A Shade of Vampire 39 Read online

  Is that a good thing?

  “So why did you stop?” I asked, annoyed.

  He came to an abrupt halt and swung to face me.

  “Because we were in public, and I wanted you,” he bit out.

  Oh.

  Idiot, Hazel.

  “Sorry—I missed that,” I stammered awkwardly, my cheeks hot.

  “Don’t be,” he grunted. “Just know that whenever we’re together, I want more of you than I can have.”

  Without waiting for me to reply, he stormed off toward Ash, who was waving him over. Ash stood at the rear of a large Hellswan-embossed carriage that had miraculously escaped being damaged, and was surrounded by stern-looking guards.

  I thought about what he had said to me the night that Ash had officially become king. How he intended to marry me, when the time was right. I had been completely thrown by it — the simple way in which he’d said it, as if to him, it was an obvious conclusion. I hadn’t even spoken to Ruby about it…I guessed I was still trying to process everything. There wasn’t a single doubt in my mind that when the time came, I would say yes. I knew I wasn’t exactly the most experienced when it came to love and romance — Tejus was my first boyfriend, if I could even call him that — it kind of felt like a weird label for what we had, but I was still sure. I didn’t need to go out and kiss a million frogs to know that there was no one on Earth — in this dimension or any of the others — that would make me feel the way that Tejus did. On top of that, I didn’t think there was a single soul that would ever try to understand me the way he did — or support and protect me, no matter what the consequences. His love was humbling, and I didn’t ever want to lose it.

  “Hey!” Ruby appeared next to me as Ash and Tejus debated over something.

  “Hey.” I smiled at her, taking a step back. The instant I’d felt her energy, my thoughts had disappeared and the hunger had returned—clearly syphoning would only give me a short window of reprieve. Great. “What’s going on there?” I asked, gesturing toward the carriage.

  “Didn’t Tejus tell you? Ash captured Queen Trina!” she replied, delighted.

  I laughed at her Machiavellian smile. It was great news —hopefully we’d be able to get some answers out of Trina, and at the very least, the Acolytes would have lost their leader. She would also serve as a guilt-free energy buffet…

  “Where’s Benedict?” I asked. We’d been separated when he’d been taken to be tended to by a minister.

  “He’s fine. Come on, I’ll show you.” Ruby led me over to the other side of the gate, where the kids had gathered. Benedict was sitting up, back to back with Julian, chatting animatedly while Yelena hung onto his every word.

  He looked up as I approached, breaking into a huge smile that mirrored my own. The last time I’d seen him properly was on the wet sand of the cove, barely alive after the entity had left him.

  “Can I hug you yet?” he asked, his eyes filled with amusement.

  “I’m still an energy-sucker.”

  “This isn’t going to go well for me when we fight over the remote, is it?” He smirked.

  “Nope. I suggest you get Mom or Dad to turn you into a vampire, otherwise you’re not going to stand a chance.”

  Yelena looked at me in confusion, but I just shrugged—she would know who we were eventually, no doubt, but right now I couldn’t handle the ton of questions that would come with it…and I suspected Benedict would probably want to impart that news anyway.

  “How are you feeling?” Benedict asked. “How come you passed out when you created the barrier?”

  “I guess I’m not used to it, so stuff like that uses more energy…and I can’t syphon properly without hurting anyone, not yet, anyway.”

  He nodded solemnly.

  “I’m sorry, Hazel. That sucks.”

  “Yeah,” I replied. “It does.”

  Ash approached the group, clearing his throat to get our attention. He looked like he’d aged since I last saw him. Though I knew that Tejus hadn’t abdicated responsibility for Hellswan by a long shot, I was glad that he was no longer king—I couldn’t imagine how it must feel to be in charge of the kingdom right now, knowing that the care of the wounded and displaced fell entirely on his shoulders.

  “How are you holding up, Ash?” I asked.

  “All right. We’re ready to move out. We’re all going to travel by bull-horse while the guards and some of the ministers take the birds to see what state the rest of Nevertide is in. I want to take us via the village—see if we can pick up anyone on the way.”

