Paper Moons Part 15 (Patreon)

Slowly, I shook my head.  The last thing I was planning on doing was leaving Gabriel behind.  Going anywhere within the outskirts without him was not an option and as the young woman before me looked at me with hungry eyes, I knew that I couldn’t let myself be pulled away. Taking a step back, I made sure my shoulders brushed Gabriel’s.

“He comes with us,” I said.  “Or else I just stay here and wait for you to come back.”

Kavatti laughed. It sounded like two different voices at once as she continued giggling. The raspy voice of an older woman and the small lilt of a child merging into one.  The longer it went on, the more uncomfortable I became. Without the firm presence of Gabriel at my back, I would have ran.

“Suit yourself,” she said, her laughter cutting off like it had never been there before.  “But I think the moon would be prettier without him.” Turning on her heel, she began dancing into the dark.  I could just barely make out a path there. One that cut through the mountainside and up through the cave.

“Do you really feel this is best?” Gabriel asked, just over my shoulder.

“No.” I looked at him, remembering the cracks in his skin and the way his eyes had dulled as his grace was expunged. “But what other option do we have?”

Silently, we both followed her.

~~~~~

The top of the cave opened up into a wide open cavern with jagged cut-outs dotting the ceiling to let in the light of the nighttime sky. The moon felt extraordinary bright here and as I spied it through the openings above, and looked far closer than it had before. A faint fluttering sound echoed around us, like paper being waved back and forth.  Kavatti had not talked to us as we went up top but we followed the sound of her humming until she stopped, bathed in the silver light above.

Hesitantly, I looked at Gabriel. He was standing there, not happy with the turn of events, but I knew he would not leave me. Nor did I want him to.  “We need to harvest the light of the moon,” I told the vampire. “Is that something that is possible?” I had images of a bottle. Something we could use to fill with light.  It was a silly little girl's fancy, I supposed. Or the sign that I had read far too many books where the solution to the hero's problem was easy to come by.

“Harvest the light, yes,” Kavatti said softly. “I can do that for you.”

“How?”

She held out her arms, spinning in the soft glow of the moon. “Let me take it into my body. Let me commune with it. I will give it back when I am done.”

“The girl cannot even hold her own mind,” Gabriel said. “I do not wish for her to hold the future of mine.”

My lips thinned. It wasn’t that he was wrong, I just didn’t like that he had said it out loud before her. It did nothing for trust. I got the sense that Kavatti took each word we said and sharpened it until it was a blade that would cut us the moment our backs turned.

“Is there another way?” I asked. “We have to bring the light back into the city and–”

She was upon me in an instant, arms scrambling up my side as she tried to climb me to look into my eyes. Gabriel moved to push her away but I stopped him, holding the young woman steady in front of me as she pressed her nose to mine, her lavender eyes burning.

“Take me back to the city,” she begged, her grip tighter than I expected. “Take me to where there is food.”

Gently, I pushed her away. “Get us the light of the moon and we can discuss that.” I tried to keep my fear under control.  This was not something I was prepared for.  I may have been given the gift of becoming a Graceling but that did not mean I knew how to navigate any of the problems that may come with it.  Including helping the Fallen at my back.

“No. I need assurance. I need to know that you will do as you are told.” Kavatti’s voice was filled with far more clarity than it had been before.

“That is not something we can promise,” Gabriel said firmly.  It suddenly became apparent that I didn’t even know how Gabriel and I were going to get back into the Night Market. Could we simply just walk back in? No one had stopped us from coming out, but would it be the same if they saw us wandering out of the dark?

“Then you do not get your moonlight,” Kavatti said.  The child was gone now.  The visage of it only used when she still thought she could gain sympathy.  Innocence worked on many and would have gotten her a long way.  Now, Kavatti was far more the person she truly was. Emaciated. Dark streaks of bone jutting across her cheeks.  And a look so full of instability that it spiraled out from her in drifting waves of discomfort.

“We can go elsewhere,” Gabriel intoned. “There has to be another way.”

Perhaps there was. Maybe there was something even more obscure that we could do.  Or perhaps there was an old text that we had not uncovered. It wasn’t as if we had really looked.  But what if the goblins came back? What is someone saw Gabriel and decided that he was an easy target? What if we needed his grace to leave here and he used it all up, with no solution in sight?

Looking at Kavatti, I nodded my head. “If I can get you in, you have my word.”

“I need more than your word,” Kavatti said. “I need your bond.”

I didn’t know what that meant.  Vampire custom was foreign to me. They were scarce, even within a place such as the Night Market.  I had never asked why or had found myself caring, but I knew the night walkers kept to the mists, luring people to their prey through the call of the fog.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what that means.”

Kavatti stepped close, the bottomless pit of her eyes staring up at me with a knowing smile. I felt myself tipping forward. As if I needed to get closer. Needed to be able to truly see who she was. “It means, that even if you wished to double-cross me, as I’m sure your friend there would like, you could not. You have to get me within the city.  It’s as simple as that. Once you do, our bond can be broken and you can be free to go.”

“What do I have to do?” My voice felt far away, the sounds of the night fading into nothing but white noise and the sultry sounds of the voice weaving before me.

“Just a kiss,” Kavatti said. “Simple as that.”

Her lips looked spit slick and perfect.  Plump and so full of life in this desolate place where the lanterns didn’t touch, and the moon was paper thin. I found myself leaning forward, my breath heavy across my chest as her fingers came up to caress my cheek.

Gabriel yanked me backwards and I startled. The beautiful woman that had been before me was no more. Instead, the gaunt form of a monster with sunken bruised eyes, hissed, blood already coating their lips.  She was glaring at Gabriel, eyes narrowed in such anger.  I felt my back pressed against his chest, my heart racing as I looked upon what was before us.

“You will not get your moonlight without a bond,” Kavatti intoned.

Fear thundered through me as I felt myself tipping towards her words. Like a longing call.  Something kept pulling me there and I knew without Gabriel’s hold on the back of my tunic, I would have gone to her once more. Would have forgotten the monster and let the woman play me to her will.

“Fine,” I heard Gabriel mutter behind me.  “You wish for a bond, then it is mine to make.” With force, he shoved me aside, causing me to stumble and giving me no way to stop him.  With three strides, he walked over to Kavatti, grabbing her by the shoulders and pulling her off the ground. Their lips crashed together and I heard a deep moan rumble from them both.  Light poured from Gabriel, his grace shining bright, with Kavatti became fuller, flushed pink as she sipped from his lips.

When they pulled apart, I could see her feral smile.  “Well done, celestial,” she purred.  He shoved her away harshly before turning to walk a few feet away.  Kavatti’s laughter echoed loudly through the cavern.

“I’ll get your moonlight,” she sang.  “I’m feeling strong and satiated on grace. Shouldn’t take long now.”  She walked a few feet from us, turning around the corner in the cavern but still making enough noise that we knew she had not gone far.

Standing, I walked over to Gabriel. He stood at the edge of the cavern, looking out one of the blown out portions of the cave and into the night that swallowed up the market's distant lights.

[[Respond in anger]]

[[Respond in fear]]

[[Respond in gratitude]]