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Home / Nailed to the Wall, Reborn for Vengeance / Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

All Chapters of Nailed to the Wall, Reborn for Vengeance: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

11 Chapters

Chapter 1

On the altar, thirteen blood-moon lamps burned, their scarlet flames lighting every pale face.Count Louis Ashford knelt before me, silver-white hair falling over his shoulders, a black rose crest pinned to the collar of his formal robes.He raised his hand and held up a silver ring carved with ancient runes."Isela Vane, I swear by my blood, my soul, and the endless night. I ask the Council of Elders to approve our eternal blood pact."Prayers of blessing rose all around.In my last life, it was in those prayers that I lost my head, believing I had finally won Louis's heart.My family carried the First Ancestor's bloodline, but we had fallen into decline in the Night War a century ago.Louis, meanwhile, was young and powerful, with three Nightborn cities under his rule.I once believed he wanted to marry me because he loved me.Only later did I understand that it was never me he wanted.He wanted the power passed down through the Vane bloodline: the power to awaken the Sacred Blood Cr

Chapter 2

The black blood crystal in my palm looked unremarkable, its edges lined with cracks.It was a fragment I had carried back out of the fire.When I first came back, I'd had no time to examine it closely.A moment ago, while no one was watching, I had reached into it with my mind and sensed the pact sealed inside.I had not produced it right away because I refused to give Louis, the real thief, the chance to accuse me first.Now that he had framed me, there was no reason left to hold back.When Louis saw it, his pupils contracted sharply.It was the thing that had fallen from my amulet in my last life, while I hung nailed to the city wall.The flames had burned away my flesh and bone, but they never destroyed it.When I woke on the day of the Bloodline Rite, it lay in my palm, holding a trace of the blood pact from my last life.Grand Elder Blackwood lifted a hand."Bring it forward."A temple guard took the crystal and set it in the moonsilver dish at the center of the altar.The black c

Chapter 3

The instant the amulet touched the moonsilver dish, Ellie's expression shifted.Louis had given me that amulet at my coming-of-age ceremony.He had fastened it around my neck himself and told me with a smile that the Vane bloodline made me a target, but the amulet would spare me trouble.In my last life, I treasured it.Only as I was dying did I learn that it was the weapon meant to kill me.After coming back, I had no time to destroy it. In the rush, I had no choice but to wear it to the altar and think on my feet.The Grand Elder immersed the amulet in spring water. A dark red curse mark rose from the bone chain.The mark was shaped like a closed eye: the veiling curse, forbidden among the Nightborn.A sharp challenge rang out from the Elders' bench."Isela, what do you have to say now?"Still prostrate on the floor, Owen finally found his nerve."I saw it with my own eyes. Lady Isela wore this into the old tower several times over the past few days.""The vault keeper reported it to

Chapter 4

I pressed my palm to the amulet and let the bone chain cut into my flesh.Blood ran down the pendant, and the veiling curse lit up.Power ripped backward through the dark red runes and tore them apart. When the black mist cleared, a thread of golden scent drifted out of the amulet.It was not my blood scent, nor the scent of anyone among the Nightborn.It carried the repellent taint of daylight.The blood-moon lamps on both sides of the altar guttered. Several vampires clutched their wrists as red welts rose on their skin."A daywalker's scent..."The Grand Elder's expression turned grim.Nighthaven was warded by the barrier. Without the Council's leave, no one from the Daylight Church could set a single foot inside.Yet this amulet held the lingering scent of a daywalker.Owen spoke up quickly."Lady Isela may have colluded with daywalkers and planted this scent as a diversion!""You make a fair point."I didn't argue. I took out the black blood crystal and set it on the blood-soaked

Chapter 5

When the temple guards carried the Oath Mirror out of the inner sanctum, panic showed on Louis's face for the first time.It was an ancient mirror ground from the First Ancestor's fang. Its surface held no reflection. It showed only oaths sworn in blood.Among the Nightborn, words could be twisted. Blood could not be forged.Grand Elder Blackwood fixed his eyes on Louis."Count Ashford, will you let the Oath Mirror test the seal?"Louis was silent a moment, then looked at me with something like disappointment."Isela, I know you're afraid of punishment, but you shouldn't have taken it this far.""You know better than anyone how many of our kind the Dawn Society has butchered.""Are you accusing me of a crime like that just to force me to take the blame for the Sacred Blood Crystal?"It was a clever move. Without hard proof, I would become the traitor who conspired with the Daylight Church to frame a noble.Ellie threw herself down before the Council, weeping."Grand Elder, Count Ashfor

