M O R G A N

I could see the heartbreak on Rupert's face as he watched the girl of his dreams down two litres of pig blood in a minute. Poppy smacked her lips, revealing her two wickedly sharp elongated canines.

"I can't tell you how much I needed that," she said gratefully from the shadows, wiping her bloody lips with the back of her sleeve.

Rupert watched her with a mixture of bewilderment and disgust.

Poppy's ugly burn marks caused by her exposure to sunlight started to fade into smooth, pale skin. She had always been pretty, but now she had the visage of an ethereal goddess with her marble-like skin and smooth blonde tresses. Both Rupert and Byron were staring at her.

Rupert seemed bewitched, unable to take his eyes off her. Yet, I couldn't help noticing he kept his feet firmly in the sunlit kitchen.

"Are you feeling better?" Rupert asked Poppy.

"Much better. The hunger pains are terrible - it's worse than my chocolate cravings on a really bad period," Poppy paused and rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "I wonder if I'll still get periods now I'm a vampire."

Both Rupert and Byron diverted their gaze to the floor and made an uncertain sound. Poppy didn't seem to notice their unease and continued to think aloud.

"Sunlight is bad. Blood is good. Periods are currently unknown," she mused.

Byron cleared his throat.

"I have a little knowledge about vampires - well, mainly, I know what kills them," he said frankly. "But I'm happy to share my wisdom with you."

"Would you?" Poppy replies chirpily, grabbing onto Byron's arm.

Rupert suppressed a growl in his throat as Byron stared helplessly into Poppy's bright blue eyes. A soft pink blush had started to bloom across Byron's cheeks. He pulled away from Poppy and excused himself.

"You'll need a room to rest in - a room without sunlight. I will go and prepare that for you now," Byron said, disappearing into the front of the house.

I wander across to the old kitchen table and collapse into one of the chairs. Rupert takes a seat next to me.

"How are we going to fix Poppy?" Rupert asked me in a low voice.

"This isn't something we can fix," I replied gently.

Rupert had wanted Poppy for so long. He had waited patiently by her side, waiting for her to give him a chance to make her happy.

"The vampires can't have you. We have to find a way to reverse this," Rupert told Poppy.

"I don't think we can reverse it. The dragon flame inside me is gone. It went out the moment Henry tore my throat open," Poppy explained.

"I'll find a way to get your flame back. I won't let the vampires have you," Rupert said.

Poppy gave him a look that one might give a naive child. She smiled kindly at him and shrugged her shoulders.

"Perhaps we will find a way. But, until then, I'm going to need your help. I need blood to stop my hunger. I don't know how long the pig's blood will keep my blood munchies in check," Poppy replied.

"I can get you more blood. I'll bring a cooler box of blood to you each day while you're sick," Rupert said.

I looked at Rupert and said, "You mustn't tell anyone about Poppy. We don't know how the Elders would react if they found out about Poppy's condition."

Rupert nodded in agreement. Aside from Charlie and India, Rupert was the only dragon I could rely on to protect Poppy.

Rupert left a short while later with a promise to return the next day with a cooler box filled with blood.

Poppy retired to a bedroom upstairs that Byron had prepared for her. The rooms upstairs were damp and dusty. Poppy complained bitterly about having to sleep on a makeshift bed of musty rags. Byron offered her his jacket to sleep on, which temporarily ended her complaining.

While she slept upstairs, I sat in the kitchen alone, watching the fading sunlight. I wondered what Erik was doing right now. I imagined him in the pub, showing the Elders the sacks of gold and jewels he had taken from the fort. Everyone in the village worked. Even the wealthiest families had to work. No one in the village was super rich - the kind of rich where they never needed to work. Money made people stupid, and it frightened me what Erik might persuade them to do with that gold.

I buried my head into my hands, unable to stop the worry.

Byron came downstairs and joined me at the kitchen table.

"What's wrong," he sighed.

"Erik is going to persuade the village to fight, and the vampires will slaughter them all," I sighed.

"You really have lost your memories," Byron said, leaning back in his chair. "The old fox would have been spoiling for a fight."

A small voice in the back of my head disagreed with him. It was the little blue flame.

'We never wanted to fight. We only wanted freedom.'

'What do you mean?' I asked.

'I don't remember exactly. The memories only exist in fragments and feelings. But, I think Ebony would know,' it replied.

Ebony... the name was familiar, but I didn't know where from. In the back of my mind, a cloudy memory started to take form. A woman kneels crying in the snow. Long hair, black as a raven's wing, swings around her face. She sobs uncontrollably, and her hands tremble with fear.

"I'm so scared of him, Morgan," she whispers to me.

A protective urge rises up within me. I have to save her. I need to find a way to free her.

"Are you okay?" Bryon asked.

I gave my head a little shake and rubbed my eyes.

"I had a strange memory about a woman. I think her name was Ebony," I said.

Byron tensed as if he had heard the name before.

"Have you heard her name before?" I asked.

Byron pressed his lips into a thin line and glanced away.

I reach across the table and take his hands in mine, forcing him to look at me.

"Please, you have to help me out. This is the first memory I've recalled since the accident," I pleaded.

Byron squeezed his eyes shut and swallowed a groan.

"It best to leave the past in the past," he replied.

"This isn't the past, Byron. If I took Ebony, then I must have done it for a good reason. In this memory, I see a woman who is helplessly weeping. She's trapped, and she needs me to save her," I explain.

"Ebony was the name of the Mad Prince's Bride. She was a raven princess from the Wilds. Dante found her while hunting and became besotted with her. He intended to marry her, but before he could, she went missing. The Mad Prince blamed the Dragons, and the four-hundred-year war ensued," Byron explained.

"Who took Ebony?" I asked.

"You did," Byron said bluntly. "You were the one who kidnapped her and started the war."

"What if I didn't mean to start the war. What if I just wanted to save my friend," I replied.

Byron shrugged his shoulders.

"The outcome is still the same. Thousands of dragons are dead. The mountains are overrun with vampires. We have lost our homeland because you took the Mad Prince's bride," he said.

I blinked in disbelief.

"This can't be the whole story. There has to be something more. If we found out the truth, then we might be able to reach a diplomatic resolution with the vampires - another war might not be necessary," I replied.

Byron massaged his temples and shook his head.

"At this point, I don't think the truth matters. Since Ebony's disappearance, thousands of battles have been fought between dragon and vampire. The bad blood between our people runs thick." Byron said dismissively.

"Then maybe Poppy is better off with the vampires," I sighed.

Maybe I would be better off with the vampires.

I certainly didn't want to sit back and watch my entire village get killed. Perhaps I could even bargain with the Vampire Prince.

My heart protested at this thought. I didn't want to betray Erik - but I didn't want to idly sit by and watch Erik lead the villagers on a futile mission to get the mountains back.

"Are there enough dragons in the village to fight a vampire army?" I asked Byron.

"There may be enough to hold a single fort - providing that fort's defensives are in working order," he said.

"Okay, let me rephrase the question. There are a couple of hundred dragons in this village. All of them are farmers - none of them are soldiers. How many vampires are there in the Mad Prince's army?" I asked.

Byron went quiet and lowered his gaze to study his fingertips.

"Byron, answer the question. How many soldiers are in the vampire army?" I pushed.

There was a brief silence, and then Byron replied.

"Thirty thousand soldiers - maybe more. That's excluding the vampires' allies. Goblins, trolls, ogres, and so on."

I closed my eyes and leaned back in my chair. The villagers would be massacred if Erik persuaded them to fight.