and then you’ll never upset me or Daddy again,” she hissed and I fought harder, trying to get away, but her power was all consuming.
“Stop!” Tory’s voice filled the air. “Our king wants him alive. He’ll hate you if you kill him.”
Clara paused, both of her heels driving into my back as she stood fully on top of me. “Hate me?” she gasped.
“Yes, he told me so himself,” Tory said firmly and the shadows suddenly loosened, letting me go so a breath of relief escaped me. “He’s looking for you.”
“Oh Daddy, what have I done?!” Clara ran out the door with a burst of Vampire speed, disappearing into the dark.
I pushed myself to my feet, healing myself. “Thank you,” I sighed and Tory smiled sadly, knocking the door closed behind her.
It haunted me every day knowing my sister was fucking Lionel Acrux. That she was imprisoned by the shadows. She wasn’t herself. I just didn’t know what to do. Tory had her Phoenix to help keep the shadows away now, but unless Darcy worked out how to drive the shadows from the rest of us, I didn’t know how I could save Clara.
“I have to help her,” I said heavily and Tory frowned, making me fear that she might voice what she had before. That Clara couldn’t come back. That she wasn’t in there. But I’d just seen it for myself. “Don’t say she can’t be saved,” I said gruffly, turning away from her dark expression.
“I wasn’t going to,” she said seriously. “Actually…now I’ve been a slave to the shadows myself, I think that maybe you’re right. But that still doesn’t explain how she could be alive after all this time.”
“I know,” I sighed, scraping a hand over my face before looking to the empty bottle of bourbon with a need in me that wouldn’t quit.
“Looking for more of this?” Tory taunted.
I turned and found an illusion shifting at her side, revealing a bottle of bourbon in her grip. I’d spent some time teaching her what I’d taught Darcy and fuck if the two of them weren’t quick learners.
“You and your sister are going to surpass me one of these days.” I smirked and she mirrored my expression as she offered me the bottle.
I took it, grabbing another glass for her from the kitchenette and pouring us each one, all in under two seconds. “Why are you feeding my bad habit, Tory Vega?” I asked suspiciously.
“Well I figure you can heal yourself of liver rot whenever you like so it’s hardly that bad of a habit,” she said, sipping from her glass with a smirk.
“Cheers to that.” I knocked my glass against hers before draining half of mine, the burn on the way down to my stomach easing some of the suffocating pain of seeing my sister like that.
“So, I actually have another little gift for you,” she said, falling onto the couch and I moved to sit in the chair opposite.
“I can’t believe you remembered it’s my birthday,” I said in surprise and her lips popped open.
“Yeah…of course I did dude,” she said, trying to play it off. “Hence all the gifts, duh.”
“It’s tomorrow.” I grinned tauntingly and she scowled.
“Alright, whatever, I didn’t remember. But I clearly get brownie points because my subconscious was like ‘bring Lance a bunch of cool shit.’ And I’ll even let you off the dick kick today as I’m feeling extra generous. So do you want my gift or not?”
“Go on then. But unless it’s a key to my freedom, the reinstating of my position of power in society, and your sister wrapped in a bow in a mood to forgive me, it’s probably not gonna be what I want.”
She sniggered. “Keep dreaming about the second two. But the first one…” She wiggled her eyebrows and reached into her pocket, taking out a gold ring with a red stone embedded in the top. “I found this in the King’s quarters today,” she whispered. “I think it was my father’s.”
“Oh Tory…I couldn’t wear that.”
The twins had told me all about the vision they’d had of their father being Dark Coerced by Lionel, and it had fucked with my head ever since. I’d hated the Savage King on principle for years. I’d wanted more than anything for Darius and the other Heirs to claim the throne together so the Vegas couldn’t take it back from them, fearing the blood of their father running in their veins. But I’d been so fucking wrong. Not just about them,