Page 11 of Ever Dark Academy, Vol. 3

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G rayson smiled as he saw the two Vampires bow to Ryder from his window perch. They were both beautiful and powerful-looking. He sensed that they were Weryn. Old Weryn. There was a tingling in the back of his mind, telling him that he had known them when he was Ashyr.

These were not pitchfork-wielding Vampires, hysterical about Weryn’s return, but ancient Vampires overjoyed to have their Immortal back. He wished he could remember their names, remember them . But the information remained tantalizingly out of reach. Maybe when he was turned, he would remember.

Grayson? Balthazar’s voice came into his head with a faint buzz .

I’m here. What’s up? Grayson asked, falling into the vocabulary he used now rather than before. He wondered if he liked that. He really didn’t want to keep much of this life.

We have an issue. “Jill” is no longer with us, Balthazar’s mind voice was dry.

Grayson stiffened. She’s--

Been given a rather nasty Second Death, Balthazar explained.

But you had her under guard and--

Yes, and the person guarding them was found unconscious, though not dead interestingly. But they might not wake up as their mind is… fried, Balthazar’s voice was tinged with pain.

Grayson’s fingernails cut into his palms as he gripped his palms. He should have known this would happen and urged Balthazar to take more precautions, but what other precautions were there to be taken in a palace?

He asked just that, And they got into your palace without you knowing…

I had it open because of the students.

Balthazar!

I know! I thought--wrongly--that there were enough safeguards in place, but I was incorrect. Very, very incorrect, Balthazar sounded angry. His thoughts snapped with it. This was supposed to be a joyous thing! We’re supposed to--

All right. All right. It might not even be an outsider, Grayson said.

You think an Eyros in my Palace--

I am not closing my mind to anything, and neither should you, Grayson warned.

Balthazar was silent for long moments on this. I am usually the one telling people to trust no one. But it’s you this time.

I understand why you don’t want to believe that anyone you’ve vetted could betray you, Grayson responded gently.

But I am going to be taking a cold, hard look at my people too.

We don’t really understand what the allure is of the Sect of Dawn.

I should have stayed later yesterday and interrogated her further.

And then we would have had you collapse on the floor. No, Grayson, you did what you could do, Balthazar countered. You were already skirting the line of collapse, despite your pitiful attempts to hide it.

Grayson grimaced. They weren’t pitiful!

They were. Trust me. They were, Balthazar chuckled, but the humor was faint. He, too, was angry and frustrated by “Jill’s” loss.

Well, this means our meeting is all the more important.

Yes, and I think it indicates that we need to do that more quickly than we planned. So while Ryder meets and greets his people, could you go meet yours and then make your way over here poste haste? Balthazar asked.

Grayson nodded and then mentally said, Yes, of course. I just need to find a--

Bedroom. Weryn’s is on the third floor… Balthazar sent him a schematic of the Weryn Palace with a little dotted line leading to a red dot. It’s perfect. You’ll both love it.

Ah, thanks. Could you also let Ryder know--

That you’re leaving early? Yes, besides he has some Immortaling to do.

Immortaling? Grayson half smiled at the clearly made-up word. Besides, he had no love for “Jill”. But he worried what this meant.

Yes, it’s the mostly unpleasant task we must undertake when we’re--we’re being who we were--

Who we are , Grayson corrected gently.

You really love being Ashyr again, don’t you? Balthazar chuckled.

Yes, and I can’t wait to be fully myself again and leave this all behind, Grayson said.

Like a snake sheds its skin?

My life as Grayson was what? 25 years? What is 25 years to us? Grayson insisted.

I don’t know. For a day, an hour, a minute can mean everything, can’t it? So I imagine that 25 years of those can have an impact, Balthazar answered.

Grayson frowned. Well, not these particular 25 years for me.

Of course.

You’re patronizing me, Grayson responded dryly, reading far more into those two innocuous words

No, not in the least. I wouldn’t dare, Balthazar answered.

Grayson sighed. Okay, okay, you don’t mean harm by it. A jester never does.

No, he seeks to show the truth with humor, Balthazar added lightly. Now, all will be done as to Ryder. Get your butt over here pronto.

Grayson looked out at Ryder for a final time.

