Page 4

The vampire’s white brows drew together. “What changed?”

“I don’t confide in vampires.” I drew a breath. “But I’ll make you a deal. I’ll unlock your shackles. In exchange, you get me out of Greymere, unharmed.”

The truth was, even if the bloodsucker agreed, I had no guarantee he’d follow through. But what choice did I have? Even if he killed me, he’d only be accelerating my fate.

“You have my word.”

It should’ve been hard to make myself step into the room. To betray my country and every value I held dear. To willingly unleash this beast on Greymere. But like a cornered animal seeing a sliver of a chance at escape, I barreled forward.

This late at night, the cell was utterly dark. The faint torches from the hall barely reached the bars. The vampire’s red eyes seemed to glow, tracking my steps into the cell.

The chains wrapped all around his legs, with locks on both feet and hands. I started with the feet. I didn’t want to be kneeling before him when his hands were free, even if we theoretically had a temporary alliance.

I slid the skeleton key into the lock of one, then the other.

The manacles snapped open, but the vampire didn’t make a move to kick them away, even though the skin under them was covered in blisters.

I tugged them away as quietly as I could to avoid the telltale sound of metal against stone.

Next came the hands. I rose to my feet, adjusting my body so I wasn’t directly facing the vampire.

I’d been close to him last night, but being in front of someone was a different kind of closeness.

Standing slightly to the side, I could see his back.

If possible, it looked even worse than yesterday.

“I’m sorry to say they undid your efforts,” he said, as if reading my thoughts.

Heat rushed across the back of my neck. Caught. I shouldn’t care. He was just a vampire. But something like shame licked at me all the same.

“I’m not surprised.” They only ever healed to inflict more pain .

I slid the copper handcuffs off. I could’ve discarded them like the others. Instead, I slid them into my skirts, cushioning them as best I could.

The vampire slid his hands over his wrists. The only hint of discomfort.

“I suppose if you knew how to escape this prison, you’d have done it yourself,” the vampire mused.

I exhaled through my nose. “Of course I know the way out. The trouble is there’s only one way out, and it’s manned with half a dozen guards at every hour of the day.

” Not to mention the patrols that went through the halls.

But nothing ever happened at Greymere, so they were light, and I knew their assigned routes. “Can you handle them?”

Stupid. I should’ve asked before releasing the beast.

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 a thud , 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 every thump .

We rounded the final corner.

One spotted us. “Prisoners escaping!”

The other guards turned to us at once and began to move towards us.

The vampire stepped in front of me, blocking me from their view.

“Stay out of the way,” he growled at me.

I had no delusions he was protecting me—only trying to make his battle easier. He’d hear no protests from me.

Then they collided. The clang of metal pierced the air. Even unarmed, the vampire made quick work of the king’s soldiers. He snapped one’s neck, same as Nelson. The next, he used as a shield while a third attacked. He tossed the body at the third, then moved to the fourth.

“He’s got a thrall!” another shouted, leveling his sword at me.

I didn’t know what a thrall was, but the guard charged at me, sword high.

I screamed .

The vampire slipped from his fight in an instant. The guard never reached me. The vampire threw the guard against the door so hard the metal dented .

The remaining two didn’t have a chance.

One, he killed with a dead guard’s sword. The next, the vampire slipped behind and bent the man’s neck sideways, killing him instantly. But he didn’t drop the body. He bent his mouth over the man’s neck and pressed against it.

I stood frozen, unable to look away. I unleashed a monster .

All the guards, dead. Because of me. Because of my choice.

He released the guard’s pale corpse a moment later, letting it slide to the floor and stepping over it like it was nothing but trash. He wiped his lips with the back of his hand, smearing the remainder of the guard’s blood. His ruby eyes glowed even brighter when he leveled his gaze at me.

My knees shook. Was I next?

“W-we had a deal,” I stammered.

“Of course.” Despite the violence, the words were the same hypnotic lull he’d used before. “Now, to leave.”

The massive door stood before us, the floor slick with blood.

I made myself ignore it and forced myself to believe that my heel nearly slipped in a puddle of water, nothing more.

The vampire went to the door, testing the handles.

It was locked, of course. I cursed. I hadn’t seen this mechanism before.

My skeleton key would be useless. I’d need time to figure out—

Boom!

The vampire had thrown one of the fallen guards past my head straight through the door.