The command floods through me, tearing apart my mind. Agony blooms inside my skull, and for long, excruciating moments, I don’t know anything. I’m not me at all, only a command, only an instruction that must be followed.
“Georgia!” Druin’s voice comes at me from a great distance, like he’s shouting down an overgrown train tunnel.
I gasp, my vision returning in a blast of sensation. But it’s dark here.
“Where am I?” I reach out.
“I’ve got you.” Druin takes my hand.
“What happened?” My head burns, and I feel wetness on my cheek. I taste blood.
“I don’t know. Maybe a seizure? You were shaking, eyes rolled back, and you kept walking. When I tried to stop you, you started hitting your head on the wall. You only stopped when I let go.”
“Gregor. His compulsion.” I keep moving inexorably toward the tracks, toward the Black Cavern.
“Georgia?” Juno’s voice slices through the dark. “What’s going on? Where have you been? You’re bleeding.”
“I have to go.” I can’t stop, can’t disobey.
“Wait.” She steps in front of me. I can’t see anything in the pitch black, only sense her presence.
“He’ll kill Valen. I won’t let him. I can’t let him.” The bridge of my nose burns, tears rolling down my cheeks. “I have to go.” The truth is, Valen may already be dead, but I can’t think about that now. I can’t let it be real. I won’t. And despite our bond being broken, I still believe I can feel him. Somewhere deep inside where even Gregor can’t reach, Valen is there.
“You can’t!” Juno grabs my arms.
“She can’t resist the compulsion,” Druin says quietly. “Gregor’s hold will eventually kill her if she disobeys. She’s already suffering from it.”
“No.” Juno’s voice is quieter, breaking. “Not you. Not you.” She wraps me in her arms, my skin itching to move, to get to Gregor. “Please, no.”
Sparks and rumbling along the track announce the arrival of the empty train carriage. It stops beside me.
“I have to go.” I try to disentangle myself from Juno, but she clings to me.
“No!” She hangs on, her strength crushing me to her. “I won’t let you.”
NOW. The command is acid filling my veins and pumping through my heart. I black out again, my world shattering into a wasteland of pain. There is nothing. Nothing except Gregor’s voice. I must obey it.
When I come to, I’m slumped over in the train car, the side-to-side motion rocking me like a mother with a newborn. I sit up, again tasting blood. I wipe my nose, my fingers coming away wet. Bloody.
I have no idea where I am, how close to the Black Cavern. My skin is clammy, cold sweat soaking through my clothes. I wrap my arms around myself, the too-big jacket giving slight comfort.
“Valen?” I whisper the thought of him, hoping to feel him somewhere out in the dark, hoping he’s still alive.
But there is nothing. Just the creaking of the train carriage and the whine of metal on metal.
The carriage begins to slow, and I peer into the dark looking for some sign of the vampires, of Gregor.
It jolts to a hard stop.
I wait.
Silence.
But my need to complete my task gets me on my feet. I step out of the carriage though I can’t see the ground. My feet aren’t concerned. They keep me moving.
I walk up a flight of stairs, my heart pumping like I’ve run a mile, and then another. Two more and I’m on level ground. A thin shaft of light shines far ahead, and I realize I’m in another tunnel, this one with no tracks.
The light reveals more black stone, the way ahead fading into pitch again. When I pass through the ray, I realize it’s sun. I must be closer to the surface here, wherever here is. But I can’t stop to figure it out. My head throbs at the thought of delaying.
