, because you will likely be blamed for this. In confusion, vampires always gang up and reach for the easiest answer, even if it isn’t correct. You should go somewhere you feel safe. And take Cayne and Simon with you. I don’t think any of you will be safe near court.”

Rage filled me and my hands tightened, because this was so unfair to my friends.

Unfair to the vampires too, who were all too willing to die for someone who’d run and left them vulnerable.

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