A Shade of Vampire 8: A Shade of Kiev (6 page)

I pushed the door open. The room was empty, the bed sheets folded. There was no sign of any of her belongings. I wondered where she might have gone. But it was just as well. I doubted that I would have left the room without claiming at least a few gulps of her blood had she been there. And I didn’t know how Elizabeth would have felt about that.

I pulled the door closed and continued down the staircase. Michelle was already behind the bar and looked up to greet me when I entered.

“Some eel blood,” I said, even as I grimaced. “And do you know if Elizabeth is awake yet? I’m supposed to be meeting with her this morning.”

“She should be down in less than an hour.”

Michelle handed me a glass of blood and I made my way over to a table in the far corner of the room. I gingerly drank the blood and gazed around the empty pub. It appeared quite different now without the smoke and flickering lanterns. Tapestries made of snakeskin adorned the dark stone walls and skeletons of predatory fish hung from the low ceiling.

I looked back toward Michelle, sweeping the floors behind the counter.

“How did this place come to be?” I asked. Mona had never given me a satisfying explanation.

Michelle stopped sweeping and leant her large elbows on the counter.

“Well, that’s rather a long story. But seeing as I’m down here early, I guess I can spare a few minutes to fill you in on some history.”

Her smile was broad as she took a seat at my table. It paled slightly when I didn’t return it.

“Long ago, this island was founded by a group of outcasts,” she said, “or pirates as many call themselves. The group consisted of seven werewolves, ten vampires and two ogres, if memory serves me correctly. They’d finally grown tired of roaming the seas and wanted a base. They invited others to join them, and over the years, The Tavern has evolved to be a place of shelter for all kinds.”

“Yet many don’t live here full time?”

She nodded. “That’s correct. Many enjoy the sea life. As for myself, I wouldn’t be able to stand living on a boat and having nowhere to call my own.”

“And who is Elizabeth exactly?” I asked.

“She’s a relative of one of the original founders. As am I. Elizabeth and I are sisters, you see. We’ve helped run this place for years—”

“And why do people say it’s so safe here?” I interrupted. “The wall is impressive, but I doubt it’d last five minutes if subjected to any real attack. What makes you think you’re safe?”

“Well, because most of us are outcasts. We’ve already been rejected by other realms. We’re not wanted. Of course, there are some who truly are rebels or escapees and left voluntarily, but for the most part, we’ve all been rejected for one reason or another. The other realms have little interest in what happens to us or what we get up to.”

This was interesting to me. Mona had never described the situation like this; she had always spoken of herself as a rebel, a wanderer by choice. But now that I knew this, her having no magic and being a wanderer made perfect sense. Perhaps that was why she had been so upset with me when I’d questioned about why she wasn’t better off living in The Sanctuary.

“But humans… surely they’re of interest to the Elders?”

Michelle shook her head. “There aren’t many humans here. And even those few who are here aren’t of interest to any realm. They’re contaminated.”

“What do you mean, contamina—”

“They’re either sick or there’s something physically wrong with them that renders them useless.”

I stared at Michelle. “And what about someone like me? Or Mona? Escapees.”

“If the hawks wanted you, there’s no reason they wouldn’t come looking for you. It does happen. But Aviary is so wrapped up with Cruor, I honestly doubt they’d waste time looking for you.” She paused and raised a brow at me. “Unless you really are that valuable to them.”

Before I could say anything more, the front door swung open. Elizabeth walked toward us. She wore the same long dress with a white apron wrapped around her waist. Her grey-streaked hair was pulled tightly back in a bun. She nodded in my direction. Michelle left the table, and Elizabeth sat in her place.

“Good to see you up early, Kiev.” She opened her book and ran a finger down one of the pages, mumbling to herself. “Aha, we do have a space there today. Good.”

She shut the book and looked up at me.

“So, anyone wishing to stay at The Tavern for more than one week must contribute a minimum of five hours of work per day. Which isn’t much when you think of what you get in return: protection that the Tavern offers, free board and lodging…”

I nodded.

