He watched her, his jaw tight.
Right. Her friend disliked vampires. She'd forgotten.
Chloe wondered how obvious her change had been. Did she have fangs? Was there something different in her eyes? Did he hate her now?
Jack pulled knives from inside his jacket and threw them close to Levi. The vampire didn't even flinch as they lodged inside the skulls of ferals either side of him.
"Let's see if you can live up to your name, Cheetah. Get out of here."
Maybe he didn't hate her after all. She grinned before saluting and turning her heels away from the fight.
Leaving them was harder than anything she'd ever done, but they were both seasoned fighters, and she knew she'd only be in the way if she stayed. A liability. They might get hurt trying to help her, too.
So, she ran—at first, anyway. It soon became much harder than she'd anticipated. Chloe wasn't much of a cheetah right now—her sides hurt, and she was out of breath and sweating like a pig.
"I smelled something this way."
She froze. She'd never heard that voice. Chloe hadn't asked, but she doubted ferals talked; not in an enunciated way, in any case.
There was a very high probability that some of the gentries were after her. Old, well-trained vampires. At the best of times, she wouldn't have had much of a chance. Right now, feeling so diminished? There was zero hope. Levi had told her to buy herself time until help came, but right now, he, and all her friends, had their hands full.
She needed to hide. But where? They could smell her, hear her. She looked around, panicked.
Then her eyes fell north. She couldn't see it from here, but she knew the way. The path.
In a cave, protected by so many spells your head will spin just going anywhere near it.
He was insane.
Monster.
So many words. So many warnings. All cautioning her to go nowhere near the cave on the hill.
But did she have a choice?
A Voice in the Darkness
By the time she'd reached the crossroads, Chloe moved like a puppet with broken strings. She needed to stop. She needed air. Rest. Sleep. But she put one foot after the other, again and again. Past the black tape, through the sinuous, uneven path.
It was a miracle no one had caught her yet. The moment they did, she was gone.
She glanced behind her.
Was it a miracle? She could feel something in the air. A thin, immaterial veil between her and the rest of the world. Magic.
It was faint, but she could sense magic around her.
She remembered. The things in her blood. Nanocytes, Jake's father had said. They were masking her presence, somehow. Hiding her smell, maybe even her noise. They wouldn't help if someone stumbled upon her, but at least no one could hunt her down using their senses.
She needed to send the huntsman a thank-you card. After dawn. If there was a dawn.
The trail continued forever. As she walked further, the foliage became denser, taking over the long-untrodden path.
Was she far enough from the main path? Mikar had said there were spells keeping intruders out, but she hadn't felt anything yet. Would the talks and legends be enough to prevent those hunting her from following her here?
Chloe stilled her resolve. She doubted the ferals remembered the tales, if they'd ever known them. To escape them, she had to find the wards and pass them.
She kept walking, groaning, panting.
Too many had fought—were still fighting—so that she may live. She wouldn't insult them by giving up just because it was hard.
One more step. And another one. A third…
She felt it when she hit the barrier. Ahead of her was an old staircase carved into the stone so long ago it almost looked like a natural slide. It wasn't. Around the staircase was an open doorway leading down into the darkness. Inscriptions that Chloe couldn’t read were written all around them. But between the door and her was an immaterial, shimmery wall that made everything seem darker on the other side.
She'd learned enough of magic to be wary. This could mean death. The person who dared pass might disintegrate on contact, or worse.
She looked behind her to the empty path. Her ears, so much more efficient now, could still heard the vampires on the main path. Arguing. They didn't want to follow her, knowing what awaited.
"Can you imagine going to the queen and telling her we didn't follow that trail because we were scared of a monster long turned to stone—if he ever existed? We have to go."
"After you, then."
"I know. Let's call the beasts. If the ferals make it…"
She looked back at the wall.
"Whatever luck I've had until now, please, please don't let me down."
She'd never said anything that resembled a prayer as much as this.
Chloe stepped forward.
Nothing. The barrier did…nothing.
She'd gone beyond.
Chloe would have laughed, if she had the energy. And if she hadn't realized something else: the wall hadn't been erected to prevent things from going in.
She walked forward, calling down the stairs.
"Hello?"
No answer, just the whisper of the wind.
She sighed in relief.
