Chapter Fifteen Inana #2
The night is beautifully dark, the sky clear and speckled with stars. I spot Dominic’s silhouette farther down, limned by moonlight. He’s half turned away from me, but I notice the open vial in his hand, extended like an offering. Then I smell it. The sickly-sweet tang of blood.
Something about the scent sets me on edge. It’s not like I haven’t smelled blood before, and I should be used to it from how often Calvin drinks from his vials, but the rotten scent hits the back of my throat, making me gag. A sudden spike of rage funnels through me, and I curl my hands into fists—
Dominic whirls around and caps his vial.
The scent disappears, and my muscles relax. My anger cools to a simmer, but what lingers serves as a reminder of what Dominic is. A half Sinless with secrets he refuses to share. Well, I won’t make it easy for him to treat me like a tool, discarding me when he’s done.
“What are you doing here?” Dominic’s voice is sharp. Cold.
I climb the roof toward him, each step careful despite my ire. “I could ask you the same.” My eyes drop to the hand that holds the vial. “What were you doing with that?”
“It’s dangerous out here.”
“Were you trying to catch another Shade?”
“I’m keeping watch,” he says through his teeth. “Go back to your room.”
I scoff. “Why? Hiding something?”
He strides toward me, his balance effortless despite the precarious terrain. “What I’m doing is none of your concern. You can’t be out here.”
“Looks like I’m out here just fine.”
He reaches for my arm, but I lift it before he can make contact. He grabs for it again, and this time his fingers close around my wrist. He tugs me a step closer, expression dark. “Go back on your own or I’ll haul you inside myself.”
I hold his gaze with a glower and lean into his threatening pull. “I’d like to see you try.”
“Ah, so would I, love,” comes Lust’s deep and sultry voice. His dark shape coalesces beside the Shadowbane, his visage an impersonation of Dominic’s. “So would I.”
Dominic closes his eyes, teeth bared in irritation.
His hand opens at once, and I lower my arm.
In taking a step away, my foot slips on one of the tiles.
Dominic reaches for me, but at the same time, a heavy weight presses against my thigh.
I regain my footing, thanks to Sloth, who now stands between me and the roof’s decline.
Dominic stopped himself before he could touch me and now closes his fingers into a fist. “You see? This is why I didn’t want you out here. It’s fucking dangerous.”
“I was perfectly fine until you got handsy.”
“Handsy,” he echoes.
“I like getting handsy,” Lust says.
“We fucking know, you prick,” says Pride. His form wavers on the Shadowbane’s other side. He too wears Dominic’s face, but his expression is haughty where Lust’s is flippant. “The more you brag about your lecherous proclivities, the more pathetic it makes you look.”
Lust scoffs. “Stop trying to stir up my shame, Pride. You know I don’t have any.”
“Clearly.”
“Gods, it must be exhausting for you, always looking down on everyone. I, on the other hand, prefer going down. You should try it sometime.”
“I don’t need to try,” Pride says. “I either do something, and do it right the first time, or I don’t.”
Lust rolls his eyes. “Just say it, Pride. You don’t know where the clitoris is, do you?”
“Just say it, Lust. You’ve never lasted longer than three seconds, have you?”
“Was that a premature-ejaculation joke? Am I supposed to take offense? Sounds lovely to me.”
Sloth’s eyes volley between the bantering Shades. “Can everyone just sit down where it’s safe?”
Dominic puts his hands on his hips and heaves a long-suffering sigh.
Meanwhile, I’m left baffled. I never could have imagined I’d one day witness two Shades verbally sparring in a figurative dick-measuring contest. Do Shades even have dicks?
Lust and Pride may wear Dominic’s face, but below their necks, their bodies undulate in wisps of black and only a hint of clothing.
An open shirt and loosened cravat for Lust. A crisp jacket and starched collar for Pride.
Dominic shakes his head, drawing my attention back to him.
He seems annoyed by his Shades, but how much more annoyed would he be if he knew I’d heard every word?
I’m almost of a mind to confess, just to see how he’d react.
But I dismiss the notion when I recall the argument we were in the middle of when his Shades decided to have their own.
As he stalks a few steps up the roof, I wonder if he’ll tell me to go back inside again.
Then, without meeting my eyes, he pauses and extends a hand back toward me.
