the better I understood that it might all come down to me and my new young friend here. I had to do whatever I could to keep him alive.
He extended his claws and tried to cut me down, but I slid to the side and swerved around, my own claws out. I cut into his side, blood spraying out from the tattered leather of his tunic. He cried out from the pain. I dropped and swung my leg out, tripping him. He landed on his back with a painful thud.
In an instant, I was on top of him, one hand gripping him by the throat while the other pressed into his chest. “You move a single inch, and I will tear your heart out,” I hissed. I made my point by digging my fingers into his flesh, claws piercing through the leather.
“I yield,” the young Aeternae managed. Only when I was close enough did I observe the cold blue of his eyes. It was eerily familiar, and it didn’t take more than a couple of seconds for my synapses to respond and make the appropriate connections.
The first Darkling finally went down, and Kalon stood over him, hands dripping with blood. Panting, he looked at me. “Don’t hurt him,” he mumbled.
“So you know him,” I said, voicing my conclusion.
Soon enough, the Darkling I had caught was the only living one. His colleagues were more or less splattered across the hardwood floor. The neighboring villages would finally see a full moon without having their children stolen and sold into blood slavery. I was feeling infinitely better and stronger with just that thought in mind.
“I think so, yes,” Kalon replied. He grabbed a cloth from the bar counter and cleaned his hands, then walked over to us.
“He yielded,” I said, smirking at the Darkling.
Kalon stared at him for a while. He didn’t say anything, even as Trev and his Rimian friends gathered round. He just watched the Darkling, who avoided his gaze. These two didn’t just know each other. They were related.
Dying of curiosity, I pulled the golden mask off, revealing a boyish face. He couldn’t be older than sixteen, but he certainly carried the Visentis traits. His ice-blue eyes. The threads of salt in his pepper hair. The sharp cheeks and perfectly straight, aquiline nose.
“Esme, meet one of my younger brothers, Ansel Visentis,” Kalon said after a long and stunned pause. He sounded incredibly calm.
Trev’s jaw was inches from the floor, but the shock was quickly replaced by anger. “Ansel? What the hell, kid? What in the world is the matter with you?!”
“I take it you didn’t know Ansel was a Darkling?” I asked Kalon, since his brother remained sullen, ashamed and quiet.
Kalon shook his head. “I recognized his voice earlier.”
“This is certainly turning out to be a most eventful evening.” I sighed, nodding at Trev. “We found him. We found your brother, too. Next thing I know, we’ll learn that your mother is a Darkling Scholar and that the entire faction is just the underside of this empire, not an anarchist movement.”
Kalon scoffed. “Now you’re exaggerating.”
“Seriously? I’m literally on top of your Darkling brother, and I’m the one going overboard?” I replied, crossing my arms.
“I… Esme, can you please get off my brother?” Kalon asked. His tone was flat, but emotion still rippled through it. He was as blindsided as the rest of us regarding Ansel, but he did his best to keep his composure, to think clearly and fully understand the situation we’d stumbled into.
Exhaling, I got up. Pain shot through my thigh, the adrenaline now gone. I nearly fell over, but Trev was quick to catch me, while Kalon grabbed his brother by the collar and pulled him up.
“Thanks,” I whispered.
“Don’t mention it. You shouldn’t even be out here,” Trev replied.
I scowled at him. “We were looking for you.”
“Kalon, we do need to talk,” Trev said, temporarily ignoring my huffing and puffing.
“Oh, I’ll get to you in a moment,” Kalon muttered, furiously eyeing his brother. Ansel seemed paralyzed, terrified beyond anything I’d ever seen. He dared not move a single muscle, as if mentally preparing himself for the ass-kicking of the century. From what I could tell, Kalon was definitely the most fearsome in the Visentis dynasty, if this was Ansel’s reaction right now.
“What is your brother doing with the Darklings, Kalon?” I asked.
Judging by the looks on Trev and the Rimians’ faces, they were all just as baffled.
“I’m wondering the same thing.” He sighed. “Talk to me, Ansel.