Eyes of the Woods

by Eden Fierce

  “How do you plan to convince him?” Evander said, looking to me.

  Daniel squeezed my hand to encourage me. Evander’s eyes were sharp and intimidating, but I lifted my chin and spoke.

  “If I could speak to him, he’ll listen.”

  “You’re certain of this?” Evander asked.

  “I…I can’t promise.”

  “What can you promise?” When I hesitated, he continued. “If he doesn’t, you must kill him.”

  “What?” I said, taking a step back.

  “Evander—” Daniel began.

  The elder held up his hand. “I’ll give you my blessing, but you must make that promise to me. It’s the only way to protect the coven.”

  Daniel looked at me. “We’ll just be sure to convince him.”

  I looked to Evander. “So, I have your word? You won’t harm him unless he refuses to believe me?”

  He nodded.

  I felt sick in my stomach. Evander was making sure the risk was equal on both sides, and I couldn’t argue with that. I winced and then nodded.

  Evander clapped. “Very well then. Good luck to you both.”

  A ruckus at the back of the crowd caused a path to be opened again. Several men brought a woman to the front of the pack. She was young, in her early twenties. Her wavy brunette hair nearly reached her bottom, and her dirty bare feet poked out from her dingy dress. She struggled, but the men kept hands on her.

  “We’ve found her, Evander.”

  “Ilana,” Evander said, his eyes sad.

  The men pushed Ilana forward. She fell on her knees and looked up at her master.

  “Is it true?” Evander asked.

  She nodded.

  The coven gasped.

  Ilana stood. “He was going to do it again, Evander. I heard him. He planned another raid.”

  “And the only way to stop him…,” Evander said.

  “Was to kill him,” Ilana finished.

  The coven gasped again.

  “She admits it!” a woman yelled from the crowd.

  “Kill her!” another woman yelled.

  The crowd joined in, chanting pleas for Ilana’s death.

  Evander glanced at the two large men on each side of him, and they stepped off the platform where they had stood.

  Ilana fell onto her backside and then backed away. “Another raid would have created a war! I did what I had to do!” she yelled.

  I leaped in front of her, holding up my hands. “She’s right!” I yelled.

  Evander raised his hand, and the men stopped.

  “One more raid would have unified the Priory. All six territories would have acted. It would have been a massacre!”

  “For them,” one of Ilana’s captors said, amused.

  Evander spoke. “And then what of the balance? The balance is our first law. We must keep the balance to survive.” He looked down on Ilana. “You may go.”

  She turned over and scrambled up, disappearing before anyone changed his mind.

  Daniel pulled me away, and we walked quickly back to our trees.

  “You didn’t make any friends just then,” he said.

  “I didn’t have any to start with.”

  When we reached the base of Daniel’s nest, I covered my face with my hands. “Oh my God. What did we just do? I don’t know if I can convince my father. I don’t know if I can bear the look in his eyes when he sees me this way. Even if he wants to believe me, Vileon is too important to the villages. To the people.”

  “You saw Evander just now. He listens to reason. If he will, your father will.”

  I shook my head. “Evander knows the truth about humans. Father doesn’t.”

  “We’ll figure it out. Together.”

  We spent days by the tree line, watching my home, watching my brothers and father leave and return each day, trying to form a plan for how I would convince him. To pass the time, Daniel tried explaining to me about the hierarchy of the immortals, but even with all the new room in my mind, it was still difficult to keep straight.

  “Evander is an elder. Who is Kyah, again?”

  “Evander, along with the other elders, answers to her. She is our queen mother. She lays claim to many of us. Including me.”

  “And by claiming, you mean turning.”

  Daniel nodded once.

  “And Heinrich…” I trailed off, trying to remember.

  “Claimed Kyah.”

  I made a face. Daniel smiled reassuringly at me. “It’s a lot to remember.”

  “It’s not that. It’s that you…claimed me. I don’t like the sound of that.”

  “You wouldn’t.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  Daniel laughed. His sweet grin brightened in the sunshine. “Nothing.”

