Authors: Kallysten
The wind was blowing relentlessly over the walls, and
had been piling clouds over Newhaven for hours. A storm was coming, and because
of it the soldiers were a little more relaxed than usual. Demons usually liked
clear nights to launch attacks on the city.
Standing on top of a watchtower with another Head of
Squadron, Aria held her jacket closed tight over her chest. Vampires didn’t
truly feel the cold, but the illusion of it could be just as uncomfortable as
the real thing.
“Look down there,” Paolo said suddenly.
For a second, she thought he had spotted approaching
demons on the horizon, but when she followed his gaze she realized he was
pointing at something happening at the foot of the walls, inside the city. A
man was advancing through the crowd of waiting soldiers, but every few steps
someone stopped him either with a military salute that he had to pause to
return, or with an outstretched hand and, presumably, a few words. Aria smiled
despite the cold. She wished she could have heard what the soldiers were
telling Will on his first night as their official leader.
Just hours earlier, he had confided to her his
reluctance at having taken this position. She could only imagine how he had to
feel now. Was it sinking in yet in that stubborn head of his that he was the
only one in the Guard who had doubts about his leadership abilities? If only he
could admit he had been wrong about that—and about the rest as well…
“I’m freezing up here. I’ll get down to a lower
level.”
Paolo’s chuckle made it clear her excuse was as
transparent as she had thought it was, but she had already forgotten about it
by the time she reached the top of the walls. Will was there, now alone,
surveying the outside of the city. It was hardly unusual for him to do so, but
Aria couldn’t remember ever seeing him so tense. It didn’t seem he had grown
used to his new position yet. Leaning against the concrete and stone barrier,
he looked miserable.
“I thought tonight was your squadron’s night off,” he
said, his eyes still on the horizon as she approached. “Shouldn’t you be
resting along with your troops?”
“I should,” she replied, hoisting herself onto the
wall next to him. “Doesn’t mean I want to. You’d be too happy if I wasn’t here
to annoy you, and I don’t feel like making you happy right now.”
He turned his face toward her, an eyebrow raised, and
she realized her words could be interpreted much differently than she had
meant.
“And I certainly didn’t mean it that way,” she added,
very quickly, glad that her vampire physiology meant she wouldn’t turn bright
red in embarrassment.
Will looked away again and said nothing. A flash of
irritation ran through Aria.
“Aren’t you going to ask me how I meant it?”
“I know how you meant it,” he said with something that
sounded like resignation. “You’re angry with me.”
“I’m not angry—”
“Aria, if you plan on lying about what you feel, don’t
stay upwind from me. You’ve been angry enough with me for the past ten years, I
know that scent quite well by now.”
Aria jumped off the wall and started pacing behind
him. After a moment, he turned around to face her. She stopped and planted
herself in front of him, her gaze intense as she observed him.
“Okay. I’m angry. And getting angrier. Do you know
why?”
His lips barely twitched with the beginning of a
smile. “I have a feeling you’re going to enlighten me whether I want it or not.
Isn’t that what you always do?”
“I’m angry,” she said, ignoring him, “because you’re
trying to pretend nothing is going on between us.”
She waited for a sign, anything that would let her
know she was getting through to him, but he remained stone-faced.
“The only thing going on between us is that as of this
morning I am your commanding officer and…”
His voice trailed off when she growled and pulled out
her sword. She felt a rush of satisfaction at the look of alarm that crossed
his features, but it vanished when Will turned to look behind him and over the
walls.
“Did you see something?” he asked, his voice instantly
business-like.
“Yes,” she replied calmly. “I saw a liar.”
Very slowly, he turned back toward her. For a second,
the wind shifted. She wasn’t the only one whose scent betrayed anger, she
thought grimly. His irritation was reflected in his glare as well.
“I never lied—” he started, but she didn’t give him
time to finish. She had learned, long before, that the best attack was to
destabilize the adversary and then keep pushing until he broke down.
“Not to me, maybe, or at least not to my face, but to
yourself, all the time. And it stops, right here, right now. Take your sword
out, Will.”
He straightened up a little, looming a few inches
above her and still glaring for all he was worth. “No,” he said coldly. “You
put yours away.”
