“What?” Ariana asked as she blinked and looked at him, her strange trance breaking.
“Your sigil just now, it meantnight.” Lucca spoke again as he watched her. “Ancient stories say a Dark Fae’s powers come alive at night. Your magic has dominion over the night, the moon, and the ancient stars, Ariana, whereas a regular Fae generates their power from the four seasons of the sun shining upon the earth. What are you feeling, as the sun sets?”
“Luminosity.” She had no other word for it as she turned to Lucca. All through her, she could feel the diamond stars begin to pop out in the sky now as the white-blue nimbus of the fading sun shone at the rim of the sky. As if all the sensations of the night moved inside her blood, Ariana felt vibrant suddenly as dusk woke all around them.
Her magical exhaustion easing as she reveled in it.
Vivid white moths fluttered up from the underbrush at the top of the ravine, and their brightness was scalding to Ariana now as they drifted slowly by. Her hearing had sharpened along with her ability to perceive color as the night deepened, and she could hear small night-creatures rustling in the brush. As their party moved slowly upwards, finally gaining the top, she trained on the sounds of the night with the sharpness of a hunter. Her eyesight was ultra-keen as she perused the greyscale shadows of the forest. Muted in beautiful colors of silver and green, the darkening forest was somehow vivid, every edge standing out in perfect detail. As she marveled at a deep sensation filling her now, a luminous nighttime glow rather than the burning heat of day, she recalled how she’d felt this way during the concert with Quinn – like she had been filled up by moonlight and starlight in that endless flow of music. She could hardly believe that had been just last night; it felt like ages ago as she stared around the trees.
Feeling like she reveled in the most ancient sensations of the earth.
“Are you alright, Ariana?” Lucca asked, taking her hand quietly though even his subtle movement made her startle.
“Yes. I think so.” She spoke softly, in awe of the night. “It’s just that the forest feels… alive all around me. And the darkness.”
“Vampires feel thusly.” Alleno spoke quietly as he came to stand with them. “I’ve heard some describe it as a quickening that happens inside their blood at twilight. They don’t have to sleep at dawn necessarily, but their bodies cease to hum with the vibrance of the night when the sun rises… and it feels like death. So most choose to sleep when daylight causes their blood to fade.”
“Quinn stays awake during the day.” Ariana spoke as she looked at Lucca.
“Quinn is unique among his kind.” Lucca spoke with a soft sadness now as he reached out, stroking an errant lock of hair back from Ariana’s face. “His blood does not fade during the day like other Vampires, and so he can withstand the burn of the sun. He still has a trace of his Light left in him, though he has been devoured by the Night… forever, now.”
Feeling a deep sadness move in Lucca as the night settled, Ariana reached out, clasping his hand. She was about to ask if he was alright – when the faintest sound suddenly sharpened her ears. It wasn’t a night-sound, but like the subtle rasp of a metal blade leaving a leather sheath; suddenly, Lucca and Alleno spun with blades drawn, fierce in the night as they heard it, too.
But they were in a bad spot with their backs to the edge of the ravine with the forest ahead; only the narrow, scree-laden path was behind them where the ravine dropped off to sheer cliffs three hundred feet or deeper below. As fifty armor-clad Brightwatch suddenly eased out from the devouring shadows ahead, Ariana caught her breath. And as both Lucca and Alleno cussed, raising their day-bright magics to the screaming point even though both were still exhausted, Ariana knew they were in a bad situation.
Far worse than their standoff at the palace.
“Give up the Dark Fae, Prince Lucca, and no one has to die.” It was Commander Junius Alterri who spoke now in a hard voice as he eased forward from his fighters, coming to stand before them.
“She’s an innocent, Junius!” Prince Lucca spat as power blazed, though it was still tired as his pure bright rainbows swirled up around him in the fading dusk. “Innocent Dark Fae deserve a better life than my father can give them, a life in the Light!”
