It must have been difficult for the singer to hear that her maker hadn't been delusional and that she had been tormented by Katherine to the point of breaking. She seemed to have realised that if she had believed Renée from the start, then she could have helped prevent her downward spiral and neither Matty nor Alice would have suffered. Alice didn't blame Nathalie for anything bad that had happened to her though, as that blame belonged solely to Katherine Louviere.
Nathalie's tone suddenly changed, sounding far more upbeat than before, with a level of enthusiasm worthy of a Broadway star. “Besides, darling, my career has only just begun! I've been given the opportunity to take my name to new heights and I'm not about to go prancing off into the night to fight someone who I’ve never even met... Not in these heels.” She forced a smile. “Never mind the fact that blood is impossible to get out of silk and my dress is absolutely priceless!” It was clear that she was attempting to cover up her true feelings on the matter, hiding behind all the false confidence that she could muster.
Alice didn't know what to say. She had placed all of her eggs in one basket hoping that Nathalie would drop everything to stand with them, only to have those hopes dashed right before her. Without her help, they were back to square one and there was no hope of rescuing Sam at all; not in time to stop him from being broken in the same way that Renée had been broken before him. A feeling of helplessness returned, this time stronger than ever before, wiping away any promise of them finding their friend in one piece.
Matty grunted his annoyance and turned to leave without a word, drawing the attention of Nathalie who stopped him with a question. “You never really answered... How well did you know her?”
Matty glanced back over his shoulder. “As I said, I didn't. She had already lost her mind and turned feral, so our only meeting didn't end well. I don't think she meant to make me what I am.”
Nathalie peered at him in the corner of her eye, still clutching her lit cigarette. “So you were an accident?”
He turned to face her and shrugged his shoulders, not really knowing the answer to the question.
The lack of response caused Nathalie to raise an eyebrow in Alice's direction. “How about you?”
Alice wasn't sure where to begin. She hadn't really known Renée all that well either, her own experiences far from pleasant. “She was back in control of her instincts when we met. I'm not sure how to put this... but she had become delusional, I suppose. I knew her as the ‘fanged one’, a self made goddess with her own brainwashed cult.” It was something that Alice had tried not to think about, her own mortal family playing a central role in that same goddess's worship. “She had planned to use me against Katherine somehow, but that plan backfired.”
It was interesting to discover that each of them had known completely different versions of Renée Girard. She had been the enchantress, the feral beast, and the serpent goddess; all different aspects of the same person from different stages of her existence. Alice wondered if the crazed beast and the fanged goddess had been part of her before, something that had been locked away until Katherine unleashed them upon the world, or if they had developed as a way to cope with what had been done to her mind. Were they the real Renée, or were they simply all that was left behind?
Nathalie didn't say a word, taking another long drag of her cigarette before resting it on the ashtray. She placed her head in her palms for a moment before running them back through her hair, her face looking a little less overwhelmed than it had a few seconds ago. The other two waited patiently by the door, letting their host adjust to the fact that they even existed.
“What happened to her?” Nathalie looked over at them with worry in her eyes. “What happened to my Renée?”
Alice found it difficult to make eye contact with her, feeling entirely responsible for what had happened to her maker. “Her plans fell apart… Katherine put a stake through her heart.”
Nathalie stood up straight and took a step forward. “Did you actually see her die?”
Alice felt confused by the follow-up question. “She took a stake to the heart...”
“No, we didn't.” Matty interrupted. “We don't really know what happened after that.”
Katherine had told Alice about the strengths and weaknesses of vampires, but it had been a lot of information to take in at the time. She had all but forgotten that stakes didn't kill their kind, they merely incapacitated them. That meant that Renée had survived her encounter with her maker and could still be alive somewhere, her mind left intact or not.
“I'm coming with you.” Nathalie's sudden change of heart came out of left field.
It took Alice a few seconds to form a response, completely caught off guard by the singer’s change of heart. “Really? If you don't mind me asking, what changed your mind?” She felt hope for their plight once more, still believing that they were all stronger united together than they ever were alone.
Standing up straight, Nathalie inclined her head, her red lips curling into a smile. “Darling, I owe Renée Girard everything. If she's still alive, then I need to free her from Katherine's filthy clutches. When do y…” She paused mid sentence, her nose sniffing at the air as if she caught a whiff of something foul. “Do you smell that?”
“Smoke…” Matty replied, a serious look upon his face as he turned back towards the door. He wasn't talking about the cigarette that was still burning in the ashtray, but something far more troublesome.
Alice could smell it too, her own nose picking up a scent that jump started her instincts into a wild panic. Something inside of her reeled in terror, a desperate creature that roared for her to get out of there at any cost. It was definitely smoke that they could smell, or more specifically the smell of scorched wood. The building above them was on fire, and the only way out was back up the stairs into the thick of it.
