Whatever was happening, it must have been important.
“Maybe she saw the announcement about Sadie’s rally coming up, and she wants to sort of launch a preemptive strike,” Kelly suggested.
We entered the Great Dome, an enormous chamber studded by towering stone columns that stood ten stories high.
Some of them rose-colored and some golden-hued, they’d formed when stalactites and stalagmites had eventually met in the middle after centuries of growing toward each other at a rate of one cubic inch every one hundred twenty years.
When all of us were present, Imogen arrived.
Once again in black, she wore a sleeveless, full-length column dress. Her only jewelry was a pair of pearls.
She climbed the platform and walked to the center of it where a large, ornate chair waited. Sitting in it, she lifted her hands to the sides.
It must have been some sort of signal because a group of Bloodbound warriors marched into the room in full regalia.
They formed two parallel lines, and between them they dragged a man dressed in filthy, ragged clothing.
His stench filled the large room—or maybe it only seemed that way because of my enhanced sense of smell.
The procession stopped in front of Imogen’s throne—and that’s definitely what it was.
It had taken me a moment to realize it, but now that I saw her in the presence of the entire Bastion community, I understood. All of her talk about being a queen wasn’t figurative. She literally saw herself that way, and apparently so did everyone else here.
Kannon stepped forward, bowed, then spoke. “We have found the rogue who’s been attracting so much unwanted attention. What is your wish?”
Rogue?
My attention lasered to the broken-down figure surrounded by guards. Could it really be Reece?
His face was blocked from my angle, but it was hard to imagine this emaciated, reeking creature could be the same person as the robust, handsome boy I’d met the night of the blood moon.
But then I remembered Kelly’s story about how she had spent weeks hiding and starving and what I’d learned about drinking animal blood.
If it was Reece, he’d been on his own out in the world for a long time now. He might be suffering from animal poisoning or worse.
As if operating with minds of their own, my feet started moving toward him. Heather grabbed my arm.
“What are you doing?” she hissed. “You can’t go up there.”
“It might be Reece,” I hissed back.
Her grip tightened. “It doesn’t matter. You can’t help him now. No one can.”
“What does that mea—”
Imogen’s voice rang through the hall, soft but strangely powerful at the same time. “Step forward.”
Shaking and stumbling, the ragged man obeyed. From my position behind him, I still couldn’t see his face, but I was desperate to. Like Reece, he had dark hair and big hands.
What was going to happen to him? What horrible things had already happened to him?
Oh Reece. I fought a near overwhelming urge to run to the front of the room and step in between him and Imogen.
Her expression was pure disdain.
“Do you have any idea how much trouble you’ve caused? There have been news reports about your escapades. There’s been talk among the human authorities of amassing the National Guard to search the area and exterminate you. I cannot tolerate that. The last thing we want is a search of this area.”
Wait... what? She was talking about the local area here in Virginia. Hadn’t she told me Reece had been spotted in Pennsylvania near where the accident had occurred? Maybe this wasn’t him after all.
Maybe he’s dead and you’re never going to see him again.
No. I couldn’t even think about that. On the night we were both turned, Imogen had said Reece would eventually find his way home. This had to be him.
Whoever he was, the man was in trouble. There was a palpable tension in the air around me, an expectation of... something. I didn’t get the sense that something was good.
He said nothing in answer, only stood before Imogen with his head bowed and his sickly body stooped forward.
I’d heard tales of holding cells deep in the cavern, though of course I hadn’t seen them. This poor wretch probably knew he’d be spending a long time in one—maybe eternity.
Staring down at him, Imogen gave a slight nod, and one of the Bloodbound stepped forward.
He drew his sword.
In an instant, the rogue vampire’s head was disconnected from his body and fell to the stone floor. His legs hinged, and he collapsed.
A scream ripped through the chamber.
It wasn’t until the vampires around