“I’m holding you responsible,” she said. “Your meddling has made everything worse.”
“Said the woman who taught her son death magic even though he wasn’t a Darkling!” Veliko retorted. It earned him a stomping from Aganon and Simmon until he coughed up blood.
“With Kalon and Esme on the loose, we have to rethink our strategy,” Petra said, ignoring his plight as she leaned into Tudyk. “We can no longer stay here. That vampire bitch will tell her friends, and before we know it they’ll be raiding our beautiful home. We can’t go to the beach house, either. It’s public knowledge that we own that land.”
Moore looked up at her, stern and ready to do her bidding. I was still processing the speed with which Aeternae children matured, even if their bodies took a little while longer to catch up. “What do we do, Mother?”
“We go somewhere else for the time being,” Petra replied. “I need some peace and quiet to figure out what the next steps will be.”
“What about Kalon?” Simmon was visibly worried.
Petra frowned, though I could see a glimmer of pain in her deep blue eyes. “I will not let him run off with that creature. I will bring him to our side, one way or another.”
“Good grief, you’re delusional,” Veliko grumbled.
She shot him a cool smirk. “Maybe. But I’m not done with you yet. For everything you’ve done, Veliko… you will pay.” She paused, glancing at her eldest sons. “But not here. We’re taking him with us.”
“Where the hell are they going?” I wondered aloud.
Petra led the group out of the room, leaving the Darkling bodies behind. They collected the remaining scythes while we stayed behind for a moment in order to put some distance between us. Atlas had been distracted by Veliko and Kalon and Esme, but it was only a matter of time before he’d pick up our scents. Letting him go ahead seemed wise, considering I didn’t want to end up as ghoul chow anytime soon.
“We have to stay with them,” Seeley said.
We followed Petra and her group into the basement of the mansion, through a series of secret doors. The servants had vanished, likely terrified by everything they’d heard earlier. A tunnel had been opened beneath the mansion.
“This will take us straight to Laramis,” Petra said, grabbing a torch off the wall and setting it on fire. The amber light spread around, revealing the damp stone walls etched with claw marks—plenty of ghouls had been around, from what I could see.
“We’re going to Laramis?” Aganon sounded surprised. He and Simmon held Veliko up, forcing him to walk, while Tudyk and Moore stayed ahead with their mother. Atlas led them forward through the tunnel. Their voices echoed, and I was able to hear parts of their conversation.
“It’s not safe to get too close,” Seeley told me, holding me back.
“I know…”
“What business do we have in Laramis?” Simmon asked his mother.
Petra glanced over her shoulder, raising a disappointed eyebrow at her son. “There’s an entire regiment of Darklings there who are still loyal to this imbecile,” she said, looking at Veliko. “They need to be made aware that, for the time being and in the absence of a proper Scholar, they’ll be answering directly to me. Besides, we need more manpower if I’m to get my son back.”
“Sister, I understand you want to find Kalon, but where would we even begin to look for him?” Aganon replied.
“Believe it or not, my son is more predictable than he thinks. I smelled traces of where he’s been the moment he showed up at the house. I can track him. And if I can track him, Atlas will definitely find him. First, however, we need to strengthen our position, since Veliko here nearly ruined everything.”
“I understand,” Aganon said. “What about Ansel?”
“We’ll get him back, too. Hopefully before he gets himself executed. The fool actually thinks he’ll survive this without us, without his family,” Petra muttered. “I’ll get to him before the other Darklings, that’s for sure.”
“Mother, we can’t fight among ourselves,” Tudyk advised. “GASP’s presence here has already caused enough trouble. We can’t let them divide us any more than they already have.”
Petra put an arm around his and Moore’s shoulders. “I completely agree, my darling. But we must also protect our own. I don’t know what I would do if I lost any of you boys. Everything, absolutely everything I do has been for your sake and no one else’s. And if some of you are—well, wayward, let’s say—it’s my duty to bring you back onto the right path.”
“I might have a proposition for you,” Veliko said. “Since you’re so keen on saving your sons.”
