by Marian Tee
“It’s not like that,” he gritted out. “Zari—”
Her voice started to rise. “Right now, I can’t stop myself from thinking about why you were looking for me in the first place. God…” Her voice broke. “I just can’t stop thinking like I’m a tool to you. That you came back here because you might need me to see—”
“IT’S NOT LIKE THAT.”
“How can I believe you,” she cried out, “when I know that it’s for her you’ve become a hunter? That you want her to be proud of every successful hunt, that you want to prove everyone wrong, the people who stood in your way—”
He hauled her into his arms. “It’s not like that.” He cupped her face, wanting her to see the truth in his eyes. “It’s not like that.”
But she didn’t answer, and her body remained cold and unresponsive in his arms.
****
“You don’t need to hide your sadness from me.” The practical advice came from Rhapsody as they headed to the dorm where Miranda Donnelly lived.
Her Master had been gone for three days, hunting down the demon she had seen in her vision. If she had one iota of sense in her, Zari thought miserably, she wouldn’t care that Alexandru was gone.
Zari heard herself asking, “How did you get to be so strong? How do you do it? How have you survived without your Master for so long?” Pained bewilderment had her shaking her head. “I mean, you’re under suspicion for murder and you don’t even seem to care.”
“I don’t.”
Zari’s jaw dropped.
“I know I didn’t kill that man. The Master knows the same thing. He believes in me. That’s all that matters. He won’t let anything happen to me.” The other girl’s face remained expressionless all throughout, and her voice was a mirror of it.
“I wish I could be as strong as you,” she muttered.
“I’m not being strong, Lady Zari. I’m only being practical.”
They stopped in front of Miranda’s dorm. “Well, what we’re about to do isn’t practical.”
The tall girl beside her nodded. “I agree. So why are we doing it again?”
“Because it’s the only thing we can do. We have no evidence against her, I don’t want to battle a demon, and I’m too impatient to wait for additional information about her Master. She’s our best bet.”
“So we will be playing the good cop, bad cop routine?”
Zari nodded. “It should work.”
It didn’t.
Fifteen minutes in the Madonna’s presence, and Zari and Rhapsody had only succeeded in making more enemies for themselves. Although Miranda had agreed to speak with them alone, she hadn’t really done much talking. Also, she wasn’t alone. Instead, the other girl only cried her eyes out and managed to look like the prettiest bully victim in school, the way her big blue eyes welled up with unshed tears.
“I just don’t understand why you’re doing this to me,” Miranda sniffed. Her soft voice shook with every word, and around them Zari could feel the girl’s friends glaring even more malevolently at them.
She said in a low voice, “We know it’s you who did it.” She added quickly, “And we have evidence.”
A beat of silence before Miranda shook her head, her angelic face pale with hurt incredulity. “How can you utter such lies?”
“It’s not a lie. And we just thought we would like to give you a chance to confess what you’ve done rather than have the enforcers take you away.” Zari paused before saying meaningfully, “Before your Master finds out the truth.” It was a shot in the dark. If Miranda’s Master was somehow behind the murder, then she had just given herself away.
The other girl didn’t answer, simply shaking her head like a dejected pup.
When Zari and Rhapsody turned away, Miranda’s friends immediately crowded around her.
“They’re still glaring at us, aren’t they?” Zari said under her breath to Rhapsody as they reached the end of the road.
Rhapsody nodded. “You lied to her, didn’t you?”
“Yes. I did.”
“Why?” The other’s girl was quizzical.
“I wanted her to panic. Guilty people tend to give themselves away when they panic.”
“Ah.” Rhapsody nodded. When they reached her dorm, the other girl gave Zari a curtsy. “Thank you for helping me, Lady Zari.”
The sudden formality threw her off, and Zari hurriedly curtsied back. “It’s, err, no problem.”
“I will write to my Master,” she told Zari in a still-serious voice. “I will ask him what I can do for you, as a way of showing my gratitude.”