  “Is Lieutenant Ragnhild leading them?” Ruby asked.

  “Yes,” Ash replied – surprised at the question.

  Ruby nodded stiffly but stayed silent.

  What was that about?

  “Let’s go,” Ash instructed after Ruby didn’t elaborate. “Hazel, are you okay to travel with Tejus?”

  “Um, not really—not yet.”

  The hunger had resurfaced fully, and it was painful enough being surrounded by the humans. Being around Tejus would be intolerable until I could syphon again.

  “All right, we’ll get you your own bull-horse.”

  “That’s not fair,” Benedict objected.

  I glared at him, half bemused and half irritated.

  Seriously?

  Ash and Ruby rode up front together, followed by Queen Trina in the Hellswan carriage. She was surrounded by guards, and the compartment was wrapped in heavy iron chains. Clearly, they weren’t taking any chances. Tejus and I were bringing up the rear, herding the kids, who sat four each to a bull-horse, led by a few ministers on foot. Julian had flown on ahead with Jenney on one of the vultures—she had been hit quite badly by some of the falling rocks, and Julian had insisted that she didn’t travel the journey on horseback. For someone who was usually quite shy and awkward, Julian had kicked up a massive fuss, arguing with the guards until Ash intervened.

  As we approached the village, my heart sank. I’d be amazed if there were any survivors. The crack in the earth ran alongside the main road, and most of the land that lay to the north of it had fallen inward—up ahead I could see it starting to snake through the main thoroughfare of the village, and where once there had been cluttered rows of small cottages, now the land looked almost entirely flat.

  “Oh, my God,” I breathed as we passed the first set of homes, all completely destroyed. Farm animals roamed over the rubble, their hooves clamoring, breaking the oppressive silence that had settled over everything, along with the thick dust that hung heavy in the air. The place was starting to give me the creeps—the piles of wood and stone created dark shadows in the daylight, black crevices where I felt eyes watching me as I rode past.

  “Hello! Anyone out there?” Ash called out from the front, his voice echoing on for miles. It seemed strange that there weren’t more sentries wandering about; the atmosphere at the castle had been crazy, ministers and guards rushing to and fro as they tended to the wounded, but here there was absolutely nothing, not a soul to be seen.

  “Anyone?” Ash called again. The kids started to join in, but still nothing stirred in the piles of broken houses and farms.

  I looked over at Tejus. His brows were furrowed—he was clearly finding the silence as odd as I did. We walked a bit further, the end of the village in the distance. My bull-horse was starting to get jumpy, not wanting to move forward.

  “Tejus, there’s something wrong,” I murmured. “I don’t like this.”

  “Neither do I,” he muttered. “Hang on—I’m going to ask that we turn back.”

  He reared his bull-horse, ready to gallop to the front, when a voice cried out from behind a part-crumbled stone wall.

  “Ash?” It was a woman’s voice. We all came to a standstill.

  “Abelle?” Ash replied, jumping off the bull-horse.

  I recognized the woman who emerged from behind the wall—she was large, even for a sentry, wearing brightly colored robes that were swathed about her as if she were a Grecian statue
. I’d seen her last at Ash’s coronation, talking to Ruby.

  “I’m so glad you’re safe!” she cried, embracing him.

  Leaving the horses, Tejus and I followed Ash and Ruby over to the woman. I kept looking around to see if I could find any of the other villagers, but I couldn’t see anyone.

  “Are you alone?” I asked her as she extricated herself from Ash.

  She shook her head, smiling. “Thankfully not. Some of us made it out alive—they’re in the barn.” She pointed to one of the more stable-looking buildings further off in the field behind her. “We wanted to be careful. I was worried that with Hellswan destroyed, Queen Trina would be on the warpath, but I haven’t seen her or any of her followers yet.”

  Ash smiled at this, and as he started to explain to Abelle who we had in the carriage, I caught Tejus’s attention and cocked my head in the direction of the barn. He nodded and together we began to navigate our way over the debris.

