by Emma Glass
A huge branch came crashing down hard against the ground where we had been standing.
Reunited in the fractured wood, we tugged each other into a hard embrace. Was it you or me?” I whispered in her ear, happy to see her safe and sound. “Who remembered?”
“I… don’t know, actually.” Nikki released her grip.
“What a way to get acquainted with this place.”
“I was so scared.” Nikki rubbed the back of her neck. “I couldn’t remember who I was, where we were... even why we were here. That was… unreal.”
“It was,” I sighed wearily.
“And so much fun!” She replied as a strange laughter bubbled up inside her. “Can we do it again?”
Softer sounds interrupted before I could point out how insane she sounded. The other vampire lords landed much less eventfully through the canopy. Dusting myself off, I checked my cloak for damage as they made their way through the branches above.
“You made it,” Svetlana called down.
“Falling dreams,” Eyes-Like-Fire grunted, standing tall and proud on a bough. “I hate falling dreams…”
“I could certainly do without them, too.” I released my cloak, letting it flop to the side. “But that should give us an idea of the danger we are in here. That was how we entered this dream. It only gets worse from here on out.”
Valentine dropped to the forest floor, glaring around.
“This is it, isn’t it?” I briefly studied her posture. “That forest you once saw. This is the place.”
She grunted aloofly. What do I sense here? Nervousness? Did what you see here truly strike fear into that unconquerable old heart of yours? “Indeed, Lord Craven. As for yourself…? Do you recognize these foul, miserable woods?”
I defiantly nodded. “There’s no mistaking it.”
Apprehensively, the others studied the woods around. But I tilted my head, scouring for signs of that malevolent force in the dreams of Clara Blackwell. I noticed a spark of interest that Valentine was already doing the same thing. Perhaps she really did encounter this creature before. There’s no denying she recognizes this environment… And then I felt it.
And then I felt it.
Her eyes and mine narrowed at the same time.
“What is that?” Chandra exclaimed, dropping down.
Nikki immediately tensed up. “Not a friend.”
The lord of the Wastes turned sharply and stared at me. “The trap has sprung. Are you ready for this?”
I turned towards the distant chaos, my eyes narrowing with a blind fury. Nikki fell into place at my side as I said: “We have a Calamity to stop, and a witch to save.”
Chapter 15
Nikki
Once the blind terror of the fall had fully worn off, I finally noticed the surreal nature of her dream.
The air felt… different. If I concentrated hard, I caught the faint, unmistakeable taste of evergreen wood in the ambient air. As my fingers graced bark and thorns, I was offered sensations I could not possibly deny—although they were not the same as what I remembered, not exactly. Even my ‘real’ memories felt strangely distant now, and not entirely right anymore…
This isn’t good. Never feels like a dream when you’re inside, does it? Dreams always have a funny way of making you forget. But this one is life and death, and for more than just us…
I wondered if the others could tell—especially Elliott. If he did, he hadn’t said a word about it yet. I wondered then how the ever-turning cogs in his head might spin…
Racing through the trees, I tried memorizing the sensations of the woods as my hands grasped branches and my face brushed twigs. Distantly, a storm was brewing here—and we knew what that meant.
Clara’s in trouble.
Though I may not be as calculated and brooding as my older brother, I pride myself on being practical. All of those warm feelings I once held for Clara were a distant memory unto themselves, there was the simple fact that I had put a great deal of effort and time into saving Stonehold—and it simply wouldn’t do to let some mysterious enemy swoop in and undo all my hard work. I hate to admit it. But I guess the enemy of my least favourite friend is, still, my enemy…
That said… I had my own, personal bone to pick with Clara when all of this was over.
That brings back memories, my whisper chirped up.
Yes, I replied dryly. I recall. I was there.
You don’t sound… thrilled to remember.
It involved me going mad and killing my sister. You might forgive me for considering that day a double-edged blade. I lost one thing to gain another. And the ‘one thing’, well… I liked the ‘one thing’.
which one is more important to—
Oh, no. We are not doing that right now.
I… I am sorry. Really.
Are you? Because I feel like you’re not.
That was asking too much of you.
You think? Surely, you jest…
Forgive me, Nikki. I’m… not feeling very well.
That makes two of us. I’ve felt odd since we even arrived in this horrendous place. Something with the air. It’s not natural.
We’re not breathing.
Huh. Well, call me a shaved manticore. You’re right.
Natural law doesn’t apply here, not as we know it.
You know, you’d think I might remember to breathe…
But that’s not what I meant. I feel strange.
I briefly paused—the others did not notice this at first. That’s… different. Strange how? Is it Maestifico? Is that spell messing with you again?
No. I feel… weaker. In a different way.
Are you about to guilt-trip me over the kill last night?
Nikki, please.
“You okay back there?” Elliott called out.
I snapped back to attention, realizing the vampire lords were all sternly watching me from the surrounding trees. Wasn’t exactly hard to see why—I’d stopped dead in my tracks, dangling idly from one arm in the branches.
“Oh. Uh, yes.” I pulled myself back up.
