by Kirah Nyx
“If you hurt me,” she pleaded shakily, “they’ll hunt you down. My family will burn the world to find you. Think about what you’re doing, about who I am. I’m the Prince’s fiancé … He’ll find you if you hurt me. But if you leave, I promise I won’t say anything to anyone. I swear on my fangs, Domenic.”
A strange whine was her only response. He cocked his gory head to the side and stared at her curiously. That small action gave her abundant hope. But that flame of hope was thwarted in a flash.
Domenic pawed at the ground, bowed his head, and snarled at her. His mouth parted, resembling a wolfish grin, and his bloodthirsty eyes glowered up at her. He was toying with her, she realised.
Choking on a sob, Ivy pleaded with him one last time with her defeated gaze alone.
It made no difference. Throwing his head back, he released a feral howl into the night sky.
The winds carried his howl away, and she feared he was communicating with his pack. She didn’t stand a chance against Domenic one-on-one, let alone an entire pack. Her only course of action was to flee, and hope for survival.
Ivy leapt from the grass and flipped herself over the clearing in one smooth motion.
Domenic’s roar followed her through the air.
Landing on the edge of the cloudy field, she wasted no time in soaring back up in the air and into the thick rows of trees. Her feet slammed onto the dirt as she landed. But Domenic was right behind her—the impact of his heavy touchdown thumped right behind her, a mere touch away. His paws crunched on dry leaves and brittle branches.
Ivy’s feet slid against the soil as she suddenly sprinted through the trees. He followed her.
She used her knowledge of the landscape, and zig-zagged around the tree trunks, hopped over burrows, leapt over ditches. He was still close, a mere metre or two behind her, bounding after her, never losing her trail.
Winding around trees, Ivy raced. She ducked under a branch and skidded down a slope. When she touched flattened ground, she ran at full speed. Domenic hadn’t gotten closer, but he hadn’t fallen back either. She kept running. She didn’t stop. Every bouncy step and long leap had her schoolbag smacking against her back and the books inside stabbing into her skin. The sound convoyed her ragged breaths and the wolf’s hungry growls.
Far into the woods, she heard cries and screams. Ivy knew then that she’d ventured too far. And, the battle had leaked into the forest.
Ivy skidded down a slimy slope, and another clearing came into view. Her breathing picked up immediately.
Domenic was too close behind her, snapping and snarling at her billowing hair, almost biting them.
Ivy made to change direction, but dropped to the ground. An enormous panther, stark white and without eyes, soared out of the trees. Its claws grazed her alarmed face.
A sharp sting cut her nose, and she gasped. Ivy shoved herself from the soil, just as Domenic landed beside her, and rolled down the muddy hill. She wasn’t in control of her movements anymore, and hoped her tumble would be faster than the two rebels bounding after her.
Oomph!
Ivy slammed onto the hard soil of the clearing. She scrambled to her feet just as the snowy panther leapt over her head. It landed a few metres in front, sniffed the air, and snapped its head in her direction. Before she could run, Domenic charged into her back. Ivy was propelled through the air and collapsed to the ground, right at the paws of the white beast. It heard her landing.
Ivy lay perfectly still as the white panther snarled down at her. She whimpered, pretending she was far more injured than she was.
Writhing on the soil, Ivy wheezed hoarsely. The panther bared its bloodied teeth at her.
Domenic’s heavy paw steps drew closer, along with its deep rumbling growl. The panther threw its head back and roared victoriously. Just as she’d anticipated.
Her hand shot up and her nails tore through its neck, burying deep inside its flesh. Its roar plummeted into a gurgling noise of agony right before she ripped out its vocal cords.
She swiftly flung them back at Domenic’s face, blinding him. The panther collapsed in a twitching heap, and Ivy dove over its dying body.
Two foreign howls shredded the air. Ivy raced through the clearing and back into the shelter of the woods.
But two more Shifters had arrived—a misshapen dragon and a winged chupacabra. A tremor shook Ivy’s body as she darted by them. Bounding paws came after her; Domenic and the chupacabra. The dragon flew.
