“Here,” he said, ignoring my comment, not surprising. A long, sleek knife was in his hand. About the length of my arm, but thinner, the blade glimmered in the light.
“What am I supposed to do with that?”
He looked up with a shake of his head, before looking at me again. “You defend yourself, genius. If something comes rushing at you, use this.” He pushed it closer toward me.
“I don’t know how to use it.”
He huffed. “I’ll give you a crash course.”
I nodded. “Okay.”
“First, take the bloody knife.”
“Oh. Right.” I took the blade, weighing it in my hand.
“Good. Get a feel for it, swing it around a bit.”
I did as he said, slicing the blade through the air.
“Now, brace your feet apart so you’re balanced.”
“Check,” I said, doing just that.
“Next, if something comes at you, stab it.”
I started to nod, and then stopped. Cillian had already turned and started to walk away.
“That’s it?” I said, rushing to catch up to him.
He shrugged. “What more do you want? I don’t have time to train you, and your natural powers are more dangerous than that knife anyway. If anything, it might buy you a few seconds to figure out your next move.”
“First of all,” I said, stomping behind him, my breathing becoming laboured from all the walking and heat. “You’re a horrible teacher. Secondly, what natural powers?”
He snorted. “You have no idea what you’re capable of, but I can guarantee if your life was on the line, you’d figure it out pretty fast.”
We walked in silence for a few moments while I let that settle in. Why would I have such spectacular powers? What happened if they didn’t just - show up? Then what? Why did he seem so sure that I had powers? Then it struck me.
“Can’t you tell me a bit more about my dad?” I asked.
I saw his shoulders tighten. Bingo. Whatever he thought I could do was obviously linked to my father. He must be a bad ass like Cillian too.
“I told you, he will explain more about himself when you meet him.”
“What if I don’t?”
“You’ll have to now,” he said simply.
“Is he, like, super badass like you? Is that why you think I have powers?”
He glanced over his shoulder, cocking one brow. “You think I’m badass?”
I rolled my eyes. “I don’t think you’re anything,” I lied. I swore I caught him smirk before he looked straight ahead. “I just assume you must be since nothing has approached us here yet. They keep staying just out of our direct area.”
“I’ve got news for you, little girl,” he said, amusement laced in his voice. “It’s not me they’re avoiding. It’s you.”
I opened my mouth to ask him what that was supposed to mean, but before I could get anything out, he held up a hand, silencing me. Crouching down, Cillian moved quickly through the trees. I bent low too, following him. He stopped just behind a massive tree, his hand up again in what I assumed meant stop and be quiet.
I sidled up next to him, peering into what seemed to be a clearing. However, it was empty. No hounds or evil person gathering them there to hunt me down. I didn’t know what I had expected, but it wasn’t this.
“What, exactly, are we looking for anyway?” I whispered.
“A tear in the wall.”
“Tear in the wall,” I nodded. “What is that?”
“There’s a wall around the realm that keeps those here, within it.”
“Not the hounds,” I pointed out.
“Precisely. Apparently, someone used some type of weapon to create a tear in the wall, and then connected some sort of a portal to it to get them out.”
“So you’re looking to find this hole, and go through it yourself?”
“That’s the plan,” he murmured as he crept forward again.
I followed, keeping my knees bent as I tried to be as silent as he was being. It was uncanny really. A man that was six feet or taller, built like a boxer, and dragging around two massive wings, should make some amount of noise. Cillian moved like a ghost. I, on the other hand, was the elephant trampling through the bush behind him.
“Is that why it feels - off?” I had been looking around, so of course I slammed right into him as he stopped and turned to me. My cheek smashed into his bare chest, two hands grabbing my arms before I could fall.
“Jesus -” I pushed off him. “What did I say about that?”
“What did you say?” He said at the same time as me.
I growled. “I said, stop stopping like that! I keep cra - “
“Not that,” he interrupted. “What did you just say before?”
I rubbed at my cheek. “What? The feeling off thing?”
“Does something feel off to you?”
I shrugged. “Kind of.”
“Off, how?”
“I don’t know. Something feels different over here than it did before. Like, someone opened a window and there’s a breeze coming in.”
He looked at me with an unreadable expression, humming under his breath. “I suppose it would make sense that you’re more in tune with the details of this world,” he muttered as he turned away to look around again, as though he was trying to see what I was talking about.
“Why?” I asked. “Why would that make sense?”
“Do you think you could pinpoint this - open window?” He asked, ignoring my question.
“Now that I know that’s what we’re looking for, probably. Next time, maybe you should fill me in a bit more and save us some time.”
I didn’t wait for his response, but I could practically feel the glare on my back as I led the way this time.
