by Emma Glass
I was suddenly aware of my fangs.
Oh, how I wanted to devour her…
While I gazed at her through the glass, I tilted my head to the side and asked: “Who found her?”
The watch guard responded: “I did, my Lord.”
Asarra, I recalled her name. A tactical warrior in battle, she was the newest and arguably most promising recruit to the royal guards of my castle. Her distinctive foreign accent reminded me that she hailed from the distant east reaches of my kingdom, out where civilization thinned out and the world only grew wilder.
“Where did you find her?” I asked.
“Sneaking around the castle galleries,” Asarra responded bluntly. “When I captured her, she had been avoiding the servants for some time. This girl, she is what you call ‘resourceful.’”
Interesting, I thought to myself.
“Leave us,” I ordered immediately, turning to the guards. “Both of you.” They gave a bow.
“As you wish, Lord Craven,” Asarra noted.
Once Lorelei and I had the room to ourselves, I crossed my arms and turned back to the human. Something about her kept my attention. It wasn’t just her features or her intrigue.
“Look at her eyes,” Lorelei observed.
The young human girl sat quietly at the small wooden table in the dark, her hands held clasped tightly together in her lap. I saw how intently she watched the dance-like flickering of the room’s only light source – that single, trembling candle.
Her gaze was both defiant and determined, and it made me insatiably curious.
No, I chided myself. Don’t treat this like a gift, because it isn’t. There was so much at stake here. Whoever this girl was, she was a human being – the first in our entire recorded history.
I will have to play this very carefully...
The guards, I could trust. But if my subjects learned the truth, I feared for the worst. Even that paled in comparison to the greater threat at hand. What made my blood curdle in my veins was the thought of rumors spreading. If the distant rulers of the other holds discovered her presence on our world…
Her arrival would plunge us all into chaos.
“Are you sure that you want me here, Elliott?” Lorelei’s eyes drifted back to the glass. “What a delicious meal she could be…”
Sternly, I folded my arms over my chest.
“Uncertainty doesn’t become you, Lorelei.”
She smiled faintly but sadly. “It’s like you said earlier, my son… there has been no evidence of humankind on Earth for our entire civilization. Whatever happens here tonight, in our castle, will change our world forever.”
So we stand in agreement, then.
“But why come here?” I asked. “Why now?”
“You ask questions I doubt she can answer,” Lorelei noted. “You’ll need to think more carefully if you hope to pry out any useful information from our new friend. Assuming that she can even speak, of course…”
I disgustedly threw my hands in the air.
“What would you do, Mother, if a mythical human being appeared in the castle while you were still on the throne?” I scowled. “If the human can’t tell me why she’s here, or how she got here in the first place, then what use is she to me?”
A smile flickered across her lips. “She could make a fairly good bid for power, no? You always seem to be on the lookout for a bargaining chip with the Council of Eight Holds…”
I was not amused. “In all the great history of Stonehold, you were forever its most beloved and accomplished ruler. Tell me then, Mother, what you think I should do here and now concerning our little... guest.”
Lorelei watched me for a moment.
“It doesn’t matter, and you know it.”
“Of course it matters,” I rebuked bitterly. In the back of my mind, I was already weighing the mass hysteria that would hit if the other holds discovered the surprise fugitive in my stronghold. “I’m not too proud to ask. I need your counsel. Think whatever you want, but the truth of the matter is… I was barely fit to lead the hold before my entire worldview was brought to its knees.
“And now…” My gaze drifted through the glass. I wondered if this human had the slightest grasp of the fragile balance she now threatened. “Now, I fear the consequences.”
Lorelei was standing before me in a single, powerful stride, palming my cheeks. My gaze met her dark, intuitive eyes, and I searched them for answers. Instead, I cruelly recognized the instant that she decided against granting advice.
“Elliott Craven, vampire lord of Stonehold, you are no slave to my legacy.”
Her hands released me. “You were always a creature of great logic. This time, it will serve you. Use that. Embrace your strengths. Go now, and learn what you must from our visitor. Just know that, no matter what choices you make, I will be here to support you.”
That was the best I would get out of her.
“Very well then,” I nodded, turning away and crossing the spectator’s room. Yet I paused at the door. My wrist hesitated at the iron key, sticking out from the lock, before I looked back to her again. “Stand guard for me. I can’t afford to have any disruptions while I meet her.”
“As you wish, my son,” Lorelei smiled.
With the clang of the twisted key in the lock, I was struck by a strange notion. I could not toss away the feeling that I had just opened a door that would redefine the rest of my life.
7
Clara
With the loud clang of the door, I felt a presence sweep into the darkness. From the shadows, an older boy took the seat across from me.
His radiant eyes met mine over the flame.
Within the blackness of the room, there was nothing else to focus on than the flickering light over his quiet, solemn expression. Short, brunette hair handsomely framed the hard angles of his youthful face. I studied the almost supernaturally pale tone in his skin – the first word that came to mind was ‘ghostly.’ That’s when I finally noticed his broad shoulders, his large arms, and those massive, perfect hands…
It was those eyes that fascinated me most.
