CHAPTER TWELVE
“There is no way Alaric will just close the portal willingly,” I said as we were on our way out of the woods. As we left Seraphine, she gave me one last warning to stay away from silver.
“It’s very unlikely,” he said flatly. “Now that we know a human had to have helped, we can look into that. Humans are a lot easier to ... sway than vampires.” I didn’t know whether to roll my eyes at that or be frightened.
“And what are you going to do about Alaric?”
“I will capture him so he can stand trial. If I can manage to catch him,” he murmured that last part. “He is a master illusionist, as you unfortunately know.”
“His illusions can affect you too?”
He let out a playful scoff. “There’s been many times his illusions led me right into the swamp when we were boys.”
“You grew up together?”
“Yes.” I didn’t think he would elaborate.
I circled my finger around the horn of the saddle.
But he did. “He entered our service when he was ten.” It was hard to imagine Alaric as a young boy.
Children are innocent, Alaric was not. And I knew all too well a child’s innocence is fragile.
I wondered what it was that broke him. “He had a mouth on him, and he didn’t care that I was a prince.
He was the only one who was honest with me.
When he came of age, he became a part of my royal guard.
That was when things started to change.”
I could feel he was being purposefully vague. I wanted to press further, but his next words stalled me.
“You said Thomas was your last chance. Your last chance at what?” At his blatant change of subject, I didn’t think I’d be able to get much more out of him.
“Oh, um ...” I paused. I supposed he already knew so much about me, what was one more embarrassment. “At being normal, which I am not, which at some point always repels any suitor willing to give me a chance. He was the last suitor willing to look past my ... differences.”
I took in a sharp breath as his warm fingers caressed my neck, sweeping my hair over my shoulder, exposing my skin to the autumn chill.
He ran his nose along the slight curve, up to my jawline, inhaling deeply as he did so.
His lips brushed my ear. My head felt lighter.
“Is that what you want? Something normal?”
“I ...” My eyes fluttered closed as his hand pressed into my stomach, melding my back with his chest. His warmth bled into me, and I leaned into it, tilting my head back.
My throat fully bared to him as he grazed his lips along my skin.
“I don’t like the attention.” I finally managed to find the words.
“Mmm.” His lips trailed along my jawline, up to my ear, where he bit down softly, and a small sound escaped my lips. “Are you sure about that?”
As I felt his teeth sink in a little deeper, I finally got a hold of my head enough to realize a vampire was biting me.
I jolted upright, glancing around my surroundings, hoping I could find a hole to burrow into or perhaps a cliff to hurl myself off of.
I needed to get away from him, but I was trapped atop this beast with Sebastian firmly wedged behind me.
“Yes. The attention—it’s too much.” This was all too much.
“I see.” He took his giant hand off my stomach as he held on to the reins again, and I watched them. How they flexed around the leather, how they gripped—I shook my head slightly. “With Alaric gone, you can return back to normal.” His tone held a harder edge I couldn’t place.
Return. I had never been normal. Though it was what I wanted, I feared that particular reality had nearly slipped through the cracks completely. “I think the damage is irreversible.”
“What damage? Is that what they tell you? Perhaps, it is they who are missing what it takes to see the beauty of your difference. Because, Charlotte, I see no damage here.”
His words threw me off. Or was it his kindness? “You’re from another world. I wouldn’t expect you to understand.”
“There are many things that transcend worlds.”
Before I could ask what he meant, the air was ripped from my lungs as I was thrown to the ground.
A guttural growl cut through the perpetual silence.
My back pressed into the cold earth, sinking into the soft decay.
And something—no—someone was on top of me.
He appeared to be no more than eighteen, with light hair the color of wheat.
He still possessed the small frame of a young boy.
But despite his lack of muscle, he was incredibly strong.
His fingers dug into my shoulders as he shoved me deeper into the dying leaves.
Gnarled roots and sharp rocks bit into my back.
And as my eyes landed on his curling lips, they widened at his fangs.
I was useless to myself. I had the dagger at my hip, but I couldn’t bring myself to reach for it.
Did I really want to die at the hands of this vampire, who was clearly determined to take my life?
Was my disdain for the violence really that strong as to delude my mind of reason, of when it was acceptable to defend myself?
