by J. M. Kearl
“No,” I growled.
As if they’d grown into daggers, his nails dug into my flesh through my gown. I winced and tried to wiggle away but he only held me tighter. “What makes you think I won’t just take it?”
“Because if you could, you wouldn’t need to use Aric against me.”
“Aren’t you wondering how he got here? Why he would come back here knowing it might cost his life?”
“How did you know about that?”
A serpent smile. “We have eyes and ears everywhere. We know of your grandmother’s premonition.”
It didn’t surprise me. “Fine, why is he here?”
“Oh, I thought you’d never ask.”
If I could have slit his throat right then I would have.
“He’s under my control. For convenience, I made him forget about that pesky premonition. He’s here to see his girlfriend, and take her to the dance like he promised. But if things don’t go like I want, I can tell him to cut his own throat and he will.” He curled his fingers around my hand tighter. “Or perhaps I’ll have him stick that dagger where it would hurt you even worse.”
Legacy! “Don’t you dare.”
“When you sent him back to Collweya, you practically gifted him to us. This would have never worked without him. He was good leverage for some of the good vampires. They don’t want their poor prince hurt so they started to play nice.”
I had no clue how he was mind controlling Aric. If it was magic, it was dark magic and not something most would have access to or dare use. And I couldn’t fathom how they’d gotten Aric back here so fast. Without my mother to open a portal or dragon it would take at least six weeks to travel. How were these blood drinkers getting here?
“But you,” he ground his teeth. “After I tortured Kyan, he’s a traitor to our kind so it was a pleasure, but mostly I needed him to give me the spell to get through the protective wall around this place for some… friends,” he laughed darkly. “I threatened to control your mind, take you as my slave if he didn’t, he laughed and told me he put a protection spell on you and I couldn’t. But I found another way in anyway.”
Another way? Torturing him? “Is he… dead?” I thought back to the night Kyan kissed my hand, when I felt a pulse of something go up my arm and through me.
“Not yet. The craziest thing is Kyan didn’t even do it because he wants you for himself. He thinks humans are special.” Senica faked a gag. “I noticed a bunch of soldiers heading out earlier to look for us. They aren’t going to find my friends. There is no cave.”
“Why are you even telling me this?” I felt like he was trying to buy time. Trying to distract me. I searched for Zyacus, my grandparents, Mother—anyone who could help. We’d pretty much gotten lost in the sea of gowns and suits and I couldn’t see Aric or Legacy anymore. I wanted to tell everyone to get inside but then Aric or even Legacy could die.
“Because it’s fun. Because I want to smell your fear before I take a bite.”
This was his little game but I was only a small part of the picture. I was waiting for the screaming to start, the chaos.
Suddenly everything went black and I felt like I was being squeezed through something much too small and in a heartbeat, we appeared by the lake at the end of the property and we were alone. He’d used the appearus spell to bring us here.
When I tried to pull away, he gripped me harder, enough that I thought the bones of my hand might crush. Clenching my teeth I held in a cry of pain. Then he clamped a cold metal band onto my wrist and I felt my magic waning. Kirune—the metal that suppressed magic. I’d kept my composure until that moment but panic swelled in me. My magic was gone unless I could get this thing off.
Dragging his nose along my neck, he whispered, “There is that fear I’ve been waiting for.”
I slammed my knee into his groin, drove my forehead into his face and pushed off. Pulling my dagger, I backed up and readied myself. All the fabric of this dress would make it harder to fight. Bindy showed me how the bottom half could detach so I jerked on the ribbons and ripped it off, leaving me in the corset top and black leggings.
“Nice dagger,” he said, and the cut an inch below his left eye from my headbutt healed shut. No magic, no sword, his advanced abilities, this fight was looking grim for me.
An idea came to mind however, probably a stupid one but it would at least catch him off guard. I sliced my forearm and blood flowed.
He closed his eyes, took in a deep breath through the nose and then came at me so fast I barely saw him move. As if he couldn’t control himself, he dragged his tongue along my bleeding arm and I drove my blade into his back.
