And the smell ... utterly divine. Pine, water, blood, with no taint of spices or food. She smiled as she savored. That's when McKell turned back to check on them. When he saw her, his gaze softened.
Her smile faltered. She liked him, but didn't want to encourage him.
Had jealous Devyn noticed the exchange? She flicked him a glance. His eyes were closed, and he was feeling his way forward with his free hand. A frown tugged at the corners of his lips, and lines of tension marred the perfection of his face. He couldn't see in the dark, she realized.
He'd known it would be this way, yet he'd come anyway.
Sweetest. Man. Ever. How had she ever thought him detached? He hated the dark, but still he'd come. Only one reason a man would do something like that. Did he ... was it possible he ... no, couldn't be. Not Devyn. Devyn did not fall in love with his women. She'd known that from the beginning.
Well, if he were going to pick someone to fall in love with, he couldn't do better than Bride. There you go, thinking like him again. Well, it was true. She was loyal, pretty, smart, strong, and overall fantastic.
Wait, wait, wait. Do you want him to love you? No. Yes. Maybe. Argh!
McKell stopped, forcing everyone else to stop as well. Devyn bumped into her and grunted. A moment later, a light flared to life. He held some sort of glowing stick that chased away the worst of the darkness. Where he'd gotten it, she didn't know. Did he carry one with him everywhere he went?
"We will journey to the palace," McKell said.
"I really want a tour," Bride said. This should have been her home, and she wanted to see every nook and cranny before she was forced to tell the king to fuck himself if he tried to force her to do something she didn't want to do.
"Bride," Devyn said on a sigh. "What?"
"You know." She did?
"A tour, yes," McKell said, his voice raspy, his gaze glued to her. "The king does not allow an audience until morning. We will tour the city, then wait in my home and finally talk."
Oh. Oops. Had she just made a wish come true?
"No." Devyn shook his head. "We'll see the city, then wait in the king's palace."
"Or give us the tour whenever," she said helpfully, hoping to circumvent any disaster her kind-of wish might have caused.
McKell narrowed his eyes at the Targon. He moved, so swiftly no one, not even Bride, could register, and stopped in front of them. Time ground to a halt, everything around them ceasing to exist. The guards stopped breathing, and water no longer trickled.
"I can manipulate time in shorts burst, so listen carefully. What I have to say cannot be uttered near
the king or even near another vampire clan. There is a reason Maur—Bride was sent from here. If it's learned she has returned, she will be hunted. Killed." And then he was back in place, time once more ticking by.
A low growl echoed from Devyn's throat. "You told me she was safe. We will be discussing why she's not. Now.
Once again, time ceased, and McKell was in their faces. "I will not do this again, Targon. If I did not think I could protect her, I would not have brought her here." His offense doubled with every word. "No one will recognize her as the girl she once was."
"Your men—"
"Are loyal to me. We have fought together, bled together. We will die together. But, no, they do not know. I will not tell them. You are not to tell them, either."
Devyn nodded stiffly, satisfied with that.
"I hope you boys are having fun, talking about me as if I'm not here, 'cause I'm loving it," she said. McKell returned to his stance before them, time kicking back into motion.
"One thing, vampire," Devyn said for all to hear, "She's my wife, as I've told you again and again, and you would do well to remember that. Don't forget what I'm capable of. Oh, and perhaps you should know, I texted the coordinates of your entrance to my friends at AIR. If they don't hear from me in twenty-four hours, they will descend."
It was a lie—their phones didn't work, they were too far out—but McKell clearly didn't know that. Red bled into his pupils, into the violet irises, the whites. Once more, time stopped. This time, however, even Devyn seemed to be frozen. Only Bride and McKell were aware.
The vampire launched forward, fist swinging and connecting with Devyn's eye before she could protest.
Bride snarled low in her throat. "Do that again, and I will personally slit your throat while you sleep. I'm the only one allowed to abuse him."