I didn’t know what kept me from my dagger.
Another abnormality of mine. In a world where it was perfectly normal to kill the vampires, required even, I still couldn't bring myself to do it. Even when one was about to tear into me. Maybe I’d never discover why.
Just as I braced myself for the sharp sting of teeth sinking in, a giant hand wrapped around the boy’s throat.
Sebastian moved so quickly I didn’t even have time to close my eyes before he drove his dagger deep within the boy’s chest, who stilled shortly after.
Another vampire came out of nowhere, tackling Sebastian and tearing into his throat.
I screamed as I saw the blood pour from him.
* * *
His blood saturated the front of his shirt as it streamed down from his throat.
He seemed only slightly inconvenienced by the wound as he led Nyx off to the side, away from the unmoving vampires.
We made it until we were far enough away from the carnage before he tied Nyx to a tree and sank to the ground.
I had been suppressing a gag ever since he asked me if I was okay, and I spotted the bits of missing flesh on the side of his neck.
The glistening crimson ever-pouring. My throat burned with what I fought hard to keep down.
I had always been a bit squeamish.
His golden skin grew paler by the second.
“Shouldn’t we stop the bleeding?” My eyes strained to stay put on his face, though I could still see all the red. My stomach turned.
“It will stop on its own.” He sounded out of breath.
Vampires healed far faster than humans, within seconds. And they could survive many injuries a human couldn’t. He should have been healed by now.
He eyed my waist, and when his eyes met mine, his stare burned through me. “Why didn’t you fight back? You didn’t even reach for your dagger.”
I looked away from him. The sharp tang of blood filled my nostrils. I could almost taste it. My mouth watered as I swallowed hard. “I don’t know—blagh.”
“What the hell was that?”
I kept my hand to my mouth as I looked back to him. His brow furrowed to a frown.
“It’s nothing. It’s ju—agh—just a lot of bloo—agh.” I couldn’t suppress the gags any longer.
“Okay, I’m starting to understand why you didn’t reach for your dagger,” he said flatly.
His complexion continued to pale, and a sheen formed over his face, but he still donned his typical bored, placid expression. Though his eyes started to appear heavy.
“Don’t you—” I stopped to swallow, forcing down another gag. “Don’t you think you should be healed by now?”
“Yes.” He took in a slow breath. “I haven’t been able to feed in awhile. I may not have the strength to heal.”
“What?” My voice hitched. “You told me you were well fed.”
“I wanted to put your mind at ease. But it has proven to be more difficult than I expected to feed here, and I haven’t been able to get through the portal lately as I’ve been at your father’s beck and call.”
“What does it mean when your body doesn’t have the strength to heal?”
“I’m not sure. I’ve never gone this long without feeding.”
His head lolled to the side along the tree he was slumped up against. A sharp pang needled through my chest. He looked dangerously close to passing out, and I didn’t know if he would ever wake up if he did.
The only ways I had read of how a vampire could die is from the black tourmaline daggers to their hearts or decapitation.
I didn’t know if this could kill him, but I did know that I did not want to find out.
A wave of nausea roiled through me at the thought, turning my already sick stomach. He needed blood.
“What if yo—blagh.” The metallic scent was becoming overpowering now. My eyes watered at the assault. He was at death’s doorstep, but he still had the gall to stare at me with a sparkle of amusement in his quickly dulling eyes. “Fed from me.” I swallowed, suppressing another gag.
“Charlotte, I couldn’t—”
“I don’t think we have any other choice,” I cut him off.
“We can just give it some more time.” The time it took for him to open his eyes after blinking ticked on, longer and longer.
“I don’t think you have much time to spare.”
He shook his head, though it was a lot rockier than he probably anticipated, bobbing along the tree like a buoy at sea.
“Sebastian.”
His eyes opened and held mine at his name.
“Just do it. It’s okay. You need it. And quite frankly, I don’t want to be out here alone when you die.”
He smiled, and I felt a shift within me. A subtle movement, a feather picked up by the wind. An evolution I’d rather not acknowledge.
The last thing I ever thought I’d do was save a vampire. Someone I was raised to despise and taught to fear. But I couldn’t just let him die. I had to at least try to save him.