Witch, Warlock & Vampire Box Set 2: A Vampire Romance Series (Witch, Warlock & Vampire Box Sets), page 67
Damek started to laugh but then looked at Chevalier and swallowed the sentiment as he cleared his throat and took on a few shades of red.
Bryn cleared her throat rather loudly, no doubt her way of calling exclusive attention to herself. “We’d better get this show on the road. Where’s the trod we need to use, Dureau?”
Chevalier waved his arm in the eastern direction of the woods. “Right this way, Your Highness.”
The smile he fastened on her displeased me greatly. As did her response which was a gentle roll of her eyes while a smile tugged at her lips. Clearly she thought the frog amusing. I did not. I stifled my irritation with the cheery realization that at last, we were underway. I positioned myself at the rear of the column we formed, hoping to put as much space between me and the ill-disguised dandy as possible.
***
By the time we arrived at our destination, I could hear the distant roll of incoming waves from the unseen coastline. Chevalier led us to a massive ash tree. Its height and width would have rivaled any American sequoia or redwood. The branches over our heads were so thick and entangled that counting them was all but impossible. I daresay that I could have freely stood under its shade in broad daylight completely in the buff without even a single beam of sunlight burning my skin.
In keeping with Jolie’s new set of orders after the Council meeting, a pair of guards was posted on duty around the tree. They patrolled its vast circumference at regular intervals. The nearest guard stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Bryn.
“Your Highness,” he said, giving her a deep bow.
“At ease, soldier,” Bete Noire told him with an offhand wave. “I take it you’ve had no problems with this trod?”
The guard shook his head. “None that I’ve spotted so far, but we should wait and check with Liza. She should be arriving any minute now.”
True to his prediction, the second guard made herself known in short order. Her rather ethereal build and graceful motions marked her as fae, and possibly a Sidhe. She seemed significantly less surprised and intimidated when she bowed before Bryn. “Your Highness.”
“Anything to report?” Bryn asked, switching over to the commanding tone she reserved solely for her recruits.
“All is quiet and all is well,” the fae guard said with a shrug. “Is there any unforeseen danger we should be aware of?”
“Not at this time, but…”
My little hellion cast her inquiring eyes on Chevalier. The dandy rose to the occasion and said, “We shall need to communicate with the trod’s guardian. Consider yourselves relieved for the next fifteen minutes.”
“With all due respect, sir, are you sure that’s safe?” the male guard blurted out.
Chevalier gave him a disapproving stare before opening his mouth to say something I had every reason to believe would become highly regrettable. I acted swiftly and cut him off with, “We shall take all precautions to ensure both our own safety and that of the kirk, soldier. Should we need you, be prepared to be summoned posthaste.”
The fae woman put a protective arm around her fellow comrade. “As you say, Lord Protector. I am certain we can find some form of common distraction that will fill the entire duration of our relief detail.”
I caught a forlorn look from Damek out of the corner of my eye. The poor boy was no doubt wondering if anyone would be as kind to him as this fae warrior was to her comrade.
“Dismissed,” Bryn said with a nod at both of them. Both guards straightened and gave her a salute before she reciprocated.
Gradually, they faded from sight and sound, vanishing into the darkness of the forest. Chevalier sighed and put his hand on the tree.“Now comes the tricky part.”
He closed his eyes and hummed a rather odd tune. Comprised of high notes and deep grunts, it bore a remarkable resemblance to Morse code in its diction and rhythm. I could only surmise from the rather ungainly display of language that each syllable of the bizarre composition must have represented a word or concept to the portal gatekeeper.
Finally, the frog finished his strange song and the tree responded. A deep groaning came from its roots before its branches rustled over our heads. It took me a few seconds to discern a definite pattern in the seemingly random sounds and motions. They were similar in composition to Chevalier’s song. I could not begin to guess what the essence of the message might have been.
