Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
Thalia crept through the quiet city of Irenbis, the hood of her cloak drawn up to mask her features.
Cassius had lied about its citizens coming out after dark. Because it was just as dead quiet in the moonlight as when she’d gone in the afternoon.
Another lie to add to her ever-growing list.
The homes were all shut, no lights shining into the cobblestone streets. It was thoroughly silent and still. Her only company was the moon as she crept to the boarded-up house.
Thalia glanced over her shoulder, but nothing prickled at the back of her neck like she was being watched. She didn’t think Julian or Francesca would be in the house. When she’d left the great hall, they’d been thoroughly engrossed with whatever the courts were discussing.
Thalia eased up to the door, pressing her ear against the worn wood. Silence echoed. She slipped the knife out of her boot, placing it into the crack of the doorframe, then she pushed.
The lock broke and the door creaked open, swinging inward to reveal an empty living area. Thalia took a moment, counting in her head to see if anyone would come and investigate. When nothing jumped at her from the shadows, she slipped inside.
The room she entered was bare save for a few broken pieces of wood and littered glass shards.
A worn rug had been thrown over a spot in the back of the room with a rickety table set on top of it.
It was a small space with the remnants of a kitchen off to her left, and there was a closed door at the back—the only door in the room.
Thalia took a breath, keeping her grip loose as she tiptoed on silent feet to the closed door. Once more she pressed her ear to the wood but was met with quiet. She pushed open the door.
The room was just as bare as the rest of the house, although it seemed someone had dumped a sack of grain in the corner and its contents had spilled onto the floor.
A bed with its mattress fallen through, its springs and stuffing exposed, was the only piece of furniture.
A family of mice seemed to have made their home in the decaying cloth, because they all startled at her approach.
Thalia bit down on her tongue as they all bolted past, scurrying over her boots in the process.
She willed her heart rate to slow as she looked around. There was nothing here. Not even a dresser or desk. She scowled. There had been a third person in the house, she knew it. Someone who needed help based on the Vampyrs’ previous conversation. Something to do with madness.
Thalia stalked back into the main room to see if she’d missed something, but there was nothing. No other room, no other furniture.
A high-pitched squeak echoed, and Thalia ducked as something dark flew near her head.
“Fuck,” she hissed, dropping her knife as the bat who’d been nesting in the rafters let out another strange pitch. Her knife had fallen near the crumbling table. She moved to pick it up, and froze.
The corner of the rug had been lifted, revealing wooden planks that didn’t match the stone floor of the house.
Thalia shoved the table to the side, flipping back the rug. Her heart pounded in her throat at the trapdoor staring back at her.
Thalia carefully eased it open, and musky, dank air floated up to her. The opening revealed a set of stone steps leading down into pitch black.
She cursed again, looking around to see if there was anything to light her way. Nothing. Not even a torch.
Thalia stared into the dark, willing her eyes to adjust. She could have sworn that at the very bottom of the steps, there was a gray haze of light. Against her better judgment, she took a step down.
Thalia kept one hand on the wall as she slowly crept down the staircase.
The musky, wet smell intensified, and Thalia resisted the urge to gag as something rotten hit her nose, like the stench of decaying meat.
But a soft glow lit the bottom of the stairs.
Her eyes took a moment to adjust to the dim light.
The space she entered was much larger than the house above her. But unlike the house, it wasn’t bare.
An empty metal cage stood at the back of the room.
The bars looked as though they’d been ripped off their hinges, and chains lay discarded inside.
The sole source of light came from an odd lamp against the wall.
It glowed faintly, like a drop of moonlight had been captured and placed within the glass.
Lumpy sacks were piled up in the other corner. A substance oozed from the bottoms of them, coating the dirt ground like oil, and a figure was hunched over the sacks.
The smell worsened as Thalia stepped deeper into the room, trying to make sense of what she saw.
The figure—a person—was rummaging around the sacks, pale fingers flying over them before discarding them without care.
Thalia covered her mouth against the smell. Squelching and slurping sounds echoed from around the person.
What are they doing here? Are they being held hostage by the Vampyrs?
Everything in her screamed to get out, but Thalia took another step forward, and her boot scuffed against something she hadn’t seen in the shadows. She slowly looked down, bile rising to her throat.
It was a leg. A skinned leg ending in a hoof, the tendons hanging off the bone like strips of cloth.
The slurping stopped.
Thalia’s eyes jerked up as the figure kneeling slowly rose. The person was naked, their fingertips dripping in blood as they turned.
Thalia’s stomach bottomed out as the Vampyr’s hazy gaze met hers. Sores covered his entire body, as though his own nails had scrabbled at his flesh until it ripped apart. His mouth was a gory mess, bits of meat hanging from his bloody lips, and his nostrils flared once. Then twice.