“Simmon, darling?” Petra replied without even looking at them.
“Yes, Mother?”
“Cut out his tongue. He’s of no use to us talking.”
My stomach turned. I froze, and so did Seeley, Sidyan, and Lumi. Behind us, Maya and Rudolph shrank, their big black eyes wide with fear. Farther back, the rest of our ghouls were silent, watching it all unfold.
I was far enough that I couldn’t see the details, but I could still make out Veliko and Simmon’s scythe. I heard steel slicing through flesh, and Veliko screaming and mumbling and gurgling. Aganon held him while Petra continued walking with her younger sons.
I saw Atlas bend down and pick something up. I heard him chewing on Veliko’s tongue.
“Oh, wow,” I managed, thankful I was dead and unable to feel real nausea anymore.
“That was cruel,” Lumi whispered.
Sidyan exhaled sharply. “To be honest, his voice was kind of annoying.”
Aganon and Simmon dragged an unconscious Veliko. The pain had made him pass out. Whatever came next, I hoped we’d be equipped to handle it. Atlas was big and threatening enough to scare even our pack of ghouls. I wasn’t sure they’d be able to take him on, if push came to shove.
And Petra… damn, Petra was far more knowledgeable than I’d thought. More powerful, too. She was the real danger here. Not Atlas. Not Veliko. Not even her Darkling sons. No, Petra was our true enemy—at least until we got to the top of the pyramid.
What worried me the most was the idea that if Petra was this terrible, what would her Darkling boss be like? What sort of creatures were we truly up against? And could we handle them?
Tristan
We rode our Vision horses through the city under the cover of night. The streets were mostly empty, with the exception of the occasional Rimian rushing to get home or the silver guards out on patrol. The closer we got to the Visentis mansion, the more unsettled I became, as if something was terribly wrong with the universe and my sister was caught right in the middle of it.
“You look worried,” Valaine said, looking at me.
“I’ll keep looking worried until I see Esme again,” I replied. “We’ve never been apart for this long before. We’ve always been close, and we’ve been working together for as long as I can remember.”
“I’m sure she’s all right,” Valaine said, offering a warm and reassuring smile. “I told you before: as long as she’s with Kalon, Esme is safe.”
“I know. Forgive me for being an overprotective brother.”
“I wish I’d had an overprotective brother. Maybe that’s why I became so attached to Kalon as a little girl. He’s been my rock ever since.”
“I guess I could say the same thing about Esme. I was always the scholar, while she was the fighter.” I sighed, remembering better and simpler days. “Not that I couldn’t hold my own, but it gave Esme purpose to protect me, you know?”
Valaine chuckled softly. “Kalon is the same. He has seen the darker side of me so many times, yet he still comes forward as my protector. My savior. His heart’s in the right place, and so is Esme’s. Maybe that’s why they got along so well, from the very beginning.”
A shadow moved up ahead. The street lights were dim at this late hour, but I could still see him. He darted across the street, hiding behind a potted tree—one of many lining the sidewalk. He kept moving,
scurrying around like a scared little mouse.
I motioned for Valaine to stop. We halted in the middle of the street, quiet as we watched him get closer. As soon as his head popped out from behind a large clay pot, I recognized some of his features. The blue eyes. The sharp nose. The black hair.
Valaine gasped. “Ansel?”
“Ansel, as in Kalon’s brother?” I replied, prepared to jump off my horse and take him down. He had no business moving freely through the city. Not after Esme and Kalon had captured him.
“I need your help!” the boy said, coming out into the light. He had his hands up in a defensive gesture, but tension had already stiffened my muscles. I was ready for a fight.
“Ansel, what are you doing here?!” Valaine asked. She didn’t get off her horse, either.
“I… Something happened back at the house,” Ansel said, drawing closer.
I slipped from the saddle and walked toward him. “Where’s my sister?”
“Well, I hope she and Kalon made it out of there okay,” Ansel replied.
