Lex blinked. “What?”
The old woman waved a hand, nearly hitting him in the nose. “It’s obvious; don’t deny it. How long?”
“I’ve only known her a couple days,” Lex said. “And I don’t have a thing for her.”
The old woman narrowed her eyes.
“Really,” Lex said. “She’s a liar; she can’t be trusted.”
The woman settled her girth back into her seat. Lex took a deep breath, feeling less claustrophobic.
“I see,” the woman said.
Lex resisted the urge to explain himself. He didn’t know this woman; he didn’t know any of these people, not even Amelia, really. He didn’t owe them anything. He glanced down. Well, except the cost of the food. Which he needed Amelia to pay…with Acarius’ money. Lex sighed.
Amelia’s laugh rang out from across the room and Lex glanced over, unable to help himself. Amelia looked happy. Really happy. How was she so able to open up to a bunch of strangers and instantly make friends, while he was brooding here in a corner? Maybe she was lying to all of them. That thought gave him a bit of comfort. At least he wouldn’t be the only one.
The group at Amelia’s table rose and walked toward the stairs at the back of the inn. Amelia followed, caught up in conversation with a motherly-looking redhead.
Lex tensed. He knew nothing about these people. How was Amelia going with them so easily? More importantly, why were these people so interested in a girl they just met? Lex pushed back his chair.
A cold, clammy hand pressed his, stopping him. “Not everyone in the world is untrustworthy,” she said. “Some people do have good intentions.”
“And some people lie,” Lex said, pulling his hand from hers. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to make sure my friend is safe.” I guess I do still consider her a friend, he thought. That surprised him. But she had helped him escape death more than once, and he supposed that had a way of bonding people. It didn’t make up for the lies.
Lex pushed past the old woman, wanting to catch the end of Amelia’s group before they disappeared up the stairs.
“I know who you are.”
Lex froze. He turned back to find the old woman watching him with steely eyes.
“You’ve lost yourself,” she said. “I can give some of it back to you.”
Lex slid back around the table and into his chair. “What do you know?”
“You,” she said, leaning toward him. “I know you.”
CHAPTER 8
“How do you know me?” Lex asked. His voice sounded steadier than he felt.
“We’ve met before,” she said. “You’re Marcus, hero of Alleanza. Are you not?”
Lex’s heart sank. “No,” he said. “Marcus was my brother. He was the hero.”
The old woman leaned back. “That so.”
Lex wasn’t sure if that had been a statement or a question. “Yes. I’m not Marcus. I’m Lex, his brother.”
The old woman wrinkled her nose. “Marcus never said anything about having a brother.”
“So I’m told,” Lex said.
Lex jumped as the old woman’s wrinkled hand slapped the table.
“Be gone with it then, I say,” she declared.
“Be gone with what?” Lex asked.
“Your jealousy over that girl.” She shrugged. “Those are good people, the owner of this inn and his wife. He noticed the cut on Amelia’s face and offered to take her back to his family’s apartment behind the inn to have his wife clean it. The others were his wife’s aunt and parents. There is nobody in that family to give you competition. The innkeeper is handsome, but he’s already married.” She winked at Lex.
Lex felt his face go red. Was he that obvious? But at least that explained why the man pushed Amelia’s hair back from her face; he had been looking at the gash on her cheek… a gash Lex had totally forgotten about, being so absorbed in his own problems. It had probably been hurting her since Acarius’ house and he hadn’t even checked on her, he’d just demanded she help him with Acarius, then grilled her with questions. Curse his self-centeredness – he was still mad at Amelia, but now he felt he might not have been entirely fair. She had lied, but when she’d made an effort to talk to him about her reasons, he’d pushed her away. When she got back, he’d have to at least give her a chance to explain. Maybe he would even apologize. Maybe.
The old woman’s stare was making Lex uncomfortable. “I thought we were talking about my brother,” he said.
The woman gave a curt nod. “Be gone with that, too.”
“With what?” Lex asked again.
