I was expecting you, of course, but I’d hardly share that with him.
“Why would you think that?”
He gestured to the Dionysian affair where Lucian stood upon a raised dais, adorned in purple, suede pants and a grapevine crown fashioned by one of the hearthborn. He held a near-empty goblet of wine aloft in one hand. Around him all manner of beings copulated to a chorus of groans and exaltations. Lucian appeared lit from within, a king amongst his debauched subjects, though it seemed none of the revelers had piqued his interest. Perhaps he was still waiting for this sullen youth to come around.
“This does not interest you,” Stefan said, “but something up there does.” He pointed to the darkened sky where Azrael’s forces would arrive by air, if what he’d said were true.
“Go back to the party,” I said to the pet. I didn’t care to entertain his conjectures.
“No.” Stefan took another sip of wine, his teeth stained purple from the tannins.
“Go back to the party,” I said again with more force.
“Lucian has been trying that since I arrived. Does not work on me.”
Stefan was inured to our seduction? That was unsettling. Yet another reason to be rid of him.
“Well, I still have my hands,” I said lowly, “which will fit snugly around your slender throat.”
“You are more poetic than the bloodsucker,” the youth said with a tipsy grin that hardly masked his contempt. “He never said so much. Too busy killing.”
As I was contemplating a cutting riposte, or something more sinister, our quarrel was interrupted by the whirring of blades overhead. I gazed upward to where Azrael’s warplanes descended from the starry sky like giant winged insects. All around rose the cries of astonished and frightened Nephilim. Lucian didn’t miss a beat in his performance as he yelled at everyone to run and take cover, all the while knowing they’d never reach safety in time.
Meanwhile Stefan’s face had gone ashen, and he trembled so violently that he’d dropped his wine glass on the ground. Everything about him was utterly transformed, from a tiger to a wet kitten, and I wondered if this was the terrified young man you saw when you’d chosen to bleed the others instead of him.
This was my chance to be rid of the youth, for surely Azrael’s soldiers wouldn’t discriminate, but then I saw Lucian gesturing madly, shouting at me to keep his pet safe. Did I owe him that much? Damnably, I did.
“Lucian’s wine cellar locks from the inside,” I said to the young man, for he was already well-acquainted with those chambers, “and there are several underground tunnels to hide.”
He sprinted off like a startled doe. All around chaos reigned with half-naked Nephilim running for their lives. A few dropped to their knees in surrender, those who knew escape was futile. I had little sympathy for their plight. They sealed their own fates when they helped Azrael steal you away.
I sprinted to the nearest aircraft where Imperium soldiers were already deplaning in full tactical gear. They flooded out in a swarm in pursuit of defectors. The soldiers avoided coming within my range, which suited me just fine.
And then I saw you, as I had in the desert. Blindfolded, dressed in pants and a long-sleeved shirt with your wrists bound behind you and a rumpled mess of black hair. Your head hung low. You’d always been thin, but your frame was now emaciated. How you were able to walk in such a starved condition was a feat of sheer will. I rushed toward you, and before your bare feet had even graced our native soil, scooped you into my arms. You were little more than a bundle of twigs as I carried you to a grove of trees, away from the commotion. Your scent was masked by the chemical tang of disinfectant, and for one agonizing moment, I worried I’d been tricked.
“Henri?” you said in a voice weakened with exhaustion. “Is that you?”
“Yes, my love.” I gripped the back of your head and pressed your cheek to my chest if only to calm my thudding heart. I’d never leave your side again.
“I’m sorry,” you said, heartbroken. “I’m sorry for everything I’ve done.”
“You’ve donenothing. Whatever happened in there, it’s over now.”
You began shaking all over, convulsing so violently I worried you might be seizing. I needed Lucian, but he was caught up in the madness, so I whispered soothing seductions and held you close. Your bones jutted, digging into my flesh as they never had before, and I cursed Azrael for his cruelty. I tugged at the blindfold to remove it, and your bony fingers caught my wrist.
“No,” you said, then collapsed against me, clinging to me as you had as a child. I hugged you as tightly as I dared, not wanting to exacerbate your already delicate condition.
Beyond our quiet refuge, Lucian shouted inflammatory words, decrying the Imperium and the Angel of Death, promising that anyone who defected in the future would find sanctuary in our lands. “The Bloodborn will shelter you,” he shouted. “Until the tyranny of the Imperium is overthrown, and our kind can be free, we will fight for your freedom.”
His pet was nowhere in sight, and I figured he’d hid himself well.
“How are you feeling?” I whispered in your ear.
“Tired.”
“Feed from me.” I offered you my arm, but you grimaced and turned away. “Just a little while longer,” I said and stroked your matted hair.
The shrieks and screaming had died down, and the Imperium seemed to be making quick work of rounding up the fugitives. With the panic having subsided, I was better able to assess you. The blindfold was still secured around your face, so I gently tugged at the knot. You froze but didn’t halt me. The cloth fell and your bruised eyelids remained shut. You squinted as you had as a child during a scary part in a movie, as if you couldn’t bear to open them.
“Vincent, look at me.”
“Henri, I…”
There was a long pause where I searched your face to try and determine the source of your desperation. “Whatever it is, my darling, we’ll get through it together.”
You took a deep breath, which rattled your entire frame, then finally opened your eyes. I gasped and stared, disbelieving.
In the sockets where your eyes should have been were two glassy tourmaline spheres.
