Worst of all, he wasn’t alone. Four other attackers appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. The second one came after me, while the remaining two focused on Valaine.
They were fast and vicious, their swords short and slender and sharp. I dodged their slashes as I moved backward, trying to get to the doors so I could at least let some light in. Valaine grunted, and I briefly saw her swerving to the side. I heard the sound of flesh and bone being cut. One of her opponents cried out from the searing pain, then hit the floor with a heavy thud.
My hip hurt, but I didn’t have a second left to waste, as both Darklings hurled themselves at me simultaneously, their swords up and eager to swing downward. I managed to pull a flash-bomb out of my pocket—I’d decided on carrying some of them around, just in case. I smashed it at their feet, and it burst into bright green flames, temporarily blinding the bastards.
I lunged at one of them and drove my claws through his throat. I yanked my fist back, ripping him apart. He fell to his knees, gurgling and choking on his own blood. I tore his head off with both hands, as his colleague rubbed his eyes and found me again.
Unlike the dead one, however, this one was much better accustomed to my movements. We’d fought before—likely last night. He dashed to my right and brought his sword in, nearly stabbing me. I slapped the blade away and moved back, still panting from the loss of blood. Vampire or not, my wounds could still slow me down, even if just for a moment or two, which, in circumstances such as this, could easily get me killed.
I heard Valaine gasp. She was on the floor, and her attacker was about to drive his sword through her chest.
“Valaine!” I shouted.
Armor jingled outside. Boots thundered and sharp voices got louder.
My remaining opponent ran off, vanishing somewhere behind a massive desk at the back of the reception area. I rushed toward Valaine and tackled the Darkling before he could finish the job. We tumbled and rolled onto the floor. His blade was left somewhere behind.
The doors were smashed open.
I ended up on top of the Darkling. He tried to bite me with his fangs, and I was once again reminded that I was dealing with an Aeternae. I punched him hard in the face, breaking his nose in the process. Blood gushed from his nostrils, and I grabbed his sword from a couple of feet away and cut his head off. He wasn’t going to go down alive—that much I knew from how viciously he’d tried to claw at my wounded side.
It had happened so fast that I couldn’t even breathe or see clearly anymore.
For a moment, time stopped.
“Milady! Are you all right?” one of the gold guards asked.
“Where the hell have you been?!” she shouted.
“Outside, milady… not far. We heard noises, so we came in,” he replied, his voice grave and shaky. Better late than never, I thought.
I stared at the Darkling I’d just killed, still kneeling on top of him, his blade heavy and bloody in my hand. He was dead, head removed from his body, but I could feel his eyes on me, somehow. It was a strange feeling, but not exactly unfamiliar. I loathed killing, yet I had done just that in order to protect myself and Valaine. My justification, however, did not do a thing to soothe my swelling guilt.
“Tristan!” Valaine breathed, reaching me. “Tristan, it’s okay… You killed him.”
I looked at her, momentarily lost. Her black eyes were clear now, as light poured through the reception area, the double doors shattered and cast off to the sides.
“I… I couldn’t let them hurt you,” I managed.
She smiled gently. “I know. You can let go of the sword.”
I hadn’t even realized I was still holding it. It dropped back to the floor, and I moved away from the body as the golden guards spread around the room and checked every corner and dark nook.
“They’re all dead, milady,” one of them said. The guy whose throat I’d ripped was down, a pool of blood congealing on the floor all around him.
“They came through here, somewhere,” I replied, gradually regaining my clarity.
Valaine checked my wound, her brow furrowing as she noted the depth of the cut. “You may need some healing patches, or at least some of my blood.”
“Aeternae blood heals, too?” I asked, surprised by yet another similarity between our species. She nodded and bit into her wrist.
Pushing it against my lips, she urged me to drink. “It’ll heal you faster.”
