A Shade of Vampire 79 A Game of Death - Bella Forrest Page 0,32

walls…

I went around the desk, where the gold guard waited, holding back a trap door. Pitch black was ready to welcome us below, and Valaine and I looked at each other.

“There must be an escape tunnel in the basement,” Valaine concluded.

“That’s where the fourth guy went,” I whispered. “That’s where they came through, as well. It was their element of surprise.”

Valaine frowned, glancing at the guard. “Not anymore. Two of you will go down there and see where it leads. The rest of us will wait up here.”

“Why don’t we go?” I asked, while the guard motioned for one of his colleagues to join him.

“Because they’ve already tried to kill us once,” Valaine replied.

“Milady! You should see this,” another guard said, kneeling beside one of the fallen Darklings’ heads. His mask was off, his face clear under the incoming sunlight.

We went over to them, and Valaine sucked in a breath at the sight of the dead guy. “Oh, crap,” she managed. Both she and the guard who’d called her were equally shocked.

“What? Do you know him?” I asked.

Valaine nodded slowly. “Egan Makios,” she replied. “The eldest of one of the minor dynasties. I… I grew up with him and his sisters.”

“And he’s a Darkling,” I concluded. “Okay, so this spreads well past the gold guards and the underbelly of Visio.”

“It’s a huge problem,” Valaine said, then shouted at the soldiers by the escape hatch. “Change of plans! Seal that up. Use whatever you can find in this place, but make sure nobody can use it until I get back.”

“What’s going on?” I replied, slightly confused.

Alarm lit her eyes up. “We need to talk to Kalon and my father before we go any further with this. We’ve already uncovered members of the gold guard as Darklings, and now an elite Aeternae, as well. It’s a clear sign that whatever is waiting at the end of that escape tunnel will likely get us or our soldiers killed. We need a different approach.”

“Milady is right,” the guard kneeling next to the Darkling said. “Besides, sealing this exit will force the Darklings to use other, perhaps less safe, routes. It will work to our advantage.”

Valaine checked Egan’s pockets, then stilled for a moment as she looked up at me. Retrieving her hand, she revealed a black-and-white braided thread. “This is… What is this?”

A thought crossed my mind, so I quickly checked the other two bodies. I found identical braids in their pockets, as well. Holding both up in the sunlight, I felt as though we’d finally caught a serious break in this investigation.

“It could very well be their signal. How they recognize each other as Darklings when they’re not hooded and masked,” I said.

Valaine straightened her back. “This stays between us!” she said, loud enough for all the soldiers to hear. “No one else must know about the braids. If I hear otherwise once we leave this place, I’ll have all your heads cut off. Am I making myself clear?”

“Yes, milady,” the guards replied in quivering unison. They were definitely intimidated by her. This was a side of Valaine I hadn’t seen before, but I had to admit, I was impressed. She clearly took after her father in some respects. I wondered if she’d ever considered becoming a master commander herself, someday. She obviously had the leadership skills required for such a position, along with the soldiers’ undivided attention.

“This could be it,” Valaine said, looking at me with renewed hope. “Our way of revealing other Darklings among us.”

As exciting as that sounded, it was also insanely dangerous. I could see why she’d chosen not to explore the escape tunnels just yet, and why Kalon and Corbin’s counsel was badly needed. The Darklings were not anarchists at all. They were highly organized and deeply infiltrated among the societies of Visio.

It became even clearer that they had an agenda.

“Do we know anything about the other two Darklings?” I asked, crossing my arms.

“This one looks familiar,” a soldier said, looking at the Aeternae I’d straddled and beheaded last. “I think he’s from the silver guard. I’ve seen him before, I’m sure of it.”

“It’s not enough. Our only lead is Egan, for now,” I muttered.

“We should go speak to his family,” Valaine suggested, a devious smile tugging at the corner of her mouth while her gaze remained fixed on me. “Not necessarily in an official capacity. We need to follow whatever lead we have before we go to my father and Kalon with any of this. The more