I was eleven the first time I’d seen it. Cleaning my room while Dad was out on a mission was what I was supposed to be doing that summer afternoon, but I’d found myself wandering in the woods instead, meandering along a faint path and picking flowers until I’d stumbled upon a graveyard. The structure almost at its center had been large and foreboding and called to me in a way I never quite understood. My hands trembled when I looked at it during my youth, but I found it beautifully macabre. Visits back then were few and far between, but it wasn’t long before I wondered about the person or people resting in eternal peace on the other side of the mausoleum’s walls.
Though I’d continued to go there sporadically over the years, something changed just after my eighteenth birthday, like I couldn’t fully catch my breath until I visited the place that haunted my dreams. An ache formed deep within my chest—dull at first, but quickly intensifying to the point where I could hardly stand to exist—and it only seemed to be relieved upon visiting the monument. The feeling had only happened a couple of times at first, but over the last year it had become so strong that I went there nearly every chance I could get. Weekly, for sure, but sometimes daily when I could spare the time.
Each time I visited the place, I felt like I was getting closer to discovering something big about myself, like the secrets of my destiny were buried there, but there was nothing more than crumbling monuments and death greeting me. Forcing myself to enter the place wasn’t something I’d mustered up the courage to do just yet, but it looked like that’s right where I was headed. Ready or not.
“There is a passageway just inside that’ll lead you underground to a tomb where your target lay.”
“I’m ready, Master Lewis. No vampire stands a chance against me,” I said confidently. Thankfully, they couldn’t hear my heart racing at the thought that the vampire resting there had been calling to me all along.
“Make no mistake. This is no ordinary vampire you seek to destroy, and you’ll have to use every bit of strength and training to guide you in your quest to slay him.”
“Who is this vampire?” I asked, getting the sense that this mission was much more dangerous than I’d expected my first to be.
“The vampire king of Velum Mortis.”
2
Delia
Kill the vampire king? My first time out? Goodness, I felt like a virgin expected to be an expert in a world of kink…
Velum Mortis? The City of the Dead, as it was also known, was supposed to be situated somewhere in the underworld. The same underworld ruled by Hades. I’d thought it to be a myth and had never taken much stock in the tales I’d heard. How could a place possibly exist where vampires ruled the streets and great mythological beasts roamed the forest surrounding it? Plus, it just didn’t make sense. Vampires were mostly solitary creatures as far as I knew, save for the rare occasion where a few of them would live together in a nest.
Master Lewis had to be joking. If regular, run-of-the-mill vampires were dangerous, I could only imagine what their king would be like.
“No way,” Harmon blurted out. “She’s not ready for this. Just give me a little more time training her.”
I shot him a side-eye and then turned my attention back to Master Lewis. How dare he continue to doubt me, even if I doubted myself in that moment. “With all due respect, Master Lewis. Do you think I’m ready for this? The vampire king? I didn’t even realize Velum Mortis was a real place.”
“The task sounds more dangerous than it actually is. It’s not like you have to go to Velum Mortis and fight your way through a horde of vampires to reach him. You see, he travelled here to orchestrate all sorts of treacherous things many years ago and was cursed. A deep slumber that cannot be easily broken has befallen the king. He poses no threat.”
“Then why kill him?” It was my turn to blurt out words before thinking. “What’s the point?”
Master Lewis’ back stiffened as he peered down his nose at me, like I should be condemned to hell for saying something so blasphemous. The warmth from his face drained away and a coldness settled over his eyes. “Because he is a vampire, and royalty, no less. It is our duty to eradicate the vampire species from this world. Period. It does not matter if he will ever wake up again or not. It will be a victory. A victory that will be yours to claim. Do you accept, or shall I send you back to the training yard?”
“I accept,” I said without hesitation. No way was I passing up my chance to move forward.
“I’m going with her,” Harmon said.
“No. You will not,” Master Lewis responded. “She must do this alone. You know this,” he said, his eyes widening as he peered at Harmon.
“There’s no way she’s ready for any of this. I need more time with her, and I don’t care who or what says otherwise.”
“What makes you think I can do this?” I asked, interrupting the ensuing argument.
“Did you not hear me say he is deep in slumber and that he poses no threat?”
“I did, master,” I said. “But wouldn’t a king be heavily guarded?” I’d never seen any other living—non-living in this case—creature near the place, but shouldn’t there be guards protecting a king?
“He’s completely alone. Shut off from his kind.”
“How can you be sure?” I questioned.
“His kind cannot find him.”
“Then how did we find him?”
“We’ve always known where he lies because your father was instrumental in putting him there.”
“Why didn’t he kill him when he had the chance?” I asked, wondering how or why my father had let such a creature continue to exist. It went against the very fiber of his being to leave such a vampire alive.
My bullshit detector started to buzz.
“Simply put, he could not physically overtake him. The king was a very powerful being, stronger than anything we’d ever faced before. Still would be if he were to wake up. Your father became desperate, and desperate times call for desperate measures, as the saying goes… The witch your father enlisted to help take the beast down betrayed him, though that was not entirely unexpected. There’s a reason we don’t usually associate with them.”