At the very edge of her vision, Aria could see
movement. Surely, their argument had been noticed, especially now that she had
drawn her sword. Soldiers were coming closer, unsure yet as to whether they
needed to intervene or not. They had seen Aria and Will spar more than once in
the past weeks. If she had been an onlooker, she would never have believed this
was anything but a game.
“Fight with me,” she said, a little louder. She needed
to let out her frustration one way or another. Very slowly, she brought her
sword to rest against Will's neck.
“Aria…”
Will’s long-suffering sigh and eye roll were
infuriating. He still wasn't taking her seriously—had he ever? He was looking
at her the same way he had when, as a teen, she had professed her desire to be
part of the Guard. He was looking at her as though she were an unreasonable
child. She would show him she meant this as much as she had meant her resolve
to fight.
“If you don’t pull your sword out and spar with me
now,” she warned, her own weapon wavering slightly in her hand out of nerves
and drawing a thin line of blood on his neck, “I’m going to kiss you.”
Judging by Will’s shocked expression, he hadn’t
expected her threat to end quite like that.
“You’re… what?”
He still wasn’t giving any indication he would comply.
With a quiet curse at his stubbornness, she slid back her sword in its scabbard
and moved forward. She didn’t give Wilhelm time to retreat. Throwing her arms
around his neck, she drew him to her and kissed him, just as she had said she
would. For a second as their lips met, she could hear nothing but the wind
running past them. Then catcalls, whistling and clapping rose from all sides,
it seemed. She pulled away from Will, grinning.
“There,” she said, triumphant. “Now anyone who had a
doubt knows for sure. And those who didn’t see it will know before tomorrow.
You can’t hide behind that excuse anymore.”
Very gently, Will took hold of her arms and pulled
them free from his neck. “Know what, Aria?” he asked, his voice shaking a
little. “That we kissed? It doesn’t—”
“That I love you,” she interrupted him.
She would have wanted to whisper it, but she said it
loud enough that others would hear. Let him try to deny anything, now, she
thought. Let him try to pretend the entire Guard didn’t know what was going on.
Let him try to ignore this declaration like he had ignored the clues she had
given him before that night.
Holding her unnecessary breath, she waited for his
reaction.
* * * *
And how was I supposed to react when the woman I
had loved in silence for years had just told me—just told the entire Guard if
they were listening—that she loved me?
She had done the very last thing I would have
wanted her to do, making public a relationship that, because of who and what we
were, shouldn’t have existed. But she had also said those precious words I
hadn’t dared hope I would ever hear from her, or anyone for that matter. She
stood there, just inches in front of me, her hair swept by the unceasing wind,
a look of such hope on her features…
Looking at her, I realized something about myself,
something that shook down everything I was, everything I believed about myself
and my life. I'm not sure I can explain it, but let me try.
I was turned when I was twenty-seven. Up to the
night I met my Sire, my path had been perfectly clear in front of me, traced by
family expectations and traditions. Receive the education of a perfect
gentleman, care for the family domain after my father, court and marry a woman
from my social status, produce the offspring that would one day inherit from me
and follow the same path I had walked on. And I would have done all that if not
for the vampire clan wars happening in Europe at that time. My Sire had been
ordered by her Sire to bring in two things to the clan—Childer, and money. That
was why she chose me, she made it clear from the start. In the course of six
months, she brought twelve of us to the fold. We already knew how to fight; we
had all learned fencing as part of our education. All she had to do was teach
us to obey vampire rules and customs. She did so with a fist of steel.
Over the years, I heard from other vampires about
the close relationship they shared with their Sire. I certainly never had that
with mine, but I learned from her just the same. When the wars ended with a new
pecking order amongst older vampires, I was free to leave and, for the first
time, lead my own life as I saw it fit. I left my Sire and clan without a look
back.
I met up with some of them again, as years, decades
and centuries trickled by, but as a whole I was alone. At first, I seduced
victims to feed. Time passed. I continued to seduce, but now it was willingly
that humans were offering me their necks, and I wasn’t killing anymore.
Sometimes, I spent a few months or years with a human, but I always tried to
leave before they could get too attached to me.
I had a couple of Childer across the years. People
who asked to be turned and whom I liked enough to agree. I taught them
everything I had been taught until it was time for them to go on, always
knowing better than to get too close to them.
