by K. F. Breene
“Question,” I said, my curiosity now running rampant. I didn’t know much about vampires, and this seemed like a great time to learn. “Does iron affect you? Like…burn you or whatever?”
His brow furrowed. He swung his hand back and placed his palm on the door. I listened, but couldn’t hear a sizzle.
“Let me see?” I waited while he complied, staring at me all the while. His hand was silky smooth. “Not one for manual labor, I see. Or does roughness smooth out when you become a vampire?”
“Both. You do not have a bond-mate?”
“No. Question: do crosses burn you? I see one on the door, but you didn’t touch it— Ah, okay. So crosses stenciled on doors do not burn. You can remove your hand again, thanks. How about crosses on a person? Let’s say I had a cross blessed by a priest, and then I whipped it off and pushed it against your cheek. Would that leave a mark?”
“We are wasting time. Tell me what allows you to see in the dark.”
“We’re wasting time because you’re a narcissist and only think your questions matter, is that it?”
“Yes. Tell me.”
I had to hand it to him: he was honest. “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.”
His exhale would’ve fluttered my bangs if I’d had any. “Come. I need to get a few supplies.” Face glossed over with annoyance, he dropped his insistence on learning my secrets and pushed the heavy door inward.
A pulse of magic drew my eyes to the door handle. I ran my hand in front of it. A potent spell pushed back at me. I reached a bit closer and received tiny, invisible pinpricks of pain. The spell was a nasty one.
“Does this work on vampires?” I asked, pulling my hand away. Then I rolled my eyes. “Pretend I didn’t ask that—”
“Who else would be this far into our domain?” he asked, incredulous.
“Sorry! I spat out the question before I thought it through.”
“I was led to believe you were intelligent.”
“I didn’t think it through, okay? Give me a break. It’s been a long day.” I finally pulled my attention away from the large door and felt a surge of adrenaline. This was his private quarters. I could not believe what I was seeing.
Chapter Seven
Light filled the chamber, dancing off a crystal chandelier hanging above a round table with fragrant flowers in the center. Behind that was a huge four-poster bed topped with a canopy that swooped down, attached to the posts by tasseled ropes. On each side hung ceiling-to-floor paintings depicting people from Roman times pointing or fighting or just idling around half-naked. Oil paintings and other artsy items littered the other walls, many in gilded frames. A desk sat in a corner, off to the side of a massive marble fireplace.
Where does the smoke go? I wondered vaguely.
Vases that were probably priceless decorated the mantelpiece, along with golden candelabra. The other side of the room housed a quaint area for sitting and chatting, complete with velvet couches and a marble coffee tabletop supported by golden-looking scrollwork. That style was mimicked in the dining area, a large room off to the side, accessed by grand double doors that currently stood open.
“Vampires eat, then?” I heard myself ask, blinking at decor that had to cost a bloody fortune and currently existed a long ways underground. “How the hell did you get all this down here?”
“I am ready.” He came away from a gold-looking cabinet on the other side of his ridiculously huge bed with a sword strapped to his back and a leather satchel draped cross-wise on his body. The two leather straps made an X across his broad chest.
I tapped the leather pouch surrounding my hips. “This baby makes it so you don’t have supplies hanging off you like a donkey.”
“It is still hanging off you, just in a different place. Donkey.” He sniffed in humor. Or was it disdain? It was hard to tell with him.
“Anyway, this place is sure something.” I waved my hand through the air, encompassing my surroundings. “I’m impressed. Why the light, though, if you see in the dark?”
“Light makes everything shine and sparkle. The room is much more magnificent that way.”
“So you’re vain, then.” I smiled at him. “That’s all you had to say. You’re vain, and light helps demonstrate your glory. Got it.” I surveyed his satchel, which was nearly full to the brim. Vain, and had a bunch of money for spells. That, or he had a bond-mate to make them for him.
“Do you have a bond-mate?” I asked, following him out of his private quarters.
“No. The press of duty to protect that mate is too steep of a price to pay for any benefits I might acquire.”
“Yet you offered it to me, in so many words.”
“To bind you to us. Vlad would approve. His approval would be worth any inconvenience. Not to mention that my duty, currently, is to protect you in this endeavor. At the end of this affair, should you not prove to be the asset we’d hoped, I’d merely kill you. The short-term torment of a bond-mate dying would be worth the regained freedom.”
“Very logical, Watson. One problem. Vlad does not a group of elders make.”
“Vlad is the elder on which our whole faction hangs. He rarely gets involved in such trivial matters. That topic is left to other competent overseers, such as myself.”
“So you are an elder.”
“Of course.” He reached the door, turned the handle, and pushed it open while stepping to the side—all with a sort of flourish that didn’t exist in this century. It was fun to watch, but the whole rigmarole was time consuming.
“I hope this gentleman thing is only for non-combat times, or you’re going to kill us both.” I straightened up as I went through the door. His presence seemed to require good posture.
“I am not a simpleton, Reagan Somerset. A left just there.”
“So, back to you, something I know you love talking about. What about holy water? And you never answered my question about the blessed crosses.”
