The Stars are Dying : (Nytefall: Book 1)

Heaviness weighed on me when I awoke. My eyes stung against the bright light spilling into the room, triggering the throb of my head. I forced myself up on my hands, taking a few seconds against the dizziness that threatened to sink me back down.

Not today, I thought. Please, not today.

I groaned through a hoarse throat at the sickness that had crept over me during the night. I twisted to Hektor, but my body turned cold at the discovery his side was empty. I blinked, pulling back the sheets and swinging my legs out of bed, shivering violently when my bare feet pressed to the freezing marble floor. As I reached for a long cotton robe, I found out why the day shone so bright, as beyond the glass lay a sparkling white sheet that stole my breath.

Despite my poor state I smiled. The snow was a beauty I looked forward to every year, and it never failed to spark the child in me.

The child I couldn’t remember.

I scanned the ostentatious room, lingering on the nightstands, but there was no note. No indication of how long Hektor had been gone. I had to find out if I’d slept a whole day away as I’d done so before in illness.

Dressing quickly, I opted for a thick blue gown and swung a navy cloak over my shoulders. High stockings for the cold and black boots for the snow. I checked the clock on the mantel that told me midday was approaching. Pushing aside the fog in my mind, I decided I could ask the kitchen staff how long Hektor had been gone.

Pulling on the door handle, I froze in horror. My heart rammed against my chest as I tried again and again and again, until tears filled my eyes and stung my nose. But I didn’t stop rattling the door as if it would somehow unlock with the sheer will of my desperation.

“Milady?” The soft feminine voice broke through my sobbing, and I rested my forehead on the wood. It belonged to Sira, a woman who tended to me sometimes, but the handmaidens never stayed long in Hektor’s employment.

“Please let me out.”

“It’s just a few days, Stray.”

I whimpered at the other voice and the soft nickname he used. “Zath, please.”

“I don’t have a key, or you know I would.”

My nails sank deep crescent moons into my palms. “How long has he been gone?” I tried.

His pause almost slammed my fist to the wood until Sira mumbled quietly, “Two days.”

I cried harder but kept silent, biting my lip until I tasted blood. Why? I had done nothing but sneak out for a moment, and this punishment seemed unjust even for him.

Phantom hands began to crush my throat, and I gasped for breath, backing away from the solid wood and stumbling to the glass doors. I tried them over and over too, but they wouldn’t budge, and I crumpled to the floor, dizzy with sickness and heartache and the shock of my solitary confinement.

I hated him. Though even that emotion brought pain when I didn’t want to think that of him. I wanted out. Needed out.

Permanently.

The thought rushed to me with such clarity I stunned myself. Maybe because I knew the window of opportunity was crawling closer, and maybe because there had always been a part of me waiting for this push. Hektor wouldn’t know he was the one to topple me over the edge when he’d been my only reason to stay. Not through any sadness to leave him, but the fear he’d chase me to the ends of the world before he’d let me go.

As the Selected of Alisus, Cassia would be leaving within the week. Once she did, that window of opportunity would slam shut then disappear. Not only would I have sealed my fate here, but I’d never see Cassia again.

My hands fisted the braids of my hair in my turmoil. I tunneled away in the darkness behind closed lids. A bubble grew inside me so violently it nearly screamed free.

A click smothered the barrel of grief in my chest. I looked up, scared to test what I thought it was, but desperation clumsily got me to my feet. When the handle of the glass balcony door pushed all the way down and the frozen air hit my face, I released a noise of joy. I scanned inside and out, but no one was there. With my first step out onto the pure crystal snow I didn’t care anymore.

“And how do you plan to get down?”

I gasped at the voice. A silvery echo that rang through my mind. I slipped as I twisted and whirled to find the form that never revealed itself. Breathing hard, I debated trying to answer back, but the absurdity of that sealed away my thoughts.

At the snow-covered stone railing, I peered out. The height would most certainly cause a bad injury, perhaps death. “I can climb,” I said aloud, comforting myself at the thought of his voice being my own internal coaxing to get past this hurdle.

The snow added laughter to my reckless decision, but I had no other choice. It had been months—too many—since I’d had a chance to venture beyond the manor, and this was my last opportunity to see her.

