When We Were Still Human Vaughn Foster (the kiss of deception read online .txt) 📖

walls continued stretching downward with no sign of change. The shadowed arch would drift farther down when Vladimir shifted the lighter, but that was it.

Then there was the silence. Not that she preferred the first Sin’s constant yammering but the quiet gave room for questions. Was this plan a stupid idea? Should she have stayed in Le Ciel? Would they find a pit of corpses or be killed on sight?

“I haven’t lied yet.”

The word yet kept playing in her mind. She occasionally glanced in Vladimir’s direction in hope to see a nefarious gleam in his eye, or something that screamed Evil! Beware! Unfortunately, his grumpy expression bore zero clues.

On top of the unease was the itching feeling that they were being watched. She couldn’t see, hear, or smell anyone but the two of them. Even still… She was positive there were things moving in the darkness. Not the serous, fluid motion of Vladimir’s shadows, but something corporal.

Ten minutes later, a shape cut across her peripheral.

“What was that?” She spun in a tight circle, claws ready. Whatever it was had vanished, leaving only Vladimir’s mocking stare.

“Did you see that?” she asked, voice thin. He rose a brow then lackadaisically glanced about the tunnel. His fingers flicked in tight motions between sign language and playing a piano. The above shadows dripped down, then shaped themselves into letters:

So, you want to talk now?

“We don’t have time for this,” Val hissed. “There’s something—”

Vladimir doubled over, clutching his stomach. The lighter fell and darkness swallowed the tunnel again. Val rushed to his side. Dark blood specked the corner of his mouth as a growl of pain escaped his throat.

“I’m fine,” he muttered, rising to his feet. “It caught me off guard.”

Val spotted two small figures dashing along the wall. She moved to strike, but they were already gone.

“We need to run,” Vladimir said hoarsely.

“It’s two on two,” Val argued. “They were what, three feet tall? We can ta—”

“No.” There was an element to his voice that squelched her retort. The next thing she knew, she was sprinting after him down the tunnel.

She squinted and could see three of the figures flanking them on the left. “Why are we running?”

Vladimir cocked his head to the right, and she spotted three more. “Elves fight in packs. If they’re attacking now, then the city can’t be much farther.”

He winced, and the smell of blood shot up Val’s nose. Tucking her chin, she locked her body in speed with his. Something stabbed her shoulder. Something else slashed her thigh. Vladimir took another hard blow and stumbled back, but shook it off and kept going.

A jab to the ribs. A sharp lash across her back. She couldn’t tell what weapons they were using, if any. Whenever one got close, she’d just be able to make out pointed ears before it fell back into cover. An impossibly strong upper cut sent her reeling, but Vladimir was already grabbing her hand and yanking her back to stride. Right when she thought they’d have to hold their position, the tunnel yawned and gave way to a wide pitfall.

Val lunged forward, and seconds later, stood back-to-back with Vladimir in the buried city. The darkness didn’t break, but rather, was infused with green and purple fog. Giant towers tipped haphazardly or lay in crumbed pieces. Creeping shapes skittered along collapsed huts and broken buildings. What was still solid looked to be wasting into sand and dust. Whispers fluttered around the space like insects and in seconds, they were surrounded on all sides.

“Vladimir,” Val whispered. Soulless gazes shot through the vaporous dark like bullets. The eyes that stared down, and across, and up at them were solid black.

Straightening his posture, the tattoos on his arms stretched. The ones on his right arm formed a thin, clawed gauntlet. On his left, the ink spread up and across his neck and jaw to hang around his brow. The black of his irises spread like ink across both eyes then swirled to a murky silver.

Vladimir cleared his throat. “We mean you no harm.”

Val looked to the surrounding army, then back to him. He spoke with a power and authority she hadn’t heard before. The darkness swirled and flicked about his feet like it was alive, and for a moment, she feared she’d be taken in the assault if he chose to attack.

A single blade shot past her face, and in a flash, was pinned into a crumbling wall. Val then saw Vladimir holding a silver dagger with runes engraved on the blade.

“My name is Vladimir Dracule the Fifth, heir of the house of Dracule, Prince of the Eastern Kingdom, and emissary of the King of Angels. We merely seek an audience with your mage. We believe he or she can help us dispel a curse. Again, no harm will fall upon you if you refrain from violence.”

The chorus of whispers stopped. The dark elves seemed to muse his declaration, turning to one another or retreating back into the decayed city. There was a sound of a hundred shuffling feet, and for a moment, Val believed that they were parting a path for their mage. For a moment. Then a thousand knives rained down.

Vladimir ripped the shadows from the ground to form a dome around them. Val shot her attention upwards to see the blades soundlessly bounce to the ground. It was a strange feeling. Her heart raced and her body ripped into action. Her powers had been purely reactionary since she awoke in Le Ciel. Now, as she ran her claws gently along the barrier, she was in full control.

“When I drop my arm,” Vladimir spoke, “we kill as many as possible. If they still have mages, we’ll draw them out by downing their numbers.”

Val nodded. Her whole body ached for a fight, and the second the shadows dissolved,