Page 28

The man stood, and metal rasped. “So you are a liar, impersonating a god?”

Pan stepped closer and drew up every scrap of energy he had, which was a mote over nothing. The mote only existed because Noah had given him a prayer. “I am the god, Pan. Our world no longer exists, but your people need you.”

The man laughed and slumped back into his chair. “Tell me, how did our entire world cease to exist? And then I will decide whether to drain you.”

First the dragon, now a vampire…it was a pity Noah hadn’t offered. There was still time. Assuming the vampire didn’t get there first.

“Our world collapsed into the human world. A world I had avoided for two hundred years. Much has changed since then. The most obvious being that there is no magic here at all. I am disconnected from the source that sustained me.”

The vampire remained silent for several breaths. “You have no magic in your blood?”

“Do you want to bite me to confirm? Perhaps then you will taste the truth that I am Pan.” He couldn’t believe he’d sunk to offering his blood to a vampire. He must be desperate.

“I will consider your offer. I have never tasted a god.”

“There’s a reason for that,” Pan growled. If he had magic, his blood would kill a vampire.

“I’m sure there is… However, since you do not have a connection to magic, are you a god?”

Pan tapped his foot as annoyance surged through him. “Your people need your help. Many died.”

“You believe I’m not aware?” The vampire roared as he once again stood. “Many of my family died. Many who served me died. My uncle died.” He gave a bitter laugh. “He threw himself off the stairs. The room you’re standing in is four floors up. There are bodies up to the first landing. I did not have the guts to follow them. So I sit in darkness to hide from the truth.”

It took a moment for Pan to understand what the vampire said. The palace was underground; only the top part of what would’ve been the family rooms was visible. That meant all the doorways were beneath the ground. And buried by bodies. Was that the screaming Noah heard yesterday?

What had happened to make a vampire end their long life? “Why did they jump?”

“Because when the building settled and the ground stopped shaking, we were no longer ourselves. The older the vampire, the worse the changes.”

What had happened to the vampires? It couldn’t be worse than what happened to the selkies. They didn’t even have a choice if they wanted to live or die.

“How dare you sit there and bemoan the fact that you are alive?” Pan took a step forward. “The selkies were stripped of their skin, their bodies left broken and bent and bloodied on the beach where they had partied only a heartbeat before. I picked up one of their coats to wear. That is why I smell like death and selkie. The selkies are gone. Erased from this world. From existence. While you hide, your people suffer.”

“And what are you doing about it,god?” The vampire didn’t bother to hide the sneer.

He would pay for that one day. “I have been acquiring human assistance. The humans who live here know how this world operates.” He had acquired exactly two humans, and they hadn’t done anything to help yet. “One of the city’s dragons is missing. I have no idea where the knight or Strega are. In fact, I do not even know which city this is. I came to the palace to seek the lord.”

“The lord is dead.”

Pan wanted to walk over and shake the melodrama out of him. “Then who was next to be lord? You? Are you now in charge of the city?”

“You have no power. You can’t force me to do anything.”

Pan paced closer, well aware he was unarmed while the vampire had a blade of some sort. “I do not force. I ask. If you will not serve your people, who else can step up and offer guidance? Who still lives?”

“The unblooded.”

Children. Literal children. He needed someone to take charge of the city and its occupants, not someone to be responsible for. He closed his eyes and drew in a breath that wasn’t calming.

“Fine. Tell me what city this is, and I will seek the other rulers.” There was always a Strega and, most often, a knight. Some cities had a lord and a king, one for diplomacy and one for war. Others combined the role. “And leave you to contemplate your death.”

“It is not death I crave. I’m contemplating life.”

The vampire was very much alive, which was more than could be said for some people. “What is your affliction? Are you missing all your skin?”

The vampire laughed. “I wish.”

“You do not—trust me.” That was going to give him nightmares for the rest of his life, which might only be as long as a mortal’s. He shuddered at the disconcerting notion of both nightmares and being mortal.