“I’ve never seen anything like that before.” Shaw was beside her now examining the device with narrowed eyes. He didn’t pull on it as she had done, but rather turned it over to study its back.
“Bastard.”
“What?” Lux rubbed at her arm, still tingling as warmth worked back through her veins.
“A pinprick of crimson, a droplet of warmth; so must be the Sacrifice.” He stepped back. “Blood. How fitting for our mayor.”
He reached for his knife at the same moment she pressed her fingertip over one of the lock points.
“Let me, Shaw.”
“No. You don’t know what else it might glean from you. I’m no one.”
“Being no one is a very dangerous thing in this town.” And she pricked the pad of her finger before he could protest further, glancing away from the drop as it pooled then splashed onto the lock’s surface.
“You shouldn’t have done that.”
But Lux wasn’t paying him any mind. Pressing her finger against her skirt, she knelt, eyeing the metal as it began to click and whir. The lock snapped free. With a triumphant grin, she swung the door outward.
The cabinet’s insides glowed silver.
And still their faces fell in a mixture of confusion and disappointment, their brows drawn in an exact replica of the other. For there were only twenty vials stacked inside at most.
Where is the rest of it?
“This…is it?” Shaw’s incredulity was plain. He snatched one of the vials from its resting place, fixing a glare upon the substance within.
Lux spoke the obvious, “He certainly isn’t draining lifeblood from those dead of the plague.”
Maybe it was a simple purge after all. She couldn’t absolve him yet.
Shaw tipped the shimmering liquid into his cupped palm.
“What are you doing?” She backed away from him, his expression unreadable.
He smiled, almost animalistic, his eyes flicking up to hers. “What I do best, Necromancer.” He dipped a finger into the silver pool as the vial shattered upon the floor. “Painting.”
Hours later, once the fire was put out and the black smoke cleared, men would stare in horror upon Shaw’s corrupt work. A gleaming, silver forest smeared across the walls in broad strokes, unmarred by flame. And the words:
Death is Inevitable
“Revive me if I’mburned to a crisp, won’t you?” were Shaw’s last words before he forced a hesitant Lux through the doors to listen to a begging cry from deep within the prison. He’d said he trusted Aline’s skill. The fervor with which he scolded Lux into listening to him spoke otherwise.
He’d told her it was a mechanism with a slow-to-emit gas and a spark with which to ignite the flames. It had sounded simple enough, but when she swung the door inward to see what took him so long, she was sent stumbling back by his body propelling through.
“It took. Go!” Shaw gripped her hand, pulling her after him.
Already, she could smell the smoke trailing behind her. She only hoped those trapped behind stone walls and locked doors would have faith. They did this as much for them as for themselves.
They had stolen every last usable drop of lifeblood, cast a vial upon the walls, and left one very obvious message for their beloved mayor. This would be his final lifetime in this world.Even with her continued revival of his tumor-consumed insides, she doubted he would survive much longer without it.
Her thoughts were cut short, however, when a high-pitched sound screeched through the tunnel. She clapped hands to her ears with little improvement, the noise continuing in a rhythmic pattern she’d never heard before.
“An alarm!” The color fled Shaw’s skin, draining Lux’s own at the sight.
He yanked on her arm, her legs unable to keep up with his sprinting pace. They rounded a curved corner in the labyrinth of the mansion’s underground. “What does it mean?” She’d never heard such a thing.
“It means we’ve been found out.” The words were nearly lost to her. She’d almost hoped they had been. For they wouldn’t live to see morning if the mayor discovered them, and with sweeping certainty, she knew their lifeblood would be the first vials in his refurbished collection.
