Chapter 15
This creature and I had met before, long ago, in a land far less populated. In fact, I knew this thing from an intimate perspective, given that my mother had created it. Myst had dredged it up from the depths one day, a shadow of one of the Wilding Fae. She had turned it, taken it down to its essence, and out of that void, a life-stealing vampire had been created. Only this vampire fed on energy alone—for the Wilding Fae had been so old, so stretched, that his body simply vanished as my mother fed on him.
I couldn’t remember what his name was, but he’d disappeared from Court one day, shortly after a rash of murders among our people. Myst had promised everyone that she’d killed the creature. He was too wayward and unable to be controlled. But in reality, she’d simply chased him into the forests.
Over the years, he became a legend in the forest, feared by the yummanii who came to live in the area. They’d turned him into a creature sent by the gods, but I knew the truth. He fed upon every sentient life force he could find, but he preferred the Shadow Hunters and the Fae, for our magic was strong and he thrived on magic.
I circled to the left as the memories of my mother’s dark ritual to create him filtered back. She had snared the Wilding Fae in, and against all odds had managed to convince him to let her turn him. She would have stood no chance without his permission. He was dark and toadlike, squat and yet stretched out from the years that had passed through his life. And he’d been thirsty to collect more power, hungry to dance through the forest, eating his fill. He was darker than dark, a match for my mother, and she’d never suspected his plan to double-cross her.
The cloud shifted to the right, but a wave of malign delight rolled off of him. Thirsty he was, and more—he remembered me. And then—another memory crept in. I’d been out dancing through the snow, looking for quarry to hunt, and I’d met a strange little man. I recognized him as one of the Wilding Fae. He’d been watching me, and the leer on his face turned my stomach. I had no use for lovers or mating rituals. Life was all about the hunt for me.
He made it clear what he wanted, and I rebuffed him as he came toward me, cock out, his member huge and glistening with cum under the night sky. I kicked him square in the balls, and he cursed at me. Laughing, I leaned down to spit in his face.
“Little man, you will never have me. Be content with keeping your life. Be content you aren’t the chosen prey of Myst’s daughter, for I would tear you to pieces and suck your bones. I would bleed you out and wear your corpse like a cloak and braid your hair into a rope for my servants.”
“One would think a daughter of a queen would know how to speak to one of the Wilding Fae. One would take offense, if such a girl was smart enough to know when she put herself in danger. But dance away, mayhem’s daughter. There will be meetings to come, and one day a Wilding Fae may have his revenge.” And with that he vanished into the woods.
I laughed, then, thinking nothing of his warning. I had no clue how strong the Wilding Fae were. And later, when he came to the Court and my mother turned him, I thought it was simply an experiment gone wrong. When the sparkling cloud vanished into the forest, I thought no more about it. Only as the legends built up around him did I wonder if I’d ever run into him again. But surely, as a cloud of energy, devoid of form, he’d have forgotten who I was. And that I’d laughed at him after bruising his balls.
Now, facing him down, I realized that he recognized the part of me who had once been Cherish. Fuck. That made everything ever so much better. But with the memories of how he’d come to be, I also had remembered one very important thing. I backed up now, glancing at the others.
“We have to fight him on the astral—on the Dream Time. We can’t win against him in a physical fight. I wish we had some of Luna’s death ghosts with us right now.”
Kaylin pushed his way to the front. “Then I have to go in. I’m the only one who can dreamwalk. My demon can fight him.”
I let out a cry. “No. He’s too dangerous and wily—” but Kaylin shook his head.
“This is why you brought me along. I know it. Cicely.” He took me by the shoulders, ignoring the glares from Check and Fearless. “You have to let me do this. If you don’t, the creature will attack you. There’s only one reason it’s holding back right now.”
I glanced over at the cloud. True enough, it hadn’t attacked, and I wasn’t sure why it was hanging back. “Why do you think that is?”
“Because he can sense what I am—and he knows that I can face him down. He’s waiting to see what our next move is. I’m going in, and you cannot stop me, girl.”
“Then I’m going with you.”
“No.” The word was an order, and he turned to Check. “I won’t allow it. She may be your queen, but she’s not mine. If something were to happen to me, there would be no one to bring her back.”
Check nodded. “Understood.”
And with that he lay down, and a couple of the vampires gathered around him, including Lannan, who was staring at the cloud monster with fascination. As I let out a short cry, Kaylin closed his eyes, and a faint mist began to gather over his body. He was going dreamwalking, taking his body out on the astral. I’d gone with him a couple of times, and each time it had been like journeying through a foreign land.
As we watched, he began to shimmer, and I remembered how it had felt, like becoming a river of silver, molten and fluid, then vanishing into the shadows as one of their own. And then—in a flurry of smoke and mist—Kaylin vanished. I whirled around to see what the cloud was doing, and sure enough, it had moved. It was backing up, and I caught a blur of movement going toward it.
Ulean, can you see them? What’s happening?
Yes, I can feel them on the slipstream. Kaylin—his demon is coming out—
Before she could finish the thought, a dark shadow with large wings dove through the cloud—we could see it clear as day—and there was a loud wail. It was almost more of a sonic screech, barely within hearing range but enough to send all of us to our knees. I pressed my hands to my ears, trying to stifle the noise, but it rang like a sonorous bell, on and on, reverberating in my head.
I heard the sound of scuffling, but when I tried to look up, to see what was happening, all that was visible was a blur of mist, a haze of sparkling energy swirling around the shadow. But they were fighting, that much was apparent. The shadow and the cloud struggled, creating a vortex between them, a tornado of cross-energies. I had a horrible feeling this was all going wrong. Kaylin was in danger and there was nothing any of us could do unless . . .
Ulean, is there any way you can help him?
I’m sorry, Cicely. I can see them clearer than you, but not to help. Not to intervene. But I can tell you, that sound is dangerous to you and the others. It can harm you.
At that moment, I realized my nose was bleeding. This was what had killed the people Hunter had seen! I knew it in my core.
“We have to get out of range—the sound, it will kill us!”
Check immediately yanked me to my feet and began barreling out of the chamber toward the outside. The others followed us, as best as they could, and we stumbled into the open, where the sound faded. My head was pounding, and I fell into the snow, gasping with the residual pain. Grieve joined me, holding his own head, and the others did as well.
Hunter knelt beside me. “That’s what killed them. You were right. No wonder we found no signs of violence. They didn’t think to get out of the way in time. Or . . . they couldn’t. My guess is back then, the creature wasn’t distracted by someone attacking it.”