  “Hello?” I called. “It’s safe to come out!”

  I couldn’t hear a sound other than the fragments of conversation Ash and Abelle were having. I looked at Tejus, who shook his head, perplexed. Maybe they were still frightened?

  The barn was more or less in one piece, with the only obvious damage being to its doors, which were hanging lopsided off their hinges. I peered inside the gloom, careful not to move too far away from Tejus—seeing Abelle hadn’t lessened the weirdness of the place, and I was still feeling a little jumpy.

  As my eyes grew accustomed to the gloom, I saw twenty or so villagers, huddled together at the back of the room, all totally silent, staring at us.

  “Hello?” I called again, my voice breaking slightly.

  “You’re safe,” Tejus barked at them, striding across the floorboards, clearly unaffected by their strange behavior.

  One of the children started crying, and my shoulders slumped in relief. Suddenly it didn’t seem as scary—it was they who were afraid, and no reason why I should have been.

  “Why should we trust you?” an old man retorted.

  “Abelle said we should remain here,” another of the villagers replied, eyeing us suspiciously. “She told us we had to wait, and not leave.”

  “King Ashbik is outside,” Tejus replied, already sounding bored. “Please follow us out—we’re moving you all to a safe palace a few miles from here.” He turned away from the wide-eyed villagers. “Come on, I’ll get some of the guards to assist them.”

  I nodded, following him out. I took one last look at the villagers before stepping out into the sunlight—they hadn’t moved from the back of the barn, and were still staring at us. I shivered, wrapping my arms around my frame, and hurried after Tejus.

  Hazel

  We had been riding for hours and the sun was starting to set, casting the ravaged land in a haze of fiery pinks and red. I felt like we were the only people left alive in Nevertide—I couldn’t hear the sounds of wildlife in the forests, or birds overhead. Once we had left the village, there were no more sightings of stray farmyard animals – the villagers had caught what they could, tying up a couple of strange-looking pigs and sheep who now trailed along behind us, but even they were completely silent. The rip in the sky was now behind us, and every time I glanced back it seemed to taunt me, as if it was smiling down at us, watching, waiting.

  What is wrong with you? I scolded myself. First the village and now this—I was like a kid, afraid of the dark, waiting for monsters to come and jump out at me when there were more than enough real-life threats to be wary of. The villagers were walking up ahead with Ash, keeping their distance from Tejus and me. After the initial weirdo behavior, they seemed to be fine—muttering to one another and looking dazed, but nothing out of the ordinary given the circumstances.

  “Only another mile to go,” Tejus muttered at me. “The forest clears in a moment.”

  He had been quiet on the journey, and I wondered if the desolation of Nevertide was starting to get to him.

  “Are you okay?” I asked softly.

  “Fine.”

  “This place belongs to your family?” I prompted, wondering if our destination was the cause of his silence.

  “My mother. It belonged to her family—I haven’t been here since I was a boy. Hopefully it will still be intact. It was once beautiful, but my father didn’t wish to visit after her death.”

  I nodded. Perhaps this was painful for him? I didn’t want to ask—I knew it would only make him tense up and remain taciturn. If he had any feelings about the place they would come out sooner or later, in his own time.

  Soon the forest did clear, opening up into wild, unkempt grassland that came up to the bellies of the bull-horses. Ahead I could see the palace—a beautiful, ornate building with towers that reached up into the sky. Where the dying light shone on it, the white of the stone dazzled, making it look as if it was carved out of glass.

  “It’s incredible,” I breathed.

  Tejus just grunted.

  “We’re too far away to see the damage,” he replied after a while. I shot him a bemused look, but his eyes were fixed on the building and he didn’t notice. As we got closer, I saw that he was right—the palace was suffering from disuse. The ornately carved marble was stained yellow with age, and the sandstone was starting to crumble in places. But it was still beautiful, perhaps more so for its wear and tear – it made it look romantic, like something out of a fairy tale. The building was comprised of the main body of the palace, supported by four elegant towers, which I guessed were too narrow for much real use other than aesthetics. On either side of the main building were glass houses, each containing long-dead botanical gardens, with only weeds breaking through some of the glass panes. The palace didn’t have much in the way of defense—no outer wall guarded it, and only a large oak door would stand between us and intruders.

