A Shade of Vampire 79 A Game of Death - Bella Forrest Page 0,64

above. She stayed behind, still trembling because of our unexpected presence. I felt sorry for her, but she was going to be okay. She could’ve had it much, much worse. She could’ve gotten hurt in the melee.

We made our way out of the house and into a dark back alley. We heard people on the other side—silver guards shouting, locals whispering. There was no sign of the Red Threads, but I knew there could very well still be eyes looking for us, wondering where we’d gone. It was only a matter of time before they’d find us, if we stayed here.

“So, what about that abandoned residence?” I asked Kalon, who led the way through the maze of narrow and shaded side streets. The Rimian kept moaning and trying to talk, but we both ignored him.

“It’s where I used to live before my father died,” Kalon replied.

“Oh… And it’s abandoned?”

He didn’t answer right away, but I felt sad for him. I could only imagine what losing a parent was like. Tristan and I had both been fortunate in this respect. “We burned it down. It was infected by Black Fever.”

“How can a house be infected?” I replied, startled and confused.

We made a sharp left turn, then a couple more to the right, until we reached a small and seemingly deserted cul-de-sac. All the houses here had been burned down many years ago. Only their structural beams and some of the walls remained, all blackened by the fire. Dust and dirt gathered in every crevice, and there was a general sense of loneliness coming out of this place.

At the very end, a mansion still stood in better condition than the houses. Part of its tiled roof was still up, though barely hanging. It would likely collapse at the first earthly tremor. The main door was off its hinges, but I could still see its sturdy brass knocker. For a moment, I imagined a younger Kalon living here, laughing with his siblings… long before tragedy had come knocking on their door.

“He died in there. His blood seeped into the wood floors. It was too risky to try and clean the whole place up, since the virus is quite resilient, even after it loses its host. For us, it was dangerous. So our mother decided to burn it down. Everyone on this block was relocated,” Kalon explained.

What a terrible disease, to not only kill a father, but also to drive entire families from their homes, plumes of black smoke rising behind them. My heart broke just from thinking about it.

He carried the Rimian up the steps and carefully moved past the fallen door, into the darkness. I followed him in, momentarily hypnotized by the rays of afternoon sunlight that cut through the blackness, slipping through broken windows and punctured walls.

“This was your home,” I murmured, looking around as I adjusted to the obscurity around us. I had a hard time picturing a younger Kalon running through these halls, now. There was so much pain and death embedded in the walls, persisting in the dry air… refusing to let go.

“It was, yes,” Kalon replied. He dumped the Rimian on the hardwood floor, parts of which were missing or broken, partially burnt in the fire. Tying his prisoner’s arms around what had once been a decorative lobby column, Kalon removed the gag. The Rimian licked his crusty lips and cursed under his breath. “Welcome to my humble abode, whoever you may be.”

“I will rip your eyes out!” the Rimian spat.

“Whoa there, rowdy ass. Can you not see you’re tied up? The only one doing any eye-ripping today is me, and it’s those two in your sockets that I’ve got my heart set on,” I replied, approaching him with a menacing stride.

Kalon looked at me, partially amused, but played along, as I’d decided to be the bad cop. I kicked the Rimian in the shins, almost breaking his bones, and he cried out from the pain. Beads of sweat quickly erupted and trickled down his face.

“You’re one of the Red Threads, aren’t you?” I asked.

He didn’t answer, choosing to stare down at the floor instead. It just made me more irritable, so I kicked him again—this time in the knees, dislocating one of his kneecaps. “You crazy bitch!” the Rimian bawled, tears streaming down his cheeks. “You’re insane! You’re mental!”

I raised the braided red leather thread. “I’m going to start breaking bones now, unless you answer my questions.”

“Dude, I’d take her seriously if I were you.” Kalon