Page 49 of The Vampire’s Mercy (Blood Melody #1)

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

PARIS

The thick chains covered every inch of the guy, apart from the top of his head, though the bottom of his face was covered by a rusty metal mask. Chunks of dirty golden hair were missing, exposing wounds on his scalp.

Everything else was so gray, his hair the only part of him a different color.

Golden hair? Like the kind Silvanus had seen?

Hmmm. Maybe he should be here to see this.

The man mumbled something again, only his watery eyes moving. The rest of his body was firmly fixed in place.

An icy tongue licked my spine.

A stink like that, along with the state of his flesh, could only mean one thing in my mind. Zombie. Was he a zombie? They only existed in horror stories. But this was some between place, right? Meaning the rules were different from the real world?

Asking myself those questions only made my skull throb.

I took some deep breaths, pressing a foot down on a rising panic attack.

Ugh, that smell.

The man mumbled again, using his eyes to gesture toward the wardrobe and writing bureau.

Mumble, mumble.

“Do you want me to look there?” I nodded at the furniture, trying not to breathe through my nose.

He blinked twice.

“Is this a trick?”

He blinked once.

Okay. Code. “Let me ask these questions again. Blink twice for yes and once for no.”

I repeated the questions, getting the same response.

Hmmm. “Do you want to hurt me?”

One blink.

Yeah, like I believed that.

“What’s over there?” I winced internally at being so damn stupid. That wasn’t a question with a yes or no answer.

He closed his eyes for a few seconds. When they opened again, he narrowed them, exuding impatience.

“Sorry, I know you can’t tell me,” I said.

The man mumbled, flicking his eyeballs at the furniture again.

But I wasn’t about to stroll into a trap. “Do you know why I’m here?”

Worth an ask.

His two blinks pulled a trigger inside me. Without thinking, I surged forward, going for his mask.

Violent energy sparked on my hands and an invisible force threw me back. I landed on my arse, sliding across the floor. Pain ricocheted down my legs and up my spine, my brain rattling from the impact.

“Ouch!” I barked.

A series of purple markings shimmered in the doorway, as if appearing on glass. Strange symbols moving in small circles. After a minute, they were gone.

“Wait,” I said. “They’re the same markings on the wooden disk.”

Unlock…

I jumped to my feet. “Am I here to unlock your chains?”

Two blinks.

I rubbed my throbbing skull. “I’ll check over there.”

He knows who you are.

Was he the voice who called me precious one?

I asked him before I went to look.

Nope.

“Do you know who is?”

Yep.

“Do you know anything about a wooden disk and blackberry ink?”

He did.

Okay, another question before I inspected the furniture. “Will something over here help you?”

Another yes.

Hmmm.

Gnawing on my bottom lip, I checked the oak bureau first, finding it empty. Then did the wardrobe, its varnish worn, a lot of splits in the wood.

I found a pair of brown trousers hanging beside a long coat of midnight blue with silver piping and a hood. I pulled it off the hook. It was soft, as light as a feather, missing its buttons.

Rifling through the pockets, my fingers knocked something solid inside the left one. Wooden, vibrating with magic.

I pulled out the wooden disk.

“What is this thing?”

I studied the symbols on the wood, holding it in my palm, still unable to decipher them. And the same thing happened again, the ink melting while the damn thing stuck to my hand.

Words and language…

Dark purple magic danced around my fingers.

I returned to the man, about to ask him another question when I saw the glowing symbols change, beginning to make sense. One by one, they became a language I found myself understanding. And that the language was runic, but not the kind of runic the world was familiar with.

Elvish runic.

“Paris…”

The sound of the vampire king’s voice slithered across the back of my neck. I immediately tensed, unable to move.

Medusa appeared beside me. “You opened the door?”

I listened to his boots on the floorboards, executioner senses prickling as he arrived on my other side.

“Paris?” he repeated.

I kept my eyes forward, the runes telling me what to do, magic bubbling inside me, sending knowledge to my brain.

The power of the two disks had joined together in understanding and skill.

The magic helped me see the order of a sequence I needed to input by touching the runes. The unlocking part gave me the power to break the chains once I cleared the runes.

I met the man’s stare, his eyes begging me to get him out of there. The moment I freed him, he’d help us. He’d shed light on everything.

I couldn’t keep living in the dark. Anyway, I’d been put here to unlock, to find a truth. This was meant to be.

