“Let me guess,” Apollo says from somewhere to my left. His voice is a roar of anger, but it’s weaker, tired. As if he’s too beaten up to be angry. “He went after the necromancer.”
I take a breath, the coldness of the ground seeping into me, clearing my head. “It’s the only thing he cares about,” I rasp out. Sense comes slowly back. I tug on my hands, but they’re tied behind my back, as are my ankles. The knots would cut the circulation if I had a proper beating heart. Grinding my jaw, I search for the pulse inside me, the one I got used to after spending days next to Cassandra. My heart is quiet, though, as quiet as the surrounding place.
“It’s our chance,” Ren says, urgency coloring his voice.
“For what?” I ask, trying to sit up. The effort makes everything hurt, so I give up. Maybe in a couple of minutes my healing abilities will have kicked in enough that I’ll manage to open my eyes, but for now, all I can do is move my lips and breathe out. Kayn’s torture and the loss of Cassandra have both joined to make a husk out of me. “To escape? We won’t go far.”
I don’t mean to be depressing, but we’re in the heart of Kayn’s property. He’s lived for long enough to have purchased a huge manor in the center of a large parkland, and if there’s one thing Kayn adores, it’s having his house full of people. I don’t know his story and who his biological family is, but the vampire lord adores the concept of having a large family. This place is infested with his progeny, and running away will not be simple.
They take a beat in silence, but I feel the buzzing tension hanging above my head. There’s something else. This isn’t about escaping. At least not only that. I take several deep breaths, then force myself into a sitting position. My shoulder blades hit the icy wall behind me. I lean my head back, letting the cold feeling be the center of my focus as my healing puts my pieces back together.
“What is it?” I ask, my eyelids still stuck together.
“Oreo disappeared in the mess,” Ren says, his voice a whisper. If it wasn’t for my improved hearing, I wouldn’t catch his words. “He came back with a note.”
I frown. There’s only one place a hellhound could have disappeared to... And to bring back a note? “A note? From whom?” Hope is the last thing I need right now, so I suffocate it, keep it quiet in the back of my mind.
“From Cass,” Tristan replies this time. “He saw Cass in the place where dead people go.”
A fresh wave of pain rushes over me. I clench my teeth together, new tears making my eyes burn.The place where dead people go. I can’t let myself think of Cassandra like one of the goners, a spirit in her afterlife, even if she’s happy with her parents. I can’t bear the thought of never seeing her again.
So I say nothing. I wait for them to explain the rest while I deal with this pain.
“She asked us to burn her body,” Ren says.
The pain subsides for a moment. It takes me by surprise. Burning her body would stop Kayn from using it. He wouldn’t be able to control her power, and she would be gone for real. Forever. No way of her body being used for something she doesn’t approve of.
No way for Kayn to break the world.
“Yes,” I blurt, struggling to sit up straighter. “We have to do that. We have to burn it.”
“It’s not that simple,” Apollo warns, anger in his voice that almost feels like old days. “Or should I remind you we’re all locked up in the fucking basement?”
“It doesn’t matter,” I insist, tilting my head to where his voice comes from. “With a necromancer, he can rise Cassandra, and use her powers to—”
“Take over the world, I got that much,” Apollo spits, his voice growing stronger by the second. “Doesn’t change the fact we’re in cells, locked underground, with a bunch of bloodsuckers outside waiting for a chance to snap our necks.”
I hate it when he’s right. But the more I think of Cassandra’s lifeless body in my arms, and how I should have done something, and how I fucking failed her... The sadness inside me boils into an anger I can’t describe. An anger at Kayn, and at the Collector, but especially at myself. I was the one who couldn’t save her. The others? They’re all children compared to how long I’ve lived. And I let them all down.
The mere idea of Kayn using her body as a puppet for his vicious plans...
“Donatello is right,” Ren says. “It doesn’t matter. We have to find a way.”
Apollo shuffles in the cell next to mine, but his body sounds heavier than usual. He’s the one Kayn beat up more often. Kayn says it’s because he wants to bend Apollo to his will, but we all know it’s just because he’s mad and Apollo’s dragon is resilient. He’s more resilient than strong, which means he’s not as dangerous as Tristan, with his mysterious gargoyle strength.
“If you have a plan,” hisses Apollo, “to break through shackles, bars, and doors, I’m all ears.”
“But we can smell her body,” Ren says, and I hear him getting to his feet then start to pace. The cell is three steps wide, though, and soon he’s turning around and walking the other way. “And we only need Apollo to get there. Once you’re in the same room, you can use your dragon to set everything on fire.”
“You’re forgetting the cells, Ren,” Apollo points out.
“Tristan will break them open. You saw how he reacted the other day.”
I arch an eyebrow. No idea what that means, but Ren sounds confident in Tristan’s strength. I wonder what happened while I was away. A part of me wants to hear more about the note Cassandra sent. Is she alright? Did she say if she met her parents? Is she happy?
“Mm,” Tristan hums from the right. “I may have bent them, but it was just a little. Not enough to pass through or anything.”
I remember the way Kayn’s been careful with Tristan. Gargoyles are rare, so it’s understandable he doesn’t know what Tristan’s limits are, even with his hybrid status. There’s one thing about shifters I haven’t seen him doing, though.