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“No,” Freya answered, “but there’s some grain of truth to that. Daytime is the only time they can be truly killed, and the only way to keep them from rising again is fire.”
I reached into my jacket and sighed in relief. The matches I always kept there were safe and sound.
“That’s what the torch is for?” Cadence asked.
Freya nodded.
“Walker will use it. I have some fire magic I’ve been dying to put into use.”
I wanted to tell her to keep the damned torch in case magic failed her, but I knew it would get me nothing but another argument. I wasn’t afraid of Freya, but I also wasn’t eager to break the peace between us.
“There,” Freya said. “Do you see it?”
I turned my head to the right, looked up, and squinted.
Built into the edge of the mountain’s peak was a dark, stony castle. When we’d approached it from the lake, I’d mistaken the castle’s tower for the peak of the mountain. With its few windows and dark, textured exterior, it blended perfectly into the rocky mountain itself. Towers stretched into the sky, and their roofs were peppered with snow. Its lower levels spread wide across the mountain. No light flickered from within.
Fog kept me from getting a complete visual of the castle or an overall understanding of its structure. I couldn’t even decipher an entrance, considering there were no grand gates or torches to light the way.
“Cadence,” I said, “this is where you need to keep watch and be ready to run when we come out. Can you please do that for me?”
Cadence stared and stared at the mysterious castle and finally nodded. She knew I wouldn’t budge on this. She was already too close to the vampires for my comfort, but if we somehow woke them and needed to escape, I wanted to be able to quickly grab her and go.
“Arion is going to stay with you,” Freya told her. “He will guard you with his life and get you out of any trouble that comes your way.”
The cat’s ears flattened on his head, but he nodded. He clearly didn’t want to leave Freya, but he would follow her orders.
Cadence ran her fingers through his hair, and he purred. It didn’t hurt that he liked my sister as much as he loathed me. Freya muttered a spell and snapped her fingers. A hum surrounded the cat and didn’t dissipate like it usually did after a spell was performed. Its buzz lingered in the air like an unanswered question.
“He’s free to change at will now,” Freya told me and looked at her familiar. “I advise him to do so only when absolutely necessary. No killing sprees, got it? We’re not trying to start another battle.”
Arion meowed, then laid down and sighed. I could’ve sworn he rolled his eyes too.
“And no running off,” Freya added. “I don’t care how bored you become.”
Arion rolled around on the ground and seemingly ignored her. Suddenly, the single ounce of faith I had in the demon-cat evaporated. Freya noticed my stricken face and shrugged.
“It only happened once, and he didn’t kill any innocents. He’ll be a good boy, won’t you, friend?”
Freya crouched and stretched out her hand to the cat. He licked her fingers and rubbed against her in answer. When we weren’t preparing to break into a vampire castle, I’d ask her about whatever it was Arion did. For now, I would have to trust Freya, even if I didn’t trust her familiar. She wouldn’t leave Cadence in Arion’s care if she didn’t believe she’d be safe.
Admittedly, safe had become a relative term.
Freya rose to her feet and rubbed her hands together. Against the barren landscape, her hair burned like fire amid smoke. I waited for her to lead the way to the hidden entrance, but she stood as still as a statue.
“Freya?” I asked. “Ready?”
She jumped at the sound of my voice but nodded. She pulled the torch from out of her shirt and handed it to me. Its metal handle was cold and slippery in my hands. I wished I’d brought my work gloves.
“I’ll light it for you if we need it,” she promised and added quietly, “which I really hope we don’t.”
Cadence tucked herself behind a rock and obscured herself from view of the castle. Arion crawled into her lap. I took one last look at my sister and promised myself that it wouldn’t be my last.
“I love you, Cady-Cat,” I said.
“I love you too, Walkie.”
I smiled at the nickname she’d had for me as a little girl. I could still remember when she had trouble with her R’s. With a sigh, I tucked that memory away and followed Freya into the vampires’ castle.