“Come on,” he says, tone begrudging. “If you’re going to linger like a thorn in my side, at least do it where you won’t break your fucking neck. ”
I purse my lips but take his proffered hand, letting him aid my climb while Sloth stays close behind me.
I settle onto the wide ridge at the roof’s peak, Sloth lying at my feet while Dominic sits not too far away.
Pride and Lust are now giving each other the silent treatment, hovering just behind the Shadowbane.
Tipping my head back, I take a moment to admire the quiet night, the canopy of stars, the silver glow of the moon, before I assess our surroundings.
The streets are quiet, empty, the windows aglow with lamplight.
There’s not a single Shade to be seen. Reluctantly, I return my attention to my prickly companion.
“Why are you so determined to keep us at a distance? You never answer questions plainly. You always put up a fight.”
“I could say the latter about you,” he says tonelessly.
“And there he goes,” I whisper to Sloth, reaching to pat his head, “dodging another question.”
Dominic rolls his eyes. “We can’t have this conversation at night. The Shades—”
“Are only attracted to lies,” I say.
“Except one of us seems to attract Shades even when she isn’t lying.”
“Is this about what happened in the clearing—Damn the gods. You’re doing it again. You are so frustrating I could…”
“You could what?” Lust appears between us, his imitation of Dominic’s features clearer than before. I imagine even his voice is like Dominic’s, if the Shadowbane would speak in anything but his dry tone. “Tell me what you want to do to me, and make it dirty.”
“Leave her alone, Lust,” Dominic says under his breath.
Lust pouts but retreats into the Shadowbane, leaving Pride to smirk, chin lifted in triumph.
“You want to know why I’m reluctant to answer certain questions?” he says. “Then let me ask you this. How did it feel to learn the truth of the Holy Braziers?”
I frown, considering his question. “I felt…betrayed. By my fiancé and by all Sinless.”
“And why don’t you spout the truth to everyone you meet?”
“Some wouldn’t believe me,” I say. “Others would arrest me for treason. The rest might fall into hysterics.” I imagine what would happen if everyone suddenly knew that the Sinless feast on human hearts to light the braziers.
It’s one thing to know the Sinless feed from people.
As far as the average citizen believes, a Sinless’s blood source is kept alive.
And if they die, what does it matter? They’re only criminals.
Or, in cases like Calvin’s, the family of the chosen blood source has been fairly compensated in exchange for what appears to be a position of honor.
It’s another thing to know the Sinless kill, claiming sacrifices without warning, without trial.
“Then imagine how much more I know than you,” Dominic says.
His voice adopts a gentle, almost pleading quality.
“How many more secrets I carry. You only hypothesize what might happen if you share what you know. I, on the other hand, have firsthand experience. A Shadowbane’s work brings us close to royal secrets that are kept from the public, and many don’t pass these truths on to their Summoners.
I do intend to share valuable intel, but I will do so only after we’ve established trust. In the meantime, know that I meant it when I said I’ve sent many of my retired crew across the sea, alive and well.
I genuinely want that for you. Hate me and my kind all you want, but I am not your enemy. ”
I’m not fully convinced by the last part, but I’m most concerned about a pointed omission.
“What about the Summoners you didn’t send across the sea?
You said before some have died, but how?
You promised to protect us. Did your previous Summoners die under that promised protection? Or by a deliberate lack of it?”
He holds my gaze without falter. “My burdens are heavy, Seamstress.”
I let him leave it at that, for I doubt he’d elaborate if I prodded more.
It’s obvious he’s been betrayed by his crew—something I considered doing when he first gave me his ultimatum—and he’s made it clear he won’t hesitate to kill us if we take that path.
Aside from being what he is, a Shadowbane hell-bent on becoming full Sinless plus an all-around asshole, he hasn’t done anything to make me seriously ponder that option again.
Especially if his promise proves true. If we can survive these next six months and he can get us off this continent, I can put up with everything I hate about him.
The promise of freedom, of not having to hide who I am or what I do, of not being labeled a sinner or an outlaw… it’s enough to keep me at his side.
Of course, no one knows if the lands across the sea are any better than here.
I lower my eyes to the dark horizon and the hulking shapes of the nearby mountains.
“Do you know what’s out there?” I whisper. “Across the sea? Are the other civilizations as damned as we’re told?”