And then the other girl turned away and left before Zari could think of what to say. She found herself smiling as she walked back to her dorm. Perhaps…perhaps she had just made her first friend in school. It would come in handy, especially considering what had recently happened between her and her Master.
On her way to the dorm, Zari noticed new announcements pinned to the community board. She stopped in front of it. The last time she had failed to read the latest news, she ended up violating a new rule and landed in detention because of it.
Please Welcome Our New Doctor!
Oh, finally, Mrs. Humphreys, the nurse at the infirmary, had an actual doctor to help her out. It was good news…until Zari saw the name of the doctor.
Katarina?
Surely…surely it was just a coincidence. Right?
Chapter Six
Demons surrounded them, waiting, hissing, glaring. In other words, it was just another day of hunting. Or it was except for the fact that this time, Alexandru was not alone. Accompanying him was the Duke of Brimstone himself, Silviu Draghici – the strongest half-demon in the world. And of course, where Silviu went, his Galeré went as well.
“What,” Mihail, Alexandru’s brother, asked as he turned to the demon duke, “do you think about before you go hunting?”
Silviu shrugged. “The usual. To kill as many demons as I can.”
Mihail glanced at Adrijan, and the half-Cetus said, “That it will be over as soon as possible.”
“Before you even ask me,” Ilie, the shapeshifter, drawled, “I always think of the same thing.”
His friends said in unison, “You want to fuck.”
Ilie’s sharp teeth flashed in the darkness. “Exactly.”
Alexandru suddenly sensed all eyes on him, making him pause from wiping his sword clean. Without looking up from his task, he murmured, “Who else?”
Mihail’s tone was careful when he asked, “You truly think of her that much?”
“There’s never a second I don’t.”
Another day of unsuccessful hunting comes to an end, Alexandru thought as his men came back to report to him. He had assigned each of them a part of the town to scour, hoping that their combined presence would force their target out of hiding.
But looking at his men’s faces, he knew that none of them would have good news to share.
Even so, he asked, “Not a damn thing?” This demon, whoever it was, might already be aware of Zari’s presence. And if that was so, then Alexandru would kill him, even if it required him to go to hell and back. What mattered was keeping his pet safe.
“It’s probably found a host,” one of his men answered.
Alexandru nodded. “We’ll just have to try harder tomorrow.”
His men bowed to him before they left, blending into the darkness before disappearing completely. In a second, he was alone in the forest, but Alexandru could feel it in his guts – the demon wasn’t that far away. Like sensed like, and they both shared the same beast inside them. The only difference was Alexandru had found a way to anchor himself in goodness. The demon, however, had allowed itself to be swallowed by its inner beast.
Every time he finished hunting, he would call out to her. It had started as a way to reassure her he was alive. Eventually, it had become his way of staying in touch, one he continued to do faithfully throughout the centuries, even if she had never replied. Not after they had parted.
>
I still haven’t found the demon, Kat. It worries me, but I do not let them see this of course. He spoke to her in Chalysian, his words becoming formal without Alexandru being aware of it. Back when they were young and the world was just as young, it had been the only way for them to talk. The more flowery the words, the emptier they were, and the simpler their language, the more they felt – but couldn’t express.
I don’t know how or why, but I think it’s aware of Zari. Or at least it has an idea of what my pet is. I don’t think I’ll be sleeping again tonight. I need to be ready. I don’t want it to catch me unawares.
Alexandru’s head bowed.
Wherever you are, I hope you are all right. You are, as always, in my heart.
****
Zari’s hand trembled as she knocked twice on the infirmary’s door. Mrs. Humphrey, the school’s human nurse, was the one to open the door, her face visibly surprised as she asked, “Don’t tell me you’re injured again?”
Zari quickly shook her head, stammering, “I’m, umm…” She hadn’t really thought this through. Stuck for an excuse, she found herself clutching her belly. “I feel pain here.”
