Elias waited for me on the front porch. I sat down on the swing next to him. His long legs stretched out to cross at the ankles elegantly, but otherwise his posture was slouched. He was dressed in his usual basic black, though this time he had shoes—engineer boots, no less. I tapped the toe of his boot with the tip of my Converse.
“I think I got you in trouble,” I admitted quietly. “With Dad.”
He lifted an eyebrow, and sighed. “I failed. I was too late. The talisman is gone.”
“Someone else has it?” A shiver flitted across my skin. My voice dropped to a whisper. “Um, us ... I mean, the witches?”
Elias’s head bowed in defeat. “It’s uncertain, but likely.”
“Wow.” I hadn’t meant to say that, exactly, but it was the only thing that came out.
“I was pleased to find your note,” he said, the strain of trying to sound cheerful evident in his voice. “I wanted to see you. We should celebrate the end of the world.”
“Oh, Elias—,” I started, but he cut me off.
“The time for pity is past. Tonight is about freedom, and enjoying it while it lasts. Come with me? Some of us are gathering at Lilydale.”
If Mom was out at the covenstead celebrating the full moon, she wouldn’t be home until late anyway. Besides, it was Friday night. “Sure, why not?”
Elias had brought his car, which was a big black hybrid. I never thought of vampires driving around, so it felt strange to buckle into the passenger seat. Once, when I’d asked him about it, he explained that no one rode horses anymore, so what alternative did he have? Most of the public transportation services cut off sometime after midnight, when his day was just getting started. Still, it was so odd to see him behind the wheel of something so modern, I asked, “Do you even have a license?”
“Yes, but it’s forged.”
“Um, eek?”
“The DMV hours are not vampire-friendly.”
I guessed not much was, like banks or even car dealerships. “Do I want to know how you got this?” I ran my hands along the shiny dashboard. It still smelled new.
“Igors are good for a lot of things,” he said simply, pushing the ignition button. Of course, I still didn’t know if he meant for buying cars or for stealing them. I didn’t ask for clarification. The engine hummed quietly to life. Patting the steering wheel, he said, “I’ll miss driving. Perhaps my new master—” He stopped, his grip tightening.
What to say to that? I looked out through the window as we rolled down the street I’d just walked. Still, his comment got me thinking. “How does the talisman work? I mean, there’s only one. So how do you get, well, assigned masters?”
“That’s actually a good question. I suppose we’ll return to the family line,” he said with a shrug. When I looked confused, he explained. “Whenever a witch wanted a new servant, the Council of Elders gave permission for the talisman to be brought out of its hiding place. You see, we’re bonded to whoever is holding the talisman when we’re brought over. Then, like any valued piece of property, we are inherited down the family tree.”
No wonder witches kept such careful track of lineage. “What if there are no children or none of them become witches?”
Elias gave me a sidelong glance. “That’s why hunters were invented. They tracked down and destroyed all rogue demons.” He said nothing, letting that information settle in for a moment. “There were always stories, legends, really, of people who’d stayed free, and attacked witches from hideouts deep in ancient forests or along forbidding mountain ranges.”
“Like Robin Hood?”
“More like Dracula or Carmilla.” He laughed.
“Oh,” I said quietly, absently playing with a loose thread on my sweater. So Bea was right about this too. Vampires did go after witches, or at least their folk heroes did. “Is that what the hunt is about? Killing witches?”
Elias turned down Summit toward John Ireland Boulevard. Spotlights made the cathedral’s stone walls glow brightly, and it appeared almost surreally crisp against the night.
“Ah,” Elias said. “Someone has been speaking out of turn.”
“But is it true?”
“Yes.” I must have looked stricken, because he added, “Keep in mind, my lady, though we were no longer oppressed by our masters, we were still a hidden, unaccounted-for people. If we fed on mortal men, we would surely be discovered. Only witches would keep our secret, lest they risk exposing their own.”