The sight and sound was far more terrifying than the smell alone as the inferno swept through the theatre at a frightening rate. Everything that Nathalie had built for herself, her personal empire of entertainment, was going up in flames. The fire consumed everything in its path from the priceless ceiling to the drapes hanging beneath it, the furniture catching alight far quicker than anyone could have anticipated.
As soon as the three of them had reached the top of the stairs, Nathalie had run away from the emergency exits and towards the stage where she now stood, turning slowly on the spot with her arms raised. She was completely hysterical, her life's work lost in a matter of moments. As much as Alice tried to reason with her she refused to listen, screaming and wailing as the world around her burned to the ground.
“Nathalie, please!” Alice yelled over the roaring flames. “We have to go!”
The woman still wouldn't listen, looking past them as if they didn't even exist. As much as she claimed to care for Renée, vampires were inherently selfish creatures, and it was obvious that nothing meant more to her than this building. All she had strived for, everything that she had worked towards, would soon be little more than a pile of smouldering rubble. The unbearable heat emanating from the fire caused the beast inside Alice to shriek, an awful feeling that didn't seem to be affecting Nathalie who had been completely overwhelmed by her other emotions.
Matty placed a large hand on Alice's arm and turned her to face him, trying to mask the agitation that he was experiencing. “She's not coming! We have to go, now!”
Alice shook her head wildly, glancing back towards the crazed woman behind her. “No! We have to get her out of here!”
Fully realising that they had no time to argue, Matty pushed past to try and scoop Nathalie off her feet. Before he could get close, a massive beam came crashing down between them, sending burning embers flying out in all directions. The rising smoke made it difficult to see where Nathalie had gone, the intense heat of the inferno becoming far too hot for them to stay any longer. For all they knew she could be underneath the beam itself, but the flames made it impossible to get close to the burning mahogany, never mind li
ft it.
Matty shouted back towards Alice, his tone increasingly filled with a level of concern that was usually absent from his voice. “We’ve lost her, Ally! We need to get out of here or we'll be lost too!”
Alice didn't want to leave, not without Nathalie, but she knew that her companion was right. As the ceiling began to collapse in on itself, they made a break for the nearest exit, moving at a quickened pace. Rushing towards the door, Alice could have sworn that she heard a voice singing, its haunting melody echoing throughout the theatre for all to hear. It was a sad song, full of sorrow and loss; the sound of a dying soul who had lost everyone and everything that she held dear. It was a song that Alice would never be able to forget.
**********
As fire crews battled against the raging inferno and the police began to cordon off the street, Alice found that she couldn't leave the scene just yet. She watched and waited from across the road, praying that Nathalie had somehow survived and that she would emerge from the building complaining about how the smoke had ruined her dress. It was something that her rational mind knew wouldn’t come to pass, but she wasn't ready to go all the same.
Matty stood by Alice's side in silent mourning, his stern exterior refusing to betray the feelings of sadness that she could sense inside. It was clear that the fire had been purposely set and was all part of someone's grand design, but there was no proof that Katherine had anything to do with it. However, she was the most likely suspect; either her or whoever she had sent in her place. Alice wasn't aware of anyone else who would wish Nathalie harm, but then again she didn't know much about the woman at all and likely never would.
Coming to New York had been a desperate and final plan to find an ally that could help them resist the Blood Queen. Unfortunately, there were now no surviving members of their bloodline other than themselves, at least none who weren't blindly loyal to their maker. There was no one left to stand with them. After all, Nadia Djorkaeff would never betray her maker, which meant that Alice, Matty and Sam were the only ones left, and the condition that the latter was in was very much in question. Whatever they did next, the two of them would have to do it alone.
A crowd of onlookers was beginning to form just beyond the flashing lights of the emergency services and the bright orange fires that burst out through shattered windows. They pulled out their phones to live stream the event, their cold hearts more interested in what they could post on social media than the lives of whoever may have been trapped inside. Two of them in particular caught Alice's eye, distracting her from the chaos of the burning flames. They stood amongst the gathering masses, their hoods pulled up over their heads to hide their faces.
The odd looking pair didn't seem interested in the fire at all, their focus instead directed towards Alice as they stared at her with dark eyes. Both figures removed their hoods in unison, the shadows no longer obscuring their faces as they were illuminated by a kaleidoscope of reds, oranges and blues. Their heads were shaved down to the skin, their expressions ominous and devoid of emotion.
It took Alice a moment to recognise the men, their hard features something that she hadn't seen since her final nights in Calgary. Their identities were unmistakable as the identical twins, Elijah and Dariel McKay, her brothers by birth, although the pair had never acted like true siblings. They had showed no love for her in the slightest, turning against her without a second thought. Alice was sure that she had seen them both die in the warehouse the same night that her mother was killed. Then again, they too had been remade by Renée Girard and shared the same resilience to firearms as all vampires. If they were still alive, then it was likely that she was too.
