Chapter 13

CHAPTER13

Isee Ashen, lying naked on a black stone altar. His eyes are closed. His chest doesn’t rise or fall with any breath. I don’t hear a heartbeat. And then, everything roars to life. His heart starts from silence, and then pounds harder and harder as breath enters and leaves his lungs. I want to go. I want to leave before he opens his eyes. Somehow, I push this image away.

There’s a crackling sound, like electricity caught within my skull. It disappears as quickly as it comes and I blink, looking around a familiar room. Aglaope’s little stone cottage back on Anthemoessa. There are seashells tinkling like chimes in the window. The surf crashes against the rocks below the cliffs a short distance away.

“What do you want?” her voice says behind me. I whip around to face her, but she’s not looking at me. Her long, black hair falls between her shoulders and a blade is clutched behind her back. She edges behind a table, closer to the door that leads to the sea.

“I am here to reap your soul for the Crime of Sedition,” Ember says as she emerges from the shadows of a corridor. Her menacing smile is as sharp as her sword of silver and hellfire. “But you and I both know what you really did. Tell me where it is.”

“Never,” Aglaope says as she throws her blade. It lodges to the hilt into Ember’s shoulder and Aglaope runs past me, headed for the cliffs. I know I’m there. I know what happens next.

The crackling sound snaps through my head again and the vision turns into something more like dreams. They’re fragmented. It’s like I’m watching them at an outdoor theater while sitting in heavy fog.

But the fog gets thicker. The twilight grows darker.

And then I’m in the Shadow Realm.

I hear Ediye calling my name like she’s in the distance. Down the corridor. In the cell. Unreachable. I’m being dragged away across the stone floor toward the chamber at the end of the hall. Gallus waits for me there with his tray of tools, ready to begin.

I panic and thrash my arms and legs. I feel a strong grip on my hands and pry my eyes open to fight back. But it’s Ediye, crouched next to me with a look of concern.

“You’re okay, Lu. You’re safe,” she says as her eyes dart across my body, looking for wounds. I smell blood, none of it mine. And I smell urine.

“I fucking pissed myself,” I whisper in my new, smoky voice.

Ediye’s eyes go wide and I hear the sharp intake of breath from her surprise. For a second, she doesn’t move, then she clasps me in a fierce hug.

“Your voice! You can talk, Lu. You can talk.” She keeps saying it over and over, her voice thin with the effort of holding back tears. She pulls away, her eyes glassy as she surveys my face. “Are you all right?”

I nod, my hand drifting to my head as it hums in pain. It’s not the scrape of needles like before, but a buzzing sensation, like a swarm of angry hornets circling in my brain. I can’t say it’s a massive improvement from the needles.

Ediye’s head tilts and her eyes narrow as I rub my head and sigh. She looks down at my naked body, then up at the bloodstained bed, then back at me. “Where’s Ashen?”

My hand falls from my face and I draw my lips between my teeth. My eyebrows climb my forehead.

“You smell like sex.”

I give her a grimace of a smile.

“You had sex with him.”

I nod, biting down on my bottom lip.

“And then you killed him.”

I nod again.

Ediye seems caught in a moment of stasis. And then she bursts out laughing. “Of course you did. And that is just one of the reasons I love you,” she says as she clasps me in another tight hug.

“I love you too,” I croak, squeezing hard in reply.

Ediye stands and offers me a hand. “Come on,” she says as we clasp each other’s forearms and she hauls me to my feet. “Let’s get you in the shower and you can tell me all about it.”

When she’s sure I’m steady on my feet, Ediye whips the bedding off the mattress and tosses it onto the puddle on the floor. She finds an old robe in an armoire then guides me out of the bedroom and down the hall. I tell her about Ashen as she starts the water and waits for it to heat up. By the time she’s guided me into the stream and slid the curtain closed behind me, I’m onto the strange dream I had in the darkness.

“First it was about Aglaope,” I say, skipping the part about Ashen on the altar. “It was so brief. It was the moment she encountered Ember on Anthemoessa. Ember said she was there to reap my sister for the Crime of Sedition, but then she alluded to something else. Something she seemed to be looking for. She asked where ‘it’ is, but I don’t have any idea what she meant.”

“Hmm. Okay,” Ediye’s voice says from the other side of the curtain.

“Then there was something about Davina. It was… indistinct. Some parts were unclear. Something from long ago. She was a Scythe. She harvested a body. There was something…  unusual about it. And she knew she shouldn’t but she did it anyway. Something… dangerous. A betrayal. She broke a promise for a heavy price.”

I sense it like an ambience in a room. It’s an impression. A feeling. The strongest emotions are there, but the images are hazy. They’re behind a curtain that I can’t sweep aside. I can only press my face to it, making out an incomplete picture through the weave of fabric that clings to my third eye.

