Page 20 of Ashvale: The Vampire's Kiss

“Interesting,” she breathed and Emerson and I shared a look of mutual humour as Novalie stepped through the doorway and disappeared immediately. Emerson grabbed my hand and we stepped through together, bumping into Novalie where she stood near the entrance. “I think it’s a test.”

“Of what?” Emerson murmured, her voice strangely muffled by the blanket of shadows.

“Worthiness.”

I rolled my eyes. “Or it’s just more snooty undead vampires with their heads wedged up their own arses.”

“Aren’t you a snooty undead vampire?” Novalie’s hand found mine and I could feel the laughter in her body from her proximity.

“Not quite,” I muttered, focusing on the prickling tingle that was running across my skin. Magick. No wonder the vampiric senses couldn’t pierce the dark, it was a spell. Those invited likely had some kind of token to navigate through the room to wherever the real party resided, but since we were crashing…

I dropped the girls’ hands and raised my own, taking a deep breath and letting it out at a slow, controlled pace as lightning forked from my hands, disrupting the dark and whatever weak spell had been placed in the room. The shadows faded and I rolled my shoulders, glad to be free of the annoying tingle that accompanied most magick. I was getting better at spotting it though, and that was a good thing.

The darkness around us was now more organic and I could make out the shapes of armchairs and an empty fireplace. A door stood at the far end of the room and I nodded to it. “Want to bet there’s a party lurking behind that door?”

“I hope it’s worth it after all this,” Emerson mumbled and I grinned when I turned to them and found both girls looking distinctly irritated. It barely affected me when I wasn’t casting, but the electricity that had come off of my body had both of their hair standing on end, frizzing and snarling, and I tried not to laugh.

“I’ll help you detangle it later,” I promised and Novalie mock-glared at me as she strode onwards and attempted to shake out her hair before she threw open the door and charged inside.

More magick coated the doorway and I tensed as we stepped through before realising it was something to keep the sound inside.

Sound washed over us as soon as we stepped through and nobody gave us a second glance, assuming we belonged if we’d made it through the dark. A stupid system really, it had been easily countered by the little magick I knew how to wield—what if I’d been a murderer? I would have caught them all unawares.

The morbid thought amused me as I followed Novalie and Emerson through the large room to where the biggest group of people was congregated. There seemed to be a healthy mix of vampires both old and young, modern and aged, living and dead. It was odd how I could instantly tell if the vampires here were still living, like some extra sense I’d gained as an undead. Or maybe with senses better than the living vampires I could just pick up on the more fluid movements, the enhanced speed… the lack of heartbeat.

A man from the group looked up and ran his eyes across our trio, pausing when he got to me and tilting his head consideringly. There was a hollowness to his dark eyes and cheekbones that made him seem empty, like the life had literally bled out of him when he’d become a member of the undead. His hair was as black as his eyes and waved gently around his face, curling at the tops of his cheeks and under his jaw.

Something about him gave me pause too, like he was familiar though I was relatively sure I’d never met him before. It wasn’t until he spoke, the husky voice putting me on edge instantly, that I realised who he was—or, at least, who he reminded me of.

“Cousin,” he called and I forced my jaw to unclench, my fists to uncurl. “I suppose it’s true what they say about it being a small world.”

I cocked an eyebrow and ignored the interest sparkling in the eyes of the other vampires crowding around the dark-haired man, like he was some kind of enigmatic leader to them. “I’m sorry, have we met?”

He laughed and the rich tone of it made a woman to his right sigh longingly and I held back a grimace. “No. No, I don’t believe we have. But you’re the spitting image of my niece.”

It wasn’t the first time I’d been told that I looked like my mother, though at least this was under slightly more pleasant circumstances. Slightly. “I didn’t realise I had extended family. Or any family, at all, really.”

He waved a hand, taking care not to slosh the glass of suspiciously dark liquid in his hand. “I wouldn’t have thought Elowen would tell you anything, that bitch.” His tone was cheery despite his words and I found myself warming to him. Anyone who disliked my mother as much as me was someone I could consider… Well, not a friend, but at least not an enemy. For now.

I snorted and walked over to the woman who’d sighed dreamily at my… uncle? I didn’t say a word, just cocked my head slightly as I watched her expectantly, dropping into her seat when she scurried away. I didn’t see the living vampires as lesser, but according to the hierarchy, one stringently enforced at court from what I’d seen, that was the way things worked. “It amazes me that you could tell at a glance who my mother was, considering I was at Ashvale with her briefly and nobody else seemed to notice.”

“I noticed,” Novalie protested and I laughed. “Well, I didn’t say anything because I thought that would be weird.”

“If you have any other potentially weird hunches you’re sitting on, I’d rather you just spit them out,” I said with a smirk and Emerson laughed. “I’m Leonora.” I turned back to Elowen’s relative and inclined my head. He may have seemed friendly enough, but he was still an undead vampire and a powerful one too, judging by the relaxed postures of those around him, basking in his pheromones.

“Rath,” he said and grinned, revealing fangs that were nearly too big for his face. “She’s not really my niece, you know. More like my brother’s son’s daughter’s daughter twice removed. It gets hard to keep track after a while, but she’s of my House.”

My throat ran dry as I pondered that expanse of time, to bear witness to those generations. “Quite the lineage.”

“Indeed.” He watched me with a small smile on his mouth before offering me his glass. “Overwhelming, I know. Here, you look like you could use it.”

I raised it to my lips, inhaling surreptitiously and taking a sip when I scented only blood and sweet liqueur. “You’ve adapted well then,” I murmured as I passed the glass back. “Some here seem to be stuck in the eighteenth century.”

Rath hummed. “Yes, it comforts them, I think. But I do not believe it is the vampire’s nature to be comfortable, we adapt or we stagnate.” Emerson was listening intently and Rath glanced at her before doing a double take. “Fascinating. Who might you belong to, young one?” He brushed a kiss across her knuckles and Em shot me a quick look of panic.

“She’s here with me,” I said, keeping my tone cool.

“Yours? Hm, you get more interesting by the second, cousin.”

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