Page 23 of Ashvale: The Vampire's Kiss

“Good!” Cal wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead and nodded at me. I’d been trying to fit in some small training sessions with him where I could, knowing that when it came to the undead any edge would be an asset. We’d found twenty minutes today where Cal wasn’t off doing whatever it was he did when he wasn’t skulking around me, it was better than nothing, but I had a sinking feeling that whatever was coming… it wasn’t going to be enough.

“Novalie and Emerson will be waiting for us,” I said while he caught his breath.

“I’ll drop you back now and then I’ll join you in a few minutes. There’s something I have to take care of first.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Vague much?”

“Nosy much?” he mimicked, his impression of me far too high pitched. “Come on. Unless you want to walk?”

I wasn’t even sure where we were, let alone how to get to the catacombs from here. As best I could tell, we were still somewhere in London because the streets were busy outside and the vague shape of the London Eye was visible in the distance. We’d teleported directly into the catacombs before though, so I didn’t have a clue how to get to their entrance on foot and it wasn’t like it would be on any of the tube maps—SECRET ENTRANCE TO CREEPY CATACOMBS ALIGHT HERE.

The abandoned warehouse we usually used for practice smelled like damp and dust, like the hole in one corner of the ceiling had let in the rain but not enough sunshine for it to dry out properly. I’d never caught the scent of anyone else there, so whatever it was Hayes was off doing, it wasn’t happening here.

I took Cal’s hand and wasn’t surprised when only I showed up at the antechamber where a crowd was already gathering. Novalie stood with Emerson, her face oddly pale and I could hear her heart jackhammering as she held onto Em’s hands for dear life.

“Hey,” I said quietly as I stepped up behind her. “Everything alright?”

Emerson shook her head as she watched Novalie helplessly.

“My parents are here,” Novalie said, her usually confident voice hoarse, like she’d been internally screaming. “I don’t think they’ve seen me yet.”

I nodded, glancing between her and the couple standing on the other side of the room, deep in conversation with a vampire I didn’t recognise. “Okay. I have to say, I’m relieved it’s your family springing up out of the blue for once and not mine.” My words didn’t elicit the laugh I’d hoped, if anything her anxiety became even more palpable, and when I looked up I realised why.

“They’re coming this way!” I hadn’t ever heard Novalie squeak and yet, that was fear on her face. Was it something her parents had done in the past? Or was it more to do with what they’d failed to do in the present?

“It’s going to be alright,” I tried to soothe her, letting her grab my other hand and wincing when she squeezed. “They might have just been waiting to see you in person to claim you. Okay? The ball could have been a big misunderstanding.”

“You think so?” The hope in her voice made me irrationally angry—not at her, but rather the two vampires who now stood before us. The woman, Novalie’s mother, was still living, but the man at her side was undead. They flicked a glance at me and Emerson but then focused all of their attention on their daughter and I heard Novalie’s dry swallow from where I was standing.

“Novalie,” the woman said and I was surprised at the girlish quality to her voice considering the severity of her face. I could only assume nurture had won out over nature in Novalie’s case, because this woman was the definition of stuck-up. Her slim nose was upturned at the end and I could see all the way up her nostrils from the angle of her haughtily-tilted chin. The male vampire, her father, was clearly where Novalie got her colouring from, but on him the features looked as dull as his bland suit. By contrast, it was hard to see the resemblance thanks to Novalie’s blunt-cut hair and the deep purple mini dress she wore. Its hem was dangerously short and the neck dangerously low, plunging into a ‘V’ that stopped just shy of her belly button.

“Mother,” she said, and the demure catch in her voice was so foreign I nearly stepped back. “It’s so good to see you, to see you both.”

The man that was her father didn’t even look at her in acknowledgement, instead gazing out at the gathered vampires, the buzz of conversation loud enough for us to be lost in it.

The pair stayed silent and Novalie continued on, “When I didn’t hear from you after the ball, I assumed I was unclaimed.”

“You assumed correctly,” the woman said sharply and I had never wanted to punch a person more than right then. “You have been a unilateral disappointment. However,” she said, uncaring of the flinch that raced across Novalie’s face before she hid it, some small spark of the woman I knew resurfacing. “You are our blood.”

Novalie stepped forward to take the hand her mother offered and I met Emerson’s eyes over Novalie’s head, a sick feeling rushing through me when I saw the whites had turned completely blood-red. Her normally warm-coloured irises had become pitch black and when she stepped closer to grab hold of my arm, I recoiled.

“You can save her,” she muttered, her voice strange, almost like it echoed. “You will save her.”

“And as our blood,” Novalie’s mother continued, ignorant to whatever was happening to Em, “we will give you this one chance to relinquish your association with your current… acquaintances.” She glanced at me and then at Emerson and I panicked for a second until I saw that Em looked completely normal, if a little dazed. “There has been some talk, and I won’t have our family name, our good lineage, dragged through the mud with her.”

It was clear that I was the her in question and I had to confess I was intrigued to know what exactly people had been saying to warrant this reaction. Sure, my mother had made a grab for power—but that was hardly taboo in vampire circles. Yes, I’d turned a human and that was rare, but beyond that…?

Novalie straightened and I was relieved. If she wanted to ditch me and Emerson for her family, I got it. I wasn’t happy about it, but I understood. She wanted to belong, and she wasn’t the only one. But I wasn’t going to watch them kill her spirit and turn her into a little beige carbon copy of themselves. “Thank you for the offer, but I have to decline. I already have a family,” she said, turning to look at the two of us, still hanging back. “One whose love isn’t conditional.”

Emerson’s nails dug into my skin and I smirked, assuming she was feeling emotional about Novalie’s declaration—I’d definitely had my suspicions that something was going on between them besides friendship, but they would tell me when they were ready.

Except, when I looked over, her eyes were once again red and the grip on my arm became crushing as her irises bled to black. “Save her.”

It happened so fast, I almost didn’t catch it—and Novalie certainly didn’t see it coming. One moment she was smiling as she turned back to face her mother, and the next there was red pouring from between her lips.

“I had thought you might say that,” her mother said as Novalie choked and for a moment, I could only stare in horror. She’d slit her own daughter’s throat, for the sake of reputation?

Save her. You will save her.

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