Chapter 29
Sidney
When tomorrow came, we waited until deep in the night before we scaled the stone wall on the outside of the House of Whispers during a guard shift change.
My feet sank into soft dirt on the other side.
We’d landed in the garden. Jasmine blooms climbed up the side of the mansion, their white petals stark in the moonlight.
Under a cloak of shadows, we followed one of the rats to the basement window. One by one, we wiggled through the small opening and ended up in a storage pantry. I spotted a wedge of yellow exposed in a corner as the rat squealed in my mind, “Cheese!”
Tell him the cheese can wait, I signed to Finn, who nodded. The rodent reluctantly scampered away from the food and under the door leading further into the mansion. He returned quickly, and Finn waved us on. Boris followed on his heels, as Finn had carried him in.
We moved to another basement room, this one full of a variety of supplies and, more importantly, uniforms. We stripped down, fitting our dark clothes into a satchel Finn carried.
With some trial and error on sizing, we found servant clothing that was baggy to hide the arsenal we’d brought.
The uniforms bore the silver-and-black-knife emblem of Queen Sabine, newly created with her regime change.
I pinned my hair into a severe bun and double-checked the bracelet on my wrist. As Ilyana, without a layer of cosmetics, I wanted to blend in as a vampiress maid.
We waited as the rest of Finn’s rat spies came and went with a steady stream of information.
He turned and gave me a thumbs-up. The route we planned should be clear, he signed.
The easiest way to blend in was to look like you belonged.
One of the first things pounded into our heads during slayer training.
There wasn’t much of a chance we could cross the entirety of the mansion without running into a guard or a servant.
But if we had a plausible reason to enter the noble’s wing, then we were unlikely to be questioned as anything but new hires.
We climbed a creaking set of wooden stairs up to the first floor. The most crucial moment came and went when I looked around and didn’t spot anyone who’d seen us come up from the basement. Though I didn’t dare congratulate myself yet. Boris remained behind for now while we headed to the kitchen.
We traced the path we’d memorized from Finn’s maps. Sweat dripped down my spine as I exchanged a casual smile with another maid, this one pushing a cart full of cleaning supplies.
“Evening,” Zane said, always so friendly to strangers.
The maid cast us an uncertain second glance before going about her business.
If we’d come out here without disguises, she’d be scrambling to report us by now. I increased my stride. We needed to do this as quickly as possible.
Finn peeled off to visit the nearest utility closet, while Zane and I continued on and passed by a pair of patrolling guards, who didn’t spare us much attention.
Their chainmail clinked as they walked, a detail I noted to ponder over later.
If all of the Whispers guards were given chainmail to wear, Queen Sabine had made an expensive investment that the Sanguine vampires had not.
The kitchen was a familiar sight, an ongoing bustle to feed an entire mansion’s worth of souls. We lined up behind other servants, waiting for our turn at the pass. We shuffled forward while Zane made small talk with another vampire, who thought he’d found a fellow new hire and friend.
I cast the occasional wary glance around, but we still seemed clear. We’d been folded straight into the monotony of serving elite vampires.
When it was our turn, I spoke to the chef on the other side of the counter. “Lord Noir requires blood for the evening and a new tea service.”
He sighed. “And let me guess, more bananas?”
“That’s right,” I said without hesitation, even cracking a tense smile when he rolled his eyes and moved to fulfill the request.
“Here. This might last him the evening.” The chef plopped down a full hand of six bananas first. He must’ve noticed my bewildered glance at them, as he chuckled.
“Right, you must be more new blood. Lord Noir is eccentric. You’ll get used to him in time.
And here’s these.” He wheeled around a covered cart with the tea service on top.
He pushed the cloth aside to set down a carafe full of blood.
Zane stepped up behind the cart. I picked up the bananas with a muttered, “Thanks.” I carried them along with us like a yellow flag to show where we were going.
Finn fell into step with us casually, now holding a bucket and mop.
We made a quick stop to sneak Boris into the cart before heading for our destination, following the hallways I’d traced over and over again on paper.
Before long, the floor transitioned to marble lined with new carpets, richly dyed in bold swoops of color. I swallowed and steeled my spine.
As we turned into the lavish noble’s wing, a male voice called, “Halt.”
