Page 19 of Until the Heart Stops (The Oylen City #1)

P ain.

It exploded through the back of my head, forcing a scream out through my lips as my back bowed.

A red haze clouded my vision and I knew the tears were falling, even if I could not feel them.

As the pain was wrenched back, I fell forward onto my hands and knees, spluttering against the bloodstained stones.

My muscles twitched and I found I could not lift my head.

“Pathetic,” Mael spat. “Again.”

The black-haired vampire at his side, Raya, hesitated for a beat too long, and I was grateful she was giving me a moment to breathe before she sent her power barreling toward me once more.

It flattened me onto my stomach until I was prostrate before Mael’s bare feet, arms outstretched as if in supplication.

This time I could not even scream. The muscles in my throat had locked so tightly that instead I made a strange sort of wheezing sound.

It was acid and fire and lightning all in one, ripping me to shreds until I was sure I was nothing but a pile of ash .

The day after All Souls Mael had called me into his chamber to question me further about my absence.

He’d ransacked my mind until I was trembling, but he hadn’t found any indication I was guilty of any wrongdoing.

But our maker wasn’t a fool, regardless of how mad he might have been, and I knew he sensed something was amiss within his household.

However, he could not prove it, so instead he’d turned to the one thing he prized above all others: suffering.

Each night for the last two weeks he’d summoned me into the empty ritual chamber as soon as I woke.

But instead of a poor human sacrifice, I was in their place.

The only regret I had was that Raya, a relatively young vampire of only around two hundred years, was forced to witness my screams. It took a lot to rattle her, but by day three her hesitations had become more and more pronounced.

“All this wailing,” Mael muttered as he gestured for her to stop. “You sound like a human child. Once more.”

Another beat, a moment to prepare myself, and I thanked Amayah that Raya had not yet succumbed to Mael’s brainwashing.

This time I did not make a sound, pushing back the groan threatening to rumble up through my locked throat.

Black spots bloomed at the corners of my eyes and, though I knew I couldn’t die from this, there were moments in which I wished I could.

The bond between Lilith and I was closed.

I’d made sure of it before I ever entered the chamber.

If not, she would have felt a glimmer of the agony I did, and I would not risk that.

But I was already dreaming of when it would be over, when her presence would be allowed through.

It wouldn’t be long now. Mael had gotten what he wanted and he was growing bored.

Yes, there he went, padding off on bare feet toward his hidden door. The moment it shut Raya withdrew her power, panting. She scrambled on the stones, reaching out, and I braced myself for the fresh wave of pain waiting to overtake me when she helped me to my feet.

“Don’t. You’ll hurt him more.” Mateo’s deep voice rang through the room.

Two sets of footsteps came closer, two sets of hands slipped beneath me, cradling my chest and my legs. I groaned, head lolling on my neck, as they helped me upright before Mateo slipped one arm beneath my knees and cradled me to him as if I was a boy and we were not almost the same height.

“I’m going to fucking kill him,” Henry growled.

Mateo lifted a hand for quiet, but Raya had been making a show of closing the shutters at the same time to cover their footsteps.

Even the air moving against my skin hurt.

My older brother tried his best not to jostle me as we descended the steps, but each shift was another crackle of lightning beneath my skin.

“Almost there,” he murmured.

The familiar scent of our wing passed over me and I sighed. But the sigh turned into another rasping gasp as I was lowered onto my bed. Delicate, cool hands brushed against my brow.

“Lil—”

Someone shushed me, drawing out the sound so it was one of comfort.

But no…it wasn’t her, only a moment of my own madness.

When I was able to open my eyes and truly see, it was Gabrielle above me, frozen with a wet cloth in her hand.

She waited for me to register her presence before she went back to wiping the blood from my face.

Henry came to my other side, grabbed one of my hands and pressed his thumbs into the palm .

“Take a breath,” he instructed in a solemn tone that sounded nothing like him.

I did, the air whistling down my throat and leaving fire in its wake. But as I exhaled, a little of the pain abated. Henry nodded to himself, moving up to my chest and loosening the ties enough to press his palms against my skin.

“Again,” he murmured.

And again, as I exhaled, the pain receded a little more.

Henry’s gift was just that: a gift. Over the centuries he’d studied with Eamon in secret to hone his power and I was never more grateful for his tutelage than right now.

As the minutes slowly ticked by, Henry’s power worked its way through my system, smoothing out my frayed nerves and eliminating the pain.

