The vortex by the lake took me straight to the cave where Veronica had kept me captive ever since. I have seen nothing of this demon realm. I’ve never been here before. It’s dark, gloomy, desolate. There’s nothing living out here, and the very air seems infected, seems to pull at what little soul I have.
“It doesn’t seem as bad as it did,” Thorne mutters under his breath.
“Maybe because Bardin and the demons have retreated,” Briony says.
“Or you’ve gotten used to it,” I say, which makes her eyes widen in alarm.
She walks on ahead with the wolf and with Beaufort, and I find myself walking alongside the more quiet and deadly shadow weaver.
“You heard we found the headmaster?” he asks me.
“Yes,” I say. “He was the one that turned Bardin. I think she brought him out here for some kind of revenge.”
“Is that why she brought you out here?” he asks, but there’s none of the accusation in his question that there was with his bond brother.
“If anyone should be seeking revenge, it should be me seeking it from her. She turned me.”
“When she turned you, was it…” he hesitates, “forced?”
“No,” I say shamefully. “It was consensual. But she fooled me, made me believe it’s what I wanted, sold me a world and a life that seemed incredible to a boy from Slate. And before you ask, yes, Slate is as shit as they say it is. But I’d still give anything to go back.”
“Why can’t you go back?” he asks.
“I may be a vampire, but I am also a shadow weaver. I don’t belong in Slate anymore. I belong in Onyx. But it never suited me. I was an anomaly. I think I was only ever tolerated becauseof my connection to Veronica. And so they sent me back to the academy to teach instead.”
I was never one of them, just like Veronica was never one of them either. The more I think of it, we were outcasts. In Onyx they looked at me and they looked at her sideways from the corner of their eyes. I could hear their heartbeats racing whenever we were near them. They didn’t trust us. Better to send us to the academy, where we couldn’t make anyone uncomfortable.
“I’ve never been out here before,” I confess to Thorne. “You really survived out here for three days as a kid?”
“You’ve just survived out here, Professor.”
“I’m immortal, and as you may have noticed, I’m no kid.”
“I don’t remember much of it,” he says quietly, although I suspect he remembers more than he’s letting on, because a shudder runs down his spine. “You were never sent out here to fight demons?” he asks me.
“No. At first she kept me hidden,” I confess, “until I learned to control my need for…” I hesitate, “feeding. Then it took time for me to learn how to use my new powers. She introduced me eventually, but I never fitted into that place.”
“I don’t think I ever have either.” He peers toward Briony. “Although I think with her, I could fit anywhere.”
And I have to agree that maybe he’s right.
Chapter Forty-Five
Briony
We walk non-stop, finishing the remains of our rations as we go, and eventually we reach the old fort. While we’re all desperate to press on and get the hell out of this place, Fox is keen to see the remains of the headmaster to confirm the man was who he said he was.
Once Beaufort, Dray, and Thorne have secured the place with their shadow magic, I take Fox up to the room where we found the head of the academy.
He peers down at the old rags and what remains of the ancient vampire. Just ash.
“I can’t bear to look at it, Fox. I killed him.”
“He was going to kill you, Briony. What choice did you have? Besides, he was evil,” he says, bending down to tug at the old rags. He holds them up in the air and I realize now it’s an old jacket, an old cloak – even a discolored bow tie. “Veronica told me she’d killed him. But I guess in the end she couldn’t go through with it.”
“I’m not sure keeping him alive out here in this place was any better,” I mumble.
“Yeah,” he says, lost in contemplation. “Maybe she decided torturing him was better than death.”