Our relieved guards raced back in our direction in response to the arboreal cacophony. Judging from the rather disheveled state of their clothes, I surmised they were using their off-duty time to perform a very active process of rest and relaxation.
Bryn stepped forward, raising a flat palm in their general direction as she shook her head. “It’s all right. We’re just talking to the gate guardian, that’s all. As you were.” I was surprised when she did not appear annoyed with either of them, given their dishevelment. Although she did conceal a small smirk.
The male guard looked less than certain about her statement, giving the branches an uneasy glance. However, the fae female turned in the opposite direction, putting an arm on his shoulder and chiding him with “Oh, please! Would you relax? Don’t you believe Her Highness?”
She practically dragged him back into the forest depths by her sheer force of will. I could only imagine any possible future bond between them would have rather interesting dynamics.
Chevalier nodded as he finally opened his eyes. “I’ve just been informed that the keeper of the destination gateway is ready to receive us.”
Damek frowned in confusion. “But I thought we only had to open this gate to get where we have to go?”
“Alas, opening this gate would only allow us to walk the path to our arrival point,” the frog explained. “In order to actually get there, someone must open the receiving gate for us.”
“And you trust this person to do so?” I asked pointedly.
The dandy seemed infuriatingly unmoved by my question. “Far more than anyone else I know, no offense to present company.”
“None taken,” Bryn replied while giving me a look. I assumed any retorts to the contrary would not be tolerated.
“So what do we need to open this gate?” Damek asked.
Chevalier rubbed his chin with severe agitation. “That is where things get a little vague. All I know is this: one of us must give up, and I quote, ‘their most defining characteristic’ to secure free passage.”
Unsurprisingly, Bete Noire looked downright horrified by that morsel of information. “You mean, this guardian intends to take that characteristic, whatever it is, away forever?”
“No, no, no,” Chevalier reassured her by placing his arm around her shoulders while I felt my entire body stiffen. I did my best not to glare but it was no easy feat.
“Well?” I demanded.
“While I cannot claim to understand all the particulars of the contract between the Underworld court and the keeper of the gate, I trust that, under the present circumstances, such a trait would only be held temporarily. As I am to understand, upon our safe return, the characteristic in question would be returned to whichever person donated it.”
My mind did another quick inventory on who should pay the price. Naturally, I would have preferred that the frog be deprived of anything that could render him an effective romantic rival. However, such a toll might cause undue complications for our journey. Damek barely understood his powers and abilities as things were. Nothing tangible could be gained by him giving any of them up. Finally, allowing Bryn to pay the price would portray me as an utter failure as her protector. In the end, only one choice made the most sense.
“I shall pay the toll for our passage,” I announced, stepping toward the ash.
NINE
Sinjin
“Sinjin?” Bete Noire asked as she turned and gave me a frown. I began to smile at the obvious concern I saw written all over her face.
Chevalier raised his eyebrows in astonishment as he addressed me. “You’re volunteering yet you have no idea what the cost might be.”
“Sinjin?” Damek asked, his eyes wide.
“That unknown factor, I imagine, will be revealed promptly after paying the price,” I replied, tapping my feet impatiently. “And if what you said is true, I shall be inconvenienced only momentarily, correct?”
Momentarily was not a sacrifice that frightened me overmuch.
“Yes, but I don’t know how long ‘momentarily’ might last,” Chevalier replied.
“Well, there are unknowns with all risks, are there not?” I replied flatly. “Now would you kindly inform the guardian of my decision, Monsieur Chevalier?”
“Sinjin, we should discuss this,” Bryn began again as she took a few steps toward me and reached her hand out to touch my arm but she was interrupted when the frog blew out a breath through his nose. He closed his eyes to hum more bars of his strange song.
“Yeah, there has to be another way, right?” Damek asked and seemed deeply troubled by my willingness to sacrifice myself.
“Yes, I am sure about what I am doing,” I told them in response to their tacit expressions of worry. “The operative word in the title of Lord Royal Protector is ‘Protector.’ These decisions must inevitably come with the territory.”
