To the one who kisses my bloodstained cheek, slips a daisy behind my ear, and smiles like crowning the monster in flowers was always part of her plan.
And if the world wants to stop me?
Let it fucking try.
Ezra
A day later, I stand outside a decaying warehouse near the New York–Canada border, just another corpse in a city long past saving.
This isn’t where I want to be, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is paying my debt and getting home.
Shifting into the Tesem, I sniff around the perimeter of the main building.
No trace of my sibling. No underborne. Only stale human blood and rot, probably left over from Renato’s raid.
I don’t know my sibling’s mental state, so I consider my approach carefully. Just like me, my siblings are cold, violent, and bloodthirsty.
Weighing my options, I decide that approaching as a human is best. It’s not very threatening and I can use speech to explain my presence.
I square my shoulders, then tug at the lapels of my jacket. Tilting my head side to side, I shiver as the vertebrae crack down the back of my neck. This needs to end quickly.
I weave through the warehouse’s first floor, sidestepping dead rats and puddles of suspicious brown liquid. Rusted meat hooks dangle overhead, a grim reminder this place was once a slaughterhouse.
What an unsanitary choice for a hideout.
But there’s nothing here.
Maybe Renato was wrong. Maybe they moved.
Hell, maybe the vampire’s dead, and my sibling left.
“Hello?” My voice echoes off the walls of the massive building. “Is anyone here? I’m looking for Luca and his captor. I suppose I’m here on behalf of Renato.”
Before I can say another word, something rips me off my feet and slams me into cold concrete. My shadows shriek, lashing out too late to break my fall.
Something cracks, sick and sharp inside my skull.
Pain explodes through my arm, bright enough to steal my breath.
I look down.
Oh. Well, hell. Would you look at that?
A length of rusty rebar juts clean through the meaty part of my bicep. A shadow lunges for the wound, curling over it, desperate to hold me together.
“Is that any way to treat your brother, dear sibling?” I call out, trying to mask the pain in my voice. “I simply came here to speak with you. That’s all.”
“Fuck you, brother!” my sister screams. “You have no business here. Luca belongs to me. I won’t let him go.”
“I mean you no harm, sister. I don’t know why you took the vampire, and frankly, I don’t give a shit. I promised that soul-eating twat I would speak with you and try to ensure Luca’ssafety. I don’t care what he’s done to you, sister. As far as I’m concerned, our meeting is over,” I yell into the darkness.
I’m fucking hurt.
I don’t know if I can shift, so I’ll have to think my way out.
I pull my wounded arm away from the wall, groaning when I feel the lumps on the rebar slip through my flesh.
I barely yank free before she’s on me again. I don’t have the time or the strength to react. She slams into me sideways, flinging me against the same wall. When my face hits the concrete, pain bursts through my nose and jaw in one sickening snap.
