High Stakes

•IV•

The humble cabin wasn't much to look at, although Lucien was relatively sure he was in the right place, as evidenced by the smoke coiling lazily from the lone chimney, and the dim glow of the firelight visible through the few small windows gracing its exterior. Bathed in the orange light from the setting sun, the weathered wood of the two-story structure almost seemed inviting, despite whom Lucien assumed waited within. Still, it was a far cry from the cold gray stone that made up the lavish castle turret where Sanctum had briefly held him captive.

He'd arrived hours ago, intent on scouting the area thoroughly before the vampire was able to walk freely in the open. After determining that there were no immediate threats, Lucien had made his way to the top of an old, disused firetower where he now stood watch over the dusky landscape below, waiting for any signs of movement. He had really hoped to catch sight of the vampire before he was spotted himself, but the deep chasm cut into the rock just below the cabin remained eerily quiet.

He still wasn't sure why Sanctum had brought him to the mine in the first place. Despite being owned by the vampires - as nearly every profitable venture was - Shattered Slabs seemed an unlikely place to encounter one of the undead. Lucien knew it was still in operation, since it was the only source of the kinetic ore that powered the city, and the lack of any sort of activity was enough to raise the hackles on the back of his neck. Now that the last sliver of sun had dipped just below the horizon, he should've seen somebody moving about in the inky blackness emanating from the mine's entrance.

Lucien rubbed his hands together before blowing into them, trying to loosen his fingertips that had grown stiff from being exposed to the biting cold. The weather had worsened, and even though he could tolerate the chill better than most, even he had a limit. His breath left him with cloudy puffs of vapor in its wake. And if it hadn't reminded him so much of the vampire whom he had come here to meet, he would've long ago gone to warm himself by the tempting fire that he knew was blazing in the cabin beneath.

Instead, he had held his vigil from above as the bright colors of the sunset slowly faded to a deep purple, anxiously awaiting his fate. He was still extremely wary of the vampire's motives, so much so that he had snuck out of the apartment early that morning without giving Joni and Helsie another chance to try to change his mind. Their safety would always be his top priority, regardless of whether or not it jeopardized his own.

A shiver wracked Lucien's body. If the vampire didn't kill him, the freezing cold eventually would. Although he wore more layers than he normally did, the leather jacket didn't do nearly enough to protect him from the frigid wind which now began to gust through the boughs of the nearby trees - at least the few that remained, since most had been felled to make way for the mine. It numbed his cheeks, enough so that he had finally given up and decided to make his way down to the warmth that waited below. But before he could, a familiar voice at his back stopped him in his tracks.

"Hello, wolf," it deeply rumbled, just behind his left shoulder.

Lucien yelped out a curse, turning so quickly on his heels that he lost his balance. He toppled backwards, slamming into the decayed wood that made up the railing. He only had a moment to register the vampire's presence before the wood gave way with a resounding crack, and Lucien's eyes widened in terror as his body tipped over the edge, realizing all at once that the open air was the only thing lying between him and the frozen ground below. Of all the ways Lucien had imagined he'd meet his untimely demise tonight, falling to his death hadn't even crossed his mind.

Yet the impact never came. Lucien hung suspended in midair, the vampire's hand once again fisted into the harness strapped across his front, barely exposed behind the zipper of his jacket. With one effortless tug Lucien found himself standing upright, chest to chest with the very being whose sudden appearance had almost cost him his life.