“It will be too much,” Gabriele said.
“Yes,” Corwin agreed.
“I’ll talk to our people,” Wilmos said.
“Will we still have Christmas?” Helen asked. She was sitting on the floor by my chair, hugging my leg.
It was suddenly quiet.
“Yes,” Sean said. “We will still have Christmas. It’s important to her. We will kill every Draziri, until there is nothing left but blood and bodies. And then we’ll have Christmas.”
The darkness around me grew a little thinner.
* * *
He never left me. He talked to me when I lay in bed with an IV and he lay beside me and held me. He talked to me when he carried me to the bathtub. He sat with me when the inn moved me downstairs during the day. He held me when Maud cried because it hurt her to look at me.
He told me he loved me. He joked. He read books to me. He held my hand.
The world hurt. There was no pain in the darkness. I wanted to stay wrapped in it, but he refused to let me go, always there, connecting me to the outside like a lifeline.
I was lying on the blanket under the Christmas tree. Above me the lights twinkled in the branches. So many lights. Olasard, the Ripper of Souls, lay next to me, making muffins on my blanket.
“How long will you keep this up?” Sean’s father asked.
“As long as it takes,” Sean said next to me.
“It’s been four days. Maybe…”
Sean looked at him.
“Okay,” Corwin said. “Forget I said anything.”
He left. The Hiru came and Sean took me to their room to float in their pool and look at the sky I made for them.
“We are so sorry we’ve brought this on you,” Sunset said.
“You should’ve given us up,” Moonlight whispered.
“That’s not who she is,” Sean said.
“We will always remember,” Sunset said. “Always. Every one of us. If we survive, our children and our children’s children will always remember.”
“The Archivarius arrives tomorrow. Will your people be ready?” Sean asked.
“Yes,” the Hiru said at the same time.
“Are you ready to go upstairs, love?” Sean asked me.
“Does she ever answer?”
“She will answer when the time comes.”
“What if she won’t?” Moonlight whispered.
“She will,” Sean said. “She’s a fighter. I have faith in her.”
He picked me up out of the water. The darkness grew a little thinner.
His hands were warm.
* * *
“This is getting old, my dear,” Caldenia said. “You and I have an agreement. I expect you to honor it. Get up, now. You don’t want to spend your life like a lump of wood. The scaled creature made a totem of you and he keeps putting different medicines on it and dancing around it. It is getting annoying. Get up, dear. We do not let our enemies win. We claw their hearts out and devour them. You have work to do.”
* * *
“Mango ice cream. It is the best thing I’ve ever made. Will you please eat, small human? Please. Please eat, small human. Please.”
The mango ice cream melted on my tongue and a distant echo of its taste slipped through the darkness to me.
* * *
Flowers bloomed around me. I sat submerged to my neck in the tub inside the vigil room. A chorus of four voices prayed over me, urgently, forcefully, trying to pour their vitality into their words. My sister’s voice blended with Arland’s and Soren’s, Helen’s high notes underscoring the important parts.
Magic moved among them. A trace of it slipped through to me. I curled around it. It felt so warm.
The prayer ended. Maud wiped the tears from her face.
Arland stepped close to her and put his arms around her.
“Will she ever wake up?” Helen asked.
“I don’t know, my flower,” Maud said.
“Do not despair,” Lord Soren said. “This is her home. My grandfather had all but given up on life. He lay down to die and refused to take food. Yet when House Wrir came to break down the doors, my grandfather rose from his deathbed and led our House to victory. Lived another three years after that until his heart finally gave out. You should’ve seen the funeral. Now that was—”
Arland looked at him.
“Right,” Lord Soren said. “The point is, the Draziri will come for the Hiru. They will bring every fighter they have left. They will attack this inn. Your sister will never let that stand.”
Tony walked into the room. “We’re about to head out.
“We’re also on our way,” Arland said.
“Good luck, everyone,” Tony said.