Raya’s power was not merely the illusion of pain, as a few other vampires had, but true pain .

She could kill a mortal if she was turned on them. Even Lycans were susceptible to it. Though vampires could not die from it, if left long enough the damage could take years to mend.

“Let me go,” I breathed, lifting my arms to tap Henry’s wrists.

Slowly, he sat back onto the bed, but when I went to sit up Gabrielle clicked her tongue. “Give yourself another minute.”

I shook my head and sat up anyway, running a shaking hand through my hair.

Cautiously, I opened the bond, reaching for Lilith.

She was there but it was faint, as if she were resigned to my absence and no longer sought solace in our connection.

Or perhaps it was waning and soon I would be unable to reach her altogether.

A new sort of pain pierced my heart, more agonizing than anything Mael could inflict upon me. But this hurt threw me into action as I rose from the bed, shucking off my blood-sweat-stained clothes .

“Callum, darling, is there a reason why you’re getting naked right now?” Gabrielle teased, covering her eyes with a hand.

“What a show!” Henry exclaimed, punctuating the sentiment with a low whistle.

As I tucked my new tunic into my trousers, Mateo came up behind me holding out my black cloak to slip my arms into.

“See? This is what being helpful looks like,” he chided the others, pulling my hair from the collar as I slipped on my boots.

Gabrielle hummed as if Mateo was truly teaching her.

“I was being helpful—I gave him a compliment.” Henry drew his arms wide. “After what he’s had to endure, he deserves to be told he’s just as ravishing as ever.”

I blinked at him. “You said, and I quote, ‘What a show.’ I deserve better than that.”

He shrugged. “I’m a man of few words.”

All three of us rolled our eyes, but I was already moving toward the window where Gabrielle had it unlatched. Silence fell as I stepped up to the ledge, the air thick with unsaid sentiments. Henry’s smile faltered as he looked at me, but it was Mateo who crossed his arms over his chest and nodded.

“Soon,” he promised.

Soon this would all be over. Soon it would be a new world with hope and promise. Soon we would no longer be slaves and spies and captives. I dipped my chin before vanishing out the window and into the night.

The bond took me not to the Souzterain as I’d anticipated, but to Lilith’s small apartment about a mile or so from the river.

She had once lived in a beautiful townhome; I’d seen it the night she’d returned to it after her mother’s pyre and Mateo had told me of it once or twice.

But the next day the immortal landlord had evicted her.

I’d been unable to intervene directly, but it hadn’t stopped me from ensuring he received punishment for the cruelty.

Now, however, she lived in a small apartment in a part of the city that had seen better days. But the residents there did what they could with their overflowing flower boxes and attempts to repair the stucco.

I could detect only her heartbeat inside the small set of rooms. Sleeping.

That was why I couldn’t quite reach her.

But now I was this close, I could not bring myself to leave.

I needed to lay eyes upon her, to breathe in her scent.

She slept, she would not know I was there and afterward I could leave, satisfied with this small moment in her light.

Soundlessly I landed on their tiny balcony.

I sent out a small bit of the magic I’d honed over the centuries from my time as a human to unlock the window and it swung into their sitting room.

I stepped over the altar, ensuring I disturbed nothing.

But now I was here, I took a moment to pay my respects to their loved ones.

Small portraits were displayed in neat rows, altar bowls filled with fresh flowers and clean water, though I spied one filled with tobacco before a portrait of a formidable-looking witch I’d known in life—Solange Searah.

I pressed my fingers to my lips and bowed my head in respect, the action only slightly pricking against my skin, before I allowed the beating of Lilith’s heart to guide me to her.

Her room was small, as was her bed, shoved against the far wall, touching end to end with an identical empty pallet.

Deep brown curls splayed across her pillow as she slept, the fabric of her nightgown riding up her thigh.

She’d pushed off her sheets, legs tangled in the threadbare cotton, and it was clear she had not found a peaceful rest.

I took a breath and just barely held back my groan. Syrupy sweet and thick, her scent permeated every corner of the room. When I took another deep pull my fangs ached, pressing into my lower lip. As if in a dream I floated closer until my shins pressed into the shabby wood frame.

Lilith gave a sigh in sleep, rolling onto her back, and I fell to my knees, my hands reaching for her of their own volition, my mouth descending on the apex of her thighs.

And the blood smeared across her skin.