Chapter 31
Ambrose threw a strigoi off his back, and slammed him to the floor, just as Balzar lifted a heavy foot, and stomped it into the monster’s face. But no matter how many fell, the damned things just kept coming.
We’re coming back—all of us!Lila’s voice was like a saving grace, giving him hope for the end in sight. On the Estate’s foyer floor, the green marble ran black like fresh paint, the scent of rot and burning flesh and death filled Ambrose’s nose. It wasn’t a scent he’d been so raked by since the Mass Death four hundred years ago.
Lila bounced down the stairs, her ponytail loose around her face, strands hanging free at the base of her neck. Marcus was behind her, and his simmering golden eyes stared daggers into Rebekkah’s back as Darius held the viper’s hand.
In any other moment, Ambrose would balk at the development, study the fire in Marcus, tease Constance for how she, too, watched the boy with eyes full of worry and . . . he sighed—Constance’s gaze was equally filled with teenage lust. Great.
Another strigoi leaped onto his back, reminding him of the rotting flesh all around him. He tore the monster off him, splitting its head from its body, then tossing the corpse back toward Balzar, who staked it through the heart.
Lila’s eyes widened at the bloodshed before her.
“Did you . . . kill all of these strigoi?”
He shrugged. “Balzar helped.”
“Fuck, Draven, there has to be three dozen here alone,” Rebekkah swore.
He hadn’t noticed. Not as he dashed through them, ripping them apart. Not as he bit their necks out. Not as he’d rubbed his palms raw over and over as the wood of the stakes bit into his hands. Not as the bodies piled around him.
“We need to get out of here,” Lila said, hopping over a body and catching herself against his bloodstained chest. He loved the way she ran right into his arms, loved the safety she seemed to find within them, even as they were covered in gore and surrounded by bodies. “Have you seen the Cambrias?”
Ambrose clenched his fist, but nodded. “They were changed. They’re both strigoi now. I locked them in the dining room.”
Lila swallowed hard, her eyes trailing to the barred door. He knew she considered healing them. “Kaz, the kids—” Lila paused, glancing up, as though she heard something. Ambrose immediately followed her gaze, but there was nothing there. She quickly shook her head. “No, it’s Nostro. He just told me he’s coming to us, with just a handful of his people. They’re flying at full speed to beat the sunrise.”
Darius joined them. “Nostro? What about the Mansion?”
“H-he says it’s fallen. Drusilla won.”
The words echoed through him, hollowing his mind. Fuck. Drusilla won?
He met Lila’s worried eyes, her eyebrows pinched. She successfully took the manors . . . she said into his mind, letting the truth sink in.
Ambrose clenched his jaw against the heaviness of the loss. “Little Crow, you need to tell him not to come here.”
“Where do we go?” Darius paled. “The Court was taken, the Estate overrun, and now the Mansion—”
“There’s still one manor . . .” Rebekkah stepped up, between Lila and Darius. “If my brother is in the Crow Court, and Drusilla is in the Maggot Mansion, and Ciro is dead” —she glanced up at Ambrose—“then there is still one place.”
Ambrose felt the shades of emotion flutter the room. The vampires were muted, shut off from each other as they’d always been. Kaz’s fear was palpable, but his concern for Constance and Marcus far outweighed that fear. Balzar was a familiar, a loyal monstrosity to Darius, with the only purpose to serve and care, feelings Ambrose felt permeated with each of the creature’s actions.
But it was Lila he could feel most, Lila he could feel from a mile away, Lila he could decipher every shade of sorrow from, every drop of lust, every well of strength, and every cavern of fear.
And right now, it was as though the sun had been eviscerated.
“We don’t have to go back,” he said quickly, without thinking.
She only looked at him, startled. It dawned on Ambrose then that she hadn’t been aware of the fear coiling around her entire being.
But then her eyes darted behind him, and Lila threw herself from his arms, ducking under him, and thrusting the palm of her hand into the jaws of another strigoi. “Don’t fucking touch him,” she seethed, before slashing a body behind her and smoldering another.
A new wave was beginning.
As a dozen more strigoi flooded into the room from all over the Estate, Ambrose launched himself at Kaz and the kids, huddling them all under him. He knew Marcus and Constance could handle themselves—had seen it—but the last thing he needed right now was to be worried about them.
“We can figure out where later. But right now, we can’t be here. I have a ship on the coast. We should be able to all make it, just before sunrise.” Darius turned to Lila, pulling a strigoi from her path. “Tell Nostro to meet us at my docks. He knows where they are.”
