Page 33 of Unbound By Shadows
“Naturally.” She laughed, the sound as thin and sticky as a cobweb. “What brings you to Padu? Last I heard you were living like a beast in the forest.”
“I have been serving the Malkina queen.”
“The Malkina. Interesting choice.”
“They have been good to me. Unlike others in this realm.”
“You know it was all Julian’s doing. I did what I had to just to survive,” she said heatedly. “Come, let me show you my tent on the East row. People pay good money for my bite.”
“Let us pass.”
She sniffed the air, then focused on Selene. “Who’s this?”
Unable to repress her Southern manners, Selene stretched out her hand to say, “Hi, it’s nice to meet…” but the words faded as a nearby vendor lit a torch, fully illuminating the mysterious Margery.
At first glance, she was stunning. Glittering rubies dripped from her pale throat, perfectly matched to her cloak, dress, lipstick, and gloves. Her black hair was parted in the middle, with the ends brushing against a jeweled belt at her waist. Heavy eyeliner and thick eyelashes framed her eerie gray eyes. Yet the longer Selene looked at her, the more she realized there was something very wrong about her face. Something was wrong with everything.
Margery’s cheekbones were bloated and misshapen, her lipsabsurdly puffy. Her eyebrows were painted on at an unnaturally high angle, and the skin around her eyes was pulled tight across her skull. And that wealth of thick black hair? Clearly a wig.
Selene thought it might be a trick of the light, but when Margery turned her face, the effect was worse. She looked like a gothic plastic surgery nightmare. Normally, Selene felt pity when she saw the extreme lengths some people went to appear beautiful, but Margery was simply terrifying. She wasn’t Little Red Riding Hood at all—this was the Big Bad Wolf.
“A Nereid girl. Isn’t she lovely?” Margery crooned at Selene. “Oddly dressed though. Have you ever heard ofgowns, darling? Or are you in disguise as some sort of pauper?”
“Don’t speak to her,” Sam warned Margery.
“I don’t take orders from anyone butmenow,” Margery shot back. One of her odd eyebrows rose even higher when she looked back at Selene. “Oh, little minnow, you smelldelicious. What’s that scent you’re wearing?”
Some instinctual drive was urging Selene to run, that she was being sized up as prey.
“It's soap you scent,” Sam said quickly. “We visited a soap merchant,”
Margery smiled and the movement caused a crack to appear in the layers of pancake make-up she wore. A long, yellowed fang was revealed as Margery bit her lip hungrily, making Selene’s body jerk.
Vampire.
This was it. She was real. A true predator and monster of legend, right in front of her. Except she didn’t look anything like the glamorous lady vampires with porcelain skin and perfect bodies from the movies. The decay and corruption of Margery’s flesh made it clear—she was one of the living dead.
Margery inhaled again. “There’s something so familiar… you’re sure it’s just soap I scent?” she asked, her voice dropping.
Sam didn’t respond to Margery’s question with words. Instead, he took a step behind Selene and rested his warm palms on hershoulders. It was an undeniable gesture of possessiveness, a signal she was under his protection. Despite the terror of being ogled by a vampire, a rush of pleasure tingled through Selene at his touch.
“Don’t worry, demon, I know I’m in your debt,” Margery said irritably, flipping back her hair. “Though she certainly doesn’tsmellNereid.”
This made Selene uneasy. What would happen if she guessed she was human? But she reminded herself she was cloaked with a face full of glitter and had looked Nereid enough to have fooled the man who gave her a cockle shell. There was a beat of silence before Sam said, “I’m glad you’re doing well for yourself.”
Margery adjusted her velvet gloves. “Well, let’s just say single life agrees with me. As does freedom, so thank you for that. There are more of us here from the wagons, did you know? Not only vampires—”
“I don’t care.” Sam interrupted. “Are you going to leave us now?”
Sighing, Margery said, “Yes, I suppose.” Giving her cape a dramatic twirl, she turned to walk away. “Farewell Vengeance demon and… ,” she looked pointedly at Selene. “You.”
“Farewell, Margery,” Sam said.
Chapter 14
The forest seemed unnaturally bright as residual light from Padu streamed through the trees. Selene walked quickly, with Sam close behind. She would have sprinted if her legs didn’t feel so unsteady.
Keeping her voice low she said, “Margery is a vampire, isn’t she?”
