Soul of the Vampire King (Blood Fire Saga Book 3) Read online

  Soul of the Vampire King

  Blood Fire Saga Book 3

  Bella Klaus

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Night of the Vampire King

  Night of the Vampire King

  Copyright © 2020 by Bella Klaus.

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher.

  www.BellaKlaus.com

  Chapter One

  The walls of the cave seemed to close in on me, and darkness wrapped around my neck like a noose. None of that mattered because I was caught in the gaze of a woman with the same heart-shaped face, high cheekbones, and wide mouth as Aunt Arianna.

  She was thinner in the face and harder in the eyes. If Aunt Arianna’s eyes were quartz, what stared back at me could slice through diamonds. My throat dried as the woman scrutinized my appearance and tried not to tighten her lips. This was my mother—the woman who everyone had presumed to be dead. She wasn’t only alive but seemed to have a position of authority within this den of fire wielders.

  The snap and crackle of the flaming torches on the walls filled the silence that stretched out from the moment I had uttered her name. As much as I tried to find similarities between her and me, all I could see was the way the light made the ends of her red hair shine like poppies reflecting the sunlight.

  While all the women in our family wore dresses or flowing skirts, she wore a denim jacket and tight-fitting jeans as though it was a uniform. She was too tall, too stern, too bitter-looking to be my relative, and everything about her screamed that she was the complete opposite to Aunt Arianna.

  “Welcome to the Flame.” She raised her pointed chin and stared down at me with eyes that glimmered with triumph. “My name is Aurora, and I’m—”

  “My mother,” I said through clenched teeth.

  The smug victory on her features faded, as though my anger was a disappointment. What did the opinion of this woman matter? Because of her, I grew up without a mother or the knowledge of my origins. Because of her, I grew up thinking that I was an orphan. Because of her I spent the last three years being haunted by Jonathan and then abducted.

  My gaze dropped to the glass jar containing Valentine’s heart, which now swirled with the Mage King’s magic. Black shadows streamed in and out the organ’s veins and arteries, which now lay on the transparent base where it had once floated.

  A tight fist of grief squeezed my heart. Jonathan could have brought Valentine and transported him here just as he had grabbed me. Instead, he sliced off Valentine’s arm with those infernal flames and flickered us goodness knows how many miles away.

  “We need to go back to the Supernatural Council.” I wrenched my arm out of Jonathan’s grip.

  Aurora gestured at Racon, the large fire wielder who had led the team that stormed the room where we had thought my uncle and cousins were being whipped. “Racon, Clarence, Gail, and Coral were grabbed by enforcers, and their hostages vanished into fairy dust the moment fighting broke out.” Her gaze turned to Jonathan. “Where is my sister? Report.”

  “It was a trap.” Jonathan ran a hand through his bowl-cut hair. “We took every precaution not to be detected, but the hostages we saw being tortured were faerie shapeshifters set up by the Demon King.”

  Aurora’s eyes hardened. She stepped toward us and placed her hands on her hips, her lips twisting into a rictus of disgust. I made a mental note that the woman also disliked Jonathan in case that knowledge might be useful later.

  Jonathan stepped back and raised his palms. “That’s all there is to report. The Mage King came in while we were trying to escape and wrapped Mera in shadows, but we broke through and brought her back like you wanted.”

  I stepped out from behind Jonathan. “You mean Valentine broke through the shadows.”

  Aurora’s gaze skipped over me as though I hadn’t spoken, and she turned to Roman and Leman, the twins who had been part of the team to confront the Demon King. Her features softened, and she said, “Congratulations on retrieving Hemera.”

  My lips tightened. They were all talking as though I was some sort of prize. Didn’t she want to know what had happened to Aunt Arianna and Great-Aunt Laratte, or were they just bait to make me come to the Flame to become one of her minions?

  “Valentine came with us.” I hugged the jar to my chest as though it was the only thing keeping me tethered to this reality. “Valentine saved our souls, but we’ve left him in the Supernatural Council.”

  She stared down at me with expressionless eyes. I couldn’t tell if she didn’t give a damn or was waiting for me to explain myself.

  My throat thickened, and I swallowed several times in quick succession, trying to form the words without breaking down into incoherent sobs. “Without Valentine we all would have been dragged to hell by the Demon King. How did we repay him? The Mage King pushed his magic through Valentine’s heart, and now he’s stuck there, under their control.”

  Aurora’s cold gaze dropped to the jar, and the corners of her lips curled down. “That is unfortunate.”

  “We owe him our lives,” I blurted, sounding like I was repeating myself. “He was the one member of the Supernatural Council who didn’t want to kill fire users for being born. With the Mage King in control of Valentine’s money, he’ll come after fire users next.”

  “You don’t know that,” Jonathan muttered.

  I whirled on the skinny man, whose pale eyes widened. If Jonathan had really wanted to, he could have helped me save Valentine, but Jonathan had been resentful of him from the start. “The Mage King bloody told me his plans. And you cut off Valentine’s arm.”

