Vampire Girl (20 page)

I can't bear to think this magical crystal city might be gone by nightfall, if Fen and his soldiers can't keep the raiders out. And I realize I don't understand war at all. I don't understand fighting and bloodshed and the need to kill others who are different from you. I know the Fae see themselves as the heroes of their own stories. We all do, don't we? But how can they justify what they are about to do? This village isn't full of soldiers. It's full of normal everyday people. Families just trying to get through their lives.

Kayla leads a long line of people towards the side of the castle. There, behind a waterfall, lies the mountain passage. I run up to the blacksmith, out of breath. In the distance, the sounds of battle thunder. The clash of steel. The last screams of dying men.

"Where's Daison?" Kayla asks.

"I thought he was with you? I was helping others prepare to evacuate."

She pauses, as people pass by her into the side of the mountain. It's snowing again, and the wind is blowing more forcefully than before. The cold chills me through my cloak and clothing, and I shiver, startled at how fast the storm is growing.

"We have to get out of here," she says. "I'm going to find Daison. You lead everyone."

She turns to leave, but I grab her hand. "Kayla, I don't know the way. Only you do. I'll find Daison, and we'll catch up to you. He's probably just helping someone pack."

I see the indecision in her eyes, but she relents, knowing I'm right. "Ari, please find him."

"I will. See you soon."

I run back towards the city just as burning arrows fly over the wall and land in bushes and barns and houses. Fires begin to rage out of control.

I run faster, calling for Daison, worry gnawing at me the longer it takes to find him.

Flames rise up around me. Smoke chokes me. I pull my shirt over my mouth and keep looking for the boy.

"Daison! Where are you?"

I hear a moan from behind and turn around. A pile of burning wood. A foot sticking out. "Daison!"

I look around for something I can use to move the rubble without burning myself, and settle on a wooden plank near a half finished house. I grab the board, a rusty nail digging into my skin. I ignore the pain, and rush back to Daison. All around me is chaos. Fire. Smoke. The smell of burning flesh.

I ram the plank under the burning legs and push down. The wood tumbles toward me, spraying me with embers, singeing my hands. I bite down in pain, and realize I bit my tongue. Warm blood fills my mouth.

I block out the burn between my jaws, the fire on my hands. I jam the plank forward, moving away more wood. Sparks hit me. This time, I don't flinch. I shove the board forward again. The last of the wood rolls away.

I drop the burning plank and grab Daison by the feet. His body is blackened by fire. Part of his face has melted away. He smells of cooked meat. "Oh Daison."

I don't know what else to do. I pull off my cloak and use it to pack snow around his body to cool the burns and numb him.

His eyes flicker open. "Ari... " His voice is a cracked whisper. I lean down closer to hear him. "Ari, a little girl is trapped. Help. Her."

He coughs and his body spasms. For a moment, I am frozen, my hands numb. Then I run to the burning house and yell for anyone who might be inside. I hear a girl scream, and I rush in, covering my body with my arms. The girl sits in the stone fireplace, one of the only places not on fire. I reach for her. "Come to me. I'm here to help."

She shakes her head, her pink curls bobbing around her pointed ears.

"Sweetie, I can't reach you in there. Come on out and let's find your parents."

Slowly, she crawls out. I grab her hand and pull her into my arms. I rush outside, flaming wood falling behind me. We get back to Daison. His body still shakes and spasms.

"I've got her, Daison. Now we need to get you both to Kayla and out of the city."

"I can't, Ari. Save the girl."

I hold his hand, the one not burned, my throat constricting. "No, this isn't over. You'll make it!"

"Tell Kayla... " He chokes and blood stains his lips. "Tell her it's not her fault. She's family. Always."

His eyes close and his chest stills and my heart breaks, all in the same moment.

I don't know what to do. I can't leave him here, but I have to get the girl to safety. The city is burning.

I check Daison's pulse three times. Then I cover his face with my cloak and look at the girl. He died trying to save her. And I will die too, if I must.

I stand, tears staining my face, and grab the girl into my arms. I carry her past the smoke and rubble. I carry her to the waterfall by the castle. I do not know how long it takes. I only know that I must succeed. When I reach the stone steps, I glance down and see Daison in my arms. But it is just a vision. A trick cast by madness and sorrow.

