Chapter Eleven
Leonora
Novalie had the nose of a bloodhound when it came to parties, it seemed. She’d found us three of them in the past hour, strolling in as if we had every right to be there and deciding within a matter of minutes whether or not she was interested in staying.
I wasn’t sure what the selection process included, but when she somehow stumbled upon party number four, I had my suspicions.
The room was black. Not the kind where you could still make out some shapes, or even just dimly lit, no, it was more like someone had poured a black hole into the room. Intrigue had lit Novalie’s eyes and I knew before she said anything that this was where we were staying.
“Interesting,” she breathed and Emerson and I shared a look of mutual humour as Novalie stepped through the doorway and disappeared immediately. Emerson grabbed my hand and we stepped through together, bumping into Novalie where she stood near the entrance. “I think it’s a test.”
“Of what?” Emerson murmured, her voice strangely muffled by the blanket of shadows.
“Worthiness.”
I rolled my eyes. “Or it’s just more snooty undead vampires with their heads wedged up their own arses.”
“Aren’t you a snooty undead vampire?” Novalie’s hand found mine and I could feel the laughter in her body from her proximity.
“Not quite,” I muttered, focusing on the prickling tingle that was running across my skin. Magick. No wonder the vampiric senses couldn’t pierce the dark, it was a spell. Those invited likely had some kind of token to navigate through the room to wherever the real party resided, but since we were crashing…
I dropped the girls’ hands and raised my own, taking a deep breath and letting it out at a slow, controlled pace as lightning forked from my hands, disrupting the dark and whatever weak spell had been placed in the room. The shadows faded and I rolled my shoulders, glad to be free of the annoying tingle that accompanied most magick. I was getting better at spotting it though, and that was a good thing.
The darkness around us was now more organic and I could make out the shapes of armchairs and an empty fireplace. A door stood at the far end of the room and I nodded to it. “Want to bet there’s a party lurking behind that door?”
“I hope it’s worth it after all this,” Emerson mumbled and I grinned when I turned to them and found both girls looking distinctly irritated. It barely affected me when I wasn’t casting, but the electricity that had come off of my body had both of their hair standing on end, frizzing and snarling, and I tried not to laugh.
“I’ll help you detangle it later,” I promised and Novalie mock-glared at me as she strode onwards and attempted to shake out her hair before she threw open the door and charged inside.
More magick coated the doorway and I tensed as we stepped through before realising it was something to keep the sound inside.
Sound washed over us as soon as we stepped through and nobody gave us a second glance, assuming we belonged if we’d made it through the dark. A stupid system really, it had been easily countered by the little magick I knew how to wield—what if I’d been a murderer? I would have caught them all unawares.
The morbid thought amused me as I followed Novalie and Emerson through the large room to where the biggest group of people was congregated. There seemed to be a healthy mix of vampires both old and young, modern and aged, living and dead. It was odd how I could instantly tell if the vampires here were still living, like some extra sense I’d gained as an undead. Or maybe with senses better than the living vampires I could just pick up on the more fluid movements, the enhanced speed… the lack of heartbeat.
A man from the group looked up and ran his eyes across our trio, pausing when he got to me and tilting his head consideringly. There was a hollowness to his dark eyes and cheekbones that made him seem empty, like the life had literally bled out of him when he’d become a member of the undead. His hair was as black as his eyes and waved gently around his face, curling at the tops of his cheeks and under his jaw.
Something about him gave me pause too, like he was familiar though I was relatively sure I’d never met him before. It wasn’t until he spoke, the husky voice putting me on edge instantly, that I realised who he was—or, at least, who he reminded me of.
“Cousin,” he called and I forced my jaw to unclench, my fists to uncurl. “I suppose it’s true what they say about it being a small world.”
I cocked an eyebrow and ignored the interest sparkling in the eyes of the other vampires crowding around the dark-haired man, like he was some kind of enigmatic leader to them. “I’m sorry, have we met?”
He laughed and the rich tone of it made a woman to his right sigh longingly and I held back a grimace. “No. No, I don’t believe we have. But you’re the spitting image of my niece.”
