Dark Promise

by Danielle Rose

  “Stop!” I shout, grabbing on to Will’s arms and shoving them down. He spins, releasing himself from my grip, and I nearly lose my footing. I stumble, teetering slightly until I regain my composure. My stomach burns from hunger, and I’m light-headed. I need to feed.

  “Ava?” Jasik says. He stares in disbelief. His gaze narrows as he looks at Will.

  “Are you okay?” Jeremiah asks. He holds his dagger in his hand, gripped firmly in a white-knuckle grasp. His skin is ashy, his eyes dark. He frowns at Will before looking at me.

  “What are you doing here?” I ask.

  “It’s almost sunrise, and you still hadn’t come home. We thought you might be in trouble,” Malik says. His face is calm, collected, but his eyes scream with anger. It floods my ears, making concentration almost impossible.

  “We didn’t realize you had some rendezvous planned with…him,” Hikari says, seething. She crosses her arms over her chest.

  They’re all rightfully upset with me. I have been gone far too long, and they find me in the dark of night with another vampire—someone they don’t recognize and someone I’ve never mentioned. This certainly does look bad.

  “Who are you?” Jasik asks, his gaze on Will.

  Will glances at me. He gives me a knowing gaze before answering my sire’s question. “I’m Will.”

  “Are you…like Ava?” Malik asks. He eyes Will cautiously, curiously. His gaze drops the length of Will’s body, likely assessing the threat level this mystery vampire poses. Unfortunately, Will just might be the greatest opponent Malik has ever faced.

  “I am,” Will says.

  “And how long have you two known each other?” Hikari asks. She arches a brow, a pointed look in her eyes.

  “We’ve only just met,” Will says.

  “Seriously?” Hikari says. “You expect us to believe it’s entirely coincidental that you’ve just run into each other tonight? Do you really expect us to believe this wasn’t planned?”

  “It’s true I came looking for her, but she was unaware of my existence until tonight,” Will admits. He doesn’t mention my dream intrusion or meeting me on the astral plane. I’m grateful, because the last thing I want is for Jasik to believe I truly was keeping secrets.

  “Why?” Malik asks, cutting off Hikari.

  “Because there aren’t many vampires like us,” Will says.

  “How did you find her?” Jasik asks, frowning. He glances at me, a worried look in his eyes. “How long have you known?”

  “There’s a lot you don’t understand about our powers, and honestly, I don’t care to explain them to you,” Will says plainly. “I know enough.”

  Jasik steps forward, and I rush between them. We can’t fight about this. Not now. We have only a couple of hours until sunrise, and we need to get home. We don’t have time to talk logistics, even though I too am itching to know how Will was able to find me in the astral plane. Are we strong enough to find anyone? Is that how he plans to locate Liv? He mentioned a locater spell, but maybe we do that through the astral plane and that’s why the other witches haven’t found her yet.

  Ignoring my silent plea for peace, Jasik says, “And you expect us to simply trust you?”

  “Do what you like,” Will says. “I’m here for her.”

  “Will,” I say sharply, and he smirks at me.

  I glance at Jasik, and something flashes behind his crimson irises. I see anger and pain and just a hint of jealousy. It breaks my heart to see him so conflicted simply because of a misunderstanding.

  “We need to get home,” Malik says. He rests a hand on Jasik’s shoulder, and instantly, his brother is soothed. The anger in his eyes is replaced by mistrust, and he turns away from me.

  The others begin their retreat, not turning away from Will as they walk backward toward home. I wonder if they’ll walk the entire way like this, forever fearing to turn their backs on a possible enemy.

  “Ava, let’s go,” Malik says. It’s an order, and I don’t particularly care for it.

  I hesitate, and I’ve never heard silence quite this loud. It’s earth-shattering enough for the others to break their concentration and look at me. Frozen in time among the icy blue woods, I am forced to choose, but I can’t. I literally cannot move. My limbs are failing me; my brain is mush. I remain still, silent.

  If I leave with Jasik, I risk never seeing Will again.

  If I leave with Will, I will surely lose Jasik.