“You should be inside, Starlight. You are not well.”

I huffed, swiping a gloved hand over the edge to reveal the flat stone I’d hoisted myself onto. It wobbled immediately, but I didn’t dare look down. “I won’t get another chance.”

In full health I wouldn’t doubt myself as much as I did now. I’d spent many years testing my balance and did not fear heights, but my weakness, paired with the weather I loved, had become my nemesis. I wasn’t confident I could complete the journey down unharmed.

“There’s a ledge covered in snow, but your grip will hold.”

I saw it, listening to the guidance in my mind. My body turned taut. All that kept me from the fatal drop was my toes straining along a window ledge and my fingers curled painfully above me. I shuffled along without letting myself rethink this decision.

“Stop.”

I did, awaiting his next instruction as I glanced down the wall.

“There are four sunken holes, very small, but you can do it.”

The words of confidence didn’t correlate with my body’s response to lock tight. I took a deep breath and slipped one foot off then crouched, wedging it into the gap. My lack of flexibility added to my weak muscle made the lunge down painful. I didn’t overthink until I was down another floor of the manor, my cheek near grazing the frosty stone wall I clung to awkwardly.

“Very good.”

“I don’t need your praise.”

A low chuckle vibrated through me, so real I had to pause, if only to enjoy the last notes of it. I shook my head, looking around for my next move down since the jump was still too high.

My head pounded, and I thought if I tried to look for my next aid I’d lose my grip. I lunged down and shuffled across another window, praying no one would see me before I could clear it. Panting, I thought I was low enough to attempt a jump, but I couldn’t check with the strain it took to hold my position. I began to succumb to panic.

“I can’t do it,” I breathed.

“You don’t really have another choice.”

I wanted to curse at that deep voice of faint amusement. Frustration pricked my eyes as I thought of Hektor and how desperate he’d made me to resort to this.

“Along to your right there’s another ledge. It’s wider.”

The next direction came with a calming caress on my senses I absorbed gratefully, finally finding the will to focus and eyeing the next point. I yanked my foot out of the hole, reaching over…

I didn’t know what slipped first, only that my hold to the wall gave completely, and I was falling too fast to do anything but brace and hope the snow had gathered thickly enough to ease the impact. My eyes squeezed shut.

My fall was broken faster than I anticipated. Not by the cold embrace of snow, but something that infused the air with notes of mint. Arms that held tight, and I wanted to keep floating in them.

The ground firmed under my feet as my eyes snapped open. A gust of wind blew loose strands of silver hair across my vision. Dizziness swept in, and my hand reached out to the wall while my head whirled around.

I was alone.

“Where are you?” I dared to ask, feeling silly when silence answered. I couldn’t be certain the haze of my sickness wasn’t conjuring it all. I huffed a laugh in remembrance. “It’s daytime. I suppose you belong to the night.”

“I never would have told you my name if you were going to get witty with it.”

“It’s not your real name,” I accused. “But I like it.” Too much. Which only added to my growing wonder if he’d been my own delirium all along. Even last night, when all I’d wanted was for someone to see me. Had I really become so pitiful in my loneliness?

My chest contracted with the minor exertion of getting down. The voice was right: I should be inside and was in no state to endure the day. I didn’t care. Shaking off the ripples of company that didn’t exist, I lifted my skirts to begin the trudge through inches of snow.

I smiled. I grinned. And though my body ached and protested, I skipped into the woodland with my eyes watery from the cold or my thrill at running free.

Leaning against a tree, I paused to gather breath. I hated these woods for the eerie darkness that was cast over them even in the brightest of summers. They felt like another realm where nothing cheerful lived and creatures of sin could thrive.

Being surrounded by clusters of thick timber bodies flashed horrors as far back as my living memory went. Had I been running from the soulless, the shadowless, or some other dark creature? Fear creeped over me that one could emerge at any moment. Until Nyte’s voice reminded me of the fool I was. Already caught in the sights of one—him—I chose to be content.

“You have to keep moving.”

I knew this, yet my lungs protested for just a few breaths longer to fill steadily.

A crack triggered a burst of wings, followed by an awful caw from a bird. My muscles turned taut, but I began to stumble toward the town.

