Chapter 15 Collision
COLLISION
Rin was called to the dining room the next night.
Night? Or day? In this windowless place, time held no meaning, but regardless, it marched on outside these walls.
Unable to hear his voice, she dodged Lucien’s calls, sticking to texts. Valkar always monitored them, but Rin didn’t think she’d ask for Lucien’s help—not quite yet.
Rin had to get back to Solar City for the drop. She might’ve searched for a way out if she knew the exact location, but Valkar was smart—he hadn’t told her where, only that it was in Solar City.
So, the next night, when the door opened, she rolled back her shoulders and stalked down the hall.
Another night of stilted words and the scrape of a dull spoon on the plate as she ate her food. Valkar rarely spoke, but when he did, each word was a growl—like it took monumental effort not to sink his fangs into her neck.
The bruises were a blotch of darkness on her pale skin.
There in the fogged-up mirror in the bathroom.
There, when she sat across from Valkar and his eyes dipped, watching as she swallowed her food.
And there, when she woke up from a restless, lonely sleep, fingers tangling in the sheets as she dreamed of her gun, then marched down the concrete halls to that underground space, always empty.
But Rin had a feeling that was only because of her.
There, she met Cyrus, who wrapped her in his arms and looked her over, ensuring she wasn’t harmed. She never was, strangely enough.
Electrodes on her temples and cuffs on her wrists, the price to uncover Lucien’s truth.
The next time, Nessen switched the mode of testing, but still, his words were the same:
No Stella.
She had known she was an anomaly, had spent the last five years before doctors and scientists…
When four nights had passed—she only knew because of the date changes, ticking by on her phone screen—the door opened again, and Rin padded down the carpeted hall, right to the double doors of the dining room.
Valkar was inside, waiting. As always.
She wasn’t as frightened of the vampire anymore, after being in close quarters, alone, with him now. He’d had many opportunities to hurt her. And he had, when he’d taken her blood against her will, but even then, his fingers hadn’t been too rough. He could have torn out her neck, but he hadn’t.
"Wife," said Valkar.
The doors closed behind Rin. "Rhyden," she forced herself to say, remembering to call him by his name. The few times she’d slipped up, his eyes had grown dark with fury, and he’d ordered her away.
For some reason, she didn’t want to be sent away. Maybe that meant it was all true—and he was her Soulbond and their Souls were inexplicably tied.
Or maybe she was lonely and her heart was still shattering from the force of her grief, and every time she was alone with her thoughts too long, she remembered the shape of Kit’s smile and the excited tenor of his voice when he explained what it was like to fly in the Stars.
"Sit down," the vampire said.
Rin did, finding her normal chair, right across from him. As she sat, her bare toes brushed the tip of his boots, and she gasped, jerking away.
The vampire huffed a dark laugh, but thankfully, didn’t comment.
She picked up her spoon and ate without him telling her to, the dull side of the spoon barely cutting into the tough steak. The middle was pink. She wrinkled her nose.
"What’s the matter, wife? You don’t like rare meat?"
She glanced up at Valkar. An identical cut of meat was before him, a glass of blood by his elbow. The extravagance didn’t quite match his leather jacket and rough demeanor.
Wax dripped down the sides of the candles in the brass candelabra on the tabletop.
"It’s fine," she lied, finally cutting off a small piece and lifting it to her lips.
Valkar cut into his own meat easily with his knife and fork. Red blood spilled from within, dripping over the prongs as he lifted it and placed it in his mouth, all while staring at her.
She gulped, shaking off her daze, lips wrapping around the bite on her spoon. Not… bad. A little too wet and chewy for her, though.
When Valkar was done chewing, he reached for his glass and swirled it, taking a long sip of the blood.
"I do," he said, like the tension between them wasn’t so heavy that she had nearly forgotten his question. "I like it dripping."
She inhaled sharply.
The rest of their meal was quiet.
When she pushed her half-emptied plate away, she leaned across the table, staring right into Valkar’s eyes. "You said the drop was happening in Solar City. Where?"
"You don’t waste time, do you?"
"I’ve wasted plenty here. I’ve come to your dinners, I’ve let myself be tested on. Yet, your end of the deal hasn’t been held, Valkar." His eyes darkened, but this time, she didn’t correct herself. "It makes me wonder if you’ve been lying to me, like you accused me of doing."
His beringed fingers reached for the glass of blood, and he downed the rest in one greedy gulp, slamming it down on the table.