Chapter 6

Cassian threw Owen down before the altar, drew a short blade, and flicked back his sleeve.The golden brand curled across his skin, the flesh around it festering beneath a suppressive spell."This is the Daylight Church's sun brand."Cassian's voice was grave."Only someone with long exposure to sungrass oil, holy water, and Church talismans carries a mark like this."Owen went deathly pale and struggled to speak."It wasn't me! Lady Isela framed me. She must have done it without my knowing—""Enough!"Grand Elder Blackwood brought his palm down on the armrest, and the sanctum shook."Take him away. Hand him to the Enforcers for questioning.""Question everyone who had access to the Sacred Blood Vault, Lady Isela's chambers, or the amulet. Do not miss a single person."Louis stood where he was, his face dark.He let out a short laugh."One blood seal and the word of a bribed attendant. Is that enough to convict me?""On the winter solstice three years ago, I was putting down the rebell

Chapter 7

The crystal shards were only bait.What had truly been stolen was the First Ancestor's core crystal from the deepest vault, the anchor of the Night Veil.Once the core crystal left the vault, night would slowly drain away, and daylight would pour through the barrier into the city.What Louis wanted was never a single crystal.He meant to take every life in Nighthaven.Grand Elder Blackwood ordered the gates sealed at once. No one was to leave.Louis was the first to speak, his voice cold."The core crystal goes missing right after Isela produces her pact. Why is that?""If she could prepare the Dawn bargain in advance, who's to say she didn't hide the core crystal herself to sow panic?"It was a last, desperate attempt to save himself."Save your breath, Count Ashford! For three years, you have used the northern war as an excuse to redeploy the vault guards and patrols elsewhere, again and again.""Every time the core crystal's power waned, you reported the loss as damage from enemy ra

Chapter 8

The Sunless Graveyard lay at the northern edge of Nighthaven, where the old nobles who died in the wars were buried.Louis had ordered it sealed, claiming the place was steeped in death and dangerous to approach.Now I understood. He wasn't afraid of restless spirits troubling us. He was afraid someone would find the ancient waterway beneath it, leading out of the city.Cassian led the Enforcers, following the trail of blood-dust.The shard grew hotter and hotter in my palm, and finally went still before a black stone grave.Blood brambles grew thick over it. Beneath their roots lay a shipping seal used only in Louis's private territory.Cassian had his men dig open the grave.Beneath the soil there was no coffin, only an iron door bound in chains. Behind it lay an abandoned underground laboratory.Blood bags were nailed to the walls, filled with thin blood drawn from low-born vampires.The walls held not only the thin-bloods' name tags but also Louis's forged ledgers, which recast lar

Chapter 9

Louis's words plunged the underground laboratory into silence.Cassian's hand closed on his sword hilt and the Enforcers formed ranks, but I didn't look away.So in my last life, at the moment I burned to ash, it was not only the power of the Vane bloodline protecting me.By devouring my bloodline, Louis had glimpsed part of the echo of time as well.But I quickly realized that he had not brought back the full memory of our past life.He was nothing but a vile thief, able to glimpse only scattered fragments of my last life.Otherwise he would have killed me with a single stroke long ago, instead of staging that long, elaborate frame-up at the rite!That was why, in this life, he was more impatient and more vicious than in the last.He had arranged Owen's frame-up in advance, had Ellie plant the curse in my amulet, and had already moved the core crystal to the Sunless Graveyard.He believed that if he seized control before I could, I would still be forced to my knees at his feet."I do

Chapter 10

As the Blood Echo swept across the city, both the sanctum and the streets beyond erupted.The vampires who had cursed me as a traitor watched with their own eyes as Louis staged the frame-up, used low-born vampires as experimental subjects, and pursued the Crown of Day at the cost of their lives.Some of his guards began to waver.Ellie knelt on the ground, understanding at last how she had been used.She lifted her head. There was no scheming left in her eyes, only terror."Isela, I know where the array's anchor is."Her voice was raw."Destroy the anchor and Louis can't keep absorbing power. I can take you there."I didn't answer right away.Cassian shifted in front of me, his voice low."She may be lying to you.""I know."I looked at Ellie."You can live and testify, or you can keep doing his dirty work.""But whatever you do, don't do it to earn my forgiveness.""You owe a life to every person you sent into that laboratory. Give them the truth first."Ellie's tears spilled over.L

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