It took me all of ten minutes to find it. What I hadn’t expected, was that I could actually see it. The rip was almost a literal sense of the word. In the middle of the woods, between two trees, there was a six-foot-high, four-foot-wide area that shimmered as though it were filled with water. But when you looked into that water, you could see a different landscape on the other side.
We stood in front of it, gazing into the watery substance.
“Do you recognize where it goes?”
“I do,” he said. “And it goes with what I was told.”
I waited. He didn’t offer any further explanation. Sighing, I said, “So where does it go then?”
“It’s the Blood Forest,” he answered. “Where the horde of vampires primarily resides with their chosen King.”
“Well then,” I said, eyeing the opening warily. “The trees don’t like, drip blood or anything, do they?”
“No, Hope. It’s just the name.”
I let out a sigh of relief. “Their King, huh? I don’t suppose he’s your friend from the other night?”
Cillian’s lips twitched. “No, although I’m sure Niko would be pleased you thought him kingly enough to be it. Alexej is their current King. A vampire even older than Niko, and one I’m not looking forward to having to deal with.”
“You think he’s the one who ordered the attacks?”
He stalked forward, staring into the tear. “I think not very much goes on in his land without him knowing about it. I also know, as soon as we go through here, he’ll be aware of it. The trees talk to each other.”
“Wonderful,” I muttered. “What about us demons?”
He looked over with brows raised. “What about, us demons?”
I blushed, realizing I had actually referred to myself as one, something I don’t think I’d done before now. Clearing my throat, I said, “is there a demon King?”
Something flashed through those eyes that watched me. “There is.”
“Then can’t we ask him to like, I don’t know, talk to their King? You know, King to King sort of thing...”
“I’ll deal with Alexej.” He turned away, shutting down the conver
sation. Sadly, I wasn’t even surprised. I was slowly getting used to Cillian and his sudden mood changes.
He held out his hand to me. I looked down at it and then back at him. “Grab on,” he said. “I don’t know how this connection works, or who made it, so I want to make sure we stick together no matter what happens.”
“That doesn’t sound very encouraging,” I said, gripping his hand.
“Just because we can see the horde lands, doesn’t mean that’s where we’ll end up when we walk through there. Magic of this sort is a fickle thing.”
I shook my head, sighing. “You sure know how to keep a girl on her toes, Cillian.”
He smirked. “Hold your breath.”
“Hold my -?”
I was yanked through.
***
“Ew, ew, ew.” I frantically wiped at my face as we stood in another clearing, in another forest. The portal someone had created had felt like walking through a cobweb, if the web was wet and slimy. I felt as if pieces of it now stuck to me.
“There’s nothing on you,” Cillian said. I didn’t miss the note of irritation in his voice.
“Are you sure?” I asked, looking down at myself. Oddly enough, I was bone dry. “Huh,” I said. I looked up, catching him shaking his head at me as he turned to take in our surroundings.
“Why here?” He muttered.
I took a moment to do the same as him. This was definitely still not the world I was used to, but gone was the red sky and strange trees, and in their place, was a blue-black sky, with ominous clouds spread throughout. The forest was thick and had that same otherworldly sense to it as the previous place had. In the distance, I could see the clear outline of a castle that screamed horror film, even from where we were. I couldn’t be sure, but I swore the castle itself was made from some sort of black, shiny material. Green lights glowed from within. Four towers decorated each of the four corners, while within them a grand structure seemed as though it fought the sky itself for dominance. I swallowed just looking at it, my sense of self-preservation setting off warning bells again. That was not a place I ever wanted to find myself within.
From where we stood though, it was still quite a ways away. In fact, this clearing seemed to be strategically located in a position that I imagined wasn’t easily seen from the walls that surrounded it. Not that I could see anyone on those walls, but had they had some sort of guards, I didn’t reckon they’d spot us. A castle like that probably didn’t need guards, I thought. One look at it would tell anyone stupid enough to want to attack to turn around and flee while they still could.
Fighting off a tremor, I tore my gaze away from it to look at Cillian again. “What are you thinking?” I asked, searching the pensive expression clouding his face.
His eyes met mine, and I could tell that whatever it was, it wasn’t anything good. “I’m thinking there’s something wrong here,” he answered.
“To say the least,” I murmured, glancing back at the castle. “At least it’s cooler here. That other place was hot as hell.”
He gave me a deadpan look.
“No pun intended, I swear.”
“If this really had been Alexej’s plan, they wouldn’t have brought the hounds here. This place is too out of the way; too far from his stronghold.”
I didn’t understand why anyone did anything, never mind vampires who were trying to kill me. I didn’t think that thought would help the situation though, so I smartly kept silent.
