Chapter 37 Ezra
Ezra
A day later, I stand outside a decaying warehouse near the New York–Canada border, just another corpse in a city long past saving.
This isn’t where I want to be, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is paying my debt and getting home.
Shifting into the Tesem, I sniff around the perimeter of the main building.
No trace of my sibling. No underborne. Only stale human blood and rot, probably left over from Renato’s raid.
I don’t know my sibling’s mental state, so I consider my approach carefully. Just like me, my siblings are cold, violent, and bloodthirsty.
Weighing my options, I decide that approaching as a human is best. It’s not very threatening and I can use speech to explain my presence.
I square my shoulders, then tug at the lapels of my jacket. Tilting my head side to side, I shiver as the vertebrae crack down the back of my neck. This needs to end quickly.
I weave through the warehouse’s first floor, sidestepping dead rats and puddles of suspicious brown liquid. Rusted meat hooks dangle overhead, a grim reminder this place was once a slaughterhouse.
What an unsanitary choice for a hideout.
But there’s nothing here.
Maybe Renato was wrong. Maybe they moved.
Hell, maybe the vampire’s dead, and my sibling left.
“Hello?” My voice echoes off the walls of the massive building. “Is anyone here? I’m looking for Luca and his captor. I suppose I’m here on behalf of Renato.”
Before I can say another word, something rips me off my feet and slams me into cold concrete. My shadows shriek, lashing out too late to break my fall.
Something cracks, sick and sharp inside my skull.
Pain explodes through my arm, bright enough to steal my breath.
I look down.
Oh. Well, hell. Would you look at that?
A length of rusty rebar juts clean through the meaty part of my bicep. A shadow lunges for the wound, curling over it, desperate to hold me together.
“Is that any way to treat your brother, dear sibling?” I call out, trying to mask the pain in my voice. “I simply came here to speak with you. That’s all.”
“Fuck you, brother!” my sister screams. “You have no business here. Luca belongs to me. I won’t let him go.”
“I mean you no harm, sister. I don’t know why you took the vampire, and frankly, I don’t give a shit.
I promised that soul-eating twat I would speak with you and try to ensure Luca’s safety.
I don’t care what he’s done to you, sister.
As far as I’m concerned, our meeting is over,” I yell into the darkness.
I’m fucking hurt.
I don’t know if I can shift, so I’ll have to think my way out.
I pull my wounded arm away from the wall, groaning when I feel the lumps on the rebar slip through my flesh.
I barely yank free before she’s on me again. I don’t have the time or the strength to react. She slams into me sideways, flinging me against the same wall. When my face hits the concrete, pain bursts through my nose and jaw in one sickening snap.
“You’re fast. I’ll give you that, sister. But I’m afraid I’m done fucking around,” I mumble through my broken jaw.
I summon all the strength left in my body, staying alert for her next attack.
She lunges again, but my shadows are already there, answering for me.
One surges forward, catching her mid-air. It twists around her limbs, forcing her shift, pressing her shadows into soft, breakable flesh.
They squeeze, unrelenting, coiling tighter around her throat, around her wrists, holding her suspended. She thrashes, clawing at them, but they don’t yield.
Her body is human. Her rage is anything but.
I drop to my knees, shadows draining what’s left of my energy, and take in my sister’s naked human form.
She’s scrawny, all sharp edges, with long, white hair and eerie violet eyes.
Tattoos cover her body, much like mine, but instead of various flora and fauna, her tattoos depict the constellations and planets.
“Let me go, brother. Now!” She claws at my shadows, kicking wildly.
I’m not sure how much longer I can hold on.
The shadows tremble, flickering erratically, not from fear but from exhaustion.
One presses against my wound, trying desperately to pull pieces of torn flesh back together.
They know I can’t keep this up.
A voice cracks through the air, and everything stops.
It’s not the words. It’s the certainty.
Footsteps echo across concrete and meat hooks as he charges toward us.
“Astrid! Enough! Calm yourself, stellina.”
“But, Luca, he came on behalf of Renato. We can’t let him live! I won’t see you harmed,” Astrid growls.
Despite her posturing, she immediately relaxes when Luca comes into view.
“Let her go.”
Luca’s voice drops to something deadly quiet, his dark eyes flicking to mine.
“I don’t know who you are, but you’re bleeding out fast. Do you really want to spend your last conscious moments making enemies?”
“Thank you.” I call my shadows back, causing Astrid to hit the ground with a loud thud. “Luca, I presume?”
“He dropped me! Did you see that, Luca? He’s trying to hurt me!” my sister whines as the soul-sucker rushes over to her.