When I came to Newhaven and reluctantly found a new
purpose for my existence, I had been a vampire for more than three centuries.
During that time, even when I lived with someone, loneliness was a constant in
my life and I was fine with it. I was used to it, and it didn’t bother me.
Even when I had decided to tell Aria about my
feelings, I hadn’t thought of what would happen beyond my revelation. I just
needed to tell her.
And now… Now I knew she did love me as I loved her.
Now I knew that voicing my feelings would change everything and transform both
our lives. And as stubborn as Aria could be, I knew it would be a long time
before I was on my own again.
The idea was almost terrifying. What scared me even
more, though, was to realize how well I had hidden to myself over the years
that I hated being alone.
I reached out to caress her face and she trembled
beneath my fingers. She had shouted her love for all to hear, but the same
words were almost drowned by the whistling of the wind when I said them. I knew
she had heard me, though. I knew it, because the fear in her eyes was gone,
replaced by a joy I had never seen shine so brightly before. We kissed again,
and again the Guard around us clapped its approval—not that it mattered
anymore. All that mattered was her, and the rest of the world could go to hell
for all I cared.
The funny thing is, it almost did.
Just as our tongues tentatively wove around each
other, the alarm sounded over the walls. Demons were approaching. Hands
clasped, we went to fight as the rain started falling. The storm and the battle
both lasted three long days and nights. At no moment, during that time, did I
despair to see the end of the fight. Why would I have, when I had Aria at my
side?
With the storm raging over her head and the sounds of
battle all around her, it was instinct more than anything else that warned Aria
that Will was calling for her. She swung her sword a little higher, avoiding
the demon’s shield and slicing halfway through its thick neck. It hadn’t
finished falling yet that she was already turning away and looking for Will. It
didn’t take her long to find him, even with the heavy rain blurring everything.
He had remained close to her ever since the battle had started what felt like
ages ago.
She strode over fallen demons and soldiers—there were
too many of them, and she couldn’t let herself look at their faces, not when
the battle was still going on—and approached Will. Just as she was reaching
him, he took down the demon he had been battling. He passed a hand through his
soaked hair, the gesture useless as rain only plastered it over his forehead
again within seconds. Aria had fought in the rain before, but this storm was
something else.
He glanced at her, showing he was aware of her
presence, but before he could say a word another demon had appeared. They
started fighting, the metal of Will’s sword clanging loud against the heavier
one the demon slashed in his direction. Aria hurried to them, determined to
help, but Will shouted as he kept fighting:
“I need you to go lead the evacuation!”
She froze and lowered her weapon, frowning. “You’re
not taking me out of this fight,” she shouted back. “Don’t even think—”
“Aria! Behind you!”
Reacting on pure instinct, she raised her sword again
and whirled back. A demon’s ax came crashing against the blade, rattling her
down to her bones. She took a step back then attacked.
“Are you trying to get yourself killed?”
She gritted her teeth and didn’t respond to Will’s
rebuke. If he hadn’t distracted her in the first place, she wouldn’t have made
such a stupid mistake. She kept fighting, and after a few moments Will joined
her.
“I’ll finish this one,” he told her, giving her a
quick glance from head to toe, no doubt checking if she was hurt. “Go back
inside the walls and tell them I want the first five blocks evacuated.”
Annoyed by the way he had jumped in, she tried to take
over the fight again. What did he think he was doing?
“Why don’t you call—”
“I lost my com. I need someone who knows what they’re
doing. You have led evacuations before. Go!”
He punctuated his last word with a stab of his sword
straight up the demon’s jaw and through its brain. When he turned toward her,
Aria was scowling.
“If you think you can keep me away from the battle
like you did—”
“Aria!”
Flames burned bright in his eyes. She swallowed hard.
She didn’t think she had ever seen him so angry.
“This isn’t about you and me, right now! It’s about
doing your job and following orders from your Commander! Go evacuate the first
five blocks.”
His free hand rose and for a brief moment she was sure
he would push her away. Instead, he cupped her cheek and leaned in for a brief
but searing kiss.
“Go,” he repeated more gently. “Then come back to me.”
Reassured that he wasn’t just trying to keep her off
the battlefield, Aria turned away and ran off toward the walls. Will had better
be careful until she came back.
