Chapter 23

Chapter 23

That was it. I couldn’t leave the Night Flower out in the open any longer. These vampires were too emotional and way too dramatic. Or it could be because they were just men who weren’t in control. One or the other. Possibly a mix of both, truthfully. I wasn’t going to let their outbursts harm the one thing that held any value in my life anymore. Altyr probably wanted that to be him, but he’ll have to wait a bit before we get to that point.

I sunk my hands into the dirt, letting the earth give me a modicum of comfort I hadn’t had in ages. My heart was cold, my soul empty. Altyr wasn’t there to fill it. The only thing that could fill it was the Night Flower, and it was right in front of me.

Softening the surrounding dirt, I pulled lightly at the roots to dislodge them. I didn’t want to damage the plant. No one would have thought we had just moved it into the garden recently, it looked as if it had been there for ages. Everything looked the same, full of color and life.

I wanted to say it was all because of my skills of horticulture, but I knew the actual secret now, it was whatever magic resided inside me. Controlling the world around me was becoming something I just naturally did. The more I worked in the garden, the more I wished for it to thrive. Bending to my will, the plants did as I had imprinted. The Night Flower was just the same. The flower that gave me the power, bent to my will just the same.

Pulling the roots, the bottom of the flower, I carefully placed it inside the pot I had prepared. The sun was almost entirely gone, dusk nearly over and bleeding into the full starlight of evening. I needed to get the flower back to my room before all the vampires came out into the garden and saw me covered in dirt.

My head whipped around as I heard a crash of wood and stone. Nathaniel had thrown his hollow out of their lower room and into the hallway just outside of the garden. With a quicker pace, I packed the Night Flower into its pot and kicked the rest of the dirt back into the hole I had just dug. Slipping on the disturbed ground beneath me, I tried my best to hide around the broken pillar Orrin had rudely oppressed not long before.

Both of them were half dressed as he tossed her about. He couldn’t even keep his violence to himself or the room. He had to do this in public for others to witness. The cruelty was the point, a warning to all those who looked on that he was the villain they all assumed vampires could be. This man was the one they told tales of.

“You could at least make some fucking noise,” he said to the hollow as he pulled her limb body toward him, “being so quiet makes this no fun. I like it when they scream.”

Silence. The hollow didn’t scream; she didn’t cry out, and so she was rewarded with another fist. She wasn’t screaming out loud, but she was screaming in my head. I heard every cry, every whimper. Swallowing hard, I forced myself to not be overcome by it. I couldn’t let her pain cripple me too.

He ripped her dress up as he moved himself onto her. Her screams in my head intensified, rattling my senses. I couldn’t let him rape her right there, right in front of others who could stop him. No one did a thing when I was screaming at Bazak. I would not let another man force himself on a woman, not when I had the option to intervene.

“Stop,” I shouted as I marched over toward the man.

He froze, but not from magic, just shock that someone had yelled at him. Throwing down her body, he stood up to face me. “Who has the audacity to yell orders at me from the shadows?”

“I did,” I said as I slowly walked closer to them. Either my timing was impeccable or my rage was that present that the surrounding torches all lit up in unison at my arrival. I pulled the Night Flower closer into me, protecting it as best I could for what I was about to do.

Light shone in his eyes, reflecting off the inky black that covered them. The look of bewilderment colored his face as I marched right up to him with a strangely calm grace before leaning down to the wounded hollow.

The callous hands of his wrapped around my arm, pressing into my flesh with a sharp pain. “How dare you interfere.”

Looking down at his hands with disgust, my lip curled up, and I said, “I dare.”

I knew what he was going to do to me if he forced his strength on me. There was only so much my small frame could endure. If I wasn’t careful, I’d end up just like the ruined hollow at my feet. My rage would not let that happen. Becoming another victim was not on my agenda for the day.

“Stop,” I commanded just as his arm flexed to twist mine. His body had frozen in place. The unbreakable rage shone in his eyes, sparks flying across them as he tried his best to use whatever magic he could to stop me. None of it worked.

The warmth of the Night Flower next to my body was absolutely intoxicating as I flexed my will on this horrible man. A distant thrumming beat inside my soul, pushing me to move. Pulling my arm out from his grasp, I leaned down and pushed my will on the hollow at my feet.

