Prophecies of Light

by E. M. Knight

  “As you say,” Geordam mutters. He gives the order to his guards.

  “I want four guards posted at every entrance to my rooms,” I continue. “And I want you inside, to look after Raul. Only you, Geordam, understand?”

  “Yes,” he bows his head. “I will take him there myself.”

  “When Phillip and Felix arrive, do not let them see him,” I say. “Make them wait outside until I am back.”

  “My Queen?” he asks. “Where are you going?”

  “To the stronghold,” I say.

  A few minutes ago, I felt a small disturbance against the underside of the warding. Something from beneath the earth. It was so minor I didn’t pay much attention to it. I just assumed it had been something like an underground avalanche or a minor earth tremor.

  But with Raul here, like this, and with the Incolam claiming he came from the fortress, that is too many circumstantial coincidences for my liking.

  “We’ll be waiting for you in your rooms,” he says, taking hold of Raul’s arm.

  ***

  I race around the village, taking the long way through the trees, doing my best not to be sighted.

  I know there are guards patrolling the woods. I hope not to run into them. Although they don’t concern me as much as having one of the Elite or Incolam spot me, seeing the worry on my face and wondering what has gone wrong.

  Sometimes, you have to hold all your cards close to your chest.

  I reach the stronghold. Before emerging from cover, I send a strong pulse of the vampire sense in all directions.

  It tells me the way is clear.

  I walk out and come to the doors.

  I look at the dirt. I’m no tracker, but with my vampire vision even I can make out the disturbance most recently made by somebody running out.

  I see a footprint. Part of one. It matches Raul’s boot size.

  I kneel down, touch a finger to it, and grasp the thinnest sliver of Air and… Spirit.

  Yes, Spirit. The Force is all but invisible to me, yet having used it once has linked me to its current in such a way that I don’t have to sense it to use it.

  The weave I make tests the dirt under my finger and affirms to me Raul’s recent presence here.

  So the vampires in the village were right.

  The question is, what was he doing here? I know the villagers are inside, the would-be vampires who I have yet to decide if I am going to let live.

  I dislike others thinking they have free reign to deal with the fledglings. First, it was Felix giving them his blood. Now, it’s Raul, doing God-knows-what.

  I place a palm to the door and push it open.

  As I start down the stairs, I hold a variety of different spells ready to be cast in the blink of an eye. If Raul’s affliction was caused by something down here… I have to be careful.

  When I reach the main floor, the sense of all the villagers comes to me. They’re not far. But their life force is very weak.

  I pause at the entrance of their chamber. I hesitate.

  Then, making up my mind, I enter the room in which they’re kept.

  I gasp when I see them. They’re laid out in a perfect arrangement on the floor. But there are bite marks on each of their bodies.

  Could they be so weak as to have still been unable to heal from what Phillip did to them?

  I walk up to the nearest woman. She’s still as death, but the barest pulse sustains her. I touch the wound on her neck, then immediately yank my head back.

  It’s still warm.

  That means these bite marks were made more recently. By whom? I don’t see any reason for Raul to feed on them, that wouldn’t make any sense.

  Yet who else was here otherwise?

  I stand up and make a round through the bodies. I make sure to look at the faces of each fledgling and commit it to memory. If I decide that they cannot be allowed to transform, I want to know the deaths I am responsible for.

  I will never shy away from duty. A proper ruler has to be hardened. Moreover, she has to know exactly what impact her orders have on the lives of those affected.

  When I’ve seen all that I need to see, I come to the door. I cast one look back, sigh deeply, and step out.

  From the other side, I pull on all the currents I have access to, the Forces from both this world and from the Demon Realm, and form the greatest weave of Fire I have ever controlled.

  “I’m sorry,” I say softly, then direct the inferno into the room.

  The deaths are quick. Painless. I put a protective shield of Air around me to shelter me from the heat. Less than a second, and it’s done. All the villager bodies are destroyed by the fire, leaving only blackened remains.

  I snuff the Fire current out. The heat from it still remains, of course. I funnel it all out of the room with a conduit of Air and Water, and let it dissipate into the ground.

  I turn away. My back is stiff, my heart is heavy.

  I just ended so many innocent lives.

  “A Queen must do what she has to do,” I tell myself. “This is what was best for The Haven.”

  But damn if I don’t feel guilty for it.

  I push those feelings aside. What’s done is done. I came here for a reason, to investigate the disturbance I felt in the wards.

  I start my trek deeper into the stronghold.

  As I get farther down the hall, I start to notice peculiar differences in the feel of the place, compared to when last I was here.

  I tell myself it’s just my imagination. Yet my vampire instincts know differently. I’ve learned by now to rely on those in almost all situations.

  The frustrating thing is that I cannot tell what those differences are. I cannot put my finger on it.

  All I really know is that I have to be extremely careful.

  I start down a spiral staircase. It’s very narrow. I never liked the claustrophobic feeling it gave. But I reach the bottom without incident and wander out into the abandoned hall.

  Here I see markings on the walls, the floor, the ceiling.

  They look like scratch marks.

  What could have caused something like that?

