Vampire Girl 2: Midnight Star (20 page)

I pick up my broken sword and whisper a cloaking illusion. Once again, I turn translucent instead of invisible. Still, it helps to stay hidden as I trudge through the snow, searching for Fen. Where would he be? I look up, following the traces of fire in the bright sky. It leads to Stonehill.

Soldiers clash around me. Steel rings in the air. The vampire army has arrived, and the Fae have left the city to meet them. The gate is open.

I jog faster, ignoring my pain, evading the fighting around me. As I turn past the gate, a Fae soldier sees through my illusion and lunges at me. I block his sword with what remains of mine. A vampire slides a spear into his back, and I nearly trip as I watch the man die.

This has to end.

The city burns. It is as before. Nothing has changed. For all I have done, there is no peace.

I run to the other side of the castle, to the clearing by its gates, where fires blaze the brightest. In the midst of the flames, upon charred black land, I find Fen and Baron in battle against Oren. His phoenix is above him, in the sky, fighting Zyra, twisting through the air. Varis rides his giant spirit, guiding her, striking at the phoenix with a blade. Below, Fen fights with speed, agility, and a deadly blade, but Oren is larger and stronger. His hands are alight with fire, and he throws flame at Baron.

Dead bodies litter the ground around them, some Fae, some vampire, some Shade. All wasted life.

Baron lunges at Oren.

The Druid raises his blade.

And cuts the wolf's paws.

Baron falls, whining. Fen roars, attacking with more ferocity than before. But the Druid matches every blow. He pushes Fen back.

The vampire is growing tired. Oren is too strong. He strikes. Again. Again. And Fen falls to his knees.

Fen can't win this fight alone.

I run forward, jumping between Fae and vampire. "Stop!"

Oren laughs. "Did the vampires stop when they were slaughtering my people? Did they stop when they murdered my Queen?"

"It is a cycle that never ends," I say, as the histories of these people spread out in my mind's eye. "The vampires were cast here against their will, cursed with blood lust, ravaged with this new desire, only to find a people whose blood was an addiction."

"Am I to feel pity for them?" Oren asks. "Am I to offer mercy to these monsters?"

"What they did was not right. The slavery isn't right. But there is another way. We can free the slaves," I say, grasping onto hope. "Turn them into workers. Look around you," I shout. "Too many lives are lost, and not just vampire, but Fae, Shade, your people!"

He throws flame at me, and I leap to the side, avoiding incineration. "What would Madrid want? What would she say to what you've become?"

Oren pauses. "It is… too late for us," he says softly. "It is too late for peace!" Oren rushes at me.

Fen dashes forward. He knocks me out of the way, putting himself in front of the druid. He strikes, taking Oren in the shoulder.

And Oren takes Fen in the gut.

The Prince of War falls, his body charred and bleeding. I collapse at his side, holding him, pulling him close. Baron stands beside us, whining, licking his master's face. I place my head on Fen's chest. He is barely breathing. His eyes won't open, and I can feel his life slipping away.

He's dying.

My love is dying.

My chest constricts.

I can't breathe.

Tears fall onto his ravaged face. "Fen, please. Be strong. Stay with them." This is my fault. This is all my fault. He will die because of me. Because I brought the Druids back. Because I changed the fates.

Oren looms over us. He rends Fen's blade free of his shoulder and throws it aside. No.

Not my fault.

Let's put the blame where it belongs, shall we?

I hate to leave him, to move apart from him, but I must. I lay Fen gently on the ground and kiss his forehead. Then I stand, my broken sword in hand, my tears drying and my grief turning to wrath.

"How can you do this?" I ask, my voice icy cold. Deadly. "How can you destroy so much life?" Words form in my throat that are not mine alone. Something else speaks through me. "This is not why you were chosen." I step forward, all fear gone. All weakness and pain gone. "This is not your duty." I hold my sword up and point it at the Druid as all my illusions fall and I reveal myself as Fae. "You have failed your people. You have failed yourself. You…"

Oren stumbles back.

"Are…"

He falls to his knees.

"Not…"

His fire fades.

"Worthy."