He landed on a branch next to mine. “You sure?”
Hiding my surprise behind a grunt, I rolled my eyes. “I am fine, brother. I got distracted. It’s a dream. It happens.”
Elliott searched my eyes for a few seconds, but nodded. “Okay. We’re nearly there. She’s here somewhere…”
A sudden clash got our attention—and a shriek.
His head twisted. “There!” He instantly lunged further into the woods. The council followed after him except one. Valentine Vasiliev watched me coolly for a fleeting second, her suspicious eyes trying to penetrate me.
I ignored her, running after them.
But Valentine kept on my tail, her glare stalking me…
* * *
When we caught up with the destruction, I wondered what made it so very bloody hard to miss in the first place. The path of devastation wasn’t exactly subtle. We leapt forward as the roaring rampage swept through the forest. Rushing through the trees ahead of us was a very familiar witch who was fleeing for her life.
Catching him, my hand clasped over his mouth. Elliott resisted, but I held him tight. “Don’t call for her!” I hissed in his ear. “Distract her now, and she’s dead!”
His eyes flew open with acknowledgement.
I relinquished my grip as the other lords halted around us. Valentine hung back, looking a little shaken as the fierce storm raged past us.
“My gods,” Eyes-Like-Fire swallowed. “What is it?”
There was no creature to be fought. The very forest was on the attack, whipping up in a furious gale with a very single-minded objective…
Kill the witch.
At her heels, branches fell down and roots ripped up. It was a horrifying sight to see. The dream had turned on her like she was an intruder, and it wanted her gone.
“This is her dream?” I stared at Elliott.
He nodded despondently. “A bitter nightmare that has haunte
d her for years. When she is back on her world, this is what she dreams—her own death. Over and over again. The mere fact that she has not been driven mad by this is, as far as I’m concerned, a testament to her strength.”
“Chilling.” Chandra even shivered.
“What now?” I turned to him. “How do we help?”
He didn’t answer. Instead, Elliott darted after the thing, keeping to the branches above. Sighing, I followed him, in the company of our reluctant allies. Keeping a wide berth around the advancing chaos, we approached around a side of the expected trajectory.
Elliott pensively settled in a crouch on a thick bough.
Svetlana landed near him: “Tell me you have a plan.”
“I am considering the options.”
“Options?” Valentine barked, landing beside Svetlana. “How are we supposed to fight that thing?”
He glanced up. “What did you do?”
Her eyes flashed. “What?”
“You said you’ve seen it. What did you do?”
Valentine chuckled haughtily. A little too haughtily. She was afraid, and even the others could see it now.
“I repelled it. That was all that I could manage.”
“You can ward it off?” I asked.
Her eyes cut away. “Briefly. It was… powerful.”
“That’s one option…” Svetlana observed as the sounds of the shredding forest roared before us. “Anyone have other ideas? It looks like we don’t have much more time.”
That much was true—her invisible predator gained on her, but what could we do? It was not a tangible creature. I couldn’t fathom a way of attacking it, not without any real idea of what it even was. Nor, it seemed, did the others…
Eyes-Like-Fire was clearly rattled by this entire fiasco. This isn’t a monster you can drive a spear through. You are not used to a hunt you can’t overwhelm… Hesitating, she took a step back along her branch. “What monster is this?”
Maybe that is the answer.
I pricked an ear, not that it made any difference. Maybe what is the answer? Are you holding out on me right now…?
Perhaps it is intangible because—
Elliott and I realized it together: “It’s not a monster.” We shared an understanding look as the others stared between us, scratching their heads.
Valentine finally growled. “What do you mean?”
“That thing isn’t a monster…” he grinned widely.
I finished his sentence with a smirk. “It’s a spell.”
* * *
“It makes sense,” Svetlana realized aloud. “But spells must be cast. We have seen nobody else here—no one who could have unleashed this kind of magic upon her.”
“Doesn’t need casting,” I replied. “We know why.”
“Explaining later!” Elliott darted downwards.
“Come on!” I jumped after him. “Let’s save a witch!”
We landed behind the storm, just as Clara met a sort of clearing in the trees. On second glance, it wasn’t a clearing at all—it was the edge of the woods, where that wide, dark ocean spread further towards the horizon.
End of the rope, I snarled as we descended on the storm in a burst of counter-spells and mayhem. My brother and I darted towards it at paired angles, with weapons drawn and our boots thumping the leaves; supportive magic flew through the air, courtesy of the vampire lords.
Faced with any other spell, the mere idea of attacking it was laughable at best, or dangerous at worst. But this, we knew, was no ordinary spell. In this dream, it was made to abide by certain rules—the fact that it was a clustered force of nature meant it was centralized, to some extent.
The fact that it was centralized meant it was bound.
And bindings can be a weak point…
Elliott hurtled forwards with his sword, as I dove over with my daggers. Doused in protective shields that would have made Brother Griswold cry, we darted into the storm and struck at the very air. Though our weapons connected with nothing in particular…
It drew attention.
