Chapter 17 Saskia #2
What my kind call the parasites. Our legends claim they’re our greatest enemies—and the greatest threat to humankind.
Lucan seems to bristle at the very mention of them, each of his words tight, on edge.
It’s why my kind was designated as kings in the past. Not to dictate humans, but to protect them.
Only, my grandfather hadn’t seen any real vampires in living memory, so he forgot what a threat they were.
I can practically feel Lucan’s teeth grinding.
He wasn’t prepared when the original thirteen vampires invaded his kingdom.
Wasn’t prepared. Just like I’m not prepared now.
Turning around, I gather my knees up into my arms and rest my head back against the doorway.
Any minute now, the loudspeakers will announce curfew and Malcolm will return.
Lucan has successfully delayed me, but how could I possibly prepare for this?
I’m just one woman in a city of twelve thousand people and twelve vampires who have us trapped.
How close can you get to the Blood Moon Palace without being detected? Lucan asks.
I think about the dark alleyways between complexes, how the maze of them winds throughout all of Xantera with no cameras to monitor what happens in between. The giant courtyard in front of the palace is the only thing that stands between the edge of the complexes and the palace front doors.
Close, I say.
Okay. Lucan’s tone takes on a note of authority that makes me sit up straighter.
Wait until tonight when it’s dark. Get as close as you can and observe the sentries who stand guard.
How many are there? When does their shift change?
Once we know, we can make a plan for you to try out the key when they’re at their most vulnerable.
Maybe I can distract them long enough for you to slip inside.
Distract them? How can you distract them when you’re on the other side of the—
A howl fractures the air outside my window, so loud and keening that I’m willing to bet the whole of Xantera just froze mid-step. So rarely does the Monster howl before the moon comes up. So rarely does my body flutter with goosebumps before sunset—like it is now.
Lucan stops howling abruptly, the aftermath making the silence vibrate in my ears.
I have others that can do that with me, if I ask them to, Lucan growls. I’m sure the sentries will be plenty distracted when they realize there’s more than one Monster outside the Wall.
More than one? I breathe, still tingling all over.
You’ll get to meet them one day, but only if you live, Saskia. The male in my head seems to burrow into my heart when he adds, You don’t die on my watch. You understand?
Tears thicken in my throat and well in my eyes as I think about all the people I’ve ever healed. All the people whose hearts have continued beating a little longer because once upon a time, I was a fifteen-year-old girl who couldn’t save the people she loved most.
Now, someone I’ve never even laid eyes on is trying to save me.
And I want to let him.
I want to be saved.
Got it, I say. I’ll wait until tonight to observe the sentries.
Then the Monster and I will form a plan.
Three hours after curfew, I’m wearing the necklace again, but now it’s tucked within the collar of my cloak so that the vial fits snugly between my breasts.
I crack open my bedroom door to find that Malcolm is still in bed.
We had dinner together after he came home from the Rec Center, and then we both went into our joint bedroom, where we laid side by side and stared at the ceiling as if there were stars plastered above our heads.
Thankfully, there was no reason for either of us to put on quite as big of a show as last week because there was no sentry sitting in our living room.
As long as the camera recorded us going into that bedroom together, whoever was watching would think we were obedient.
Still, it was nice to just lie there without forcing anything. The silence between us almost felt… comfortable. I ended up staying for almost an hour before Malcolm’s even breathing broke into those horrible, guttural snores of his, and I tiptoed back to my own room.
Now, our housing unit is quiet and dark, save for a sliver of moonlight spilling through the window—and the blinking camera above the loudspeaker, of course.
Remember, Lucan warns me. Nice and slow.
I nod like he can see me and slip out of my room, crouching down and keeping myself pressed against the wall without daring to exhale.
The camera is angled in such a way that if I move beneath the screen, I don’t think it’ll be possible for anyone to see me leave the house after curfew: a sliver of a blind spot as thin as the moonlight at my feet.
