by Cheree Alsop
Aleric gave his head a numb shake. “But the demons helped the vampires wipe out werewolves after the Fallow Conflict.”
Dartan gave a small shrug. “Demons can be manipulated once you know what drives them.”
“What drove them to help the vampires?” Aleric couldn’t help the bitterness that crept into his tone.
“A common enemy,” Dartan replied. “Wipe out the Ashstock, which both races hate. It was an opportunity they couldn’t pass up.” Dartan’s brow furrowed. “Also, my father promised them the human realm.”
Aleric stared at him. “Your father did what?”
Dartan sat up slowly and met Aleric’s gaze. “When my father found out about the banshee’s ability to cause a Rift in the divide between our world and the human one, he knew coming here would get us away from the Armistice so that our kind could drink real blood again. He wanted us to be strong, stronger than all the fae.”
“Why?” Aleric forced himself to ask.
Dartan studied the cement floor in front of him. “Because then he wanted to return to Blays, slay the government, and rule Drake City and beyond his way.”
Shock filled Aleric. He slid down the wall to sit on the floor.
“He felt vampires were the strongest race and taking away the fae blood would only make us weak. He decided it was time for the vampires to show their superiority and rule Blays the way we were always meant to,” Dartan said, his voice bitter. “And using the human world would be the way to do it.”
Aleric was quiet for a moment as he thought through what Dartan told him. He finally broke the silence to ask, “And what do the demons have to do with it?”
“Demons have ways to control humans,” Dartan said.
Horror dawned in Aleric’s chest. “Through the goblins.”
Dartan nodded. “My father made the agreement with Ashdava, the Demon Queen, to allow Archdemons to enter Edge City so that they could make the humans more, how did he put it…more amiable to being vermin for the revenant to feed upon. When the vampires were strong enough, the plan was for our kind to return to Blays and the demons would stay here and rule the humans.”
“And when we sent Lord Targesh back to Governor Hornsbellow…,” Aleric began.
“I let the Governor in on my father’s plans,” Dartan replied in a hollow voice that told of how hard it had been to betray the vampire lord. “Governor Hornsbellow said he would deal with Queen Ashdava himself.”
“Now we know that at least one Archdemon came through,” Aleric said. “Do you think he’s continuing his side of the agreement to control the humans?”
“I do,” Dartan replied. “There would be no reason not to. I didn’t know any goblins made it through, let alone an Archdemon, or I would have told you the rest of Father’s plan. I thought we thwarted it when we sent him back to Blays to be thrown in the troll dungeon at Great Oak.”
The silence fell like a thick cloak around them. Aleric felt it pounding against his ears. Dartan had been forced to betray his father to protect the human world. It wasn’t his fault the Archdemon came through. The question was, which Archdemon were they dealing with and how many goblins did he have at his disposal. Archdemons were known for their flippant use of the Dark fae creatures.
“So he lets you die,” Aleric began.
“Or you kill me,” Dartan replied. At Aleric’s frustrated expression, the vampire held up a hand. “Werewolves are known to phase to protect their lives. If I attacked you to save my own skin,” he glanced up at the gray light of dawn showing through the overhead windows, “Quite literally, I may add, then your instincts will kick in and prevent me from killing you.”
Aleric shook his head. “I’m not going to kill you,” he said.
“What if I asked you to?”
The question caught Aleric off-guard. “What?”
Dartan’s tone was forcibly nonchalant when he said, “Given the choice between the long, painful frying beneath the light of the sun type of death or having my throat torn out, I choose the latter.”
“You don’t get to choose,” Aleric replied.
Dartan gave him a humored look. “It’s my death. I should be able to choose.”
“They’re my fangs,” Aleric shot back. “It’s not your choice.”
The morbidity of their conversation must have struck Dartan’s funny bone because he started laughing.
“Shut up,” Aleric said.
Dartan fell to his back and held his sides, laughing so loud it echoed around the room.
“Stop laughing,” Aleric barked.
Dartan ignored him. Aleric pulled his knees up and wrapped his arms around them. He pointedly ignored the vampire in return.
