The Assassins of Light

by Britney Jackson

  Rose’s lips twitched as she tried to suppress her laughter. “You think?”

  “Go on inside,” Talulah told them. She opened the door to the cabin. “We should waste no more time. I’m sure you’re all eager to get out of this cold.”

  Tom shuddered miserably. “That’s an understatement,” he grunted.

  “Thank you,” Elise chimed, brushing her hand over Talulah’s arm.

  Talulah watched her as she headed inside, clearly affected by the flirting.

  Kara chuckled, “Elise is really good at that.” She and Rose stood behind the other vampires. They’d fallen behind when Kara was getting attacked every few miles, and they’d never bothered to catch up. So, they were last to enter the cabin. Except for Talulah, of course. When Kara started to step inside, Talulah placed her hand on the doorframe, her arm outstretched, blocking the doorway.

  Kara tilted her head to the side, her long, dark hair falling over her right shoulder. She flashed a cocky smirk at Talulah. “Are you going to leave me out in the cold, Talulah? You know I can’t make it back to the plane before sunrise. Freeze all night and burn in the day. That’s cold, even for an Ice Queen like you.”

  Talulah stared at Kara for a moment, her deep, black eyes flashing with anger, but then, her gaze shifted toward Rose. She dropped her arm and pasted on a polite smile. “Of course not. I’m not ruthless, like your leader,” she muttered.

  Rose had no idea whether Talulah’s hospitality was sincere or not, but she was too cold to spend any time thinking about it. She couldn’t even remember the last time she felt any sensation at all in her extremities, and her face burned painfully, as if it were on fire, as she hurried into the small, crowded log cabin.

  Everyone huddled closely together inside, trying to warm themselves. All except for Aaron and Talulah, of course, who stood near the door, by themselves.

  Kara moved close to Rose and scooped Rose’s hands into her own. She brought them to her mouth and exhaled slowly, warming them with her breath.

  Rose sagged forward with relief, soothed by the warmth of Kara’s breath. As Kara continued to breathe slowly on their joined hands, Rose couldn’t help but notice Kara’s reddened skin. “I wish you would’ve taken your jacket back.”

  Kara grinned at her. “Like I told you the last two million times you asked, you adorable, stubborn woman,” she said slowly, “I’ve felt worse.” She released Rose’s hands—now that she’d nursed the feeling back into them—and smiled wistfully. “The most painful cold I remember was when I was a child. My father had left for one of his raids, and he’d left me with one of the women in our village. She tried to make me wear dresses—because girls were supposed to wear dresses.” Kara rolled her eyes. “I didn’t like fighting in a dress. It got in the way. Of course, to that, she simply told me: ‘Good, little ladies don’t fight.’ Little did she know, I was perfectly happy with being a bad lady. Anyway, I thought if I threw my dresses in the fjord, she’d let me wear what I wanted. But she didn’t. She made me dive into that fjord, fish out the dresses—or as many as I could find—and wear them.”

  Rose frowned. “What? Like…while they were wet?” she sputtered.

  Kara nodded. “With icicles hanging off of them,” she scoffed. “I started a fire as soon as she fell asleep, though. So, I was fine. But for a while, it was cold.”

  Rose just stared at her in disbelief. “Why would anyone do such a thing?”

  “My people were brutal,” Kara said with a dismissive shrug. “You should have seen what they did the first time they caught me stealing.” She laughed, as if it were an amusing memory, rather than a traumatic one. “I was such a bad kid.”

  “Your parents didn’t,” Rose paused for a moment, “object to this?”

  “Well, when my father found out, he wasn’t too happy,” Kara admitted. “He was tough as hell. And a huge, oafish warrior. But…sometimes, he could be soft. He hated raising a troublemaker like me, but,” she said, and—so briefly most people wouldn’t have seen it—pain flashed in her eyes, “he really loved me.”

  Rose asked the next question gently. “What happened to your mom?”

  Kara’s gaze darted up to meet Rose’s, and she smiled. “You noticed that, huh? The way I evaded the subject?” she said softly. “Most people don’t notice.”

