by Sadie Anders
“So, Timaeus said we had an hour, right?”
We ran into each other’s arms.
When we emerged downstairs, the tavern was already bustling with life. I figured the lunch crowd must start imbibing early around here. Either that, or it was later than I thought. Maybe we had spent more than an hour in our room, after all.
I never wanted to leave that place. It was heaven, and it was impossible to tear ourselves away from one another. The chemistry was too intense, Raphael’s touch too electrifying.
I mean, who could bring themselves to leave heaven?
Life had to go on, unfortunately, and that meant we had to get on with this pointless quest that the Furies were insisting upon. They were making us search for something that probably didn’t even exist, and they were sending us to a dangerous place to do it. If I didn’t know any better, I would think that perhaps the Furies were trying to get rid of us. Permanently.
We took a seat at one of the tables to wait for Kai. Raphael ordered us another pot of tea to share. He returned and tossed a newspaper onto the table.
The Hesperides Herald was written across the top, and when you looked upon it, the letters became illuminated with a golden hue that transformed into rich purple.
“It’s the lower city’s news. We never pay much attention to it in the upper city, but maybe we should.”
He pointed to one of the headlines.
EMBER KAKOS ELECTED MAYOR IN MASSIVE VICTORY.
“Aporia’s biggest gangster just got elected mayor?” I asked.
Raphael sat down and began reading the article, telling me the highlights.
“It seems that her opponent was found dead this morning. His housekeeper said that he was devastated over the loss, and his heart couldn’t take it.”
“Sounds fishy.”
“Absolutely.”
“Why is there a mayor of Aporia anyway? Don’t the vampires rule?”
“Yes, but the guardians largely leave the people of the lower city to their own devices. They can organize things how they want down here, governing themselves.”
“How generous,” I said. I wasn’t sure if I believed they really left them alone, though, even if Raphael believed it.
“Well, it’s worked for a long time at least.” He lowered his voice. “The thing I’m most concerned about here is Ember’s margin of victory. If she took the city in a landslide, that probably means that her ideology is spreading.”
“You mean the rebellion is spreading,” I said.
“Yes. It’s gaining momentum. And that could be dangerous for everyone. We know that Ember’s people don’t use the most ethical practices in getting what they want. They kidnap. They torture. They kill.”
“And they don’t care if they do those things to vampires or witches or demons. They will hurt anyone to get what they want.”
As far as I could tell, Ember’s snatchers were only kidnapping and killing people, not doing anything good for the people of Aporia. I had no clue why they would want Ember to lead them. Still, it didn’t seem like the most legitimate election, not if she had knocked off her opponent.
Our tea arrived, and we paused our discussion, not wanting to be overheard. When the waiter left, Raphael finished the article, placing the newspaper on the table again.
“What I don’t understand is Tisiphone’s part in all of this,” he said. Tisiphone, the third Fury who had rebelled against her sisters, was Raphael’s maker. He clearly still trusted her, and I could tell that he had been conflicted when she had asked him to join her in working with Ember. My mother, the woman known as Heliodor, was working with them as well.
“Why would Tisiphone, or even the people of Aporia, support her? Isn’t she hurting the people, too? When we went to the Foundry, it wasn’t vampire bodies that we found. Those were witches and demons.”
“I know. But we have to understand that the lower city probably sees Ember and her henchmen as an opportunity for freedom from vampire rule.”
“But at what price? To have a new tyrant rule them? One more evil than the last?”
“A problem as old as the world,” he said, a wry look crossing his face. I realized that Raphael had probably seen more than his fair share of oppression, tyranny, and pain. It was amazing that he was as open and hopeful as he was. If I had lived nearly forever, I would probably be a cynical mess, but Raphael, both smart and worldly, still looked at life with wonder.
Raphael held his tea cup to his lips. “Someone over there seems to be paying us a bit too much attention,” he said in a whisper.
I looked quickly in the direction that he was facing. Not the most subtle move. A shrouded figure in the corner sat at a table alone, no drinks in front of them, no companions that they were speaking with. I couldn’t make out their face at all, much less tell what direction they were looking in. Maybe Raphael’s heightened senses also included the ability to see in shadows.
“You can see their face?” I asked quietly.
“No. But I can tell by their body language that they are reacting to what we say to each other.”
“Probably one of Ember’s spies.”
“I’m not sure, but I’m going to find out.”
Raphael stood to approach the hooded figure. As he crossed the room, however, the person stood up abruptly from their table and quickly made their way to the front door, exiting before Raphael could catch up with them.
I scrambled to my feet to follow them, and as I went outside, I saw Raphael rounding the corner and entering a narrow passageway next door to the Kylix. I had thought that the Kylix was in the dead end of an alleyway with only one way in or out, but I was mistaken. I ran to catch up and entered the small space.
Darkness closed in around me as the buildings blocked out all light from the street and the dimly lit sky. A struggle sounded ahead, so I ran faster. By the time I got to the end of the passageway, Raphael had the person pinned against the wall, although they were still fighting against his strength.
