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AS EDEN HEADED SOUTHWARD, she left the suburbs where the undrained Night Cursed beings lived behind. The low murmurs of voices faded and the lights petered out as the buildings became more squalid and filled with drained beings. A high stone wall heralded one of the compounds that housed the holy folk. Eden came to a huge gate and peered through the iron bars. The sprawling compound was filled with tall brick buildings that were barely more than hovels. She could hear nuns, monks, priests and other holy types shuffling around, moaning in despair. Some apartments were far too quiet. She assumed the inhabitants had frozen to death. They would regenerate tomorrow night, only to freeze all over again.
Seeing a group of ancient, withered looking angels clumped together a short distance from the gates, Eden felt pity swell inside her. Their wings were gray rather than white and they were encased in ice. Their halos looked dull and worn. She’d heard the angels had once been beautiful and had sung from the rafters of the cathedrals. They were now silent, sad and trapped in a horrible existence without an end.
“Excuse me, angels!” Eden called out. One of the females roused and lifted her head to peer at her. “Can I speak to you for a moment?” the succubus asked.
The angel thought about it, then shook her head and went back to staring at the ground.
“I need your help!” Eden said. “I don’t have anyone else to turn to.”
That was enough to break the angels out of their daze. With pained, agonized movements, they spread their wings to snap the ice that encased them. Holding hands to stop themselves from slipping and falling down, they shuffled over to the gate. Eden wondered why they weren’t inside with the rest of the holy folk, but it seemed rude to ask. “How can we help you, child?” one of the male angels asked in a croaky old voice.
“I’ve heard there’s a Night Cursed being who can heal any type of wound,” the assassin said. “Can you tell me how to find this person?” Padavion’s order for her not to speak of anyone about their deal meant she was limited about what she could say.
They were becoming slightly more alert now and their expressions were hardening. “I sense darkness inside you, child,” the female who had been the first to rouse from her stupor said. “I sense you have caused much death and suffering.”
Eden hung her head as immense shame washed over her. Even in their drained states, the weight of their disapproval and disappointment was almost too much for her to bear. “It wasn’t by my choice,” the succubus said as tears filled her eyes. “I want to stop hurting people, but I can’t unless I find the healer.”
“Why do you need this healer, child?” another angel asked.
“I’m not allowed to say,” Eden replied helplessly.
“She speaks the truth,” one of them murmured. “We don’t know of anyone who can heal any type of wound,” he went on and Eden’s hopes plummeted.
“Do you know anyone who might know who this person is?” she asked in desperation.
“Seek the Guardian of Nox,” she was told. “If anyone would know this healer, it will be her.”
“Why would Xiara Evora know the healer?” Eden asked, trying not to get her hopes up.
“Because it is her duty to know, child,” was the reply. With that, the angels turned away and shuffled back to their silent, icy vigil.
Now that she had a lead, Eden wasn’t sure how to proceed. She had no idea where the Guardian of Nox lived. There were no carriages operating in the Night Cursed District to take her to Ms. Evora’s apartment. It would be impossible to find it on her own. There were thousands of buildings to search. It would take weeks or even months to locate her.
Eden looked up and heaved a despondent sigh when snow began to fall again. Wind buffeted her as she turned and trudged away from the compound. She had to pull her hood down to protect her face as the blizzard resumed its fury in full force.
Sprinting back the way she’d come, her tracks were soon obliterated by the snow and wind. She became disoriented and found herself on an unfamiliar street. The bridge that would take her back to the City Square should be somewhere nearby, so she slogged onward. She could hear the water from the river rushing just ahead and angled towards it. Even in the depths of winter, the water elementals kept the river from icing over completely.
When she saw the outline of the bridge a short distance away, Eden tried to slow down, but a gust of wind shoved her hard. She hit a patch of ice and skidded towards the bank of the river. She let out a scream of alarm as she went over the edge and tumbled down the steep slope.
Shock as the icy water closed over her made her gasp in a lungful of the freezing liquid. The water elementals squealed in glee that a victim had entered their territory. They swam towards her, easily cutting through the water as she flailed her arms and legs and tried to swim back to the surface.
About three feet long from the tips of their snouts to the ends of their tails, the water elementals were shaped like dragons. She could only see their outline as they swarmed around her. One of them bit her on the arm and she tried to punch it in the eye. Her waterlogged clothes hampered her movements, dragging her downwards. Her purse was snatched off her shoulder, then sharp teeth tore into her arms and legs. She thrashed as their claws raked at her, trying to rip her clothes off so they could feed on her flesh in earnest.
Panicked and desperate, Eden realized she was going to die. The water elementals were going to tear her limb from limb and eat her. Just like all the men she’d murdered, she would disappear without a trace. No one would ever know what had happened to her.