“And you saw all this when you took a piss on the floor?”

I snort a laugh as I froth shampoo in my hair. “Yeah, I guess.”

“What else?”

“Cassian.”

“Cassian?”

“Cassian.”

“That’s… weird. And unfortunate.”

“Mmmhmm,” I murmur, though I’m not sure I really agree. He is part of this, whatever this is. Our weird band of misfits? Our… quest? To save the realms? Fuck, that sounds crazy. Cassian is the last vampire on Earth I’d peg for a quest, unless that quest involves debauchery and a significant quantity of wine. “He belongs with us, that much I know. I didn’t see him as clearly or how he fits, I’m just sure he does, somehow. We have to find him.”

“Shouldn’t be difficult,” Ediye says as I rinse the shampoo from my hair. “He hardly ever leaves Rome.”

“True,” I muse as I wring the water from my hair and slide conditioner through my locks. “Though if he’s gotten wind of Semyon and his mission to make hybrids, he might have gone underground. He’s one of the oldest left, so he’s gotta be on Semyon’s priority list.”

“I’m sure Ashen will be thrilled to meet him,” Ediye chimes from where she sits on the bathroom counter. I poke my head out of the curtain and give her the stink eye. “Does he know?”

“What, that I made Cassian into a vampire?”

“That too. But I was more talking about the leaving him at the altar and breaking his heart part.” Ediye smirks as my stink eye turns into a vampiric glare. I retreat back into the shower and snap the curtain closed to the sound of Ediye’s laughter.

“It’s none of Ashen’s business anyway. In case you’ve forgotten, he betrayed me and landed us both in a fucking dungeon. For a month. And I’ve just killed him for the second time, so I’m sure he’ll give no shits about something that’s ancient history.”

“Yeah, well, he also did save you from a demon snake-“

“I saved myself! Bitch.”

“-and then rescued you with his fancy demon blood while spending hours whispering adorations in your ear and then hours more by your bedside, threatening anyone that so much as glanced at you. I believe the phrase ‘if you look at her for one second longer I’ll skewer your eyeballs and feed them to you like cake pops’ was used in reference to Cole at some point.”

I snort a laugh and try to cool a sudden flood of warmth that spreads within my chest. “That’s some interesting imagery. But it makes sense. The Master of War is very invested in the health and well-being of the Shadow Realm’s newest potential weapon.”

“Yeah… I don’t think it’s that.”

“I don’t care what it is. He’s a demon, I’m a vampire. I don’t belong in his realm and I’d rather die than go back. They’d throw me right back in that dungeon and pick up where they left off. And I’m definitely not falling for his shit again, end of story.”

“So, I’m confused… is that why you had sex with him?”

I raise my chin and give a haughty shrug, not that Ediye can see it. “He’s hot as hell and I was horny. It was angry sex. One time deal.”

Ediye laughs like she’s got my number. “Oh vampire. You are so fucked.”

I scoff as I let the water slide through my hair to wash the conditioner away. “Why should I be the fucked one? He should be fucked. I fucketh him.”

“Oh you fuckethed him all right. But when Cassian finds out you’re still alive, he might be all up in his feelings about it. And I don’t think Ashen takes kindly to sharing.”

“Pfft. There’s nothing to share. I’m not a fucking whale carcass for two sharks to fight over. I’m the fucking orca that swims up all stealthy-like and kicks both their asses.”

“Yep. You’re alllllll sea panda.”

I turn off the shower and whip the curtain open. “Sea pandas are apex predators, thankyouverymuch.”

Ediye laughs at my vicious scowl and holds the towel out for me. My glare softens as I realize how much light there is in her eyes. How much relief. To see her smile without a veneer of pain and worry bathes my heart in shimmering light.

“Okay, sea panda. I’m just saying that you should be prepared, in case there are uncomfortable questions. And you might think you don’t belong to anyone, but others might think differently, and I’m starting to believe it really might have nothing to do with your potential to fuck some shit up among the realms.” Ediye leans forward as I wrap myself in the towel and burrow myself in its warmth. She gives me a kiss on the cheek and then smiles at me. “I know you belong to me.”

“I’ve always belonged to you.”

Ediye winks and nods to the counter where my clothes lay folded. “Damn straight, bitch. Now you’ll have to excuse me. My little pet pissed on the floor and I’d better go clean it up.”

I guffaw a smoky laugh and Ediye’s smile spreads before she leaves the room. When she’s gone, I get my shit together, feeling a lot less energetic than when I woke the first time, but a little better than when I came-to in my piss puddle on the floor. When I wipe down the mirror and really assess myself, I look the way I did before my encounter with Semyon and the torture of the Shadow Realm. But I’m different on the inside. I know it. I know without doubt that whatever Semyon started, I need to finish. I can’t go back. I’ll never be what I was. But maybe I can control what I can become.

