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Chapter Six
RUNA
At Kronk’s warning, I leaped from my seat, dragging Victor up beside me. Fear for my brothers exploded in my chest. “Move!” I shouted, shoving my captive toward the far end of the tavern. To my surprise, Custodis did as he was told.
Dodging between the tavern patrons, we raced into a sweltering kitchen. Shouts rang out behind us . “This way, they’re in back.”
I glanced over my shoulder in time to see one of the king’s men crash into a server. Greasy meat pies and foaming ale splattered everywhere. It might buy us some time, but not enough.
While the soldiers scrambled across the slippery mess, Custodis and I plowed through the rear door and out into the alley. The vampire was strangely cooperative. I had zero doubts he was plotting something. What, exactly, was yet to be seen.
The former leader had a keen mind. Of this, I was sure. Strangely, I respected this part of his personality. Like me, he wouldn’t rest until he was free. Problem was, his freedom spelled my doom. Except, if the trade with Vex was a setup, where did that leave us?
I’d sort it out once I reunited with my brothers.
“Head to the right,” I ordered. “We’ll cut through the back alleys, then return to the main road. Maybe we can lose them in the crowd.”
“An excellent plan,” Custodis said.
My heart skipped an odd stutter at the praise.
“Do you and your fellow criminals do this often?” he asked, a mocking lilt in his voice.
While he may have been taunting me, the vampire wasn’t far off the mark. “Of course not. We’re professionals, not amateurs,” I replied flippantly. An image of the angry monks with their pitchforks flashed in my mind.
I ignored the reminder of our last failure, snapping, “Talk later. Unless you want to spend the night in the king’s prison.” I shoved his shoulder, and we raced along the darkened alleyway. Puddles splashed beneath my feet. The stench of fermenting trash filled my burning lungs.
“Professionals,” Custodis snorted. “This must be the worst kidnapping I’ve ever endured. Perhaps it’s time you and your friends found a new occupation.”
“You think you could do better?”
“Most certainly.”
“Have you?” Despite my scorn for the arrogant prick, I found myself curious about the criminals the vampire had captured.
“Absolutely. Though most of my abductions ended in torture and death. Rarely did I sell my captives.”
“And yet you judge us,” I muttered.
Several blocks later, we reached the main thoroughfare. I scanned the road for purple capes, finding none. “Let’s go.” I leaned into the vampire’s side, walking as though we were out for a stroll.
“Now what?” he asked .
“Now, we blend in, wait for the guards to give up, and then make our way to the meeting point where Kronk and Drazen will join us.”
“That confident they got away, are you?”
“Yes.” I refused to believe otherwise.
“Here,” Custodis said, loosening the ties on his cape. “Put this on. Unlike you, I doubt the guards will recognize me.”
It wasn’t a bad idea. Custodis was likely an unknown, whereas my face was plastered on several wanted posters throughout Carcerem. I let him drape the cape over my shoulders, and as he pulled the hood up to conceal my hair, I took the opportunity to study his arresting features.
If I were being honest, the vampire wasn’t hideous. Not by a long shot. In fact, when he wasn’t sneering at me, he was rather attractive.
Long, silver-white hair framed his aristocratic face.
Scratch that. On the surface, he projected an aristocratic air—impeccably dressed, with a certain refined aloofness—but a closer look revealed an almost elven quality.
While his ears were rounded, there was a certain ethereal grace to his characteristics—though there was nothing feminine about the leech.
When his full lips pulled into a smirk, I stared, transfixed.
“See anything you like, little thief?”
My cheeks heated, and I dragged my eyes away, huffing. “You wish, vampire.” When we started walking again, I asked, “Why are you cooperating?”
“I am not an unreasonable male. Even I can see the benefits of escaping the king’s guard.”
“No,” I stated. “You’re up to something.”
He smirked as though he enjoyed my observation. “Too bad you can’t read my mind.”
Prick.
Too bad, indeed. The situation was unsettling, to say the least. Thanks to the strange shielding I discovered, the vampire beside me was a complete mystery. Except for the information Yaga had given us, which wasn’t much. Just enough to help capture him.
And why was that? Why had Yaga set us on this path when it was clearly not the solution to our problems? Truly, I did not feel as though I was on the path to freedom but to destruction.
What was I missing?
“You two,” a deep voice shouted. “Stop right there!”
