A Shade of Kiev 2(45)

Rummaging around in a drawer, I found some parchment and a quill. I sat down at the desk, and in a handwriting as much unlike my own as I could manage, I wrote:

“You work so hard, Damion.

You deserve a break.

Drink up,

Your secret admirer.”

I spent the rest of the day in my room. When evening fell and it was nearing the ritual time, I folded up the note, grabbed the bottle of rum from beneath my bed, and hid them both beneath my cloak.

I left the room and made my way downstairs to the main entrance. I waited by the staircase and watched as vampires and witches hurried out of the main entrance. Finally, I spotted the man I’d been waiting for. The old vampire, Damion. Once he was out of sight, I walked toward the kitchen area and stopped outside a door just before the entrance to the kitchen. I pushed it open, walked into Damion’s small bedroom, and placed the note and the bottle down on his bed.

Then I hurried off to the cave. I was the last vampire to enter, but I was not late. I took my usual seat next to Tiarni, and opposite Mona. Throughout the sacrifice, Mona made a concerted effort to ignore me again.

I was relieved when it was over. I was the first to exit the cave and I raced back to my room before the redhead could call after me.



* * *



Once the early hours of the morning had arrived, I left my quarters and walked around the corridors to see if anybody was still up and about. I couldn’t hear or see any people. And if all had gone to plan, Damion definitely wouldn’t be going about any of his night-time duties.

I headed straight for the dungeon. But before opening the hatch, I paused. I couldn’t afford for anyone to scream this time. There were far more people to hear. I stood there for several minutes, trying to figure out how on earth I was going to pull this off.

That was when I heard it. Someone shuffling down the stairs. I sprinted back from the dungeon entrance and hid in the shadow of a nearby column. A short, round vampire—clearly drunk—staggered toward the hatch.

Whimpering started as soon as he disappeared from my view, down the steps and into the dungeon. I crept over to the open trapdoor and peered over the edge. He was headed toward the far end of the dungeon, his back facing me. Seeing that all of the humans’ eyes were fixed on him, I managed to slip inside and hide behind an old barrel without any of them noticing. The vampire pulled out one of the plumper women from a cell and pulled her back up the steps with him.

He must have fancied an early morning snack. I doubted though that it was permissible to just swipe a human for himself whenever he felt like it. We were supposed to be served our blood at meal times.

There was a tinkle of keys being hung back on their hook. Then he closed the hatch and drew the heavy metal bolt.

That meant that I could no longer use that as an exit. Thankfully, there was another door that led into the kitchen in the far end of the dungeon.

Now it’s time to get to work.

I grabbed the keys from the hook above the trapdoor and managed to free and organize the humans in much the same way as I had done the night before back on the witches’ island.

I opened up the kitchen door and led them all inside. From there, they followed me outside, round the back of the castle.

Although my heart pounded in my chest every second I herded those humans away from the castle, I managed to get them to the harbor safely and have them board the ship I’d inspected earlier. I harnessed half a dozen dolphins for them and put the most capable-looking men in charge of navigating the ship.

I knew enough about traveling with dolphins by now to give them a few hurried instructions. They looked bewildered when I left them, but I trusted that their desperation for escape would drive them to figure things out.

Before I left the ship, one of the men I’d just been instructing clasped my shoulder and said, “Thank you.”

No, thank you.





Chapter 30: Kiev





I took a seat in the dining hall at lunch time just in time to witness Damion storming through the doors, his face filled with confusion and anxiety.

“The humans are gone!”

Exclamations of shock broke out around the table.

Rhys jumped up immediately and walked out with Damion. Isolde and Efren followed soon after. The rotund vampire I’d seen down in the dungeon last night had guilt in his eyes. Perhaps he thought that he might have been responsible, since he had been drunk.

The three witches returned half an hour later, each with ashen expressions on their faces.

“Damion is right.” Rhys’ voice boomed through the hall. “Somehow, every single human in that dungeon got away last night. It appears that the kitchen door was left open. The keys to each cell lay strewn on the ground. One of the ships is missing along with several dolphins. How these things happened is a mystery.” He shot a sharp look at Erik, Helina, and me. “Novalics, I expect that you’ll conduct an investigation into how this happened. And make sure that it never happens again.”