Prophecies of Light

by E. M. Knight

  “Your secret is safe with me,” he says, touching that hand to his heart. “Not a whisper of it will ever leave my lips.”

  I clear my throat, feeling a bit out of sorts.

  How much does this little vampire know?

  As if reading my thoughts, he says, “Eleira, it doesn’t take a genius to understand that you are truly gifted. I saw the first signs of it when you and I were in the Paths. Remember how quickly you took to the weaves I showed you? There isn’t a witch alive that could have matched the speed with which you picked it up.”

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence, then,” I murmur.

  He gives me a funny look. Then, turning even farther away from the guards, he says, “You’re not yet used to thinking of yourself as Queen. Are you?”

  “I’ve held the position for less than a day,” I tell him. “So no. I’m not. Blame me.”

  He shakes his head. “I’m not blaming you, Eleira. I only want to help. I suspect that I won’t find many friends amongst the vampires of your coven, not when word comes out of who I am.”

  “Both the Elite and the Incolam follow my word,” I say. “If I tell them you are welcome, they will not make you feel anything less.”

  He gives a quick, sad smile. “You sense my strength.”

  “So? You can do magic. That elevates you above the rest.”

  He gives me an inscrutable look. “That’s not how the hierarchy works, and you know it.”

  “And you knew what you were getting yourself into when you came to us,” I remind him. “Don’t tell me you’re having second thoughts.”

  “Gods, no!” he exclaims. “I’m just saying, all signs point to me being a loner. But I don’t mind. I am good at having people forget I am near. I am good at remaining unseen, even amongst a group of vampires as strong as your Elite.”

  “What’s your point?”

  “Only this. That, if you let me, I can be of much use to you. Not as a witch.” He frowns. “But as a spy. I can be your eyes and ears on The Haven grounds, if you will have me.”

  I take a step back. “You want me to spy on my own vampires?”

  “Every ruler must have a feel for her people,” he says. “That is one important lesson I learned while watching Father. You are bound to have a few rough years at the start. Even with me, already, you make the mistake of speaking to me as a friend, and not a subject.”

  “You’d prefer me to be cold and distant?” I ask, chock-full of skepticism.

  “When we are in public. Anywhere our interactions can be seen or our conversation overheard. You must maintain the proper decorum as Queen.”

  “If I change how I act,” I say, “others will notice. I am the same person I always was. I don’t want to pretend to be someone I’m not.”

  “Alas,” he says, “that is a necessity for a ruler. Your common freedoms have come to an end, Eleira. You have absolute power in this coven, but it comes at a great price.”

  He coughs. “Anyway, I don’t mean to get philosophical. If I were here to talk ideology, I don’t think you’d be entertaining this conversation.”

  “No, I guess you’re right.”

  “If you accept my proposition,” he says, “this should be one of the final times we are seen conversing for this long in public.” He glances back at the guards. “Word spreads fast, even amongst those loyal to you. If your vampires suspect something is off…”

  “I don’t see how they would think anything off by me talking to you,” I tell him. “After all. You are a vampire who can do magic, which gives you commonality with me others do not have. Your knowledge of The Crypts will also be of use to me.”

  “Then you must take pains to make certain those conversations are seen in the proper light,” he says. “We have to be very calculated in our interactions, Eleira, if you intend to make use of my proposition. As I suggest you do.”

  “You really think, given the history between us, I would trust you to spy on my own vampires?” I ask.

  “Trust can come later. Make me earn it. My point is that the opportunity is ripe for this sort of arrangement to start right now. You must make your choice. Say yes, and I’ll disappear from sight. I’ll slip into the Incolam, keeping my eyes to the ground, but my ears very much open. You can call on me when you see fit, under guise of any of the things we discussed. Wanting to learn more about The Crypts. Asking me about my knowledge of magic. Don’t make the encounters a regular thing, and I promise you, none will be wiser.”

  “And what if, let’s say, you hear something. Something you need to relay to me immediately? How will you do that?”

  He smiles and looks down at his hands. I notice him tracing the fingers of one hand with the other.

  “I’ll find a way of getting your attention,” he promises me. “It’s not like I’m in cuffs.”

  “No.” I hedge. “I guess not.”

  “So.” He glances up at me. “If you’re going to take me up on the offer, you must do it now.”

  “Hold on,” I say. “When you came here, you said you wanted to warn me about what was happening in the Paths.”

  His face darkens. “Yes,” he says.

  “You haven’t said anything about them yet.”

  Again, Riyu glances back at the guards. “Now is not the most opportune time,” he hedges. “I’ve given you the gist.”

  “I have to know the full story.”

  He looks up at the sky. “When the sun rises,” he says. “And the others are asleep. I’ll resist the call of slumber and come to you.”

  I smile at him. “Riyu,” I say softly. “You forgot. This is The Haven. Here, the sun never shines. The wards cloak us in eternal night.”

  He takes a tiny step back. “You’re serious?” he asks. “I thought that was just a myth. A story, a legend, told to boost the allure of this coven to the outside world.”

  I shake my head. “No myth,” I promise. “Here, we are not slaves to the rising of the sun.”

