Page 50 of Taste of Forever
“What, not me?” Des asked.
Thorne gave a long, appraising look at the upside-down vampire rotating slowly on the pole, desperately clinging with all his limbs. “You look busy.” To us, he said, “I want updates every fifteen minutes. And don’t do anything fucking idiotic.” He then spoke directly to Cy. “If you see him, don’t lose your head and try to be a hero tonight. We’ve been working on getting him back for years. Don’t fuck it up with one stupid action. Be smart.”
Cyan nodded. “I got it.”
Satisfied, Thorne brought out his phone. “I’m texting you the directions.”
Our phones chimed at the same time. “Shit, that’s deep.” I said, mapping the route in my head. “Is that even still in Sanguine?”
“The furthest possible point from the Heart, and right on our border with Shadowburn,” Thorne said.
“Probably also where most of the draitrium comes in now,” Cy mused.
Thorne nodded. “Saddle up, you two. It’s going to be a long ride.”
Our motorcycles raced across a dry,dusty landscape and reached our destination in just under three hours. No matter what happened tonight, I’d be late to meet Heather. I wished I had her number. Just one among many wishes. Another being for Kalix to be alive, not too fucked in the head from his imprisonment, and back home with us.
The proximity to the Shadowburn Cliffs was palpable here. All the moisture in the air was replaced with a dry, desert-like heat. The faint outline of mountains in the distance didn’t belong to us, but to the dragon shifters.
Cyan and I had left behind our jackets marking us as Blood ‘til Dawn and wore nondescript clothes that were now covered in a fine layer of reddish-brown dust.
“At least we’ll blend in with the degenerates who live way the fuck out here,” Cyan muttered.
“All we need is the yellow eyes,” I agreed.
Draitrium was a mineral found only in the dragon shifter territory of Shadowburn. When refined and processed, it allowed vampires to walk in daylight with minimal harm. Most took it as eye drops, with regular use turning the irises a sickly yellow. The shit was highly addictive and had ruined the lives of hundreds of vampires. It also made the dragon shifters rich off of us.
Thorne wanted drae gone for good, but it was also the basis of our longtime alliance with the dragons, who had been our only support against the werewolves and the angels. Untangling ourselves from them would be a long, complicated process, and not without some violence.
“Where are these fights supposed to be happening?” I looked around us before checking my phone again. This was a desolate area with not much to see except some run-down buildings, a dive bar that also appeared to be a strip club, and some rusted-out, abandoned cars.
“There.” Cyan pointed to a structure that looked no bigger than a standalone closet and started towards it.
“Are you sure?” It reminded me of those outside toilets that humans used to have. “The directions are so vague.”
“The directions say it’s under Temkra’s bones,” he replied, like that explained everything.
“Okay?”
Cyan huffed in impatience. “It’s how Marrowers talk about home deep underground. These buildings are entrances to Marrower tunnels.”
“Oh! Right, knew that.” I wasn’t close to many Marrower vampires, but Cyan was. They were not only nocturnal, but also had a strong preference for staying underground. All vampires found comfort in living below the earth’s surface. It was the safest place away from the sun, after all, but Marrowers took it to a whole other level.
“Let’s go.” Cyan swung open the rickety door that looked like it was moments away from falling off the hinges.
I followed him in and, once the door shut behind me, we were thrown into a pitch blackness that was disorienting, despite my eyes being used to low-light environments.
“Are you concerned about any of your Marrower buddies recognizing you?” I shuffled through the downward sloping tunnel, keeping a hand on the dirt wall to ground myself.
“No, I don’t think Drace or any of his kin come out this far.” Cy’s voice came from a few feet ahead of me, and I was slowly able to make out his shape in the darkness. “Wrestling is a big part of Marrower culture, but this sounds a lot more extreme.”
“Yeah.” My foot hit a rock and I stumbled with a curse. “Shit! Yeah, this has to be crazy to be all the way out here and wrapped in such secrecy.”
Cy grunted out an agreement. “They definitely don’t want Blood ‘til Dawn knowing about it.”
Eventually the tunnel widened and a faint glow of light came from ahead. Dozens, maybe a hundred or so, heartbeats and the murmur of a faraway crowd reached my ears. We came to an open area with lanterns and dim incandescent bulbs hung along the dirt walls. A grizzled old Marrower sat on a stool against thefar wall, blocking the entrance to another tunnel where the noise was coming from.
“You boys lost?” The Marrower’s lower fangs were long enough to scrape past his upper lip as he eyed us suspiciously.
