Catalyst Page 0,77

offer me that chance. Good-bye darling sister." Reggie laughed and turned back to his truck, gesturing for the guards to fetch the items from the bed. "I brought a lovely box."

The guard's hauled a wooden box from the truck and lowered it next to Sophia. She stiffened when she saw it. "Remember this, sister? Remember teaching me how to hunt by locking me in this wooden coffin for months on end? It left me so starved, that by the time you let me out, I'd do anything to get blood."

Sophia swallowed hard, her eyes wide. Her jaw locked as if she was steeling herself to her fate. "A few decades trapped inside sounds perfect." The King practically purred. Stepping over the Queen, he lifted her like it was their wedding night, his eyes filled with emotion. The silver chains burned into his arms, but he didn't care. This was worth it. Reggie opened the lid and Jared lowered his bride inside. Sophia screamed as he did it, thrashing in her chains, making her skin hiss as more of it was burned away. She stilled for a second when her back hit the wood. Leaning over her, Jared kissed his wife on the forehead, and said, "Next time you see my face, you'll die, but you'll be so deranged by starvation by then, that you won't remember. Sweet dreams, my love." He stepped away, and Reggie lowered the lid. Celticad wrapped the coffin in a thick set of chains and the three vampires looked down at the box with the Queen screaming inside.

"Where do you want her?" Celticad asked.

"The tunnel under the palace," the King ordered. He stared at the coffin, saying, "I want to be able to visit her once in a while, make her remember who she was and how she came to be in that box. Parade her through the palace, first. Tell them that their Queen is no more." Celticad nodded once, like it was a normal request. Ordering two other vampires to lift the box with him, Celticad and the others started walking back to the palace with the Queen's coffin lifted high on their shoulders. Her scream pierced the night and faded, carried away by the wind as they brought her inside.

With a grin on his face, the King turned slowly, sensing her. "Come out, my dear, and see how forgiving I can be."

Kahli stepped from the shadows behind Reggie's truck. The others were surprised to see her, but not the King. "Vampires don't forgive," Kahli breathed, her green eyes narrow, pulse pounding in her ears. The way the King looked at Kahli made too many emotions slither through her body. Part of her wanted to go to him, to let him have her, while the part of her brain that slayed his Trackers wanted to feel his blood running between her fingers.

The King's lips pulled into a devastating smile, "No, we don't." He stared at her, neither commanding her to come or moving toward Kahli. The wind whipped his dark hair and blew through the buttons on the front of his shirt, filling it with air. He looked like a god, standing in front of her, dripping with power. After a moment, his smile shifted to a self-satisfied smirk. His eyes cut the side as he said, "Isn't that right, William?"

Will stepped through the crowd of vampires gathered behind the King. They parted for him, as Will walked slowly forward, his eyes fixated on Kahli. His suit was streaked with red and black blood like he'd been fighting. Kahli's heart twisted so hard she thought it broke. In that moment, it felt like time stopped. This couldn't be what it looked like. The King didn't own Will, he'd told her as much, but that meant that Will was there by choice.

A bright red stain ran down the back of Will's head. It was from the spot where Kahli hit him with the flashlight. The blood was still fresh, dripping down his neck, forming long streaks of scarlet across his white suit. Will watched her, his bottomless blue eyes locked on hers. "It is. We're a vengeful lot. Vindictive to a fault, fixated on getting what we want - at any cost." Will stood between Reggie and the King, his arms folded, his eyes hard. He stared at her with disgust in his eyes.

"Will," Kahli breathed his name like he was a ghost. For a moment she thought they caught him, that Will stood there