Vero marked the door they had passed through in her mind, but decided that it would be prudent to remain on the higher floor for the time being. The door to her left was fitted with a lock, but there was a light from the other side seeping out under the door.

  She spied at the keyhole, and saw a storage room for the laboratory she had just come from. It was a large room, but packed tight with shelves full of reagents. Most were in sealed glass jars or vials, but some were wrapped in parchment. A few large items were kept loose on shelves.

  The light came from oil lanterns burning in sconces on the wall. Another one of the guards was moving back and forth between the shelves, replacing expended spell components.

  He was dressed the same as the guards she had seen, and the men controlling the village. If what she had heard about those whom the vampyres took were true, it seemed there was no dedicated household staff. She supposed the guardsmen did not retain enough of a self-identity to require rest or seek pleasure, the vampyres likely used them for domestic tasks when they had no other duties for them.

  The guard had a work station set up at table full of jars, vials, and boxes. Frequently consulting with a worn logbook, he always made quick marks in it before carrying the reagents containers back to the shelves again. There were a set of keys on his belt.

  Vero tried the door. As she hoped, it was not kept locked while occupied. She waited for the guard to return to his logbook, and opened the door just wide enough to slip inside. She drew forth her garrot and crept forwards.

  Vero did not like to kill at all, but she had a special distaste for taking a life in cold blood. She might be able to lift the keys from him without being noticed, but it would not do any good. Even if she made it back out unnoticed, the alarum would be raised when he attempted to lock the door after finishing.

  Vero was right behind him now. She prepared the shining wire; it must take his wind at once, so he could not call for aid. Then there would be a few moments of struggle and she could finish him.

  He would certainly have no mercy for her if their positions were reversed.

  Any guards she removed now would not be able to oppose her later. They certainly deserved as much, from what she had been told. Given what she had seen of the lives they were living, it might even be judged a mercy to release them.

  Vero knew a dozen ways to justify her actions. So, why was she hesitating?

  She could perhaps let the guard stumble on her and attempt to surrender to him. At least if she had to kill him then, it would be in fair combat.

  And what would that mean? A chance to slip, a chance to be killed? And then everything they had all done for naught. Did carelessly risking the lives of everyone else to assuage her guilty conscience make her more noble?

  The guard made his mark in the book. There was no more time for useless introspection. Vero moved, the garrot wrapped around his neck. There was a sudden gasp as he took in his last breath. Desperate hands made feeble efforts to remove the strangling cord.

  She did not stop. Vero pulled the garrot hard until the man collapsed, and followed him to the ground. She kept the wire wrapped too tight to breathe or for blood to reach the brain until he was limp.

  Killing was killing, chivalrously done or not. Someday she would die the same way, as likely as not. There was no resentment in her for it, she simply viewed the matter as fact.

  The dead man’s head lolled back. His face was purple and his eyes stared straight at her, vacantly. Aside from his color, he looked as though he was simply at ease and reclining against the table leg from the way he had fallen. It all happened so quickly that they had not disturbed any of the shelves. The whole room was completely still.

  Vero had a curious sensation of a moment disconnected from time. She sat across from the person she had killed. As she caught her breath, she pondered how they might have easily been mistaken for two friends, by the look of their postures. They could have been a pair of magician’s apprentices, shirking their responsibilities in idle conversation.

  How strange it was, the way his jaw hung open loosely. It appeared as though he were just about to speak. But what should he want to say to her?

  ‘Nobody lives forever.’

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  Vero shut his eyes. She would open them again for his soul to escape before she departed, but in the meantime, she did not wish to be looked at.

  She took his keys and searched his body for anything of value. He had no money or personal possessions, only a stubby short sword which resembled an ancient gladius. There were marvelous quantities of very valuable reagents elsewhere in the room, but like the equipment in the laboratory, she did not believe there was any reason to take anything with her for the moment.

  Vero cursed when she noticed the warding signs written over the doorframe. Nothing physically blocked her passage, so it was probably an alarum. Hopefully, the spell mistook her for the man she killed. As likely as not though, someone was already on their way after her.

  First, she hid her chisel and lockpicks behind a shelf, which was almost flush against the wall. She pushed them out of sight with her sword, and reassured herself they could not be found unless someone knew they were there, or moved the shelf away from the wall. Then she disabled the lock the same way as she had done to the laboratory.