  I picked up another large branch. “Will this do?”

  “Yes. And only another two dozen like it.”

  I looked up at my tree. It was just behind Daniel’s and had a beautiful view of the falls, along with the west side of the Glades. My nest was only partially built, and even with our strength and speed, it was slow going. Daniel insisted on schooling me on every curve and explaining why each branch was woven with another. He spoke about weight bearing and balance. Nothing that I really wanted to know, but everything Daniel seemed to enjoy talking about.

  “Window?” Daniel asked.

  “You have one, don’t you?”

  “I do. I look up every night, watching the stars. It brings me peace like nothing else.”

  I smiled. For an immortal, Daniel was rather poetic.

  “They’re coming today,” he said, picking up some smaller branches. Leaping from one limb to another, with the other arm full of the perfect ingredients for a perfect nest, Daniel went from the floor of the forest to the treetop in a matter of seconds.

  I was just behind him. “Who?”

  “Kyah and Heinrich.” He looked down to the square. “They are the elders over all territories. We see them infrequently.”

  I pulled in my eyebrows. Evander was frightening enough. I couldn’t imagine what Kyah and Heinrich would look like.

  “Is there anything I should know?”

  “Only not to draw too much attention to yourself. You don’t want catch their eye—not that staying invisible to themwill be possible, not with you being a daughter of the Priory.”

  Chatter and movement increased on the ground, and we leaned away from our respective spots in the tree to get a better look.

  I was wrong. Kyah and Heinrich were even scarier, now that I could see them in full detail. A tall, gangly man was flanked by the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. She had seemingly endless hair so blond it was white, and piercing red eyes that settled under a high brow. She didn’t walk, but glided across the ground as the immortals in our coven hovered. Her long, white gown was pristine, with not a speck of dirt on it, even though she had walked miles across the forest floor.

  Kyah sat in the chair usually occupied by Evander. Beside her, a girl stood still as a statue, maybe fifteen.

  “We should go down,” Daniel said, and with one leap, he landed twenty yards from the growing crowd.

  My descent wasn’t as graceful. I hopped four times, becoming more nervous the closer I came to the ground.

  The woman raised her arm in Daniel’s direction, and the coven parted, making a pathway between the queen mother and the immortal who had claimed me.

  If Daniel could have blushed, he might have. He was clearly embarrassed with the attention.

  “Daniel,” Kyah said. Her voice was as beautiful as she was. Just speaking his name was somehow like poetry, and I felt a strange pang in my gut that intensified as he walked toward her.

  “Kyah,” Daniel said, dipping his head just enough to show respect.

  She smiled at his gesture. I went from first being in awe of her beauty to hating her, and I had no idea why. Suddenly her long, light-blue dress was precocious, and her brilliant voice was obnoxious and smug. Why did she sin
gle Daniel out? And why was she looking at him that way?

  Her eyes left him to target me.

  “We have a new member of our coven,” she said. It wasn’t a question, so I was instantly annoyed that she chose to be so obvious.

  Heinrich cupped his fingers over the back of Kyah’s stolen seat and grinned. It reminded me of the way Evander smiled when he saw Daniel and I holding hands. It was meant to be a pleasant expression, but I had the distinct feeling of mistrust.

  “Have you gotten yourself into some trouble, Daniel?”

  “I’m not sure,” he mumbled. He looked back to me, and I slowly stepped into the center of the wide berth the immortals had given Daniel.

  “A daughter of the Priory. Daniel,” he cooed. “You’ve outdone yourself.”

  “An interesting choice, I must say,” Kyah added. “You haven’t claimed anyone in more than a decade.”

  Ayana pushed through the crowd to the front and bowed from the waist to Heinrich and Kyah.

  “She was part of those who killed our young ones, Heinrich. Efraim and I dislodged the tree bridge and sent her to the bottom of the ravine. Daniel saved her.” She hissed when she spoke Daniel’s name.

  “We’re aware,” Kyah said, seeming annoyed.