  “Remarkable,” he murmurs. “If my Father knew…”

  “You’re telling me Logan doesn’t know?” I ask. I think back to the offer he and Beatrice gave. “I was certain he did!”

  Riyu shakes his head quickly. “We were all told it was rumor and fantasy.”

  I search his face for a long moment. “You’re telling the truth,” I finally decide.

  He bows his head slightly. “Of course. What good would it do me to deceive you?”

  “But then… all the things your King told me and Raul when we were there… his vision for the world…”

  “I’m afraid I wasn’t privy to that conversation,” Riyu remarks.

  I debate for a minute keeping him in the dark… and then decide against it.

  “He and Beatrice spoke of a world cloaked in eternal night,” I say. “I only assumed they thought it possible because they knew of what Morgan did here.”

  “Vampires the world over dream of such an existence,” Riyu murmurs. “But to actually consider it reality? No, no. Trust me, Eleira. If either Logan or Beatrice truly thought the wards here provided that, you and Raul would never have been allowed to leave.”

  I consider this new information in contemplative silence.

  “Even I,” he mutters, after a moment’s pause, “even I have a hard time believing it is true. I trust your word, Eleira, don’t get me wrong… but I have to see with my own eyes to actually accept it.”

  I give him a small smile. “In that case, you don’t have long to wait. The sun will rise in a few hours. Until then, you may do as you please.”

  “And our deal…?”

  I put my hand out. “Our deal is sealed.”

  He shakes it.

  “I’ll find some excuse to summon you to me after daybreak.”

  “I’d be grateful.” He starts to turn away, stops, and looks back at me.

  “Eleira?” he says. “Just one more thing.”

  “Yes?”

  “You said your new wards cover The Haven in a perfec
t sphere. Nobody can break through from the air or underground. But what about through the Paths?”

  My smile widens. “Don’t worry, Riyu,” I say. “The Paths are sealed off, as well. There can be no portals cast inside The Haven. Not with the throne torrial feeding and sustaining the magic spells.”

  He looks me up and down, then says, “Already, I know you are a great Queen.”

  Chapter Three

  Raul

  The Haven

  I’m in the midst of directing the Incolam on what to do to rebuild the decimated village, when a sudden cry in the distance makes me spin around.

  “What was th—” I begin to say, but cut off mid-sentence when I realize I am the only one to have reacted to the scream.

  I look around. The vampires near me are still hard at work. A few, who’ve noticed I’m distracted, give me curious looks.

  Otherwise, they do not comment on anything.

  I step to the one nearest me.

  “Raylan, did you hear anything just now?” I ask.

  The vampire looks at me without understanding. “What do you mean?”

  “Nothing… nothing caught your attention? Nothing peculiar?”

  He rubs the side of his nose. “No clue what you’re talking about, Prince.”

  “Never mind,” I say. “Go back to work.”

  He shrugs. “As you say.”

  But before he can resume, I’m already turning away.

  I was absolutely certain I heard a cry.

  I wave one of the Elite over. “Hey, watch them for me, will you?” I ask. “There’s something I need to see to.”

  “Sure,” he says. “Not that they need much watching.”

  “Just do it,” I say, then take off into the woods in the direction I heard that scream.

  I’m certain I didn’t imagine it. And yet, I seem to be the only vampire to have heard.

  For a moment I wonder what that says for my sanity, and if it means part of the taint from the old wound still resides in me.

  I put that paranoia out of mind. I trust Eleira leeched out all the poison. There shouldn’t be anything left.

  As I run past the trees, I realize I’m going in a familiar direction.

  I’m heading toward the stronghold.

  I arrive at the doors. All is quiet, all is still. I flare my senses and confirm that I am completely alone.

  The hackles on the back of my neck rise.

  Instinct tells me something is wrong.

  I expand my senses as far as they will go. I’m searching for, maybe, a hint of that enormous white dog. I don’t think it made the sound, but I remember the way it only left paw prints engraved in solid stone.

  If anything is capable of making a sound heard only by one vampire, it is a creature of that ilk.

  But as I’m searching, I get the faintest hint of a different sort of presence from deep inside the stronghold.

  Alarm rips through me. The villagers! They are all still in there, and if I can feel a bit of presence, no matter how faint, it means the conversion is already taking place.

  I did not think it would happen this fast.

  I take one more look around, and rush in.

  It’s eerie to find myself alone in the abandoned halls. The sound my footsteps make, echoing up and down the long, cavernous tunnels, is more ominous a sound than I have heard in a very long time.

  As I get closer to the heart of the stronghold, my sense of the villagers’ presence grows stronger. They are so weak, however, that I cannot distinguish how many there are. I cannot say how many have already started to come into the conversion.

  It’ll take my physically being in their presence to distinguish that.

  I stop in front of the sealed door where they are kept. I still cannot believe Phillip got to them unhindered. For a moment, I think I can feel their fear, feel their terror, when they realized that the youngest Soren brother had come to them to feed.

  I can feel the betrayal they must have experienced when realization dawned that my promise of protection had utterly failed them.