I’d seen similar eyes on every person here I’d managed to evade, but these shone brightly with a radiant green fire. From the moment I first stared into those eyes I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that they were eyes I had already seen countless times. These were the dark, conflicted eyes of a powerful and brooding man, but it was so much more than that…
He is the shadowy savior from my nightmares.
But the stranger wasn’t here to rescue me this time. Instead of warding me away from danger and valiantly fending off my invisible threat, one look in his eyes told me the frightening truth:
The only threat here was him.
Between the boy’s otherworldly features and that dangerous gleam in his luminous gaze, I was terrified beyond belief. There was no mistaking his intentions. He looked like a predator, carefully watching its prey.
I was the sacrifice, terrified and alone.
He was the ravenous, cunning wolf…
When he finally spoke, even his voice was the same as the man who fought for me in my darkest dreams – only to possibly destroy me now.
“So…” He grinned wickedly. I noticed that his balled fists were on the table, and the whiteness of his tense knuckles. I shivered as I noticed his whole body was trembling. “I take it you’re not exactly the talkative type...”
Shaking off the reverie, I tried to pull myself back together. It’s a lot harder than you’d think, especially when you find yourself face-to-face with a man who can’t possibly exist.
I wanted to so desperately to say something bold, something that would make him reconsider annihilating me. In all the books I’d read and all the television I’d seen, I wanted to pull out some epic speech or awesome monologue; I needed to make this intimidating man from my dreams see how cunning and silver-tongued I was.
But what I said was: “It’s been a long day.”
After a fle
eting, odd look, the stranger burst into vigorous laughter. In fact, his laughter was so great that he nearly fell backwards in his chair. I was so utterly disarmed that all I could do was sit and watch until his last few chuckles.
“You and me both,” he shook his head lightly. “If only you knew how stupidly complicated today has been for me…”
I shifted uncomfortably in my seat under the weight of his hard gaze. Making him laugh swept away some of his sinister expression, but it was clear that I wasn’t out of the woods yet. The way he narrowed his eyes only underlined the point.
“You are not of this world,” he told me.
“No,” I sighed. “I guess not.”
“Tell me, human…” The stranger glowered. “How did you manage to get into my castle?”
“I don’t know,” I answered truthfully.
When I saw how his face started to harden…
I had to give him something.
“Look. There was this big lake and this weird, crazy lady, sort of like a gypsy,” I suddenly burst out in a nervous, rapid-fire answer. Reliving the stark memories made me shudder with anxiety. “I couldn’t tell what she was doing, but when I came across her, well… it just made her angry. I never figured out what her deal was. She was just so unnaturally fast; strong, too. She tried to capture me. I only got away from her by jumping into the water.”
So much for epic speeches and monologues…
Surprising me in no way whatsoever, the boy looked fully unconvinced. “And, what? The lake somehow brought you here?”
“The water… well, it changed.”
“Oh?” He looked bored. But for the moment, bored was a lot better than murderous…
“I can’t explain it,” I replied, trying to do just that very thing. “It just sorta stopped being water. Instead of getting soaked and having to swim out, I was surrounded by all these… lights and colors. It felt like I was falling forever…”
I tried my best to think back to all those incredible sights the lake showed me, but I could barely remember any of it.
“The things I saw were so beautiful. It breaks my heart to admit it, but I can’t even picture any of them now. It was almost like I was spiraling down through all these countless galaxies and dreams… just, an infinite abyss of impossibly beautiful things.”
I noticed he was watching me intently.
“I know that sounds crazy, but you’ve got to believe me,” I pleaded desperately. “Please. I don’t know where I am. I don’t know how I got here. All I know is that the sky I saw up there?” I shook my head. “That is definitely not the sky I know.”
When I looked up into his eyes this time, the candle painted me a different story than before. No longer did the man from my dreams look like he was a coiled viper, patiently waiting for the best moment to strike. Instead, his stare was contemplative, and his eyes were greatly lost in thought. They told me that he was conflicted but deeply intrigued.
For now, they weren’t the eyes of a killer.
I could definitely work with that.
“Whoever you are… and whatever you are… your life is in grave danger here.” His voice turned ominous as he studied my face. “I don’t think you quite understand just how lucky you are. My royal guards are staunchly disciplined and well trained. But there are many others in this castle. I know that you snuck around some of my servants… if any of them had found you, you might not have lived to have this conversation with me.”
The threat hung in the air. I shivered beneath its weight, fearing what might have happened if I had made one wrong move.
“You couldn’t last another day here without my protection…” The boy’s solemn face cracked a sly smile; it made him handsome again. “I think I’m willing to offer it to you. For a price, that is...”
I asked nervously: “What do you want?”
When he leaned forward, his face darkened against the flickering candle. “Something that I will have, by any means necessary. Even if I must take it from you…”
The face from my deepest nightmares was surreal in the candle’s swaying, trembling light.
But this time, I wasn’t asleep.
