AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My heart skipped a beat as I processed the description. I’d noticed the figure at the soccer game but dismissed it as a hallucination. This wasn’t a ghoul.
It was a vrykolakas.
Shit.
In that instant, I knew who was responsible for the death of Charles Diamond and he was headed straight for my door.
Of all the worst possible times to find me.
I hurried across the bridge to intercept him. His face could pass for human. His complexion was ruddy, and his eyes were the color of stormy skies. His red hair burned bright in the autumn sunlight. Although his body would look strange to regular people, they’d pass it off as a deformity that they were too polite to acknowledge. I swore that manners were half the reason supernaturals were able to thrive in a human world.
The moment he saw me, his eyes widened. He dropped to one knee and bent his head in reverence. “My lady of light and dark. What a blessing to have finally found you.”
I groaned. “Yes, such a blessing. Rise.” I waited until he was back on his feet to ask my burning question. “Howdidyou find me?”
“You called to me like a song in the wind,” he said rapturously.
Oh, boy. It had been quite some time since I had to deal with an acolyte. London was populated enough that my essence was obscured by the millions of others in the city, which meant acolytes couldn’t easily sniff me out. Not so much in Fairhaven. I knew it was a risk to move somewhere small, but there were risks inherent in every decision I made.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
He stared at me with unbridled adoration. “Ariston at your service, my queen.”
“Please don’t call me that.” I looked around to make sure my ghostly neighbors weren’t within earshot. “Ariston, I have a question for you, and I need you to be honest with me.”
“I could never be anything else,” he crooned.
Technically, he was right. My influence over his species was as powerful as my influence over ghosts.
“Have you harmed anyone since you’ve been here?”
“Of course,” he said in earnest. “I had no choice but to serve you.”
My pulse raced. “To serve me how?”
“I was first drawn to your castle when your spirit called to me. It took me three days to arrive here on foot.”
“No bus fare?”
“I have been biding my time in the Poconos awaiting your return to this land,” he continued.
“My return? You knew I lived in the area before?”
He steepled his fingers. “By the time we reached you, you had gone, but we knew not where, so we remained in the mountains, praying for your safe return.”
“Who did you harm?”
“A mage. I saw him threaten you on this very property. Such disrespect could not go unchallenged. I followed him for days until I saw my moment to reap vengeance on your behalf.”
I closed my eyes and prayed that this was all a nightmare of my own creation. It wouldn’t be the first time. When I reopened them, Ariston was still there.
Well, shoot.
“Ariston, what you did could have negative consequences for me.”
His body trembled with fear. “Forgive me. That was not my intention. I only meant to honor my oath to protect you.”
“You swore an oath?”
