Vampire Nights (Vampire Wishes Book 3) Page 3

  I stepped on his tail and shimmied up onto his back. Then held out my hand for Ariel to take. Once the two of us were situated, Abernathy jumped through the hole in the roof and out into the hazy sky.

  Five

  We scanned the burning city of Mizu for survivors. If only there was a way to change them back.

  “They’ve all been turned, but I know how to help them,” Ariel shouted, seeming to read my mind.

  I faced Ariel, pushing several pieces of hair out of my face. “You do?”

  “Yes,” she said, her blue eyes glistened with determination. “We need to get to my office. It’s that way. Abernathy, go that way!”

  “No, we must leave, Ariel. Once Sharra has turned the creature into an Akuma, there is no going back. The soul has been burned out of them, leaving only a shell. At this point they are nothing more than Maleficent’s puppets. They do her bidding without conscience, remorse, or understanding.”

  “That can’t be true. I have a spell that can reverse even the most—”

  “I cannot allow you to remain here a moment longer,” he growled, sending a stream of fire into the bubble protecting Mizu. The fire wasn’t like the normal red and orange flames. It was gold, black, and blue and it melted an enormous hole that blackened and burned around the edges despite all the water that unexpectedly began pouring inside.

  His words saddened me. I couldn’t help but think of Camden. He’d been my friend. It seemed that befriending me was deadly, just as he’d said. My heart ached for him and for all the humans I’d killed because of my wish to be normal.

  How could I fix the mess I’d made? I didn’t know, but somehow I had to figure it out, and put the human realm back the way it’d once been.

  “What are you doing? You’re going to kill everyone,” Ariel shouted, trying to jump off Abernathy.

  “No. You can’t.” I held her fast.

  “They’re already dead, Ariel. I swear it,” Abernathy said with a loud roar.

  I started to shiver. Not from the cold or being wet, but because of all the death roaring in the city below.

  It’s my fault.

  I did this.

  It’s my fault.

  My grandmother cried behind me, her head resting against my back. I felt so bad and wished I could crunch myself up in a ball, become invisible, even disappear. Not from those around me, no. Then I would still be stuck with the memories of the consequences of my action, my stupid wish. No, I wanted to disappear from existence. Maybe then the world could heal and become whole again.

  I peered over Abernathy’s side. Mizu looked like a snow globe someone had shaken and dropped.

  “I’m so sorry,” I said over and over, patting Ariel’s hands.

  Abernathy lowered his head and went through another portion of the bubble as though it weren’t even there.

  His magic was strong. Stronger even than mine had been when I had my wings, maybe even stronger than Maleficent’s. If that were true, then why hadn’t he done more to stop the evil in the world? The dragon seemed willing to help, but only to a certain degree and that bothered me.

  Within a few short moments, we were back at my house, the house that’d once been my mom’s. He landed in the back yard.

  Ariel climbed off and fell to the ground, her cries growing louder by the moment.

  Abernathy glanced over at her, then at me. “If there was a way to save those citizens, I would’ve done it, but there wasn’t. There isn’t. Understand?”

  I nodded, even though I didn’t.

  “Maleficent wants you dead. She wants to rule all the realms. He shook his head. Smoke plumed from his nostrils. “Destroying Mizu accomplished two things. It showed you her power, and let you see her with your wings. She cares nothing for those she destroyed. All she cares about is power.” He took a step toward me and lay down so I could see both golden eyes. “She means to kill you. Kill your family. And kill anyone who stands in her way.”

  I shook my head, even though I knew he was right. Of course he was.

  Abernathy went on, “It’s a sad shame, but there isn’t time for you to give up or back down or start feeling sorry for yourself. You need to be strong. You need to let Maleficent see that you aren’t going away and you will not die without a fight.” He snapped his jaws shut, sending spittle flying.

  He seemed to know what I was feeling. “That city…” I began. “Do you know how many thousands were down there? And now they’re all dead.” It hurt to say the words aloud.

  My fault.

  All mine.

