Page 2 of The Vampire's Mercy

River. I’m on a river…

Yeah, I knew that, but?—

Oh, bollocks! I was out on the frozen Albion River like some sitting duck.

What the hell?

Before my time, this whole area had been a major entertainment hub along the river’s central section, now lost to the frostbrood.

An area I shouldn’t be hanging about in, unless I had a death wish.

Synapses firing properly, I got to my feet. Dread brought a sour taste to my mouth as I scanned my surroundings for any impending attacks from the icy menaces nesting here.

“Fuck!” I hissed through gritted teeth, shivering in the bitter wind.

The frostbrood were creatures from another realm, made of ice and all things majorly unpleasant. Seeing themselves as a supreme race, they sought to cleanse this world of every other living creature to make way for their dominance.

They’d claimed parts of the world as their own, creating areas of ice and snow known as nests. There were vast networks of tunnels below the ice, only the first ten feet accessible. The rest were impenetrable, no matter the serious efforts to break into them. Damn icy pricks couldn’t be wiped out, only contained, free to breed away down there.

The tunnels were scanned and mapped with a combination of magic and technology, but that was it. Not even a bomb designed to burrow worked. So, magic kept their nests contained, with the odd escapee popping out to cause chaos now and again.

By Aidan! Things weren’t sweetcream for me right now.

How the hell had I managed to bypass the watchtowers, cross the magical veil, stroll onto the river, and take a nap? And why was I only wearing a jumper, jeans, and trainers? If I didn’t get out of here, I’d either be slaughtered or freeze to death in this pocket of frosty horror.

Neither of those options, please.

Okay. Plan of action. Get off the river, head for the Waterlow Road. Someone would see me there. Chew me out for being an idiot, but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t endure.

After all, I’d survived life at Executioner Academy in one piece.

With a sharp pain dancing in my skull, I headed for the south shore. I was pissed off with myself for being here, furious at my apparent memory loss.

Minus a hundred points for me tonight.

I checked my watch to see that it was already 13:21. I should be at home, prepping for tonight’s mission.

There was a vampire king to kill.

With my elvish trait of lightfeet, I was able to avoid a slippery stroll. Staying vigilant, my senses were on high alert for any sounds, smells, or sights that registered as danger.

I might not be properly armed for a frostbrood scrap, the permanent presence of my stakeblade designed for vamp slaying only, but I retained my kick-arse spirit. I was a beast on the dancefloor of violence, trained to kill, injected with the blood of the other races of the world to survive and fight.

Motto to live by: Always come out swinging, no matter what.

I noticed something on the ice a few feet away, glinting in the sunlight.

A blade?

Gingerly, I moved closer, crouching over the object jutting out of the ice. A crystal dagger, the half of it not entombed in the ice exposed. Its hilt was decorated with thin filigree silver swirls, and a heart-shaped crystal above the silver cross guard.

Interesting. My twin sister, Pearl, would have loved this. Before everything went to shit, she’d been training to work in the forges at our Executioner Academy.

A vicious kernel of sadness flared in my chest, heating with each cautious step I took toward the blade.

Pearl…

My sister, my world. A year gone, my nights haunted by grief, my heart forever broken.