Aria and Will (5 page)

The elegant cursive letters gave a short message
that I never forgot.

“Hopefully those are the only white roses I’ll have
to buy for you for a very long time.”

Wilhelm walked by, that day, on his way to see
Bergsen. I tried to thank him, but all he did was shake his head in reply.

I reported to my new duties later that night, more
excited than ever and ready to take the entire demon army by myself. That’s
when I met Lorenzo.

Chapter 5

Hung high in the cloudless sky, the moon shone bright,
casting a cold light over the plain. To Wilhelm and to all the vampires
standing over the walls, everything seemed as bright as it was by daylight. It
was the same for demons, of course. The Guard had known the attack would come
ever since the weather forecast had warned of a beautiful night.

The first wave came from the north just after
midnight. It took the demons a little more than four hours to trot down from
the mountain. The trip did not even begin to tire them. The Guard's best
archers greeted them with its traditional volley of arrows. A few demons fell;
the rest of them marched on without slowing for an instant. They would reach
the walls quickly, if they weren't stopped. The Guard would stop them—it had
to.

Behind the walls, the first three streets had been
evacuated. Wilhelm and Bergsen had argued about it again. Civilians had long
since tired of the repeated evacuations, and it was more difficult each time to
get their cooperation. Bergsen wanted to permanently evacuate these streets and
declare them too dangerous for anyone to be there after nightfall; every time
he raised the issue, Wilhelm predicted that such a decision would wreak havoc
on the city. Each house, each apartment within the walls was already packed,
and demanding that two hundred families leave their homes to live with
strangers was asking for trouble.

Wilhelm was standing on the front line when the Guard
clashed with the demon army. Five years earlier, Bergsen had stood at the front
of the fight next to him, leading his troops through example. But age had
caught up with him, and now he watched the battles from the walls. Wilhelm
couldn't even stand the idea of not being part of the fight.

Within moments, his sword had sliced a first demon
open from the shoulder straight down to the thick of the belly. Blood erupted,
so dark it seemed black, its scent already thick in the night air. Wilhelm felt
his fangs elongate, and instinct spurred him on. He did not wait for the demon
to finish falling to the ground before he moved on to his next prey. He had
fought demons, first on his own and eventually with the Guard for close to
thirty years, and habit and training always took over as soon as the battle
started. He remained completely aware of his surroundings—he couldn't afford
not to be—but he also swung his sword, parried and moved through the crowd of
demons, vampires and humans without ever hesitating.

The Guard was superior in numbers to the army of
demons, but not all fighters were as adept with a sword or axe as Wilhelm was;
few of them had even a tenth of his experience. It often took two or three
soldiers to take down a single demon, so most soldiers worked in pairs or small
groups, defending each other's back as they focused on individual demons.

In the past few months, during each battle Wilhelm had
found his attention and his steps always drifting back toward one such pair of
fighters. The woman was barely past eighteen; still a child, even if she had
cut the long auburn hair that had danced free on her shoulders during all her
childhood. Next to her, her partner was almost a full head taller than she was,
and he moved with the sleek grace of a predator. Whenever Lorenzo caught his
gaze, in the middle of the fight, it was to give him an eye roll that said
quite plainly what he thought of Wilhelm's game. Ariadne, on the other hand,
always pretended not to notice. She was a terrible liar.

In truth, they did not need Wilhelm's help. The girl
had been born to carry a sword, and Lorenzo made up for what he lacked in
experience with his vampire speed and strength. Together, they managed to carve
a path through demons and remain, most of the time, unscathed. When blood was
shed, it was always Lorenzo's; he never hesitated before putting himself
between Ariadne and a demon's blade.

Wilhelm had accepted that he couldn't prevent Ariadne
to fight, but he still didn't like to see her so close to danger. It might have
helped if he had been the one keeping her safe, as he had promised himself he
would when he had first met her as a child. Whenever he saw them exchange one
of those silly grins they shared after a kill, Wilhelm found himself gritting
his teeth and handling his sword with more vigor. They were too close, much too
close. It was unwise for Guard members to become romantically involved as these
two had. Unwise, and technically against the rules, even if they were not
enforced.