As she abruptly dipped under a drape of vines, she heard a whisper of a shout calling out to her. She was certain that she had heard her name carried in the winds. But she couldn’t stop to be sure; the Shifters tore through the vines, right behind her.
“Ivy!”
There it was again. The shout, the call of her name. It was so faint, so distant and far, but she heard it through the sounds of her own rapid footsteps and the panting of the beasts behind her.
The voice seemed familiar, but it wasn’t loud enough for her to be certain. She couldn’t tell which direction it came from.
She couldn’t slow down. Domenic and the chupacabra gained on her, snapping at the ends of her hair and the skin of her bag.
The voice called out again, closer, but still far away, “Ivy! Where are you!”
Penny. It was Penny.
Springing over a fallen tree, Ivy wailed, “Over here! I’m over here!”
Her cries were drowned out entirely by the roars, snaps and snarls of the beasts behind her. The dragon roared, and flames erupted from its eyes. It howled and spiralled to the soil.
It didn’t get back up.
The Shifters chased her further ahead, and each time she tried to call out to Penny, they roared and snarled loudly, covering her cries of stress.
A light shower of magical energy washed over her as she darted through the trees. It felt like icy droplets from a showerhead with low pressure. The wards.
Ivy had the fleeting thought that the Shifters were herding her out of the grounds. She could only run straight ahead, and they were yet to catch up to her.
If she was being guided purposefully, she was sprinting right into whatever trap they had in place. She wasn’t going to make it that easy for them.
Ivy soared high in the air. Her body twisted and flipped. With a grunt, she landed a few metres ahead and changed direction.
“Penny!” she screamed. “Penny, help!”
Domenic’s feral snarl concealed her shouts.
“Ivy!” she called out again. “HELP!”
A movement whirled by the trees ahead. Her panicked eyes darted from tree to tree and opening to opening, searching for a way to veer off path. Domenic and the other Shifters suddenly gained on her, two flanking her, and Domenic behind her.
It was as though they’d sensed her intentions and wished to prevent her from changing direction again. That’s when she realised for certain that they were, without a doubt, herding her like a lamb to the slaughter. But she wasn’t a lamb. No. She was a Vampire.
Ivy raced through the trees in the direction of the blurred movements ahead. There was no other path for her. As she neared, she saw that it was a battle. No; it was a very unfair fight. Three monstrous Shifters had cornered someone. It was Penny. Ivy snarled viciously and picked up her pace.
Sprinting right toward her distressed friend, Ivy shouted, “Penny, jump!”
Penny’s bulging eyes looked over the head of a Shifter. She leapt into the air, just as Ivy had said. Ivy ran at the Shifters and jumped to meet Penny. Before they could fall to the ground, Ivy snatched Penny’s wrist and locked her leg around a branch. She swung Penny up and followed. They both landed on the branch that wobbled beneath their weight.
“Thanks,” whispered Penny, clutching her pounding heart. “That was close.”
Glancing down at the savage beasts below, she saw that they circled the tree menacingly. “It still is,” she muttered.
Ivy clung onto the branches and stared down at the skinless wolf. D
omenic stared up at her, pacing on the ground below, watching her every move.
Ivy made a choking sound before she rolled saliva around her mouth and then spat down at Domenic’s face.
“Psycho!” she shouted down at him.
Savageness broke out. Two Shifters immediately lunged up at the tree, poorly attempting to climb it and reach them.
Domenic snapped and snarled viciously at the air above him, warning her with his feral stare alone.
He didn’t lick up the saliva dripping from his blood-coated nose. He only focused on pacing back and forth, trying to figure out a way to catch her.
Ivy pulled her gaze from his and looked around her. Trees surrounded her, but she saw a clear space ahead; the cliff side and the lake.
“Do you have any magic?” asked Penny quietly. “We could use it to reach those.”
Ivy looked at where Penny pointed. A cluster of vines wrapped around a neighbouring tree. Suddenly, the vines rustled on the tree. Penny and Ivy watched as they slowly untangled and stretched out in the air.
