A Violet Fire (Vampires in Avignon #1) - Kelsey Quick

Chapter 1

I count everything again, almost obsessively. Rope. Hooks. Ointment. Arument cloths. Six scrap metal knives. Bread and water for the next three days. My chest is still tight as a reluctant sigh passes my lips. This is it for me. The last chance I have to reclaim what’s left of my life.

The cool, night air is already starting to give way to spring’s warmth. The heat passes through the rips of my spent tunic, relieving my goosebump-afflicted skin. Sunrise will soon be upon Nightingale and its stifling walls. A new dawn rising over the same cage, over the same shriveling hope for a new world. I rub my eyes, not wanting to start. The hardest thing to do is start. Nevertheless, I force the rucksack over my shoulder, stand, and carefully calculate my direction before taking off into a sprint.

Running is something I’ve always enjoyed during the blood-conditioning periods, but now… it’s a run for my life. I have to go faster, perform better at an exhaustive pace to make it to the walls on time. Still, it should work.

God, I hope it works.

When I first started mapping out this escape plan six months ago, I never actually thought I would make it this far; blood pumping, stumbling through the forest, too early to be allowed out of bed, and too far off the beaten path between the cages and the school to have a good enough excuse as to why.

If I get caught, I could maybe convince them that I just like to run. But really, who would believe that?

Should be another fifteen meters at this deathly pace before I reach the Eastern Wall. My dirtied, bare feet pound the earth soundlessly as I dodge sticks and leaves. Here, stealth is the difference between life and death.

The tiny anklet that I made out of twine and steel—back when I first arrived at this hell—whips my skin softly in sync with my breaths, reminding me why I never stopped fighting for this moment. Because the day I made the silly thing, was the day that I lost all hope in him to secure my future. The day I decided I would never be like the rest of the humans here.

An endless whirl of gray and yellow aspens fill and flee my vision as I weave between their spindly bodies. The forest floor begins to change from dark and misshapen shadows to the distinct outlines of grass, rocks, and bushes. Although horribly painful, I speed up my pace.

Snap!

A breaking branch to my left.

Skidding to a halt and falling to a crouch, I say a silent prayer.

Don’t move. Control your heart. Force down the reaction.

I apply everything I’d learned from before about Essence Dissonance—a defense mechanism that allows a human to remain hidden from highly sensitive predators by controlling their body’s natural responses to fear. I’m pretty good at it because I’m the only human getting herself into situations where it’s needed.

I listen and wait. The sound was one of its kind and now only silence remains, worrying me more than it should. My knuckles are almost as white as an albino squirrel when a red-breasted robin darts out of the brush. It stops after a few hops to look up at me before scavenging for a worm. I refrain from letting out a snort as I start to run again, willing the adrenaline from the bird encounter to seep out of my pores. A few more moments and I’ll be at the wall. That much closer to freedom.

A thousand demons release me from their noxious grips as I arrive at the forest edge.

God is on my side.

No one is around, as I hoped… and expected. Through my forbidden research at the school, I learned that once a month the Eastern section of the wall is left unguarded, but only briefly at sunrise in order to tally up the energy stored from the solar panels. The panels line every part of the wall and provide what little electricity that we do get at the school, although most of it goes to conditioning the offices of the professors, since humans aren’t exactly the priority around here—or anywhere.

I kneel at the forest brink. All that lies before me is freshly trimmed grass and a massive wall made of brick and mortar. A vermillion light catches my eye off of the top corner of a solar panel. The sun is rising. I push off from the ground and sprint for the wall. Like wine-stained cotton,

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