The whole way there, she is no more than a few feet behind.
I come to a sudden stop. I shove my arm to the side, to bar her from running forward by herself, but she does not need the warning.
She stopped at the exact moment I did.
“Do you feel them?” I ask. There are only three humans, a tiny traveling party. From the way they’re all breathing, I know that they’re asleep.
Too stupid to even put up a guard.
Not that it would do them much good against us.
Alissa’s eyes are laser-focused ahead. Every fiber of her being is trembling with anticipation. Her instincts know exactly why we’re here.
I breathe in deeply, satiating in the scent of blood coming from the three bodies. For a fledgling so young, the bloodlust must be overwhelming.
She impresses me by how well she’s able to keep control.
“Do you know why I brought you here?” I ask.
She nods.
“Then go,” I say, lowering my arm. “Go and make me proud.”
She disappears in a blur. Next thing I know, horrified screams fill the air. I wait for a count of ten, then slowly walk out into view of the human camp.
The scene I find surprises even me.
All three men have had their throats slashed. Alissa is crouched over one sucking on the fount of blood bubbling out of his carotid artery. When he is drained, she jumps to the next man and repeats the process.
All that is normal. All that is fine.
What isn’t normal is the fact that all three men have had their skulls crushed by her little hands.
The blood of the second ends. She jumps to the third. The dirt is flowing red, and all her clothes, her entire body, is stained with blood, so as she feeds, she truly looks like something out of a nightmare.
The horses are neighing and whickering, scared out of their minds, the whites of their eyes showing as they roll around in their sockets.
I slash the ropes holding them there and they gallop off into the night.
Then, I walk over to the first body, and flip it over.
The man’s brain oozes out from the break in his skull. The cut across his throat was no delicate, precise vampire thing. It was an awful slash, much the same as a wolf might leave after ripping out a man’s throat.
I look down at Alissa and feel an overwhelming sort of pride. I have never seen a vampire take so fast to her base-most instincts. I have never seen one embrace the darkness inside so quickly.
I have never seen the darkness create such a cold-blooded killer, with absolutely no mercy or respect for human life.
I may have stumbled upon something absolutely extraordinary with this little girl.
After she’s finished feeding, she remains there, on her haunches, looking up at me with huge, gleaming eyes.
I make up my mind on the spot. When I first converted her, I only meant to do it to give her life… so that I could let the sun destroy her the next day as I left her bound to the cross on the roof of the church.
But this little fledgling is too precious to waste. She is, right from birth, exactly what a true vampire should be: No mercy.
No hesitation.
No weakness.
“You did well,” I tell her. “Very well. How old are you?”
“Sixteen,” she tells me.
I blink. There’s no way…
But then I see her stand, see the womanly shape to her body that the vampire blood has revived and the human blood has strengthened. She is short, but whereas when I found her she was nothing but skin and bones, now her muscles have filled up again, her feminine grace has been augmented…
“You’re telling the truth,” I whisper. “I had thought you much younger.”
There is absolutely no way I am wasting this fledgling now.
How will Mother react when I bring her back? Not well. She might even kill her.
I start to walk back to the village, deep in thought. If I return with Alissa, her very promising life as a vampire could come to a premature end. At the same time, I don’t want to leave her on her own, not when I felt such a sudden… affinity… to her.
I glance back. She is demurely following me.
Affinity, I wonder, or love?
We reach the village again. I feel all my vampires gathered exactly where I left them.
I walk toward the church. I look up at the sky. Still a few hours to daylight.
I throw the door open and walk in.
To my surprise, I find the vampires gathered near the entrance, tools all dropped.
“What happened?” I demand. “Did you get through?”
“Not quite,” Sebastian says. “We managed to break most of it down, but the deeper we got, the worse that silver sensation got. We went as far as we could, Raul. Any more proved impossible.”
I growl deep in my throat, displeased.
“Give me that,” I snarl, pointing to the blacksmith’s hammer. A guard hands it to me.
In two strides I’m at the edge of the pit. I jump down.
An immediate, horrible dizziness washes over me. I force my mind to focus, pushing the discomfort aside.
It takes one hell of an effort, but eventually I manage to push through. With silver exposure, the initial shock is always the worst. Even though it’s impossible to completely do away with the metal’s effect, if you train your mind enough you can withstand all but the worst of it… for a limited time.
Turns out I can’t fault the guards for giving up.
I look at the ground. The guards have done significant damage. Cracks spiderweb across the floor, and the silver’s effect seeps out of the largest ones like poisonous fumes.
With an effort, I haul the hammer over my head and slam it into the rock.
The ground shifts. The cracks already there become larger. I do it again, and again, and again, feeling the stone give beneath my blows.
A few minutes of effort and, suddenly, the stone falls away. I leap back, barely avoiding the collapse.
Immediately, a brand new wave of nausea hits me. My head spins. I cannot keep my balance. I try to fight it off, but the effect is too powerful. It washes over me in waves, slamming into my body unrelentingly.
I fight it, but no matter how much I try it’s not enough.
I feel myself starting to fade.
But just before the whole world disappears, Alissa’s face flashes before my eyes. For a minute I think I’m hallucinating, but then I feel her arms latch around my body, and the next thing I know, she’s leaping up, carrying me with her.
We land in the middle of the church floor. Groggily, I look around. I don’t see any of the guards anywhere.
She starts moving me toward the doors. I drag my feet. Pathetic.
The moment we’re outside, however, thank the gods, and the doors are closed, the wave of disorientation is cut off.
It takes me an extra second to regain my senses. When I do, I see the guards, all lying, slumped over, around me.
Everybody is affected, it seems, except Alissa.
She’s looking up at me earnestly, trying to make sure I’m okay. When I have my strength back, I push off her and mutter, “Thank you.”
She beams with the praise. I am taken aback by the raw beauty of her smile.
A new realization washes over me. This is a woman who must be cherished. Protected. Given everything in full.
Even though it kills me, I could never take her back with me to The Haven, not knowing what Mother could do.
I gather my wits and look around. “What the hell happened to all of you?” I demand.
“The same thing that happened to you,” one of the guards croaks.
“Don’t test me,” I warn. “Alissa?”
She looks down at her feet, suddenly self-conscious.
I tilt her chin up. “Tell me what you did,” I say softly.
“I felt a wave of… something,” she admits. “But it passed through me quick. Not the others. They couldn’t move themselves. I pulled them out of the church. Then I went for you.
“What you felt was silver,” I explain. “We have a weakness to it. I just never expected the effect to be that strong. The amount of treasure underground… it must be enormous. It is unfathomable.”
One by one, the Royal Guards pick themselves up.
I focus on Alissa. “You said you only felt the effect a little bit?”