He pulls her up, then drapes his coat around her without a word as he presses a soft kiss to her forehead.
My shadows freeze, a silent, watching mass. No flicker. No ripple. Just absolute, undiluted shock.
If my jaw wasn’t already shattered, it would drop.
My sister and the vampire are in love.
Cradling my arm, I quietly chuckle.
“So, my sister didn’t kidnap you then, Luca?” I ask, between rasping breaths.
Luca exhales like someone who knows there’s no taking it back now.
“No, she didn’t kidnap me. I took her.”
His gaze never leaves Astrid, as if looking away might break whatever fragile tether keeps her here.
“The Disciples locked her in a lab, ripped her apart, left her to rot. We were supposed to burn the place to the ground. Leave nothing behind. But then I saw her.”
He swallows hard.
“And I knew … I’d shatter the souls of Disciple and vampire alike before I let them keep her.”
“Thank you for rescuing my sibling, Luca. Though I suppose ‘sibling’ is generous, considering we’ve never met. I’m wondering, though, if we could discuss my presence here a little later.”
The room tilts, and my shadows shudder violently. They lunge for my ribs, my spine, and my legs, desperate to keep me standing.
“I’m afraid I’m going to pass out,” I rasp.
The last thing I feel is a slow, pained coil around my chest.
Then nothing.
“AURORA!”
My throat feels like I swallowed fire. Was I screaming in my sleep?
My shadows are agitated. They twist and tremble, not because of the nightmare, but in response to something soul-deep and arcane.
Even awake, panic lingers in my ribs.
The dream is gone, but the fire remains.
Purple flames lick at my mind, searing grief into a place that hasn’t broken yet.
A shadow coils at my throat.
The thread pulls.
I have to get back to her.
Sticky sweat clings to my skin. My body’s trying to cool down, but everything inside me is on fire. Every nerve screams. Every joint grinds. The hurt goes deeper than it should. My shadows pulse, too restless to stay still. They tighten around my ribs, steadying me before I fall.
“Fucking fragile human meat,” I grumble.
A shadow writhes against my leg, clearly agreeing. When I stand, my head spins and my stomach lurches, but after a few deep breaths, I don’t feel like I’m teetering on the edge of unconsciousness any longer.
From what I can tell, I’m still in the warehouse. The room they put me in is small, with an enormous control panel and CCTV screens.
Someone cleaned my injured arm, bound it to my side, and then set my broken nose and dislocated jaw.
As I leave the security room, I hear Luca and Astrid talking and laughing.
I take the steps slowly, pausing a moment to watch Luca fail spectacularly at teaching Astrid gin rummy. My sister’s clearly losing her patience, but Luca doesn’t flinch. His smile holds steady, soaking in every frustrated twitch like he’s waited a thousand years to see her this pissed off.
When Luca playfully reaches for Astrid’s cards, his shirt rides up just enough to reveal ink etched low on his side. It’s violent and wrong in a way that sets my teeth on edge. That’s not some decorative vampire bullshit. That’s a predator’s mark, real and old.
I don’t ask. Now’s not the time. But I won’t forget.
From the steps, I clear my throat, not wanting to startle my violent sister.
“Finally awake?” Luca’s voice is smooth, edged with amusement. He steps closer, casual, but watching.
“You look like hell. Want me to put you back under?” he smirks.
A single shadow snaps toward him in warning.
What a dick. And yet … I like him.
“Good morning, Luca. Astrid. Thank you for cleaning my wounds and for fixing my nose. Honestly? Getting knocked out again sounds better than this shit. But I’m in a hurry,” I respond, wincing in pain.
“Sit.” Luca doesn’t ask. He just gestures, expecting obedience. His gaze flicks to Astrid before lowering himself into the chair across from me. “We need to talk.”
My sister glances at me from behind her cards, a quiet growl rumbling from her chest—which only makes me chuckle. I ease myself into the nearest folding chair, pain sparking down my side, and wait for the vampire to ask his questions.
Luca curls his fingers around Astrid’s hand, lips ghosting over her knuckles. He looks at me, calm but unflinching.
“Let’s start with who you are.”
“I am Astrid’s brother, Ezra. I am the same creature as her, made of shadows, billions of years old, all of that.
“My relationship with Renato is one I did not enter into willingly, though. I don’t work for him. Hate the bastard, if I’m being honest.
“A few years back, I fucked up. I could’ve just killed Ren and been done with it, but that would’ve meant wiping out every vampire in the U.S. And at the time, I had bigger things to worry about. So instead, I agreed to owe him a favor. A mistake, in hindsight.