The predator changed tactics, briefly ignoring its prize to descend upon us instead. Trees blew apart; vines ripped up from all around us; bushes exploded and thorns rained in what can only be best described as a complete tantrum. Elliott landed on the other side in a swift recovery; I didn’t get to be so lucky. With a hand, I caught a solid bough and whirled back up onto it—just in time for the whole bloody branch to come crashing down, which would have toppled me straight into disaster… had I not braced myself for this, riding the collapsing bough towards the ground. I used the branch for leverage at the last second, hurtling back into the fray in a chaotic flurry of aerial dagger strikes.
Heh. I laughed. Looks like somebody’s furious…
I landed on the other side now, closer to my brother. As I gathered myself up, I watched as our allies leapt around the storm, containing or repelling it.
Clinging to my tree, I looked down. This branch hung just over the edge of the forest—nothing beneath but roaring waves. Down, down, down…
Well, besides the vampire and his witch.
Clara Blackwell stood at the very edge of the cliff. It was obvious that she contemplated her options. A watery death, with some rocks for good measure? Or being torn alive?
The witch turned back to the woods; but something in her gaze drew my attention. That’s not the face of defeat… no. That’s the face of someone with a plan. What rules will you bend this time, you irritating little witch?
Just then, my brother burst through the trees. He stood defiant and strong—and ecstatic to see her. But my brother didn’t like to let his feelings get in the way of duty—not in a critical moment like this, when it was her life on the line.
“What are you waiting for?” Elliott shouted. His stare slid over into the distance—I followed it to spot an island I had not seen yet. “Go!”
“Elliott? Why do you look… different?”
He turned, diving back into the woods to launch a new assault against the predatory spell. Right. Nearly forgot that we’re fighting a literal nightmare right now… I reached for my daggers, only to realize they were missing.
Sod it! Where are they!
There! And… over there!
I followed my dark whisper’s pointers and burrowed around in the branches, retrieving one dagger from a trunk and another before it clattered down the cliffside.
Arming myself to join the fray, I instead glanced down to the unfolding scene beneath. Elliott, nearly thrown over the side of the cliff, landed just shy of the trees; he whirled around to shout back at the witch through the trees lining the cliff. “Why are you still here?”
“Why do you look different?” She shouted back.
“Do you have a death wish? For the last time—GO!”
I saw my chance, quickly sheathing both of my daggers and dropping to land gracefully at her side. Clara nearly leapt off the cliff right then.
“What the hell is… NIKKI?!”
Grabbing onto Clara Blackwell by her shoulders, I gave her a warm but menacing stare. “Guess what, little snack? Turns out, we’re in this thing for real now! So, if you don’t make it this time, well… let’s just say you should.”
“Wait… what? This is real?”
“We came into the dream after you. Keep up.”
Clara glanced over my shoulder. “So, that didn’t look like the shadowy Elliott of my dreams because he—“
“Real Elliott, yes.” I rolled my eyes.
“Oh my god. I was right. It’s real now.”
Telltale signs of the fight erupted from behind us. “Just a minute ago, it looked like you had a plan there. So, quick update on what’s going on here—“
“You mean there’s more?”
“Shut up. Every living vampire lord is in here with us. Turns out, they see your life ending as a default on what’s rightfully theirs, so they’re begrudgingly lending us a hand. You fell asleep in Seven Portals. We showed up a bit late to the
party, but we figured you’d probably die here alone.”
“You’re… probably not wrong.”
“Still not finished,” I whacked her on the head.
“Ow! What the hell, Nikki?”
“Also, about that weird ‘invisible predator’ of yours? Yeah. Not actually a monster. It’s a spell, we think. A really nasty one, too, if we’re not mistaken here…”
“I know,” she nodded. “I just figured that out.”
“Oh?” I tilted my head.
“Yes. And I have a solution for it. A little payback.”
A smirk rose on my lips. “Cut a girl in. Whatcha got?”
Staring unflinchingly into my eyes, Clara grasped onto her strange little amulet. I nearly forgot the bloody thing; just seeing it again gave me a shiver of revulsion. “Oh no,” I protested. “Nope. You are not feeding on me again.”
“Don’t worry. Not the plan,” Clara smiled darkly.
After a moment, my eyes flashed with recognition.
Oh, you dirty, clever witch…
Chapter 16
Clara
Nikki Craven strolled by my side as I walked into the forest of my nightmares, stronger than ever.
Everything seemed to move in slow motion.
My darling Elliott lunged into the malevolent force, his sword bearing down as a war shout left his lungs. Around him, the vampire lords darted along the trees or leapt over his striking blade, flinging magic and supportive spells.
We stopped just short of them all.
“Clara?” Chandra shouted. “What are you doing?!”
I ignored her. I wasn’t here to be the damsel in distress.
This is my fight. You’re all just here to help.
Nikki and I shared a brief, meaningful glance.
“Go on, little snack,” she smirked. “Knock ‘em dead.”
With that, she pulled her blades and snarled out a roar, lunging straight into a ricocheted support spell and joining the battle. But I stood still, whispering to my amulet as my eyes slowly closed. I had to focus.