Undying Hate | Book Three

Thirty-one | Showdown

The last remaining Vampires of Argyncia ran with Sylvie through the darkened halls, endless glass staircases, and empty streets. Hayes and his guards were nowhere to be seen.

"Do you think they escaped Argyncia now that the division is gone?" Sylvie asked Mila.

Mila squinted. "No. It's not fully gone, I don't think, but the veil is definitely way thinner, so they would still need a portal fae to achieve it, and there aren't many nearby. Besides your kindred, of course." 

The new information didn't give her much hope, as she hadn't seen Kian since she pushed him out of the cell with Lazuli.

What if he was taken? 

She stowed down the fear and followed Mila.

"But that other Vampire said it was gone."

"I think everyone's a bit delirious from hunger," Mila said. "Something has changed, though. You can't feel it?"

Sylvie just shrugged. She'd just murdered someone in cold blood. Besides shock, nothing else stood out to her.

"Everyone take what belongings you can travel with and meet back at the square in twenty minutes."

The vampires all agreed and disappeared into their homes as Sylvie continued walking with Mila. The sky above them darkened as if a storm were on the horizon.

"Something doesn't feel right," Mila remarked, peering around.

"What is it?" Sylvie still couldn't feel anything at all. The loss of the division didn't even feel like anything. Maybe the vampires were wrong. 

One thing was for sure, Sylvie wasn't finished yet, and the Fates were not done with her.

"The sky. It's getting too dark. If enough clouds block the sun, the Turned might venture out here and finish off the last of us."

"Well, let's hurry to the square then."

Rubbing Kian's mark over her heart, she prayed he would find them. He was her only hope; if he were gone, everything she had done would've been for nothing. 

She would be back at the beginning again, about to be ripped apart by monster vampires.

They turned the last corner to the square when Mila stopped dead in her tracks. Sylvie looked where she was gazing and paused too, her face twisting into a scowl. 

Hayes stood there. 

His grey skin and dull red eyes raked over her with such disdain she could almost feel his hate.

Kian wasn't with him, though, so at least that was something. 

From the dark alleys connecting the square to the streets, guards stalked into the dim light, their hunger obvious from their jittery movements. How did he still have guards? Couldn't they see he was no leader? If they didn't leave him, they would die. They had to know that.

"You don't have to do this," Sylvie said lowly. "You don't have to follow him. Or die for him. You can come with us."

"Shut your mouth, you pernicious witch. My guards will not turn."

"They're starving, Hayes. What can you offer them besides a prolonged death."

He tilted his head to the side like a bird of prey, his eyes blinking as he took in her figure. "You, perhaps? Your blood is a fine delicacy, so I've heard."

"So even without Lazuli's influence, you are still a coward. And a bastard."

"What did you do to her?" he asked.