“Keep silent.”

My dry lips cracked open to ask why, but I thought better of it. My head couldn’t stop surveying, skin crawling with a sense of foreboding that strained every instinct in my body to go back.

The next form I spied locked my body with fright. I relaxed a fraction at the couple I found. The man held the woman tightly while her back curved, and I nearly looked away from their intimate kiss until I saw the first thing to turn my body ice-cold.

His pointed ears.

There were three types of vampires I knew to exist. Those who fed on souls: the soulless, who could be identified when their form cast no reflection. Those who fed on blood: the shadowless, told apart as their form cast no shadow. And creatures that were the reason people kept doors and windows locked tight after nightfall: the nightcrawlers, winged vampires who could not walk the daytime.

The first rule of survival was to never give a soul vampire your true name. It was how they drained the soul attached to it. Days, months, or years of a human’s life.

The second rule was to never willingly give a nightcrawler a taste, for once you did, you became their obsession, sometimes a lifelong toy whom they would visit after dark—and perhaps it was consensual, but if not, you couldn’t escape their infatuation unless you killed them. Or more likely, they killed you.

I watched the scene before me with horror, trying to back away soundlessly as the vampire detached himself from the woman. I couldn’t bite back my shuddering breath of terror at seeing her body dangling limp in his arms.

He’d taken it all…every decade, year, hour, minute, of that woman’s life.

The soulless locked eyes with me instantly. His skin was partially gray over his neck and along half his face, with eyes of obsidian that could consume the sun. He seemed to be indulging on the life form he took, breathing as if the air were a drug he couldn’t get enough of, and I watched in both twisted fascination and complete stilling fright as the grayness of his skin faded to match the pale complexion of the rest of him.

I tripped back as he let the woman’s body go without care, and my hand lashed over my mouth too late. He took his first step toward me as my ankle caught on something and dread tensed my fall. In my haste, my palm cut on a branch, but before my cry could escape at the sting, a form crouching over me turned it into a gasp.

His eyes weren’t black anymore. A mossy green hue began to flood his irises. Locking onto them stole my fight, and instead I felt the whisperings of my desire to stay conflicting with the repeating nudge to run. He was beautiful. The kind that shouldn’t be natural, further cracking the illusion I was being sucked into.

“Oh, little lamb,” he cooed, and even his voice pulled me into a trance. “Didn’t anyone teach you not to go wandering alone?”

I remained still as his attention fell to my bleeding palm, and he grabbed it. My vocals were silenced in sheer terror, and I watched as he pulled it closer to his face and took a deep, savoring inhale. The air breezed across the wet blood there, and to my complete shock, his tongue lapped over it with slow delight. My stomach heaved and I tried to yank my arm free, but he had an iron grip.

Those ethereal green eyes pinned me, wildly captivated. “I’ve not come across the likes of you in a very long time.”

I tried to reach for my dagger at my thigh, but my layers of clothing made it too difficult. The soulless fixed his hungry gaze on my neck. Was it possible for one vampire to crave both blood and souls? I didn’t think it was beyond reason, but certainly a new horror to discover at the wrong time.

“I was going to entice a name out of you, but you are made of something far more delectable than a soul. It looks like someone has tasted you before,” he said, leaning in closer, and my adrenaline raged fast and hot. “I wonder how they had the restraint to let you live.”

He became transfixed, letting go of my wrist to cup his hand to my neck. His vile body pressed into me harder against the damp ground, and his breath blew hot across my chilled ear.

“Don’t—” I whimpered.

It was hopeless to plead with a merciless creature. All I could do was slip my eyes closed and brace for the pain.

It never came.

Before his teeth could puncture my flesh, he let out a shrill cry that sent a sharp wince through me. Then he was pulled away, and I scrambled to push myself up. Propping myself up on my hands, I faltered at the sight of the soulless on his knees and the sword protruding from his chest.

My sight trailed up to my savior, and the light splitting through the heavy canopy made him appear ethereal. Lengths of dark hair braided tightly and held back from his face. Though he fixed a lethal look on the vampire, his features were beautifully soft against dark skin.

“Get up,” he barked.

