A Taste of Crimson

by E. M. Knight

  “Mutually Assured Destruction,” I mutter. “Like nuclear.”

  Morgan doesn’t seem to hear me. “The secret of making new torrials died with them. But the trick of linking a torrial to a source of continuous power was something I was able to rediscover. One of the benefits of immortality is the ability to devote whole lifetimes to a single topic and develop it much further than a human mind could.”

  “You linked the throne to these crystals,” I say. “And now the throne is linked to me?”

  “You feel an affinity for them, don’t you?” Morgan asks. She gives a wistful smirk. “The last time I came down here was the night before you were brought to us. I knew it would be my final opportunity to bask in that warm glow—provided you were the chosen one.”

  I nod. I can understand how the feeling could become addicting. The closer I move to the crystals, the more… at peace… I feel.

  “One downside to the strength of this link,” Morgan says, “is that it makes you lose the ability to love.”

  I turn to her. “What?”

  “Or maybe, given your fate, it’s not such a negative, after all,” she murmurs, as if to herself.

  “Morgan. What are you talking about?”

  She gestures absently at the glowing blue crystals. “The longer you are attuned to them, the longer you are linked to the throne, the stronger the feeling becomes. It grows and grows, year by year, until it overpowers all else. It is the purest manifestation of a virtuous emotion. It is love, amplified. Spirit is what does it. Spirit connects your soul to the very earth, to reality, to everything around you. Your soul is what gives you the ability to love—to love unconditionally, to love without question, to love without doubt. But the link between you and these crystals, through the throne, becomes so intense that it eclipses anything else your soul will ever feel. The soul-to-soul connection that comes from true love is limited by a human’s capacity for devotion. Your link here is augmented by the Spirit bond, augmented by your affinity for magic, augmented by your vampire self.”

  Morgan comes up to my side. “The feeling you will eventually be consumed by in this room will be stronger than anything else you are ever going to be capable of feeling. It is the reason the Queen stands alone. The reason you already feel such devotion to the coven. The vampire inside all of us strips us of our humanity. The link you have now with the crystals restored that, to a level many times greater than you can even imagine, but with such inanimate objects.” She puts a hand on my shoulders. “It might seem morose, Eleira. But I promise you. there is no purer feeling in the world.”

  An enormous sense of discomfort crawls over me. “You’re saying I’ll never feel love?” I whisper.

  “It will never compare to what you feel here. Knowing your destiny, isn’t that a tremendous gift?”

  “No!” I rip away. “No, Morgan, it’s not! It’s horrible!” I give a sudden shiver. “Love toward a… rock? Are you kidding me?”

  Morgan sighs. “I rebelled against it, too, when I understood what it was doing to me—why it was making me so cold to those I once treasured.”

  “You didn’t know it would happen to you?”

  She laughs. “Now you sound like a little girl. Of course not. I was experimenting. I was a pioneer. You should be grateful I am sharing this with you now. Without knowing this, you would be questioning what was happening to you in the future.”

  I edge away. “This is wrong,” I whisper. “This is not natural!”

  Morgan shrugs. “It is what it is. You can’t fight it, much like you can’t fight your destiny. Speaking of… take a look at that.”

  She points out a particular scroll on one of the shelves.

  I approach it. I have a feeling I know exactly what it is.

  “The full text of the prophecy,” Morgan announces as I reach for it. “Or, at least, as much of it as I could piece together from all the disparate sources available to me.”

  I pick the scroll up and take a deep breath. I hold it with both hands, then unfurl part of the middle.

  It’s written in that secret language I don’t yet know.

  “You wrote this?” I ask.

  “After the original was lost,” she says.

  Destroyed, I correct in my head.

  “It seemed incumbent on me to jot as much as I could remember down. Since then, I have made many revisions as different things came to light.”

  I roll it back up and hand it to Lorne. “You and your Sisters will decipher this and tell me how it compares to what you now know.”

  She nods and tucks it away.

  I take another look around the room. My eyes want to go to the crystals of their own accord.

  It’s quite a battle to prevent them from doing that.

  “Is there anything else of importance here?” I ask.

  “All the things you see before you are important in one way or another,” Morgan says. “Or they wouldn’t be here.”

  “Immediate importance, then,” I correct. “Anything there that would help with the defense of The Haven, help in preparation for war?”

  “The knowledge in the books might.” I’m surprised when I hear Sute speak. “I hadn’t noticed her edge closer to the bookshelf.

  “These are dangerous texts,” she mutters, running one finger along the spines. “I recognize a few of the titles. They were books expressly forbidden by our teachers.”

  Morgan gives a triumphant smile. “Our teachers,” she sneers, “were the same clan of witches who thought it a good idea to barricade all the intersects between our world and the Demon Realm.”

  “Yes,” Sute confirms. “They knew the dangers.”

  “And what did you, and Lorne, and Allura, and my sister,” Morgan fires, “do with that forbidden knowledge? You took it upon yourselves. You found a way to extend your human lives, and you turned the Demon Realm into your little sanctuary!”

  I can feel the undertones of betrayal running through Morgan’s accusation.

