Afraid.
Bren leaps off to the side. “Stars, what is that?” he hisses.
The quarrel between the two men forgotten, I suddenly feel the hatred and malice hanging in the air like thick, choking smoke.
“Protect her.” Earth roars. Her voice howls through the air, vibrating in the rocks and trees. The ground trembles.
And then suddenly, there’s something mere inches from my face. A man, snarling, his lips peeled back to expose long, glistening fangs. He gnashes his teeth, thrashing in Eldaren’s grip. I didn’t even see Eldaren close the distance, but he’s suddenly near. The prince has his arms wrapped around the man’s middle and, with a heave, throws the monster into the foliage several feet away.
With a scramble, the creature is back on its feet and running for me again. A guttural shriek rips from his throat. He’s tall and thin, with eyes that are blood-red and frantic.
Vampire. It’s the only word that matches this thing. It’s the evil I sensed in the woods twice now, its gaze on my neck.
It lunges for me. “Give me your blood!” he screams. His lips peel back in a feral snarl, showing prominent fangs. I’m frozen, staring at the man as he’s suddenly lunging for me again.
Bren barrels into the monster, his spear tearing into the man’s shoulder.
The vampire turns in a violent half-circle, probably trying to make Bren lose his balance, but my friend is too agile. He releases his hold on the weapon and leaps backward. His spear shivers into nothing, leaving a very real wound in the vampire’s shoulder. Within a moment, the weapon has re-materialized in Bren’s grasp.
The monster doesn’t attack any of the others. His reddened gaze locks on me and he hurtles at me again, fingers reaching like claws.
I flinch, bringing my hands up, but before I can do more than that, Eldaren intercepts, sword in hand. Hurtling into the fray from the right, he descends on the creature with his weapon. The elf’s gaze burns with fury, and his sword is a silver blur. I can only stare as he hacks the man to pieces, and in mere moments, the vampire is a bleeding heap of severed chunks on the ground.
Stella turns and vomits in the bushes.
I can’t look away from the corpse. What’s left of his face is still contorted in maddened bloodlust. “What was it?” I ask. My voice is calm. Collected. “Was it a vampire?”
That man, that thing, almost killed me.
I almost died.
Again.
Eldaren is looking down at it, expressionless. His anger seems to have drained away with the monster’s life. “I do not know,” he says. “It looks like a vampire, but it’s daytime.” He looks up at the sky as if needing extra reassurance. “Fyit. Real vampires cannot tolerate sunlight. That is a fact. So how could this thing walk about during the day?”
I don’t know either, and I’m not sure I want to.
Stella staggers to her feet and wipes her mouth with the back of her hand. “Stars, Eldaren,” she says, her voice shaky. She very pointedly looks anywhere that isn’t the corpse in the middle of the clearing.
Bren’s standing a few feet away from us, his expression unreadable as he studies the prince. His hair is tousled, and he’s breathing heavily but doesn’t appear harmed.
“This is an interesting development,” he says after a moment.
“What do you mean by that?” Eldaren asks. His voice is harsh in the silence. The forest has fallen quiet in the aftermath of the fight. I look around, unable to spot any wildlife.
“You,” Bren answers, arching an eyebrow. He wipes sweat from his brow, pushing a forelock of hair out of his eyes. “Your performance here changes things, elf. It changes everything, actually.”
His animosity has faded, and he’s looking at Eldaren with something akin to respect.
“You protected her,” he explains, when Eldaren says nothing. A smile tugs at Bren’s mouth. “We are on the same team.” He pauses, cocking his head. “Or rather, we don’t have to kill each other anymore.” He laughs like he’s told a good joke.
“I don’t follow,” Eldaren says. I notice with a sudden chill that he hasn’t sheathed his sword. Is he going to attack Bren, again?
My friend doesn’t seem bothered. He releases his spear, and it shivers out of existence, leaving a handful of silver sparks that fade.
“Let me explain.”
30
Stella
Don’t look at the dead thing, I tell myself. Stars, I had no idea Eldaren was capable of such violence. Or rather, I knew he could, but I didn’t expect to see it.
But still, that thing tried to feed on Sophia. The elven prince did the right thing. I just wished I hadn’t had to see that.
Bren’s chest rises and falls, his breathing harsh in the now-silence, but a wide grin has spread across his face. He paces for a moment, then spins to face Eldaren.
“It would seem I was wrong about you,” he says. His tone is still mocking, but lacks the bite of steel it carried before. He sweeps a wide bow. “It would appear that you aren’t a threat to the gaia.”
Eldaren stares back, his face impassive. I can only imagine what he wants to say after everything Bren has done to meddle in his affairs, but he wisely keeps silent.
Bren taps his lips with a finger, and his expression turns musing. “I believe you now. You think that if Sophia can create a deeper bond with the Earth, then we will gain the knowledge to heal the planet. Is that correct?”
“Yes.” Eldaren nods his head once.
“It’s an intriguing concept,” Bren concedes, “one that I wish I’d thought of myself.” He eyes Eldaren thoughtfully. “Strange that a prince from the heavens would try to help us. Are you sure you don’t have any ulterior motives for wanting to heal Eema? Do you plan to keep the elves here?”
“Only for as long as we are needed,” Eldaren says. “It could take hundreds of years to get the planet to a place of
