Page 6

CHAPTER 6

B ella scanned the shadows, desperately trying to make out the figure behind the voice but all she could see was a pair of glowing yellow eyes. Based on their position high above her head, he must be over seven feet tall. Her father had said there was a monster, and Agatha had warned her about one as well, but Agatha had also said that appearances could be deceptive.

“Let my father go. He’s done nothing to you.” Her voice came out remarkably calm even though her knees were shaking. She was cold and tired and wet, but the storm hadn’t prevented her from finding her father and neither would this mysterious male.

The rain had reached her almost as soon as she turned off the main road to follow the river, but she’d refused to turn back and she’d managed to reach the stone marker before it grew too dark to continue. She’d spent a miserable, sleepless night huddled under the doubtful protection of a thick evergreen bush and set out again as soon as it was light enough to see. Even though it was overgrown, the road leading up to the pass was wider and smoother than she’d expected and she’d made good time until she reached the keep Agatha had mentioned.

The word keep had conjured up the image of something square and fortified, but the elegant lines of the huge building sprawled along the ridge above the road were clear, despite the vines beginning to enshroud it. Huge arched windows and steep roof lines gave it an unexpected grace and argued a level of building skill that was rarely seen outside Port Cantor.

Despite her curiosity, she would have passed it by if she hadn’t seen what might have been faint wagon tracks in the wide path leading up to the broken gates. The ground was so soggy it was hard to tell, but her instincts had urged her to follow them. Her instincts had been right—her father was here, locked away by the huge male lurking in the shadows.

Inside the room, her father called out frantically, “Bella! Run!”

But she didn’t run. She stood her ground, letting one hand move slowly to the knife at her belt. A laughably inadequate weapon against someone of his size but it was all she had.

“Please let him go,” she said, quietly. “He’s all I have.”

He shifted restlessly, but then she thought he shook his head.

“No.”

“Why are you keeping him here?” she asked, her hand still on the knife. “He was just passing through.”

Behind the door, her father had fallen silent. She prayed it was only because he was listening to their exchange. The weakness in his voice worried her.

“Mine,” the monster growled.

She frowned at him, trying to figure out what he meant. “Your what?”

“Territory,” he finally added.

“This keep is your territory?” she asked, understanding dawning. “Then I’m sorry we’re trespassing. I’m sure my father just needed shelter. We’ll leave as soon as I release him.”

She turned back to the lock, fingers flying over the controls with increased urgency. The tech behind it was surprisingly sophisticated but she was sure she could override it.

“No.”

His voice sounded closer and she whirled around, placing herself between him and the door, arms spread wide. She still couldn’t see much other than his outline as those glowing yellow eyes focused on her face.

“You’ll have to go through me to get to him,” she said firmly.

“No harm,” he said, his voice less guttural than before.

“If you mean that, then let him go,” she said, but he shook his massive head.

“No. Payment.”

“Payment? You mean for trespassing” She frowned up at him. “What kind of payment?”

He gestured around them at the crumbling keep. “This place… broken. Tech fails. You fix.”

She followed the gesture, taking in the deteriorating structure with new understanding. “You want me to repair your keep?”

He nodded.

“If I fix your tech, you’ll let my father go?”

“Yes.”

A weak protest came from behind the door. “Bella, no! Don’t trust it?—”

“Him,” she corrected automatically, still focused on the huge figure in front of her. “I think he’s a Vultor.”

“All the more reason to run!” her father called. “The Vultor are dangerous!”

The male growled low in his throat, but the sound held no real threat.

“I’ll make you a deal,” she said. “I’ll fix your tech if you let my father go now.”

“No,” he growled. “Fix first.”

“Let me see him,” she demanded. “I need to know he’s unharmed.”

He hesitated, then she caught a flash of claws as he waved a hand. Taking the gesture as acquiescence, she turned back to the lock and this time he didn’t object. She manipulated the controls again and the lock mechanism finally yielded, the door swinging open to reveal a circular chamber beyond.

She stood frozen at the threshold for a moment, her eyes struggling to adjust to the dim light. The air hung heavy with dampness and decay, yet beneath it all was a faint electrical hum—the unmistakable signature of powered tech.

“Papa?” she called, her voice echoing against stone walls.

A weak cough answered from the shadows.

She rushed forward, nearly tripping over fallen debris. Her father sat huddled in a corner, his clothes still damp, face pale in the meager light filtering through a narrow window. A thin blanket—little more than a rag—was wrapped around his shoulders.

“What are you doing here?” he wheezed, attempting to stand but falling back with a grimace. “You shouldn’t have come.”

“Did you think I’d just sit at home when you didn’t return?” She knelt beside him, pressing her palm to his forehead. He was burning up. “You’re sick.”

“It’s nothing.” He tried to wave her concern away, but another coughing fit doubled him over.

She put her arm around his shoulders as she scanned the room, taking in details her panic had initially obscured. Despite its dilapidated state, this was no ordinary ruin. An occasional light blinked on a faded control panel next to the door. Conduits ran along the ceiling, disappearing into the stonework. The tech might be old, but it was far more sophisticated than anything she’d seen since they left the city.

“We need to get you home.” She helped him to his feet, supporting his weight as they shuffled towards the door. He felt impossibly fragile beneath her hands. “The wagon’s still outside?—”

A low growl stopped her mid-sentence, reverberating through the chamber like distant thunder.