* * * *
When Aria lay down in Will’s arms on a little cot just
beyond the walls, the entire world disappeared.
Gone were the fear of the human families she had
helped evacuate and the memories of being evacuated, just like this, when she
had been a child.
Faded was her pride at how well she and Will fought
together, guarding each other’s back without the need to speak, merely
exchanging glances every now and then.
Forgotten was her anger at how many soldiers had died
already, and how many more would die before this was over.
Despite the rain beating on the roof and walls of the
tent, despite the not quite dry clothes she had changed into, despite the
noises of battle in the distance, despite her knowledge that in a couple of
hours they would need to return to the front, all she felt was summed up in one
word. Safe.
Curled against Will, with a battle raging just yards
away, she slept better than she ever had.
* * * *
Aria had lost track of time. She didn’t know anymore
how many days and nights had passed. She didn’t know how many times demons had
pushed inside the walls before being pushed back. She didn’t know how many
demons she had killed. She didn’t know how many times she had bent toward a
throat she had just sliced to take a few mouthful of thick, rich blood. It
tasted foul, but it helped her and the other vampires on the field keep their
strength better than two or three hours of sleep here and there.
She knew one thing, though. The entire time, the rain
and wind hadn’t slowed down. It occurred to her, as she pulled her sword from
yet another demon’s body and watched the rain wash off its blood from the blade
in seconds, that such a long, unabated storm couldn’t be natural. Without
taking a second to think about her hunch, she turned toward Will. He was
fighting just a few feet away, as he had been during the entire battle, it seemed.
She gathered her strength and moved toward him, too tired now to run in the
sloshing mess of blood and mud that had long ago permeated her boots.
“Will!”
His eyes flickered toward her, but his focus remained
on his adversary. Aria remained aware of her surroundings but allowed herself a
few seconds of rest to watch him, as always in awe at the sense of ease each of
his movements gave even after days of fighting practically non-stop. When he
was done at last, he turned toward her, his raised eyebrows asking the question
he wasn’t voicing. She motioned for him to come with her closer to the wall
where they wouldn’t be as exposed.
“The storm,” she said quickly. “It’s been lasting too
long. It can’t be natural.”
“Magic,” he said at once. “Damn it. I should have
realized.”
He cursed again and surveyed the battlefield in front
of them, obviously thinking. Aria envied him the ability; she felt too tired
for one more coherent thought. He had found a new mini-com the last time they
had taken some rest and pulled it from a pocket inside his shirt, turning it on
before he even slipped it inside his ear.
“Wilhelm to central. Respond.”
Not fifty feet away, a demon had noticed them and was
charging, an axe in one hand and a sword in the other. Aria raised her sword,
ready for the attack yet aware of the conversation going on behind her.
“Call the strongest mages back from the hospital and—”
The demon was only a few feet away; Aria pushed
herself into action, meeting it with a clash of metal on metal.
“Yes, I know they’re needed there, but I need them.
They have to stop the storm.”
The first thing to do, Aria had learned, long before,
during her Cadet training, was to take away one of the two weapons. Most demons
were right-handed, and tended to drop their guard on the left. She found an
opening, took it, and sliced the demon’s left wrist. It roared in pain and only
attacked with more rage.
“No, I’m not joking. I want those clouds gone within
an hour and the brightest sun they can give me.”
Attack. Parry. Side step. Repeat.
“I know. You’ll need to ring the sunrise bell just
before they do it so all vamps can find cover.”
Aria’s foot slipped in the mud and she tumbled forward
onto her knees, reacting just in time to raise her sword above her and protect
herself from a blow, then another, but unable to stand again with the demon
looming over her.
“I don't have time to explain now. Do it. Wilhelm
out.”
The next time the demon struck, Will’s sword was there
to deflect the blow and push it back. Aria jumped to her feet at once and attacked,
a fresh surge of energy fueling her. They put the demon to death together.
* * * *
As I recall, no more than twenty minutes passed
between that call and the sunrise alarms chiming over the walls. All over the
battlefield, vampires looked up at the sky and at the clouds cover. It was as
dark, as impenetrable as it had been for the past three days. They knew to obey
the call back alarm, though, and all of them broke away from their fights,
leaving humans to fend for themselves and liking it no more than I did. At the
same time as they ran back to the city’s entrance, human troops poured out, no
doubt the fighters who had been resting until that moment. I knew some of the
humans would feel betrayed, and I could only hope it would be worth it. Aria and
I retreated as well.
