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A sardonic twist of his lips. “Six mortal men? How will I ever survive?”

The movement revealed just a hint of canine, unnaturally long and sharp.

I stumbled back.

Blood and blood and—

He sighed, and the casual nature of it shook me from my panic. “So skittish. Relax, mortal. Six or sixty makes no difference.”

I swallowed the bile in my throat, and with it any thoughts of guilt. It was too late to turn back now. “Follow me.”

A vampire at my back was unsettling at best, but I didn’t trust him to not draw attention stumbling around Greymere. The last thing we needed was someone alerting the prison guards of an escape. The guard routes looped through the cell blocks, so I led us around towards the kitchens. It was a risk, but if we continued straight down, we’d definitely hit the patrol, and they’d raise the alarm.

After years of practice, my steps were silent. The vampire’s were effortlessly silent. He was so quiet, I kept wanting to look back to confirm he was really there. Once was enough. My silent shadow was staying very, very close.

Halfway down—seventy-eight steps from the bottom, precisely—I paused. My plan for the vampire had been half-thought-out at best. But going down this particular staircase offered me another opportunity I hadn’t explained to the vampire. I bent down to the loose stone I hadn’t removed in years. My last connection to my family, hidden away. A necklace I’d been given as a child. I couldn’t leave without it.

The vampire’s gaze burned. My body blocked his view as I slid the contents of the hiding spot down the front of my shirt, tucking them between the band of fabric and my chest.

I stopped just before the last step and waited, listening.

I could barely hear anything over the roar of my own heart. I drew forward, slowly.

No one will be there.

I forced myself forward. A glance out said the area was clear. The hallway had no shadows to hide in, no curves to hide behind. But it was late enough, everyone should be asleep, tucked away in different corners. Once we got past this long hall, we’d be just a few quick turns from the entrance.

“Who’s there?” someone slurred.

Shit.

I should’ve bolted. But a decade of instinct made me stop and turn to the voice.

Nelson emerged from the kitchen, a bottle of spirits in his hand.

“You…” He braced on the doorway, rubbing a hand over his eyes. “You insane bitch! You set the vampire—”

Crack.

One second, the vampire had been by my side. Next thing I knew, he was in front of Nelson, twisting his head around.

Nelson collapsed with athud, his neck at an unnatural angle.

“You… you killed him.”

“How observant.” His words were… bored. He’d just snapped Nelson’s neck, the man who had made my life hell for a decade, and he was bored.

I could do nothing but blink.Monster. He was a monster.

“Tell me, mortal, what do you think I’m going to do when we reach the guards?”

He’d kill them. I knew it. I’d told myself I was okay with it—my freedom for their lives.

Maybe I’m a monster too.Especially because when I gave Nelson’s body one last look, there was no grief, no regret. Just dark satisfaction.

Those next hallways were a haze. Our steps were silent; no one had heard Nelson’s last words. My heartbeat crashed against my eardrums over and over, louder with everythump.

We rounded the final corner.