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At least you have all your fingers.
My head was faint from the exertion of so much magic and focus, but I couldn’t let exhaustion win yet. I placed my hands on the doorway and shivered at the cold that seeped into my skin. The vampires’ magic was too strong to permanently break, but I could manage a temporary unwinding. I only needed a few seconds to get Walker across the ravine.
I whispered a quick spell and pushed the door open. It creaked and grinded against the stone, and I prayed that it wasn’t enough to stir any vampires.
Thank the Goddess the alarm bell isn’t ringing.
Walker waited for me across the ravine. Without preamble, I sent a gust of wind that scooped him up and carried him inside the castle. He wobbled in the air but remained upright and didn’t make a sound. Once through the door, I dropped him more gently than last time. He helped me pull the door closed, though the chilly wind fought to keep it open. The wards snapped back into place as soon as the door shut.
We panted in the dark for a few heartbeats.
“So,” I whispered, “did I get myself put back together properly?”
“Yeah,” he answered quietly. “You were a cyclops before, right?”
I gasped, and Walker chuckled quietly.
“Asshole,” I muttered and trekked down the hall.
I placed my hands on the slick, stone wall and used it to track our path. Walker followed me and continued to laugh quietly at my expense. I was about to tell him to shut up when he spoke.
“You look as pretty as ever,” Walker promised softly. “Don’t stress your vain, little heart about it, witch.”
“What makes you think I have a heart?” I whispered.
I reached a gap in the stone and gingerly pressed my hands into it.
“Please be a secret door,” I muttered to myself.
Clammy fingers gripped my hands, and I yelped. I jumped away from the hand and slammed into Walker. With a gentle grip on my elbows, he helped me right myself.
“Wait!” someone whispered. The voice was too raspy to decipher a gender. “Please, you can’t leave me! You’re—you’re not like them.”
Drip, drip, drip.
“Who are you?” Walker asked.
I wanted to light the torch to see the figure, but it was too risky. We already drew too much attention.
“I don’t know anymore,” the person whispered. “I’ve been here for too long.”
My heart broke. This must have been one of the vampires’ living blood banks. I’d heard they kept their favorite flavors alive sometimes, but I hadn’t expected to come face to face with one of their victims.
“We need to keep going,” I told Walker. “We can’t help.”
He didn’t move.
“Please,” the person pleaded. They sounded young.
“We’ll come back,” Walker promised.
I cringed. That was not a promise I was sure we could keep. Regardless of what I knew to be true, it took everything I had to walk away from the prisoner.
The captive sighed. “Please.”
I vowed to myself we would keep Walker’s promise and kept walking.
I held my hands in front of me and hoped it was a straight shot to the next hall. All the while, I fought the fear that threatened to swallow me whole. I’d always known the vampires were rotten, but I’d never had many encounters with them. I’d only met one, and that was when I was a child. I hadn’t known the reason for his visit, but I remembered his pale face and pointed fangs.