“A witch?” I asked, the notion catching me off guard. “How did she betray him?”
“She added a stipulation to the curse that he could not be killed for a certain period of time, twenty years tomorrow, to be exact. Since your father was instrumental in subduing him, it would be poetic justice for his daughter to be the one to end the vampire king permanently, and on your birthday, no less,” he said with a crooked little smile and fidgeting fingers that didn’t go unnoticed.
Harmon paced back and forth, scrubbing his hand over his chin before settling his gaze on me. “Are you okay with this? Are you ready to do everything you have to do to kill him? No matter what happens or how you feel?”
What an odd question. Of course, I would do everything I could to ensure the demise of the vampire king. The bragging rights alone would be worth it, and it would cement my place as a slayer. Maybe even earn me a little bit of respect… Finally.
“I’m fine,” I replied, my tone short and to the point. “Master Lewis believes in me. I aim to prove him right and everyone who has ever doubted me wrong.”
Harmon’s mouth dropped open slightly as he looked down at me. “So be it,” he said, turning on his heels and marching back through the doors.
“Make sure your sword is sharp before you leave,” Master Lewis instructed. “A bag has been packed for you with the few provisions you’re allowed on the first mission. You’ll find it waiting for you on your front porch.”
“Yes, master. Thank you.”
“I wouldn’t thank me just yet. As is requirement the first time you go out, you must prove that you can survive on your own. You’ll be responsible for hunting or gathering your own food and finding your own water, and you won’t be allowed to take your phone. You may complete the mission on your own timeline, but if I may, I’d suggest you
camp in the forest tonight and make your move at dawn. As you know, sunlight can kill some of them and it drastically weakens the ones who survive it.”
“I thought you said he was asleep, and no one was guarding him…”
“I did, and though I am most confident that is still the case, one can never be overly cautious. If you get overwhelmed or if something doesn’t feel right, be sure to return to the light. Now, go. I bid you well,” he said with a smile and returned to his place at the table.
I left the great hall and walked the three blocks to my house. The small town bustled, its inhabitants busy with their day-to-day lives while I prepared to face the greatest make-it-or-break-it moment of my life.
Upon returning to my home, I found Harmon in the living room and regretted ever giving him a key in the first place. He leaned against the wall, arms crossed and a sullen look marring his face.
“I’m sorry.”
“For?” I asked. I knew what I wanted him to be sorry for, but I wasn’t so sure he was actually sorry for that reason. His tone sounded insincere to me. Probably just wanted to smooth things over so it wouldn’t be awkward when I got back or to ease a potential guilty conscience should I not return.
“For sheltering you. I should’ve cleared you with the others. I should’ve told you that I do believe in you.”
“Yes. You should have,” I said, unleashing the anger that had been building in me. “I’ve busted my ass for years, and you know it. You think I haven’t heard all of them whispering about how unworthy I am these past five years? How I was only let into the academy because of who my dad was and that I would never amount to anything? And to know you could have shut them all up if you’d just cleared me when I actually deserved to be cleared instead of holding me back and making me look like a failure… Every single fucking day I’ve questioned and doubted myself a little more,” I said, shaking my head. “Maybe they’re right, I’d think to myself..” A fire ignited at the base of my neck, traveling up my spine and over my face. “And for what? So you could feel okay while my self-esteem plummeted?”
“It’s not that at all… I wanted to protect you.”
“I don’t need you to protect me,” I spat, throwing my hands into the air before letting them fall to my sides. “I needed you to tell me you believed in me.”
“Everyone needs to be protected sometimes, Delia… Look, I really am sorry,” he said, gathering me into his arms.
Nothing that he still hadn’t told me what I wanted to hear, I pushed him away and took a step back. “I know. It’s just…”
“Tell me.”
“Is this really what you want?” I asked, not sure if I really wanted the answer. On one hand, I wanted to hear that he loved me, that we belonged together, and that my doubts were unfounded, but on the other… Well, I didn’t know how I felt about that, despite the questioning I’d been doing recently about our relationship.
“What do you mean?” he asked and sat down on the couch. He patted the seat next to him in an invitation for me to join him. I ignored it and kept my feet planted to the floor.
“This?” I asked, motioning my hands back and forth between us. “Us?”
“Is it not what you want?”
“I don’t know… Holding me back like that was a dick move. It makes me feel like you’re trying to control what I can and can’t do. I know this is what Dad wanted for me, but he isn’t here anymore, and I wonder if there aren’t others more suited for you than I am. Others who rival your stature in this town.”
“Don’t say that. You’re beautiful.”
“I wasn’t talking about my looks.”
Another piece of my confidence broke off and fell to the ground. Obviously, he thought I wasn’t as attractive as him, or at least, that’s how I took the remark.
“Then what did you mean?”
How could he be so daft? “Can we just talk about this when I get back? I need to focus on killing a king.”
“Yeah, sure… I may have slipped something extra into your bag,” he said, standing and planting a quick kiss on my forehead. “You’re welcome.”
