by Kamryn Hart
No, the vampires were prepared. That was painfully obvious and the only explanation. Their gliders’ ability to repel sunlight probably included moonlight, too. Damn vehicles. Damn vampires and their tech.
Beads of sweat dripped down Todd’s brow. He wiped them away with the back of his hand. It didn’t bode well. There was a slight tremor in his movements.
“How’s it going?” I asked.
“Working on it,” he said.
I pursed my lips. I had known him long enough to know when he was frustrated. I didn’t need to be inside of his head to see it.
“What’s the plan if Todd can’t do any sabotaging or find us an entry point that won’t riddle us with bullets?” Aerre asked. His arms were folded, hands gripping his skin tightly, chasing away his natural golden skin tone in place of a stark white where he applied the pressure. I could tell he was trying to keep from fidgeting, but one hand found its way out of the bind anyway, and he brushed his fingers along the tight golden plaits hugging his skull before he realized what he was doing and forced his hands back into that tight fold.
“We’ll go in guns blazing,” I replied.
“Won’t Todd at least be able to tell us the most effective way to take on a gun turret so we aren’t all killed by rushing in there blindly?”
“Have faith, Aerre. He’s never let us down. Plus, we’re full of moonlight. We’ll manage. We always do.” I left out the fact that we might not be able to manage it without any casualties.
Rodrick cracked his knuckles and said, “If you need a sacrifice, I’ll gladly go first.”
“We’re not doing sacrifices.” I clapped him on the shoulder. “Thank you by the way.”
He looked away, something very unlike him. It was almost like he was ashamed. The indomitable human with coiling inky tattoos, the tethered who had every intention of betraying us but didn’t all because of Sorissa… Sorissa and her magic.
“Thank you for choosing Sorissa,” I said. Then, a little more hopefully, I added, “Thanks for choosing us.”
“I have your backs just like you’ve always had mine. I even have Aerre’s.”
Aerre shook his head. “We’re really a fucked-up group. We would’ve fallen apart by now if not for Sorissa. Maybe she’s the only thing holding us together now.”
“That isn’t true,” Todd interjected. “I’m going to keep you all safe like I always have.”
My eyes widened in surprise. I stole a quick glance at him, but he wasn’t looking back. He was busy racking his brain over our current problem, staring at his pactputer screen and the data rolling across it. A grin spread across my lips, the first one to reach my lips since Sorissa was taken from us. I walked over to him and pressed my hand down on his beanie to ruffle his red hair underneath. “If anyone can keep us safe, it’s definitely you, Todd. Together, we’re going to make this work. Like I said. We always do.”
I took my hand away to stop bugging him. He didn’t bother to look at me. He was the same werewolf he always was, his nose stuck in his tech. But he did have a point. His tech kept us safe. It kept Wolf Bridge safe. The fact Paws Peak and Crimson Caves entered our walls must have been grating on his nerves, driving him to work harder to make up for it.
I looked back at the soldiers we brought with us from Wolf Bridge. They were keeping their distance like I instructed, heads peeking out from the sparse tree coverage where they waited with our roaders. Koren was the one I liked the best out of these soldiers. He was friendly enough, but maybe that was because he was young, around the same age as Phantom Fangs. The older soldiers had the good sense to avoid the Phantom Prince, and they made up the majority.
I wondered what the future held for werewolves and our posterity.
I wondered how Sorissa would fit into it.
I wondered how helpful the king’s soldiers would be. I realized I didn’t really trust any of them. The king ordered them to assist Phantom Fangs with reclaiming the “Lost Princess.” That meant they would listen to me, right?
Even though I was outcast.
Even though I was no longer a Prince of Wolf Bridge.