Mrs. Humphrey’s eyes widened. “That kind of pain?”
She blinked.
But the nurse was already nodding understandingly, opening the door to let Zari in. “Dr. Anton? A student is here to consult you about an unplanned pregnancy.”
Zari sputtered in disbelief. What was the nurse saying? Before she could correct Mrs. Humphrey’s erroneous assumption, the door to her left opened, and a tall woman with short brown hair strode out of the room. She walked with both confidence and grace, and her aura was warm and friendly when she saw Zari fidgeting near the infirmary’s main door. “Hello.” She had a cool, clear voice, the kind that belonged to someone used to being in command. Like those of her kind, her face was unlined by age, and the only hint that she was not human was when she smiled. It was a beautiful smile, but it also showed the barest hint of her fangs.
Jumbled thoughts ran through Zari’s mind. How old was Katarina? Did she grow up with her Master? Were they each other’s first love?
Her imagination went into overdrive, and suddenly all she could see was her Master…with her. Alexandru and Katarina holding hands. Kissing. Drinking from each other. Fucking.
Zari’s tummy hurt, this time for real.
The female vampire stopped next to Mrs. Humphrey. Still smiling, she said, “I’m Dr. Katarina Anton.” She offered her hand.
Zari really didn’t want to take it, but good manners forced her to, and just as she shook the doctor’s hands, Mrs. Humphrey said, “This is Lady Zari, Doctor.”
The hand Zari was holding went still.
Did she know? When the doctor released her hand, Zari immediately looked at the other woman’s face, and what she saw in the doctor’s eyes told her she wasn’t the only one aware of who they were in her Master’s life.
“…she’s one of the best doctors among her kind,” Mrs. Humphrey was saying. “So it’s quite a coup LSL has managed to acquire her services.”
When the nurse had finished, the doctor gestured to her private clinic. “Perhaps you could join me inside?”
Zari could only nod and as she followed the doctor to the clinic, feeling like she was about to walk to her own death, the doctor suddenly stopped. Turning around, she told the nurse, “I’m sure I can handle it from here, Mrs. Humphrey.”
Zari’s eyes widened. No, wait – did that mean she was going to be alone with this woman?
The doctor glanced at her wrist, the sleeve of her lab coat falling back to reveal her watch. “It’s getting late anyway. It’s okay for you to leave for the day.”
The nurse’s face brightened. “Really?”
Behind the doctor, Zari shook her head wildly at Mrs. Humphrey. Don’t leave me!
The nurse frowned. “Lady Zari?”
The doctor turned to Zari.
Zari immediately schooled her face to be expressionless. Or at least she hoped it was.
The doctor asked pleasantly, “Is there a problem, Lady Zari?”
Was it just her imagination, or was there a threat in the way the doctor said her name? Zari gulped. “Umm, nothing, Doctor.”
Before she knew it, the nurse was gone and she was all alone and locked inside the doctor’s office. Looking at the doctor as she took her seat behind the desk, Zari could still feel herself battling with disbelief. Was this really…Katarina? The woman her Master loved?
The thought had her wanting to run away, but she knew it would be pointless. Lord Erou was away from school again, but even if he was there, he wouldn’t be the right person to talk about this. There was Rhapsody, too, but it didn’t feel right either, troubling the other girl with her problems when they barely knew each other.
She really had no one to run to, Zari thought painfully. None except her Master, but it seemed like even her Master wouldn’t be hers much longer.
“So, Lady Zari…” The doctor – Katarina – inclined her head to the side in question. “Would you like to talk about your—”
Her eyes widened, and she belatedly remembered what Mrs. Humphrey had said. “I’m not pregnant,” she said quickly. “Mrs. Humphrey…she thought…wrong.” Her voice trailed off, her cheeks flaming in color.
“Oh.”
