The Queen of the Night

Chapter 29

Ky stood over Matthew. He had been so quiet. My mind had been so focused on Matthew. I should have been watching. I should have heard him. I should have heeded Eric's warning.
Then, the world started to turn again, and the scream of horror melted into anger.
"How could you?" I screamed and stood. Suddenly sounds washed over me. It was the sound of fighting. People all around me were fighting except for Draco whose pulse I could hear among everything. It had stopped briefly but now it raced in anger. I pushed Ky before was restrained by two vampires from the Moroi family. "How could you, Ky?" I screamed at him again. "How could you do this?" They forced me to my knees. The tears were cold like ice, I looked down to hide them. "How...why?"
Ky's fingers wrapped around my chin and he forced my head up to look at his eyes. I didn't know these eyes. My Ky died years ago. This was Kyle Giovanni, a stranger. "I'm sorry it had to be like this, Nao-Amelia. But he was in our way. A necessary sacrifice. You'll understand someday." He let go and I allowed my head to hang. Matthew's hands were close to me. I wanted them to move. I wanted him to wake up, but the stake had driven right through his chest. Even I could understand that this was a permanent death.
I barely felt any bonds around my wrists until the rope cut tightly into my skin. Draco roared, his gruesome transformation only started. I could feel something within me stirring when his orange eyes, his pupils in cat-like slits, met mine, and somewhere in that stirring I could feel everything would be okay. It felt like a short-lived relief. One of the Moroi men shot at Draco, a dart stuck from the fleshy skin where the scales began to form, and the skin replaced scales again. He fell into a deep sleep. The stirring stopped instantly, and the empty hopelessness came back.
Women cried, and I could hear Jordon trying to comfort them softly. On the roof of the veranda, Gerald had disappeared. I didn't try to look for him, instead, I stared at the ground, and put aside my grief and loss, and think rationally. I looked around at the crowd of vampires and found that even Eden had fled. How could he leave his son here?
How could you leave your brother outside alone? The old voice left over from my human years still whispered to this hour, and I had to shake my head to be rid of it. It would do no good to dwell on why or how, but I still felt the wave of anger for Eden abandoning his son.
A child screamed and pierced through my thoughts. Gordon had driven a stake through a woman's chest and it nailed her to the ground. I had to look away from the sight. My body shuddered. What could I do?
Matthew, what should I do?
"What about this one?" I heard one of the Moroi women ask.
"He's a Strigoi. Go ahead. The less of them there are, the less monsters we have."
There was another blood curling scream. I had to look back at the scene before me. They picked up Jordon by the hair, and she spat at them curses in a language I didn't understand, and I didn't care to know.
"She'll be too much trouble."
I couldn't turn away as I watched them shoot her, I assume with the silver bullets Eden had told me about. Then, they picked up a girl she had been holding. I couldn't take it anymore. I scrambled to my feet. "Stop it, Kyle!" I screamed as he opened his mouth to give his verdict.
"You aren't ordering me, are you?" He picked his way through the cowering crowd.
"You are a queen now, Amelia. Show them you aren't afraid." Matthew's voice carried on the wind as it blew ominously through the desert.
"I am."
The Moroi vampires, including Gordon, sniggered darkly. "You aren't really in a position to be giving orders." Ky said with a smirk.
"Am I, now?" The bonds still cut into me, reminding me of their presence. "These are my people, Kyle Giovanni, and I will not stand by cowering before you while they die."
"Your shaking. That tells me otherwise." He mocked, twirling the gun in his hand. "Tell me, where did all of this sudden bravado come from? Is there something I don't know about your clan?"
I stared him down. He seemed much shorter than me, much smaller, in that moment. I wanted him gone suddenly. I wanted him to die. I wanted to kill the boy that stood before me. I wanted him to go away. In my mind something jerked, it felt like something pulled and broke, and Ky was swept off his feet and he collided into the ground.
There were gasps, and whispers, but I didn't heed any of them. "If these people are so useless to you let them go. You have everyone that is important to you, do you not?" I continued as if what had just happened was normal. I tried to keep my voice from shaking. I hoped it sounded as steady to them as it did in my ears.
Ky scrambled to his feet, his neat hair now mussed from the fall. "How did you...?" His voice was uneven, a struggle between anger and confusion. He had to take several moments to compose himself.
I took this time to say, "You can still do right for your clan, Ky. You can let us all go."
Ky took several paces forward and grabbed the front of my dress, pulling my face so close to his that I could make out every speck of color in his eyes. "The next time you do that, I'll kill every last person here." He pushed me so roughly that I tripped over the dress and fell backwards into the dirt. He turned to Gordon. "Round up Jackson, Draco, and her majesty." There were sniggers at the mocking tone. "What you do with the rest of them while we're gone is your business."
"What about Eden and Eric?"
"Eden was smart enough to stay on the edges of the party. He's long gone but his son is a good enough bargaining tool to make sure he doesn't interfere. Eric disappeared shortly after."
Ky grabbed my arm roughly and pulled me to my feet, dragging me away from the crowd. All I could do was hope that Gerald was smart enough to take care of everyone else and hope that he would provide an ample opportunity for everyone to escape.
Vans and trucks and a limo all waited at the front of the house, acting as if nobody was in the home at all. From the roof there was movement that took off into the air, but it disappeared from sight before I could properly catch a glimpse.
I expected to be thrown in one of the trucks or vans, but instead he pushed me into the limo and got in shortly after. Damien sat across from us, watching out the window with a triumphant smile. I wanted to puke suddenly. I wanted none of this to be real.
"The bonds can't be comfortable." Damien said casually.
"If we take them off she could fight us off. She's a lot stronger now than when you last saw her." Ky defended.
"According to rumors and legends she could do that even without the bonds, yet she hasn't for some reason."
Ky nodded, "I threatened to kill everyone."
"All the more reason to take off the bonds then."
Ky hesitated, watching Damien with a cold look. Damien never appeared to have a need to return Ky's look with his own, but he turned back to the window. After a few moments, I felt the bonds loose, and fall away, but its ghostly hands still lingered as I moved them to my lap.
The limo started to drive away.
I kept the thought of Matthew's death at bay. If I thought of it I would cry, and I had no intentions of crying in front of my captors.
The moon outside was new. A wolf howled in the distance. Others joined its sad song. I only stared out into the darkness, and thought of nothing, and listened to nothing the whole ride.