  “I do it, too,” Rose said, “when I don’t want to make things awkward.”

  “She died in childbirth. I never met her,” Kara said. She shoved her hands into her leather pants and shrugged. “My father talked about her when he was drunk. He used to say that she was tough and stubborn, like a Norse winter.”

  Rose watched her with a sympathetic frown. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

  Kara shrugged again. “I’ve been alive for fourteen hundred years, Rose. My family has been dead for many centuries. It doesn’t bother me anymore.”

  Rose smiled sadly. “You know I know that it doesn’t work that way.”

  Kara’s brows creased, and an emotion passed over her face—so quickly that Rose couldn’t identify it—but then, she looked away, glancing curiously at Talulah and Aaron, who stood in the corner, locked in a heated discussion. She tilted her head, motioning for Rose to follow her. “We’ll never make it down into the colony, if those two kill each other,” she muttered. “We better break it up.”

  “We have principles,” Talulah was saying as they approached. She leaned closer to Aaron, her black eyes flashing. “We don’t do things the way you do.”

  He gazed tiredly at her, as if he were bored to death by her argument. Or rather, in his case, bored to murder…because he certainly looked as if he were considering it. “Principles,” he scoffed, rolling his eyes. “God, you’re so annoying.”

  Kara stepped between them before Talulah could react to that. “Come on, Talulah,” she said with a smirk, “you don’t want to start a fight with him.”

  Talulah glared at Kara. “I don’t want help, advice, or anything from you.”

  Kara flashed her a playful grin. “Not even an orgasm?” she quipped.

  Talulah rolled her eyes. “Taunting me is not going to make me forgive you any quicker,” she grumbled. “As a matter of fact, it’s just making me angrier.”

  “Look,” Kara said calmly, gesturing toward the other vampires in the cabin, “we’ve had a long journey. Can’t this fight wait until we’re in the colony?”

  Talulah sighed, “Well, I’d hate to be an ungracious host.” She looked at Aaron. “We’ll finish this discussion in my office. For now, let’s enter the colony.”

  Talulah turned away, casting one last, curious glance at Rose, before she headed toward the small sofa in the middle of the cabin. She kicked the sofa out of the way, revealing an opening beneath it, with a set of wooden stairs that led down into a brighter room with a fireplace. Rose could practically feel the warmth from where she stood. “Follow me, and we’ll enter the Village of the Undead.”

  24

  Village of the Undead

  Rose froze as someone suddenly threw a heavy, wool blanket around her shoulders. She spun around to find out exactly who had decided to assault her with blankets and found herself face-to-face with one of the same vampires who had attacked Kara during their journey. As she glanced around the small room that they’d just entered, she realized that all of the warriors were passing out blankets.

  The warrior held out an armful of blankets and offered Rose a friendly smile. “Do you need more? Or if you want a more internal warmth, we have some of the best whiskey and liquor you can find. Do you want me to get you a drink?”

  Rose blinked in shock. “You force us to walk through the cold version of Hell, and then offer us blankets and drinks?” she said, eyebrows high. “Well, I can honestly say you’re some of the nicest people who have ever tortured me.”

  “You say that as if you’re tortured often,” someone chuckled.

  Vaguely recognizing that low, womanly voice, Rose spun around to find Talulah standing behind her. “Mo
re than most people, I’m sure,” Rose said dryly.

  Talulah tilted her head, one of her long braids swaying as she moved. She squinted curiously at Rose, clearly trying to decide if she was joking or not. “I am sorry. I know it’s a difficult journey. I’ve traveled that path myself a few times.”

  Rose raised an eyebrow at her politeness. She reached into her bag and pulled out a long, wooden arrow. “And these? Are you sorry about them, too?”

  Talulah smiled. “No. That, I am not sorry for. Your lover deserved that.”

  Rose returned the arrow to her bag and frowned at her. “My lover?”

  “Don’t you think I can tell?” Talulah asked. “The way you look at her—the way she looks at you, for that matter—you two couldn’t be more obvious.”

  Rose watched her warily. “Should I expect archers to attack me, too?”