The vampire cracked his neck left, right, then settled back in his spot. "My apologies, sweet bride." Time restarted. Devyn rubbed his eye, glaring suspiciously at McKell.
"The king allowed you to live the last time you were here because he trusted you to keep our secrets," McKell said as if nothing had happened. "What will he say when he learns of this treachery?"
Bride shifted, suddenly nervous again. "You risk giving away your location every time you enter the surface world. How is that any different? Besides, you said the world already knows vampires exists."
"No, the underworld knows of our existence. Criminals. Slavers. But they don't know how to get to us. If word spreads, human fanatics will arrive on our doorstep. War will erupt. And if that happens, we will know who to blame." A muscle ticked in his jaw, and he whipped around. "Enough of this.
Come. There is a drop. You can fly, I presume?"
Fly? "No, I can't." No, not true, she thought next, but didn't rescind her claim. She could fly, but only as mist. Misting wasn't something she would do here. She would have to strip, then piece herself back together. She would be too exhausted to defend Devyn from attack.
McKell twisted to face her again, searching her features. "You do not tease? You cannot fly?”
“No." Could all other vampires? Fabulous. Already she was lacking.
Confusion flittered over the warrior's face. "Very well. I will catch you." With that, he stepped into a gaping hole and disappeared from view.
"We'll be fine," Devyn said. He kissed her temple. "I've never failed at anything and won't start now."
"But how will you—"
"I'm probably the most powerful, gifted man in the universe. Of course I can do this.”“Sorry if I'm not convinced. I need your game plan."
"Energy, love. Energy. Just as I can command other bodies to obey me, I can command the air to slow us."
She nodded, drew in a breath, and stepped to the hole. She looked down. So much darkness, so thick ... even with her superior eyesight, she couldn't see a bottom. Couldn't hear a sound.
"I'll meet you down there, and I'll be the one to catch you," Devyn said, and then he disappeared.
I can do this. I can. Closing her eyes, she stepped forward. Gasped. The ground vanished, and she was falling fast, falling down. Her arms floundered for an anchor as her heart raced in her chest, beating against her ribs. Up sprang the thorns and the fire, and her stomach twisted into a thousand tiny knots. She fought past her rising panic. Fly, damn you, fly.
A sense of numbness suddenly blanketed her feet and spread up, into her legs, her hips, her arms. With the numbness came a sensation of heaviness, and she thought to drop faster, harder, like a stone in water, but instead she slowed. Her eyelids popped open, and she gazed around her in confusion. It wasn't her body that was heavier, she realized, it was that the air around her had thickened.
She wanted to laugh. I'm flying. I'm truly flying. And Devyn was responsible, the sweetie. A light appeared at her feet, and she saw that he was already on the ground, waiting for her. He could see her without the glow stick, so his hands were empty as he opened his arms; she floated herself straight into them.
"Thank you," she said with a grin. "I didn't know something like that was possible."
"Actually, you did. You've been bedded by me, so you've flown to the heavens on several occasions."
The other vampires landed behind her, in the air one moment and standing the next.
"This way." While McKell's tone was stiff, he didn't protest Devyn's hold on her. Maybe he was learning. He stalked away, forcing them to follow or be left behind.
Devyn had to push her forward to spur her into motion. This new section of the cave was spacious, with walls so high she didn't have to duck and didn't feel cramped. There were shops built into the sides, with doorways and windows and signs, everything human shops possessed. No one was about, however; the makeshift streets were empty.
"Where is everyone?" she asked.
"Sleeping," McKell answered.
How very human of them. "How do they know day versus night?"
He rounded a corner, fingers brushing the pole of a muted streetlamp. "We have a lighting system of our own, one that mirrors the surface."
They trekked down a long walkway, took several more turns, bypassed what was obviously the palace, with its intimidating size, consuming three entire walls, squished through thin slices of rock, and finally came to an iron fence decorated with interwoven circles and squares.
