Chapter 14- Some Hours Later in a Cell
jldew93
Author of the Aether Cycle
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I woke some hours later in a cell. My wand was gone, as were all of my clothes except my underwear. I still had my pentacle. I tried tapping a ley and found nothing. Some of my magic had returned, but I was still drained from that telekinesis. There was a runed bracelet on my wrist that glowed a soft red.
"Voice, do you know where we are?" I asked.
"As far as I can tell, that she-devil teleported us somewhere. That bracelet has some kind of magic inhibitor on it." He said.
I cast my senses towards the bracelet. It felt slick, like blood on my skin, and I shuddered.
"It looks like the little brat has woken up." I heard a voice from the shadows say, and the woman walked up to my cell.
"You!" I snarled.
"Temper, temper." The woman said, and made a clicking sound with her tongue. She held a diminutive black box in her hand.
"Fuck you!" I said. And she recoiled like she'd been slapped. Then she smiled.
"We don't use that kind of language here." She said, and her thumb twitched. Then pain like I'd never known shot out of the bracelet.
Suddenly my world was pain.
Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain that set every nerve aflame. Pain that felt like my teeth and nails were all ripped out at once. Pain that shot stars across my vision and caused the world to ring with an unseen high pitched whine.
Pain that Voice screamed from, and pain that tore my own scream from my throat and swiftly turned that into a whimper. Dimly, I realized that I'd pissed myself. The woman made another clicking sound.
"The little street rat has pissed himself." She said.
"F-fuck you." I said, spitting blood filled saliva out of the bars and hitting her in the face. I realized that at some point, I must have bit my tongue. She snarled and wiped it away. Some were flung to the floor. Some soaked into the jacket she was wearing.
"You little shit! Do you know how expensive silk is?" She said, and pressed the button again. This time. I fell to the stone ground.
"Kid. S-s-she has your blood." Voice said.
I didn't respond. I don't think I could have spoken if I wanted to.
"Blood and fire. Set fire to your blood." Voice said, and it took all my will power to form a coherent,
"What?"
"Blood and fire. Sanguinem. Ignis. Silk. It catches fire easily." Voice ground out.
I looked at her.
"You're going to burn." I said. And she let out a laugh that was like jagged glass against my ears.
"I'd like to see you try." She smirked.
With a shaking hand, I reached towards her.
"I wouldn't try it. Those bars are warded." She said. It took every bit of will power I had to utter those two words and throw my magic behind them. There was a sudden spark, and the sleeve of her coat caught fire, emerald flames rapidly climbed up her arm. The puddle of spit and blood on the floor did as well. Then finally, her screams intensified as the bloody residue from my spit ignited her face. I felt my power drain away, saw spots at the corners of my eyes, and then felt myself fall forward. The next time I woke, I came to consciousness slowly. I heard voices first. They were speaking in a different language, and I wasn't sure what they were saying.
"El está despierto." One of them said. I felt someone grab my face, and slap me a few times. I opened my eyes, and tried to wince away from the bright light hanging above me.
"When my guardian finds you, you're all dead." I said, and the two men laughed.
"I think not." A third voice said, and the hands holding my face up to the light dropped away. I blinked the spots out of my eyes. I was in a small, square room that looked like it was part of the townhouse. Even the table looked like it was taken from one of the studies. What wasn't part of the townhouse, were the two chains keeping my hands at my sides. My wand was on the table in front of me. I closed my eyes, looking for my magic. It was there, and had recharged slightly. I wasn't quite at full, but I had some magic back. The third voice belonged to a rather dapper looking man. His features looked youthful, but his eyes looked old, and his voice had a thin rasping quality to it. Like wind rustling paper.
"Allow me to introduce myself, young street rat, I am Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, 1st Marquess of the Valley of Oaxaca, Master Vampire of Rio de Janeiro, and who might you be?" He asked.
"None of your fucking buisness." I replied.
