A wave of dizziness tears me from the strange, heavy rest Silas's draught forced upon me.
As a human, sleep had always come naturally. As a vampire, true sleep rarely came unless one was greatly weakened or exhausted. Yet now, fighting my way back to wakefulness feels like clawing my way out of dark water.
Something is wrong.
I feel it before I understand it.
The air in the chamber feels strange. Too tense. Too heavy.
My thoughts drift first to the king, to Darian, to the war he rides into while I remain hidden away like something precious and breakable.
Then a blood curling scream cuts through the silence.
I jolt upright at once.
My gaze darts wildly about the chamber.
"I imagined it," I whisper, though my voice shakes. "Who will be screaming like that in the castle"
Then another scream comes.
Sharper.
Closer.
Gut wrenching.
I release a slow breath, though my throat feels dry and rough.
That was not imagined.
I rise from the bed and move toward the chamber door, thinking perhaps I should look into the corridor and see what has happened.
But then I hear it.
Footsteps.
Not mine.
Just beyond the door.
I freeze where I stand.
My breath catches in my throat.
The latch trembles violently.
Someone is trying to force their way into the chamber.
The realization comes so swiftly that for a moment I forget how to move.
No.
No, no, no.
I cannot stand here and do nothing.
I need a weapon.
I need something.
Whoever is beyond that door is no friend. Not with the screams I heard.
My gaze flies desperately around the chamber until it lands upon the torch fixed to the stone wall.
The burning torch.
If I can use the flame against him, perhaps it will buy me enough time to flee. Enough time to learn what madness has overtaken the castle.
But what if he is stronger than me?
What if there is more than one?
My thoughts wage war against one another.
Be brave.
Run.
Hide.
Fight.
I did not train all these months to be a coward and run at the first sense of danger, it is either I kill it or it kills me.
I feel as though I am splitting apart beneath the weight of my own fear.
Yet one thought remains stronger than the rest.
Never again.
I will never again be prey.
I seize the torch from the wall and hide myself behind the doorframe. The rattling has ceased now, but I can still feel the presence beyond the thick oak.
Waiting.
I tighten my grip upon the torch until my hand aches.
I do not know whether I wait for my own death or his.
Then—
Bang.
The chamber door bursts inward with such force that it tears from its iron fastenings and crashes against the stone wall.
For a heartbeat, I simply stare.
No human could have done that.
Whatever stands before me is not mortal.
I move at once.
I swing the torch wildly toward the figure before me, caring little where I strike so long as flame kisses flesh.
A surprised groan tears from him.
Then I see his eyes.
Crimson.
The same shade I once found beautiful.
But these eyes do not belong to my king.
They belong to a stranger.
A rogue.
He catches my wrist and slams me hard against the stone wall.
Pain explodes through my back and up into my neck.
I gasp.
Yet I heal quickly, and before he can strike again, I charge him with the torch still in hand.
I thrust the flames toward his face.
He recoils, seeking to avoid the fire, but then his hand buries itself in my hair and he hurls me to the floor.
Pain bursts through my skull.
A cry escapes me before I can stop it.
"Gods," I groan.
For a moment, he simply stares at me.
Surprised.
As though I am not the person he expected to find in this chamber.
But whatever confusion crosses his face does not stop him.
He still means to kill me.
Cassian's words rush back into my mind.
If your strength fails you, use your wit.
I twist the torch in my hand despite the way the heated iron bites into my skin. The lower end has splintered to a sharp point.
If I drive it through his heart—
I lunge for him.
But he is swifter.
His fist slams into my ribs and I cry out.
If I had still been human, I think the blow would have broken me.
But I am no longer human.
And I refuse to die here.
Not by the hands of some rogue beast.
I throw myself at him again, clutching at his short dark hair and wrenching his head back at an unnatural angle.
He snarls.
Then he hurls me across the chamber once more.
"Would you cease throwing me about?" I gasp.
