A Shade of Vampire 20: A Hero of Realms

by Bella Forrest

  “I’m Julie, by the way,” the girl said.

  She looked at me as though she was expecting me to offer my name. I didn’t. I was grateful to her for helping me out of that predicament, but I wasn’t here to make friends.

  “Your room is sixty-seven,” she said as we continued up the winding staircase and reached level six. I jumped up four steps at a time, quickening my arrival at my level.

  I looked back at her. “Thank you again.”

  She shrugged. “No problem. I’ll maybe see you around… Or not.”

  Or not would be a realistic expectation.

  Chapter 12: Ben

  Julie disappeared up the staircase while I entered a long, wide corridor that spanned the sixth level. I was shocked at the size of the place. From outside in the square where Aisha and I had first entered, the Blue Tavern had looked like a narrow building. Now I could see that its accommodation space sprawled out across the floors of the attached buildings on either side of the pub.

  At least it was big enough for the scent of human blood downstairs to not bother me so much, especially as I walked further and further down the corridor. I arrived outside room sixty-seven, pushed in the key and opened the door. I stepped into a small, basic room. There was a single bed in one corner, and a tiny bathroom attached. There was no window in this room either, and the carpets looked worn. The sheets and pillow also looked like they had seen better days, but the place seemed clean at least. Not that it mattered much. I was just glad to be on my own, away from the human and the crowds.

  I stepped into the bathroom and washed my face. I glanced at myself in the mirror, relieved to see that my eyes were still green.

  Don’t leave me yet, Bahir.

  I felt like a walking time bomb. Not even the jinn seemed to have much of an idea as to how long Bahir could remain within me. And once he left, there’d be nothing stopping me from…

  I caught myself. I needed to stop dwelling on worst-case scenarios. I just needed to hope that Aisha was fast in bringing Arron to me.

  I breathed out slowly, trying to calm my racing mind.

  I thought more about Arron. What it would be like meeting him for the first time since I was a newborn. I still found it hard to believe that he could be of help to us. I hoped that Nuriya had been right in assuming that he would want to do all he could to help us stop the Elders’ plan.

  I lay on the bed and stared up at the ceiling for the next few hours, mulling over the meeting with Arron in my mind, and what solution he could possibly suggest. If he had any suggestions at all. I found myself sick of all the speculating and eventually closed my eyes.

  Then my stomach lurched.

  Human blood.

  I could smell it again. Not a distant, diluted hint. It was strong. Too strong. As though a human was walking right by my room.

  I leapt from the bed and backed up against the wall, trying not to breathe in too much of the scent.

  Where is it coming from?

  I wondered if it might be that same cleaning man from downstairs, now come upstairs to do his work. I crept toward the door, and clutched the handle. What if he was standing right outside? No barrier between my fangs and his throat whatsoever… Just a few steps.

  I groaned in frustration and slammed my fists against the wall.

  The scent was driving me insane. As much as I couldn’t risk going outside, I also knew I couldn’t remain here in this confined room, with this tantalizing aroma invading my nostrils.

  If I waited much longer, I didn’t trust myself to not burst outside of the room and hunt down the human. I had to get out of here while my vision was still clear.

  I twisted the door handle and poked my head out into the corridor. It was empty, to my relief. I tried to place exactly where the scent was coming from—somewhere to my left, perhaps a few doors along? I looked to my right. At the end of the long corridor was another staircase. Grabbing the key to the room, I darted out and sped toward it. I climbed the stairs, passing level seven, eight, nine, and stopping at what appeared to be the highest floor—ten. I stopped at a window in the corridor and pushed it wide open. From here, I had a view of the sea over the high wall that surrounded this island.

  The blustery wind blew through the window, surrounding me. It helped to soothe my senses, diluting the atmosphere with a salty scent. The knots in my stomach loosened. I planted my arms on the windowsill and poked my head out of the window, relishing the cool breeze ruffling my hair. This was better. Much better.

