It was an effort to master myself enough to breathe, never mind find the guts to tell him I hadn’t followed his advice, but the river. “Vampires—vampires need saving too?”
“Of course, ma chéri.” His breath was cool and clean on my face, no different to a night breeze. “Will you be the one to do it?”
No, I wanted to scream. Why did everyone want me to save them? How had the fate of this entire magical world landed on my shoulders? And did I even want to save vampires? Were they monsters of traditional tales, or the angsty heroes of recent times? Jacques had made no move to hurt me, but every instinct in my body roared at me to flee. If only I could feel my legs.
“Have you been following me?” I croaked instead, but I already knew the answer. How else could he have learnt my name? Was he herding me? An unseen, undead sheepdog, driving me to break this curse? Or did he live in these woods? Hunt in these woods?
He smiled again, and my attention fixed on his teeth. I watched them as he spoke. “It would not be gentlemanly to leave a lady to brave these lands alone.”
Fuck. Just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse, I acquired a human eating stalker.
“I’m not alone,” I whispered. “I have the witches.”
“And you have me. Be brave, Aliza.”
Cold but soft lips pressed against my forehead, and I squeezed my eyes closed. This was it. I was going to die, and I clearly wasn’t going to do a damn thing to prevent it.
The lips disappeared, though their chill lingered on my skin.
I waited for the blow to fall, my chest rising and falling with every panted breath, but nothing happened. I squinted from one eye, then opened the other.
The woods were still and empty.
Jacques was gone.
12Wait, This Isn’t A Trashy Vampire Movie, Is It?
“Tell me more about this world.”
The sun had risen, melting the chill from my bones. Breakfast had been eaten, and the camp packed away. The witches and I traipsed once more through the woods. Though my eyes ached with the intensity with which I stared between the trees, I saw no sign of Jacques. Then again, it was daylight. Would the sun scorch him into a little pile of ashes? Or would he sparkle like a diamond? My laugh died in my throat.
Pansy, walking at my side, lifted her brown eyes to me. “What do you want to know?”
“Tell me about the people who live here. I know about witches and fae, and obviously, humans used to live here too. Is there anything else? I—I’ve seen the fairies.”
Only a few days ago, I would sooner have died than admit to such a thing, but maybe those old fairytales and folk stories were more than just pretty little lies. Maybe modern humans had forgotten the truth they’d once known.
“Oh, I adore fairies.” Pansy beamed. “They can be quite shy, but they’re so pretty, aren’t they? I love the colours. They come into the castle grounds from time to time, but mostly they keep to themselves. Children would try to catch them in nets and keep them in jars, and that’s enough to put anyone off visiting.”
Indeed.
“The fae are actually a closer relative of the fairies than they are of elves, though you wouldn’t know it to look at them.”
It was the second time I’d heard elves mentioned. Sage had said they had healing magic.
“What are elves?” I couldn’t decide whether I was picturing Santa’s elves or Lord Elrond.
Pansy met my eyes in the mirror. Was it my imagination, or did she look a little fearful? “They’re woodland creatures. They keep to themselves. Most people never see one, and nobody knows much about their ways, but I learnt a bit about them in my lessons. They look a lot like the fae, only they have hair that changes colour with the seasons, like the leaves, for camouflage. They’d probably love your hair. They’re supposedly very good at healing magics, and there are stories of desperate people venturing into the forest to seek out the elves. Most never return, according to the tales.”
“That explains the camouflage, I can see why I’d want to hide from them.” Were there elves in these woods? I smoothed my hands over my colourful hair. Would it make them more or less inclined to murder me if we came across them? “What about the fae? Tell me about them.”
“Oh, that’s easier. They’re very… human, apart from the ears, and the magic. There are a few things you should know, though. Most importantly, they love bargains and bonds, but they’re also mischievous. Never make a bargain with one. They’re almost always worded in a way that will hide their true meaning. They’ll trick you into something awful. That’s actually how the curse came about. Their first queen, Claudia, created a deal with her children. None of her descendants are able to harm a blood relative, which meant Maelgwyn had to get creative.”
“I can see why we’re so keen to save them,” I drawled, rolling my eyes. It was just my luck to get roped into a mission to rescue a pair of would-be murderous tricksters.
“Unfortunately, they’re the most powerfully magical of all the people in Neath, which puts them in charge, and some are worse than others. Putting a slightly less awful fae on the throne benefits us all. The good news is, they love hospitality. They’ll almost never harm a guest who has been invited to dine.”
I stored that little tidbit away for later. As I was heading to a fae kingdom, I was keen to learn more about them, but not now. There was only one creature on my mind today.
“Is there anything else?”
Vampires, I wanted to say. Tell me about the vampires.
“Nymphs. Another shy species. They guard nature. You’d only really see one if you were causing harm, and by then it’d be too late. Same with the vampires. With them, it’s always too late.”
Finally.
“Vampires?” I tried to sound only mildly interested, and not at all as though a vampire had kissed me in the woods a few hours ago.
Pansy shuddered. “Horrible things. They’re not really even alive. They hunt by night. Humans used to be their prey of choice,” she gave me a serious nod, “but these days they’ll go for anything. Witches, animals, even fae if they find a weak one. When the curse was cast, we hoped the silver lining might be that the vampires starved. But of course, they’re already dead, so we had no such luck, and they adapted. They’re much weaker than they once were, though. That’s something.”
I thought of the way Jacques had looked at me, as though he’d wanted to bleed me dry, right then and there. It was true that he was thin. The bones in his face were all too sharp. Was he starving? Was he waiting for me to break the curse before he ate me? Was he lurking overhead, listening to every word?
It all made sense. The curse had closed the rifts, and no rifts meant no humans. No decent food. Except the strong, magical sort that could fight back. My heart sank. When the rifts opened, would my world be flooded with magical creatures? Isobel would be pleased to know her fairytales were real, at least at first. Would she be as giddy when our world became as much of a shit show as this one?
“We have stories of all these things back in the human world,” I mused at length. “Do you think they came from the humans who used to come here?”
“Most likely. All of these creatures used to visit the human world too. The elves rarely bothered, of course, and the fairies and fae never lingered. It’s said they grow weaker the longer they spend there. But witches used to go back and forth all the time. I’ve never been,” Pansy finished sadly.
