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CHAPTER SEVEN
ZADIE
The carriage comes to an abrupt halt. It pitches forward, though I grab the metal handhold on the side to keep from flying out of my seat.
“What in the Otherworld are you doing?” I demand as I throw open the carriage.
Benjamin is there blocking my way before I place one foot outside. “Stay inside.” He glances over his shoulder at the vampire lord’s home. “Wait until I’ve gone.”
“What happened out there?” I ask.
“An axel broke when we hit a rut.” With that, he shuts me in.
He said that as though it were an accident, instead of intentionally steering to hit it. I don’t understand why he’s acting as if Thomas were right here.
It doesn’t take long for Ben to unharness the horse and ride off. The pounding hooves quickly fade into the distance. I stay put, counting the minutes crawling by.
The sunlight changes to deep oranges and reds, and I finally climb out. The evening light casts Lakewood manor in hues of gold, making it look like something out of a fairytale.
There’s no time to linger as the sun is setting faster than I expected. Soon, the lesser demons will slither from the shadows with their formless bodies. If they catch me out here, there’s no saying what will happen. Will they tear me apart with their razor-sharp talons or drive me mad until my body gives out?
With a quick glance at the road, I find it in worse shape than it should be. One of the carriage wheels rests in a deep rut. No wonder an axel broke. It seems my dear friends have been making the road conditions worse while I’ve kept the viscount distracted.
The second horse is still fully strapped in. “Damn him to the Otherworld!” I mutter under my breath.
I’ve never even saddled a horse before, let alone hooked one up to a carriage. There’s no time to dwell on my annoyance at Ben for not making this easier.
The sky has become a deep purple to the east, fading to black. The mournful cry of demons waking seems to come from every direction. It grows louder by the minute.
Finally freeing the horse, I climb onto its back and urge it into a run down the road toward the manor. When I reach the gates, I jump down to open them.
But they’re locked.
Stupid. How did we not anticipate something so obvious?
The horse nickers and shifts, sensing the presence of demons. I dismount and whisper soothing words, stroking the velvety muzzle.
There’s no use in forcing the poor beast into a panicking race for safety. I wouldn’t be able to reach the city where oil lamps illuminate the streets throughout the night to keep the demons at bay, and home is even farther away. There is only Thomas’s manor beyond the gates.
“Zadie?” My name comes to me, soft and uncertain. Barely more than a whisper of wind.
I whirl to see Thomas’s confused face and nearly weep with relief. He doesn’t wait for me to speak before he throws open the iron gates and picks me up like I weigh little more than a sack of grain, setting me astride the horse. Then he’s at my back with an arm around my waist. He guides the horse in a gentle trot, as if we have all the time in the world.
The gate slams shut behind us. I twist to see who else is with us. But there’s no one. Only the ever-changing shapes of lesser demons reaching. Though none even stick a limb through the bars.
“Don’t worry, they won’t come any closer than that.”
Angling my head up, I gawk at him. “Iron doesn’t harm demons. Did you have it spelled?”
“There’s no need. They can’t trespass on a higher demon’s territory.”
At first, I think he’s joking. Except he isn’t smiling or laughing. My blood turns to ice. I try to ask what he means and why we aren’t running for our lives, but the words catch in my throat.
“It’s all right, Zadie.” Thomas speaks to me the way I talked to the horse. “Every vampire sired by the queen is bound to a higher demon. I promise they are far more intelligent and in control of their actions than they appear. You will not be harmed.”
A distant memory of one of my earliest lessons surfaces. Lesser demons are wild and vicious, haunting the darkest shadows and waiting for an unsuspecting human to stumble across their path. But they never encroach on territory belonging to one of the vampire queen’s court and their demon.
Thomas is the only vampire lord within hundreds of miles, The other vampires in Sangate are lesser vampires, sired by the court members.
