Vampire Girl 3: Silver Flame (9 page)

Fen and Varis trail me as I leave Sly's office and head to the door we first came in. "Would they arrive through here?" I ask Fen.

"There are other entrances," he says. "But this one is most used."

When we turn a corner, I hear Sly’s voice coming from the main ballroom. "Well, well, aren't you a lovely creature full of feistiness. The princess failed to mention how utterly delightful her friends are."

"The princess? What are you talking about?"

I recognize that fake southern drawl! I run around the corner and into the ballroom, and see Es and Pete standing close to each other staring around the room wide-eyed. When Es sees me, she gasps. "Ari? What happened to you?"

Crap. My illusion spell isn't active, so my Fae ears and hair are on full display. And I'm dressed like a medieval princess from a fairytale, thanks to Sly and his obsession with costumes and playing doll with his guests. "Es! Pete! I can explain. Kind of."

We three crash into each other in a mingle of arms and hugs, and the feel of these two solidly real, relatively normal people I've known for so long calms my soul in a way nothing else does. But they are here—and in danger—because of me.

"What is this place?" Pete asks, running a hand through his red mop of hair. He scans the room, mouth agape, taking in the strangeness of it all. "Is that—"

He's staring at Marasphyr. "Yes, she's a real mermaid. This place… it's a safe place for people from all over," I say awkwardly.

"Like a domestic violence shelter?" Es asks, though I can tell from her tone and expression she knows this isn't a shelter.

"More like a neutral zone for paranormal or magical beings from different worlds," I elaborate.

Fen walks over and holds out his hand. "It's nice to see you again, Es." He turns to her boyfriend. "Pete. Nice to finally meet you. I have heard so much from Arianna."

Es shakes his hand, firmly. "I like you, Fen. I told Ari that too. But if you're getting her mixed up in something dangerous… "

I nearly choke at that. Then I start laughing, because what else can I do but laugh at the absurdity of this? How do I tell my best friend everything? About the contract and my mother and Inferna and Avakiri and my bloodline and that I'm to be queen of two kingdoms. How do I tell her I'm wanted for execution, that I spent the last several weeks in a dungeon, that I thought I would surely die and never see them again? How do I tell her she is now in danger because of the people who want me dead?

The words are resting on my lips, waiting to be spoken, when Dean saunters in, somehow once again missing his shirt.

Es stops paying attention to me as Dean's charms light her up and turn her to jelly. And he notices. His smile spreads over his handsome face as he glides to us, his perfect body glistening under the lights of the ballroom.

"Why, hello. I'm Prince Dean, but you can just call me Dean. Who might you be?" He's holding Es's hand to his lips when Pete smiles and holds out a hand to shake Dean's.

"I'm Pete, this is my girlfriend Es. We're friends of Ari's."

I stifle a laugh as Es regains her focus and steps back, allowing Dean to reluctantly shake Pete's hand.

"So, what's this about a princess?" Es asks, eyeing my pointy ears. "What did they do to you?"

"Well, I—"

Something screeches.

Someone screams.

Fen reaches for his sword, but it isn't there since Sly changed our clothes.

He stands closer to me, and Baron growls, pacing in front of us.

Es reaches for my hand. "What was that?"

"I don't know. It kind of sounded like… "

"Lopsi!" Sly sounds worried. Too worried.

"Who's Lopsi?" Pete asks.

"Sly's pet," I say. "I haven't met her, but I think we're about to."

More screaming, and then… the room fills with darkness that blocks out all light. I look up and see a creature of black fur and rotting flesh, wings spread, its massive body taking up half the ballroom, its head bent slightly to avoid hitting the very tall ceilings. The beast resembles a bat with huge ears and wings stretching from its front limbs, but its face is twisted and vicious, a face torn from nightmares. It hisses, and thick saliva drips from its razor teeth.

"What the hell is that thing?" yells Es.

"A Drakar from Vandaris," says Sly, stepping between us and the beast. "This pretty beast is worth a fortune, so no harming it." He turns to the bat and speaks with affection. "Now, Lopsi, how did you get out of your cage? Someone forget to close it? Come on, let’s just take you back there and—"

Lopsi screeches, and I have to cover my ears to block out the piercing sound. Sly steps back, frowning.

Varis holds up his hand, about to use magic, but I pull him back. "Don't. You're not allowed to harm anyone here, remember? Or Sly will turn you into goo."

"Let me handle this, my dears," says Sly. He walks slowly toward the monster bat, clucking in a calm voice. "Good girl, Lopsi. You remember your daddy, yes?"

Lopsi replies by spitting something from her fanged mouth—a viscous yellow substance. Sly dashes out of the way and the liquid hits a chair instead.

The chair hisses, fizzes, then melts to the ground.

Crap. "I'm guessing that's doubly dangerous on human skin?"

