Authors: Penelope Fletcher
A secret part of me now yearned to see
Wyld land too.
“
Stay then,” I blurted.
“Stay with me. I’ll keep you safe, and you can show everyone what
you’re really like. You would be a great help. We will find someone
else to see the Queen. I know it’s a lot to ask from you, but I
think we could make it work.”
His shoulders shook and a grizzly
sound broke from his chest. “I cannot lurk beside you like a silent
shadow, and hide when your friends and mate try to kill me. It
would not end well, Rae. There would come a time where your fairy
and I would clash, and not even you could stop the end
result.”
The end result, one of them dead,
stolen from me forever.
The thought of Breandan meeting his
end at Tomas’ hands was unconceivable, and went against everything
I knew, and wanted to know. When I saw Breandan and Tomas’ meeting
in anger, I saw the end of him – the end of my vampire.
I closed my eyes, and twisted my hands
into knots behind my back letting him go physically as I knew I had
to do emotionally.
Yet I whispered, “Don’t
leave.”
“
My Rae, my sunshine,” he
murmured and wrapped his arms around me tighter. “I must. There can
be no middle ground.”
My hands flitted up to rest on his
sides. I gave him a squeeze then released him and made him release
me by placing my hands on his chest and pushing him away. My
decision was made and my heart throbbed in pain.
“
I swear I will help the
vampires as best I can, Tomas.” I braced myself. “But I cannot go.
He’ll never forgive me if I abuse his trust this way, and I
honestly don’t think me going with you is the right thing to do. I
feel like I’m needed here, and I have to start trusting myself, my
own intuition. I admit it feels like I will go to your Nest
someday, just not now. My own people need me now.”
A raven crowed. The sound was loud and
brash. There were always ravens around the Temple, vile carrion
eaters.
I waited for Tomas to react with
anger, but he became oh so still, and quiet. He looked away and
nodded stiffly. “So be it.” The words were uttered so softly my
ears twitched and strained to catch them.
Tomas turned his infinite gaze upon
me, and the small smile that had lifted my lips at his composed
acceptance faded. His cold hands came to rest on my cheeks and at
the contact I was sucked into the unending, falling into him. The
darkness inside me squirmed, writhed, and twisted around my mind
until I thought it would shatter. And I … I wanted to move … to
move us somewhere else. I could not understand where he wanted me
to take us. So the darkness guided me, showed me where I was to go.
The familiar feeling of being stretched, of being pulled apart by
magic bombarded my senses. I frowned. This was wrong…. Faintly, I
remembered it was easier than last time, and I slipped through the
opening, pulling the darkness with me from one place to another. My
stomach revolted, wanted to empty, but I breathed through it. Tomas
tugged on my hand to make me walk forward…. But I didn’t want to be
here … and I … I wondered why he led me this way.
We passed the fist of the dilapidated
buildings and I felt a tremble of fear. The windows were blown out
and I thought I could see glowing eyes peering at me from the
gloom. An eerie fog crept along the concrete floor and lights
flicked and died in odd spots in the distance.
The air had a funny dry, ashy smell.
Like something had gone moldy, and was so old and putrefied the
smell had aged beyond a particular odor you could name or compare
to anything else.
We walked further, I took in the burnt
out cars, and smashed up pavements and wondered why if the vampires
wanted the world so badly did they let it go to hell? Why fight so
fiercely for something to turn around and let it fall to ruin? Why
did they back off when the Rupture was over and receded into the
depths of abandoned cities like these to hunt scraps?
The devastation in this city was
minimal, but it had a sinister and unpleasant sort of look about
it.
“
I don’t think we should go
any further,” I said without thinking. Literally without thinking.
My mind was almost void, blank. Random memories and thoughts pinged
around, but there was nothing underneath but a cloud of
darkness.
