Eldric roared at the top of his lungs. The demonic sound was repelled by the rocks and thrown back as if by a gigantic shield. The rest of the surroundings lay still. Everything with a pulse had long disappeared.

Kill. Them. All. He would return and tear down that hallowed castle. He would rip it all apart, shred it into small pieces, scatter the organs of the inhabitants on the walls. He would make them bleed, scream, beg …

Enough. With a forceful jerk, Eldric withdrew his powers. They writhed and hissed hatefully but obeyed. The cutting cold in his veins melted away. It was no use. He had to walk through the fury until he reached the other end, and he had a pretty good idea of what awaited him there.

The water splashed on his bare shoulders. He concentrated on his breathing. The familiar feeling of drowning rose inside him, up to his chest, into his throat. He gasped as the horror of those moments caught up with him. His limbs trembled and cramped, suddenly seized with panic.

Eldric continued to hold back his powers, not allowing them to obscure what was stuck in the back of his consciousness like shards of glass. This time he had to feel it with all his body and soul – or it would begin to fester inside him. Annie’s whimpering and the fear in Liliana’s eyes, Morton’s laughter … The helplessness swallowed him.

Desperately, he struggled for air. Everything was fighting back, resisting the reality he was experiencing. He gasped and gasped and couldn’t stop.

He had known it. He had known it would end like this, and he had given in anyway. Her softness, her warmth had tempted him to become soft, too. And now exactly what he had feared most had happened.

Eldric wanted to scream these terrible feelings out of his lungs once more, but instead, he threatened to suffocate for good. His own shocked panting took over his senses until he could no longer perceive anything but the dreadful pressure on his chest. This pain … no air …

I should never have allowed this to happen. I should never have brought her here and lost my heart so completely to her.

He should not have let the entanglements and the danger, that were meant for him, spread to her. He should have locked her away forever in that  sacred tower, where nothing and no one could get to her. And he should have kept what he felt for her locked up, too.

The sound of the water around him mingled with the rushing in his ears. He had failed on every level. A multitude of unfortunate decisions, a mixture of overconfidence, wilful optimism and deluded infatuation had brought him to this point.

Eldric continued to gasp for air, panting and wheezing. Only when he thought he might lose consciousness  did he allow his powers to kick in and drive away this horrific episode.
Simultaneously, he broke through the surface, and the lake that represented his emotional world froze over. His feet found a foothold on the ice, which spread out and separated him from the treacherous depths. He traced the anger, untangled the chaos, until he found the line that led to cool resolve.

His breathing slowly found a regular rhythm, his lungs relaxed … He had managed to mediate between the demon and his human side. At last, he felt like himself again.

A different pain replaced what he had felt before, and he almost welcomed the angry stinging and burning on his back. This, he could deal with more easily; his powers would heal all physical wounds sooner or later.

He stood here, under the waterfall, his legs planted firmly on the stones in the pool. It was over. He was free and in possession of his usual powers. Morton was dead. Annie slept safe and sound in his room.

Eldric shook his head and limbs, savouring the power the Curse sent through his veins. It had taken him an almost infinite amount of willpower to subdue his demonic powers, trapped in the Light chains while Morton had shown him what he was truly capable of; how far he was willing to go just to torment and humiliate Eldric. But he had relied on his wits, on the only chance he had left, which was to save his strength for as long as possible.

In his urgent fear for Annie, he had flown straight into a trap. Without Liliana and Albert’s rescue operation, Morton would have tortured and killed both Annie and him.

Eldric stepped out from under the waterfall and brushed a hand over the waist-high water. He should have stepped into the pool with Liliana back when she’d invited him to. The cold had been an excuse. After all, he was willingly putting up with it now that the weather had turned springlike again at the beginning of summer.

Who would have thought that Albert and Liliana, of all people, would follow him to the Crimson Plains? Yes, Liliana could be incredibly persuasive when she wanted to be. And daring too! Following him into the jaws of the enemy with a hodgepodge of ancient Light weapons … He snorted, half amused, half indignant, and brushed the damp hair from his forehead.
This crazy human woman had saved his life twice already. During the short time she had spent in the castle, she had become his safe haven. In her arms, he had felt a strange peace alongside overwhelming desire. There was something terribly confidence-inspiring about Liliana. She tried to convince him of her world views, but she did so openly. She didn’t manipulate, she didn’t deceive, she didn’t take advantage.

