Chapter 27

Chapter 27

They had a quartet playing some dreadfully sad music as I heard the chatter of guests outside the doors. Lenora had done her best with what we had. My shimmering silver dress floated around me as I walked. It was cut to show off my chest and expose my neck for all the vampires to admire and have them deeply crave sinking their fangs into. The sparkle and shimmering of my dress bounced off every light as we passed it. I was like one of the puffs of glowing magic the Night Flower put off.

Looking down at my arms, I watched as the black mist swirled around them. We didn’t cover them; I wanted them all to see what magic I was controlling. I would not hide the darkness, I would not hide the light. Being able to use and manipulate both of them needed to be known, they needed to see what I was capable of. They needed to fear me.

Lenora pulled my head toward her and fixed a few flyaway hairs. It was only when she was preparing my makeup that we had noticed the color of my hair changing. It was being stripped of its color entirely, fading to a soft gray color instead of my dark brown. She had formed it into a long loose braid that fell down my back. Several strands curled around my face, framing it. We had managed to wrap several blooms of the Night Flower in my hair and a few strips of lavender. The flowers were already faintly glowing, giving me an ethereal glow.

Tears were welling up at the edges of her eyes. She swallowed hard and said, “You look so beautiful.”

The moment we were sharing, it was like nothing I had ever done before. It was as if she was giving me away in marriage. In a way, it was like that; I was about to be forever bound to Altyr. “I feel beautiful. Thank you so much for everything.”

Nodding away her tears, she said, “You’ll do great. Just follow his lead and we’ll be done with this sooner than you know.”

Swallowing, I nodded to her, and she pushed open the door. At first, the chattering continued until the door was fully open and I stood there, alone at the top of the stairs. Looking across the courtyard, a bunch of dark figures turned to look toward me. Everything was dark, all their outfits were dark, the lights were low, and their auras were just dark. There I was to counter all of it.

I stood at the top of the steps looking down at all these creatures of darkness like a beacon in the night. I started to descend into the crowd to find Altyr. Every step I took was deliberate as the lights shimmered off my dress, coloring the ground in a dance. Lenora had advised me that Altyr was going to be closest to the ritual area. I had to wade through the shadowed creatures far enough to find him. The tables and chairs arranged out there made the yard look like an entirely different place. It looked like we normally hosted these types of events like a proper noble house.

Morina’s glare caught my eye as I passed. I held my gaze forward, refusing to give her the acknowledgment she wanted. None of the vampires deserved my attention. They parted around me, letting me walk through them undisturbed as they gawked at my appearance. My shimmering dress flowed like fog around me as I made my slow walk toward the front.

Silence fell as they each noticed me passing by. Piercing eyes cut into me as I glided by the various groups of vampires and hollows. Nathaniel stood off to the side drilling me with looks of hate. Idaal stood next to him in a loose-fitting dress and was covered in bruises. I had failed her. Tears edged in and I briefly shook them away before continuing on.

The quartet stopped playing as I neared the ritual area. There were a set of short stairs toward a platform that was ornate and surrounded by braziers. An arch connected the platform with a moon gate that was decorated in the various phases. Orrin was casually talking with Altyr at the bottom of the steps. His eyes widened as he noticed me approaching them from behind. Altyr must have noticed his friend’s shocked look as he whirled around to see what he was looking at.

I worried the entire time we were getting ready about how he would look at me. Would he embrace me accepting his offer like this? Would he begrudgingly accept me? Would he even bother to give me attention at all or would he reject me entirely?

What I hadn’t expected was the soft smile he gave as he raised his hand, offering to take mine. My heart skipped a beat, and that hole in my chest started feeling the warmth of him once again. I placed my hand in his, the fiery connection between us exploding inside once more. He slowly pulled me into him, his hand cupping mine, while his other rested on my waist. Pulling me toward him, my dress flowed around us as the exposed skin of my chest touched his suit and he smiled down at me, giving me that familiar look of desire.

“You look beautiful,” he said in what was almost a whisper. I looked down, unable to hold his gaze. His finger touched my chin and pushed it back up to him. “I’m glad you came.”

“I couldn’t leave you to face all of them alone. I don’t think you could manage without me,” I said with a coy smile on my face.

He let out a snicker and motioned for the quartet to start their music again. Taking my hand in his, he guided me around in a slow dance. This time it wasn’t a dance of death, but that of life, a new life for the both of us.

His hand pressed against me, pulling my waist into him tightly as we danced alone. All eyes were locked on us, my dress floating through the night air as we twirled about. I caught the eye of Nathaniel giving us looks of disdain as he spun me about. Our display would anger most of them and that itself gave me life.

“Just look at me, don’t look at them,” he said as he pulled me around, stepping with grace as we swayed and twirled.

