"Snow.""Snow White.""We are waiting for you.""It is urgent we speak with you."I opened my eyes and noticed a tiny blue light shining above my head. It flitted around like a pixilette but was much smaller. I was in what looked like a black box. No windows. No doors. Just four sparkling black walls, a ceiling, and a floor."Snow, please hurry.""This is urgent."I reached out a finger to touch the light. The voices seemed to come from it, but it darted away."I can't get out. There's no door," I whispered, standing. As I spoke, a door appeared, and I gasped, hoping for escape. But my hope was short-lived, for on the other side of the door was more darkness. As my heart fell, the dark became a tunnel. I took a tentative step, and as I did, more of the tunnel appeared. "Where am I?" The blue lights flicked down the shaft, making it obvious they wanted me to follow. After a few moments, I stopped and looked back the way I came, but there was nothing to see. One of the blue lights
This is it, I thought. I'm going to die. A profound gloom curled its way around my heart. Never in a million years did I imagine my life would end this way. If I pictured anything, it was that I disappeared into nothingness as the vampire queen took over my body. Dying like this? No one would know. And I thought of Silindra on an altar, her blood drained from her body. Sacrificed for Sharra's whims. I never would've guessed my fate would be so entwined with hers. I didn't want to die. I didn't want those I loved to die. I wanted to live! The knife hovering above me abruptly descended and sank deep into my chest. If I could have, I would have cried out in pain. I felt every rip, every tear, every shredded vein, and vessel as the blade entered my body.But I was unable to move. The knife retreated as quickly as it dropped and once again hung above my chest. Blood slid from the blade and on to my shirt. The scent of copper stung my nose. I wanted to cry at the injustice of it a
"Always desperate to save others, but not this time." Dorian's voice was soft, and I knew it was because he was bleeding out. Dying. "No, please," I begged. He shook his head, forcing a smile. "Can I kiss you?"I closed my eyes, wishing this was all just a dream. "Anything," I said. If only he would go. I couldn't watch him die.The blade went into his back, that damned noise making me want to throw up. "I love you, Snow White. Always have and always will." He gently pressed his lips to mine and moved them tenderly.The blade went in again. And he caught his breath.I cried out, kissing him back with all the gratitude and love in my heart. For all the years he cared for me without ever asking me to reciprocate. Images of each time he was there and loved me unconditionally flashed through my mind.The night I told Professor Pops, the brothers, and Kenmei, I never wanted to see them again. I awakened with my mother's blanket over me. At the time, I hadn't realized who had done it.
I looked at Cindy and then at Gabe before closing my eyes. "I couldn't save him," I said in a voice that wasn't my own. "I tried. I did. Kenmei said, use love. I swear, I tried."Gabe knelt on the other side. "Who?""Dorian," I whispered. "He protected me, all of us, but he's gone. I don't know where." The words came out choppy and garbled, but I couldn't make myself stop crying."It's okay. You're okay," he said, but I heard the anguish in his voice. Cindy pulled me into a hug. "It isn't your fault, Snow."But that wasn't true. It was my fault.I thought of dying. Would there be rest? Could I shut out the agony? The way Dorian looked at me. His kiss. What he did. Saved me. Saved us all. Abernathy's words to Dorian rang in my mind: "Very few have the capacity to love like you.""Where could he be?" I wailed."Let's get her out of here," Gabe said to Cindy, and I felt his hands pull me into his arms."My mom?" I asked as they pulled me from the rubble."She's alive. They brought her
"Home is where your heart can flourish." My mom used to say those words to me when I was a child. As Abernathy circled Professor Pops' sprawling mansion, my heart clenched. After I told Professor Pops and the brothers what happened with Dorian, would they continue to let this be my home?From the air, I made out the little cottage-type house I lived in with my mom and dad, and then my dad and stepmother. Happy memories sprang to mind. Like the times my mom would bake cookies while she hummed the latest popular song. Or when she would let me help her plant flowers in the spring and fall. The house where I grew up was minuscule compared to Professor Pops' extensive grounds and house. Through the dark, I was able to distinguish the tennis court and putting green. Behind the mansion, which seemed somehow larger from the sky, lay a sculpted, manicured lawn, and a rectangular pool - lit and giving off a cyan glow.If I hadn't left my mother in captivity in Mizu and Dorian dead, I would
When I was sure Christopher was gone, I hurried back to Abernathy. He smacked his lips and opened one eye. "Awww, young love." He paused. "We both know it isn't real." I sighed, crossing my arms over my chest. It wasn't his place to say anything. After Dorian's kiss - the love that had surrounded me, filled me - I knew the dragon was right. But Dorian was dead. "Love is dense," Abernathy continued.I snorted; grateful I could jump on his unusually lousy comment. "That's romantic."A laugh resounded in his throat. "What I mean is, real love, is more than what you see, what you feel, in the moment.""Really?" I asked with thick sarcasm, but I was interested. It wasn't like I ever had someone to talk to about love."Certainly," he said with a wink. "Think about a lush forest, rich with all manner of foliage. A person could spend eons discovering its secrets and still not find them all. It's the same with love. True love, anyway." He gave me a pointed look. "Deep, abiding love is discove
"Kenmei," I whispered, bewildered. "What happened to Abernathy?""Take my hand," he insisted.I shook my head. "Where's the dragon?" Had Kenmei killed him? Was everything the vampire queen said about him right? Was Kenmei evil?"Shiryo-san, it's me," he said and crouched, so we were level. His eyes flashed, and the endlessness that was in Kenmei's eyes vanished. Instead, his eyes glowed amber.Abernathy's eyes."That's impossible.""Not impossible. Let me show you." He held out his hand again. Nervously I took it, and he pulled me to my feet."Does Pro - Adam Henry know?" I asked, searching his face, trying to see Abernathy in there. Even though the dragon was a hundred times my size, I felt more at ease with him than I ever felt with Kenmei."Yes, he knows. After so many years, how could he not? Even the vampire queen knows."I raised an eyebrow. "Why's that?" And then I understood. The vampire queen had bitten him, changed him. He was the first hunter. She tasted his blood, probably
"I'm not kidding. Even now, I can remember the love that beat in their tiny hearts for her."I saw the look on his face and knew he wasn't. Even I sort of loved her now. Her words swayed in my head and filled my heart. "Does she possess magic?" I asked, shocked I could be twitterpated after a few seconds of hearing her sing."Yes, Shiryo-san. Aurora was the first enchantress, though she didn't know it. Her song bewitched all who heard her but not to the extent that I lost control of myself. Her magic awoke my amorous feelings, and I wanted to experience them. With her. So, I took on this form and became Kenmei.""Did it work?" I asked, surprised. "Did she love you back?"His brow furrowed, and pain changed his expression."I'm sorry," I said.He cleared his throat. "Don't be. Though she didn't return my love, we became great friends. Even after she married, we often visited together. I taught her how to use her magic. And she assisted in creating the book your friend Cindy keeps. The E