Was that, Zari wondered, relief in the older woman’s eyes? When Katarina smiled at her again, it also seemed warmer, and unease started to stir inside of Zari.
“I apologize for the misunderstanding.” The other woman paused. “But if that wasn’t what you’ve come here for, then…is there any other thing I may help you with?”
Zari bit her lip.
“I’m sure,” Katarina continued, “you didn’t come here for no reason.”
Hating how the other woman made her feel so defensive, Zari blurted out, “I can say the same for you, don’t you think?” Unable to bear being rude, she added reluctantly, “Dr. Anton.”
She expected Katarina to deny it, but instead the doctor’s smile faded, and her face turned serious.
“Very well,” Katarina murmured.
Unease turned into panic, and Zari suddenly didn’t feel like hearing the truth. She burst to her feet. “I don’t think—”
But Katarina had also come to her feet. “I—”
She shook her head wildly. “I don’t want to hear this—” She hurried to the door, but of course Katarina beat her to it. Human speed would never be a match against vampires.
When their eyes clashed, Katarina said, “I was wrong.”
Zari froze.
The older woman’s voice shook. “I know, you have your own lives now. But I just can’t…I just can’t not…I know I was wrong. I was wrong to make him leave. To push him away.”
She asked tremulously, “Why are you telling me this?”
“Because I want him back.”
Shock caused Zari to sway.
Katarina’s eyes widened in alarm. “Lady Zari—” She reached for Zari, and the moment her fingers curled around Zari’s arm, everything changed.
A vision.
One that may be her last—
Zari started to scream.
Chapter Seven
“Where is she?” Alexandru roared. Rationality no longer had a place in his mind. He didn’t care how many vampires he had to knock unconscious, didn’t care how many he had to fucking kill. If he had to turn the entire dukedom upside down, he would. Whatever it took to find her again.
“Cease this.” Mihail appeared at the doorway, his eyes cold as he surveyed the destruction his younger brother had caused. Dozens of his own soldiers littered the ground, and their only sin was that they had followed the command of their marquis.
Alexandru whirled around to face his brother, his face white with rage. “I do not want to fight you, but I will if you do not tell me where she is.”
“I don’t know.”
“Stop with the lies,” Alexandru roared.
&nb
sp; Mihail’s tone didn’t change. “Listen to me, brother. Truly listen. My voice. My heartbeat. I do not know.”
Alexandru staggered back.
“It was her choice to leave.”
A vision, just a vision, and visions can’t hurt.
She whispered the words over and over to herself, but still her fears escalated, still Miranda kept walking towards her, and the closer she got to Zari, the less she resembled a human. When she was in front of Zari, she was no longer Miranda but a demon.
He lunged at her, and Zari screamed.
DON’T INTERFERE.
The demon threw her into the water.
She flailed and gasped, but it was as if someone was forcing her down. Water rushed into her, and she began to choke.
She squeezed her eyes shut. A vision, just a vision, and visions can’t hurt—
ZARI.
The voice.
That voice.
It was her Master’s voice.
****
Alexandru was back in the mainland, scouring nearby towns in the off chance that he could sense the demon’s presence, when he heard his pet scream.
The sound was filled with so much terror he immediately checked on her using their blood bond.
Her pulse was faint, but her heartbeat was racing, and he knew she was having a vision. The kind where the person she was seeing had also sensed Zari’s presence…and turned the tables on her.
Zari. He used their bond to call her name. Cold sweat enveloped his body as he waited for his pet to respond. He dared not do anything, concentrating all his efforts on reaching out to her.
Something in their bond stirred.
Zari.
M-Master?
Come out of your vision.
I’m drowning.
No. You’re not. The panic in her voice made him want to kill someone. Just follow my voice—
B-but I c-can’t b-breathe—
ZARI. His voice turned into a command. Do you trust me?
Her heartbeat raced faster at his question, and he knew, whatever Zari was fighting, it was trying to literally scare her to death.
