As Shadows Fade (The Gardella Vampire Chronicles 5)

Whatever she replied was lost in the scattering of rock and rubble beneath his horse’s hooves as they leapt forward.

Max didn’t look back.

Victoria watched him go and resisted the urge to kick her own horse into a gallop after him. She’d see Max again in three days, and before then, she and Sebastian had to find the vampire Katerina. She couldn’t afford to be distracted or worried. There would be time for that later, she told herself. Nevertheless, she watched him grow smaller on the road ahead of them with a pervading sense of loss.

She and Sebastian rode in silence for a time, and the city’s features became clearer even as the lowering sun cast longer shadows in front of them. Through the trees she caught glimpses of the single bridge crossing the Vlatava River, and Victoria watched closely for a sign of Max’s tall figure. But it was growing dark, and the riders all looked the same to her.

Victoria shook herself mentally and tightened her resolve. There were important matters to be dealt with, ones that could have far-reaching impact if she didn’t succeed. She looked at Sebastian and asked, “You’re quite certain this Katerina has the Ring of Jubai?”

He looked at her, a grin tipping the sides of his mouth. “It would have been a waste of time to bring us here if I weren’t, would it not?” He shrugged. “According to my grandfather, once Katerina obtained that ring from Germintrude, she never took it off. It was her way of spiting Lilith, I think.”

He pointed to the snaking river and the single span over it. “The Stone Bridge,” he told her. “Katerina was turned because of that bridge.”

“You did claim to know the story,” Victoria said, glad for the conversation to keep her mind off Max. Why did he have to ride ahead of them? They were still going to the same place.

“I do know the story, perhaps better than any other mortal,” he told her. “Perhaps if I tell you, it will distract you a bit-hmm, Victoria?”

His sidewise look made her heart pang quietly, for he wasn’t completely successful in hiding his own hurt.

“It’s a beautiful bridge, is it not?” he asked with a gallant sweep of his hand. “When the sun rises, it casts a lovely burnished glow over it.”

She could see people and carriages moving across the bridge, which stood in the river on ten arches that made it look like a graceful centipede. At the leg of every arch, statues rose on either side of the bridge. Other than that, the span was unfettered by wall or decoration. Simple, clean, elegant.

They drew nearer, and Victoria looked up at a single ornate spire that rose atop a hill above them. “Prague Castle is there,” Sebastian told her. “And that is St. Vitus’s Cathedral, which they have been building off and on since the thirteen hundreds. It’s still not completed.”

“And what of Katerina?”

“You’re not interested in the history of Praha, as the natives call it?” Sebastian asked. “I’m merely attempting to fill your mind with something other than worry.”

“I’m not worried. Not at this moment.”

Sebastian looked at her. She realized how dark it was getting, for she couldn’t see the details of his face, or the gleam in his eyes. “Perhaps you should be, Victoria.”

“What do you mean?” Fear seized her. What did he know? Something about Max going off alone?

And then she stopped herself. She very nearly stopped her horse, too, there in the middle of the road. What a fool. What a fool!

She was doing exactly what Max had warned about, had worried about. She was allowing her fear for him, her thoughts of him, to overtake everything else.

There were demons to fight. A horrible, unfamiliar malevolence that she’d never faced before… that had dared to abduct Wayren.

And Max… Max was more than capable of taking care of himself. She shook her head and felt the hair loosen from its tie at her neck. A chin-length strand fell into her face, and she brushed it back impatiently.

“Now there’s the Victoria I know,” said Sebastian airily, as though he’d watched her pull herself together.

She saw that they were just at the approach of the bridge. Great statues guarded the arched entrance tower.

“As I’d begun to tell you,” he continued as their mounts clopped onto cobblestones, “when the bridge was built, the masons added egg yolk to the mortar to make it stronger. People from all over the country sent eggs here to Praha in order to assist. And,” he added with a smile as their horses took the first steps onto the bridge, “one particularly helpful town thought to hard-boil the eggs before sending them in order to keep them from breaking during the journey.”

Victoria saw the glitter of lights ahead and along the bridge, but the orange roofs and cream-colored buildings had turned gray in the low light. She looked over at Sebastian. “They hard-boiled them?”

“Ah, so you were listening,” he said. “I thought perhaps I’d lost you. Yes, indeed. According to the tale I heard, the eggs weren’t so helpful for the mortar, but they were a fine snack for the builders.”

She gave a short laugh and at the same moment felt a familiar chill over the back of her neck. A vampire, perhaps two.

A surge of energy swept through her as she reached for the stake she kept inside her boot. When she rose upright in her saddle, she caught Sebastian’s eye and saw that he’d armed himself similarly.

With a quick sweep of her gaze, she identified the undead as a handsome young man near one of the statues. He rode on a large horse and smiled down at a woman who lugged a heavy basket on wide leather straps over her shoulder. She was well past Victoria’s age and, in the lantern light, looked haggard and tired. She’d be no match for a superhuman undead, but, given the option, the vampire would probably prefer fresh, younger blood.

Such as Victoria’s.

With a telling glance at Sebastian, she pulled the tie from her hair and yanked the edge of her cloak down over to hide her breech-clad legs. Then, urging her mount forward, she brushed past the vampire and his intended victim.

“Pardon me, sir,” she said, looking at the vampire, pulling his attention from the older woman. She saw and felt the spark of interest when she stopped just beyond him and turned as if in need of help. Her English speech identified her as a stranger, and Sebastian had stayed far enough back that it wasn’t evident that they were traveling together.

The vampire, fickle as she expected him to be, directed his horse away from the older woman and toward this more attractive prey. Victoria watched beyond him as Sebastian moved toward the woman and alighted from his saddle. He’d make certain she got safely away.