Chapter 90

Francia and Francium looked at one another for a long, tense moment. They seemed to be sharing some sort of conversation before she vanished, dropping down to the ground in the form of a silver-furred wolf. She crept away and down the hall, away from where the vampire was coming. She stopped and nodded towards the direction she was heading, indicating that I should follow.

“Francium, please say something? What’s going on?”

“Everything is going to be fine,” Francium said. “Just stay calm.”

Francium nodded away from the cell toward where Francia was going. I didn’t see what other choice I had. Maybe he hadn’t meant to get me caught here. Maybe I could trust him a little more, but I would have to find out if that was the case some other time.

For now, I just needed to escape before the vampire found me. I followed Francia as quietly as I could, but I couldn’t go fast enough.

“She’s… awake,” Francium said stiffly. “She’s just… irate.”

The footsteps stopped near where Francium’s voice was.

“Let me out of here!” Claire cried again.

“It’s far more complicated than that,” he said softly. “And you won’t be going anywhere just yet… I don’t feel the bond forming. Perhaps there’s something missing.”

What does that mean?

“She is certainly turned. She’s no longer a werewolf, but she’s not fully turned just yet. She’ll need more blood sooner rather than later.”

We turned several hallways. She turned into a bird at the top of a set of stairs and sailed down them as I watched, amazed at how easy and quickly she did so. If there were a lot of werewolves who had this power and a grudge against Candido, they’d all be great spies.

I slipped down the stairs after her. The sound of the vampire’s voice grew farther away. I couldn’t make out what he and Francium were talking about, but it didn’t matter. Soon, we reached a small opening in an exterior wall. She shifted back into a wolf and slipped through. I winced, eyeing the opening.

I couldn’t fit through there.

“Isn’t there some other way?”

She turned back into her regular form. “Not unless you want to get caught.”

I worried my lip, eyeing the jagged edges. It would tear straight through my clothes and skin. The scent of blood would make them come running.

There was no way.

“Hurry and shift,” she hissed.

I crouched down and shook my head. “I… can’t.”

Her eyes widened. “You… can’t shift?”

I shook my head. I didn’t want to get into the details. For all the powers that I could access, shifting still wasn’t possible. I had tried using all the books on the subject over the years, but nothing happened.

She glanced to either side of her and nodded. “Stay out of sight if you can.”

“Why?”

“It’s too complicated to get into right now.” Francia shook her head. “Just know that you should stay out of sight for as long as possible. I’ll try to draw them out and away or something. Just stay hidden.”

She darted away, and I turned back, looking for somewhere to hide. I snuck down the hall, trying to keep out of sight and sticking to the shadows. I tried to get farther away until I hit a dead end. There were rooms on either side, but when I peeked in, the rooms were empty.

I didn’t want to chance trying to open them.

My only hope was heading back towards the stairs and trying a different hallway. I turned, keeping my feet light as I walked and tried to listen out for anyone nearby.

I turned the corner and froze at the slim figure standing halfway up the stairs. His eyes were dark as he looked down at me.

“Who are you?” He asked.

I jumped and turned sharply, rushing away from him down a different hallway. I felt his body slam into mine, pinning me against the wall. I turned sharply, aiming my elbow at the face of the person behind me, but he moved out of the way. I swung a gain and missed. He got me in the chest, just to the left of my heart, because I darted aside. I ducked and swept low, aiming to bowl him over. He cried out as I tackled him as I punched him in the face. Footsteps came down the stairs and around the corner.

I rolled off of him and tried to get away, but the man grabbed me and dragged me back with a growl of effort. I kicked him in the face and scrambled to my feet. I ran down the hallway, hoping that my senses weren’t just leading me in circles. I felt the air shift and the vampire appeared in front of me. He pushed me back against the wall and hefted me up the stairs.

I jerked and twisted, sending him off balance. I twisted in the air, trying to soften my landing by landing on top of him and running, but he grabbed me, tripping me. My face slammed into the floor as I fell.

“Keep a good hold on her,” the vampire prince said slowly. He came around the corner as I kicked the man in the face. His nose crunched under the heel of my boot, but he wouldn’t let me go.

I tried to get free, but there was no hope for it. I kicked and kicked until I managed to slide my boot off and slip free, but someone else was there, waiting to grab me and put me in a headlock. He twisted me around, grunting as I slammed my elbow back into his chest, trying to get free.

I rocked back and forth until I could throw him over my shoulder, increasing my strength. I swooned a little, but I kept running. My boot smacked into my shoulder irritating the pain there. A larger man appeared and drew his hand back, swinging at my face. I ducked around it, but I couldn’t escape his other arm. He got me in a headlock and twist me to face the others. My heart hammered as he lifted me up, cutting off my air supply. The other two grabbed each of my legs and carried me. I tried to hit them with my boot, but the world was going fuzzy.

The big one took my boot and handed it to one of the others as they carried me up the stairs and around the corner. I wondered where Francia was and what the hell she expected me to do. The vampire glided around the corner. It wasn’t the same hallway that Claire had been in, but somewhere else. Francium came around the corner further down the hallway. I grit my teeth as his eyes widened. He glanced down at my legs, then lifted his legs.

“Put up a hell of a fight.”

“I’m sure,” the vampire said. “A pleasure to see you again, Hedy.”

“Seems rude to know my name when I don’t know yours.”

He chuckled, “Would you prefer your given name or Pandora?”

Francium’s eyes widened. He glanced between the vampire prince and me in shock. I said nothing. The vampire smirked and licked his lips.

“I thought Pandora was the other girl,” the one holding me by the neck said.

The vampire laughed, “As did I for a while. At least until it became clear that Moon Shadow was still getting far too close to my liking.”

He leered at me. “I’ve been after you a long time. You’ve caused me more trouble than you can possibly imagine, in and out of Moon Shadow.”

“Glad for it,” I said. “I hope you appreciated me crashing the wedding as much as Sibyl did.”

My heart thudded against my chest. I could still feel my phones in my pockets, and I could only hope that there was some sort of reception here. Otherwise, I didn’t know how this would end.

There was a sign somewhere down the hallway. I didn’t know what it was, but it didn’t sound like footsteps or hope. It wasn’t Francia. The vampire pulled out a bottle of pills and waved it in the air. Francium’s eyes focused on the bottle. Light flickered in them as he narrowed his vision on them.

Further down the hallway, a light went out, but that made no sense. The darkness was growing towards us, light by light.

Were the pills the reason that he was turning into more of a vampire than a werewolf? Had he given them to Claire?

“I think I’ve found your next assignment, Francium.” He said. “Though getting her here was quite impressive... Kill her.”

His eyes widened as he pulled a gun out of his jacket pocket and offered it to Francium. I could see the bullet in the revolver’s chamber. There was only one type of bullet that was fired from a revolver these days: silver bullets.

What was I going to do?