She nodded, but kept her guard up, her eyes shifting around the room.
Marcus shoved himself away from Ambrose, turned, and looked at him. “I’ll carry Kaz. But you must protect my sister.”
Though the boy was . . . still a boy, he sized Ambrose up. His chest puffed, his eyes were unwavering. And Ambrose couldn’t help but smirk.
A memory flashed in his mind of a time long ago, a glimpse of his little brother, so young. The boy showed off nonexistent biceps before he carried something heavy for their mother. Not a single ripple of muscle or abs on his small black chest. But he always flexed for them all, even with nothing to show. Would always offer to carry the heaviest supplies, the heaviest plates.
Ambrose smirked again, seeing Lila’s brother before him. “Always.”
Marcus watched him for another moment, before grabbing Constance’s hand. “Stay by me. No matter what happens, stay close.” She nodded, squeezing his hand in return as he pulled Kaz into him.
Ambrose gave his friend a wary look. “Take care of them.”
Kaz opened his mouth, then closed it, and Ambrose knew any semblance of a witty retort died on his tongue. “Of course, sir.”
He turned back to Marcus, and nodded. “Go, now. We’ll be right behind you.”
The three began to step toward the grand entrance of the Estate, and Ambrose followed, making a path through the growing number of strigoi as Lila, Rebekkah, Darius, and Balzar followed his lead. As they neared the entrance, Rebekkah and Darius went airborne, attacking the strigoi crawling along the walls, and Balzar staked each fallen creature. Ambrose weaved through the strigoi, finding his place at Lila’s side, making sure nothing touched her, and then he scooped her into his arms, before beating his wings against the floor. The burst of wind knocked the monsters all around them prone, but it wasn’t fast enough. Some leaped and started climbing toward them, others sprouted monstrous wings, just as ragged and warped as they looked.
Ambrose hadn’t seen the wings before. This was new. They were . . . mutating? No. Adapting. Flesh ripped, and the skin at their backs became those mangled wings.
He looked at Lila, expecting to see shock written on her face. But she only ground her teeth.
You knew?
She met his eyes. That some are different than others? More . . . evolved? She nodded. The evolved ones are too far gone to be changed back. Maybe it’s that they like being strigoi. I’m not sure. All I know is, those are the ones I’ll burn.
Her violence made his cock twitch. Wonderful timing.
“Now!” Darius yelled. He began flying toward the exit, as did the others, dodging the hissing beasts as they dropped from the ceiling, from the walls, leaped from below. Balzar ran below them, keeping pace.
We’re almost there, Lila. Almost there!
Ambrose felt a tug on his ankle, and immediately Lila radiated her heat, burning the hand holding onto Ambrose. His skin warmed uncomfortably, but not painfully, and in the next moment, the hand around his ankle released.
I’ll keep the radiance, you fly.
Darius and Rebekkah broke through the entryway, into the night sky, and Lila and Ambrose were just behind them.
Ambrose could hear the rapid flap of wings, the click clacks of their jaws, the boom of the heavy run below them. The strigoi were right behind them. How would they get to the boat, and set sail with the creatures this close?
Just as Ambrose passed through the doorway atop the long stairwell, he heard the sound of the doors closing behind him.
“Balzar!” Darius yelled, and as Ambrose turned, he felt Lila’s lungs spike.
Balzar was inside, strigoi surrounding him, as he stood behind the doorway to the Arachnid Estate, pushing them closed. “Master, go!”
“Balzar,” Lila whined, her voice breaking.
“Take Lady Bran and Lady Reinick away from here. I will hold them off as long as I can. Go!”
Ambrose caught a final glimpse at the familiar’s strange visage, his eyes filled with fear, with dedication, with determination.
And then the great black doors of the Arachnid Estate were shut.
Darius was cursing. More than Ambrose had ever heard his friend curse. They caught up to Marcus, Kaz, and Constance quickly, but a number of strigoi that slipped through the door before Balzar could shut it were still racing behind them. Wings flapped as the monsters screamed and hissed, but Ambrose could see the ocean on the horizon, could see the docks ahead where Darius kept his vessel.
That’s . . . the ocean?Lila asked, and he felt her astonishment, her wonder.
It is. I’ve planned on showing it to you. This feels disappointing compared to what I imagined.