I stopped walking, my thoughts
becoming less muddled. There was a loud buzzing in my ear. Tugging
my hand from his, I pressed my palms onto my head and pushed,
hoping maybe the pressure would release whatever was causing this
wrong feeling all over me.
Tomas brushed his hand across my
forehead. The coolness was refreshing and I looked into his
bottomless eyes, feeling such peace.
“
How do you feel?” he asked
compassionately and rubbed my shoulders.
I was being silly, so silly, and here
he was being all brave and strong. I shook my head at myself.
“Fine. I think today … all the fighting and use of magics is
catching up with me.” Breathing out I let him take my hand again
and squeezed his gently for being so thoughtful and considerate of
my needs. “I know as a fairy I don’t need much sleep, but it helps
me keep things straight. Sometimes so much is happening around me I
feel lost, y’know? I mean, I know I miss a lot of stuff … and
Breandan says I must start being more aware of….” Frowning I fisted
my other hand and knocked myself on the head. My hand knocked
something hard, and I fingered the metal pressed into my skin. How
odd. “Uh, everything is a muddle.”
“
Come. Once we reach the
inner city you can rest.” His voice was light but I thought I heard
it crack at the end.
My senses told me dawn was hours away,
but I checked the sky anyway. I wasn’t exactly in a right state of
mind – maybe my senses were off too? The sky was inky
black.
“
Are you okay?” I asked
concerned. “You seem strained.”
He smiled, fangs running out as he
lifted my hand to kiss my wrist. He pressed a kiss to the veins he
found there. “I will be,” he murmured.
A dart of fear and disgust shot down
my spine and I snatched my hand away. Then I was instantly contrite
by the startled look I caught on his face.
“
I’m sorry. I….” I reached
for him but stopped before I touched him, somehow, deep down
knowing that I should not be touching him. Not with love. My love
belonged to….
Biting my lip I started walking, not
sure why my body trembled when Tomas fell into step beside
me.
There was a soft scuttle to my left
and I jumped, even as Tomas quickened his pace and pulled me deeper
into the city. My eyes darted across the flat walled buildings and
tried to pierce the dense shadows that hung over every surface. I
could see in hues of blue and purple in the dark, but it was almost
like my gaze passed through anything that did not want to be seen
in those shadows.
Were there really dozens of hungered
red-rimmed eyes staring back at me through the dark from down the
alleyways?
The deeper into the city we rushed I
felt my magic being pushed into me, compressed inside my body and
my heart sped up.
There was more scuttling from behind
us, and I shot a fearful look over my shoulder. I swallowed a
scream seeing the hunched figures lumbering behind us. One grinned
manically and I saw the glint of fang.
“
There are vampires behind
us,” I whispered to Tomas and tugged on his hand to get his
attention, which was focused on a point up ahead and had been for
the last ten minutes.
“
Do you trust me, Rae?”
Tomas’ voice was soothing, and the darkness inside me smoothed over
my nature, which was agitated, spiky, telling me something was
wrong here.
Why was I here again? Coming here was
probably the worst idea I had ever had. It was my idea to come here
wasn’t it? Where was Breandan and why was he not with me? Wait. He
definitely did not want me to come here, but he would never have
let me come here without his protection. Or maybe he thought Tomas
protection was enough to keep me safe?
I swallowed hard and looked over my
shoulder.
More vampires - dozens of them -
ambling behind us in liquid slinks. One darted past, whooping, and
shrieking as he did. They ran with a fluid yet cumbersome gate,
zipping across the wide street manically and passing from shadow to
shadow so all I saw was bare chests and ragged jeans. The slap of
bare feet on the concrete had the hair rising on the back of my
neck. The moon was bright and when one of the vampires passed
through its light I saw a starved emaciated body covered in grime
and dirt.
Breathing hard, I stumbled but my
wings fluttered and I was okay. This was not right. “I don’t think
I’m supposed to be here.”
Tomas squeezed my hand. “Do you trust
me?” he repeated with a firm undertone. He sounded like he was
asking the question for the sake of it and that I should simply say
yes.
