Page 42 of Elegy of Twilight
Titus tipped his head upward. “We’re going to the ledge above. It is an ideal place for sound to carry and will keep you out of harm’s way.”
“I’m with you,” I whispered.
I kept my eyes on him as he led me up the slope to the ledge. Leaning his lute against the wall, he took off his shirt. The heat from his body surrounded me, and a flare twisted through my belly.
“Stand behind me,” he instructed, picking up the lute. “Put your arms around my waist and press yourself against me. Skin to skin.”
Loosening the top of my gown, I embraced him,my mouth against his shoulder, just for a moment. A sigh left his lips. “Close your eyes, my moon goddess, and shine for me. Wipe the blight of darkness away with your life. Just as your love broke my curse, so your light can break the curse on this mountain.”
Notes from the lute broke through the silence. A lure, a call, echoing through the cavern. The knights doused the torches and blended into the blackness, waiting for the opportune moment. There were two openings in the cavern, and the knights were clustered around both. They’d fight the interlopers, backing up together until they were arm to arm, fighting in a ring to protect each other from the vampires.
I kept my eyes open as Titus played, the anticipation biting me, twisting through my belly as we waited. His song grew louder, bolder, and then a rustling came, a scampering of feet and claws. Then the rustle of voices, hushed and inhuman. My heart kicked as the darkness grew thicker, and I wondered if the knights felt what I felt: the deep tension in the air, the oppression of darkness, and the fear. It was ripe and bold and there. Were they afraid as I was?
“Lucia,” Titus said. “I feel your heartbeat. Focus on me. Think of us. Close your eyes.”
I closed my eyes.
“Take a deep breath.” He went on, “Let your heart rate settle down. They are drawn to fear, and you are not fear. You are beyond that. Let the knights do their job. Let them fight as they know best. I will play as I know best, and you will let your magic loose.”
I took a deep breath and focused on what was within. The magic, the light, the music, and the man in my arms. Knowledge thrummed through me, for at last, I was where I was meant to be all along, with the man who was meant for me, in the very place, an arcane place where the fight for freedom would take place.
Music curled around me as though it were within my very soul, and my skin itched, then tingled as my runes began to glow. Even with my eyes shut, I felt the blaze of my light, the warmth of the heat as it connected. The elegy Titus played grew long and mournful, a cry, a lament of loss.
At first I wondered why he played for the vampires, for I heard the shouts of the knights, the swing of their swords, and the crash of their shields as they fought below me. I imagined they were using the fire from their torches to drive back the vampires, knocking them back with what frightenedthem, what burned them. Why would he play for them, an elegy of twilight, a lament for the darkness?
But as I listened, I understood the wordless song was not for them. It was for all the lost souls who the vampires used to be before they became the undead, the undying. And I realized that I knew all along what had happened to the giants of old who dwelled in the mountain.
They’d fallen prey to the darkness and dug deeply into the veins of the mountain. One bite and the virus spread the thirst for blood, driving them to do the unthinkable. They’d all given in to the lure of twilight, spending their days in the darkness and their nights feasting. Feasting on each other, feasting on what was left until they were all vampires, one with the mountain and the darkness, diving deeper, seeking more blood until there was no one left.
I imagined from there, they had no recourse but to fall asleep, to wait out their undying days. Eventually, a new population had come, and a new village was founded, yet the scourge of the vampires was unknown. No one explored the depths of the mountain, the unknown tunnels and lengths of blackness.
Not until Titus and his brother. For hadn’t the vampires resurfaced when they’d come? Was thatthe guilt that Titus held onto? That and the fact that he was cursed to be no better than them?
No, this was no elegy for the knights who faced blood and battle, but a song for the souls of the giants, those lost to twilight, cursed to only look upon the face of the moon and desire blood to live again.
That was their darkness, their curse, and the light I held spelled freedom for all. Holding him tighter, I pressed my lips against his neck and let out the magic. It whooshed out of me like the wind, and it was then, only then, that I opened my eyes and watched rays of white light shoot like fingers. A heavenly light filled the cavern as though the very moon had come down to glow in a brilliance of white luster.
A terrible screaming came, a shout as smoke flared into ash and the vampires burned. I heard the deep guttural screams, the cries of agony, the shouts of the knights, and yet they all seemed far away as Titus played, loud and long.
Then came a cry, a rumbling as the mountain trembled.
The victorious shouts of the knights turned to cries of panic, then encouragements to flee. And yet I stood there, shining while everything around meshook. Rocks tumbled down, the ledge cracked, and then Titus scooped me up. He was running while heat rushed around me. Something wet and warm splattered on my face, and a great wind came, roaring like a mighty beast.
The walls split, and beams of white light shone, but whether it was the magic that came from within me or the light from outside, I could not tell. A sinking feeling told me that this might be the end of us, and so I turned in Titus’s arms, pressed my hand against his cheek, and said the one thing I’d knew was true.
“I love you.”
His eyes were deep pools as he kissed my fingertips and set me down. “Run, my love.”
And the mountain exploded.
I ran as rocks tumbled and the ground erupted around me. Someone caught my hand, pulling me through the chaos. At times, I stumbled on rubble, and the mountain continued to roar and shout and scream. I glanced back for Titus, but he was nowhere to be found, perhaps running like me, seeking to escape the madness.
At long last, we burst out of the mountainside, and I collapsed in the grass, panting, exhausted, mylungs burning, my heart beating as though it would explode.
Rasping, I spit blood into the grass, gasping for long moments before I allowed myself to stand and look up, look up at what we had wrought.
Ironic that it was twilight, the looming darkness a warning, but in the pale rays of pink, I saw what the light had done. All entrances and exits to the mountainside were destroyed, and the waterfall had grown to twice its normal size in the chaos, pouring down upon a quickly expanding pool.