  “Will we be safe here?” I asked Tejus.

  “As safe as anywhere else.” He shrugged. “Hellswan castle was the best defended in the kingdom, and that didn’t make the slightest difference.”

  I could see his point. It wasn’t like a moat was going to keep out the entity. I jumped off the bull-horse, eager to explore more.

  “Wait for me,” Tejus instructed as he disembarked, slowly scanning the surrounding forests as he did so.

  I waited impatiently, watching as Ruby and Ash and the rest of the kids started clambering off their horses, all looking toward the palace with barely concealed delight. After the grim grayness of Hellswan, it felt like we’d entered a completely different world.

  “Did you like this place as a child?” I asked Tejus, probing just a little.

  “It was fine.”

  I wanted to laugh—was all of its charm really lost on him?

  “You’re so strange.” I smiled back at him, already drifting toward the entrance.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Oh, nothing,” I said, knowing that I was irritating him. He started to stalk toward the palace and I joined him, idly running my hands along the grass and flowered weeds. When we reached the doorway, I paused, looking up at Tejus expectantly.

  “Do you have a key?”

  “At Hellswan, yes.”

  “Oh.”

  He smirked, walking along the columned patio. He stopped at one of the large glass windows, and started unbuttoning his shirt.

  “Um, Tejus, what are you doing?” I asked, looking back at the fast-approaching group of my friends.

  “Getting us in,” he replied, staring at me as he reached the final button. I started to feel a hot flush running down my back—his eyes had become dark and hooded, his smile like a private challenge.

  He removed his shirt, the taut muscles of his torso still ravaged by the scar from the ghoul during the imperial trials. Twisting the material around his fist, he smashed it into the glass with one abrupt strike.

  Oh.

  The glass splintered with a loud crash, leaving the frame completely bare. It was large enough for Tejus to step through, an
d soon he’d disappeared from sight. Moments later I heard the door creak, and turned to see him standing in the entrance, still shirtless.

  “Put it back on,” I tutted.

  He laughed, loudly, but did as I asked.

  Stepping into the main hallway, I gasped. The place was magnificent. A huge chandelier dripped down from the ceiling, where the sunset fell on it. Shafts of bright light reflected off its glass surface and covered the room in diamond-shaped dots. The floor was polished marble, leading off into three other rooms, with a large staircase sweeping down from the mezzanine above.

  “This place…”

  “Is impressive,” he finished, rolling his eyes.

  “You’re so…dismissive of it,” I countered. “Why?”

  I’d changed my mind about waiting for him to tell me in his own time—it was a puzzle I wanted an answer to, now, before I went off into more raptures of delight.

  He sighed.

  “Because it belongs to me, that’s why. My mother left it to me in her will—it irritated me that she’d done so. I felt it was her way of saying that I should choose a different life other than becoming king.”

  “Because she left you a palace?”

  Tejus shrugged. “It seemed that way to me. In her will she wished that I would live here with my family, far from the walls of Hellswan—far from the seat of power.”

  “Do you still feel the same way about it now?” I asked, wondering if it was a sore reminder that he was no longer king.

  “I feel indifferent about it now,” he replied curtly.

  Liar.

  Leaving Tejus to his brooding, I started to ascend the staircase, taking care to test the stairs before fully putting my weight behind each one. As I looked around, I noticed that there were dark patches on the walls—places where pictures had once hung. When I reached the mezzanine, only bare stone floors greeted me, and drafty rooms that opened off the main landing. Still, it was habitable—once we got some of the old fireplaces lit and found some bedding we’d be comfortable.

  “How is it?” I heard Ruby’s voice echoing from downstairs. I leaned over the banisters, smiling down at her blonde hair, uncharacteristically in complete disarray.