Veridian Shores

Chapter 30 - Lonely Pilgrim

Only when the sounds of battle finally faded from her ears, did Gliss finally stop. And when she did, a strangled sob of impotent frustration seeped through clenched teeth, and she lashed a fist so hard against the nearest wall that she ripped free a shower of shattered masonry. Utter self-loathing surged over her like a sickening tide at the thought of what she'd done, and what she had just left behind her.

She slumped against the building, dragging in huge breaths and clapping a hand to the ragged wound left behind in her neck by Glaive's little princess. Although it was starting to close, she knew Brooke had managed to extract some of her blood and the thought filled her with dread. She had no idea if the girl would be able to sort out any meaningful information from what she'd taken, but it threw a terrifying variable into the equation. If Brooke was able to figure out what she and her clan were really trying to do there could be disastrous consequences.

Then her mind lurched unwillingly to Capper and the hatred she felt for herself came back with a vengeance. He'd trusted her and she'd simply used him to get what she wanted. Her Elders would be proud of her for not letting personal feelings interfere with the importance of her mission, but she wasn't. For all she knew he might be dead already after the Baelock assault. The thought made her feel sick. In all the scenarios she'd played out on her journey to the city, she'd never considered that she would have to contend with her own infatuation.

Okay, girl, she thought grimly. What's done is done. Pull yourself together. You still have a job to do.

Steadying herself, she patted the cold sphere of the Keystone that sat securely in her jacket pocket. Once she'd cleared the wall of the Glaive estate it had been relatively simple to elude the two guards that tailed her into the city, but now she was alone in a very hostile world. She needed to get to the trains, get a ticket, and head for home as soon as possible.

Unfortunately she hadn't had the chance to grab her belongings – doing so would have been far too suspicious in the middle of a battle. That meant all her money still sat in her chamber in the Glaive mansion.

By no means an insurmountable problem, however, when surrounded by the seething masses of Veridian Shores. Second by second Gliss regained her composure, pushing Capper and all the feelings wrapped up around him into the back of her mind. She started thinking as she'd been taught to: there are always options, if you look hard enough.

Taking care to keep her stride smooth and soft, she stepped from the ally, back into the ebb and flow of the pounding night-life of Veridian Shores. People washed over her, their blood filling her senses and her eyes flashed up, scanning faces and filtering through the cacophony of voices. Lights poured from the ranks of bars and clubs, carrying music and flesh out into the streets. The thick smell of petrol swirled in the air as cars, buses and trams trundled back and forth, jammed with unwary humans.

She followed the smell of the sea air, her heightened senses picking it out through the smog of cologne, cheap food and body odour. Street by street she made her way in the direction of the transit hub that connected the main train station to the vast network of ports that fuelled the city's economy. As she closed in on the industrial hub the roads grew darker and narrower, turning into a tight grid of factories and warehouses. The growl of heavy machinery that never slept took over the air, but she could still sense the presence of prey in abundance.

More than once, however, she was forced to conceal herself from passing vampires. At a distance she could feel their Aspects – although she couldn't be sure if they were from Clan Glaive she had no intention of getting close enough to find out. Right now she had to be invisible. So she drew her Aspect back to little more than a shell around her small frame, giving no indication of her presence to any would-be captors.