The Lady of the Night – Chapter 3
Chapter 3
The Stranger and the Bargain
The forest was alive.
Every tree exhaled a damp, ancient breath. Every branch snapped like the bones of something long dead. I ran through the shadows, yet I no longer knew whether I was running from something—or toward it.
The cold bit into my skin. Tears froze upon my cheeks.
Then I felt him.
First came the sound: soft footsteps, nearly inaudible, as though the leaves themselves bowed to welcome his arrival.
Then came the scent.
Not sweat. Not earth.
Spices and iron.
And finally, I saw him.
A tall figure emerged from the darkness, carrying himself with the bearing of an exiled prince.
His eyes were an impossible shade of blue, so deep they seemed capable of swallowing the soul. The pale light of the full moon shimmered within them.
His voice was low and powerful.
How did he know my name?
“Death has taken everything from you,” he said. “But I can give it back.”
I stepped backward, instinctively tightening my grip around the dagger still hidden beneath my clothes.
“Who are you?” I whispered.
My breath hung in the freezing air.
The stranger smiled.
There was something beautiful in that smile.
And something terrifying.
“A friend. An avenger. A liberator.”
He moved toward me.
I struck.
The blade sliced through empty air.
He was gone.
For a heartbeat, I stood frozen.
Then his voice brushed against my ear from behind.
“You don't have to be weak anymore.”
I spun around, my heart pounding.
“What do you want from me?”
He spread his arms, his dark cloak moving behind him like a pair of enormous black wings.
“Only for you to accept what cannot be avoided. Death is the end of mortals, but it can be the beginning of the chosen.”
His gaze held mine.
“I can give you the power to avenge your parents. And more than that—wealth, eternal youth, senses beyond anything mankind has ever known.”
My throat tightened.
My parents' blood still stained my dress.
And the hatred inside me burned like an ember that refused to die.
“What must I give you in return?”
He tilted his head.
Something dangerous flickered in his eyes.
“What you have already lost.”
He paused.
“Your soul.”
The silence of the forest shattered beneath a distant scream.
Perhaps it was a peasant.
Perhaps it was nothing more than an echo carried by the wind.
I closed my eyes.
My mother's face appeared before me.
Then my father's.
Their voices.
Their smiles.
And finally, the bitter taste of helplessness.
When I opened my eyes again, I already knew my answer.
“I accept.”
The stranger's smile widened.
In a single, sudden movement, his hand closed around my throat.
His touch was cold enough to burn.
I struggled, but his eyes held me prisoner.
And then came the pain.
His fangs pierced my skin.
Blood rushed from my veins as he drank, and my scream disappeared into the darkness.
My heart raced wildly.
Then it began to slow.
Each beat seemed farther away than the one before.
I could feel my life slipping from me.
And with it went my memories.
The smell of fresh bread from my childhood.
The warmth of my mother's hands.
My father's laughter.
One by one, they vanished into the darkness.
Until there was nothing left but the overwhelming metallic taste of my own blood.
Then something changed.
The stranger bit into his own wrist and pressed it against my lips.
A thick, dark liquid filled my mouth—heavier than wine, unlike anything I had ever tasted.
I wanted to spit it out.
But then came the heat.
Not the warmth of a living body.
Something else.
Something unnatural.
Something eternal.
Every fiber of my body seemed to ignite.
My bones cracked as though they were being reshaped from within. My muscles tightened and strengthened. The darkness around me suddenly became clear.
I could see dust drifting through the air.
I could see individual flakes of snow carried by the wind.
And somewhere in the distance, the heartbeat of a rabbit echoed inside my mind like a drum.
I collapsed to my knees, gasping.
My fingers dug into the frozen earth.
I could feel insects moving beneath the soil.
Every sound.
Every scent.
Every movement.
The entire world had become unbearably vivid.
“Rise,” the stranger commanded.
I lifted my head.
Blood still stained my lips.
But my eyes...
My eyes now burned with a deep scarlet glow.
“Welcome, daughter of the night.”
The first test came moments later.
Two soldiers—or perhaps hunters who had lost their way—appeared at the edge of the forest, carrying torches.
Their scent reached me before they did.
Sweat.
Leather.
Wine.
The smell was intoxicating.
Before I could even understand what I was doing, I lunged.
I moved faster than thought.
One soldier raised his weapon, but I was already beside him. I seized him by the throat and hurled him against a tree.
The impact echoed through the forest.
The second man turned and ran.
He never made it far.
I was upon him in an instant.
My fangs sank into his neck.
Warm blood flooded my mouth.
Sweet.
Rich.
Forbidden.
Every swallow awakened something inside me.
Something savage.
Something I had never known existed.
Then the stranger placed the dagger in my hand.
“Finish it.”
I hesitated.
The blood still clouded my senses.
The soldier lay helpless before me.
“If you do not kill him,” the stranger said coldly, “he will rise as you did.”
His eyes hardened.
“And then the hunters will come.”
I looked down at the blade.
Then at the man before me.
With a single motion, I struck.
Blood scattered across the snow and spattered my face.
I closed my eyes.
For a moment, I simply stood there, feeling the warmth slowly fade against my skin.
The forest became silent once more.
There, upon the snow stained crimson, I, Emma Valcourt, ceased to be merely an orphan.
I had become something else.
A creature of the night.
A hunter.
And somewhere deep within my newly awakened mind, a small flame of guilt had already begun to burn.
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