The Blood Rite

Chapter Eighteen

"Wait here," Orpheus said. Ruby nodded and sat in a daze in a cushioned chair just before his desk. He hadn't spoken a single word since he'd guided her out of the ballroom. His steps had been hurried, his expression a mixture of panic and excitement. Even with her vampire strength and speed, Ruby had struggled to keep up with him.

Now she sat alone in his office, waiting for him. She pointedly ignored the space of carpet behind her where she'd been unceremoniously thrown after waking on a morgue tray and then where she'd again stood just that morning. The memory of being on her knees before him made her sit straighter.

A few long minutes passed before finally he entered again along with two other vampires; a tall woman with ebony skin and flowing black curls, and a man with striking auburn hair and green eyes. They were both stunning, something Ruby was realizing was common with vampires.

"Ruby," Orpheus said, gesturing to the girl, "this is Sonya, and this is Erik. This is Ruby, a new addition to vampire society."

They both offered a kind smile. Sonya used the moment of silence to take the seat directly beside Ruby, and Erik leaned against the desk next to Orpheus, the latter glaring at him. "Hey, so we hear you have a very unique power."

"That you can conjure the night sky," Erik added.

Ruby glanced nervously at Orpheus, who urged her with a sharp nod, "Uh, yeah I guess. I don't really understand it."

"That's okay, with our help you will," Sonya said, smiling softly.

"They will be helping you to cultivate and use your power so that you can become strong," Orpheus said.

Ruby paused, her brows furrowing. She eyed Orpheus before asking, "Strong enough for what?"

Erik chuckled and Orpheus's lips tugged up. Crossing his arms he said, "For my army."

"Army?" Ruby breathed, feeling her heart drop, "An army for what?"

"That is what I brought you here for. I will tell you everything you wish to know if you can promise me that you can handle it."

Handle what? She wanted to ask. Was he in some kind of war? If so, why did he want her part of it? She had no experience fighting and definitely none with her newfound power. Sure, he could get her trainers to improve, but what if she didn't want to kill someone? What if she didn't want to be a weapon?

"I don't want to take part in a war," she rushed out, "I don't want to kill anyone."

The two vampires shared meaningful glances, but he held Ruby's gaze. She saw the wheels churning in his mind. Would he order her to leave? To be killed now that she'd openly refused him?

A heavy silence filled the room. Ruby didn't fidget under his eyes. She wouldn't kill.

Finally, he said, "I'm not saying you'll have to. But we are under attack. We have enemies who need, at any cost, to be defeated before they kill us."

"I'm not a weapon."

"No," he said simply, "you're not. But you could be a valuable crew member. You'd be saving more lives than you're taking, if it comes to that."

"But you know it will come to that don't you." Sonya inhaled sharply at Ruby's tone, the blatant irritation. Ruby ignored it. He could talk around the truth all he wanted.

He lifted his chin. Motioning for Sonya to stay quiet with his hand, he leaned forward on the desk and said gravely, "Yes I do. It will. There will be many deaths on both sides. The innocents inside of this mansion and more elsewhere will be slaughtered and for what? Because our enemy wishes to have our power for themselves. If you join you won't just level the playing field, you will give us the advantage. Without you, we could be as good as dead. So," he said, walking around to lean back on his desk, and shrugging, "the only options you have are to walk away and leave thousands of innocents in danger, or to join us."

Ruby shot up from her chair and the motion brought them closer than comfortable. Sonya and Erik moved to the ready, waiting for Ruby to so much as breathe wrong around their master. She released a sharp, furious breath, "How can you put me in this position? I just watched all of my friends die and am now learning how to be a completely different species that I'd never known existed. I've seen enough death and more than enough blood. I'll be damned if another's death is on my hands!"

"Who do you think killed your friends?"

His words, spoken so plainly, so void of any emotion knocked her back a step. Her breath whooshed out of her and Ruby couldn't speak, couldn't think of anything in response to what he'd revealed. But he was waiting for her to answer him. She fumbled over her trembling lips and said the only thing she could, "What?"

"The lesser vampires I'm wanting you to join me in fighting against are the ones who crashed the car and destroyed it. They caused your friends' deaths. Those who didn't die on impact were killed by them. You and Halle were supposed to die too but for some reason, you didn't."

"No," she said, shaking her head sharply, "no. We must have hit a wall or, or something. But there was no one else there."

"He arched his brow, "Did you actually see what you hit?"

"She swallowed all of the arguments down deep into herself and thought about what she'd seen. Nothing. It all had been a blur. She'd seen Talon standing up, had seen Halle open her mouth to scream and then she woke with a piece of metal in her gut. What had Halle seen?

Seeing the truth on her face, he said, "You never would have seen them coming. They know how to stay invisible. We've been searching for them for centuries. They're called the Shadows for a reason."

"But why?" She asked weakly. All of the fight disappeared from her and she slumped back into her chair, causing the other vampires to release sighs.

"Normally, it would be to perform dark rituals, or what High Vampire society knows as Black Rituals. It seems they killed your friends and collected their blood for some of their rituals. These rituals give them power, but are highly dangerous to the victim whose blood is used."

"A ritual," she breathed, her fists curled.

He gave a sharp nod, "I can't tell you what kind of ritual their blood was used in, but if it was used in the one I'm thinking of, then your friends' souls may have been doomed to Hell."

The air whooshed out of her. There was a pounding in her head, steadily growing louder with the fire in her chest.

"So you see," he continued, "it is imperative that we have your help to stop this from happening to anyone else."

Ruby's nails dug painfully into the leather of the chair. These people, whoever they are, murdered her best friends. Lexi, Rex, Beau...Talon. People she'd cared for, even loved. They were taken away from her and for what? Greed. It's disgusting, she thought, fuming.

I'm going to kill them all.

She had made the argument of not wanting anyone's blood on her hands only moments before, but now she was itching for it. The chasm inside of her swelled and she would have fallen in right then and there if not for the small poke of sanity she had. What would she do then? Hunt down an enemy who couldn't be found?

No. She needed to plan. When she got her revenge, she'd hit them where it hurt most. For her friends. For Talon. Heat burst through her and the shadow inside the chasm stirred.

She raised her gaze to his and, slowly debedding her nails from his chair, said, "I will join. But only if, when we find the ones who killed my friends, we make them suffer."

The air in the room tensed at her words but triumph goldened Orpheus's eyes and with a tilt to his sensual lips, he gave a short nod, "By your command."

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