It wasn’t the first time I’d been told that I looked like my mother, though at least this was under slightly more pleasant circumstances. Slightly. “I didn’t realise I had extended family. Or any family, at all, really.”
He waved a hand, taking care not to slosh the glass of suspiciously dark liquid in his hand. “I wouldn’t have thought Elowen would tell you anything, that bitch.” His tone was cheery despite his words and I found myself warming to him. Anyone who disliked my mother as much as me was someone I could consider… Well, not a friend, but at least not an enemy. For now.
I snorted and walked over to the woman who’d sighed dreamily at my… uncle? I didn’t say a word, just cocked my head slightly as I watched her expectantly, dropping into her seat when she scurried away. I didn’t see the living vampires as lesser , but according to the hierarchy, one stringently enforced at court from what I’d seen, that was the way things worked. “It amazes me that you could tell at a glance who my mother was, considering I was at Ashvale with her briefly and nobody else seemed to notice.”
“I noticed,” Novalie protested and I laughed. “Well, I didn’t say anything because I thought that would be weird.”
“If you have any other potentially weird hunches you’re sitting on, I’d rather you just spit them out,” I said with a smirk and Emerson laughed. “I’m Leonora.” I turned back to Elowen’s relative and inclined my head. He may have seemed friendly enough, but he was still an undead vampire and a powerful one too, judging by the relaxed postures of those around him, basking in his pheromones.
“Rath,” he said and grinned, revealing fangs that were nearly too big for his face. “She’s not really my niece, you know. More like my brother’s son’s daughter’s daughter twice removed. It gets hard to keep track after a while, but she’s of my House.”
My throat ran dry as I pondered that expanse of time, to bear witness to those generations. “Quite the lineage.”
“Indeed.” He watched me with a small smile on his mouth before offering me his glass. “Overwhelming, I know. Here, you look like you could use it.”
I raised it to my lips, inhaling surreptitiously and taking a sip when I scented only blood and sweet liqueur. “You’ve adapted well then,” I murmured as I passed the glass back. “Some here seem to be stuck in the eighteenth century.”
Rath hummed. “Yes, it comforts them, I think. But I do not believe it is the vampire’s nature to be comfortable, we adapt or we stagnate.” Emerson was listening intently and Rath glanced at her before doing a double take. “Fascinating. Who might you belong to, young one?” He brushed a kiss across her knuckles and Em shot me a quick look of panic.
“She’s here with me,” I said, keeping my tone cool.
“Yours? Hm, you get more interesting by the second, cousin.”
Novalie’s eyes were still fixed on the hand Rath had captured and, when he dropped it and moved away from Emerson, I waggled my eyebrows at her mockingly, grinning at the blush that spread across her cheeks.
“You’re here for her trial then? Elowen’s?” Rath turned his eyes back to me, the weight of them pinning me unexpectedly. Was he trying to use thrall?
“Strange, isn’t it,” I mused. “To hold a trial for someone who won’t even be here.”
Rath snorted. “That’s because it’s not about Elowen, not really. Like most things in the catacombs, it’s about power and, as gauche as it may seem, entertainment. It gets awfully boring down here.”
Maybe I was imagining the warning in his words, or maybe he knew something more about the trial that I didn’t—but I didn’t have any more time to think about it before a woman in a flouncy red dress pushed her way through the throng of people and threw herself into Rath’s arms. He caught her, a bemused smile playing on his mouth as he cupped the back of her head, much like the way Hayes had done to me in my dream.
“Rath,” the woman sobbed. “Oh, Rath!”
“Be calm, dearest.” His eyes met mine over her heaving shoulder and winked as he mouthed gossip . “What has happened?”
I leaned closer, intrigued by what she might have to say. Had she broken a nail? Was there a body in the hall outside? You never knew when it came to vampires.
She pulled back and reached up to remove the clip from her hair, letting it cascade down around her as she used the ends to wipe her tears. It hit the light from the fireplace and I realised I’d seen her before, in the corridor with Adrian. Chestnut.