  “I know.” He gave me a serious look. “And now you know what is going to happen to your land, this land, and every other realm out there if you don’t stop her. No one else has the power.”

  “Why me?” I said the words and was immediately embarrassed. But that was how I felt. “I’m a child. I can’t stop her.” Anger boiled through my veins. “Why don’t you do it? I know you can.” I stalked and smacked him on the nose. One of his teeth, which was bigger than my head, sparkled in the moonlight.

  “What I can or cannot do doesn’t matter. It isn’t my place. Dragons aren’t warriors. We haven’t been in a long time. Not since we were all destroyed. All save me and…” He let the words trail off. And I knew. Troy was his son. Somehow he was Troy’s father.

  The dragon closed his eyes. “We are scholars, keepers of the magics, and nothing more. If I stepped in every time evil rose up, I’d never get any rest and quite frankly, my dear, I’m exhausted.” He jumped into the air and circled so that we were still facing each other. “The reason it has to be you is that she chose you. You and she are the only original vampire left. She gave away her wings just as you did. If anyone knows what you’re going through, it’s her and she’ll use that to her advantage. Think on that as you sulk.”

  “But… I…” I couldn’t finish. He was right. I wanted to sulk, to wallow in the truth of what I was—a selfish, no good vampire.

  “You are who you are, little vampire, and you’re right where you’re meant to be.” He blew smoke in my face and then flew away.

  Six

  “Ar—Grandma, come inside.” Now was as good a time as any to start calling her that. I helped her to her feet. My mom had shared many stories with me about the sad woman in my arms. She’d made Ariel out to be tough. A fighter. After what Maleficent had done to her city, she seemed tiny, not strong at all.

  “Mizu.”

  “I know. I’m sorry.” I helped her up the stairs. She leaned heavily into me and I practically carried her into my room. “Lie down.”

  She did as I said, crawling across my bed and resting her head against the pillow. I took a blanket from the bottom of the bed and covered her.

  Ariel was filthy. Black ash lined her face and clothes. She smelled like smoke. She appeared so insignificant. But she was more than that. She was my grandmother. My mom’s mom. I would do anything for her.

  “I’m just going to rest for a minute.” She closed her eyes. Her shoulders relaxed and I knew she was asleep.

  “Take as long as you need,” I whispered, walking from the room and closing the door.

  At the top of the stairs, I paused. The house was so quiet. Not for the first time since I’d been staying here I tried to imagine what it had been like for my mom to grow up here, with her dad and step-mother. I couldn’t quite do it. When I looked at my mom all I saw was Snow White, the Vampire Queen, the woman who ran the realm of Sharra with ease. It was hard to think of her as a girl my age. My dad said she’d been klutzy and a total tomboy. That girl didn’t exist in my memories and I couldn’t conjure her.

  I took a deep breath and thought I could almost smell her shampoo. Had she laughed a lot? Aunt Cindy said they spent lots of nights in the room where Ariel now slept, having fun together. I tried to listen. Maybe the walls could tell me their secrets.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Mom.” I opened my eyes.

  She stood at the bottom of the stairs, her hands on her
hips. She didn’t look like my mom but my friend, Zoe. “Are you okay?”

  I nodded, but I wasn’t. My eyes stung with the need to shed tears that wouldn’t come. My mom held out her arms and I ran into them. “What happened? Where have you been?”

  I swallowed, unsure how I could explain all I’d seen and how difficult it must’ve been for Ariel to watch her beloved city be destroyed. “It’s Ariel. Uh, I mean your mom. She’s upstairs.”

  “What? Why?” She ran up to what had at one time been her room.

  I pushed past her. “She’s sleeping. Don’t wake her. She’s been through a lot.”

  She opened the door silently and peeked inside. Once she saw that her mom was actually resting, she closed the door and I followed her back downstairs. “I say again, what happened?”

  I started to sit on the couch but remembered I was covered in ash too. Instead I went over to one of the bar stools in the kitchen and sat. “It was awful,” I began, watching her walk around the room, like a guest in her own house.

  “Tell me.” She sat on a barstool beside me.

