The Vampire & Her Witch

Ashlynn’s heart pounded in her chest as she watched the two guild masters struggle to process everything she’d told them. She knew that it would come as a shock, just as it had been a shock to Ollie when he’d learned that she was a witch. But unlike Ollie, she’d known Isabell for more than a decade and Master Tiernan almost as long, even though she didn’t know the burly ironmonger quite as well.

For the two of them to learn something that fundamentally changed not only how they saw her, but how they understood their Count and Countess as well. The shame and the burden that the rulers of Blackwell County bore because Countess Maela struggled to bear children was something that even Isabell could only distantly understand, having never experienced the immense pressure placed on noblewomen to bear an heir to continue their husband’s bloodline.

But the more the two guild masters examined their feelings, the more they felt like they understood the decision Ashlynn’s parents had made. If it had been one of their own children who was born with the mark of the witch, could they have calmly brought the babe to the Inquisition to be inspected and judged? If the Inquisition declared their child an unholy demon, could they have calmly accepted that fate and surrendered their newborn babe to be burned at the stake?

Blood drained from Tiernan’s face as he imagined what it must have been like for Count Rhys to hold a white hot brand to his only child’s tender flesh. He knew all too well the kinds of wounds hot metal could inflict, and for a parent to be forced to do something so cruel in the hopes of saving their child from the suspicions of the Inquisition...

If it had been him, he didn’t know if he could have done it. He’d sooner brand himself than see any of his little ones suffer such an agonizing wound. But to go through all that, to make what must have been one of the most agonizing decisions a father could ever make, only to have his efforts thwarted by incontrovertible proof that his child was a witch. It must have been absolutely soul-crushing.

”So, you’re a vampire now?” Isabell asked, fighting against every instinct she had to pull back to the corner of the carriage and put as much distance between herself and Ashlynn as possible. Fear threatened to overwhelm her, but she knew, knew to the depths of her bones, that she couldn’t let fear of what Lady Ashlynn had become overwhelm how she felt about the woman who had hugged her so fiercely when they reunited just an hour ago.

”Is that why we had to meet so close to the Vale of Mists?” Isabell asked after taking a sip of the sweet, honeyed wine to calm her nerves. ”Because you can’t go out in the daylight anymore?”

”What?” Ashlynn said, blinking in surprise before she broke out in laughter when she realized that Isabell had leaped to the same conclusion she’d leaped to when Nyrielle first offered to form a bond of blood with her. ”No, no, I’m not a vampire,” she said, waving her hand and giggling to dispel the notion. ”I would have lost my powers as a witch if I became a vampire, and Nyri would never do that to me,” she said.

”But then, if you’re not a vampire,” Tiernan said, blinking in surprise at Ashlynn’s sudden burst of laughter. ”Then why did we have to come out here in the dead of night? We’re so far from everything, it can’t just be because you wanted the cover of darkness for secrecy,” he said.

”No, no, I’m not the one who’s a vampire,” Ashlynn said as she slowly regained control of her breathing. ”Marcel is,” she said, dropping another explosive revelation on them as though it was nothing. ”There are other reasons for the timing,” she added as she wondered how the first night of raids was currently unfolding in Dunn Barony. The attacks across such a wide area, followed in the morning by raids on Hanrahan caravans, would provide cover for the sudden disappearance of the guild masters and their escort, but it was still far too early to explain that to either of her friends in the carriage.

”Mostly it was because Marcel didn’t trust anyone else to act as intermediary when he wasn’t sure who Owain would have sent as your escort,” Ashlynn explained. ”He’s very impressed with the two of you, you know, and if anything went wrong with our meeting tonight, I don’t think he’d forgive himself if either of you were harmed.”

For a moment, Isabell stared at Ashlynn in pure, speechless shock. She’d kept pace with the revelation that Ashlynn was a witch and even with the news that she had bound herself to a vampire in order to save her own life...

That much, at least, she could understand. But knowing that the man she and Tiernan had been meeting with, who they’d shared a private dinner with in a small private dining room where he was less than three paces away from them the entire evening...

It was just too much, even for an engineer’s mind to process. Clutching tightly at the wooden cup in her hand, Isabell took a deep drink, tipping the cup all the way back as she drained it to the last drop before holding the empty cup out in front of Ashlynn.

”Ashlynn,” she said with some difficulty as she fought to regain control of her racing heart and the maelstrom that swept up all of her thoughts into a jumbled mess. At this point, fear had given way to something else entirely as she realized that it was far, far too late to be afraid of things.

What use was there in being afraid of the bear when you were already sitting in its cave and preparing to share a meal? The time to be afraid, she realized, had come and gone weeks ago when she first met the ’Black Merchant’ and allowed him to pull her into... into whatever was going on with the vampires and Lady Ashlynn.

”Do you have anything stronger than the sweet wine? I think... I think I could use a real drink before you say anything more.”

”I do,” Ashlynn said, smiling as she leaned over to the cupboard in the carriage that contained the first bottle of wine she’d selected. ”Do you want to know what it is, or do you just want to drink it?” she asked, hesitating with her slender fingers hovering just above a simple glass bottle that bore no label.

”It’s not some witch’s brew, is it?” Tiernan asked suspiciously before his eyes widened as he realized what he’d just said. ”That is, I didn’t mean, I...” he stammered, trying to backpedal after realizing that he’d been too shocked to consider his words before he spoke.

”It is,” Ashlynn said, pulling the bottle out and offering it to the burly man to inspect. ”The witch who taught me over the summer is called the Mother of Thorns,” she explained. ”She makes wine from blackberries, raspberries, and other fruit that grows on plants with thorns. The flavor is unlike anything I’ve tasted from vineyards in the Kingdom of Gaal, and it packs enough of a punch that even a big lug from the Ancient Clan like Jacques only drinks a cup or two at a sitting.”

”Don’t ask questions, Tiernan,” Isabell said, holding out her hand toward the burly ironmonger as she impatiently gestured for him to hand it over. ”It’s fine if you don’t need a drink, but at least give me the bottle while you make up your mind.”

”Allow me,” Ashlynn said, reaching across the carriage to retrieve the bottle. With one smooth motion and the slightest thread of power, she pulled the cork stopper from the bottle and poured just enough of the fragrant purplish liquid into her cup to reach up to the first knuckle of a person’s finger if they touched the bottom of the cup.

Of course, she didn’t need to use witchcraft to open the bottle, even though it was one of Amahle’s personal concoctions, but she hoped that small, casual displays of power would help ease her two friends from Blackwell County into the world they were about to enter.

”Start with that,” Ashlynn said as she took the cup from Tiernan’s numb fingers and poured him an equal measure before pouring a small cup for herself as well. ”We still have hours to go before we reach the castle, so let me start from the beginning, and I’ll explain everything you need to know before we arrive.”

”There won’t be enough time to tell you everything,” Ashlynn added. ”But you’ll have an easier time of your first day in the Vale of Mists than I did by far, I promise you...”