“Who are you? Why are you following us?” Raphael demanded, his elbow against the person’s throat.
“Raphael, let me go. Now,” a squeaky voice said in a demanding tone.
Raphael pulled down the person’s hood, revealing the sycophantic assistant to the Furies.
“Cleon! What are you doing in the lower city?” I asked.
He got even squirmier against Raphael now that he had been identified.
Raphael pressed harder. “Did the Furies send you? I’ll need to speak to them about this right away.”
“No, don’t,” he said. “Let me go.”
“I don’t think so,” Raphael said.
“They didn’t send me. Ease up a bit. Please,” Cleon pleaded.
Raphael let go of him, but we stood on either side of the spy so he couldn’t escape.
“If they didn’t send you to follow us, then why are you here? And how did you know who we were through the glamours?”
“Tracking spell,” he said. “I’ve been following you since you left the upper city.”
He had been tracking us. I thought of all that Raphael and I had done since meeting up again, and imagined that Cleon had been watching. Listening. I felt violated.
“Not good enough. You’re going to have to give us a little bit more than that,” Raphael told him.
“The Phos Eos. When I heard that the mistresses were having you seek it out, I became worried. If it falls into the wrong hands, we could all be obliterated.”
Raphael scoffed. “You know as well as I do that this is a fool’s errand. The Phos Eos doesn’t exist.”
“Oh, but it does. Mistress Tisiphone discovered much about it before she left us. I helped her in her research for it. Finding the device was her obsession, and I believe she may have obtained the knowledge and means to do so.”
Raphael was quiet, thinking over what Cleon had said. I wondered what Tisiphone wanted it for, what anyone wanted it for. The Furies had told us that they needed to destroy the Pho
s Eos in order to protect the vampires from anyone using it, but I wasn’t sure if I bought that. They didn’t seem like they truly cared about the vampires of the realm. They were different, and they didn’t see themselves as the same class as the other vampires. And I was certain that they relished their power. The Phos Eos would be another way to bolster that power.
We had to find the Phos Eos. The part that I wasn’t sure about was if we should give it to the Furies.
“Could we possibly go back to the bar and discuss this over a drink like civilized people?” he asked. “The fact that we are in the lower city does not mean we have to act like heathens.”
I raised my eyebrow at the slam on non-vampire folks. Cleon may have thought that this kind of talk was acceptable, but he would do well to remember that we weren’t all vampires.
“Watch your mouth, Cleon,” Raphael said.
Raphael didn’t seem inclined to go and share a beverage with this guy, but I wanted more information. If he had done research on it with Tisiphone, then maybe he could help us know where to start.
“Follow me,” I told him. “But don’t try to get away again. There are two of us and one of you.”
“I am well aware,” he said, raising his hood once again. It was probably the prudent thing to do. The atmosphere of the place would definitely shift if they realized that vampires were in their midst.
We re-entered the Kylix and returned to our table. I raised my hand to flag down the waiter.
“A bottle of wine, please,” I told him. “Whatever the house wine is.”
The waiter nodded and retreated to the bar. Raphael gave me an inquiring look.
“House wine?” he asked.
“Snob,” I said playfully, placing my hand on his knee under the table. The waiter returned quickly with the bottle, a corkscrew, and three glasses. He placed it unceremoniously on the table without opening it.
Raphael flashed me an I-told-you-so look. Maybe wine at the Kylix wasn’t up to his usual standards or presentation, but that didn’t mean it was bad.
“I’ll do the honors,” he said, pouring us each a glass.
I took a sip and gave him a knowing look. I was right. It was still good.
“Sometimes you have to take a chance on things,” I told him.
“Fair enough,” he said. “I hope you remember that.” He smiled at me, then turned to Cleon. It was clear that Raphael was done waiting for this guy to give up information.
“Tell us what you know about the Phos Eos,” I said.
“Ah, well that would take far too long. You see, I have been researching the device with Mistress Tisiphone for over three hundred years. Maybe longer.”
Three hundred years. It was hard to wrap my brain around having a project for that long.
“What I can tell you, however, is that I have seen enough evidence to believe that it exists. The last known records of it places it in the Empyrean, a place to which, as you know, it is difficult to travel.”
“Do you know how to get to the Empyrean?”
“Only by rumor and myth. They say that you must seek out the Oracle. Apollo’s Oracle. She is the key to the Empyrean, and the path to the Phos Eos. But she herself is difficult to coax. Even if she weren’t, she is a servant of Apollo, the god and keeper of the light.”
“So, she wouldn’t reveal such secrets to a vampire, a child of night, in other words,” Raphael said.
“Precisely.”
I thought about this. “But you said Tisiphone might have the ability to find and obtain the Phos Eos.”
“Find it, yes. But she still needs others to obtain it for her, as she is technically a vampire at her core. This is one reason I think she has left us. To use the minions of Ember to find it for her.”
That made sense. For the first time, I could start to understand why Tisiphone would team up with such awful people, but I still didn’t understand why she wanted the device so badly. You only act so obsessed with something if you want to use it.
If she really wanted to protect the vampires from the device being used, and if it were lost to time, wouldn’t it be safest staying that way?