  Talulah laughed—a warm, pleasant laugh that didn’t fit such a brusque, intimidating woman. “No, my friend. She’s the one who betrayed me. Not you.”

  Rose frowned. “I can’t tell whether you’re really nice or really vindictive.”

  Talulah stepped toward her. “Perhaps I’m both,” she said with a smile. “When you’re nice, people take advantage of you. Just as your lover did to me.”

  “I’m sorry,” Rose said, shrugging bewilderedly, “for whatever Kara did.”

  “You’re not the one who should apologize,” Talulah told her. “She is.”

  Rose laughed at that. “I doubt you’re going to get an apology from Kara.”

  “I know,” Talulah said, her smile deepening, “hence the arrows.”

  Rose laughed again, watching as the tall, intimidating vampire turned and headed toward the other side of the room, where Kara and Aaron huddled closely together, engaged in a very serious discussion about something. She tugged the wool blanket tighter around her shoulders, sighing as its warmth thawed her skin.

  “Making friends?” Erik asked, as he suddenly swooped in beside her.

  Rose looked up at him, wrinkling her nose as she found him, of course, downing an entire bottle of whiskey. “I don’t know how friendly she is,” she said, glancing warily at the tall, intimidating vampire, “but she’s definitely interesting.”

  Talulah cleared her throat, and everyone immediately fell silent.

  “We’d like to welcome you to the Village of the Undead,” Talulah said. “We are honored to meet such interesting representatives of the Tomb of Blood.”

  “Why did that feel like an insult in disguise?” Rose said under her breath.

  Talulah continued, “If you have need of more blankets or drinks, please let any of my warriors know, and they will procure them for you.” She paused for a moment, watching them expectantly. “If not, please, follow me to my office.”

  They followed Talulah out of that small room and into a long, winding hallway. When they turned the first corner, Rose thought she caught a glimpse of Kara, up ahead, walking alongside Aaron, arguing with him about something, but then, she disappeared from sight. Rose listened closely, trying to find Kara’s voice in the noise, but when she heard the words Rose and grieving in the same sentence, she immediately stopped listening. Instead, she turned her attention to the halls themselves, to her surroundings. The Tomb of Blood had been culture shock, in a sense, but at the same time, it had reflected the kind of mood that one might expect from a vampire colony—intimidating, dangerous, and dark. This vampire colony was totally different. If she didn’t know it was an underground colony, full of vampires, she never would’ve guessed it. Because the place looked so civilized.

  Rose turned to look at what, at first sight, appeared to be a bear—a huge, aggressive bear—but as she looked closer, she realized that it was actually just a mural—a very realistic mural—carved right into the wall. While she was staring at the brilliant artwork, having a mini-heart-attack at the sight of the bear, she wasn’t watching where she was going, and she walked directly into someone tall and thin.

  Isaac—of course it had to be Isaac—turned toward her. “Open your eyes.”

  “They’re already open, actually,” Rose said, pointing at her eyes. “See?”

  Isaac lifted his eyebrows. “Yeah, well, try actually using them next time.”

  “I was using them,” Rose said. “I was looking at the mural on the wall.”

  “Do you like it?” someone asked. “I can introduce you to the artist.”

  Rose spun around, startled to find the tall, intimidating vampire who led the colony standing beside her. “Uh,” she said awkwardly, “the artist lives here?”

  Talulah laughed, “Yes. He’s lived here for about four hundred years.”

  “Yeah. That was kind of a dumb question, wasn’t it?” Rose mumbled. “I doubt any human artists are going to come all the way out here. Audrey might, if you offered her enough pizza.” She looked at Talulah. “I’m rambling, aren’t I?”

  Talulah studied her with a frown. “Who is Audrey? And what is pizza?”

  Rose was still staring, slack-jawed, at the vampire who didn’t know what pizza was, when Kara strode over and took her by the arms. She reluctantly tore her gaze from Talulah and looked up at Kara, stunned to find that Kara’s brows were creased with concern. “She doesn’t know what pizza is,” she informed Kara.

  “Are you all right, love?” Kara asked quietly. “I saw Isaac talking to you.”

