“You followed me, if I remember correctly!” William retorted.
“Things are different now, William. Many lives hang in the balance here. As much as I don’t like it, Aria is right. We have to know everything we can about this woman before we make a move against her.”
“Aria will go for her if she gets close.”
“She’s not going to do anything reckless, not this time.”
“How can you be so sure?” William inquired.
“Because she knows she’s needed here, and no matter how much trouble Aria has gotten herself into in the past, she’s never done anything to hurt the ones she loves. She’s doing this for us, not for her revenge. She’ll try to kill that woman when she thinks the time is right.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“I know I am.” Mostly.
William’s gaze swung to Tempest who stood watching their interaction, waiting to see what he would do. Finally, his shoulders sagged and he walked over to her. Daniel focused his attention elsewhere when William wrapped his arms around Tempest and drew her against his chest. That had gone as well as he’d thought it would. Thankfully, Tempest calmed his brother; otherwise, he had no doubt William would have charged out of here after Aria.
Daniel froze, his head tilting to the side when he heard voices coming closer. Humans wouldn’t have approached so brazenly or with so much noise, as twigs and leaves crunched. Daniel’s heart leapt into his throat. He pulled the bow he’d taken from the weapons room of the safe house below from his back.
William spun Tempest around and almost shoved her down the stairs. He closed the door as the barn door slid open to reveal the three vampires standing there.
***
Aria
Aria settled at the edge of the small town they’d arrived at. The trail Sabine and her followers had left ended here. Max knelt beside her; his hair was damp with sweat and stuck to his face. His breath came in short pants, but he hadn’t argued with her brisk pace or asked to take a break. Beside him, Xavier surveyed the vampires moving throughout the town.
Aria dimly recognized it as a border town she’d seen a couple of times as a rebel. It was one of the places where rebels sometimes interacted with humans who hadn’t sided with the vampires in order to have a better life, but who hadn’t fully committed to the rebellion either. The people in those towns were often helpful and protective of the rebels, but she’d never fully trusted anyone who wasn’t willing to risk it all.
Her father would sometimes use towns like this when he was bringing in new recruits. These towns were a helpful way to keep the rebel locations hidden, but still offered some measure of protection for him.
“Qualdon,” Max said.
“Is that what this place is?” Aria asked.
“Yes. I spent a few nights in the tavern over there,” he said and pointed at the small, gray shingled building. “Before I was captured. That’s also where your father first met with Jack.”
So long ago. Their lives had started to change that day, when their father had unwittingly brought a vampire into their midst. A fact he would later discover and keep to himself, as Jack became one of their strongest allies and her father’s close friend.
Aria turned her attention back to the town again. Like William and Tempest had said about Badwin, she saw no humans in the streets with the vamps. At the end of the street, a wire had been stretched across the road. Something dangling from the wire turned slowly in the wind blowing down the street. Horror curdled through her when she recognized it was people hanging from the wire by a chain around their throats.
No, not people, she realized when one of them kicked a leg out at a passing, brown-cloaked vampire. They’re vampires.
Tempest had said the influential vampires and the ones loyal to Braith were imprisoned, put into stocks and burned alive in Badwin. Apparently, they’d figured out a new way to restrain and torture vampires since then. It took everything she had not to storm down the street and slaughter every brown-cloaked vampire who tried to stop her from freeing the vampires spinning at the ends of their chains.
“Come on. Let’s circle around and see if we can figure out where she’s holed up,” Aria finally managed to get out.