All this time, I had been trying to prove my worth, to show the king that I wasn’t dreaming a futile dream of the future. I wanted to please him, too. I still did even though Aerre told me time and time again that the king—my father—was an asshole. Even though Aerre spoke against him in front of me, in front of all of Phantom Fangs, without fear. Even though I tethered Aerre to me at his own request to protect his family and to placate the denizens and ruler of the kingdom because a human and a werewolf really couldn’t be seen together, not after I brought attention to us by reporting Zecke for what he had done to Trace. Even though the king—my father—told me, when I proposed forming my own squad, that I was no longer suited to be a Prince of Wolf Bridge. He said my ideals, the things I fought for, couldn’t be done in the light. They were things born of shadows.
I was born of shadows.
I became known as the Phantom Prince when Phantom Fangs earned its name after we killed the last vampyre. We instantly became the thing of nightmares. Our name was known, and we were feared. No one knew when we would strike or what havoc we would wreak. Phantoms. Todd’s tech coverage made it possible for us to be phantoms.
It was as the king said. He was always right. He wanted what was best for the kingdom. We had the same goals, ambitions, he said. Not all decisions could be made in the light. But was that true?
Aerre never agreed. He always insisted the king just wanted me and my ideals out of the way. I wasn’t allowed to call the king my father, not since my title was stripped. Aerre said that was cruel. The king said it was necessary. Now that I had the king’s soldiers, I was basically commanding an army. I was doing something in the light. Outright. Where all eyes could see me.
Would I make my father proud?
Would we get Sorissa back alive?
What would I do if we didn’t?
I shut down the uncertainty clouding my mind. I decided I would wait for Todd just a little longer before forming an attack plan. But just a little longer. There wasn’t much time to spare.
Sorissa, hold on.
CHAPTER 3
SORISSA
RAGE WAS BUBBLING INSIDE my stomach. Gala jerked me to a stop when we came across another metal slab blocking our way. I would have ripped the vampire’s head off by now if I had had any moonlight in me. I kept replaying in my head what she did to Caspian, growing angrier each time she’d slit his throat. She almost took him from me forever.
A growl rumbled in my chest as Gala offered up her fingerprint to a metal pad implanted inside of the natural brown stones. The device had a screen that flashed an ominous red and beeped. In response, the metal slab melted down into the earth just like the one at the mouth of the cave had. I had to squint my eyes at the light that suddenly came through. It was bright, made brighter by the brazen white room it was emanating from. The odd room would have been a perfect sphere if not for the flat surface of the floor. None of it looked natural. It had been carved out smooth, painted white.
There was a black blot in the center of it. I blinked a few times, and my eyes adjusted well enough for me to see it was a living thing, not an imperfection. She was a tall and slender vampire dressed in draping crimson fabrics with gilded swirling patterns that pooled delicately onto the floor. Her hair was a lustrous black and so long it seemed to melt into the fabric. It would’ve touched the floor too if it hadn’t also been tied up on the top of her head in intricate loops. Her hair was the backdrop to her thin and surprisingly simple gold crown. Aside from her, there was nothing else in the room. No furniture. No differentiation from the floor to the walls.
“Get inside,” Gala ordered as she once again placed her hand exactly where she had already threatened bruises on my skin from previous handling.
“Be kind to our guest, Gala,” the vampire I assumed to be the queen said calmly. She clasped her slender fingers in front of her and turned her cr
imson eyes to me. “Welcome to Crimson Caves, Princess Sorissa va Lupin of Howling Sky. I am Queen Evie la Demunet of Crimson Caves. Please feel free to call me Evie, and excuse Gala for her roughness. She is my most trusted commander and is used to keeping soldiers in line. It has made her a bit rough around the edges.” Her soft lips quirked upward. They were painted as black as the night, a hard contrast to her glistening white fangs just barely peeking through them.
I huffed and did my best to rip out of Gala’s grasp—which I succeeded in doing; it was surprisingly easy, likely because of Evie’s stern words. I refused the urge to shake out my arm and get the blood flowing again. I couldn’t show any discomfort. I wouldn’t. Weakness was something I would not show my enemies.
I bared my teeth. “Maybe I should kill you where you stand, Evie. Gala almost killed Caspian. If he hadn’t been so full of moonlight or if he hadn’t acted fast enough, she would have. Forget excusing her roughness. Forget pleasantries and first names. Why should I let that go?”
