Daughter of the Night

Everything was as I had left it in the Summer Court. Couples were gracing the dance floor with elegant ballroom dancing and the Queen was watching through a glaze of disinterest as her nobles discussed the politics of the Court with her.

This time I waited for an escort of Fae guards as was polite before I approached the Queen. Aerrin and Tristan arrived at the Court as I was approaching Morhiannara.

“I trust your disputes have been resolved?” the Queen asked me.

“Enough that I am ready to discuss terms of alliance with the Fae,” I responded. Silence was again spreading through the Court as I captured the interest of all the present faeries.

“Good. Customs must be met, you will understand, so we will complete the formalities first,” the Queen said. She rose from her throne and the way her green leaf dress moved with her reminded me of trees blossoming to life in the springtime. The Queen straightened herself, clasping her hands at her waist in front of her. “I, Morhiannara, seventeenth Summer Queen of the Fae and Protector of the Realm, daughter of Arcelennia and granddaughter of Ophanailaeke, represent the whole of the Fae people when I extend a hand of friendship and trust to she who stands before me, a guest and outsider. My people, doth this please you?”

I shifted my weight uncomfortably at the blanket of silence that smothered the Court after Morhiannara’s voice had finished echoing off the marble walls, but then some people started cheering. Although at first lukewarm, more of the Fae took it up until the entire ballroom was roaring with approval and the sheer volume of the noise made the stone pillars seem to vibrate. I have to admit, I was flattered at the enthusiasm shown by the faeries. If I was them, I would be itching to kill me. If that even makes sense.

“So,” the Queen stated with finality after the gusto had died down, “who are you, stranger, that you come before the Fae with an extended hand of friendship?”

My hackles bristled as I became the object of every gaze in the titanic ballroom, but I stilled my emotions and with a smooth shake of my head brought my cloak cascading over my shoulder so that it covered my torso.

“I,” I boomed, “am the vampire Cross, First Descendant of Dracula and sworn enemy of his Court. I am the Betrayer, and I will uphold that title.”

The Queen studied me, and I wasn’t sure if the pause in dialogue was protocol or her sheer interest in my use of a title that I had borne ever since I escaped from him.

After a long pause, she allowed an “Indeed. Will you hear out the terms of the Fae people?”

I dipped my head in acquiescence.

“The Fae would request your knowledge on Dracula and his court, as well as your aid and knowledge in battle against our enemies,” Morhiannara said. “Beyond that, you are ideally suited for espionage missions where my own people would be discovered. Essentially, you would be expected to assist our joint cause in any way possible. Together, we will oversee the demise of Dracula, King and father of the vampires.”

“Very well,” I agreed. “My own terms are that you freely provide me with your warriors if and when I show substantial proof that we have need of their strength. I also want the ability to conference with you specifically any time I demand it. I also request free reign to hunt in your territory, with the assurance that my targets are criminals who entered their lifestyle willingly. That is all, unless I think of something else that is feasible later on.”

Morhiannara tilted her head before turning to discuss with her advisors, who were at the far end of the ballroom. I suppose I could have listened in, but I would hear of their final statement anyways.

The Queen turned to me a minute later and crossed back over to her throne. “You are to reconnaissance with me every Tuesday at ten o’clock at night unless previously stated otherwise so we can assess our progress. With that, your terms are in agreement with us. Is it likewise with you?”

“It is,” I replied coolly.

“Then before completing the pact, we are to identify actions that would immediately break the treaty,” Morhiannara said. “If you attack one of the Fae without dire purpose, you will become our enemy. If you attack a human who does not meet your previous definitions, you will become our enemy. If you sabotage or ignore agreements that we have made together without solid justification, you become our enemy. If you are understood, you now have the floor.”

“I am understood, and I have actions of my own. I could not in good conscience ally with you if you kill vampires who are, like me, disloyal to Dracula. Obviously, if you betray me to his Court in any way, this is at an end. If I am not informed of your every action before you carry it out, unless it’s an emergency, this is over as well. Are you understood?”

Morhiannara’s ageless eyes swept over her court, monitoring their emotions and sensing their pleasure and displeasure. Finally she looked at me again. “We are in accord. Since we are both in agreement, we shall complete the ceremony as our ancestors have done before us.”

