by E. M. Knight
I stop and turn back. “Then what?” I question. “You’re not suddenly afraid of this place, are you?”
“We are very near an ancient coven,” she responds cautiously. “It’s no coincidence that the Elements are warped and twisting so near.”
“Well, maybe we’ll stumble onto them down here,” I reply and keep walking.
Another few hundred yards brings us to a large opening. The ceiling expands, the walls widen, and that feeling of oppression lessens.
A bit.
I look at the walls. There are multiple passageways leading away from the plaza. But the sound of the running water comes only from one.
I point it out to Beth with a nod. “That way,” I say.
She trails behind me as I approach. “Something feels wrong,” she mutters.
I glance at her. “To do with the Elemental Forces?”
“No.” She shakes her head. “My vampire senses tell me things are not as they appear.”
I grunt in annoyance. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“That we both have to be very, very careful,” she says.
“We already know that,” I look at the opening from where the sound is coming. “Come. The sooner we get to the bottom of this, the better off we’ll be.”
She mumbles something incomprehensible but follows along.
As I near the door I let my claws come out. I flare my senses, searching for anybody who might be on the other side.
Of course, as expected, there is nobody. I would have noticed their movement earlier if there were.
But I cannot take unnecessary risks.
I’m just about to step over the threshold, when Beth yanks me back. “Dagan!” she gasps. “Wait.”
I scowl at her. “What?”
“I think…” she narrows her eyes. “I think there’s an inverted weave over the opening.”
“Is that supposed to mean something to me?”
“Any spell cast normally can be seen by other witches. When we pull upon the Elements, the weaves we form become visible. An inverted weave, on the other hand, hides itself from sight. It takes a very strong witch to be able to craft one.”
“There’s nobody here,” I say. “Just me and you. No one is channeling magic or drawing on the Elements. So explain to me what you mean, clearly, or else stand down and let me through.”
“A spell can be cast and left inactivate,” she says in a rush. “Waiting for the right trigger. Like a bear trap. I will bet gold that there is a trap on that entrance.”
“But if it’s inverted,” I say slowly. “How can you know?”
“I thought I saw a glimmer of it,” she admits.
“Thought?” I ask. “So you’re not certain?”
“I can’t be certain. That’s the whole point of inverted weaves! They fail sometimes, briefly, and that’s what I think I glimpsed.”
“So it could just as well be nothing.”
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean you should go barreling in!” she explodes. “Stupid, stubborn man. Give me a few minutes, let me see what I can figure out.”
I look at her in hard consideration. She matches my gaze one-for-one without backing down.
“Fine,” I say, stepping aside. “If you’re so confident…”
“Thank you,” she notes, the sarcasm thick on her tongue.
I cross my arms and wait.
Beth walks up to the entrance. She concentrates on the opening. Slowly, she brings her arms out and holds her hands a millimeter away from where the invisible barring would be.
Suddenly, a blue light explodes from around her. It’s so strong that it blinds me for a second. I take a step away, shielding my eyes…
When I can see again, Beth is in a heap on the ground.
I curse and run up to her. I drop to my knees and cradle her head in my arms.
“Beth,” I say. “Beth!”
She’s out cold. But I can still feel her presence, which means she isn’t dead.
“Wake up,” I snarl. “Damn you, wake up!”
I shake her by the shoulders, but she does not stir.
I run my hands over her body. There’s no damage insofar as I can tell. Whatever happened to her obviously had to do with magic, as there is no physical affliction that the vampire blood cannot heal.
But just to make sure, I bite a small incision into my wrists and press it to her lips. The blood pools between them. It takes her body a moment to react, as all vampire’s bodies do to the elixir. When her senses are triggered, and her subconscious mind realizes there is blood, her lips part with a gasp.
She swallows what little amount ends up on her tongue but does not draw more. Makes sense, given that she’s recently fed. The fact that her body has no hunger for blood tells me that my initial guess was accurate: there is no physical manifestation of whatever harm just befell her.
“Beth,” I insist. “Beth, I know you’re there. Wake up. Wake up, damn it!”
Her head simply falls back from my wrist, leaden and limp.
I snarl. I got her into this mess. She is my responsibility now!
I pick her up and cradle her in my arms. She seems so delicate, so light, when she’s vulnerable like this.
Forget the running creek, the sound of water, whatever it is. I need to get Beth out of here, get her above ground, get her somewhere the Currents are normal. I’ve no clue what happened to her, but I suspect that—I hope that—having access to the Elements as they’re supposed to be could help her recover.
I start for the way we came. I’m halfway to the exit when a great rock barrier crashes down on the other side.
“No!” I gasp.
I let Beth down and race to the seal. I slam my shoulder against it, using all my strength, willing it to move.
It doesn’t budge.
The wall is absolutely solid. I try striking at it with my fist. The cavern shakes, the walls quiver, but I don’t make a dent in the stone.
What the hell is this made of?