  “It was a prison,” Lorne shoots back. “And we made a grave mistake going there. We underestimated its evil.”

  She looks at me.

  “But it was to be done, for we had to survive until the time of the chosen one.”

  “Hold on,” I say, something new occurring to me. “The prophecy was given by a witch. The three of you were all witches. But the prophecy has to do with vampires exclusively.” I shake my head. “Where do you come into play?”

  Morgan shakes her head, then gestures in the direction of the scroll Lorne tucked away. “The prophecy is much more than that. It affects the entire world. Humans, witches, vampires—all are linked by a common consciousness.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “We are all conscious, sentient, alive,” she says. “The prophecy touches all of this. It touches everything. You are central to it. As a vampire, you have been granted enormous ability. As a witch, you have been given greater access to the Elements than any before you. And as a human, you were born in the Demon Realm, thus distinguished yourself from all the rest.”

  “You are extraordinary on all three fronts,” Sute adds. “That is what makes you so special, what marks you as the girl of prophecy. Your human birth was one of a kind. Your affinity for magic is stronger than anyone has ever had before. And even though my Sisters and I are only fledglings, already, we can tell you possess phenomenal, otherworldly strength as a vampire.”

  “The prophecy has to do with the fate of the whole world, my Queen,” Morgan says softly. “Not just with the fate of vampires.”

  A small chill takes me upon hearing that.

  How much do I still not know? How many unutterable secrets remain?

  “So, what does it say about the whole world?” I ask.

  “That vampires will become the central players within it,” Sute answers, “and that they have a chance to overtake humans as the dominant species.”

  “Overtake how?”

  “Humans have to be enslaved,” Morgan says
coolly. “They must serve us. The stronger species must be allowed to prosper.”

  I shudder at that. “Sute? Lorne? Is that what you know as well?”

  “If that does not happen, my Queen,” Morgan interjects, “this entire world will decay and die.”

  I swallow. The responsibility placed on my shoulders feels so much more intimidating now.

  “That sounds so much like what Logan said,” I mutter.

  Morgan’s eyes come alive. “Logan? When?”

  “The vision,” I say absently. I wave it away. “I have to think.”

  Morgan marches to me and squares up. She opens her mouth—

  I cut her off viciously. “I am not telling you anything more about what I saw.”

  “That’s up to you, isn’t it?” she says darkly. “I was only going to say: if my ex-husband is involved, then things are more dire than you know.” She pauses, then adds, “There are certain interpretations of the prophecy that point to two girls holding the key to our species’, to the world’s, survival. Two girls, dropped in at the same time. Only one emerges alive.”

  My gut seizes up. “What?” My head whips to the Forsaken Sisters. “Do you know of this?”

  “It’s… up to interpretation,” Sute offers.

  I shake my head. “This is too much. We need to go above ground. Sute, you told me you could help me cast defensive spells to enforce the wards. Let’s do that.”

  “Respectfully, my Queen, we still need a demon for that.”

  I curse. “Then we will summon one. I can use the Book of the Dead again. You will contain it, and—”

  “We should consult with Allura,” Lorne says. “Before making any rash decisions.”

  “Fine,” I say. “Sute, I want you and Lorne to read through the prophecy as collected by Morgan and tell me how it differs from your recollection of it. You should be able to parse it quickly. As vampires your reading speeds are much increased.”

  “We will do that,” she answers.

  “Unfortunately, you would be wasting time,” Morgan mutters under her breath.

  I face her and demand, “Why do you say that?”

  “They can’t read my writings,” she says. “The text is ciphered. Do you think I would leave something so important in plain text?”

  “Then you will decipher it for them,” I say brusquely.

  “I cannot,” she says.

  “Why?”

  “Not on my own. The only way to put them back in proper order is to channel through an obsidian stone that has been marked by the proper decryption runes.”

  “Where is the stone?”

  “It was destroyed when the castle fell.” She pauses for effect. “But, I know the hieroglyphs required to make it again. We just need the proper raw material.”

  “Obsidian,” I say. “Why obsidian?”

  “It is the most receptive material to magic on this earth,” Sute tells me.

  “So, what? The runes you carve into the obsidian make it into some sort of torrial?” I ask Morgan.

  She gives a wry smile. “Nothing quite so impressive.”

  “Fine. We have more here?”

  “No,” Morgan says. “It will need to be retrieved from the outside world.”

  “Fine. When Phillip returns, I will send him back out to collect it for us.”

  “Yes, that could work,” Morgan says.

  “Good.” I look at the way back. “It’s long past time for us to leave. Lorne, Sute, look around and take any books you need.”

  They nod and do as they’re asked.

  “When we’re back above ground,” I tell Morgan, “you will be put in the Forsaken Sisters’ custody. They have questions for you about the specter you set on them.”

  Morgan smiles. “I will be all too happy to give them what they need.”

  Yes, I think. But how much of it will be to your benefit?

  I turn away and walk out, away from the pull of the crystals, the dark images of the visions heavy on my mind.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Felix

  I stand on the edge of the clearing where the vampires are depositing all the books and artifacts of the stronghold.

