Chapter 32 Kidan #2
They stepped into a dimly lit circular room with people dressed in robes, similar to graduation gowns but altered to reach the thighs.
Upon their arrival, a hush fell over the room.
Kidan’s palms grew slick, and her eye snagged on a few red-clothed people.
She wasn’t the only one here looking for marriage.
An older man dressed in his robes and a silver sash approached. “Name?”
“Kidan Adane.”
His eyes widened, a brightness expanding in his pupils. “Adane. We’ve been waiting.”
She shook his soft hands, thinking of her mother and grandmother. Dressed in red and offered up to the tower like maidens.
Marry. Birth.
Pass down a legacy of blood. The entire idea was archaic.
Susenyos and Iniko slipped into the room a moment later. Visible awe and delight radiated off the members, pointing toward the vampires present.
Thick, blue-flamed candles cast long shadows on the walls. Then there was blood. Flowing in concentric circles on the ancient glass floor.
“To delight and awe the curious members, please show us you are a true acti,” the announcer said.
“I’m sorry?” Kidan said.
A gentle murmur traveled around. The announcer stepped closer, lowering his voice. “Your vampire should feed on you.”
The eagerness on the graduates’ faces was plain now. In their eyes, here was proof of what they’d learned in textbooks. Vampires, and the families cursed to feed them, were real.
She looked to Susenyos.
He shook his head in a firm no.
Her cheeks burned with the prolonged silence until a voice finally cut in, hard and laced with pity. “She doesn’t need to perform for you all. You have her transcripts. She has graduated Dranacti.”
Adjoa Piran was dressed in a flowing red dress, eyes sharp as she parted the robes. “Leave her alone.”
The announcer wore a sour look but said nothing.
Kidan’s veins shot with fire, staring at the woman who once smiled beside Daric the Cruel. She had a vampire companion with her as well—Sacro Tar. Kidan dimly recalled seeing him at a gathering, smartly analyzing Ramyn’s murder. Had he helped remove her parents’ hearts too?
Gruesomely propped up at their dinner table with everything intact except their hearts. It’s said the brutal holes were wide enough, you could peer right through them.
The urge to pull out Adjoa’s heart was overwhelming, and Kidan’s hatred must have been plain because Susenyos appeared before her, a blur of shadow. His voice low.
“Not the place, yené Roana.”
She shook her head, turning to the announcer. He asked her to read from the Arcane Code to the shadowed figures.
Her voice was rough and clipped, trying to shake off Adjoa’s gaze.
“Marriage is an ivory tower, and only the divine can climb its stairs. It is the joining of two minds, like pressing two different books together, and letting their ink bleed into one another. My name is Kidan Adane and I hope to join my house to your order.”
When Kidan finished, she scanned the room for Adjoa but she had left the Abyss floor. She swore and turned sharply, colliding with a nervous boy carrying a glass of champagne. The drink spilled on her hand, bubbling and sticky.
“I’m so sorry!” he exclaimed, rushing to pull out a napkin.
“Don’t worry about it.”
Kidan searched for Susenyos and found him with some acti girl she didn’t know. A frown crossed her lips when he bent his head, whispering intimately. Yusef was going straight for the alcohol by the corner bar.
“I’m Rahin,” the boy continued. “Graduated from Addis Ababa University. First year as an Abyss Order member.”
Kidan studied him. He was handsome, equal to her height, with a silk glove tucked inside his robe, ready to be offered.
She imagined her father in this position, standing before her mother.
Was this how any love story should begin?
She needed to stop thinking about her parents but everything seemed to brush up against their memories, calling her to dig further.
“Rahin, I need a favor.”
His entire body straightened. “Anything.”
His eagerness made her voice soften. “My father was part of your order. Do you know where I can learn more about him?”
Rahin’s demeanor dimmed. “I’m sorry. First-years only have access to theses and documents from alums. No personal information.”
She smiled at the genuine disappointment in him.
A force from her periphery called her attention.
Susenyos was staring intently at her, no trace of playful amusement present.
You’d think she’d publicly defanged him again—the way he glowered.
Then her pupils shone. He was staring at them. Rahin and her together.
Was he jealous?
It shouldn’t have made her smile this much, but it did.
The acti Susenyos was talking to returned, saying a few words to him. A silver pin of a blue gemstone was fixed on her red dress, indicating she was from Luroz House. Susenyos led her out the door with a hand on her back. Kidan’s smile dropped at once. Was he going to feed on her?
Kidan’s stomach turned a little.
So what? she told herself. You refused him your blood.
“What’s wrong?” Rahin followed her gaze.
“Nothing.” Her tone sounded too dejected. “Can you show me his thesis, then? Do you have access? His name was Aman Yisak.”
Rahin nodded, pulling out his phone. She waited for him to enter his log-in information before taking his phone.
Yisak, Aman. “Prisoner Psychology: Exploring Assimilation and the Challenges of Reentry into Society.” Master’s thesis, University of Addis Ababa, 1992.
Abstract:
Interviews were conducted with ninety-eight ex-detainees of different sexes, ethnicities, and ages.
The cultural and historical contexts of the countries in which the imprisonment took place were also taken into consideration.
Twelve ex-detainees were routinely observed in their work and home environment for a period of six months.
This study analyzes the subjects’ interpersonal relationships, job stability, and self-actualization.
There was a list of the twelve subjects and only the last one’s name made her breath catch.
Mahlet Adane, twenty-two, one-year imprisonment.
Kidan blinked several times. Prison? Her mother had been in prison?
“Did it help?” Rahin asked nervously.
“Yes,” she whispered, giving him his phone back. “Thanks.”
“No problem. I—”
Kidan turned and slipped outside, cutting the buzzing chatter and the approaching boy with a shut door. She could barely wait, pulling out her own phone.
In the Graduate Portal, she typed in: Mahlet Adane, imprisonment at Drastfort.
A sigh of relief left her when the search results appeared, only three articles.
The Will to Kill Act
Category 1 Offense under the Sentencing Act 1979
Note: It is a crime to inform a novice acti of the price paid in Dranacti.
If their free will to kill is tampered with, their blood will never become consumable.
This not only affects them but severely disrupts the ecosystem between dranaics and actis.
One healthy human can feed hundreds of vampires over their lifetime, contribute to strengthening Uxlay’s defenses and culture, and master their house.
To be disqualified from such a legacy because of a loose tongue is an unforgivable loss.
Punishment for Dranacti Disclosure
An acti convicted of Dranacti disclosure is liable for—
(a) imprisonment (life)
(b) imprisonment (fixed term)
A dranaic convicted of Dranacti disclosure is liable for—
(a) exchange (life)
(b) imprisonment (fixed term)
Criminals charged with Dranacti Disclosure
From recent date
Sacro Tar, dranaic (imprisonment of three years)
Mahlet Adane, acti, age twenty-two (imprisonment of one year)
More questions swirled in Kidan’s mind.
Dranacti disclosure… Whom had her mother told the truth about Dranacti? It sounded like a stupid mistake, spending an entire year in prison because she couldn’t help herself—
Her thoughts cleaved in half.
It wasn’t stupid at all. Not if her mother was protecting someone from a life of murder.
She clicked on the case and scrolled until she found the person her mother had told.
Adjoa Piran.
Kidan’s phone nearly cracked from the pressure of her fingers. Everything seemed to lead to this woman. And tonight, she wouldn’t leave without answers.