Did Bea have to be so damn right about everything? My mouth twisted into a grimace. “Plus it must be satisfying to sink your teeth into people who used to order you around.”
We turned past the Historical Society; its flat, impenetrable stone facade made it look like a fortress of knowledge. It must have taken powerful magic to get inside there. Elias didn’t speak until we turned again, this time onto 35E heading south.
“It was, at first,” he admitted. “But one hunt will satisfy us for many years—a generation, in fact. Time passed; hated masters died of old age. There was no one left to take revenge on, and their children were innocent of their mothers’ crimes.”
“And you killed them anyway.”
“It was decided, for our survival, that we must.”
“Decided? You mean by Dad?”
Elias’s eyes stayed focused on the road. But even without his acknowledgment I knew the answer. The vampires weren’t a democracy. “Pull off,” I said. “I want to get out.”
He shook his head. “If you had completed the hunt with us, you’d understand. It is how it has always been.”
When I turned sixteen, Dad had shown up and tried to convince me to do their sacred hunt instead of the witches’ Initiation. I wasn’t able to do either, so I stayed something in between, neither witch nor vampire.
“You didn’t ... that night? I mean, I didn’t hear—no one died, right?”
“No, when it was clear you wouldn’t join us, the prince called it off.” Elias hadn’t moved the car toward the exit. In fact, he switched to the middle lane. “We’d waited a long time for you to mature. The hunger grows.” He snorted a dark chuckle. “At least our bondage will come with a high price.”
“What does that mean?” I looked out at the cars rushing past, feeling trapped.
“It means, my dear lady, that once again the witches will have to provide for us, as they did in the past. I wonder if anyone remembers the dark gift, the devil’s deal.”
He sounded so sinister, not at all like the gentle courtier I’d grown to like. “I really want to go home now,” I said, my hand groping uselessly at the car handle. Lights whooshed past, dizzying strobes. “You need to let me out.”
“It was the weakest ones, you know.” He didn’t seem to have heard me. “Those who couldn’t pass their Initiation that they sacrificed.”
“Wait—what are you saying? Are you saying that the witches used to feed you one of their own?”
He took his eyes from the road long enough to give me a hard stare. He nodded. “Yes, Anastasija, that’s exactly what I’m saying.”
It had to be a lie. I shook my head violently. “No way would people put up with that.”
“Protesters were easy to silence with us under their command,” he said grimly. The sound of the tires changed as we crossed onto a wide bridge spanning the Mississippi.
I looked out at the expanse of water, a strip of moonlight rippling across the blackness. Beside me, I heard Elias let out a soft sigh. I jumped when his hand briefly patted my thigh. He pulled it away quickly, guiltily.
“I didn’t mean to frighten you. I understand that it’s hard to believe,” he said, as if reading my mind. “But unless our new masters decide to let us all die of hunger, you’ll see. The bargain will be struck once again, and a sacrifice will be made.”
This was awful. My stomach clenched. Bea was so right, but yet so wrong about everything. I didn’t know whom to be more disgusted by. For the first time since I turned sixteen and found out about everything, I was reall
y, really grateful that I hadn’t chosen a side, because the truth was, both sucked.
That wasn’t fair, I supposed, but I was frustrated by this whole hunt situation. “Can’t you survive on human blood? I mean, when I tasted Thompson ...” I stopped. It was too weird to admit how delicious the experience had been.
Elias smiled sadly. “Human blood is like chocolate or junk food. It tastes great, but there’s simply not enough nutrition to sustain a healthy life. Vampires who have gone rogue often subsist on human blood at the cost of their sanity.”
“Oh.” I chewed on my lip for some time, before offering up another suggestion, “What about taking just a little from a witch and, you know, not killing?”
“Do you think in all the millennia that witches and vampires have existed, no one has tried that?” He kept his tone sympathetic, but I could sense his frustration building. Elias shook his head as if trying to let something go. “Forget it for now, Ana. Now it’s time to dance one last dance of freedom.”