I trusted him did I not? Why would I
be here if I did not? I decided to come here with him didn’t
I?
“
I–” A high-pitched squeal
of delight pierced the night, and my eyes rolled seeking the mouth
it pealed from. “I–”
Something icy brushed past the nape of
my neck. A mad chuckle echoed in my ears before a gangly vampire
appeared in front of me. I stopped dead, my hand slipping from
Tomas’ and I heard him curse as another slipped in behind the
first, pushing at him so as to get a better look at me,
slobbering.
Stumbling back, I remembered those
behind me then spun round to see what they were doing, which was
nothing. Well, they were collectively wiping the drool from their
chins, and licking their lips as they eyed me up and down hungrily,
but other than that, they were still.
Backing up, I held my hands up and
tried to step around the vampire. He feinted to block my way. Heart
pounding, sweating, I tried to go the other way and he jerked to
block my path. Terrified, I reached out to the Source and armed
myself with energy. It buzzed at my fingertips. The vampire spread
his arms out wide and swung his head from side to side once then
smiled toothily at me, his fangs running out. I was used Tomas’
extended fangs, but he had all his other teeth, unlike the one in
front of me who smelt like he bathed in sewage. My stomach dropped
as he chuckled oddly, and jerked forward making me jerk back. He
did it again and I got the distinct sense he was playing with me,
taunting me. Just like I had been told vampires liked to do when
they were hunting.
There was a pained grunt and the
littler vampire – who had been trying to get a better look at me
–flew toward me and I ducked to let him sail overhead and crash
into those behind me.
The vampire that was playing with me
spun, and got Tomas’ fist in his face. He dropped to his knees and
keened, then shrank back when Tomas raised his hand again and
snarled. Crawling back the feral vampire gave me a wide birth and
quivered when Tomas took a step forward to offer me his hand. I
took it and let him pull me into his arms.
I shook so hard I could barely stand.
Vampires were not to be messed with. Even as a fairy I knew if a
strong vampire got lucky it could take me out. They were powerful,
horrendously strong and nearly as fast as fairykind. These ones
were also completely insane, and insanity had a way of lending
extra cunning to a hunter.
And I, a tasty blood bag, was standing
in the middle of them, my heart beating wildly.
“
Calm down,” Tomas said
quietly and stroked the back of my head. He inhaled deeply.
“Release your hold on magic Rae, it will bring you nothing but pain
here. It is okay you are safe. They got carried away because you
smell good.”
Holding onto the calm tenor in his
voice, I let my grasp on the Source go and instead clung to him.
Only the pang – that was quickly muted by the darkness – had me
wishing it was someone else. The one who bathed me in silver light
… but he was not here.
Why was he not here again?
“
Did I mention that you
vampires are creepy?” I shifted back so I could look at his face,
my eyes still wide with fear. “You know them?”
He nodded then focused over his
shoulder. “Come on. We are almost there.”
He took my hand again; wrapping his
fingers securely round mine, and sneered once more at the vampires
trailing us.
The fog of uncertainty had thinned in
the face of my fear, clarity coming on as an after effect of the
adrenaline preparing me to fight or run. Okay…. None of my current
situation made any sense. Rather than feeling indifferent about it
this time, it made me uncomfortable, and concerned about what was
going on.
“
Tomas, I … I decided to
come here with you, didn’t I?”
“
Yes.”
“
Why didn’t Breandan come
with us?” I looked down at our joined hands. I was confused and
wary. “Why isn’t he here with me? I think he should be
here.”
“
No. Keep moving,
Rae.”
My brows furrowed, my head hurt so
much. “But … where? Where are we going?” Tomas picked up the pace.
“I mean, we spoke about coming to see your Nest because we need to
talk to vampires. We need to be united.” My words were right, we
did need to be united, but why did I sound and feel
unsure.