Enchanted World: Elves and Vampires

7: Dark Elf

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Nora cringed back against the wall as the arrow Vaegon fired pierced into the man’s head sending him tumbling onto the floor limply with a loud thud. She was frozen on the spot while staring down at the body near her feet. The arrow seemed to have disappeared on impact and there was no blood leaking from his head but he was not moving at all, she was not even sure if he was breathing. Her head shot up when the corner of her eye suddenly caught some movement.

“Nora –” She tried to back away but ended up bumping her head against the arrow the man had just tried to stab her with when Vaegon began to walk towards them. He held up both his hands in surrender showing his palms but it did not make her feel any safer because she had clearly seen Arwin generate the ball of light from his palm so Vaegon could probably shoot beams of light and arrows without even pointing if he wanted to, “It’s okay, he is not dead. I just knocked him out.”

“What is going on down h –? Nora?” She looked over to see Arwin stumble down the stairs after spotting her before running over only looking down when he tripped over the man on the ground, “Who is…? What happened down here? Are you okay?” Answering impulsively, she shook her head as he lifted a hand to the arrow in the wall and it instantly began to turn to dust like the ball of light he had created earlier. “Are you hurt?” The prince took her wrist to pull them further away from her face gently as if he thought she was hiding an injury.

“N-no.” she mumbled, “I-I wasn’t – I wasn't s-stealing –” He gave a light scoff quickly pulling her into a hug. She was surprised by the movement but too shaken to even consider pushing him away. Shutting her eyes suddenly caused her to let out a sob that seemed to come from nowhere but ripped through her chest and with it, she tried to push away from him but he wouldn’t let go.

“Nora –”

“Don’t talk.” Nora cut him off covering her face again between them after it became clear he was too strong to push back or break away from. She felt a nod as his chin leaned on top of her head while she cried. The crying was sudden and Nora was desperately trying to stop because it seemed like such a weak thing to do around these elves despite her body having given no warning that it was coming. It took a few seconds until she calmed her breathing and sniffling enough to listen when footsteps made their way closer and tried to hear what was being said as hushed voices came but only managed to hear Arwin because he was right above her.

“Just get him out of here.”

She shut her eyes dropping her hands to wrap them around her body but did not step away from Arwin because he was still holding onto her and she felt better than when he was not. Mostly because she was currently hidden from the other elves and trusted only Arwin not to hurt her; he would already have if he intended to; there had been countless opportunities for it. Eventually, he let go and she opened her eyes as he stepped back to place his hands on his knees bending slightly so that they were eye-to-eye.

“Was that him or everything?” Nora blinked confused by the question, “Nora...” He glanced at the floor where the man had been laying just seconds ago before looking back at her and she swallowed the knot in her throat.

“Everything.” Almost being stabbed had just overwhelmed her after being brought to a new place, not knowing if the others were okay back home, knowing Arwin expected her to be his lifemate, not being able to eat because she felt so guilty about having food when her friends did not, being angry that humans seemed to just have drawn the existential short straw because elvish blood was toxic to vampires and yet humans were the only ones with no means to defend themselves. Then there was Arwin telling her it was not safe outside the palace and now it was clear that it was not safe for her inside the palace either. She just felt cornered in so many ways. It was either screaming or crying and her body had chosen the latter before giving the options any consideration.

The man in front of her gave a small, sad smile as he lifted a hand to cup her cheek. She would have moved away had her eyes not noticed the only piece of jewellery he was currently wearing; a necklace with a round little pendant that had a gemstone in it. That wasn’t what caught her attention though, it was the fact that specs in the stone seemed to be moving, it was as though there was a galaxy of moving stars within the gem. She wanted to ask what it was because it did not seem like a normal necklace, there must have been a reason why he kept this piece of jewellery on when everything else had been taken off, and the reason must have been linked to it being the only necklace with a stone that looked that way.

“Nora, I should warn you that when elves die, our souls lurk where we worked most of our lives so you should not sneak around here at night. This palace is centuries old,” he said seriously.

“What?” Vaegon sounded baffled.

“You’re just trying to scare me so I don’t walk around on my own.” Nora felt amusement peek through her worry.

“Is it working?” She couldn’t help but let out a choked half-laugh as Vaegon began laughing too and Arwin smiled using his thumb to wipe away the tear tracks on her face. “Come on.” Without a pause, he took her hand while standing up straight and she turned around to look at the wall. The arrow was completely gone, but there was still a visible deeply plunged hole where it had pierced into the wall right beside the painting. The thought of that possibly having been her face made her shudder.

She felt Arwin tug her arm and let him begin to lead the way back to the stairs but stopped, in turn pulling him to a stop when they were right in front of Vaegon. There was still a noticeable unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach as their eyes met, but she figured it was her being prejudiced because he was an elf. After all, he had just saved her life.

“Thank you.”

“Anything for Arwin’s lifemate.” He glanced at his brother and she saw a genuinely fond smile on Arwin’s face as he looked back at Vaegon.