The battle, this night, lasted just over an hour. The
deep sound of a horn rang over the plain, and at once the demons retreated.
There were few cheers from the Guard to herald this victory. They all knew that
the demons would be back, the next night or the one after that, and this time
with reinforcements. It wasn't time to celebrate; rather, it was time to heal,
mourn, rest, and prepare for the next battle.

As he made his way back to the walls and the slowly
opening doors that would allow him and the rest of the fighters back inside the
city, Wilhelm was a hundred feet or so behind Ariadne and Lorenzo. They walked
side by side, each with an arm around the other. Her head rested against his
shoulder. Wilhelm could hear them murmur to each other, though he made no
effort to understand what they were saying. If not for the sword in her hand
and the axe in his, both covered in drying blood, they could have been a normal
couple taking a stroll by moonlight.

Wilhelm's hand clenched on his sword's hilt and he
looked around him rather than ahead. He suddenly wished the demons hadn't
abandoned the battlefield so fast.

* * * *

When Lorenzo entered Bergsen's office, a small smile
was playing on his lips. Wilhelm repressed a disgruntled growl. Lorenzo had no
way of knowing why the Commander had summoned him, but he didn't seem worried
in the slightest. Of course, if Wilhelm allowed himself to become aware of the
scent wafting about the younger vampire, the reason for his smile would be
blindingly obvious. Wilhelm had no desire, however, to be reminded that Ariadne
and Lorenzo shared a bed, and had shared it very recently.

“Sir. Private Cambria reporting.”

It wasn't the formal address Guard recruits were
taught, and Lorenzo's salute was a little sloppy. Wilhelm had never cared about
either thing, but now he wanted to snap at the man to stand straighter, and not
to smile like a lunatic when he was summoned by the Guard's Commander.
Frowning, he settled a little deeper in his armchair and struggled to remain
quiet. It was Bergsen's office, and Wilhelm was only there as an observer.

If he had been Lorenzo's Sire, he would have taught
him better manners long before.

“Private Cambria. I was beginning to wonder if you
would join us. I requested your presence almost half an hour ago.”

Lorenzo had the grace to look embarrassed, and his
gaze left Bergsen, settling on Wilhelm for a second before he thought better of
it and looked straight ahead of him at the wall behind Bergsen's desk. It might
have been a trick of Wilhelm's imagination, but he seemed to be standing
straighter, suddenly.

“My apologies, sir.”

Bergsen did not say a word as he stood and walked
around his desk to come two steps in front of Lorenzo. Hands clasped behind
him, he observed the soldier for a few moments. The smile slowly faded from
Lorenzo's face under the scrutiny in a most satisfying way.

“How long have you been part of the Guard, Cambria?”

Bergsen knew the answer to that question already.
Everything he needed to know was in the manila folder on his desk.

“Fifty weeks, sir.”

“Fifty weeks. You had never belonged to a military
organization before that. I only need to look at your posture to know that.”

Again, Lorenzo seemed to straighten, though it was
much too late by now.

“You can't salute or stand properly,” Bergsen
continued. “You are slow in answering a summons from a superior. You disregard
the rules that forbid romantic relationships between members of the Guard.”

Lorenzo frowned at that last reprimand and his eyes
flicked toward Wilhelm before Bergsen started talking again.

“Luckily for you, none of these matters so much in the
Guard. What truly matters is that you are at your post on the walls on time
every night. What matters is that you have shown exemplary leadership in the
little time you have been part of the Guard, and your battalion leaders
commended you for it repeatedly. You are not a soldier, Private Cambria, but
you're a fighter. And these days, we need fighters more than anything else.”

Bergsen pulled a small box from his pocket and thumbed
the lid open. Light reflected on the silver sword when he pinned it to the
collar of Lorenzo's uniform. Wilhelm closed his eyes, and let the thanks and
promises to do better slide over him. It had not been his idea, and he had
tried not to let his personal feelings interfere when Bergsen had told him
about this. All he could hope was that this new responsibility would not
prevent Lorenzo from fulfilling his other duties.

* * * *

“So what did Ariadne say?”

“She wasn't too happy. She tried not to show it but I
know she was wondering.”

