38. Ride Me
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
RIDE ME
Saya Claymore
“We will travel until we hit Skulire and stay there for the night,” Serun says as he stops at the caged elevator past Olivia’s dwelling, behind the manor. “Then it will take us four days to reach Coven, and from there we will travel by boat across the border to Shepherd.”
“That long?” I say, my frown deepening. “Why can’t we use the portal orb?”
Serun’s eyes narrow, and the shadows cloaking him ripple with agitation.
“I don’t want to use that method of travel when I don’t know if it’s safe on the other side.
Using it to reach the feeding ground was risky enough, though not enough time had passed for the slayers to take it—and of course, the Sunken City is always safe. ”
“What if Cole doesn’t have that long?”
He glances at me, then away. “If they didn’t want him, they would have left him on the side of the road instead of taking him. I believe he is safe enough for now.”
“Okay…”
The elevator opens, and we enter. Olivia follows.
The luggage she had earlier is now two backpacks, after Serun instructed us to pack light.
He takes our shared bag from her, and Olivia keeps the other for herself.
She pins herself to the other side of the elevator, her red eyes darting to him and then away.
Metal rattles, shuddering until the cage lifts. Wires spin, scraping with a slight, irritating screeching noise as we rise above the manor. Overlooking the Undercity, I grind my teeth as I say goodbye to a place I was finally getting used to.
Nightwalkers and humans roam obliviously. In a strange way of life, there are neither sheep nor wolves here. They each want something from one another—food and safety. So, they work together without it feeling like control.
Why are feeding grounds on their side of the border? Serun made it seem as if slayers had a hand in it, but why would they want blood?
“Do other countries have feeding grounds, or just Naylen?”
Serun unclasps the buckle of the baldric holding the sword he had designed for me, then twirls his pointed finger, and I turn around.
Positioning the belt over my shoulder so the scabbard rests on my back, he says, “Just Naylen, from what I know. Others tried other things, but they never worked out in the end. The Nightwalker Lord in Truen created nightwalker cities, caging humans like fodder to feast on. Last I heard, he was seeking any vegodian because the flowers there are dying.”
“Truen…Is that where you are from?”
“Yes,” he says dismissively.
Olivia darts a look between us, confusion in her eyes.
“Here, to conceal your identity while we roam topside,” he says as I turn back around and Serun hands me a fox mask. “Saya’s servant, you will need one too.”
He hands Olivia a mouse mask. I bite my lower lip, my fangs sinking into flesh at her incredulous look as she takes it. “A fucking mouse…” Olivia trails off when she notices the hard glint in Serun’s eyes. “I love it!”
Liar.
Serun grunts in response.
Looking away, determined not to form an attachment, I take a step towards the edge of the cage and survey the Undercity.
We’re high above the buildings, getting closer to the ceiling.
The city below becomes nothing more than sporadic specks of lantern light, and all I hear is the rattling, clanking of a cage that sounds like it will break soon.
Then, the cage shudders to a halt, careening back and forth. My stomach lurches, only for Serun’s shadow to slip around my waist and pull me back beside him.
We share a look, and with no words needed, I place the fox mask over my face and fasten it at the back. My vision is disrupted, as if there’s always something in the corner of my eye.
I wonder if this is how the masked Bleeders felt.
Serun reaches to the ceiling of the cage, grabs hold of a ladder and drags it down until it snaps into place.
My hands curl into fists when Serun steps up, turning into pure shadow.
I step where he was a moment ago and look up.
Serun is now at the top of the ladder, opening the hatch, and my eyes widen nearly out of their sockets. The stars.
“Your turn,” Olivia says. “I will take the rear and pull the ladder up behind us.”
“Right…” I look up again, my hands gliding over rusted metal, the ladder rattling in a way that doesn’t feel safe.
I climb up, every step weighing on me, my stomach wanting to fall back to the Undercity. Nothing good comes topside. All my darkness bleeds through the air up here, but I need to find Cole.
He is my priority.
Serun lowers his hand when I reach the top, and I am lifted out and onto solid ground. Brisk night air that tastes like twilight drags sharply down my throat.
Moving away from the secret entrance to the Undercity, my breath hitches at the sights and sounds I’ve missed.
Silver from the round moon streaks through the breaks in the tall trees that surround us.
Patches of light dance with glittering dust lifted by the cool breeze that shudders through the woods.
Without a care, I kick my boots off, slip off my socks and plant my feet on the ground. Serun looks on but says nothing when I burrow my toes into the soil.
It has been so long.
“I can’t see shit in this mask,” Olivia grumbles. She closes the hatch, and Serun uses his shadows to slide some vegetation over it, smoothing it down until it looks like the rest.
“It is better than topside seeing your face,” Serun says.
“Unless you want to slaughter every nightwalker we come across, keep it on. If a slayer captures a nightwalker, they will be able to describe and likely draw your face clearly. Even if you hide your hair and change eye colour, once a slayer learns your face, they know it for life.”
Olivia tightens the straps on her mask. “Creepy.”
Indeed.
“Come,” Serun demands, but he doesn’t move until I slip on my sandals and make my way to him. Once I am beside him, his shadows move closer to me, inching around my waist. He has created a shadow double of himself, and that double is carrying the backpack. “It’s not far.”
“What’s not far?” I ask.
He doesn’t respond. Instead, his shadows seem to pulse with humour. I’m getting better at reading his shadows when I can’t see his face.