  A door clicked behind me, followed by the sound of a familiar female voice. “You again?”

  I turned around to see Julie standing half in, half out of Room 107. A couple of damp towels hung over one arm and she had changed into a dark green nightgown. I felt awkward as I looked at her.

  “Yeah,” I muttered. “I think a human moved into the room right next to me or something…”

  “Oh,” she said. “Wow, you really must be newly turned.”

  I nodded stiffly.

  “So you’re just going to stand there all night?” she asked.

  Truth be told, I hadn’t thought past the next hour. For all I knew, Aisha could return before then with Arron.

  “Perhaps,” I murmured vaguely.

  Julie shrugged, then stepped out of the room. She passed by me and headed down the stairs.

  When she returned a few minutes later, her arm empty of the towels, I was still standing in the same spot. She passed by me again and headed toward her door, but before entering, she hesitated.

  “I remember when I was newly turned,” she commented. “It was really tough… I don’t mind swapping rooms with you if it could help prevent a murder…” She arched a brow in question. “I haven’t unpacked yet, so it doesn’t make a lot of difference to me.”

  I looked at her, weighing her words and wondering whether there was any point in accepting her offer if Aisha was going to return soon… Still, I didn’t have any guarantee that the jinni would be fast. I thought it wiser to accept. If the corridors got busier, I’d be thankful for a private room.

  “If you don’t mind,” I said. “I would be grateful.”

  She moved back into her room and reappeared a few moments later carrying a large brown shoulder bag. She wore the black cloak she’d had on earlier.

  She handed me her key, and I gave her mine.

  “Well, goodbye… again.” She looked amused as she left the corridor and padded down the staircase.

  Now that I had calmed down, I felt that it was safe for me to step away from the window. I entered my new room. It was no larger than the one I’d left on level six, and came with the same basic amenities—a single bed and a small bathroom attached. Although this one had a window, to my pleasant surprise. I pushed it open. Now I wouldn’t even need to stand in the corridor when I wanted fresh air. The more I kept to myself, the better.

  I sat on the bed and leaned against the wall, staring out of the window at the glistening sea beyond. The moon still had full reign over the sky, but I guessed it would only be a few hours before the first signs of day showed on the horizon.

  I found myself wondering whether the island was protected by a spell of night. And if it wasn’t, I wondered what most vampires did to cope during the day, especially those who lived here full time. I guessed that was why this place came so alive at night.

  I hadn’t thought that I would stand a chance of drifting off to sleep that night, and while what I drifted off into could hardly be called sleep—my senses were still alert—it was a far more comfortable state than being awake. I managed to find some semblance of peace amidst the storm.

  A peace that was broken an hour later when the window above me blasted open.

  Chapter 13: Ben

  Splinters of glass rained down on me. I leapt to my feet and found myself face to face with a tall, broad-shouldered vampire I’d never seen in my life. His hair was short, fine and black. A mask covered the upper portion of his face, but from the structure of his chee
kbones and the tone of his skin, he appeared to be of Asian descent.

  His brown eyes widened behind his mask and he looked just as shocked to see me as I felt to see him. He quickly recovered, however, and lurched forward, motioning to grab my neck. My leg shot out and I kicked him hard in the gut, sending him shooting backward and colliding with the wall.

  He crumpled to the floor, but was again fast to regain composure. Reaching beneath his cloak, he slid out a sharp wooden stake.

  “Where’s Ms. Duan?” he hissed.

  Ms. Duan? Is he looking for Julie?

  “Who are you?” I glowered at him.

  His grip on the stake tightened, and he moved closer to me. “Where is the woman?” he said in a low, threatening voice.

  I had not the slightest clue as to why this man had just broken through the window, and what he wanted with Julie—assuming she was Ms. Duan. I wasn’t sure how he knew that Julie had booked this room, but whoever he was, he didn’t exactly give me the impression that he was a friend of hers.