Why was this realm so full of murderous folks? I thought for a second about my own world. It turned out that we didn’t have a shortage of them there, either.
“What is your part in all of this?” Raphael asked. “Why didn’t you tail Tisiphone if she is searching for it?”
“The mistress sees much. I do not have the skills to follow her without her notice. And if she obtained it, how would I take it from her? I am merely one man, after all.”
“After spending so many lifetimes helping her find it, why would you want to take it from her?” I asked.
“Because I believe her new alliance is not solely for finding the device. I believe that she may share their desires and goals now. To obliterate the vampires.”
I could see the weight of this statement fall on Raphael. His maker, his mentor, the person who made him a vampire, now wanted to kill all vampires. It seemed like a ghastly betrayal of her own kind.
“I’m not sure that is true,” Raphael said, defending her.
The chair next to me was suddenly pulled from the table, and Kai sat down next to us, an empty wine glass in hand.
“My friends. I hope you do not mind that I plan on sharing your drink.”
I smiled at him and poured some wine into his glass.
“Khaire,” he said, taking a drink. “I heard talk of the Empyrean as I entered. Are we discussing our quest already? When do we depart?”
“Our quest?” I asked.
“If I am to help you, I am to accompany you along the way, of course. Words are wind, but action is substance.”
He glanced at Cleon, but did not take much note of him other than to bow his head in his direction as he took a drink of wine. Cleon remained quiet, not acknowledging the non-vampire.
I couldn’t stand the tension, so I decided an introduction was in order.
“Kai, this is Cleon. Cleon has done a great deal of research on the Phos Eos, and I believe that he can help us find it.”
“Many have knowledge of it,” Kai said. “But there is the further matter of how one uses such knowledge.”
The smile disappeared from Kai’s face as he stared at Cleon somberly. I felt a rustling inside and then Kai spoke to my heart once again.
I’m not sure he can be trusted, sweet friend.
I sighed, knowing full well that he was right.
But you wish to have his assistance due to his expertise?
I nodded almost imperceptibly.
For you, I will agree to work with him. Still, we must be wary about what we say. Caution is in order.
Kai leaned over the table and poured himself another glass of wine, raising it in a salute to the bunch of us.
“As I was saying before we were interrupted,” Cleon continued, “we need to seek out the Oracle of Apollo. That is the logical beginning.”
“We? You’re joining us now, too?” Raphael scoffed.
Cleon shrugged. “I physically cannot enter into the Empyrean, obviously, but I will aid you for as far as I may travel. I wish the device be destroyed, and I cannot guarantee that any of the Furies will do that. They all seek power. With my knowledge of the Phos Eos, I alone can help you destroy it.”
I wasn’t sure what the Furies would do if we destroyed it instead of returning it to them. Well, I was fairly certain that whatever it was wouldn’t be pleasant. Still, we needed to find it. We could deal with everything else afterward.
“Okay, so where do we start?” I asked.
“Nobody knows where the Oracle of Apollo is,” Cleon said.
Kai looked at him sharply. He clearly didn’t agree with that statement.
“Well, most vampires don’t know. They think she is a fiction or lost to time. Some say she exists only in myths and the songs of old passed down through the ages,” Kai said. “But it is not true. She is a melody, a living breath of poetry on t
he air. She is not hard to find, if one only knows where to look. Whom to ask. How to ask.”
Everyone around here was always so esoteric. Nobody just said hey I don’t know where to find her. Your guess is as good as mine. Let’s ask around.
An idea crossed my mind. I wasn’t sure if it would lead to anything, but it was better than nothing.
“Well, I think that if you’re seeking Apollo’s Oracle, then you should probably start by asking the Apollonian.”
8
The next day, Raphael and I found ourselves on the fields of the Asphodel Meadows, the place where the portal to my world was, the place where I had fallen through the looking glass into this strange world.
Indigo light imbued the entire valley, and I could see the lights and buildings of Aporia dotting the far horizon, the upper city looming imposingly from the cliffside above. When I had come through the portal again a few days before, the green mossy meadow had been invitingly soft, but now the fields were covered with strange, funnel-shaped flowers of white tinged with crimson lines. Several of the flowers grew on each plant stem, giving the organisms and altogether cactus-like feel. They were strange blooms, unfamiliar to me, but they were beautiful all the same.
We decided to go alone so that we could speak to the Apollonian in private. Raphael had known him for a long time, and he thought that he would be more receptive to the two of us. We walked hand in hand through the meadow after exiting the car that we had rented to take us down to the countryside.
The breeze gently beckoned to us, blowing softly across my face. I would never forget my first encounter with the winds here and the terrifying spirits that controlled them, but the beings seemed to have forgiven our first meeting and were playful and kind now.
Raphael led me to the banks of the river. I had first met the Apollonian here when he had rescued me from the malevolent winds, and the centaur had blinded and dispersed them with a shattering beam of light. I had never seen anything like it.
The water was shallow and still in this part, and we waded up to our knees into the cool stream. Raphael turned to face me.
