Page 21 of Shadow Kissed (Marked by Blood 1)

“This afternoon, before the sun sets,” he said, staring over at the arched window. “You need to look the part. I’ll have Anna bring you some clothes.”

“What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?”

“Nothing, but if you want it to come across as if we’re on a date, you’ll need to dress like it.”

“Okay.”

“You will also need to act submissive. So keep from using that sharp tongue of yours. At least until we’re back at the house.”

I nodded. “I’ll do anything.”

“Good to know.” He smirked with a glint in his eyes.

My voice charged with hope. “Thank you.”

I left before he could change his mind, running upstairs to take a bath before morning ticked into the afternoon. The thought of leaving the safety of this house to walk the streets with thousands of bloodthirsty vampires should have had me trembling at the knees, but, in contrast, I felt weirdly optimistic because, after everything, there was a chance that I might find and save my friend.

Once I’d finished my bath, I hurried to the window and stared as the crowd below swelled and the streets became more packed. People just like me walked alongside their masters, many not in chains—although where would they run to?

I was watching the sun lower in the sky when a knock sounded at my door. I turned, and Anna brought in a red corseted dress that stopped above the knees, puffing out like a tutu. A mix of dread and excitement trickled through me. I was about to step out from the trenches of the snake’s pit and into the center. I pressed my fingers against the bone of the corset, refusing to think of where it had come from.

I sucked in a deep breath.Here goes nothing.

SEVEN

The city was vibrant with music and color. Store windows glittered with decorations for the upcoming holiday, Vitarem, a day when we honored our dead. I was surprised they celebrated it at all, but I supposed even vampires could die, and they all had to have had families at one point or another.

Some people believed in reincarnation, especially in the kingdoms of Asland and Kabet. In contrast, Baldoria and most of the lands surrounding us believed that once we die, our souls go to the other side, and we take our place amongst the gods. Either way, once a person was gone, who they were in their life here was over. So whether it was reincarnation, if my soul went to other side to be with the gods, or perhaps if there was just nothing at all, the Olivia I am in this world would be gone. I wondered how soon I would find out the mystery of the afterlife. Judging by the way the vampires looked at me, it could be sooner than I ever anticipated.

I looked at the decor in one window, noticing all their trinkets and banners were red and black, most with words describing the underworld. “Of course, you all go with Salenia when you die.”

Sebastian pulled me closer to his side, winding his hand around my waist. Going against my instincts, I leaned into him, remembering I had a part to play if I wasn’t going to be snatched from these streets. “Supposedly.”

“You don’t think so?”

“I know we’re meant to because we’re irredeemable, but I like to have hope.”

I recalled my words to Astor once when he talked of evil in the world, and I said I thought most could be redeemed. He disagreed, but I stood by my beliefs. “Maybe even a vampire can have their soul saved.”

He half smiled and gestured for us to continue walking. Erianna spoke up from her step ahead of us. “I’m glad you believe that.”

The smell of rain-soaked garbage and urine wafted around us as we turned onto a narrow street lined either side with run-down buildings, a stark difference to the main strip we’d just come from.

“Don’t look them in the eye,” Sebastian warned as we approached a group of aniccipere.

Their thin, veiny nostrils flared when they sniffed the air. One of them focused on me, moving her beady, gray eyes to meet mine, and tilted her head. An unnerving smile curled her lipless mouth upward. Bile bit up my throat as her intrusive stare bore into my soul. She licked her lips as if she could taste my fear. Her ashy skin resembled the smoke dancing away from a sangaree puffing on a cigarette.

I tore myself away and instead looked at Erianna, whose grip tightened on her dagger. I wondered what damage it could do to an immortal.

“They can taste fear,” he said as we walked.

Many storefronts were boarded off, some with signs readingMortal Peep ShowandMortal Auction Here.My stomach knotted, and my mouth dried, making me huddle closer into Sebastian. The sun emitted an orange hue over the city streets, casting a glow onto a sangaree holding newspapers on the side of the road.

I pinched my nose as a pungent, rotting stench hit my nose, forcing a gag up my throat. “What is that?”

Erianna chewed the inside of her lip, pity lacing her brown eyes. Sebastian strode, nodding toward a man in a waistcoat who waved at him. “Don’t look to your left,” Sebastian warned, but curiosity tugged for me to peek.

A half-eaten corpse rotted out in the sun. Bone, slathered with blood, gaped through stretches of pink and blood-soaked skin. Ants crawled over the person’s feet, and I noticed there wasn’t much left of their face. Pieces of flesh and half-chewed body parts were putrefying around the mutilated corpse.

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