She remained silent for a moment, studying it as she radiated her healing warmth, keeping the energy high for all around her.
I didn’t picture it quite so . . . dark. I thought it would be more blue.
Ambrose chuckled, and he silently thanked her for allowing him that grace in a situation as dire as this. It is very blue. Wait till you see it in sunlight.
Darius pointed ahead of them. “There!” The ship was already far from port, already being manned by the crew Darius employed, already sailing away from the Arachnid Estate. “Once we’re near it, we can kill off the rest of the bastards, or leave them to burn in daylight.”
Ambrose descended toward a massive wooden vessel, with sails of emerald and black. A spider sat in the middle, legs angling in all directions—the crest of the Arachnid Estate. The ship bobbed in the rock of the waves, as small specks of humans and vampires ran around the deck, untying ropes and changing course.
The sky was growing light with color, the sun would be up at any moment, and if they didn’t make it inside, who is to say what would happen to them. Ambrose beat his wings harder against the breeze, as he felt Lila’s warmth trickle through his veins, pump between his joints. He didn’t feel the usual exertion that came with flying long distances, nor the familiar pull of muscle when he stretched his wings too far.
“Ambrose,” Lila called, “Nostro is there!”
The old bat had flown straight from his manor, and he caught sight of him on the deck of the ship.
But that was it.
He was all that was left free from the Maggot Mansion.
He realized then, all Darius had now was himself. Constance, on a technicality. Rebekkah and Marcus were the last vipers not imprisoned or mad with power. And he, alone, was the final crow.
The vampires of Malvania were crumbling, being forced into servitude or madness or eternal hunger. And Ambrose had no idea how to stop it. No idea how to defeat this enemy.
Vampires overcame. Persevered. The Mass Death was proof of that, and then again when the eight manors battled for power.
But now, a new kind of monster was taking over. Would vampires become the next murine? If so, what did that mean for humanity?
Marcus, Kaz, and Constance landed on the deck, and angled themselves to be ready for an attack. Kaz dashed to the captain of the ship, and Ambrose heard the man burst orders to the seaman, explaining the situation.
Hold on, Ambrose instructed Lila, and she hugged herself tighter to his chest, tucking her chin into his shoulders.
As he descended, Rebekkah and Darius were right beside him, and they could feel the faint brush of sunlight sting their eyes.
They’d make it, but the strigoi would not.
Just as Ambrose landed, he placed Lila on the deck and turned, claws bared to the strigoi. But the strigoi didn’t slow. They barreled themselves into Ambrose and Darius, and Rebekkah immediately leaped on the backs of those tackling Darius. Marcus took another strigoi, tackling her before she could tackle Kaz, and wrestled her to the deck as he tore his claws through her chest. Constance also leaped forward, tiny claws digging into the shoulder of the monster on Ambrose, as he tore into the beast. Pollock cawed, and a swarm of crows flew from all around, some from the deck, some that had followed their flight. The birds became more like a cloud, as the black mass of them covered the ship from the rising sun, blocking Ambrose and his allies from burning to death.
But as all eyes were on the birds, on the strigoi attacking them, another flew from behind Lila and grabbed her from the waist. She immediately tried to shove herself away from it as it dug its jaws into her shoulder. She screamed, but it sounded more like a battle cry. The creature’s arm bubbled where she touched it, boiling in white blisters before bursting in heat. But the strigoi didn’t let go, and soon Lila’s limbs went slack.
Fuck, Ambrose cursed. The strigoi grabbing her had to be a half strigoi, a vampire from Estate. Which meant their venom was currently paralyzing Lila as they dragged her into the sky.
Constance snapped the neck of one of the strigoi atop him, and Ambrose threw the rest off, shifting into his human form to be a smaller, lither target against the crowd of monstrous forms.
Though paralyzed, Lila’s heat still burned the strigoi that held her, burned right through flesh and bone, and as the dumb creature attempted to fly back toward the land, it flew right into the sun.
The strigoi hissed, and as they tried to cover their burning eyes, they let go of Lila, dropping her right into the middle of the ocean.
Fuck, fuck. Lila couldn’t swim. Couldn’t swim and was paralyzed. And the sun had risen.
But his body moved on instinct.
Ambrose didn’t think.
He didn’t think about his flesh burning away. He didn’t think about dying. He didn’t think about leaving Lila in this large, scary world. He didn’t think about the crows only covering the boat.
He didn’t think about anything but saving her, as he ran across the deck, and dove into the sea.