“It’s Lucian.” She hiccupped but raised her voice, as if to capture as much attention as possible from those standing around looking mildly interested. “He’s dead. ”
I had no idea who Lucian was, so the announcement was kind of disappointing, but it seemed to mean something to some other people at least. A few cold faces shared looks of minor surprise and I wondered how many of them had once been friends with the dead vampire in question. Something about the change from living to undead made some vampires… cold.
“First Antonia,” Chestnut continued to shrill, “and now Lucian! Dead! ”
“Did he have his head?” I asked, unsure why I cared but knowing she’d mentioned Antonia had been without hers.
Chestnut’s head whipped excitedly around to face me as she pushed out of Rath’s arms, apparently sufficiently comforted. “No! Exactly! You know what this means?”
I did not, in fact, know what it meant and when I kept quiet, she dismissed me, instead looking out at the small crowd. The woman would have made a hell of an actress.
“Hunters,” she said, her voice hushed, but the words carried as the vampires gathered repeated it, murmuring to one another. It wasn’t quite fear, more like apprehension. But it still created a new tension in the room that told me we needed to leave—especially Novalie whose heart still beat and might start looking awfully tasty to a room of vampires about to lose their shit.
I looked meaningfully at her and then towards the door and Novalie nodded, taking Emerson’s hand as she stood slowly. “You keep interesting company,” I muttered to Rath and he chuckled.
“It keeps things interesting.” He looked at Novalie’s retreating figure and nodded. “Yes, best get her out of here before things get bloody. I’ll see you at the trial, then?”
“Wouldn’t miss it,” I said dryly before standing to make my way to the door, tension making its way into my muscles as I looked up. I had only stopped watching Novalie and Emerson for a few seconds, but in a lion’s den that was long enough.
Well, it looked like it was time to make some new enemies.
It felt like Novalie was moving through cement, her hand reaching painstakingly slowly for the door without even noticing the arm moving between her and the door. Luckily for her, I had noticed. Unluckily for the undead vampire whose eyes were locked on the pounding pulse point in Novalie’s throat, I didn’t take kindly to people who hurt my friends.
Time seemed to speed up all at once, the vampire’s arm flashed out in front of the door and Novalie gasped as she nearly crashed into it, halting at the last second. Emerson growled when the undead vampire used Novalie’s surprise as a distraction, lunging out with speed as he dove for her throat.
The snap of his neck was satisfying and he thunked to the floor like a puppet whose strings had been cut. I stepped over his body without looking down and placed a hand on the small of Novalie and Emerson’s backs, ushering them out of the door before the undead vampire could wake up and do something unwise, like try to kill us.
Nobody stopped us from leaving—in fact, I was pretty sure I’d heard Rath laughing. We’d come to this party looking for information, leverage, and maybe a little blood and debauchery. It hadn’t disappointed.
Novalie and Emerson seemed mostly unphased by the encounter with the vampire, violence now par for the course. Their arms were slung around each other’s waists as we strolled through the corridors back to our rooms. I wasn’t sure what to expect from Elowen’s trial, whether it would be taken seriously or if the whole thing was just an elaborate display of power. I knew from my own experiences that vampire instincts could be a difficult thing to ignore, but for someone to go out of their way to invite me here to court just to see if I was as powerful as they’d heard, seemed too far-fetched.
There was something about the air here at court, the heaviness of it, that made me constantly feel on edge, like at any moment someone could spring from the shadows. I couldn’t tell if it was just a consequence of an underground city of vampires, or if there was really something more going on. Something that may have involved my presence here at court.
“You look deep in thought,” Emerson mused as we reached a fork in the corridor and I hesitated, peering into the darkness.
“Just staying aware,” I murmured, only half paying attention to her. “Something about this place doesn’t feel right to me.”
“It’s creep-tastic, that’s for sure.” Novalie snorted and, once I was satisfied with the path ahead, we continued walking to our rooms. It was the middle of the day for humans, so most vampires should have been asleep. Instead of feeling reassured, though, the knowledge only heightened the sense of unease settling over me.
“What is it?” Emerson wrapped her fingers around mine and I squeezed quickly before letting go.