Sly speaks with his back turned to us. "Only if you enjoy having skin."

I flinch. "I'm pretty attached," I tell him.

"Just stay very still," Sly says. "Everything will be fine."

"And if it’s not?"

"No one lays a hand on Lopsi. Or they will lose said hand."

Fair enough. The giant venomous bat can do what she wants to us, but we have to play nice. I stay as still as I possibly can, but as Sly approaches his pet, she hisses and stretches her wings, then makes a screeching sound that nearly deafens me.

Then she lunges.

And we all run.

"Blasted princes," says Sly. "You show up and everything goes to hell."

Fen says nothing. Dean grins. Stupid man. He actually seems to be enjoying this.

I most definitely am not. The princes are fast, and Es, Pete and I barely keep up. The beast starts to close the distance between us.

"How about some of that magic, Sly?" I say between panting breaths.

"How dare you," he yells. "I’m not turning Lopsi inside out. What kind of cruel demon do you think I am? You’ll be fine, and if not, well, it was nice meeting you. I will make sure none of your flesh goes to waste."  Sly veers off to the side, whether to escape without us or to lead Lopsi away, I'm not sure. If he's trying to help, his plan utterly fails. Lopsi follows us.

"Seven Hells," yells Dean, punching a wall. "Dead end."

We turn around, facing the giant beast. I look for passages, but see none.

Baron growls, preparing for a fight. Fen positions himself in front of me. I push Es and Pete to the back of our group in hopes of keeping them as safe as possible.

Dean grabs my hand. "I know a way out," he screams over the beast’s war cry.

He runs forward…

Toward the beast.

I curse, then follow.

Then I see it. Next to Lopsi, half hidden by her wing, a door.

Dean rams himself in the entryway, bashing the way open. The rest of us follow just as Lopsi turns, swinging a giant claw behind us. She misses, hitting the wall and shattering stone. We’re almost safe—

Something flies by me.

And then pain tears into my arm.

Lopsi’s venom singed my dress, burning it above my elbow. My skin is scorching and red, but I’ve had worse.

Dean and Fen slam the door closed behind us, then keep it shut with their strength as Lopsi tries to push it open.

I look around. "Where are we?"

"It's the Way Room," Fen yells, spit flying from his mouth as he strains to keep the beast away.

Mirrors of different sizes and shapes fill the room, shimmering in a splendor of colors. Scenes flash in them: a swaying tree, a raging storm. "This is how Sly travels to different worlds," Dean says.

He points to a silver mirror on the left. "We can get back to Inferna with that one."

Fen shakes his head. "We'd be walking into a death sentence."

I have to agree with him.

Until the bat spits venom at the door and it rots away. Fen jumps to me, holding up his bare hands like claws, ready to fight.

"I don't think we have a choice!" I scream.

Dean runs for the mirror. "Everyone grab a hand, we go now!"

My hand lands on Baron as Fen reaches for my arm. I make sure Es and Pete grab onto me, and we rush through the mirror.

And step out in a familiar realm. Out of instinct, I glance back at the mirror, fearing Lopsi will follow, but see nothing but my reflection. I turn away, scanning the city ahead of us. It smells of wine and expensive oils, and though it is late and the moons are high in the sky, there is music and dancing and scantily clad men and women serving food on golden trays.

Dean smiles. "Welcome to my Pleasure Palace, Princess."

"You are a dog, And you will know your place at your master's heel."

—King Lucian

It takes a
moment to steady my breathing. Adrenaline pumps through me, making my limbs shake. My sword is still clutched in my hand, ready to kill or maim, but there is nothing left to fight. The bear is dead. And the tiger… the tiger is somehow Tavian Gray.

This shouldn't be possible. This kind of magic doesn't exist.

Tavian is silent. Still. His caramel skin is striking against the white of the snow, even in the dark. Blood leaks out of his wounds, staining everything red around him. This is my chance to escape, to find out what happened to Fen and Ari—but if I leave he will die.

That's not my problem. He intends to sell me to Metsi as a prisoner.

But he also saved my life. Twice.

Bloody hell. This man is making my life impossible. Because I cannot leave him to die, but saving him means risking my own life.

I swear a string of expletives under my breath as I grip under his arms and half lift—half drag him back to the cave. He's heavier than he looks, a solid build of muscle, and it takes a lot to move him.

Once back in the cave, I kindle the fire and cover him with furs to warm him, then I set to examining his wounds. They are deep, but not fatal. Still, he's losing a lot of blood. I clean them as best I can with melted snow, then pull out my crystal pendant. Clutching it in one hand, with the other laid gently over his chest, I whisper the words I know will aid in the healing.

When I'm done, fragile pink skin tentatively holds together his wounds. He will need to take care not to rip them apart again.

Now all I can do is wait and keep him warm.

