KITTY
But worst of all was smelling Bo. The subtle musk of his sweat.
The metallic siren song of his blood. God, he was delicious—and given the choice, she’d have drunk him all day long.
But they had to keep moving. Even with Bo’s strong frame to curl up against, it was cold in the mountains at night.
Bo’s blood had given her strength, but she was already hungry again.
That was the thing with the hunger—it always came back sooner and stronger than expected.
The exultant feeling she experienced when she was flush with it only made her feel that much more wretched when it wore off and the hunger returned again.
In short, she was miserable and scared and desperate to reach the Oracle at last and get this ridiculous journey over with.
Just when she’d convinced herself they’d be lost in these mountains forever, the narrow path they were on intersected with a somewhat broader one that wound its way even more steeply into the mountains.
After consulting the map, they took this new track, turning left and snaking up, up, up a slope of mountainside.
At last, their road came to a narrow, stone footbridge with no railing that spanned a bottomless black chasm.
“You’re scared of heights?” he asked.
“Wow. That was poetic. You really are a writer,” Bo chuckled.
“Of course I am, wise guy. The best in Ironberg. But it doesn’t do me much good out here in the mountains, does it? It’s not like I can type my way across this damned chasm.”
“It’s fine,” Bo said. “Watch me.”
Before Kitty could stop him, he turned, spread his arms like a circus performer on a tightrope, and began walking across the narrow bridge.
She wanted to scream at him, to tell him to stop, but she was afraid shouting would startle him and make him fall. So, all she could do was hold her breath, watching him with clenched fists.
She wanted to look away. To roll her eyes. To shrug. But the fast beating of her heart betrayed how much she actually cared about this blind idiot. She was so scared for him, she felt like she could cry.
When at last he reached the other side, she was lightheaded—and she realized she’d been holding her breath the entire time.
But he didn’t stay put. No. Instead, he turned and walked back to her, his movements careful but quick.
When he stood before Kitty again, he gave a little, teasing bow. “See? Easy.”
Kitty punched him in the chest—much harder than she meant to. He hissed a breath through his teeth, wincing.
“Sorry! Still not used to the vampyre strength,” she said.
“It’s fine,” he grated out, rubbing the spot where she’d whacked him. “Just… a few ribs. Anyway, the point is, it’s safe to cross.”
She eyed the footbridge again. She still didn’t want to set foot on the thing. But Bo’s little demonstration had made it all but impossible for her to refuse. If he could walk back and forth across the thing blind, what excuse did she have? With a sigh, she then got down on her hands and knees.
“Fine. Let’s go. But I’m crawling. And you’re going to grab me if I fall.”
Kitty must’ve held her breath again for two minutes as she moved inch by inch across the span. Sometimes her eyes were shut. Other times, they were fixed on the bridge before her to distract herself from the oblivion that waited beyond.
When at last they reached the far side, Kitty’s forehead and shirt were moist with sweat and her hands were trembling.
“We did it!” she said, getting unsteadily to her feet and sweeping Bo into a hug. Big mistake. Instantly, her fangs started to grow, her body prickling to life with desire.
She stepped away from him fast, smoothing her hair with trembling hands.
“Nice work,” he said, one hand still lingering on her hip in a way that sent a stirring of desire through her.
She turned her focus back to the path. Ahead, there waited a staircase so steep it was basically a ladder. Compared to the bridge, this looked like a Sunday stroll. She groaned.
“What is it?” Bo asked.
“The path goes up,” she said, leading him forward and placing one of his hands on the rocky cliff face.
“Well then. Up we go,” he said, and he started climbing.
She wondered at him. No matter what trial was ahead of them, he reacted with the same determined enthusiasm.
Even without the ability to see what was ahead, he rushed toward it fearlessly.
She so admired that about him. Whenever Kitty hit a roadblock, her impulse was to sit down, smoke a cigarette, pour a stiff drink, and sulk for half an hour.
Bo puzzled her, but she felt like she wanted to study him, and maybe even to become more like him someday. Boy, was that an unsettling revelation…
“Are you coming?” he called down to her. He was already far ahead, cruising up the cliff face with ease.
