Moonlight Prince (Vampire Girl #4)

I shake my head. "This was a dark ritual. A blood sacrifice. Whatever these people conjured, they intended to do so."

Dean looks around, his eyes spooked. "So you mean, these Fae… these Fae are gone… because they sacrificed themselves?"

"I believe they knew the cost, yes." I stand, brushing my hands clean of snow.

"But why do it then? Why give your own life?"

I shrug. "Perhaps Metsi told them to. Perhaps she convinced them the sacrifice would win the war."

Dean scans the nearby houses. "So you think Metsi started this ritual. Why? For power?"

"Or knowledge." I walk around, searching for anything else unusual. "I have seen such rituals before, at the base of the Grey Mountain. Shamans would call for wisdom of the future. Sometimes, for the strength to defeat rival tribes. The Outlanders would always make a sacrifice to summon the power. The power they called the Darkness."

"And yet," says Dean, "in all my centuries of ruling, I have never seen this dark power."

"Your realm isn't on the outskirts," I say.

And then I see it.

Footprints.

Someone survived.

They ran.

I follow the tracks, Dean and Baron at my heels, until I reach a shack at the back of the village. I try the door and find it barred from within. So I smash it open. Inside, there is nothing but darkness. Nothing but shadow.

"Hello?"

A whimper. Weak. Fading.

"Hello?" I run in, looking, looking for the sound. "We mean you no harm. We only want to—"

Baron sniffs the air and runs forward. I follow, and I find her. I find the little girl crying in the corner, clutching a doll to her chest. I reach out to her. "We only want to help."

The girl doesn't move. She only looks up. Into my eyes. And she screams.





Chapter 3


THE WRAITH


Fenris Vane


"There are monsters in the world, Arianna. They are real. I am real."

—Asher



It takes hours to coax out the barest of details. But eventually, she opens up. Her name is Romana. Her father was the smith and her mother training to become the village elder. She would train one day as well. If things had gone differently.

"They came from the mountains," says the Fae girl, no older than ten, sitting by the fire, wrapping her arms around her legs. "They raided our village. Killed the butcher and stole our food and our jewels. Next few days, more of us died from hunger. We heard of more raids in the neighboring villages. The vampires were killing and taking all in their path. They said someone called Salzar led them. They said he was a monster with four arms and hooves for feet."

The girl trembles, and I wrap my cloak around her, keeping her sheltered from the cold. "Thank you," she whispers, her voice a soft, frail thing.

"Here," says Dean, passing her the roasted rabbit he caught and cooked earlier as I set up camp.

"Thank you." She puts the food to her mouth and nibbles slowly. After a moment, she seems to shake less, and her voice seems stronger. "After a few weeks, we started doing better, we did. Hunters brought in food again. And pa started forging weapons. In case the vampires came back." She looks up at us, as if remembering what we are. Then she looks back down at the food in her hands and bites her lip. "Are all vampires mean?"

"Not all," I say, stoking the campfire. "Some of us are good. Some of us less so."

The girl nods, knowingly. "So you're like us. You have good and bad people." Her eyes turn dark again. "The bad people kept raiding.

"They kept attacking the other villages, and our folk couldn't just stand by and let it happen. So they made a plan. I heard the Elder One tell my mother. They would perform a ritual, cast a plague upon the raiders. It would have a cost, she said. A big cost. And I was thinking maybe it cost a lot of money like the goats do. But mum told me it wasn't really like that. It was more like doing something nice for someone even if it wasn't too pleasant for yourself. Kind of like slowing down when we play Runner so the really young ones can keep up. Kind of like losing sometimes on purpose so they feel special. I hate losing."

She goes quiet after that. I don't prod her on. I don't do anything. The words will come in time. When she's ready.

Dean passes Romana another piece of meat, and she chews more vigorously than before. When she's done, she speaks. "I was playing out in the woods with my brother on the day of the ritual. We were supposed to be back by sun down, before the three moons be rising and turning full. He started to head back at the proper time, my brother did, but I wanted to stay and collect some flowers for mum. I lost track of things, and then, when I came back…"

Her lips tremble. Her eyes swell with tears.

"When I came back they were gone. All of them. And then I found the bones. All those bones. It was them. My mum and my pa. My brother…" Her words turn to sobs, and I wrap an arm around the girl, holding her close as I imagine Arianna would do. I make noises I hope are soothing.

Dean leans over and whispers in my ear. "You think this plague killed the raiders?"

"Maybe… but, the ritual would have needed a target. A campsite perhaps." I look at Romana. "Did anyone speak of where the raiders were staying? Where they were living?"

She nods, wiping tears off her face. "Down by the Raven Rock."

I caress the top of her head, smoothing her dark blue hair. "Do you know where that is?"

She nods.

"Can you take us there?"

She nods.

I stand, dusting snow off my clothes.

Dean grabs my arm. "And why are we going to this place where everyone is likely dead?"

"If there is a plague," I say, "we must make sure it is contained. Otherwise it may spread to Stonehill." I lower my voice so only he can hear. "And I do not believe that is the full of it. These villagers were taken by the Darkness. They didn't just die. Their power was absorbed by something."

Dean raises an eyebrow. "Metsi?"

I nod. "Varis told me she will do anything to win this war. He told me a madness has consumed her."

"So if we go to this Raven Rock, we might find Metsi. And if we find Metsi, we might find—"

"—Arianna," I finish.

We travel with renewed purpose, following the Fae girl through the darkness, carrying handmade torches. She has more energy than I would have expected, and she seems to fear the forests less than she feared her own village. She is now an orphan, homeless and parentless. If only Kayla would recover, she would know how to care for the girl. How to help her heal from this trauma. "It will be next to the river," she says, pointing forward to where a waterfall crashes down.

The sight makes me uneasy. Metsi is at her most powerful near the waves. But I do not suspect we will find her now. At most, we fill find a clue. A clue to where she may have gone.

When we come upon Raven Rock, I see that it is a cave. A perfect place to camp and hold out against the elements. Baron backs away from the opening, whining. Something seems to stir within.

A gust of wind hits us. And Romana clutches my leg. "It's here. The Darkness."