At some point in the night, the horse that abandoned me comes back, more loyal to his master than me, I guess. I tie him up at the edge of the cave and give him food and water, then return to my patient.

I keep telling myself I should leave. But as he fights imaginary foes in fevered dreams, his brow drenched and body twitching, I can't bring myself to walk away from him. I lay a hand on his face and note that he's finally cooling.

When I lift the furs to check his wounds, a large hand grabs my wrist. "You know, Princess, if you wanted access, all you had to do was ask."

I drop the furs and scoot back. Tavian props himself up on his elbows and flinches only slightly at the pain caused by his movement.

My witty retort dies on my tongue as he stares into me with his emerald eyes. This man is entirely too mesmerizing for my liking.

He smirks, as if he knows what I'm thinking. "I'm surprised you stuck around, Princess. Could have left me for dead and saved yourself."

"Could have," I say. "Probably should have."

"Why didn't you?" he asks as he slowly sits up.

I resist the urge to help him, crossing my hands in my lap instead. "I needed answers first," I say.

He raises an eyebrow. "Really? What kind of answers?"

"You shifted into a tiger? How? I've never heard of this kind of magic."

"Says the Shade who has lived with vampires her whole life." He grins as he stands. The fur drops away and my eyes are glued to the hard lines of his body as he dresses.

"And living in the Outlands would have taught me more?" I ask.

He chuckles. "You know so little of your people. Of your magical ancestry. You think the Outlands, as you call them, are all that's left of the Fae?"

This is news and gives me pause. "What are you talking about?"

"Come with me to meet Metsi, and I'll show you," he says. "There's a whole other world out there. The vampires don't know about it. Some Fae have even forgotten. But it is the way we have survived since the Unraveling."

"Not possible. We've raided every inch of this world. If there were a secret group of Fae living somewhere, we would have found them," I say.

"You vampires think you know everything. Makes you blind to the obvious. You believe you have the world mapped out, and so you have stopped exploring." He puts out the fire and packs his bag. "I'm going to Metsi. She will have information I need. And she may have a place for you. A purpose." He pauses. "Our people are at war. The vampires fight each other. You are as much Fae as you are vampire, don't you want to at least see what might be?"

"Are you giving me a choice?" I ask. "So I can leave if I want? Back to Stonehill?"

"You saved my life when you could have left me for dead. I'm not a monster. But… the horse, the pack, the food… that goes with me. If you leave, you're on your own. If you leave, you'll never know where your people are from. You'll never know what you could be. You'll never know whether Metsi could be a powerful ally or not."

"Are you still going to try to sell me to Metsi?" I ask, crossing my arms over my chest.

"If I can get money for you, yes. But only if you want to stay." He holds out a hand to shake mine. "Deal?"

"And if I leave?" I still have Ari and Fen to consider.

"If you leave now, I won't stop you. But how far do you think you'll get alone, without a horse, without provisions, without someone watching your back?" he asks.

He has a point, and it irritates me to admit it. The weather is harsh. I am alone with nothing but the clothes on my back.

"How do we get there? To the Fae?" I ask, stalling.

"We travel by Waystone. There's one close by. Come, see for yourself."

And so I follow him, but I don't commit. Not yet. Not until I see the Waystone. Not until everything begins to click.

Because the Waystone is familiar. I've seen it before, or one just like it. With Fen, when Ari was missing and we went in search of her.

It is a wall, hidden deep within a damp cave, decorated with symbols of the Fae, a handprint in the center.

I run my fingers over the carved stone. "How does it work?"

"Are you coming?" he asks, raising an eyebrow.

I sigh. "I guess I have no choice, do I?"

He grins. "There's always a choice, Princess. But I like to make it a hard one."

"What about the horse?" I ask as Tavian presses his hand against the center stone print, against the spikes there, and his blood flows into the carvings.

"He doesn't like the travel."

I soon understand why.

The stone grinds open revealing a slab that Tavian leads us both onto. And then it begins to move, dropping into the earth, moving us quickly through the core of our world. "Where are we going?" I ask.

"Avakiri. The Fae kingdom on the other side of this world."

"Other side?"

"You’ll see soon enough." Tavian grabs my hand. "Prepare yourself."

"For what?"

Too late.

Gravity ceases to function and I barely contain a scream as we both begin to float. Tavian demonstrates how to flip over so that his feet are facing what was the ceiling. I do the same, and then gravity hits us hard and we both fall against stone, the floor now above us. "What was that?" I ask, rubbing a new bruise on my shin.

"We are half way there," he says.

Half way to the other side of the world I thought I knew. Surely someone must have discovered these secrets, but I can see why they would be so closely guarded. The vampires made the Fae almost extinct, save those kept as slaves. The Druids were put to sleep, the Midnight Star and all blood ties killed… and yet the Fae found a way to survive. To live. To regrow.

And now they have Ari.

