The air in the shelter hit the back of my throat like a scorching slap after the sterile, artificial fragrance of the Obsidian Palace. The ancient camaraderie of rotten fish, mold, and dampness was the only scent of survival here. As I wove through people washing their radiation-torn clothes by the edge of waters that flowed like black sludge, reaching my own kin felt like a slight easing of the heavy metal burden in my heart.
Elyrian was laughing, clutching Adalin's hand with his chubby fingers as he struggled to walk with toddler steps. Red-haired Adalin was like the only ray of sunlight in the shelter. In that moment, the world felt like a cemetery that had forgotten the thousands of dead beneath it, clinging only to this single sign of life. Joseph watched us while sharpening his steel—glimmering in contrast to his dark skin—under the shadow of a leafless poplar tree. Ava and Ulysses were busy burying some kind of cheese; in a world where even the soil was poisonous, hiding sustenance was an art form.
"Look at this," Adalin said, whistling as she eyed the silk fabric Dante had chosen for me. "If I knew you were this handsome, I would've married you myself, big brother..."
Ulysses crumpled his mud-stained face and curled his lip. "Big brother... women, men, even vampires wanted Dorian. But the only thing Dorian loves is..."
"A few measly Viva," Joseph cut in.
His voice was as sharp as the blade he was honing. He continued, almost spitting the words. "Dear brother, I expected to see a sense of shame on your neck coming from between vampire fangs. I see you've carried the gifts of those leeches like a trophy instead."
As drones buzzed overhead with their sickening hum, gathering data, Joseph let out a weary breath. The viewer count on the stream screens was zero; the system's insatiable voyeurs were currently chasing other dramas. But I knew; Dante was there. In the vibration of my vocal cords, in the flow of the blood in my veins... He was always there.
"Rebel Dorian," Ava said, her voice rising like a fractured melody. "Or have you stopped cursing the system just so your master won't give up on you?"
"Fools..." I hissed.
I leaned down and pressed the "self-spinning" tin soldier toy I'd pulled from my pocket into Elyrian's hands. The sparkle in the boy's eyes was worth more than all those antiques in the shop. But Joseph's gaze still pierced through me like I was a traitor.
"How is the fire of revolution supposed to burn without weapons!" I said fiercely, trying to hide my voice from the drones.
"Are you stupid?" Joseph said, stabbing his knife into the ground. "If an obsessed vampire master is granting you these, it's not so you can tear down his own palaces. He's just fitting you with a fancier collar, Dorian."
"They knew we were meeting in the subway tunnels to blow up Obsidian in the border zone." I insisted.
Dante had told me he had blocked the vampire lords. I didn't know what game he was playing in that dark mind of his, but he had opened a space for us. We communicated in sign language; no one gave anything away on the live broadcast. Dante couldn't have known."
Adalin's red brows furrowed, her hands freezing on Elyrian's shoulders. "Are you claiming there's a traitor among us?"
Joseph looked at me with such disappointment that the pain of Dante's fangs seemed to sink into my heart all over again. "Whatever pleasure you get from those madmen has made you forget the brothers you were born from death with, and now you brand them traitors. I see only one traitor here, Dorian, and it's you..."
The weight of the gun and the knives in my pocket suddenly grew heavier. Dante was right; he hadn't given me those weapons so we could fight and win. He gave them to me so he could watch us tear each other apart from his private box and savor the show.
"I am not a traitor," I whispered, my voice as thin as the foul air of the shelter. "I just... I just know we can't fight with stones and sticks anymore."
The system whispered Dante's ice-cold voice into my ear:
"Look at how they turn on each other... Show your claws, little thief rat. Prove to them that you are not a thief, but a soldier."