42. Miliaria
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
MILIARIA
Saya Claymore
We stop on the highway to refuel. Serun strolls into the gloom as Penumbra and Olivia stay to “keep an eye on me,” in Serun’s own words.
While we wait, I move my hands between my legs and wince as the tension pulls at my skin. There’s a slight burning and stiffness from being on a motorcycle for at least three hours, and we still have another six to travel.
“Hungry while we have stopped?” Olivia says. She opens the bag, offering me the fruit sticks Maeve mentioned. I take one, and Olivia pulls out a blood bag and sinks her teeth into it. As I stare at the blood, there is no innate urge to drink it. Maybe it was a one-off.
Penumbra claps their hands together, and as they pull them apart, smoky letters appear, asking me how I am. As I peel off the plastic wrapper, I say, “I didn’t think sitting on a motorcycle would be exhausting, but it is.”
Penumbra hangs their head, with smoky love hearts floating above their head. They certainly don’t have Serun’s personality.
Olivia tosses the empty bag off the road and pushes herself up onto the bonnet of an old car. Rust stains most of it, and once a loved vehicle is nothing more than a memory in someone else’s past.
I take a bite of the fruit stick, chew for a bit, then try to swallow, only for my throat to close.
My eyes widen, and I cough, leaning forward and spitting out the piece of fruit.
Olivia slides off the bonnet and says, “Are you okay?” Her hand rests on my shoulder, her ears pricked and her eyes searching as I rise and cough to clear my throat.
“There might be other nightwalkers in the area…”
Penumbra looks around as well, as if my loud coughing is going to draw nightwalkers or echoes straight to us. Fuck, it might very well.
“Here,” Olivia hands me a bottle of water. “I sense nothing yet. They might be lurking in the shadows.”
I take a few swigs of water to wash down the tension, then hand the fruit stick and the water back to Olivia. “I will eat later. I’m not feeling it now.”
Serun appears a moment later with two jerry cans sloshing with liquid. He hands one to Penumbra, and as he moves around the motorcycle, his eyes remain on mine. He says nothing, though, and I wonder whether it is because Olivia is here.
Diverting my gaze from him, I survey the highway. So many cars cluster on the dark road. With only moonlight to guide me, I find it hard to see beyond the trees. There might be nightwalkers out there, too afraid to come closer because we are with Serun.
“I wonder how everyone is doing at Coven,” Olivia says. “It has been almost a year since I’ve been there.”
“You can’t see family,” Serun declares. “Your head will be on the ground if you try.”
Shifting my gaze between them, I say to Olivia, “What were they like?”
Serun’s shadows ripple, but he keeps his focus on filling the motorcycle.
“I had no family. After my immediate family died, my extended family threw me out because they didn’t want me to gain resources, so I connected with some street rats to create my own family.
We usually travelled in pairs for scavenging, but we got too cocky.
Most places had other street rat groups who scoured them before us, as if someone was feeding them information.
So we scavenged at night, and that’s when I died. ”
“Oh…”
“Yeah. Fucking good timing, right?”
“Sure…”
Olivia frowns. “I hope they’re doing okay, though. I doubt they’d remember me if they saw me—you know, pointy ears and all.”
“How does that transition happen?”
She raises her brow as she looks at me and says, “You don’t remember yours?”
My eyes widen a fraction, and I turn to Serun, but he’s no longer crouched beside the motorcycle. He stands before Olivia, pushing the jerrycan towards her. “Penumbra will teach you how to fill a tank.”
She glances between the shadow and him, nodding repeatedly before following the shadow. Once they’re on the motorcycle, Serun kicks his leg over his, raising his hand in offering. I take hold, and as I lift myself onto it, I hiss as the stinging sensation rubs up my thighs.
“Is everything okay?” Serun murmurs.
“Yeah,” I grunt, the burn searing as I shuffle forward on the bike and raise my legs. “Can you also stop being mean to Olivia? She is only curious.”
“Then curiosity will kill the cat one day,” he mutters. “I don’t trust her to keep secrets. The last thing I need is for everyone to know what you are. The more who know, the more whispers will reach the slayers, and all they want to do is kill vegodians.”
My hands rest on his shoulders. “You aren’t trusting.”
“No, I’m not. I’ve been around long enough to see friends turn into enemies if it meant they’d gain something.”
“I get it, I suppose. Someone I shared a bed with lied to me to comfort me at the time, only to betray my trust.” My hands glide down his shoulders and wrap around his waist. “I don’t want to go through that again. Can you keep your liar’s tongue and promise me you won’t?”
One moment, Serun is on the bike, and the next he kneels in front of me and bows his head.
My hands press against the leather seat to keep my balance.
Olivia shrugs her shoulders and gestures with her arms out in a “What the fuck is going on?” way, but I shake my head in response before looking back at Serun.
“I, Serun, Lord of the Undercity, vow to keep every promise you bestow upon me. You are a blessing. My Blessed. I will cull any you wish without batting an eyelash. And if I must kneel like this every time you doubt my promises, I will.”
“Were you a knight in your previous life?”
He lets out a laugh as he rises. I sit back, and he positions himself in front of me, grabbing the handles. “And you were my forbidden fruit.”
I wrap my arms around him once more, wincing at the pain, but I push through and hold him tighter. “Are we off now?”
“Yes. We are fighting daylight, and I’d like to get there so we aren’t wasting time.” He turns his head the slightest bit. “Ready?”
“Yeah,” I nod. I pinch my brows together, hoping that concentrating on them will dull the pain tingling between my thighs.
Serun starts the motorcycle, and we are off once more into the night.