Her presence had been so captivating that he had been able to forget the rest of the world. When he closed his eyes, he could still taste her, smell her skin, feel her body against his.
Eldric sighed and waded out of the water. He felt lost in the emptiness she had left behind … sore outwardly and inwardly. Where was the old Eldric, who witnessed a violent slaughter and then buried himself comfortably in a novel?

Well, this time it had been very personal. He hadn’t really realised, or perhaps hadn’t wanted to realise, how far he and Morton had grown in opposite directions. And the danger hadn’t been to just anyone, but to Annie and Liliana. Of course, by removing Morton from power, he had prevented him from ruling their lands in open oppression. But what good was it for him to be Lord of Finsterwald if he couldn’t protect those closest to him? His earlier disinterest in political intrigue had taken its revenge. He had not been aware enough of the inter-family feuds to correctly assess the extent of the additional danger his connection to Liliana would bring her.

He had always wondered whether he had it in him to defeat his brother in a duel to the death. At least that one question had been answered. Fate had entertained with another irony, namely that his greatest weakness, his fear for Liliana and Annie, had enabled Eldric to achieve this victory in his desperation.

Do you know what that means, Morton? Two to zero. I escaped death twice, while you met your end at the very first real opportunity. You lost. How do you like that?

Eldric growled and grimaced. Determined, he reached for the towel he had laid out and rubbed himself vigorously. His back burned.

If Morton was watching from the other side, he was in for a terrible ride. He could no longer win; his actions had caused his time to run out prematurely. Eldric, on the other hand, was alive. And as long as he was alive, he could fight for what was important and precious to him; he could exert his influence and direct events. He would overturn everything Morton had wanted to achieve.

Since Sartiria had extracted her powers and thus her soul from her former body, it should be possible to repeat the process. He would hold on to this and pore over the books with Albert until he found a solution. He couldn’t give up on Liliana!

Was that …? The smell of a vampiress made him look up. How long had she been standing there among the trees? His thoughts and the sound of the waterfall in the background had made him largely oblivious to his surroundings. Hopefully she  hadn’t been watching his pathetic panting. He dressed quickly.

‘You could have made yourself known.’

Rosalia put one ankle boot in front of the other and light-footedly crossed the narrow embankment to him. ‘I take it my curfew has been lifted, under the circumstances?’

He could hardly remember the punishment he had imposed on her, it seemed so long ago. ‘That is negotiable.’

‘How so?’

His cousin knew how to dress to flatter her curves. She smiled and brushed her hair back to reveal the nape of her neck. Eldric only marginally took notice, crushing the first signs of demonic lust before they could properly crystallise.

‘What kind of negotiation do you have in mind?’ she asked.

‘A binding one.’

Rosalia scrutinised him insistently. The teasing expression around her eyes disappeared. She lifted a hand and touched his cheek.

‘It was Morton, wasn’t it? The one who did this to you. You killed him for it. That serves him right.’

Eldric sighed. News definitely had wings among the vampires in the castle, if even those under room arrest learned what he hadn’t told anyone. Kathleen was apparently back and had coaxed the rough happenings out of Albert.

‘Did you follow me? I came here because I wanted to be alone.’

‘You’re not the only one who likes this waterfall.’ Her fingertips stroked his almost healed lower lip. He involuntarily shivered under the touch. ‘I’m glad you’re still alive.’

Her heart began to beat faster, and his followed suit. She leaned forward and kissed him. His powers swelled and swirled around her with interest. Her lips felt soft; soft and pleasant. She smelled—

No. He hastily stepped back. Liliana had been right. He shouldn’t have drunk Rosalia’s blood. He had sent the wrong message. Giving in to one kind of temptation only created more temptations.

Couldn’t they leave things as they had been? Although his aloof manner generally kept advances at bay, he had occasionally had to fend off the advances of other nobles or overzealous maids. But this was different. Rosalia was both friend and family. They had known each other since childhood. How he wished he could have avoided this conversation!

He cleared his throat. ‘You will hardly need to hear it affirmed from me. You are as desirable as ever. But I am afraid I have a matter to settle in this regard. Liliana is—’

‘I know what you’re going to say. I’m not stupid, El.’ Rosalia stared at him with her cat-like eyes. Her voice quivered. ‘So, she’s not dead, then.’

‘No.’ He wanted – he had to believe that Sartiria had lied and Liliana was still there.

‘But where is she? Why did you leave her behind if she means so much to you?’

