Lady Night, page 24
Alice, having wasted no time to continue with her ritual, whirled around to face him, her eyes wide and wild. She bared her fangs at him and screamed her rage.
But Derek did not hesitate. He opened his jaws and let loose a stream of blazing fire. Alice leapt out of the way at the last minute as Derek's fire engulfed the altar, the chalice of blood, and the remains of Emery Shade.
Distantly, he could hear Alice's screams, but all Derek could think of as he burned it all was that this was for Cassandra. For Eugenia and Edgar. For everyone who had had their lives torn apart for this insidious spell and its caster.
The heat of the flames intensified enough that they started to turn blue, and when they finally stopped, Derek dropped to the altar steps, Changing, hands braced against his knees as he fought to catch his breath. The altar itself was barely more than a charred ruin and Emery Shade's corpse was no more than a scattering of smoking ashes.
Behind him, the barrier had dissolved, and he saw Arabelle and Rosalie move to where Alice was crouched at the bottom of the altar steps, weeping quietly. The bloodied dagger lay on the ground in front of her.
"Get up," Arabelle snarled, her sword pointed at Alice's neck.
But Alice continued to weep. "Emery . . . My Emery . . ."
"I said get up."
"You killed him . . ." She lifted her head and her red-rimmed, tearful eyes found Derek. "You killed my Emery!"
In her rage, the guise of the beautiful Anna Boeheart was ripped apart and the monster that lay underneath emerged.
Derek had seen drawings and read stories about the true forms of vampires. The terrifying spectacle of witnessing one transform from human and into something like a daemon itself. Her shimmering brown hair fell away as her skin turned a sickly grey. Grotesque black claws grew from her fingertips. Two leathery wings sprouted from her back with the sickening sound of cracking bones, ripping her dress apart to reveal only a semblance of a human form beneath.
Her face looked like some sort of monstrous mimicry of a bat's. Her aristocratic nose had vanished, replaced by two diagonal slits. Her green eyes were now a luminous yellow, set into deep, black sockets.
Alice leapt from her position on the ground and hurtled towards Derek with an inhuman shriek, her mouthful of needle-sharp teeth on display and her jaw opened far wider than was possible for any human.
Derek didn't even have time to react before her claws dug into the front of his shirt and carried him off his feet.
Air rushed through his ears as Alice lifted him higher and higher, up through the skylight and into the frigid night air.
Once they were high enough above the mountaintop, Derek whipped out his sword and slashed at one of the hands gripped in the material of his shirt. Alice cried out and released her hold on him.
He sheathed his sword as he plummeted, before he Changed and his open wings caught him. When he turned back to face Alice, it was to see her coming for him once again, claws outstretched and her howls of rage ringing through the night.
A torrent of fire surged past Derek and towards Alice, who rolled out of its path.
Arabelle and Rosalie had joined him and together they launched themselves at Alice.
One would think that three dragons should have been more than a match for one vampire. But that was not the case. Alice dodged their attacks with astounding speed and countered them with brutal strength. Even their fire breath wasn't quick enough to touch her.
She delivered a swift kick to Derek's mouth, and fiery pain exploded beneath his skin. She punched Arabelle so hard in the chest, she went flying back several feet in the air. When Rosalie attempted to sneak up on her from behind, she somersaulted over Rosalie's head, landing on her back and tearing her claws through Rosalie's skin.
Rosalie let out an agonised cry before she plummeted down toward the mountaintop, the Change leaving her as she did.
Derek dove after her. Thoughts of fighting Alice fled. Only the determination to catch Rosalie before she could hit the ground remained.
He grabbed her just before they broke through a tree canopy. By which point, he had only seconds to pull her against him and shield her body with his as they crashed through the branches, their descent only coming to a halt once Derek hit the ground.
He lay there for a moment or so, his body singing with the pain of the impact, before he Changed, still cradling Rosalie in his arms.
"Rosalie?" he called to her, gently shaking her shoulder.
