back under his collar.
“Unfortunately, now that you’re here and you know about this place, I can’t let you live. I’m also going to have to kill all your friends of course, anybody you’ve spoken to, and completely wipe out that little infestation above the waterfalls. I wonder if I should leave you here to be pecked apart by vultures, or drag your corpse back to rot in my sanctuary? It might be a nice warning for the next girl Damien brings home from the compounds. And I suppose after you’re gone, I’ll have no reason to hold onto your siblings. Maybe I’ll bury them with you.”
My blood chilled, and I trembled, despite the sweltering heat and the poisonous gases distorting my vision. The king’s form blurred with the smoke, melting like an apparition.
When he charged, I tried to block, but it was like blocking the wind. I moved quickly, raising my arms over my head and deflecting his attack. The blow should have cut me in half, but I pushed it to the side with my arm, screaming with rage and lunging for his throat with the dagger in my other hand. He was gone before the blow landed. I felt a throbbing pain, and glanced down at my injured arm. The king’s sword had bit deep, nearly to the bone. I could barely lift my arm, and blood was making my sleeve thick and heavy. Red drops fell into the gray ash, leaving a crimson trail behind me as I staggered forward.
With trembling fingers, I pulled out the last of the vial that Damien had given me and downed it quickly. I’d beaten the slagpaw with a vial of elixir. I could beat him too.
I stripped off my thick leather jacket, exposing my sweaty skin and the thin shirt that hung low around my collar. Warm embers brushed against my bare stomach, but I could barely feel them burn.
I tore of my scarf and tied it around my useless arm to stop the bleeding, pulling the knot tight with my teeth. Then I stretched my spine, cracking my neck to the side.
My bracelet beeped a warning and time seemed to slow down. My vision focused into sharp clarity. I could see each individual clump of ash, patterns in the swirling poison around me. I saw the air shift before the king moved, predicting his movements.
This time, I blocked the blow with my dagger, even though the weight of it slammed me to the ground. I rolled quickly as the blade split the air above me, cutting into the earth just near my ear and ripping out a chunk of my scalp. I lashed out and felt my blade sink into the back of the king’s calf.
He cursed, before retreating again into the ash.
I crawled on my hands and knees, closer to the lip of the volcano. The heat blew my hair, now dry, away from my face, but from this close I could see a narrow flight of stairs, clinging to the side of the abyss. Enormous metal rings of the grand machine sank deep into the earth.
“Careful now,” King Richard teased. “Too much elixir and you’ll die... and become one of us. I designed it that way. You can’t use it against us. No matter how much elixir you drank, you’d never be a match for me. Your humanity forbids it. Meanwhile, the blood of the gods, flows through my veins, this is what I am – elite, in every sense of the word.”
“Vampire,” I spat.
“I see you’ve been reading Damien’s library. A foolish, adolescent obsession he had.”
“Your only power comes from what little elixir we allow you to enjoy,” Richard continued, “otherwise your lives would be brutal and short, full of pain and suffering.”
“The same is true for you,” I said. “You’re just an animal, like any other. You need blood to survive. You need to humans to live. We don’t need you at all.”
“Exactly,” he smiled, wiping my blood off his sword with the sleeve of his jacket. “Do you still not see how perfect my system is? If we didn’t need you, we’d destroy you. There’s no question that we’re the dominant species. It is only our need for you that keeps you alive. Live together or die apart. It’s the perfect symbiotic relationship.”
“I think it’s time we started seeing other people,” I growled, lunging with my sword. I cut through the air, my blade flashing. My arm was still throbbing but I could tell