  I speed down the hall. My heart beats faster and faster. Even though my vampire senses tell me there is nobody around, I feel like I’m going to be ambushed at any moment.

  I stop in sudden alarm when a new thought occurs to me. What if whatever happened to Raul was caused by a retaliatory spell cast by Morgan before she died? What if his condition is due to that, and he somehow triggered the spell by coming in here on his own?

  I swallow a very real nugget of fear. If that’s the case, the spell was actually meant for me, and Raul took the bullet instead.

  I make a vampiric growl of displeasure deep in my throat. The noise surprises me when it comes—I’d only thought men did that!

  I guess the vampiric essence doesn’t discriminate…

  If Morgan is still causing problems from beyond the grave, it means my position is less stable than I presumed. What’s more, it means none of my vampires are truly safe. The protection I guaranteed them is an illusion.

  I shake my head gruffly. I have to focus on the facts, on the here-and-now, on what I actually know.

  And I know that I felt something interfere with the wards. I have to see for myself what that was.

  I hasten my pace and go to the source.

  What greets me when I turn the distant corner, I would have never expected. There is a giant crater in the middle of the floor. The other side of the tunnel has collapsed entirely, and rubble is piled up to the ceiling.

  But the hole, the gap, the crater, demands my attention above all.

  I walk up to the edge. I peer down. Despite how good my vision is, despite my abilities to see in the dark, I cannot see the bottom.

  That means the drop goes for miles and miles and miles, at least.

  What could have caused the ground to cave in like this? I won’t believe for a second that Morgan had the stronghold built on unstable land. Sh
e valued precision in the things she did. This would have been such a glaring oversight.

  I take one thorough look around. I have to get back to the apartments soon. That means I have no time to venture down. And, realistically, going down by myself, alone and unprotected, would be enormously short-sighted.

  Just as I’m about to turn back, a flicker of movement catches my eye. Immediately, I lash out, directing a spell in the direction…

  But then I see that it was just a falling rock.

  You’re jumping at ghosts, here, Eleira.

  Still, before I leave, I cast a small fireball down into the shaft. I watch as it descends, its light making shadows dance along the sides. It goes and goes and goes, then winks out of sight, swallowed by the darkness.

  It doesn’t exactly leave me with the greatest amount of confidence.

  I turn and walk away.

  I get to the end of the hall when, without warning, a horrendous shriek pierces the air. It’s like the scream of the Convicted, yet somehow worse. I stagger in confusion, disoriented, the sound interfering with thought.

  I stick a hand out and catch myself against the wall. The lone shrieking voice is joined by a dozen others, all of them singing a horrible chorus. I try to fight against it, fight the weakness that it brings, but nothing in my vampiric senses gives me the ability to counteract this awful noise.

  In a flash, I cast a spell of Air and Earth, making an impenetrable sound barrier around me.

  The noise cuts off. I sag back, needing a second to collect myself.

  When my strength returns, I face the crater, from whence the screams came.

  I flare my vampiric senses out toward it and find nothing. Not a single inkling of life down there. The barrier is still blocking the sound waves.

  In a moment of inspiration, I reverse the weaves and turn the barrier into a megaphone, swallowing up the sound and directing it back at them, at double its strength.

  The move pays off. The screaming stops, cutting off with a surprising implosion. The creatures responsible for the sound were not expecting it to be flung back at them.

  For half a moment, I debate going on the offensive, going on the attack, rushing down the corridor and diving into the crater and destroying whatever lies down there.

  But that would be too reckless. I am the Queen. Even if I am the most powerful vampire in our coven I still need to protect myself.

  I make up my mind. I will return with the guards, after taking care of Raul, to see what’s what.

  Maybe I’ll ask some of The Elite to join us to prove their loyalty to me.

  I dissolve the sound barrier I created and rush to the side of the crater. I call on a mix of the Elements, using all five of them to create a solid but invisible shield that I place above the enormous gap. I let it settle into place, then prod it with my toe, then, satisfied, walk away.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Eleira

  The Haven

  When I reach the base of the apartments a few minutes later, I find an absolute commotion on my hands.

  Phillip is yelling at a group of guards, who are blocking his way up. The miasma swirls heavy in his eyes.

  Standing by the tree trunk, on the other side of the guards, is Felix, appearing entirely unaffected and completely at ease.

  The shouting match stops as soon as the vampires realize I’m there. Phillip spins toward me and marches over.

  I put a hand up to stop him about ten feet away. “That’s close enough.”

  “They told me you wanted me, but wouldn’t say why!” he exclaims. “Is it true, then, what that traitorous bastard said?”

  He flings a finger out at Felix.

  I raise an eyebrow and ask him calmly. “What did he say?”

  “That you want to cast me out, that you’ll ban me from the coven, and leave me to fend for myself outside without lifting the oath!”

  “Now, Phillip,” I say. “Have I ever given you the impression I’d do something as cold-hearted as that? I’m not the same woman your mother was.”

  Mention of Morgan makes him stop. His eyes flicker the way I came from.

  I wonder why that is.

  “So why did you summon me here,” he asks. “If it’s not for that?”

  “Something happened to Raul,” I tell him quickly. “He requires our help. I want you to promise me you’ll give it when I ask.”

