Chapter 16 Astraea #2
I didn’t even catch up to see before I heard the commotion he was causing just by his presence.
As I bustled after him, it was like he didn’t even notice the scared people, some vacating their seats as if his shadows were snakes priming to strike them.
Nightsdeath wandered over to the bar where a man dropped his tankard, sloshing wine or ale over the edge of the wood and backing away wearily.
“We may as well have left Auster a parting note and directions to find us,” I hissed when I came to Nightsdeath’s side.
He surveyed his surroundings over his shoulder, taking in the disruption for the first time.
“I haven’t even given them a reason to be afraid, and yet their fear is a thick aroma tempting my palate. Their blood tastes far sweeter heated and rushing with terror in their veins,” he said, eyes roving over the crowd for selection.
My body tensed and I stepped closer to him with a sharp look he ignored.
“You will not harm anyone in here.”
“You must eat to survive. So must I.”
I realized what he meant then. Nightsdeath needed blood, and with how he observed the people now like they were on a menu, those with the most fear or pain or suffering were what gave him the most sustenance.
“You don’t have to kill anyone,” I amended. I wouldn’t be able to stop him from taking what he needed, but I could try to reason with him.
“Must you take away my fun?”
Someone interrupted us from my other side. “This place has the best starlight mineras. Your favorite, if I recall.”
The feminine voice struck a chord of familiarity. I turned and spied the two-toned hair of black and white;, the impact of who I was looking at stole the air from me.
“Laviana?” I choked, wondering for a second if she could be an illusion.
“I’ve been looking for you, Maiden. At times it’s been easy to get a mark on you but impossible to get you alone.”
My brow creased but my body fixed in place, conflicted when it had been so long, another lifetime ago, since I’d last seen the daughter of my shadowless and celestial guardians.
She leaned with her forearms on the bar and gave the barkeep a firm order to snap him out of his scared stillness since Nightsdeath had approached. Then she glanced over my shoulder, studying Nightsdeath with curious wariness.
“Are the shadows a new effect to ward off company? I don’t think the extra measure is necessary,” she said casually.
They knew each other in the past. Laviana was an elder blood vampire. A leader of the vampire resistance. I wasn’t sure if the resistance from long ago still existed.
I didn’t know how to explain that who accompanied me was only … half of Nyte, in a sense.
“Something like that,” he said, playing along, though there was a note of irritation in his tone because we were no longer alone. I relaxed a fraction. “Though I guess they’re not as efficient as I’d hoped they would be.”
Laviana huffed a laugh as the barkeep came over, placing down one tankard of wine and two drinks in clear glasses.
Starlight minera had been my drink of choice wherever I could find it.
It wasn’t common in most inns and taverns since it came with a high price tag because of the dustings of starlight matter infused in the liquor, which gave it quicker effects, and, no matter how much you consumed, you would never wake up with any sickness or headache.
I’d completely forgotten my sweet craving until now.
“You have to try better with me, Nyte,” she said, sliding one of the mineras past me in offering to him.
He eyed the swirling glittery silver drink as if it were watery ale.
“Actually, I have other plans of indulgence tonight,” he said, slipping it in front of me so I had two now.
My gaze slid up to him in warning, but he merely smiled with deceiving endearment. He was a good actor.
“I’ll leave you two to catch up and come for you later.” Before he slipped behind me, he leaned close to my ear. “Behave, Maiden. I’ll catch you if you run. I’ll find you if you hide. By all means, take that as a dare, it thrills me to think of hunting you.”
My whole body wracked with a shiver as the last lick of his shadows caressed my skin before he disappeared around the bend of the hall.
I strained to go after him, scared of what terror he might wreak out of my sight, but more so, I was eager for Laviana’s estranged company and to discover why she’d been looking for me.
“He seems … different,” Laviana said, watching after him as well.
“He’s working through some things,” I said. It wasn’t a lie really. I diverted the conversation. “Did you know about Tarran allying with Auster?” I asked, taking up one of the tall seats at the bar as she did.
Her frown deepened over the rim of her cup and she set the wine down. “Auster Nova? Why in seven hells would Tarran side with him?”