"Such rudeness in today's generation." He replied, and shook his head ruefully.
"Well, my young friend, I'm not sure what Señor Luciano wants with you, but your guardian has made a few poor decisions the last few weeks. I'm afraid that you are going to be on the receiving end of that comeuppance." He said. I noticed for the first time we were surrounded by mages.
"Kid. Ever hear of a bigger fish?" Voice said.
"What?"
"Say exactly what I tell you to." Voice said, and I decided to go along with it.
"When my guardian finds out who you are, and where you took me, you're all going to die." I said.
The man laughed, a rich, full laugh that sounded like he'd heard the funniest thing ever.
"Your guardian doesn't scare me." He said.
"Doesn't he?" I asked.
"Bethany Andrews is your guardian." He said.
"Is she?" I replied, and a flicker of uncertainty crossed his eyes.
"Why would Bethany Andrews adopt a child?" I asked. He stopped.
"Why would Bethany Andrews take a child on what must be an expensive journey. What day is it?" I asked.
"It is almost the Summer Solstice."
"When summer fades into fall." I replied.
\
"Tell me, Señor, and I'm sure you can answer this. Since you seem to have been following us. Who else boarded our train when we left Dublin?"
"I'm afraid I don't know where you're going with this." He said.
"Well, in addition to Lady Andrews, there were two other very important people on that train. Two delegations of the Fae Courts. The Queen of Summer, and the King of Fall. I'm sure you know their Names. Shall I Call my King's Name to confirm?" I asked.
"You expect me to believe that some street rat has the ear of the Lord of Fall?" He asked incredulously.
"His name begins with an A and ends with an R. I'll gladly say the rest. If you don't release me." Indecision flickered across his face again.
"Bethany Andrews deals in favors. I am such a favor. We will end you, vampire." I replied. I grinned smugly. I had won.
"I would believe that. Fae kind do assume all ages and shapes, and only someone with great skill could kill someone as powerful as my Consuela." He said, and I smirked.
"Yes, it would take someone with great power to defeat a vampire such as her. Or someone with an enormous amount of luck." He said, returning my smug grin.
"There is one detail you have forgotten, street rat." He said and grabbed my hand.
"You wear the heir ring to House Andrews. You are just a gutter rat. One that idiotic woman has raised above his station. But at the end of the day, you are a street rat, adopted by Bethany Andrews, and I'm not afraid of Bethany Andrews." He said.
"You should be." A voice said. Bethany's voice.
Bethany wasn't there, and then suddenly, she was. A whirling dervish of death and leonine grace. She had a strange silver box in each of her hands and she spun around the room, firing on the mages surrounding us. A wave of her hand, and an intoned, brutal Gravitare! and one of the mages slammed to the ground and stayed there. Her wand appeared from somewhere, as one of those boxes vanished, and a blast of golden eldritch light shot from her wand, and one of them dissolved to ash.
Amy came next, wand in one hand, box in the other, a hellish cascade of crimson flying from wand and box, striking targets left and right.
Finally, in a flash of light, Vincent arrived, wand in each hand, white spellfire hurling out spells and chains. In less than a second's time, the entire room had been bound, dropped, and killed aside from Cortés, who hand me at wand point.
My wand was on the table in front of me, and my hands were chained. Bethany was the first to speak.
"Hernán, let my charge go, and we won't have an issue. I don't have any interests on this continent aside from you. Let him go, and it will be like none of this happened."
"That's twice said, mage." The man said.
"I can't believe you're that stupid, Hernán. Thrice and done. Do we have an accord?" She asked, one of the strange boxes in her hand trained on a point just behind him.
"Tell your bitch to stand down." Amy said, her wand pointed in the same direction.
Several things happened at once, someone behind Cortés unleashed a spell, and I unleashed a pulse of unrestrained, unrestricted, telekinetic force. This blast of force shattered the cuffs tying me to the ground, spraying Cortés and I both with razor sharp shards of metal. The room whirled, and Cortés flipped me over unto my back with a snarl and I shrunk back against his fangs. I activated my shield with a thought, and he pounded against it, black taloned fists sparking against the construct. In a couple of blows, cracks had already appeared.