“Are you doing that?” asked Ivy nervously. The vines floated to their tree and hovered in front of their faces.
“No,” whispered Penny. “I thought it was you.”
Ivy and Penny shared a concerned glance. But the vines were their only hope. They both clutched onto the ropy wires and jumped off the branch. They landed on the next tree without a hitch. Again, vines reached out from another tree and wrapped around their wrists. It swung them again.
The Shifters tracked them. They snarled and howled horridly. Not once did Penny or Ivy slip. Each landing was perfect and elegant, and they gradually found her confidence. No branches, not even the weakest of them, broke beneath their weight. Before long, they were soaring through the air, tackling farther distances between trees, not even glancing down at the Shifters trailing them.
They neared the water and the cliff side. The steady stream of the river billowed out. A terrified scream suddenly pierced Ivy’s ears.
“Addie!” shrieked Penny. She jumped from tree to tree, Ivy following her, until they reached the cliff side. The Shifters roared up the trees.
“Oh, no,” whispered Ivy. Penny had been right. It was Addie; with two wraiths, a hellhound, and three Abarimons.
Six Shifters surrounded her at the edge of the cliff. Addie cautiously backed away from the monsters. Her hands were raised and her watery eyes leaked tears of terror.
Scratches and blood scattered her dishevelled appearance, and Ivy felt a rock plummet to the pit of her stomach. Addie always looked pristine and graceful.
There was never a strand of hair out of place, nor a smudge of imperfect make-up on her aristocratic features. But in that moment, she looked just as Ivy felt; petrified.
“What do we do?” whimpered Penny.
Ivy looked around the cliff side, wracking her brain for an escape that would help all three of them. Domenic and the other Shifters stood at the base of the tree, snarling up at her; six Shifters slinked closer to Addie, who was blocked on all ends.
She was trapped.
Ivy didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know how to help her friend, or herself. But she also knew that she couldn’t watch Addie die.
“I’ve got something,” she said. “It’s crazy. And we’ll probably all die trying it.”
“What is it?” choked Penny.
“I’ll distract them,” she said. “You need to be beside Addie at the edge of the cliff in three seconds. Got it?”
Cautiously, Penny nodded.
Ivy shifted from her branch to the adjacent one; a thicker, longer, and sturdier branch. She pressed her back against the rough bark of the tree, her schoolbag stuck into her spine, and she squatted.
“Addie!” Ivy shouted.
Addie choked a sob of relief as she spotted Ivy up in the tree. Domenic and the other beasts paced, still attempting to figure out a way to reach her. But Ivy didn’t give them the chance.
Exactly what she’d hoped would happen, happened. Shifters broke away from the cliff, leaving Addie cornered by only two.
“Now!” she shouted and sprung to her feet.
Penny leapt over her and soared toward Addie. Ivy sprinted down the long, sturdy branch. The Shifters went wild. At the end of the branch, Ivy propelled herself through the air. A rotten hellhound flung itself up to reach her, but Ivy flipped mid-air to evade its fatal jaws.
She landed on the ground, and stabs of agonising pain jolted through her legs. But she didn’t have a second to register the pain. Shifters dove at her from all directions. Again, she thrusted herself from the ground and sailed over the beasts.
Ivy landed and sprinted right at the terrified Addie. Penny snatched Addie’s hand just in time.
A scream tore through all three. Ivy had tackled them off the edge of the cliff.
They shrieked and cried as they plummeted down the rocky slope, smacked against rocks, banged against boulders. But silence swallowed them as they crashed into the river, sending up a great explosion of water.
The Shifters skidded to a halt at the edge of the cliff. They watched their prey disappear into the murky water. The river went calm, streaming between the rocks, as if nothing had touched it to begin with.
The Shifters all stood in formation at the cliff side, some growling, others whining at the loss of their prey. But the fleshless wolf whimpered quietly. He looked down at the rocky waters, whimpering through the growls that surrounded him. The skeletal wolf suddenly threw its head back, and howled eerily into the night sky, a sound of pain and despair … Of loss.
