“
Where…?”
“
Rein is right here. I’ll lead you to her.”
He felt so helpless and awkward, and he was still trying to shake the unending guilty thoughts out of his mind. He staggered up, having regained a portion of his strength. But Ana didn’t take him far. She placed his hand a few feet from where he had been, on Rein’s body.
Bending down, Traith felt the blood that stained the ground and, trembling, managed to find Rein’s arm.
She was not conscious. He felt her chest, which was still burnt, and realized that the wound was indeed in her upper chest, possibly in her heart.
“
It didn’t pierce her…”
“
It does appear that way, Traith.”
He flinched when Mistress replied despondently from somewhere near him.
“
She is still singed,” he said hoarsely. “She hasn’t healed…but she grabbed my hand; she wouldn’t have been able to grab my hand if—”
Then there was the moan that diminished his fear.
“
It is during times like these that I am glad I am already dead,” Rein rasped. “That was bloody close, love, but I…” She pulled him closer. “I’m right here, Traith.” Pulling his face down to hers, she sucked in the taste of his lips, kissing him passionately.
Rein let him sit back. She smiled, but her heart sank when she saw his face and his chest more clearly. Large, bloody gashes filled her sight. They ran up and down his body, as if he had been trampled by some sort of spiked animal. Beneath the blood that was trickling down his face, she saw his cloudy, blind eyes again, and an ill feeling sunk to the bottom of her stomach.
She was yearning to know what had happened to him.
Then she did.
Ben and what he had said…
“
I’m sorry,” Rein whispered, reaching out and embracing him once more, her face against his.
His response was delayed until he realized what she was doing, and he held her back.
“
I’m sorry I was not next to you,” she murmured shakily. “What he said…Oh, Traith, I’m sorry I couldn’t have been there to help you with Ben. What he said—”
“
Sorry?” he rasped, and he appeared shocked. “Rein, I
did
do all those things, and you were almost dead. I couldn’t see where Helena’s sword had hit you, and I thought—”
She put her finger over his mouth and held him tighter. Mistress, standing behind him, was staring up into the dawn sky, which was becoming brighter and brighter by the minute. The sun was glaring over the horizon. Looking around the castle ballroom, her eyes glazed over at the sight of death around her.
All was silent in the hall, and Rein witnessed the hundreds of people that were dead. But she was uplifted when she saw two shadows coming forward. It was Lorena and Jacques, who had returned to his human form as the sun began to rise and the moon disappeared. With them was Taverin, still in one piece and without a scratch. From the other end came Magellan: a mage, like Lorena. No others had escaped their sleeping graves.
Taverin walked past Mistress and knelt down by Rein, embracing her in relief. Ana walked over to the others, head down.
“
And what have you to say for yourself?” Mistress asked her, breaking
the silence.
“
What’s she doing?” Traith whispered in question in Rein’s ear.
“
I-I mean to…compensate for the faults of my past,” Ana replied quietly. “I know that you couldn’t possibly have empathy enough to accept me after all that I have done, but…”
Mistress looked down at Traith, and he was quite aware she was staring at him.
“
What have you, Traith?” Mistress sighed and asked kindly. “What shall I do with her? The decision is yours. She is your kin; you tell me.”
“
My,” Taverin said. “I do believe that I missed a lot over the past couple of days, haven’t I? Oh, but I killed quite a few of them, Rein! I—”
“
Shh, not yet,” Rein murmured. She looked around with a heavy heart. “Many of our own have died tonight, haven’t they?” she asked Mistress while leaning on Traith.
“
Nearly everyone.”
“
Are
we
really all who survived?” Lorena asked as she dusted off her dress. “Between both our council
and
the other?”
“
Yes,” Magellan answered her as he stared unwelcomingly at Traith’s sister. “And
still
we have a traitor in our midst!”
“
Stop,” Lorena said, staring at Traith. “We don’t need to feed the fire.”
“
Harker, you look awful,” Jacques said.
“
Thank you, I do appreciate it.”
“
Well, let me—”
“
No,” Traith answered him as he stood up. “I don’t want your help.”
“
I’m a doctor, for Heaven’s sake!”
“
And I’m a vampire. I’ll heal without medical attention.”
“
Your sight will return, Harker,” Mistress joined in. “Do not worry.”
“
Not soon enough for me,” he muttered, shaking his head a little.
“
Well, how about it?” the woman asked. “What shall I do with your sister, Traith?”
After he stood, he groped around until he felt a wall. Rein almost felt as though he was too embarrassed to be near even her.
Why did he always do that?
He finally turned his head in their general direction. “Her council is gone, isn’t it? And she will not get far without a shelter. Not now. We have shattered much of the world’s evil, but not all of it.”
“
But what is left is still running rampant,” Mistress said. “But singly; hopefully, under no particular leading. This is what we must do now—take care of what we can find, one by one. But I’m sure someday, as hard as it is to speak of, Helena will be replaced. By a higher power, something will be formed, and the best that we can hope for is that we can detect that formation early, and stop it before it begins.” Mistress took the flaming sword from the ground and it vanished in her grasp. “And this sword is now mine for protecting.”
Ana had been following Traith without him knowing. She embraced him slowly. Rein smiled to herself from next to her own sister; Traith didn’t seem to know at first how to respond, but he put his arms around her and embraced her in return.
“
You need to make your own life, Ana,” he whispered to her. “You can’t live with me.”