“No.”

“My father is sick,” she insisted. “He needs medicine, warmth. If you keep him here, he might die. Then what good is your bargain?”

She gave the male still swathed in shadow a pleading look.

“You stay,” he finally said. “Fix tech. Father goes.”

Hope flickered in her chest. “You’ll let him go if I promise to stay and make repairs?”

He nodded, then added with a growl, “Mine until fixed.”

“Bella, you can’t trust this… this thing,” her father wheezed. “It’s a trap.”

But she was already considering the proposal. Her father wouldn’t survive much longer without proper care. And this place—a fortress filled with advanced technology—was an opportunity she’d never imagined possible. The tech alone could advance her understanding by decades.

“How do I know you’ll keep your word?” she asked the Vultor.

“Vultor… honor,” he said, the words clearly difficult. “Promise.”

She studied those inhuman eyes, searching for deception. Despite her fear, she sensed no malice—only a strange, desperate intensity. She took a deep breath and nodded.

“Deal. But I won’t be locked up. I need freedom to move around, to assess what needs fixing.”

To her surprise, he didn’t argue.

“Agreed.”

“Bella, no!” Her father’s voice was stronger this time, but she suspected it was from fear rather than because he was regaining his strength. “You can’t stay with this… this…”

“I’ll be fine, Papa,” she said, turning to the door. “He needs help with repairs, that’s all. I’ll come home when the work is done.”

Her father’s gaze fixed on the monster in the shadows with undisguised terror. “Bella, please?—”

“I made a deal,” she said firmly. “You’re going home to get better. I’ll be fine.”

Her father tried to protest again, but a fit of coughing overtook him. She put his arm around her shoulders and helped him down the stairs, somehow managing to support his weight. She knew the Vultor was following them, but he remained out of sight.

Thankfully the rain had stopped by the time they reached the courtyard and the sky had started to lighten. She helped her father into the wagon and wrapped the thermal blanket around him. The thin silver sheets were surprisingly effective and his shivering immediately began to slow. He slumped down in the seat, clutching the blanket around him while she bent over the engine compartment. A wire had come loose but she couldn’t find any other damage. As soon as she repaired the connection, the engine hummed to life, lights flickering across the dashboard as the autopilot engaged.

She adjusted the navigation system, then wrote a quick note and tucked it into her father’s pocket.

“I’ve programmed the wagon to take you to Agatha’s,” she explained. “She’ll know what to do for you.”

“I can’t leave you here,” he argued weakly.

“Yes, you can,” she said, kissing his forehead. “I promised to fix some tech, that’s all. I’ll be home before you know it.”

With a final adjustment to the wagon’s controls, she stepped back. The wagon lurched and began to move, carrying her protesting father out of the courtyard and down the mountainside toward the village.

She bit her lip as she watched the wagon leave, praying she was doing the right thing.

Agatha will help him , she told herself firmly, then turned to face her captor. He was standing in the doorway, his massive form silhouetted against the dim interior light, and her breath caught. She still couldn’t make out his features but his size alone was terrifying.

“Well,” she said, squaring her shoulders and pushing down her fear. “Show me what needs fixing.”

The beast regarded her for a long moment, then stepped back into the shadows to let her pass. As she moved past him into the entrance hall, she caught a hint of his scent—wild and musky but layered with the clean scent of the evergreens that climbed the mountainside.

Inside, she took a proper look at her surroundings for the first time. The entrance hall stretched upward into darkness, its ceiling lost in shadow. Corridors branched off in multiple directions, and everywhere were signs of once-great technology fallen into disrepair. Lights flickered erratically, and somewhere deep in the structure, machinery groaned in protest.

“This place is incredible,” she breathed, professional curiosity momentarily overshadowing her fear.

The Vultor made a sound—not quite a growl, almost a huff. “Broken.”

“Yes, but fixable.” She approached a nearby control panel, fingers hovering over its surface. “I’ll need tools, materials. And I need to understand the systems before I start tearing into anything.”

An arm emerged from the shadows—a huge, muscular arm covered with dark silver fur—and pointed down one of the corridors.

As she walked deeper into the fortress, she felt a strange mix of terror and exhilaration. She was essentially a prisoner, yet surrounded by technology beyond her wildest dreams. And her captor—this terrifying Vultor—seemed less interested in harming her than in securing her expertise.

The hairs on the back of her neck prickled and she knew he was following her, even though he made no sound. She came to an abrupt stop and turned around in time to catch another glimpse of fur before he drew back into the shadows.

“Do you have a name?” she asked, the question escaping before she could consider its wisdom.

There was a long moment of silence and she was about to give up when he finally spoke.

“Mal…rik,” he growled, the name emerging as if from very far away.

“Malrik,” she repeated. “I’m Bella.”

As she resumed her exploration, she couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more to her situation than a simple bargain. The way Malrik had hesitated over his own name, the strange intensity with which he watched her… Something deeper was at play here.

But for now, she had a job to do. Her father was safely on his way to Agatha, and she had ancient technology to explore. Whatever game Malrik was playing, she would deal with it as it came.

After all, she thought with grim determination, she’d made a bargain with a beast. And she intended to see it through.