“You both have it?” Ventos asks as he hands Callos and Quinn the massive iron bar.
“We’re stronger than we look.” Callos smiles up at him.
“I hope so, someone has to let us back in.” Ventos laughs heartily and squeezes through the door.
“Riane, with me,” Ruvan commands.
Right behind him, I pass through to uncharted territory. The door closes behind and I can hear the sound of the bar re-engaging. The same writhing, uncomfortable excitement as the night of the hunt jolts through my body, just underneath my skin even though I haven’t drunk any elixirs. It’s a desire that doesn’t feel entirely my own and whispers with the same surge of power as when I became bloodsworn to Ruvan.
Give me power. Give me blood.
I grip both sickles at my hips, shift my grip, and grip again, trying to shake the urge. I try and inhale slowly, quelling the restlessness growing within me.
“It’s quiet,” Lavenzia whispers. Her usual levity has vanished. I can tell from her pose that she’s ready to draw her rapier at any second. She has the same sharpness to her gaze as Drew right before he would lunge for me during our sparring.
“Good.” Ruvan radiates discomfort as well. Perhaps this gut-wrenching feeling is coming from him and the connection that’s been forced upon us through the bloodsworn. “It’s still early in the day. We’ll need to use every minute they’re sedated during daylight to get as deep as we’re able.”
“Callos is certain about this path, right? Because we certainly can’t go the same way as last time after we had to blow it up,” Ventos says. He clearly struggles with keeping his voice down.
Blow it up?That doesn’t sound good.
“He’s confident.” Ruvan’s gaze falls on me. “And we’ll make it; after all, we have a hunter with us.”
Great, they really want me to be a hunter. Simply marvelous.
“And just what am I hunting?” I ask.
“What you’re made to hunt.”
“But the blood oath—”
“The blood oath prevents you from harming me, or anyone loyal to me. These vampir are not loyal to me. They’re not loyal to anyone.Theyare the monsters your guild made with their curse.” Ruvan’s eyes narrow slightly.
I ignore his accusatory gaze. “How will I know the difference between those loyal to you and these ‘monsters?’”
“It won’t be hard to tell the difference,” Lavenzia answers.
“They have the withered and sunken faces we originally possessed.” The look Ruvan gives me is pointed, as if he is trying to emphasize that how I originally saw him was a result of this curse and not his own monstrosity.
Sounds like the vampire I know. “Simple enough, then.”
We continue through the castle. Winny runs point for our group, staying ahead. Her hair, pulled back, is a streak of gold.
It’s as she slips into the darkness ahead that I notice everything in this first room is dark. There are no light sources. No candles. No windows.
I stop, turning. Blinking. “What the…”
“What is it?” Ruvan asks. They all halt, taking a step closer.
“I can see.” The finer details are diminished. But I can see the stone walls and crumbling tapestries. I can see the condensation that weeps from the sagging beams of the roof and drips like blood to the floor. “How?”
“It’s the bloodsworn magic,” Ruvan answers as if this should have been obvious and plain when it is very much not to me. “You have powers of the vampir within you.”
“But I’m not a—”
“Vampir, yes, we all know.” He sighs tiredly. “But our essence has been linked, a pathway opened between us. Some of my abilities and insights have been given to you and in turn, yours to me.”
I wonder exactly what those “abilities and insights” are that I gave him. Can he forge? Can he actually steal my face? Or does he know something more intimate? This is not the time or place to ask and I’m happy to avoid the answer for now.