I bit the inside of my lip, hiding most of my startle and intake of breath. Another guard was posted just beyond a set of decorative arches. He was dressed like the other soldiers we’d passed, but he eyed the three of us skeptically.
“We were called to attend to Lord Noir,” I stated.
To my shock, his doubt cleared. Just like that? Too easy.
His gaze was fixed on the bananas. “Ah, good luck. He’s in one of his moods,” he said.
“So I’ve heard.” I played along and wondered just what that meant with two of the staff mentioning it. Instead of asking a question, I dipped my chin and kept leading the way onward.
I snuck a glance at both of my men as we stopped before the door to the corner suite. Zane nodded, while Finn mouthed, No sweat.
I knocked on Noir’s door. It looked to be thick, solid wood. Good to muffle the sounds of a fight within. But in full view of the guard, we had to enter as peacefully as possible.
The vampire who answered was tall and pale, with broad shoulders stretching the material of a too-tight shirt.
I inspected the contours of his muscles, surprised at the sculpted terrain of his body visible through the dark material.
His hair was long, unbound and golden, falling well past his shoulders.
The thicket of his beard was darkened to a tarnished bronze and looked like it’d needed a trim days ago to remain neat.
He held a rat in one hand, stroking its head with his thumb like it was a beloved pet.
“Oh, my bananas!” he exclaimed. “I do so love when they’re delivered promptly.”
My gaze dropped to the rat. It sat calmly in his palm, whiskers twitching.
Noir followed my stare and grinned with manic delight.
“A bunch of these guys came in and started doing a dance! Right across my floor! Kick, kick, step, turn!” He kicked one foot out in demonstration, nearly upsetting the rat, who squeaked in protest. “It was magnificent!”
His ruby-red eyes widened when I stepped forward and hit him with the full force of my null.
“Room service,” Zane announced, taking the bananas from me and hurling them straight at the assassin.
Dropping the rat, Noir caught them inches from his nose. “That is not how you treat the world’s most perfect fruit,” he snarled.
We pushed into the room and closed the door after us. Zane rammed him with the cart in a great clatter.
We moved in coordination. Zane’s shadows spilled from him, securing us in with Noir with a flick of darkness around the lock. I reached down my uniform pants. Finn tossed the bucket and mop aside.
I freed the spelled manacles from a thigh holster I’d rigged for them. The heavy iron cuffs clinked sharply against the short length of chain connecting them, the sound ringing out just as the dormant mage runes etched into the metal caught the light.
Still holding the bananas, Noir recovered from his surprise and headbutted Finn hard enough that I heard their skulls collide, sending my mate to the ground. Finn groaned and put a hand to his forehead. A few rats skittered free from their hiding places under his own baggy uniform.
Noir remained standing, though he reeled in place. “Let’s do that again!” he said with genuine-sounding delight. “I love the stars. They’re inside my skull now. Hello, little stars!”
“What the fuck,” Zane muttered under his breath. He lashed out with shadowy tendrils, securing one of the old assassin’s arms. Somehow, Noir’s left hand remained free, and he dropped the bananas and drew a serrated dagger as he took in the scene we made before him.
Wariness tinged up my spine. An odd smile split this stranger’s beard. “No thank you, ladies. No one ties me down.” He seemed to be talking to the shadows swarming him. He cut himself loose from the tendril around his wrist, then slashed at the other corporeal shadows closing in.
He dashed free of them and straight at me. I dodged the first thrust of his weapon but missed that he’d drawn a second dagger. It opened a line of fire across my ribs as its edge caught my uniform shirt and tore.
I pivoted and clapped his wrist in the spelled restraints. He jerked and whipped his arm around. Pain exploded across my cheek as the other manacle struck my face. I staggered backward and lost control of my null.
Noir lifted his palms. My next breath came as a gasp as the air thinned. The shadows scattered as Zane grasped his throat. Finn, who’d been leveraging himself up, trembled with a choking sound.
My vision fractured, the edges bleeding into jagged white sparks. I clawed at my chest, my nails dragging over my skin as if I could tear a hole straight to my lungs.
With a tsk, Noir pointed the tip of a blade at me. “Did the little queenie send you? Oh, I have to tell her about my island adventures more. Maybe she’ll send competent mercenaries next time!” He didn’t sound winded, even while I gasped for air like a fish on land.