Page 69 of Ever Dark Academy, Vol. 7

But she shook her head. “No, that will lead to a whole other mess of things. Besides, most people would know those with the red jewels. We’re not native here. Or I’m assuming we’re not.”

Her eyes slid to him and he shook his head.

“Don’t want to take the risk of someone coming up to us as their long lost cousin or something. Let alone their Childe or Master. These are people from far in the future who I met,” he assured her.

“Good plan,” she agreed, putting two fingers to her head and lowering her chin as they met another person with red stones on their collar.

Many eyes drifted to her magnificent bosom. One of the male Vampires approached with a simpering smile on his lips even as his eyes were not on her face.

“I dare say that you ought to stay close to me, my dear.” He touched the center of his chest. “With dangerous enemies afoot, I could take care of you.”

Charlie half expected Fiona to grip the man by the throat and throttle him before tossing his lifeless body over her shoulder. But instead, she smiled back, her eyes going coquettish and her head dipping.

“So kind, but my Master calls and I cannot stay,” she told him, her fingers trailing up his arm. “But another time?”

“Oh, yes, yes, indeed!” The Order Vampire flashed her a wolfish look, which she appeared to welcome, but Charlie knew she was contemplating plucking out his eyeballs and making him eat them. Then they were walking past while he was gazing after them. The Order Vampire called out, “Wait, I don’t know your name!”

But they had already passed out of his eyeshot.

Out of the corner of her mouth, she said, “Charlie, I really need to be less conspicuous.”

He had already shifted them both to two very nondescript lower Order members swathed in thick, covering robes. They’d made it to a hallway just as Bianca’s voice rose up behind them.

“Can you scent them? You did get a good whiff, didn’t you, Thaddeus?” Bianca asked.

She was speaking to a whip-thin young man with brown hair and a fox-like face. “I have.”

His head was turning slowly as he scented the air.

“Weryn Vampire,” he hissed.

Fiona nodded. They had their backs to the hallway they wanted to go down now. They backed into it slowly, acting as if they were not moving at all. Thaddeus’ head was swinging towards their location as he lifted his nose in the air.

“We need to go, Fifi,” he whispered.

“Yep, time to go,” Fiona said as she turned on her heel and started to move down the hallway.

Just as he turned, he heard Thaddeus shout, “That way! Their scent comes from that direction!”

He didn’t look back to check if Thaddeus was pointing in their direction. He and Fiona fled down the hallway. She turned right into a room that looked to be for praying. There were thick carpets on the floor. The ceiling was covered in beautiful crystals that glittered. Not soul gems, just pretty decorations that mirrored the night sky. But there were no windows or other doors out of there. He shut the door after them.

“Fifi, please tell me that you can get us out of here!” he hissed as the thunder of footsteps was coming down the hall.

There were shouts and Thaddeus’ voice rose up, “The scent is fresh! They are near!”

“I can–can do it. I’m still a little messed up from whatever that structure did to me,” she admitted. “And the Spire is not helping, but I can get us out of here.”

“Good, because, unless we intend to break through the wall, we’re not getting out of here otherwise,” he told her.

He adjusted Tanis’ dead weight in his arms. For a Vampire, it was easy for him to carry her in terms of weight, but she was awkward. Not exactly a nice, stiff package. He wondered if her body would die soon. Was she still breathing? Was her heart still beating? He had no idea!

“Let’s get as close to the outside wall as possible,” she said as she moved across from the door. “And let me fully touch you and Tanis. All I need to do is get us ten feet. Just ten damned feet!”

“The door! Get through that door! They’re in there!” Thaddeus cried.

“Fifi, now or never,” Charlie said as he hoped he gave her a supporting nod.

The truth was that Thaddeus was giving him the creeps. There was something hyena-like about that Weryn Vampire. He imagined that Thaddeus ate dead prey. He had no idea why he thought this, but he could truly picture that lean snout digging into the soft parts of his body and ripping bloody bits off of it.