“There are many religions in the world. Vampires are not a product of any of them. As such, their murmurings do not affect us. Neither do their trinkets. A right here, please.”
“Yet you have a huge cross on your door.”
“It was because of religious-fueled hostility that I was made. I now embrace the irony of it. Your turn—another right followed quickly by a left. What is your unique scent? I’ve never smelled its equal. Are you fae? I have heard they have an unusually delicious scent, though I have never smelled it.”
“You’ve never smelled a fae?” We came to another door. My palm was nearly on the handle before I felt the magic. I yanked my hand back. “What’s this all about?”
“I wondered if you would kill yourself. Alas.” Darius stepped forward and palmed the handle. A quick turn and thrust, and the door swung open on well-maintained hinges.
“Look.” I held up my hand and stopped. Turning to face him, I refused the urge to take a step backward due to our proximity. “I am part human, and as such, I get tired. When I get tired, I make mistakes. If you are planning to constantly test me, this isn’t going to work. I’m not asking for a partnership by any means, but I do need a heads-up if you know a death trap is lurking. Savvy?”
He analyzed me for a moment. “I will take up my duty as soon as you make it to the surface.”
“Something you might’ve hinted at before we set off.” I slouched and continued up the way. He no longer deserved my good posture.
“You have admitted a few times that you are only part human. Yet you have not volunteered your specific type of magic. What are you hiding?”
“Whatever it is, it’s none of your business. Which way?” I waggled my finger between right and left at the next intersection. The walls in this area weren’t lined with stone, showing instead the raw substance from which they were carved, which may have been dirt, but was just as likely to be magical mud of some kind. “Do the elders and important folk not travel up this way?”
“How else would we get out? Go right.”
&nbs
p; “Another way, presumably. Why didn’t you do up the walls?”
“When leaving, we usually travel at much faster speeds, so there would be little point in decorating the areas inhabited by new vampires.”
“Welcome to vampirism. Sorry about the lodgings.” I trudged up the steeper incline, feeling the burn in my thighs. “This is the worst.”
“You are out of shape and lacking muscle tone.”
“Don’t hold back for my sake. Let the truth bombs roll.” Magic fizzled around me, running along the walls and stretching across the floor. I slowed, closing my eyes to cut out one of my senses. That made it easier to use the magical sense. “I imagine you know what this magic is?”
“Yes. You’ve sensed it late. I am losing hope in your abilities.”
His attitude was really starting to get on my nerves.
Without another thought, I ripped out my sword, pushed magic through it, and sliced along the wall. The dirt—or magical mud—parted like canvas, revealing wriggling worms within. The magic coating the wall snapped like a cord before blinking out. The fizzle from a moment before dulled until it was a memory.
“How do you like me now?” I said with a little swagger.
A strange sound reverberated up the halls. I tilted my head, not able to place the weird sort of thrushing. Blood pumped through my veins. My fight reflex thundered, making me grip the handle of my sword tighter and mentally notice the weight of the gun on my side. Yet another sense, probably passed down from my father’s side, told me of danger rushing my way.
“I tripped an alarm,” I muttered as Darius stepped gracefully to the side. “With friends like you…”
A blur of movement came at me, a middle-level or greater vamp, judging by the speed. I launched forward, closing the distance, sword already slashing. It ripped open the chest cavity. The creature—because it was in monster form—screamed in a bloodcurdling way and flung itself to the side.
Another blur came right up behind it, claws out but in human form. Jaw extended, showing the teeth, able to rip through flesh like its claws could. I tugged out my gun and shot the creature in the face. Its head whipped back and its body followed, showing me the bottoms of its feet.
As I continued to run past it, I stabbed down into its stomach. It squealed and clutched at the offending spot.
Another vampire, slower, ran along the wall. In creature form but slightly jerkier than the others, it had its hands out like a ghoul. I started to chuckle—I couldn’t help it. The thing looked like a prancing monster.
I stowed my gun, bent low, and swiped. My blade tore through a protective spell and then the creature’s leg.
“Oh shit!” I grimaced. “I didn’t mean to sever the thing; I just meant to give you a deep cut. Sorry about that.”
Scratching sounded behind me. I whirled and slashed, reopening the quickly closing gash in the first vamp. My strike barely missed its heart. It clutched at its middle and staggered backward, its creature face a mask of shock, its lips forming an O around its ghastly fangs.
“Enough!” Darius shouted.
Movement slowed then stopped further down the hallway. I could barely see shapes lurking there. The three wounded vampires around me picked themselves up. One hopped, staring down at its severed limb.
“Seriously, I’m really sorry about that,” I muttered. “I hope you can put it back on…”
“She left you three alive on purpose,” Darius said in disgust. He sauntered away from the wall and continued upward. “Come up with a better defensive strategy. This one was truly lacking.”
“Good job, Reagan,” I mumbled, knowing he could hear. “By the way, thanks for not killing my minions. Oh, no problem, Darius. I do what I can.”
He ignored me.
As we left the carnage behind, Darius took over leading. Clearly I’d passed the last test, though I had a feeling the attack hadn’t been planned. I could’ve gotten around that spell without disabling it. I wondered if he knew that.