“His memory. He wasn’t as much of a hero as they say, anyway. By the end, he was so stuck in the past it destroyed everyone around him.”
Anger stirred within Lex. He had never known his brother, but he had felt his memories – his courage, his love. “My brother was a good man,” he said, meeting the old woman’s eyes. “He was a hero.”
“I never said he wasn’t,” the old woman said. She stood. “Mistakes and goodness aren’t incompatible. But living in his memories will destroy you, too. Now eat your stew. It’s getting cold.” She hobbled away.
Lex fought the urge to go after her. Half of him thought she might be the wisest person he’d met so far, and the other half thought she might be crazy. She was already at the bar, wagging her finger at the barkeep about something. If she really had known Marcus, she was his best chance at answers. He headed for the bar.
A scream stabbed the air, coming from somewhere above. Amelia. Lex dashed for the stairs.
The old woman stepped out in front of him.
“I thought you said they had good intentions!” Lex shouted, shoving past her.
“They do,” she called after him. “But I can’t say that for the rest of what’s up there!”
Her voice trailed after him; he was already halfway up the narrow staircase. The stairway was only one flight, and ended in a small landing with one closed door. Lex burst through the door, realizing instantly that he had no weapons – the sword Acarius had loaned him was still strapped into the pack on his horse. However many people waited beyond the door, he would have to fight them unarmed.
The room was empty, illuminated by moonlight from a single window. Had night come so quickly? The room was bare, wooden floors and blank, wood-paneled walls. A small door which looked like it perhaps led to a closet stood in the back wall. It was the only possible path besides backward, so Lex rushed forward and swung the door open. More stairs, this time leading down. He could see only the top two steps; the rest descended into darkness. Lex left the top door open – he hoped it wouldn’t close on its own – and moved forward into the blackness.
He made his way down by feel, one hand on the wall and reaching carefully with each foot before shifting to the next step. After about ten steps, he hit a landing. The ground felt hard beneath his boots, like concrete rather than the wood of the stairs. He felt around with his hands. The walls also felt like concrete, and on both sides they ended in corners just within his reach. He was in a narrow corridor, and he’d hit a dead end. He slid his hands centerward along the wall he now knew was in front of him and encountered wood – a door. He groped for the handle, took a breath, and eased it open.
The odor hit him before the door was fully open. He recognized that smell – blood. He flung the door open, and squinted against the yellow light of lanterns.
The blood was everywhere, a red lake spanning the small room. The bodies seemed to float in it. A lantern swayed, hung from a large metal hook protruding from a wooden support beam in the center of the room. Everything above it was shadows, but the yellow glow of the candle moved with the lantern’s swing, flitting across the lake of blood beneath it like a disembodied spirit. Lex forced himself to look at the faces of the dead. There were nearly a dozen of them, and he recognized most of them. They were the people who had been at the table with Amelia. They were all eerily pale – judging from the
amount of blood, they’d been bled dry – and turned flat onto their backs, their arms and legs perfectly straight and their empty gazes fixed upward. Lex held his breath as he glanced around the room, then exhaled. Amelia wasn’t among them. Where is she? Lex thought. The metallic smell of the blood was smothering him. He pressed his arm to his mouth and nose to suppress a gag. Who did this?
A strange noise snatched Lex’s attention. It sounded like a grunt… was one of these people still alive? He looked down, his eyes scanning the bodies. There it was again. It sounded like it came from – he turned his face up, just in time to see a monster leaping down on him from the rafters.