"No!" Oren pleads, fear in his eyes. His phoenix fizzles in the sky, turning to ash. "You will not take Riku from me. You will not… "

"The Wild Ones, the Spirits of our people, they belong to no one." I slash my sword through the air, and where once it was broken metal, now it reforms with the colors of midnight. The blade strikes the Druid through the throat, and he collapses, his life bleeding out of him. His eyes lose focus, fading into the afterlife, and a golden red glow emerges from him. It is heat and light and Spirit seeking form. It drifts into the air, searching…. searching for one who is worthy.

I raise my sword above my head and more power surges through me. Lightning flashes. Darkness blocks out the sun, turning day into night. Thunder crashes. Stars glow bright. And there, in the darkness, a beast takes form. A beast of midnight.

My dragon spreads its wings and blue fire erupts from its mouth.

Those who are still left alive and fighting look up and tremble. Fae and vampires drop their weapons and run. They scour to the winds. They scream to the heavens.

The Midnight Star has returned.

***

I am consumed by the power flowing through me, and it takes a moment to find myself again. Yami soars the dark skies, making sure everyone sees him, stopping the fighting by his mere presence.

It is Baron's cold wet nose pushing against my leg that pulls me back to the world. Fen! He's dying.

I run to him and drop to my knees. His body is burning up, his color is fading. I focus on the rune on my arm, and channel strength to lift Fen into my arms, carrying him all the way back to the castle despite the my own agonizing pain that is resurfacing now that my power is waning. I carry him through the retreating armies and soldiers collecting their dead. Through the fires. Through the chaos.

I find the closest room, a servant's quarters, grey and nearly empty, and place him on the bed. I need a healer, but I have no idea where to find one. "Baron, find Kal. Get him here immediately!"

Baron dashes out of the room, his paws leaving wet prints on the rug.

"Oh Fen. Wake up. Breathe. Live. I need you." I plead with him, my tears returning now that the rage has left me. Now I am only filled with heartache and fear. With a grief that threatens to undo me.

I rush to my room and fetch a bag with rudimentary healing supplies. When I return to Fen, I pull out a salve and rub it over his burned skin, where Oren's flaming blade touched him. I flinch, knowing how deep these burns go. Knowing that there is no salve that will heal this. He needs an ER with skin grafts and surgery. Not creams and herbs. I honestly don't know how he'll survive.

I need something stronger. Maybe in Kal's room…

I run into the hallway.

And into the tip of Levi's sword.

The Prince of Envy stares at me, rage in his eyes, fury in his voice. "You're one of them. The High Fae. The reason the Druids returned. The reason Ace nearly died. But once I kill you, they will slumber once more, and our kind will be safe."

"Levi, don't do this," I say. My voice wavers, my legs shake.  "I need to get back to Fen. He's dying."

"Because of you! All of this, all of this blood and death… it's because of you."

I don't know what else to do, so I run. I run down the hall and turn the corner—

I crash into a man's arms. He holds me upright.

Levi turns the corner and halts, gazing past me.

I look up.

And see Ace.

He moves forward, putting his body between me and Levi, his brown cloak scraping the floor. He is pale, weak, and walks with a cane. Tools clang on his belt with every step.

"Brother, what is this?" he asks.

"Ace, let me through," Levi says. "She is High Fae. She deceived us. Just look at her hair, her ears. You know what must be done."

"And what of the contract?" Ace asks. "We are as bound by it as she is."

"You nearly died," Levi says. "I thought you would." His voice sounds broken now, small.

Ace puts his hand on Levi's arm. "But I didn't. I am here, alive. And I have come to see how my brothers fare, only to find you trying to kill the princess."

"It is the only way we will survive," Levi says.

"There are always other ways. Have I not taught you that in all these years?" Ace steps back, protecting me with his frail body. "I believe I will be claiming my month with the princess, brother. From now on, she is under my protection. If you wish to kill her…" Ace pauses, staring straight into his brother's yes, "…you must kill me first."

EPILOGUE

Fenris Vane

"There are only flashes left. Only dust I try to grab in the wind. I remember… I remember a palace of white and gold. I remember spires that glow like the sun."