“Given that you’re a vampire,” she continued, “you’re obviously limited in the hours of day that you can work outside. So we’ll allot you work accordingly. For example, this evening, I’m planning to send you for work on a new construction at the far end of the island. We’re building some new housing to accommodate the influx of new vampires who’ve arrived here recently. I’ll have someone come for you after sunset, so make sure you’re around. They’ll bring you to the building site and give you instructions as to your task.”

I nodded again.

“After work, I’ll have someone take you to your new accommodation in the vampires’ quarter.” She jotted something down in her book and then continued, “Next, as for important rules you must abide by if you are to avoid trouble—”

She was interrupted by a loud knock on the tavern front door. Elizabeth twisted in her chair to face the bar.

“Michelle!” she called.

Michelle had disappeared. Elizabeth sighed and walked toward the direction of the front door.

“We don’t open until just before lunch! You know that,” she called through the glass to whoever was knocking.

The knocking turned into banging. The door swung open and Elizabeth protested, “What are you doing, Jack? I told you, we’re closed!” I strained my neck to see who it was but a pillar was obstructing my view.

“Which room is Kiev Novalic staying in?” a deep male voice asked.

I nearly choked on my drink.

“A tall vampire. Red eyes,” he continued. “I know he arrived last night. Michelle said—”

“Yes, why do you want him? He’s sitting over there.”

I stood up. A man wearing a long dark cloak ran toward me. A human. I stood frozen to the spot, trying to place his face. But I couldn’t; I had no idea who this man was or how he knew me. I extended my claws in anticipation. Arriving at the table, he slammed his fist down, leaving behind a rusting metal pendant.

“Do you recognize this, vampire?” His light blue eyes blazed into mine.

I recognized it immediately.

“I won’t blame you if you don’t,” he scoffed. “You’ve likely murdered hundreds of innocents in the past few years.”

He withdrew a sharp wooden stake from his cloak. Elizabeth gasped behind me.

“This pendant was my mother’s,” he shouted. “You murdered her five years ago.”

It wouldn’t have been difficult to overpower him, to knock the stake from his hands and send him crashing to the ground. Hell, even ripping his heart out would have been a trivial effort for me. But as I stood there looking at this human, I didn’t want to hurt him. Because I had killed his mother. I deserved every bit of anger he was showing me.

I just wished he would put down his stake, because watching him brandish it at me was beginning to trigger an urge to punish him for his insolence.

“You are mistaken,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady. “I never touched your mother.”

“Don’t lie to me,” he snarled. “I’d recognize your face a mile away… the face of a cold-blooded killer… Do you remember the night you stormed our village?”

As he lifted the pendant inches away from my face, images of that bloody night flooded back. And then it happened. I lost control over my actions. It was as if I’d regressed to the same state I was in that horrific night, despite a part of me begging myself to stop.

I lunged at the human, knocking the wood from his hands and pinning him against the floor. I dug my claws deep into the sides of his neck until he screamed. He tried with all his might to throw me off, but he was helpless as a worm.

“How dare you,” I hissed.

I was about to rip my fangs through his throat when two sharp thuds hit the base of my neck, sending spasms of pain down my spine. I turned in time to see two large ogres, iron clubs raised in the air, stained with blood.

My blood.

I shuddered to think what might have happened had I arrived at The Tavern even a day later. It was my good luck that I’d met Saira in the pub that night and she’d warned me of our captain’s plans. She’d said he wanted everyone on board the ship early the next day. We were to set sail in the evening, but there was preparation to be done.

She’d asked me dozens of questions about my time away, but to my annoyance, most of them had been centered around Kiev. She seemed to be determined to convince herself that I was secretly in love with him.

I’d only managed to sleep a few hours before I had to wake and make my way to our ship. But those hours in that clean soft bed, all alone, without the worry of devilish eyes watching me, had been heaven.

I was so relieved to be finally rid of the vampire, I didn’t say goodbye. I couldn’t deny the slight tinge of guilt I felt over it. Even in spite of everything, if it hadn’t been for him carrying me on his back to the boat, I likely wouldn’t have escaped Aviary.

