#tfkevent02

Aiden had been awake when he saw the light explosion. He had been perched on some tree, staring out into the night sky looking at nothing when all of the sudden–white. Then he felt something catch on fire. His wings, but even with his control over the element, he could not stop them from turning into ash and taken into the wind. He wanted to yell, cry, slapping his face–this was not happening. The boy was losing his mind, drinking one drop too much of fae-wine and mixing it with regular mead. But then he slipped off the branch and Aiden only managed to catch himself with a second to spare, his heart racing more than it has ever been.

Viktor had hardly been a wolf for half of the day and he could already feel his nerves fraying apart all around him. It wasn’t the shifting that bothered him, as painful as it was, or the overwhelming sensitivity of his hearing, but it was a particular scent. A scent that had kept him from keeping calm the entire day, a scent that cut through all of the overabundance of new sensations and overrided his capacity to be rational. A scent of something, or someone that was lurking in his castle that he wanted, no, needed to find with the sort of urgency that left him frantic.

A growl of frustration left him as Viktor slammed yet another door shut, trying to follow the elusive trail that had been tormenting him all day. He scoured room after room, finding it everywhere an nowhere and letting out a string of curses at each dead end. He was an unexperienced wolf. He didn’t understand how to track, let alone what the hell he was looking for. But whatever it was, it kept slipping out of his fingers as soon as it seemed like he was close. The king overturned desks, rummaged through empty closets, racing from one room to the next, pacing the halls until he narrowed down his search to where the scent was strongest.

He entered the room, closing the door behind him as he was bombarded with feelings and urges that left him tongue-tied. She was there, hiding just out of his line of sight. But if he could just reach her, get to her, then the madness would end. Viktor just knew it. “Come out. I know you’re here.”

This was absolutely chaos, but at least there was one thing Vivi figured out: If she stayed in her wolf form, there was no chance of her accidentally shifting. Being on all four was surprisingly easy, yet it didn’t seem like it was the same for anyone else she passed. The only thing Vivi had going for her was that she was used to changing forms, albeit she was more used to losing her legs for a tail instead of having four and a tail.

It wasn’t as she was scared, because she was. What Vivi was feeling was more sadness. As she, in her canine form, looked out over the ocean, her head lowered as she could not hear its call anymore. It felt like it was the sea calling for retribution, karma for her ignoring its call until she was forced to shift to keep living. Now her tail was just gone.

Brown eyes the color of the earth after torrential rains stared directly into the white light above. The sun splayed down on the sandy beach of the Mediterranean coastline, just west of where they had been staying during the summer of her twentieth birthday. She wanted to remember the sounds and the sights of the beach the most. To remember the laughter from the families peppered around them creating memories that would last a lifetime. Remember that brilliantly blue hue that had been painted across the sky with no clouds to act as smears on the perfect canvas. To remember the deafening roar of the water as the tides cascaded down to the shore before retreating back to the sea. The picturesque Spanish summer day. How beautiful of a moment it could have been if those thoughts had not been created in her mind to mask the harsh reality she had been living. She was convinced if she constructed lies that twenty year old girl would not remember what truly happened. And with the burns across her sun kissed skin and the thoughts that had been seared into her tumultuous mind, she wanted more than anything just to forget.

Alejandro Cabello held her youth like sand in his palms. Adrienne wished she could fast forward the time so she could crumble into dust to slip through his stern grip of calloused fingers. She wished that her features were not as soft, as if anytime anyone had touched her in a way that she did not consent her features would harden and make her less desirable for coin. She wished, she wished, she wished. She wished a lot of things. But mostly she wished that she was here on the beach by herself. With the rays of sun being the only thing that beat down on her skin. That the only rage she would be dealt was rumble of the ocean crashing to the shore. The only blue would be one of the color of the sky instead of the blue across her cheek, between her ribs, and around her neck. Instead she sat next to him in the sands, tethered by a leash of gold, wanting nothing else but to walk forward and let the ocean swallow every last bit of her so she could wash away to sea foam.

Adrienne remembered the lull of the sea, the static that overwhelmed her senses, every ebb and flow that continued to swell far past the horizon. She remembered how she yearned to be apart of it, to be one with the sea. To not fear the rise of the moon and the time when darkness fell like a blanket over the city. To feel safe among the vastness of the calm water as the night came. The sea whispered her name through the static. It called to her singing a song of freedom. Though she hadn’t done it then, for Madam Amalia made it very clear what would happen if someone stepped out of line, she stood up from the sand and bolted to the water. This after all was only a dream, and while she could not change the past, she could run from it in her dreams. Adrienne could create new memories, ones where she wasn’t bound to anything or anyone. So as she entered the water she closed her eyes let the tide sweep her feet from under her and let the sea drag her to its dark depths.

When she opened her eyes, the water hadn’t been that dark at all, though the sun did not shine over her now. Adrienne, still in a dream like trance, looked around her as she felt the water enveloping her like a warm blanket. It took her a moment to realize that she was no longer dreaming, that she was really in the water, letting it fill her lungs with each breath she took. Except… She wasn’t drowning at all. She found herself fully submerged into the water, seeing through it, breathing it in, and feeling like this was always where she was meant to be. Adrienne hadn’t been to the beach since that day with Alejandro. It had held too many bad memories. And yet now she felt… A sort of ease in the water. If killing the king hadn’t been enough closure for her, then running into the water in that dream had. Still she was curious why she was here, in the depths of the ocean in the middle of the night. Then she saw a brilliant flash of shining gold beneath her. It took only a moment for her to realize that she had now donned a tail, one of a mermaid. Whether it had been some horrible glamour gone wrong or she was still truly dreaming, she felt an odd sense of comfort from seeing it. While she felt at home with a strong sense of familiarity in the water, she knew that her home was with Gabriel in his court. 