That shook some sense into me. Covered in leaves, and with twigs catching on my clothing, I tried to brush myself off as he removed his blade. The soulless fell limp to the ground. My heart was a wild creature threatening to break its cage.

“Thank you,” I said breathily, trying to subdue the nausea rolling through my stomach.

The vampire’s blood added a sheen to the dirt and wilted the winter leaves, so stark I thought it to be black. I watched the man who’d saved me lean down and clean his blade. Only then did my breath catch at the familiarity. The deep purple steel I had only seen the likeness of once before. My hand subconsciously skimmed my thigh, feeling the bulk under my clothing that confirmed my stormstone dagger was still there.

“You mortals run around as if death is a fable,” he grumbled, sheathing his blade and finally straightening to land his full attention on me. When it did, something changed in his expression. It relaxed, turning to an assessment as he trailed deep brown eyes over every inch of my face, and I shifted under his keen interest. “What is your name?” he asked carefully, as if there was one he hoped—or expected—to hear.

I shook my head, mouth floundering, because I didn’t feel comfortable offering that piece of myself so readily to a stranger, soulless or not. His attire consisted of leather wears beneath a deep purple cloak that was clasped at one shoulder. It was somewhat different to what I’d seen around Alisus on my short ventures, with its scaly black texture and the craft of the materials.

“Thank you for saving me,” I said quickly, trying to backstep a few paces when he advanced slowly. “I-I have somewhere to be.”

“I asked you a question.”

The warning in his tone rang through me. I thought to take off running, but within me cried the hopelessness of that decision as I was sure to be caught.

“Please… I just need to get to the town.”

He lunged for me when he was close enough, and all I could do was stand fast as feeble prey in his grip. The man searched my eyes wildly, as though his answer were written all over me, and the harsh lines of his face smoothed out. Then his eyes widened, stunned. I tried to struggle when he slipped a hand into my cloak to take my wrist. Tears gathered in my eyes as he pushed up my sleeve.

His hold slackened when he observed the markings there. I took the opportunity to yank my hand free, bracing to fight him off, but he didn’t reach for me again.

“Forgive me,” he said. His unnerving stare made me feel like a ghost he’d stumbled upon. Then he bowed his head.

I didn’t know how to react to his quick switch of emotion.

“By the stars, Auster will be disappointed he didn’t come with us this time.”

It all made sense then, and I almost relaxed. This man believed I was someone else.

“You’re mistaken. I’m not who you think I am.”

The man looked me over from head to toe. Then he smiled. Warm, and like he’d found some long-lost treasure. I couldn’t reciprocate.

“You have to come with me,” he said, reaching for my arm, but I jerked away. His frown turned to confusion. “You’re not safe out here. Come.”

As he reached for me again, a low voice eased out like the calling of death.

“I don’t think she wants to go with you.”

We both turned, and the man swore, retrieving his stormstone sword. He angled it toward the two soulless who stalked over to us. I couldn’t believe more of them had found us so soon when I’d passed through these woods so many times without seeing a single one.

“You need to run,” the man said under his breath. “I’ll hold them back. Don’t falter no matter what you hear.”

I’d wanted to get away from him, but now the thought of leaving him wreaked havoc within me. I didn’t think I’d be of much use, but I retrieved my dagger, prepared to stay with him. Regardless of his motives with me, he didn’t deserve to die like this.

“Listen to him.”

I shook my head at Nyte’s voice interfering in my mind, sparing a quick look around, but he was nowhere to be seen.

The man’s gaze skimmed the weapon I held, then he hooked a brow as if it added further merit to his observations. I couldn’t focus on that when the cruel smile of the first soulless edged closer.

“I can handle this. You must get to safety. We will find you again,” the man said.

I didn’t want to be found by a stranger again, one who’d decided to stake a claim on me, and my arm faltered holding my dagger. My mind rushed through the many heinous reasons he could want me, making running seem like the best option.

“Bold of you to venture on this side,” the soulless drawled. “You could advance many in our army. Both of you.”

“Run—now!”

I didn’t contemplate this time. As the man lunged toward the vampires with impossible speed, I ran. My feet stumbled, and I cursed desperately when the snow slipped my footing, branches catching on my ankles and clothing. Every step felt too slow, but I didn’t stop.

