Vampire Girl 2: Midnight Star(58)

"I am the mother he hid from you," she says. "I am the mother of all. Once, I was a Keeper of nature, of life. And you are my heir."

The heir. The heir. The heir. The words just keep repeating themselves in my head. Baron nudges me, as if trying to communicate something of great import.

I wish he had words. I do not understand.

She reaches for me, hugs me close. I feel her power, it emanates from her, pouring into me, around me, alighting something new within. It burns. It chokes. It suffocates.

She pulls away. "Awake, my son. Live. Save your love. Save your people."

As she turns to walk away, her hair blows around in the wind. And I see.

I see.

I see.

Her ears.

She is Fae.

I am Fae.







It burns. It hurts. The air smells of death and blood and metal and war. My body is on fire. A rough tongue licks my face and I open my eyes to see Baron staring at me, his wolf face overcome with worry.

Something tears at my skin. Pain. I lean up on the bed and examine my body. A dark red cut covers my stomach. But it is fading. The dry blood falls away, and underneath, is new skin. Smooth and healthy. Something spreads there. A symbol, a tree, roots, branches. A tattoo.

Baron howls into the night. He grows luminous in the dark. Silver glyphs flash across his body, vanishing and appearing again. I do not understand what is happening, cannot recall where I am or why.

I gather my thoughts, and I remember. "Arianna!"

"She is gone from this place, brother." Asher sits on a chair in the dark, where I did not see him before. He leans forward, his cold face entering the light. "So, it is finally time. Time you learned who you are."

My breath is rapid and heavy, my body is slick with sweat. I do not know what he speaks of, but memories return to me. Memories of a dream. Of a woman.

I raise a hand to my ears…

And feel the pointed tips. "It can't be. I have memories. Memories of the land before."

Asher frowns. "Real memories? Or the ones you were told over and over?"

Real. They must have been. But I don't remember the story of my brothers in the Silver Gardens. I don't remember anything but flashes, images, places I had heard described over and over. Sometimes, I would struggle to recall the other world, but I would tell myself it had been thousands of years, my memory was fading. I had seen the same happen to my brothers. Was I never one of them? Was it all a lie?

Asher looks past me, his eyes faraway. "I remember the last battle, where the High Fae fell," he says softly. "We found a woman, dying amongst the corpses, and in her arms, a babe. She had given birth in the midst of battle, to a child born of war. But the babe was weak and near death. It made no sound. It barely breathed. And our mother, our mother took pity on the child. She gave it her blood and turned it into one of the Fallen. She said she would raise it as her own. And then the babe began to cry, and his Fae mother smiled, and passed from this world. Something left her body then. A Spirit on the wind. A white wolf. It licked the boy and vanished. Years later, when you found the wolf pup, I knew what it truly was. I knew the Spirit had taken form. And I knew you were its Keeper. You were the Earth Druid."

His eyes grow dark. His voice is soft. "So you see, brother, you were never one of us. You were always one of them."