She’d caught me by surprise. I would’ve pulled away, but the taste of her blood had already invaded my mouth, sending a rush of sweet fire through my limbs. Aeternae blood felt like the force of life itself, surging through me with the strength of an electric current. I felt invigorated, and my wound closed up almost instantly.
Energy filled my veins, my heart pumping with delight as I drank from Valaine’s wrist and felt as though I was hugging the universe itself. What a strange sensation. What an incredible ride this was! Drinking from a Rimian or a Nalorean, by comparison, was nothing! I felt stronger. I was willing to bet I’d be faster, too. Pure energy soared through me.
She blushed as I let go of her arm, her mere touch making my skin ripple.
“Thank you,” I said, wiping the blood from my lips.
Valaine nodded slowly, checking my wound again. “There. It’s closed. Just don’t tell anyone I gave you my blood. It’s not legal without Petra’s authorization,” she whispered.
“I think I know where they came through,” another guard said, popping out from behind the massive desk where I’d seen the surviving Darkling disappear. There was enough light now for me to see everything much better. The footsteps and the blood on the floor. The specks of dust lingering in the air. The cracks in the walls…
I went around the desk, where the gold guard waited, holding back a trap door. Pitch black was ready to welcome us below, and Valaine and I looked at each other.
“There must be an escape tunnel in the basement,” Valaine concluded.
“That’s where the fourth guy went,” I whispered. “That’s where they came through, as well. It was their element of surprise.”
Valaine frowned, glancing at the guard. “Not anymore. Two of you will go down there and see where it leads. The rest of us will wait up here.”
“Why don’t we go?” I asked, while the guard motioned for one of his colleagues to join him.
“Because they’ve already tried to kill us once,” Valaine replied.
“Milady! You should see this,” another guard said, kneeling beside one of the fallen Darklings’ heads. His mask was off, his face clear under the incoming sunlight.
We went over to them, and Valaine sucked in a breath at the sight of the dead guy. “Oh, crap,” she managed. Both she and the guard who’d called her were equally shocked.
“What? Do you know him?” I asked.
Valaine nodded slowly. “Egan Makios,” she replied. “The eldest of one of the minor dynasties. I… I grew up with him and his sisters.”
“And he’s a Darkling,” I concluded. “Okay, so this spreads well past the gold guards and the underbelly of Visio.”
“It’s a huge problem,” Valaine said, then shouted at the soldiers by the escape hatch. “Change of plans! Seal that up. Use whatever you can find in this place, but make sure nobody can use it until I get back.”
“What’s going on?” I replied, slightly confused.
Alarm lit her eyes up. “We need to talk to Kalon and my father before we go any further with this. We’ve already uncovered members of the gold guard as Darklings, and now an elite Aeternae, as well. It’s a clear sign that whatever is waiting at the end of that escape tunnel will likely get us or our soldiers killed. We need a different approach.”
“Milady is right,” the guard kneeling next to the Darkling said. “Besides, sealing this exit will force the Darklings to use other, perhaps less safe, routes. It will work to our advantage.”
Valaine checked Egan’s pockets, then stilled for a moment as she looked up at me. Retrieving
her hand, she revealed a black-and-white braided thread. “This is… What is this?”
A thought crossed my mind, so I quickly checked the other two bodies. I found identical braids in their pockets, as well. Holding both up in the sunlight, I felt as though we’d finally caught a serious break in this investigation.
“It could very well be their signal. How they recognize each other as Darklings when they’re not hooded and masked,” I said.
Valaine straightened her back. “This stays between us!” she said, loud enough for all the soldiers to hear. “No one else must know about the braids. If I hear otherwise once we leave this place, I’ll have all your heads cut off. Am I making myself clear?”
“Yes, milady,” the guards replied in quivering unison. They were definitely intimidated by her. This was a side of Valaine I hadn’t seen before, but I had to admit, I was impressed. She clearly took after her father in some respects. I wondered if she’d ever considered becoming a master commander herself, someday. She obviously had the leadership skills required for such a position, along with the soldiers’ undivided attention.