  As I told her, I cried. She held my hands, wiped my tears, and listened. I even told her about the shadow and what happened in the tunnels. It was one of the few times I’d felt truly close to my mom. But I still couldn’t tell her the real reason I cried. Because I knew I’d done this. I’d killed everyone. I’d started the darkness and brought the Akuma. I’d killed my friends. My selfishness would destroy the world and that was my burden to bear. Alone.

  When I finished talking, my mom cleared her throat. “I can’t even imagine how difficult that must’ve been. For you, and for her. I’m so sorry you had to be there for that. And I can’t believe Abernathy admitted he could save us, if he were so inclined, but apparently the damned dragon isn’t going to.”

  “Yeah, he can be a real pain.”

  “Agreed.”

  “So what should we do?” I asked.

  She shrugged. “Quite honestly, I’m not sure.”

  That shocked me. My mom always had the answers.

  “Of course I have ideas. Like we could—”

  Laeddin appeared then. He looked tired. And even though I knew he was immortal, the genie was obviously in need of some rest. “I’m glad you’re here, Queen Snow,” he said to my mom, bowing slightly.

  “What did you find?” I asked, jumping off the chair and coming toward him.

  The smell of his blood sang to me and I realized how parched I was. I needed to feed, and soon.

  Laeddin smiled, his eyes dropping to my lips.

  My face warmed and butterflies danced in my belly. Did he want to kiss me? Before I could really think about that, he said, “I know how to stop the assassins, but we need some ingredients.” He glanced at my mom. “I was hoping you’d be willing to help.”

  “Of course. Whatever you need, genie.” She came over and rested her hands on our shoulders. “Tell me.”

  Seven

  The spell would be used to form a weapon would bind with the user. The materials included the scale of a dragon, the eye of an elf, a piece of unicorn horn, the pinkie finger of a troll, a fairy heart, the essence of a vampire, and the blood of a slaughterer.

  “I’ve used these ingredients before,” my mom said, giving me a sideways glance.

  I knew they had to do with the seven magics and that I’d been created with the seven magics and, of course, love. It was my dad’s love for my mother that saved her life and created me.

  A gush of warmth washed over my heart, filling me anew with adoration for my mom and dad. They’d done a lot for me. They cared about me, and I was beginning to realize they even understood me, better than I did them.

  “Can you collect them again?”

  “Of course. It’ll take some time, but I’ll hurry.” She kissed my cheek and disappeared before I had the chance to say good-bye.

  “What should we do while we wait?”

  Laeddin gave me a once over.

  “I think the first thing you should do is get cleaned up.”

  I glanced down at myself, noticing the dirty ash covering my clothes and skin. “You’re right.” I climbed the steps and listened at my bedroom door to see if Ariel was awake.

  There was a thump and I worried Ariel had fallen out of my bed. Quickly I opened the door. Maleficent was there, standing over my grandmother. She held the silver dagger in one hand. The same one I’d wished she stab herself with. A wicked gleam shone in her eyes. “One down,” was all she said and then vanished.

  “No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.” I went over to Ariel and fell onto the floor beside her. Blood gushed from the wound in her chest like a red geyser. “Ariel! Grandmother!” Pain ripped from my throat. “Laeddin, help!”

  He was beside me instantly.

  I knew what I wanted to do. There wasn’t even another thought in my mind. “You have to save her. I wish it,” I said, my voice hard. Damn Maleficent!

  Laeddin felt for a pulse. “It’s too late.” He swallowed, shaking his head. “I’m sorry, Princess, but she’s already gone.”

  “No, Laeddin.” I pressed my hands against her wound, trying to hold in the blood, because if it stayed inside then she had to stay alive. “I order you! It’s my final wish. And I want you to do it.” I glared at Laeddin. He had the saddest look on his face, and that made me angrier.

  “I can’t. It isn’t even an option.”

  I was crying so hard I leaked from my eyes, my nose, and my mouth. What would my mom do when she found out I’d gotten her mom killed?

