A Killing
There was something wrong with this vampire. And no one seemed to notice.
A roar of bloodthirsty excitement rose and fell through the execution square as the guards dragged the vampire into the center.
“How much blood do you think they'll make this one spill?” Rinna’s amused question drifted into my ears, but l didn't answer.
From the tower’s edge, I studied the vampire instead.
Jet-black hair fell unevenly over his face, hiding most of it. He was large as well, enough so that even with the silver chains burning his wrists and guards at his sides, he still towered over them all.
With a body like that, it shouldn't have been possible for Team A to get their hands on him. Especially not without two or three hunters dead.
My grip tightened around the rail.
Something about this didn’t sit right in my bones.
I leaned forward slightly. “Where did they say—”
The vampire stopped moving. Then, with unnatural speed, he whipped his head toward our tower.
“—they found it again?”
Forest-green eyes hit mine, and my body went still.
A strange pressure stirred low beneath my ribs, sharp enough to make my breath stall for half a second.
I straightened immediately, irritated by the reaction.
With the distance between us, I shouldn’t even have been able to see his face clearly, especially beneath all that dark hair, but for some reason I could.
He stared with an unwavering focus. With so much intense… longing, as though I was the only living soul in the entire square, the only meal he'd ever wanted.
A shove at his back finally broke the contact. I blinked immediately, shaking the moment off as my heart started to skitter.
Rinna was talking now, probably responding to my question. But her voice didn’t fully register. I caught fragments of it and lost them again.
I exhaled through my nose, forcing my attention back to her, but the timing was off. I had missed somethings. I hated missing things.
“…the capital gates,” she was saying.
I nodded once, too quickly. “The gates.”
But my focus didn’t fully return. It kept slipping.
“Yeah, I know, a very ballsy move for a vamp. They usually know better than to come near us.” Rinna caught the knife she threw in the air. "I'm betting Sebby that either it's a newly-turned or a mindless one.”
“Team A hardly ever brings in newly turned ones,” I say absently, my heart beating faster. The vampire had tilted his head once more and was staring at me again.
“Why not?”
My fingers shifted against the rail as though resisting the urge to step back from the ledge.
“It’s too easy for them. They’d rather go for the ones that fight back. Ones that would rather die than be caught.” My voice lowered. “This one allowed itself to be taken.”
A faint unease crept up the back of my neck the moment the words left my mouth.
And the feeling sharpened when what seemed like a smile spread across the vampire's face.
My pulse stumbled once.
The crowd erupted again, pulling my attention.
The executioner had arrived.
He walked into the center of the square, waving both hands at them with a big, practiced grin stretching on his face.
Axon Drux. Also known as my cheating ex.
Damn it. A bitter taste wrapped my tongue. Out of all the possible people the Order could have chosen. Even from the tower, his golden-boy hair and perfectly tailored armor practically gleamed under the torchlight—no doubt he'd polished it for this exact moment.
My jaw tightened before I could stop it. Odin's breath, his face was the last thing I wanted to see right now.
A low growl rolled through the square, drawing my attention back to the vampire. His eyes had moved to Axon now.
And for some reason, the look unsettled me more than before.
Possessive.
The thought appeared so suddenly that I almost recoiled from it.
What in Hel was wrong with me?
One of the guards kicked the back of his knees, forcing him down into the dirt.
Axon strode over to meet them, playing to the crowd like a stage actor. A servant stepped forward, holding a platter. Resting on it was a heavy, silver-tipped stake.
The square immediately went silent when Axon’s fingers closed around it.
Even I held my breath. Waiting. A vampire that large, with those chilling intelligent eyes, was surely going to snap his chains, was surely going to try and escape.
Axon raised the weapon high, staying there for a few seconds more than necessary, before driving the silver wood straight into the vampire's heart.
A choked, horrific sound tore from his throat, and right before our eyes, his skin began to blister and liquefy.
And just like that, it was over. The crowd's thundering cheers returned.
The ash would be cleaned before morning. The crowd would go home satisfied. And beneath the Guild, another cell would quietly fill, and another “death” would happen again in a week.
“Well,” Rinna breathed, leaning over the rail to watch the body collapse into an ash heap. “Guess I owe Sebby twenty credits. That was pathetic.”
I didn't say anything, disappointment trailing behind before a hot rush of anger overpowered it.
Was I seriously disappointed that the vampire didn't try to escape? Me? I pushed away from the ledge, disgusted with myself. “I'm heading out.”
“Where—oh, I forgot. You’re on night duty.” She sheathed her throwing knife, looking over at me. “Want me to keep you company?”
I shook my head, reaching the doorway. “No need. Only one of us should suffer tonight. I'll see you tomorrow."
Leaving the deafening cheers of the square behind, I made my way down the stone stairs of the tower and crossed the courtyard toward the Guild’s living quarters to freshen up.
An hour later, I entered the prison blocks. The air down here was always stale and freezing, and added to the suffocating silence, it was the perfect place no one would suspect vampires were held as prisoners.
Walking up to the duty desk, I met the bored gaze of the evening guard.
“Cutting it close again, Eira,” Jorunn said as soon as I drew near.
I simply sighed, signing the logbook on the desk. “Sorry,” I muttered a second after, taking the heavy ring of iron keys he handed over. “I was at the execution."
He just gave me a look that said that he didn't believe me, but I couldn't care less about what he thought.
“Any new shipment?” I asked to move things along.
He eyed me for a few more seconds before shaking his head. “Only the one from yesterday. The others already dropped it off. It's in the last cell down the hall.”
I nodded, turning away before continuing down the long, dimly lit corridor.
Muttered curses from starving, drugged vampires greeted me as soon as I entered the cell blocks.
I slowed slightly as I reached the one at the very end of the hall.
No snarling. No chains rattling against stone. No threats spitting through the iron bars. Not a single sound came from it.
My senses immediately went on high alert.
Didn't Jorunn say—
“You know you're smaller than I envisioned.” A voice rumbled from it, making me draw my dagger instantly.
I froze, my heart leaping again. The voice was smooth, deep, and entirely too steady for a prisoner supposed to be drugged or waking from it.
“Who said that?” I demanded, stepping closer to the heavy iron door.
A pair of glowing, forest-green eyes stared straight at me.
The vampire from the execution stood in front of me, fully intact and healed.
He smiled, his fangs catching the dim light. “Won’t you come closer, Eira?”