This world cares nothing for me.

It cared nothing for Daison.

I am half conscious. Half mad.

And then I hear it.

Water. Splashing.

I fall to my knees behind the waterfall, and the girl drops to the ground. Someone takes her hand and pulls her toward the tunnel. They try to lift me up. They cannot. They yell. They take the girl and disappear. I sit there for minutes, hours, eternity.

Something licks my hand. Nudges my head.

"Baron?"

He growls.

Slowly, my head grows clearer. "What's going on, boy?"

Baron whines in a way I've never heard before. He scratches his paws on the ground. "I don't understand what you want me to do, buddy. Is it Fen? Is he okay?"

War cries bleed through the wails of wind and snow. A bluster of snow swirls around me and Baron. I shiver and try to pull my cloak tighter. It's no longer there. It's still wrapped around Daison.

Baron takes a few steps towards the gate.

I hesitate.

He looks over his shoulders, checking to see if I'm coming, then walks again. I have no idea where he wishes to go, but I know in my gut I must follow.

––––––––

"I would have gone with Dragonslayer or Heartbreaker personally."

—Daison

B
aron leads me
higher up the mountain, to a small tunnel in the stone. "I really hope you know what you're doing, Baron."

I have to hold onto him and let him guide me in the darkness. My mind flashes with images of Daison, where I left him by the waterfall.

I push away the memory and focus on my steps, on the sound of dripping water. We step out of the tunnel and into a graveyard. The dead litter the ground: the soldiers of Stonehill clad in white and red armor, the raiders covered in brown and grey furs. In the distance, past a fog of white snow, Fen's soldiers chase the Fae through the forest. We won, and yet the city is destroyed.

Baron guides me through the red snow, away from the city. We enter a forest, where the branches are thick and the sky is dark though there are no more leaves. I have never been here before.

The sun is setting now. Twilight is descending upon us, bringing with it more snow and sub-zero temperatures. Baron seems fine with the cold. I'm freezing, but I keep moving. Something is wrong. I can feel it like a shackle around my gut.

Twenty minutes into our hike, Baron's ears twitch and he stops, a low growl in his throat. A moment later, I hear what the wolf heard first.

Men. Talking. I crouch next to Baron and listen.

"He'll tell us soon enough. Lester here, can get anyone talking. Even a prince." My stomach drops.

And then I smell flesh burning, and I turn and release whatever was in my stomach as silently as I can.

"Why don't he yell? Anyone else would be screaming!" A different voice.

"Would you both shut the hell up?" A third voice says. "I'm trying to work. He'll scream eventually. They always do."

A picture forms in my mind. I want to reject the images. It can't be true. I creep closer, fear knotting my gut. Three men bundled in furs sit by a fire. In front of them stands a large rock. A man is chained to the stone, his mouth gagged with a rag.

The man is Fen.

I can't breathe. Can't see straight. I want to charge right forward and save him, but I have to be smart. Even Baron knew he couldn't take on all three armed men at once and live.

So I take a deep breath and observe as many details as possible.

The three are armed. One of them, Lester, I presume, has a sharp prong that he sticks in the fire and brings to Fen's bare chest. He yanks the cloth from Fen's mouth. "Do you want to tell me now? If not we can keep going. I'm enjoying this a lot more than you are, right about now."

Fen spits on his face, and the man scowls and lays iron on skin, leaving a burning red mark. Fen's face twitches, but he doesn't make a sound.

"It's like he's made of marble. What the hell?" That's the second man I heard speaking. He's lanky with red hair and a red beard.

"Settle yourself, Cliff. Have some patience." The man speaking is big and tall, a brutish man with thick orange hair.

Lester is the most refined of the bunch. Slender with cropped white hair and a handsome face. They are all Fae.

I know you can't judge an entire people by a few—the girls who work for me are Fae and lovely—but these men... I want to skewer them all for what they are doing to Fen.

Why doesn't he fight back? Tear them apart? How did they capture him to begin with?

