Caitlin brushed Jaxon back and planted her feet. Helena was quick, but maybe if she swung her sword at just the right moment, she would be able to stop her rampage before too much damage was caused.
Mary-Anne and Kain chased after her, but she scrambled up the deck like the lizards Caitlin had seen on Ezekiel’s rock.
Helena whirled around in a frenzy to locate her target and found Jaxon tucked behind Caitlin’s legs.
“You can’t have him,” Caitlin told Helena.
Fear caused the crew to hesitate. Although they were familiar with the UnknownWorld, few if any of them had seen anything like this.
A slight note of recognition flared in Helena. She cocked her head to the side as if listening to Caitlin’s words.
“He is not yours to have, Helena. Nor are any of us. You are a vampire, under the influence of the Madness. Hear me, if you can, and give us some kind of sign that you are still in there.”
Helena growled, a low guttural noise, but still, she stood poised to attack.
Mary-Anne, Kain, Royland, and Cammie appeared behind her on deck and paused when they saw Caitlin holding up a hand to them. She shot them a look that clearly told them, Wait, let me do this.
Caitlin took a few slow steps toward Helena. The crew shuffled uneasily. Royland’s finger twitched over the trigger of his pistol, which was aimed at the back of Helena’s head.
“Helena?” Caitlin asked softly. “If you’re in there, give us some kind of sign. Anything…”
Jaxon growled, not enjoying his master getting too close to the beast.
Helena’s eyes flicked from Jaxon to Caitlin. Her pupils were dilated. Red veins spider-webbed across the whites.
“Helena?” Caitlin was almost within touching distance of the vampire. She didn’t stop to wonder what she would do when she got there, but something inside told her everything would be fine. She was talking Helena down, and that was a sure-fire sign that the Madness hadn’t yet taken her completely, right?
Caitlin gave her warmest smile. She reached out and placed a hand on Helena’s shoulders.
As Caitlin made contact, Helena shook with chaotic violence. She reared her head back and screeched at the sky before throwing Caitlin directly into the crew members, bowling several of them over.
Helena moved faster than they could react. She sprinted across the deck toward the poor German Shepherd, who had just enough time to bare his teeth at the vampire. Caitlin screamed, her mouth open wide as she watched the vampire bear down on her companion.
But then a strange thing happened. Helena was only inches away from Jaxon when her whole body froze. One minute she was a blur, almost untraceable by the naked eye, the next, she was a frozen tableau. A videotape stuck on pause.
Caitlin couldn’t understand what was going on. How was it possible that she could be stopped? Was this an unknown symptom of the Madness? After a certain point with vampires, they just freeze up?
Somebody pointed over the side of the deck. A voice shouted in surprise.
Caitlin rose back to her feet and peered over the side of the ship.
A lone figure stood in the clearing, his back straight and his blazing red eyes narrowed.
Ezekiel held both arms in front of him, his hands glowing with white light.
A light which, Caitlin now noticed, surrounded the vampire. How this was all possible, she had no idea, but the evidence was irrefutable. Somehow, Ezekiel was controlling Helena’s body. Somehow, he had hold of her and wouldn’t let go.
His hands were shaking with concentration. Creases lined his brow, making him seem far older than she knew him to be.
Mary-Anne and the others looked at each other, uncertain of what to do.
“Bind her!” Ezekiel shouted. “Tie her up while I can still hold her. Hurry! I can’t hold her for long.”
Royland gave the command, and the crew snapped out of their paralysis and fetched everything they could find to hold her still.
Within just a few minutes, Helena was bound in so many coils of rope that she had nearly doubled in width. Then they placed her ankles and wrists in thick metal shackles, and finally, Ezekiel was able to release his hold.
He did it tentatively at first. Helena recovered as from thawing out, her body came back to life bit by bit.
But the knots were strong, and soon she was vibrating with rage. Her head—the only part of her not covered and tight with rope—whipped around in all directions, her fury overtaking her body. She snapped her jaws together and cried furiously into the dawn.
Working as carefully as they may, Cammie, Kain—who was still in his Pricolici form—Caitlin and Ezekiel maneuvered Helena off the ship and dragged her across the clearing. They reached the edge of the woods and Ezekiel paused.
