AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m twenty years old and I haven’t fallen in ages. I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me, mom. Live in the moment.” She couldn’t help living in the moment, and sometimes she showed her frustration about it. If only there were some way to heal her mind. She refused to go to any of the expensive specialists, having an extreme hatred for sorcerers who were the antithesis of everything her healing was about. Maybe if I earned enough money to pay for an exam, I could get her to go for a check-up. I’d danced with a gargoyle last night. Anything was possible.
I skated down the hall with waffles under my arms and in my mouth. She’d missed a few ingredients, like salt and baking powder, but I ate two anyway while I rode my board to the nearest plunge down to Song. The massive elevator was strangely busy, with a group of goblins growling at each other and speaking what sounded like German. They all wore business suits and thick dark glasses to protect their delicate eyes from the sun. Goblins were usually bankers and accountants with a keen business savvy that made them dangerous in a different way than the usual straightforward vampire who wanted to suck your blood or a werewolf who might eat you. Unless the goblins were assassins.
I was jostled when a group of werewolves who looked like the guys from last night came in, pushing me back to the goblins. I was wearing a ball cap under my hoodie as well as loose pants, so my gender wasn’t exactly noticeable. I didn’t look anything like the idiot girl in the white slip who had run through Song only a few hours ago.
I tucked my head and tried not to be seen.
“I told you that the fish would be fresh,” one of them said, elbowing the other. Was this mermaid talk? The last mayor had been a merman who had done a lot to clean up the riverfront and the water. Merfolk were a lot like angels, that is, most of them terrifying warriors created to battle demons in air or water. Elves were the land warriors, but for some reason, weren’t as aggressive as the other two groups, angels from the air, or merfolk from the water. No idea why, but I didn’t care that much about anything other than gargoyles. I bounced on the balls of my feet as the memory swept through me, the feel of his skin, the scent of his neck, the music and dance, like angelic choruses straight from heaven.
The plunge jerked to a stop, bringing me back to earth, no, much lower than that. I shoved through the crowd on the busy street of Singsong’s undercity, then dropped my board and took off, threading around the werewolves, careful so I didn’t run over any toes. Or tails.
I had my phone out so I could find the area where I’d dropped the books, riding my board over the brick streets until my teeth were jarred in my skull. Thump, thump, thump. I could run, but I had to be quick, or I’d be late for my first class. Economics. Was there anything more inspiring? But I’d need it if I was going to make it through the accounting program.
I wasn’t going to make it into anything if I was stuck in jail for book stealing. I kicked harder, turned a corner and then cut into the alley. Yeah, my heart was pounding harder than usual, but I’d blame that on the ride more than the likelihood that I’d get grabbed by another werewolf.
The alley was empty other than a large dumpster that I vaguely remembered from the night before. Yeah, the solo werewolf had knocked out the vampire right behind it. I hurried to the spot where my books should have been. No books, but tacked to the wall above was a sign.
Found: Spellbooks. Will be held at the Sphinx’s Curse for a week before they will be sold.
I brushed my fingers over the ink. It wasn’t wet, but it couldn’t have been there long. I checked my phone, and I definitely didn’t have time to figure out where the Sphinx’s Curse was and deal with whoever probably wanted a hefty sum to get those books back. At least someone had them so I could, theoretically, get them back.
I grabbed the flier and rolled it up before I turned and then stopped abruptly while an ominous, cloaked figure blocked my way. I kicked my board up and walked towards the creep, ready to take them out if I had to.
She threw back her hood when I got close enough to see that it was the vampire from last night, the one the guy had knocked out with a punch.
She pulled the tiny book out of her cloak and twitched it back and forth. “Does this look familiar?” It was the smallest book, the key to the others.
I gripped my board and scowled. “What do you want?”
She smiled, showing her sharp fangs. “I am curious about your motives. That was the first time I can remember that someone interrupted a predator for the sake of my health. It was very foolish of you.”
I shifted, calculating how long it would take me to get to the mouth of the alley after I snagged the book from her. “I’m not used to Song. In Sing, it wouldn’t have been a big deal to take out a predator, but the food chain is completely different down here.”
“But why would you trouble yourself at all in Sing or Song?” She rubbed the spine of my book against her chin. “It will bother me for years, decades, perhaps centuries if you do not tell me.”
“Give me the book, and I’ll tell you.”
Her smile broadened. “Tell me, and I’ll give you the book.”
I had to hurry, or I’d be late for my first class. There was nothing worse than working hard to pay for a class that you missed. What did the crazy vampire want to know? “Empathy, I guess. If I was being attacked, I’d want someone to help me, and so empathy directed my actions. Do you happen to know anything about the Sphinx’s Curse?”
She frowned and shook her head. “No, that’s not it. Empathy is all very well and good, but putting yourself at risk when you understand the danger from firsthand experience is unlikely. Do better or I’ll destroy it.” She scraped her claws lightly over the cover.
I gasped and then held my breath. If she damaged the book, Percival would definitely get me fired. Fine, I’d have gotten myself fired out of blatant neglect in the face of my irrational gargoyle obsession. I licked my lips while my mind raced. She was a vampire, so what did she understand about empathy?
“My mother was attacked when she was pregnant with me. She was brutally scarred and should have died. Somehow, she survived, but her mind was shattered. She doesn’t remember anything about the attack or anything else most of the time. I don’t know who my father is, or if he was the one who brutalized her. I’ve had to watch her suffer my whole life without being able to do anything about it. I hate that! I will not stand by and let someone else and their families suffer like she does, as long as I have any power in me.” I was breathing hard at the end, my stomach twisting in familiar old anger.
She blinked at me, then tossed me the book. I barely caught it with one hand. “You are trying to save others from her unhappiness. That is illogical, but understandable.”
“She’s perfectly happy,” I said, running my fingers over the dark leather, checking it for damage. One corner was slightly damp and musty smelling, but what else did I expect from an alley in Song?
“She isn’t bitter?” She was closer now, but I hadn’t noticed her moving.
“No. She makes the best of things. She’s a healer. She can’t do her job if she has trapped negative emotions.”
Her eyes brightened. “Your mother is the healer, Anna? But she is friends with the Librarian.”
“Libby? Yeah. They’re both sushi addicts. How do you know my mother?” I did not want a random vampire to know my vulnerable mother.
