“What about Kandler?” Esprл looked up at Te’oma. “Isn’t he coming with us?”
The changeling frowned at the thought of the justicar. “His place is here. His job is here.”
Esprл smiled for a moment, then frowned again. “But won’t Kandler at least say good-bye?”
“Not tonight, dear,” Te’oma said. Lies came easily to her. As a changeling, most of her life was a series of lies as she changed herself about to look like something she really wasn’t. Any pangs of conscience she might have felt over this had been buried by the lies long ago. “He asked me to start out with you right away. He said he’d catch up for good-byes soon. He wants to make sure you’re safe and happy in your new home. But he has work here tonight. We must leave him to it.”
Esprл smiled and hugged the changeling, who winced at the pain but kept silent. “I’m so happy yon finally came. Aunt Arnaya.”
“I am too.” Te’oma stroked Esprл’s long blonde hair.
“You have her? Excellent.”
At the sound of the voice, Esprл jumped into Te’oma’s lap, and the changeling yelped in pain.
A man stood nearby, surrounded in mist. He was tall and thin with high, wide cheekbones set in a gaunt, sculpted face. His skin was the color of the crater floor, and something dark dribbled from his chin. He wore his long, shiny black hair pulled back in a tight ponytail. His eyes glowed like dying coals.
Esprл screamed. She clutched at the changeling like a drowning dwarf.
“Look at me,” the figure said. “Look at me!”
Esprл buried her head in the changeling’s arms and continued to scream. As she wailed, she kept her eyes closed tight and kicked out with her feet.
Te’oma winced in pain as the child held on to her with all her might. She tried to pull herself free from the girl, but it proved impossible. She shot the man an angry look but kept her tongue.
The man snatched Esprл’s legs with one hand and grabbed her head with the other. He pulled her away from Te’oma and held her up before him like a prize fish just pulled from the sea. She struggled against his iron grip, but he forced her face around to point at him. “Look at me,” he said quietly.
Esprл closed her eyes tight and screamed again. “Aunt Arnaya! Help me!”
The impulse to leap to the child’s aid surprised Te’oma as it awakened in her heart. She shoved it aside, suspecting it was just a side effect of throwing herself so completely into her role as the girl’s aunt. Even if she wanted to do something for the girl, it was out of her hands now.
The man spit in the girl’s face, and she opened her eyes in rage. Her voice caught in her throat, and Te’oma followed her gaze. Two other pale-skinned figures stood behind the first. Each wore a long, black cloak embroidered with a red mouth filled with teeth as pointed as their own. They glared at the girl.
“Look at me,” the man holding Esprл said. Once the girl’s eyes locked with the monster’s, Te’oma felt Esprл’s will slough off like an old snakeskin. She no longer felt the urge to scream, to fight, to flee. She awaited his orders, nothing more.
“Sleep,” the man said, and Esprл did.
Te’oma caught the girl before she slipped to the ground. “Tan Du!” she said. “I had things well in hand.”
“Would the justicar agree with you?”
“He interrupted me.”
“We do not have the time to toy with our prey, no matter how pretty,” Tan Du said. He took Esprл from Te’oma’s arms and caressed her soft cheek.
“Where are the others?” Te’oma asked. “What happened to the foot soldiers?”
Tan Du grinned. “They were expendable.”
“You lost two score of the finest Karrn zombies? And of the seven of your kind we started out with we now have only you three? You call that a success?”
“We have what we came for,” said Tan Du. “That is all that should concern you.”
Te’oma steamed at the vampire for a moment, then turned away. She couldn’t bear to look at him.
Tan Du gazed down at the young elf in his arms. “Is your horse nearby?” he asked.
Te’oma looked back over her shoulder and nodded.
“Excellent. The others will lead you through the darkness.”
As Te’oma watched, one of the vampires transformed into a massive, slavering wolf with glowing red eyes. The other morphed into a monstrous bat and flapped high up into the air on its leathery wings. No matter how many times Te’oma saw this, it always disturbed her. The changes weren’t natural like hers. It was as if the vampires forced their new forms upon the world-as painfully as possible.
“They will cover the ground and the air,” Tan Du said. “All you need do is follow them from here.”
“What about you?”
Tan Du smiled. “I have business.” He nodded for Te’oma to lead the way, and he followed. He carried Esprл in his arms as if she were as stuffed with feathers. When they reached Te’oma’s horse, Tan Du and the other creatures stopped several yards away. The horse whickered at them. This brought a private smile to Te’oma, who felt pleased to be truly alive at the moment.
Te’oma continued on ahead. When she got to the horse, a massive black-coated gelding, she stroked his sides and face and whispered kind words to him. Once the horse was calm, Te’oma rummaged around in his saddlebags and pulled out a wax-sealed vial. She uncorked it with her teeth, which she altered to make as wicked as Tan Du’s, and swallowed the pungent liquid in a single gulp.
The potion burned down her throat like homemade liquor and formed a lump in her stomach. She waited for a moment until she felt the warmth spread through her veins. In an instant, she recovered from the beating she’d taken at Kandler’s hands, and she was ready to travel.
“Better?” Tan Du said as Te’oma walked back to him and took Esprл from his arms.
“I feel as good as I look,” the changeling-elf said.
Tan Du smiled. “Good enough to eat.”
Te’oma turned her back on the vampire and strode back to her horse. She pushed Esprл up onto the beast’s back and then hoisted herself up behind the girl. She steadied Esprл in front of her and then looked down at Tan Du grinning at her. Te’oma wanted to wipe that self-satisfied look from his face, but she reminded herself that now was not the time.
“ How long will you be?” Te’oma asked.
“Not long. Maintain your mindlink with me. I’ll use it to follow you.”
“As you wish.”
Tan Du stepped toward Te’oma, and the horse skittered away. “Be off,” the vampire said. “I can hear our guests arriving.”
Te’oma turned and spurred her horse to a trot. She and Esprл rode off after the bat flapping away in front of them. The wolf dogged their heels, goading the horse to a gallop.
Tan Du chuckled. Remembering his business, he leaped into the air and transformed into a bat. This was his favorite form. He loved to feel the breeze beneath him as he cut through the air with his light, lithe body.
The vampire flapped into the air until he had enough altitude, then glided down silently until he reached the roof of Kandler’s house. He perched there and watched as Kandler, Burch, and Sallah sprinted toward the place.
As the trio charged up the path to the house, Tan Du resumed his normal form. With all their attention on the house’s door, the three didn’t see him until he announced his presence. “She is gone,” he said from the edge of the roof.
The three stopped dead in their tracks and looked up at him. “Ah-ah-ah,” Tan Du said as Burch raised his crossbow to fire. He always enjoyed torturing the living, and this encounter would be particularly sweet. “I’ve seen you with that thing, dogface. Put it away.”
Burch held his weapon steady, still pointed at the vampire’s heart. Kandler pointed his sword up at the creature. “What do you want?” the justicar said.