It slammed him to the ground. Lex drove his head upward, ramming his forehead into the creature’s face. It pulled upward and moaned, face covered in blood. It seemed dazed, and Lex tried to scoot out from under it, but its legs were still planted on top of him, holding him in place. The creature’s weight compressed his chest, making it a struggle to breathe; he was beginning to feel dizzy. Lex forced his mind to focus against the closing fog, glancing around for anything within reach he could use as a weapon. There was nothing, except bodies and the warm blood soaking through his tunic and pants. He looked up – the creature’s leap had bent the lantern’s hook and wedged it against the rafter, so that some of its light spread outward. Lex froze. Amelia was above him, tied hands-and-feet and tucked into the corner of the rafters. The lower half of her face was covered with a tight cloth, but her wide blue eyes found Lex. They were wild with fear. She tried to scream again, the sound muffled by the cloth across her mouth – the grunts he had heard. She struggled, trying to pry her hands loose from her feet, and teetered, nearly tipping off the rafters. She squeezed her eyes shut and tipped her head back against the beams which held her. Even from the floor, Lex could see her chest heaving with panicked breaths.
Lex could barely breathe and he couldn’t even begin to guess what was going on, but relief washed over him. She’s alive. Then panic swept in. We have to get out of here.
The creature was recovering now. It tipped its face down to Lex, and a trickle of burgundy blood slithered from a slit nostril to the creature’s chin as it stared at him. This was the same type of creature from the field. Its face was unnatural, lizardlike but flattened and distorted, as though something had gone wrong in its making. It was heavier than its wiry frame suggested, and its claws were digging into Lex’s ribs as it leaned on him. There was an intelligence in its dark eyes, almost humanlike.
Lex shoved against the creature, but it only leaned down further. It pressed Lex’s head to the floor with a clawed hand, and Lex felt the blood of the dead seep up around the back of his neck and into his hair, the metallic smell flooding into his nose. He gagged.
The creature hissed – a sound like a snake but throatier – and closed its sharp fingers around Lex’s jaw, tipping his chin upward. Lex could only breathe in short gasps as the creature’s weight crushed his lungs. His throat was completely exposed, and it occurred to him suddenly that this might be how he died – bled out by a lizard creature with a terrified girl watching above him. Dark shadows crept in from the edges of Lex’s vision. He struggled, but the lack of oxygen left him weak; he could barely move his arms. What would happen to Amelia, when he was gone? Would anyone else come to save her?
The creature snapped its wings open, blocking Lex’s view of the rafters and Amelia. “Lexxxxxxxxxx,” it hissed, leaning down to his face. Lex felt his eyes sinking shut as the creature folded its wings back in and leaned closer against him. He could feel its breath against his throat.
Had it said his name, or had he imagined it? He was so close to unconsciousness he couldn’t be certain, but he couldn’t die here. Not like this. He tried to force his eyes open, but they were heavy as lead. His body felt numb, as though frozen.
The creature slammed its full weight into him, knocking the last remaining breath from his chest. Pain exploded through his lungs and Lex’s eyes flung open as his brain screamed for oxygen.
Suddenly, the creature shifted its weight against him and then rolled off.
Lex gasped heaving breaths and felt heat flood through him as his lungs refilled. He glanced around wildly, waiting for the creature’s next assault.
It didn’t come. Lex closed his eyes and lay still for a moment. He was still rather dizzy, and he didn’t know why the creature wasn’t attacking. Perhaps it thought him unconscious. He took a few quick breaths, readying himself to fling upward and take the creature by surprise.
Then he heard a grunt. Amelia. He looked up to the rafters to be sure she was okay – she wasn’t there.
The grunt came again – from the floor beside him.
Lex abandoned his plan for a surprise attack and pushed himself upward. Amelia was curled atop the creature, her hands and feet still tied. The creature sprawled unconscious beneath her, its clawed limbs spreading the now-drying blood into a demented snow angel.
Lex rushed to her, pulling her off the creature, though he almost wished he hadn’t when she splashed into the pool of blood, unable to catch her fall due to her restraints. Lex pulled her upright. Blood coated one whole side of her face. “Are you alright?” He rushed to remove the cloth across her mouth and then began untying her feet and hands.
“We have to go,” she said. “We have to go.”
“I know,” Lex said. “Just let me untie you.”
“We have to go,” she said again. She shook her head. “We have to go.” Her eyes were wide and wild.
