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“Very nice,” he said, and I glanced up to find his gaze intent on me.
I nodded, but I was distracted and darted my eyes away, devouring everything in the room. It was like glimpsing a movie set. The orchestra was playing a Viennese waltz, and couples swarmed the dance floor, the women decked out in elaborate period garb. “Who are they?”
“Feeders,” he said stiffly.
Only then did I notice how many of the females had scarves tied in elaborate knots around their necks. I shuddered. My guess was, they were concealing more than hickeys.
He took my hand and spun me close, and my body thumped into his as he leapt into a vigorous waltz. “Time for us to leave. ”
I shuffled my feet to catch his pace, feeling dread that at any moment he’d realize what an abysmal dancer I was. “You don’t mess around. ”
“No need to dally. ” He glided me in effortless circles across the floor. I’d thought I couldn’t dance, but I’d thought wrong. Carden knew how to move, and it made dancing a breeze. “The sooner we make it over there the better. ” He tipped his chin toward the far wall and the thick swaths of velvet drapes that I assumed marked the balcony doors.
I nodded. As a dancer, he was a strong lead—I didn’t even need to keep count—and for once in my life I was happy to follow. “You’ve done this before,” I said, finding myself a little breathless.
He gave a noncommittal grunt, intent on cutting a diagonal path across the crowd, and we reached the far wall in a matter of minutes. Putting an arm around me, he shot a quick glance around, then ducked us behind the curtain. I was certain we simply looked like a couple sneaking out for a romantic tryst.
The night air was brisk, and it felt delicious on my damp brow. He made a beeline for the stone parapet and vaulted over and down. I hiked up my dress, quick on his heels. I didn’t want him to do anything that’d embarrass me, like try to catch me or anything.
It was a low drop. I landed in a crouch and heard the crackle of a tearing seam as I bounded into a run. We made quick progress across the grounds, through a network of squat, stone buildings, and Carden pointed out dormitories, a bakehouse, even an abandoned infirmary. A weird humming cut through the air, and it was getting louder the closer we got to what looked like a chapel.
I slowed my pace. “What’s that noise?”
“They still keep the Lauds of the Dead. ” Seeing my confusion, he clarified. “Some of the vampires keep vigil through the night, chanting for the souls of the dead. ”
“The dead,” I repeated. “Which is…them?”
He nodded. “They’re a morbid bunch. ”
“Creepy. ”
I strained to listen. It was a deep, vibrant hum that would’ve sounded beautiful were it not so disturbing. “So those are monks chanting?”
“Make no mistake,” he said. “Those are vampires chanting. Old habits die hard. ”
We cut around the chapel to the bank of a shallow stream and, not even pausing, plowed forward, picking our way over rocks and fallen logs to the other side. Once safely into the woods, we slowed our pace a little, and ten thousand questions popped to my mind. “Some of these guys were priests?”
“Some were. Some weren’t. ”
The notion blew me away. “Jeez…Some of these vamps were actual holy men?”
“Not holy men,” he said. “Political men. But aye, good men did live here once—they simply martyred themselves, preferring a one-way trip to their Lord over a life of what they considered immortal depravity. ”
I wanted to ask Carden if he’d had a choice, but I was afraid to know the answer.
“The ones who survived,” he continued, “I suppose you could say they’re religious. It just happens to be themselves they believe in. ”
I hiked up my skirt as we high-stepped over brush and shrubs, making our way to a clearing in the distance. The woods were shadowy, but there was lighter gray on the horizon—the coast. “How’d vampires even end up here in
the first place?”
“There was an attack once, claiming multiple monasteries. All those men, all that wealth, together in a cold and sunless climate—it was irresistible to vampires. A series of quick attacks, and entire settlements were destroyed. Men didn’t have a chance. …Norse, Vikings, Pagans, Christians, Scots—many on these isles in the far north were turned. ”
“But humans still live here, too. I’ve seen their houses, on the Isle of Night. ”
“Think about it, girl. What do vampires feed on?” He stared, waiting for it to hit me.
“Oh. Ick. They kept people alive so they’d have something…to eat?”