“Don’t be a fool, Lucca. Don’t make me do something we’ll both regret.” Commander Alterri spoke with a blaze of emerald-violet brightening in his eyes now as his tall silver-gold spear suddenly swirled with red-gold Faeanic sigils all down the length of its shaft and keen blade. As his magical aura spread in a heave of violet-emerald wings from his spine, his fifty soldiers behind him powered up. They were fresh fighters, Ariana saw as her heart quailed, each and every one shining with a sun-fierce glow in the darkening forest compared to Lucca and Alleno’s far weaker brightness. But as Lucca gave a massive growl and Alleno did the same, Ariana felt them heave power up suddenly from the depths of their bones. And though it was far weaker than the fresh, elite guards they faced, Lucca and Alleno gave their all now to unfurl a shield of magic before themselves and Ariana.
Cutting her off from the threat facing them.
“I would sooner turn Ariana over to the Vampire Barone Quindici DaPonti than give her to you, or my father, Junius!” Lucca growled now as his bright eyes flashed at his father’s commander.
“Are you prepared to do that, if it comes to it, Lucca?”
A man’s smooth voice at Ariana’s side suddenly made her startle with her heart pounding like a jackhammer, as a vast wind of magic whirled at the edge of the ravine. With a sharp inhalation, she glanced behind – and saw thirty furious Vampires now facing off with the Brightwatch along the edge of the ridge. Long black spears with poisonous violet sigils were wielded by every hand, as Quinn stepped up beside Ariana and Prince Lucca now in one of his all-black Armani suits.
Pointing a sleek black spear seething with crimson fire and violet darkness right at the Brightwatch Commander.
“Junius Alterri!” Quinn roared now at the Brightwatch leader, as his black nimbus of power boiled all around him and his Vampires with a searing red-gold fire. “You and your warriors have been banished from Vampire territory in Florence, and this ravine is a Vampire sacred site! You trespass here – and if you do not withdraw immediately, my Dark Haven of Florence shall punish that trespass. Prince Lucca is right; Ariana will never be given to the Summer Fae King, lest you take her over Lucca’s dead body and mine. I would slit her throat myself before giving her to you, or King Archivolio Bellari. You have my word on that.”
“You owe a debt to the Summer Fae King, Valerio Incendari.” The Brightwatch leader spoke with ugly hatred now as his burning green-purple eyes bored into Quinn, a nasty sneer upon his lips. “Or did the true Summer Fae Prince betray his own father the old King so very badly by becoming a Vampire that he has forgotten his rightful allegiance?”
“I am a Vampire of the Dark Haven of Florence.” Quinn spoke like stone now to the Brightwatch leader as he stared the man down with cold fire in his utterly black eyes. “My heinous father King Aurelio Incendari is dead and I have no more allegiance to the Summer Fae. But I did not betray my people then, Junius, and I will not betray them now by handing Ariana over to a tyrant who wants her killed. Even if I was still heir to the Summer Fae throne, I would never condemn an innocent to die. But I am not bound by King Archivolio Bellari’s banner, and I have no duty or debt to him. Ariana stays here. And that is final.”
But as the Brightwatch leader’s eyes flashed with ugly derision at Quinn, Ariana felt something deep click into place inside her – as she understood Quinn at last. Astonishment flooded her as she realized he had been the son of the old King before the War of Rome; that Quinn had been Prince of the Summer Fae before Lucca, and heir to the throne before he’d gotten turned into a Vampire and Lucca’s father had ascended the Kingship. So much about Quinn suddenly made sense as Ariana’s magic gave a sudden, deep swirl and Quinn glanced to her, his burning red-eclipse eyes fixed upon her. Gold shone in their depths as his power surged, massive wings of fiery night easing up from his spine as he watched her without apology.
Before looking back to the Brightwatch commander.
“Once a Summer Fae Prince, always a Summer Fae Prince, Valerio. Do your duty, Princes… and give the Dark Fae to the King to face her judgment.” The Brightwatch leader warned fiercely now as he stared both Quinn and Lucca down hard. As his power surged in his wings and spear, his warriors stepped forward with menace behind him now, blazing in the silver-dark shadows of the forest. As Quinn and Lucca both inhaled sharply, it was almost as if both were of one mind as they quickly stepped in front of Ariana.
Blocking the Brightwatch’s path to her.
“You’ll never have her!” Lucca snarled with wrath in his bright magic now as he brandished his silver-gold knives at the Brightwatch leader. Behind Ariana, Alleno, Devi, and Curio had stepped protectively to her back and sides with weapons bared, hemming her in. “Ariana deserves a life with people who can protect her as her magic opens, guiding her rather than punishing her for what she is.”
