Page 18 of The Shadow Fae Rhapsody
The assassin strides towards the sharp corner ahead, silent as death. He suddenly holds up a hand, signaling me to stop. I meet his stare in the dark, catch the widening in his eyes.
“What is it?” I ask.
He heaves a heavy breath. “You shouldn’t have come.”
I lurch towards the corner to catch a glimpse of whatever he’s looking at—and I understand why Shade could not put it to words.
Pallid corpses drained of blood litter the wide chamber. I swallow the dread in my throat to keep myself from retching. I’ve seen my fair share of dead bodies, but something about the wrongness of their death strikes me cold.
A sense of doom pervades me, and I understand now why the council has decided to imprison Svenn. These horrific husks are far too similar to a Nightwalker’s victim.
“I can accompany you back to the surface,” the Grimsbane offers, silently studying me.
“I need to do this, Shade,” I say, my voice and my resolve unwavering. “I have to clear my husband’s name.”
“Does he like to eat bones?” he suddenly asks, absently.
I have learned not to question Shade’s weird sayings and questions.
“Some of these bodies are eaten… nibbled to the bones,” he says, kneeling to inspect the corpse beside his feet.
The assassin is right… that is indeed strange. Why would Svenn—a vampire—devour a corpse to the last bit?
I don’t get a chance to pray for the dead when Shade continues forward. “If you insist on coming, then full stealth mode from here on. Turn off your fancy crystal.”
I frown at the suggestion, but he’s right. The bright crystal will only betray our position to the murderer, whoever he is.
But how am I supposed to move forward in the darkness?
Surprise filters through me when Shade stretches his gloved hand to me. I hide my crystal in its velvet pouch and hold his hand tightly.
The floor becomes craggy the deeper we walk. Echoes of our footsteps are all I hear, and even that is muted. I feel like I’m getting closer to something, hopefully answers instead of the bowels of a monster. We continue on, further and further, until I lose track of the passing time.
It’s not Svenn. It’s not Svenn. It’s not Svenn.
I repeat over and over in my heart. He made a promise never to harm an innocent.
Shade suddenly stops dead in his tracks. His pause is so sudden I nearly slam my head on his back.
What’s wrong?I sign in the dark.
“Don’t you think it’s weird?” Shade replies in a low voice. “It’s suddenly so quiet in here.”
He’s right.
Deafening silence falls upon us. I don’t even hear the flowing water anymore. The hairs on the back of my neck stand on high alert. I can’t shake the creeping feeling that we have been lured here.
The tunnel that was once devoid of smell now reeks of something foul, like carrion. A heavy presence looms in the dark and my blood runs cold at the sudden clicking sound.
“Now would be a good time to use your fancy shiny rock,” Shade whispers close to my ear.
I rub the crystal slowly so I don’t startle whatever being that is making that rattle.
My gut plunges into a free fall as the light gradually reveals the features of the hunching figure in the dark. I want to call it a rat for its long snout, but it’s standing on its hind legs like mortal man and elves. It hisses and lifts its face at the glow of the crystal, revealing razor-sharp teeth.
But that’s not what scares me most about the creature. It’s the skin—grotesquely mismatched and sewn together like a tarp.
Another growl reverberates from behind us.
