Vampire Girl 2: Midnight Star(49)

I turn away from him, dropping his hand, a tear threatening to escape my eye. "Was I wrong?"

"No," the Druid says softly. "You were not wrong, Asher."

I look up again, and see his eyes glistening in the moonlight. "Then why?" I ask. "Why were we attacked by your people when the meeting began? Why did you lead my family into a trap? My sister died that day, because of you."

His beautiful face contorts with grief. "Asher, I couldn't stop the High Queen. She learned of us, of our plans. She set the trap."

"Why didn't you warn me, Varis? Why did you let my sister die?" It has been years since I thought of Maya, since I let myself remember the girl who brought so much joy to a family full of men.

Varis looks away, ashamed. "I thought the Queen's plan would work, and… our plan? Of our people living together peacefully? I… didn't believe it then. Not truly. But… " He turns to face me again, his eyes earnest. "But I believe it now. I was wrong then. When I saw what happened to Maya, when I saw the hurt and betrayal in your eyes, I knew I had made a terrible mistake. I knew you'd never forgive me."

"Will you fight tomorrow? Against my family?" I ask him.

Varis doesn't avert his eyes this time. "Yes, but not to kill. I will fight to contain the war until the demons surrender. Then, I will end the battle. No lives will be sacrificed unnecessarily."

I nod. It's more than I could have hoped for, though not what I want. "I will do the same then. But we will be on different sides."

I turn to leave, but Varis reaches for my hand and pulls me toward him. He touches my face gently. "No matter what happens tomorrow, Asher, you are, and always will be, my Karasi. Spirit of my heart."





Chapter 14

THE CHOICE





"This world cares nothing for me."

—Arianna Spero



Fire is everywhere. Filling my sight, lapping at my skin like hungry demons, burning my nostrils. Smoke clouds my vision, and I trip over a body. I'm scared to look down, because I know what I will see. What I always see.

Daison. He is stuck under the burning logs. He is dying. I pull and tug, but I can't save him. I can never save him.

His face morphs and now he is Ace, his chest caving in from talon scratches, his skin pale from blood loss, his body charred. I rip open my wrist and dribble blood into his mouth, but he does not awaken.

As I stare down in horror, his features change, and I am holding Fen. Fen, who is dying. Who is burned. I cut open my other wrist. I bleed and bleed but I can never save him.

I can never save any of them, no matter how much blood I give.







My heart hammers in my chest, and I wake with a start, gasping in the cool, clean night air. I check my wrists. They are not slashed open. One is still bandaged, but it is healing. I am not dying.

But Daison is dead.

Ace might die.

And Fen.

Fen must live.

The wind shifts in my room, and I notice a silhouette in my window. A person. I slip out of bed and reach for Spero, holding my sword tightly in my hand as I walk over to the figure lurking in the dark.

"Metsi." I recognize her from the presenting, though I haven't seen her since. Her dark skins glows under the moonlight, and her serpent coils around her right wrist, placated for now. "Have you come to kill me in my sleep?"

"My brother, Oren, told me what you did, summoning the Midnight Star." Her voice is lilting, soft, Irish-sounding in its cadence, carrying on the wind.

My heart leaps. Does she know if Yami is okay?

"It is not too late," she says. "You can still side with your people. Fight with us, Princess. Fight with us and help us save the Fae."

I feel the pull of her plea, but I see in my mind what it would mean. I see Daison dead. Ace dying. I see Fen… bloody. "No," I say. "I cannot. I will not."

Her face hardens, and her serpent raises its head and hisses at me. Rain begins to fall outside. Lightning flashes. "Then you will fight for the demons? You will cause the annihilation of your people?"

"No," I say again. "Fighting isn't the answer. As long as both sides continue to seek blood for past sins, they will destroy each other. It will never end."

She cocks her bald head, her tribal tattoos catching the moonlight. "Right now, it is the only choice we have. You must choose, Princess Arianna. You must choose who you are. Are you the Midnight Star, sent to save your people? Or are you a pawn of the demons, aiding them in killing and enslaving our kind? Who will you be?"

Her words fade and her body turns to mist, disappearing into the night.

I walk back to my bed and sit on the edge, shaking from nerves, fear. I don't know what the right path is, but I'm sure all the ones that have been presented to me thus far are wrong.