The corruption slipped through the inn, gathering above them, inching ever closer. They didn’t feel it, but I did. There was something similar about the corruption and I. We existed in a similar place, shrouded in darkness, disconnected but aware. I watched it slither its way through Gertrude Hunt. It was moving through my inn.
My inn.
Tony stepped out. The corruption halted, waiting.
Arland turned and knelt on one knee before my sister. “Wish me a happy journey, my lady.”
Lord Soren turned to Helen. “Come with me, little one.”
“Why?”
“They need to talk.”
They walked away. My sister and Arland were alone.
“Don’t do that,” Maud said.
“Do what?”
“Don’t kneel in front of me. My husband used to kneel before me. It didn’t keep us from being exiled. It didn’t keep him from throwing away everything that we built together. I hate this vampire custom. It doesn’t mean anything.”
“I’m not your husband. It means something to me.”
“Please don’t.” Maud sat on the root and covered her face with her hands. All her strength disappeared. I did that, I realized. A painful twinge gripped me and faded slowly.
“I will return,” Arland said. “I would be by your side if you’ll have me. I would have you if you allowed it.”
She dropped her hands and looked at him. “Arland, I’ve been married and widowed. I have a child. She isn’t your child…”
“Right now she’s no man’s child. She should have a father, who will teach her and treasure her. I will do that for her. I love you, my lady.”
“Don’t tell me that.”
“And I would love Helen as my own.”
“Don’t.”
Arland rose. His face was grim. “I’m no poet. I’m a soldier. So, I’ll just tell you the way it is, as clumsy as it sounds. When I first saw you, it was like being thrown from a shuttle before it touched the ground. I fell and when I landed, I felt it in every cell of my body. You disturbed me. You took away my inner peace. You left me drifting. I wanted you right there. Then, as I learned more of you, I wanted you even more. You want me too. I’ve seen it in your eyes. You taught me the meaning of loneliness, because when I don’t see you, I feel alone. You may reject me, you may deny yourself, and if you choose to not accept me, I will abide by your decision. But know that there will never be another one like you for me and one like me for you. We both waited years so we could meet.”
He left the room.
Maud looked at me. “Say something, Dina. Please say something to me.”
I wanted to tell her that she was afraid of being loved, because her husband betrayed her. That she shouldn't throw away this chance at being happy. But there was too much darkness between us.
* * *
“I will be back,” Sean whispered into my ear.
A fire built inside me. A pressure that strained at the empty darkness. It hurt. The pain suffused me. I tried to escape but there was nowhere to run.
He brushed a kiss on my lips.
The pressure broke and I screamed. Don’t go! Don’t leave me! I’ll be all alone.
“I’ll be back soon.” He let go of me and went for the door.
He didn’t he
ar me. How could he not have heard me?
He stepped through the door.
Wait. Don’t go.
It closed behind him.
Wait.
Wait for me.
* * *
I sat on the porch, watching late afternoon slowly bleed into the evening. Maud had put my favorite robe on me, the blue one that our mother made. I looked like an innkeeper even if I didn’t feel like one. My sister had decided I should have the front row seat, so I would “snap out of it.” Beast lay on my lap. At first, when Sean had brought me in, she hid as if she didn’t recognize me and it scared her. Then, little by little, Sean coaxed her into my bed on the third night. Now she sat with me, sad and occasionally trembling.
Caldenia sat in a chair on my left. My sister stood on my right, holding my broom in one hand, and her sword in the other. In front of us the backyard stretched with the clearing behind it. Helen sat by my feet, holding her knives. The Hiru waited in the kitchen, out of sight.
Sean would come back. He promised to come back.
The corruption waited above me. It had flowed through the inn, filling the spaces between the branches. Gertrude Hunt had tried to stop it, but it escaped the inn’s grasp. Everyone forgot about it, but it was there, biding its time. It wanted something.
Maud, feel it. You will feel it if you just reach out.
Helen hugged herself by my feet and looked up, at the inn.
Maud!
