Page 24 of Ever Dark Academy: Vol. 3
Be careful. Please.
I’m just a weak and confused mortal, Balthazar. No one special, Grayson reminded him.
You’ve never been any of those things, Ashyr. Not even in this life, Balthazar’s voice whispered through his mind before he closed the connection.
Grayson’s footsteps slowed a moment at those words. Who was Balthazar to talk to him about wanting to escape the past? He wouldn’t remember what it was like to be Eyros so how could he lecture Grayson about wanting to shed this one life that wasn’t really his own? That he had been forced to have because of another’s illness? An illness he should have seen and understood before it… Well, before it got out of hand like it had.
Yet Balthazar’s words stayed in his mind like burrs. And, most of all, his memory of Eyros reminded him that the Immortal told people what they already knew themselves. That’s what made him so irritating and powerful. Grayson wondered how much Balthazar knew what was in his mind right this minute.
Probably all of it. He half smiled and shook his head.
He took the stairs down to the first floor. He didn’t head out of the front doors, because the Vampires would see him, and now, more than ever, he needed to be invisible. He was a student and nothing more.
Instead, he took the main hallway to the back, allowing unconscious memories to lead him down the wide-planked hallway past the paintings and tapestries that showed hunts through the ages. He passed out of an arched doorway into one of the center, open courtyards and gasped.
To say it was beautiful was to say that water was wet, which totally missed the point of it all. Golden-barked trees stretched gracious branches up towards the skin. Their silver leaves rustled in the faint breeze and reflected the blue and red moons, causing a shimmer effect in the air all around them. There were stone paths that wound between these trees and the faint burble of a brook could be heard.
Glowing mushrooms and other plants lined the paths, adding their own fairy-light to the scene. He had a sudden and powerful memory of Weryn feeding him a piece of one of those mushrooms. They’d made love while their mind spun rather gloriously. The next night though their heads had ached and they’d needed copious amounts of blood to leech the after effects from their systems. But it had been worth it.
He didn’t take the paths, but instead followed the covered walkway around the outer edge. It was faster as the paths, he recalled, curved and turned back on themselves. Their purpose was to show perfect vistas of the garden or provide private nooks for contemplation. His goal was to simply get from point A to point B. He longed to linger here, but it would be better with Ryder by his side in any event. He couldn’t help thinking how much Ryder, Demos and Siban were going to love this place, even more than they already did.
Soon he came to another arched entryway back into the Weryn Palace. He just had to walk down this main hall and there would be a back entrance that would dump him out into another part of the Weryn park then he would merely have to follow the line of trees and it would lead him to the back of the Ashyr Palace.
Again, he passed by many intriguing rooms that, though still half dark, beckoned to him to enter and explore. He caught sight of the corner of fireplaces, a book-stuffed bookshelf, an inviting looking couch, a pool table--Mairead will go ape over this--and more. He could half remember having conversations, long and leisurely, in each of these rooms with the Weryn and his own Ashyr Vampires.
In one long, rectangular sitting room, he recalled Dani tapping her fingers on the side of her drink as she and the other Ashyr mingled with the Weryn. It had been the first party between them and no one was having a good time. In fact, they were all stiff and formal and looked like they’d rather be anyplace else. Even the normally boisterous Weryn were sipping their drinks and standing still and tight.
“Dance with me, Dani,” he’d said to her and offered her his hand.
Her eyebrows had lifted up in surprise, but there was a small smile on her lips. “Master, no one else is dancing. There isn’t even any music!”
“There will be music soon enough once we start dancing. Someone will go get their fiddle, another a flute, trust me. Once we break the ice, things will flow.” He’d wiggled his fingers at her. “Dance with me, Dani.”
She’d rolled her eyes, but that smile had grown. Setting her drink to the side, she’d taken his hand and they’d stepped out into the middle of the room. Everyone had stared at them, especially when they’d begun to do a jig. But then someone had started humming, another had started to clap, there had been the tapping of booted feet, and sure enough someone found a fiddle and a flute, more than one of each, and the dancing had spread like wildfire. They had broken the ice.
Still smiling at the memory, Grayson turned his head away from the shadowed room to the back doors of the Weryn Palace. They had heavy wooden frames, but the interior was a frosted, etched glass. And just as he looked at the glass, a dark shadow darted up to it.
His heart leaped into his throat and he stumbled back two steps. Whoever this was shouldn’t be there! How had they gotten past the Weryn Palace’s defenses. Unless this was a Weryn Vampire that had been allowed in and--
The door handles jiggled. The doors began to open. Grayson reached for the fire within his chest. It burst into full flame as he readied himself to grab--and crush--whoever was coming towards him.
“Master?” Dani’s voice rose up tentatively.
“Dani?!” he gasped.
She peeked her head around the door. “Master, there you are! What--what’s wrong?”
“What’s wrong?” He gave out a nervous laugh and raked the fingers of his right hand through his hair. “Oh, I don’t know, you sneaking up on me in darkened, empty hallway? Jill was killed.”
“Yes, Balthazar told me, which is why I’m here,” she said, stepping fully into the hallway. “It didn’t seem safe to have you walking alone out here. I think, unless you’re with a group of students, one of us should be with you at all times. Ryder let me in.”
Grayson nodded, his breathing still a little tight and frantic. “Yeah, yeah, that’s probably a good idea.”
“I didn’t mean to scare you.” She gave him a lopsided smile.
He waved off her apology. “I just wasn’t expecting anyone and I was remembering.”
Her gaze went in the direction he waved. A smile crossed her lips. “Our dance!”
