Page 82 of Theoden
“Karim, Titus, and Nolan all have children—”
“Again, those children grow his army—a benefit,” Raphael countered.
I stared down at Raphael in silence as I thought about what he was saying. It was true, his words, but still, I would never betray the man—the vampire—who gave me my freedom and power.
“I wish you could have loved Ara more than yourself,” I said.
“And I wish you could be free of him. My hope for you, brother, is that you find someone you can love more than him. Then you will see what selfless love really feels like,” Raphael said.
I turned, not wanting to speak to Raphael any longer. I had my answers and in some strange way, I wished I didn’t know why he had betrayed us. I took a seat in one of the throne chairs and waited for my brothers to arrive. Whatever was going to happen tonight, I wanted to get it over and done with. I wasn’t sure if Ara would choose to kill Raphael or punish him. A vampire could live without blood, but to be denied blood for even a day was torture. I’d seen vampires locked away for fifty years and when they were released, they were but shells of themselves. The amount of blood it took to restore them to their former glory was astounding, but that was a punishment for a vampire deemed worthy of the blood once his sentence was met.
Would Ara ever deem Raphael worthy?
I looked out of the window to see the sky turning a lighter shade of blue and I knew the birds would be singing if they weren’t already. The door opened and my brothers all entered, followed by Ara, and I rose to my feet.
“The sun will be up soon, so let us get this over with,” Ara said in a matter of fact tone. “Bring him to me.”
I walked over to Raphael and dragged him to his feet, then made him shuffle toward Ara before forcing him to his knees before our Father. I stood behind him, pressing my hands on Raphael’s shoulders, keeping him in place.
Ara looked down at his son with a mixture of sadness and anger in his expression. “Raphael, I saw such potential in you, as I did with all of my sons. Yet, you did not see it in yourself. You chose to lower your status by consorting with a wolf, a being lesser than yourself. And, by doing so, betrayed the oath you swore to me and to your brothers. The punishment… is death.”
“I am blessed to be free of your cruelty,” Raphael said.
“How dare you!” Karim roared, but Ara raised his hand, silencing him.
“My mistake was not forcing you to kill Adan. My mistake was giving you a gift you were too weak to appreciate. Think you were the only one to have ever suffered pain or loss? It was supposed to strengthen you,” Ara said.
“It did. It gave me the strength to disobey you,” Raphael responded.
“Any child can be rebellious. That does not make you strong. It’s staying the course through all tribulations and lessons that makes you strong. A lesson you failed to learn.” With that, Ara punched through Raphael’s chest. I gasped because I had never seen Ara kill another vampire, let alone one of my brothers. But that wasn’t the worst part; the moment he yanked Raphael’s heart from his chest, a sensation flowed through me that was as if a part of me had been ripped out as well. At the same time, I saw my brothers each jerk and gasp. I was certain it was because they each felt the same sensation I had.
What startled us all was Ara’s reaction. He screamed and fell to his knees, grimacing in what looked like pure torment. Karim and Titus were at his side, their expressions full of worry as they tended to him. They were both holding him as he gasped in agony. His whole body trembled, his bloody hand shaking as he dropped Raphael’s bloody heart on the floor. I was spellbound as I watched tears flow from Ara’s eyes. Never had I seen my Father in such turmoil.
“Father?” Karim was distraught, I could see it all in his expression. Brow furrowed, lips and jawline tensed as he watched his Father closely.
Ara was trembling still, his body pale and sweating. “I—I’ll… be… fine,” he stammered.
Nolan had been standing silent, as if in shock, and maybe he was. He blinked at me, then looked down at Raphael’s body, the body I was still holding by the shoulders. That was when I looked down at my brother, someone I had spent so many decades with. He was gone, never to return. I laid his body down gently on the floor and looked at his face, there was nothing there; no light, no smile, no look of passion. My heart ached for his loss and I watched as my tears dripped on his emotionless face.Why? Raphael, why? Damn you!
“Help me up,” Ara said, and I looked up to see both Titus and Karim lifting him to his feet.
“Father, what was that?” Titus asked.
Ara took several deep breaths. “You all felt it this time, because he was your brother, a direct line from me. What you felt was the loss, the link we all share being severed. I felt it the strongest because he was my son. And I feel something akin to it every time one of my vampires dies.”
I had seen Ara have a reaction similar to what happened tonight, but it was always like a ripple that ran through him. And afterward, he would put me or one of my brothers on a mission to find out what had happened. That was if it wasn’t an already scheduled execution. I knew he felt the link being severed, but this was the first time I’d seen him have such a painful reaction.
I wiped my eyes and took a deep breath. “What do we do with Raphael, Father?”
Ara looked at him, his expression still a mixture of sadness and disappointment. “Burn his body, son. I want no trace of him.”
I nodded and reached down to pick up Raphael’s body. I tried not to look at the gruesome hole in the middle of his chest where Ara had ripped out his heart. The bones had been shattered, his lungs torn to pieces. The only merciful thing I could think of was that at least it was quick. I walked out of the grand hall to take Raphael’s corpse outside. To my surprise, Nolan joined me.
“I’ll help you build the pyre,” he said.
I didn’t bother to argue. I put Raphael’s corpse on the ground and together, Nolan and I built the funeral pyre. A few minutes later, Ara, Titus, and Karim joined us and I placed Raphael’s body on the wood pyre.
“Does anyone have anything to say?” Ara asked us.
