There’s a thundering behind them. I step to the other side of the door, opposite Ruvan, sickle drawn and ready.
Winny breezes past me first. Lavenzia is slowed by Ventos’s weight as she supports him. A horde of Succumbed are hot on their tail. One swipes for them; Lavenzia lets out a cry, grits her teeth, and presses on.
I launch into action. Sprinting to meet them, I dart around and bring up my sickle. I catch three with the motion. Their blood oozes around my blade. The monsters fall and fill me with the same satisfaction as yesterday. I might not be a hunter, but I’m learning to love the hunt. Especially when I’m fighting for a cause.
We’re working backward to the door. I’m fending off as many as I can, Winny’s daggers whizzing by my head. Lavenzia and Ventos clear the door frame.
“Floriane!” Ruvan shouts. I tumble back into the room, dodging a swipe of one of the beast’s claws. With Winny’s help, Ruvan shuts the door. Lavenzia jabs the few who would try and make it through.
For a second, no one speaks. Our ragged breaths fill the workshop. The screaming of monsters falls silent on the opposite side of the door as they slam into the silver with enough force that the embellishments break their skin. Whatever that silver alloy is, it’s still enough pure silver to kill a vampir—or, at least a Succumbed.
Laughter fills the room. It comes in the form of deep wheezing from the ground where Ventos lies. The sound devolves into groaning.
“They got me good.” He curses.
“Let me see.” Ruvan is at his side.
“You don’t need to fret over me.” Ventos tries to shoo him away.
“And you don’t need to pretend like you don’t need help sometimes.” Ruvan shakes his head and brings his hand to his lips.
I know what he’s about to do and my mouth waters; I want him for myself. I want to taste him again. To feel that rush of power. To have him in my arms. If I opened my mouth right now I couldn’t stop myself from begging for it. The need is so mighty it frightens me some, but I refuse to deny it; I’ve spent my life denying myself things and here I’m no longer forced to.
“Here, drink.”
“My lord, I couldn’t—”
“It’s only a little and I have strength to spare. Drink.” Ruvan brings his palm to Ventos’s mouth.
The energies within me shift, pulled like tides to the moon as the magic changes in Ruvan. Power leaves Ruvan’s body and flows into his vassal’s, like a part of me vanishing.
I wonder if Ventos can sense the difference my presence makes in Ruvan. Then a different thought strikes me—if blood is empowered by experience, are Ventos and I connected now in a way that we weren’t before? I fight a grimace.
“How do you feel?” Ruvan asks Ventos, helping him up.
“Better than I should, given what we’ve been through to get here,” Ventos says.
“Are you two all right?” Ruvan turns to the other members of his covenant.
“We’re fine,” Lavenzia answers. “A little scraped and bruised, tired, but fine.”
“Really glad to see you, though,” Winny adds.
“The feeling is mutual.” Ruvan’s relief is palpable at the sight of his knights. No, his friends. The way he looks at them has my gaze shifting as well.
“Did you run into any more trouble along the way?” Ventos asks.
“None after the Fallen.” Ruvan shakes his head. “Did they go after you?”
“You kept them busy long enough that we managed to give them the slip. Glad the hunter made it, or we would’ve been in a tight spot just now.” Ventos nods in my direction with what seems like genuine respect.
“About that…” I start and lose my words when all of their eyes are on me. I don’t have to tell them anything. If Ruvan wants them to know, he can tell them. And yet…I’m compelled to say something. I need to—want to work with these people. We’ve made it this far, they continue to protect me, and they’re not the vampires I was expecting. I owe them the truth. Like it or not, we do share a bond now of blood and experience. “I’m not actually a hunter.”
“Ha! I knew it!” Lavenzia sticks her tongue out at Winny, who crosses her arms with a pout.
“Winny, you should be happy about her lying to us, because it means you weren’t actually working with a hunter.” Ventos shakes his head like a disappointed father. I’m not sure if it’s because things have changed after our journey into the old castle, or if it’s because I’m allowing myself to see them in a new light, but these vampires seem different now. Warmer.
“Let me have a moment to be upset, it’s been a long day and I have a multitude of reasons to be grumpy,” Winny says, deadpan.