My pulse leaped, and I glanced behind us. There stood two males in purple cloaks.
“It’s them!” the tallest shouted.
“Get behind me.” I elbowed my way in front of my captive and held up my glowing hands. Perhaps an imaginary wall of fire would deter them. I reached deep into the well of power within me, summoning the darkness at my core. Heat spread through my hands, my palms beginning to glow. Almost…
Fabric engulfed me. The cape I wore plunged over the top of my head, the hem knotting at my back. “Custodis! You son of a nerf herder, what are you—”
“Have fun in the king’s prison, pet,” the vampire said, then punted the back of my knee.
I collapsed with a screech of outrage.
“All yours, boys.”
I registered his voice through the heavy fabric, along with the thump of racing footsteps.
“Leech! You’ll pay for this, you bula flarker!” I battled the engulfing material. Rough hands yanked me off the ground and ripped the cape off my head, along with strands of my hair.
“Let me go!” I swung out my leg, only to have it captured. The guard who caught my foot twisted it, driving me back to the ground face down. Pain lanced my spine as the male drove his knee into my back, pinning me on my stomach. Both my arms were wrenched behind me, and I cried out.
As the bastards snapped enchanted manacles on my wrists, I peered down the street in the direction my captive had bolted.
At an impressive pace, Custodis sprinted away.
Not so weakened, after all. The vampire was clearly an apex predator in his prime.
Gah! I was so stupid! Believing him injured.
Unable to even seat a horse. Deceitful bastard.
Despite my rage, my lips curled.
Well played.
At the end of the narrow street, a mounted soldier in a gold cloak rode into view. Four others swathed in purple stood on either side of their captain.
Custodis skidded to a stop before them.
For a moment, both sides took each other’s measure.
The four guards attacked in unison. The vampire attempted to bolt into another alley when a second team of men joined in, this one even larger than the first. Before Custodis could pivot, a shimmering net dropped out of the sky, the magic-infused webbing further weakening the vampire.
In seconds, Custodis was face down on the ground with four guardsmen beating his immobilized body.
“Ha! Serves you right!” I belted out a laugh as the guards wrenched him up from the street.
This had to be the most fun I’d ever had while being arrested.
Sure, we’d kidnapped the deceitful vampire with the intention of selling him to Vex.
But at least we hadn’t lied about it. Unlike Victor, we were honest criminals .
Curious onlookers trickled out of the taverns, watching the show while Custodis’s guards walked him over to join me, their captain following behind. The horse’s clomping footsteps rang like a death knoll in the darkened alley.
From his lofty perch, the captain peered down at me, his face void of emotion. “Runa Starborn, illustrious leader of the Blood River Bandits. I’ve looked forward to meeting you. So has your king. ”
“The pleasure is all yours.” Classy sorceress I was, I hacked a wad of spit in his direction.
“Charming,” the captain sneered, turning his attention to the vampire. “And who is this?”
“Victor Custodis, Clan Leader of the Eastern Territories, resident of the mortal world,” the pompous vampire answered, adding a half-bow for good measure. “At your service.”
At the captain’s arched brow, Custodis held up his manacled hands. “Apologies, good sir, but there seems to be some mistake. See, I was merely a captive and not a part of whatever mischief these bandits have been up to.”
“Is this true?” The captain turned to me.
Regardless of my dreadful circumstance, dancing flutterflies did joyful somersaults in my stomach. Oh, this was just too good. “Nope. He’s one of us. A new guy we hired to carry our bags and shovel our shit.”
The vampire glared daggers at me. The intensity of his anger seared my flesh.
I delighted in the burn.
“Very well.” The captain shrugged. “Tell it to the king.”
“Curse you, Runa,” Custodis snarled, his complaints drowned out by an approaching conveyance.
The royal paddy wagon rolled to a stop beside us. Emblazoned on its side was the false king’s insignia. It depicted Idris’s profile, golden bolts erupting from his skull—a symbol that did nothing to represent the kingdom’s people or its land. It was nothing short of obscene.
“Load them up, and let’s get underway. We’ve a long drive ahead of us,” the captain ordered.
The guard wrenched open the door, and my defiant heart fell. Both Kronk and Drazen waited inside.
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9 (Reading here)
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
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- Page 28
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- Page 39
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- Page 47
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- Page 53
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- Page 59
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- Page 61
- Page 62