The guardians had four children between them. Laviana, who took after her shadowless mother. Tarran, who took after his soulless father. And twin nightcrawler brothers, also taking their father’s heritage. The twins I’d not seen for the longest time, even in my past life we’d become estranged.
Though they had different parents by blood, the guardians’ children regarded each other like siblings.
They were nearly full-grown adults by the time I was created and given into their parents’ care, but the guardians were my parents too, for all intents and purposes, and their children were as close to siblings as I could ever hope to have.
It’s what made the broken bond with Tarran cut that much deeper.
“I can only think it’s because of his hatred for me now, since he doesn’t have the king or Drystan to band with toward my demise.”
“Ahh, you and the princeling are at odds?”
“I think there’s a lot we need to catch up on.”
I took a sip of the starlight minera, which quickly turned to a few long gulps when the smooth, sweet, and tingly sensation exploded against my taste buds.
Unlike other alcoholic drinks, this had no bitterness, and it was easy to get carried away with it.
One would be enough to push me toward drunk, and now I had two since Nightsdeath abandoned his. I finished off mine.
“Drowning your sorrows?” Laviana commented.
“If nothing else, it might take some of the chill away. I can’t stay long.”
“Where are you heading?”
I thought for a second, scraping through my past with Laviana, but it wasn’t easy to recall so much at once. There could be pieces hidden in the corners of my mind I wouldn’t remember unless something triggered it.
“We’re looking for a way to reach the gods,” I said as a quick alternative answer. “My creators, specifically.”
Laviana looked at me with humor, but when I didn’t match it her expression fell, switching to skepticism
“You can see them in the temple of Vesitire.”
I could trust her. At least I thought I could.
“I’ve … misplaced my key. I need it to kill them.”
She spluttered into her tankard.
“Are you insane? That’s what the mad king wanted to do, and you knew how dire that would be for the world.”
“I have no choice,” I defended.
Pity filled her eyes as she looked me over. “Oh Astraea, what happened to you?”
My teeth tightened together to force away the prickling in my eyes.
“So much,” I whispered. But there was no time for self-grieving. I squared my shoulders. “The king wanted to kill them and damn the unbalance it would throw us into. There must be a way I can do it that would spare our land.”
Laviana said softly, “What do you need us to do?”
That question filled me with gratitude. Remembering I was never as alone as I felt sometimes.
“You said you were looking for me, so what can I do for you?”
She drew in a long breath, and I reached for the second minera.
“Word is you have dragons.”
It wasn’t what I expected her to bring up.
“Only two. One isn’t full grown yet.”
“Yes, Eltanin. The legendary black celestial dragon.”
A note of pride fluttered in me, but I was highly protective of Eltanin.
“Why does that interest you?”
“Because I’ve also heard the other—a red dragon, am I right?—bonded with Drystan, a blood vampire.”
There was no point in denying it. “Yes. He’s the one who discovered where they are and how to release them.”
“Do you plan to free the others? How many are there? How do you release them?”
I didn’t like the pressure for information that felt sacred and dangerous. Laviana was like a sister to me in some ways, but trust, after all this time, had to be rebuilt.
“It’s the least of our concerns right now,” I said, trying not to shake our fragile trust.
My throat itched faintly and I coughed, taking another sip.
“Are you heading to find one with Nyte now?”
“No.”
It wasn’t a whole lie. While there should be a dragon painting at the temple we headed for, we wouldn’t have Eltanin’s tears to release it.
Laviana called me out with a hooked brow. “You’ve always been a terrible liar.”
“It’s not a lie,” I defended. “We have more pressing matters right now. As should you and the vampire rebellion.”
Her face turned pained. “Things aren’t like what they used to be.
After you left and the king took over, more joined his cause.
Vampires were finally given an illusion of free will, but myself and a lot of others could see it was just another system of control.
After all this time being used and suppressed by the celestials, there were so many that took the opportunity to be the feared ones for once.
They made our species seem exactly like the blood-and-soul-thirsty monsters the celestials painted us to be.
What remains of the rebellion isn’t much; we’re more like a group at a loss over how to do damage control if we ever see a day without tyrant rulers. ”
My gut sank with this knowledge. “So why the interest in the dragons?”