“They’re not bloodsuckers?”
“They are not. However, when faced with the blood plague that ravages their kind from time to time, their teeth elongate, madness consumes their minds, and they feed on their own. The opal-root essence is what they give to those who show first signs of sickness outside of the kingdom.”
“And if someone contracts the blood plague, what happens to them?”
She shrugs. “They disappear. At first, I thought maybe they put their own kind down. A stake to the heart or toss them in the fire. But there’s no proof of any such ceremonies. If anything, they mourn when someone contracts the blood plague. It’s as though they’ve failed their own kind.”
“If not kill them, then what?”
“I think they banish them to other realms.” She frowns and sweeps her gaze across the crowded club. “I haven’t been able to discover where or how, but they do something with them and they don’t seem the type to simply imprison them.”
I let her words sink in. It’s possible these monsters were sent here to Earth. Right to my very city. Crazed by a disease that led them to kill everyone I love.
And they still lurk.
“I killed a vampire tonight. Crazed and seemed sick. Do you think there’s a connection?”
“It’s possible,” Loey replies. “I did hear something that might be of use. A provinceman told me no one in the royal family had ever gotten sick from the disease. However, the royal family had a set of twins. They were precocious and curious. He once saw them outside the walls of the castle and returned them to the kingdom himself. They rewarded him with food and land and opal-root stones. However, he never saw them again after that. They were never spoken about.” She lifts a brow at me. “It seems strange to me. What if they contracted the blood plague while playing and their parents sent them away?”
“It sounds too coincidental not to add up,” I admit. “This is the best lead I’ve had in ages. Thank you, Loey.”
“Next month, when we meet up, I hope to hear you found and killed those royal psychos.”
Hope flares up inside of me. With this information, I can have Jude put his people on locating them. Before, all I had to go off was one first name. Now I know their last name is possibly Zargonian and they’re royals from The Pale Province. This feels like a goldmine of information.
“You better have found the Shadowed Sanctum too,” I tell her. “You’re close. I can feel it.”
“We’ll see,” she mumbles in frustration. “Anyway, tell Merc I love her. I smuggled that bracelet from the provinceman I spoke with. As far as I know, this gemstone has never left their realm. It’s a very special trinket just like her.”
My eyes well with tears and I blink them back. Loey is good to Mercy and that makes her amazing in my book. Mercy deserves all the goodness in the world, even if it means stolen trinkets all over the planes of existence by an unlikely vampire friend.
“Don’t go soft on me, Casti,” Loey grumbles. “If you cry, I’ll cry. We know what happens when I cry.”
“Everyone dies.”
“Basically,” she sasses, making me laugh. “I better get going. I’ve been here too long. People will talk and you know how I hate when they talk.”
She slides off her barstool, but I stop her by grabbing her wrist. “Wait.”
Her eyebrow arches. “What’s wrong?”
“I need help…” I trail off, sighing.
“Who do I need to kill?” Her blue eyes glint with evil and her teeth nearly sparkle with her wide grin.
“If only it were that easy,” I grumble. “What do you know about bats?”
“They’re rats with wings.”
I shudder. “Mercy rescued one.”
“That, my dear, is way outside my scope of abilities. Call a shelter.”
“I did,” I groan. “They’re not taking in injured bats because they don’t have the capabilities to save them.”
“Maybe the bracelet will work on the bat,” Loey says with an unhelpful shrug.
“If this bat dies, I’ll never hear the end of it.”
“If anyone can save a pitiful bat, it’ll be you and Mercy. I have faith in you.”
With those words, she drops a kiss on my cheek and disappears into the crowd. Who knew trying to save a bat would be the most difficult of my worries these days?
Castilla
It’s nearly three by the time I drag myself out of an Uber in front of my building. I’m tired, but my brain is wired. I can’t stop thinking about what Loey said. I’d even gone as far as to send Jude a text to get him on it for me. His old ass was probably already in bed, but I didn’t care. It’s too important to sit on.
Before I enter the aging building, I get a sense of being watched. My hairs stand on end and a chill races down my spine. Whoever—or whatever—is out there will have to wait until morning. I’ve had enough for one day.