"At least the raiders did their part," says Cliff. "Brought him to us like a present."

So the whole thing was just a trap to capture Fen. But why? Why not just come after me directly if that's what they were going for?

Doesn't matter. We have to save him. I've got a sword and a very angry wolf. That will have to be enough. Now I just need a plan.

I'm still trying to think of something when Lester summons Cliff, who groans but comes to stand beside him, holding out his wrist. Lester slashes Cliff's skin with a knife and sticks the bloody arm over Fen's mouth. Why are they feeding him blood? Wouldn't that make him stronger? I feel like I'm in one of those nightmares where you have no idea what's going on, but everyone expects you to know what to do.

Fen tries to pull away from the blood, to refuse it, but Lester holds his head and shoves the blood into his mouth, forcing it on him. When Cliff pulls away, Fen's eyes are heavy, and his head lulls to the side, his body slumped in his chains.

"The ultimate irony, isn't it?" Lester taunts with a cruel smile. "Your kind coming to our world, only to find we are poison to you. But it's a sweet poison, isn't it? One you want more of."

Cliff holds his arm up, and Fen looks up, his nostrils sniffing at the blood, his eyes crazed with desire. This time when Cliff offers Fen his wrist, Fen doesn't resist. Not at first, but then a spark returns to his eyes, and he jerks his head away, spitting the blood out.

Lester paces in front of him. "You are stronger than most of your kind. Even of the first, you are something special, aren't you? But I'll find a way to break you. In fact, I think I've already found it."

The other man. The big one with orange hair is gone.

I was too focused on Fen, on figuring out a way to stop his torture to notice.

I spin around. The big man is there, a few feet away, sword in hand. Baron jumps forward. The man kicks him away.

I clutch the hilt of my sword, but before I can draw Spero, the man grabs my arm. With his other hand he grabs my hair and yanks me toward his group.

A gust of wind rips through the sky. The snow is thick. It's hard to see in front me.

Cliff tucks his hands into his coat, his wrist now bandaged. "We need to wrap this up, or we'll die out here."

"Be silent, Cliff. We have the bitch we came for, but I need one more thing from our prince before we kill him." Lester motions me closer. I fight, but the giant man twists my hands behind my back and pushed me forward. Lester holds a knife to my throat.

Fen struggles against his chains, his rage feral.  "Let her go, or you will know pain you cannot imagine."

"Tell me what I need to know and I will not hurt her. Fail to tell me, and she dies." Lester pushes the knife against my throat hard enough to break skin. I feel the blood drip onto my collarbone. He turns back to the prince.

"I'm sorry, Fen," I say. "I should have acted sooner."

His eyes are frantic. His body rages against the restraints. But he cannot break free. He cannot save me.

This time, I must save us both.

I twist, pulling the giant man off balance. He crashes to the ground. I draw Spero and plunge the blade into his back. It goes in smoothly. Quietly.

A part of me knows I have taken a life. It whispers to me of guilt and shame. But right now, I cannot listen. My mind thunders with rage. And there are more lives to take.

I charge at Cliff. Blade forward. His sword is up in defense. I feign a strike from above, but attack from below, slicing his knees. He falls, screaming and staining the snow red.

Baron jumps forward from behind me, landing on Cliff's chest, slashing at the man's throat until he screams no more.

Fen roars, fighting against his restraints, but he isn't strong enough to break free. Lester's eyes widen, glancing between his fallen comrades and me. He holds a knife in one hand, a hot poker in the other.

I strike at his feet.

He blocks low, crouching. And that is when I have him. There is more to a sword than just the blade. That I learned from Kayla.

I rush my hand up.

And slam my pommel into Lester's face.

He falls backwards, his nose broken and red.

Baron stalks forward.

The man pleads for his life. He looks to me. "Stop him. Stop him, please."

My mind is cold. My heart quiet. "You harmed Fenris Vane, Prince of War. Perhaps I would spare you, but he will not."

Baron leaps forward.

And the man pleads no more.

I run over to his body and grab a key from his belt. I find a lock on the chains and open it. The metal falls.

I rush to Fen and drop to my knees before him, tears streaming down my face. "Are you okay?" I ask.