Page 32 of The Sorcerer of Shadowholde

There was no smile now, that ever-present smirk vanished from his sharp face. He glared at her and she was certain he was going to bite her, kill her. She backed towards the door as quickly as she dared, the High Consul watching every step of the way. There was a glimmer of something in his eyes, though it was impossible to identify what he was thinking.

She searched for the door handle behind her, finally grasping the cool metal and turning it. It was unlocked! Thank the Gods, they hadn’t sealed her in with this monster. She heard the door click and pushed it open.

The High Consul’s lips curved into a crooked sneer as Vita turned and fled.

CHAPTER 14

Vita

THE WALLS WERE CLOSING IN.

That’s how it seemed, anyway, as Vita ran down the hallway, like the maw of an animal was going to swallow her whole. Was it three doors, or four doors away? She tried the third one and was relieved to see the room they put her in before.

She slammed the door behind her and leaned against it. There was no lock, at least not on the inside, and she contemplated barricading it with her desk, though she couldn’t imagine that would make much of a difference.

The room was dark save for a single flickering candle and the moonlight filtering in through the window. Someone had placed her wooden trunk of clothing and personal items at the foot of the bed,extracted from her former employer’s villa. Vita edged away from the door, slumping down into the wooden chair.

She was in the home of… well, some sort of monster. The High Consul had sprouted fangs and drank the blood of two people. Not normal behavior, and this was coming from her, the strange one who had magical surges she couldn’t control.

The red eyes, the cold skin, the blood… Vita knew the name of such a creature, though she always assumed they were just fairy stories.

The High Consul was a vampire.

An undead being who lived in darkness and fed on blood. They weren’t just fairy stories, but real. It was the only thing that made sense, and yet it was utterly absurd. But Vita’s eyes had not deceived her.

And the other two, the ones he’d drunk from… Were they his progeny? Living people who he’d killed, turning them undead? They had the same eerie red eyes and pale skin, had obeyed every one of the High Consul’s commands with glee.

Vita pressed her fingers to her lips, unsure of what she was going to do. From one monster’s home to another, and here she was, as helpless as ever.

The candle on her table was dwindling, and she could find no replacements.

Someone had set new underclothes on her trunk, but she slipped straight under the covers with her dress on. She wanted to be prepared if someone came for her in the night, but what she would do against a powerful vampire, she did not know.

Vita held the sheets up to her neck as she watched the candle melt away to a stump. An icy shiver ran through her as it finally extinguished, the dim room turning dark in an instant. She had the feeling she was being watched, all of her muscles tensing for an attack, her entire body trembling.

When she closed her eyes, she saw the High Consul’s piercing stare, the sneer he delivered as she fled from his room.

Sleep eluded her, though she must have drifted off at some point, because the next thing she heard was her door clicking open.

Vita shot straight up, eyes wide as she awaited her intruder, but it was only Aurora.

Only Aurora, as if that woman wasn’t just as dangerous as the High Consul, if not more so. She had another navy dress on, though this one was simple and flounced to the ground. Her arms were bare as she crossed them over her chest.

“Are you going to sleep all day?”

All day? What time was it? The sun streamed in through the small window, the stone floor streaked with dappled light. Vita rubbed the bleariness from her eyes, the fitful night of sleep doing little to quell her fatigue.

Aurora walked over, sitting on the bed next to her.

“What time is it?” Vita asked, still in a daze.

“After ten. I would have thought you were used to being up early as a servant.” Aurora narrowed her eyes, the same expression of scrutinization she always seemed to deliver.

“What am I doing here?”

Might as well come out and ask. Nothing was clear, not the High Consul’s interest in her or the reason she was here in his palace. A tangle of a mess that she couldn’t even begin to unravel.

Aurora had not been unkind to her. Aloof and a bit intimidating, sure, but not unkind. Perhaps she would tell her the truth and explain what the Hells he wanted from her.

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