One foot in front of the other, I move at an achingly slow pace, half squatting so that my head stays low enough. My thigh muscles burn by the time I’m halfway across the kitchen, not used to the angle at which I’m forcing them to move, but I don’t relent. I don’t straighten. I—
My foot steps down, and the floor creaks beneath me. I freeze.
Malcolm gives an extra loud snore that rumbles through our bedroom door, and then everything goes quiet again.
The camera keeps on blinking.
I’m almost there, I tell Lucan.
He stays silent to let me focus, but I feel his presence like a dark awareness honing in on the movement of my thoughts. I reach out a hand, grab the door handle, and ease it partway open.
A cool gust of night air hits me in the face. I blink, then sidle my body through, not daring to open the door any further. As soon as I’m on the other side, I snick it shut behind me, wincing at the click of the latch that seems to echo through the alleyway.
I’m out, I say.
It’s the first time I’ve ever been outside at night.
If I thought the spaces between complexes were unnerving before, now they’re downright terrifying—like narrow throats swallowing me whole from every direction.
Only the faintest illumination of moonlight filters through the eaves above my head, so it takes a second for my eyes to adjust to this new level of darkness.
When they do, I simply stand here, my heartbeat thrumming, looking left and right at all the doors. So many doors, closed and lifeless for now, but for some reason my imagination tells me they’re going to fly open as I pass them, monstrous arms snaking out to curl around me and drag me back.
Saskia? Lucan asks. If you want to go back in and try this a different night, I—
No. I straighten. It’s just—I’ve never smelled the night air before.
What?
It’s… crisper. Kind of like mint? But there’s also a hint of something mossy. I use the conversation as an excuse to gather a big breath before forcing myself to move—not toward the main road on the right but deeper into the labyrinth of complexes on my left.
You’ve never smelled the night air before, Lucan repeats, temper simmering beneath his tone as if the idea of that personally offends him. I’ll add that to my list.
Your list? I soften each of my footsteps as much as I can. There might not be anyone else in these alleyways right now, but I don’t want a sentry patrolling the main road to hear even the slightest scuffle from my direction. Your list of rules?
No. My list of everything those parasites have done to harm you and the rest of my citizens.
The way he says that, a hint of possessiveness surging through the words, has me almost halt in my tracks. He’s right, though. If the Guardians had never taken over Xantera, then Lucan… Lucan would be king right now. He’d be my king. And I would be his.
The idea of belonging to him sends a shuddering thrill down my spine—one that he picks up on, unfortunately. I feel the sudden satisfaction oozing from his end of our connection, bleeding into my own senses.
You like the thought of being mine, little nightmare?
I scoff in my head, resuming my pace and keeping an eye on all the closed doors to make sure they stay closed. I like the thought of you keeping quiet, actually. It’s rude to read my emotions.
His gravelly words come out with a chuckle of amusement. I can assure you, I didn’t pry. I would’ve felt that shiver of yours from three hundred miles away.
The breeze is strong right now, I say defensively, even though the air is definitely stagnant at the moment—nothing stirring in the shadows ahead of me. I was just a little cold.
Or maybe you were wondering what it would feel like for me to rule over you.
I was wondering no such thing, I quip, curiosity like a budding bloom in my core despite my best attempts to strangle it.
Then there’s no reason for me to tell you I could make you shiver a lot harder than that.
Now my entire body is tingling, but I realize something as I come to my first split in the alleyway: the banter has made me feel so much less alone in the dark. I can’t believe I’ve already come to the next complex, where I’ll need to decide which way to turn.
Right. I need to go right. I don’t have a clear mental map of the city memorized, but the Blood Moon Palace is like a compass in my heart. As long as I keep making turns to move toward it, I should be on the lip of that courtyard within an hour.
Glancing over my shoulder, I turn and creep along this new alley, listening for any signs of life besides my own heartbeat. There’s nothing. The silence buzzes in my ears much too loudly.
You still want me to keep quiet? Lucan asks mockingly.
I’m about to reply with a biting remark of my own when a particular door catches my eye.
I’m nowhere near the complexes across from the Healing Center where I first started searching for Diggory… but this door. It’s exactly like that other one was, seemingly normal but without a metal slat for meals to slide through.