  “Raul?” he says. “What’s he gotten himself into this time?”

  “I don’t know, but I need both of you—” I take in Felix with my gaze, “to put aside your differences and help me with this. Do you agree?”

  “Certainly,” Felix says.

  Phillip shoots him a dangerous look. “That depends on how serious this thing is,” he tells me.

  “If it wasn’t serious, I wouldn’t have called on you,” I tell him testily, losing my patience. I stride to the elevator. “Come on. We’re going up.”

  Felix and Phillip both step in beside me. I feel the animosity between the two of them. It’s as palpable as the thickest stream.

  We reach the top. I step out first. Geordam is waiting for us outside my door.

  “How is he?” I ask, as soon as I see him.

  The guard gives an uneasy heft of his shoulders. “Not much better than before. He seems to understand the place he’s in, but…”

  He trails off.

  “Open the door, let us in,” I say.

  Geordam does as commanded.

  I discover Raul slumped over on the couch inside. He doesn’t look up as we enter. Instead, he keeps muttering those incoherent words to himself.

  Phillip rushes to him. “What happened?” he demands. He takes his brother’s face in his hands and looks into his eyes. He waves a hand between them.

  Raul does not react.

  Seeing him like this makes me suddenly very nervous, very uncertain, and very scared.

  Outside, in public, I am Queen, and I have to adopt a strong persona.

  But in here, in private, all my fears about Raul come barreling to the surface.

  Geordam closes the door behind him, locking us in the room. “He came to us like that,” he tells Phillip.

  “I probed him” I confess. “I could find nothing wrong.”

  “Well, of course you couldn’t find anything wrong, stupid girl, magic does not heal!” Phillip explodes.

  Considering the circumstances, I let the insult slide.

  Phillip lets Raul go. The middle Soren brother dissolves into those jumbled, confused sounds.

  “What do we do?” Geordam asks.

  I look at the lucid vampires. They’re all waiting for guidance.

  All, that is, except for Felix.

  He hasn’t said a word yet, but the look in his eyes tells me he’s thinking hard about something. Just as I’m about to ask him what that is, he snaps from his reverie, walks up to Raul, bends down, and whispers a string of words into his ear.

  I pick up the sounds. They are not English. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say they were part of the same language spoken by the witches in their ancient chants.

  When the last syllable leaves Felix’s lips, all the tension seeps out of Raul. He stops muttering nonsense. He takes a few slow, deep breaths.

  Then, he closes his eyes, and slumps over in a deep sleep.

  “What did you do?” I ask very softly, not sure whether to be awed or frightened or thankful.

  “He’s going to be fine,” is the first thing Felix says. “What we need to worry about, however, is what caused this.”

  Phillip, for whatever reason, is staring at Felix as if he’d just sprouted horns and turned into a demon.

  “You channeled the Elemental Forces,” Phillip breathes.

  “What?” It feels like the air has been knocked out of me. “Phillip, what did you say?”

  Phillip glowers at the other vampire. “That lying, deceitful bastard,” he growls. “He can call upon the Elemental Forces, just like me!”

  “Oh,
I’d hardly say I’m like you,” Felix responds.

  I look at the older vampire, seeing him in an entirely new light. “You can do magic?” I ask.

  “My ability’s not very strong,” he confesses. “Comparing my ability to Phillip’s is like comparing a grain of sand to the tallest mountain.”

  “You never told me you could channel,” I say.

  “I did not mean to deceive you, my Queen,” he says. “There was simply never an opportune time.”

  I scoff. “I can think of plenty of moments you could have said something.”

  “I didn’t want to concern you. My ability is very, very small. Not even worth mention.” He holds out a hand, concentrates, and, after a few moments, a tiny spark jumps through his fingers.

  A moment later it flashes out of existence.

  “The extent of what I can do,” he says. I think I detect a note of bitterness in his voice.

  I look at Phillip. “Is he telling the truth about his strength?”

  Phillip grunts. “As far as I can tell, yes.”

  “Good,” I say. “That still doesn’t excuse keeping it a secret, but it’s good to know you’re not a bigger threat.”

  “I did not assume you’d be so interested in the small details of my life,” Felix mutters.

  I shake my head. “Never mind all of that. Raul is the priority. Tell us what you did.”

  “I recognized his condition the moment we walked in,” he says. “It just took me a while to remember the words of the spell.”

  “And what language was that?” I ask. “Where did you learn it?”

  He gives a sly smile. “In my former life, I was the one who taught it to Morgan. Why do you think she took me in as an older vampire who could have, in theory, risen above her in power? Remember that I was made many years before.”

  “You cannot trust him,” Phillip says seriously. “Eleira, I do not think Felix is who you believe him to be.”

  “As I’m learning by the minute,” I mutter. I face our newest user of magic. “What was wrong with Raul, and how did you help him?”

  “Like I said,” he answers, “we need not worry about him but about what caused this. The ailment is simple. Vampires have a certain weakness that very few know about. When sound waves of a particular frequency are directed at them, it fractures the mind. First discovered, I believe,” he gives a sour chuckle,” in an experiment conducted upon me.”