He finally finished the sentence: “The truth.”
For a moment, I’d been afraid that he would ask a great deal more of me. I knew that I wasn’t exactly gifted with astonishingly good looks, but the fact of the matter was that he seemed fairly important. There were probably all kinds of awful demands he could try to make of me now.
But this seemed like it was a pretty good start. It’s certainly a fair request. I can manage the truth.
“The truth about what?” I quietly asked.
The stranger leaned back in his chair again and crossed his thick arms. He looked pensive.
“I have questions. I’d like you to answer them. It’s obvious to me that I’m not the only person in this room out of their depth… if you cooperate, I’ll explain somewhat of where you are.”
“That seems… fair,” I agreed.
“Treat me with respect, and I’ll return it in kind. If we’re being completely honest with each other, your arrival here has put me in one hell of an awkward position. Even if you were to vanish right this second and never return…”
His piercing gaze turned inward.
“I would be left standing at the very edge of something that could disrupt, well…” He wearily sighed. “Absolutely everything.”
The conviction in his haunted words told me that he believed every syllable of that warning. I wondered what he could mean by that. The words sent a tremor rolling down my spine.
“Allow me to be perfectly clear with you,” he leaned forward, clasping his hands on the table. “We need to trust each other, you and I. No matter who you are, that means we lay it all out: no lies; no deceits; no trickery.”
“Okay,” I agreed. “Help me, and I’ll help you.”
A moment of quiet fell over the room as we watched each other over the flame. It was so dark outside the table that I felt as if I sat in an abyss, with the only other creature to ever be.
He broke the silence shortly after.
“I need to know who you are.”
Relief flooded me. Fortunately, it looked like we were starting small.
“My name is Clara Blackwell,” I confidently answered. “I’m a secondary school student from England. In two weeks, I turn seventeen years old, and…” That’s when I frowned, realizing it was basically all that I had of any significance. “...And there’s really nothing else remarkable about me.”
“Clara,” he repeated my name curiously, as if feeling it out against his lips. “Clara Blackwell…”
I couldn’t help but like how it sounded in his dark, brooding voice. My name had never been anything special to me, but the way he said it…
He paused then, glancing at me in surprise. “Only sixteen years old? My, you are a young one.”
Well, I’m not that young, I thought dejectedly. Unless he had some incredible fitness routine, he didn’t look a day over twenty-two.
“What about you?” I asked.
He hesitated for a brief moment.
“I am Elliott Craven, reigning vampire lord of Stonehold,” he replied calmly. “Where we are is an interrogation chamber beneath Stonehold Castle, built on the Isle of Obsidian. I rule from here, but the vast majority of my kingdom is across the sea, over on the mainland.”
Of course, half of those words practically meant nothing to me. Still, for royalty, I found it kind of odd that he didn’t bother to lace his words with arrogance. Instead, the man sounded almost reluctant to tell me that he was–
Wait a second.
“Did I just hear you say ‘vampire’?”
“Yes,” Elliott casually answered.
My head reeled from the realization.
Vampires? Is this even possible?
“You look surprised,” he observed calmly.
“But vampires are just fairy tales,” I insisted. "They’re all just superst
ition and folklore from centuries ago. Vampires don’t exist.”
Elliott smiled understandingly.
To prove a point, he suddenly hissed, bearing a pair of sharp fangs for me to see. After I gasped, he retracted them. “And yet, here I am.”
That’s when it dawned on me, and everything finally started to fall into place. I forced myself to say my revelation aloud. “I’m really, truly not on Earth anymore, am I?”
Elliott looked at me oddly.
“Huh? Of course you’re on Earth,” he scoffed. “Unless, that is, you’re from some other planet.” He narrowed his eyes again. “You aren’t an alien of some kind, are you?”
“Wait… this is Earth?” I stroked my temples. “But the world I just left is Earth. And we don’t get vampires there, unless you pop open something like a book.”
His eyebrow rose curiously. “Well, clearly you aren’t from the Earth I live in…”
“But… if I’m so rare then…” I paused, letting it sink in. That’s not possible. “Are you telling me that human beings don’t exist here? At all?”
“To borrow your words, Clara… humans are fairy tales,” Elliott cynically frowned. There was bitterness in his voice as his eyes leveled on me. “If you want the truth, there has never been any evidence of a human in untold millennia, not for the history of our entire civilization.”
He furrowed his eyebrows and exhaled a quick, frustrated sigh. “Imagine, then, my utter disbelief when a fairy tale wanders right into my realm from nowhere. Straight into my castle, no less.”
“So, if you’re a vampire on a world without humans, then that means my blood…” I couldn’t bear to continue.
“Yes. It’s intoxicating.”
Suddenly, I realized why he had watched me so hungrily before. Of course he’d looked at me like he was a predator. He thirsted for my blood. Staring deeply into his dark, ravenous eyes, I felt a fear unlike I’d ever known before.
“Clara...” He could plainly see the terror on my face. “If I could not restrain myself, I would have drunk of you by now.”