CHAPTER FOURTEEN #2
Pari was at my front as Sebastian was behind.
I kept my eyes open and vigilant, expertly maneuvering them around the carnage.
They came in droves, and my nose filled with the sickening scent of copper.
The white stone quickly slicked in scarlet as they fell around me.
My throat burned as the sickness rose. I suppressed a gag.
I thought it would get easier, but it never had. I never got used to the blood. As everyone around me seemed to harden and move through it, I still couldn't stand it.
As the first wave died out, quite literally, we had a moment of silence. I ducked into a small sitting room off the hall. Sebastian followed close behind and examined my likely paled face.
“I just need a minute,” I breathed, slapping my hand over my mouth as a gag came through. He nodded once. His hesitant eyes roamed over me.
Pari stood guard at the entrance watching over the hall. She knew I had my moments.
As my stomach began to settle, I spoke low for only Sebastian to hear. “How did you know to say that to my father?”
He replied in an equally low voice. I kept my eyes from his crimson hand. “I saw the way you looked at the painting the night of the initiation. I figured you did it often, that it would be a believable lie.”
I had grown up with relentless eyes all around me, ones that narrowed and scrutinized, ones that pitied and gawked. But to know that he saw a part of me, that he saw me, that he paid attention in a way that no one had ever had. Something dangerous awakened in me. I had to snuff it out quickly.
I nodded once and headed back out into the hall.
The second drove came as we turned a corner.
And as the chaos ensued around me, a quiet voice filtered through the snarling cacophony.
All sound hushed around me except for the soft whimpers that bled through.
My eyes caught along an open door, and as Sebastian and Pari were occupied, I managed to slip away.
The only light in the room was a weak fire in the hearth, its meager flames casting large shadows across the room.
They stretched and crouched, writhing over every surface.
The cries could have been a child hiding behind the sofa or an armchair.
But as I was about to peek around the velvet chair, I was already well within the room and well within his trap.
I was becoming familiar with his presence now.
It was an icy chill that wrapped around me.
Vampires had warm bodies, but he seemed to be of a different variety. As if he was as dead as his conscience.
Alaric was here.
And though it was his illusion, it was not him who stepped out of the dark. It was a young boy, not much older than eighteen. Though his face was still plump with youth, his eyes carried the weight of compacted sorrow, of something lost.
His nostrils twitched. His alert eyes flicked to my bloodied hand and then back to me. He breathed in deeply. “We’re not supposed to feed from you, but surely one taste couldn’t hurt.” He grinned, flashing his fangs.
I stepped back as he stepped towards me.
The dagger weighed heavy on my hip. My hand twitched towards it, but I couldn’t quite lift my arm.
He stalked closer, and I stepped back until my back hit the wall.
Why couldn’t I do it? I didn’t think he would kill me.
They were Alaric’s soldiers. He likely was not allowed to kill me.
But I did not want him to feed from me either, and he was a newborn.
His control was limited. Though he may not intend to, he could very likely kill me.
But as I looked at his face that held a sneer, it also held a thinly veiled innocence.
His eyes seemed deranged, sure, but they also hadn’t seen many years.
His life was taken by Alaric. Perhaps, his death would be a mercy.
But then the red would spill. And I just couldn’t see it.
I couldn’t feel it. It would stain my skin and go beyond, sinking deeper, tarnishing my soul. And I couldn’t—
I gasped as he was yanked backwards, and a strong hand gripped my neck, whirling me around.
Sebastian. He cradled the back of my neck.
His other hand gripped my arm firmly, stilling me.
He turned me away from the boy and held my eyes.
His face took up my field of vision. He was all that I saw as Pari ended the young man.
We lingered for a moment. He seemed to piece me together as his eyes shifted subtly around my face.
Likely wondering why I had just stood there as a vampire was about to eat me.
Just like before in the Hushed Woods, I had done nothing.
And I looked back to him, attempting to piece him together as well.
He turned me away from what he knew I couldn't bear to see.
A shadow moved in the corner. My eyes slid over to it, past Sebastian’s shoulder. Alaric stood perfectly still, his expression placid, though his eyes bore into me. He seemed disappointed, and if I could have believed it, slightly confused.
And I arrived at the part of the night where it all became too much. I turned to the waste basket by the desk and heaved.