Chapter 63 Susenyos
SUSENYOS
Arin was here.
Alive and definitely not suffering.
Susenyos backtracked, reaching toward Kidan, shielding her from the wrath piercing him like an arrow.
“Christ,” Taj said under his breath. “She’s really the devil.”
Iniko had widened her stance, ready to attack, jaw locked.
By his shoulder, Kidan’s breath was coming fast and hard. “How?”
He didn’t know. Susenyos spied the exits, one behind him, and one to the side. If he grabbed Kidan’s hand and bolted, he could get to safety, find a way to survive this.
Running again? Arin’s voice seemed to say from across the hall, mocking him. Go on, coward.
Her black pupils were aimed like daggers. But she did not move. Did not attack.
She was waiting for him to make the first move.
Just like when he was human and begged her to make him strong.
If he bolted now, he’d lose whatever remained of his people’s respect. Arin would not just kill him, she’d torture him for decades.
And Kidan… what the hell would she do to her?
Susenyos had no choice but to follow their plan. He worked his jaw and exchanged a glance with Iniko. He took the chain from her, the one that restrained the Lusidio vampire they’d captured.
Looping his hand twice around the chain, Susenyos slammed the vampire to floor. The body rolled with speed down the narrow path until Arin rested her foot on the vampire’s snarling head, digging her heel in.
“Lovely catch.” Arin’s voice was smooth as a shard of glass. “What is this supposed to prove?”
Susenyos answered, regarding her carefully. “How many Lusidios have you killed since you escaped?”
The clenched jaws of the Nefrasi were answer enough.
“Samson told you all to hide, and you did. He told you to not kill any Lusidios, and you listened. I wonder, if he told you to let them feed on you, would you bare your throats too?”
The collective raising of glinting silvers made his spine straighten. Pride was the Nefrasi’s greatest marker, and he knew how to make them roar with rage.
“Biruk.” Susenyos found Biruk’s chestnut face to the left. “What did the Lusidios do to your sister?”
Biruk winced, turning his head, but after a moment, he said, “Mounted her head on a spike.”
Susenyos’s eyes blurred with the image. The horrified scream racking his friend.
“Henok,” Susenyos continued. “What happened to Asir?”
Below the chandelier, Henok’s gaze was pure ice. “They fed him to their lions.”
Finally, Susenyos faced Arin, eyes cold. “And where are your girls?”
Arin’s black pupils became ringed with red, and a few Nefrasi stepped back. She was their leader as much as Susenyos was, and if she ordered them to kill him, he was sure they’d all die.
Careful, Iniko’s look seemed to say. Don’t push her too much.
But it was far too late for that.
Susenyos had walked them into a trap and had to dig them out.
“You’ve all forgotten your true purpose—to destroy Lusidio!” Susenyos projected his voice so even those in hell could quake. “Where is your revenge?”
Claws released, the sound like unsheathed knives.
Arin held a hand up, and the pause was instant.
Blood flooded Susenyos’s ears. He tightened his grip on his dragon blade.
He might not win against an older vampire like Arin, but he’d put up a hell of a fight.
Enough for Iniko and Taj to escape with Kidan.
He caught Taj’s eyes as he had so many times before, across glorious Cossia Days, across devastating battlefields, communicating.
His friend slid a glance to Kidan, gave a slight incline of his head. He understood.
“Samson.” Arin’s heel was still on the Lusidio vampire. “Explain.”
Samson worked his neck. A thousand battles transpired between their gazes and violence swelled.
His soulless eyes were livid. “I saved you all.”
“So it’s true?” Biruk demanded, betrayal thick in his voice.
Samson didn’t answer, instead glaring at Kidan. Susenyos shifted his shoulder, directing his wretched eyes to him.
Arin’s tone sliced the silence. “So we have a coward who abandoned his people and a liar who used his people. Who should live?”
She shook her head in mock defeat, her Afro puffs dancing. They’d failed to bury Arin alive. Which meant the moment he walked through those doors Susenyos was already dead. This was just a play, a show of her power.
He glanced at Kidan, the harsh glare she directed at Arin. Her bravery made him smile. Draw out the human courage from him too.
If Susenyos was going to die regardless, he’d leave the world with a final truth.
His only regret was Kidan. He wished he had more time with her, years more. Taj and Iniko would get her to safety, but he didn’t want to leave her like this.
Sensing his intention, his friends began to frown. Taj shook his head firmly.
Susenyos inhaled deeply and took in the crowd, hundreds of familiar faces he wanted to sit with and talk with, return their clothing and jewelry from sixty years ago. Tell them he’d never forgotten them. Not for one second. He was so close.
But there was no other way out. Arin would finally have his sacrifice.
It was time to break his compulsion.
“I will tell you why I had to leave sixty years ago. Why I had to chase the mask artifact all the way into Uxlay and leave you behind,” he announced, his back burning with the claw marks. “The truth. Then you can all decide.”
Both Taj and Iniko growled, “No.”
But Susenyos had decided. No more running.