Veridian Shores

Epilogue - Herald of What Was Lost

Brooke stepped off the train, descending back into the familiar bustle of Veridian Shores. Everything felt a faintly numb; unreal. Deceptive feelings of security and comfort wormed back into her mind at the sights, sounds and smells – the warm bustle of the station and the stink of petrol swirling in the air.

She stood for a moment, not quite believing she was here at all.

The others spilled out of the train carriage behind her, their clothes scuffed, torn and plastered with dried blood and dirt. Their injuries had healed during the long ride back to Veridian Shores as they abandoned Iron Hollow to its fate.

And not everyone had come back with them.

She looked back at the open doors, a hollow void opening in her gut as she watched them. Only four of the party that had left Veridian Shores had returned – herself, Arcil, and the surviving guards, Lucille and Altus. Gliss and the rest of the Iron Hollow vampires remained in the hell they'd made, but there were two others missing.

Capper had refused to come. Her heart twisted with the memory of that confrontation as she'd tried everything she could think of to change his mind, but to no avail. With the blood of the First still pulsing in his veins he had become freakishly strong, even by vampire standards and he was unable to control it. And something else was wrong, something a whole lot deeper than the physical symptoms. She couldn't quite place it, but there was something in the wildness of his eyes and the tightness in his words.

He knew something was wrong too, which was why he refused to come back. Not withstanding the fact the Elders of the clan would tear through them all for defying their orders and going to Iron Hollow. It wouldn't matter what they'd done. It wouldn't matter that they'd slain the First and stopped a monster from being loosed upon the wider world. They had defied Jocasta and there would be a reckoning for that.

And Lilly had gone with him, partly out of her natural devotion, never having shaken the duty that thralls were instilled with, but partly because her punishment would be far greater than anything that might happen to the Elder-Bloods. If Lilly returned the Elders would have her executed without a second thought for the part she'd played in aiding Capper's escape.

So her decision at least made sense. Capper's on the other hand... Brooke simply didn't know.

She trudged wearily from the station, Arcil and the others in tow, the weapon she'd taken from Iron Hollow still strapped securely to her back. The four vampires slipped out of the back entrance – the same one they'd used to enter when they'd confronted Capper at the outset of this venture – and soon they were in the back-alleys of Veridian Shores, tucked into the shadows. Brooke could sense some distant Aspects in the surrounding streets, but no-one close enough to trouble them. If they had been spotted entering the city, the vampires in question were keeping their distance.

Several streets away from the station the bedraggled little group stopped at a crossroads, where their paths would diverge, one way leading off the Glaive estate and the other in the direction of Baelock's sprawling estate. They stood in silence for what felt like an age, no-one able to find any fitting words.

"Well," Arcil said eventually, his voice heavy with wearieness. "I'll see you on the other side. Good luck."

"You too," she replied, exhaustion descending on her like a cloud. Giving Arcil a weak smile, Brooke turned and trudged off towards the looming silhouette of the Glaive mansion, Lucille following in her wake.

"Brooke," the Baelock Elder-Blood called after her.

With a heavy sigh, Brooke paused and looked back over her shoulder.