Thank the gods for Melanie Derrieux and her luxurious beach house in the Spring Court. The night they had spent together had resembled something that was almost normal for a change, and it was a relief. There was no talk of politics or the High Court or Gabriel, just two old friends who enjoyed one another’s company and wished to leave their respective duties behind for a spell. The idea to spend a few days out there with Mel were already doing Kael a world of good, allowing him to reset after some disastrous engagements elsewhere.

But the morning brought with it a far more terrible problem than disagreeable sisters and poor leadership.

The first thing that Kael noticed when he woke up was that he was cold. Freezing even, as an uncomfortable draft made its way through the room. While it was only chilly enough to wake him, the sensation was a far greater shock to the Grand Duke, who razed forests and torched villages with a wave of his hand. Kael didn’t do cold. Fae with an affinity to fire weren’t cold ever. His eyes shot open as he sat up, hands reaching out behind him to feel skin. Smooth skin without the slightest protusion. Skin without the slightest indication that the night prior, they had held onto some of the grandest wings among the members of the High Court.

Kael was definitely not panicking, but he was hasty in getting dressed, practically sprinting to Melanie’s room. He wasted no time barging in and making a beeline to her bedside, a hand gently reaching for her shoulder. “Mel? Mel, we’ve got a problem.” The faerie’s eyes darted behind her and his heart sank. Her wings. Her wings were gone too. “Mel, wake up.”

Too warm. Why was she too warm? She never got too warm, hadn’t in nearly two centuries. That was one of the many perks of vampirism—her species’ blood ran cold and slow, still flowing but cool and dark in their veins, pushed along only by the occasional lethargic heartbeat. Feeding brought fresh, warm blood into the system for a while, and hunting could quicken a vampire’s pulse to human levels as adrenaline kicked in. But it was never enough to leave Kaya feeling like she’d been lying in the sun all afternoon without a glamour. She stumbled from her bed, throwing away the thick sheets and furs covering it as though they were made of lava, and shed the few thin garments she’d donned when she went to sleep. Everything was... dulled. She couldn’t hear the servants moving around downstairs, or the distant shuffling in Orpheus’s tower as they worked, or Ciro’s laughter bubbling up from wherever he would normally be ribbing Valeria. No smells hit her nose that weren’t emanating from immediately around her, she could barely see ahead of her in the darkened room, and when she threw open the curtains on her window, the late afternoon sunlight didn’t sting her eyes or her skin.

None of it came together to form a coherent thought until Kaya became suddenly aware that her heart was racing. Not beating steadily as it did when she stalked prey, but thundering in her chest. And it only grew worse as panic overtook her, making her pulse drum in her ears at a feverish pace.

This wasn’t right. Something was very, very wrong.

She threw the window open and stuck her arm out into the sun’s rays. Even at this time of day, it should be enough to prick her skin uncomfortably, to start covering it with little tiny patches of irritation. Please let it be painful; pain was a better alternative at this point, and it would prove she was hallucinating the heartbeats now driving her panic to levels she hadn’t felt in centuries. But her too-pale arm merely hung in the air, the sunlight warm and comforting on her fingers, coaxing a gentle pink flush from the skin as it heated. Comforting.

No words could adequately describe the feeling that spread through her like wildfire. Instead, a whine built in Kaya’s throat, punctuated by heavy, ragged breathing as she retracted her arm and stared at it, feeling over the warmed skin with her other hand, picking up her rapid pulse on the underside of her wrist. Fangs, she should have fangs. If she just summoned them up, she could end this nightmare. But as she instinctively focused on her gums, willing her fangs to emerge as they had for so long without problem... nothing happened. Not so much as a twitch. Fingers found their way to her mouth, the tips probing under her lips at her teeth, which should have still felt a little sharp even if lacking fangs. But they were dull, only fit for chewing through cooked meat, not severing flesh and bone.

The whine rose higher in her throat, pressing against the back of her gritted teeth as she tried to hold it in. This wasn’t happening. This wasn’t happening. She couldn’t be hu.... hum.... She couldn’t even bring herself to think the word. In all her darkest and most horrific nightmares, Kaya had never imagined herself reverting to a mortal state. It was impossible. It was supposed to be impossible. Once changed, that was that. She was a vampire forever, never again bound by the disgusting limitations of humankind, with their short lives and weak bodies. She was not one of them; they were her prey, her food, lesser than her and her people, barely fit for anything other than being drained and discarded.

She couldn’t be one of them again.

She couldn’t hold it back anymore. The whine rose and finally pushed through her teeth, evolving into a scream of utter agony than echoed around her room, merely making her eardrums ache rather than deafening her with the pitch and volume. She didn’t even realize she was on her knees until she felt them throb, pain—stupid, useless, inconvenient pain—shooting up into her legs from where her knees had hit the stone floor. She screwed her eyes shut and threw her hands over her ears, trying to block out everything, trying to center herself. She’d always been so good at staying focused when it mattered most, at pushing aside all emotion to get the job done. She needed to do that now, to shove it all down so she could reason her way out of this horrible scenario.

But clarity wouldn’t come. Her blood pounded in her ears fast as a war drummer’s tattoo, making coherent thought impossible, reminding her every second that she was no longer immortal. That her body was once again fragile and useless. That she was no longer the hunter, but the prey. Wetness streaked down her cheeks from her closed eyes as her scream morphed into pained wails which wracked her body and made her shake from head to toe.

A servant found her. Panicking already from their own changes, it was all they could do to flee from the room to find one of their other masters, someone who would be better equipped to handle a sight that was never meant to be seen by another living soul: Kaya Voss, the Fox, assassin and leader of the Children of the Night, crumpled on the floor sobbing for the first time in almost two hundred years.