  Darting my gaze between my two futures, I stand at a crossroads. I know I cannot stay here, for it is nearly daybreak. I explain this to my legs, but they still do not move. I’m frozen in place, stuck in a pit of darkness and despair. Inside, I beg for a way out, for a way not to choose. But even I know this is no fairy tale. The undead don’t get a happily ever after.

  Every second that passes, I sink a little deeper into the snow. With each free-falling flake, I’m buried more, and I welcome it. Beneath this white blanket, I can escape the hardship of the world. It embraces me in its cool caress, and even if only for a moment, I pretend life is good.

  Everything is perfect.

  Until it’s not.

  “Ava, let’s go home,” Malik says, repeating himself.

  I glance at Will, and with my eyes, I beg him to come with, to join us, if only for tonight. I plead with him, silently promising things I have no right to promise. I offer him refuge with my nest, even though I know he will refuse.

  Understanding my pleas, he smiles but shakes his head and says, “I don’t belong with them.”

  Silently, I hear his final words—the ones he doesn’t dare speak aloud.

  And neither do you.

  My heart falls from my chest and sinks into the ground. That’s where I leave it. It will remain there—cold, lifeless, waiting for some promised future that will never come to pass. Against everything I feel to be true and right, I make a decision to remain in the dark. Forever.

  When I turn away to join the others, I feel Will’s gaze at my back. It burns through my skin, penetrating deep into my soul. Leaving Will in the lifeless, dark woods feels like a betrayal to everything I am, to everything I could become. He might be the only creature on this planet who completely understands me. He knows my needs, my desires, my faults, and my fears—because he experiences them too. He doesn’t judge my emotions or question my motives. He knows me…for me. He knows the hybrid better than even my sire.

  The moment the tiny hairs on my body rest, I know he’s gone. I glance over my shoulder, knowing he won’t be there but hoping to still see him staring as I retreat.

  The emptiness of the surrounding woods is like a dagger to my heart.

  Chapter Ten

  There’s something about the flutter of snow when it blows in the breeze. Swirling through the air, it coats the earth, hiding evidence of what lies beneath. Hardened by time, what was once soft and yielding is now frozen in place. I kick at the fluff, scraping my boot against the icy, frigid remains of an earlier snowfall.

  Straight ahead, the manor towers over me. Passing the wrought-iron gate, I eye it carefully. From the outside, it seems eerily quiet. I assume the other vampires have already made their way to their rooms, awaiting the sunrise.

  The footfalls of my fellow hunters echo all around me. The sound radiates through the icy tundra Darkhaven has become and tickles the soles of my feet.

  Scanning our surroundings, I see nothing but splashes of frost. It coats the manor. With sharp edges and delicate overhangs, the Victorian architecture stands out in this small, idyllic village. No other house is quite as breathtaking. No other house is home to a nest of vampires either. If I’m forsaken from yet another home, I really will have to leave Darkhaven.

  I glance at my sire, who has yet to look me in the eye since I turned my back on Will. Jasik believes I’ve been dishonest. He thinks I’ve been orchestrating secret rendezvous with a vampire I don’t truly know. This isn’t the case, and eventually I’ll be able to explain what really happened in the woods tonig
ht—from meeting Will to fighting the witches. Until then, I must face their wrath.

  I glance at the others. They too refuse to look my way. No one is happy with me, and I fear what Amicia will say when she finds out. I thought they’d be happy to discover the existence of another hybrid. Will doesn’t just provide answers to far too many unanswered questions—he’s also the key to everything I will become. He knows the darkness in me and the magic nestled there. He knows what will happen when it consumes me. He knows what I should fear and what I should protect. Why can’t the others see him as an asset?

  I eye the second story, easily finding the window to my bedroom, but something else catches my attention. A vampire watches our approach. Her crimson gaze penetrates deep into my soul, as if she already knows about my betrayal. Her hair is long, thick, and black as night. Her skin is pale and luminescent in the moonlight.

  When she notices me staring at her, she quickly glances away, pretending to fidget with the drapes. She adjusts the shades, closing them so no light can penetrate the room while she slumbers. In the blink of an eye, she’s gone. No longer in view, she retreats inside the manor, where so many others await our return.