Fear got the better of me, and I gripped his shoulders tightly enough to make him tremble. Maybe on a better day he would’ve been more assertive, perhaps even push me away, but he’d clearly been shaken to the core since long before he crossed our path. “Where is Esme? What happened?”
“Tristan, hold on,” Valaine said as she joined us. Measuring the boy from head to toe, she reached out and brushed some of the hair from his forehead, revealing scratches that were in the process of healing. “Were you in a fight?”
Ansel took a deep breath, his slim brows furrowed. “I couldn’t do anything to help them.”
Without any information, I was already imagining the worst. Valaine was quick enough to notice, so she convinced the boy to tell us what had happened. He told us everything, from the moment he’d been brought back to the mansion to the events that had led to his escape.
My blood ran cold, and my throat tightened. “Esme…” I murmured.
Our next move became obvious, as Valaine got back on her horse and took Ansel with her. “Come on. We’re going there. We need to help Kalon and Esme!”
I didn’t hesitate. My heart was pounding in my ears. Fear had all but frozen the blood in my veins. I tried to reach my sister through Telluris, but I couldn’t feel our connection anymore. We flew through the streets, the Visions running faster than the wind, their hooves thundering across the cobblestones.
The rest of the trip was like a distant dream. I didn’t register any details. By the time we reached the Visentis mansion, I couldn’t even remember how we’d gotten there. Valaine had told Ansel to stay back, but I didn’t trust him.
“You’re coming with us,” I said firmly.
Valaine wasn’t comfortable with the idea, but she didn’t object. She knew I was in no mood to accommodate a young Darkling, no matter whose brother he was. She kept a hand on Ansel’s shoulder, just to make sure he didn’t slip away for whatever reason, as we went inside the mansion. The door was unlocked, and there was no sign of any servants. Their faint scents lingered, but they’d already left. Something told me they might never come back.
Upstairs, there was one hell of a mess waiting. Darklings lying in puddles of their own congealed blood, heads severed, eyes glassy and empty. I could smell the violence that had occurred here.
We checked every corner of the room, running our hands along the walls, capturing every scent we could find, observing every scratch and blood smear. None of the blood was my sister’s, and I took some comfort in that.
“They left,” Ansel whispered. “I think they took Veliko with them. And Atlas, for sure.”
“I think I would’ve seen a massive ghoul around here, even in his subtle form,” I said. “Where could they have gone?”
“There’s an escape tunnel beneath the house,” Ansel replied.
He took us downstairs and through the secret doors. I couldn’t sense Esme anymore. “I don’t think Esme went through here,” I said.
“Neither did Kalon,” Valaine confirmed with a slight nod.
“It means they escaped,” Ansel interjected as we stopped in front of the tunnel opening, a big black mouth of stone gaping before us. Chills moved up my spine, and I had a hard time focusing as I wondered where my sister was and why I couldn’t reach her anymore. “Mother went through here.”
“Her scent is fresh,” Valaine said. “Along with your other brothers, your uncle, and… yeah, I recognize that stench… Veliko. Definitely him, and he’s alive.”
“He wanted to kill me,” Ansel said, crossing his arms.
“Where could Kalon and Esme have gone? And how did we not know about Kalon’s Darkling connection?” I asked Valaine, struggling to contain my anger. These were pretty disturbing revelations for me to deal with, and there wasn’t time to process any of them adequately. It led to some intense reactions that I couldn’t control. Not when my sister’s life was in danger.
“I… I don’t know.” Valaine’s shoulders slumped. Ansel had already explained how much Kalon had tried to stay away from the Darklings, but I still couldn’t forgive the fact that he hadn’t shared any of that intel with us.
“He brought Esme here, knowing full well that his mother is the friggin’ Whip of the Darklings!” I snarled, punching the wall. The stone crackled, bits of dust falling to the ground. My knuckles hurt and bled, but I didn’t feel the pain. I was losing control, and I needed to find a way to pull myself back together, for Esme’s sake.