The sound of another block coming down has me spin back. I watch, helpless to affect things, and the same sort of seals fall from the ceiling and close off every passage.
Each one, that is, except for that which Beth said had the inverted spell cast over it.
I take a quick look at her body. She’s still unconscious. She hasn’t stirred.
That overbearing feeling of apprehension starts to creep in again.
I strain my ears. The sound of water still comes from down that tunnel.
I growl in displeasure and make up my mind.
I grab Beth up from the floor and bulldoze toward the only available exit.
I half-expect something to crash down on me the moment I rip through. Yet nothing happens.
Beth must have disarmed the trap.
But what caused the other barriers to fall, in that case?
The sound of running water all of a sudden seems much closer, much more immediate. There’s a strange darkness coating the edges of the path, festering away the intersect of floor and wall.
I pay it little mind, focusing only on reaching the end.
I run so fast that I don’t see it coming. One moment, the path in front of me is solid ground. The next, it drops off in a precipitous cliff.
I skid to a halt, only just managing to stay on-balance. I spin around, looking behind me.
Outright fear takes me from what I see.
The darkness has risen, making a solid curtain across the way. It’s thick and roiling, and looks like something out of a nightmare.
I am for some reason reminded of the demon’s venom ruining my back at exactly that point.
I edge away. There’s no escape other than the drop behind me. I glance over my shoulder and realize I cannot see to the bottom. It’s not that there is more of that impenetrable darkness there; it’s just that the distance is so great.
I turn my head forward and nearly stagger from shock. The darkness is creeping forward, encroaching over the ground.
<
br /> There are humanoid shapes coming out from within the darkness.
They look like goblins or ghouls. Of course, such creatures don’t exist, but they’re commonly mentioned in folklore. These things are four, maybe five feet in height. They have limbs so long that hang all the way to the ground. Their heads are misshapen things, looking like squashed pumpkins or some other rotten fruit.
And their bodies are made entirely of that thick, black tar.
I glance at Beth in my arms. Her breaths have quickened. Either she can sense the danger radiating from these things, or she’s falling deeper into a state there’s no recovering from.
The black creatures emerge very slowly, pulling on the fabric they are made of like figures pulled out of clay. I feel the threat emanating from them as keenly as I’ve felt any danger before.
The only comparable fear I’ve had was when I was left for dead by Cierra, long centuries ago, when I was still human.
At the thought of the Dark Sorceress, a blinding pain shoots through my head. I cry out and nearly drop Beth. The sounds seem to spook the forming creatures, for they all freeze.
I count six of them now. Could I fight them? There is no way to gauge their strength, no precedent for this sort of thing.
How do I fight things without knowing what they’re capable of? How do I defend Beth against something that should have no place on this Earth?
That consistent sound of running water beckons me.
I look back. If I stay here and fight, what happens then? Even if I were to defeat the blackness and its spawn, there’s still no way back above ground.
So, Beth tight in my arms, I turn to the immense drop and jump off the ledge.
Chapter Seventeen
Raul
The Haven’s apartments
I stare in wonder as the woman I love finishes her tale of what happened to her in the Demon Realm.
“Raul?” she asks after a moment. “Are you still with me?”
“What? Yes, yes. Of course I am. It’s just… I’m at a loss for words.”
I walk up to her, take her by the arms, and look deep into her eyes.
“It’s just that you are absolutely incredible. You know that?”
The corners of her lips quiver up into a smile, and a bit of color blossoms in her cheeks.
“I just did what I had to do,” she tells me solemnly.
“I know. But still, I’m astounded. How fast you’ve adapted, how fast you’ve come to grips with all of this, how fast you’ve come into your own…” I back off and hold my hand up. “I’ll say no more. I know you don’t like this topic. But I’ll never hide from you how amazing I think you are.”
“You don’t have to,” she confides. “At least, not when we’re in private. In public, however…”
“It’s a different matter. I know.”
“Yes. And you know now why I’m sending you with Phillip. I want you to be the one to make them. When they are safely here, I will offer them the goblet and break the link with you. But I need them to be strong, Raul, and your blood is the only one I trust to fulfill that task.”
“There are vampires just as capable as I of doing the conversion.”
“None that I trust completely.”
I smile. “I’ll do it. Exactly as you command. But—” I hesitate.
“But what?” she presses.
“But I still want to be there when you go to the stronghold.”
“No,” she says. “Absolutely not. You have no time to waste. Finding the Forsaken Sisters is most important. You leave with Phillip as soon as it’s night outside the wards.”
I exhale heavily. “It’s not… not about you, Eleira. It’s Cassandra.”
“What about Cassandra?” she asks.
“She’s my fledgling. I feel responsible for her. I have to know whether she’s alive or dead, or else…”
“You’ll find out on your return,” she says firmly. I’m impressed again by how quickly she can shift back to being Queen. “I can’t have you riddled with guilt on your journey if she was killed. And if she is still alive, I will rescue her, that I promise you.” She tempers her tone. “Felix has a soft spot for her, too. He’ll see to it she’s cared for, if we find her alive.”