A section of the ash’s bark peeled away from the trunk, curling like an unclipped fingernail neglected for many years. Operating by both inference and instinct, I extended my hand towards this newly formed appendage, bracing myself for whatever might follow. Some fae rituals are downright notorious in the sheer hellish pain they can inflict.
Sadly, this one proved no exception. As I watched, the pointy end of the bark thrust itself directly into my palm. My vital essence was unceremoniously extracted through the wood, which became more than uncomfortable, to say the least. At first, I assumed the magical tree was merely stealing my blood. But after a couple of seconds, I realized something much more elemental was being forcibly ripped from my being by the roots.
I ground my teeth together to keep from crying out my agony, although it took every fiber of my considerable self-control to do so. Crying out my anguish was impossible with Chevalier watching me with narrowed eyes as if he expected me to shout or scream like a little girl.
My fangs descended from my efforts to muffle my agony, cutting into my lips in a manner that reminded me of the bark cutting into my hand. Gradually, my canines retracted little by little until I could no longer feel them at all. I was neither tensing my body nor grinding my jaw together any less or more than before, so that withdrawal made little sense to me.
The procedure ended as abruptly as it began. The bark extracted itself from my now profusely bleeding palm and resumed its former position on the tree. My blood trickled down the bark like a tiny rivulet of crimson liquid, creating a ruby thread in vivid contrast to the tree’s brownish hue.
“Bloody hell,” I whispered as the throbbing pain continued to pulse through my hand, extending its reach into the rest of my body.
The pain distracted me from the gaping wound in my hand, which refused to close as I inspected it. The seconds ticked by and nothing happened.
“Why aren’t you healing?” Bryn asked as she reached out and gripped my hand. The temperature of her fingers was unlike what I was accustomed to. She no longer felt hot.
“I know not,” I began.
“Sinjin,” she interrupted. “Your skin feels… warm!”
I swallowed hard as something odd begin throbbing in my neck. I reached up and held my fingertips against my skin. Was it a… pulse?
My mind instantly flashed back to the disappearing fangs during my interaction with the tree. I attempted to teleport behind Chevalier but did not budge from the spot where I was standing. I felt my new heartbeat accelerating.
“Bloody bloody hell,” I said as I faced Bete Noire and even she appeared different. In fact, the entire world suddenly seemed totally unfamiliar. Instead of the vivid colors I was accustomed to, everything was drab, washed out of all its former color. Not entirely black and white, but the standard vibrant quality was decidedly absent.
Bryn was still radiantly lovely but her hair was not quite as vivid honey and her eyes were certainly less blue. Her skin no longer glowed with that effervescence I was so accustomed to.
“Are you all right, Sinjin?” Damek asked.
I glanced down at my hands and could not help noting how my skin seemed to have a pinkish hue, which was becoming much more prevalent now. I slowly replied, “That would depend on whether you consider my being rendered fully human a positive or negative thing, my boy.”
The moment Chevalier opened his eyes, he smiled at me. It was how a peasant might smile after witnessing his previously unassailable noble lord being debased and brought low. I glared at him as I added with an acid tone, “I am so pleased that my altered situation has become such a source of amusement for you, monsieur.”
Chevalier shrugged as he struggled not to laugh aloud. “Well, I did warn you, Lord Protector.”
“This isn’t funny,” Bryn said as she looked at me and concern radiated from her eyes. “Are you okay, Sinjin?”
“Ironically… I shall survive.”
By this point, the blood that trickled from my hand had finally reached the ground. The Lady Bryn dug inside her backpack before she produced some cotton and tape. When she reached for my hand again, she faced me with a strange curiosity.
“You look so different,” she said. “Your eyes aren’t the crazy blue they usually are and your cheeks are almost pink.”