Its yellow eyes watered, leaked whispers of tears. The Vampires didn’t appear at the surface of the water. Addie, Penny and Ivy were lost in the cold river; dead from their broken spines and necks.
The Shifters stilled. Silently, they turned, and bounded away, deep into the woodlands.
Moments later, Samael raced out of the trees and skidded to a halt. Felix stumbled out behind him.
They had both heard the shouts and cries of Ivy mere moments ago, and tracked her to the cliff. But there was no sign of her on the edge of the woodlands, or in the trees lining the cliff. There was nothing but a calm, peacefully streaming river, undisturbed. All that lingered on the cliff was a strong scent of Shifters, and the faint fragrance of Ivy.
Neither Samael nor Felix spoke. They merely stared out at the water and allowed the crushing downpour of sorrow to fall upon them. Their silence spoke of the possibilities which could’ve met Ivy. And they had been too late.
“The mongrels might’ve taken her,” said Felix, a whisper of hope in his strained voice. “We should track them.”
Samael gazed out at the lake for a moment. He suddenly turned and chased the potent stench of sweaty Shifters. Felix was behind him, slower and struggling to keep up. They disappeared into the forest.
21
Everything was in ruins. The Academy was now a place of death and sorrow. No longer did it cater to the bright and hopeful youth of the Arcane, but only to the corpses scattered across the grounds like fallen branches and littered wrappers. The entire Videer organisation based at the Academy — faculty and students — were crushed beneath the debris of wooden chunks and slabs of stone. Their blood penetrated the soil now. The explosions had wiped them out. The only Videer still standing were those who had arrived with the Committee. The Committee had arrived several hours ago, but the battle had been lost already. The glittergate had been repaired too late.
Surviving teachers sluggishly trudged around the hundred or so lifeless bodies. They tried to identify the dead on the clipboards that held the names of the entire student body.
The Shifters had transformed back into their regular bodies after death. When a corpse was declared unknown, it was presumed to be a Shifter. They were taken out of the gates and burned. The deceased students were gathered and separated into their species to be transferred to their Knightians later. They would receive a proper mourning ritual and cremation ceremony.
All night and morning people came and left by glittergate.
Bodies were transported and taken home by distraught parents. One by one, the dead Fae were carried to the grottos where they would be subject to their own cultural rituals—eaten by their Elders; a ceremony believed to transfer and preserve the natural magic of the deceased Fae.
A troop of Videer had swept the vast woodlands several times over to collect more wounded and dead.
Ivy was not among them.
In fact, she wasn’t one of the Vampire corpses piled up to the left of the grounds either. She was nowhere to be found.
It didn’t escape Felix’s notice that Addie and Penny were unaccounted for, too. A part of him thought that they might have gotten away.
Felix stood in the middle of the massacred, and stared vacantly ahead at the rubble. Beside him, his mother wept on her knees. Edmund tore through the debris ahead in search for Ivy. Samael was nowhere in sight. Felix was unable to maintain his pace in the woodlands, and hadn’t seen him for hours. The hope that Samael was closer to finding Ivy than he was, was the fuel that burned beneath his energy, his motivation.
The moment he pondered Samael and his success, the Prince himself stepped out of the trees. Ruby beads coated each strand of white hair, and crimson drenched his shirt, torn by what appeared to be claws. Samael beckoned Felix over and disappeared back into the woods.
“Father,” called Felix hoarsely. His voice spoke of the tears he had already shed, and the weariness that consumed him. Edmund stopped his efforts of removing chunks of rubble from the ruins. He glanced at his gloomy son before following him into the woodlands. Eveline remained on her knees, weeping for her lost child.
Deep into the woods, Samael reclined against a tree trunk. The tree next to him had a bloodied and wounded boy chained to it.
“What is this?” asked Edmund. His tired eyes showed no pity. The boy was no older than fifteen, but none of the Vampires cared.