Moonlight Prince (Vampire Girl #4)(31)

Arianna sits up taller. "Don't do this, Lucian. You cannot control the Darkness. No one can."

The vampire king looks down, his blue eyes cold. "I will no longer be bound by my brother's curse. First, I take this realm. And then I march on the heavens." He turns to the door and places his hand on the lock.

The earth groans.

The wind trembles.

The sun darkens.

"It comes," whispers Tavian, his eyes rolled back, talking though he was paralyzed. "An unnatural beast. An unseemly creature. The Darkness. The Darkness comes."

A pain erupts inside me, like something bit down on my heart and chewed. Despite the paralysis my body starts to shake, spasm. My limbs stretch out, as if they're trying to tear away in different directions. Some part of me is not my own. Some part wants to leave.

Arianna groans, falling over. Kayla follows. They must feel it too.

Asher seems unaffected, but Varis…

Varis screams in agony, his limbs twisting unnaturally, his eyes rolling back. Metsi does the same. Perhaps because they are full Fae. It seems to affect them the most.

Lightning strikes the sky.

Thunder tears the air.

And rain begins to fall.

For a moment, everything goes quiet. The screaming fades. The wind stills. Even drops of water seem far away.

And then a low growl takes their place. A sound unnatural. A sound that chills to the very core.

The stone door cracks, and with a great moan it erupts open. The five stones swirl through the air, landing on Lucian's arm, twisting around his bracer like a bracelet.

Inside the ancient door, one can see nothing but a pit of black. But it is not empty, no. Something stirs within. When it steps forward, the earth trembles in its wake. When it breathes, the very air turns to ice. And when it roars, the mind wishes for death.

The creature emerges. As tall as a giant oak. As long as a great hall. It walks on all fours, its back legs like hooves, its front like claws. Thick hair covers its body, black and slimy and writhing like snakes. Its face twists and turns, half man, half beast. Its teeth are many, too many, some dull molars, others sharp, long fangs. On its chest, white bone pierces black skin, parts of its ribcage sticking out from its body. This beast is torture to see, and yet, something draws my gaze. Something pulls me closer.

Wisps of black smoke fall from the creature, some of them swirling around Lucian. The smoke becomes viscous, like ink, hanging heavily in the air. Lucian breathes in deeply the vile Darkness, and his veins pulse dark under pale skin, his eyes blacken into orbs of midnight. Then the blackness within him fades, returning to him a normal pallor, his eyes the same cold blue as always, and he smiles. "Finally, we are bound. I feel your power."

The creature talks, whispering in a thousand voices, layered upon each other likes echoes of the dead, cold and lifeless. "What… is your desire?"

"First, we will secure this world. And then we will retake my homeland."

Asher sits up, finally awake. "What have you done, father?"

Lucian grins. "As I said I would, my son. I have brought peace between Fae and vampire. Come. I will show you."

He waves his hand into the air, and a pool of darkness swirls above us. A portal. Like the one Marasphyr can make, but larger, far larger. It grows and grows, until it consumes us all.

For a moment, all I see is shadow.

And then I am on a stone floor, on a plaza. Hundreds of bodies mill around us. I know this place. These people. These buildings. We are at Stonehill!

"Secure the castle," says Lucian to the Darkness.

And chaos follows.

The creature leaps into the air, as high as a mountain, and lands on my castle, where the wall is still broken open. Screams erupt from within.

Around us, people yell and run. But not all. Not even half. Some stay perfectly still, their eyes white, glazed over. The Fae. The Fae do not move.

I look to Varis, to Metsi. They are the same, standing still, faces void of expression or emotion.

"What have you done to them?" Arianna's voice is loud, guttural, angry and terrified.

Asher shakes the Wind Druid, pleading. "Snap out of it. Snap out of it Varis."

Lucian laughs. "He cannot. Do you not understand, I wield the power of the Primal One."

"He…" whispers Arianna, her face sapped of color, her eyes wide in horror. "He controls the Fae. Just like the Primal One did, he controls their will."

I feel the paralysis wearing off, prickling sensation returning to limbs that slept. I push myself up to sit, willing strength back into my body, and look at Tavian. He looks back, his eyes grave, but still his. Somehow, he is not affected. Nor am I, Kayla, or Arianna. It seems only full Fae have lost their will. That must be what I felt when my body was tearing itself apart. It must have been fighting for control. Still, it does not explain Tavian.

"How did Metsi ever agree to this?" asks Kayla.

"She did not," says Lucian. "Not entirely. She knew we were summoning the Darkness. But, she never considered that I would attain power over all Fae. She thought we would destroy the vampires together. Destroy my own people? What a fool she was."

Some of my subjects, the vampires and Shade, rush for the castle, to defend it from the creature. But then Lucian tilts his head, and Varis jumps into the sky. An unnatural wind hits my soldiers, and they fall to the ground, pinned. Those too far to be affected are attacked by their very own slaves, overwhelmed and forced to submit. Metsi conjures water from the snow and waterfalls, sending a tidal wave towards the wall. It hits the guards manning their stations, knocking them out or drowning them.