A loud cry I distinguished as my savior’s rang in the distance, and I whimpered. Guilt swam in my stomach, exertion torched my chest, and I thought they would catch me at any second to kill me the next. I hadn’t even learned his name, and if he’d given his life for me, I would forever be plagued by this cowardly retreat.

“You’re almost there. Keep going.”

Nyte’s voice came soft this time, a gentle comfort. Tears streamed over my cheeks, and then I wanted that man to find me as he’d promised, if only to confirm he’d triumphed against the soulless. But it was two against one, and my mind replayed that final cry as his downfall.

I broke through the tree line, immediately doubling over on my knees. I heaved and spluttered, but there was nothing to bring up, and it only stabbed through me.

“You must keep moving. Where are you going?”

Nyte’s question gave me some ground to stand on. I couldn’t waste the precious time I had and risk the soulless catching up to me.

“The Keep,” I answered, glancing skyward to estimate the time as I’d been taught by my friend. But time was becoming a mystery of its own with the nights growing longer each year.

I pulled up my hood as I edged toward the town. The clamor always jostled me, and I stilled. Sounds like wheels and hooves clamoring over stone, the bustling traffic of bodies I could wedge myself between. Every time I came here, months apart, I remembered all over again another reason I resented Hektor’s tight leash and why I’d always asked to accompany him on his trips away. I didn’t want my heart to race at the mere thought of being here. I hated the cowardice that rose in me, overwhelmed by the confrontation of civilization. Crowds I feared being trampled by, getting lost in, or which would prevent me from breathing.

I almost eased back a step until I gasped at the force that formed to stop me. “You’re not real,” I muttered.

I didn’t turn around. I didn’t want to be right.

Hands trailed up my arms over my cloak, fingers squeezed lightly, and I wanted to melt in the assurance no matter who it came from.

“I am whatever you want me to be.” Nyte spoke aloud, his gravelly tone racing over my skin. “And right now, you do not want to turn back.”

I nodded. More than anything I wanted to push forward. His cloak of safety allowed a surge of defiance to break over me. The darkness, the night. It followed me even now, and I grasped confidence from the stars.

Sheathing my blade back at my thigh, I forced myself onto the streets that had become a dangerous mix of slush and ice with the footfall. I trod carefully, but I didn’t anticipate how busy the town would be at this hour. Blurs of color, flashes of fabric and coin and faces, made my head spin. I bumped into people twice my height then half of me, apologizing but receiving nothing except disgruntled looks in return. I breathed through the growing hysteria of being smothered by bodies, touched by strangers.

“Take the next left.”

I curved into the quieter alley, not slowing, but breathing the air no longer tainted with odor and heat greedily. At the end of the alley, I could see the large building crafted of the most pristine white stone and glass.

Alisus Keep.

This was where the reigning lord lived with his wife, five children, and many noble houses of the kingdom. The eldest of the ruler’s daughters, like me, harbored a soul for wandering. Sometime four years ago began the warm notion we were bonded somehow. How else would we have crossed unlikely paths the first time curiosity made me leave the manor?

I tentatively stepped back onto the open streets, glad I was out of the bustling chaos of the trading port. My skin was slick though I shivered with the cold. The contrasting temperatures advanced my exhaustion. Each step added a new phantom pebble to the weight in my boots, and I didn’t know if I would make it.

When I saw the large black iron gates, I stopped in an underpass to plan, pressing my back to the stone and slipping my eyes shut in an attempt to subdue the fainting spell that peppered my vision. Not here. Not where I was completely vulnerable and alone.

“What is your plan now?”

I couldn’t open my eyes to see if Nyte would be there in real form. Instead those piercing golden irises found me in the confines of my mind.

“I could think if you would leave,” I muttered breathily.

“You can hardly stand.”

My body turned rigid with alarm, lids snapping open when his voice echoed down the tunnel rather than in my thoughts. I couldn’t see him—not fully. He kept to a shadowy dip and blended in seamlessly as if he hadn’t spoken.

“Is any of this real?” I asked, though I became afraid of the answer.