  My mind races. Eleira has shown herself to be out of control. I thought, once, I would be able to steer her in the right direction, to ensure The Haven’s continuous prosperity.

  But the girl has a mind of her own. She’s gotten a taste of power. It has corrupted her innocence, sapped her of her humanity.

  I had hoped the process would take longer. But she has taken to her new responsibilities like a fish to water… like the phoenix to fire and ash.

  I spot one of The Elite handling a particularly fragile artifact from my collection. I curse and shout at him to be careful.

  He grunts, gives me a look, then sets the carving down on the canopy with all the rest.

  I shake my head in irritation. I’m about to chastise him, when, from the corner of my eye, I see Rebecca and Raul approach.

  “Well, well, well,” I say, turning to the pair. “If it isn’t the Prince himself. Along with…” I feign difficulty in remembering. “…Rebecca, was it?”

  “Hello, Felix,” she says in an icy tone.

  I offer her a brief, tight smile. “I am surprised our Queen allows you to walk free. Unless she’s put you in Raul’s custody?”

  “Cut the games, Felix,” Raul says. “We all know what you did.”

  “What I did?” I ask, placing a hand on my chest in an excessive display of surprise. “Please, tell, what did I do?”

  “You splintered The Haven into two opposing factions,” he accuses.

  “No,” I say. “I kept us together. While you were too busy with other things, I collected the vampires loyal to Eleira in one group. I should be thanked. If not for that,” I drop my voice, “then for helping all of them recover from the attack by the Tentoria.”

  Raul grunts. He has no choice but to grant me that.

  “So, why are you here?” I ask. “Did the Queen send you? The excavation process you began but quickly abandoned is going well, thank you for asking. All of the most important objects in the stronghold are being brought above ground.”

  “I don’t care about that,” Raul dismisses. “I came to ask you something else.”

  Now my curiosity is piqued. “What’s this?” I wonder. “Are you disobeying your Queen?”

  “Of course not,” he growls. He gestures quite angrily at the milling vampires beyond us, working like ants to get all the precious objects out. “What she asked me to do is being done.”

  I stroke my chin. “Then tell me, what do you want to know?”

  “I want to know…” he glances at Rebecca, standing regal as a Queen at his side.

  “I want to know whether she and I are related.”

  I take a small step back in surprise. “What?”

  “Before she was… exiled. Mother always referred to her as her cousin. Is that true? Are she and I linked by ancestral blood?”

  “What an odd thing to ask,” I chuckle. “She’s standing right there, isn’t she? Why not just ask her?”

  “Yes, Raul,” Rebecca says with coy sweetness. “Why not just ask me?”

  “I want to hear it from a third party,” he growls. For a second, I think I see a hint of miasma in his eyes.

  I blink, and it’s gone.

  Must have been my imagination.

  I give them both a curious look. I wonder what could have prompted this.

  “Felix,” Raul prompts.

  “What? No, you’re not related,” I dismiss. “The first vampires in the coven all were ‘brothers’ or ‘sisters’ or some such. Before you were old enough to be turned. Most of us cast aside those make-believe titles when others joined our ranks. For whatever reason, Morgan and Rebecca kept theirs going. I didn’t know why.”

  “So my mother and Rebecca are not actually cousins?”

  “Gods, no,” I say. “I thought you knew that. Then again, you were little m
ore than a fledgling when Rebecca’s soul was cut away.”

  “Not my whole soul,” the woman says in a sultry voice.

  I give her a look. “No. You’re right. Our previous Queen failed to end you.”

  “I was her test subject,” Rebecca spits. “She doomed me to an eternity of hell. I had to crawl on hands and knees through broken glass to get out of—”

  “Easy,” Raul interrupts.

  Rebecca blinks and shuts up.

  Then, to my surprise, Raul offers me his hand. “Thank you for the honesty, Felix,” he says.

  I look at him for a moment and then take it. “It’s the least I could do.”

  And then, without another glance at the work being done behind us, Raul and Rebecca disappear into the woods.

  What game are they playing at? I wonder.

  As I’m looking after them, a chill washes over me.

  I shudder, then snap to attention. I know exactly what that feeling means:

  My brother wants an audience.

  I cast a quick look around to see if anybody is paying me attention, then dart off opposite the way Raul and Rebecca left.

  I run fast through the woods, scanning for the presence of other vampires in order to properly avoid them. There aren’t many around, so it’s not a tall task.

  In short order, I find one of the many creeks running through the woods. I follow it all the way up to the source, a stream trickling down a rocky cutaway of the land.

  My eyes scan the surrounding ground for the tell-tale signs of the secret entrance. There is a trapdoor here, buried a few feet under the dirt. I hadn’t used it for centuries, but I believe that Morgan and I are the only two vampires in The Haven to know about it.

  Finally, I spot the symbol that identifies the spot. A small cut in the rock, imperceptible to any but those who know to look for it.

  I position myself in front of it and start to dig.

  I hit the trapdoor in a few minutes. My hands are covered in dirt but that’s of minor concern. I look at the overturned earth around me.

  If anybody were to wander here on their own, it would definitely pique their curiosity.