He was wearing a finely tailored dark suit. The collar was stiff, and the fabric had a dark, shinier texture of roses throughout. His hair was styled and pulled back in several braids that fell down his shoulders with the mass of silver hair. Together we looked like moonlight in the night sky dancing away.

The look he was giving me was pure warmth. My whole body was on fire from that look alone, but the firm touch on my waist made me want to pull him into me there in front of them all.

In a low voice, I said, “I made you a promise, a commitment. I’m not breaking my bonds just because you threw me over your shoulder and tossed me in a dungeon. Some of us have more class than the others.”

That fang shone in the glow of braziers near us when he smirked and shook his head at me. Twisting me around to the sounds of a violin I let myself be taken by the moment. The pressure of his hand on my waist, holding me close to him, letting his body guide me around as we danced, was all I had dreamed of in a partner.

The look he gave me was drilling into my core, telling me he truly wanted me to be there dancing with him. Going into my supernatural eternity with him would not be so bad. At least his firm touch holding me close to him let me know I was still desired and cared for. I had been such a fool for not including him in my plans. Orrin had been right.

"I’m sorry.”

I saw him swallow hard.

“I was so used to distrusting everyone, thinking everyone had nefarious goals with me, that when a man said he’d be there for me, I didn’t believe him. I didn’t want to believe him. I didn’t want to admit to myself that someone could be there for me like that. Not after everything. I’m sorry that I didn’t believe you.”

Our swirling slowed down as he looked at me with a fiery intensity.

“These powers are scary, the darkness wrapping around my arms is absolutely terrifying. When you hold me like this though, I feel like maybe I can take on that darkness.”

“I won’t let the darkness consume you,” he said in a quiet tone.

I nodded. “Once we go through the ritual, I hope whatever makes me into a lightened hollow will help push the darkness away. If it doesn’t, I need you to promise me you will help guide me through it.”

He smiled and nodded to me.

“No,” I was going to pull the same move he had done to me. “I need you to say it.”

That fang showed as a smile stretched across his face. “I will guide you through the darkness. I will protect you. As long as we both live, Sylvia, I will protect you.”

Leaning his face closer to mine, I felt his hot breath on my lips as he edged himself near. I could feel his lips graze mine before he took my mouth. He devoured me, pulling my desire to my cheeks, flushing them with passion as his lips danced on mine. The kiss we shared was deeper than anything before. It had a meaning behind it, a commitment. I was his and he was mine. Together we were going to face the supernatural world as one.

Screams and chimes cut through the night. We both pulled away from the moment and were thrust back into reality. Lenora stood next to Orrin, pulling on his arm. Hollow servants were running around in panic as vampires were pulling out hidden weapons they all seemed to have stashed.

Altyr was still holding me close as he turned to Orrin for answers. “What’s happening?”

“Lightbringers.”

The screaming echoed across the crowd as battle broke out near the entrance. Arrows were flying over the walls of the castle. They were assaulting the gate. My head whipped to Orrin, he had mentioned we had broken the gate. It was only a matter of time before they knocked it down.

“This was your fault,” Nathaniel’s voice cut through the tense air. We all whirled around to look at him. He stood there armed with a longsword and ready to lunge at us. He pointed directly at Orrin and Lenora and not me.

“You two were suspiciously absent when this foolish girl did her display, only to show up later when we were all alerted. You were coming in from out there. Probably to tell the Lightbringers we were all here.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Orrin stated flatly. “Why would we bring the Lightbringers here?”

“They are outside these gates! They are here are they not?”

“We didn’t have anything to do with that!”

Without another word, Nathaniel lunged forward. Orrin moved in to stop him as his blade came down, but the vampire feinted right. Orrin’s own swing caused his momentum to continue forward, missing Nathaniel. With another swing, the blade came down again. This time on Lenora.

Unprepared she tried to twist out of the way, but it entered her shoulder with force. I let out a horrified shriek as Altyr tried to jump between us, trying to stop him from hurting Lenora. Orrin had turned around only to see the blade embed itself into his wife.

The hatred roared out of Orrin as he went into a frenzy of attacks. Altyr pulled the weapon out of Lenora’s shoulder, but Nathaniel grabbed it again, deflecting Orrin’s onslaught.

Sliding next to her as she collapsed to the ground, blood staining my silver dress as it pumped out of her. Trying to pull her shoulder back together, I screamed several nos repeatedly, as if that was going to fix her.

I did the only thing I could think of and tried to pull magic from the glowing Night Flower on my head and push it into her body, trying to will it to heal her. The light pulsated from my hands and into her. Her shoulder still lay split, the gash still bleeding profusely. It wasn’t mending; it wasn’t pulling her back together.

“Lenora, no. No, you can’t leave me like this,” I pleaded to her as tears streamed down my face.