  It would have been easy to just tell him we’d swapped rooms and she was now in Room 67. But, although the last thing I needed was any kind of trouble, I wasn’t about to tell him where the young woman was staying. Not after the help she’d offered me. For all I knew, he could be here to murder her. He’d certainly come equipped with the means to do so…

  Eyeing the tip of the stake this vampire had pointed at me, I squared my shoulders and broadened my stance, gearing up to disarm him.

  “I don’t know who Ms. Duan is,” I said through gritted teeth. “But I do know that you have exactly thirty seconds to climb back out of that window.”

  He lunged forward with the stake. I ducked, narrowly missing being gouged, and swept a leg beneath his feet, knocking him to the floor. I motioned to grab his weapon, but he was too fast. His arm shot out and he swept it from the floor a split second before my hand closed around it. Still lying on his back, he swung it in front of him, pointing it upward and forcing me backward as he threatened my midriff. Grabbing a particularly sharp shard of glass from the windowsill and ignoring the way its edges cut into my palms, I was about to launch myself at him when a second vampire slid through the window.

  He too wore a mask, though, as with his companion, it didn’t hide his alarm on seeing me. Enough of his face was visible for me to see that he too hailed from the Orient. He slid out a stake from beneath his own cloak and brandished it at me.

  I was hoping to avoid killing someone here, but as he plunged the stake toward my heart, it was clear that they would have no qualms about murdering me… which meant I had to give up my own qualms.

  I hurled the shard of glass toward his head like a dagger. He yelped and staggered back as the glass dug into his right cheek.

  The first vampire scrambled up from the floor where I’d knocked him. Leaping behind him, I held him in a choke and twisted his neck until it snapped. He sank to the floor, paralyzed.

  That left me with one vampire to deal with. He’d yanked the glass from his cheek—which was now healing fast—and launched at me once more, his stake aimed at my heart. I dodged, causing him to miss my chest, but not the edge of my shoulder. The stake’s sharp tip sliced a gash in my bicep.

  Angered, I leapt upward and grabbed hold of one of the wooden beams in the ceiling. My right leg hurtled toward the vampire and I kicked his head against the wall. His stake thudded to the floor. I leapt back down and wrestled him into submission beneath me. Then, extending my claws, with one swift motion I dug my right hand deep into his chest and tore through his heart.

  Panting, I stood up and gazed around the wrecked, blood-splattered guest room. I swore beneath my breath before rushing to the bathroom. I rinsed off the blood from my body as best as I could before covering myself with my cloak. It was a good thing that I was wearing mostly dark clothes.

  Someone in this guesthouse was bound to have heard all that—I wouldn’t have been surprised if the struggle was audible to supernatural ears even from down in the noisy bar. I stepped out of the room into the thankfully still-empty corridor and shut the door behind me. I found myself scanning the ceiling and walls instinctively for CCTV cameras before reminding myself that I wasn’t on Earth. Perhaps they had some other kind of surveillance system that wasn’t detectable to me. Whatever the case, there was only one thing I could think to do now.

  I raced down the stairs to the sixth level and swept along the corridor until I stood outside Room 67. I heard soft breathing through the door. It sounded like Julie was asleep. I rapped against the door, loudly, but not loudly enough to sound desperate to neighbors on either side—or so I hoped.

  A mattress creaked and soft footsteps moved toward the door. The handle turned and Julie appeared in the doorway. Her cropped black hair was tousled, and she was rubbing sleep away from her eyes as she looked at me, squinting from the corridor lighting.

  Her lips parted to exclaim in surprise, but before she could, I clamped a palm over her mouth and pushed her back through the door. I pulled it shut behind me.

  “What are you doing?” she gasped as I let go of her. She backed up against the wall, extending her claws.

  “Is your surname Duan?”

  She froze. “H-How do you know that?”

  “Two men just broke into your room,” I said in a voice barely louder than a breath. “They were looking for a Ms. Duan.”