  Perhaps that could come in useful later. If they had already caught her, it was possible their search of the room after finding the body might be negligent. It would be a boon to recover her tools after being taken prisoner.

  She went back onto the balcony, and made sure that both doors she altered showed signs of nothing amiss. Then she hurried through the first door on her right.

  There was no light coming from the door, but it was locked. There were a dozen keys on the guard’s ring, and she tried them one at a time until the fourth clicked.

  Vero remained outside and pushed in the door. On the other side was a library, with entire cases filled by books.

  Another room sure to be warded, she reprimanded herself. It’s fortunate you’re trying to get caught.

  She could not see any sign of a mechanical trap, and she prepared to step over the threshold, when doors around the main room began to fly open. Guards poured out, led by a man in a sable cloak with a hawk nose.

  Their weapons were already drawn, but Vero kept her nerve. She held out her hands to show that she posed no threat. “I wish to parley!”

  “Kill him.” The order from the hawk nosed man was short and sharp.

  The closest guard moved to carry it out. Vero leapt backwards into the library to evade his sword strike. She threw the door shut and dragged down the nearest bookcase across the way. The men on the other side tried to force their way through, but she managed to put up a barricade of shelves sturdy enough to hold them back, for the time being.

  With a moment to think, she searched for a way out.

  For all their planning and agonizing, everything had been for nothing. All because a group of fools hiding in a tower had completely misread the intentions of a madman. The guards were ordered to kill all intruders on sight.

  It was almost humorous to her, but her only alternative remaining was to escape back to the others. They would need to evacuate as many people from the village across the mountains to safety as possible.

  There were no other doors into or out of the library, but there was a large window of glass. Vero found a chair, presumably intended for reading in, and tossed it with all her might.

  The window was smashed open; at once, the wind and snow ripped through the room. Vero poked her head out into the storming night. Below her was a castle wall, descending to a thin natural ledge, and then a sheer cliff. The chair was smashed to pieces on the jagged rocks far below her.

  “Be at ease.”

  Vero whirled around with her weapon in her hand.

  Before her, was a beautiful woman in a thick white woolen dress. Her skin was very fair, but her cheeks were rosy and her lips were very red from cosmetics. Her eyes were shadowed, and she had long blond hair which came halfway down her back.

  Where had she come from? Vero saw that a shelf had swung open on a hinge, revealing a secret door to an adjacent room.

  Vero moved to strike at once.

  The woman recoiled back in surprise. “You don’t wish to harm me!”

  Vero was suddenly filled with a profound sense of shame and guilt. She was horrified by how abominably she had treated this innocent woman, and now was uncertain of what her intentions had been.

  Someone was pounding at the door, but Vero was no longer certain who it was and what she was doing. Animal instincts were beginning to override rational thought. Vero backed as far from the woman as she could go to gain time to think.

  “Who- what are you?” Vero kept her sword held out as a warning, but it had started to tremble.

  “You’re frightened, aren’t you, my darling. You didn’t intend for anyone to be hurt, did you? Give me the sword and let me help you- quickly. Before the others arrive.”

  “Others?”

  The door was forced open wide enough for an arm to pass through, but the barricade still held for the moment.

  “They intend to hurt you. But I can help you, if you trust me. Give me the weapon and I will protect you.”

  Vero watched the woman’s hand extend slowly towards her own and wrap around it. At once, icy cold began to seep through her glove. She looked into the woman’s deep blue eyes.

  “You’re one of-”

  “Don’t be frightened. Don’t be afraid.” Vero heard the sound of her sword striking the ground over the sound of the woman’s gentle cooing. She tried to pull away, but her legs felt weak. “I’m here now, my pet. There is no need for fear.”

  A faraway part of Vero’s mind screamed at her to cast herself out the window before it was too late.

  The door was thrust open entirely and armed men spilled through. Vero felt fear course through her, but the woman cradled her against her cold chest like a child.

  “I have you, beloved. Sleep now, don’t be afraid.” Exhaustion had overcome her like the rip tide. Vero was too tired for fear or resistance. “I shall protect you, child. Rest, and no harm will come to you.”

  Vero was no longer certain where she was or why she had come there. She knew only that for the moment she was at peace. She began to sleep with her head resting against a soft, but cold, bosom, within which no heart was beating.

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