I grunt. “That’s not an easy thing to just walk away from,” I grumble.
“Yet there are more pressing things that require your attention.”
“How long do you think it will take, with the stronghold? Not more than a day. Surely we can spare that—”
“No,” she cuts me off. Her voice has gone cold. “Don’t make me repeat myself a third time, Raul.”
I take a breath. “Fine. Is there anything else I need to know for the journey?”
She looks at me in full seriousness. “Yes. I want you to give the three of them equal amounts of blood. Make absolutely certain of that. I want them all identical in power.”
“That’s not how the serum works,” I hedge. “You know that. The strength of these fledglings will depend both on the strength of their maker and their individual affinity for the blood.”
“That’s true. Just remember, they’re bound to be delicate. And just because they helped me, and I promised to turn them, does not mean you or I can blindly trust them. These are women who have managed to linger for centuries as humans. There is only one other person I know who’s done that.”
“Cierra,” I say.
She nods. “So they are supremely powerful. Let’s not give any one of them reason to strike out against the others.”
I nod. “Understood.”
A knock comes on the door. I turn around. Eleira walks to it.
She cracks it open. “Geordam,” she says.
“The guards have assembled,” he reports. “Ready to follow you into the fray.”
“Good,” she says.
“Phillip and Felix are also done. They are waiting for Raul.”
“I’ll go,” I say. I walk to Eleira and squeeze her hand.
“You be safe,” I whisper.
She embraces me. “You, too,” she says in my ear, sounding exactly like the girl I first met when she was human.
“I love you,” I tell her and turn away.
“I love you, too,” she says under her breath.
I am not sure she meant for it to be heard.
***
“This is where we make our leave,” Phillip tells me, glancing past the invisible barrier to the outside world.
I peer at all the trees on the other side. They are indistinguishable from the ones in here.
“Isn’t it amazing,” I say, “how we’re once more on the same side, after all that you’ve done?”
Phillip looks at me and sniffs. “Do you really believe that?”
“No,” I admit with a smirk. “But it’s a good little lie to tell ourselves. Let’s go.”
Without further consideration, I leap through the wards and emerge on the other side.
All of a sudden, I feel a constriction come over me. It’s very subtle, but I notice it nonetheless.
Is this just a return to normal after the enhanced peace that washed over us in The Haven?
I look back, and blink. The woods on the other side look abandoned. There’s no sight of any of the development we’ve done.
After a moment, Phillip pops out beside me. He staggers a few steps, then grabs at his chest and takes a series of very heavy breaths.
I come up to him. “You all right?” I ask.
“Dandy,” he answers. He turns his eyes up toward me, and I see the miasma streaming across the whites.
“What did you do?” I ask him seriously.
“Nothing.” He straightens, then takes a moment to compose himself. “I just did not expect the change to be so sudden.”
“Welcome to the real world, then,” I tell him and clap him on the back. “It’s been a long time since you were out here.”
“You think that grants you some advantage over me?” he snarls.
I smile. “You haven’t yet had to hold in the bloodlust when among hordes of humans.”
“What does that matter?” he demands.
“Only that your self-control will be severely tested. It might strain the limits of what you’re capable of. After your showing with the villagers…”
“Don’t mock me,” Phillip snaps. “You and I both know the real reason I fed on the stock.”
I look at him and narrow my eyes. “You might,” I say. “But I do not. Tell me.”
“Isn’t it obvious?” He sneers. “The damn villagers were holdovers of Mother’s regime. Eleira had a weakness for them because she met them first when she was human. They could have been her Achilles’ heel.”
“How so?” I prod.
“Oh, give me a break! They were mortal, they were vulnerable, and Eleira could have been manipulated had they been taken hostage or some such thing. Besides, none of them reciprocated her kindness. Their hatred of vampires ran deep, as it should, obviously, given they were kept in the coven as cows waiting slaughter. I fed on them to eliminate that little… flaw… in her thinking.”
“You fed on them, but did not kill them,” I say flatly. “Give me one reason I should believe you when you claim you did it for Eleira’s benefit.”
“It’s not my fault Felix went and gave them his blood,” Phillip spits. “I left them dying. They would all be gone had that damn vampire not come to their rescue.”
“After you tortured him,” I note.
Phillip grunts. “I already explained that was done on Mother’s orders.”
I step up to him and take hold of his arm. “Do you mean to tell me,” I say softly, “that you took not one iota of pleasure in doing what you did? That you did not satiate in the feelings of strength and power and authority as you directed your vile magic at a helpless prisoner?”
Phillip doesn’t back down. “Felix was far from helpless. That vampire has more secrets than you know.”
“You don’t trust him,” I say.
“Of course not. And you would be an idiot to.”
“I never said I trust him,” I say slowly. “Even though he’s not done anything yet to make me doubt him.”
“And what about the lies he fed Mother?” Phillip demands.