“Who would have set this up?”
A rhetorical question, but I actually had something to say regarding that. “Actually, there was something slightly familiar when we passed through it,” I said.
His attention snapped to me. “How so?”
“I can’t put my finger on it. The scent maybe? It was just a feeling I got when we walked through.”
“As if you recognize the person who created it?”
“Possibly?” I shrugged. “If they could leave an imprint behind, maybe?”
“It’s definitely a possibility, but I didn’t pick up on anything. I wonder if - “
His sentence was cut off by a bone chilling growl behind him. Cillian rushed to my side as another one, and then another, and another followed. Suddenly it sounded as though we surrounded by them. The hairs on my arms and neck stood on end as I gripped Cillian’s arm.
“Cillian?” I said, eyeing the dark forest around us. “What’s going on?”
“It’s a trap,” he gritted.
I felt the blood drain from my face, my stomach dropping as my mouth went dry. A trap. Why hadn’t I been even remotely mentally prepared for this outcome, considering that it seemed obvious now?
“I think it’s time to put that crash course to use,” he said as dozens of pairs of glowing eyes reflected in what only a moment before had been impenetrable darkness. Then they stepped into the light of the clearing. More hounds than I could count.
I swore every single curse word I’d ever heard.
“For once, I agree with you,” said Cillian. He braced his stance in front of me, pulling out two long swords. “Get your weapon ready.”
“I don’t know if I can,” I said, not meaning pulling out the blade he’d given me, but that I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to fight these things. He knew what I’d meant.
“You can, and you will,” he said, just as they attacked.
I sucked in a breath as Cillian moved forward, the hounds rushing at him, no hesitation, no fear. If I could have stayed there and watched in horror, I probably would have, but that wasn’t going to happen. A crash behind me told me we truly were surrounded, and more were coming. I spun, swinging the weapon, the blade slicing through flesh effortlessly. A hound’s head rolled a few feet away from my running shoe. I would have screamed, if not for the next two that came at me.
Swinging again and again, I managed to cut into both, sending them rolling. Another one was there in an instant. I didn’t have time to think or analyze what was happening as one after another I killed them. It seemed like a never-ending line of beasts, until suddenly they stopped coming and the tip of my blade fell toward the ground, my arms aching, my breathing harsh. Sweat dripped from my face as I turned to see if Cillian needed my help. He didn’t.
A circle of bodies lay around the both of us. He had just sliced into the last one when he met my gaze, those bottomless eyes now brighter, more dangerous, the depths almost a burgundy colour. We were both breathing quickly as we regarded one another.
“Told you, you could watch my back.”
I looked around at the carnage and let out a small laugh.
Then every muscle in my body seemed to tighten. I tried to shake whatever it was off, and realized I couldn’t move. Panicking, my gaze flew to Cillian. One look at him told me the same thing was happening to him. A dangerous sound rattled from his chest as a figure and then four more, appeared from within the trees.
“What do we have here?”
Thirteen
King of the Vampires
The menace vibrating off of Cillian was a tangible force at this point. This was Cillian mad. I realized the difference now between him being moody, and then full-on angry. I could only pray for the two vampires holding him that whatever invisible chains they’d put on us held, otherwise I had no doubt he would eviscerate them all.
We had been led to the very place I had never wanted to enter. My legs had begun to wobble as soon as the castle doors had come into view. Taller than probably my entire house, they gleamed a dark, glassy blackness, as did the rest of the castle. These were the mouth of the beast, and rose up over us as though they were opening wide to swallow us whole.
The inside of the castle wasn’t any better. It was cold, and so dark that I had trouble seeing, although no one else seemed to mind. Lit torches decorated the walls every so often, but did little to battle the overall gloom of the place. I shivered, the despair eating into my very bones as we slowly made our way down a hal
lway.
“What a prize you are, lovely,” the leader said, his long, pale fingers brushing through the strands of my hair. I cut him a look that I hoped said “back off”, but he didn’t seem deterred. In fact, he only smiled wider, large, pointed fangs gleaming at me as if in mockery. I swallowed.
That rattling growl sounded from Cillian behind me. Funny that I could recognize his over any other kind of growl. The leader glanced back, a gleam of mischief lighting his eyes. They weren’t red like Niko’s had been. This vampire had brown eyes, ordinary looking compared to the rest of him. He also wasn’t devastatingly handsome as Niko had been. Neither were the two with Cillian, or the two holding my arms. I suppose I’d read so many books, I had half expected all immortal beings to be drop-dead gorgeous. From what I’d seen with Niko, the incubus man, and Cillian (which I’d never admit to him), I’d thought that was the norm.
The Dark Princess (The Balance Series Book 3) Page 15