7. Repast
CHAPTER SEVEN
REPAST
Saya Claymore
The wall ahead opens for Serun. Bricks part and move like a pulled-back curtain. He doesn’t waver as they open, walking through without losing his stride, while I slow down to avoid bumping into the stone.
We walk down another passage with arched, open doorways. The first room we pass has a seating area in front of a crackling fireplace.
“Fire does not frighten you?” I ask Serun.
He tilts his head as he says, “We fear fire as most do. But also enjoy it. Fire gives warmth, but I wouldn’t be pleased if someone doused me in gasoline and set me on fire.”
“I’d wrap my arms around the one who did it and take them with me.”
Serun lifts a brow and slowly nods, accepting this.
I peek into another room we pass—one bed in the centre, and a painted sunset sky on the ceiling. Candles burn on the dresser, bedside table, and across the rows of books on the shelves.
“I slept there last morning,” Serun says.
“Under the sunset?”
His eyes soften to a sweet cherry red. “It was the time of day I enjoyed most when I was human. Something I’d like to do again after I find Mother’s silver tear.”
“You said it cures vampirism. Is that all it can do?”
He stops for a moment, glancing sidelong at me. “No. It can do other things, but I am not interested in those.”
“And those other things are…?”
“Creation.”
He resumes walking, and I follow. “How long have you been looking for it?”
“A while.”
“And nothing?”
“Like I am searching for a fable.”
We enter the room ahead. Warm light blossoms orange against the limestone, and a shimmer of light glints across the long glass table in the middle of the room. In the centre, there’s a vase filled with sweet, cool-scented red spider lilies.
Lucifer is seated in the chair furthest from us, leaning back. Intense red eyes snap towards us, tracking Serun’s every move as he makes his way towards the bar on the right.
Neon red strips of light line the shelves of bottles on the back wall, and while Serun heads behind the bar, I wait by a stool. My hands grip the leather as I watch Lucifer from the corner of my eye.
Lucifer leans forward, resting his arms on the table as malice radiates from those pearly eyes while he death-stares me. What could I possibly have done to provoke so much loathing?
“Drink?” Serun tilts his head when I lift a brow at him. “While we wait for my fashionably late younger brother.”
My ears pull back and down. “These many siblings of yours…Are they your blood family?”
“No.” He slides one bottle of wine away from the others.
“The law doesn’t allow the turning of family members.
Once bitten, you accept that you are no longer human.
You must give up the life you once lived.
” He turns to face me, and his shadows spool across the bar.
“You, though, are the exception. Balanced between life and death.”
Lucifer huffs insolently from the dining table.
Serun gestures to the bottle again, but I shake my head. “I’m fine.” I push off from the bar and make my way over to the dining table, sitting as far from Lucifer as possible. I smooth the crinkles on my gown, keeping my back straight. I doubt I will ever get comfortable being around nightwalkers.
“Did you sleep well?” Serun sips his wine, the thin, red liquid sliding into his mouth.
Catching me staring, his red eyes settle on me, and he sets the glass back on the bar.
A drop of liquid runs from the corner of his mouth before he wipes it away with the back of his hand.
“It’s not blood this time, kamai. I’ve learned my lesson. ”
My fingers tighten on my knees, and I stiffen as though a pin was poked into my back. “You can drink more than blood?”
“Not really.” His finger circles the top of the glass, spinning soft music. “Drinking or eating anything other than blood makes a nightwalker famished. Newborns often mistakenly believe they can substitute food and drink for blood, which leads them to eat until they become starved and frenzied.”
“Then why are you drinking the wine?”
Lucifer chuckles darkly. “Tell her your smitten-like-a-kitten ways, brother.”
Serun walks out from behind the bar and leans back against the mahogany wood.
Broad muscles tense, he cocks his head to the side, eyes fixated on me.
Red neon lighting burns half of his face, while shadows drench the rest. “I want to make you more comfortable. I’ve read that doing human things can make one less tense,” he says in a low voice, almost as if awkwardly reluctant to admit it.
Strange.
A smile almost reaches my face, but it sours, and I glare down at my hands under the table. “I’d quite like to gut you to see if it destroys the nightwalker side of me.”
Lucifer leans back comfortably in his chair. “You’re very forward. Very…not human-like.” He blurts a chilling laugh. “Very vegodian, actually. Saying it like it is—like it is natural.”
My brow twitches, and my ear flicks. “And being a nightwalker is natural?”
Lucifer’s jaw locks, and with a huffed breath, he looks away.
With a roll of my eyes, I settle back on Serun, who is smirking at me. “You can’t remember your humanity, so you have to read about it in a book?”
Serun dips his head. “Pieces come and go, but most are behind walls I cannot seem to overcome on my own.”
“Like the memory I saw in Hellsgate?”
“Hmm?” Lucifer looks at Serun quizzically.
Serun taps his finger on his arm. Without answering, he looks away from me, a curve of a smile reaching his face. “Evening, brother and Avianna.”
The hair on the back of my neck turns icy, and I look towards movement at the doorway. When another hit of ice touches my neck, near my pointed ear, I quickly stand and stumble away. Shadows swoop in front of me, and Serun blocks the path between me and the approaching nightwalkers.
Reyes has his golden hair slicked back and tucked behind pointed ears, the lengths of his waves resting on his shoulders. He wears a gold and white suit, and everything about him comes across as showy.
He sparkles.
The woman from the theatre stands by the doorway.
She wears a long-sleeved, slip-fit short black dress with a grey hooded jumper over the top.
Her long, thigh-high black heeled boots click as she makes her way around the dining table behind Reyes.
The woman’s hand rests on his shoulder, her body jerking and lip curling, revealing pointed fangs when his hand rests over hers.
“Sleepwear?” Reyes drawls with a disappointed look. “A new human trend I have not heard of?”
Serun runs his hand through his hair as I step out from behind him. “Kamai, let me properly introduce my family. This is Reyes and his wife, Avianna. Once we gather items with Cole’s scent, they are the ones who will search for him.”
I nod firmly, but my thoughts darken. If any of them touch Cole, I will put a stake through their hearts while they sleep.
A soft sigh escapes Serun, and he says, “Your malice is divine.”
After a slow, confused blink, I notice Lucifer and Reyes are on their feet, hiding in the darkest part of the dining room. Avianna hides behind them, looking at me as if I were the enemy.
Serun gestures at me, and I startle when I see the sword in my hand. Sparks of light burst from it, creating an aurora.
I take a deep breath, and as I relax my hand, the sword shimmers out of existence.
I didn’t speak the words this time. My will was enough for my body to react before my mind caught up.
“It seems you need to train this dove of yours,” Lucifer says as he returns to the warmth of the natural lighting. He throws a severe look at me as if I were a friend who had betrayed him.
Reyes and Avianna step forward with friendly smiles on their faces. Reyes waves his hands in front of him as he says, “I suppose it is something we all must get used to. Your anger is like a flame on dry grass. Quick to grow.”
“It is amusing, is it not?” Serun says.
What the fuck is happening?