She smiled. “Just giving you a head start, you big lug,” she said, and started climbing.
A gallon of sweat and two broken nails later, she reached the ledge where Bo waited for her.
“Well,” she huffed, “that was certainly—”
She froze.
“What?” Bo asked—oblivious to what stood before him.
Ahead, a massive set of stone doors carved with strange symbols were set into a cliff. Guarding them were two very tall women wearing armor and golden masks and holding spears twice as long as Kitty was tall. They looked incredibly imposing.
But they hadn’t attacked yet. That had to be a good sign, right?
“We’re not alone up here, are we?” Bo asked quietly.
“Nope,” Kitty cleared her throat, stepped forward. “Uh, hi, ladies. Is this where the Oracle lives, by any chance?”
One of the masked women slowly turned her head until she was looking directly at Kitty. Her eyes were green, her stare as unflinching as a hawk’s.
“Drinkers of blood may not pass,” she said in a strangely accented voice.
Kitty should probably have been intimidated.
But somehow, she only felt annoyed. “Listen, sister. I’ve been hiking for days.
I’ve got blisters on my blisters. I’ve stubbed all ten of my toes.
I’ve almost been eaten by a dragon. And I did not come all this way just to be told to fuck off by some gigantic lady in a gold mask. Alright? So shoo! Step aside.”
She took a step toward the stone door, but the guard, moving with incredible speed, lowered her spear, pressing its tip to Kitty’s breastbone.
Bo lunged forward, grabbing the shaft of the spear protectively, but the other woman brought her weapon down, too.
In a blink, its tip was pressed to Bo’s jugular.
For a second, they all froze in a tense stalemate.
“Kitty, I think we’d better go…” Bo said.
“Kitty!” a woman’s voice said.
Kitty looked up, following the sound. Above the stone doorway, a pretty, dark-haired woman peered down from a concealed balcony up among the stones of the mountainside. “Kitty Rowley?” she called.
“Yes…” Kitty answered warily.
“The reporter?”
“Yes…” Kitty said again.
“I’ve seen you before. Scrying,” the woman called. “You were mixed up with that Admite pilot, right? Charlie something?”
Kitty glanced at Bo, whose brow was furrowed.
“Yes…” Kitty repeated.
“Interesting!” the woman said. “Ooh, very interesting. Let them in, girls.”
The guards hesitated for a second, then withdrew their spears.
“Is that… the Oracle?” Bo muttered to Kitty.
“I don’t know,” Kitty whispered back.
But there was no time to wonder. The huge, stone doors were grinding open, and Kitty and Bo found themselves ushered into a tunnel that seemed to lead directly into the black heart of the mountain.
Kitty wasn’t sure where she expected the tunnel to end.
A hellish cavern, maybe, or some ominous stone temple.
Instead, they emerged into a wonderland, a valley so verdant and beautiful that it scarcely seemed real.
Outside, everything had been bleak gray stone, bereft of vegetation, but in here, flowers bloomed and soft grass grew underfoot.
The chill wind was gone, replaced with warm yellow sunshine.
Lovely fruit trees lined the path, and lights flitted among their branches that Kitty guessed had to be pixies.
The hulking female guards had remained at their posts.
There was no one to show them the way, but there was only a single, meandering stone path, and so they followed it through the orchard, across a little, ancient footbridge that arched over a murmuring stream, and straight to the only building in sight—a small, pleasant-looking cottage.
A woman stood leaning in the doorway who looked, at a glance, to be the same one who’d called down to them back at the entrance to the valley, though Kitty couldn’t guess how she’d gotten down here so fast.
She was tall and comely, with long, dark hair, friendly eyes, and lips that looked to Kitty as if they were painted with Admite-style lipstick.
As they approached, those lips curved into a clever smile.
A simple black dress draped across her slender, taut frame, and the hilt of a dagger gleamed at her hip.
“Before you ask, yes, I’m the Oracle at Umsir. Yes, I knew you were coming—sort of. Yes, it’s surprising that I’m not at all scary. Yes, I’ll help you and answer your questions,” she said. “Come on in. I already have the ladies bringing you some food and something to drink.”