Dartan rolled to his stomach and pounded the ground with his fists as he gave several great, dramatic chortles. His laughter finally reduced to chuckles, and then subsided to the occasional humored sigh. He eventually let out a breath and pushed up to his knees.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever laughed like that in my life,” he said, moving back to a seated position. “Who knew it would feel so good?” When Aleric didn’t say anything, Dartan said, “Hey, Wolfie, look at me.”
Aleric refused.
Dartan’s voice was quiet when he finally said, “Why does it matter so much to you? You’ll finally be rid of me. Isn’t that what you’ve wanted since the Rift threw us together?”
“No, that’s not what I want!” Aleric shouted. The outburst surprised him. His chest heaved and he stared at the vampire. “You’re my best friend, Dartan. Why in Blays do you think I would want to kill you?”
He wished he could take the words back as soon as he said them, but they had already been spoken. The ghosts of his words lingered in the air, repeating in his ears and whispering in his memory.
“I’m your best friend?” Dartan repeated, his tone unreadable.
Aleric rubbed his eyes with one hand. A headache was forming. He knew it was from not eating for so long. He couldn’t imagine the pain Dartan was feeling as his insides began to feast on the fluids in his body now that the blood was used up.
“What of it?” Aleric asked. There was a small rip in the knee of his scrubs. He knew Nurse Eastwick would give him her ‘I don’t have enough clothes to keep you in’ speech if she saw it. He hoped she would have the chance to lecture him again.
Dartan’s voice was quiet when he said, “We haven’t known each other for very long. If I’m your best friend, you must have had pretty slim pickings back in Blays.”
Aleric allowed the silence to answer for him.
Dartan let out a breath and admitted, “I guess, if I think about it, you’re really the only friend I’ve ever had. Vampires don’t make very good friends; they really suck.” He paused. When Aleric didn’t say anything, he continued with, “That was a joke.”
“I got it,” Aleric replied.
“A good friend would laugh,” Dartan told him.
Instead of smiling, Aleric met Dartan’s gaze. “A good friend wouldn’t rip your throat out.”
“He would if I asked,” the vampire said.
Aleric should his head. “No. He wouldn’t.”
“What if I said please?” Dartan pressed.
Aleric gritted his teeth. “It’s not happening.”
Dartan let out a dramatic sigh. “Fine. Death by sunburn. Looking forward to it.” He settled onto his back again.
Aleric rose and paced around the room once more.
“You’re not going to find it,” Dartan said.
Aleric glanced at him. The vampire’s gaze was on the windows above. “Find what?”
“The exit,” Dartan answered. “There isn’t one.”
“I can’t just sit here and let the inevitable happen. There has to be a way to fight back.”
Aleric had reached the door for the thousandth time. He pounded on it with his fist. When nobody answered, he pounded harder. He put his werewolf strength behind it, slamming his fists into the metal without result.
; “Watch your knuckles.”
By the sound of his voice, Dartan had changed position. Aleric glanced over his shoulder to see that the vampire had moved to sit against the far wall.
The vampire’s red gaze met his. “Don’t bloody your knuckles, please.” His eyes shifted back to the floor.
Aleric followed his gaze to the first rays of sunlight that made a line on the floor near the door.
There was something about the light that made the situation sink in completely. The sunlight made it truth, a fact, inevitable. The Archdemon wanted Dartan dead, and he would wait until nightfall to ensure that it happened. There was no way out, and the line would continue to grow until the sun was directly overhead.
Aleric crossed the floor, his steps leaden. He sat down near Dartan, his gaze on the light.
Dartan cleared his throat. “So, Wolfie, what’s with you getting all intense when I mentioned your father before?”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Aleric said.
“I didn’t imagine I would die in a cement cell with a flea-bitten mutt as my only friend,” Dartan shot back. “I win, so get talking.”
“I don’t know if I’d call it a win,” Aleric said. He glanced at Dartan. The vampire’s gaze didn’t move from the sunlight. Aleric sighed. “Fine. I didn’t get along with my dad.”
