Hanako Tepes's Arc

Chapter 5 of 8

By dawn, the whole city had thawed, but the story of the frozen queen had not. Vampire citizens crowded the castle steps with complaints. Their shops had iced over. Their gardens lay dead. Whispers ran through the streets faster than Hanako could walk them. She heard her name shift from wife to witch to threat. Before she could reach Dracula and explain herself, he summoned her. The trial would happen in his hall, in front of the full court. Hanako entered Castle Dracul with her veil dragging behind her. Three vampires in sleek black suits stopped their talk and stared as she passed. Dracula sat on his black stone throne, red velvet spilling down the stairs at his feet. Renfield stood beside him with a goblet, his mohawk drooping, his thin frame hunched. He looked at her once, then away. The Mother sat at Dracula's right hand, veil pooled around her like fog. "The city says you froze it," Dracula said. His voice was flat and final. "Explain." Hanako did not kneel. "I found the traitor in your court. I trained to stop his allies without killing the witnesses. The frost was the cost of that training. I did it to protect this marriage, not to break it." "You did it in the sky over every clan," Dracula said. "Now they fear my wife more than they fear me." Hanako raised her hand. She let the cold rise, controlled now. Frost climbed her fingers and formed a blade of clear ice. She held it steady, then let it melt to water in her palm. "This is not a threat to you," she said. "It is a weapon for you." The Mother stood. Her chair scraped stone. Every vampire in the hall went still. She stepped down toward Hanako and studied the wet on her hand. "That is not vampire cold," the Mother said. "That is witch blood." Her blue eyes narrowed. "I have hidden this city for centuries. I know every witch line alive. I did not know yours." "Neither did I," Hanako said. The Mother turned to Dracula. "She is no Strigoi Vii. But the blood in her is real." She faced Hanako again. "You froze a kingdom and spared who you chose. Untrained. My coven took years to do less." Dracula leaned forward. "Then she is not a criminal." "No," the Mother said. "She is an asset." She held out her pale hand to Hanako. "Join my coven. Learn what your blood truly is. Under my roof, no one calls you traitor." Hanako looked at the offered hand. An hour ago she faced execution. Now the most feared witch in Walachia claimed her as kin. She took the hand. The court settled. The trial was over. But the Mother's grip was cold and certain, and Hanako understood she had traded one watcher for another. The traitor still ran free. And now the Mother would be watching her hunt.