Chapter 5

Chapter Five

WATERFALL

‘K yle?'

No answer. I strain to see into the darkness beneath the creaking trees. There are no landmarks, nothing I can orient myself by except the moon. My fists clench, tears in my eyes. When I pull out my phone, there's no coverage.

I'm stuck out here.

Anger rises, cutting into my fear. Kyle is so fired when I get home. If I get home. I chew my lip, considering my options. Perhaps if I keep to the edge of the forest, I'll make it back that way. I hope.

Before I reach the trees arms come around me, teeth grazing my ear.

‘Let me go!' I push at the arms holding me like iron bands, even though I know it's useless. I have no strength against vampires. But to my surprise I'm released, and a dark figure appears in front of me.

It's Kyle.

‘What the fuck!' I shriek. ‘Take me home, now!'

He leans in fast, like a striking snake, his hand tight on my arm. ‘No, and keep your voice down. It's not safe out here.'

‘Keep my voice down?' I am going to kill him. ‘I wouldn't be in danger if it wasn't for you, asshole!'

‘Asshole?' One corner of his mouth curves up. Is he laughing at me? ‘And here I am, thinking I'm doing you a favour.'

‘How is bringing me to the middle of nowhere and disappearing doing me a favour?' I want to shriek so loudly the treetops sway, but I keep my voice to a sharp whisper.

‘I brought you out here because I thought you needed it.'

‘I needed to be put in danger? That is literally the opposite of what a guard is supposed to do!'

‘You're not in danger. As long as you're with me, anyway.' He draws back from me, his silver gaze narrowing slightly. ‘And I will take you home.'

‘And then you'll be fired, when I tell my parents what you did!' Okay. Probably not the wisest thing to say to the person who holds my safety in his hands. He could disappear again, and then I'd be screwed. Still, it's done now. I fold my arms and wait, hoping he hasn't noticed how much my legs are trembling.

‘You won't tell them.'

‘I won't?' Fear, now, clenching around my insides like a fist. ‘Why?'

‘Because, like I say, I'm doing you a favour. I'm going to show you something wonderful.' He steps back, stretching his arms out and turning his face to the moon. ‘Can't you feel it? Step outside your narrow world for a moment.'

‘Feel what?' A couple of tears trickle down my cheek. I wipe them away, quickly. The last thing I need to do is tempt him.

‘Just think about where you are right now.' His silver gaze softens, slightly. ‘Come on, Emelia. I can tell you need this.'

I frown, looking around. What in darkness is he on about? What, about any of this, could I possibly need? Then, as I stand in the cold meadow, frost forming on my boots, something inside me shifts. And I realise. There's no one here to judge me. No family name. No need to pretend. Just me. And Kyle. Who, I realise, has done me a favour after all.

This is how things will be, once I escape my destiny. How it will feel to be alone, and free. It's an extraordinary revelation. I tingle all over, turning slowly, breathing in the night, the open space, the fresh air.

‘Good,' he says, in a self-satisfied sort of way, and I want to smack him again. But instead, I meet his gaze.

‘All right then,' I say, feeling as though I'm about to step off a cliff. ‘What do you want to show me?'

* * *

Water tumbles past us, phosphorescent foam spattering against the dark flow. I can see more now we're out from under the trees, the moon's light unhindered.

It's beautiful.

The waterfall thunders into the gorge, the stream rushing through the forest to throw itself over the cliff. My toes are at the edge, stone slick beneath my feet. Kyle's arm is around my waist. I know it's to stop me from falling, but wonder whether it's just the waterfall that's making my heart beat so fast.

‘This is amazing!' My voice is lost in the roar of falling water. I lean forward, the drop sheer below me to a moonlit pool churned silver and black.

‘Careful!' He pulls me back. ‘If you fall in I'll be in trouble.'

I try to imagine what this place will look like in daylight, how sunlight will dance off the water, blue and green and white and gold. I want to stay longer, feel the power surging in the water, droplets misting my skin. But the pressure on my waist increases, Kyle pulling me back towards the trees.

The Great Forest is a place of mysteries, of dark stories, the black mass of it glimpsed from my bedroom window just another thing to fear. But now, walking through it with Kyle, moonlight painting the trees with silver and picking out the details on his jacket, it feels more like a fairy tale. I'm transfixed by it, stopping to examine delicate lichen on a branch, frost patterns on a leaf, my breath puffing clouds into the air. Moon-silvered trees surround us, their branches tangled like lace against the sky, roots lost in shadow.

