Chapter 24
Try, Try Again
Eloise
Two thousand men. That’s all I’ve gained from this trip unless I can convince Cassius to help us.
I’m no child when it comes to rejection.
I’ve heard no before. But the way Morpheus turned me down leaves me shaken.
The way he seemed to disregard the fate of his own parents and completely close the door on my request unsettles me.
The entire flight to Chicago, I think about it, turning the dials of it in my mind like a cryptex I can’t crack.
It’s twilight when I make my way to Cassius’s door, the changing colors of the leaves on his street reminding me that it’s fall.
It’s been almost exactly a year since I sought him out the first time.
If it weren’t for Cassius, I never would have known how to descend to Night Haven or have freed Damien from Valeska’s clutches.
I can trust Cassius. He’ll do his best to help me. I know he will.
But when I knock on his door, no one answers.
I call his name, loud enough that a shade would hear me, even if he were sitting on his rooftop patio.
But no one answers. I focus my hearing on the interior, blocking out the noise from the street.
I smile when I hear what I think must be a mouse nesting somewhere inside.
But there are no footsteps. Nothing else breathing within these walls.
I take a deep breath and descend the steep set of steps to the sidewalk, passing through the wrought-iron gate to hail a cab on the street. I remember how to access Lamia coven; it’s just going to be more difficult than I expected to get in.
The bar called Boss Miller’s is just as crowded as the day Cassius brought me here. That November night, my human heart was beating so hard and fast that I’d hardly acknowledged the crowd, and I’m thankful I was able to recall the name from the depths of my shade memory.
As I navigate the throng of bargoers, the slightly sweet scent of human mixes with the earthier one of witches and the acerbic tang of vampire.
My new senses can easily sort these smells, and I wonder which of them is sorting me.
I’m too far from my anchor in Harcourt to disguise myself, but the glasses I wear dim my glowing eyes.
It’s not enough to completely disguise my otherness to anyone but a human.
All I can hope for is that my presence is forgettable.
A vampire as large and fit as a rugby player glances over her shoulder at me as I move into the stairwell at the back of the bar.
Too casual. Too slow. She’s trying to pass as human, but she’s overcompensating.
When I hear the bottom of her beer hit the bar and her stool shift, I hasten my steps.
I don’t want any trouble, and goddess knows the last thing I need right now is more delays.
At the bottom of the long flight of stairs, I find the same metal door I encountered before when Cassius brought me here.
No handle or keyhole, just a silver panel the size of a thumb that will sample my blood and open if the coven has cleared me.
The coven hasn’t cleared me, but I pray feeding the mechanism my blood will raise awareness of my presence.
And if I can get inside, I can reach Cassius.
I press my thumb to the panel and feel the prick.
The wound heals before I can bring it to my mouth.
I smell her before I see her. The vampire from the bar has moved into the stairwell with me. “That door’s off-limits. Nothing back there but the HVAC.”
Slowly, I pivot to face her. Her nostrils flare. “My name is Eloise Harcourt.” If she’s heard of me, it will be by my maiden name. “I’m here to see Cassius. It’s an emergency. Can you get me inside?”
Her eyes widen, and her nostrils flare again. “Goddess. Fuck. Fuck! Are you the Eloise Harcourt who killed Valeska?” She glances over her shoulder as if to check who else might be listening.
“The one and only.” Her reaction is not what I expected, but I’ll take it. I guess my reputation precedes me.
“Wow.” Her eyes spark with acknowledgment. “I heard you were turned, but…” Her nostrils flare again. “What are you?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” I point my thumb at the door. “So, can you help me get inside?”
Her smile widens, showing her fangs. “Hey, would you autograph my dagger?” She draws a six-inch blade from the interior of her leather jacket.
“Sure. Ah, do you have a Sharpie?” I’d sign her ass if it meant getting to the other side of that door.
“Wait here.” She zooms up the stairs at super speed, and I hear her have a quick conversation with the bartender. She returns with a black Sharpie, and I scroll Eloise Harcourt across her blade in big, looping letters.