“You have no moonlight, Princess Sorissa, but it wouldn’t matter if you did anyway. We aren’t here to fight. Vampires are done fighting. I want an indefinite truce. Peace.”
I blinked.
“If it makes you feel any better, Gala would not have attacked your werewolf,” she paused, “the Phantom Prince, if she had known it would kill him. She saw he was ripe with moonlight. She also knows his skill.”
“You know everything that happened,” I said, but I meant it as more of a question. How could she know when Gala had been with me since we arrived here?
“Gala radioed in when you were on your way here. You must have been under when she did. The delusional properties of suffress mushrooms are quite potent. It was meant to keep you calm until we could speak. I assure you there will be no adverse side effects. And I apologize. I would have asked to speak with you rather than resorting to this underhandedness, but we aren’t in good standing with Wolf Bridge.”
I must have been because I had no memory of it. “Radioed.” So that meant vampires had portacomm-like tech as well, I supposed. I was lucky I remembered everything Todd had taught me about tech when I spent time with him inside of the Heart. I was getting more familiar with this strange world.
Todd. Aerre. Rodrick. Caspian.
I gritted my teeth. I didn’t like Evie’s explanation. Moonlight or not, if Caspian hadn’t acted quickly, he would have died.
My Caspian would’ve been dead. It was so easy to die. I had known that inside of my forest, but it never applied to me and Babaga. Death couldn’t touch us. We were the strongest creatures there. I hadn’t really known death. I hadn’t known betrayal until Babaga sold me. I hadn’t known how my own stupidity could harm those I cared about like when Rodrick almost got killed by Alexander in the square. I hadn’t known my own powerlessness until Gala almost took Caspian from me when I was doing everything right—aside from conserving my damn moonlight.
“You all think you can do what you want without facing the consequences,” I said despondently. “This world is full of monsters.”
“That it is,” Evie agreed. “That is why my monsters will cease fighting. If we go on like this, my species will meet total annihilation. I’m tired of the bloodshed, Princess Sorissa. I would surrender right now if the werewolves would listen, but they won’t. Perhaps a werea like you will.”
“The Moonlight Child. The Lost Princess of Howling Sky. I seem to have many fancy titles, but they don’t mean anything. I’m just me.”
“You are all of those things, and you may yet earn many more names in your lifetime. You are but a child still, eighteen years old.”
“And how old are you? You don’t look any older than me.”
Gala tensed behind me. I was sure she wanted to intervene. I saw her moving in my peripheral, but Evie held up her hand and Gala stopped like a well-trained dog. Evie smiled. “We age well, both my kind and yours. I am seventy-nine. But allow me to finish what I was saying. A werea like you who has been locked away from this world for nearly the entirety of your life must see everything with fresh eyes, with new ideas. You’ve known Phantom Fangs less than a week and yet your loyalties to them are fierce. I know you by more than your titles, and you are someone I want on my side, Princess Sorissa. I’ve already ordered the release of all our unchanged humans as a peace offering. Unfortunately, the thralls will have to stay with us since they are tied to the night as we are. Sunlight will not treat them kindly.”
My mouth dropped open. “I must not have heard you correctly. You’re releasing ‘your’ humans?”
“I’m giving you our humans. It’s a show of good faith. I know you will do what is best for them.”
“What’s best for them? You’re joking.” I let out a confused laugh. It started small, barely a giggle, and then I was laughing so hard tears were streaming down my cheeks. “Everyone outside of the woods is crazy! The Queen of Vampires is telling me that she doesn’t want to fight anymore? That she wants my ‘loyalty’? Even though you watched that attack on Wolf Bridge? Did you send your vampires there to be a part of it? Did you orchestrate it?” I had no idea what to think or what to believe other than these vampires had to be my enemy because of what they did to Caspian, because of what they would’ve done to everyone I had begun to care about so deeply it was like a physical ache being away from them.
“What Gala did was hardly peaceful,” I accused when my laughter died down. “Maybe I would take your words seriously if you had braved Wolf Bridge and asked to speak with me rather than nearly killing my Caspian.”
