Page 26 of Ever Dark Academy, Vol. 7

His beloved and fledgling was staring at that blood and gore with wide, unblinking eyes. Grayson’s fangs were extended. He trembled with desire, with need, for blood. Ryder put a hand on Grayson’s shoulder just as he was about to bound over to the Kaly Vampire.

“No,” Ryder put a note of command in his voice.

He didn’t wish to do this, but he realized he must at this moment. Grayson’s head snapped towards him, silver eyes shining, fangs bared, but then the haze of blood lust left them and Grayson blinked. He put a hand to his forehead and shook himself.

“Damnit, I hoped I wouldn’t have this problem,” Grayson muttered.

“You’re hungry. It’s not a problem,” Ryder insisted. “I should feed you–”

“Here? Now? No,” Grayson shook his head fiercely. “You fed me before we left. That should be enough.”

“Some fledglings need more blood than others. You’re hosting three gifts. And you were just turned. You shouldn’t even be out in the world,” Ryder reminded him.

Grayson grimaced. “There are many things not as they should be. But we must deal with them. I must deal with this.” He shot Ryder a grateful look. “Thank you. For stopping me.”

Ryder nodded. “Anytime. Just perhaps stand upwind of the bodies. I need to end the other one before he comes back. There will be more blood.”

Grayson reluctantly nodded as well. He moved about a dozen feet from them. Ryder approached the male Kaly Vampire, Rakash, and stared down at him with an almost clinical precision. He was fully in control of his own bloodlust, too. He reached down and ripped Rakash’s head off. Blood sprayed everywhere, but he managed to side step it. Dark red lakes formed around both bodies. They didn’t have time to bury them. He only hoped that this was far enough away that no one would notice the smell of blood wafting down from here.

“Khos, finish her,” Ryder commanded. “Give her a Second Death. We can’t have them coming back and telling people what they’ve seen.”

Khos happily chomped through Cirillen’s neck, licking his bloody muzzle afterwards to clean it.

“Should have known they’d be watching the Destiny gate,” Grayson said as he slowly approached the bodies. He was careful not to look too long or too carefully at the blood pools. He turned to look at Charlie. “Good job in glamourizing us so quickly, Charlie.”

“You’re not the only one who should have guessed we’d need disguising coming through the gate. Should have changed us all before we left,” Charlie answered in Artemis’ voice, but then it changed as his whole form changed to mirror Cirillen’s. “Thought we’d have a moment. But only a fool trusts Eyros. Have to keep an eye on his way in.”

Eyros had truly given Ryder the most trouble in the War. Despite the other Immortal not being martially-minded, Eyros was intensely intelligent and strategic. He had adapted himself to what he needed to be to survive. He’d have to remind Balthazar of that when they saw him next.

“You appearing to be Artemis gave us the moment we needed,” Ryder said. He saw his own skin become the color of ebony as Charlie glamourized him to look like the other fallen Kaly Vampire, Rakash.

“I’ll tweak the rest of you as soon as we see some more of the inhabitants here,” Charlie explained. “We don’t want to add stranger to everything else we’re facing. Expect me to glamourize you multiple times, in fact, as we make our way through Solace to get to the Spire.”

Grayson nodded. “We need to blend in as best as we possibly can. We’ll need to do some recon on who is allowed in and out of the Spire.”

Charlie petted Khos–who allowed the touch as he continued to lick his chops–and Ryder saw that glorious coat change from thick fur to bone and gristle.

“Ah, now Khos looks like a Kaly pet,” Charlie said.

Ryder reached down to touch the Dire Wolf who looked up at him with adoration out of glowing blue eyes set in a skull mostly denuded of flesh. But his fingers felt fur despite his eyes telling him none was there. Ryder smiled and scratched Khos between the ears again.

“Good Khos,” he murmured and sent a psychic wave of approval. Khos’ tongue lolled out.

“There look to be quite a few people at the Spire. It’s definitely Kaly’s headquarters,” Grayson said.

He was standing on the edge of the cliff that held the Destiny gate. The path the Kaly Vampires had been climbing up towards them on switchbacked down the cliff towards Solace. Ryder joined him. He could see the wide, pale plaza filled with people moving back and forth across it. Hundreds of Vampires. Maybe a few thousand. His stomach tightened. If they were discovered, it would be very, very bad. The four of them couldn’t fight so many. They didn’t yet have all of their powers back yet and Grayson was just turned. No, they had to keep out of sight and out of mind.

“There aren’t just Kaly Vampires here,” Grayson murmured as his silver eyes narrowed when he tracked the ant-like figures.

Ryder’s Vampiric-sight confirmed what his beloved was seeing. He saw a few Ashyr Vampires using their gift to levitate items. There were plenty of glowing soul gems. But he heard sweet Siryn singing lifted up by the wind too. A few Vampires teleported themselves around the Spire as well. He was certain he would find Mirryr, Horys, and every Bloodline down there.

Charlie stepped up to them as well. He sighed. “No, in the end, everyone got behind the banner of beings like Artemis Alucius and Roan Tithe. They didn’t realize they were Kaly slices, of course. Just thought that they were the survivors who wanted to stop the violence. As the Immortals were killed or went into hiding, the Vampires blamed them. Not just Kaly or Weryn. But all of them. Better for the Immortals to be dead and buried and never coming back.”

Ryder grimaced. “They wanted to rebuild. Understandable. Back in Destiny, it felt like–”

“A dead end,” Grayson finished for him with another deep sigh. “The time of the Immortals is over here. Supposedly. These surviving Vampires think that they are creating a whole new society, one not based on the whims of gods drunk on their own power.”

Fiona crossed her arms over her chest. “I believed that. I held onto it so tight that what we were doing in the Order was right. We were the vanguard against the excesses of the past. We were going to keep things in check. There would be an elected council. No king. The Preceptor would also have to step aside when his or her term was over. It appeared as if there were always new people in charge. No one pulling all of the strings.”