She came towards me again, her silhouette sweeping across the ground as if she were elevated and simply gliding through the air itself. Within a heartbeat she was standing directly in front of me, her deep eyes piercing my own with a dedication and intensity I had rarely encountered before.

She extended her left hand, and I put out my own, unsure of the protocol. She grasped my forearm tightly, and the strength of her grip was surprising. I reciprocated the hand movement, but I hesitated when she tilted her forehead toward me. At first I thought she was bowing, but then I realized that she expected our foreheads to meet over our clasped hands, to represent a oneness of our minds. Interesting. I did as was required, although I was sure that I was not the only one uncomfortable with our proximity as I felt her forehead pressed against mine. After a few long seconds, she pulled back, and I mimicked her actions with relief.

I backed up from Morhiannara, but she stopped me with a subtle opening of her palm.

“I ask you to welcome the friend of the Fae, my people!” she called to the rest of her Court.

Another round of clapping swept through the onlookers, as enthusiastic as the first. The ceremony was over.

I turned and left the ballroom, crossing over the threshold into the grand hall outside. Tristan and Aerrin fell in line behind me.

“That was short and sweet,” Tristan said. “Well done.”

“It’s only well done if neither of us regret this pact in the future,” I growled.

“Whoa, there,” Aerrin laughed. “Let’s not think so negatively on such a beautiful day.”

“It’s night,” I retorted, “and you can’t run, move your arm, or strain your abdomen. You cannot tell me to think optimistically.”

“On the contrary,” he replied reasonably, “that I can do it in such a condition proves that you definitely can as well.”

“I beg to differ,” I said stiffly. “Your condition means that your sense of self-preservation is nonexistent, and as one who cannot accurately judge the danger of a situation you have no business attempting to assess the consequences of this pact.”

“Damn,” Tristan said, “I think she got you, bro.”

Aerrin grimaced. “Leave it to a vampire to ruin a good atmosphere.”

“Oh?” I said, cocking an eyebrow. “Getting stereotypical, are we? Fine. Leave it to a faerie to oversimplify things in order to manipulate others.”

“Guys, guys, relax,” Tristan said. “We all know that the real underdeveloped species here are the werewolves.”

“True,” I admitted, and Aerrin grunted in agreement.

“Clearly,” Tristan went on, “you still have some things to work out, so I’m going to let you do just that. It’s my brother’s birthday tomorrow, so I have to get him something from the city. Later.”

With that, he marched off without looking back at all. It was me, Aerrin, and the security guards left in the grand hall.

“We do need to talk,” Aerrin sighed.

“In your room again?”

“That’s probably best.”

In a matter of fifteen minutes (Aerrin’s ankle almost gave out six times) we stumbled back into his sitting room with the amazing fountain.

He sprawled onto the leather sofa, casually propping his good foot on the rim of the fountain. I sat stiffly across from him, assessing his movements. The immediate concern I had had for him was beginning to wear off now that I knew he wasn’t dying or losing a limb.

“So,” I finally stated after a long moment involving both of us staring at the running water in the center of the room.

“So,” he repeated.

“I don’t know you anymore,” I said.

He grimaced. “Sure you do. You just don’t know how to sort out what was me and what was purely the effect of the seal on my powers. You don’t know what to do now that you’re beginning to realize that I don’t need a defender anymore.”

I opened my mouth immediately to object, but then his words registered and I realized that there was truth to them.

Aaron, the human, had been funny and sweet and stupidly brave. He had been carefree, unafraid of what he didn’t know, and willing to accept new ideas. He had been what drew me out of my shell of seclusion.

Aerrin, or Aerrinaekaiyan, Summer Knight of the Court of the Fae, was a whole different ball game. He was a faerie, for one thing, and had magic and abilities that I was entirely unfamiliar with. Beyond that, he actually had the ability to back up his carefree, daredevil attitude. At least, if what he told me was true, it was. I had seen enough of him in action to be wary, but not to be impressed. More importantly than his fighting skills, however, he had allegiances and people in his life that I had not been expecting.

As a human, I assumed that he was a kid in college, with parents awaiting phone calls from him at home. He might have had an interesting upbringing, but it was the upbringing of a human child, the same kind of upbringing that I had gone through. As one of the Fae, however, I knew nothing of his background and I could assume nothing either. A person’s past defines them, as I myself am living proof of. That I knew so little of Aerrin, especially when I felt like I knew plenty, made me feel incredibly insecure. And when I get insecure, I get pissed. Hence part of the reason why I flipped out… last time.

