Page 22 of Wicked Thirst
I glanced at the pile of clothing in my hands and could only guess the amount of vampire conquests Atlas had. Beggars couldn’t be choosers in my situation. I’d left the castle and taken all my clothing with me. There was no way Atlas was going to let me make a pit stop. He wanted to hunt, and he wanted to hunt now. Besides, I’d gotten worse hand-me-downs than this before.
“Get dressed. I’ll wait outside.” He turned for the door.
“You expect me to believe you’ll wait? No, stay right there.” I stared at him until he held still.
He groaned. “You’re going to undress in front of me?”
“If that’s what it takes.” I reached for the pieces of my dress and began tearing it off.
He spun around, giving me his back. “This is ridiculous.”
The sound of ripping fabric filled the silence between us. There was a tiny crop top that was so small it’d serve as a bra for me. I shoved my arms through and wiggled the tight fabric past my bust, then I slid on a pair of jeans that were slightly loose but my ass was big enough to hold up. These two pieces did not go together, but I had only a few options.
“And how many different women’s clothing am I wearing?”
“I fail to see how that’s any of your business.”
“Seems my love life is now your business.” I pulled a loose-fitting sweater over my head that had rips carefully placed over the stomach and arms. I rolled my eyes. Greaattttt. “In my mind, turnabout is fair play.”
“You mistake me, Piper. My involvement is not a choice. Anything to do with the crown is my business. Anything doing with a lifelong friend is also my business. Grayson and I have been friends for over a hundred years, and in one swoop you've ruined it for the lot of us.”
I shoved my feet into boots that were too big. I’d never be able to keep these on. I turned and went to Atlas’ dresser and pulled out a pair of his socks. I shoved my feet into them and tied them as tight as I could. His thick socks poked out of the top of the boots, and I shoved the jeans into them to get a bit more hold. I grabbed a pen off the top of the dresser and wound it through my hair to hold it off my face. I pressed my hand to the necklace Grayson had given me. It was to remind me to control my thirst, but now its weight around my neck would remind me of only him.
“Ready.”
He glanced at me over his shoulder and sighed. “Help yourself, why don’t you?”
“You didn’t give me much of a choice.” I wrinkled my nose and sniffed the borrowed shirt I was wearing. “Helpful tip, if she smells like a floral potpourri, she’s going to be a stage-five clinger.”
He arched an eyebrow. “Noted.”
“Oh my god. She was, wasn’t she?” My eyes widened and for the first time since everything went down, I smirked, trying to picture Atlas with a tiny female vampire clinging to his side.
He said nothing. He just groaned and turned toward the floor-length mirror and pressed his hand to it. The mirror rippled and moved like the surface of water. Before, the sight of it used to awe me, now I found myself growing used to this new vampire world I’d been thrown into. “How do you know where to go?”
He sighed. “There are places feral vampires are attracted to. We’ll start there.”
“So the curse turned him feral?” There was still so much I didn’t know about the curse and how it worked.
“It’s more than feral,” he snapped. “Feral vampires can sometimes come back. The curse makes him feral but stronger and more violent too. In some cases, smarter . . . diabolical even. And he will not come back from this.”
Annoyance ran through my body. Why did he keep insisting I give up hope? “How do you know?”
“Because I’ve seen it before. The House of Shade’s numbers have dwindled over the years: cousins, uncles, aunts. One after another they fall to the curse of love, and I have put down one after another. I am the one who holds the silence and keeps the crown.”
A cold chill went down my spine. “And now? What are you going to do now that it’s your best friend?”
“What I must.” He stepped into the mirror, and I leapt in after him. The surface peeled across my skin as I tried to barrel through faster.
When we entered the hall, Atlas didn’t wait for me. He sped up so quickly that his body was nearly a blur. But I was stronger than I’ve ever been and keeping up with him was no problem. I pumped my arms, feeling the adrenaline course through my body. When we reached the mirror on the other end of the tunnel, Atlas dove through, and the mirror started to harden behind him. I skidded to a halt as he glanced back at me with a smirk on his face, as if that would stop me from following him.
I arched my eyebrows at him and placed my hand on the mirror, willing it to open for me. My blood magic spread over the mirror in a glittering red mist, and instead of the mirror turning liquid once more, large cracks forked out over the surface. The smile dropped from Atlas’ face and he took a small step back. How dare he try to ditch me or dodge my questions. The mirror exploded outwards and shards of it shot toward him.
He ducked away and held his arm over his face to protect it. I stepped out of the mirror, the pieces crunching under my boots. “And what does what I must mean exactly?”
He sighed and turned his back toward me and began walking once more. I didn’t know where we were exactly, but we’d come out in some kind of crappy bathroom. The walls were cream with dark-brown stains covering them. The white subway tile had a layer of muck on it that made me want to bathe in sanitizer. Wadded-up toilet paper and paper towels littered the damp floor. The smell of something foul hung in the air and I wrinkled my nose.
“Where are we?”
