Slay Alive

Chapter 16

sixteen

When we arrive back in Briarwood Hollow the mood lifts. There’s laughter and music in the air, and an impromptu parade of dancers and musicians winds through the streets.

“What’s going on?” I ask Tamsin as I watch a woman in a red dress spin and leap in time with the music. She leads a group of men and women in colorful garb.

“It’s for the eclipse. There’s a celebration leading up to it. All of the fancy pants get to go to the masquerade ball but there’s still fun like this for the rest of us.”

“Where are they going?”

“The Silver Gardens. It’s going to be amazing. We’ll have music and dancing, but most of all the ice cream and mead.”

That has my interest.

“Mead?” It might only be two whole days since I went on my broken-hearted bender but I would give my soul for a drink. “I need to get buzzed. Let’s go.”

Tamsin gives me a funny look. “Buzzed? Like with bees? There won’t be bees but they do make the mead with honey,” she offers helpfully.

“Oh, um, yeah, that’s perfect. Let’s get wasted on honey.”

“I’m not wasting the honey. Do you know how long it takes to make a barrel of mead?”

“No, why don’t you tell me.” I pat my friend on the back and move her along but that’s when Riley joins us.

“Nightwardens, how does the night find you?”

“We’re great,” I tell him.

“Bonnie wants to waste honey for a buzz,” Tamsin explains, which is close enough for me to agree.

“Darn tootin’ I do,” I say.

Riley doesn’t look phased by me or Tamsin. “A little merriment is well deserved after tonight’s patrol.” We walk in silence but not for long before Riley clears his throat and turns to me. “I was hoping I might, ah, speak to you for a moment, Bonnie.” When Tamsin slows down with us, Riley shoots her a look her way. “Alone if that’s okay.”

“Um, yeah, okay.” I smile at Tamsin. “I’ll catch up with you in a bit, okay? Don’t waste all the honey without me.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Tamsin gives us a wave and takes off with the other hunters towards the gardens.

When we’re alone, Riley clears his throat and shifts from foot-to-foot awkwardly. He looks like whatever he’s about to say is going to hurt. I bet he’s about to compliment me. I smile at him and wait for him to spit it out.

“You were excellent in the field tonight, Duskweaver. You impressed me. Adrian knew what he was doing when he made you a patrol leader. I’ll admit that I had my doubts about you but you’ve proved me wrong.” Riley rubs the back of his neck and I don’t say anything when he pauses because holy shit, this is so much bigger than just a simple compliment. “I find you to be capable and brave and I’d very much like to take you to dinner if you’ll have me.”

“Dinner?” I squeak in surprise. “Wha-like in the mess hall?”

Riley shakes his head. “No, there’s a nice restaurant in the Midnight Market that I thought I might take you to. That is if you’re free.”

Oh my god. Riley is asking me out on a date.

When they say life comes at you fast I think they meant this.

“Oh, dinner…uh, I-well, I would normally be very free for dinner. It’s just that I, well I’m not in the place where I should be going to dinner right now.” I stumble my way through my sentence with all the grace of a bull in a china shop. “I mean, if I was free for dinner I’d go, but I’m not.”

Riley chuckles and nods. “I understand, Bonnie. No hard feelings. If you change your mind, I’m not going anywhere.”

“If things change you’ll be the first to know,” I promise. I don’t know why I’m rejecting Riley’s dinner invitation. Sure, I might not be in love with Riley right now but I’ve fallen for him hundreds of times in Fangs Are Forever , and tonight he acted like his old self. The man that I have fallen in love with without a second thought, so what the hell is my problem?

Cade.

His name is there, hanging over my head like a storm cloud. Even when I want to kick the shit out of the vampire, I can’t help but think about him when I’m with anyone else. Cade is the reason I just turned Riley down. At this rate I’ll never make it home because I’ll be hung up on the bonehead vampire while every romanceable boyfriend in the game asks me to dinner.

“Are you going to the Silver Gardens? I’m on my way to complete the reports for the patrol tonight but I can walk you there,” Riley offers.

I frown at him. “You aren’t going to party? What happened to a little merriment is well deserved?”

“I’m not much of one for parties. I prefer solitude.”

Riley is right. In the game he is the Brooding Watchman , after all. “Can I help with the reports? I should have some to do, I was a leader tonight.”

Riley waves me off. “There will be plenty of future reports for you to complete. Go on and have fun. You earned it by saving my patrol’s collective ass tonight.” I salute him, and Riley groans. “We really need to work on that salute, Duskweaver.”

“Aye, aye.”

Riley and I say goodnight and when I start off in the direction of the Silver Gardens I feel good. Riley isn’t like Gabriel and we’re good now. We might not be friends but at least I’m not going to have to fight Riley every day now. Maybe we’re frenemies? That’s nice. A shadow ahead of me moves and I freeze. All my thoughts of frenemies fly out of my head when the shadow moves again. It’s massive, far too big to be a person or a vampire. I watch as it bounces along the wall to the left of me and then flits to a roof before it finally leaps off the roof and lands where I can’t see it.

“What the hell is that?” I take off at a jog after it. From the looks of it, it landed just a few streets up from me. I run as quietly as I can and almost think I’ve lost it when I hear a growl from the dark. A second later a pot breaks and falls to the ground. I duck into a doorway just as the shadow emerges from an alley ahead of me and heads up the road. I lean out to see it cresting the hill up ahead. All the light around it gets sucked right up by the shadow, it’s like a black hole hungry for energy and sucking it up as it moves through Briarwood Hollow.

I don’t need to get close to it to know that it’s bad news.

After the hill there’s a fork in the road with one path leading towards Stargazer Plaza and the other to the Silver Gardens.

If it goes to the Silver Gardens where the others are partying…

“Not on my fucking watch.” I pull my dagger free and take off after the shadow.