They almost lost her. It’s honestly a miracle that a child survived the attack. She and her brother shifted that next full moon. Hunters heard the howls and went in search of them. Aliz was young and small. She was no match for them. They wounded her with an arrow and took her, not killing her right away. In her distress, she began to shift back to human.
Oh, no.
The hunters apparently thought her a devil, but when faced with killing the child of a family they knew, they couldn’t do it. They took her to the asylum and never spoke of it, thinking it a kindness to the searching, grieving family to shield them from their daughter’s dark possession.
László apparently blamed himself. He’d left her, running after a stag. That was how the hunters had found her all alone.
I felt sick to my stomach about all of it.
We were behind the dumpster and in the tunnel before Clive put me down.
“I’m sorry, darling. This puts a damper on you wandering around Budapest on your own. I don’t trust the wolves not to hurt you.” He took my hand and led the way. “We’ll go to the kitchen and find you some food. They didn’t know we were coming, so they can’t have tampered with it yet.”
“Yum,” I grumbled. “I love probably-not-poisoned food.”
Vlad was about to trigger the tunnel door open when Clive said, “Wait please.”
Do you sense anyone on the other side of the door?
I paused, standing behind Clive, out of Vlad’s line of view, and tapped into my necromancy, looking for the green blips of vampires. Yes. Two. Cadmael is right outside this tunnel. Sebastian is waiting in the hall.
“We can go now,” Clive said.
“Why did we stop?” Vlad asked
“Sorry,” I said. “That was me.” I waved over Clive’s shoulder. “All that piggyback riding made my panties ride up. All fixed now.”
The look on Vlad’s face was priceless and it took all my self-control not to laugh.
We stepped out of the tunnel and found Cadmael leaning against a carved rock wall. He pushed off, standing straight as the door closed. “Finally.”
“Has something happened?” Clive asked.
Cadmael shook his head. “Not yet, but I’ve been talking with—no. I’ve been allowing others to talk near me and so have picked up a few things.”
“And we’re meeting here because?” Vlad asked.
“Do you guys have any folding chairs?” I asked, looking for anywhere to sit down other than the ground. “We could stash some in here for these clandestine meetings.”
Cadmael stared at me a moment, much like one would stare at a dog who’d suddenly begun speaking. “Our goal is not to alert the Guild that we’re meeting in secret.”
“P’fft. Have you met vampires? All you guys do is whisper in secret, foment grudges, and rip off heads.” I rolled my eyes. “And if you’re that concerned, we can hide them in the side tunnel here. Of course, that means Vlad has to be invited so he can open the door and get them out, but he’s cool, so no big deal.”
Vlad just stared, but I saw a telltale crinkling around his eyes. He dug me.
Cadmael looked at Clive. “You may find her lack of respect charming, but I do not.”
“Rude,” I grumbled, moving to a far wall and sitting down. I felt him pushing in my mind again. I didn’t know if he was looking for information or trying to mesmerize me into shutting up. Either way, asshole. “And keep out of my head. My thoughts and secrets are none of your business,” I snarled, sick of his shit.
A hairsbreadth later, I was dangling off the ground, Cadmael’s hand tight around my throat. Clive already had his arm around Cadmael’s neck.
“Old friend,” Clive ground out, “if you don’t release my wife, I’ll be handing you your final death.”
I felt my eyes lighten and my claws slide out. What I was focusing on, though, was Cadmael’s cold green blip in my head. Unspooling the gold thread of magic in my chest, I wrapped it around his blip, fulling encasing him, and pulled while stabbing my claws into his chest.
His eyes bugged out and his cheek twitched. Fangs descending, he hissed, his grip tightening.
“Release her now!” Clive demanded.
