When Briony opened her eyes, she could

  feel strong hands pul ing her up from the floor. A large figure loomed above her, and inwardly, Briony screamed. Marcus was back. He was here to take more of her blood, here to torment her, here to-

  “Briony? Briony, can you hear me?” The

  figure sighed. “Honestly, dragon, I should never have let you talk me into this. My father’s stupid human daughter wil be the death of us both.”

  The figure resolved itself into the armored form of Prince Vigor. And besides him was Archer, looking down at Briony with obvious worry. He bowed as he saw Briony look at him.

  “My Princess.” He knelt to examine Briony’s neck, where the wound from Marcus’ fangs lay. “Are you hurt badly?”

  “More importantly, can you carry your own weight?” Vigor demanded. “I’m not about to have to carry you al the way back to the palace while fighting off al the creatures the vampires have let loose one-handed.”

  Briony groaned. That was Vigor, al right. A more important thought popped into her head. “Did Marcus get the scepter? Has he already opened the gates?”

  “Scepter?” Archer said.

  Vigor looked down at her. “She’s babbling.”

  “I am not! Marcus wants the scepter to open the gates, and he was going to… he was going to…”

  “You’re safe now,” Vigor said, and it was almost as unexpected as anything there. “Are you sure Marcus wants the scepter?”

  “Yes,” Briony said. “He wants it to open the gates.”

  “You said that.”

  “He wants to join up with al the vampires in the mortal world,” Briony said. “He said they could take over Palisor, then go back to take the world.”

  Kneeling next to her, Archer shook his head.

  “He’s mad. The scepter is safe with King Waltham, Briony. Even if Marcus got it, it would never choose to stay.”

  “Choose?” Briony echoed. “The scepter’s alive?”

  “It holds the essences of our ancestors,”

  Vigor snapped. “Of course it’s alive.”

  “Alive enough to destroy anyone who tries to possess it when it doesn’t want to be,” Archer said with a reproachful look to the Prince. “Alive enough to go missing rather than be used for evil.”

  Which would make it total y useless when it came to plans for world domination, Briony guessed.

  “Do the vampires know that? Because they sure seem set on getting their hands on it.”

  Vigor gave her another contemptuous look.

  “If I real y thought that the scepter was in danger, do you think I would be here trying to save you rather than protecting it?”

  Briony matched his look with one of her own. “I never asked to be saved, Vigor.”

  “Because you were doing such a wonderful job of escaping alone. What was your plan? Sleep until they forgot about you and went away?”

  “Why are you even here?”

  “Sophie and your dragon insisted.” Vigor said. “Wel , mostly Sophie.”

  Briony couldn’t help noticing a little more softness in the Prince’s voice as he said Aunt Sophie’s name. Aw, Vigor had a crush!

  “She insisted I go after you on the dragon, while she fought off the remaining vampires at the castle. It seemed a foolish plan, but she would not stop until I agreed. Now, are we going to get back to her, or are we going to wait around for the vampires to show up?”

  Archer extended a hand. “Vigor is right, my princess. We need to go. Marcus has made things very dangerous.”

  “More dangerous than they were anyway?”

  Briony said with a shudder.

  Vigor nodded. “He has let loose some of the vilest creatures kept in this kingdom. Creatures my… our father should have cast out, but did not wish to inflict on the mortal realm. The vampires attacking the towers released them from the lower reaches.

  Though they are few, they are strong. We real y must go now. Can you stand?”

  But it was too late. Footsteps sounded and the door to the room swung open. Marcus stepped inside. He had a sword in one hand, while the other held what appeared to be a severed head by the hair.

  Briony fought the urge to throw up. Was it some vampire who had angered him? No, that didn’t work.

  Vampires didn’t leave remains.

  As Marcus held the head up, Briony recognized it as that of King Waltham’s physician, Malwinn.

  “I see you’ve managed to lure out two of Waltham’s most loyal men,” Marcus said, as though he weren’t doing anything out of the ordinary.

  “Excel ent. And what I had hoped. Even if you do not know where the scepter is, human girl, you have brought me two who wil .” He tossed Malwinn’s head down before Briony, making her wince. “You should know we have found a way to communicate with the vampires from your world. Now, where is that toy I took from our headless friend?”

  With his now free hand, he pul ed out a smal bal of glass, holding it up. It swirled with colors for a moment, before showing a greenish-blue dragon flying through the air. First he was in Palisor, then he was flying through a mist, and final y, the dragon was over a green pasture with a brook and trees.

  “Wicked Woods!” Briony guessed.

  Marcus nodded. “Exactly. Waltham’s

  personal dragon volunteered to go through the gates for us. He was persuaded, of course. He couldn’t stand to see his beloved king kil ed. And that is what would happen if Waltham came out of hiding.”

  “Why would he do that?” Briony demanded.

  Marcus reached out with his sword, the very tip of it touching Briony’s hair.