Elias pulled off the highway onto a residential street. Houses slid by and we were in the park almost instantly. A small sidewalk ran along a narrow strip of manicured grass. The cliff’s edge was marked by a tangle of trees. Where the curb curved inward, he maneuvered the car into a parking spot. The streetlights were set farther apart than the ones I was used to in the city, somehow making the night deeper. As I stepped out and closed the car door, I could see stars through the clouds.
I hugged myself from the cold and the heavy knot in my gut.
Elias came around and put his arms on my shoulders. Though I cringed away, he gave me a reassuring squeeze before letting me go. “None of this will matter soon enough, my princess,” he said. “What will happen with the hunt will no longer be in our control.”
I blinked. “You mean, you think it will happen to me too?”
When he offered a hand, I took it this time. He led me down the sidewalk, away from the car. “It’s hard to say. There were, of course, witch children born to vampires, and vampire offspring born to witches, but ... few were allowed to survive, at least of the former variety.”
“I don’t understand the difference.”
We passed under one of the long-neck streetlights. “I suppose there really isn’t one, only a matter of perspective. If you’re born in the master’s house, different rules apply.”
“Gross,” I said with a tsk of my tongue.
Elias laughed. “That’s a word for it.”
I could hear the strains of music. In the distance, someone played the fiddle. The tune was light and airy. Drums picked out a dancing rhythm. Elias flashed me a playful smile and pulled me along faster. I followed as we ran down the sidewalk past a chain-link fence that looked over a steep drop. On the other side, the grassy area widened. Elias guided me off the pavement to a narrow opening in the woods. I would have thought it was little more than a deer trail, except for the crunch of gravel underfoot.
We went only a short distance before the path twisted and became steep. My steps skidded, but Elias didn’t slow. “I’m going to fall,” I protested.
“You’re a vampire princess, Anastasija Parker,” he reminded me. “You could fly down this hill if you chose. Stop holding me back. I want to dance.”
He let go of my hand. I grabbed for him and almost ended up on my ass. Bounding ahead of me, he disappeared out of sight into the darkness. “Wait!” I shouted. I didn’t know this park at all. I didn’t want to be lost.
“No, Ana. Fly!”
I didn’t have to dig very deeply to find my inner vampire. She seemed closer to the surface than ever before. In a second, the landscape brightened, pulsing with energy. Every obstacle became visible, and I saw Elias just at the fork in the trail. He flashed a knowing, fangy grin as he dashed to the left.
The downward momentum that I’d been fighting against now became my ally. In a burst of speed, I caught up with him. I could have run past, but I didn’t know where we were headed. The music was much louder now. I smelled the swampy scent of river nearby. A bat skimmed over my head.
“Echo Cave,” Elias shouted against the wind of our speed.
The path evened out, and I could see tall reeds along the riverbank. We’d come to the bottom of the valley. Sandstone cliffs rose like a wall, and I could see the mouth of a cave. Vampires had camped out in front of the boarded-up entrance. A row of drummers leaned against the concrete pylons, and the fiddler stood under the lip of the entrance, taking advantage of the natural acoustics. Bats streamed in and out over their heads.
People danced free-form to the music. Men and women, all the indeterminate age of vampires, leaped and turned in the absolute darkness of the night. The city lights were far beyond, and no campfire or torches blazed.
Elias took my hands, and spun me out into the center of it all. “Come,” he said. “Let us be free.”
The drums pounded an infectious beat. The music was unlike anything I’d ever heard before, though it seemed some strange amalgam of an Irish jig and a powerful West African tempo. My body didn’t care. The music swept me in. It was easy to forget about all the crazy I’d just learned, and lose myself in the rhythm.
I danced.
At school formals, I was very self-conscious and awkward. But here, under the stars with the wild all around, I moved without a thought of how I might look to others. Though dozens of bodies spun and wove in the clearing with inhuman grace, I felt alone—just Elias and me, hidden together under a protective blanket of darkness.