‘Because she … has turned into someone else.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘The powers and thus the soul of an ancient vampiress have taken possession of her.’

‘I can’t say that bothers me all that much.’

Eldric smiled painedly. ‘You must understand that I will do everything in my power to win her back.’

‘Wonderful. You want her, even when she’s possessed.’ Rosalia pushed her lower lip forward. She seemed more fragile than he was used to. ‘What I don’t understand is why we can’t both have you. I can come to terms with having to share you.’

Eldric faltered. He bent down for his coat to gather his thoughts. Rosalia’s affection did not leave him cold, and the offer took him by surprise. She would stoop to sharing him with a human? He hadn’t expected such strong feelings. Her engaging, flirtatious ways simply seemed to be part of her nature. How was he supposed to know that they took on a special meaning when directed at him?

Admittedly, he had been vaguely aware in the moment that drinking Rosalia’s blood wasn’t exactly a smart thing to do. But he had let the demon’s hunger get the better of him. Compared to the devastating consequences of biting Liliana, this was the lesser of two evils by far. Still, he had neither anticipated how strongly she would react upon finding out, nor how much Rosalia would interpret from his lapse.

They hadn’t taken the oath, but Liliana had made it clear that she expected exclusivity – which was a very welcome development. He meant what he had told her in the library about that one special book he never intended to let go of again. He, too, didn’t like the idea of having to see her in someone else’s arms.

Eldric had never bothered to gather friends around his person to be popular, and he didn’t see the point in showing off with romantic conquests like some vampires did. How meaningful could relationships be if they were so easily interchangeable? Maybe he was, deep down, a hopeless romantic, or maybe he found it scary enough to open up to just one person. And Rosalia – as attractive as she might appear – had never really embodied what he was looking for.

He took a deep breath and straightened up. ‘I couldn’t. That simply wouldn’t be me. I don’t want to string you along. I value you, and I don’t want to put our friendship at risk.’

Her eyes glistened like the surface of the pool. ‘You already have!’

He swallowed and returned her gaze. ‘I am sorry. I acted foolishly. But it will be better if we—’

‘Why does it always have to be all or nothing with you?’ She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and glared at him.

He suppressed the urge to take her in his arms. ‘Not least for your sake. You deserve more than I can give you.’

‘What do you hope to gain from this human female?’ She suddenly leaned towards him, as she had done when she’d kissed him, but this time, she hissed through her teeth. ‘Or is it just that? Is it because she’s human? Does the latent danger of your absurd union appeal to you?’

‘What? No!’ Eldric moved his upper body back a little. ‘Only because I went a little too far in that one moment, and—’

‘Or is it because you want to play the hero? Because the poor, defenceless thing needs you?’

‘No, it’s she who—’

‘Or is it a new manifestation of your urge to be different? You always have to stand out, don’t you? One might think you’ve grown tired of being one of us!’

Eldric growled, shook out his coat and slipped into the first sleeve. ‘That is not true! I’m proud to be part of the family.’

‘You think you’re something special, just like Morton! The demonic powers have gone to both your heads. An ordinary love affair wouldn’t be good enough for you!’

He remained silent and slipped into the second sleeve. Rosalia knew him well. Her words chafed at his already battered self-image. He obviously placed more value on her opinion than he had previously thought. Perhaps it was because she noticed things about him that others in his close circle of friends did not. Was her criticism based on honest deductions, or was she trying to offend him because she felt rejected?

‘I didn’t choose a human on purpose. I’m no masochist. Do you think I would have wished for all these difficulties? But it is no use trying to deny the truth. I have realised what those feelings mean, and I will act accordingly.’

‘Blessed be your stubbornness!’

Rosalia turned her back to him on the spot and transformed. Then she took off in such an indignant flurry that her wings would have swept Eldric off his feet had he not dodged. With a deep sigh, he sat down on one of the stones and put on his shoes. That was exactly why he avoided such confrontations when he could. Should he have gone about it more gently? The result would have been the same. Regardless of the approach, it would have remained a painful experience – for both sides.

He stood up and looked out over the rushing, swirling water with his hands buried in his coat pockets. The memory of Liliana swimming in it played itself out without him consciously summoning it. He missed her refreshingly uncomplicated nature, her scent, her soothing touch. What he would give for one night, just one more night …

He extended his wings with the same abruptness as Rosalia before him and launched  himself into the air. If there was a way to bring Liliana back, he would find it.