“You’re sure you have nothing?” the man on the left asked, his eyes combing over each of us. I wondered if he was looking for a weakness, looking where to strike. “Not a—drop you can spare?” The others chuckled.
My horse knickered and his ears pinned down. He didn’t like them. The hairs on the back of my neck rose and my heartbeat steadily increased.
“Step aside or we’ll run you down,” Madison warned.
The man on the right, the one I’d been watching, lurched for Bindy. She raised her sword then an arrow embedded in his chest, the force of it sent him stumbling back but he didn’t go down.
Without hesitation, Madison sent a blue bolt at the woman; she squealed when it sent her convulsing to the ground.
Our horses danced and grew nervous, another rumble of thunder boomed, and I took a chance on what they were. I yelled, “Solaris adonus!” A blast of white light ripped from my hand and collided with the third attacker. He shrieked like a dying bore but my horse reared at my powerful spell and sent me rolling off Proud Boy’s hindquarters. I crashed onto my hands and knees in the mud and my right wrist, my fighting arm, seared with pain. I’d landed on it all wrong and it hurt like hell. I didn’t even want to try to move it.
Horses bucking and rearing, Lora and Freya crashed to the ground moments after me. Dragging my sleeve across my face, I cleared some of the mud and then I scrambled to find my sword in the dark. Where is it, where is it! My fingers sloshed through the thick goop searching for my weapon.
Freya screamed, my head snapped up to see the man with the arrow in his chest on top of her. She thrashed underneath him, screaming like a banshee.
“Freya!” Another arrow hit him, this time Legacy aimed for the temple but it skimmed off and flew past.
Madison’s foot collided with his side, knocking him off Freya, her sword then cut his head clean off.
The female vampire battled with Bindy and Lora. She was lightning fast, lashing out at them with fangs bared. I found my sword, pulled it from the sticky mud and ran at the man I’d hit with the spell. Even though he hadn’t moved, I wanted to make sure it stayed that way. As I was about to bring my sword down across his neck, he leaped at me, taking me to the ground. We slid back several feet; his fangs grew as he pressed down on me moving closer and closer to my neck. I grunted and kicked and bucked trying to throw him off. My injured wrist screamed from bearing his weight. My magic surged, the heat from my brewing spell warmed my hands and my very touch burned his flesh. He bellowed as his skin turned to ash beneath my palms.
Madison tackled him off me and they rolled over and over. My chest heaved as I launched to my feet, I picked up my sword again, waited until I had an opening and swung, sending his head rolling. It bounced and then stuck in the mud.
Madison threw his body aside and quickly rose. “Are you hurt?”
Breathing heavily, I said, “No.” My wrist was nothing to complain about for now. Looking over at the body, I realized I should have seen the vision of the vampire’s death when I grabbed his face but it never came. Was it because he’d already technically died once?
“Is everyone alright?” Madison shouted.
Bindy and Lora had killed the woman vampire, her head severed from her body.
Legacy cried out, “Freya is hurt bad!” I whipped around and she was kneeling beside Freya who still hadn’t gotten up.
“She’s bleeding everywhere!” Lora shouted, cradling her head in her arms.
A glowing orb floated above them giving off enough light to see for twenty yards surrounding them. Heart sinking, I thought, Freya gave her healing potion to that woman. On my command.
Madison ran and dropped to her knees. “Shit,” she mumbled, and her eyes snapped up to me. “Get my bag!”
I tore it off the horse and tossed it. Throwing open the flap, Madison grabbed clean towels. “Press these on her neck firmly,” she told Legacy.
The rain still pelted us but Bindy held a protective shield over them at least. By the vacant expression on Freya’s face, I wondered how close to dying she was. Or if she was even alive. How much blood had she lost while we fought those things? I watched her chest for movement but if anything it was shallow.
Some relief hit me when Madison pulled a bottle out of her bag and poured its contents into Freya’s mouth, but there was a chance that it was too late for the potion to work. Please live, please.
“Come on, come on,” Madison mumbled, stroking the top of her head. “Wake up.”
The rain stopped, and we all stood or paced or sat in the mud for an hour, waiting—watching for any others who might attack. Madison had cleaned and sewed the wound, and Freya was breathing at least, her heartbeat growing stronger.
Finally her eyes opened and she groaned. “Are they dead?” she asked. “Did we get them?”
Madison smiled, stroking her muddied hair. “They’re dead.”
Chapter 21
After arriving back at the academy, Madison and Bindy sent us to wash and dress in clean clothes. I took a shot of healing potion for my wrist then we met them in an empty lounge room with couches and large cushion sacks. They wanted to discuss what had happened.
Papa was there when I walked into the room and he grabbed me into a hug. “I’m so glad you’re safe.” Like my father, he had a protective nature and I always felt calm and secure with him around.
“Me too,” I mumbled into his chest.
“Sit down and relax for a minute.”
I sat in a large soft armchair. My friends and I remained quiet until one of the adults decided to start talking. There was no more keeping the existence of the blood drinkers in this area secret from professors. Madison had killed one herself. She sat cross-legged in a chair, a glass of wine in hand and twisted her mouth. “What happened tonight will not be discussed openly. I need to speak with the headmaster and I don’t want panic among the students.”
Papa tapped his foot quietly on the floor. “I think you’re overlooking the fact that these kids are training to be soldiers—killers. It wouldn’t cause panic. It might give them purpose, actually. It’s not as if we have enemy kingdoms to worry about fighting anymore.”
Sipping her wine, Madison nodded. “That will be up to the headmaster to decide, as well as the kings and queens.”
I cleared my throat. “I think we need hunting parties. There are likely more of them out there.”
“And what are they exactly?” Lora asked. “I’ve never seen people move so fast or not die from an arrow to the chest or… bite like that.” She glanced over at Freya, who was fully healed after the incident, yet had a hollow look in her green eyes.
There was only quiet for a moment. They had no idea what we had faced in that storm. “I don’t know,” Madison said. “In all my years I’ve never encountered someone with these abilities.”
Of course Bindy and Legacy both looked to me. I sighed and explained everything I knew about vampires. The faces of each person in the room showed the disgust these creatures deserved. I neglected to say anything about Kyan, or the party since I wasn’t supposed to be there. I wanted to bring up Senica and his threat against me so I traded some details like the party for walking the halls after the tournament, left out Kyan and kept Zyacus and Aric in the story. Bindy and Legacy kept a straight face, giving nothing away.