He circled me, twisting and turning with the music, our bodies tantalizingly close, but never quite touching. My heart thumped in time to the song. My skin flushed.
In his element, his features softened. His body retained its predatory sharpness and angles, but dancing soothed something in him. Taut lines on his face disappeared, replaced by an elation I’d never seen before. Noticing my attention, he pulled me close, wrapping his arms around my waist.
Our dancing slowed to a gentle sway. We were an island of stillness in the center of a pulsing crowd. Reaching up, I clasped my hands around his neck. His eyes searched mine. Apparently finding what he was looking for, he leaned down, drawing me even closer.
Our lips met.
The kiss was over in a moment, but the giddy sensation of it lingered, spreading deep inside me, all the way to my toes. We’d stopped moving entirely. His neck bent again, but this time his lips brushed my ears. Somehow over the music, I heard him whisper, “If fate takes me away from you, my lady, know this: being your betrothed was my greatest honor.”
Expertly, he spun me away from him, back into the dance. Energized by the kiss and his words, I rejoined the frenzy with a whoop. He returned my wild smile, and the music took us again.
Chapter Nine
One by one in the hours before dawn, vampires disappeared into the warrens of Echo Cave. The music wound down, leaving Elias and me holding hands on the banks of the river solemnly watching as the instruments were packed away.
I’d been out all night. Mom was going to kill me.
“We should get you home,” Elias said, reluctantly. The moon hung low on the horizon. Though it was still dark, the light had a different quality to it. I felt certain deep in my bones that sunrise was imminent.
“What about you? Will you be okay?”
We started up the path that led back to the car. The muscles in my legs felt the strain of the sharp incline, not to mention the long night. “I’m not expecting a traffic jam.” He smiled. “I can get you home quickly, but I may have to leave my car in your neighborhood.”
I knew from past experience that Elias had a hidey-hole not far from my house. My shoulders relaxed somewhat, but I did my best to keep up with the brisk pace Elias set.
We hadn’t spoken about the kiss. I held his hand firmly as we made our way up the slope, reveling in our nearness. Exhaustion began to insinuate itself into every pore. By the time we reached the car, I had only enough energy to slump into the seat and tip my head bac
k against the rest. I closed my eyes to the gritty heaviness. The soft sounds of the car and empty road soon lulled me to sleep.
Like a fairy-tale prince, Elias woke me with a kiss. Though the pressure on my skin was featherlight, his heat raced through me. I blinked, instantly awake.
“It’s time for good-bye,” he said, pulling away.
I sat up and sucked in a deep breath. “I hope not forever.”
“Me too, dear princess,” he said, turning away, avoiding the concern I was sure etched my face. “Me too.”
Though I wanted to linger, I knew he had to get underground before the sun rose. I pulled myself up out of the car with effort. My feet dragged from tiredness, but also with reluctance to break the spell of the incredible night we’d shared. I wanted to say something hopeful like “See you soon” or “Let’s do this again,” but it all seemed inadequate. The next time I saw Elias, he could be someone’s slave. I could be too, but I didn’t want to think about that. I wondered how the talisman would change him. How completely would he be enthralled? Would he know me? Or would he simply be unable to speak freely?
I must have looked stricken, standing stock-still on the curb with the open car door still gripped in my hand, because Elias mustered a soft smile. “I’ll think of you, always.”
The sky had begun to lighten, changing from black to deep blue. Elias reached across the seat and gently pulled the door from my grasp and closed it with an awful, final-sounding latch. The car engine thrummed to life. He hesitated only a moment longer before driving off.
I stayed on the boulevard, unmoving. His car retreated into the distance, finally moving out of sight. Numbly, I stumbled into the house. Sadness and fatigue overwhelmed me and I dragged myself upstairs to collapse onto my bed, too tired to even cry.
I woke up to the sensation of my pocket vibrating. The numbers on the alarm clock told me that I’d gotten only a couple of hours’ of sleep; it was nine a.m. I tried to roll over and go back to sleep, but there was a buzzing at my hip again.
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