“This could be it,” Valaine said, looking at me with renewed hope. “Our way of revealing other Darklings among us.”
As exciting as that sounded, it was also insanely dangerous. I could see why she’d chosen not to explore the escape tunnels just yet, and why Kalon and Corbin’s counsel was badly needed. The Darklings were not anarchists at all. They were highly organized and deeply infiltrated among the societies of Visio.
It became even clearer that they had an agenda.
“Do we know anything about the other two Darklings?” I asked, crossing my arms.
“This one looks familiar,” a soldier said, looking at the Aeternae I’d straddled and beheaded last. “I think he’s from the silver guard. I’ve seen him before, I’m sure of it.”
“It’s not enough. Our only lead is Egan, for now,” I muttered.
“We should go speak to his family,” Valaine suggested, a devious smile tugging at the corner of her mouth while her gaze remained fixed on me. “Not necessarily in an official capacity. We need to follow whatever lead we have before we go to my father and Kalon with any of this. The more intel and impressions we gather, the better.”
I agreed with that mindset. Checking the escape tunnel was too much of a risk, indeed, but we could still question Egan’s family, since he was the only Darkling we’d positively identified, along with the golden guard guy from last night.
To make sure we were on the right track regarding the braids, I reached out to Amal, asking her to check the pockets of the Darkling we’d taken to the study rooms. If he, too, was in possession of a black-and-white thread, then we had absolute certainty that it was their mark, and we could eventually use it against them.
It was the best we could do, given these complicated circumstances, but it was infinitely better than what the Aeternae had accomplished against the Darklings. It didn’t feel like it was enough, though, especially since Valaine’s life was at stake.
We’d already lost our friend. I’d already killed people… This had to stop.
Sofia
As soon as Amal got word from Tristan regarding the black-and-white thread, she checked the Darkling’s pockets, but she couldn’t find anything. That didn’t stop her. She checked the hems, the boots, every single nook where the thread might’ve been hidden. Eventually, she plucked the braid out of a small, hidden inner-pocket. This confirmed the so-called anarchists had a way of recognizing one another in public, and the mere thought of such organizational complexity terrified me.
“It means the Darklings’ reach is far and wide, to the point where most don’t even know each other, perhaps only by this,” I said, holding the braid up.
Derek and Amal both nodded in agreement. We had two bodies in the study room with us, each under preservation spells put together by Amal—she’d learned enough swamp witch magic to complement her scientific excellence. A Darkling, better known as one of the gold guards in the palace, and our own Nethissis…
“I think we could easily consider it a secret society now. Certainly not the anarchists the Lord and Lady Supreme seem to think that they are,” Derek replied.
Amal went back to working on the Aeternae blood samples, occasionally stealing glances at Nethissis. The Lamia was covered up to her neck with a white silken sheet, her eyes closed and her copper hair neatly combed and braided. She was coming back with us, when our time here ended.
I knew Amal was not taking her death well, but she did her best to focus on work. I’d seen her crying a couple of times after we’d found Nethissis, but she pulled herself away, not wanting any physical contact or any form of comfort. Amal was generally distant, but she’d become attached to Nethissis before we’d left for Visio. All I could do was sympathize with her situation. We were all in pain. We’d all lost Nethissis.
“I’m splicing deeper through the blood cells,” the Faulty said when silence took over the room. “Hopefully, I should find the protein soon. I’m hoping two to three days, tops.”
“That’s fine, Amal. Take your time with this. We need to do it right,” Derek replied, then looked at me. “I think we’ll hear from the Aeternae soon, regarding the Black Fever. Valaine did say she’d speak to Acheron and Danika about it.”
“That’ll cut into my protein study, but it’s okay,” Amal said. “To be honest, I welcome the Black Fever challenge. This wouldn’t be my first brush with a deadly virus, if you remember.”
For a moment, my mind went blank, until the decimation of the Draenir came back to me from the depths of my Strava-related memories. “Oh, right,” I murmured. “The virus that nearly wiped out the Draenir.”
