Sorry

“ W hat is the name of the student that will be killed?” Grayson’s voice entered Ryder’s mind and he froze.

“I don’t know the name!” The Horys Vampire’s voice had Ryder’s teeth immediately on edge.

Don’t interrupt , Balthazar hissed. We’re just getting to the good part!

Ryder held up an arm to stop Demos and Siban from going down the stairs into the Eyros Palace’s dungeon. He didn’t understand exactly what was going on here.

“Grayson is the one doing the interrogating?” Demos whispered, having heard Grayson’s voice too, or rather, having heard it in his head via Balthazar, because the stairwell and hallway below were silent.

Yes, and he’s most excellent, Demos! Now shush! Balthazar commanded.

Demos lifted his eyebrows. “I have never been shushed before. Or it's been so long that I don’t remember.”

“I know. He’s a bastard. But Grayson is in there with the Horys Vampire. Let’s… let’s be careful,” Ryder said, his unease threading its way down his spine.

“Do you want to have your Second Death now, Jill?” Grayson asked with a touch of amusement in his voice. “Because honestly this doesn’t sound promising.”

“That is the boy who saved us in the Ring?” Siban asked, blinking. “He was very brave, but now he sounds…”

Grayson hardly sounded like himself at all. His voice was deeper, calmer, more confident. It was--

Ashyr! Weryn cried and Ryder’s heart quickened.

“I know more!” Jill cried, gasping as if it was hard to draw breath.

Ryder imagined her in Grayson’s clutches. Held in place. Chest compressed. Helpless against him.

“I hope so. For your sake.” Grayson appeared unimpressed.

“ Who are you?” Jill gasped. “You can’t be some kid that works in a convenience store!”

“Hey! That was a decent job,” Grayson replied and there was a wheezing sound. “It took me ages to get that job!”

“I--I’m sorry!” Jill cried out, wheezing and gasping. “But you--you can’t just be some--some human !”

And she was right. Grayson wasn’t just some human. He was Ashyr reborn and she had walked into his shop and killed his friend and threatened him.

Bad luck or fate? Ryder wondered.

Daemon wants his General back and his Soldier , Weryn chuckled. War is coming.

Ryder frowned at that. But he started slowly down the stairs with the other two creeping after him. They reached the hallway and saw Balthazar leaning out of a doorway two doors down and gesturing for them to come to him.

“Is that a cat on his shoulder?” Demos asked.

“Apparently. I don’t question these things with Eyros,” Ryder answered.

“Awww, the kitten is nuzzling his cheek!” Siban cooed.

Ryder glanced over at them. His Childe flushed.

“I enjoy cats. Very much,” Siban answered stiffly.

“Have you seen his little kitty form?” Demos chuckled, pointing to Ryder.

“What? No! He has a small cat form?” Siban appeared enchanted at the idea.

“It’s not a practical form for fighting. Sometimes it works for stealth but often a bird form is better,” Ryder muttered as Siban’s eyes grew larger.

And theirs weren’t the only ones. They had gotten to Balthazar and he had stepped aside to have them enter the room. But the moment he heard “cat form” he had become rigid almost like a Springer Spaniel that had caught a scent.

“You have a little kitty form?” Balthazar asked, eyes practically sparkling. “Bigger or smaller than Meffy?”

“Wait a minute, I thought there was an interrogation going on in here!” Ryder growled, ignoring Balthazar’s question as he took in Dani, Caemorn and Elgar, but no Jill and definitely no Grayson.

“They’re next door. Grayson is handling things.” Balthazar waved towards a “window” that looked into the adjoining room. “Now, about this cat form--ack!”

Ryder had a hand around Eyros’ throat. He hadn’t even realized he’d done it. But the moment that he saw Grayson alone with Jill had him seeing red.

“You left him in there with her?” The growl was in the back of his throat. “Are you insane or a fool?”

He started to drag Balthazar by the neck to the closed door that separated him from Grayson. He felt Balthazar touching his mind, trying to calm him, but Weryn was surging to the fore. He couldn’t think. He couldn’t--

“Put him down, Weryn,” Caemorn’s voice was soft.

Somehow he had gotten into the hallway and had a glowing green soul gem in his hand. Weryn reacted to it as if it were radioactive and Ryder found himself pressed against the wall using Balthazar as a shield. Demos and Siban were behind him in the hallway, eyes flickering everywhere.

“I do not wish to hurt you,” Caemorn stated.

“You won’t be hurting him!” Demos growled and his skin rippled.

“You cannot take us all down at once,” Siban added, “unless you planned for an assault. That is your weakness, Kaly.”

“I can Whisper,” Elgar offered, his lips writhing back from his teeth.

