MistNovel - Read Web Novel Stories & Fiction Online

Candlelight turned the obsidian table into a river of black glass. The dining hall stretched before her, impossibly long, impossibly cold. Trixie could see her frightened reflection staring back from the polished surface.
Kai guided her to a chair at the head of the table. Not beside him. Not among the others. Alone, elevated, on display.
"The seat of honor," he murmured, pulling out the high-backed chair.
Trixie sat because her legs would not hold her anymore. The chair's velvet cushion was the color of a fresh bruise.
The family took their places along the table's length, moving with an eerie synchronization. No scraping of chairs. No casual conversation. Just the whisper of expensive fabric and the soft tap of footsteps on stone.
She counted fourteen of them. Fifteen, including Kai, who sat to her right, close enough to touch but somehow impossibly far away.
Seraphine raised one pale hand. Servants emerged from the shadows, figures in gray who never lifted their eyes. Their movements were too synchronized, too practiced, as if they had served this meal many times before. They carried platters of food that steamed and gleamed. Roasted meats she could not identify. Vegetables that glistened with butter or oil or something else. Breads so dark they were almost black.
A heavy silver goblet was placed before her. The servant poured from a crystal decanter, filling the cup with liquid the color of garnets. The scent hit her immediately, sharp and sweet, spiced with cinnamon and something else. Something that made her mouth water despite her fear.
"You must be thirsty," Kai said. His hand covered hers on the table. His skin was ice against hers. When had his skin become so cold? "The drive was long."
She was thirsty. Her throat felt lined with sand. She lifted the goblet with shaking hands and drank.
The wine was perfect. Rich and warm, sliding down her throat like liquid velvet, spreading heat through her chest and belly. She took another sip. Then another.
The room tilted slightly.
Trixie set down the goblet, but her hand would not quite obey. It knocked against the stem, and the sound seemed to come from very far away.
"What..." Her tongue felt thick. "What was in that?"
Kai's smile had changed. The warmth had drained from it, leaving something sharp and triumphant. "Just a little something to help you relax. We need you calm for what comes next."
Panic flooded her system, but her body would not respond. Her arms felt like lead. Her legs refused to move. She tried to stand, but the room spun violently and she fell back into the chair.
Around the table, the family leaned forward. Watching. Waiting.
"You see," Kai continued, and his voice had lost all pretense of affection, "I have been searching for someone like you for a very long time. Pure. Untouched. Unaware of what runs in your bloodline."
"My..." The word barely made it past her lips.
"Your great-grandmother was special. Celestial blood, diluted through generations, but still present. Still potent." He reached out and traced a finger along her jaw. She could not pull away. "I researched your family tree for months. Courted you. Won your trust. All for this moment."
Tears burned in her eyes, but she could not even blink them away.
"The autumn equinox would have been ideal, but Thanksgiving will suffice." Kai stood, and the others rose with him, a coordinated movement that proved they had done this before. How many times? How many girls had sat in this chair?
Seraphine appeared at her other side. Together, they lifted Trixie from the chair. Her head lolled, but she could still see, still hear, still understand.
"A virgin sacrifice on Thanksgiving," Kai said, his voice ringing with mad ambition. "The old rituals promise immense power to the one who performs the rite. Enough power to challenge even a sire."
They carried her through doorways that seemed to multiply and shift. Downstairs that spiraled into darkness. The temperature dropped with each step until her breath came in white clouds.
The chamber at the bottom was vast and circular. Symbols covered every inch of the walls, carved deep into stone, filled with something that glowed a sickly green. In the center stood an altar of black stone, its surface stained with centuries of use.
They laid her on it. The stone was ice against her back. She tried to scream, but only a whimper emerged.
Kai leaned over her, his face blocking out the green light. His hand closed around her throat, not squeezing, just possessing. "You are going to make me a king."
The others formed a circle around the altar. Their lips moved in unison, words in a language that scraped against her mind like broken glass. The air grew thick and heavy. The symbols on the walls pulsed with sick light.
Kai produced a dagger from within his jacket. The blade was bone, carved with more of those terrible symbols. The last thing Trixie saw before darkness swallowed her was the ritual dagger gleaming in his hand.