“Zut!” I yell and move the blade’s grip in my hand so I can fall to my knees and thrust it up through the top of the zombie’s mouth and into its brain. Finally it falls down. I hear clapping. When I look up I see Tolliver holding back Nicholas and Philippe, poised to strike.
“See, brother, she can handle herself,” Tolliver says, letting Nicholas go.
I really want to slap Tolliver. I suspect he let that zombie by him deliberately. They had obviously dispatched the others beforehand, as there is now a pile of quivering, rotting limbs in front of the door.
My sword, although small and slim, begins to feel heavy in my hand so I put it back in my belt. Tears are gathering in the corners of my eyes and I turn toward the princes to avoid the vampires seeing them. Edward launches himself forward and hugs me, closely followed by his brother. “It’s okay,” I whisper.
“Those are not all the prisoners and we still have St. John to deal with,” Tolliver says as he steps beside me and hoists Edward into his arms. I go to pick up Richard but Philippe beats me to it.
“Lucinda,” Nicholas says, but I ignore him. Whatever fight I had in me is now diluted. I’m not a vampire yet, and trying to act like one will probably get me killed. I can’t let my love see this. I flash him a quick smile and stride out of the room, kicking a few undead heads as I do.
As we carefully make our way out of the Tower, Nicholas grabs my hand and pulls me behind him. I don’t have the energy to complain so I fall in line, sandwiched in the middle of our small group. We pick up the pace and make it to a great hall that connects the guards’ barracks with the royal prison.
It’s colder now, or maybe I’m colder. I really can’t tell. I’ve never felt like this before, so overwhelmed and breakable…. A roar bounces off the stone walls and bounding shadows seem to suddenly surround us.
“Well isn’t this interesting,” says a man whose bulk now blocks our exit. I look around at the shadows, my eyes focusing on what they are. It’s a pride of lions, but their eyes are red and their teeth are enlarged and extended. They prowl around us in a circle, forcing our group to clump together in an easier target.
“You must be St. John,” Nicholas says.
The enchanter inches forward and takes a bow. He’s not an attractive man. His skin is scabby and sallow and his eyes are an unnerving shade of light blue. He’s wearing a thick purple cape and is covered in jewelry.
“Gotten into the Crown Jewels, I see,” Philippe states, staring at the nearest lion.
St. John chuckles and actually blushes. “Well, it would be a waste not to.”
A lion nips at my heel, making me jump.
“What do we have here? A female vampire? My, I thought that was illegal. You know you’ve picked the wrong side, dear,” he says shuffling a little toward me. “We worship our women, not like this undead lot.” He points at Nicholas, who snarls back.
“We are not your revenants. We are not undead,” growls Tolliver.
“Ah, but you forget, a good enchanter can feel the tug of all death.” He raises his hands and a strange green mist starts to tumble from his palms.
“No!” Philippe yells. He turns to me quickly and hands me Richard. Toliver puts down Edward who grabs my hand and starts to pull me away from the vampires.
“What’s happening?” I whisper.
In a flash, Philippe, Tolliver and Nicholas pull out their swords and swipe them out toward their nearest friend. The blades stop inches before their throats. They stand in a sort of three-man triangle, each ready to chop the other’s head off. The thin green mist lingers around them, not hiding their pained expressions.
“No!” I yell.
“Don’t worry dear, we’ll dispatch these brutes, then you and I can play our own games. I’ve always wanted a female vampire under my control. There are so few of you. You’re quite a treasure, much more so than mere baubles.” He shrugs off the Crown Jewels and steps over them toward me. He thinks I’m a vampire, that he can control me. He’s dead wrong.
Chapter Thirteen
Edward lets go of my hand. “Now,” he shouts, “you must act now!”
I push the princes aside and kick out at the nearest lion. It yelps as my foot connects with its jaw. Teeth fly out of its mouth like a sharp cascade. It shakes off my initial blow and launches at me, claws extended. I step back and raise my sword. Its chest is pierced instantly, but its weight takes me off balance and I lose my grip on the blade. The big cat falls back, my sword still in its chest.