But it wasn’t difficult to brush thoughts of him away. What he had done was for his own survival, not mine. He had needed me and my boat. He hadn’t done anything generous that made me owe him my thanks or farewell.

The only personal belongings I had were already strapped to my belt, so there was no packing to do. I left the room and walked down to the beach. I bathed in the sea before pulling on some clean clothes Michelle had given me.

Then I rounded up Evie and Kai, fastened them to my little boat and navigated it to where Saira had told me the main ship was anchored. I soon caught sight of it towering overhead. The ship was as I had remembered it and looked quite unscarred—Saira had told me that they’d left The Cove just in time before the hawks took over. It was made of dark brown wood, and at its stern and helm were carvings of dolphins. The sails were made of a deep orange fabric.
Leyla
, we called it—in memorial of the first dolphin that had ever served us.

In front of the stern, a group of two dozen dolphins were already gathering. Henry, one of our werewolf crew members, organized them into harnesses. Abandoning my boat, I led my own dolphins over to join the rest.

“Thanks, Mona,” Henry called to me. “I’m glad you’re safe.”

I nodded and walked to the entrance of the boat. Members of the crew were already milling about, preparing everything for departure.

I headed straight to my room on the lowest level of the ship, avoiding speaking to anyone on the way. I arrived to find the door of my cabin slightly ajar. The captain sat on my cot. He encouraged me to call him by his first name, but most of the time I preferred to keep things formal—as I did with everyone—and addressed him as ‘captain,’ or Captain Matteo.

A smile spread across his handsome face as I entered.

“Saira told me you’d be joining us again,” he said. “I’m very glad you’re all right, Mona.”

He placed a hand on my shoulder and squeezed it. I inched away, feeling uncomfortable. He knew I didn’t like being touched, but I guessed his relief to see me safe again had made him forget that request of mine.

I smiled back faintly.

“Yes, I’m fine.”

“How did you escape? Saira didn’t tell me much…”

I really wasn’t in the mood for recounting that wild escapade now. I just wanted to put it behind me and forget about it. But he would keep asking until I’d told him, so I gave him the briefest recap I could of what had happened.

“You were exceedingly lucky to have met that vampire,” he said. “Kiev, you said his name was? Now, that’s a funny coincidence! I met him on a walk along the beach just last night. Seemed to be an amiable fellow.”

Eager to change the subject, I asked, “So how have things been with you? What happened? Saira filled me in on some things already. She told me you had to leave The Cove because of the hawks, but I didn’t have much time to talk to her last night.”

“Yes,” he said, sighing. “They came suddenly and we had to act fast. You understand why we couldn’t wait for your return.”

“Of course,” I said. “So what’s the plan now?”

“We head back to our island,” he replied. “And start planning our next attempt at getting our hands on a witch.”

“What?” Heat rose in my body. “You can’t seriously still be considering trying to storm The Sanct—”

“No, no. Not The Sanctuary,” he said. I breathed out a sigh of relief. “Sorry, I forgot,” he continued. “This is a development that happened while you were still in Aviary. The vampires of
The Black Bell
have three witches captive on their island. Each of them can wield magic.”

I winced. I hardly needed that last piece of information; I’d never heard of any powerless witch other than myself.

I didn’t need to ask him why he wanted the witches. It’d been a subject of discussion ever since we’d formed our crew. We suffered every day on our island not having adequate protection, constantly at risk of other pirates trying to plunder our resources. We’d had to build a large wall around the island, but even then, we needed guards to keep us safe. We could never all leave the island at once; even now, only half of us were on board the ship. The situation was distressing, especially for the vampires of our group, who were forced to live in underground tunnels during the daylight hours. The werewolves were lucky in that respect; they could be exposed to daylight at all hours, and at night, they’d have their transformation.

It was unfortunate that The Tavern had never been an option for us to make our home. Individuals were allowed to live there, but never groups as large as ours.

“But
The Black Bell
,” I said, “You can’t seriously be considering taking on that ship? Those vampires… It would be disastrous. They’d rip you all to shreds.”