  I put one hand on the door and push my weight against it.

  Slowly, it sweeps open.

  I am immediately struck by the stink of old, dried, dirty blood thick in the air.

  The villagers are in a heap on the far side of the room. The bodies look like they’ve been disposed of as if in a concentration camp.

  But I can feel the feeble vampiric life force flowing through each and every one.

  A sense of immense disgust takes me. These are living beings, not pig carcasses! If Felix was the last one here, if he shared his blood, he should never have piled them up like that!

  I have to fix this.

  The first thing I do is seal the door to make sure I won’t be interrupted. Then I walk over to the bodies and start picking them up and carrying them to individual spots on the floor.

  Some of them make small sounds of discomfort as I’m handling them. Little moans, small gasps of pain.

  Things that remind me just how fragile they are.

  It takes me a long time to finish up. I dare not use my vampiric speed. All of these fledglings are in very delicate shape. Despite the infusion of Felix’s blood, one wrong move could still end their lives.

  When I’m finished, I take a moment to wipe the blood off my hands. I don’t think I’ve ever been more disgusted by the substance. It smells rotten, spoiled, and entirely unclean.

  Nothing at all like the vital, nourishing life source found pumping through a healthy human heart.

  I look up and start to count the bodies, when I realize one of them is gone.

  I only get the shortest warning before something crashes hard into my side.

  We slam into the wall. I know this vampire is weak, absolutely no match for me, which is why the attack takes me so much by surprise. She tries to swipe at my face, but I catch her wrists, then spin and pin her against the wall.

  She struggles, but obviously it’s not enough. And yet, when my eyes fall upon her face, I nearly release her from surprise.

  It’s Cassandra.

  I force her back. She struggles and snarls and fights to break free.

  “What are you doing?” I hiss. I can’t believe I didn’t recognize her amongst the bodies. Idiot! “Cassandra, stop. Stop it!”

  But she can’t hear me. She’s too far gone. Her eyes are glazed over. There is only pure animal fury in them.

  Then it hits me: she’s the one who’s been feeding. And now she’s consumed by the blood lust!

  With a roar I throw her off me. She hits the opposite wall and crumples down. Just as she begins to push herself up, I pounce on her, using my weight to trap her against the floor.

  “We’re going to wait here,” I tell her, very slowly, very deliberately, “until you calm yourself down.”

  She tries to whip her head up and sink her fangs into any expanse of skin I have vulnerable. It’s such a pathetic move that I can almost laugh.

  I don’t, though. Cassandra is also my responsibility. I feel very much at fault for what’s happened to her.

  After a few minutes, some of the fight goes out of her. “There you go,” I say. “There you are. Easy, now.”

  The light returns to her eyes. When I see it’s there in full, and see that she recognizes me, I shift my weight and step off.

  Then, I offer her a hand to help her up.

  She looks at me in a daze. “What… happened?” she wonders. She glances around the room. “How did we get here?”

  “I suspect,” I say, raking a hand through my dark red hair, “that you were lured here by the siren call of their blood.” I gesture at the unmoving bodies. “It was a failure on our part to have left them unprotected.”

  For the first time she seems to recognize exactly who the bodies belong to.

  She gasps. “The villagers,” she says. “They’re all here. They’re all…”

  “Not dead,” I finish for her. “You fed on them, but you are in no
way responsible.”

  She touches the side of her head and winces. “I don’t remember any of this,” she says. “I have no idea how I got here. I don’t know what I did!”

  “You lost yourself to the bloodlust,” I tell her softly. “It can happen to the best of us. The highest risk comes when you’re newly-made. You do not have enough experience with things to control the vampire inside you sufficiently.”

  “Then what… what happened to them?” she asks.

  I grunt. “Phillip came and fed on them all. He killed a few. The rest, he left hanging on to the barest thread of life.”

  “But they’re breathing now,” she says, sneaking a glance at the bodies. “Aren’t they?”

  “They are,” I assure her. “Another vampire came here and gave them their blood. It was enough to begin the conversion.”

  “So they’re all going to be like me…?” She shivers. “Raul, it’s not going to work. You don’t understand. These humans hate vampires. As soon as they wake and realize what’s been done, it’ll be… it’ll be catastrophic.”

  I look at her in serious thought. “What do you think might happen?”

  “They’ll destroy each other. Or they will attack all of you.”

  “Nonsense,” I say. “The hierarchy will prevent them from doing anything so stupid.”

  She shakes her head. “I was this close to taking my own life,” she says. “When I was told what you had done, what I would become. Before I was fully in the grasp of the transformation, while I still could.”

  “Do any of them look like they’re going to be capable of something like that?” I ask. “The full hold of the transformation is the only thing that will transport them out of this pitiful state. If things get to that point.”

  She frowns. “If? What do you mean, if?”

  “Eleira still hasn’t made up her mind,” I confide. “She hasn’t decided whether to let them live or not.”

  “What?” she gasps.

  “Phillip attacked and fed on them without provocation,” I explain. “But the other vampire who gave them his blood did soon after, without consulting the Queen.”

  “Who was it?” she asks. “Who was the other vampire?”