Page 61 of Fallen Nocturne

I stay there for a long moment, kneeling in the rubble, feeling the evening breeze on my face.

A faint scrape of stone reaches me from somewhere behind the collapsed wall.

My head snaps up, my instincts moving faster than thought.

It is Arescaine.

The vampire walks through the ruins alone. He hasn’t seen me. I am hidden in the shadow of a collapsed wall, and my stillness makes me nearly invisible.

Where is he going?

I watch as he passes my hiding spot, heading deeper into the ruined district. He is moving away from anywhere people might be.

Suspicion flares in my chest.

What is a vampire doing wandering alone through a destroyed city at dusk? What business could he possibly have out here?

I should go back to the palace and mind my own business.

Instead, I stand and follow him.

Chapter 9 Rhianelle

Where is he going?

The vampire turns down a narrow alley, and I follow, pressing myself against a wall to peer around the corner. The soft pads of my feet make no noise at all on the broken cobblestones. Even my breathing is controlled, shallow and measured. I am a ghost, something that exists between one heartbeat and the next.

Astefar taught me many things. How to survive on nothing and how to move through the darkness without making a sound. I’ve tracked gods and monsters through the cursed forest, learning to read the land and to become part of the shadows.

Following one vampire through city ruins is nothing.

Arescaine doesn’t look back. He doesn’t show any sign that he knows I am there. We move deeper into the ruins. The sun is nearly gone now, a sliver of gold on the horizon. Shadows stretch long and dark between the buildings.

I keep my distance, using rubble and broken walls for cover. My breathing is silent, my footsteps even more so. Suspicion coils in my chest.

I don’t trust the vampire.

We move deeper into the ruins where no one has bothered to rebuild yet. Buildings here are just blackened skeletons, roofs caved in long ago, walls crumbled into knee-high rubble. He passes through the remains of an archway, and I follow, pressing myself against a crumbling wall.

Beyond the ruins, I see the forest. Arescaine walks into the trees, following what looks like an old path. I hesitate only a moment before following.

The forest is thick here. Ancient pines and oaks filter the dying sunlight into golden shafts. Arescaine moves along the narrow path as though he’s walked it many times before.

I trail behind, keeping well back. My feet find quiet places on their own, soft moss and solid stone. I place each step carefully to avoid twigs and dry leaves. Curiosity begins to replace some of my suspicion.

The trees open suddenly into a small clearing. A cottage sits there, half-hidden by the forest around it. The roof is intact and the windows have shutters.

The vampire has a cottage. A secret cottage in the woods outside the capital.

Why?

Arescaine approaches the door, produces a key, and lets himself in. The door doesn’t latch completely. It stands slightly ajar. I creep closer, heart pounding. This is it. Whatever he is hiding, it is in there.

Is he meeting someone?

I press my ear against the door and listen. I hear only one set of footsteps and no conversation.

He is alone.