Quickly, Vallan slays Pine and Boulder.
I find the zealot named Silence on another street, packed together with two others. “Silence!” I shout into the darkness.
His shoulders tense as his two allies shuffle off. Slowly, he turns. “Wh-Who are you devils?”
“Guardians sent from Sister Cyprilis of the Chained Sisters. Remember her?”
He guffaws. Blood coats his dirt-ridden face, and he rubs muck from his white eyes. “You lie. The Whore of Bedburrow is dead. I killed her myself.”
“Then your friend Origin must have lied to you. Because she’s a vampiress, just like us.” I smile at the creature, standing fifteen feet from me across the road. He opens his mouth—
My daggers fly through the air and fog and plant between his opened jaw, spearing the back of his neck. My second one findshis chest, piercing his heart, and he collapses before uttering another word.
When I go over to retrieve my daggers—not before sawing off the vampire’s head, of course—I stare down at him with a frown. “Not verysilentafter all, were you?”
I return to the front of the wreckage, noticing the wave of zealots getting closer. An entire congregation of them shuffles forward as one mass. Pointing behind Vallan, I gulp. “Uh, time to go, brother. Our friends don’t look too happy, and they’re close.”
“Perfect timing, cub,” Vallan answers cheerily. He grunts, rips something off the ground with a sickening rasp of blood and bone, and then wags the slack face of someone’s head by the hair. “Look who I found.”
I wince. “Origin, I take it?”
Vallan tosses the head in the bag. I throw in Silent’s head, and suddenly realize that we’re no better than someone like Overlord Barnabac Craxon, who lined his entire district with impaled bodies and skulls after the Trithea Plaza incident.But those people he killed were innocent. These four were anythingbutinnocent.
So I suppose we’re different after all.
Vallan and I stare at the wave of croaking vampires headed toward us, now less than a hundred paces yet moving no faster than before. They’re like slugs, infesting every inch of ground they cover.
I share a look with Vall. “To the carriage, brother?”
He nods curtly, swinging the bag of heads over his shoulder with a satisfied grunt. “Posthaste, cub.”
Chapter 34
Skartovius
I let out a heavy sigh after sending off the most recent group of my court to arm our allies in the northern caves of the Military Ward.
If we are going to win a revolution, I’ll need pockets of informants and fighters in every corner of Olhav. The evening has been trying and exhausting, speaking to no less than twenty commonbloods and noblebloods hailing from five different covens.
If I can trust even a third of them, it will help. At least I have Mistress Helget and her remaining mate, Demilord Godial, as well as Demilord Tymon, Indokkus Shirin, and a few others I can trust to get the jobs done.
“So they’re all gone?”
The light, cautious voice causes me to tense, coming from the doorway of my study. I glance over and see Sephania poking her head into the musty room.
Smiling at my beloved, I sit on my single chair and beckon her to me, patting my knee. “A sight for sore eyes, love. You’re awake.”
“I slept for nearly twelve hours. It would be more concerning if Iwasn’tawake, don’t you think?” She shuffles into the room. At first I don’t think she’ll sit on my lap, but then she whines and does it anyway. “You act like I’m a waif weighing less than a pebble, love. Do you forget I’m a sizable lady?”
I laugh as she settles down on my thigh, leaning slightly off to the side. The heat of her rolls off in waves and makes my senses run wild. I wrap an arm tight around her middle, bicep and forearm digging into her curves, and pull her against me. “I’m a vampire, little temptress. I can handle the weight.”
She chuckles and leans forward to kiss me on the side of the mouth, wrapping both arms around my neck. Her lips are soft, full, and inviting. It seems we’ve gotten past whatever frustrations and differences we shared last night, thanks to the hours-long fucking that took place and calmed our collective worries.
I lace a finger under her chin. “I know that look,” I mutter, noticing her batting eyes. “An ask is coming.”
“Can I not simply enjoy your presence, Master?”
A snort leaves my lips. “Andshe calls me ‘Master,’ stroking my ego? The ask must be bigger than I imagined.”