She tried to say something but only blood escaped her lips. Behind me, I heard Orrin screaming and yelling as he fought with Nathaniel. He wasn’t even going to be there when the light left her for the last time. I grabbed her hand and squeezed it as tightly as I could.

“Lenora, we love you. You are amazing, you have always been amazing. Orrin loves you so much, you are all of our light. You will—” Another cough of blood interrupted my words of comfort. “I won’t forget you. We will never forget you. I’m so sorry. So sorry this happened.”

My hands were shaking as I held hers. I tried once again to push the magic into her, to heal her wound as mine had done before. Her body glowed, reacting to the magic, but it was too late. The wound was too deep, and she had lost too much blood. A faint smile crossed her lips and she gave a curt nod. Her eyes dimmed in color and her face slackened.

We lost her.

I took a moment to set her down on the ground with a delicate touch. My kind friend was needlessly struck down for no reason. An accusation by a vampire who had no idea what he was talking about. He killed her with no remorse. Gritting my teeth, I slowly stood up and turned to the fighting vampires.

The twisting and tearing of metal and screams were echoing across the battlefield, but I had one target, Nathaniel. He had abused Idaal, he had killed Lenora. I was going to kill him; I was going to not only kill him, but I was going to make him suffer as he made so many suffer. My vision was blurring as the tendrils edged at my vision. I glowered at the fighting vampires.

Nathaniel was stronger than I had thought and was able to keep both Altyr and Orrin at bay as they lunged in for attacks. Their movements were fast and strong. The clanging of swords echoed through the night sky. The moon was illuminated above, shining down a brilliant path of vengeance toward him just for me.

I threw my hands out to my side and focused on the powers within me. Shadow and light misted together around my fingertips, the moon giving me the magic I needed. I didn’t even need the Night Flower tonight, not for this. Nathaniel struck Orrin and caused him to fall to the side. Rage blinded Orrin, and he was not thinking properly about his moves. Jumping forward, he raced back toward Nathaniel with little tactic. Altyr managed to lunge forward in an attack but Nathaniel threw him over the erratic Orrin. The two vampires weren’t able to fight correctly when Orrin was in such a frenzy.

Nathaniel turned to see me walking toward him, covered in Lenora’s blood with the misting magic at my fingertips. The cruel smile that formed on his lips at my approach only infuriated me more. The darkness grew inside and colored the misting with more black than light. Taking a large step forward he went to lunge toward me and away from the men.

Only he stopped.

Looking down at his chest, a knife pierced through his heart. In the battle, he had forgotten about the one person who had the biggest reason to stab him. His body crumbled to the ground as Idaal stood behind him with a look of fury. She had taken the distracted opportunity to stab him in the back with all her might.

His body sizzled and popped as the darkness inside him took over. There was no holding it inside, no containing it. A cold fire consumed his body and in mere moments, he was in a puddle of ash and goo. Good to know a knife to the heart would render them so. Idaal stood for a few moments with a look of elation on her face, she had killed her abuser. I envied her a bit.

It didn’t last long as she bent over in pain. Dropping the misting, letting it fade back into myself, I ran to the poor girl. Her life was fading from her. Curling into a fetal position, she pulled her knees to her chest as she screamed out in pain.

“Help her,” I screamed to Altyr and Orrin as they walked up to us. “Help her!”

“We can’t,” Altyr said softly. “She killed her Sire before the ritual. Their bond doesn’t allow her to exist without him.”

“No! Not another one!” I tried to push the magic into her as I had with Lenora. She shook her head and pushed my hand away.

“Let me go.”

I shook my head as more tears stung my eyes, falling down my face and to the ground with small splashes. “I can’t, you can’t. You have to fight!”

Shaking her head again and groaning through the pain, she said, “I already fought. I won.”

She pushed me away before I could try anything else. Groaning out in pain she let out a pained cry before the darkness took her as well. Her body was covered in the dark misting, it swallowed her whole. The cold fire overtook her as well and within seconds, she too was a pile of ash and sludge.

I felt Altyr’s hand on my back, giving me a moment of comfort. Orrin didn’t hesitate and was running back to Lenora screaming repeated nos. I shook my head to Altyr as he looked to me for answers.

“I couldn’t heal her, it was too much.” We turned around to see Orrin cradling her body, the same tears streaming down his own face. “I tried, Altyr, I tried.”

“I know,” he said in a low tone. “We can’t all cheat death.”

The peeling metal sound pulled our attention back as the metal gate exploded toward the ritual platform. Altyr threw his body over mine to shield me from the flying metal. The dust settled, and we both looked back toward the entrance. Elongated hands and an army of teeth climbed through the wreckage. Darkened hollow in the hundreds swam through the metal like it was nothing.

A man on a horse appeared in the center, glowing in armor above them all. The creatures didn’t bother him as they pulled themselves through toward the crowd of vampires. On top of the armored steed stood the commander himself, Bazak.

He had finally come for me.