Ileus: The Dark Prince

She barely knew four people and that is if it included him. "My parents, Nyles and—" she bit her lip.

"And?" 

"I don't know!" 

"Are you sure you don't know, Ana?" 

"No." 

"Your parents love you. I can't say anything about Nyles. But who likes you?"

He was trying to corner her, and worse was that she was getting cornered. "I think— I think—" she stopped as she blushed like a blood moon. 

"I think you think that you like me," he completed her sentence.

"What?" she frowned. How did this turn into she liking him? It was 'who liked her'. 

She could feel him smiling behind her. "I don't—" 

He cut her off. "But you do." 

"No!"

"Don't deny it." 

She shook her head and pursed her lips. Knowing that this conversation would only yield to more confused answers, she steered it back to the former discussion. "Were the Yardraks so loyal to him that they built his statue?" 

Ileus sighed and remarked, "You are such a conversation-killer!" Then he replied to her question. "He was a well-loved man. Very fair and just." 

"I didn't know that castes existed amongst Faes," she mused. "I mean why would a certain caste live in this tunnel? This place is devoid of sunlight. Who would want to stay here?" 

"Only those who would avoid sunlight," he replied. "And who do you think they could be?" Ileus threw the question back at her.

Anastasia's mouth fell to the floor. "Oh. My. God!" she breathed out when she collected her thoughts. "The Faes who lived in this tunnel were vampirs!" So that explained the presence of those skulls all around the cave. 

Her eyes went to the statue's face and she saw tiny protrusions of fangs on the side of the mouth. Her stomach roiled. One of the Fae castes was vampirs? And where did they live now? A thousand more questions bombarded her mind. 

"But I have never encountered a Fae who is a vampir. Nor have I heard about them."

He chuckled. "Exactly how many Faes have you encountered Anastasia?" 

"I haven't even read about them in the library!" 

"And is it possible that the vampirs have evolved out of these Faes?" 

"Well, some of the lower caste Faes did move out of this realm. Over the years they lost their ability to fly, as they became influenced by the climate of the Lore, but they can parthon." 

"What is parthon?" She asked, totally amused. 

"They can move from one place to the other rapidly without the use of portals. It's like disappearing from one place and appearing somewhere else instantly."

"Even if that is a thousand miles away?"

"Even if it is a thousand miles away." 

She took a deep breath. "That is phenomenal!" 

"That is phenomenal." 

"Does that mean that Lazarus is a Fae descendent?" 

"Yes, that is exactly what it means." 

Anastasia was flooded with so much information that she really wanted to ponder on it. It was exciting. "How do you know so much?" she asked with a sigh. 

"I just… know." 

Lovac was now almost halfway to the bridge. 

Anastasia heard hooves of other horses behind them as they carefully climbed up the stairs. Her gaze shifted the water below and suddenly every cell of her body started thrumming with energy. The clusters of bioluminescence were suspended inside it, not very deep down. The moment she looked at them, they stirred. Her eyes widened and every muscle in her body tensed. The clusters started moving in her direction, and not just the ones that were directly below her, the entire strip that was lying dormant in the water—it started moving like a scarf of knitted pink and blue wool. As if pulled by a magnet, it moved up like a wave. She felt entranced, locked by the energy.

At the same time they heard another rumble coming from behind, and it was loud.. 

"Damn it!" Ileus cursed. He tilted his head to Anastasia's ear and whispered, "Please don't look down." 

She gasped and averted her gaze immediately. The wave of the luminescence ebbed. But now the energy she vibrated in her body was intense, immense. Her fingers tingled with something. Her heart thrummed with it. It was trying to explode from her. She closed her fists and a thin sheet of sweat appeared on her forehead.

The rumble behind grew louder. 

"Oh no!" she said. "Are the rogues coming this way?" Her body coiled in tension. Her stomach plummeted. She heard wings flapping—large wings—. "Ileus, there are Faes behind us!" 

"Fuck!" he cursed. He looked behind and shouted. "Move fast!" He nudged Lovac to move fast. 

Anastasia was on her edge. She didn't want to go back. How did they find her so quickly? She was sure that Aed Ruad would be with them. "But how did they find us? Sgiath Biò is too vast. How did they know that we are here?" Sweat trickled down her temple. "I don't want to go back," she croaked.

"I won't let you go back," he said with a promise and she clutched his arms.

As soon as Lovac reached the bridge, he broke into a gallop but before they could reach midway, they saw Faes. Rising up. Slowly.

One of them beat his wings powerfully and stopped right in front of them. 

Anastasia panicked. 

Lovac reared. Ileus calmed his horse. "Easy boy!" He held the reins and nudged him. 

Once Lovac was on his hooves, Anastasia looked around her. Intense fear shook her from the inside. Her heart pounded hard against her ribcage. 

There were a total of seven Faes surrounding them, led by none other than Iskra's son. While all other Faes were beating their wings in the air, Ráild had flapped his wings and come to stand directly in front of them. With blonde hair and a tall build, the man had broad shoulders—an exact replica of his father, but with colder looks in his pale blue eyes, which were a striking contrast to Iskra's warm brown irises. 

All the horsemen had come to a stop behind them. A complete silence followed.