“Didn’t get along as in, ‘I dye my fur to express myself and my father just doesn’t understand?’” Dartan pressed.
Aleric traced a scar on the back of one of his hands. “Didn’t get along as in, ‘My father blamed me for my mother’s death and tried to sell me to Grimmel before her funeral.’”
“Grimmel the Grunt Troll? Owner of the Sludge factories?”
“That’s the one,” Aleric replied, keeping his voice level.
Dartan was silent for a moment, then said, “That’s harsh.” He glanced at Aleric. “Did you kill her?”
Aleric stared at him.
Dartan cracked a smile. “I’m kidding. Seriously. You couldn’t kill an imp if you tried, let alone your own mother.”
Aleric shook his head. “You’re ridiculous.”
“Your father selling you to Grimmel is ridiculous. Even my father would rather just poison me and leave me to die in the sunlight. Going to Grimmel’s is harsh. I hear the orphans who don’t work hard enough are fed to those who do.”
“That’s disgusting,” Aleric said.
Dartan lifted his shoulders. “That could’ve been you. You’re kind-of a wimp.”
Aleric let out a sound of disbelief. “This from a vampire who can’t stand an hour in the sun without dying.”
“That’s all vampires,” Dartan replied dryly.
“And your father thinks you’re the superior race,” Aleric said with a snort.
That brought a weak smile to Dartan’s face.
Aleric scrutinized him. Dartan’s eyes were so red they practically glowed. His face was so pale Aleric could see the outlines of the bones beneath. The fact that there was no color to the skin to reveal the veins said a lot about the state his friend was in. “You look terrible,” he said.
“Oh, good,” Dartan replied. “I was beginning to worry I wasn’t a real vampire.” He hunched over and a groan escaped him.
“Are you alright?” Aleric asked in alarm.
Dartan shook his head. His voice was tight when he replied. “For some reason, my body devouring itself isn’t a pleasant sensation. I can feel my organs shutting down.”
As Aleric watched, the vampire pulled his knees close and rested his forehead on them. His hands clung weakly to his legs.
“Dartan, stay with me,” Aleric said.
The vampire didn’t answer.
Aleric watched the sunlight draw closer. With each hour, the sound of Dartan’s breaths became weaker as though even the light reflecting off the cement was enough to progress his deterioration. Aleric knew that if he offered for Dartan to drink his blood, the vampire would refuse. The only chance he had to save his friend was to wait until Dartan was too weak to refuse. Aleric concentrated on what passed for the vampire’s heartbeat. The steady whooshing became fainter until Aleric couldn’t take it any longer.
“Dartan, drink my blood,” Aleric said.
He thought the vampire wouldn’t respond. The dry rasp of Dartan’s voice sounded like a fall breeze through the last leaves that clung stubbornly to their branch and refused to join the others on the cold, hard ground.
“Don’t…tempt…me.”
Aleric held out his wrist. “Do it. Now. I’m not going to sit here and watch you die.”
“Yes…you are,” Dartan replied without lifting his head.
Aleric waved his hand in front of the vampire. “Come on. You know you need it.”
Dartan moved his head back and forth in a weak refusal. “I won’t…break the treaty.”
Aleric gaped at him. “The treaty? It doesn’t even exist in this world. I’m giving you permission to drink my blood. Take advantage of it. It’s the only fae blood you’re going to get.”
Dartan was silent for a few minutes before he forced out the words, “I won’t be…like my father.”
The words gripped Aleric’s heart. The vampire’s resolve scared him.
“You could never be like your father,” he replied. “Lord Targesh hated you for a reason.”
The smallest chuckle sounded from the vampire, then cut off as if smothered.
“He hated you because you have a heart,” Aleric continued. “You care about this world and Blays. You fought him to protect the humans, and you sent your people back to Blays so they wouldn’t hurt anyone else. You are a good person, so bite me.”
Dartan gave a faint snort. His muscles tensed as if he wanted to lift his head, but he gave up when nothing happened. “Thank…you,” he said in a whisper.