He arched in a cry of pain and his arms flung wildly as he reached for the dagger. I bolted, running as fast as I ever had.
“Get back here!” he roared.
Feet pounding, my blood buzzing in my ears, I got closer to the party. The sound of screaming, and the ringing of swords made me run even harder. Those bastards had gotten in. They were here! I cursed the stupid manacle on my wrist that kept me from using magic.
Without a sound of his approach, I was tackled from behind and was fighting off Senica who was trying to pin me down. “Get off!” I screamed so loud my throat felt like it might bleed.
A percussion wave sent Senica toppling off me and shook the very ground. Scrambling to my feet, I readied myself for another enemy but there stood my beautiful prince, looking pissed as hellfire. He was adorned in his battle uniform, the same one he wore during the tournaments and his sword was in his hands at the ready. “Stay away from her.”
I closed the distance between us and skidded to a halt slightly behind him.
Zyacus turned his head slightly. “Sorry, my father and I were in a heated discussion or I’d have been out here sooner.”
This felt way too familiar, and my stomach lurched when I saw several pairs of red eyes, they were stepping out of a portal and surrounding us. How could they do that! Then it hit me, this is my vision! I turned to the left and when I saw Aric running toward us I yelled. “Get out of here!”
A red orb formed in Zyacus’s free hand and it propelled toward the blood drinker chasing Aric, blowing up on impact.
“Aric,” Senica yelled as he rose. “Take your dagger and cut your throat.”
“No!” I shouted and ran at him.
Aric took his dagger in hand as commanded and when I reached him, we fought over it. “Let go,” he said as if in a daze.
Zyacus threw magical attacks that exploded as at least five other blood drinkers tried to come at us.
“Aric, listen to me,” I wrenched at his fingers as he slowly brought his dagger upward. If I was only stronger! “Don’t listen to him. You don’t want to kill yourself, please stop!” He kept fighting against me. “Zyacus help!” I shouted.
“I can’t!” he shouted back.
The tip of the dagger pierced Aric’s skin. “Stop! Stop!” Then it sunk into his neck, and tears cascaded down my cheeks. Blood bubbled out of his mouth, poured from beneath the blade and he fell into me, I struggled to hold his weight and had to guide him to the ground. “Why!” I cried. Why wasn’t I ever wrong? Why did this happen? Why did Senica have to use Aric?
Senica appeared next to me, wrenched me up by my hair and sunk his teeth into my neck. I screamed. His arms were like a vice around me and the harder I fought, the tighter his grip got. He was inhumanly strong and perhaps he thought I was completely helpless until I dug my thumbnails into his eyes. Roaring in pain, his fangs retracted and he pulled back. I smashed my elbow into his chin. The moon glinted off the dagger at his waist. I tore it from his belt and plunged it into his neck. “You’ll die just like Aric.” I drug that blade across from ear to ear until Senica went limp and crumpled to the ground at my feet.
“Visteal!” Zyacus roared, and over Senica’s shoulder I saw him chop a head off, and cut down another.
I clamped my hand over my neck before Zyacus appeared at my side. We stood back to back while three
other blood drinkers circled us. The female hissed, baring her fangs. The two males watched the blood smeared on my neck and down my chest with precision. They wanted a taste. “Solaris adonus,” I whispered to Zyacus.
A white light blasted out all around us, blinding me but I heard them screaming in agony. When the spell subsided I still had white spots in my vision but the vampires were piles of ash. Zyacus grabbed my face in his palms, inspected my wound then the manacle on my wrist. “Damn him, Damn them all.” He wouldn’t be able to heal me with the kirune on me.
“I’ll be fine for now.” The punctures had stopped bleeding.
I knew he wanted to say more but it would have to be later. We dropped down beside Aric. He wasn’t breathing and I didn’t think anyone could survive losing the amount of blood pooled underneath him. I touched his chest to feel for a heartbeat but there wasn’t one.
With tears in my eyes, I looked to Zyacus who was staring at Aric. “He’s gone,” Zyacus whispered. He sounded shocked, like he couldn’t believe it. “He’s—dead.” Gently, he pulled the dagger from Aric’s neck and sat it down beside him.