Others in the crowd of Vampires were starting to get down onto their knees.

Soon, they were all kneeling, and Ryder glowed with power and purpose.

Grayson wished he could be a part of this, that he could stand by Ryder’s side and show that Weryn had Ashyr’s support.

But he couldn’t. For all their sakes, he couldn’t.

There were many things that he’d had to deny himself for the good of his king and their people. This was one of those. But the payoff would be worth it. And there would be plenty of times when he would be standing beside Ryder.

Grayson turned and started to jog down the hallway before Balthazar added, Oh, and Grayson?

What?

Be careful. Please.

I’m just a weak and confused mortal, Balthazar. No one special, Grayson reminded him.

You’ve never been any of those things, Ashyr. Not even in this life, Balthazar’s voice whispered through his mind before he closed the connection.

Grayson’s footsteps slowed a moment at those words.

Who was Balthazar to talk to him about wanting to escape the past?

He wouldn’t remember what it was like to be Eyros so how could he lecture Grayson about wanting to shed this one life that wasn’t really his own?

That he had been forced to have because of another’s illness?

An illness he should have seen and understood before it…

Well, before it got out of hand like it had.

Yet Balthazar’s words stayed in his mind like burrs. And, most of all, his memory of Eyros reminded him that the Immortal told people what they already knew themselves. That’s what made him so irritating and powerful. Grayson wondered how much Balthazar knew what was in his mind right this minute.

Probably all of it. He half smiled and shook his head.

He took the stairs down to the first floor. He didn’t head out of the front doors, because the Vampires would see him, and now, more than ever, he needed to be invisible. He was a student and nothing more.

Instead, he took the main hallway to the back, allowing unconscious memories to lead him down the wide-planked hallway past the paintings and tapestries that showed hunts through the ages. He passed out of an arched doorway into one of the center, open courtyards and gasped.

To say it was beautiful was to say that water was wet, which totally missed the point of it all.

Golden-barked trees stretched gracious branches up towards the skin.

Their silver leaves rustled in the faint breeze and reflected the blue and red moons, causing a shimmer effect in the air all around them.

There were stone paths that wound between these trees and the faint burble of a brook could be heard.

Glowing mushrooms and other plants lined the paths, adding their own fairy-light to the scene.

He had a sudden and powerful memory of Weryn feeding him a piece of one of those mushrooms. They’d made love while their mind spun rather gloriously.

The next night though their heads had ached and they’d needed copious amounts of blood to leech the after effects from their systems. But it had been worth it.

He didn’t take the paths, but instead followed the covered walkway around the outer edge.

It was faster as the paths, he recalled, curved and turned back on themselves.

Their purpose was to show perfect vistas of the garden or provide private nooks for contemplation.

His goal was to simply get from point A to point B.

He longed to linger here, but it would be better with Ryder by his side in any event.

He couldn’t help thinking how much Ryder, Demos and Siban were going to love this place, even more than they already did.

Soon he came to another arched entryway back into the Weryn Palace.

He just had to walk down this main hall and there would be a back entrance that would dump him out into another part of the Weryn park then he would merely have to follow the line of trees and it would lead him to the back of the Ashyr Palace.

Again, he passed by many intriguing rooms that, though still half dark, beckoned to him to enter and explore.

He caught sight of the corner of fireplaces, a book-stuffed bookshelf, an inviting looking couch, a pool table-- Mairead will go ape over this --and more.

He could half remember having conversations, long and leisurely, in each of these rooms with the Weryn and his own Ashyr Vampires.

In one long, rectangular sitting room, he recalled Dani tapping her fingers on the side of her drink as she and the other Ashyr mingled with the Weryn.

It had been the first party between them and no one was having a good time.

In fact, they were all stiff and formal and looked like they’d rather be anyplace else.

Even the normally boisterous Weryn were sipping their drinks and standing still and tight.

“Dance with me, Dani,” he’d said to her and offered her his hand.

Her eyebrows had lifted up in surprise, but there was a small smile on her lips. “Master, no one else is dancing. There isn’t even any music!”

“There will be music soon enough once we start dancing. Someone will go get their fiddle, another a flute, trust me. Once we break the ice, things will flow.” He’d wiggled his fingers at her. “Dance with me, Dani.”