Ana looked up from his arms, sorrow in her eyes. “Traith, please—”
“
I
am
a vampire, Ana,” he said hoarsely. “I
hate
it, but I am, and no matter how I try, I can never be a normal man again…never the boy you remember from when we were young. My needs now…I won’t let you see.”
“
Very well,” Mistress replied quietly.
Ana was staring in overwhelming dissatisfaction. “Traith, I don’t care! I can’t live any longer without you! I need to be with you!”
“
For a while you can’t,” he replied sternly, and Rein heard the pain in his voice, as it had cracked slightly.
He wasn’t concealing his emotion as well as normal. He sincerely wanted his sister to be with him again. But he was not ready. Not for Ana, and not with himself.
“
I know a small town in Southern Africa that is nearly uninhabited that you may live in,” Mistress said, breaking up the painful conversation. “A town you
must
, for now, live in; as an alchemist, you can make medicine for the locals.
Probation
, of a sort, and if you prove yourself enough you will be allowed to leave. In fact, you must stay until Traith desires your return. For the time being, I will allow you to consider yourself part of this council. But you must do what you can to prove your allegiance.”
Rein finally pushed herself to stand, now that she was healed, and she walked over to Ana, glancing at Traith. “I’m going to have your last name,” Rein said to her, smiling and feeling her ring. “I want to know you. I trust you now, Ana.” As Ana gazed at her, Rein turned her stare over to Mistress. “Now if you all would be so kind as to excuse me, I have a blind man and a human sister to attend to.”
Rein held out her hand for Taverin to come, and she held Traith close to her. As Ana backed from his hold slowly, Rein saw how hard she was crying. Traith sighed; he heard and felt her pain.
“
Soon, Ana,” he murmured.
“
Please, Traith, let me come with you,” she cried.
“
Give me a little time, Ana,” he whispered miserably. “Then you can. I’ve missed you so much, but I’m so… since I remembered… I can’t be near you yet, I can’t…”
“
I did horrible things, too, Traith, to you! And—”
“
Because you were scared of me.”
“
No, I—please!”
The next thing Rein saw was the inside of her home, and only she, Taverin, and Traith stood there.
Chapter 83
The calmness of the last month should’ve been unsettling. Although the All Hallows Eve Ball had been over and the Mardinial Council gone for over a month, Rein still felt as though she should prepare for some sort of disaster. Something more. Something worse than what had happened already. Just…something.
But the last month had been silent.
She was beginning to let that peace engulf her, but every time she looked at Traith, she became unsettled once more.
He still couldn’t see. To her disbelief, he was now willing to let her tend to him and help him do everyday things he couldn’t, like getting his clothes and occasionally leading him around when he really needed her to. He joked about it usually, but it was obvious to both he and Rein that he was tremendously aggravated by it. He only let her help because he knew that his condition wasn’t permanent. Up to ten years…He would have to get used to it, if only for a few years.
But he still hadn’t been the same.
He, as well as she, had been thinking about their wedding.
Rein had her arms crossed and rubbed them while she stood in the stone doorway. The wind had picked up and blown through the opening she was standing in, making her cold. It was bitter that day, cloudy and ominous—late November. She watched as Traith’s white, loose shirt and contrasting dark hair blew furiously to the side.
He had silently found his way out to the courtyard and sat still on the grass, one knee up. He wasn’t facing her, but the rest of the yard, which was almost unending. And just as she was going to approach him, he picked up a small stone, charged it with fiery energy, and threw it at the horizon with all of his might. It sailed farther than Rein could see. Then after a few moments, she saw a tiny spark light up, so distant that it seemed acres away.
She finally walked down the stone steps, trying to drop her heels harder than usual so he could hear her coming. His head cocked at the break of silence.
“
Are you upset again?” Rein asked as she walked into the yard and sat down beside him.
He tried not to act surprised when she touched his hand. He pulled it away. “I’m fine, Rein,” he murmured, showing a bit of a smile. “I just feel like I’m going mad.” He puffed out a breath of air. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I dreadfully wish I had my vampire eyesight back.”
She laughed softly. There was a pause, and Rein stared at his clouded eyes. They were searching, flitting back and forth trying to focus themselves, but it was useless. He would not look at her, but she could see the aggravation in his face.
“
And it’s only been a bloody month,” he said. “Just a month—and not seeing your face…” He gripped the grass. “For too long, I haven’t seen your beautiful face.”
Rein had heard him mumble about what he’d felt before, but he didn’t speak too often or too much about his feelings. It was such a shame—each time he began to recover from a tragedy, he was presented with a new aggravation. But if all went as well as was planned, this would be the last one for a long time.
“
Well,” she said softly. “My face is right here, and so am I. Pretend your eyes are closed and—”
“
I can’t pretend anymore,” he said back. “I can’t…and I want to marry you, Rein; I want you to be mine, and I feel like I’ve waited far too long. I felt like I couldn’t marry you when I remembered what I had done to my parents,” he choked up. “As if I were going to do it to you. But now I know we should’ve.”
“
That isn’t entirely true,” she said, touching his face. “So much was happening. We would’ve been rushing it, and it shouldn’t be rushed.”
“
But now I can’t wait.” His voice sounded weaker than it had been before. “I can’t wait for ten years.”
She felt her lip trembling as she bit it. “But you could get your sight back in as little as one.”
“As little?”
“
This is just awful,” she said, standing. “I don’t want to wait, but I want you too
see
me. My dress, and everything.”