All of us found cover in the connected tents that
had been erected just two streets away and where we had all rested, a few hours
at a time. There weren’t enough beds for all of us, but even if they didn’t
understand why they had been called back, most vampires found a place to sit or
lie down, a lot of them looking at me, knowing I had to know what was going on.
I didn’t say anything, not yet, and just waited.
First, the rain stopped, and after hours upon hours
of the steady pounding of water, the silence was almost blissful. Then, the
clouds cover broke. Even from inside the tents, it was easy to realize what was
happening as everything, suddenly, seemed to be brighter. I turned on my
mini-com and waited, feeling very tense suddenly. Aria startled me when she
stepped closer to me and rested her head on my shoulder, but after an instant I
curled my free arm around her, accepting her comfort. The first reports came
within seconds.
“The demons are confused!”
“Look eastward! Some of them are breaking away!”
I let out a relieved sigh. Aria pressed her lips to
my neck. It was working. Demons don’t burn if exposed to sunlight as vampires
do, but they hate the sun, and if given a choice they will find shade rather
than remain exposed. Their strongest leaders can keep them fighting, sometimes,
but they had to be just as tired as we were—at least, that was what I had been
hoping.
My eyes swept the tent and a few questions fused
here and there.
“Rest,” I said, making my voice as strong as I
could even through my exhaustion. “In—” I glanced down at my watch. “—three and
a half hours, night will fall and we’ll finish the demons.”
Aria pulled away from me, took my hand and led me
to a cot. We lay down together again, our swords on the ground beneath us. I
left the mini-com on, certain I wouldn’t be able to sleep, but I did. Aria’s
arms were like a cocoon around me, keeping everything that wasn’t us at bay.
Three hours and twenty seven minutes later, the sun
set. All of us vampires returned to the fight. The humans had held on, and when
we came out we crushed the demons that hadn’t retreated in front of the sun.
That was when it happened again.
Aria got hurt.
She had been magnificent for the past three days,
and seeing her fight had inspired me to try to reach beyond my own abilities.
Yes, she had guessed right, I would have kept her out of harm’s way if I had
been able to, but we needed everyone. It was one of hardest fights we had ever
fought but I had never been so determined. And so was Aria. I suppose both of
us kept at the back of our mind that kiss and the promises it held. We fought
hard. We finally won. And it was only when I turned to her when the victory
bells chimed that I noticed how strong the scent of blood was on her.
I knew, objectively, that she couldn’t die of a
flesh wound, but my fears didn’t listen to what I knew, and instead they
brought me back to those two times when she had been badly wounded before. The
first time, I had gone to the hospital with her but had had to leave her to
Lorenzo’s care. The second time, I had been too late. This time, I wasn’t
letting her out of my sight.
I picked her up, gave my orders and told my
subordinates I’d be back in an hour, then I carried her to a truck that was
going back to the base—back home—so I could take care of her. The hospital was
too busy with humans; by my own orders, vampires had to deal with their
injuries on their own or wait a few hours to be seen. She tried to get me to
let her down when we got to the elevator, even tried to wiggle out of my arms,
but all she did was hurt herself more.
“I can walk,” she said, pouting. “I’m not some
stupid damsel in distress who can’t take care of herself.”
I couldn’t help myself. I laughed, oblivious to the
looks the other Guard soldiers riding the elevator gave us. “No, you definitely
are no such thing. But walking will only make your leg worse. The demons will
be back. I need you to heal fast.”
Her arms tightened a little around my neck. “Say
that again,” she murmured.
We had just reached my floor. I stepped out of the
elevator, frowning. “Say what? That I need you to—”
“Yes. That.”
I understood and pressed my lips to her forehead
before I said it again. “I need you.”
It was all a terrible idea, I knew it. Both of us
had too much resting on our shoulders to be involved together. I should have
been assessing the damage at that moment rather than taking her inside my
apartment, even if I didn’t plan to stay there long. Knowing it was a bad idea,
however, did not stop me—not when she said those same words to me, along with a
few more that made my stomach flip in a very curious manner.
“I need you too. I love you.”