“Can you let me in now?” I ask her, pointing at the door. I frown when I see a group of vampires gathered at the top of the stairs watching us. A man in front meets my eyes, smiles and waves nervously.
“It’s very nice to meet you. All of you,” I say kindly. “But I really need to talk to Cassius.”
Behind me, there’s a metal-on-metal scrape as the door finally opens, and the dark ebony skin and glowing amber eyes of my trusted friend come into view. “Eloise, what in the name of the old gods are you doing here?” he asks through a gleaming white smile.
“Making friends?” I spread my hands toward the gathering onlookers.
“My apologies, but master Sabrina is waiting,” he says to them, pulling me inside and locking the door behind us. “Honestly, Eloise Harcourt, I’d have thought you’d know better than to call unnecessary attention—” He draws in a deep breath. “Fuck me, you’re a shade!”
I flash him a slow grin. “Yep. I’m also married to your best friend, so it’s Eloise Hymir now.”
He draws me into a firm hug. “Congratulations. But why have you come alone? Where’s Damien?”
Another vampire edges around us to get to the door. “Can we go somewhere more private? There’s something I have to tell you.”
“Yes. Actually, your blood triggered a security alert, so Tobias and Sabrina know you’re here. They’re waiting for us in their quarters.”
“Great,” I say, some of my anxiety bleeding through to the word.
Meeting with the master of Lamia coven and her dragon mate would make anyone’s stomach flip.
And although I expected my visit would eventually lead to this, I thought I’d have some time to get used to the idea, maybe run things by Cassius first. I take a deep, fortifying breath as he leads me through the underground vampire den they call the Star to their subterranean apartment.
“If I’d known you were coming, I would have met you,” Cassius murmurs.
“I stopped by your house at sunset, but the only thing inside was a mouse. I think he’s nesting in your kitchen cabinets.”
“Gerbil. His name is Mike.”
“You bought a gerbil?”
“It’s nice to have something alive in the house when I come home. When I have time to come home—I stayed here last night because we had some trouble with a band of werewolves on the Indiana border. Nothing too serious, but I wanted to make sure my men made it home safely before sunrise.”
“I would have called, but…”
He snorts. “I understand. It’s not like Tenebris has great cell service.”
“I no longer even have a phone, and I’m sorry to say I didn’t memorize your number.”
“But if you’re a shade, you can reach out using the shadows.” I feel a cool vibration at the base of my neck and jump away from his side, startled. “Sorry. I assumed Damien would have taught you.”
“He’s trying. I don’t have control yet. Not like you do.”
He studies me for a beat and then seems to figure it out. “Damien and I have always been this. We learn these things as children. You’ve had only… How long have you been a shade?”
“Going on three months.”
“Give it time. It’ll come.”
I shrug. “Sure. I have plenty of time. A few days, at least,” I say sarcastically.
“Days?” He frowns.
A human dressed in a cop’s uniform opens a thick vault door for us, and I enter the now-familiar apartment where Sabrina and Tobias live.
The sound of the piano meets my ears, then stops abruptly when we’re announced.
The next second, a lanky redhead is pulling me into her arms, her blond dragon mate waving to me from behind her.
“Eloise, it’s been too long. And, oh! You’ve gone through some changes!
” Her eyes sparkle with wonder as she takes me in. She darts a glance to Tobias.
For the next hour, we sit in their parlor, and I recap everything that’s happened since the last time I sat in the same chair, in the same place, asking for help.
It’s the fourth time I’ve told the tale in three days, and I notice I’m getting better at it.
I end with my plea for help. “We can’t win this war without more warriors.
I’m here to ask you for a favor, to ask you to send troops to fight on our behalf. ”
Tobias winces and rubs the back of his neck. “That’s a bigger ask than you might think, Eloise.”
Sabrina leans back in her chair and crosses her legs.
“What my mate means is our coven is spread thin right now protecting our territory. We don’t have many men to spare, and if we send them to Tenebris, they aren’t available here if things on the border graduate from harmless tension to full-scale conflict. ”
“More than that,” Tobias says, the tenor of his voice bringing me back to the night his brother visited me and fed me his blood.
