Vengeance (The Captive #6)(74)

“I’ve actually heard something like that before, except it was the human race that was such a waste the last time I heard it,” he replied. He tried to smile, but his busted lips were in the process of healing and made it difficult to do so.

Goran snarled at him; he tore gouges of skin away from William’s chin when he jerked his hand away. William tried not to let the pain show, but he was unable to stop himself from wincing as he felt air brushing over the bone exposed by the motion. Goran turned to one of the vampires hovering by his side on the stage.

“Get the queen,” he commanded brusquely.

The vampire blanched visibly. “Should we ah… clean him up first, sir?” the man stammered.

“There is no scrubbing the filth from this vermin,” Goran replied.

William added another name to the list of those he’d like to see dead. He may not be strong enough to kill this one, but he’d really enjoy watching Braith tear Goran’s cotton ball head from his shoulders. William forced himself to remain unmoving as he waited for the woman who believed she would take Aria’s place.

***

Tempest waited until the sun slipped behind the mountain, just as William had told her to do, before pulling the hood of her cloak over her head. She didn’t bother with the shoe polish again; most of the vampires who had invaded their town were gathered by the hotel, drawn by curiosity as to what was going on. The ones who remained in the street were mulling about with each other, or standing by and watching the hotel. She counted on the ones gathered within the mountains also to be busy watching the hotel.

She doubted any of them would notice her; one white cloaked figure walking through the yards wasn’t suspicious to them.

“Here.” Pallas handed her two containers of the oil they used to light the lamps. She tucked the cans safely into the inside pockets of her cloak before accepting the ball of rags and lighter Pallas handed her next. “Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you?”

“No,” Tempest replied. “Stay here with the children. Have them ready to leave when I get back.”

“Abbott can do that.”

She grabbed hold of her friend’s hands and squeezed them. “If something happens to me, you’re the only other one who can get them through the mountains, and they’ll need you.”

“I’m not sure I can remember how to get out,” Pallas whispered tremulously. “I never spent as much time in the mountains as you, and I only went out that way with you one time.”

“You’ll remember when you get into them. You’ll see, it will all come back to you. Besides we only have the one white cloak and it will be easier for me to move about by myself.”

Pallas closed her eyes, her hands clenched around Tempest’s before she finally released them. Abbott and Pallas followed her through the dining room and to the backdoor. Tempest had no concern about going out there, or for herself; she was more concerned she would fail in her mission, and in doing so she would lose William forever. No matter what happened out there, she could not fail. Even if it meant she was captured or killed herself.

“If I’m not back in an hour, leave without me,” she said to Pallas.

“Tempest…”

“They’re going to kill us all no matter what; you have to take the chance to escape, Pallas. You have too.”

“We will,” Abbott said and stepped forward to hug her.

“Promise me.”

“I promise,” Pallas whispered. Her lower lip trembled; her hands shook when she rested them on Abbott’s shoulders.

Tempest pulled the backdoor open and stepped into the shadowy dusk enveloping the town. In the distance, the forlorn hoot of an owl echoed through the valley. Her eyes searched the mountains and backyards before she stepped off the porch and hurried through the thigh high snow toward the road.

She made her way toward the street and stepped onto the well-trodden road. The snow had compacted so she could walk on top of it down the road. Her head bowed against the wind blowing down the roadway between the houses. Murmurs and questions about what was going on followed her as she walked. She could almost feel their curiosity as they tried to understand what had unfolded today, and just who was the vampire they’d dragged off to the queen.

From the whispers, some assumed he was deranged, and others believed the king had sent him. Her ears perked at that theory, but even as she tried to glean more about it, they were already speculating it had been someone Kane owed money to. The money one seemed to be the prevailing theory she realized as she strained to hear more of the rumors bantered about.

Turning down the road, she walked past the house she’d shared with Pallas. Her eyes slid to the side to take in the darkened building she’d considered her home. At the end of the street, she made a right and slipped into the side yard of a large chalet. The building had been the school to vampire children for her entire life. Since the war, it had educated both vampire and human children before the town had been taken over. Arriving at the back of the empty school, she knelt behind the wooden building by a basement window.

Her fingers slid over the window until she found the bottom of it. The window squeaked when she pulled it open. She froze; her eyes darted around, but nothing moved in the night, and no one was about. Turning back to the window, she tugged it the rest of the way open.

She removed one of the rags from her cloak and a bottle of the oil. Drenching the rag with the oil, she pulled out the lighter and flicked it open. Her fingers fumbled with the flint before finally getting it to light. The rag flared to life, fire danced over her face and the surrounding snow.