On my words, I lock my gaze with his. He dips his chin slightly. Those luminescent eyes threaten to swallow me whole. I can almost feel the depths of thoughts swirling behind that gaze. It’s as if a bridge has been erected between us, one I can never—will never—cross… But with it I can see and feel things I shouldn’t in him. I sense the ebbs and flows of his emotion. Strength radiates off of him, caressing me like the whisper of a dangerously good dream.
“You are not the only one who lives with danger lurking in the shadows,” he finally says, words as cold as the air of the castle. “You are not the only one who has spent their entire existence in fragility.”
I have never thought of anything about the vampires as “frail.” But the way Ruvan says so gives me pause. There’s genuine pain there that manifests as a dull ache in the hollow of my throat.
Ruvan stands. Before I can say anything else, he continues, likely for the best. “Come. We should outfit you properly for going into the old castle.”
He leads me through the double doors at the front of the hall, which connects to an antechamber that has been turned into an armory. The moment I see an armor rack, piled haphazardly with bloodied, all-too-familiar leathers, I cease all movement. I simply stare at the leather armor, void of owners to fill it. It mirrors the growing emptiness within me—the void into which I’ve attempted to throw all feelings…all thoughts of home, Mother, and Drew…just for the sake of survival.
“Does it enrage you?” he asks.
There’s only so much one can feel before emotions begin to numb, and I have passed that threshold. But I’m not about to be that open, that vulnerable, with the lord of the vampires. So instead I retort, “I did not take you for someone to be concerned with my feelings.”
“You wound me.”
“I strike true.”
A thin smile works its way across his lips. “That is one of the reasons I chose you, after all. To be a hunter, to strike fast and true, to be ruthless.”
“I thought you wanted me for access to this door and information on the hunters?”
“I am purposeful. Everything and everyone around me have multiple functions.” Ruvan crosses to the armor rack I’ve been staring at. He motions with an open palm to the pile of armor. “Take whatever you need.”
“I’m already fitted with armor.”
“Is there nothing better here?”
“No, every hunter is given the same armor.” With the exception of the master hunter. Davos always had the finest armor of the entire fortress…little good it did him. Still, I approach the racks, encroaching on Ruvan’s space. Lightly, I run my fingertips over the leathers. I press them into the buckles and fastenings I remember making. It was a small job that even a child could do. Goodness, it waseasierwhen my fingers were smaller and nimbler.
A fourth of the armor here, I helped make. And it’s all stained with blood that looks far too fresh for my liking. Phantom heat from the forge tingles my fingertips as I think of working on Drew’s armor, armor that was just as bloody as this when I last saw him.
“The man you were killing, when I first saw you, in those ruins…” The words escape me as a whisper. I should keep them in. But this ache is too deep, threatening to overwhelm me if I’m not careful. “He… We left him…” I swallow thickly. The vampire lord merely watches me. Silent. Waiting. Allowing me to struggle. I bet he’s enjoying this turmoil. I wonder if he can feel my senses across that invisible bridge between us as keenly as I can feel his. “Was he still alive?”
Ruvan is horribly silent. Made worse when he doesn’t give me a direct answer. “What does it matter to you?”
“He’s—” The wordtwinsticks in my throat, choking me. I can’t talk about my family. Doing so would be a danger to Drew if Ruvan ever decided to steal my face. I will not be a repeat of my father. “Someone I care about.”
“A lover?”
“No!” I gag. “We’ve been…for a long time we were…very close…”
“You’re family.” Ruvan folds his arms. I purse my lips and it’s all the affirmation he needs. “I didn’t kill him, and I heard his heartbeat when we left. But whether he bled out before help arrived, I cannot say.”
I exhale a small sigh of relief and touch the ring on my pinky. There is a chance Drew survived. It’s better than nothing. Drew is strong. He’ll be fine.I would know if he wasn’t, I try to tell myself.
“He’s my brother,” I admit it despite myself, compelled by an unknown force. Perhaps it’s because Ruvan already sussed out that he was family and, given his age, it’s clear Drew isn’t my uncle or father.
“I’m sorry.”
“You’re not.” I glare up at the lord. Jerking my face toward him puts our noses almost touching as he leans in. My heart hammers and I can feel tension in the air. I wonder if one of us is going to give into futility by trying to attack the other. My insides squirm at the idea of tumbling with him again against the stone. Of exchanging blow for blow. Of pinning him down and looming over him, triumphant.
“I am.” Ruvan gives me a firm stare. Oddly…I sense sincerity coming from him. But why? “You and your brother are as victim to this circumstance as I and my covenant are. None of us laid the foundation for all this bloodshed, all this death. But we are the ones who must continue to bleed for it.”
“Your people thrive off it.”
“Do we look like we’re thriving?” he says coolly, leaning closer. I can feel angry power vibrating the air around him. “Tell me, from what you have seen, is this the mightyvampirehorde you were expecting?”
I open my mouth to retort and come up short. I want to sayyes. But I don’t know what to make of this strange world and the few vampires within it. The old stories, passed down longer than time has been counted in Hunter’s Hamlet, tell of the bloodthirsty vampire lord and his legions of mindless death bringers, ready to lay waste to humanity every five hundred years when the Blood Moon rises if not for the hunters.
