The castle was renovated recently, but the vampires have managed to make the space look ancient, with ornate velvet curtains shielding the windows. What if it’s an auction, like in my dream? What if my nightmares have been preparing me for tonight? But as I look around, the humans aren’t being led backstage. Instead of an auction, I suppose they’re just planning for a rather democratic slaughter.
The humans are herded towards the front of the large hall by some invisible force. I’m guessing people have hosted wedding receptions in the castle. Proms, too. But soon the floor will be sticky with blood. I scan the sides, see curtains hiding private booths. But none of the humans are being dragged into the shadows just yet.
While the humans are all dressed in red, the vampires are wearing black, which will make us much easier to find.
I can’t save the humans individually. I need to dismantle the whole party by finding Trellis and killing him, so this doesn’t happen again. Kill him like I killed Cieri—but I don’t want any of his victims to get hurt this time. I think back to the five vampires I saw in the warehouse. Was Trellis one of them? I keep my breathing even, hoping that if any of them see me, they don’t recogniseme.
I look around as surreptitiously as I can. I can’t see the five vampires from the warehouse amongst the other vampiric guests. Then I feel someone behind me sniffing my neck. My knee-jerk reaction is to elbow them. But I won’t. I have to act like I’ve been compelled. So I let the vampire, a tall woman with dark blond hair in a sparkling black cocktail dress, cup my chin and tilt my face towards hers.
“You’ll be mine as soon as the chase starts,” she says.Chase.There won’t be an auction, because instead they want the humans torun—to scream, to beg for their lives. The vampire caresses my bare shoulder. “Or maybe I should steal you away now, before anyone else gets their hands on you.” Her gaze wanders down my red dress.
Then I spot someone at the other corner of the hall.
She’s wearing a midnight-black gown with a plunging neckline. Her distinctive chestnut hair, which she usually wears in loose waves, is tied up in an intricate bun, ringlets framing her face. She lifts a wineglass, filled with what I’m assuming isn’t synthetic blood, to her lips, and even from this distance, even with my disguise on, when Elia meets my eyes, I know she recognises me. With blood staining her lips crimson, she raises her glass atme.
She doesn’t show any sign of surprise. Almost as if she was expecting to see me here tonight. Almost as if she already knows what Iam.
How did she know?
A horrible smile, the kind I’ve never seen her sport at the university, the smile of a monster, twists her features.
A shiver runs through me, but before I can take as much as a single step towards her, the band—a harpsichord and wind quartet—stops playing, silence falling as a man takes the stage. His lined facetells me he’s too old to be Heritage. I look away for just a second, but when I look for Elia again, she’s gone.
That fucking bitch.
I didn’t want to kill anyone from Tynahine. But my grace doesn’t extend to someone who attends a blood party. Is the other hunter here yet? I scan the premises, searching for someone who could fight alongsideme.
“Well, this party has been a long time coming!” the old vampire on the stage says, and the crowd erupts into applause. I didn’t see him at the Silverbirch. “But I believe we have a fabulous selection of the finest hearts for you to drink from tonight.”
I maintain my dazed expression, not reacting to his words.
“We will give the snacks a ten-minute head start—the castle is large enough for the chase to be exciting. We do ask, just to ensure that cleanup is easy in the morning—” There’s laughter, and I stiffen. It’s not my first time hearing this, but you never get used to jokes about slaughtering humans. “—that once you’ve caught them, you compel them, and then bring the bodies back to the main hall so we can dispose of them efficiently.”
Suddenly, he snaps his fingers, and thesnacks,as he called them, wake from their trances. They look around, and then down at their matching red clothes, confused. “Welcome, friends!”
My neck starts itching, fear rising in my chest. I think of all my past missions. All the humans I couldn’t save. I won’t let anyone die tonight. I can’t let it happen again.
“We’re going to play a little game of hide-and-seek! You can hide wherever you want,” the vampire says as the humans start to mutter, and one screams when she sees a pair of fangs. “Though I ask that you do not destroy castle property, or I’ll be in trouble.” He smiles down at the humans, and when his gaze sweeps quickly over mine, he doesn’t recognise me as a threat. “You’ve got ten minutes to find your spot,” he says. “And if you haven’t been caught by sunrise, you will live.”
That last word,live,changes the air in the room. The humans’ compulsion seems to snap to an end, filling the hall with sounds ofconfusion. None of the humans appear to know where they are, or why they’re wearing red. I spot a clock directly above him. It’s only ten past midnight. The sun won’t rise for at least another six hours. They’re not planning on letting a single one of us survive the night.
“And your time starts”—he makes a flourishing gesture with his hand—“now!”
No one moves at first. Most of the humans are still trying to get their bearings. Some of them are smiling, sure that it must be some kind of joke. I see a middle-aged man talking to a vampire, trying to figure out what’s happening, as if the vampire might actually help him.Shit.
I take a short breath. I studied the floor plans of the castle before coming here, but as I look around, I see only one exit, a hall leading deeper into the castle. I don’t know what kind of traps will await us there. But I need to get the humans out.
There are just fifteen humans. It’s more than half the number of humans that are usually at a blood party, but that means the vampires will be fighting much harder to get their hands on one. I clasp the first wrist I find, pulling a girl my age with me towards the opening. “Run!” I shout, and the word grabs the humans’ attention, making them all turn towardsus.
Most of the humans who escape blood parties end up having their memories erased, Callisto’s vampire prisoners compelling them to forget. I know I won’t be able to do that, but I need to get them out of here as fast as I can.
“And they’re off!” I hear the host sing, followed by more applause.
“If you’re wearing heels, take them off!” I shout, as they start to realise that this is real. When the first one slips her feet out of her red stilettos, the rest follow suit. One falls in the commotion, crying. The hallway comes to an end in front of a grand staircase. A security guard waits at the top, a walkie-talkie on his hip.
“Good luck,” he says cheerfully. “You’ve still got eight minutes, so—” Before he can finish talking, I reach for the stake in my clutch and plunge it into his chest. He turns into a cloud of smoke. I scan the top of the staircase and the hallway for any other vampires, butfor now, we’re alone. I press a finger to my lips while the humans stare at the dust on the stairs. Some of them look like they’re about to pass out, one presses a hand over his mouth to stop himself from screaming.
“You all want to live, don’t you?” I ask, and a few of them nod, while others stare at the dust left by the vampire’s corpse. “Well, you’ll have to do as I say and stay quiet.”
