Page 36 of Lux

She notices me staring and makes a show of wiping at her eyes. There are no tears. “Poor Daisy. It’s my fault she got out,” she laments. “I thought she wanted to go on one of my morning walks. To do some calisthenics. I turned my back for one second and she ran off.”

She blinks as if expecting me to say something. Give a damn.

I say nothing. Instead, I barrel past her and try to find the way out. The sooner I track down this foolish wayward vamryre, the sooner I can find my fae. The need for her is growing, turninginto an itch I can’t scratch. A constant ache. She’s an addiction with no cure.

Not that I would ever want one.

Without her, Cassius lurks and looms desperate to regain entry to this soul he had slip from his grasp.

“Where?” I snap at the redhead. We’re on the street, but she just stands on the sidewalk, peering from one direction to the next.

“I’m not sure. She usually sticks close to the… Your face is burning.”

I blink. Fuck. I forgot to pull the hood of this jacket low. When I do, the prickling burn eases somewhat, but not as quickly as I’d like. I need to be careful out here. Without the collective mind, I don’t heal as fast. Can’t risk too much damage.

To find my fae, I need all my working limbs.

“Um, let us go this way!” After rearranging her own hood, Poppy takes off down the block, her steps light, practically skipping. Despite her very real concern for the other vamryre, she enjoys this. The chase. The tracking of another creature.

Oh yes, she was one of Nataniel’s. I’ve never met his sliver of our hoard. Just heard their thoughts sometimes, reflected through Cassius. They were an alien sort. Cold. Callous. They treated those in the other realm as prey—even the others in the collective hoard. Their minds were icy and reptilian. Cassius prized beauty but Nataniel quashed all humanity from his collected toys.

Compared to me, they were truly monstrous.

Yet, she pretends well. She puts on the faux mortal act and seems to truly care about this lost one. This Daisy.

I don’t. I don’t give a damn about anyone or anything, except for myself. Except for my fae. And once… Maybe…

Cassiopeia. My poor one, trapped in Cassius’s hovel. A true brother would have freed her sooner. She would have done the same for me.

And I will.

Once I retrieve my fae, I will return to the other realm. I will drive a knife through Cassius’s fucking heart. I will find Cassiopeia no matter what it takes.

I will.

I will.

If I say it enough times, I might start to believe it.

“This way!” Poppy turns down a narrow street that opens onto a familiar road.

I brought her here once, Niamh. She begged to go to the park. She ooh’d in awe at the various scenic mortal things but didn’t attract the wrong attention.

Such as a crowd of terrified children watching her lick blood from her fingers.

Oh dear. How naughty. It’s the kind of behavior Cassius would encourage. To make a spectacle. A scene. To inspire fear in their little hearts and relish in their screams.

Except for one minor detail. Children were not allowed to be our target. They were too messy. Their deaths drew too much attention. Too much scrutiny.

Which was why Cassiopeia loved to skirt that little rule as much as she could. She loved to lead a wayward child away here and there, to make Cassius rage and scream. Oh, what fun we used to have, in those days.

She never went too far, however. Fed from one. Maybe a little scratch here and there. Just enough to provoke a reaction.

It was our game, her and I. To provoke a response. To press as many of our master’s buttons as we could. To push and push until the bastard had no choice but to accept that we would never be fully his.

Never bow.

But here there is no master to play for, and I see the act of toying with children for the morbid diversion it truly is. How cliche. How droll. To make the little ones cry for their mommies and daddies in broad fucking daylight. She must have come here when the school bus would arrive and drop them off to frolic in the morning sun.

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