But he gives me no time to recover.
He catches me by my gown and throws me to the floor again. The torch slips from my grasp and lands upon the bed.
Within moments, the mattress catches aflame.
Fire races hungrily across the blankets and furs.
Smoke begins to fill the chamber.
I try to rise, but he is already upon me.
His hand clamps over my face, fingers digging painfully into my jaw and temples as though he means to crush my skull within his grasp.
I claw at him wildly.
His shoulders.
His back.
Anything I can reach.
Nothing works.
Then I remember.
He cannot have come unarmed.
My fingers search blindly along his side until I find it—
A dagger.
I wrench it from his belt and drive it into his neck.
He recoils at once, releasing me.
Blood spills down his throat.
Yet I know it is not enough.
He will heal.
He is a vampire.
I drag myself backward, gasping for breath, while my gaze searches the chamber for anything else I might use.
The flames grow larger.
Smoke curls thickly around us. The orange hue of flames reflects on the stone wall as heat seeps in my skin.
Then I see it.
A heavy climbing rope, thick as a man's wrist.
I seize it at once and cast it about his neck as he struggles with the wound. His roar is feral and unmerciful
The dagger must have been poisoned.
Dark greenish veins already spread beneath the skin around the cut.
Good.
Let him die by his own blade.
I pull the rope with all the strength left in me.
I pull until my arms shake. The hardness burn in my palms because of the strain.
Until I think I have won.
But I have not.
His elbow slams hard into my ribs. A sharp pain sears in me
I crumple to the floor, gasping.
My body feels as though a warhorse has trampled me into the earth.
He grips me by the arm and drags me from the burning chamber.
"You are not what I expected," he says hoarsely. "But he will be pleased all the same. Another treasure."
I claw uselessly at his hand.
The poison is spreading now. I can see it clearly. Greenish vines look like veins spreading from the wound, he does not seem to care at all, the poison must be fast acting—
Still, he drags me onward.
Then I do the only thing I can think of.
I bite him.
Hard.
I tear flesh from him. The metallic taste of blood explodes in my mouth as I hurriedly spit out the disgusting flesh nearly heaving in irritation.
He roars and throws me violently to the ground.
Pain erupts through my back, healing is not coming as fast as it was when we first started fighting, I groan in pain as a sharp exhale leaves my lips "ahhmm.." it is as though the world is tilting in my vision.
"You shall pay dearly for this," he snarls.
Then his hand closes around my throat. Squeezing it with so much force that can be used to wring a cloth.
My breath leaves me at once.
I claw desperately at his wrist. My throat straining and heaving
Choking on air and desperate to be free, this all too familiar incident takes me back
Back to the memory I have engraved in my mind but I despise and loath.
I am back in that alley once more.
Back to being prey.
Back to fighting for my life. But this time I am not a helpless human, I am a vampire, I have trained for months and I will not die before getting my revenge even if it's the last thing I do
— something in me snaps.
I do not think.
I do not even understand what I am doing.
My hand tears through flesh.
Through bone.
Through blood.
When I look down, his heart is in my hand, it is slowly falling apart, turning to dust…
For a moment, I can only stare, stunned by myself, my heart is beating faster, is it the thrill? I just killed a man
And I am happy— I look at his eyes
His eyes are empty.
His fingers loosen around my throat.
Then his body collapses beside me.
I look at the ruined thing in my hand with horror before I cast it aside.
His body begins to harden.
Stone.
I killed him.
Dear God.
I killed him. A wave of satisfaction washes through me, I am safe… I should find Silas and Cassian, I can believe I actually survi— s
A strong voice rings through the corridor.
"Who is there?"
I turn.
Another vampire.
Larger than the first.
Stronger.
I run.
I cannot survive another fight.
I run as swiftly as I can, but he catches me by my gown and throws me through the nearest archway.
I tumble down the stone stair.