That earned him a moan of pain, but no other kind of response. That's when he felt something warm and wet against his arm, where he had it wrapped around her back. Blood. Lots of it, pumping through the eight vertical gashes along her back.
"Fuck."
"Little Guardian."
He whipped around, adrenaline coursing hard through his body, but he quickly realised it was only Aryel coming towards them. How she managed to make it here, he did not know and nor did he care when she went to her knees beside Rosalie, her hands going to the wounds on her back at the same time he felt some of the tension leave Rosalie's body. Aryel was healing her.
He had little time to revel in his relief. There was a cry from above and through the broken canopy, Derek caught sight of the moonlit figures of Alice and Arabelle falling through the sky.
* * *
Fury roared through Arabelle's veins as she saw Rosalie fall and Derek race to catch her. She did not wait to see whether Derek would save Rosalie, instead she hurled herself at Alice.
The vampire evaded her once again, but this time, Arabelle clamped her jaws around Alice's leg and drag her down through the air.
Alice raked her claws against the back of Arabelle's neck. The flare of pain caused Arabelle's jaws to slacken, and Alice managed to pull free.
But Arabelle would not be deterred. Before Alice could move out of reach, Arabelle latched onto one of her outstretched wings, shredding through the skin with her teeth.
Screeching, Alice seized Arabelle by the throat. She allowed Arabelle to struggle in her vice-like grip for a moment before using her tremendous vampiric strength to throw Arabelle.
They had moved close enough to the ground now that Arabelle didn't even get the chance to right herself before she hit the first tree branch, snapping it under the force of her fall and crashing to the ground.
The last thing she saw before the edges of her vision darkened and blurred was Alice touching down in front of her.
* * *
Derek arrived in time to witness the scene of Arabelle lying motionless in the snow while Alice advanced on her.
Derek leapt off of the rocky ledge, sword drawn, before Alice could take one more step towards Arabelle.
Alice showed no sign of having noticed him, other than to step nimbly out of the way of his attack. She'd moved behind him and Derek was just quick enough to block her claws from slicing through his throat with the flat of his blade.
So Alice settled for slamming her fist into Derek's stomach. The punch was strong enough to send him flying backward, his body colliding with a tree. She was on him in seconds, pinning him by the throat.
"I've never had a taste of Guardian blood before," she said. This close, Derek heard the crack and pop of her jaw unhinging as her mouth opened gruesomely wide. Her breath smelt of decaying flesh and her rows of spine-like teeth prepared to sink into his neck.
"I wonder if it tastes any different—"
She broke off as Derek plunged his sword into her side, between the bones of her ribcage.
"I'm sorry," he said. "Were you saying something?"
He was back-handed and sent flying once more. Derek landed face first in the snow, only a hairsbreadth away from the edge of the cliff. He spat blood from his mouth.
Alice seemed to materialise at his side and slammed her foot down on his right shoulder so hard he heard an internal snap. A snap that reverberated through his whole body right before the blinding pain that forced a low cry past his lips.
"That isn't even the worst to come, little boy," Alice spat."You took my Emery away from me. I'll make sure you all suffer for it."
"He was already gone," Derek gasped out as Alice pressed down on what he was sure was a dislocated shoulder. "All I did was clean up that mess you still called a husband."
Hissing, she reached down and lifted his head by his hair. "You stole my chance. My only chance to bring him back."
"Sorry . . . but I'm not sorry."
Alice made a sound of irritation and slammed his head back down against the ground. "Impudent little beast. The chatty ones always annoy me the most."
"I'm not chatty. I'm . . . just trying to distract you."
Arabelle appeared behind Alice, after having crept up behind her as silent as a ghost, until she was ready to pounce. She didn't give Alice any time to react before she had her teeth in Alice's neck and tore out a chunk of it.
Blood sprayed, staining the white snow dark red.