When I emerge to join the others, they’re all sitting around a dining table with a spread of Egyptian delicacies laid before them. There are kebabs and falafel, a plate of rolled mahshy piled high. For me there is no plate but a large ceramic mug and a matching teapot, and I can smell the blood from the other side of the room, spiced and sweetened just the way I like.

Cole gives me a boyish smile around the food he’s stuffing into his face, all his Reapery manners from Bit Akalum clearly chucked out the window at the earliest opportunity. He’s properly shoveling it in. Eryx gives a little wave with a forkful of falafel. His wings drape behind him across the chair like iridescent knives. Davina sits on the other side between Cole and Mr. Hassan, and she neither smiles nor frowns. She just gives me an observant, unnerving, watchful look as she shifts her honey-colored locks away from her eyes with a delicate hand. Mr. Hassan absolutely beams as he fills my mug and beckons me to sit next to Ediye.

My head buzzes with hornets taking flight but I manage to keep my shit together and sit without toppling over to piss myself in a group setting. I give Mr. Hassan a grateful smile that I then cast across the group. “Thank you all, for everything you did,” I say. My voice is still so husky and raw, but I’m here, able to speak.

“Ediye says you passed out?” Eryx asks, his brow furrowed.

I nod. My eyes dart toward Davina, but I focus back on the angel. “I feel much better than before, but I don’t think it’s over. Whatever Semyon started has to be finished somehow, unfortunately.”

“I have something that might help in the meantime, azizati,” Mr. Hassan says, and he rises to shuffle over to a sideboard to retrieve a leather pouch. He sets it down next to my cup and withdraws a small vial of clear liquid. “It’s called statera elixir. It is used for young and powerful witches who have difficulty controlling their developing powers. You should take it when you wake in the mornings, but you can use it when you feel unwell in the day. It will not solve what has started within you, but it might help you to keep control of your gift, rather than it control you. There is enough in this pouch for several days.”

“Thank you,” I say with a smile. The old apothecary pats my hand and sits back down, waving away my thanks. I take a vial in between my fingers and roll the liquid, watching as it coats the glass. “We need to find the others before Semyon does. We can’t have him making more hybrids or putting more of my kind through this.”

“Others?” Cole asks.

“Cassian and Valentina. They’re the two earliest generation vampires left. Semyon’s after the most ancient vampires he can find, something about us making better hybrids.”

Eryx’s feathers clink as he shifts on his seat. “How do we find them?”

“Cassian is probably the easiest to start with. He hardly ever ventures from Rome. ”

“He has now, but he has not traveled far,” Mr. Hassan says, capturing everyone’s eyes. He looks at me with a faint smile. “When you were resting, your Reaper asked me to look into the whereabouts of both vampires.”

“Not my Reaper,” I mutter into my mug.

“I spoke to the apothecary of Rome,” he continues, undaunted. “She said Cassian has left for Ravello. He’s with a coven of witches.”

Cole’s brows flick in acknowledgement but he doesn’t look up from his food. “And Valentina, any idea where she might be?”

“Not yet, but I will continue searching. I will find a way to send you a message if I find her,” Mr. Hassan replies as he pushes a plate of basbousa in Davina’s direction. Our gazes connect for a fleeting glance before we both look down at our meals.

Ediye knocks my elbow with a gentle tap. “Do you know Valentina, Lu? I don’t recall you mentioning her before.”

“No, I’ve never met her. I’ve heard her name around here or there but she’s always kept a low profile. She’s the vampire that created Arne Larsen, the one that Semyon made into the hybrid with the huge dick,” I say, smiling when Eryx coughs around his falafel. “Cassian might know her. He used to like to keep up with the comings and goings of our kind.”

There’s a moment where we all look at one another in a silent agreement. We need to get to the others before Semyon does.

“What about you?” Davina asks. Her voice isn’t what I expect. It’s quiet but assertive, like a gentle breeze that still cuts through a forest to find you.

“What about me?”

“You said you need to finish what was started. Can Cassian and Valentina help you?”

I look at Davina for a long moment as I consider her question. “Probably not, but I’d rather get to them first before Semyon has a chance. He’s already got a month head start on me,” I reply. I don’t back down from looking at her. I’m curious as to what her reaction will be. She must know what that month in the Shadow Realm meant for me. She’s seen at least a glimpse of what I’ve endured, and she’s been through her own brand of suffering there as a reaped soul. Her face is stoic but I think I see some kind of understanding in her eyes as she gives a single nod.

