Blood Vengeance [COMPLETED]

Chapter Twenty-Seven - Anticipation

Selene felt that she wore her heart like a chain around her neck, pulling her down; so heavy that she could barely stand.

She stood as though on a precipice, and on either side lay a betrayal as deep as a crevasse between two rocks that plunged to the centre of the earth.

Human, or Vampire?

If she chose Arthur, was she choosing death? Was she condemning humanity to eternal slavery?

If she chose to let Arthur drink, and watched him die, what would happen to her? What would happen to the soul within her? Would it wither and die too, having been so close to achieving its purpose in life, and yet thwarted at the final hurdle?

If she let Arthur drink the poison, she would have sided with Virgil and Xander. Her friends. For that's what they had been to her, hadn't they? Or at least the closest thing to friends she had ever known; closer even than Cecily, bound by experience, fear, and purpose.

But on reaching Epershand their purposes had diverged. Theirs was still to kill the Stanley brothers, and to wipe out Vampires. To lead a rebellion they hoped would change the world. Xander had never said as much, but she knew he had felt it; the burden of being the Blood Rebel: a child born of a human mother.

She forced her way through the crowds, which were thinning now as they began to filter into the main hall, leaving the staircase and entrance hall more breathable, with space to move.

Selene ran down the stairs, edging past any trailing Vampires. She had to be there before they served the blood champagne. She had to get to Arthur.

Her blood boiled, rising up to the surface of her skin, heat radiating from body.

As soon as she pushed into the hall she saw Arthur react, his head snapping upwards, diverted from whoever he had been talking to. He was as eager to see her as she was him, and he smiled at her. She had no doubt he would be aware of the racing of her heart, the heat in her bloodstream.

She noticed Cecily, standing naked in the middle of the room, inside the cage that Selene herself had been hauled up from the lagoon below in. Cecily looked scared; small and alone. She grasped the bars and called out Selene's name as she passed, begging for help. But Selene kept her eyes on Arthur. She couldn't respond to Cecily now; there was nothing she could do for her.

Servants were handing out champagne glasses from trays, but Selene was relieved that no one seemed to be drinking yet. They were waiting for the toast. They were waiting for Arthur to start the ceremony.

When she reached him, having been jostled by the crowds on all sides, he held out his hand and led her to the seat beside him at the top table. She felt the heat in his palm, the strength of his fingers as they clutched hers. He smiled, a small upcurve in one side of his mouth; a look that told her they shared a secret that no one else knew, that sealed them together.

Arthur held out the seat for her, and she slipped into it as he pushed it closer to the table behind her knees.

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" he whispered.

She nodded, looking up at him as he leaned down towards her. But her gaze was diverted by the servant who passed by on the other side of the table, filling the champagne glasses. Selene watched as the viscous blood frothed, the bubbles popping against the glass, a white fizz settling on top.

"You seem distracted," he said, pressing his hand to her shoulder to reclaim her attention.

"No. Not at all," she said. "Good. It won't be long."

Arthur turned to the others as they sat at long tables in the room, facing his audience. From where Selene sat she could see the Vampires nearest Cecily, poking their hands through the bars, trying to grab at her skin, and laughing when she tried to run, but had nowhere to go.