“My, my, you are spirited!” St. John starts to send his green mist toward me. I look down at the lion, who is trying to bite the sword out from its chest. I kneel down and grab the blade’s handle. I yank it out and the cat looks almost relived.
“Lucinda!” Nicholas pushes out. They are fighting the enchanter’s influence, but now their swords are beginning to draw blood on each of their necks.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see another lion has stalked toward my back and is poised to leap on me. I twirl round and thrust my sword forward and take off the end of its nose. It lets out an unholy cry and backs away.
The green mist is all around me now. St. John has realized that I’m not a vampire. He looks surprised, with a measure of annoyance. I push forward, sword in hand, and run at him. He stumbles backward away from me and falls over the discarded pile of jewelry.
“Don’t!” he pleads with me, hands up. But the gesture is hollow. There’s still green mist oozing out of them. He’s going to have the vampires kill one another any minute…
I’ve never killed anyone before. The thought of actually taking someone’s life had never seriously crossed my mind, so when the blade slips through his layers of clothing and fat and skewers his heart, I immediately vomit. Rich red blood erupts out of chest and his eyes go even paler. I don’t want to see him die, so I turn away to make sure Nicholas and my friends are safe. As I do, a flash of gold bowls me over. I feel the lion’s weight on my chest and smell its rancid breath. It ducks its head out of my eye line then slumps like a piece of meat off me to the ground. St. John Swan is dead, and his undead pride is now just rotting corpses.
“Lucinda!” I hear Nicholas shout my name and I try to get up. Warm blood is pooling around me, and my hands slip in it, propelling me back down. Pain shoots through my body.
“Don’t move!” I see him above me. His hands go to my throat, and I realize it is my blood that is gathering around me. I try to speak, to ask what has happened, but all I can do is gurgle.
“I need to do it now, Philippe. Hold her neck!”
“The lion bit her. She’s infected, brother. If you put your symbol on her and raise her as a vampire with an enchanter’s spell still in her veins, who knows what unholy creature you’ll create,” Tolliver says.
It’s so odd. I feel no physical pain, no sensation, nothing. I stare up at Nicholas and the look on his face breaks my heart; this, I feel.
“I’m so sorry.” Nicholas pulls me into his strong embrace, cradling me against his chest. My blood has stained my white fur cloak and is now smothered around his pale face as he kisses me over and over.
“Don’t let her die in this place,” Philippe whispers from behind us.
Nicholas gathers me up in his arms and carries me out of the Tower and into the fresh night air. He lays me gently onto the ground and tucks my cloak around me. I look up at him, but find my eyes wandering to the bright night sky above us. The stars tonight have never seemed so close; so near. I feel that, if I had the strength, I could pluck them from the sky like shiny plums from a tree. And give them to my love to remember me by.
Nicholas nestles his head in the crook of my neck and sobs. I try to bring my hand up to stroke his hair, but the strength I need is lost to me, flowing out of my body with my blood.
“The Elders are coming. Leave her; we have to get the princes to safety. We can tell the Elders that we found them dead, eaten by revenants.” Toliver pulls at Nicholas’s shoulder, but he shrugs him
off.
“I can’t leave her,” Nicholas whispers.
I can no longer feel his arms around me or his tears tumbling onto my skin. My whole body is numb, my limbs no longer responding to my thoughts. I wish they did. I want to kiss him one last time, tell him that this wasn’t his fault and urge him to live enough for the both of us. But I can’t.
A small hand enters my line of sight, Edward. “Nicholas, you will meet her again,” he says. Nicholas stares at the little boy.
“I’ll hold my Lucinda again? Make her a vampire?” he asks.
“Yes. She will be a great champion, but she won’t be called Lucinda. Her name will be Brianna.”
The stars are so bright that now their light is all I see.
The End
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