  “Indeed?” Aurora raised a brow.

  Jonathan stepped forward, blocking my view of Aurora. “Because he was already compromised and was trying to hand Mera over.”

  One of the twins said something in Valentine’s defense, and the other talked over his brother, and Racon chimed in to defend Jonathan until it was a jumble of raised voices. My head pounded, and an ache spread across my chest. What on earth was the Mage King doing to Valentine’s body? What did it mean for his soul? I hugged the jar to my chest, wishing there was a way to extract the foul black magic and replace it with the preserving charms that had kept his heart fresh.

  “Enough.” Aurora’s voice cut through the chatter.

  Everyone fell silent and turned their attention toward the older woman.

  “As far as I’m concerned, the mission was a success,” she said. “Dismissed.”

  Jonathan raised his shoulders up to his ears and clasped his hands over his neck. “And my probation?”

  “I will present your case to the High Priest.” She swept her arm toward an archway. “Everybody return to your quarters.”

  As the others streamed out of the cave, Gail turned around and offered me a sympathetic smile. Racon placed his arm around the smaller girl’s shoulder, and they exited the chamber with the others. Only Jonathan trailed behind, glancing ove
r his shoulder as though he was expecting us to follow. Aurora raised a hand to shoo him away, and he left, leaving me alone with the older woman.

  My mouth dried, and the pulse in my throat fluttered. Since discovering that she was alive, I hadn’t allowed myself the luxury of picturing what would happen if we ever met or what she would be like. I had heard plenty about her from Aunt Arianna and seen photos of the vibrant young woman with flame-red hair who had suddenly disappeared from Logris, only to send a newborn a year after leaving.

  Even in my most fevered nightmare or even while Jonathan had abducted me with the threat of his black flames, I hadn’t imagined our current reunion. I also hadn’t imagined myself referring to her by her given name. Aurora seemed more like an enforcer captain than a mother, and not even the type of woman who took in young fire wielders and nurtured their talent.

  Her gaze swept up and down my form. “You favor my sister.”

  “Actually, she always said I looked like you,” I replied.

  “Did you ask where they were keeping her?”

  A lump formed in the back of my throat, and I rested my chin on the glass jar. “The Demon King admitted that Aunt Arianna had disappeared from Logis before my arrest.”

  Aurora nodded, the corner of her lip curving into a faint smile. “I did think it was peculiar of her to get caught, especially when she had your entire lifetime to prepare for such an occasion. My older sister always had a plan for every contingency.”

  I squeezed my eyes shut at the implication that Aurora knew I would one day develop fire magic but had cast me away for twenty-four years until she deemed me useful.

  “Right.” I gulped. “It was nice meeting you, but I need to leave. My fiancé is—”

  “A lost soul forced out of a corpse that you no longer control.”

  The words hit like a slap, and I opened my eyes to meet her hard green eyes. What the hell did she know about Valentine? The man had survived death to protect me, and now she was just writing him off?

  “But I can help him.” My voice trembled—with rage or fear or a combination of both. If I didn’t get through to this woman, I might lose Valentine forever.

  Without a reply, Aurora turned on her heel and walked toward the exit. I glanced around the empty cave, wondering if she wanted me to follow, but when she didn’t say anything, I continued after her.

  My skin tightened with irritation, and the pulse between my ears pounded like a war drum. Was she just the silent type and needed to think things over, or was she ignoring me?

  “Could you show me the way out?” I tried to keep my voice calm. “Valentine still needs me.”

  She glanced at me over her shoulder. “Jonathan tells me he has reverted into a full-blown preternatural who feeds on humans. Such creatures are a menace.”

  “But I have phoenix flames—”

  “Which are currently being constrained by large quantities of firestone in your blood.” Aurora stepped through the archway into a pristine white hallway, illuminated by wall lights. She paused and folded her arms across her chest.

  As I passed under the archway, invisible tendrils of magic snaked around my neck, my arms, and my ankles. My pulse quickened, and sweat beaded across my brow. I reared back and tried to pull out of their grip, but they tightened, squeezing all the air from my lungs. The only thing stopping me from dying was the reaper’s cloak Valentine had draped over my shoulders before we had left for the Supernatural Council.

  “What is this?” I said with a gasp.

  “Wards,” Aurora replied, her chest swelling with what looked like pride. “The gateway is designed to asphyxiate anyone who doesn’t have fire in the blood. It’s one of the security measures we maintain to keep the Flame free from intruders.”

  I twisted about within the bonds, wondering if she had helped to perfect the wards just as Aunt Arianna had helped Valentine with those of the Notting Hill safe house. Securing the jar with my left arm, I stretched out my right hand and pushed a blast of flames through my fingers. The invisible tendrils fell away, allowing me to finally inhale a breath.

  With a relieved sigh, I stepped into the hallway.

