Chapter 48
FORTY-EIGHT
SLOAN
“Sloan.” Theo looked her up and down before exchanging worried looks with Cherub, the female gargoyle in charge of the city guard. “I heard your man who aided in the safe return of our spy was injured but would recover. I didn’t know you were also hurt in the process.”
“What?” Sloan looked down at her boots, darks pants, and top for any sign of injury she hadn’t noticed. “No, I’m fine.”
“My mistake.” Theo shook his head. “You look pale. Have you had anything to eat?”
Sloan pushed down the idea of food. Her throat was as dry as she could ever remember, and her stomach growled so loud she thought for sure everyone in the capitol building’s meeting room would be able to hear.
“I’ll be fine,” Sloan looked over Theo’s shoulder to the other person in the room. “Is this our spy?”
“I am.” The woman wearing the white cloak stood up and went to Sloan, extending a hand. “Thank you for your help. My name is Sasha.”
Sloan shook the woman’s hand. Her orange eyes reminded Sloan of Kade and hinted at Sasha’s shifting heritage. She was pretty, with well-kept short, brown hair and a toned but not muscular build.
“I hope your team wasn’t injured too badly.” Sasha released her grip on Sloan’s hand. “I was riding so hard to get to the gates, I didn’t see the fight. It killed me not to stop and join the battle, but the information I carry is more important than any of our lives.”
“I was a soldier.” Sloan nodded along with Sasha’s explanation. “I understand there are times when our duty has to come first.”
“Well, Sasha was just about to begin her report.” Theo waved them over to a long table set up where his desk had been the morning before.
“I thought it would be important for you to hear this, Sloan. I understand the position you are in, deciding to ally with us or not. Maybe after you listen to Sasha’s debriefing, you’ll understand we are on the same side. ”
Sloan only nodded. She took a seat at the table, with Cherub at her left, Theo at her right, and Sasha directly across from her. The large, coliseum-like room was quiet as the spy began her report.
“I have so much to say, I’ll try to keep it as brief as possible.
The first thing you should know is that the queen has nearly finished laying the tracks to her mage engine, connecting New Hope to every major city in the Outland, with the exception, of course, being Azra.
But intel says she has her eyes set on this next.
She’s raising a new breed of vampire soldier stronger than the ones defeated at Term.
The idea is to have them escort the production of the railway all the way to Azra.
” Sasha paused. “That is all fact. There are also whispers that the queen’s sister is performing experiments on a new kind of soldier.
Details are not forthcoming, but we can expect something large entering the battlefield very soon. ”
“The Outland cities the queen had already reached via the mage locomotive,” Sloan said, leaning forward in her seat. “What’s happened to them?”
“Taxes, a heavy military presence.” Sasha shook her head, thinking of the words as she said them out loud. “They’re being forced into submission, all under the guise of a strong propaganda front promising unity and friendship.”
“Will they fight with us when the time comes?” Cherub crossed her arms. “Azra is a strong city. I’d put my gargoyle and shifter warriors head to head with their vampire soldiers, but still there may not be enough of us.”
“If they have a leader to rally behind, the other cities will follow us.” Sasha looked over to Sloan. “There’s even a growing faction in New Hope that wants to see the queen dethroned. I think you may know some of our members.”
Sloan had been fighting a throbbing headache ever since Sasha had begun giving her report. Her acute hearing was picking up everyone’s hearts pumping blood through their bodies. Sasha’s words brought her back.
“Who?” Sloan asked, squinting to focus past the growing hunger. “Who’s joined you?”
“From the ranks of the soldiers themselves there’s a Sergeant Harrison, a Private Pia, and a Lieutenant Baker, although I’m not sure how much longer they will be able to inform for us.
The queen is turning all of her soldiers into vampires and they’ve decided to abandon their stations before they do that.
” Again Sasha paused, a twinkle in her bright eyes.
“And that’s not all. There’s a Jack Walker and an Abigail Ahab who send their best.”
“Jack and Abigail?” Sloan smiled so wide, she surprised herself. “I’ve been trying to get back to New Hope ever since we left to find them. What about Abigail’s sister, Elizabeth?”
For a moment Sasha’s features darkened. Even before the spy opened her mouth, Sloan understood there was no good news about the younger Ahab sister.
“We’ve lost track of her, but the last we heard, she was practicing magic under Leah Noble’s tutelage.
” Sasha’s brow furrowed. “We haven’t given up hope.
That’s the reason Abigail and Jack have decided to stay in New Hope.
They’re holding on to the idea they can find her and bring her back from whatever darkness she’s being taught. ”
Throbbing pain hammered at Sloan’s temples. Thirst was turning into an all-consuming urge to sink her teeth into the veins of those at the table. Horrible thoughts were taking over control of her mind. She would go after Theo first; he was the largest and would have the most blood to spill.
The familiar pounding of a rhythmic heartbeat was all Sloan could hear.
“Sloan, are you all right?” Theo asked from somewhere that sounded far off. “Do you need a doctor?”
Red covered her vision. Sloan ran her tongue across her top canines that had tripled in length.
Hold it together, Sloan screamed at herself. What are you doing? You can’t!
But she could. After denying her new body what it desired for so long, it was finding a way to fight her out of pure will.
“Everyone get back!” A new, yet familiar female voice echoed through the room, so commanding, everyone moved to obey. “She’s not in control of herself.”
Sloan was half grateful for the voice of reason and half mad that this person understood what she was going through. She looked up through red-hued vision to a woman cloaked in a black robe. Fiery, curly, red hair fell down her shoulders.
Sloan understood this was the woman from her dream in Term, the woman who had warned her of what she was becoming. Instinct took over and Sloan willingly lunged at the woman. A dark bolt of yellow magic sprung from a wand in the woman’s right hand.
The magic projectile struck Sloan in the head, harder than she could ever remember being hit before. Along with the blow came blackness.