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Chapter One
Darius Fischer
Carpathian Mountains, 1461 AD
“When the sun is down and the moon is high, the red eyed night walkers will come by. Then, you will wish for a death that will never arrive.”
Darius Fischer pressed his coiled body against one of the four corners of his home while cradling his sister, Karina, in his arms. He tried soothing her by humming songs from their childhood into her ears - songs their parents had once sung to them. He hoped his voice would drown out the bone chilling screams of the villagers who burned just outside their cabin. The last thing he wanted was for Karina to hear the horrors of the massacre taking place around them.
Soon we’ll be dead and with our parents again,he thought. Knowing there was no chance they would survive the night, he was ready to accept the fate that awaited them once the night walkers found their hiding spot.
Darius cursed himself for not ever heeding the warnings that crept into his village from those who lived up north. Warnings that spoke of red eyed night walkers approaching from the north, inflicting death without mercy.
Or worse.
A chill swept over Darius’ body. Villagers spoke of a fate much worse than death. A fate where one became a bloodthirsty night walker, cursed to walk the night for all eternity.
Darius wished he had taken those warnings seriously. Alas, he did not. No one did.
And now they were all paying for it.
The red eyed night walkers were very real, and tonight they were attacking their village.
Darius brushed his fingers through Karina’s hair, her body shivering uncontrollably in his arms.
The fires outside, which illuminated the entire village, finally reached their hut - the crackling light creating haunting shadows against their furniture.
“I’m so scared,” Karina wrapped her arms around her brother. “I wish mother and father were here.”
Wishing the same as she did, Darius pressed his cheek against her golden locks. Unfortunately, a plague ripped their parents from them a few winters ago.
Darius believed his parents were lucky - a plague having saved them from whatever fate would’ve awaited them if they were to encounter a night walker. Their parents were saved from the horrible fate that Darius and Karina were soon to endure.
Darius brushed back Karina’s hair and pressed a soft kiss against her forehead. “We’re going to be fine,” he lied.
Karina had been sheltered for far too long - women much younger than her had already been married off to men from down south - because Darius refused to part from her. She was all he had left after they lost their parents, and he wasn’t ready to lose her too.
Last summer a man from somewhere south of their village asked Darius for Karina’s hand in marriage. Darius refused the offer. He wasn’t yet ready to see the only surviving member of his family leave him.
If only he had accepted that man’s proposal for her. If he had, Karina would be safely living somewhere far from here, ignorant of the horrors this night brought on.
But Darius had been selfish, not wanting her to leave.
Because of his selfishness, she would be forced to suffer tonight.
If I live to see another day, I’ll never be selfish again,he vowed to himself just as their front door burst open, three sets of ghostly red eyes looking down at them.
One man towered over the other two, his demeanor exuding with pride. His pale hair nearly matched the pallid color of his skin. When he prowled toward them, Darius knew their end was near. “Take your time with me if you need to, just make it fast for her,” Darius begged the pale faced demon.
The night walker, now hovering over them, smirked. “We have no plans to kill either of you.” There was a prolonged silence, as if he was waiting for Darius to speak. Darius never did. He had nothing to say. “Where are my manners? Let me introduce myself. I am Artem - the one you may pledge fealty to for the rest of your existence if you choose to live.”
Cursed to roam the night for eternity? Darius spat at the man’s feet. “Never.”
Artem bent down, gripping Karina’s chin with his slender fingers, forcing her trembling face to look up at him. “Yes, you two will do just fine.”
Seeing how near this night walker was to his sister, Darius was unable to control his anger. He released Karina from his hold and lurched forward as if on instinct, hatred coursing through him.
Without taking his eyes off Karina, Artem whipped out his free arm, smacking Darius square in the face, sending him flying across the room until he collided with their lone cot.
