Moonlight Prince (Vampire Girl #4)(54)

"You really should stop getting kidnapped."

His voice.

So close.

It can't be…

I open my eyes.

And see him.

He stands before me.

He came back.

"Fen."





PART IV


—Fenris Vane—


I step in front of Arianna, protecting her with my body. I should have returned sooner. She is barely conscious now. So weak. But I cannot focus on my mistakes. I must focus on how to right them.

"You will not touch her," I say, raising my blade, Baron growling at my side.

Niam shakes his head. "Remember what I told you, brother. Next time we saw each other—"

"You'd force me into submission?" I laugh. "I doubt it."

That gets to him. He charges in a blind rage. A mistake. One should never let emotion dictate strategy.

I parry his strike and jump behind him. He turns to follow me, lashing out furiously. But he has already lost.

Baron jumps on his back, tearing into his shoulder.

Niam falls, screaming, limbs flailing.

He drops his sword, and I kick it away. No. It's Arianna's sword. How— Something growls in the distance.

A deep raw sound. It chills to the bone.

The dust in the air begins to change. It grows darker. Black as night.

It's here.

The Darkness.

The creature.

I hear a whimper. Baron!

Niam grabs the wolf by the neck and twists. A crack.

Baron's neck snaps.

And he dematerializes, fading into white dust.

Niam stands, grinning, seemingly unaffected by his bloody shoulder. He looks into the dark clouds of dust, to the growl that grows louder, and he laughs like a madman. "You cannot win, Fenris. You cannot defeat the Darkness."

"It's not my duty to fight the Darkness," I say. "It's hers."

He frowns, then his eyes follow mine. To Arianna.

She stands, grabbing her sword from the ground. Her eyes meet mine. "You’re here," she says.

"I was always here." Even when I thought to leave, my heart, my mind, it stayed with her.

She nods. And turns to face the Darkness.

The creature emerges from the shadows, shaking the ground with its massive form. Its black fur slithers and coils like snakes. Its face twists and turns in grotesque images of half man and half beast. Sharp teeth protrude from its gaping maw, an endless pit of black.

The creature roars, and it's as if the whole world threatens to unravel in its wake.

Arianna doesn't flinch.

She steps forward, moving on air, gliding on shadows.

Somehow, she is flying.

The power of the Midnight Star. She and Yami are one.

I see it in her eyes. The colors of midnight. I see it on her skin. It shimmers like stars.

What the dragon can do, she can do, I realize. They were never separate. Not really.

Then Arianna, the Midnight Star, streaks across the sky, a moonlight blade in hand, and she fights the Darkness.





PART V


—Ace—


I wake to silence. Shadows all around me. My memories return in pieces.

Levi. The explosion.

I push myself to stand.

Somehow, I survived. Probably because of this bloody armor. I should have never created it. I should have never used it.

Why did I fight for Lucian?

For Patricia?

For love?

If she could see this, if she could know the chaos I caused, she would not dare look at me.

I betrayed her. I betrayed myself.

I stand amongst the rubble. Amongst the piles of corpses. And I make my way back to the tent. Back to what's left anyway.

There, on the hill, I find him.

He lies with his face in the mud, his body black and charred. Still. Lifeless.

Gently, I turn him over. His silver hair has burned away, but his face remains. Oh, Levi…

He did cruel things, but right now, all I can remember is the little boy who stood up for his brother, who defended his inventions while others called them silly. For a while, I stay there, back in the Silver Gardens, back when it was just me and Levi, playing together with a new toy I made. That is how I will always remember him. Happy. Innocent. Before the world turned him into a monster.

I kiss his forehead.

And then I go to find father.

It's time he paid for what he did.





PART VI


—Fenris Vane—


The Midnight Star fights the Darkness, and I fight Niam. It should be easy. He's injured, his shoulder torn open and raw. He has a sword, some random one he found one the ground, nothing special. But…

Something is wrong.

Every time Arianna and the creature clash, I feel a thud in my mind, like a hammer trying to break open my skull. Images flash before my mind. Images I've tried to forget.

The Grey Mountain.

Me climbing to the peak.

A storm.

I seek shelter in a cave.

And then…

Then I see something new.

This didn't happen… this couldn't happen…

I see Marasphyr in the cave. Together we wait out the storm. We grow close. She promises to help me slay the Grey Beast.