Page 66 of As Darkness Fall
The ledge we were on ran parallel to the mountainside, slowly descending toward the city far below us. Aaron walked swiftly, forcing me to churn my legs to keep up. Pieter, the smallest of his team by a large margin, was actually slowly jogging.
My eyes kept darting to the city. I didn’t let myself stare for long, because I kept inadvertently drifting closer to the edge. It was alongway down, and since I’d yet to master the art of flying, I forced myself to pay attention to the path.
The city was built out of the same stone as the world around us. I could see that much detail. Not to mention, it was vast, huge beyond measure for a city that wasn’t of human design and scope. It stretched for miles in every direction, butting right up against the face of the mountain below, as best I could tell without peeringtoofar over the edge.
Nor was it short and flat. There were tall towers and vast, wide, warehouse-like buildings. Beautiful architecture composed of curves, sharp angles, and flat sides, all somehow combining into something that looked ancient yet modern, all at the same time.
It was more pleasing to the eye than I thought vampires would ever be capable of building.
Speaking of them, for a city that would have been a massive metropolis on earth, I couldn’t pick outanymovement below. The entire city looked abandoned. Dead.
Yet, theremustbe life down there. Right? Someone had to have made this place. Had they just abandoned it?
“This is Madrigal,” Vir said quietly and with slight reverence.
I shook my head, staring out at the beautifully empty city. “Is that supposed to mean something to me?”
“You human’s used to call it Troy.”
I stumbled, reaching out and clinging to Vir for support, terrified that I was going to plunge to my death. The giant shifter god casually wrapped an arm around me and lifted me back to my feet, keeping his hold on me until he was satisfied I was walking properly once more. Then, he let go.
Very slowly.
I felt his fingertips drag over my side and lower back as he unwound his thickly muscled arm from my waist. That elongated touch did things to me that I didn’t want to think about right then.
Thankfully, I had a distraction.
“Troy?” I whispered. “As in, the fabled city of Troy? That one? From all the human legends? Trojan Horse? Achilles? Helen and the thousand ships?ThatTroy?”
“Yes,” Vir said. “That Troy.”
“But…” I pointed at the city. Then into the air. “It. How. Here? Earth?”
Vir smiled. “In ancient times, it was cast here.”
“How?” I wondered softly. “Why?”
“That,” Vir said, his tone hardening, “is for another time. Come, we must hurry.”
I noted that we’d fallen behind the others. Not wanting to risk getting left behind, I jogged alongside Vir as we caught up, my mind trying to process everything I was learning. It wasn’t going so well. My brain was breaking down with all the new knowledge that it had been introduced to over the past few weeks.
“Where is everyone?” I asked after another few minutes of studying the city. “It’s empty. If this is Aaron’s homeland, shouldn’t there be, like, I don’t know, other vampires?”
“Let’s hope not,” Aaron said from the front of our little line. “That would just make things all sorts of uncomfortable.”
“You’re the only one uncomfortable,” I pointed out. “And I’m wondering why. Care to tell us?”
“No,” Aaron said sharply. “I don’t care to tell you.”
“I didn’t think so,” I said quietly, feeling particularly emboldened and angered by the constant dismissal. “Because you don’t want to tell us anything.”
Aaron whirled on me, his eyes bright blue, filled with matching fire and anger.
“You hired me to guide you to Tartarus and back out again,” he snarled, advancing on me. “So that’s what I’m going to do. I’m not obligated to tell you anything more than that. Just to do what you hired me for.”
I finally clued in that Aaron had been saying “you.” He said he wouldn’t tell “you” more. The word had been directed at me. Just me. I was the only one in the dark here about what was going on.
Looking around the group, I realized it was true. The rest of Aaron’s team was shuffling awkwardly, holding their weapons while they waited for us to continue. Vir, meanwhile, was at my side, his eyes focused on Aaron, but even that was only to protect me in case Aaron lost his temper further. I wasn’t sure how I knew that, but I did.
