“You?” Rynd spat. “How?”
Kyle could see him thinking. He’d recalled that the Grail meant the world to Rynd, that he’d been obsessed with pursuing it his entire existence. Rynd had always been convinced that once he found it, he would have the secret to vampire immortality – a rare type of immortality that made even vampires impervious to any sort of attack or death – that it would make him the strongest vampire that ever lived. Kyle himself didn’t believe the Grail existed – but he knew that was the bait needed to convince Rynd.
Kyle swallowed.
“Caitlin – the girl I’ve come back in time to find – she is on a quest for the ancient shield. And she can’t find that shield without first finding the Grail. I know it to be true. Even now, her path is set in motion to find it. I’ve come to stop her. And I need you to help me.”
“Why don’t you just kill her yourself?” Rynd snarled. “Have you become that old and weak and stupid that you cannot achieve anything on your own?”
Kyle heard the vampires snicker all around him, and he felt his temper flaring. But he summoned all his reserves to keep it in check. After all, he was still, for now, at Rynd’s mercy.
“She has grown powerful – stronger than you can believe. Sam, her brother, has the same skill that you do. Shapeshifting. I need someone to combat it. I need someone to use that skill against her. To dupe her, so that I can kill her once and for all.”
“Well, how flattered I am,” said Rynd slowly, in a mocking voice. “You mean, you felt that you could use me. For your ends.”
Rynd swung the sword back slowly, preparing to strike again.
“NO!” Kyle pleaded. “Not to use you. To help you. You will help me get to them. And then, they will lead us to the Grail. And I will turn it over to you.”
“Or maybe I’ll just kill you here, and leave you to hang with the others. Food for the bats.”
Kyle swallowed.
“But what good would that do you?”
Rynd leaned back and laughed, a dark, sinister laugh.
“I don’t always do things for my good. Sometimes I do things just because I enjoy them.”
With that, Rynd pulled back the sword, stepped forward, and brought it down in a mighty swing.
Kyle closed his eyes, feeling the air of the swing, realizing that in another split-second, he would be gone. There was nothing more he could say. This was his final moment on Earth. And to his own surprise, he was afraid.
A moment later, Kyle felt himself plunging downward, face-down, and he wondered if this was what it felt like to plunge down to hell.
But then his face hit something hard, and he realized he’d actually landed face first into the dirt.
The rest of his body followed, hitting the ground too, and as he looked up, he realized that Rynd had swung at the rope instead, cutting it. It had sent Kyle diving to the ground. Still bound, but alive.
Kyle breathed a sigh of relief.
Rynd stepped forward, his boot just missing Kyle’s face, and sliced the ropes binding Kyle’s feet.
Kyle immediately leapt up, to his feet, facing Rynd, red-faced and mad. But even from this perspective, standing, Rynd was huge, towering over him.
Rynd scowled down at Kyle.
“I missed you, Kyle,” Rynd said. “It’s been too long since I’ve encountered another creature as despicable as myself.”
And with that, Rynd suddenly strutted right past Kyle, bumping his shoulder hard, sauntering down the dirt road, between the hundreds of hanging bodies. As he disappeared into the fog, his dozens of followers fell into line, following him.
Kyle hurried to catch up.
They walked through the fog, down a dirt road, into the twilight, and eventually the fog cleared just enough for Kyle to make out a narrow drawbridge, spanning a moat. Beyond that lay a small castle, shaped in triangle, with a single parapet, its walls low and angular. Kyle remembered the place well. Caeverlock Castle. A place for true evil. The place he knew that Rynd would be.
Kyle caught up, now walking just slightly behind Rynd, as they strutted for the castle entrance.
“You’ve arrived at the perfect time,” Rynd said as they walked, not looking his way. “Tomorrow is the Samhain Festival. There will be plenty of slaughtering, and plenty of human captives to torture. Our favorite night of the year. “When it is finished, we will go and hunt your friends.”
Rynd stopped at the castle entrance, and turned to him, his mouth widening into a smile that looked more like a scowl.
“In fact, I think I will quite enjoy it.”
Chapter Thirteen
As Caitlin walked with her bridesmaids through the moss-covered hills of Skye, the sight took her breath away. The early morning sun broke low and red on the horizon, lighting up the open expanse before them. The landscape was dotted with small lakes, and the grass they walked on was a vibrant green, greener than anything she’d ever seen. It felt to her as if they had come to the very beginning of the earth, a place so pure, it hardly seemed real.
Just as Caitlin was starting to wonder where they were all hiking, Polly read her mind:
“It’s called Faerie Glen,” Polly said, her voice filled with excitement, even more chipper than usual. Polly practically skipped as they all headed through the countryside. “It’s the only place in the world where, it is said, if you go there and make a wish, it will come true. And it’s an ancient vampire ritual for a bride to make one final wish before her wedding day.”
Caitlin thought about that as she rounded yet another softly sloping hill, holding Scarlet’s hand, and took in another breathtaking vista. A place to make a final wish. But Caitlin already felt she had everything she could wish for. She had Caleb, Scarlet, Ruth, Sam, Polly, Aiden, and was surrounded by so many close friends. And now, she would be getting married. What more could she possibly want out of life?
A child. That was true. Yes, a child. With Caleb. Maybe she would wish for that.
As she walked, Caitlin felt that, finally, everything was perfect in her world. Yet, at the same time, the residue of her dream still lingered. Why did she have to have such a dream the night before such a festive day? She felt annoyed, as if Blake had somehow intruded in her dreams, had disrupted her perfect moment. She did not want to be thinking of him, or even have him lingering in a corner of her consciousness. But as she walked, several times, when she’d heard a twig snap, or a bird fly, she found herself jumping, looking to make sure that Blake wasn’t standing somewhere, staring back at her. A part of her was definitely on edge. And that was not what she wanted.
She had loved Blake at one point. Had loved him dearly. But that was when she had thought Caleb was gone forever. Ever since Caleb had been back in her life, she had not thought of Blake at all. At least not consciously. Why couldn’t life be simpler? she wondered.
As they rounded another hill, suddenly, a spectacular moss-covered valley, a lake in its center, came into view. It was the most stunning thing Caitlin had ever seen. She felt as if she’d walked straight into an oil painting, into some glowing, green fantasy land that couldn’t possibly exist. She could sense the energy coming off the place. On the surface, it was just a grassy valley, beside a small, shining lake. But deep down, she sensed that it was much more – and that whatever wish she made, it would indeed come true here.
The other girls let out a gasp of excitement, and they all began to hurry down the hill, towards the lake. Polly took Caitlin’s hand, and they skipped down the hill, heading for the spot to make a wish.
“You’re supposed to throw a coin into the lake,” Polly explained, as they raced for the shore. “If it lands heads up, your wish will come true. If not, it won’t. That’s the legend, anyway.”
“But I don’t have a coin,” Caitlin said, laughing as they raced downhill.