“Wait! Whoa! What is going on here?” Dani burst out of the room, eyes wide, nostrils flared. “We have to keep an eye on Grayson in there!”

“Why would you let them put Ashyr in there alone? He’s still human , Dani!” Ryder growled, his voice thick around his fangs.

Dani’s eyes flickered between him, Balthazar and Caemorn. But then she stared hard at him, hands on hips. “Because he’s perfectly safe. He’s got it handled. And it’s what he wants. I trust and believe in him. Do you?”

“But--”

“He’s fine! If you come in and see what’s going on rather than going all crazy, you would understand, Weryn!” Dani snapped.

Ryder found shame flaming his cheeks. “I’m not--”

“What? Weryn? Or being crazy? Guess what? I’ve seen both in you before and I see it again!

Let Balthazar go! Stop being a fool!” Dani shook her head.

“Do you really think these two couldn’t take you down together if they wanted to?

And let’s not forget Elgar here who dusted armies!

They’re being patient and kind to you, though gods know you don’t deserve it after all you did! ”

Meffy looked into Ryder’s eyes. He appeared like such a sad kitten with flattened ears and a lowered tail.

Balthazar looked somehow the same. It was ridiculous that this reached him, but it did.

Balthazar was not angry or afraid. He was sad that Ryder had reacted this way.

And he wasn’t attacking. He was letting Ryder squeeze the life out of him.

And though it was clear that Caemorn was not having this, he hadn’t just attacked either. He had warned. He had requested.

Ryder released the Eyros Vampire and turned away from him. He rested one shoulder against the wall and breathed to calm himself.

“Thank the gods above. Sanity has returned! If you want to help Grayson, watch and listen and be quiet!” Dani muttered and stomped back into the room.

Demos came and put a hand on his shoulder while Siban checked him seemingly for a fever. The switch to Weryn had been so sudden. So nearly complete. Ashyr-- Grayson --in danger had done it.

“Are you okay?” Demos asked.

Ryder lifted one shoulder. “Yeah, I just--”

“He’s brilliant,” Balthazar wheezed as his voice box repaired itself.

Ryder turned and saw that Caemorn was awkwardly standing on one side of Balthazar while Elgar was on the other.

They cared about one another. They were a unit.

And Ryder didn’t know why at first, but that made his throat tighten as well.

He then looked over at Siban and Demos. They gazed upon him with concern and love.

This was his unit. And he had put them at risk without thought. More shame coursed through him.

But Ashyr! Weryn wailed.

“Grayson is brilliant,” Balthazar said, clearing his throat a final time and standing up. “You really have to see it. He’s getting her to tell everything. And protecting all of us in the process. The Sect set up some kind of traps for Eyros and Kaly gifts. But they didn’t anticipate him.”

Balthazar gestured again for them to go into the room once more. Ryder, shoulders hunched, stalked inside, followed by Demos and Siban.

When Demos passed in front of Elgar, he muttered, “Bad big kitty.”

Demos lifted his eyebrows and his lips quirked into a smile. “Is that my new nickname, Elgar? Bad Big Kitty?”

Elgar actually flashed a look at Demos then. He blinked a few times. Then he blushed beet red and looked back at the skull in his hands that was rumored to be Eyros’ old skull. Demos chuckled and tossed back his dreads.

“Bad Big Kitty! I dig it,” Demos continued to chuckle.

Ryder stiffly stood in the center of the “window” that looked into the other room. Dani, who stood just as stiffly a few feet to his left, explained that the room was soundproof and that the “ruckus” out in the hallway wasn’t heard by Jill or Grayson.

“He went in there alone so that he would appear harmless to her. That was a mistake. She’s figuring that out now,” Dani finished. “She’s trying to buy her Second Life with information about the Sect of Dawn’s plans.”

Jill levitated a foot off the ground. Her arms and legs were seemingly bound to her body by invisible ropes, but that was just Grayson’s telekinetic ability.

Grayson leaned against the wall, legs crossed at the ankles, one hand stroking his chin.

He appeared completely relaxed, almost as if he were enjoying this “chat”.

“So, your story is that one of the students will be killed at the first event hosted by the Mirryr Vampires, did I get that right?” Grayson asked. “But you don’t know which student and you don’t know who will do it, correct?”

“We’re organized into cells so that if one of us is caught--”

“Like you ?” Grayson’s lips lifted into an irreverent grin.

She grimaced. “Y-yes, like me . We can’t tell who the others in the Sect are or their plans!”

“So how do you know about this plan?” Grayson asked, but then he smiled. “Because the handpicked student that Gregory replaced was a part of it, weren’t they?”

Her lips flattened. “I’m not saying more until I get some guarantees!”

“Of what?” Grayson asked.