I watched him walk away, annoyed that once again he didn’t think I was capable and determined to remove whatever cheats he’d added to my bag.
Once the door closed behind him, I expected my heart to ache, to feel like a piece of me had walked through that door. When it didn’t, the conflict brewing within me surged, making me question the future we were to build together that much more than I already had been.
But it wasn’t long before the heaviness in my chest returned, bringing with it a new ache I hadn’t felt before. This time, the pain settling over my heart nearly had me doubled over, like death was just behind me, ready to reach out and take me at any moment. Most people would try to get to a hospital at the first sign of labored breathing and chest pains, but not me. Not this time. There was only one place I could go that would alleviate the pain. No doctor could fix what ailed me.
Sunlight dotted through the trees, illuminating the earth in a spectacled pattern around where I’d been sleeping. It was a beautiful sight to wake up to, but I’d only shut my eyes what I thought was a few hours before, finding the ground uncomfortable at best. I’d made camp within sight of the cemetery. The closer I’d gotten to it, the less my symptoms plagued me, and though I wanted to continue on and complete my mission as soon as I arrived, sleep seemed like the better option.
A mourning dove cooed from a tree somewhere nearby. Another answered almost immediately. The back-and-forth song between the two was pleasing to the ear, coaxing a little smile from my lips. I snuggled down into my leather jacket as the crisp air kissed my skin. Peace and serenity surrounded me. The perfect morning, really.
It was anyway, until the reason why I was there slammed into my mind, jolting me upright.
Shit. What time is it? The fact that I’d actually fallen asleep knowing that today was the day that would make or break my career as a slayer was surprising. If I didn’t nail the mission, there may never be another one, and I’d be the first in quite some time to fail the academy and the town completely. In fact, I didn’t know one single student in the slayer academy who didn’t progress. Some were killed within a few missions, but none since I’d become aware of what went down there had outright failed.
Wiping the sleep from my eyes, I looked at my watch. A quarter after two in the afternoon. Damn it. A true sign that I was off to a spectacular start. How I managed to sleep so long was beyond me. I grabbed a protein bar out of my bag and ate it in about two bites. Bringing food along had technically been forbidden since I was to rely entirely upon my surroundings, as per slayer law, but it had been tucked into the front pocket of the bag by Harmon. Along with a knife and holster, first aid kit, and a compass that had been packed for me, he’d added the protein bar, a small bottle of water, a travel toothbrush, and toothpaste. My annoyance with him had subsided only slightly overnight, but it was the nagging feeling of death that had pulled me to the cemetery, forcing me to forget to take out the illegal contraband. And if it was there, I might as well use it.
When I finished eating, I brushed my teeth, splashed some cold water from a nearby stream on my face to wake myself up, and fashioned my dirty-blonde hair into a tight bun on the back of my head. My father had always cautioned against leaving it loose. In fact, he had wanted me to cut it short, but I refused. For all the butting heads we’d done at times, I missed him more in that moment than I ever had before. Would he be proud of me and the person I’d become? Or would he agree with Harmon and think I wasn’t ready either?
Though an autumn chill had settled over the region, I’d opted to wear a white tank top under a leather jacket. If I’d worn something too heavy under it, I would’ve felt restricted in my movement. The same could be said for the leather jacket itself, but it was tough enough to keep fangs and claws from tearing me to shreds and the fit was nearly like a glove.
The laces on my knee-high boots had loosened while I slep
t, so I re-laced them, making sure they were snug before strapping a holster to my right boot. Sliding a knife into it, I snapped the clasp shut, securing it should I have need for it in a pinch.
The finishing touch to the outfit was the scabbard carrying the silver-tipped sword I would use to slay the vampire king. You know, I almost felt bad for him as I secured the scabbard to my side. He had no idea that death was breathing down his neck, but he probably didn’t deserve any pity I might have mustered for him anyway. How many poor souls had he ended in however many years he’d plagued the earth? Countless, probably.
The realization that he was likely the reason I’d been compelled to visit the mausoleum didn’t exactly make me want to spare him either. But why and how had he been able to control me the way he had? Did it have something to do with my dad? Maybe it was the vampire’s way of fucking with the man who’d had a hand in taking him out. But how would he have been aware of me in the first place? I was only one when it had all gone down, and as far as I knew, I’d never even seen a vampire back then, let alone the king of them all, but then I wouldn’t have any memory of him if I had.
Polishing the blade before slipping it into its sheath, I could almost feel the way it would pierce his flesh, cracking bone and plunging through to his heart, taking his life before he ever knew I’d come for him. In just a few short minutes, I’d have my first kill in the field secured, and boy was it going to be a doozy.
Sure, they’d said it was an easy mission and had indicated that any amateur could pull it off since he was deep in a slumber he would likely never wake from, but how many others could say they’d taken down the king of all vampires on their first mission? I’d wager a guess and say none of them. Of course, it didn’t mean another vampire wouldn’t take his place as king, and maybe already had, but this one? This one was mine.
Beyond the Veil (Vampires of Velum Mortis Book 1) Page 2