Too bewildered to respond and too tired to resist, Kitty led Bo inside.
At the Oracle’s bidding, they sat on a couch and looked around.
The cottage had wood beams on the ceilings, hung with sprigs of dried flowers.
Potted plants sat in corners, lovely paintings adorned the walls, warm yellow sunlight spilled through the windows, and the whole place smelled of fresh-baked bread.
All in all, it was so cozy, tidy, and perfect that it made Kitty take stock of herself.
A patina of dust covered her clothes. Her shoes were dirty and scuffed.
The hem of her dress had torn. It seemed wrong for her to be sitting on this couch with its lovely brocade upholstery.
Her legs still quivered with the exertion from the hike.
And now that she was sitting, exhaustion overwhelmed her.
She felt like balling herself up, laying her head in Bo’s lap, and sleeping for about three days.
But the Oracle had kicked off her boots and taken a seat across from them in an oversized wing chair, her legs folded beneath her.
“I’ve seen you before, Kitty,” she said, gesturing to a large basin of water that stood before them.
“Scrying. But I’m surprised to see you here today.
I mean, yes, I can see the future sometimes, and I thought I’d see you here at some point, but I still get surprised.
Pretty often, actually. So, spill it. What brings you here from Admar? ”
“Is she young?” Bo asked, leaning close to Kitty. “She sounds young.”
“And I don’t even know who this guy is,” the Oracle said excitedly, gesturing to Bo.
“Yes, she looks young,” Kitty said, then she turned back to the Oracle. “Um, yes. I’m Kitty Rowley. I’m a newspaper reporter from Admar. This is Bo Inman. Also from Admar.”
“And you’re somehow mixed up with Princess Essaphine and her boyfriend… lover… guy?” the Oracle flapped a hand.
Kitty hesitated, trying to figure out how to best to explain the tangled web of relationships, but Bo spoke up.
“I’m the boyfriend / lover’s cousin,” he said. “And Kitty is his… friend? Ex? I guess?”
The Oracle rubbed her hands together. “Oh, I do love some drama! And there’s drama aplenty happening at Charcain right now, let me tell you.”
Kitty’s brow furrowed. “Why? What’s happening at Charcain? Did Charlie make it there? Is he okay?”
“He was last I checked,” the Oracle said. “More on that later. I want to know why you’re here.”
Kitty hesitated. They’d only just met this woman, after all.
But they’d just hiked for days to find her.
There was no point in being coy now. So, she decided to just come out with it.
“I’m a vampyre. And I don’t want to be. And I read that the Oracle of Umsir had some way of reversing it for people.
Of turning them back to normal. And so, I was hoping you could do that for me. And for Charlie, at some point.”
The Oracle’s eyebrows went up. “Charlie became a vampyre? The pilot? Oh, I must have missed that. That’s wild...”
Kitty gave a wan laugh. She had no idea what to make of this Oracle, who seemed more like a quirky Admite coffee shop owner or something than an ancient Maethalian soothsayer.
And she’d apparently been following their lives like a radio drama.
She didn’t know what to make of that, either.
But the woman seemed friendly, at least.
“So… can you help?” Kitty asked.
“I might be able to, but I’m going to have to do some research,” the Oracle said.
“I’m not all-knowing, sadly. Far from it.
But I do have lots of resources here. With a little research, I might be able to find a solution to your little…
you know… vampyre problem. I mean, as long as you promise not to drink any of our blood while you’re here.
You’re not going to drink our blood, right?
My priestesses are feeling very skittish about it. ”
Kitty shook her head frantically. “No! I promise.”
The Oracle clapped her hands. “Great! I’ll have the ladies prepare someplace for you to rest, then.” She arched an eyebrow. “Will you be needing one bedroom, or two?”
They answered at once.
“One,” Kitty said.
“Two,” said Bo.
Kitty looked at him, her face going red.
“Two,” she amended quickly.
“I mean, or one is fine…” Bo muttered at the same time, sounding sheepish.
The Oracle smiled. “I told you, I do love drama. One and a half bedrooms, coming right up…”