Tiny beads of lingering red dripped down the sides to pool at the curved bottom of the glass.
"I haven’t lied to you. Not fucking once since I found you at that goddamned cesspool of a motel.
" He leaned over the table. They were nearly nose to nose.
The air crackled with energy, and she held her breath, as if awaiting his Stella to spark to life and burn her to ashes, but it never did.
"You may not fucking think so, but I’m trying to help you," the vampire stressed. "Nessen knows what he’s doing. He’s studied Aetherborns for decades. You say you have no Stella? That’s a fucking lie you’ve been fed."
"By who?" Rin shot back, but—
"I don’t know. Maybe it has something to do with the Nova inside you, but Vesperin, this is not a coincidence. Don’t you think it’s weird? Every fucking thing?"
It was. She knew that. It was strange about the Nova, strange that she was a coveted Aetherborn, yet had never been able to use her Stella… She didn’t want to focus on that, afraid of what she would find if she looked too closely.
"Maybe it’s weird, but I’ll never know if you keep me trapped here." She licked her lips, and his eyes followed the flash of her tongue.
The fire dancing along the candle wicks grew larger.
Valkar’s white hair was messy, but a little too perfect at the same time. She wanted to fucking ruin it. Even if someone tortured the information out of her, she’d never share who moved first.
All Rin knew was that he stared at her lips, and she parted them, and then his hand was on her cheek, the rings cutting into the side of her face.
His lips were on her lips, and his tongue traced the shape of her mouth, and she smelled peppermint and the tang of spices from the bloodied steak.
And maybe the tang of iron from the glass of blood, but she didn’t really want to think about that because Rhyden Valkar was kissing her.
The table cut into her stomach as he pulled her close. There was a shattering sound, but neither of them pulled away.
His lips moved over hers with practice, like she was a bad habit he knew intimately well, picking her up again after centuries.
The sharp tip of a fang cut into her bottom lip, pricking the tip of her tongue. He sucked her tongue into his mouth and soothed the ache, drinking her blood at the same time.
It was angry, full of resentment. Rin tried to give as good as she got, but Valkar took control with ease, owning her, possessing her. She never even had a chance.
Her head grew light with the need to breathe.
Valkar was the first to break away from the dangerous, blood-soaked enchantment that gripped them both.
When he pulled away, there was blood on his teeth.
Her lips were swollen, tingling, wet with their saliva and red with her blood.
Valkar exhaled deeply, the sound close to a groan. "If you knew how long I’ve wanted to do that to you."
Rin reached up to touch her lips. Her fingertips were red.
She’d never been consumed like that before.
Reeling, speechless, she was still leaning over the table. The glass of blood was shattered on the tabletop. Her ragged breaths filled the room.
As if nothing had even happened—as if her Soulbond hadn’t devoured her whole and left her empty and starving—the vampire sat back and reached into his pocket, pulling out his phone. He shoved it into her face. She blinked furiously, sitting back, heart racing as the screen came into focus.
A map, with a red pin dropped over a place she knew well.
Soft blue eyes, the flash of a scythe, and roaring Rogues.
"Nova Zone 21," Rin said, breathless.
"You know it?"
"I’ve been there. A safer Nova Zone on the outskirts of Solar City. It’s used for Hunter training—most of the Rogues there are lowlevels." But that wasn’t true. There had been midlevels there… Her mind struggled to keep up.
"That’s where the drop is. Two days." Valkar crossed his arms, bloodied fangs flashing as he scowled. "Don’t fucking think I’m telling you so you can try to escape."
"Then why?"
"Because you and I are going together."
Rin’s knuckles were white as she gripped the steering wheel. In the passenger seat, Cyrus was quiet, uncharacteristically so.
The lonely streets flashed by. It was surreal to be headed back to Solar City so soon—after everything. What felt like a year had barely been a week.
She glimpsed darkness in the rearview mirror and looked away, queasy.
Tailing their car, Rhyden Valkar.
The vampire’s motorcycle engine tore through the night, even with the car’s windows closed. He wove through the cracked pavement, recklessly exposed in unregulated territory.
She was being reckless, too, at the moment.
Rin led the vampire right back to Solar City, after all.
Cyrus didn’t hide his concern. As Vesperin pulled the key out of the ignition, the silence was loud. Night had fallen over the empty Academy parking lot.
Valkar’s motorcycle cut off. He leaned down, tapping the window on the driver’s side, without removing his helmet.