Alice was screaming, but she did not go down. With a hand pressed against the open wound at her neck, streams of blood trailing down her body in rapid torrents, she turned to face her new adversary and made a clumsy swipe with a clawed hand. Arabelle easily evaded, and when Alice attempted to fly away, Arabelle grabbed her by the tip of one of her wings, dragging her down until she was flat on her back with Arabelle on top of her.
Arabelle wasted no time in releasing a scorching breath of fire directly into Alice's face.
Alice's screams took on a hysterical pitch as the fire spread across her entire body. Catching alight the way an oil-soaked cloth would. Arabelle leapt away and together, she and Derek watched as fire consumed the vampire
And between one breath and the next, Alice Shade was nothing but ashes.
21
It was past midnight by the time Darus, Jared, Will, and Aurelia returned to Ember.
They were walking the path towards the palace, with Darus at the head of their small procession, Aurelia with her hood drawn up and a tense set to her shoulders, and Jared and Will walking with as much space between them as possible. Darus had noticed a distance between the two boys ever since the morning after Draken's fort. He wasn't exactly sure what had caused it and nor was it his business to find out, but he had enough experience with them to recognise a lover's spat when he saw one.
They were halfway towards the palace gates when Darus noticed another group—Guardians—coming their way. As they drew closer, Darus noticed a familiar head of auburn hair.
"Lila!" he called out.
"Darus!" Lila broke away from her companions and came rushing towards him. "What are you doing back so early? No, never mind that now. You're here and I think you best come with us."
"Come with you?" The rest of the Guardians were now filing past Darus and the others. "Where are you going? What's happening?"
"We received a message. Not too long ago. It came from Windfell."
* * *
The world seemed to fall into stillness as the ashes of Alice Shade settled.
Arabelle was by Derek's side in a heartbeat. Changing, she threw her arms around him and, although unexpected, Derek thought he wouldn't have minded having Arabelle so close to him, if it weren't for the pain it sent through his shoulder.
"Arabelle," he hissed, and she immediately drew away from him.
"Sorry! I'm sorry!" Her eyes were wide as she looked him up and down. There was a suspicious shine in her eyes. "Are you all right? Are you hurt? I was so—I was—"
"I'm fine. My shoulder might be dislocated though," he added when Arabelle gave him a disbelieving look. "And you? Are you okay?" He gave her a quick once over and he spotted blood oozing from what must have been a wound at the back of her neck. Apart from that and a few other scrapes and bruises, there didn't appear to be anything seriously wrong with her.
Arabelle breathed out a sigh of relief. "I'm okay," she said. Her hand came up to grip the material of his shirt, just above his heart. "We're okay." She sounded unbearably grateful for that.
Derek felt the overwhelming urge to put his arms around Arabelle and hold her close. To press his cheek against the soft, yellow hair on the crown of her head. He might have even done so if it weren't for his damn shoulder.
So instead, he settled for tipping his forehead against hers. "We're okay," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. A whisper caught only between the two of them.
From where they sat by the cliff's edge, they had a perfect view of the entire town below, including the town gates, where Derek caught sight of a bright, white light forming in the air. He didn't realise it was actually a portal until he saw people step out of it.
And thanks to the portal's illumination, he was able to make out what clothes—uniforms—these people were wearing.
"Guardians," Arabelle breathed out with more than a little relief.
Arabelle Changed and flew down to greet the new arrivals and when she returned Derek was more than a little surprised to find Darus, Jared and Lila were part of the group. Aryel arrived to join them at that same moment with a pale-faced, but alive, Rosalie leaning against her.
Darus was by Derek's side in no time, looking at him with worried, grey eyes and fussing over his injuries. For once, Derek didn't mind the fussing.
Lila and another Guardian rushed to see to Rosalie while Jared stood with Arabelle, his hands cupping his cousin's face while he spoke to her in worried tones. A few of the other Guardians were inspecting the sizeable patch of Alice Shade's blood and ashes in the snow.