  Oh no. She’d never forgive me for that. If only I’d never been born. Laeddin had to fix this. “There must be something you can do. What if you took my life and gave it to her? Wouldn’t that work?” I lifted my dirty tee shirt and wiped it across my face. I didn’t care.

  “That isn’t how my magic works. I could wish you into her body, but she still wouldn’t be there. The woman you knew as Ariel is gone, Jasmine. And there isn’t anything you can do to bring her back.”

  I didn’t want to accept it, didn’t want to believe. “She can’t.” I brushed the curtain of hair that covered her face, revealing her open eyes, eyes that were the same as my mom’s. “Oh Mom,” I whimpered. “I need to tell her.” I so didn’t want to, but there was no getting around it.

  “I’ll bring her back.”

  But he didn’t need to. I still don’t know how it happened, whether my mom and her mom were connected somehow or if it was coincidence, or something else entirely, but my mom appeared in my room.

  “Mom?” I stepped back, peering down at my bloody hands. Maybe she would realize that this was my fault and end me. I had no doubt she could do it. Other than Abernathy and Maleficent, I believed she was probably the most powerful magical being in all the realms.

  “Mom! No. Mom!” She fell to her knees beside her mother and did what I’d just been doing, placing her hands over the injury. “How did this happen?”

  She looked over at Laeddin.

  “I believe Jasmine can answer your question.”

  My mom turned and I took another step back. For the first time she seemed to really look at me. “Jasmine?”

  “It was… It’s…” I crumpled into a ball on the floor under the window.

  “Are you hurt?” She came over.

  “No. I’m fine. Just fine. I’m alive while everyone else seems to be dying. But me, I’m fine. I’m fine. I’m fine.” I was losing it. There was no question.

  “Jasmine. Sweetheart.”

  Great. She wasn’t mad. She felt bad. For me. The person responsible for killing her mom. “Mom. Don’t. I did this,” I said. “She’s dead because of me.”

  “Jasmine, that’s not true. You know that’s—”

  But I couldn’t listen to another word. She was trying to make me feel better.

  “Stop. I—I can’t be here.” I ran out of my room, down the stairs, and out the front door.

  Eight

  As soon as I hit the fresh air, I
felt better, which made me feel worse.

  “Hey, Jack. How’s it going?” Troy stepped from the shadow of the tree in our front yard. He wore a plain black tee shirt and a dark pair of jeans. His sandy blond hair seemed to have grown longer since the dance.

  At the memory of our last time together I cringed. He’d said that more creatures like me was a bad idea. He’d been right. “What do you want, Troy?”

  “Nothing. Hey,” he said, taking my arms.

  “Get away from me, dragon boy.”

  “Dragon boy? Ouch.” He lifted my hands. They shone in the light of the moon. It was easy to see the red. No doubt he could smell the blood.

  I heard his heart beat pick up and watched his eyes grow big. I pulled away. “That’s right, Troy. I’m a monster. Stay away from me.” My fangs extended and I growled.

  Troy held up his hands. “You’re not a monster, Jack. I’m sorry about what I said before. On the boat. I didn’t mean it.”

  “You did and that’s okay. It’s true. More like me would be a mistake.” I turned and ran as fast as my vampire legs would take me. I didn’t know where I was heading until I got there.

  I’d picked a cemetery, the one on Harmony Grove Street. “A vampire in a cemetery. Perfect.” I laughed because otherwise I would’ve cried or screamed or worse, punched someone. Right in his gorgeous face. “Ugh.”

  “Jack. Jasmine.”

  It was Troy. I knew by the sound of his voice. “Go away, Troy. Get away from me while you still can.”

  “Oh man. I leave for a while and come back to find you having a full-blown pity party. It’s a good thing I got here when I did.”

  I walked over to a bench near the church and sat, tucking my feet underneath me and crossing my arms. “Did you find Cole?”

  He hung his head. “Not yet. We’re getting closer. Grand pops thought he’d found him, but it was just another lost cause.” He flung himself on the bench beside me. “The longer it takes though the more I worry we’ll never find him.”