“You anaesthetized me,” I eventually accused him.

He looked at me for a second, deep green eyes catching the light, before he tossed his head back and laughed.

I hissed angrily, my fangs extending slightly.

“Sorry, sorry,” he said while attempting to smother his amusement. “It’s just that… that’s such a miniscule thing to get mad about. It was protocol. Not even, really. Tradition is a better word for it. I’m pretty sure even Morhiannara was drugged the first time she was escorted to the capital of the Summer Court.”

I cocked an eyebrow. “You’d better make this good, faerie.”

He eyed me up and down to gauge my anger before running his good hand through his hair. “Well, visitors to the Court might not necessarily be trustworthy enough to maintain the secret location of the Fae in the Summer Capitol. The only way they can determine if a stranger’s capable of withholding the information is to observe them while they are in the Court. Which means they have to get here somehow the first time or so.”

“That’s stupid, but logical,” I admitted. “Were you shot up the first time you came here?”

Aerrin snorted. “The first seven times is more like it. They didn’t trust me too much.”

“What?”

Aerrin’s eyes drifted away from my face towards the running water of the fountain, and I knew he was exploring his own memories as he spoke. “When I first came here, it was as a convict. Clearly, I had a ways to work up before anyone would trust me to tie my own shoes, let alone safely withhold information on the location of the Court. I changed their minds, but it was a long and grueling process. The Fae are a long lived people with excellent memories.”

“See?” I said. “I know nothing about you. For that matter, how old are you?”

He flashed me a grin. “Nineteen.”

I ignored the voice in my head that exclaimed at the coincidence of our shared physical ages. “Physically, maybe. But you’ve been around longer than nineteen years.”

His grin faded into a complacent smirk. “It’s rude to ask someone’s age, you know.”

“Not if they can look as old as they want to.”

Aerrin rubbed his eyes. “I’m going on five hours of sleep with devastating wounds, you know.”

“You’re making excuses. You’re wrong if you think they’ll have any effect on me.”

He stopped rubbing his eyes and looked at me steadily. “I’ll tell you my age if you tell me yours first.”

“No,” I replied immediately. “That’s ridiculous. I asked first!”

“You also forgot whose sitting room this is,” he told me with an evil little smile.

“And you forgot who manipulated my emotions to achieve their own goals,” I retorted.

He gazed at me before exhaling through his nose. “I’m a hundred and thirty-two this September.”

I blinked. He was older than me. He was older than me. Aerrin! The boy who stalked me in the library! The boy who treated me to a cup of tea! And he acted like a teenaged boy! That he had already reached his first century was ludicrous.

“Your turn,” he informed me.

“I was born in 1904,” I finally said.

He threw back his head and chortled. “I’m older than you! I never would have guessed!”

“Me neither,” I grumbled.

“Now that we have the age thing out of the way, what did you want to say to me?” he asked.

I thought carefully before putting words to my feelings. “I… am not going to apologize for my actions. But I don’t think that you should either. So I want to propose a truce.”

He took a while to respond. “Does this mean you’re not angry at me for my actions?”

“No,” I responded. “Not anymore.”

He gave me a relieved grin. “That’s good. I was pretty sure you still wanted to kill me.”

“So? Do you accept my proposal?”

“Yeah, I do,” he said, extending his hand. I took it and we shook, resolving our dispute.

“Now,” he said, “I learned some things from my trip to Ohio. I’ve already reported to the Queen, but you need updating.”

“Sure.”

“Were you aware that Dracula’s Court is in Chicago now?”

“Excruciatingly aware,” I grimaced. “I know the exact location. Unless they’ve changed the entrance, I could get us in.”

I could tell by the way his eyebrows pulled down thoughtfully that there was something he wasn’t telling me.

“I suppose it’d be too much to wish for if I asked you how you knew where his Court was?” he asked wistfully.

My stomach roiled at the stench of memories better left untouched. “It is far too much to wish for,” I agreed. “Especially since I know nothing of you.”

He pursed his lips thoughtfully. “You could get my story from any of the Fae on the street, to be perfectly honest. No one here knows your past, however, so in that respect I’m at a disadvantage.”

