destiny. Your doubts have always been waiting for you. Accept them, deal with them, and you will find your way to that which destiny requires of you.
“For better or for worse,” she finished glumly and would say no more about it, leaving Larten to puzzle over her strange mutterings for a long time to come.
That night Larten took Evanna’s advice to drink and be merry a little too closely to heart. Ale was his tipple of choice, but he had tried most alcoholic brews in his time. Since Evanna preferred wine, he drank it with her, even though she warned him that it was stronger than the wines he was familiar with.
“I can drink any man under the table,” Larten laughed. “And any vampire too.”
‘What about a sorceress?” Evanna asked.
“I will give it a good try,” he winked, toasting her health and asking Malora to refill his glass.
In a light mood, Evanna drank more than usual, and although she could never get drunk — it was physically impossible for one of her kind — she relaxed to the point where she wasn’t thinking clearly. She laughed at Larten’s jokes and smiled when he flattered her. The flattery was nothing new, but her response was different. Larten began to think that she might be warming to his advances. The more he drank, the surerhe became that the Lady of the Wilds wasfalling for his charms. She would become his mate and they’d have many powerful children. He wouldn’t have to worry about his future then — every vampire would idolize him, regardless of whether he’d completed his training or not.
“Evanna,” he murmured late in the night. His voice was only slightly slurred, but inside his head was spinning. “Do you remember the form you took before? The beautiful lady you became?”
“Are you saying I’m not beautiful now?” she snorted.
“Of course you are!” he cried. “You are always a delight to behold. But that other form… you know the one I mean… that was nice. Could you change again?”
“Don’t be impudent,” Evanna snarled, but she was smirking atthe same time.
“Please, Lady, I beg you, give me a vision to send me to bed mesmerized and dreamy.”
Evanna usually rejected such pleas — she only changed form to suit herself — but Malora saw her mistress smile in an odd way and sensed trouble brewing. The girl topped up the glasses for Evanna and Larten, then slipped away. They thought she was going to bed, but Malora had other plans. If things worked out the way she suspected, this would be an eventful night not just for the witch and vampire, but for her too.
Evanna didn’t notice her apprentice pick up a bag from beside her bed and slip outside. She was still considering Larten’s request. Seeing this, he pressed harder.
“It was a most fair form, Lady. Please let me worship before it again.” “Save your worship for the gods,” Evanna sniffed, but she decided to oblige him. Her body shimmered and moments later she was slim and tall, her hair long and blond, her eyes soft and deep. Larten had never heard of a fairy-tale princess more beautiful than this. His heart leapt as it had on that previous occasion and the laughterdrained from him.
“This pleases you, young monkey?” Evanna purred, twirling for him, letting the hem of her dress swish around her like a mist.
“It pleases me a lot,” Larten said weakly. He’d meant to come out with some lavish compliment, but that was the best he could manage.
“Vampires are simple creatures,” Evanna giggled. “So easy to please. I wish I was like you. Life would be so straightforward if I could be content with shining like an angel, winning the heart of every man who saw me. Ithink I would…”
Evanna kept talking but Larten was no longer focused on her words. His heart was pounding and he had only one thought in his head. Not even a tiny part of him cried caution. He yearned for Evanna totally, as he had never longed for a woman before.
He rose shakily as Evanna prattled on, steadied himself, wiped his lips dry, then took hold of the heavenly maiden in the long white dress. Evanna thought he wanted to dance and she laughed. But then he leaned forward and kissed her, and everything suddenly, drastically changed.
‘You cur!” Evanna yelled, more shocked than outraged. She pulled back from him and he tried to follow. Snarling, she lashed out with her right hand. The long nail on her little finger caught the flesh high up his left cheek, dug in deep and ripped a channel down to the side of his lip, where it tore free.
Larten shrieked and fell backwards, blood oozing from the wound, his eyes wide with fright and pain. For a moment he thought Evanna was going to finish him off and he cowered as she fixed him with a glare and her hands rose into claws.
Then the Lady ofthe Wilds caught herself and took a step back. “Get out!” she barked.
Larten didn’t wait to be told a second time. Stumbling to his feet, he ran for his life, trying to stem the flow of blood by tearing a strip of material from his shirt and pressing it to his cheek.
Evanna only meant for him to leave her sight and come back once she’d calmed down. But as he ran, she realized he had taken her order the wrong way. He thought she was banishing him. She started to call after him, to say that he could stay and she would repair the flesh of his face so that he didn’t get a scar. But as the words formed on her lips, she heard a soft ticking sound. Her chest tightened and she almost called to him anyway. But she knew that she couldn’t. This was destiny, and it wasn’t her place to interfere in such workings.
“It most certainly isn’t,” someone said in a pleasant yet chilling voice. “You did well to hold your tongue. I might have had to cut it out if you hadn’t.”
Evanna saw a pair of green boots coming across the floor towards her. The man inside them must have been standing almost directly in Larten’s way when he fled, but she wasn’t surprised that the vampire hadn’t seen the uninvited guest. The tiny meddler only revealed himself when he wanted to be noticed, and only when such sightings were guaranteed to lead to conflict and mayhem.
“I didn’t know that you were watching him,” Evanna said softly.
“Oh, yes,” her visitor smirked. “I have been keeping a close eye on Master Crepsley for a long time now. He’s heading down a deliciously dangerous path and I plan to be there when he comes to the drop at the end. In his darkest hour I will be at hand to reach out to him and offer him hope. What a lucky man he is to have a friend such as myself watching out for him. Don’t you agree, daughter?”
Closing her eyes, Evanna sighed and offered up a short prayer for Larten and Malora, even though she knew, as an agent of destiny with the power of foresight, that her prayer wouldn’t help the poor, doomed pair in the slightest.
Chapter Eighteen
Larten staggered down the hill from the cave, his cheek stinging, blood dripping from the sodden rag covering his wound. The pain and night air sobered him up briskly. How could he have been such a fool? Evanna had killed vampires for less. He didn’t blame her for cutting his cheek. He was just surprised he’d gotten out of the cave alive. In a way he was sorry that he had — at least he wouldn’t have had to live with his shame if she’d killed him.
On unsteady legs he weaved his way to the edge of the pond. Making sure he wasn’t in range of any poisonous frogs, he knelt and peeled the rag from his cheek. Fresh blood cascaded down his chin. Moaning softly — more from guilt than pain — he cupped a handful of water and splashed it over his face. It stung, but not as much as he’d thought it would.
Lowering his head, he drove it deep beneath the water and held it there until he ran out of breath. When he came up gasping, he heard footsteps. He guessed that the witch had come after him. Instead of fleeing, he held his position, staring into the water as the ripples cleared, hoping to die honorably when she attacked.
But when he glimpsed her reflection as the person came closer, he realized it wasn’t Evanna. It was her apprentice, Malora.
“Does it hurt terribly?” she asked, kneeling beside him.
“I have known worse,” Larten sighed. He had suffered many more serious injuries while training inside Vampire Mountain. But his pride had only taken this severe a beating on that initial night of fighting at his first Council.