The two brothers carry the same grittiness in their tone, like their throats are lined with embers.
“Dragons like me come from a place called Paragon. Our kingdom follows a prime directive to avoid interfering with the political outcomes of other worlds. While we do have a trade agreement with Tenebris, we never meddle in our partners’ governmental affairs. ”
I snort. “You would allow these tyrants to rule and enslave our kingdom’s children over a moral principle not to interfere? What, like you are a scientist, watching colonies of bacteria kill each other under a microscope? You Paragonians are above it all?”
“That’s not what I said.”
“But it’s what you meant. What do you think will happen if King Entrydal wins this war?
Do you think he’ll stop at Tenebris? Your brother Nathaniel witnessed firsthand the extent of the dark elf’s cruelty.
Entrydal told me that he doesn’t consider any being superior to dark elves.
His goal is to rule or annihilate every other creature.
Mark my words, Tobias, he will not stop at Tenebris. ”
The dragon shifter runs a hand through his short blond hair, casting a look in Sabrina’s direction.
“I do not speak for Paragon. I abdicated my role in political affairs when I married Sabrina, but I can tell you this—the same issue you had crossing from Earth into Tenebris would exist for any dragon from Paragon attempting to inflict their rule on a citizen of Tenebris. We are ruled by the goddess of the mountain. You are ruled by the goddess of night. According to our mythology, those two aren’t bosom buddies.
I might be able to convince the king of Paragon to risk political fallout and assist in a foreign war, but angering the gods is another thing altogether. ”
I let out a long sigh. “I think Nathaniel shared some of this with me. Although, at the time, I’d lost so much blood, I thought he might be a hallucination.”
“He was real and is horribly worried about you, and I don’t think he’d mind my saying that, if things were different between the two kingdoms, he would have busted you out of there himself.
But the fact is, nothing is simple when it comes to our two worlds.
If I open a portal to transport Lamia vampires to your world, as I am a former prince of Paragon, it will be seen as an act of war between the two kingdoms. I can’t put Paragon in that position. ”
I shake my head. “You won’t have to open the portal.
I will. The same way I opened the rift that brought me here for this visit.
I am the key, Tobias. I can open the door between worlds at my will.
If you don’t want to risk being involved, don’t be.
Send Cassius and whatever vampires you can spare. ”
He and Sabrina exchange looks, and then both of their faces turn unreadable.
But Cassius’s jaw tightens. “Master, I…must return to Tenebris with Eloise.” I do a double take, my eyes bulging as the weight of his words hits me.
“My parents, Jozius and Faurine, still live in the Borderlands, not far from Covellton. Their land will be in the war zone. I must help Damien win this war. I will resign if you require it of me, but I must go.”
My shoulders sag in relief. A warrior like Cassius is worth many men, and his support in this moment means everything to me.
“You will do no such thing,” Sabrina says quickly. “I will not accept your resignation. You may take a thousand men of your choosing and return to Tenebris with Eloise, but I expect you back here when the war is won.”
One thousand. It’s not nearly enough but is better than nothing. And having Cassius is priceless. “Thank you. Thank you both.” I clasp my hands in front of my chest and try my best to look grateful. At least it’s something.
But Tobias’s handsome face is scowling like he ate something bad.
“I think Sabrina and I agree that no one should underestimate you, Eloise. War is unpredictable, even under the best of circumstances, and I’m sensing you don’t have the best of circumstances.
If things don’t go as planned, I want you to know you and Damien always have a place here among the Lamia coven. ”
“I appreciate that.” Although I know Damien and I will never take them up on the offer.
We will die before we give up this war. We can’t abandon our people.
We will fight for them to the death. And with adding only three thousand vampires to our count, that death is looking more and more inevitable.
I blink back unshed tears and swallow the lump in my throat.
“I’ll coordinate the portal with Cassius. ”
I stand and give them both a shallow bow. Sabrina and Tobias respond with a silent tip of their heads.
“I’ll see you out,” Cassius says solemnly. It’s so quiet, it feels like a funeral. But then, everyone in this room knows I’m on a suicide mission. I leave the apartment, a dead woman walking.