“What is this place?” she inquired as she studied the people, or vampires, gathered in the booths surrounding them. Some were eating, some were leisurely sipping wine. There was a faint melody playing in the background that lulled her, and to her surprise she found herself swaying along with the music.
“It’s a restaurant,” Gideon told her.
Aria blinked out of her strange reverie. “It’s where people gather to eat,” Braith explained further.
“They just feed you here?” she asked in surprise.
“For a price,” Gideon explained. She frowned fiercely at him. She could well imagine what that price might be. Gideon held up a hand, chuckling as he shook his head. “The only price here is our form of currency.”
“I see.” Aria’s gaze drifted slowly over the strange place again. It was such an oddly wonderful thing. Braith handed her a piece of paper, her stomach lurched as she read over the list of food.
“Choose what you want.”
She wanted everything. It all looked so wonderful. A young woman appeared at the booth; Gideon spoke to her before they all turned their attention to Aria. Her hands were trembling, her stomach was rumbling so loudly that mortification was starting to take hold of her. Braith leaned over her shoulder to study the paper in her hand. He leaned away, talked briefly with the woman, who nodded and disappeared.
“Let me see the menu,” Braith said.“Menu?” she croaked. Her head was spinning, this town and everything in it was far different than anything she’d ever known. It was overwhelming and so out of place with the jars of teeth and scenes of death she’d seen in Gideon’s study.
Braith pointed to the paper she held before smoothly taking it from her hands. A feeling of uncertainty seized her; there was still so much she didn’t know. Braith’s hand took hold of hers; he gave her a reassuring squeeze as he nudged the crackers toward her. Gideon was studying her in a strange manner that flustered her even more. Instinct made her want to pull her hand away from Braith’s, but it was already too late to hide what was between them from Gideon.
“These are all humans?” she inquired as she studied the shadowed room.
“No, there are vampires here too.” She started in surprise as her focus shifted back to Gideon. The woman reappeared, placing two goblets before Braith and Gideon, and a glass of water before her. Aria’s throat was dry, but she was far more interested in what Gideon had to say at the moment. “Braith and I can tell the difference.”
As she looked around the room again, she realized she could pick out some humans also. The one’s that appeared to be over thirty and eating were most certainly humans, but the rest were more difficult to discern. She didn’t ask how the two of them could tell; she assumed all vampires could tell the difference. “They get along together?” she asked.
“Of course they do, why wouldn’t they young human?”
Aria shot him a dark look, not at all liking his placating tone, and the young human nickname was beginning to grate on her last nerve. “You have jars of human and vampire teeth on shelves in your home,” she retorted. “That’s why.”
Gideon just grinned annoyingly back at her as he reclined in his seat. He swirled the contents of his goblet before taking a small sip. “Those humans were just as culpable as those vampires during the war, sweetheart.”
“Watch it Gideon,” Braith growled.
Gideon’s hooded gaze flickered briefly to Braith; he looked about ready to say something more but seemed to think better of it. “What do you mean?” Aria inquired.
“Do you think it was just vampires that were fighting on the side of the king? No dear, there were also humans involved.”
Surprise flooded her, her gaze flew to Braith, looking for denial of Gideon’s words but he just squeezed her hand. Anguish filled Aria; her shoulders slumped as she forgot about her crackers. “Why?” she breathed.
“Who really knows why?” replied Gideon. “Some wanted to be on the winning side while others wanted to be in the king’s good graces should he be the victor. You know the saying ‘to the victor go the spoils?’ Perhaps some of them were even offered the chance to survive the change. No matter their reasons, unfortunately, they chose correctly and it paid off. Their offspring, and their offspring’s offspring, are still amongst the higher-ups of the human race within the palace.”
“Oh,” Aria breathed, her hand pressed against her lips as the full horror of his revelation sank in. She’d known that the humans within the palace were more than willing to sell them out now, and in the past. She hadn’t known it had gone all the way back to the war, and that they had actually fought with the vampires.
“I keep the teeth of the ones I killed, and their vampire brethren as a reminder.”
“Why would you require such a reminder?”
“To keep the fire for revenge alive.” Gideon leaned across the table, for the first time his flippant air vanished. His hazel eyes burned forcefully as he studied her. “I keep that whole room like that to remind myself every day of my hatred of that place, of the betrayal, and the destruction. I fan the fires everyday in the hopes that one day, just one day I’ll get a chance for payback.”
The ardor with which he spoke, the fire in his eyes ignited an answering spark inside of her. “I escaped that palace, and that war, and I fled to safety. My family was not so lucky. They were already gone, already massacred when I escaped, but I vowed that one day I would avenge their deaths and it appears that day has finally come.”