“Let’s hope they take their time with this request,” Derek said, taking a seat next to Amal and her microscopes. “I’d like to wrap up the protein issue first. The longer we stay here, the more unsafe I feel.”
That was a natural feeling, I thought, especially after what had happened to Nethissis. It bothered me tremendously, but we had objectives to accomplish. Most importantly, I wanted Tristan and Esme to get to the bottom of it before we had to leave. This was where Derek and I had slight differences of opinion.
Not that he didn’t want justice for Nethissis. On the contrary. But he didn’t think we were safe here in such a small number, digging deeper and poking the sleeping dragons, so to speak.
“I’ve studied their flight technology as best as I could,” Derek added. “I think they’ve got a pretty solid fleet.”
“More solid than our dragons and Perfects?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I doubt it. But I’ve got a feeling they’re keeping a lot of their defenses secret from us,” he replied. “I did consider an intervention when we were in the garden this morning. My anger almost got the best of me on that one, until I realized that the Aeternae are not telling us everything with regards to their defensive capabilities.”
“It doesn’t surprise me,” Amal said. “We’ll need to be careful. I agree with focusing on the protein and getting out of here as soon as possible, but I doubt that’ll happen. They won’t let us leave until we help them cure the Black Fever.”
My blood ran cold. The thought hadn’t even occurred to me. Then again, Nethissis’s death had made my mind blurry. My heart still ached, and a consistent pain had developed in the pit of my stomach. Losing her had killed my appetite, as well. If, at first, I’d been mesmerized by the sensations of drinking Rimian or Nalorean blood, now I only looked at it as mere sustenance. Nothing tasted the same. Nothing would, until we brought Nethissis’s killer to justice.
“They give us their blood for us to cure our sunlight sensitivity… naturally, they expect something in return,” Derek grumbled. “In this case, it’s a potential cure for the Black Fever.”
“What about Nethi?” I asked.
Derek frowned, looking away. “Tristan and Esme are on it. Now that we know the Darklings are involved, it brings us cl
oser to the Aeternae, since both sides want those bastards caught and punished.”
“Clearly, not all Aeternae think that,” Amal reminded him. “The Darklings are Aeternae, too.”
“I guess we’re forced to apply the ‘not all Aeternae’ discourse, then,” Derek said, shaking his head with disgust. “As much as I liked it before, Visio is starting to make me feel bad.”
“Bad?” I asked.
“Uncomfortable. Miserable. It’s beautiful and all, but there is a certain kind of rot beneath the surface, and I worry it’ll affect us all if we don’t leave soon. At least within a fortnight.”
It saddened me to hear him say such things, but I could certainly understand where he was coming from. He’d been so excited upon arriving here, only to have his joy snapped in two along with Nethissis’s neck.
The door opened, startling me. I’d been so deep in my thoughts, I hadn’t even heard the footsteps outside. Acheron came in, accompanied by Petra Visentis. The gold guards stayed outside, as the door remained wide open for them to look in, if needed.
“How are you coming along with your work?” Acheron asked. His voice was soft, as if he was treading lightly, cautious about upsetting us. At least he was tactful and diplomatic—not all leaders of such predatory species could boast such qualities.
“Slowly, but surely,” Amal replied, her tone dry. She kept her focus on the microscope lens.
“Any news from Esme regarding your friend’s death?” Petra replied. She seemed genuine in her concern, though there was something about her voice that bothered me. Her eyes said one thing, but the tone…
I shook my head. “Not yet,” I said. “I’m sure she’ll have more by the end of the day.”
“I still think it was just an unfortunate incident,” Acheron replied. “I’ve lost two of my favorite hounds to those wretched foxes.”
Derek and I exchanged glances, knowing that there was more to this visit than them wanting updates on our investigation into Nethissis’s death. “What brings you here?” Derek asked.
A Shade of Vampire 79: A Game of Death Page 9