  “But…a Prior in our coven?” Ayana pleaded. “It’s…offensive. We don’t want her here.”

  Evander, who was standing off to the side, was suddenly beside Ayana. He leaned down until his lips touched her ear, and she recoiled.

  “You dare speak for the coven?” Evander hissed. “You dishonor me.”

  Ayana cowered.

  Efraim took his mate by the arms. “Our apologies, Evander. She’s mad with grief.”

  “Take her,” Evander said, his voice low and menacing. “I’ll deal with her later.”

  They both scurried away, climbing the closest tree. I could hear Ayana’s quiet whimpers, even from two hundred yards away.

  Daniel sidestepped to stand next to me and angled his body a bit. “Kyah, this is Eris. She’s been humble. She’s obedient.”

  That last words made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

  “See that she is,” Kyah said, one eyebrow raised sharply.

  Heinrich bit his papery lip, excited by the exchange. “Why did you save her, Daniel? Tell us.”

  “She’s a potential mediator, Heinrich. If we can get her father to see—”

  “Mediator?” Kyah scoffed. “We don’t need a human to negotiate a truce, Daniel.”

  “We’ve suffered great loss, Heinrich,” Daniel said. Kyah didn’t miss his blatant disregard, and she gripped the arms of her chair, incensed.

  Heinrich slowly walked around Evander’s throne and placed his hand gently on Kyah’s knuckles.

  “I’m intrigued, dearest.”

  “That is not the word I would use,” Kyah snapped back.

  Daniel dipped his head again. “I only ask that we discuss the possibility. That is all.”

  “Yes,” Heinrich said, eyeing me. “There is certainly much to discuss.”

  “Thank you,” Daniel said. He backed away a bit, and I stayed behind him, shadowing his movements.

  With a flourish of his hand, Heinrich waved away Daniel’s gratitude.

  Daniel immediately took my hand and led me away. He walked slowly, but it was forced. I could tell he was fighting breaking into a sprint. We stopped at the falls. The water was empty of immortals. Everyone was in the center of the commune, seeking an audience with the queen mother and her creator.

  “Keep your voice down,” Daniel warned.

  I propped myself against a tree, my legs shaking from fear. “I thought you said not to attract their attention.”

  “Looks like I failed.”

  I made a face.

  Daniel let go of my hand. It immediately felt empty, and an overwhelming urge came over me to reach out to him. Whatever expression was on my face, Daniel noticed.

  “What is it?”

  “Nothing,” I said quickly.

  “I feel like I’ve failed you, and we haven’t even formed a plan yet,” he moaned, looking off into the woods. With my new eyes, I saw something cross his face I wouldn’t have seen before he’d changed me. It was hard to pin down, though. Like trying to think of a color you’ve never seen before—seemingly impossible until you actually saw it.

  “Failing?” I asked softly.

  Daniel was my only friend. If I could trust anyone, even a little, it was him. Even though it was the last thing I wanted to believe, I wasn’t convinced that my feelings weren’t simply common among nightwalkers—to feel drawn to the one who turned them. I didn’t want it to be true, especially now that I’d seen Kyah.

  “There was something in Heinrich’s eyes. He’s up to something. They are two immortals you don’t want to engage with. If you changed your mind, I would understand.”

  “You want me to leave?” I asked, my voice cracking. It surprised me how hurt that made me feel.

  “Of course not. No.” He reached out for me. My hand was back in his, and it felt like taking that first breath after holding it during a hunt. “I don’t want anything to happen to you. Heinrich’s sudden interest is not a good thing.”

  “Kyah and Heinrich won’t stay long, will they?”

  Daniel shook his head.

  “They’ll go, and we can finalize our plan.”

  Daniel nodded, his eyes losing focus as they drifted to the water. “If we could get your father alone. If we could keep him in one place long enough to make him understand…”

  “That’s your strategy?” I asked, deflated.

  “You have a better one?”

  “You said once that it was better for him to think that I was dead.”

  “That’s true.”