Wilhelm kept his eyes on the horizon as he nodded. So
far, there had been no signs of demons, but the night was still young, and they
might attack before it was over. From the corner of his eye, he could see that
Lorenzo was fidgeting, raising his hand to touch the pin at his throat, as
though to assure himself that it was really there.

“I've been wondering too, actually,” Lorenzo said at
last. “She's been in the Guard longer than me, and she's been cited by her
superiors far more often. She should have been promoted long before me.”

He stopped there, but Wilhelm heard the unasked
question anyway. He turned to face Lorenzo, and could see, in the light of the
rising moon, the same young vampire he had first met a little more than a year
earlier and had convinced so easily to join the Guard. Lorenzo had been killing
humans at the time, along with the other members of his clan. Without a Master
to rein them in, they had been like children left unsupervised for too long.
Wilhelm had jumped in and asserted his authority as easily as if they had truly
been his Childer.

“No. I did not tell Bergsen to give you that
promotion. You earned it for yourself.”

Lorenzo nodded at that, and seemed to straighten his
shoulders a little, his pride evident. Still, Wilhelm's answer had not
completely satisfied him.

“But Aria,” he started, and stopped when Wilhelm shook
his head.

“She'll be promoted, eventually. But not before she
reaches twenty. Bergsen's policy, and I can't fault him on it. She's too young
to lead.”

Lorenzo's lips twisted in a dry smile.

“She'd be pissed off if she heard you say that. She's
still ranting on how you didn't help her join the Cadets, and kept her in an
office after she was sworn into the Guard because you thought she was too
young.”

Wilhelm shrugged. “I still think she'd be better off
elsewhere, and I'm not going to change my mind about that.”

“Even though she's a damn fine fighter?”

“Damn fine or not, fighters get hurt. Or worse.”

“Not when I'm around.”

“True. You've been doing a good job so far. Just keep
it up.”

Something on the horizon was stirring. Wilhelm picked
up the phone at his waist and flipped it open. Others might have raised the
alarm already, but he wasn't taking chances.

“Go find her,” he told Lorenzo. “Keep her safe.”

Lorenzo saluted him. “Yes, sir.”

* * * *

When I think back of the night I met Lorenzo, I
can't help seeing the scene through different eyes. Back then, I was a young
girl on her first official night on duty at the walls, and the soldier I met
that night, the man I soon realized was a vampire, was just sweet, funny and
cute. Today, I know he was nice to me because Will had asked him to be.

I had thought I had won, when Will relented and
obtained my transfer to active duty. But all he did was switch tactics. He
couldn't lock me up in an office, so he gave me a babysitter. Vampire, so he'd
have a better chance of protecting me. Relatively young, so we'd bond more
easily. And bond, we did.

Lorenzo had my back from the first night on. It's
something relatively common in the Guard; most of us can't afford to fight
demons alone. Will is one of the rare exceptions to that rule.

Lorenzo was new in the Guard, as I was, but I had the
benefit of almost two years of Cadet training behind me. The training for
vampires is far less thorough than that. Honestly, when I saw him handling that
sword, I started thinking that I had to look over him. It took me four nights
to convince him to try an axe instead. With his way of swinging with all his
strength in the blow, it just made more sense.

I had never had much interest in vampires before.
The only vampire I knew was Will, and he was very... special to me. For years,
I thought of him as a hero that was keeping me safe, and later... But I was
talking about Lorenzo, wasn't I?

I was saying I never had an interest in vampires
before meeting Lorenzo. In truth, I never did even after. When we started
talking, on those nights when no demons showed up, or when I started showing
him fighting moves, it wasn't a vampire I had in front of me. It was a young
man, just a few years older than me, who was funny, and a bit dorky. A man, I
learned after a few weeks, who kissed like an angel. A few weeks more, and I
knew he made love like a devil.

The night after I first slept with Lorenzo, we
crossed paths with Will over the walls. When he looked at me—at us—he seemed
colder than I had ever seen him, but when the demons attacked, he fought with a
fire come straight from hell. He'll deny it to the day he's ashes but I knew it
from the first night. He was jealous.