It only just occurred to Alice that Katherine's blood ran in her brothers’ veins too, the very woman who had defeated their fanged goddess and who had commanded that their mother be slain. The twins couldn't possibly be working for the one who had destroyed everything they had ever known, despite the fact that they too were Katherine's blood descendants. Perhaps they could be convinced to take up the cause and fight against her. Alice had about as much reason to trust her brothers as they had her, but that didn't mean that it wasn't worth a shot. The potential gains far outweighed the risks, and she had already run out of other options.
Alice quickly glanced up at her companion’s face, her hand pointing towards where her brothers were standing. “Matty! Look, they're alive!”
Peering over at where she was pointing, Matty's expression became one of puzzlement. “Who is, Ally? Is it Nathalie?”
“No... My brothers!” As Alice's gaze returned to the spot where they had been standing, she found that she could no longer see them. The twins had vanished in the blink of an eye, leaving no trace of their passing. “I swear, I saw them… They were right over there!” She sounded more than a little distressed due to their sudden disappearance.
Matty rested a hand on Alice's shoulder, trying to calm her down just a little. “It's okay, I believe you.” His eyes began to scan the area, looking for any sign of the men who could still be hiding somewhere nearby. “But where did they go?”
Alice shook her head slowly, the shock of seeing her brothers numbing her mind. “I don't know…” She spoke with resignation as she joined the search, unable to find either of them amongst the crowd. “But I have a feeling that this isn't the last we'll see of them.” And the very thought of that terrified her.
Chapter Eight: That Which Lurks Below
Alice usually did her best to avoid her visions, but she was so close to the answers she sought that she couldn't help but delve deeper. Each time she dreamed of Katherine's past, a piece of it became part of her own. For reasons yet unknown, her thoughts were beginning to merge with those of her mentor's, and as disturbing as that was, she absolutely had to know what those dreams were trying to show her. What did Katherine find behind the hatch within the dark basement of the manor? It had to be something important. There had to be a reason that she had witnessed this specific memory above all others.
After the fear of escaping the inferno in the theatre and the resurgence of the brothers that she thought had perished, Alice needed to know what Katherine was up to. With Nathalie dead, her body burned to ash, another potential threat to the queen's reign had been wiped out. There were so few of her children left now and even fewer who would dare oppose her. It looked as though the Blood Queen was winning the war of attrition, a landslide victory close at hand, and it was a war that neither Alice nor Matty could afford to lose.
If the dreams were there to show Alice the way and were destined to guide her through these dark times, then she had to learn all that she could from them. Unfortunately, it had been several days since the last vision and she hadn't experienced anything else at all since then; not a single flashing image. She had tried her best, but her attempts had so far failed to bear any fruit. Matty did his best to offer encouragement, but even his misguided faith in her didn't seem to help. This was something that Alice had to do alone, her repeated attempts already wearing down her own defences.
Since their trip to New York, the pair had returned to their aimless journey across the United States. After all, Katherine was still coming for them and she wasn't going to stand by as they waited for an ever elusive vision to show up. The guilt over Sam's capture still weighed heavily on Alice's mind and she blamed herself for what had happened to him. Maybe if Vincent had captured her instead, they would have left her friends alone, as she was the one they were really after. If they had taken her, then maybe Nathalie would be alive as well. Everything that had happened so far was her fault in some way, shape or form. It was always her fault.
A sudden moment of clarity made Alice realise that perhaps the chaotic battlefield of thoughts within her head were the reason that the visions no longer came to her. If she was at war with herself, then her abilities were far too busy fighting each other to show her what she needed to see. It took some soul searching and a great deal of effort, but Alice finally managed to convince herself that s
he was the one in control of her mind, not Katherine. She was the key to unlocking the memories that were stored within her blood; the same blood that they all shared. All she had to do was believe in herself.
**********
Katherine stood on the precipice, staring down into the unknown. The entrance had been locked behind her, leaving her trapped within the pitch black darkness of a stairwell that led down into the dank basement of the manor; down into the belly of the beast. She had never felt as alone as she did right now, her senses blind as she reached for the handrail in an attempt to steady herself and get her bearings. There was no going back now, the locks on the reinforced hatch having engaged as soon as it closed behind her. It was obvious that the building wanted her to remain there, an unseen presence observing her every move. Perhaps she had been expected after all, and this was where she was meant to be.
With few other options left, Katherine cautiously began her descent into the murky depths, taking one step at a time as she tried to avoid slipping on the damp floor. The ground beneath her was oddly wet, which made her footing awkward and she couldn't quite work out why. Maybe the basement had flooded due to the storm, or perhaps there was mold growing down there or some sort of algae. Those were the least disgusting reasons that her mind could come up with, the alternatives not quite so pleasant in comparison.
The air was moist and uncomfortably warm, or would have been had temperatures affected Katherine as they did when she was a mortal. She didn't sweat anymore, but that didn't stop her from becoming completely saturated. Something was dripping on her from the ceiling above, and whatever it was, it smelled rife with disease. She presumed that it was just water at first, seeping down from a leaky pipe upstairs, but the liquid was a little stranger than she had first realised.
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