“Different, as in good?” I asked while hoping she preferred me in my usual vampire form, the form to which I would soon be returning. I studied her and could not deny the same level of sexual desire towards her that I usually felt. At least that was consistent in this new body of mine.
“Different, different,” she answered but judging by her tone, I assumed she preferred me in my usual vampiric state. This news pleased me greatly.
The bark of the tree began parting like a curtain behind us, and when I heard it, I turned around to see a blue light. It seemed to beckon us to enter the hollow that was now appearing within the tree.
Bryn finished bandaging my palm. I winced when the cut began to burn in a very unpleasant fashion.
“That’s just the Bacitracin destroying any potential infections,” she explained to me. “The stinging will lessen soon.”
“I can only hope my new state will not last very long,” I said, turning my hand over to look at my bandaged palm. “I am effectively rendered useless for even the simplest task before us.”
Bryn made a face. “Think about all those soldiers who fought and bled beside us yesterday. Soldiers who were never as strong nor as fast as you were. Would you consider them useless?”
I stepped into her personal space with more command and confidence than I actually felt. It occurred to me that I could not smell her, which I did not like one bit. Ordinarily, any invasion inside the Princess’s personal space ensured that I could easily inhale her lovely scent.
“That is not what I meant, Bete Noire, and we both know that. Unlike our recruits, I have not been human for several centuries. Now, I have been reduced to the single biggest liability in this party in one fell stroke.”
Chevalier’s face turned more grave at hearing my ominous words. “That had better not be your fancy way of saying that you want to stay behind… Are you also now a coward?”
“Dureau!” Bryn railed at him. “Have some compassion!”
“Apologies, lovely princess,” he said and smiled at her.
“And stop calling me princess,” she added. “I’m getting really sick of it.”
“Chevalier,” I began, turning to face him with narrowing eyes. “Just because I have become human, do not push your luck. Surely you must realize I am no coward. Not now. Not ever.”
“Boys,” Bryn started, stepping between us as she frowned at both of us in turn. “We don’t have any time for this shit.”
I nodded at her before facing the frog again. “If I am now considered a hindrance rather than an asset, I willingly sacrifice my right and privilege to be included forthwith among your party.”
“You’re not a hindrance,” Bryn began but she was interrupted by the frog.
Chevalier became downright angry. “Unless the person who paid the toll takes this journey himself, there will be stiff penalties for anyone else who enters that gate without the person who made the sacrifice. If you want to stay behind, I’m afraid you can’t.”
“What kind of stiff penalties?” Damek asked him in alarm.
Chevalier cast the blue light from beyond an uneasy glance. “I don’t know for certain. However, any breach of these fae contracts can soon become an exercise in seeing how terrible your life can truly become.”
Silently, I cursed my impetuous generosity and what it cost me. A bloodsucking creature of the night had several disadvantages that could not be ignored. But now I was stripped of every blessing I previously took for granted. With a heavy sigh, I relented, saying, “I suppose, with that in mind, I must be the first to enter the portal?”
Chevalier pulled his hand away from the ash tree as he shrugged again. “Unless you still want us to pay the price for not doing so. Rather a waste at this point, don’t you think?”
I growled in my throat before giving him an irritated, “Fine.” I started forward but paused once I felt a hand on my shoulder. Turning around, I saw Bryn.
“I’ll be right behind you, Sinjin,” she said with an encouraging smile.
“No, my dear,” I answered. “I want you to wait until I go through and we know for certain that it is safe on the other side.”
“It’s safe,” Chevalier announced.
Fixing my gaze on the indigo portal before me, I slowly began moving towards it. Three steps later, I saw nothing but the deep blue light which completely engulfed me.
Gradually, my vision cleared and I was confronted by a truly sublime sight. I was standing upon a massive branch that was roughly the same size as the ash tree trunk. The air around me shimmered in a pale blue fog with a distant light shining through it from above. In between the mists, I glimpsed distant branches with elaborate doorways at the ends of them.