The word hit me like a blow and I sat back on my behind and rested my chin on my knees. He was another person I couldn’t save. He was my friend, Zyacus’s cousin, and Legacy’s love, I’d failed us all. He was dead.
Not even thirty seconds later, Aric sucked in a rasping breath and sat up coughing. Startled, I scrambled back on my hands and Zyacus jumped up. We stared at him for a few moments before Zyacus mumbled, “You were gone.” His wide eyes were fixed on Aric’s neck.
To my surprise the dagger wound was completely healed and we hadn’t given him a potion.
“I feel…” Aric said, looking at his hands that he rotated out in front of him. “I feel different. Something is wrong.”
I stared at the mark on his wrist slowly fading to flesh color. I thought about the death curse that he was born with. He would die but… “Oh no,” I murmured. They both looked at me confused. “Aric— you’re a vampire.”
Chapter 36
At first Aric sat silent. Both Zyacus and I stared at him, waiting for him to speak. His eyes went from the ground to his cousin, then to me, fixed on my bloody neck. Zyacus stepped in front of me, blocking Aric’s view.
“You need to get away from me Visteal,” Aric said, voice hoarse. “I smell your blood and—” he rose up and Zyacus immediately grabbed him by the front of the shirt. “Visteal go!” Aric shouted and I ran.
The last thing I wanted was for Zyacus to have to kill Aric, really kill him this time, to protect me. I got ten yards before Bindy appeared directly in my path, I crashed into her and she grabbed me roughly. “Oh thank God you’re alive. I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” She paused and touched my neck. “You’ve been bitten.”
“Yes, but I’m fine.” I looked over my shoulder when I heard Aric yelling and a scuffle.
“Is that Aric and Zyacus?” Bindy asked. “Why are they fighting? We have blood drinkers to kill.”
“Aric—” I didn’t know if I could say it. “Aric was turned. Just now.”
“What?” Bindy breathed, going wide-eyed. “How?” Her gaze went to my neck. “Will you?”
“Not from a bite.”
“Look out!” Zyacus yelled.
Bindy yanked on my arm and threw me behind her then stuck out her foot. Her heel slammed into Aric’s gut and he doubled over. Bindy dove on top of him, chanting a spell. Bright blue handcuffs appeared around Aric’s wrists and ankles connected by a magical chain to his neck.
He sobbed and screamed. “Just kill me! Please kill me! I’d rather die than be this creature.”
My throat ached as I watched him cry. But none of us moved to end his life for good. Zyacus knelt down beside him. “We’ll fix this. We’ll find a way.”
Distant screaming drew our attention. Bindy took ahold of my arm and noticed the kirune cuff in my wrist. “Zyacus, get Aric to your room but do not take off the magical binding. Then meet us in the infirmary.”
Zyacus nodded, took hold of Aric and then they vanished. Bindy and I raced toward the academy. With the kirune on my arm she wouldn’t be able to spell me anywhere. As we neared the building the pounding of horse hooves shook the ground and I screamed with joy as my father and his brigade rode in and cut down the vampires I could see. A screeching woman flew at me and with one swing, I popped her head off with the large dagger I’d taken from Senica’s belt.
Bindy sent a blast of sunlight magic and burned some of the vampires. A male had a young girl under his arm while she kicked and screamed. Legacy in her sparkling gown jumped on his back, driving her blade into his neck over and over. Her face and chest were splattered with blood and she looked like a nightmare.
Taz and Freya battled with a pair of females. Their torn and ripped clothes were drenched red and I don’t know if it was their blood or the enemies. Probably both.
“All students get inside!” Bindy roared. “On me!”
It looked like most had gone inside since the majority of those left fighting were in soldier’s uniforms.
My friends ran at us and we fought our way to the back doors which were closed. I shoved hard against them but they were locked. “Let us in!” I shouted pounding my fist.
Out of the corner of my vision, my grandparents were surrounded and I recognized the male vampire from outside the fence who said he was supposed to get revenge for someone. And standing with his arms crossed, watching them with a smug smile on his face was Vyce. In his hand he held a golden scepter.
