39
EVIE
K ylo stopped prying into my past, and for that, I was grateful. The rest of the evening nearly made me forget his own origins. The fact that he was a vampire clan leader, likely responsible for hundreds of deaths in his immortal life.
Yet, where there used to be only disgust, I now felt growing curiosity and understanding. As my heart opened to Kylo, so too did it open to the possibility that perhaps not all violence was deplorable.
He’d saved my life three times now, murdering born in the process. And I didn’t mourn a single one of those demons.
My distrust was still baked deep, but it was considerably less feral than before.
I nestled deeper into Kylo’s lap as he read to me in the living room, this ancient mythological text on faerie lore he knew I’d enjoy.
He paused to kiss the top of my head. “Will you stay here tonight, angel?”
The softness in the request made my stomach flutter. “If I don’t, you’ll just follow me home…”
“Obviously.”
I bent my head toward one of his outstretched arms and sunk my teeth into his rigid muscles. Kylo gripped my hair at the scalp and yanked me back to stare hard into my eyes.
His lips curved. “Baby, did you just bite me?”
I lifted a shoulder, the corners of my lips tipping up. “Your arms are just so bitable.”
His laugh was dark, rumbling straight through me. He closed the book and set it on the coffee table, all the while holding me by my hair like I was a kitten picked up by the scruff.
“I could say the same about you,” he said, low and dangerous. He let go of my hair, making a motion with his finger for me to turn in his arms and face him.
I twisted to straddle him, my heart continuing to stumble as I watched that little dimple form in his otherwise ruthless features.
“In the morning, I have to return to my clan,” Kylo said.
Of course, he did. He’d already been away from whatever it was that he did for an entire day. I wondered if he secretly resented me for keeping him from his work with my escape attempt. I knew I’d driven him out of his mind. And part of me still reaped satisfaction from that after his own stunt with Idris and Mena. But another part of me felt guilty, knowing how much he cared—and how correct he’d been about the danger I faced.
“And you’re coming with me.”
My eyes snapped back to his.
One of his hands was on my waist, and the other pressed against my racing heart. “You’re a part of my world now. My clan will protect you as fiercely as I will. Like I said, I want you to meet my mentor, Princeton. After everything that has happened, I think it will help you to talk to someone like you.”
I started to shake my head, even if I knew he was right.
Kylo grabbed me by the throat and locked his lips with mine. The kiss was mind-melting, exactly as he intended. His thumb stroked my jugular. He nibbled at my lower lip and moved away just an inch.
“Not a request. Call it a date. You’re still bound by your own bargain, little witch.”
I glared at him.
Kylo only laughed.
“Why do I need to be blindfolded?” I hissed as Kylo carried me down what felt like endless flights of stairs.
“For your own safety.”
“Wait, oh gods, does your clan hang out in the catacombs? Is that why we’re going underground? You know this place is cursed, right?”
I sensed strange, potent magick press up against us from all directions, but it didn’t feel like angry spirits, thank Selena.
“Evie darling,” Kylo drawled. “With the number of questions you’re asking, you’re making me think you need to be gagged, too.”
“Hmph,” I muttered into the crook of his neck. Why did he smell so good? The clean mint, the woodsy musk, this hint of leather that was manly and violent…
“Are you sniffing me? ”
“No.”
With the blindfold on, my other senses were heightened. At the first hint of familiar whispers, I stiffened in Kylo’s arms.
And as soon as I made out the first clear, unmistakable phrase, I fisted Kylo’s shirt.
Hello again, witch.
A sharp chill fell down my spine.
“Evie, are?—”
“Please take off my blindfold. We’re already inside,” I said, placing a hand over my ear and pressing into Kylo’s chest. “Please. Please take it off.”
We reached solid ground, and Kylo instantly set me down and called back the shadow that had slithered over my eyes.
“Open slowly,” Kylo warned.
I didn’t listen. Even though the lighting was dim, it was blinding for a moment after being in the dark for too long. I squinted, finding Kylo’s concerned eyes.
“What’s going on?”
I shook my head. “Just witchy things.”
“Right,” he said slowly, frowning as if waiting for an elaboration that would never come.
I looked around the strange, dark hallway of carved stone. The winding spiral staircase behind us was black iron and impossibly steep. Thankfully, I didn’t see any signs of stacked human skeletons.
I shivered again at the thought.
Even still, that unfamiliar dark power bloomed all around us. I saw one of Kylo’s sigil tattoos glow for the briefest moment.
He tugged me close, interlocking his fingers with mine. “I promise where we’re going isn’t nearly as spooky.”
The longer we walked, the more I glanced over at Kylo, searching for any change in his disposition. It was as if I expected him to suddenly become a completely different person the closer we got to his secret society of masked vampires.
Would he treat me differently in front of them?
“I can hear you thinking, little one,” Kylo murmured.
“Really? Because of the blood bond?” I squeaked.
Kylo laughed. “No, baby. I was joking. You just look all cute and serious.”
“Oh.”