  “But Valentine said he would take me to a healer…” My voice trailed off. I couldn’t step into the demon coffee shop without a powerful being like Valentine to watch my back. What if another vampire was lurking inside and caught the scent of my cursed blood?

  Aurora marched down the white hallway, which stretched another forty feet before curving out of sight. “Freeing you of the firestone won’t be a problem.”

  My mouth fell open. After everything that had happened so far, I’d almost lost hope that the people here would be able to help me. “How?”

  “We have our own share of healers within the Flame,” she said with a tiny smile.

  I hurried after her. “Can I see someone now?”

  “Tomorrow morning,” she replied.

  Frustration welled through my insides. How could I wait twelve hours to free my magic when the Mage King could be doing anything to Valentine? Without the preservation charms maintaining his heart, it might go putrid, and Valentine would turn into the mindless preternatural I had read about in Istabelle’s library.

  “This is an emergency.” A rush of emotion made my voice choke, and I forced out the words, “Isn’t one of your healers on duty right now?”

  Aurora stopped walking, making me skid to a halt to avoid bumping into her back. The older woman turned and fixed me with a sharp gaze. “You told me that the Mage King planned on using the Vampire King’s vast resources. I assume the purpose of this is to increase his sphere of power in Logris.”

  “Yes?” I leaned against the wall, my heart beating hard enough for both myself and the organ festering in the jar.

  Aurora’s eyes narrowed, her pupils as thin as needles. “Then I would assume that the Mage King intends to keep the Vampire King undead with the appearance of being alive?”

  My throat dried, but I managed to stutter, “But he’s still in danger.”

  “Keep your emotions under control and remember that your…” She pinched her lips into a moue of distaste. “Fiancé is a resilient creature who has survived for centuries.”

  I swallowed, and the dry membranes of my throat stuck together. Aurora’s words made sense logically, but I couldn’t shut off such feelings after seeing the man I loved dismembered and enslaved. As she continued to stare at me like I was Jonathan or one of her other underlings, the acid in my stomach simmered with resentment. She had no right to pull faces at my choice of fiancé, no right to send a violent, obsessive creep to report back my every move, and no right to exercise any form of authority over me.

  Every instinct in my body wanted to rear up and lash out at this cold woman, to tell her that I couldn’t dismiss and discard others as easily as her, and that having emotions was a strength and not something to be derided. Even my fingers twitched toward her face.

  I forced down the urge, reminding myself that this was her territory. Right now, I needed her help more than I needed to vent my anger. If she and her allies had the means to unlock my power, I would endure anything.

  Inhaling a deep breath, I pushed air into my lungs until my diaphragm ached. This was a technique Istabelle taught me to keep control of my mind during times of difficulty. Aurora continued staring at me as though expecting me to back down, so I pushed away my anger in an outward breath.

  Mirroring her cold voice, I asked, “How soon can I remove the firestone from my blood and rescue King Valentine?”

  Aurora’s head inclined with approval. “That depends entirely on your ability to follow instructions and master your training.”

  A sharp breath whistled through my teeth. “Training? I thought I could go as soon as the healer removed the fire—”

  She raised a finger, making my mouth click shut. “How do you expect to transport yourself to the Vampire King’s side without training? Or fight the Demon King, the Mage King, and the other Supernatural Cou
ncil monarchs who have killed our kind for the past five centuries?”

  “I wasn’t planning on charging in there with my hands blazing,” I muttered.

  Aurora sniffed and continued down the hallway. “That would only lead to your enslavement…”

  She let her sentence trail off, implying that she was leaving the part about Valentine’s enslavement unsaid. I clenched my jaw. Aunt Arianna hadn’t told me she’d be this prickly. Perhaps Aurora disliked me because I had ruined our reunion.

  Blood roared past my ears and my pulse boomed louder than our combined footsteps. If Aurora wouldn’t offer any of her fire mages to help me rescue Valentine, I would find a way to free him without their help.

  My gaze dropped down to the heart lying on the base of the transparent jar. The first thing I needed to do before I regained my magic was have someone free Valentine from these shadows and from the Mage King’s influence.

  We passed dozens of unmarked white doors, which all stood along the left with a blank wall on our right. The doors could have led to stairwells, elevators, or even bedrooms. I had no idea how many people lived and worked here, but I was beginning to think that the building was shaped like a donut—at least on the inside.

  “Where is this place?” I asked.

  “Safe from the Supernatural Council,” Aurora said, her voice mild.

  “Are we in London?”

  She made a snorting noise with her nostrils and continued walking. I rolled my eyes. It wasn’t as if I was about to run to the Demon King with sat-nav coordinates. I hated the creature just as much as they did.

  Aurora stopped at one of the many nondescript white doors and pushed it open to reveal a ten-by-ten room of concrete walls, a matching floor, and a narrow cot with no pillow. A metallic unit sat low in the corner, looking like it doubled as both toilet and sink.