Page 81 of Taste of Death

“I didn’t think about what I should say,” I admitted. “If saying anything would even get through to you.” I tapped the blade against my leg. It wouldn’t burn me as long as it didn’t touch my skin. “For what it’s worth, I don’t hate you. Not even after everything you did. This… this isn’t out of anger. Or revenge, or anything like that.”

The creature quieted as if he were actually listening, his breaths making a soft, rattling whistle.

“I’m hoping that doing this is a kindness,” I said. “I remember how you suffered in your final years of losing yourself as a vampire, how the hunger for flesh pained you. I can only imagine how you’ve suffered since. And I want to… apologize for my part in that. I’ve kept you down here for fifty years, with good intentions, yes, but… that doesn’t make it right. No matter how much you enjoyed my suffering, I would never wish this upon you.”

I brought the silver blade up to examine the metal surface, and the creature’s breaths became low growls again.

“In some ways, I’m sorry I failed to find a cure. In other ways,” I steeled myself with a breath, “I’m glad you never got a chance to come back.”

Evin snapped his jaws with angry grunts and bellows, reaching through the bars to swipe at me again.

“I don’t know if you deserved this curse or not. That’s not my place to decide. But you’re a danger to the outside world, and I won’t condemn you to an eternity down here. So consider this your escape, brother.”

“Novak, be careful.”

Amy had edged closer, probably without realizing it, to move near me. At the sound of her voice, Evin pressed into the corner of his cell closest to her and slashed his claws through the air.

“Get back!” I cried.

She wasn’t fast enough and those filthy claws snagged on her T-shirt, pulling her forward.

I moved without thinking. One moment I was yelling at her to stay back, the next, my silver blade was embedded to the hilt in my brother’s neck.

Time stopped for an agonizing eternity. And then foul-smelling, black blood spilled from the wound in the monster’s neck.

I released the handle and dragged Amy into my arms, pulling her away from the scene. “Did he touch you? Hurt you at all?”

Her shirt had ripped from his claws and I lifted the hem with a shaking hand to check for injuries. There was nothing, not even a scratch. Just clean, bare skin, thank fucking Temkra.

I was so relieved that I barely registered Amy snatching her shirt from my grip and pulling it down over her stomach. I just hauled her to my chest, bringing my lips to the sweet-smelling hair on top of her head.

“Why did you get closer?” I demanded. “Fuck, akra, he could have killed you.”

She had been tense but slowly relaxed, arms going around my waist. “I’m sorry. I was worried about you. The more you talked, the more agitated he seemed. Do you think he understood you?”

I sighed, resting my chin on top of her head. “I don’t know. I guess it doesn’t matter anymore.”

A kiss grazed my throat. “How do you feel? Are you okay?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think it’s sunk in yet.”

My gaze drifted to Evin’s lifeless form, crumpled in a heap in a corner of his cell. He was meant to die in old age with dignity, with his eldest son taking the helm of Rathka’s Order. Either that or in a blaze of glory on a battlefield. But his death and the final years of his life had been… disgraceful. Unremarkable.

I couldn’t look away, couldn’t do anything but sink into the reality of what I had done while clutching Amy tighter to me.

Chapter 25

Amy

Novak’s eyes became vacant, staring past me at the unmoving body in his basement cell. His shirt and forearm were covered in his brother’s blood. At least, I thought it was blood. All I knew was that it was thick as tar and smelled awful.

“Hey.” I cupped the side of his neck. “You still with me?”

“It’s done,” he said softly. “My brother’s dead. I killed him.”

My chest squeezed with uncomfortable tightness. The shock of his actions must have been setting in.

“Come on. Let’s get you upstairs and cleaned up, okay?” I took his clean hand and led him out of the basement. He was compliant, but his eyes never lost that thousand-yard stare.

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