Chapter 6 #2
He held her gaze. For a long moment, she felt as if he were measuring her ability to handle the weight of his answer. “Yes, I do. Can we get started?”
Damn it. She didn’t want her most vulnerable memories laid bare before her enemy. But she had no other choice. She swallowed past her pained, parched throat and nodded. Reaching out, she pressed her finger against the sharp point of the needle.
Her crimson fluid leaked down it, and Zarathos started the spinning wheel.
And the world around her grew fuzzy and then faded.
Aryana held the bundle of red tulip flowers out to Terrance, the young human man that had captured her heart. She’d spent last evening gathering them from a distant field.
The lanterns in the small cabin glinted off his pale hair. His gentle blue eyes lit up as he took the blossoms in his grasp. “Thanks Aryana, you’re a lifesaver.”
She forced a smile.
His sister, Joy, clasped her hands together at her side. “They’re so beautiful. Oh, Ella will love them.”
Terrance rose from the rickety wooden bench next to the old dining table. He straightened his clothes. On this occasion, he had combed his wavy blonde hair away from his face, and his dark brown suit was immaculately pressed.
“Well, I’m off.” He winked at Aryana and his sister. “Wish me luck.”
“Wait,” Joy said, and she stepped close and adjusted his collar, making sure the tiny teeth marks in the skin by his neck remained hidden. She cuffed him on the shoulder. “Can’t let her think the wrong thing. Not on an occasion such as this.”
“Thanks, sister.” He turned his bright smile on Aryana. “Thanks again for the flowers.”
She could only nod, her heart beginning to shatter. And with that, he turned and stepped out the entrance to the cabin where the three of them lived with Terrance and Joy’s parents.
Joy gripped her arm. “Let’s follow and watch from a distance,” she whispered conspiratorially.
Aryana didn’t want to watch. But she would anyway, because a part of her needed to see. So they walked out into the night, headed down the road toward the village.
The light of the moon shone above, and torches lit the path on the way into town while firelight bugs danced below the boughs of the trees, giving the very air itself a romantic feel.
Terrance and Joy had found Aryana a week after running from her uncle.
She’d holed up in their barn, weak, nearly unconscious.
She’d had a run in with a giant in the woods who’d strayed into their kingdom and had left her body broken and bruised.
Not knowing what she was, Terrance and Joy had taken pity on her and tended to her wounds.
When her thirst was no longer endurable, revealing her vampire nature, Terrance and Joy again took pity on her and let her drink their blood until she recovered.
They still permitted her to partake from them when her hunger became unbearable.
She’d never experienced compassion such as that from anyone. They’d brought her in and treated her like family. She owed them her life.
And somewhere in the process, she’d ended up falling for Terrance’s kind smile and thoughtful manner.
“Look,” Joy said. “Ella’s meeting him on the road. Oh, they are going into the forest. Let’s go after them… discreetly.”
Aryana held in a snort. She didn’t think Joy had ever done anything discreetly in her life. But she followed the human girl through the brush. Her friend was the twin image of her brother. Long pale hair and bright blue eyes that were always sparking with excitement. Joy was well named.
Her friend’s fingernails dug into Aryana’s skin. “Watch.”
The scent of Joy’s elation flooded her nostrils.
Every emotion gave off a scent and vampires were as adept as any demon at discerning the shift in every emotional state, though human scents washed over her like relentless waves in the ocean.
The heightened emotions, the racing heart that beat in her friend’s chest, the scent of her life force as it flowed faster through her veins.
Aryana redirected her attention back to the two other quickening hearts nearby. Terrance was on one knee and offering the tulips and a ring to Ella. The woman’s eyes grew large and a grin spread across her face.
“Isn’t it exciting?” Joy said quietly.
Despite the pain crashing over her, she couldn’t tear her eyes away, watching with helpless longing.
“I wish that were me,” she whispered.
Joy gasped. “What? You’re in love with…” She paled, looking at her brother, but then disbelief entered her expression. “Surely, you know that’s impossible.”
The words hit Aryana like a slap in the face.
“I mean, what would your children be? Can vampires even have children?”
Aryana stared at Terrance. Hearing Joy say the very things she had expected didn’t make them any easier to accept.
“Yes,” she said quietly.
Not as easily as humans, though. Aryana had been a conceived vampire as opposed to a turned one. There were only certain times a year that a vampire could possibly conceive, but none of that mattered. She wasn’t marriage material. Not for a human.
