The shadows ripped through most of the courtiers like paper, tearing arms free from torsos and crushing skulls with huge bites. Eyes torn loose as the shadows writhed into and out of the sockets. Some of the older vampires held them off with powerful incantations and dark hexes, but there were just so many of the shadows, and they all wanted their due.
John gave a low chuckle and you turned to watch spoiled Stephen, the petulant prince levitate higher and higher, screaming curses and casting spells as he tried to escape the shadows. “His papa taught him some strong magic,” John murmured in your ear, “but not the courage to go with it.”
The shadows swarmed in Stephen’s open mouth and down his throat, making his body bulge and bend in unnatural contortions until he shook in a seizure of agony and exploded in a wet mess of bone and gristle.
“Auferte scelera! Revertere ad foramina tua et latebras!”
Lord Tyrrell strode through the hall, hands striking out in bolts of lightning, the smell of ozone burning your nose.“Tu huc non pertinent!”For one terrifying moment, all the shadows paused, stilled at whatever moment of destruction they were engaged in. Was he stronger than your poor family?
He cast you out to suffer alone,you whispered silently.You are not abominations. You are lost children. You are owed this. He will pay your price.
The cycling smoke of your sisters and brothers swirled higher and higher, turning dense and thick as tar. The stone floor beneath you rumbled, heavy tiles shifting and windows shattered. The shriek that ripped from the tornado of murder and hate nearly made your ears bleed. Lord Tyrrell, the only monster left standing in his court, roared in agony as black ichor spurted from his eyes and mouth, running like a river from his nostrils and ears and he broke, begging the shadows for mercy in a wet, garbled voice.
Even you and John had to turn away as the cyclone of butchery swept Tyrrell up and in seconds, his entrails decorated the shining marble walls of his mansion.
One month later…
“Mama! Come see, it’s the sun!”
You were secretly relieved that John was asleep as you took her hand and led her to the door. You knew he’d forbid you from leaving the house. At the door, your mother held you back. “But my darling, you- we don’t know if you can walk in the sun, I….”
Laughing, you kissed her cheek and pulled her outside. The sun was weak, of course, but the orange-ish rays managed to fight through the sifting soot of the clouds and shine on the beach, lighting up shells and pebbles as you both stared up until your vision swam with black spots and you had to close your eyes for a moment.
Everything in the sunshine was a different color. Colors. You weren’t used to seeing many but black and blood red, even though now the stubborn shoots of green were becoming more and more of a regular occurrence. There was the pink and cream of a seashell and the orange of a tiny, skittering crab. Dark green kelp mixed with yellow blooms and the ocean was blue.
The color of your husband’s eyes.
That night, when the fragile sun set and the black sky and sea returned, John seated you both at the table. “I have a surprise for you.”
Your mother laughed and clapped her hands in excitement as he brought out two lobsters, boiled red. “I haven’t had seafood since…” her smile collapsed for a moment, “...since we were taken. But I see now that it was a blessing. You’ve kept my daughter safe.”
Resting your hand on your swollen stomach, you smiled to feel John’s cool metal hand cover yours. “I will always keep you both safe. But even if I couldn’t, Little Bird’s brothers and sisters will.”
The army of shadows that left the blood-drenched remains of the Night Court was much smaller than the one that entered.
“Where did the others go?” Mama had asked.
“Some were killed by the incantations and hexes from those of the Brethren strong enough to fight, but for most of the shadows who left? They were done. They’d held on for decades, even centuries, not knowing why. But once they killed those who sired them, they could rest.”
John had given you a handkerchief, it took a moment to realize you were weeping. But you sniffed and smiled again. “But many of them want to stay with us. We’re their family. I can feel…” you paused, twisting the wet cloth, “I can feel some of the shadows begin to think. Process. I think they can be more.”
Mama had smiled tremulously, lip wobbling a bit. The shadows terrified her, and the sound of Tyrrell’s screaming demise was still fresh.
“They deserve to be more,” John had said, surprising you, “if they can do more than mourn what they don’t know, instead think and understand instead of surviving by instinct, it means there is a third choice for this next generation.”
The shadows still preferred to be outside, but now they swirled and swished through the halls and around the huge granite house by the sea, the refuge John promised you. Sometimes at night, their harmonics sounded less like screeching and more like … music?
That night, after the lobster feast, you stood in the master bedroom, gazing out through the thick-paned window glass to watch a bleary moon rise over the dark sea. The weight of John’s arms came around you and you folded yours on top of them, resting your head in the space between his shoulder and neck.
“When our child comes,” he said, “we’ll hold their hands and walk with them on the beach. They’ll feel the sand on their toes and the sun on their face.”
You drew back to look up at him. “But how … how can you walk with us in the sun?”
He smiled, so lasciviously with his full lips and the glint of fangs. “Do you remember when I first bedded you? I drank from you and also from the proof of your virginity. Your unique and gifted blood gave me the strength to bear the sun as well.”
Shaking your head, you rose on tiptoe to kiss that shameless smile. “Did you know for certain it would work? Were you sure?”
“Not completely certain,” he admitted, “until the day I raced across the countryside when you were stolen from me.” He traced a thumb along your collarbone. “I couldn’t wait for night. I couldn’t let them hurt you.”
