I grabbed the pouch of nuts off the nightstand and followed them as they dragged him down the stairs.
What the hell was I going to do?
The guards draggedNico through the village like a prized kill, and I followed behind them, my heart hammering sohard I was certain they’d hear it. My palms were sweating, and I kept checking on the nut pouch like it might come untied.
We arrived at a large estate with “Sangre” written in an arch above the gates.
Nico had stopped thrashing in the net, but he was still awake because his eyes narrowed at the name.
It wouldn’t surprise me if Val had something to do with this, but he was captured too. Unless that was part of the plan.
The gates closed, and I stood outside them, trying to drum up the courage to step foot inside. I was invisible. I had the nut paste on. The vampires would think nothing of me.
Still, they had a net, and although I might be invisible, I wasn’t a phantom, and I could be captured.
My brain screamed at me to turn around and do literally anything other than walk into a vampire estate alone. But the image of Nico being captured and the sound of the guards’ boots connecting with nearly every inch of him as they dragged him was burned into my vision.
I couldn’t leave him. I couldn’t disappear like I always did.
I had to be brave.
I was when I hit the lion shifter with the statue. I was when I left the castle. I was when I followed Nico into the dungeon.
Taking a deep breath, I walked in the direction the guards had gone. Most vampire estates had stables in the back and dungeon cells underneath. It was a little-known secret of vampires, at least the rich ones, to keep dungeons beneath their stables. Demons talked, even when they shouldn’t, and I’d heard things over the centuries. Constantly cleaning meant listening, and that meant knowing things you’d rather not.
I waited outside the stables until the guards exited andthen waited a little while longer to make sure no one else was going to come out.
The stables were quiet besides the sounds of the animals. A few turned their heads in my direction as I passed by, sensing my presence. A mare nickered softly, and I pressed myself against the wall, waiting to see if anyone would come investigate.
No one did.
I searched the ground for a trapdoor, but the straw was thick. I wanted to clean this place. It was filthy, with hay scattered everywhere, mud tracked in from outside, and dust accumulating on the support beams. My magic ached with the need to do something.
But Nico needed me more than my cleaning did.
I finally spotted the door behind some hay bales. There was a metal ring barely visible beneath the straw. My stomach clenched, and I had to talk myself out of running.
I could do this. I had to do this. For Nico. For Sammy. For anyone who had ever needed me to be more than a ghost.
Before I had time to convince myself that it was a horrible idea, I walked down the steps, noting that there hadn’t been a lock on the door. That meant they were careless or planning on moving someone soon. My guess was the latter.
The stairs were stone, cold and slick, and I had to grab the wall to keep from slipping. The air grew colder with each step, and the stench of blood and decay reached me before the room did.
The room I walked into had three cells. One held Nico, passed out, his body curled against the stone wall. Two others were occupied by men who sat there, staring off into space. One looked barely alive, his chest rising and falling in shallow gasps, and the other was more alert.
Were they strong enough to sense my presence? Would they alert the guards?
Nico stirred in his cell and groaned. He lay there another minute, his face contorting in pain, before he suddenly popped up and rushed to the cell door, trying to open it. The bars didn’t budge, and he slammed his fist against them in frustration.
“It’s no use, son.” The alert man’s voice was hoarse but steady. “Magically infused cells. You can’t shift your way out of them either.”
Nico turned, as if just realizing there were two other men in the cells. His eyes narrowed slightly, and he subtly sniffed the air before some of the tension left his shoulders.
He knew I was here.
“I’m Winston.” The man shifted on the ground, and I caught the glint of silver chains around his wrists. “The other fellow, I’m not sure what his name is. He was here when they brought me. He’ll die soon.”
Nico’s face went pale. “You’re the missing council member.”