  A stone path leads me toward the manor’s front door. Each slab of rock is slick from the recently fallen snow, but I navigate them with conditioned ease. I consider how long I’ve been here. It’s been long enough to call this place home but short enough to still question my place within the nest. When I first arrived, Amicia warned me that even one mistake will cost me her loyalty. Since then, I have tried to prove myself to her, to the others. I want to be here. Leaving Will in the dark must prove that to them.

  Slowly, I ascend the steps of the wraparound front porch. When I reach the top step, I glide my fingertips over the frosted head of a gargoyle. I can’t even walk inside the house without greeting our protector. His stone head is cold and rough, sending shivers down my arms.

  The solid oak door is stained dark. It matches the rest of the wood inside the manor. Large bay windows are to the right of the front door. With stained-glass windows, the moonlight sends a rush of cool gray splashes of light into the parlor. With the room lit, I see the bookshelves, the fireplace aflame, and the tiny table with a half-played game of chess, which now gathers dust.

  The front porch wraps around the left side of the manor. It cascades almost completely to the backyard, ending at a comfortable gliding porch swing. I imagine sitting there, enjoying the silence, the darkness, the calm.

  I sigh, gripping the handle of the front door, and twist. Just as I suspected, the main level is vacant. Even Amicia has retreated to her room. Silently, I thank the gods for this moment of peace. If I’m going to explain myself, I should speak with Jasik first. One at a time, I will prove my innocence.

  Without a farewell, the vampires push past me and ascend the stairs to the second floor. The only vampire who stands beside me is Jasik. I follow them into the adjoined sitting room and watch their retreat. Just as Malik rounds the corner at the first stair landing, he glances over his shoulder. We make eye contact, and in the split second he looks at me, I see his disappointment. He’s upset with my actions and fearful of what I might do next. Before I can react, he’s gone, rounding the corner and disappearing upstairs. With each stride, his steps grow quieter until I can’t hear him at all.

  I don’t dare look at my sire. Instead, I kick at the floor, scattering dust with my shoe. I crinkle my nose at the sudden intrusion and wait for Jasik to speak.

  When the silence becomes too much to bear, I succumb to the pain in my gut that’s growing stronger by each passing second. Heading straight for the kitchen, I bypass the dining room and walk through the butler’s pantry. I push open the door to the kitchen with far more force than necessary, and it smacks against the wall. I wince as wood makes impact with tile.

  The kitchen is as barren as the rest of the house, with no one to invade my thoughts. I thought I wanted to speak with Jasik alone, but his disappointment in me is making it hard to breathe.

  Opening the refrigerator, I bypass a mug and tear through the packaging with my teeth. I slurp the cold, thick substance, sucking down every droplet until the suction of plastic is too much to bear. I repeat this process until I’ve drained several blood bags. I lick away the coating on my teeth, and with a full belly that soothes my nerves, I face Jasik.

  My sire is leaning against the kitchen wall directly across from where I stand. With one foot kicked back resting against the floorboards, his arms are crossed, and he’s watching me closely. He doesn’t speak.

  Watching the frustration and anger cross his face breaks my heart. I never meant to upset him by keeping so many secrets.

  Unable to stare into his eyes any longer, I close the space between us and slide my arms through his. Loosening his grip, he allows me to wrap myself around his torso, and I rest my head against his chest. Closing my eyes, I pretend today is just another day. We’re not at war with the witches, the hunters aren’t angry with me, and Liv isn’t missing. Briefly, Will doesn’t exist, but when I open my eyes again, the reality of my world sinks in, and I pull away from Jasik.

  “I’m sorry,” I say.

  “For what?” Jasik asks, eyes hard. He wants honesty, and I’m prepared to give it to him, even if that means upsetting him further.

  I sigh. “Last night, when you came into my room, I was having a nightmare.”

  He nods. “I suspected you were.”