“It’s about time,” Maud said.
“Are you up to this, my dear?” Caldenia inquired.
“I’ll have to be. What about you? Is all that plotting and talking you’ve been doing ever going to pay off?”
“All in good time.” Her Grace smiled, showing sharp teeth.
Maud looked at me. “Dina, please help me.”
I was trying. I was honestly trying.
A rift opened in the middle of the lawn. The werewolves from Wilmos’ shop walked out of it dragging a big metal box. They waved at us, planted the box on the ground, and the brown-skinned werewolf armed it through the panel on the side. The box unfolded like a flower, sending out a complex antenna-like structure made of shiny small cubes and triangles, each rotating in different directions.
“What is that?” Caldenia asked.
“That’s the projectile dampener,” Maud said. “It disrupts the path of kinetic projectiles and negates energy and heat weapon targeting. Very short range and outrageously expensive. We’re renting it for the next two hours. It cost us an arm and a leg. If… when Dina wakes up, she’ll kill me. I wiped out her budget. But if the Draziri want a piece of us, they’ll have to fight for it in my sword’s range.”
She bared her teeth.
“Were do you want us?” the female mercenary asked.
“Here is fine.”
They took up positions around the porch.
“Damn the Assembly,” Maud muttered. “We could’ve used help.”
“For all the reverence Dina shows for the ad-hal, I have yet to see a demonstration of their power,” Caldenia said.
“Trust me, you don’t want to witness that, Your Grace.”
I struggled to rise. My sister was preparing to repel an assault on my inn and all I could do was watch and scream into the silence wrapped around me. I had to move. Even if I could just twitch a finger.
A pale light ignited in the middle of the field, elongating into a glowing filament, like the wire of a lit lightbulb. The fabric of space ripped and Sean’s parents burst through the gap, two massive werewolves dripping blood, one dark, the other lighter. The darker one carried an Archivarian slung across his back.
They ran across the lawn. The rapid staccato of high tech rifles chased them. None of the projectiles landed.
Move. Stand up. Do something! I had to do something. I dug my fingers into the darkness and strained to rip it.
Sean’s father shook the Archivarian off at Maud’s feet. My sister focused. Gertrude Hunt responded sluggishly, swallowing the Archivarian.
The two Hiru walked out onto the porch, slow, ponderous, and stopped next to me.
“What are you doing here?” Maud said. “We agreed you would stay safe in your room.”
“We’re the reason for this fight,” Sunset said.
“Let them see us,” Moonlight said. “We are not afraid.”
“We will give them a target, so the Archivarians can be retrieved,” Sunset said.
Maud sighed and called out, “We’re about to get rushed.”
The werewolves pulled out their knives.
One moment the woods were empty. The next, Draziri leapt from the branches in unison, like a flock of predatory birds taking flight. So many… They landed and sprinted across the open ground on their elegant legs, like weightless dancers, Mrak in the lead brandishing a wicked silver blade.
I tore at the darkness. It held.
Caldenia studied her nails.
A tall Draziri, his hair the same white as Mrak’s, buried his knife in Mrak’s back. Mrak cried out. The other Draziri pulled the knife free and flipped it in his fingers, falling into a fighting stance. Mrak spun around. “You dare!”
“You are unfit to lead!” the other Draziri snarled. “You’re weak. You failed again and again. We’re bankrupt, hunted, and dying, all because of you! It’s time for a new power to head this flock.”
They clashed, their blades meeting together with a sharp clang. The invading Draziri broke, splitting. Two-thirds tore into each other. The rest kept running toward us.
“Divide and conquer.” Caldenia smiled. “I do so love that phrase.”
The werewolves rushed into the approaching Draziri.
A brilliant red light pulsed above the grass and spat Arland and Lord Soren onto the lawn, an Archivarian between them, smack in the middle of the clashing Draziri. Their armor smoked. Arland roared, baring his fangs. Helen roared back from the porch, her daggers held wide by her side.