  “For you, of course. Oh, and his other heir now, as wel . It was obvious to Waltham’s dragon that the idiot king would come to me, and I would kil him, and then I would take the scepter.” Marcus moved the sword slightly, and a lock of Briony’s hair fel to the ground. “But as I pointed out to the dragon, if it would simply open one or two gates for me, I would not need to do any of that. It was very loyal to its master. And now, access to your home is easy.”

  Briony gasped. “No. Please. This is wrong”

  Marcus smiled, his sword dipping to hover just over Briony’s heart. “Haven’t you learnt yet?

  ‘Wrong’ is an idea for the weak. You bleat it so that the strong wil not take what they want from you. It means nothing.”

  Briony shook her head. “I don’t believe that.”

  “Of course you do not,” Marcus said. “You have not seen what I have seen. You have not seen the way people are, making the same mistakes again and again. You have not had to fight for everything you ever had. You have not built up your power over centuries, doing whatever was necessary to ensure your survival.”

  “I would never do what you do,” Briony assured the vampire.

  “Which is why you wil always stay weak.

  And look at the Hugtandalfer people. They have lived in peace, with their foolish notions of right and good, for so long that they have forgotten how to fight. They have become sheep. Easily led, easily scared,” he nodded at the head on the carpet, “and easily cul ed.

  Only a few of them have the strength to protect them, and those wil never be enough.”

  Briony bit back her anger at that, barely.

  “You should be grateful that I’m not stronger than you.”

  “Final y,” Marcus said, “the truth. What would you do if you were stronger than me, girl. Would you keep me as a prisoner? Would you make me suffer?”

  “I would kil you.” Briony said it simply. She had never been as certain of something as she was of this.

  Marcus laughed. “Good. We might get you to learn the proper way of things yet. Now, though, I need these young men to tel me where the scepter is.”

  Fear washed over Briony, sudden and al

  consuming. She knew it wasn’t natural.

  “How should I do it?” Marcus asked.

  “Should I hurt you in front of them until they give me what I want? Should I drink more of your blood?”

  “Please don’t,” Briony found herself begging. She couldn’t help it.

  Marcus shook his head. “Shush, human. I see a simpler way of going about this.” He hefted the sword he held, looking from Archer to Vigor. “Now, let us not say that I am not fair. I wil give the two of you a chance. The first one of you to speak gets to live. I can’t be more generous than that. Be quick though.

  You wouldn’t want to end up like our headless friend here, would you?”

  Chapter 14

  Fal on ran, the trees whipping past as he dodged between them, glancing back over his shoulder every few seconds with the fear of someone who knew what might be coming after him. He was sure that he had gotten away cleanly from the last master vampire he had visited, but it would be just like them to let him think that, right up until the moment when they struck. If someone had recognized him, or if one of them realized that they had let him know too much…

  Fal on shook his head and kept running, sprinting so fast that the forest was little more than a blur around him. He could have jumped, could have flown, but they would be watching for that. Here beneath the canopy of trees, he at least had the ability to stay out of sight while he raced to deliver his warning.

  It shouldn’t have been like this. He had gone to the other master vampires solely with the intention of learning more about the place Briony had gone to, this “Palisor”. It had seemed so obvious that one of them would know something, and so long as none of them had learnt about his shunning, it would be simple to get close to them.

  So Fal on had done it. One by one, he had sought out the new vampires in the area and worked his way close enough to them to learn hints of things.

  He had put up with suspicion from vampires strong enough to have ripped out his heart had they wanted to do it, run errands for creatures so old that the sheer weight of years had driven them to the brink of sanity, and drank blood alongside the worst of them.

  Anything he’d had to do, Fal on had done, hiding his disgust as best he could. He had played the good little vampire so that he could listen, and learn, and hopeful y find a way back to Briony. At every step, Fal on had kept her face in his mind, reminding himself that the dangers were worth it, that anything that got him close enough to learn about accessing Palisor was worth it.

  Except that wasn’t what Fal on had learned.

  Al his sneaking around had not earned him a single hint about the other world. He had learned something far worse instead. Now Fal on just had to hope that he could get back to Wicked in time to warn people.

  Fal on ran on, hoping he was going the right way. Kevin would know, of course. Kevin always seemed to know that kind of thing. Just like Kevin seemed to be able to say the right thing to Briony, do the right thing around her. Sometimes, it wasn’t just the fact that he was a werewolf that made Fal on hate him.

  Yet Fal on knew he would need him.

  Apparently, only shifters could get past the gate without a dragon or Hugtandalfer royal to act as key, so even if Fal on were able to find the gate, he wouldn’t be able to go after Briony. Kevin could. And Fal on wasn’t about to sacrifice Briony’s safety just because he would have vastly preferred to be the one helping her himself.

  That, though, was a problem for another time. For now, he had to get back, to warn people about what was coming. And that meant finding his way back. Deciding to risk a smal jump to get some sense of direction, Fal on hopped up between the trees, looking out over the green expanse of forest canopy, his better than human eyes picking out the distant glimmer of windows and houses. That way then.