“Come with me, child, you are free,” I said as I pulled her body up to her knees. A flash of light sparked in her eyes, swirling similarly to the lights the Night Flower once hit me with that fateful evening.

Her face changed, her head moved. Looking around, she saw the frozen vampire next to us. I covered my ears as her blood-curdling scream vibrated the air around us. The man’s frozen state was thawed, and he fell forward, tripping over us. The look of horror and fear decorated her face as she tried to crawl away from us both.

Nathaniel quickly righted himself and lunged at me. In a flash, Altyr was between us, deflecting Nathaniel so he stumbled away. His long silver hair shown in the rising moonlight as he protected me and the hollow. More vampires and hollow crowded around us.

The injured hollow behind us was still screaming and sobbing to herself against the wall, trying to crawl away, but the presence of other vampires forced her to pull herself into a ball.

An angry spittle flung out of his mouth as he said, “This bitch stole my hollow.”

Morina was now at the edge of their circle. “Why is there an ear piercing mortal screaming this early into the evening?”

“This bitch did something!”

“Call her a bitch one more time,” Altyr said through gritted teeth.

Nathaniel cracked his neck and said, “She used some strange magic and froze me in place. Then gave my hollow her damn curse.”

Morina crossed her arms and watched the interaction without saying another word.

“Of course she did, you were raping the damn hollow in my courtyard. Why did you think that was acceptable behavior in my home?”

Nathaniel lunged for Altyr but he grabbed him and pulled him closer. In a low rumble of a voice he said, “touch her again and you die.”

Morina waved her hand at them and said, “we’re just going to overlook the whole magic she exhibited just now then?”

I was backing myself up to the hollow. Her arms latched tightly around my leg, clinging to me for safety. I didn’t want to make her face what they did to her, not like this. She’s still just a scared young girl.

“You think I would turn her just because she’s pretty on the eyes? Of course I’m turning her because of her magic. I would be foolish not to. She will be mine and no one else’s.”

I could feel the tensions rising, the magic sizzled in the air, an electric daze floating between the powerful creatures in the garden. Pulling the girl closer to me, the pressure of her body made me know I was doing the right thing. I held her tightly with my free arm and the flower in the other. I wasn’t going to let the beast have either one of them.

“Give it back,” Nathaniel growled.

A snarl of disgust was on my lips. “Come and try to take her.”

In a quick flash, he threw himself toward me. Altyr tried to intercept, but the man managed to throw him off balance before running head first toward us. The only thing I could think of was a barrier, a shield that would protect us. Taking a deep breath, I tried my best to focus on that.

A whirl of wind and noise grew out of my body, pushing the vampire away with ease. A shimmering light illuminated the air between us. He attempted to throw himself into it, but only bounced off, hitting the ground with force. A guttural growl escaped his lips as he yelled, slashing at it with no effect.

Exhaustion was edging at my senses as I kept that barrier between us. I transfixed my eyes on him as he assaulted the light. The hold the girl had on me firmed with every hit he made. Sparks of energy were blasting off with every contact, sizzling against his skin when it touched. After another lunge, Altyr moved in to stand between the barrier and Nathaniel. The look he gave me, he was drilling daggers with his eyes straight through the shimmering barrier directly at me. I knew he didn’t approve of what I was doing.

The warmth from the flower was filling my soul, I didn’t need Altyr or his looks of judgment. Backing up toward the washroom door, I knew it couldn’t last too much longer. The barrier’s energy came from me, it had to have, and I was losing strength just standing there. The girl shuffled beneath me, following my slow steps away. Taking my eyes off the growing crowd of supernatural creatures witnessing the spectacle, I instructed her to open the door.

Looking up at me with scared eyes, she frantically shook her head no. The grip on my leg merely tightened. The exhaustion was setting in as the moonlight dimmed between us. Nathaniel was pacing back and forth at its edge, a predator waiting to make his move.

Shaking my leg to peel the girl away, she grabbed it again. “Honey, if you don’t open that goddamn door, in a few moments this barrier is going down, and he kills us both. OPEN THE DOOR.”