I wasn’t sure how Kylo was navigating, as we seemed to turn down increasingly complex halls. They were becoming more decorative now. A chandelier dangled above, sconces burning with strange white flame.
At the sound of voices, I had to stop myself from jumping out of my skin. Laughter trickled through.
“You know what,” I said, halting in place. “I’ve decided that I did, in fact, lose my mind. But luckily, I have found it again. So if you could please take me back up to street level…”
Kylo stared down at me with a smirk. “Angel, we’ve been over this.” He pushed a strand of hair behind my ear. “It’s okay to be afraid. I’m here. Besides Princeton, everyone you are about to meet was once human. They still have human hearts and souls. They are just as dedicated to protecting Etherdale’s mortals as you are to protecting your brother.”
The way Kylo humanized his comrades helped, but it didn’t change the fact that my negative beliefs about the turned were embedded deep. I still blamed them for radicalizing kids like Idris. For provoking the born and inviting more violence into the city.
Even if I knew on some level it was more complicated than that.
Kylo reached for my other hand. “Everyone you’re about to meet has lost someone they loved to born violence. They all have a past filled with grief and darkness.”
The words jolted me, breaking through my vision of the turned as merely overly-arrogant rebels trying to stick it to King Earle.
“Including me,” Kylo said softly.
I looked for it in his deep blue eyes—the promise of grief—and when I found it, a fist clenched around my heart.
“I’ll tell you about mine when you tell me about yours. No rush.” He gave my hands a squeeze. “You’re not meeting the entire clan. That would be impossible, for starters. Only a few of my closest friends.”
Impossible? How many of them were there? Wait a minute. Kylo was dangerously intelligent. He seemed to know about everything going on in Etherdale, at all times. Yet he was entirely unconcerned about increased born presence. About any of it, really. As if everything was going according to plan.
As if…
Kylo guided me through a final set of doors. My questions about the true magnitude of his power, influence, numbers, and schemes were lost when a perky dark-haired vampire suddenly bounced up and down in front of me.
“Hi Evie!” Harmony said. “You look terrified!”
I smiled in spite of myself, and Kylo melted at the sight.
“Astute observation.” Kylo glanced beyond Harmony, toward the table of turned gathered around an oval table in a large, decadent space that resembled a lounge or drawing room.
For a moment, I forgot we were underground. The furnishings were tasteful, and vines slithered across the stone. The light above was warm. Bookcases and shelves of alcohol and games were on one wall, and a dormant fireplace was against another.
A woman hovered who appeared to be some sort of server. She was laughing with the group at the table as she refreshed their drinks. I could hear muted voices from all around us, as if we were merely in a back room of some sort of massive hub.
My mind spun.
None of the vampires were masked or glamoured. They were all proudly showcasing various styles of tattoos, mostly onyx, with the occasional dark blue or purple accent.
One of them stood, a massive, brutish man with arms nearly the size of my torso. I gulped, and Harmony giggled.
“Angel, this is Blade.”
“Of course it is,” I mumbled before I could stop myself.
At this, the horrifyingly large man burst into hearty laughter that had the whole room turning in our direction.
I pleaded with my cheeks not to blush.
What did it even matter? They could already smell my fear.
Blade extended a meaty hand my way. Kylo’s eyes sharpened like weapons as I shook it politely and introduced myself.
“Told you,” Harmony said.
Blade looked from Kylo to me before taking three steps back. “Yep, you were right. Though it’s not all that shocking. He’s fucking intense about everything he cares about.”
“And we love him for it,” Harmony added gleefully.
“I’m glad my intensity can be felt,” Kylo said, looping his arm around me and pulling me closer. “Because I’m only showing a drop of it.”
His voice rang out as some kind of warning that even I could feel in my bones.
Everyone else stood and greeted Kylo, and Kylo introduced me to the rest of the vampires without letting me out of his grip.
A woman with short blonde hair stepped forward. “Could I have a word, Kylo? It’ll only take a minute. It’s?—”
“In a moment, Lucetta.” Kylo said curtly. “After my guest feels more comfortable.”
The way Kylo so instinctually prioritized me made my heart skip a beat. He sat with me at the round table as a conversation began about some strange art exhibit in one of the local galleries.
It flowed naturally, as if they were all just regular people with regular interests outside of vigilante assassinations of Lillian’s demon spawn.
The server woman smiled warmly as she brought plates of brunch food. It was all so strange—so human . I secretly thought Kylo was going to bring me to some kind of vampiric torture dungeon, and I’d be knocked back into my senses at long last.
His hand on my thigh was warm and comforting, even as I nervously tapped my foot. Kylo continued to trace soothing circles on my skin as he put food on my plate with the other.
“Have you seen this exhibit yet, Evie?” Harmony asked. “It’s so beautifully odd. Like she channeled some alternate reality into art.”
I shook my head.
“I’ll take her,” Kylo said casually. “She’d enjoy it.”
“The witch you speak of, a talented sculptor and dear friend, has gone missing, you know,” someone suddenly said from behind me.