Saskia, Lucan warns, his tone dropping from playful back to serious at once. Keep moving. It would be unwise to linger.
I know, it’s just that… I squint and duck my head, my hair falling to one side as I crane my neck. There’s a keyhole here. With trembling hands, I try the door handle, but it’s locked just like the other one was. Nothing is ever locked except for the front doors of the Blood Moon Palace.
An alarm bell blares in my head, a sense of wrongness leaking from this door as if there really might be monstrous creatures lurking behind it.
I need to move on before something comes out, but the silver object in my pocket keeps me rooted to the spot.
Like a tether has pulled tight between key and lock.
Forget it, Saskia. For some reason, Lucan doesn’t sound eager at the discovery like I’d expect. He sounds like he’d give anything to drag me away, actually. We’ll do this another night.
What? I try to force some humor through the fear spiking in my chest. You’ve spent centuries trying to tear this Wall down, and now you want to wait even longer?
No, I want you to stay on track. If you let a random door distract you, then it means you’re not focused, which means you’re not aware of your surroundings.
Actually, I think it means I’m extremely aware of my surroundings, given I noticed that this door is different from the others.
A growl rips through my head, pure dominance bristling through it. Stay on track, or go back, Saskia. We can think about this door another night.
You’re a bossy little Monster, aren’t you? I joke. He snarls in my head, but I ignore him, digging into my pocket to pull out the key. I bring the tarnished tip to the lock hidden in the shadows beneath the door handle, my breath frozen in my lungs.
It slides right in.
A gasp rushes down my throat, and I clap my hand over my mouth at the amplified noise. Diggory didn’t steal a key to the Blood Moon Palace, so it would be pointless to go monitor the sentries now. He stole a key to… whatever this is.
More snarling erupts in my head, but I ignore Lucan as if I’m in a trance. I turn the key, and when something clicks, I try the handle again.
The door creaks inward this time, exposing me to a darkness even richer than the nighttime shadows of the alleyways.
This darkness is so thick, I swear it would paint my skin with ink if I stepped into it.
Definitely not a housing unit, then, because all housing units have at least one window and a blinking camera to shed light on their interiors.
When my eyes adjust after a few blinks, I can make out the outline of what looks like stone steps angling downward.
Where does it lead? Could this be how Diggory disappeared for an entire day—by descending a set of stairs like this one? What could possibly lurk beneath Xantera that the Guardians want to keep locked away?
Lucan’s snarling goes quiet as he processes what I’m seeing through the questions flashing across my mind. When I sense a heaviness to his thoughts, I ask, What is it? You know, don’t you?
It… He clears his throat. When my grandfather was king, there were underground tunnels and caverns called catacombs, where they buried all the royal families. But I don’t know what could be down there now that the Guardians have taken over. They didn’t lead out into the city back then.
Well, there’s only one way to find out, isn’t there?
Don’t even think ab—
A pair of voices drift to me from around the corner of the alleyway, and I shush Lucan.
“—probably just a rat,” a man says.
“Yeah, but we’ve got to check anyway. You know how this year’s new group of blue badges is. Always trying to push the boundaries.”
“I say we throw ‘em over the Wall if they want to be that way. Treat ‘em like every other citizen.”
“I’m sure the Monster would be happy. It seems to be quiet tonight, huh?”
Sentries. My earlier gasp must have echoed through the alleyways and alerted the ones patrolling the main road to my presence. I wish there was a word to describe how utterly furious I am with myself for the slip-up. Maybe Lucan was right, and I shouldn’t have let myself become so distracted.
But self-loathing won’t help me now as their footsteps clack closer.
If I run the other way, they’ll hear me, but I won’t make it back to my housing unit in time if I try to sneak away quietly.
And if I stay here, they’ll round the corner to find me standing next to an open doorway, outside long after curfew.
Go. Lucan’s command sounds like it pains him. Hide.
I don’t waste time trying to deliberate any longer. The voices are too close now. Any second now, they’ll round the corner.
Gathering my cloak around myself, I step into the inky darkness and close the door behind me.