Somehow I just knew it was him who let these vampires in. That object must have temporarily taken down our magical barriers. Without a second thought, I ran at him and when he saw me coming, his smile fell and he held up his scepter to block my dagger.
“You did this!” I said, slashing and hacking at him. “You traitor!” He’d pretended to be our friend, pretended to be one of us.
Back peddling, he stumbled and fell, and dropped his scepter. Like a coward he held up his hands. “Please don’t kill me!”
“Why shouldn’t I?” I said, crouched over him with my blade point poised over his racing heart.
Some of the vampires turned to watch us which gave my grandparents the advantage and they started throwing spells and swinging at those surrounding them. Bindy and Legacy also joined in that fight.
“Madison killed my father and my mother and my grandmother!” he cried. “I had to see her die! Wouldn’t you?”
“What are you talking about?” I growled. “And no, I wouldn’t sacrifice all these people to get revenge!”
“My father’s name was Midlan. Ask your grandmother who that is if she survives.” Then he grabbed his scepter, raised it up, and it began glowing. I didn’t know what that thing was capable of so I drove my blade into his heart then I scrambled back. The scepter clattered to the ground, dim. My heart pounded; killing vampires was one thing but this was a human boy. Even if I was sure he was going to use that weapon against me, I felt ill looking at my dagger sticking out of his chest.
I wasn’t sure where my mother had been but once she arrived the fight was over. Several massive blasts of white sunlight magic flowing from her palms, and any vampires that didn’t run when my father had arrived with his force, melted into ash or were cut down.
“Visteal!” Zyacus shouted, crashing open the back doors. I stood and he rushed into me, wrapped his arms around my torso and crushed the air from my lungs, then he pulled back, breathing heavily. “I got scared when I couldn’t find you in the infirmary.”
“They wouldn’t open the doors and then,” I looked at Vyce dead on the ground.
Madison ran to us and grabbed my face. “What did he do? Why did you kill him?”
When I told her what Vyce said about his family, and how he raised the scepter against me, she paled and her legs gave out but Zyacus caught her before she fell. “Professor, are you hurt? What’s wrong?” he asked.
Papa’s arms grabbed Madis
on and he held her, looking at us confused. “What happened?”
“I don’t know, all I said was that Vyce told me she killed his parents, someone named Midlan so he sided with the vampires for revenge.”
Papa said nothing but his face hardened and he helped my grandmother inside. I’m so confused. But I’d have to worry about that later. Students and soldiers alike were injured and needed help. I hoped that the vampires didn’t take anyone.
My mother pulled me into a hug. “Sorry it took me so long. I was fighting along the fence where most of them concentrated. They’re so fast and strong and some of them have magic.”
“Don’t be sorry. We know,” I said, relieved that everyone I loved was alive.
Legacy wiped her bloodied face and voice wavering said, “I can’t find Aric. I lost him when the commotion started.”
“He’s inside.” Zyacus didn’t offer further explanation.
Legacy nodded, “I’m going in to see where I can help.”
“I need to heal people,” Mother said and kissed my head. “Zyacus if you have any strength left in your stone, will you help please?”
“Of course.” He squeezed my hand, and they hurried to the first fallen.
My father was still yelling orders while soldiers carried the injured inside. King Enden took a group to chase down the remaining vampires if they hadn’t somehow opened a portal to escape in. I went with Bindy to get the kirune manacle off my wrist.
Hours later we had a headcount. Two students were missing, twelve died, and several had injuries. Mother opened portals sending groups of kids home. There wasn’t a plan on what to do yet but letters were pouring in from concerned parents.
When all of my friends were accounted for, most of the students were gone, and the adults in charge discussed a plan to find the missing, Zyacus, Legacy, and I slipped away. I wasn’t sure how to tell Legacy about what happened to Aric. She broke up with him last time for even suspecting he was a vampire and now he actually was one. A crazed, uncontrollable one at that. The same creatures who attacked our academy and killed our fellow students. I also had no idea what to do with him. He wanted to die, neither Zyacus or myself would grant him that wish.
