Ebiti’s lip curled in anger at the insult. “I trust you’ll manage.”
Letting out a long sigh, Nadi debated her choices. What choices? There wasn’t one. If she refused, they’d riddle them both full of bullets right where they stood. No, the only way forward was…to go to the dockyards. To see if she could convince what remained of her people to fight with them.
Fuck.
It wasn’t that she didn’t know this whole thing was going to get messy—it just hadn’t really sunk in how messy it was really going tobe.But here she was. Throwing up her hands, she took the only option in front of her. Death had long since been ruled out as the coward’s choice. She was too far in to stop now. “Fine.”
“Good.” Ebiti gestured at Raziel. “Kalo. Keep a gun on you, in case you need to put the rabid dog down. But you can free him now.”
Kalo fished a key out of his pocket and moved to unlock Raziel’s wrists.
The vampire smiled. Just a little too wide. “No need.”
And with that, he exploded into a swarm of bats. Nadi ducked as black, fluttering wings filled her vision. Screeching joined the sounds of screams as the humans and few fae in the room panicked at the sudden presence of hundreds upon hundreds of bats in the enclosed space.
Claws and leathery wings smacked against her. One of the guards on the second level fired off his rifle once, twice, in his terror.
“Bal’ta! Hold your fire!”Ebiti shouted over the fray. It did little good to quell the fear.
Just as quickly as the bats had arrived, they disappeared. Nadi watched as they coalesced back into Raziel, standing right where he had been a moment before. She had never seen it happen. It wasfascinating,she had to admit. He adjusted his coat, and ran a hand through his hair.
The chains were at his feet, still linked together by the padlock they had used to bind him. He was still smiling, calmly and proudly, at Ebiti.
All the guns were pointed at him now, but it didn’t matter. And they all knew it.
His point had been made.
“So.” He tucked his hands casually into his pockets. “When do we leave?”
EIGHT
“Was that necessary?” Nadi tightened the straps on the saddlebags of thechanchashe had been given to ride. It stomped one of its six, stick-like, nearly skeletal legs into the ground, letting out a quiet and chitteringscreeat her. Almost as if it were asking her the same question.
Was that necessary?Was she sure about this? It was clear thechanchawasn’t so sure about the vampire in its presence.Chanchabugs were smaller relatives to theushilthat pulled the wagons in the caravans. Faster, lighter, and easier to ride, they were meant for solitary riders.
Raziel was holding the reins of hischanchaand staring at it in horrified disgust. It was as though someone had squatted on the ground, taken a giant shit, and then told him to climb aboard because it was about to sprout wings and fly. Snapping out of it, he glanced at her. “I had a statement to make.”
“And you made it,vuampi.”Kalo was already on hischancha.It was clear that his was one that knew him well, as it was the only one not skittish about the whole situation. It was the biggest of the three, with four, curling horns that twisted back from the plates of its head. Kalo leaned down and pattedthe creature on the neck. The beads in his hair clinked as he did. “It remains to be seen if it was for better or worse.”
Chancha,like many of the other non-fae creatures of the Wild, had exoskeletons rather than flesh like the creatures of the surface. It was really just the fae that were the exceptions to the rule.
Putting her foot in the stirrup, Nadi climbed into the saddle. It had been decades since she had ridden one, but it suddenly felt as though it had only been days. “How long of a ride is it to the dockyards?”
“Not long. Two days, maybe three, if there has been a collapse.” Kalo shrugged. “Hopefully, none of the other clans give us trouble.”
Raziel, having watched Nadi’s method of climbing onto thechanchacarefully, replicated her movements precisely. He did it with a surprising level of grace. He was a fast learner, she’d give him that. “Because of my presence, I assume.”
“The whole world does not revolve around you, bloodsucker.” Kalo rolled his eyes. “No. Because we are traveling light. Because I am Kalo. Because she is Nadi. Because we are easy prey.”
“Mm. I think I would personally argue with you about that last bit.” Raziel shifted in the saddle, finding a comfortable way to sit. “But view yourself however you like, vermin.”
Nadi did her best to brace herself for what was going to be a very long few days. “Can you two please try not to argue the entire way there? I might have to kill you both, just to spare my sanity.”
Raziel laughed. “Oh, my sweet little murderer. I think that ship has long since sailed.”
Nadi wasn’t sure how to feel when Kalo joined him in the laughter.
They’d been riding for about three or four hours when Kalo finally broke the silence that had settled over them like a fog.