“I’m not sure yet. Let’s just get back and go to sleep.” Whatever this was, I had to hope it would pass and that the heavy sensation of eyes on my skin would prove to be paranoia.
We picked up the pace and I was relieved when we came to a stop outside of our doors. I watched to make sure they made it inside safely, the sound of their chatter through the door comforting, and then stepped into my own chambers.
The itchy feeling faded and I loosed a breath, my shoulders easing. That is, until a shadow in my periphery moved and a small orb, similar to a marble, rolled across the floor towards me. It stopped against the toe of my boot and I froze, unsure whether to run at the mage lurking off to my right or to head back out the door.
In the end, the marble made the decision for me. A small crack spiderwebbed across the glass front and the inside turned a cloudy red that deepened to black. It almost looked like blood. I would have been much more curious if the marble hadn’t exploded at right that second, throwing me clear across the room.
God, we were idiots. It was the night before the trial and, theoretically, the last chance to take me out before I spoke up against Elowen. What I didn’t get was why anyone cared .
I hit the floor hard and instinctively shifted into a roll, my arse hitting the wall on the other side of my bed instead of my back. Seeing me moving, the mage gave up on all pretences of subtlety and a spell lit up in his palms.
“I was having such a nice night,” I growled and dodged when he flung the ball of blue light at me as I sprinted towards him. “Did she send you? Elowen?”
The ski mask covered most of his face, but the mage’s eyes widened at my proximity before he blasted me back again with a wall of air. “Stop looking for her.”
I groaned, my head feeling woozy after hitting the wall so hard. Where the hell was Novalie and Emerson? Surely, they could hear the absolute racket this guy was making by chucking me around so much? Unless he’d soundproofed the room with magick. Fuck.
“She’s not high on my list just yet. So why don’t you just run along and we can pretend this never happened?” My hand found my side and I winced even as the pain faded. Bastard must have broken my rib.
The mage either didn’t listen, or didn’t care, because when he approached there was something different in his hands.
“Is that a fucking sword?”
He didn’t reply, just swung at me and I yelped as I scrambled back, watching in shock as a few strands of my dark hair fell to the floor where I’d been standing.
“She knows you’re working for him. Leave now, and you can live.”
“You,” I grunted as I kicked out with one leg, hearing a satisfying crunch as the mage’s knee buckled, “have been grossly misinformed.”
“Have it your way,” he hissed, wobbling on his good leg as he closed his eyes and began chanting.
If there was one thing I’d learnt, it was that any spell a mage had to physically speak into being was either strong or nasty, or both.
Shit.
I grabbed blindly behind me, pulling the curtain rod free from the wall and blinking plaster out of my eyes as I flung it like a javelin at the mage. The metal hit him with enough force that he flew backwards and I couldn’t help the satisfaction that came from seeing him get thrown around instead of me.
His words cut off with a gurgle and I stalked towards him, pulling the curtain rod out of the wall and his stomach with one swift tug. The mage slid down the wall, leaving a smear of blood that made my nose wrinkle.
“Did Elowen send you?” I leaned my face in close, letting him see the cold promise in my eyes. “Tell me, and I’ll give you my blood so you can live. Or don’t, and die.”
He remained stubbornly silent, his body trying to breathe and failing due to the hole in the middle of his body. His legs jerked like he was trying to crawl away and I pushed one hand inside him, frowning at the slippery feel of his blood on my hand.
“Did. She. Send. You.” I twisted viciously, not particularly enjoying the way his insides pulsed around my fingers. His mouth opened in a scream, but no sound came out as he nodded and then looked at me with pleading in his eyes.
I removed my hand and considered him. I could give him my blood and he would live, or I could wait a few more seconds and he would die.
Any remaining desperation faded and I sighed, biting into my forearm before it was too late, only for the bedroom door to fly open behind me.
“Hey, Leah, do you have a—” Novalie paused in the entrance, blinking rapidly. “I can see you’re busy.”
I glanced down at the mage and found him dead, having slipped away in my moment of distraction. “You could say that.”