“For what?” Aleric asked.
The silence that followed the werewolf’s question felt exceptionally long. The sunlight had crept past the halfway point on the floor before Dartan spoke.
“For giving me…a second chance,” he finished.
Dartan’s hands slipped to the floor. His forehead rested heavily on his knees. His eyes twitched beneath his eyelids.
“Dartan?” Aleric said. Silence followed. Aleric grabbed the vampire’s shoulder. “Dartan!” he shouted.
When the vampire didn’t respond, Aleric looked around wildly for anything he could use. The room was void of any useful objects, or any objects at all for that matter. Aleric gritted his teeth. There was only one thing he knew to do. He brought his wrist to his mouth and bit down hard where the veins ran below the skin. It hurt far more than he thought it should, but he didn’t stop until he tasted blood.
He grabbed Dartan’s dark hair and pulled the vampire’s head up. Aleric held his hand in front of the vampire’s face. Dartan’s eyes didn’t so much as flicker. Worried that he had waited too long, Aleric shoved his bleeding wrist against the vampire’s mouth.
His ears strained to catch any sound from the vampire’s heart. He couldn’t feel Dartan’s breath against his skin. Perhaps he had waited too long. The thought was too much to bear.
Dartan’s shoulders jerked and Aleric heard the faint sound of a heartbeat. The vampire lifted his head for the blood that touched his lips to enter his mouth. Dartan’s eyes opened just enough for him to see Aleric’s bleeding wrist. He bent forward. A breath caught in Aleric’s throat at the feeling of the vampire’s fangs piercing his skin.
Dartan sucked in. The motion was weak at first, then strengthened with each draw. The vampire’s hands moved to grip Aleric’s hand and arm, holding his wrist in place. Dartan drank deeper and Aleric felt the tingle in his hands and legs that told of blood leaving his body. He tried to pull away. Dartan let out a sound that was more of a growl than anything close to human. Aleric’s instincts screamed for him to fight back, but he told himself he had almost waited too long for the vampire to drink. He was glad to see his friend alive.
The gratefuln
ess Aleric felt slipped into a numb acceptance. The voice in the back of the werewolf’s mind warned that he was being lolled by the vampire’s power. The vampire’s mind control shouldn’t have worked on him, but he trusted Dartan. That trust might be the last thing he ever knew.
Aleric’s head lolled forward and chills ran from his arm down his body. Black spots filled his mind along with a rushing sound like waves pushing against a distant shore. Aleric closed his eyes and felt the blanket of unconsciousness cover his thoughts.
Chapter Six
“Aleric, wake up. Wake up, you idiot.”
The muttering brought consciousness back to Aleric’s mind.
“Seriously? Pulling something like that? You’d think a werewolf would have more of a sense of survival. You think you can have faith in my good nature? I’m a vampire. I don’t have a good nature, remember?”
Aleric was aware of a hand roughly shaking his shoulder.
A hiss of pain sounded from the vampire. “If I was dead, this wouldn’t hurt so much. I should point that out the next time Wolfie makes one of his pulseless jokes.”
Aleric opened his eyes a crack. The light in the room felt like needles driving into his eyeballs. He closed his eyes tight and brought a hand to his head. A groan escaped him at the way his head pounded.
“Of course you have a headache, you idiot,” Dartan said. There was something different to his tone, a hint of apology. “You let a hungry vampire suck your blood. That’s much different than a well-fed vampire sucking your blood. Trust me, I know the difference. Control has a great deal to do with it.”
He heard the vampire crouch beside him. The hand touched his shoulder again. “Are you okay?”
Aleric pushed up slowly to a sitting position. He was aware of how hot his clothes were. When he opened his eyes again carefully, he saw that the entire room was filled with sunlight.
“Are you?” he croaked out.
Dartan let out a single laugh. “Yeah, I guess. If you call sucking my best friend’s blood to the point where I almost killed him alright, then I’m fine, splendid, really.”
“But how?” Aleric asked. He glanced back at his friend. The movement made his head hurt.