Right?

Damn my flicker of hesitation.

Silvanus said my name again. I recoiled, the sound of his voice turning my stomach.

“I didn’t want you here,” I retorted.

“But I am here.”

Ugh.

I faced him, his radiant ruby orbs stealing my breath. “I…I hate you.”

His jaw was set, his muscles rippling with tension. He said nothing, doing his staring thing.

Yeah, like I’d engage. Like I cared. Like I could stand to be around him for longer than I had to.

Hold me…

Can you please hold me?

Bollocks! Did I hit the floor too hard moments ago? I must’ve banged my head without knowing it. This scumbag killed me, and some ridiculous part of me wanted him to hold me? Right. Awesome. Well done me, for being a total prick.

But I couldn’t take my eyes off him. I even shuffled closer, fingers ready to touch him. He wore the red jacket, nothing underneath, stunning in the light of the torches.

“Who are you?” Medusa spoke.

Was she talking to me?

Wait. No. The rotting guy.

I tore my eyes away from the king, returning my attention back to the man in chains.

“We’ll find out in a minute,” I said, walking over.

“Wait,” Silvanus spoke. “Golden hair… He’s… He was my lover.” He moved past me.

I followed him. “Your what?”

“I’ve been seeing him in my dreams.” Slowly, he moved closer. The man’s eyes narrowed on me. He mumbled, the noise like a plea.

He didn’t want the vampire king near him either.

I grabbed Silvanus’s arm, recoiling from a spark of electricity. “What are you doing?”

“Hair of spun sunshine,” he intoned. “I loved you, didn’t I?”

The man didn’t answer.

I scratched at my left palm as I hopped from foot to foot.

“Your name,” the king whispered. “Your name is… Curse it. Right there. Right there. Right there.” He stopped moving, grabbing a handful of his hair. “Your name…”

Medusa went to him. “Stay calm. We will get to the bottom of this.” She cupped his face in her hands.

“His name…” he repeated, tugging on his hair. “His name is right here.”

And the answer was right there.

“Yes, precious one,” the voice returned. “This is where you need to be. You have found the truth.”

Having had enough of this shit, and spurred on by the voice, I got to work setting this guy free. He might be a useful tool in killing the king. And maybe all this was leading toward his death, a guy from his past back again to finish the job.

Awesome idea. Hand me the popcorn and let me watch.

“His name…” Silvanus spoke in a loop while Medusa kept trying to calm him. But he wouldn’t shut up.

I touched the first rune, which meant life, then the second meaning awakened.

Life awakened?

“Sing for me, Paris,” the vampire pleaded.

I ignored him, pressing the third rune.

Beginning.

Two more to go.

I touched the next one.

Bring.

“His name… His name…”

Final one.

“Maybe we should talk about this,” Medusa suggested.

For a moment, I hesitated, pulling my hand back. The man mumbled, Silvanus was waffling, and my brain needing a pause. The snake shifter was right. I’d rushed into this.

No. The voice told me to do this. And what if something happened to squander this shot at answers?

Okay, so I might be smarter than letting creepy voices make decisions for me. But we weren’t dealing with anything normal here.

I couldn’t stand it anymore.

I touched the final rune.

End.

Life. Awakened. Beginning. Bring. End.

Erm, okay.

The runes melted away, dripping onto the floor with a sizzle.

Dark purple magic bloomed in my hands, reaching for the chains. I held out my hand, palm facing the man.

Unlock…

Magic fizzled across the chains. The man’s eyes flooded gold, the chains snapping like twigs one by one.

“His name…” Silvanus whined, on his knees. “His name… His name…”

The chains clattered on the floor with angry thuds. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six.

Done. Melting into the floorboards, eating through the wood like acid.

A sudden balloon of regret in my chest.

I shouldn’t have done this…

Shit. Had I fucked up? I backed away until I bumped into the cauldron.

No. This was right. This was how things were supposed to go down.

The man tore the mask away, revealing a rotten face, a hole exposing his jaw. Maggots spilled from his mouth, the stench of decay worsening.

Silvanus lifted his head. “Your name… Your name is…”

The man moved closer, lips spreading maliciously.

“Who…who are you?” I rasped, the balloon of regret swelling.

Those golden eyes gleamed, darting to the vampire king.

Silvanus stood up, bearing his fangs. “Your name is Aidan.”