"Kid, knockback spell!" Voice said.
"Fuck that." I replied back.
"Iactus!" I screamed, throwing power out into the world.
My wand sent out a wave of explosive emerald energy that didn't so much slam into Cortés as it did disintegrate him, showering me in blood.
I scrambled to my feet and I ran towards Bethany. I felt a spell lance into my shoulder, cold pain cut into my back, and since I was already off balance, that impact sent me forward and at an angle. Somewhere behind me I heard a sudden scream that cut off almost instantly, and I felt heat run down my back.
Bethany made a grabbing motion with her hand. I tumbled toward her, and she grabbed me. She yanked something off her neck, and then the world went fuzzy. Suddenly we were back in the apartment. It had been repaired. There was no trace of the kidnapping. Bethany immediately began walking the perimeter, bringing our wards to life.
I felt a wave of vertigo and idly wondered where it was coming from. Everything seemed loud and buzzy suddenly. Then I felt pain again, just as Voice spoke.
"Kid, your back. Someone tagged you with a spell."
"Beth, my back." I said, and the world tilted forward The last thing I knew before I fell was Bethany running towards me.
///
BR
///
What did everyone think? If you liked this chapter, please consider giving me an upvote, or a like if you're reading this on SpaceBattles or Questionable Questing. This is an already completed work, and each post will be a chapter (or half chapter) of the first book in the Aether Cycle. I'll be posting these chapters every week. If you like what you read, and want to support the author, and don't want to wait for updates, please consider purchasing The Voice in His Head from Amazon or Audible, or supporting me on Patreon.
You can discuss this chapter below, or in the Discord. If you're a Troper, the Aether Cycle TV Tropes page can be found here. This needs Wiki Love, so if you like doing that, and you're a fan, be my guest!
Finally, I'm going to be starting a newsletter shortly, and you can find the signup form for that here! Anyone who signs up for my newsletter will gain access to an exclusive short story from Bethany's point of view.
"Voice, do you know where we are?" I asked.
"As far as I can tell, that she-devil teleported us somewhere. That bracelet has some kind of magic inhibitor on it." He said.
I cast my senses towards the bracelet. It felt slick, like blood on my skin, and I shuddered.
"It looks like the little brat has woken up." I heard a voice from the shadows say, and the woman walked up to my cell.
"You!" I snarled.
"Temper, temper." The woman said, and made a clicking sound with her tongue. She held a diminutive black box in her hand.
"Fuck you!" I said. And she recoiled like she'd been slapped. Then she smiled.
"We don't use that kind of language here." She said, and her thumb twitched. Then pain like I'd never known shot out of the bracelet.
Suddenly my world was pain.
Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain that set every nerve aflame. Pain that felt like my teeth and nails were all ripped out at once. Pain that shot stars across my vision and caused the world to ring with an unseen high pitched whine.
Pain that Voice screamed from, and pain that tore my own scream from my throat and swiftly turned that into a whimper. Dimly, I realized that I'd pissed myself. The woman made another clicking sound.
"The little street rat has pissed himself." She said.
"F-fuck you." I said, spitting blood filled saliva out of the bars and hitting her in the face. I realized that at some point, I must have bit my tongue. She snarled and wiped it away. Some were flung to the floor. Some soaked into the jacket she was wearing.
"You little shit! Do you know how expensive silk is?" She said, and pressed the button again. This time. I fell to the stone ground.
"Kid. S-s-she has your blood." Voice said.
I didn't respond. I don't think I could have spoken if I wanted to.
"Blood and fire. Set fire to your blood." Voice said, and it took all my will power to form a coherent,
"What?"
"Blood and fire. Sanguinem. Ignis. Silk. It catches fire easily." Voice ground out.