Well, she couldn't very well stay here, in any case; anyone walking the path would see her.
She started to walk down the steps, careful not to trip on the slippery rock.
Tired as she was, the descent seemed to take forever, but she finally arrived in an empty, dark, and damp chamber carved in the belly of the mountain.
She looked around and, finding nothing, slumped on the floor, throwing her head back.
Finally. Rest. Now if she could only close her eyes…
"Don't."
Chloe froze. There was nothing around. Her vision was clear, even in the darkness, and she didn't see anyone at all.
"Don't close your eyes, little daughter. You're already fading from this world."
She got to her feet with great effort and walked to the center of the room, looking around.
"Where are you?"
"Not far."
"Why can't I see you?"
"You will not wish to gaze upon me. You're frightened enough."
She huffed. "Right. Because hearing voices without seeing their source isn't frightening at all."
A second passed as Chloe once more wished she'd held her tongue.
The thing in front of her was terrifying. A frail, graying corpse with eyes too bright and no substance at all, like a dried-up mummy.
She gasped.
"Stay here for a few thousand years and we'll see how pretty you are then."
His voice was so light, teasing. And even in his state, she could tell he was smiling. It was a horrifying smile, but a smile nonetheless.
"You're Eirikr," she said.
The mummyish corpse inclined his head. Long silver-white strands of hair were still attached to his skull.
"You look terrible."
"I see you inherited my tact and kindness."
Inherited. He said it like…
But she knew that. Somehow, she'd suspected she was linked to him so long ago. When she'd stood at the end of the path leading to his cave. When she'd been told there were seven families, and Blair had refused to talk of the last. She'd been incredibly frustrated. Tell me, she'd wanted to scream.
Tell me about my family.
"What's your name, little daughter?"
She cleared her throat.
"Chloe. Chloe Miller…"
"Chloe Eirikrson,” he corrected. “That's what they'll all call you, whispering behind your back like it’s a curse. You may as well claim the benefits."
She didn't understand what he meant.
"Because you went crazy?"
The corpse seemed to smile again. "Our kind have unlimited power here. We outnumber all those who could tame us on Earth. And we outpower everyone else. For long—too long—vampires lived as gods, taming humanity under their heels. I was focused on my own missions, ignoring their barbarism. Then, I looked at the world and decided to change it. I forced them all back into the shadows. Because I am the monster they fear, and fear means respect."
Even now, so frail and all but exsanguinated, he held an air of power that made her believe every word.
"Then they locked you up."
He inclined his head. "But my heirs continued my work. And when they, too, were betrayed, the huntsmen I'd armed had grown powerful enough to pose a real threat. So, our pestilential species didn't slaughter their way through countless mortals with impunity, as they used to."
There were always three sides to the story. She'd heard and doubted the one her friends knew. Now she heard and doubted his. She suspected the truth was somewhere in the middle.
Not that it mattered. Nothing mattered anymore. She felt it. She had moments. Minutes, if that.
Chloe knew the blood of an ancestor was the answer, but she didn't ask for his. Even she could see that he had none to give. No more than a drop coursed through his veins.
"Don't despair yet, little daughter. Help is on the way."
She blinked, cheering up.
"Tom?"
The creature's eyes flashed. "Not quite."
Then, he was gone. A burst of wind heading up the stairs.
With her new immortal eyes, she'd been able to detect Levi's movements, but she couldn't see his. She doubted anyone could. Frail, powerless, decaying.
Eirikr was none of these things.
Monsters
She heard the screams. The heart-wrenching yells. The pleas.
"Spare me, I beg you. I'll serve you!"
And the horrifying crushing sound of bone breaking.
Then the smell. Blood. So much blood flowing.
Chloe heard suctioning, gulping, and then an appreciative moan.
She was going to be sick.
After killing and draining she didn't know how many of her pursuants, Eirikr walked back down to the cave.
Chloe couldn't believe her eyes.
The dry corpse was gone, replaced by a man so handsome he put Levi to shame. The portrait in the huntsmen’s quarters in London hadn’t done him justice. Lean, with a muscular, well-built frame. The rag on his hips looked like the remnants of a kilt that once had some color. There was mud and blood on his golden skin, which she felt looked very natural and appropriate on a predator.