“In my brother’s defense, he had struck an agreement with our mother regarding Esme. All he wanted was to get me to safety and to convince me to cooperate in exchange for leniency. Kalon had thought our mother might give up on my Darkling affiliation and push me to work with him and Esme, in order to save my life. Obviously, she had other plans,” Ansel chimed in, but I wasn’t in any way comforted by his statement.
Valaine moved to stand in front of me, firmly squeezing my shoulders. Only then did I realize how badly I was shaking, overcome with fear and anger. “Tristan, we’ll find her. We’ll find Kalon. He’ll tell us everything then, I promise.”
“How can you promise that when he’s been pulling the wool over your eyes for thousands of years?” I didn’t regret the bitterness in my voice. Kalon had lost all my trust. All I cared about was finding my sister and getting her as far away from him as possible.
“Tristan, please,” Valaine said, her fingers digging into my flesh through the fabric of my shirt. “He took her away to keep her safe. We’ll hear from them soon. Esme would not leave you in the dark like this unless she had no other choice. Right?”
I nodded once. “Right.”
“For now, we know they’re safe and away from the Darklings,” she said. “We need to talk to Derek and Sofia about this right away. I need to work with Amal and Amane regarding the Black Fever, as well. And we have a trial and an execution to attend.”
“Esme is still missing,” I replied. “We could at least try to find her.”
“Give it until the morning,” Valaine insisted. “If we don’t hear from her or Kalon by then, I will personally come with you to find her. Meanwhile, we must keep Ansel safe. He’s a persona non grata among the Darklings. Lucky for him, we’re the only ones who know about his betrayal of the empire—no one outside your GASP circle is aware of this. We can use him,” she added, scowling at the boy. “Will you help us, Ansel?”
He bowed briskly. “I was a fool. I see that now. If there is a chance for me to do better, I’d like to take it. Besides, my brother is in danger, too. Mother will stop at nothing until she gets him under her wing or locks him away somewhere so he can’t meddle in her affairs anymore.”
“Where are we going to put him?” I asked. “We’ll have to notify Corbin and the Lord and Lady Supreme about what happened at the Visentis mansion. We can’t keep it a secret.”
Valaine shook her head. “I didn’t say we should. But we can leave Ansel out of it for the time being and pass him
off as our protégé. At least until we find Kalon and Esme. If we tell my father that Ansel is a Darkling, he’ll go straight for his head.”
I had to admit she had a point. The master commander was determined to punish every Darkling that crossed his path, and I doubted he’d show any mercy toward Ansel. The boy looked terrified enough. It seemed like adequate punishment when added to his trip back into the city with Kalon and Esme.
“Okay, let’s head back, then,” I said. “We’ll tell Derek and Sofia about what happened. They’ll pass a selective summary on to the Lord and Lady Supreme. And we’ll wait until morning to hear from Esme and Kalon. But mark my words, Valaine, I no longer trust him. I can’t. I’m only holding back because I trust you.”
She sighed, then pushed up onto her toes to plant a kiss on my cheek. The feel of her lips against my skin sent a warm and calming sensation through my body. My heart swelled, expanding like a burning sun, my ribcage suddenly too small to hold it. “Thank you for trusting me, Tristan. I will do everything in my power not to let you down. You’ve done so much for me already… but believe me, please. I trust Kalon. And if you trust me, it’s good enough.”
Deep down, I did feel a little better, though Valaine’s cheek peck definitely had something to do with my mood change. I was still worried about Esme, but also thankful she hadn’t been taken by the Darklings. It meant she’d survived another attack. And if Kalon had been there to protect her, even better. I didn’t have to like or trust him in order to appreciate his assistance.
As we headed back to the palace, my stomach felt tied up in knots. There was so much we didn’t know yet. And the deeper we looked, the more dangerous Visio seemed to get.
Derek
It wasn’t a public trial, but at least a hundred Aeternae filled the courtroom, located in a sumptuous building close to the city center and the prison. I could see the palace rising in the distance through the wide floor-to-ceiling windows.
A Shade of Vampire 81: A Bringer of Night Page 22