I should be afraid, out here alone in the middle of nowhere. It's what I've been guarded against my whole life, a wall of silver and black between me and the world, my parents keeping me safe. But as I stop again, my fingers tracing the velvet curves of a small mossy nest tucked into a low branch, all I feel is wonder.

The land falls away to one side of us, shimmers of golden light in the distance. I can still faintly hear the roar of the waterfall. It's as though there's a fluttering bird in my chest, and I can't quite place the feeling. But, as we head deeper among the tangled trees, I realise what it is. Freedom. Out here, I'm not Raven. I'm no one. My walls are completely gone. I have no idea who I am without them. It's terrifying and exhilarating at the same time.

Kyle was right. It's exactly what I need.

‘Keep moving.' Kyle's tone is brusque, crashing into my reverie.

‘But it's so beautiful. The moonlight. The forest. Everything.' I feel almost drunk. Maybe I am drunk, though I only had one glass of wine at the bar.

‘Is it?'

I frown. ‘Yes. Isn't that why you brought me here? To see this?'

He stops and turns, coming back to me. He stares down at me, his face shadowed. ‘I brought you here because I could. Because that's the reality of your world.' He pauses. ‘And also because you looked like you wanted out.'

‘Wh-what?' My voice is a whisper. Something passes between us, as though a ribbon is binding us together, tightening. His body is close to mine, his violet scent all around me.

He leans in.

I swallow. My eyes close.

Cool breath mists across my lips.

There's a screeching noise, the flap of wings, the clatter of branches. I tense, my eyes coming open, and take a step back. ‘What's that?' I gasp.

‘Nothing,' he says. ‘Probably an owl, hunting.'

Hunting.

The spell breaks and I remember I'm alone in the woods. With a vampire. This is everything my parents have ever warned me against. He leans in again and I panic. What the hell is he doing? One minute he seems to hate me, and now he's trying to kiss me ? My heart is pounding, thunder in my ears. I force myself to calm down, using the control I've been practising since I was a child, the ways of making myself less tempting, less human, less vulnerable. I turn my head, stepping back.

‘What was that writing I saw tonight?' I say, hoping it will break the tension.

‘What writing?' Kyle also steps back. It's a relief, but at the same time part of me feels bereft. I squash that part down, stamping on it.

‘The North Wind will blow. What's that? A new band I don't know about?'

‘Where'd you see that?' There's a subtle tension in his voice that wasn't there before.

‘In Dark Haven. On the wall of the burned building. So, what is it?'

Kyle doesn't say anything for a moment. I start to feel nervous, like I've said something wrong. Finally, he speaks.

‘You remember earlier tonight, when Ira mentioned unrest? And what I told you?'

My eyebrows shoot up. ‘What? You're saying the North Wind is… the human uprising?'

He nods.

I laugh, because it's ridiculous. ‘They can't imagine they can beat us, can they?'

Kyle raises his eyebrows. ‘You'd be surprised.'

He's right. I'd be totally fucking surprised if humans thought they had any chance rebelling against vampires. But I don't know what else to say so I change the subject, hoping to hang onto the faint thread of connection still hanging between us.

‘Is that the Safe Zone? It looks beautiful from here.' I point at the faint glow, just visible through the trees.

‘A lot of things do from a distance.'

‘What?'

‘Nothing.' His tone is curt. The thread breaks.

I frown. ‘I've heard it's a pretty nice place.'

‘Have you? Because the way I see it, it's your family farm. One of many.'

Something about the way Kyle describes it as a farm makes me uncomfortable. ‘But it's a good place to live, right?'

This is literally the basis of my plan to get away, so I hope it is. I silently curse my sheltered life, the way I've been kept in the dark, both literally and figuratively. Yet I know what I've seen, watching videos in the library alone. What a human life, lived in the light, is like. It's what I want, more than anything.

He huffs out a laugh. ‘What makes you think that?'

‘Well, because it's safe? And I know we take care of… um.' My discomfort increases, something about the night stripping the layers away, the gauze from my eyes.

He snorts. ‘Would you like it?'

The woods feel darker, endless. Branches stab at the sky. Anger sparks inside me. What is his problem? Why bother bringing me out here, if he's just going to act like he can't stand me the whole time? ‘I don't understand.' My voice is higher than usual. ‘It's a safe place for humans, where they can live their lives.'

Where I can live my life.

‘You think being farmed for blood is living your life?'

It's like a slap.

‘Farmed? But isn't it only if h-humans want?—'

Before I can finish he moves, faster than I can see. I'm pressed against him, bending back, his arm around my waist holding me up. His other hand moves my hair away so my neck is exposed. Fuck.