Pain tears through every part of me.
I think of Cassian.
Of Silas.
Of Darian.
If I die now, he will never see me again.
No.
I cannot die like this.
At the bottom of the stair, I lie broken beneath the pale glow of the full moon.
Everything hurts.
My skull.
My ribs.
My back.
Everything.
Then he reaches me.
"You killed my brother," he growls. "So I shall kill you slower."
He grabs me again.
Throws me again.
And then—
Something changes.
A new pain tears through me.
Not from him.
From within.
My bones twist.
My joints crack.
A blood curling scream tears from my throat.
He stumbles back in horror.
"Abomination," he breathes.
I fall to my knees.
My skin burns.
Something beneath it claws to be free. My whole body feels like it's lit on flames but I feel cold inside, I feel my arms expanding and my palms widening.
Another scream rips from me, though this one no longer sounds human. It's like that of the dogs in the dog house, but stronger, more menacing and earth shattering "arrghhhhhh!" My ear rings, the world around me morphs into darkness.
My vision floods red.
The world changes.
The man before me seems smaller now.
Weaker.
My scream becomes a howl.
A terrible, monstrous howl. Sounds wounded and strong.
And when I look down—
I am no longer staring at a man.
I am staring at the two ruined halves of one with claw marks on the chest as his entire form hardens to stone.
The world begins to gain color and register in my mind and gain clarity, I finally see the bodies littered on the floor, bodies of both men from the castle and unknown people, I growl at the sight my eyes looking at all the ones who are staring back at me,
I hear abomination and wailings to the gods, why is everything smaller?
"Get the weapons and tame this wild beast" I hear the head of the guards command, 'what beast?' I wonder and that's when I notice all the horror I see is not because they thought intruders broke into the castle
They are all looking…. At
Me?
Guards are drawing their swords, the servants look at me with fear "she killed all the people" I did not
"She is a monster" I am not
Why are they all running from me?
"Get back!" I hear the guard bark at me pointing his sword at me when I start to work towards everyone "I said get back!" He screams this time using the blade to slice my hand and everything goes black.
Silas Pov
Everything happened so fast I did not get to process it, intruders in the castle and I had to fight, finishing off the last enemy I immediately race for Isolde,
Gods if she dies Dare will not spare me
I hope none got to her.
I stop dead in my tracks when I hear a howl, a howl that made the castle tremble "what was that?" I ask my self
I race to the chambers I left Isolde in and I see the halls engulfed in flames
No!
"No no, Dare will kill me" I race down to get help " abomination!"
"Kill it" "a monster"
I hear before I hear another howl then a crash
Screams erupt and people start running
'Did more come?'
I hurry to the ground floor and see something
A creature
Black as the night
Bigger than our horses
Growling and and throwing everyone in it's wake
'What is that thing'
I immediately aim to kill, drawing out my sword coated in poison about to strike it while it is distracted
With speed and throw myself at it just for it to look me in the eye
Recognition dawns on me
Those eyes…
Familiar
One red
And the other….
Grey like the moon, I can recognize those eyes anywhere but it does not recognize me
I am thrown to the ground by Isolde and I let out a groan
"What happened to you" I ask her, but she does not hear me
She is feral
My black fur is drenched in blood and her claws are painted crimson
I have only ever read about these creatures in the forbidden books
Never did I think I will meet one or Isolde will be one.
No one in Greyhaven knows it's existence
No one knows it is she
And even if they did, more reason to kill her, I cannot let them harm her
But only I can't stop them
Cassian is no where to be seen
So I do the first thing I can think of
'Dare….'
'Is something wrong? I can't feel the tension in Isolde's bond, but she is not talking to me, she shut me out'
'She is in trouble, and I cannot help her alone, come back at once
Isolde is not what we expected'
'What do you mean?'
'Isolde is a werewolf'
'And if you don't get here fast enough, she will either be killed or kill everyone in the castle'