Evie blinked. I could have sworn her crimson eyes became a shade brighter. “Do you truly believe King Philip would have allowed it?”
“No, I don’t, but there must have been another way for you to speak to me peacefully if that is your intention, if peace is really what you want.”
“We were drastic. I concede it, and I will apologize if it makes you feel better, but we did not kill the Phantom Prince. That’s more than I can say for what he did to Denez.” Evie flashed her fangs and then hid them behind closed lips once again. But her lips quivered.
“Denez?” I asked warily. The queen had been perfectly composed until this moment.
“Our last vampyre. Ask your werewolves about him. Pass judgment on us as they have or dig deeper because there is more to every story.”
“Then what’s your side of the story?”
“Your kind enslaves its females, mine enslaves its males. Maybe your Phantom Fangs gave Denez freedom, but it was the final freedom and before I could save him myself.” She closed her eyes and placed her hand over her stomach. “I loved him, but I waited too long to prove it. Now we all suffer for it. That is my side of the story.”
“My queen,” Gala murmured.
“I’ll ask Phantom Fangs about it,” I said.
Evie nodded her head once. “You can take all of our humans, the unchanged, back with you when your werewolves come to the front gate. Gala informed me of the power you hold over them, of the way you claimed Phantom Fangs as your own. Because of that, and since they are shields, I’m sure they will be happy to oblige.”
I glanced over my shoulder at Gala. She was standing with her arms folded. Her face was stone, and her eyes were hard.
“Shouldn’t you have just offered up your humans to Philip instead?” I asked. “That would have been the perfect way to start a talk. He may have listened to something as big as that.”
“The King of Wolf Bridge wouldn’t have listened to anything I may have offered him beyond handing him our lives, but I love your optimism. Werewolves are good at holding a grudge.”
A grudge. Something in my head clicked into place. These vampires were a force to be feared. I had heard that mentioned, and I had read it in my mother’s journal. Paws Peak wanted High Kingdom status. Wolf Bridge had been a passive neutral party, observing Paws Peak and Howling Sky. I remembered my mother’s hateful words toward humans and vampires, I remembered Todd telling me how Ho
wling Sky, the High Kingdom, burned to the ground. Maybe I had a better picture of this world than I thought.
“You destroyed Howling Sky,” I said
“I will admit I gave that order, yes. Crimson Caves is responsible for the destruction of Howling Sky. I’m surprised you didn’t know that already. You look as if you just had a revelation.”
I shrugged. “I was taken from my woods three days ago. There has been a lot to take in and process.”
“I understand.”
“Why not kill me now and follow through with that original plan of yours? I was meant to die in Howling Sky too, right? I don’t currently have any moonlight, as you pointed out.”
“I told you. I’m done trying to solve problems with killing and destruction. The old ways aren’t working. The things I’ve done, the things my ancestors have done, they didn’t work. Whether I kill you now or not, it won’t save us. So, I’m doing something unheard of. I’m putting our lives in your hands. I will physically lie down at your feet if you wish. Soon you will have to make your own choice. Will you choose war like so many before you, or will you choose something different?”
I was left speechless. The passion and sincerity behind Evie’s words were unmistakable. If she was a liar, she was a damn good one. I wanted to believe her words, that she could truly mean what she said about peace, but there was something else driving her too, and it involved Denez.
Gala was putting out bad vibes, tensing behind me like a spring trap. I tilted my head just enough to see her clearly out of the corner of my eye. Her fists were clenched at her sides, bleaching her skin white. Her nails dug into her palms and drew little droplets of blood that fell from her knuckles.
I thought of Phantom Fangs. I thought of my werewolves. They would come for me. They were probably coming for me right now. I had no doubt. The thought—no—that knowledge made me happy and scared all at once. They would be putting themselves in danger again after I had given myself up to keep them safe. I didn’t want them to get hurt. I wouldn’t let them die. I didn’t need to make big decisions now. I just needed to find a way to keep us all alive.
