Page 11 of The Coven’s Sacrifice

My thoughts returned to Alexander and Jacob’s argument. I had no idea what they were yelling about, but they seemed to have done something wrong at one point, blaming themselves for it. Maybe it had seemed weak of me to just allow them to do whatever they did to me. I doubted all of my ancestors had just willingly accepted their fate, but these were vampires. I felt no desire whatsoever challenging them on this. It did make me sound weak, but I was the only one who’d ever know how easily I’d accepted my fate. They knew, of course, but they were prisoners here, as much as I was.

A soft knock sounded at the door I was still resting against. I knew it wasn’t Sienna; she knocked differently. I doubted it would be Alexander. I somehow imagined his knocks were firm and controlled. This knock was tentative and soft.

Rising from the floor, I opened the door, bracing myself for whatever they wanted. It was Jacob standing there, looking tired with a small smile on his lips. “Can I come in?”

I nodded. Again, they were allowed in my rooms, something I didn’t have a say in. It was still nice of him to ask, though, creating the illusion that I did have a choice in the matter, even when we both knew I didn’t.

“I want to tell you a story,” he said, stopping in front of my bedroom door. “I want you to rest while I talk. Is that okay?”

Nodding, I followed him into my bedroom. I’d wanted to bathe, but I’d yet to order anything new to wear anyway.

Jacob got comfy on my bed, sitting casually against the headboard. I sat at the end of the bed, waiting for him to go on. He just smiled and petted the spot next to him. “Please relax. It is a long story and I wish to tell you all the details.”

Trying not to show my eagerness, I hurried to lay next to him. If he was about to tell me about them, or about the curse, then I wanted to know everything.

“Close your eyes,” he ordered. The words made me tense up and he sighed. “I promise not to hurt you.”

It was funny how little a promise like that meant. Like I would somehow trust his word. But there simply wasn’t anything I could do other than to follow his orders. Closing my eyes, I felt just how drained I was. Getting fed from by three different vampires had taken its toll on my body, but I wasn’t about to whine to Jacob about it. I just lay there, waiting for him to do something to me.

“I am going to stoke your hair now,” Jacob said, his tone soft.

My eyes flew open at that, “You’re going to what now?”

Jacob just smiled. “I will pet your hair while I tell you the story.”

“Um, why?”

“Because I want to.”

There wasn’t anything I could say to that, so I closed my eyes and wondered if there was a story to be told, or if this was Jacob’s way of killing me without me noticing. Would Harland, or Alexander sneak in and attack while my defenses were lowered? Was Jacob trying to get me to fall asleep and then kill me?

Jacob’s voice was comforting when he spoke next, his touch gentle on my hair. “I want to tell you the story of how the blood vow came to be. The true story.”

Chapter Eight

Colin

“The true story?” I asked, even though I knew better than to interrupt the vampire.

Jacob just smiled and waited for me to close my eyes again. “Yes, the true story. I know many of you have it all wrong, and I think your ancestors intended for that to happen. I wish for you to know how we became vampires in the first place, and how the blood vow was made.”

I didn’t dare interrupt him. I had a vampire next to me in bed. Stroking my hair. Life was unreal.

“It all began eight-hundred years ago,” his tone was calm and steady, soothing in a way. “We had all just survived a small war, but back then it had seemed like a big one. We walked back to the base we lived at, us soldiers, and celebrated our win. Celebrated that we were still alive.” He then chuckled to himself. “Little did we know, but we would all die that night.”

I was so into the story, I didn’t even register his hand in my hair anymore.

“Alexander and I were lovers, even back then. It had to be kept a secret, or we likely would have been killed for loving one another. He was eight years older and my biggest wish. We had kept our intimate acts a secret from the other soldiers, but we were drunk and happy.” He sighed. “We found one of the empty cabins and celebrated in private, him and I. Little did we know, his betrothed, Gertha, would find us in a compromising pose.”

Gertha was the one who’d started the blood vow. My ancestor.

I sat up, eyes wide. “No.”

Jacob nodded, lips tight. “She did not care for what she saw.”

“I bet,” I breathed, fearing what would come next.

“Gertha was a witch,” Jacob continued. “We did not know this, of course, as witches kept their magic a secret back then. She called him a monster, then me the very same. She cut her arm, dripping blood in front of us. Her magic lashed out, affecting all of us soldiers in the area. We transformed into vampires. All sixteen soldiers died that night and were reborn as monsters.”