Her eyes widened at my harsh tone, but she finally let go and scrambled for the door. Her hands were shaking as I heard the creak of the wood. The smell of soap and the sound of running water cut through the vulgar remarks in front of us. Keeping my body facing the vampires, I backed my way into the doorway. Altyr was right beside Nathaniel, posed to jump the moment the barrier fell. The look of disappointment he was giving me cut into my heart. He had put so much trust in me for me to have broken it this way. In that moment, he knew I had been lying to him. Our eyes were locked as I closed the door behind me, severing the gaze. Whipping my head around, I yelled at her to run across the water and down the servants’ hallway.

“In just a moment, this shield will drop. They won’t know it because of the doorway. We will only have a few moments to flee,” my voice shook as I tried to sound confident. “We have to run. What’s your name?”

Her voice crackled from lack of use as she said, “Idaal.”

“Idaal,” I patted her on her shoulder, “I’m getting you out of here. We’re getting out of here.”

A small smile crept up on her face before she nodded and skittered through the room, splashing her way through the water as her tattered dress whipped around her. We only had a short time to make our escape. I hoped Altyr would stop Nathaniel from charging in there right away, but if the looks he had been shooting at me was any indication, then I probably couldn’t rely on him.

She made it to the edge of the room before I let the barrier drop. Exhaustion slammed into me like a wave, causing me to stumble. I couldn’t let the hollow down now and I put all my energy into turning and running with her. Splashing through the water, I slid across the stone as we ran down the hallway.

The Night Flower was bobbing along in the pot as we sprinted down the hall. Shouting and yelling echoed off the walls as we neared the outer door. Idaal was slamming into it, trying to get it to open. It had still given me fits even that week. I reached her and pushed on it with all my might as it finally cracked open. Stumbling out of it, I grabbed her hand, and we sprinted across the open grass, sheets still flapping in the breeze. Ducking under them, we tried to get as far as we could toward the gate.

Rounding the edge of the outer castle wall, I saw Orrin and Lenora walking back up from the gates. Even from our distance I could see Orrin’s hand slap his forehead as both of them ran to join us.

“You stupid, stupid girl! What have you done,” he yelled.

“I didn’t mean to wake her!” I sobbed to them. “He was trying to rape her in the garden! I had to do something!”

Lenora wrapped her arms around the hollow, pulling her into a comforting hug. Idaal let out a painful sob into her chest. Orrin was rubbing his face and head, unsure what to do next. Shouting was heard behind us and we looked back to see a crowd of vampires exiting the building, running down the steps.

“We have to go, we have to go now!”

“No,” Orrin commanded. “You have made a mess of things, Sylvia. You can’t run from all of them!”

“He’s going to kill her and me,” my shaky voice spat out. “We have to run. We have to!”

Altyr’s voice cut through the chatter, hitting that hole in my chest and pulling it open. “You should have told me.”

Orrin leaned backward with his arms crossed giving me an expectant nod. Lenora rolled her eyes at him and patted Idaal’s hair down, pulling her in closer to the middle of our circle so Nathaniel didn’t dare to rip her away.

“I didn’t know what it even was, I didn’t know what I even could do,” I sputtered out.

“Do you think I’m trying to get you killed? Do you think I want you to be harmed? I could have protected you against them. Instead, you hid all of this.”

“I—“ In my arms the flower gave off several wisps of light, as if spurred on by the surrounding insanity.

His eyes narrowed at me as the wisps floated up and around my face. “You controlled a vampire and now you hold a flower of pure light. You’re hiding secrets and literally manipulating the people around you. Sylvia, you are in the wrong right now.”

“You were the one who started this! Of course I wasn’t going to tell the one person who tried to end my life that a magic flower saved me.”

He turned away from us and toward the vampires that were coming closer. Morina was gliding her way across the field, bringing a cloud of darkness with her. Nathaniel was shouting and pushing people out of the way. The undead creatures in our home were there to demand justice.

“How do I know you’re not a Lightbringer spy? How do we know this wasn’t your plan all along?”

It was like a stab to the gut. I let out a gasp and swallowed hard. “You only wanted to turn me for my power. You just wanted to use me like every man in my life does. I heard you say it yourself several times.”

“I said that so they would leave you alone. This is a game we’re playing and you’re playing it wrong, Sylvia!”

Rage was building inside me, the light of the Night Flower was darkening as the misting swarmed around my fingers, darkness escaping my body. All these vampires were trying to do was control me, control us. I couldn’t let them take me, or take her.

Altyr’s hand wrapped around my wrist, he pulled me closer to him and said, “Stop this, now.”