We walk along a path that blends in well enough not to be seen, but living in Cherry Bloom, where most paths are flattened grass and pebbled roads, I find it easy to notice among the vervain that grows along the path.
More light breaks through the trees as they thin out. The sky is clear, without a cloud in sight. All I see are thousands of stars clustered around the moon.
The scent of pine lingers in my nose, with the undertones of the mulch beneath my feet. It must have rained. The scent is dense, invading my nostrils and swelling in my lungs.
My ear twitches at the sounds returning to me.
Creatures that crave the night, rustling through the fallen leaves, snapping dry branches.
Fogs croak in high-pitched rhythms, moving from one location to the other, and the hoot of a nearby owl is almost drowned out by the cicadas singing because of the full moon.
The trees open into a clearing with enough space for the shed on Serun’s right. He doesn’t speak but guides us to the moss-covered building. Vines curl up the walls, sprouting wisteria blooms. Nearby, in a cluster that has spread like a virus, grows more vervain.
Serun grabs the handle and slides the door open. Vines snap away, and petals rain down as the metal sheeting trembles, cutting through the murmurs of life and silencing them with the sudden, unnatural sound.
Inside, grey, dusty sheets cover some large objects. My ears prick, then fall back as I move forward with my hand on my arm.
Serun moves around one and drags the sheet aside, revealing…a motorcycle. I think. I’ve seen pictures before, and this looks just like the cartoon drawings.
“Whoa!” Olivia gasps. “I haven’t seen a working motorcycle in a while. Most don’t run anymore, and with the amount of noise they make, no human risks riding one.”
“But couldn’t this outride a nightwalker?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “Most roads now have spikes nightwalkers use to ambush humans on the highway. It was the reason I never left Coven, and also where I died and became…this.”
Serun pulls the sheet off another bike, and his shadow takes the vehicle out into the moonlight. It’s still so strange to see the shadows do things.
Serun goes to the back of the shed and takes a pair of goggles off the hook. Once he’s put them on, the sight is hidden behind a veil of shadows. I smile but try to hide it.
“Am I amusing, kamai?” he says as he approaches, raising his hand in offering. “You’re riding with me.”
“What does ‘kamai’ mean?” Olivia asks. “I’ve heard no one use the word before, not until you started saying it, Lord Serun. Is it Daryun?”
“Olivia, you’re riding with Penumbra.”
“Penumbra?” I say, and when I face the shadows, I find they are enthusiastically waving at me.
“Half of Penumbra,” Serun corrects.
Olivia looks at the other bike, a Serun-shaped Penumbra now sitting on it comfortably and petting the spot behind them. “If there is a threat, the shadow—”
“You’re dead,” Serun states in an irritable drawl while I position my own goggles over my mask. “If something happens, you won’t die as easily as Saya can. So yes, you get the fucking shadow.”
“Serun,” I snap. “Stop being so cruel.”
Olivia’s ears pull back, and she darts a look down to the ground. “Forgive me, Lord Serun. I only meant that I wanted to ride with Lady Saya.”
A low rumble vibrates in his throat, but he says nothing. Instead, he grabs my hand and lures me to the black motorcycle. Serun doesn’t like Olivia. I’ve known that since the night I demanded he not kill her. I’m certain he doesn’t like anyone aside from his family—and even then, it seems strained.
Serun straddles the motorcycle, his eyes never leaving mine.
“Go easy on her, Serun. She still has her humanity.”
“Of course,” he says, holding out his hand. “Let me help you on, darling.”
It went in one ear and out the other.
His eyes crinkle, clearly amused.
Serun guides me onto the motorcycle behind him.
I struggle, not having been on one before, and when my body tips, I suck in a breath and lean forward, gripping him tightly.
He chuckles and unlocks my frantic hands, lowering them around his waist. “Hold on to me here, my kamai. And if you fear the ride, close your eyes.”
Both arms wrap around him, grabbing his shirt at the front in an iron grip. I wiggle closer until my body presses against his back. “Do you know how to ride this thing?”
“As if it were my shadow,” he says, but it doesn’t ease my discomfort, because what does that mean, exactly?
“Just…promise you won’t crash,” I say breathlessly, the panic already getting to me.
He chuckles darkly. “I can’t do that—but I promise that if I do, you will be fine.”
“Perhaps we should walk.” My words come out thin.
His hand closes over mine, his thumb swiping across my knuckles. “Do you trust me?”
“No…” The word becomes clogged in my throat. “Somewhat,” I admit.
“Uh…Lord Serun, how do I hold on to a shadow?” Olivia squeaks from the back of the other motorcycle.
I lean to see her sitting bolt upright behind Penumbra, arms hanging awkwardly.
“Like any other,” Serun says dismissively. My legs squeeze around him, and he sighs. Penumbra immediately becomes more corporeal and is now wearing shadowed clothing for Olivia to grab hold of. “Hold on tight, my kamai. It will be bumpy until we get on the main road.”
“Olivia said there will be spikes…”
“We are nightwalkers. I will see one before we are close to it.”
Serun switches on the motorcycle, and it rumbles to life. My hold tightens, fingertips already aching, and I bury my head into his back and grip my legs around his hips as though I’m hoping we can meld together.
The bike moves, causing my entire body to tense as it tilts side to side.
I screw my eyes shut and leave my stomach behind us when the bike jolts forward.