The Draziri fell on them. The two vampires cut a path to the porch, working side by side, their movements practiced and sure. Skulls crunched, blood weapons whined, attackers screamed and died.
Blood splashed on Arland’s face. He snarled as a Draziri fighter buried her blade in his armor.
Maud dropped the broom and ran across the grass, slicing through the Draziri as if they were butter. Helen dashed after her mother. Beast leapt off my lap and bounded after her.
I pounded on the darkness. What are you doing? Use the inn!
“Right now would be an excellent time to step in, my dear,” Caldenia murmured.
I ripped at the darkness with all my will.
A female Draziri blocked Helen’s path, brandishing a large knife. Beast lunged at her. Her jaws with four rows of teeth locked on the Draziri’s ankle. She howled as her bones crunched. Helen jumped onto the female Draziri and slit her throat.
Someone do something, damn it!
Orro ran out of the kitchen, huge, dark, all his spikes erect, thundered over the grass, snatched Helen up by her clothes and dragged her back to the inn.
“No!” Helen kicked her feet. “No!”
He opened his mouth and roared into her face. “Stop!”
She froze, shocked. He dropped her by my feet. “Protect Dina!”
Helen snapped her teeth at him, but stayed put. Beast trotted back to her and flopped on the porch, her mouth dripping blood.
My sister finally remembered that she had powers. The second Archivarian slid into the lawn, spinning like a corkscrew. Maud fought next to Arland, cutting and slicing, her blade so fast, it looked liquid. He was grinning, his face splattered with blood.
A hole opened, and Sean walked out, dragging the third Archivarian out. Marais followed, his clothes covered in soot, his hair wet with slime, his eyes far away, lost in a thousand-yard stare.
Sean.
He came back to me. He came back! The darkness in front of me shrank, thinning. I wanted to stand up so badly, everything hurt.
Marais grabb
ed the Archivarian by the arm and muscled him toward the porch. Sean followed, quiet and precise, cutting down opponents before they had a chance to notice.
Magic whispered through the lawn, slipping through the emptiness around me. A circular doorway opened silently and Tony, Wing, and Wilmos walked out, bringing the last Archivarian with them. Tony wore a plain brown robe. He carried a broom in his hand.
Wilmos picked up the Archivarian and ran across the grass toward me, Wing scampering after him.
Tony stayed where he was. He looked around him, his nice face oddly serious, and pulled his hood over his head. His broom darkened to black, flowing into a staff, its tip glowing with red. His robe turned the color of blood, spreading like the mantle of some king, moving seemingly on its own, and beneath that robe and inside of his hood was darkness, cold and empty darkness, the kind that lived between the stars.
I reeled back, shocked. Of all the people, I would’ve never guessed Tony.
The ad-hal reached out and touched Mrak’s shoulder. An unearthly voice emanated from inside his hood. It was the kind of voice that stopped your heart.
“Be still.”
Mrak stopped moving. His opponent stumbled back, his face horrified.
The corruption awoke and surged forward.
Magic drowned the clearing, ancient and cold. I felt it even through the darkness. The tiny hairs on the back of my neck rose. It flowed among the Draziri and held them in place.
Behind me the corruption dripped from the ceiling to pool on the kitchen floor.
Arland spun around toward the creature that used to be Tony, focusing on the new threat.
“No!” Maud threw her weight on Arland’s sword arm.
“You have been judged by the Assembly,” the ad-hal said. “You have been found guilty.”
Mrak just stood there, a lost expression on his face. Nobody moved.
The corruption spilled from the doorway, rising like a foul cloud, emanating its putrid magic. I tore at the darkness. It’s coming. Look! Look, damn you!
Someone screamed.
The foul cloud slithered toward the ad-hal across the grass. It wasn’t hiding anymore. He raised his hand. His magic rose to block it, but the corruption flowed through it and kept going. I felt him pour his power out and the corruption swallowed it and wanted more.
It would infect him. It had wanted him all along.