  Julie’s jaw dropped. “Two men?” she asked in a choked voice. Her breathing grew fast and uneven. “Wh-What did they look like?”

  I described their appearance as best as I could from what I’d seen around their masks.

  “Oh, God.” She clasped a thin hand over her mouth. “They’re after me.”

  “Who is after you?”

  “What happened? Where are they now?”

  “One paralyzed, one dead on the floor of your room.”

  “Oh, no. No. No. No. I-I have to leave,” she stammered. She appeared to be in a state of shock as she grabbed her shoulder bag and began stuffing into it the few personal possessions she had placed on the mantelpiece and bedside table. She dashed into the bathroom and when she came back out, her face was stricken with terror. “I have to leave,” she repeated. “And you have to leave, too. You have no idea of the punishment The Tavern would deal you for slaughtering a person. We both have to get out of here!”

  I stared at her. “Where to?”

  “I-I don’t know, but we must flee this island before someone discovers them.” Her lips quivered, her voice was close to cracking.

  I would have been surprised if nobody had gone to investigate already. Unless guests of the Blue Tavern were used to banging coming from rooms… but the noise we’d made would have been hard to pass off as even wild vampire lovemaking.

  Still wearing her nightdress, Julie grabbed her cloak from the back of the door before flinging on her shoulder bag.

  “Julie, who were those people?”

  She barged past me toward the door and stopped just as she reached it. Her hand rested on the handle. Her back heaved as she drew in a deep, rasping breath.

  “I have a boat that I used to get here,” she whispered, ignoring my question. “It’s moored in The Tavern’s harbor. I’m going to run straight there now, and try to get far away before dawn breaks.” She turned around to face me, a look of worry in her eyes. “I suggest that you do the same in your boat.”

  My mind worked quickly. I didn’t have a boat, of course. But if I followed Julie to the harbor, I would have to hope that I could find a suitable one. Then I would have to wait off The Tavern’s shore in safety until Aisha returned. I had the gold band around my wrist so I wasn’t too concerned about her finding me. I’d touch the snake’s head and that should summon her to me.

  “Okay,” I breathed, seeing that Julie wasn’t going to answer my question—at least not now. “Let’s go.”

  She pulled the door open and we both poked out our heads, looking right and left, scanning the length of the corri
dor. I was relieved to see that it was still empty. Julie darted left, toward the nearest staircase to us, and I followed quickly behind her. We flew down the stairs, level after level, as silently as we could, and arrived on the ground floor. We approached the door that led into the pub and peered through the glass. The eatery was still packed with people—no less packed than when we’d left it, in fact. We pushed open the door, and, keeping our heads down, tried to be as inconspicuous as possible as we slipped into the crowd and made our way toward the exit. We stepped out into the early morning air.

  Julie pulled her hood lower down her face and took a right. She was short and slight of build, able to squeeze through narrow gaps in crowds in a way I couldn’t, so I had to make a concerted effort to not lose sight of her as she scrambled forward. I didn’t take in much of my surroundings as I followed the vampire. I just kept my eyes focused on her back.

  Soon we had left The Tavern’s town center and entered a much quieter area. We hurried along cobbled stone streets, until Julie raced down a flight of stairs and stopped at the bottom, in front of a heavy wooden door. An ogre was slumped in a chair beside it, his eyes closed, his head lolling onto his chest. Julie shot me a sharp glance and placed a finger over her lips.

  She crept up to the door and slid open the bolts. They were large and heavy and, no matter how quiet she tried to be, the metal ended up making an uncomfortable amount of noise. But thankfully—and perhaps predictably—the ogre slept through it. Julie creaked the door open just wide enough for the two of us to slip through, then closed it again behind us.

  We emerged on the beach that lined the other side of the high wall surrounding The Tavern.

  Julie didn’t miss a beat. She sprinted toward a port in the distance, a network of wooden platforms surrounded by a myriad of boats and ships.