Having Darus and Jared, and Lila here filled Derek with a strong sense of relief. And he knew it must have been the same for Arabelle and Rosalie, too.
So they allowed themselves to be worried over and have their injuries tended to, knowing that this whole ordeal was finally over.
They remained in Windfell for three more days, following the battle with Alice. Partly so Derek, Arabelle and Rosalie could recover—especially Rosalie whose wounds had been quite severe—and partly so that Darus and the other Guardians could see to the townspeople, who were all frightened and confused about what had transpired the night Alice Shade tried to resurrect her husband.
Many of the other Guardians had already returned to Ember—there was no need for such a large group to remain in Windfell—only Jared, Darus, and Lila had stayed behind.
Finally, on the fourth day, it was time for them to head back to Ember. They'd arranged for Aryel to conjure up a portal, since Rosalie still wasn't in any condition to make the journey back by flying. It was an unusually sunny morning, but no less cold, as Derek stood at the edge of the double bed in his room, making sure he had all of his belongings packed.
With his good hand, he lifted his father's sword, tucked away in its black sheath with a pattern of silver stars. It was a comfort to be able to hold it and feel the weight of it in his hand once again. He slipped it into his pack; the hilt sticking out of the opening, before lifting it off the bed.
Derek took the time to pause and look around the room, taking in the cream walls and gilded skirting boards. It felt almost strange to be leaving again. While he was certainly relieved, he still felt strangely sad in a way that he couldn't put into words.
There was a knock behind him, and Derek turned to see Darus standing in the doorway. Unlike Derek, Darus was dressed in uniform, along with his cloak. He gave Derek a fond smile. "Are you ready to go?" he asked. "Everyone's waiting downstairs."
By the set of Darus's features, Derek could tell that there was more he wanted to say. Questions like, "how are you feeling?" were probably on the tip of his tongue. He didn't say it though, and Derek was glad. Those weren't questions he felt like answering just yet.
"I'm ready," was all he said, dragging his pack over to Darus by the door. He couldn't carry it properly thanks to his dislocated shoulder and his arm cradled in a sling against his chest.
"Here, let me carry it before you ruin these expensive carpets and we have to pay to replace them," said Darus, tugging the pack out of Derek's grip and hoisting it over his own shoulder.
They made their way down to the foyer where Arabelle, Jared, Lila and Rosalie were already waiting, along with Mayor Boeheart and even a few of the house staff. With Alice's death, the possession spell she had cast on the townspeople had come undone.
Bear was there too. He came limping over to Derek, tongue lolling and tail wagging lazily. With a smile, Derek indulged him with a good rub behind one ear. If there was one thing he was going to miss about Windfell, it was this giant, mince tart-stealing dog.
"I would just like to start by saying," Mayor Boeheart began, "that I and all the people of Windfell owe you three a great debt." He was looking pointedly at Derek, Arabelle and Rosalie "I'm not sure where we'd all be right now if not for your efforts."
"Part of a mind controlled army led by vampires, probably," muttered Jared.
Arabelle elbowed him in the back.
However, the Mayor didn't seem to hear. He looked exhausted, but more than that, he looked like a man in grief. Derek had seen little of the Mayor these last few days, but he had come to see them the day after they had thwarted Alice. By then, Boeheart had learned everything that he needed to know—including how his beloved wife was really the infamous vampire, Alice Shade, and how she had been behind the murders to bring her first husband back from the dead. Despite everything, it was clear that he was still grieving Lady Boeheart, not just her death, but also perhaps the person he thought she had been.
"So on behalf of the people of Windfell, I say thank you." And then Mayor Boeheart bowed to them and the house staff standing behind him followed suit. They bowed as if they were bowing to their King and not just three inexperienced teenagers trying to do their job.
Derek could see that Arabelle and Rosalie were both as taken aback by the gesture as he was. Darus and Lila looked almost like proud parents, and Jared gave him a congratulatory nudge on his good shoulder.
