Page 11 of Vervain

A chortled laugh comes from Lucifer. “You are a vegodian, are you not? Or was that sword then dagger of yours an illusion?”

I grind my teeth. He talks down to me as though I am a child. Belittling.

A sharp sigh escapes Serun, and his tap, tap, tap resumes. “Slayers kill both nightwalkers and vegodians. They will kill anyone who holds magik. And though they hate us, they hate vegodians twice as much. That is why I want to protect you.”

My right eye twitches, and I scratch the spot on my chest where Jaxton’s brother shot me. He saw the tattoo and fired without a second thought. He didn’t talk to me. Not a word of warning—nothing. To him I am the enemy.

“And why do they hate my kind so much?”

“Fear,” Serun replies. “Fear makes men do the most careless of things. Fear is like acid to the mind, melting all other senses until only the fear remains.

The unknown man who had a woman standing behind him in the theatre clears his throat. “As soon as humans feared they weren’t on top of the food chain anymore, they had the inclination to kill whatever might be.”

“Then I should find my brother. He is part vegodian too, and if they find out, they will harm him.”

Maeve says, “He is biologically male, no? Vegodian males only hold magik in their sperm, correct?”

“That’s the rumour,” Serun says. “We haven’t met one to confirm, though.”

“He is a child. And I don’t want him with them.” With a shaky breath, I lift my head enough to throw Serun a frosty look. “I’m leaving to find him, and if you try to stop me, I will make you swallow sunlight.”

That same cruelly bright smile reaches Serun’s face, and the shadows that cling so dearly to his shoulders quiver. His finger stops tapping the table, and he curls his hand into a fist.

Serun is beautiful—a pretty corpse, as much as I hate to admit it. A piercing stare, with dark circles under his tired eyes, and lines drawn down the sides of his nose, most prominent when he smirks.

He inclines his head and his dark hair falls forward, shadowing his face. “If that is your desire, then I will follow.”

“I’d rather you didn’t,” I mutter.

Lucifer stands, slamming his hands on the table. I jump back, stepping into the moonlight. “You are Lord of the Undercity, and you have been gone for far too long, brother!” Heat stifles the room. “The newborns are also notoriously stupid, and with another eighteen of them in the Undercity, it will be far easier to instil fear when you are present.”

Maeve stands, but unlike the fury burning from Lucifer, she is calm as she raises her hand to Serurn and says, “I am happy you desire to please make your consort, dear brother. With that said, I agree with Lucifer. You have been gone far too long. At least stay for a little while. Make yourself known before you’re off once more. I grow tired of caretaking your responsibilities.”

Are they…? Is this a voting system?

The children in Cherry Bloom did something similar when choosing which games to play. Biters-and-Feeders was the most popular.

Serun’s unsettled eyes move to the unknown man with the familiar voice. Serun’s ears bend to the sides, reminding me of a feral cat that roamed my village, while the other man’s ears dip submissively. But after a quick look at the others around the table, the mystery man pushes his blond hair back and slowly rises from his seat.

Serun’s ear twitches.

The man sighs and says, “I will track her brother while you deal with some of your responsibilities.” He darts a quick look at me. “Once I have located him, you and your consort can join me. Then, we will retrieve the child and bring him to the Undercity.”

My finger twitches, and the urge to argue weighs heavily on my heart. I want to go home with Cole. I want to understand my vegodian magik and who I am. I can’t do that in the Undercity.

“Do you agree?” Serun asks, eyes never leaving mine. “I’ve been voted against, which means to follow you will break the law. It will also mean I am no longer Lord, and my family won’t protect you. They care little for my affairs, so if you decline, expect a bloodbath.”

The three of them step away from Serun as the shadows rise. They float in the air, then the shadow mask consumes him. He is ready to fight his family to follow me.

The three now have auras rippling from them. Lucifer glows a radiant orange. Spiders crawl over Maeve’s skin. The unknown man’s eyes turn into yellow slits, and a low growl rolls through his lungs.

Interesting family.

Serun hasn’t moved. His shadows become inky raindrops and freeze in the air, but he hasn’t moved an inch. His piercing gaze stays on mine, and a twitch of a smirk rests on his face while he awaits my decision.

He knows my answer. He knows what I am going to say. I want to save my brother, not have an entourage of nightwalkers hunting me.

“Fine,” I say. The static tension eases, and they move closer to Serun as if nothing happened. They sit by him, smiles on their faces, seemingly without a care that I am even more on edge. “Find my brother, but don’t approach him. I want to be the one to talk to him.”