“Thank you, brother. Goodnight.” She followed Arwin back up to the 3rd floor and into his room where he tapped the switch to flood the room with bright white light. He looked at the bed for a moment before walking over to the couch on the side of the room. “I hope you do not mind my staying here until you fall asleep.” Arwin covered his mouth as he yawned before stretching his arms out on either side of him and taking a seat.

“Why doesn’t your magic release black smoke? Why is it blue?” Nora furrowed her brows. The question had just slipped out of her mouth when she thought about the guard’s black, ashy arrow compared to the blue magic all the other elves seemed to have.

“I am not a dark elf.” Arwin said, “He was.”

“So… they’re actually evil?”

“Not necessarily… Well, we are creatures of the light. We are supposed to be positive and good so when an elf is constantly filled with resentment, hatred, anger or deviousness it begins to impact their magic, and if they do not resolve those feelings or face the thoughts leading to those emotions – or if they choose to be wicked – they gradually lose control of their magic and then just become completely malicious and dangerous... They lose control of their thoughts and actions and their magic loses all traces of blue and turns to black.” She watched Arwin stare at the wall as if caught up in thought before he swallowed and looked toward her, “That man is transitioning. He can still turn it around, but once an elf's magic is completely dark and their mind is completely evil, it is impossible to become a light elf again. They basically lose who they were and just… need to keep fuelling that darkness by hurting people.”

Nora climbed onto the bed crossing her legs beneath her and faced him quite interested in the concept. “Do you know a dark elf?” she asked.

“Used to. He became too dangerous to remain in our kingdom when the transition completed, but refused to leave when he was banished so…” Arwin drifted and cleared his throat. Nora bit the inside of her cheek feeling her chest tighten. They killed him. “Give me your hand.” She looked down at the hands where they currently rested on her calves before looking back up following sudden shuffling from Arwin’s shoes as he walked over to the bed.

“Why?” Despite the question, he did not wait for her to comply; just lifted her left hand from her lap and then clasped a hand around her wrist completely. He seemed to pause for a second as he held her wrist before his irises began to lose their black. “A-Arwin –” Nora tried to pull away from him because his eyes changing colour was freaking her out as it resembled the guy downstairs that had attacked her, but a glowing azure blue that matched his current eye colour drew her eyes to where his hand still clasped around her arm before the glow suddenly faded. She glanced up to see that his eyes were once again black as he dropped his hand from her wrist revealing a smooth silver bangle with a small blue gem attached to it. Nora brought it closer to her face examining it and realised that it was the same colour as the glow and it seemed to move just like the one around his neck did.

“This is a location amulet. I will be able to tell where you are when you are not very close to me without having to recite a spell and I will be able to sense if you are in trouble.” Arwin said.

So all the jewels elves wore weren’t always just decorative, they were attached to some kind of magic. The elves could use magic to fight or to protect themselves, to keep track of people and light up darkness… to heal. There was so much they could do… but they kept it to themselves and kept everything the way it was. She narrowed her eyes at the jewel on her wrist again as her fist clenched.

“It’s not fair.” The words barely made it out of her mouth in their hushed whisper, she had not meant for them to leave her thoughts anyway.

“What?” Arwin asked but Nora just shook her head not wanting to be near an elf at the moment.

“I… I want to go sleep.”

“Nora –”

“Please?” She cut him off. He stepped back clearly confused and appearing somewhat hurt but she brushed it off and crawled over to the side of the bed she had taken to sleeping on before climbing under the covers, lifting the blanket to almost completely cover her face as her back faced the elf.

Nora stared at the fireplace while listening to him walk around lightly before the room went dark and he seemed to take a seat on the couch again. It made her so angry that she felt like being human left her – and every human – so helpless. It did not seem fair that vampires and elves had all the advantages. She furrowed her brows. Arwin was a prince… soon to be king. If she married him… would that mean immediately gaining some kind of power? No. It would be wrong to marry him just for that reason. Well, was it really wrong if it would allow her to fix the hierarchy they currently had going or at least give her some power to try? She bit her lip giving a soft sigh through her nose. That just was not like her, she did not want to be with him just to gain some power, wasn’t that type of person; she could not take advantage of the clearly vulnerable connection he had to his lifemate or give up so much of herself. Was that selfish? It felt like it was. Shouldn’t she be able to look beyond just herself and her feelings if it meant preventing more people from ending up the way she, her siblings and her friends had? The way her parents had…

“Can I go home tomorrow?” she mumbled forgetting for a moment that Arwin could already be asleep, he was not though.

“Visit home?” The correction came from somewhere on the other side of the room, his voice hinting that he was not at all close to falling asleep.

“Yes.”

Arwin was silent for a bit before replying, “We will go after breakfast.”

The conversation ended there and the room dove into complete silence as Nora tried to calm her mind enough to drift off to sleep. There must have been a reason she was Arwin’s lifemate, maybe it was time to gain some kind of power.

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