Page 15

“Not terribly, no. There was a lot of drinking and debauching and well, no,” he admitted.

“Well, if you were not in a drunken stupor and were asked whether at 28 you knew your own mind and were an adult completely capable of making your own decisions, what do you think you would have said?” She smirked at him.

He rubbed his face. “I would have wrongly thought that I knew everything.”

She touched his arm again. “He doesn’t. Christian is remarkably together for someone so young. I tremble to think how wise he’ll be after a few centuries. Can you imagine it?”

Balthazar found himself smiling proudly even though he had nothing to do with Christian’s awesomeness. He had just chosen well. “Yes, he will be wise. Far beyond me.”

“And me. I think that he’s bringing out the best in Caemorn and--what’s wrong with him?” Fiona’s voice went from light to shocked as she turned to the Kaly Vampire.

Balthazar’s head snapped towards Caemorn, who was now standing like a statue--stiff and even unblinking--with an expression on his face of almost horror.

No, not almost. Definitely horror. What is going on here?

Balthazar’s mind reached out to Caemorn’s faster than even his eyes did. He heard two people talking. It confused him at first. But then he realized that Caemorn was being controlled by someone. The Kaly Vampire was unable to move or speak or do anything.

What is going on here? Is there another Eyros Vampire here… AH!

Balthazar gasped and clutched his head as the person inside of Caemorn’s head turned towards him and attacked. There was the sense of claws digging into his brain, raking at him, turning him into a raw nerve and nothing else.

Eyros… such a long time… I cannot say I missed you,the sexless voice crashed into his mind with every word. Not quite as good at this as you once were. Shame. But I crushed you then. So I’ll crush you now!

In that moment, Balthazar knew who this was though he had never spoken to Kaly--in this life anyways--he recognized them now and there was something familiar though. Something familiar from this life. But he couldn’t isolate it. That thought flew away though as he realized he had one shot to send up a flare.

Just before being plunged into darkness, Balthazar sent out a shout to the Vampire King, Kaly! Daemon, Kaly is here! The Well of All Souls!

He experienced a spinning sensation. Everything blurred. Became dark. And then...

Balthazar found himself on his knees in the mud in a field. There were sparse tufts of tall grass that were splashed with blood stretching out to the horizon. The low drone of flies filled his ears. There was the rumble of a thunderstorm far in the distance. The sky was right at dusk or was it dawn?

Dawn. The sun will rise in moments.

It had been so long since he had seen sunlight filtering along the horizon that he almost forgot to fear it. But then the panic set in and he scrambled to his feet.

His bare feet.

He wasn’t wearing shoes. His feet sank into the wet mud that smelled heavily of copper.

Blood. My God, how much blood would it take to get the ground this wet?

And then he saw the bodies. Lying three-feet deep in spots. Sprawled out. Flies alighting on them then flying almost drunkenly away after feeding and breeding. Wrenched limbs. Torn out throats. Twisted necks. Snapped spines. He staggered backwards, only to feel a body brush against the back of his left calf. He reeled away from that.

Where am I? Doesn’t matter! Gotta get to cover! The sun is coming!

But the smell of the blood was sickening him as well as arousing him. His fangs were out. Saliva filled his mouth. But this was dead blood. Blood that was already starting to rot.

What happened here? Please tell me that this isn’t real? So many dead… Christian? Is Christian among them?

But he saw no bright thatch of blond hair. He felt that even in the wash of blood, he would have been able to parse out his fledgling’s.

And I would be dead if Christian were taken. Because I would not allow anyone to touch him unless I was gone…

But his eyes searched the faces of the corpses around him, looking for those he recognized. No Fiona. No Arcius. No Caemorn. He was surprisingly thankful for that.

Caemorn would fight for Christian, too. I know he would.

He shook himself. He could not just stand here and let the sun burn him to a crisp. Yet he saw no structure he could hide in. He looked at the bodies and his lips writhed back from his teeth in disgust. There was one way he could shelter himself from the ever burning light...