I looked at her.
"You're going to burn." I said. And she let out a laugh that was like jagged glass against my ears.
"I'd like to see you try." She smirked.
With a shaking hand, I reached towards her.
"I wouldn't try it. Those bars are warded." She said. It took every bit of will power I had to utter those two words and throw my magic behind them. There was a sudden spark, and the sleeve of her coat caught fire, emerald flames rapidly climbed up her arm. The puddle of spit and blood on the floor did as well. Then finally, her screams intensified as the bloody residue from my spit ignited her face. I felt my power drain away, saw spots at the corners of my eyes, and then felt myself fall forward. The next time I woke, I came to consciousness slowly. I heard voices first. They were speaking in a different language, and I wasn't sure what they were saying.
"El está despierto." One of them said. I felt someone grab my face, and slap me a few times. I opened my eyes, and tried to wince away from the bright light hanging above me.
"When my guardian finds you, you're all dead." I said, and the two men laughed.
"I think not." A third voice said, and the hands holding my face up to the light dropped away. I blinked the spots out of my eyes. I was in a small, square room that looked like it was part of the townhouse. Even the table looked like it was taken from one of the studies. What wasn't part of the townhouse, were the two chains keeping my hands at my sides. My wand was on the table in front of me. I closed my eyes, looking for my magic. It was there, and had recharged slightly. I wasn't quite at full, but I had some magic back. The third voice belonged to a rather dapper looking man. His features looked youthful, but his eyes looked old, and his voice had a thin rasping quality to it. Like wind rustling paper.
"Allow me to introduce myself, young street rat, I am Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, 1st Marquess of the Valley of Oaxaca, Master Vampire of Rio de Janeiro, and who might you be?" He asked.
"None of your fucking buisness." I replied.
"Such rudeness in today's generation." He replied, and shook his head ruefully.
"Well, my young friend, I'm not sure what Señor Luciano wants with you, but your guardian has made a few poor decisions the last few weeks. I'm afraid that you are going to be on the receiving end of that comeuppance." He said. I noticed for the first time we were surrounded by mages.
"Kid. Ever hear of a bigger fish?" Voice said.
"What?"
"Say exactly what I tell you to." Voice said, and I decided to go along with it.
"When my guardian finds out who you are, and where you took me, you're all going to die." I said.
The man laughed, a rich, full laugh that sounded like he'd heard the funniest thing ever.
"Your guardian doesn't scare me." He said.
"Doesn't he?" I asked.
"Bethany Andrews is your guardian." He said.
"Is she?" I replied, and a flicker of uncertainty crossed his eyes.
"Why would Bethany Andrews adopt a child?" I asked. He stopped.
"Why would Bethany Andrews take a child on what must be an expensive journey. What day is it?" I asked.
"It is almost the Summer Solstice."
"When summer fades into fall." I replied.
\
"Tell me, Señor, and I'm sure you can answer this. Since you seem to have been following us. Who else boarded our train when we left Dublin?"
"I'm afraid I don't know where you're going with this." He said.
"Well, in addition to Lady Andrews, there were two other very important people on that train. Two delegations of the Fae Courts. The Queen of Summer, and the King of Fall. I'm sure you know their Names. Shall I Call my King's Name to confirm?" I asked.
"You expect me to believe that some street rat has the ear of the Lord of Fall?" He asked incredulously.
"His name begins with an A and ends with an R. I'll gladly say the rest. If you don't release me." Indecision flickered across his face again.
"Bethany Andrews deals in favors. I am such a favor. We will end you, vampire." I replied. I grinned smugly. I had won.
"I would believe that. Fae kind do assume all ages and shapes, and only someone with great skill could kill someone as powerful as my Consuela." He said, and I smirked.
"Yes, it would take someone with great power to defeat a vampire such as her. Or someone with an enormous amount of luck." He said, returning my smug grin.
"There is one detail you have forgotten, street rat." He said and grabbed my hand.
