Page 14 of The Vampire's Lament
Wait. I’d already tried that. Became a thrall, kissed the king.
Let him touch me.
What the hell was going on?
I opened my eyes and was greeted by a blurry figure. It was like his form had been smudged across a screen, then scratched over with a knife.
“Who are you?” I rubbed at each eye in turn with my free hand, pointing my weapon at him.
“The beginning of the end,” he answered.
Prick.
“Answer me properly,” I demanded. The weird scratches across his body appeared to expand.
He didn’t answer, slowly moving left.
“Keep still,” I warned. “Or I’ll gut you.”
Hold on a minute. My brain began to catch up. This must be what’d happened to me before I woke up on the ice of the Albion River frostbrood nest. When I’d found the crystal blade.
The man leaned on the wall, the alleyway around us a clear picture. I knew this place. It sat two streets away from the north bank of Oreflame City’s Albion River, and was a handy shortcut between Highwall Gate sub-rail station and a seriously cute park I liked to hang out in.
This alley always stank of fish and cheese from the Scales and Cheddar café nearby.
Ugh. What a grim place to eat.
Was this Caer’s power shining a light on a memory? It felt different, though. No song, no white rose petals. Colder, stranger, my insides performing backflips.
“I brought you here to…” A crackle of white noise swallowed the rest of his sentence.
Shit. “What did you say?”
“I brought you…” More crackling, the edges of the alley blurring. “…crumble…”
“What?” I stepped forward.
The ground quaked, throwing me into a wall.
“…you?” the man cried.
Dammit. Why couldn’t I understand him?
A second rumble split the ground open beneath me, the shaking throwing me into the opposite wall.
Fuck!
“…out!” a woman’s voice boomed down the alleyway.
That voice. I recognized that voice.
With a third, violent quake, the ground collapsed. I plunged into darkness, hitting a slope. I was sliding, rolling, chunks of rock scraping my face, dirt filling my mouth.
By Aidan! What the hell was happening?
My back slammed into a wall,forcing a cry from my throat. Coughing up dirt, I rolled onto my side. I was totally winded, my chest on fire, and dizzy, on the verge of puking my guts up.
A grunt sounded from nearby, followed by coughing.