  I usher him over to the kitchen table and take a seat. He follows me and rests his arms on the tabletop. The tension in his shoulders is starting to ease, and I just now notice the exhaustion in his eyes. It seems I’m not the only one experiencing sleepless nights.

  “Thing is, my nightmare was real,” I say. “I mean, it wasn’t a nightmare at all.”

  He frowns, thoroughly confused, and waits for me to continue.

  “Spirit witches can visit the astral plane. That’s where I was when I first met Will,” I admit.

  Jasik winces at the sound of my new friend’s name, but I pretend not to notice. I’m not sure why Jasik dislikes Will, but I assume it’s not just mistrust. Jealousy is mixed in there, and I doubt Jasik wants me to know how much power our relationship has over his own emotions.

  “How long have you been seeing him?” he asks, voice calm, collected. Inside, I suspect he’s at war with his emotions. He wants me to tell him the truth, even if the truth brings only pain.

  “Tonight was the first time we met in person,” I say.

  Jasik sighs, and he begins to fully relax. He leans back against his chair, clasping his hands together and resting them atop the tabletop. He waits for me to continue.

  “You see, dreams are tricky. Sometimes they’re prophetic. They warn me of incoming danger. Other times, I’m not dreaming at all. My soul is visiting the astral plane, and everything that’s happening is real. It’s just not happening here, on the physical plane,” I say. I smack the wood with my hands, emphasizing what it means to be here physically. These two planes of existence are tricky to navigate and even harder to understand if you’re not a spirit witch.

  “Okay…” Jasik says, trailing off.

  “We don’t know anything about my powers now, but even before I transitioned, there still was no guide to understanding my magic. It is up to the spirit witch to dissect the dream. On my own, I had to determine if I was experiencing a vision, if I was visiting the astral plane or just plain dreaming. Unfortunately, this hasn’t gotten easier since I became a hybrid.”

  “It sounds…complicated,” Jasik says.

  “Complicated is an understatement. For weeks prior to my transition, I felt this dark cloud over Darkhaven. There was this…ominous presence, and now, I understand it was a premonition of sorts. Spirit foresaw my death, and my powers were warning me.”

  Jasik nods, his eyes urging me to continue.

  “But no one believed me. Mamá thought I was too young to foresee such a catastrophic event. She believed I was na
ïve, and that’s the pain of it. My powers were mental. I couldn’t prove what I saw. I just needed her to trust me. She didn’t.” I shrug. Every day, the realization of this becomes easier to bear. It doesn’t hurt as much, knowing how little my own mother trusted me.

  “And how does this affect what’s happening now?” Jasik asks.

  “Well, last night, after I visited the astral plane and met Will for the first time, I thought I was having a nightmare. I wasn’t convinced he was real. After meeting that rogue vampire who said there were more out there… I assumed I was unintentionally influencing my dream.”

  “And you can do that? Influence your visions?” Jasik asks.

  I shake my head. “No, I can’t influence a vision, but I can influence a dream or a nightmare. It’s up to me to figure out if what I’m seeing is real or my imagination.”

  “And this is why you didn’t tell me about the dream last night?”

  I nod. “I wasn’t sure if it was real, and then everything was happening so quickly. I was training, and Liv was missing, and that whole dark promise with Amicia had me really messed up, and I just couldn’t focus and—”

  “Wait. What? What dark promise?” Jasik asks, interrupting me.

  I suck in a sharp breath and slowly release it. This is it. Either I tell my sire about the oath now or I hide it from him forever. Since I had no idea what I was doing and truly had no intention of forming an alliance with another sire, I pray Jasik will understand. Until now, he’s always trusted me. I need to believe in him and our connection.

  I look past Jasik. Windows offer glimpses into the backyard, which is dark and frozen. Patches of an icy tundra are illuminated by the moonlight, but the surrounding woods are shaded and gloomy. The forest is lifeless this time of night. The few hours before the moon rests and the sun rises are always eerily quiet. The dead of night outside mirrors the emptiness within the manor, and a cold chill works its way through me.

  “The other day, when the witches came here for help, when Amicia sent you and the other hunters out of the manor, she forced me to make a dark promise, a blood oath.”