The Vampire Nightmare

Chapter 4

Six hundred years.

The words echoed inside my head like a broken record.

I stared at Cassian, waiting for him to laugh, to tell me Darius was lying.

He didn't.

He simply looked at me with those haunting crimson eyes.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly.

"You should never have been dragged into this."

I took a step back.

"No."

My voice trembled.

"No, this can't be happening."

Lily grabbed my hand.

"Aria, let's leave. Right now."

For once, I agreed.

Nothing about this made sense.

Vampires didn't exist.

Magic didn't exist.

People couldn't live for six hundred years.

I turned to run.

A wall of black flames erupted in front of us.

I stumbled backward with a scream.

The fire burned without heat, stretching across the courtyard and trapping us inside.

Students pounded against the invisible barrier surrounding the campus, but they couldn't get through.

Neither could the police officers who had just arrived outside the gates.

"What is that?" I whispered.

"A shadow barrier," Cassian answered.

"Darius doesn't want anyone interfering."

Darius smiled.

"I only need a few minutes."

"For what?"

"To take back what belongs to me."

His eyes settled on me.

My blood ran cold.

"I don't belong to you."

"No."

"You belong to the Blood Crown."

The name stirred something deep inside me.

A sharp pain shot through my head.

Images flashed before my eyes.

A silver crown.

A burning throne.

A battlefield beneath a crimson moon.

I gasped and nearly fell.

Cassian caught me before I hit the ground.

"Easy."

The moment he touched me...

The pain eased.

I looked up at him.

"Why does this keep happening?"

His expression filled with guilt.

"Because your memories are trying to return."

"I don't have memories like that!"

"You do."

"You've just forgotten them."

"I don't understand."

"I know."

Before he could explain further, Darius raised his hand.

The shadows around him twisted into the shape of enormous wolves with glowing red eyes.

They snarled, revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth.

Lily screamed.

"What are those things?"

"Shadow Beasts," Cassian said.

"Stay behind me."

The creatures charged.

Cassian met them head-on.

He moved with impossible speed, striking the first beast before it reached us.

It dissolved into black smoke.

Another leaped toward him.

He caught it in midair and threw it across the courtyard, where it exploded against a stone fountain.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

He wasn't just fighting.

He was protecting me.

One beast slipped past him.

It raced straight toward Lily.

"Lily!" I shouted.

Without thinking, I threw myself in front of her.

The creature lunged.

Its claws were inches from my face.

Then...

Time stopped.

Everything became silent.

A brilliant silver light burst from my chest.

The beast froze in midair before being blasted across the courtyard by an invisible force.

The shockwave shattered every window in the Humanities Building.

Silence followed.

The light faded.

I stared at my hands.

"What... was that?"

Darius's smile widened.

"There it is."

"The Queen's power."

Cassian's expression changed instantly.

"No..."

He looked at me with equal parts hope and fear.

"It's awakening too soon."

The ground suddenly shook.

A deep rumble echoed beneath the campus.

Cracks spread across the pavement.

Students screamed again.

From the largest c***k, a strange silver feather drifted into the air.

It floated gently toward me.

Everyone watched in stunned silence as it landed in the palm of my hand.

The moment my fingers touched it, a voice whispered inside my mind.

"Find me before the eclipse..."

Then the feather crumbled into silver dust.

Before I could ask what it meant, the sky above Raven Hollow darkened.

Even though it was the middle of the morning...

The moon appeared overhead.

And for the first time in my life...

It began to turn red.