Alexis Tomar's Arc

Chapter 1 of 4

Alexis Tomar had spied on presidents and kings for Dracula, but she could not buy one old witch. Her brother Tyler knelt in the throne hall, filling Dracula's cup with rat blood, his back bent from years of starving. She had traded her own life for his, become a vampire and a spy so he would live. Now she wanted to free him from the familiar bond. Only one person knew how to undo it. And that person had never once agreed to speak. Alexis found the Mother in the chapel, veil trailing behind her for miles across the stone. Ioana had made the binding herself. She had turned Tyler into Renfield with a single spell, then refused to lift it. Alexis stopped a careful distance away. "Teach me to reverse my brother's curse," Alexis said. "Name your price." The Mother did not turn. "You have nothing I want." "I have secrets. I sit beside every leader in the mortal world." "I hide this whole city from that world. Your secrets are noise." She finally looked at Alexis. Her blue eyes were flat. "Renfield's curse is tied to Dracula's thirst. Break one, you break the other. I will not weaken my husband to comfort a servant." Alexis felt the door close. The Mother would not trade. She could not be threatened. Alexis had come with an empty hand, and now she knew it. Then the great doors opened. Renfield came in, dragging the empty cup. He had heard. His red eyes moved from Alexis to the Mother. "The short version," he said. "You want her help. She won't give it. And I'm the reason." "Tyler—" "There's a vault under this chapel," Renfield said. He kept his voice plain, but he watched the Mother as he spoke. "Magic doesn't work inside it. Only I can open it. She told me that herself. She wanted me to know." The Mother's face did not move, but she went still. Alexis understood. The witch had given her brother a secret weapon against Dracula, in private, to keep her own hands clean. And now Renfield was spending it in the open. "You lied to Dracula to keep him from killing me," Renfield went on. "You need me alive to open that door. So we're not trading secrets, Mother. We already share one." For a long moment no one spoke. Then the Mother crossed the stone toward the altar. She pressed her fingers to a seam in the floor. "There is a way," she said quietly. "It cannot be done here. It cannot be done with magic. It can only be done down there." She looked at Alexis. "Bring your brother to the vault. I will tell you what breaking the bond will cost. Then you decide if you still want it." Alexis had her yes. But the Mother's face told her the price would be worse than silence.