  Then his eyes picked out something else. It was no more than a greenish-blue blot against the sky at first, but the color and the size made Fal on take a second look, landing on the nearest of the treetops so that he could look out. He stood there for almost a minute as the blot grew closer, growing in detail as it did so until Fal on could final y make out…

  A dragon. It was massive compared to Archer, its scales green on its upper parts and blue beneath. It flew with calm beats of wings bigger than a bus, gliding for long stretches between each magnificent stroke. It was the sort of creature that they wrote stories about, only Fal on couldn’t imagine any knight or hero defeating something like that. It looked like it could have burnt whole cities if it wanted to, yet al it was doing was flying. Perfectly, beautiful y flying.

  A dragon meant a gate. It wouldn’t stay in this world. Even Archer had only done that in order to find Briony. So somewhere, there was a way home for it. And that way home meant that, just for a little while, Fal on and Kevin would have a chance of getting Briony back where she should be.

  Except that Fal on had a warning to deliver.

  He had to get back. Had to tel people what was coming, before it did. Could he afford to take the time to go running after a dragon, when there were potential y so many lives at stake?

  Could he afford to ignore it, though? When would he just happen on another dragon? And without a dragon, how would he ever find the gate to this

  ‘Palisor’? Hadn’t Briony’s Aunt Sophie and Pietre spent decades looking for a way in? Could he real y afford to squander a once in a human lifetime chance like that?

  Couldn’t his warning wait? Fal on knew that people had to hear what he had to say, but did it make a difference whether they heard it ten minutes from now, or a couple of hours, once he’d had a chance to fol ow the creature flying above?

  And retreating rapidly. The dragon was on a new course now, and it was heading away from Fal on as quickly as it had come. Looking up, Fal on knew that he had only seconds to make his decision. Did he fol ow it or didn’t he? Did he warn the people of Wicked, and risk losing Briony forever, or did he go after the dragon, and risk everything that might fol ow from that?

  There was no decision to make. Fal on

  couldn’t lose Briony. He simply couldn’t.

  Fal on set off, bounding over the trees, not caring now that it might expose him to the eyes of watching vampires, knowing that it was the only way to keep up with the creature ahead of him. He flew with smooth grace now, barely touching the treetops as he skipped between them, keeping his eyes firmly fixed on the dragon.

  What would happen if it spotted him?

  Archer had been far from friendly. In fact, Fal on got the impression that the only reason the dragon hadn’t tried to kil him was because Briony had vouched for him. This one didn’t know Fal on, so if it noticed his presence, it seemed likely that it would turn and bring flames to bear on him, burning him the way Archer had burned so many of Pietre’s.

  Yet what could Fal on do? Give up and hide? Fal on couldn’t do that. He had to keep going.

  Keep fol owing. Keep hoping that the dragon would lead him to the gate, and let him dare to hope that he might see Briony again soon. Fal on leaped to another branch, feeling it give under him and leaping again before it could snap, al without ever taking his eyes off the dragon.

  He made leap after leap, pushing his body to the edge of what it could do. Had Fal on not been a vampire, had he not acquired the ability to leap through the air in this almost flight, he would never have kept up with this dragon. Its wings only seemed to cut through the air in lazy arcs, yet it sped away with monstrous speed. Fal on forced himself to go faster.

  There would be a price for this later. The hunger that was always there in the background was beginning to rise through Fal on as his body burned fuel at a furious pace. He would need blood when he was done with this, which in a forest probably meant finding some woodland creature and feeding on it.

  Some helpless rabbit or deer would die for this, but that was far better than feeding the way most vampires did. And if it meant that he could get Briony back, it was more than worth it.

  Fal on flew on, and on. Branches whipped past him with every step. He ignored them. The wind whistled around him as he flew. He cut through it.

  Fal on refused to let his body slow down, despite the sheer effort it was taking to keep it moving so quickly.

  Would it have been easier if he had been an older vampire? While talking with the newly arrived vampires, Fal on had seen some phenomenal displays of power, but always mixed with such cruelty that Fal on had simply been disgusted by them. Yet now, for the first time, Fal on found himself wishing that he were a hundred years old, two hundred. Anything that would give him the power to keep up the pace in this chase.

  Fal on was fal ing behind, and he knew it.

  The ground was getting higher, and every leap was taking more and more effort. Fal on wasn’t sure that he had anything more to give. He wanted to.

  He needed to, but his body simply refused to respond the way he wanted it to. Each jump he made now was slightly slower than the last one. Each one carried him slightly less far. And with each one, the gap to the dragon increased slightly, until it was just a dot on the horizon.

  And then it wasn’t even that. Fal on landed between trees, leapt again, and it was gone. He landed with a crash, too exhausted by now to land with any grace, looking out in the direction that the dragon had been travel ing in. Fal on forced himself to make one more jump, but it was no use. The dragon was gone. He couldn’t catch it now. He could barely even stand now.

  Where was he? If he could work out exactly where he was, perhaps Fal on could stil find his way back to Wicked to deliver his warning. But no, he had known in his heart of hearts that this was a choice. He couldn’t both go after the dragon and get back to Wicked. He had made that choice. And now, because Fal on had been too weak, too slow, he had nothing.