Thalia’s heart beat so hard she feared her chest would cleave open.
The Vampyr smiled through the mangled mess of his mouth, revealing sharp fangs—
Thalia bolted.
The Vampyr let out an eerie screech, his scream rattling the room.
Thalia flew up the stairs two at a time, ignoring the way her shins barked as they slammed against stone.
Her palms slickened as she dragged herself to the top, whirling to grab the trapdoor. She slammed it down just as the Vampyr’s upper body broke the surface.
It screamed as it scrambled to pull itself out from the wooden planks.
The Vampyr’s hand wrapped around her boot, fingernails biting even through the thickness of the leather. The creature snarled, foaming blood flying from its mouth.
Thalia placed all her weight on the planks, trying to get the thing back into the hidden room. The wood groaned under her weight, splinters biting into her palms.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
Thalia kicked the leg the Vampyr gripped, hoping to dislodge the creature. Its teeth gnashed, bringing her leg ever closer to its mouth.
Thalia screamed, picking up the trapdoor and slamming it as hard as she could on the Vampyr’s back.
The wood splintered, but the Vampyr didn’t let go.
Thalia sobbed, slamming the wood down again and again on the creature’s spine. The Vampyr didn’t even seem to feel the blows.
It yanked on her leg—hard.
The world slipped out from under her feet. Thalia’s head slammed against the hard floor. The weight on her leg sent pure panic racing through her bloodstream. She used her free leg to kick the Vampyr in its face.
It wailed, blood spurting from its broken nose and its mashed-in mouth. Then it pulled Thalia, yanking her across the ground.
Thalia tried to twist, but its grip was iron. It latched on to her boot with both hands. Thalia watched in horror as the Vampyr brought its mouth to her leathered sole.
Thalia kicked it again, and her foot slipped out of its boot. The Vampyr reeled back at the lack of weight in its hands, and Thalia scrambled backward.
The Vampyr discarded her boot, staring at her as it crawled on all fours out of the stairwell.
Thalia’s heart jumped like a hare, nausea mixing with the growing panic in her veins.
She didn’t know where her knife was, what had happened to it in the scuffle—
The Vampyr’s broken face smiled again as it scuttled ever closer.
Thalia whimpered, frozen in terror, as the Vampyr inched over her cowering body.
Its smile was a thing of grotesque beauty. Its red-tipped fingers trailed over her face, leaving a path of blood in its place.
“Hunger,” the Vampyr rasped. Thalia trembled as its fingers gripped her throat. “Hunger!” it roared. Then it reared back, clutching its head. “Hunger!” the Vampyr screamed, ripping at its hair. It scrabbled at its flesh, tearing more holes into its skin, as if its very bones were liquifying.
“Hunger—”
Blood sprayed over Thalia as a dagger embedded in the Vampyr’s open mouth.
Thalia jerked back as Cassius appeared, his sword drawn and an iron stake in hand—her iron stake.
The Vampyr touched the dagger in its mouth, its hazy eyes wide. Then Cassius shoved the stake right through the Vampyr’s skull. The creature crumbled to the ground like a broken marionette, its skin turning to ash.
“You killed him!” someone screamed behind her, and Thalia twisted just as two other figures appeared in the doorway of the house.
Thalia managed to scramble out of the way as Francesca stumbled into the home, Julian at her heels.
Cassius said nothing as he withdrew the stake, his gaze harsh. Tears ran down Francesca’s cheeks, but she faltered as Cassius faced her, his features holding nothing but lethal rage.
“How long?” Cassius got out.
Francesca swallowed, paling, but she said nothing.
“Don’t make me ask again,” Cassius snarled.
Julian came up to Francesca’s side. “Near two weeks.”
Cassius let out a dark chuckle, one Thalia had never heard before. “Do you know what you risked? What you allowed by keeping him alive?”
“We were hoping to find a cure.” Francesca’s voice trembled.
“The prince,” Julian spat, disgust evident in his tone, “is taking too long.”
Cassius’s eyes darkened as he stepped near them, his face an unbreakable mask of granite. Francesca shook and Julian stiffened, but Cassius brushed past them. Thalia was still sprawled on the ground, and Cassius sank onto his heels at her side.
“Did he bite you?” Again there was that lethal voice.
Thalia shook her head no.
Cassius stood, turning his back to the two Vampyrs.
“What you have done is treason. You have endangered the life of not only the prince’s bride—and through her risked the treaty with the humans— but also you have put every single Vampyr in this city at risk.
Get out of here. And if you ever step foot in Vaccarium again, your lives will be forfeit. ”