—Asher

Am I awake
? Dreaming? Reality is suspended between time and space. I am there. In the nothingness that exists between darkness and light.

The pain is gone. I feel it as but a memory of what once was.

The air no longer smells of blood and metal, of battle and death. Of fire and brimstone.

The sky is blue and clear. The horizon glows with bright light. My body feels ethereal. There is a lightness to my being I have never known.

I walk forward in mist, but my feet do not find purchase on land. Am I floating? Am I dead?

I lost the battle. I left Arianna alone in a world torn by war. I failed her. I failed us. I failed my people. My kingdom.

There is a low growl to my right, and I look down, surprised to see Baron there. The white wolf seems one with the surroundings. I drop my hand to his head and wonder if he is real. Will my hand land on fur and flesh and bone, or will it fall through the illusion like smoke?

But he is there. I feel the heat of him, the silkiness of his fur, the presence of him. I choke up with emotion, and I cannot tell if I am grieving that my dearest friend has died with me, or if I am overcome with relief that I am not alone. Am I selfless or unforgivably selfish?

I am both.

I am neither.

I am nothing.

I keep walking. Floating. Moving forward into more mist and whiteness and otherness.

And then I hear her voice. She is humming a tune I did not know I knew. My soul responds to this music, this lullaby, with a visceral lurch that leaves me breathless.

She appears through the mist. Her wild white hair flies around her like a living thing, entwined with leaves and flowers, her dress falling at her bare feet, clinging to her body like roots and branches, seemingly made of the earth itself. Her eyes are large sapphires splashed against pale skin. She is a goddess. A woodland nymph.

And in my soul, I know who she is. "Mother," I whisper.

She is before me now, her hands reaching out for mine. When I grasp them they are warm, grounded in the earth.

"I have waited so very long to see you again," she says, her voice melodic, soft, full of the echoes of all that has ever been. "To hold you. To know you. But this isn't where you are meant to be."

"I am dead." It's such a strange thought, to be dead after being immortal for more generations than I can remember.

"You are neither dead, nor alive," she says. "You are being reborn."

"So I can go back?" My heart quickens at the thought. I need to go back, but the reasons are fading. The nothingness is stealing me away.

"If you wish," my mother says. "Do you wish it?"

"Arianna. I must go back for Arianna."

My mother smiles. "She needs you, and you need her. But you are more than you imagine yourself to be, my son. You are my heir. My legacy. I have given you everything."

Her words make no sense, and yet I know they are true. My mother died years ago, yes, but this was not her. This was not the woman in the images my brothers showed me. This was not the Queen who ruled hell with my father.

"I am the mother he hid from you," she says. "I am the mother of all. Once, I was a Keeper of nature, of life. And you are my heir."

The heir. The heir. The heir. The words just keep repeating themselves in my head. Baron nudges me, as if trying to communicate something of great import.

I wish he had words. I do not understand.

She reaches for me, hugs me close. I feel her power, it emanates from her, pouring into me, around me, alighting something new within. It burns. It chokes. It suffocates.

She pulls away. "Awake, my son. Live. Save your love. Save your people."

As she turns to walk away, her hair blows around in the wind. And I see.

I see.

I see.

Her ears.

She is Fae.

I am Fae.

***

It burns. It hurts. The air smells of death and blood and metal and war. My body is on fire. A rough tongue licks my face and I open my eyes to see Baron staring at me, his wolf face overcome with worry.

Something tears at my skin. Pain. I lean up on the bed and examine my body. A dark red cut covers my stomach. But it is fading. The dry blood falls away, and underneath, is new skin. Smooth and healthy. Something spreads there. A symbol, a tree, roots, branches. A tattoo.

Baron howls into the night. He grows luminous in the dark. Silver glyphs flash across his body, vanishing and appearing again. I do not understand what is happening, cannot recall where I am or why.

I gather my thoughts, and I remember. "Arianna!"

"She is gone from this place, brother." Asher sits on a chair in the dark, where I did not see him before. He leans forward, his cold face entering the light. "So, it is finally time. Time you learned who you are."