"You wear the heir ring to House Andrews. You are just a gutter rat. One that idiotic woman has raised above his station. But at the end of the day, you are a street rat, adopted by Bethany Andrews, and I'm not afraid of Bethany Andrews." He said.
"You should be." A voice said. Bethany's voice.
Bethany wasn't there, and then suddenly, she was. A whirling dervish of death and leonine grace. She had a strange silver box in each of her hands and she spun around the room, firing on the mages surrounding us. A wave of her hand, and an intoned, brutal Gravitare! and one of the mages slammed to the ground and stayed there. Her wand appeared from somewhere, as one of those boxes vanished, and a blast of golden eldritch light shot from her wand, and one of them dissolved to ash.
Amy came next, wand in one hand, box in the other, a hellish cascade of crimson flying from wand and box, striking targets left and right.
Finally, in a flash of light, Vincent arrived, wand in each hand, white spellfire hurling out spells and chains. In less than a second's time, the entire room had been bound, dropped, and killed aside from Cortés, who hand me at wand point.
My wand was on the table in front of me, and my hands were chained. Bethany was the first to speak.
"Hernán, let my charge go, and we won't have an issue. I don't have any interests on this continent aside from you. Let him go, and it will be like none of this happened."
"That's twice said, mage." The man said.
"I can't believe you're that stupid, Hernán. Thrice and done. Do we have an accord?" She asked, one of the strange boxes in her hand trained on a point just behind him.
"Tell your bitch to stand down." Amy said, her wand pointed in the same direction.
Several things happened at once, someone behind Cortés unleashed a spell, and I unleashed a pulse of unrestrained, unrestricted, telekinetic force. This blast of force shattered the cuffs tying me to the ground, spraying Cortés and I both with razor sharp shards of metal. The room whirled, and Cortés flipped me over unto my back with a snarl and I shrunk back against his fangs. I activated my shield with a thought, and he pounded against it, black taloned fists sparking against the construct. In a couple of blows, cracks had already appeared.
"Kid, knockback spell!" Voice said.
"Fuck that." I replied back.
"Iactus!" I screamed, throwing power out into the world.
My wand sent out a wave of explosive emerald energy that didn't so much slam into Cortés as it did disintegrate him, showering me in blood.
I scrambled to my feet and I ran towards Bethany. I felt a spell lance into my shoulder, cold pain cut into my back, and since I was already off balance, that impact sent me forward and at an angle. Somewhere behind me I heard a sudden scream that cut off almost instantly, and I felt heat run down my back.
Bethany made a grabbing motion with her hand. I tumbled toward her, and she grabbed me. She yanked something off her neck, and then the world went fuzzy. Suddenly we were back in the apartment. It had been repaired. There was no trace of the kidnapping. Bethany immediately began walking the perimeter, bringing our wards to life.
I felt a wave of vertigo and idly wondered where it was coming from. Everything seemed loud and buzzy suddenly. Then I felt pain again, just as Voice spoke.
"Kid, your back. Someone tagged you with a spell."
"Beth, my back." I said, and the world tilted forward The last thing I knew before I fell was Bethany running towards me.
///
BR
///
What did everyone think? If you liked this chapter, please consider giving me an upvote, or a like if you're reading this on SpaceBattles or Questionable Questing. This is an already completed work, and each post will be a chapter (or half chapter) of the first book in the Aether Cycle. I'll be posting these chapters every week. If you like what you read, and want to support the author, and don't want to wait for updates, please consider purchasing The Voice in His Head from Amazon or Audible, or supporting me on Patreon.
You can discuss this chapter below, or in the Discord. If you're a Troper, the Aether Cycle TV Tropes page can be found here. This needs Wiki Love, so if you like doing that, and you're a fan, be my guest!
Finally, I'm going to be starting a newsletter shortly, and you can find the signup form for that here! Anyone who signs up for my newsletter will gain access to an exclusive short story from Bethany's point of view.