McKell unlocked it with a single wave of his hand and trudged forward. Again, she and Devyn followed. The guards, however, did not. They posted themselves in front of the gate. Bride soon found herself walking straight into another cave, this one separated by thin strings of beads. Or rather, bone? she wondered. The pieces were small and the same creamy white as bone, a marrow like substance in the centers.
Inside were animal-skin rugs, a lounge and couch made from stone and draped in thick, dark fur, and a long, thin table that stretched in the center of the room. The table was the size of a twin bed and sat low to the ground. Is that where McKell slept?
"Sit, sit. Let's fortify ourselves before we begin. Are you thirsty?" he asked. Before she could answer, the warrior clapped his hands. A human girl raced through a far entryway, the beads blocking it clanging together behind her. The scent of food—fruits and nuts, no meats or spices, thank God—came with her. "Feed my guest," he instructed.
The girl was dressed in ... peach-colored leather? No, Bride realized upon closer inspection. Flesh. She gagged, barely managed to cover the motion with a hand to her mouth. The girl wore human flesh that had been cured into leather, and the material wrapped around her breasts and hips.
Dear God. They must recycle their food when they finished with it.
This one had been tattooed around her neck, wrists, and ankles. Like shackles. The design was intricate, distinctive, with the same swirls and points that Bride had seen on the iron fence.
The human kept her head bowed, her eyes lowered, as she lay upon the table and stretched out her arm in offering to Bride.
"No, thank you," Bride said gently. Revulsion swam through her as she eased onto the floor beside the table, her legs suddenly too weak to hold her.
A tremble moved through the girl, as though she feared the rejection would earn her a punishment.
"Is she not to your liking?" McKell asked.
"I can't drink from anyone but Devyn," she reminded him.
He was silent for a moment. "Who knows? This girl might be the exception. You should try her. She's very sweet." His motions were clipped, a direct contrast to his gentle tone, as he latched onto the girl's other arm and lifted it to his lips. He bit down, hard, but the girl didn't seem to notice.
On and on he drank. First, the girl paled. Then her eyelids drifted closed. Her head lulled to the side as she sank into unconsciousness. Eyes at half-mast, McKell disengaged and leaned back, his back propping against the lounge. His lips were stained crimson. "Sure you don't want to give her a try?"
Bride swallowed back intensified revulsion. It helped that Devyn was beside her, tracing little circles along her back, reminding her of his presence, his strength. Did everyone have slaves like this?
"I'm sure," she said. "At this rate, the girl will be dead by the end of the day." There was no way to hide her disgust.
The warrior frowned. "By the time my hunger returns, she'll be completely replenished.”
“How often do you eat?"
"Once a week. Every vampire here drinks once a week. Don't you?"
Once a week? Lucky. "No, I eat every day. Sometimes I was forced to go longer, but my hunger always returns with the descent of the sun."
His frown deepened, his brow puckering. "Interesting, but no cause for concern. Probably has to do with being raised on the surface." He sighed. "You have other questions, I'm sure."
"Many questions, actually." And she was more than ready to get started on the asking of them. "Where are my parents? Do I even have parents?"
The warrior nodded. He cast Devyn a smug glance, as if to say, See, I can give her what you cannot. "Vampires give birth just as humans do, though it is much harder for us to do so, as our aging process is so gradual. And you do have parents, yes. Or did. They're dead, I'm afraid. Your mother died of sickness. You father died soon after her in a hunting raid."
Dead. Her shoulders dipped. She didn't know them, and so didn't mourn them, but she did mourn the loss of the dream of them. "Is that why I was sent from this place? Because there was no one to take care of me?"
"No. Had they died and left you alone, there would have been a fight for you. Babies are rare and considered precious here. They were killed after sending you to the surface,
So she'd been sent away. Ouch. Wouldn't have stung so much if she'd accidentally wandered off.
So many nights she'd imagined a candy-flowers-and-balloons family reunion. Her parents would have laughed with joy upon seeing her, swept her into their arms, and proclaimed their undying love for her. Instead, they had willingly parted with her.