Vera Gallow's Arc

Chapter 3 of 3

Vera carried two names and no face. The map man led her. The lantern woman waited. But the third figure, the one who swung the blow, stayed hidden in her memory. Until she saw that face, any killer in Wraithwood could be the worst of them. She needed more than the watch could show. She needed someone who had watched that night from the shadows. A woman had watched her pass the window before she died. Vera remembered that much now. Pale skin behind dark glass, on the street that ran toward the fountain. She found the house easily, a tall red and black manor leaning against the fog. A vampire lived there. Guests at the hotel whispered her name with care. Elspeth Anlow invited people in, and some never walked out. The door opened before Vera knocked. Elspeth stood in black velvet, a soft smile ready. "The doorkeeper, away from her door. Come in. I have tea." "I don't drink," Vera said. She stepped inside anyway. Coffins lined the walls like furniture. "You watch this street. You watched it thirteen years ago." Elspeth poured two cups. "I watch everyone. The question is who you want." "Three people killed me by the fountain. I saw two faces. The third stayed hidden." Vera set the stopped watch on the table. "You saw it. Tell me who struck me." Elspeth lifted her own cup. She did not touch the other. "You're asking the wrong thing. You want a name. What you need is to know why a doorkeeper was worth killing." "The name," Vera said. "The one who swung the blow wore your own uniform." Elspeth sipped. "Black coat. Silver pin. A door, locked. The hotel sent its own." Vera's hand closed on the brooch at her collar. The gift pressed into her palm on her last living day. "That's a lie." "Then you knew already." Elspeth's smile did not move. "The hotel chose you to guard the stairs. First it had to make you dead. The watch stopped because the blow came from behind, from someone you trusted enough to turn your back on." Vera stared at the locked door on her chest. No stranger had marked her. The hotel had. The map man lured her. The lantern woman steadied her. And a servant of the Dustveil finished her, then dressed her in a uniform and set her at the one door she would never leave. "Why tell me?" Vera asked. "Because you'll go back and ask them." Elspeth set down her cup. "And I'd like to see what the hotel does when its doorkeeper stops guarding." Vera took the watch and walked out into the fog. The third face was no stranger after all. It wore her own coat. The thing that wanted her dead was the thing she had served for thirteen years. Her post was no longer a duty. It was a cage, and she now knew who built it.