Suddenly, his senses were on high alert. A creepy feeling raised the hair on his skin, and something told him that Rynd was close.
As Kyle walked into the fog, he heard a slight creaking, and looked up and spotted something moving. As the fog parted, Kyle could make out a barren forest of dead trees, and as he looked closer, he saw objects hanging from the branches.
As he stepped forward and examined them, he realized they were bodies – humans – dead, hanging upside down by their feet, tied by rope to the branches. They swung slowly in the wind, and the sound of rope creaking on wood permeated the air. From the look of these corpses, it seemed they had been killed long ago; their skin was blue, there were telltale holes in their necks, and Kyle realized they had been fed upon, drained of blood.
Rynd’s work.
As the fog continued to part, Kyle spotted hundreds – no thousands – of bodies, all hanging. It was obvious that they’d all been kept alive for some time, tortured slowly for days. It was sadistic, malicious stuff.
Kyle admired it. It was something he himself would have done in his heyday.
Kyle knew that Rynd had to be very, very close.
Suddenly, out of the mist, there appeared a solitary figure, slowly approaching. Kyle squinted into the fog, trying to make out who it was.
And when he realized, his heart stopped.
It couldn’t be.
Standing there, before him, was his mother. His real mother, his human mother, before he was ever turned. It was the one person he loved most in the world, the one person who could recall what a kind person he had been before he’d been turned – and the one person who reminded him of his own humanity.
Kyle felt as if he’d been struck through the heart. Pangs of guilt and remorse tore him apart.
At the sight of her, he dropped to his knees, and wept.
“Mother!” Kyle yelled, weeping like a child.
She came closer to him, arms outstretched, a compassionate smile on her face.
Kyle could not comprehend what she was doing in this time and place. Had she come to ask him to repent?
“Come to me, my child,” she said, beckoning him.
Kyle rose to his feet, and took a step forward to her.
The second he did, he regretted it.
Suddenly, he felt his whole world turn upside down, as he went rocketing upwards into the air. This was followed by a loud creaking noise, and as Kyle swung side to side, staring down at the ground, he realized he’d stepped into a trap.
The silver rope had tightened around his feet, had propelled him high into the air, twenty feet off the ground, dangling upside down. Kyle reached up to tear it off, but realized it was vampire-resistant material, one he could not tamper with.
He hung there, swinging upside down, infuriated. He was infuriated at being caught, and infuriated by his own stupidity. More than anything, he was infuriated that he had been tricked.
An evil laugh sounded in the distance.
Kyle recognized that laugh anywhere, as a chill ran up his spine. Rynd.
“So, the master comes home to roost,” Rynd growled, in his deep, gravelly voice.
Into Kyle’s line of vision, upside down, came an imposing vampire, flanked by dozens of other vampires. He was bigger and meaner and uglier than Kyle had ever remembered. He must have been a foot taller than Kyle, with huge, black empty eyes, gleaming fangs, and a square, pockmarked face. He wore his thick black hair straight back on his head, braided tightly.
“You bastard,” Kyle spat. “You shapeshifted into my mother.”
“Oldest trick in the book,” Rynd spat. “Who doesn’t like his mother? Even a creature like you was bound to fall for it.”
“You’ll pay for that,” Kyle snarled, embarrassed.
Rynd laughed.
“You stupid old bastard. Clearly, the only one who will pay now is you. Did you come to say your goodbyes for good, before I kill you?”
“I’ve come to order you to do me a favor,” Kyle said.
Rynd laughed uproariously.
“Order me? You?”
He laughed again.
“I? Do you a favor?” he continued “The only favor I will do you is to put you far beneath the earth.”
This was not going as Kyle had hoped. He knew it was time to try a different track.
“I have something that can help you,” Kyle said.
“Nothing of yours can help me,” Rynd snapped, and his eyes suddenly glowered in fury. “I’m beyond being helped by you or anyone or anything. I’m much stronger than you now.”
“Set me down, and we can talk,” Kyle said.
“It’s too late for that,” Rynd said. “If I set you down, it will be only to lie with the worms.”
Kyle’s heart stopped, as he heard the sickening sound of a silver sword being extracted from its scabbard. He watched as Rynd took several steps forward and raised it high. He began to swing, aiming for Kyle’s throat, and Kyle could see from the look in his eyes, that it was a look meant to kill.
And Kyle suddenly realized that these moments might just be his last.
Chapter Nine
The day broke brisk and cold, and Caitlin woke up excited. Aiden had told her that the wedding preparations would begin immediately, on this day. She had woken Caleb when she’d returned and told him she’d be thrilled to marry him right away, and he’d been ecstatic. She’d slept the whole night in his arms, eager for dawn to break so that the preparations could begin.
Aiden had told her that the traditional vampire wedding was preceded by a day of tournaments, of jousting and sparring to test each other’s skills. She was so curious to learn more about all the vampire rituals surrounding a wedding, and excited to begin the first step towards actually getting married. It still felt surreal to her.
As Caitlin walked out the castle, dressed in her sparring gear, she held Caleb’s hand as they crossed the expansive castle grounds in the cold October morning, Scarlet and Ruth right behind them. In the distance, Caitlin could see the entire coven was already out and waiting – dozens of Aiden’s vampires, mixed with dozens of McCleod’s human warriors. Standing among them were also Sam and Polly, beaming as they watched them approach. There must have been a hundred warriors in total, forming a large rectangle on the tournament field, all dressed in full battle gear, standing quietly, waiting.
Clearly, Caitlin and Caleb were the guests of honor today. Two warriors sounded a trumpet at their arrival, and the crowd parted ways as they walked through, and were prompted into the center of the open field. As Caitlin and Caleb stood there, Aiden slowly stepped forward and faced them. The crowd remained silent in the early morning, the only noise the slight rustling of the wind, and the flapping of banners.
“No vampire wedding may begin without a full day of tournaments. It is an ancient ritual. The tournaments are our way of keeping in mind that a vampire union is a union based on blood. Husband and wife are also a warrior team. Which is why we begin our day with you two fighting together. You will fight as a team, back to back. Against you will be pitted our best warriors. Together, you must protect each other, and fight your way through.”
Aiden stepped back out of the circle, and slowly nodded to his men.
Caitlin stood in the center of the circle, back to back with Caleb, and felt a nervous rush as they were each suddenly thrown weapons. She caught hers in midair: wooden swords. She was relieved that they wouldn’t be using live, deadly weapons; she wasn’t worried about her own fighting skills, or Caleb’s, but she was worried about hurting someone else.
There was little time to think. Within moments, they were charged by a dozen vampire and human warriors, coming at them from every direction. They, too, wielded wooden weapons – spears, swords, shields, lances, and other weapons she couldn’t recognize at first. She felt Caleb’s back flush up against hers, felt his muscles tense up, and felt reassured to have him at her side.