“They didn’t kill me, did they?”
“That’s because you had Tristan by your side!” Acheron cut in. “Had the vampire not been there, the Darklings would have destroyed you, and you know it. You understand how they operate. You’re aware of the damage they’ve inflicted on us, on our noble dynasties, on some of the empire’s brightest minds!”
“How do we stop them?” Petra sighed, not quite sympathetic toward Valaine’s difficult situation. “Not to be a spoiler of all things fun, but we’re dealing with an early reemergence of Black Fever, as well. Our plates will be full soon.”
Danika rolled her eyes. “I think we’ll have to talk about this with the vampires. If that Faulty creature of theirs is any good, we might finally get a cure for the Black Fever. As for the Darklings… I don’t know. It’s hard when we can’t even identify them.”
“That’s been our problem for eons,” Corbin muttered. “The Darklings have no identity. It’s like they’re bred specifically for this clique, and nothing more. There is no record of them anywhere, no information, nothing.”
Acheron groaned, leaning back into his throne. “Corbin, my friend, I need you to look into this Darkling issue. Have Kalon and the new captain of the golden guards assist you,” he said, then looked at Petra. “You, High Priestess… I need you to play nice with the vampires. Tell them about the Black Fever victims and see how they can help. Okay?”
“Your Grace, I doubt they can do anything to—”
“For once in your life, do as you’re told!” Acheron’s voice thundered across the room, making Petra freeze on the spot. His outburst was so unexpected that not even Danika could immediately recover from the shock, staring at her husband with a loose jaw.
I was slightly amused by this dynamic. Acheron had come across as the dashing king type, but boy, he had plenty of fire to dispense when he was thrown into the worst of moods.
“Where is Zoltan?” Danika asked.
Kalon glanced around the room, fixed in our general direction, and my heart beat a little bit faster as I held my breath. His ears moved, and he took a deep breath, while I made myself even smaller behind the marble column. This didn’t feel right.
The corner of his mouth twitched, and I could swear he could tell I was here.
To my relief, he didn’t follow up on whatever had made him suspicious. Instead, he shifted his focus back to Danika. “Probably snoring his wife out of bed again. You know he’s knocked out before midnight on days like these.” He chuckled.
“Get him out of bed, then,” Danika replied. “He needs to know what happened.”
Kalon nodded. “Right away, Your Grace.”
“Everyone else, we shall see you in the morning,” Acheron replied. “It’s been a long day and an even longer night, already. Rest is paramount, if we’re to succeed in defeating any of our foes, be they Darklings or the Black Fever.”
Danika eyed Petra. “Remember, High Priestess. The vampires are our friends.”
She sounded rather disingenuous, and Petra didn’t seem to buy it, either. Nevertheless, she complied, bowing before the Lord and Lady Supreme as she made her way out of the throne room, followed by Kalon, Corbin, and Valaine. The guards opened the doors for them, while my brother and I moved around the column to keep a safe distance.
As he passed us by, Kalon looked our way again. But since he couldn’t see anything, he just sighed and kept walking.
“What is it?” Petra asked him.
A knot formed in my stomach, tightening with each second that passed. “Nothing,” Kalon replied. “I’m just looking forward to getting out of here. This whole Darkling incident has really botched my mood.”
“Speaking of, I’ve instructed the cleaners on my way in. The hallway outside the vampires’ quarters has been cleaned,” Petra said. “It’s the most unfortunate time for our guests to be creeped out.”
“Yes, the last thing we need is for them to go away because of this,” Valaine replied. “I’m confident they can help us with a cure.”
Petra scoffed, but she didn’t respond. Kalon, however, didn’t let go right away. “What’s wrong, Mother? Don’t you trust the vampires to finally end the Black Fever, once and for all?”
“If only it were that easy, my dear,” Petra said, as they walked out and left us behind.
Acheron and Danika retreated to their chambers through a side door. Soon enough, the lights were blown out, and the room succumbed to darkness. Tristan and I stood there, trying to process everything we’d just heard.
Minutes flowed slowly. I welcomed the night’s embrace, closing my eyes for a moment. I caught a whiff of Kalon’s scent—crisp and masculine, with an inkling of leather and spiced vanilla. Had he sensed us earlier? After all, an Aeternae’s hearing was much like a vampire’s. Maybe he’d heard my heart beating…
Shaking the suspicions away, I looked at Tristan. “You know we need to tell Sofia and Derek, right?”
He nodded slowly. “We’ll do it in the morning,” he said. “The danger has passed, for now, and I doubt the Darklings will be back again anytime soon. I don’t want anyone hearing voices and talking in our rooms, this late in the night… if that makes sense.”
“Oh, it makes all the sense in the world,” I replied. “It can wait until the break of dawn, for sure.”
“We’ll have to alert the rest of GASP, as well.”
“Hold on. Let’s talk to Derek and Sofia first. Remember the core of our mission, okay?” I reminded him, though I didn’t like this any more than he did.
“It’s weird,” he muttered.
“Yeah, well, if we were expecting everything to go smooth and peachy, then we’re the ultimate idiots,” I said, chuckling bitterly. “Come on, let’s head back and get some shut-eye. We’ve got a busy day tomorrow.”
As we snuck out and returned to our rooms, I realized that our morals would soon be tested. Something was plaguing the Aeternae, and it wasn’t necessarily the Black Fever. We didn’t have all the pieces in the puzzle, but we had enough to understand that something dark and dangerous lurked beneath the surface.
My only concern was whether it would engulf us as well.
Nethissis
As soon as I came to, a crippling ache burst through me, as the reality quickly set in. I’d died. A ghoul had killed me, and I was staring down at my body, a limp and crooked copperhead, as the fiend poked it with its claw.
Horror swiftly took over. I covered my mouth, remembering that the ghoul might notice me any moment, now. A thousand thoughts darted through my mind, but none made sense. I simply had no time to adjust to this situation, to fully comprehend how this had all come to pass, and what I’d have to do, going forward.
“What did you do?” Zoltan snapped, spotting the ghoul as it fiddled with my lifeless snake form. It felt as though I was watching Tejus’s Lucifer with a dead bird he’d just come across, back in The Shade. The ghoul’s instincts were offensively similar. He’d just killed something he didn’t need to kill, and now he was… playing with my friggin’ corpse!