Her gaze fell to the scarf covering Joy’s own bite marks, and her heart shriveled a little more.
Her friend’s eyes opened wide. “I’m sorry, Aryana. I was surprised. That’s all. You have a right to your own feelings. But Terrance is in love with someone else.”
Someone else. After the betrayal of her first suitor that led to her father’s death, Aryana thought she’d never love again. And yet, here she was, letting herself fall for a human.
He wasn’t a monster. He didn’t thirst after another’s blood. He had no ambitions for power. He didn’t have his most violent instincts aroused by the scent of fear.
They watched as Ella threw her arms around Terrance and he pulled her close. The two became lost in a gentle kiss.
Human love was strong, uncomplicated.
Selfless.
She turned away, unable to watch anymore, leaving Joy behind and headed into the forest.
What made her think she deserved Terrance?
Demons, including vampires, didn’t have the strength of devoted attachment that humans possessed.
Where humans might love unconditionally, demons didn’t, their affection taken over by hunger, desire, and unfeeling need.
She’d always be battling her own self-interest. Her thirst. Her predatory instincts meant there would perpetually be a temptation to turn on her own friends.
The trees loomed over her as the forest canopy blocked out a few of the moon’s rays.
A twig snapped not far off and she halted suddenly, the woods taking on a more sinister tone as the large monoliths became an enemy’s playground.
Hiding places lurked around every bush and shrub.
She tested the air, trying to scent if somebody approached, but the breeze worked against her, blowing from the direction she came.
Throwing her scent out to anyone who may be hunting her.
She should head back. Yes. That would be best.
She turned to go, but before she took more than a couple of steps, a voice stopped her cold. “Hello, Aryana.”
Uncle Fallor stepped out from the trees and her heart sank. No.
She registered his familiar spotless black and gray uniform, his long silver hair, his crimson threatening eyes. “Uncle, how did you find me?”
A slow, dark smile curled his lips. “It’s amazing what some humans will divulge when they are begging you not to take their life. A tradesman from your village who wandered too far from home gave you away. It is time to come home, Aryana.”
“I do not wish to.”
Anger sparked in his eyes, and part of her wanted to cower for her insolence. King Fallor made a motion and several more vampires faded in from the forest, flanking their leader.
She raised her chin, refusing to be intimidated. “I enjoy it here. I want to stay.”
“Among humans, among the lowest of the low? Wallowing with your food?”
“Yes.”
“You are a princess. You are above this. Every vampire is above them.”
“Aryana?” Joy came through the trees, and Aryana’s heart sank. “Are you all right? You rushed off and…” She paused and looked at the gathered vampires curiously. “Who is this?”
“Joy, return to the town.” Aryana’s voice shook on her friend’s behalf. “I’m fine.”
“Is this a friend of yours?” A sickening glint entered King Fallor’s gaze.
Aryana moved so she was between Joy and her uncle. “Joy, listen to me. Go. Now.”
Her friend’s eyes were round, and from Aryana’s seriousness, seemed to understand. “Yes, I think I shall.” Her hurried footsteps crunched in the underbrush as she retreated.
“Seize the human. Chain the princess to a tree,” King Fallor said.
A tall, broad vampire rushed for her. Aryana ducked under his grasp, moving just as fast, coming up on his backside and leaped on his back, sinking her teeth into his jugular, biting deep.
A horrified gasp came from him as she ripped the flesh from his neck.
She’d torn an artery. Crimson spurted wildly from the wound and he fell to his knees, his eyes going glassy as he dropped face first onto the ground.
She jumped off of him as more vampire soldiers approached.
They surrounded her and no matter how hard she fought or bit, there were too many.
They wrapped ropes around her wrists and dragged her to a nearby tree.
She pulled against her bonds but knew the ropes must be spelled to resist vampire strength.
Another soldier brought a struggling Joy to the king. The smell of her friend’s fear invaded her. Strong. Undeniable. Something inside Aryana stirred, and a predatory hunger filled her, even as she fought against her bonds. Shit. She hated this. She hated this constant fight with herself.
“Tell me your name,” King Fallor commanded.
“J-Joy.”
“Joy, look at Aryana. She is a vampire. She is not your friend, she was never your friend. She led me here. I would never have noticed your pathetically insignificant existence until this moment.”