My skin prickled with recognition, the dark power and whispers in the corners of the room reaching their highest volume.
A man with curly light brown hair entered the space, hands tucked into baggy brown pants. He wore a billowing black shirt with layers of amulets and bones hanging around his neck.
I recognized him from the markets, the second time I’d met Kylo.
His gaze casually swept to mine. “I’m Princeton.”
“Evie,” I said.
I was suddenly more nervous now than I had been around these strangely normal, albeit deadly, vampires.
My fellow witches and I didn’t tend to get along.
Kylo dramatically gestured to the seat on the other side of him with a smile.
Instead, Princeton grabbed an idle seat from nearby and dragged it across the floor to wedge in between me and Harmony. At this, Harmony rolled her eyes.
“Oh, gods,” she muttered.
Blade snickered, shaking his head as Princeton nonchalantly reached for a pastry.
I glanced over at an irate Kylo.
“The two most oppositional men I’ve ever met,” Blade remarked. “ And the most powerful. Whoever could’ve foretold the consequences?”
“Don’t forget insane,” Princeton added, mouth half-stuffed with pastry. He blew Kylo a kiss, his fingers adorned with a great many rings.
Kylo’s violent gaze didn’t give.
Princeton was unbothered as he glanced around the table. “This is quite a peculiar gathering.” He laughed. “Are we making weekend brunch a regular occurrence?”
Harmony made a face, and the scuffle under the table sounded like she’d kicked him in the shin. “We! All! Need! Work! Life! Balance!”
Kylo finally melted, rolling his eyes with a chuckle as the entire table laughed.
“My work-life-balance isn’t speaking to me right now,” Blade said, tearing into a baguette violently.
“Which one?” Harmony muttered.
Blade grinned roguishly. “Says you. I saw you going into a campus bar last week, following a group of very pretty ladies.”
Harmony huffed. “Ew, Blade. I was meeting a friend.”
I was still hung up on the beefy, frightening brick wall of a man’s name. “Is Blade a nickname? Or did your mother see what you looked like at birth and thought, yeah, this child is a Blade ?”
The whole table went silent. Princeton stared at me for a beat before letting out a guffaw. Kylo’s hand on my thigh paused its gentle strokes as he grinned at me.
Blade smirked. “Well, legend has it I came out of my mother with both fists clenched asking for a shot of whiskey. It had been a long night up there.”
I giggled. Kylo kissed my temple.
It wasn’t until a good ten minutes later that I realized the drinks in the chalices around me were blood .
Helia’s heavens. I really was surrounded by those I supposedly hated most.
My eyes darted to the space in front of Kylo, but he was sipping water. Was he hungry? Had he been sneaking blood when I wasn’t looking? He did occasionally disappear to the kitchen to fetch me water. I’d just never considered he might also have been covertly keeping himself well-fed.
“I’m sorry about your sculptor friend,” Kylo said to Princeton at a lull. “I hope she’s found safe.”
“Not holding my breath,” Princeton said bitterly. “But thanks, brother.”
“I hate that they’re punishing witches for our existence,” Harmony said. She regarded me apologetically. “Breaks my heart to see innocents suffering because of something that has nothing to do with them.”
Her genuineness humbled me, especially the parts that had been so quick to make judgments and assumptions.
I thought of the born who had subdued me in the forest, how easily they could’ve killed me if Kylo hadn’t been there. In the library, too.
Harmony asked me about my goods, and I had to admit to the table that the born had forced me out of business.
“I wanted to open my own shop,” I murmured. “Before all of this, I mean. I feel guilty enough putting Celeste’s owners and customers in danger. If I reemerged in such a visible way, I’d draw too much attention. The entire business plan to guarantee my success was that I needed to capitalize off my strengths and uniqueness. But now… those are the reasons I need to lie low.”
“Fuck that,” Blade said. “We can work something out, right boss?” He looked to Kylo hopefully—determinedly—as if he’d known me forever, and he was ready to devise a game plan.
Suddenly the whole table was rallying behind me, these strangers who I’d known for less than an hour. Plans were thrown out, revised, workshopped. They peppered me with questions, clearly interested in me as a person just as much as they wanted me to succeed in spite of the born.
All the while, I felt Kylo watching me, studying me in that way he did. His fingers combed through my hair.
“Will you be okay if I chat with my friend for a minute?” he asked me.
Blade and Harmony were in the middle of a heated debate about the merit of an underground goods trade.
I nodded. “Yes,” I said, and surprisingly, I meant it.
I felt strangely… safe. With people I downright despised a week ago. They’d accepted me without question, didn’t bat a single eye at my chaos witch nature or the fact that I wasn’t one of them. They looked at me like they looked at Kylo—with the utmost respect.
It’s the way they all looked at each other, too.
Like some strange family, born of magick and shadows.
Lucetta and Kylo stepped into a different room. I glanced at Princeton, only to find his light brown, slightly manic eyes were already trained on me.
He pouted, resting his head in his hand. “The thing about when Daddy Kylo gives me rules is that it only makes me want to be that much naughtier.”