“We’d better leave as soon as we can,” Ediye interjects, her weighted glance shifting between us. She shoves a few bites of basbousa into her mouth and washes it down with long gulps of water. The rest of us follow her lead and consume what we can of our meal as Mr. Hassan gives us directions to the coven’s stronghold in Ravello. Villa Datura on the outskirts of the town, nestled in the hills. Club Caelum, overlooking the Amalfi shores.

We rise as one from our chairs, all except for Davina. Her gaze darts from Mr. Hassan to me, then the others, then back again. She lingers on the edge of her chair, unsure what she should do.

Dammit.

It just doesn’t feel right to leave her here. That part of me that wants to grind her bones into spells is still there, but there’s a bigger part that can imagine she’s suffered her own torture. She’s still suffering. I guess we all are. We all have memories to suppress or grief to live, or love to lose and broken hearts to mend. We all struggle to find our place. Maybe we could make it easier on one another once in a while. The world would be better for it, I think.

Okay, I’ll totally caveat my sudden magnanimous streak by excluding Ashen. Obvious reasons, you know.

But I do feel better when I say, “Come with us.” And I can see she feels better about it, too. She gives an unsure but relieved smile that she follows with a nod.

Our group heads to the living room, Davina trailing a little further behind to observe from the edge of the room as Cole and Eryx shift the furniture to make room for Ediye to construct a portal. I watch for a moment as she lays pine needles and charred herbs and burnt bones in a pattern on the floor before going to collect our bags. I write a little note to Mr. Hassan that I rip from my journal, apologizing for fucking up his sheets. I leave it on the bed, running my hand across the surface like my skin can absorb memories I’m not sure about keeping.

When I arrive back with the others, Ediye is chanting with her arms spread wide. The black vortex of galaxies spins at the summoning of her power and I look with admiration at my friend.

“She’s both a healer and a traveler?” Davina asks as she stops beside me to watch a glittering black orb rise from the floor. I turn a proud smile in her direction and give a slight nod. “My mother was a traveler. There were so few in my time.”

“Even fewer now,” I say. “Most were wiped out since the days when you must have been around.” I don’t elaborate, but it lingers in the air. The truth is, most of those witches fell on the blades of Reapers. They were killed for crimes that were fabricated for the sole purpose of  crushing their power and controlling their covens. And if it wasn’t the Reapers, it was the humans. Humankind’s fear of the unknown drove so many powerful witches to suffer and burn.

Davina swallows and looks away before she disappears into the passageway that Ediye has created. Eryx and Cole follow after thanking Mr. Hassan and taking bags of leftovers from his hands with grateful smiles. Ediye gives the old man a hug and looks at me for a long moment with a knowing smile before passing through the shimmering black globe.

“I don’t know how to thank you,” I say to the old man as we grasp each other’s arms. Tears gather in my eyes. I can see them glass the surface of his too.

“Azizati. I already told you. Of all the immortal creatures, vampires are my favorite. And you most of all.”

My heart blooms like a flower in my chest. I want to ask him why. But I also don’t. I don’t think I can live up to whatever he thinks of me. I just want to take his words and exist in them for a moment as though I deserve them.

“And your payment, for your services?”

“The Reaper took care of it.”

I roll my eyes. “Of course he did.”

The old apothecary smiles. “I will tell your Reaper where you went when he gets back,” Mr. Hassan says, patting my arm.

I huff a laugh and point my gaze to the ceiling before leveling the old man with a long look. “Feel free to tell him anywhere else but Ravello. Literally anywhere. Reykjavik. Lima. The middle of the Sahara.”

Mr. Hassan gives me a broad smile. He’s definitely going to give him Ravello. Probably our exact address. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s put a GPS tracking beacon on me, for fucksakes. Dropped pin, vampire is HERE.

“Why?” I ask.

“Why do you think?”

“Because you’re a deranged old romantic, that’s why.”

“Maybe a little.”

“You do realize it’s his fault I was thrown into a dungeon and tortured, right?”

“Was it, azizati? Because he’s also the only reason you’re standing here,” he says. I want to say yes, of course it fucking was his fault, but I keep my mouth shut. The apothecary’s smile turns a little sorrowful. My heart cracks at the sight, and I try not to think about what the millennia have taken from him too. “Maybe your Reaper has made bad choices. Maybe he’s made the only choices he could. Maybe he’s trying to make better ones.”

“That is... cryptic. And not overly helpful.”

The apothecary gives a bemused laugh and turns my shoulders toward the portal, giving me a gentle nudge toward the darkness. “Good luck, shakhs shabun. I will keep you in my thoughts.”

I smile over my shoulder, keeping Mr. Hassan in my gaze until the shadow of the orb consumes the space behind me and I step into the warm Italian night.