  Rose glanced around, stunned to find that Isaac had disappeared, along with the rest of the vampires. She noticed an ajar door behind Talulah, and she realized that the rest of them must’ve already gone on inside. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

  Talulah watched them. “Is there something I should know, Viking?”

  Kara turned toward her, a lazy smile twitching at one corner of her lips. “Ah, come on,” she complained. “We’re on a first-name basis by now, aren’t we?”

  Talulah just stared at her, her gaze cold and dark. “Answer the question.”

  Kara’s smile faded. “Isaac is our problem,” she said sharply, “not yours.”

  Talulah nodded. “Well, you better hope it stays that way,” she growled, “because if he does become a problem for my people, I’m holding you responsible.”

  Kara watched as Talulah spun around and headed into the office, where the other vampires waited for them. “If it were up to me, he’d be dead already.”

  “Kara,” Rose sighed, “you wouldn’t kill him for no reason, would you?”

  “Of course not,” Kara said with an easy smile. “I have fifteen reasons.”

  Rose blinked and quickly followed when Kara started walking toward the office. “Fifteen?” she sputtered. “Umm, so, are you going to tell me any of them?”

  Kara paused in the doorway, her hand on the door. “I’ll tell you the first.”

  Rose stopped beside her, blinking at her. “Okay, what’s the first reason?”

  “You,” Kara said, and then, she spun around and strode into the office.

  Leaving Rose frozen in the doorway, wondering what that meant. “Me?”

  Rolling her eyes at the elusive vampire and her vagueness, Rose stepped into the office and eased the door closed behind her. Kara lingered near the back, still, whispering something in Tom’s ear. Tom’s dark gaze darted toward Rose.

  “Make yourselves comfortable,” Talulah told them, as she leaned against her desk. “I apologize for the lack of furniture, but stand wherever you want.”

  The other vampires spread out across the room, Talulah’s warriors near the left wall and the vampires from the Tomb of Blood near the right wall, leaving a narrow path in the center. Rose stopped just inside the room, glancing around the office with a frown. The word office usually conjured up images of a small, stuffy room with a desk, one or two armchairs, and a sad, neglected bookshelf.

  This was nothing of the sort.

  She’d wondered how a group of so many vampires were going to fit in a tiny, stuffy office, but now, she realized that she hadn’t needed to worry at all.
Because this office could have held fifty vampires, if they’d brought that many.

  Rose figured an entire high school prom could’ve been held in this office. Not that she knew from experience. She’d skipped her own high school prom, of course. She’d already made plans to read her book, and she couldn’t have possibly changed them…even if someone had asked her to go with them. But…well…they hadn’t. Still, she remembered the size of her senior class, and she was pretty sure they would’ve all fit comfortably—poofy dresses and all—in this “office.” As a matter of fact, the only thing remotely office-like about this “office” was the desk.

  “Why would anyone need a gymnasium-sized office?” Rose muttered.

  Kara returned to her. “Come with me,” she said, and before Rose could object, she slid her hand into Rose’s and then gently pulled Rose along behind her, leading her toward the front of the room, where Aaron and Talulah waited.

  Talulah sat on a massive, ornate desk at the front of the room—beautiful artwork carved into this wood as well, just like the wall in the hallway. She crossed one leg over the other elegantly and twirled one of her thick, raven braids between her fingers as she waited for Kara to join them. Rose stood awkwardly behind Kara and Aaron, not quite sure why Kara had brought her to the front. Since she had no ranking, she didn’t feel like she belonged near the front with the leaders.

  Talulah crossed her arms. “So, why don’t you tell us why you’ve come?” she growled at Aaron. “I assume you’re not just here for a tour of the colony.”

  “You know why we’re here,” Aaron said. “We need to forge an alliance.”

  Talulah nodded. “I thought you’d say that, just like you should’ve known I’d say no,” she said calmly. “But you’re welcome to stay as long as you want.”

  Aaron stared at her in disbelief. “We’re the only colonies left to unify.”

  “There’s a reason for that,” Talulah said. “We lead two different kinds of colonies. My people have honor. They’d never align with someone like you.”