Page 75 of Nocte

It’s all worth it as long as he catches me.

As long as he catches me.

“Hello?” A knock rattles the door to the main room.Bang. Bang.“Are you awake?”

“Stupid mortal,” Caspian growls. He steps back and lunges inside the main room. Throws the door open. I can hear it thud against the wall and I race to the doorway just in time to catch the woman lurking behind it before she steps inside. Head held high, blond curls tied back. She smiles and beams, bringing light into this room, like a living sun.

“Good morning, vampire,” she says, her tone cold. Then she spies me and her smile widens. “Ah, good morning, Niamh! You look so much better.” She carries something on her back—a leather case with straps that she shrugs off one by one. “I’ll just check some of your vital signs. Vampire—” She doesn’t even look at him. “You can square your debt with Mo, downstairs. Cash only, or a fair exchange. I’m sure you know the drill anyway.”

The drill. Caspian does know it, apparently. He narrows his eyes and stalks into the hall, slamming the door behind him. But then he lingers. Waits.

“I won’t hurt her,” Colleen calls back, sensing him as well. “Idiot,” she mumbles under her breath, arms crossed, blue eyes glinting with irritation and confusion.

The vamryre’s care confuses her. Confounds.

But it thrills me.Yes.

If I can’t make him stay with a good enough trade, then I will take anything. Concern. Pity. Guilt.

Anything.

CHAPTER27

Caspian

“Your tab’s been closed, I’ll have you know,” the fat woman snarls as I approach. “Ironically, your visa’s still active until Sunday. I don’t even want to know what you’ve been up to for an entire year. I can’t call the boneys on you for illegal entry, though.” She shuffles papers at her desk. Pretends to be oh so busy.

It’s a lie. She isn’t busy, she is worried. Worried because of me. She hides behind her strip of wood and yards of space between us. Her throat is jiggling, pulse trembling.

“And don’t think you can start a new line of credit, either,” she spits. “Not after the last time.”

Last time.I stare at her, waiting for the memories to appear. They don’t. Cassius must have locked those up extra tight. Even out here I can’t access them, far away from him.

Yet, he hasn’t come for me yet. Why? Good. But why?

“Well,” the mortal sniffs, still uneasy. Her eyes dart to a circle hammered onto the opposite wall. Moving appendages contort to point to different symbols. Numbers. A clock it’s called. I remember that much.

She eyes her clock and becomes more uneasy with every passing second. She’s waiting for something. Something that will come when the number she has in mind is struck. Tik. Tok.

“Don’t think you can run out on your bill, neither,” she huffs. “We ain’t special like you all, but we do have our ways. I’ll have the boneys after you in a heartbeat, vampire. They know how to deal with your kind. Imprison your kind.”

Because these “boneys” have talents. Magical unworthy talents. Or so she thinks. Out here, they are tricks and illusions. Fake spells. Fake magic.

Except for the mortal upstairs. Her magic is real.

“Anyways, you can square your tab with me another way,” the fat human squeals. Mo is her name, or so the other one claimed. A fake name. These vermin hide their deceit with false fake names.

She needs one too, perhaps. Niamh. To keep her hidden safely. To keep her mine a little longer. Then I remember that her name is already fake. Already a secret. Already mine.

Because I know without asking that she hasn’t told anyone else. She didn’t dare to. It’s my name that should change. Something other than Caspian.

As if that will ever be enough to erase Cassius’ hold over me. I am Caspian. In spite of him, I am Caspian and it is my name. Wasn’t always, but it is now. Mine. Mine.

Won’t change it out of spite, not even to outrun him.

“You can do me a favor,” the fat woman drones on and on. “I need you to deliver something for me. Then bring the payment for it back. It’s nothing you vamps from there will want to steal. Take the package. Bring the payment back here, and we’ll be square. The doctor will get her cut from me, so you don’t even have to worry about squaring up with her. All good?”

“Good,” I hiss, watching her scurry and jump. She’s antsy, this one. More anxious than I have ever seen her.