I could get his story from any faerie on the street? What was he, a national hero? I filed this away for future examination before saying, “So then tell me yourself! I want your past from you, not a person off the streets.”

“Maybe some other time,” he told me. “It’s boring and pretty stereotypical. Not good story material. Unless, of course, you want to share your story first.”

“Not any time soon,” I snapped. “Was there anything else you wanted to tell me about this meeting?”

“Apparently there is another renegade in Europe, a vampire named Wilhelmina Tucker. She’s well informed on Dracula, which makes me imagine that she may have an information system set up. I think she is the leader of a group of rebels.”

“Is she now?” I asked. “And is this information reliable?”

“I heard it from a vampire hermit who was begging for his life, so I’m thinking probably.”

“Begging for his life?” I repeated. “What were you doing, cutting off his fingers?”

Aerrin’s lip curled. “Of course not. Do you really think I’d do that? I had just beaten off the ambush, and he thought that I was going to kill him for setting me up.”

“Oh,” I said, suddenly much more lighthearted. “You did, right? He did set you up, after all. You can’t leave these things unsettled.”

“No, Cross,” he said patiently. “I did not kill him. He was innocent, for the most part, and unarmed. Although he did try to kill me, but that was more custom than anything.”

“You idiot!” I seethed. “No vampire needs to be armed to be deadly! And he set you up for an ambush. He was nowhere near innocent! And he’s still living?”

“Yep.”

I was about to pursue the argument, but I paused for a second. Although Aaron had become Aerrinaekaiyan, warrior of the Fae, he still showed mercy beyond what I could ever do. Maybe Aaron wasn’t so far lost, after all.

“If you were in my position,” Aerrin went on, “I wouldn’t hold it against you if you did see fit to kill him. I’ve just learned the value of… believing in second chances.”

He was speaking out of his past again, I realized. Interesting.

“Fair enough,” I said.

Aerrin yawned, reminding me of a feline with his white fangs and pointed ears. “The Queen will want to talk to you soon about your past, I hope you realize. Even if you don’t want to tell me, you’ve promised that you’d tell her what you know.”

I sniffed. “I promised to give her all the information I have. I can keep my personal tale out of it, and I will.”

He watched me through his emerald eyes and cracked a smirk. “I’m sure you will.”

“Is there anything else I need to know? Because if not, I’m going to find somewhere to rest during the day, and I expect you to do the same.”

He yawned again. “I think I can manage that. No, there’s nothing that I can think of right now. Are you leaving?”

I stood up from the sofa. “Yes, if you can prove to me that you can make it to your bed.”

He groaned. “My sofa is awfully inviting.”

I cocked an eyebrow, and he rose painfully to his feet, nearly toppling forward into the fountain. He caught himself on the lip of the fountain and balanced his weight so that most of it was on his good ankle before he turned towards his bedroom.

“I stiffened up while I was sitting down,” he explained to me. He looked at his bedroom with a comical determination and dragged his bad foot forward.

With a sigh, I leaped forward and grabbed him around his waist, his abdomen hard against my forearm as I lifted him up and propelled him to his bedside in less than a second.

I released him and he leaned backwards, falling into his bed with his arms spread out to either side. “Thanks for the assist,” he said dryly.

I pulled my cloak around my shoulders, savoring the way the heavy black cloth swished around my foot. “I owe you.”

He held up a hand, palm open, in a sign of acknowledgement. “I’ll see you again tomorrow, right, Cross?”

When I looked over my shoulder into his sparkling green eyes, I was transported back to a moment a few weeks ago. “Let’s meet up again sometime!” he had said back then. He had said this with the same innocent eagerness as he had used then, and I realized that, no matter how different he appeared, and how different I perceived him as now, he was still the same person. He had never become Aerrinaekaiyan, he always had been. Aaron and Aerrin were the same person.

A weight that I hadn’t previously known was there was lifted from my heart. I tilted my head thoughtfully before looking at him and pulling a corner of my mouth up into a tiny smile. “Yes.”

I exited his chambers without knowing where I was going, still pondering the epiphany I had had. To a person less suspicious and cynical than I, such a realization would be obvious, but if I had learned anything over the years, it was that if someone deceived you in one manner, they were deceiving you in others as well. To be perfectly honest, this was a very big step for me to take.