“We may be confronting rogue vampires during this investigation,” Darius said as the tunnel walls pushed in on us. “They should be killed as quickly as possible. You seem familiar with the easier ways to kill us—cut off the head, or destroy the heart. You do not need to use wood or metal for these things, as you clearly know. Sunlight is the easiest, of course. The older we get, the longer we can stay out in direct sunlight, but even someone my age can only last a half-hour before disintegration. I can remain in indirect sunlight for a few hours, I believe. Maybe longer—I haven’t tested that in decades. It is horribly painful.
“The last, least common way to kill a vampire is hellfire. Only a few magical beings can create that kind of fire naturally, and few mages have enough power and know-how to create it magically. A certain type of fae is one of those natural beings, from royal lineage, which is why I have always kept my distance from that group. We have allied ourselves with most of the other wielders of hellfire so that we may watch them closely.”
“Why not have the fae in alliance so you can watch them?” I asked as we reached a door.
Darius barely twitched his fingers before the lock magically disengaged.
Being predators of humans, vampires assumed a lot of heightened traits, like vision, hearing, and strength. Basically, they were the lions of the cat world. Part of being predators had to do with sneaking up on their prey. Since humans slept inside locked dwellings, somewhere along the line, vampires had developed the magic to circumvent any padlock or deadbolt. Needing to invite a vampire inside your house was pure myth.
The door swung open by itself. He stepped back and swept his hand toward the exit. “Please. After you.”
A girl could get used to this. I glided through like an idiot, pretending I was a princess. The night embraced me softly. I breathed in a wonderfully sweet smell drifting on the breeze.
“The elves have a firm hold on the fae.” Darius stepped out beside me and closed the door. “They are out of our reach. As far as I know, however, fae cannot see in the darkness.”
“I’m not fae.”
He’d probably figured that already. “Unlucky,” he said. “They are privileged within the Realm.”
“Why unlucky? If I were fae, you wouldn’t be my friend. Then who would you ambush with rock-men and mostly hidden underground spells?”
He sniffed. I had no idea what that meant.
“I thought I was down there for longer.” I checked my watch. It said nine o’clock, the same time I’d entered the Realm.
“We live in eternal night. It is our natural habitat, after all.” He gently touched the small of my back while holding out his other hand, ready to escort me like a guy out of a Jane Austen book. “Please.”
“What era are you from?”
“You can hardly expect me to reveal my past if you are unwilling to reveal yours.”
“I did expect that, yes.” I patted my weapons and tuned into my surroundings. The lightheartedness of the moment dried up as the great wide world of the Realm stretched out before us. We took up a path that led parallel to a long string of mountains, blocking the northern way.
“You can move faster than a human when fighting. Is that also true of walking?” Darius asked, his stride perfectly matching mine. He was only hinting at rushing me. Very polite.
“Not really, for reasons I don’t understand. It seems like battle is the only time I can increase my speed to non-human proportions.”
“And your strength?”
“Strong like a bull.” I made a fist and flexed my bicep. “Always.”
“Your sword?”
“Is lovely, don’t you think?” The height of the grass around us increased as we walked, hiding boulders and pitfalls. We stayed to a solid dirt track that slowly rose above the surrounding area, big enough for three people to walk abreast—or one normal person and one wide-shouldered Darius.
“It is magical?” he asked.
“Of course. Normal swords can’t cut through spells.”
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br /> “Normal magical swords can’t cut through spells either, unless a counteractive spell is fed to the blade before each interaction. You did not use a counteractive spell, and there is no way you could’ve guessed what to pre-load it with.”
“No one likes a know-it-all, Darius. Just so you know.”
I felt his glare beating against my temple, but he didn’t ask for more information. I got the feeling he was tired of being turned down. It probably wasn’t something he had much experience with.
A glimmer at the base of the grasses alongside us suggested we were heading into swamplands, which made the raised dirt path necessary unless we wanted to slip on rubber boots. Another mile, and my suspicion was confirmed by the soggy mud at the edges of the path and the standing water leading away from it. Very few mud islands rose above water level, which meant the path we were on was man- or mage-made.
Near us, a line of grass moved in a wave, indicating something at its base was traveling the same way we were. Judging by the waves it was making, the creature, probably a water serpent, was mighty big. Four feet? Five?
“How close is the next solid path that leads this way?” I asked.
“A mile up we will intersect a path that leads down from the north. A mile after that, we will intersect a path that leads up from the south. There is a path that leads to our destination from the west. Only two paths, this size, go in. They are closely monitored.”
“By that thing in the water, or something on two legs, or…”
“By vampires,” he said. “We always post sentinels. One will be stationed at each intersection, and there will be a third at the entrance of the enclosure. The serpent is just one of a great many dangers lurking in those waters.”
The serpent continued to dog our steps, later joined by another on the other side.
“Do those fairly giant serpents eat people?” I asked, surveying the water lapping the bottom of the raised dirt path, which was now basically a continual mound rising about two or three feet from the water. Though I couldn’t see how deep the swamp got in some places, I bet that those rubber boots would have to be mighty big to keep a person dry.