Night Children: Secrets are only secrets for so long

Night Children: Secrets are only secrets for so long Fourteen: Fireflies

I smiled at her and touched the cold stone, “I will, I promise. Thank you so much.”

Alana now seemed completely pleased, “alright,” she took me to the door and motioned for me to stay with a smirk she exited and shut the door behind her, I could hear her though, “Prince Viktor, Twilight Guardian Griever, I am pleased to introduce the fabulous Evanangelique Cross.” With that she opened the door.

“Holy shit!” Viktor said gawking at me, Griever looked pretty surprised himself. “I can’t believe I thought you were a guy. How the hell did you pull off looking like a guy?”

I blushed and looked down at myself, the white dress fit me perfectly, the shoes fit like a charm, the laces ran up my now smooth legs. My legs still had stitches in points where the wolves had bitten into my flesh and ripped muscle, scraped bone. Whatever the healers had done though made me feel weightless, like I hadn’t been injured in the first place.

“What can I say, you are so damn into yourself it wasn’t difficult,” I said with a smirk, and my voice lowered to my ‘mans’ voice.

“That is fucking creepy. Don’t ever do that again.” Viktor said looking slightly disturbed. Griever and Alana both laughed, whether the comment or Viktor’s reaction to it I wasn’t sure. It felt good to be with them, it was like we all fit together, like there hadn’t been a time where we hadn’t been together, this was how it should be.

“Evanangelique?” Griever said tentatively, he and Viktor shared a glance and a shadow came over the room. “We think it is time to say goodbye to your mother… are…are you ready?”

Suddenly the shadow engulfed me, but I stood tall like I was to march to battle, in all actuality I would rather have been going into battle than this. Anything would be better than this, since my words failed me I simply nodded.

I assumed Xavier wasn’t around because the night had fallen, and he had no ties with my mother, I was happy he wasn’t here. I didn’t know him, but still, I didn’t like him. We walked to the end of the east wing and there was a casket on the shoulders of six Night Children formally dressed. This wasn’t how things were done in their world. Viktor and Griever had done this for me. I seen it, and knew only Horace could have made such a wonder, carvings all over it, beautiful ones etched into the cherry wood. I took a breath but it came in sobs Viktor pulled me into his chest, and it was like it had always been that way. Whether I was Evan or Evanangelique, he had always been the one I shared everything with, who had comforted me, and I him. It didn’t change because I was a girl.

“Where are we going to do this sir?” There were two Night Children with shovels.

“I know the place,” I said now that my sobs had stopped for a moment. Viktor, Griever, and Alana followed me, the men with the casket behind them, as I lead them through the secret exit and out into the woods.

“The meadow?” Viktor asked before we had even arrived, I nodded, fireflies lit the way. I recalled a story that my mother had told me, how the fireflies lit the way for a little lost girl only to find out that everything she knew had been destroyed, but there were fireflies everywhere, it was what all the villagers had become when they died. Little lights to say goodbye to the girl who had lost everything. It seemed rather fitting.

As we came through Viktor stopped and bent down, “who the heck has been digging here?”

“I have,” I responded walking further into the meadow.

“Burying corpses?”

“The ones from your room,” I said turning to face him. “I wasn’t going to throw another human female into a mass grave. The Blood Brigade took them from their homes, killed their families. You-you took their last breaths. I was not going to have them also have the indecency of having their corpses disposed in such a discussing manner.”

“I’m sorry?”

“No you aren’t.”

“Well…”

“You don’t understand Viktor! You are immortal. I’m not! I could have been one of those girls Viktor! If the Blood Brigade had taken me later, I could have been locked in that dungeon! I could have been dragged up the stairs. I could have been just a ‘treat’ for you!” I cried out, “you will never understand how frail life is because to you it isn’t. Humans could loose their lives at any moment,” I lost it, became a sobbing wreck my weak legs failed me and Viktor caught me in his arms, I was too exhausted to fight. Instead I wept in his arms as the other men dug the hole that would hold my mother.

They buried her. I didn’t hold back, I wept, Viktor joked that I was getting snot on his shirt, I punched him which caused me more damage than him, but I smiled a little. Viktor, Griever, Alana and I walked back to the castle together, the dawn was coming, it would be a new day. A new life. I was scared and excited for what was to come.

We decided to relax in Viktor’s room, only he had a red haired vixen in his room in the most stunning, sultry dress I’d ever seen in my life. “Lady Arista, what a surprise,” Viktor said actually sounding surprised.

“How about you and I have a little chat,” she said her voice sounded like a Night Child’s when it was getting ready to attack it’s prey, something people couldn’t disobey.

“Sure,” Viktor dolled out the word as if he couldn’t help it.

“Viktor,” I said sternly grabbing his jacket, I wasn’t jealous. Really.

Okay a little.

“You can’t be with out your guardians.”

“I don’t have a choice,” he whispered, “all of you out.”

And to our prince, we had no choice but to obey.