‘ You're human. Doesn't that mean I can eat you , whenever I want?'

‘You know you can't!' I push at him, but it's like pushing against a statue. Fear sits sour in my throat. Because he can. Of course he can. I have no way to stop him.

‘Tell me.' His voice is a whisper, deep in the night. ‘Why is that?' He traces his finger down my throat, cool on my skin.

I close my eyes, rage pulsing red behind my eyelids. But with it comes a deeper twisting, also red, from his closeness, his breath on my neck, the hardness of his body against mine. I try to swallow, my mouth dry. ‘B-because I'm the heir to Raven.'

‘You're still human, though. No different to any of them.'

I can't breathe.

His mouth is on my throat.

I stare up at the night sky, at the distant stars. So this is it. Relief, strangely welcome, overcomes me, and I relax in his iron embrace. Fine. Put an end to it, then. Drain me dry.

A strange whooping noise, like a bird call, echoes from the woods. Kyle's mouth stops moving on my skin, and he becomes very still. ‘Don't. Move.' Cold prickles at the base of my neck, the dark woods seeming full of black shadows, moving things.

Then, without warning, Kyle scoops me into his arms and starts to run. He's going so fast it's dangerous. I curl myself into him as much as I can, wondering what the hell is going on. More of the strange whooping noises surround us, an eerie rise and fall of sound. Kyle, if it's even possible, speeds up. I can't see anything at all, the air rushing past my face.

‘Hold on,' he says. I tighten my grip. There's a feeling of weightlessness, then another, and I realise he's jumping. He jumps one more time, grunting with exertion. We land and he comes to a stop, skidding on the damp undergrowth, just missing a couple of large trees. He lets go but momentum still has me and I stumble, then fall. I lie there, my senses swirling as I try to catch my breath. Kyle drops down next to me and I hear him laugh. Of all things, he's laughing. What the hell? The strange whooping calls move further away, voices shouting a warning. I turn my head and realise we're just inside the high black fence topped with silver that borders our lands. Thank darkness, we're home.

‘Emelia, I'm sorry.' Kyle rolls towards me, briefly resting his hand on my waist. ‘Gods.' He rolls on his back again, his arms over his head.

He's sorry ? I sit up, running a hand through my hair, which feels stretched and windblown. ‘What the hell was that?'

Kyle tilts his head towards me, moonlight catching silver in his eyes. ‘That, my lady, was a Reaper gang.'

‘ What? ' It wasn't what I was asking. But still… ‘Are you serious?'

He nods. ‘I couldn't warn you, I just had to get you out of there.'

I feel faint. Reaper gangs are wild vampires, who don't consider themselves subjects of any of the realms. If they'd caught us we'd have both been dead, me drained dry and Kyle ripped apart, trying to defend me. I understand his laughter, now. Relief. I feel it myself.

Along with rage.

‘What is wrong with you?' I hiss. He is genuinely the worst guard I've ever met, like he has no idea how to act. ‘How dare you take me into the woods like that, and-and…' I can't say it. Can't say the worst thing of all, the worst thing about this stupid evening.

‘Nothing is wrong with me.' He gets to his feet and offers me his hand. I bat it away.

‘I can stand up by myself, thank you.' I scramble to my feet, tugging my skirt down.

‘What are you so angry about?' He's frowning. ‘I just saved you.'

‘ Saved me?' I can't even speak for a moment.

‘Is everything all right, my lady?'

Raven guards are the best in the land. Of course they heard us. Heard me, anyway. Half a dozen surround us, appearing almost from thin air. And, oh god and darkness, Bertrand is among them, his kindly face creased with disapproval.

‘I'm fine.'

‘Did something happen?' Bertrand has his arms folded. ‘The car was just getting ready to leave. We weren't expecting you home yet.'

I sigh. Kyle is standing to attention next to me. I can almost feel his desperation. I have a choice again, it seems. I can drop him in it, or I can save him.

For some reason, I go with option two. ‘I didn't feel well, so Kyle offered to bring me home.'

Bertrand's frown deepens. ‘Through the Great Forest?'

I glance at Kyle. He can deal with this.

‘We were on the road,' he said. ‘Then we ran into a Reaper gang, so I took my lady into the woods, hoping to outrun them. That's why we came over the fence.'

Bertrand's suspicious gaze comes to me. I nod, my eyes wide. ‘That's it,' I said. ‘That's what happened. I'm lucky Kyle is so fast, I guess.'

‘Emelia?'

All the guards, including Kyle and Bertrand, bow and step back.

Great. It's my mother.