Chapter 33

  The moon was starting to rise over the distant woods by the time Max and Lia stepped outside. The last of the birds had gone to sleep and all the world around them seemed to be settling in for a long autumn night. Only the goats Sage kept in a pen stirred in the dark as the two of them made their way closer to the paddock.

  Max had refused to go without his sword. He carried it low, but the sight still put Lia on edge. She kept a good distance from him as they walked. The thought that there were dozens of saviors just a few miles away made Lia want to shift again and fly out into the night, but she knew she’d run into the same questions she faced before. Where could she go? How would she feed?

  Reluctantly, Lia had accepted that there was no safe place for a vampire except with other vampires, and even that was a gamble. Snow believed this Avery person would be compassionate and accept her, but such considerate souls rarely survived in her world. She wondered if Snow truly knew this person well, or if he only saw the pleasantries and politeness a guest might receive. Who knew how this Avery treated his servants and subordinates?

  Lia eyed Max warily. Her eyes fell to his sword as the moonlight flickered across it. She had overheard the story of how he lost his wife and briefly wondered how a lone vampire could have moved through the world like that – taking from random homes, constantly moving like an animal on an endless hunt. How many Max’s did it create in it’s wake?

  “I’m sorry,” Lia spoke up as they reached the plank fence around the pen. Max paused and stared at her in silence. “I’m sorry about your wife.”

  For a moment, Lia wondered if he’d speak to her at all, but then he said, “it wasn’t you… was it?”

  Lia tightened and her brow knitted. “Of course not. I would never do such a thing.”

  “I never found the one that did it,” Max confessed. He didn’t look away as he said it and Lia felt as if he were sizing her up, seeing if the crime fit her.

  “I belonged to Bal Lorn. They captured me there. I was under that horrible collar since then and it was my human handler who insisted I rip out throats,” Lia said with more anger than she wanted to put into her voice.

  “That’s a lie,” Max replied. Lia watched the point of his sword lift a little with the rebuke. Fear ran up her back, but it quickly turned to anger. How dare he call her a liar after Sage acknowledged everything just moments earlier. Lia then told herself this was but one savior with one sword. In her heart, she knew she had all the power and ferocity to overtake him, but it was that same heart that pushed all that anger back. She knew better than to fight anger with anger and instead found her composure.

  “It’s true. They gave me to a man named Waldron who used me to fleece towns. After he made me rip out a few throats, he’d walk into the square and offer to rid them of the monster plaguing them. Then, when he marched me through with the collar around my neck, they’d pay him handsomely for risking his life to capture me.” Lia lifted her chin as she said it. She didn’t know if Max could see the scarred skin in this pale light, but she still felt the desire to show them and meet his suspicious gaze with confidence.

  Max stared back quietly for a long moment before turning briefly to the pen.

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  “Go pick your damn meal.”

  Lia’s delicate brow snapped together at his boorish tone.

  “I wasn’t always a vampire. I didn’t always have to do this to survive,” Lia gestured to the goats on the other side of the fence. “I was a lady in waiting to a noble family. I was born and raised in that castle long before Bal Lorn decided to take it. And he only turned me because his lover enjoyed my service and company.”

  Again, Max stood still and Lia wondered if any of her words were making it through the wall of his hate.

  Lia eventually sighed and hopped over the fence with the grace of a dancer. She looked among the animals before her and picked one that was neither too young nor old. The poor thing ran from her, but she was much faster and quickly cornered it quite literally. She stroked it’s hide a moment before zeroing in on where she wished to bite.

  “Tell me,” Max’s voice came up over the jostling of the other goats as they flocked away from her. “Can it be done without pain?”

  “Can what be done?” Lia held tight to the goat as she turned her head towards him.

  “When you drain a person,” Max replied.

  Lia tilted her head in confusion before replying. “It can be done gently. Our fangs are very sharp. We know where to bite if we wish to bleed one to death or merely sip.” A thought then dawned on Lia. “You want to know if she suffered?”

  Max’s eyes had finally drifted away from her. Lia wondered if Max was looking back now on the memory of his wife. When his chest started to rise with heavier breaths, she was sure of it.

  Though, admittedly, it was not the smartest thing she had ever done, Lia let go of the goat and walked back towards Max. She did so at a gentle pace and used a soft voice as she asked him more.

  “Did she look like she was in gentle repose? Only the one wound at her neck?”

  Max’s eyes flickered back to her with sharp emotion. Lia paused her approach but continued as if he had answered.

  “A vampire can enthrall a human. He or she could then make a single bite and slowly, but gently, take her life away. When I was turned, Lorn was gentle. It feels like heavy weariness quickly becoming a dreamless sleep. There was no pain.”

  “Why didn’t you fight?” Max shot the question at her hard and angry. Lia tensed but then regained her composure.

  “He enthralled me. I didn’t even know what he was doing to me until I woke up like this.”

  Max looked away again. His breathing continued to betray the turmoil going on behind his eyes. He had a hand on the fence as if to steady himself and Lia held her breath as she reached out and tenderly laid her hand on his.

  “I’m sorry, Max,” she said as her cool fingers touched his.

  Max immediately yanked his hand away and Lia jumped back two feet. She feared that silver sword taking her hand off, but Max only continued to glare.

  “Why would he bother being gentle with her?” Max asked. Anger and confusion were in his voice.

  Lia shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe he took pity on her. Maybe he didn’t want the mess.”

  Max looked away again briefly. He took in a long, deep breath and let it out slowly before turning back to her. Lia wanted to believe that his eyes looked a little softer in that moment. That maybe he was starting to understand that she didn’t want to be his enemy.

  Then Max said, “Go get your fucking dinner.”

  Lia gave him a long flat look before turning back to the muddy pen.

  So much for trying...