"Tell me," she invited him.

He rose and strode to her. Lifting one hand, he placed it on the side of her head.

"No. Telling doesn't work. Let me show you."

And he did just that.

She saw the hills, smelled the freshly cut grass, heard the laughs and the chants. The scene ran at such a fast pace her vampire mind could only just grasp it. The beautiful woman he loved, the way he would have given everything for her. Then, his descent into hell after he did just that, giving his life so that Tatiana had a second to escape Ariadne's massacre.

She saw him rise again, and then walk away in the rain. Going to the only place he could go.

Tatiana.

She called him a monster, rejected him, threw him out in the street. Then there had been despair, for a time. Eirikr filled his life with the hunt, an endless game of predator and prey.

Hunting for Ariadne first, but finding her was impossible. She was too fast, too smart, too powerful. Soon, he started to notice the trail of bodies following vampirekind, and his prey changed. He hunted others like him.

After hundreds of years, Eirikr was as close to peace as he ever could be, settled in a beautiful land with three hills. Here. This was his home.

He invited the other vampires to join, building them a vacation home. As long as they were no threat to the innocent, he had no quarrel with them. He warred against the monsters.

He trained humans, asking witches to help strengthen them without turning them into abominations.

The huntsmen.

The witches…they were Tatiana's old clan. After the rise of Christianity, when they were chased away, he'd taken them in and settled them in a small fortress, right here.

The Institute. Clan…Vespian. That was their name.

And then there was a child of twelve, running away as fast as her little legs could carry her.

She had been conceived for one purpose: to be sacrificed in order to extend her mother’s life.

Then Eirikr learned that Tatiana still lived. That through black magic and terrible spells, she'd managed to survive this long.

"I will protect you, child," he swore.

At first it had been just that. His need to protect anyone who deserved it, anyone innocent and vulnerable.

But then she grew into a beautiful woman, and it became more.

Much more.

He still didn't understand why she'd betrayed him. Why Aurora had locked him down here. That it was the machination of his enemies, he didn't doubt.

But the pain had not faded after all these years, and it would never go away.

Eirikr released Chloe's face now that she'd seen what he couldn't put into words.

He wasn't angry at her. He was distraught.

Seeing Greer had opened a wound he never touched if he could help it. A wound deep in his soul.

Chloe choked on a tear.

She'd once believed the world. She'd once thought that Eirikr could be a monster, or at least act like one.

No more.

"I will get you out of here," she swore.

"You can't."

Chloe swallowed.

"Why?"

Eirikr sighed.

"You'd have to kill the witch. And I will not let you."

Epilogue

Seth felt rather awkward as he entered the De Villier household. The great house was meant to impress, and usually, when he entered a home such as this, it belonged to him.

"Anyone here?"

The first thing to answer his call was a cat. A dreadfully adorable creature with a mischievous soul. He could tell.

"I won't fall for it. Go bother someone else."

The cat, somewhat predictably, rushed to rub over his leg.

"She doesn't usually take to strangers, you know."

Levi was standing at the top of his staircase.

"May I be of assistance?"

Seth grimaced. "I'm mostly here because my sister is getting fucked and I don't need to hear that."

Levi tilted his head. "An understandable position, I suppose. Would you care for some tea?"

"Please. Also, it's my understanding that you may have a question or two about a queen, if I'm not mistaken?"

He had Levi's attention then.

"Indeed. Many."

"I thought so. I asked Alexius to run me through the situation here last night. I happen to know a little about that queen. And her island."

The vampire was at the bottom of the stairs within an instant.

"How?"

Seth shrugged. "I was there last summer. And if you want me to tell you, I demand tea as a bribe, if you please. Earl Grey, preferably.”

“Well?” the queen asked her spy.

The creature stood still, pupils dilated like a soulless puppet.

“As you expected, the Stormhales did manage to break the shields, Your Highness. But they were rebuilt.”

The queen’s fists tightened on her scepter.

“How?” she demanded.

The spy’s eyes clouded, becoming dazed and unfocused.

“I don’t know. I can’t remember.”

The queen narrowed her eyes. A spell to confuse her spy. Which meant that someone in Oldcrest knew whose mind she was using.

She’d underestimated her opponents. For the last time.

“I suppose I have no use for you now, Easton. Slice your wrists, please,” she whispered softly. “Then I want you to portal back to the borders of Oldcrest. Be it a warning to your little friends.”

“Yes, my queen.”

* * *

The End.