My remaining opponent ran off, vanishing somewhere behind a massive desk at the back of the reception area. I rushed toward Valaine and tackled the Darkling before he could finish the job. We tumbled and rolled onto the floor. His blade was left somewhere behind.
The doors were smashed open.
I ended up on top of the Darkling. He tried to bite me with his fangs, and I was once again reminded that I was dealing with an Aeternae. I punched him hard in the face, breaking his nose in the process. Blood gushed from his nostrils, and I grabbed his sword from a couple of feet away and cut his head off. He wasn’t going to go down alive—that much I knew from how viciously he’d tried to claw at my wounded side.
It had happened so fast that I couldn’t even breathe or see clearly anymore.
For a moment, time stopped.
“Milady! Are you all right?” one of the gold guards asked.
“Where the hell have you been?!” she shouted.
“Outside, milady… not far. We heard noises, so we came in,” he replied, his voice grave and shaky. Better late than never, I thought.
I stared at the Darkling I’d just killed, still kneeling on top of him, his blade heavy and bloody in my hand. He was dead, head removed from his body, but I could feel his eyes on me, somehow. It was a strange feeling, but not exactly unfamiliar. I loathed killing, yet I had done just that in order to protect myself and Valaine. My justification, however, did not do a thing to soothe my swelling guilt.
“Tristan!” Valaine breathed, reaching me. “Tristan, it’s okay… You killed him.”
I looked at her, momentarily lost. Her black eyes were clear now, as light poured through the reception area, the double doors shattered and cast off to the sides.
“I… I couldn’t let them hurt you,” I managed.
She smiled gently. “I know. You can let go of the sword.”
I hadn’t even realized I was still holding it. It dropped back to the floor, and I moved away from the body as the golden guards spread around the room and checked every corner and dark nook.
“They’re all dead, milady,” one of them said. The guy whose throat I’d ripped was down, a pool of blood congealing on the floor all around him.
“They came through here, somewhere,” I replied, gradually regaining my clarity.
Valaine checked my wound, her brow furrowing as she noted the depth of the cut. “You may need some healing patches, or at least some of my blood.”
“Aeternae blood heals, too?” I asked, surprised by yet another similarity between our species. She nodded and bit into her wrist.
Pushing it against my lips, she urged me to drink. “It’ll heal you faster.”
She’d caught me by surprise. I would’ve pulled away, but the taste of her blood had already invaded my mouth, sending a rush of sweet fire through my limbs. Aeternae blood felt like the force of life itself, surging through me with the strength of an electric current. I felt invigorated, and my wound closed up almost instantly.
Energy filled my veins, my heart pumping with delight as I drank from Valaine’s wrist and felt as though I was hugging the universe itself. What a strange sensation. What an incredible ride this was! Drinking from a Rimian or a Nalorean, by comparison, was nothing! I felt stronger. I was willing to bet I’d be faster, too. Pure energy soared through me.
She blushed as I let go of her arm, her mere touch making my skin ripple.
“Thank you,” I said, wiping the blood from my lips.
Valaine nodded slowly, checking my wound again. “There. It’s closed. Just don’t tell anyone I gave you my blood. It’s not legal without Petra’s authorization,” she whispered.
“I think I know where they came through,” another guard said, popping out from behind the massive desk where I’d seen the surviving Darkling disappear. There was enough light now for me to see everything much better. The footsteps and the blood on the floor. The specks of dust lingering in the air. The cracks in the walls…
I went around the desk, where the gold guard waited, holding back a trap door. Pitch black was ready to welcome us below, and Valaine and I looked at each other.
“There must be an escape tunnel in the basement,” Valaine concluded.
“That’s where the fourth guy went,” I whispered. “That’s where they came through, as well. It was their element of surprise.”
Valaine frowned, glancing at the guard. “Not anymore. Two of you will go down there and see where it leads. The rest of us will wait up here.”
“Why don’t we go?” I asked, while the guard motioned for one of his colleagues to join him.
“Because they’ve already tried to kill us once,” Valaine replied.
“Milady! You should see this,” another guard said, kneeling beside one of the fallen Darklings’ heads. His mask was off, his face clear under the incoming sunlight.
We went over to them, and Valaine sucked in a breath at the sight of the dead guy. “Oh, crap,” she managed. Both she and the guard who’d called her were equally shocked.
“What? Do you know him?” I asked.
Valaine nodded slowly. “Egan Makios,” she replied. “The eldest of one of the minor dynasties. I… I grew up with him and his sisters.”
“And he’s a Darkling,” I concluded. “Okay, so this spreads well past the gold guards and the underbelly of Visio.”
“It’s a huge problem,” Valaine said, then shouted at the soldiers by the escape hatch. “Change of plans! Seal that up. Use whatever you can find in this place, but make sure nobody can use it until I get back.”
“What’s going on?” I replied, slightly confused.
Alarm lit her eyes up. “We need to talk to Kalon and my father before we go any further with this. We’ve already uncovered members of the gold guard as Darklings, and now an elite Aeternae, as well. It’s a clear sign that whatever is waiting at the end of that escape tunnel will likely get us or our soldiers killed. We need a different approach.”
“Milady is right,” the guard kneeling next to the Darkling said. “Besides, sealing this exit will force the Darklings to use other, perhaps less safe, routes. It will work to our advantage.”