It's still so much to absorb. For so long we have lived in this one routine, existed with our ways intact. Then this human girl shows up and everything I know about my life is twisted into something different. I don't blame Ari, of course. If anything, she's more a victim in this than anyone. But it makes me wonder… how have I become so complacent with the injustices I see? How have I grown so jaded in this world? And what will this trip to Avakiri do to me? To everything I believe in?

When the Waystone stops moving, the doors swing open, and we emerge into a different cave, filled with sparkling green crystal. I can hear running water and smell the scent of fresh grass. Tavian reaches out and waves a hand over me. I feel a shimmering of magic, then it fades. "What did you do?" I ask.

"I cast an illusion over you, to change your appearance," he's says. "I don't know how many would recognize the illegitimate Fae daughter of the vampire king, but likely Metsi would."

I'm touched by his concern and begrudgingly thank him.

We step outside, and into a different world.

No longer covered in snow, this land is a lush growth of tropical jungle, the sun bright and hot upon my skin. Before us flows a waterfall, hiding the cave with the Waystone. I run forward, eager to see more, skirting around the water and climbing a rock covered in green vines, overlooking a pond.

The water is so clear I can see the bottom. Colorful fish swim around as light flickers against their scales. The trees here are tall, with vines growing between them like ropes. Tavian leads us to a stone path decorated with ancient symbols and dotted with moss. Critters scurry through the undergrowth, and the sound of birds and other creatures fills the silence with hoots, chirps and whistles. It's a cacophony of life.

The trail narrows and turns into stone steps, placed so close together I have to be careful not to trip on my own feet. Walking up the steps—it seems there are hundreds—is its own kind of meditative exercise.

I'm entranced by the beauty and serenity of it all until we reach two carved sculptures that act as guardians to the entrance of a garden. When we walk through, it takes me a moment to understand what I'm seeing. At first, I'm taken in by the many waterfalls and pools of clear water dotted throughout, surrounded by explosions of floral color. But the sounds of nature are drowned out by the sound of dying men and women.

Bound to the trees by the rope-like vines are dozens of vampires, stripped nearly naked. They hang over the pools of water, branches curling around their flesh, piercing their skin, fusing with their veins. The enchantment drains away their blood, releasing it through the roots and into the water. The pools swirl with red as the cries of my people carry on the wind.

And not just vampires. There are Shade there too, dying in the clutches of the trees. I prepare myself for the smell of rotting flesh, the smell of death, but none comes. The air is sweet and calming, the scent of flowers. How twisted that such cruelty is masqueraded as beauty.

I stop, my throat dry, my jaw clenched so tightly I might break my teeth. Tavian grabs my hand, but I yank it away. "Is this what you wanted to show me?" I hiss at him.

"No. I have never seen the likes of this. I swear to you, this wasn't my intention."

By the look in his eyes, I can tell he speaks truth. I'm about to suggest—nay demand—we leave, when four Fae arrive wielding swords and spears. They wear masks that cover their faces and blue and green armor that covers their bodies, shimmering like scales.

"The Wild One requests your presence," one of the soldiers—a woman—says.

Tavian shoots me a worried look. It appears we have no choice but to walk with them.

We reach a massive and ancient palace made of stone and carved with more of the glyphs I saw on the steps. Inside, the walls are decorated with tapestries and silk curtains of blues and greens, and everywhere there is water. Fountains, pools, indoor waterfalls… the sound is soothing, and the air fresh.

Fae mingle about, talking, laughing, drinking and eating, reclining on colorful pillows and stone chairs. Their skin is dark, unlike most of the Fae I meet. None seem concerned by the dying vampires and Shade outside their door.

When we enter the throne room, a woman who could only be Metsi sits upon a raised throne, ancient and covered in vines. She wears a long gown of silk and satin, blues and whites. Her skin is dark, like that of the other Fae here, and pale blue tattoos cover her long arms and bald head. Her serpent, Wadu, curls around her left arm. She smiles when she sees Tavian. "It has been far too long since we've been graced by your presence. What brings you to our corner of Avakiri?"

"The realms have heard rumors of the Midnight Star’s return, of power being restored. Of war being waged against the vampires. I came to seek the truth," Tavian says.

I remain quiet. Waiting. Worrying. He could easily betray me. Tell them who I am. Get the money he so desperately wants.

Metsi flicks her hand and someone brings her a silver goblet with drink in it. "So much talk. So many rumors. Some have merit, others less. We will soon have the Midnight Star in our control. And the vampires, well, they will meet their end. Their time has come. It's our turn now. Our turn to reclaim what is ours."

"I've seen the Outlands. People speak of your defeat at Stonehill while they cower and drink away their sorrows, and yet you speak of victory? You are not prepared."

I glance at Tavian, wondering why he speaks so freely. Who is he to question a Druid?