To Vanquish Darkness (Le Sombre #1)

Chapter 28

28

1836 NORTHERN NORMANDY, FRANCE

A malie jogged to keep up with Theo as he stormed up the stairs and down the hall. “A guardian? They’ve been turned?” She looked back and lowered her voice. “How does your coven know about them?”

"Everyone knows about guardians, Amalie." His expression was hard as he started up the second staircase. "What they don't know is where they are."

They . Because Theo did know where they were. Where her family was. Her stomach dropped. Now his whole coven knew about someone else.

She panted as they climbed. "Well. Seems like the secret’s out." The words hissed through her lips like venom.

“It’s only one.”

Amalie scoffed. “Only one? How many of us are there?”

Theo stopped when they reached the top. “I’m trying to protect them," he growled. "To protect you . Do you have any idea what would happen if every vampire knew of the guardians walking among us? I’ve seen it. I know—” He shook his head, fury flashing across his features. "But that's exactly what's happening now. This will spread. All vampires will hear of this soon enough, and there's no telling what chaos will ensue." He whirled on her. "You need to stay here. I can't risk your safety outside these walls."

Theo started down the hall to their rooms. Stay? Her fingers curled into fists at her sides. The idea that she could sit idly by while Theo figured out who had changed one of her blood. . .

“Who is it?” she snapped.

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know.” She scoffed. “Right. You never?—”

Amalie’s breath caught as she noticed a figure ahead of them. A woman. Bathed in red.

Amalie rushed forward, dropping to her knees. “Penelope?” It was the third woman she’d seen in the parlor. “Who did this to you?”

Her dress was torn. It hung off her in ribbons, barely covering her bare skin underneath. She wore no corset or underclothes. The skin on her throat was bruised and mottled, and a long cut on her left shoulder dripped blood down her arm.

Theo knelt beside her, his body rigid. “Who is your host?”

Amalie swallowed the bile rising in her throat. Host. He said it like she’d been invited to a party and had an unfortunate accident. She grabbed at the shredded fabric with numb fingers, trying to piece it back together. “We have to help her. She’s bleeding, she?—”

Amalie froze. Penelope was bleeding. In a castle where vampires roamed. Had the others left the kitchen? Would they walk down this hall?

Penelope looked up, her eyes red and swollen. “I tried," she whispered. "I did everything he asked.”

"Who?" Theo demanded, his voice like steel.

Penelope's eyes filled with tears, and Amalie's heart shattered. "He said I wasn't good enough," Penelope choked out. "That I w-was a disappointment."

“His name started with an ‘R,’” Amalie murmured. “She mentioned him in the parlor, but I hadn’t met him.”

“Ramon,” Theo growled.

Amalie didn’t know what she expected from Theo in that moment, but it wasn’t what she saw. The air around them went cold as Theo’s entire being threaded with shadow. He moved with it. Became it.

There was a click of a door opening. Then another. Amalie's head snapped up as two figures emerged from the rooms lining the hall. Shadows with eyes that gleamed like polished steel. Only two of them. Theo could outrun them, couldn’t he? Henriette could help them patch her up.

“To my room,” she hissed, the glamours already swirling around her like she’d been soaked in perfume.

Theo shook his head, his body tense as he watched the vampires approach. Amalie turned. There were no longer only two.

She swore under her breath. Why would a vampire do this? Why would he bring a human here only to hurt her and set her free?

Penelope clung to Amalie, hyperventilating. This was why. Ramon wanted to create a feeding frenzy. He wanted Penelope to be terrified in her last moments. To beg for life.

Amalie gripped Penelope’s hands, dragging them off her and rose. She didn’t have a weapon, but if she could find?—

“Stay with her.” Theo stepped in front of her. “Don’t move.”

Amalie's breath caught. Theo was cloaked in black mist, his eyes dark as coal. He flexed his hands and faced the vampires that still edged closer.

Theo's voice was like a whip crack. "Go back to your rooms."

The vampires snarled, their eyes glittering. These were the same men who’d been on the rooftop. How human they’d looked then. Now they were feral. Driven by blood lust.

"To your rooms." Theo's growl sent a shudder through her. His glamour, normally warm and peaceful, had turned to January wind.

One of the vampires took a step forward, and Amalie's heart leapt into her throat. He was tall, with a lean, athletic build and hair as dark as Theo's. His eyes were wild, and his lips curled back to reveal fangs that gleamed in the dim light.

Theo's hand shot out, and the vampire stumbled back, hissing. "I won't say it again."

The vampires looked between Theo and Penelope, their nostrils flaring. They were like wolves, circling a wounded deer.

The vampires pounced, swift and predatory. Theo moved like smoke. He ducked under a swipe of claws, then spun, delivering a kick to the vampire's chest. The creature flew back, crashing into the wall with a sickening thud.

Another vampire lunged, fangs bared, but Theo grabbed the vampire's wrist and twisted, the bones snapping with a sickening crack. The vampire howled in pain, and Theo's fist connected with its jaw, sending it sprawling.

They couldn’t die, but they could feel pain.

Theo delivered it. He caught a vampire by the throat and squeezed, then slammed his head into the floor. He broke skin. He shattered bones.

When they were down, Theo turned, his gaze locking on Amalie. For a moment, she couldn’t breathe. Theo Vallon was deadly. A Darkness.

He was beautiful.

Theo stepped forward, his movements slow and deliberate. He reached down and scooped Penelope into his arms. Amalie winced at the blood smeared on his skin and the torn fabric of his shirt.

He rose. “Are you coming?”

Amalie nodded, and Theo shifted Penelope so he could reach out and hold on to Amalie’s waist. He lifted her like she was nothing, and then the hall seemed to bend around them.

When the stones stopped blurring, they stood in front of another door, but Amalie didn’t recognize her surroundings. It had to be a different wing of the castle.

Theo didn’t knock. He set Amalie down and kicked the door open with his boot. A man skittered back, raising his hands as his eyes widened in horror.

Ramon. He was short. Thin. With pale eyes and hair that fell to his shoulders. “Theo, I didn’t?—”

“Shut your damn mouth.” Theo walked in and lay Penelope on the bed. He turned, his voice a low growl. "You will put her back together."

Ramon's eyes glinted. He took a step back. "She’s a human. I did as I wished."

In an instant, Theo knocked him against the wall. He caught Ramon’s left wrist as he tried to rise from the floor and raised the vampire’s hand in front of his face. Without a second’s hesitation, Theo pulled a knife from his boot and sliced off Ramon’s first two fingers.

The vampire howled in agony. “I will do this every day, slowly, for the rest of your life if I don’t return and find this woman cared for. Do you understand?”

Ramon fought to get up, but his right hand slipped on the stone, already slick with his blood. Theo held the knife to his thumb, and Ramon gasped.

“I understand! I understand.”

Theo cut it off anyway. The man howled as Theo dropped his arm and wiped the blade on Ramon’s shoulder before putting it back in his boot.

He didn’t say another word as he walked back toward Amalie. He didn’t ask before wrapping his arm around her waist and lifting her into his arms.

She buried her face against his chest as he carried her back to her room, breathing him in. He walked quickly, but he didn’t run, and by the time they stood in front of her door, his scent had warmed and the shadows had almost fully receded.

He set her down, but her arms lingered around his neck. He reached around her and opened her door. "Clean up. I'll be back."

She nodded, swallowing hard. She’d forgotten all about the kitchen, about their argument as they’d ascended the stairs.

“Theo? Are you ready?” Etienne appeared at the end of the hall, seemingly oblivious to what had just occurred.

Amalie pulled her arms off of him. She didn’t argue as she slipped into her room and closed the door.