She must be in shock, Lex thought. The ropes fell from her wrists and ankles. “Can you walk?” he asked. He tugged her hands, pulling her upward.
She stood, though shakily. “We have to go,” she said again.
Lex agreed, but her repetition was a bit unnerving. He pulled her toward the door he’d come in through.
Behind him, the creature’s claws scraped the wood floor. It was waking up.
Lex shoved Amelia toward the door. “Go. Go.”
She staggered toward the doorway, almost through it, but the creature was faster. It leapt for them and Lex spun, putting Amelia behind him. She stopped, half in the doorway. Lex braced himself as the creature lunged for him.
It reached around him. In just the moment it took Lex to realize it was going for Amelia, it had already grasped her arm. It yanked her toward itself, then kicked out a clawed foot and knocked Lex through the doorway. As he toppled backwards into the steps, he saw it leap upward for the rafters, dragging Amelia behind it like a rag doll. The creak and crash of breaking wood sounded as Lex scrambled to his feet and back into the room, but he was too late – the creature had burst through the ceiling and into the night, taking Amelia with it.
Lex tore up the steps, through the empty room he’d first seen, and back down the other set of stairs. He barreled into the inn. “We need help,” he shouted. “There’s been an attack!”
Dozens of stunned faces turned to him, interrupted from their dinners and card games. A dark-skinned woman with long, black hair stood and rushed toward him. She wore leather pants and boots, and a thin, fitted leather tunic – she looked like some kind of forest warrior. “What happened?” she asked. Her dark eyes focused on his face. “Marcus?” she asked, her voice sounding almost in awe.
Why does everyone think I’m Marcus? Annoyance rose in Lex, immediately drowned by more urgent things. “A monster,” Lex said. “It killed a bunch of people and took Amelia.” Lex grabbed the woman’s arm and pulled her toward the stairs. “You have to help me.” He looked around the room. No one else was moving. “What’s wrong with you?” he said, not caring if he was rude. “There’s been an attack!”
The inn’s patrons turned back to their plates and card games.
Lex stood, stunned.
“Is the monster still here?” the woman asked.
“No,” Lex said. “But it took my friend.”
Lex saw the woman’s jaw muscle twitch. “Let’s go,” she sa
id, pushing him toward the steps. “Show me where it happened.”
The woman stood in the doorway, staring at the congealed blood covering the floor. The bodies poked up from it, not unlike the fruit in red gelatin Lex had eaten at Acarius’ house. The thought made Lex’s stomach turn.
“Aiacs,” the woman said.
“What?”
“It was an Aaic. They are demon creatures, unnatural. They relish blood.”
“So it killed all these people, just to drink their blood?”
“They do not consume the blood; they just enjoy the smell and sight of it. It brings them pleasure.”
Lex shivered. “Then this was… what? Some kind of game for it?”
The woman turned to him, and the light from the lantern glinted off her dark eyes. “No. They enjoy blood, but they do not kill solely for pleasure. They are too clever for that.”
“Then why?” Lex asked, his eyes raking across the dead. They were already beginning to turn a grey-violet, the hue of death. “Why did it take Amelia?”
“You mean why didn’t it kill her like the others?”
Lex nodded.
“I don’t know,” the woman answered. “But I believe she is the answer to why it killed all these people.”
“What?” Lex was fighting to stay focused, his mind jumping to images of Amelia, bled out in a dark alley, a barn, the stables. Where would the creature take her, and how long would it keep her alive?
“Amelia is the answer,” the woman said. “These creatures kill only with purpose. You say it took her unharmed. These people were with her, yes?”
“Yes.”
“Then it killed them to take her. That is the most logical answer.”
“But why?” None of this made sense to Lex.
The woman shrugged. “Does it matter? Either way, it has her. Your attention would be better focused on getting her back.”
Lex resisted the urge to snap back with sarcasm. “I am,” he said, holding his voice even. “That’s why I want to understand what’s going on.”
The Edge of Nothing_The Lex Chronicles_Book 1 Page 12