  “So maybe we should start with you first. Maybe we could…” I thought for a moment. “Maybe we could get Cala to talk to him? Maybe you could step in.”

  “Our coven has attempted a truce before. It resulted in the death of your grandfather. You are our best chance.”

  I nodded. “So maybe we approach him together. Get him alone, like you said.”

  “We have to prepare for any reaction. He may think I forced you. He may think you’ve been brainwashed.”

  “Then I’ll go alone.”

  “No,” Daniel said, his tone final. “I’m not comfortable with that. Something could go wrong. Your father is a skilled Prior, Eris. You’re stronger and faster now, but he’s killed dozens of our coven. I can’t…I can’t lose you now.”

  “You won’t,” I said. “You’ll be close.”

  A pained look overtook his face, and he squeezed my hand. “Tell me you’ll be careful. I don’t know what I’d do if he attacks you.”

  “If he does, you’ll have to carry out our end of the agreement with Evander?”

  Daniel lowered his chin. “I don’t think I could let anyone live if he took you from me. Ayana and Efraim are still alive only because I claimed you and you’re here now.”

  I touched his cheek, and he leaned into my palm.

  “But if we succeed…” I suddenly grew excited. “It seems so impossible, but how amazing would that be, if I could have my family back.”

  “It’s worth it, right?” he asked.

  “It’s worth everything.”

  IT WAS NEARLY MORNING, and I sat alone in the center of my newly built nest, my fingers playing idly with my hair. It had been three months since Daniel had turned me. The others in the coven still kept their distance, even as rumors of a truce spread.

  After Daniel and I had finished my home of sticks, my days consisted of standing at the tree line, devising our plan, or on my ledge at the falls. Daniel would stay with me until I fell asleep and then return to his nest, but the pressure was beginning to get to both of us.

  He grew frustrated as the days and nights passed without an opportunity to find my father alone, and as more time went by, I began to feel overwhelmingly anxious.

  I had aw
oken before sunrise to find a note on my pillow. Daniel had gone to visit Cala. It was when he was gone that I felt the desperation seep in, and it took every bit of self-control I had not to leap from my tree and run to the stone wall that surrounded the Helgren compound.

  I heard someone climbing up the many branches that led to my nest, but it only took one whiff to know it wasn’t Daniel. I braced myself for who it might be.

  A woman in a long, dingy dress stood in my doorway, the beginnings of twilight at her back. It was Ilana. I couldn’t imagine what she wanted from me now.

  “Are you…are you a friend of Ayana’s?” I asked, preparing to be attacked. The nest had no windows, and although it wouldn’t take much with my new strength to break through the walls, I didn’t want to ruin the only place I felt safe besides Daniel’s nest. This place was mine. Not much, but it was home.

  She breathed out a small laugh. “Heavens, no. She’s awful.” When I didn’t respond, Ilana continued. “Even before her child was killed. She wasn’t a happy human either. I know. She lived down the road from me when we were girls.”

  “How long ago was that?” I asked.

  “I make a point not to keep track. You’re Eris.” It wasn’t a question, but I nodded anyway. She took a step toward me and offered her hand. “We haven’t officially met. I’m Ilana.”

  “Nice…nice to meet you.”

  “Maybe. Did Daniel make this?” she asked, running her fingers over the only chair in the room.

  “He helped.”

  She smiled. “He helped me with my nest too.”

  She sat down in the chair, letting her fingers glide over the highs and lows of the bent wood.

  “He said he’s helped many.”

  “He has a good heart. But he’s kept it to himself. Until you.”

  “Me?” I blinked.

  “Not that he hasn’t been pursued. We typically pair off quickly. Within the first five years. But not Daniel. He was always wandering the woods.”

  I didn’t tell her that Daniel was seeing his parents. Maybe that’s why he never took a mate. He couldn’t risk them finding out his secret.

  Ilana’s eyes lost focus. “He looks at you the way Elias looked at me.” She came back to the present. “We can all see it. We all knew he was looking for someone. I guess it was you.”