As I was walking down the halls, I thought back to the innocence in Aerrin’s eyes, and I realized that it was a façade. Someone who has killed in battle did not have that aura. If someone like Aerrin was a criminal when he first came to the Summer Palace, then he must have had a difficult youth where he had few choices. Looking at the affluence of the Summer Palace, I had a difficult time imagining poverty among the Fae. Still, they were a people I knew next to nothing about.

I turned a corner and went up a flight of stairs, completely unaware of where I was going and not caring that I didn’t know. The staircase widened into a hallway with elegant paintings of the Queens lining the walls, creeping vines illustrating the stones between the paintings. The hallway smelled of a hayfield still wet with the early morning’s mist clinging to the blades of grass. A pang of longing swept my heart before I brusquely pushed it aside. I must be getting sentimental in my old age, I told myself.

A few of the Fae passed me in the long corridor, and whispering broke out among them as soon as they had passed me. I didn’t bother eavesdropping, because it was fairly obvious what they were saying.

The next faerie I passed in the corridor appeared to be around fifty or so, but of course that did nothing to indicate her real age. She glanced at me as she passed, but then the turned and stared hard at my back. The pressing company of other people was beginning to fray my nerves, so I followed my first impulse and whipped around to stare back with hostility.

We stared at each other for a second, both of us having stopped walking, before she broke the contact and took a step back towards me, extending her hand.

“Greetings,” she said to me, her voice rich like harvested grain. “You must be the vampire Cross. I am Lemariastra, Elder Advisor to the Queen and head of the medical department in the Summer Palace.”

I hesitated long enough before taking her hand to let her know that I did it out of sheer courtesy. Her hand was warm against my cool skin, although there were calluses on her palms and fingers. I was automatically suspicious; I had no intention of getting involved in Fae politics, and I was going to do everything within my power to have minimal contact with the faerie people. I told her that.

Instead of taking offense like I had hoped she would, she eyed me thoughtfully. “I can offer you a place to stay within the Summer Palace, if you would like,” she said.

I blinked. An offer of sanctuary? I was highly skeptical of that. “I prefer resting at a location that only I am aware of,” I replied shortly. “It simplifies things.”

“Things like trust?” she asked wryly.

I didn’t respond to that, I just watched her warily. “If you want me to reside somewhere in this palace, you’re going to have to provide reasons why.”

“It’s the most secure place in the country,” she said immediately. “You’re at the center of power in case sudden action needs to be taken. Allies surround you. Anything you need short of a food supply can be provided for you here.”

“I also wouldn’t know how many people know my location,” I shot back. “I cannot be accessed during daylight hours anyway, so my proximity to the Queen and her Court is a moot point half the time. If we were attacked during daylight hours, I would be at risk. People I don’t know and don’t trust surround me. You were right; this does come down to trust. I don’t trust. I appreciate your offer, but I must politely decline.”

She pursed her lips. “I understand your wariness, but I hardly see how you are at less of a risk at a different location in the city.”

I forced back my desire to shift my form to smoke and then I reminded myself that she was an honored member of the Court whom I would have to be respectful to. I hated hierarchies. “I mean no offense, but the fact that you want me to reside here is enough of an indicator that I should not.”

She chuckled, a rough yet pleasant sound, and tucked a strand of silver hair behind a pointed ear. “Maybe I could persuade you otherwise over a cup of tea.”

“I don’t drink tea,” I said.

“Of course,” she replied, realizing her mistake. “Anyway, I’m honored to meet you. I’ve heard many things about you and I’m glad I could distinguish the rumors from the truth.”

I was fortunate that my cloak hid my hands from her perceptive gaze, otherwise she would have noticed the way they balled into fists. “Whom have you heard from?”

“Aerrinaekaiyan,” she replied, watching me closely. “He visits the hospital wing quite frequently.”

“Mm,” I said. “He has more of a social life than I thought he did. In fact, I might take you up on that offer of tea some night.”

She smiled, a contagious thing that reminded me of a yellow sun and blue skies.

“Any time,” she said sweetly.

We continued walking in our separate directions, and to retain a shred of mystery I expanded into a cloud of mist and took off through the floors in search of the exit.

I had to find a good place to rest if I was going to spar with Aerrin later on.