“What would make this real? A sound?” He spoke so slowly, smooth like icy smoke. “A touch?” Then a lick of wind blew behind my ear and down my spine, its caress heading in a deliberate direction. “A scent?” Notes of mint filled my nostrils in my next deep breath. “A taste?” I thought I felt a tingling pressure on my lips, and I gasped.

I stepped away with the flush of my body.

“You made your point,” I said, breathless as I didn’t truly believe it, but I needed a distraction from him. “I’m going to ask to see the reigning lord.”

“I’m sure they’ll send out a carriage for you to save the long walk on foot.”

“If you’re not going to be helpful, you can damn well leave me alone.”

“I can’t,” he answered with a soft gravel. His deep inhale devoured my scent, his mouth so close to my ear I should have been fearful. Logic screamed I shouldn’t be this comfortable with his closeness, but I was so confused and caved to being a lamb in the clutches of a predator if that was what this was. Something about him was additive, though not in the way of the soulless who’d tried to trap me as his willing victim. I couldn’t explain the difference. I only knew my will right now remained mine, and falling for Nyte’s allurement was entirely my own cloud of foolishness.

My breath whooshed from me when, contrary to his words, his faint impression drifted away completely on the next gust of winter wind. I turned and the cage of my chest rattled when a man and woman with linked arms stepped into the underpass. I blinked my surprise away to study the people’s wears. Fine furs and impeccably groomed hair on both heads. Paired with their poise, I concluded our destinations to be the same.

“Are you heading into the Keep?” I blurted before they stepped into the daylight.

They startled, eyes roaming over me as though trying to determine if I was worth a response at all. Their scrutiny made me shift my weight, and I refrained from examining myself through their eyes. Hektor had a taste for the finest things; I had nothing to be concerned about there.

“Indeed we are,” the man said at last.

“Might I join you?”

The woman’s eyes narrowed a fraction. My shoulders didn’t relax until she eased a small smile.

“Has your escort abandoned you, dear?”

I didn’t get to answer before her hand stretched out, releasing her partner to link arms with me.

“I understand you must feel embarrassed to be seen walking in alone.”

That was not my concern. Though it seemed good enough for her, so I nodded, plastering on a sad smile. Unexpectedly her palm touched my cheek, and I flinched. Her arm retracted as if my reaction had frightened her.

We stared at each other, and I couldn’t fully decipher what crinkled her brow and had her scanning my face then my body again, but my stomach churned, and suddenly I wanted to abandon this plan. Her mournful expression stirred within me a desire to protest and deny whatever it was that looked like pity in her eyes.

“Come, dear,” she said softly.

When our steps moved, I remembered to stay focused. This woman meant nothing to me, and I would never see her again once I made it inside with an excuse to part.

The guards outside the Keep didn’t question them after inspecting the man. I didn’t know who I’d linked arms with, but they had to be of a high family name to be granted such unfaltering acceptance. I’d always had to be in Cassia’s company to make it this far. The eldest daughter of the reigning lord, she despised these surroundings as much as I did mine, and the familiar jittering nerves of confinement threatened to surface. It was why we preferred to spend time away from both, high up on the hills overlooking the main city.

“Halt.”

I froze and the woman guiding me jumped with fright when a strong voice intercepted us halfway down the entrance hall.

“What can I do for you, guard?” The man stepped forward, defensive.

My eyes landed on the guard, my blood racing at his tall form and hard expression around pine-green eyes. They studied me, calculating. He was very handsome with his brown locks combed back neatly, though a thick strand rebelled to curve over one temple.

“Name?” he asked me directly.

I swallowed hard. “Dallia Omarté.”

His chin lifted faintly in approval. “You are far from your quarters of the Keep. Might I escort you there?”

I relaxed, giving the woman who’d helped me past the gates an assuring squeeze to let me go. “Thank you,” I whispered to her.

She gave a smile, though I could see the confusion on her face, and sweat began to form under my layers. I looked to the guard, giving a nod for us to leave before the echo at my back raised the hairs on my nape.

“I thought their daughter had left for Helvisar in the fall…”

The hand on my back jolted me to keep pressing forward despite my nerves.

“She did,” the guard muttered, leaning close to my ear. “And you’re lucky no one is going to listen to her rambles, Astraea.”