— King Vam-Kud Navram, “Edict of Growth and Order”
Before entering, Mina drew her sword and polished it with holy water from a flask on her belt. She was careful not to spill any on herself. It wouldn’t affect him as much as it would her, but against a pureblood, she needed every advantage she could get. With her sword in one hand, and her gun drawn in the other, Mina slowly approached the rusted front door. The hinges creaked as she pushed it open. She narrowed her eyes and peered into the darkness. Moonlight only spilled in so far before the cold darkness overpowered it.
Mina stepped in quietly, her boots making no more noise than if she were walking on pillows.
Above her were rusted beams latticed with old ropes and chains that swayed ever so slightly in the draft. The scent of dust, damp wood, and stale blood clung to the air. Somewhere in the stacks of cargo, a rat skittered, its tiny claws tapping against the wooden crates.
He was in here. She knew it was him.
Then, a metallic creak echoed from above.
Mina spun and fired.
The bat’s squeal sounded like laughter as it twisted through the air, dodging between the steel rafters.
Mina gritted her teeth, leading her next shot, but the creature flew too fast.
“Show yourself, coward!”
There was silence for a moment. Then, a voice; velvety, and sophisticated. “I daresay that notion would be to your liking.”
Mina turned sharply, her pistol raised. But there were only shadows. “More than anything,” she said, keeping her voice steady. “Let’s just talk. I found your new-blood in Crimson Row.”
“And how is he fairing, if I may ask?” he asked casually.
Mina’s eyes flicked left, then right. Where the hell was he? “He killed twelve people.”
A soft chuckle. “Commendable indeed.”
She pivoted again, scanning the upper beams.
“He fulfilled his duties; there was no need to keep him on a leash. A loyal hound merits a reward when it obeys. A feast, in his case.”
Another sound—this time from below.
Mina turned as the bat plummeted, vanishing into a swirl of black smoke before touching the ground. The darkness coiled and thickened, folding in on itself, stretching into something tall, elegant, and regal.
He had the kind of face one might say was too perfect, with combed-back hair, and sharp cheekbones. He wore a tailored black coat, an embroidered waistcoat, gloves as fine as any noble’s, and resting at his hip was a sword that his gloved hand lazily rested upon. His silver eyes gleamed with amusement. “Put those toys away,” he murmured as if addressing a child. “You wanted to ‘talk,’ did you not? Here I am.”
Mina leveled her pistol at him. “Draven.”
“Wilhelmina… aren’t you a tonic for tired eyes. Did you miss me—?”
Mina pulled the trigger.
The bullet wisped through him. His form shattered into mist, the smoke curling and twisting before dispersing completely.
Mina shuddered and quickly scanned the area.
“Looks like you did,” he said before letting out a maniacal chuckle.
She growled. “I know you’ve been searching for the Conduit.”
“I suspected as much,” he said after a pause. The voice was close now, somewhere behind her. “But this hunt concludes tonight. You’ve seen the street. They’re close. No other being could unleash such a potent surge of magic.”
Mina’s grip on the pistol tightened. “That wasn’t you?”
“Darling, as much as I’d love to claim credit for such delightful chaos, I must admit, for once, it wasn’t me. No, it was precisely what drew me here. I could feel the magic from miles away.”
The voice moved behind her.
Mina whirled and swung her sword through nothing.
Damn him.
He chuckled again. “The Conduit was hiding under my nose this whole time.”
Mina turned, jerking her head in every direction, but Draven was gone again. “If you think I’m just going to let you take her—”
“Of course, I don’t.”
Mina pivoted, swung, and hit nothing.
“I may have killed many in my search for the Conduit, but how many have you killed in your search for me? Dozens? Hundreds of your own kind? Quite honestly, I was expecting better from the Raven of Reghin.”
Mina gritted her teeth. “Wasn’t just looking for you.”
“Oh, I’m sure.” His tone dripped with amusement. “It’s a shame she isn’t here. I know she’s dying to see you again.”
She whipped around, scanning the dark.
“After our previous… let’s say ‘family meeting,’ I thought you’d come knocking on my doorstep. And, like the kind woman you were, you’d bring with you a very unkind gift.”
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Maybe I have one with me.”
“I know you do. Even in the shadows, its shine is impeccable. But if you honestly believe a drop of it will stain my skin tonight, you are truly mistaken.”
The scrape of a footstep.
Mina spun, blade raised, catching Draven’s overhead strike just in time. The impact rattled her bones, her feet skidding backward against the warehouse floor.
Draven twisted, his sword slipping down the edge of hers, cutting into her arm as he slid past. The padding beneath her trenchcoat took the blow.
She barely had time to react before he was on her again.
His blade was black as voidstone, impossible to track in the darkness. He fought like a predator playing with its food. “Still slow, I see,” he taunted.
Draven lunged, and the air rang to the peal of their colliding blades.
She pivoted, rolling with the force of his blade, cleaving the air.
Draven bent back, evading her swing by inches. Mina cursed and tried to put distance between them, but he was too fast, closing the gap in an instant.
Metal screamed on metal as Mina interchanged her sword and gun. She used the barrel of the pistol to parry, twisting the revolver between her fingers, firing between slashes, but she missed every shot.
Draven laughed as she pivoted away, her heart hammering in her chest. “Where was this ferocity when you needed it? You might’ve been able to save your fam—”
“Don’t you fucking say it.”
Draven paused. His amused grin grew wider. “You might’ve been able to save Luna.”
She emptied her entire cartridge, aim be damned! Draven smirked as each shot missed. From her belt, Mina grabbed a speedloader, reloaded, and rapidly emptied the cylinder. It would've been a waste had a single bullet not ricocheted off a metal beam and struck Draven in the shoulder. Mina's rash movements were easy to read, but not the whims of Astros. As he staggered, Mina lunged and thrust her blade. “DON’T YOU EVER SAY HER FUCKING NAME!”
Draven awkwardly sidestepped, avoiding a fatal blow but taking a slash to his forearm. Crimson flowed from a gash in his finely embroidered cloak.
Mina pressed the attack, swinging again, again, and again.
Draven danced back, laughing, dodging each cut with the grace of a man who had never once feared the bite of steel. “You still believe bullets are enough to kill me?”
Mina holstered her gun. “Don’t need it. Not for you, not for her.”
Draven tilted his head. “You still believe you can kill the Queen of the Vampires?”
“Killing you’s a start.” She lunged, aiming her blade for his gut.
Draven parried, but she slid along his block, their hilts colliding, locked together. He twisted his sword, trying to catch her wrist, and Mina ducked, and spun, barely dodging his counter-slash.
Her heartbeat pounded like war drums, blood boiling in her veins.
Draven grinned. “There it is. There's the monster that could have saved poor little Luna.” He vanished into the shadows.
Smoke filled the room, and several Dravens emerged from the darkness, each one a perfect mirror of the original.
Mina didn’t care. She lashed out at them like a mad woman, dissolving the copies into smoke. They kept rushing her, and it became impossible to tell which was the real Draven until she was met with a flurry of stabs and slashes.
Mina winced, flinched, and recoiled, trying to block the overwhelming assault. She cut down phantoms, but only the real Draven struck true with small cuts across her arms, her thighs, and her gut.
Blood seeped through her clothes.
Her sword was knocked from her grip.
Mina stumbled back as Draven rushed forward, and punched his blade into her stomach.
For a second, she felt nothing. Just cold. Like ice had spread through her veins.
Then the pain came. A ragged gasp tore from her throat as she dropped her sword. Her legs buckled, but Draven caught her, pulling her against him. The hilt of his sword pressed against her stomach, her own blood pooling between them.
She tried to move, but Draven yanked her head back, his fingers tangled in her hair. His silver eyes burned, hungry.
“You gave it a valiant effort, but just like old times, you could never cut it.”
Mina shook, gasping, her lungs struggling for air. “I’m not… letting… Lockhart… take another… Conduit…”
Draven chuckled. “From where I stand, there’s nothing you can do to prevent that from happening.”
He twisted the blade, and Mina let out a choked cry, her fingers digging into his shoulders, clinging as she tried to stay upright.
“Say you survive this…” Draven mused, “What would you do? Hunt her down? Return to the island?”
Mina gritted her teeth as her pulse skyrocketed. Her blood was boiling, her heart racing. “I swear to you…” she rasped. “I’m going to rip out your fucking heart… so you know what it feels like—”
Draven twisted the blade again. “After tonight, both I and the Conduit will be safely aboard a ship to Alnwick Island. Follow us if you wish, but we both know what will happen if you set foot on that rock again. There is nothing you can do because you can do nothing. You couldn’t save poor little Luna then, and you can’t save—”
Mina sank her fangs into his throat.
Draven’s voice choked off into a strangled snarl as her teeth ripped through his skin. His thick, hot blood flooded her mouth.
The clones dissolved, wisping into curling tendrils of smoke.
Draven roared and hurled her away.
Mina barely registered the pain as his sword ripped free from her gut.
The warehouse wall exploded as her body smashed through it, the force launching shattered bricks out onto into the water. She rolled hard onto the dock. She groaned, clutching the gaping wound in her stomach. Blood leaked between her fingers.
It would heal soon. She could push through the pain.
Draven stepped through the ruin of the wall as Mina forced herself up on one elbow. He carried her sword in his other hand, blood streaking down his neck. He hardly seemed bothered by it, more annoyed than wounded. “You insufferable whore,” he growled.
Mina tried to dodge, but he swung her own blade at her.
Agony.
Unholy, blistering, soul-searing agony.
Mina screamed. She tried to grab her arm, but as soon as her own palm touched the wound, the holy water burned her again.
It was as if her skin had been dipped in molten lava. The sound was a wet, bubbling hiss, like raw meat hitting a hot skillet.
She gasped, choking back another cry, her vision blurring with red and white flashes of pain.
She could barely think.
She had to move.
She had to get away.
Mina crawled toward the dock’s edge, but each time she moved her arm it sent a spike of agony rippling through her shredded nerves.
Draven loomed over her, completely composed. “To hell with your pardon,” he snarled, raising her own sword to finish her.
Then a crash came from inside the warehouse.
The front door had burst open, and two Ironguard stormed in.
“Lower the weapon!” one of them shouted.
Draven glared as he turned toward them.
Mina saw her chance. With a shaking hand, she made a quick, desperate gesture, and fire exploded from her palm.
Draven leaped back, and Mina threw herself off the dock.
The cold water swallowed her whole. Mina stayed submerged, trying to swim as far as she could. The weight of her coat dragged at her, and when she couldn’t hold her breath any longer, she broke the surface.
She didn’t know how far she was, but it had to be enough.
Mina hauled herself up onto the docks and forced herself to her feet. The holy water had washed away, but the wound still throbbed, the flesh raw, and burned through to the bone.
She staggered forward.
She needed to get away.
Mina stumbled through alleys, through streets, blood dripping in a trail behind her. The world was tilting, spinning. Her vision darkened, each step feeling heavier than the last. She needed to get just a little farther. Just a little…
Mina’s legs gave out.
She hit the ground hard, her cheek pressing against the filth-ridden cobblestones. She tried to move, but her body refused. Her arms shook violently, too weak to push herself up.
She had to keep going.
Mina’s vision blurred as she caught the shape of a figure approaching.
Then everything went black.
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