“What?” Caitlin asked. “Why are you stopping?”
Ezekiel’s brow furrowed, he looked pained, struggling with something inside his head.
“Come on. Let’s find somewhere safe,” he told her, determination in his eyes.
They found a thick tree and used extra coils of rope to tie Helena against it.
One by one, they stood back, each person cautious that she might break free and rampage again. When they were satisfied that she was secure, Ezekiel stood before Helena, his eyes filled with sadness.
“Fare thee well, my friend. It’s too bad you won’t be there to finish what you started, but know that your name will go down in the history books as the first pioneer to take her steps on the journey to a cure.”
The vampire, who once had been an old woman named Helena, showed no glint of recognition. She thrashed her head around and strained against the ropes. Her eyes blazed an angry red, and saliva dripped from her fangs.
Ezekiel nodded his head as if accepting some untold truth. He turned to the others. “Please. Would you leave us be for a few moments? We spoke about this long ago, knowing that this day would come. There was only one way Helena wanted to pass.”
“Of course,” Caitlin agreed. “We’ll wait back here.”
“Go to the ship,” Ezekiel told her solemnly. “This won’t take long.”
They made their way back toward the ship. Royland met Cammie with a hug and kissed her forehead as they climbed inside and out of the reach of the daylight. He called for Driscall to present a report and was pleased to discover that the ship was in a state where it could make the final few miles toward its destination.
Ezekiel returned to the ship a short time later, silent and lost in his own thoughts. Later on, Caitlin would ask what happened out there in the forest, but Ezekiel would always hold the final moments of Helena’s life a secret.
He took a seat next to Mary-Anne against a wall inside the ship.
Ezekiel’s eyes were sad. Mary-Anne’s were screwed shut, her face pained. Caitlin knew that right now, Ma was fighting her own inner battles, and wondered how much time they really had to spare until Mary-Anne turned down the same path as Helena.
And then there was Kain. Yet another victim of the Madness. He had separated himself from the group and found a quiet, shaded corner as he attempted to transform back from his Pricolici form into his human one.
Covered by the darkness, Caitlin couldn’t help but make the comparison of Kain to the lycanthrope they had battled in Silver Creek forest. A terrifying beast without any consciousness or morality.
Kain’s back arched. His limbs receded. The fur which covered his skin disappeared back beneath his flesh, but the process was slower than Caitlin had ever witnessed before. Surely there wouldn’t be too many times left that Kain could abuse his powers so, even if it would be for the greater good and to help them escape a vampire-turned-Mad.
As Kain whimpered and moaned in the corner, the first rays of light hit the forest floor. The dirigible lifted off and took to the skies.
Caitlin looked out of the window, hoping to see Helena one last time, but she was already lost to the forest.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Up in the Air, Chicago
She stood atop the deck and rested her arms on the railing, watching the world shrink before her. Down below, she could see the remains of what had once been the suburbs of a great city that was now overrun with foliage and leaves. It seemed, even in the darkest of times, nature found a way to survive.
It gave her hope. The notion that even if she and her friends failed in their mission, and even if the Mad swallowed the world, that somewhere down the line, new hope would be reborn. Nature existed in a delicate balance, and although the scales were tipped in favor of destruction right now, sooner or later, something would come along to even it all out.
Please let it be us…
The weight she had been carrying on her shoulders had tripled overnight. Up until this moment, she had been hell-bent on finding Helena and learning what progress had been made. A tiny part of her had truly believed that Helena would have the answer. That she would just be the delivery vessel for a cure already found. A knight, out in the kingdom spreading the good news.
But now the whole mission was once again on her. If she couldn’t do the things that were being asked of her, who else could? Was it possible that there were more people down there who were hunting for the cure? Who were doing what it took to make the world a safer place?
Caitlin took a deep lungful of the crisp morning air. It was only when Kain came to join her that she was shaken from her thoughts and spoke again.
She smirked. “You know, you make a terrifying Pricolici.”
Kain gave a small chuckle. He rested his elbows on the railings and looked out across the landscape. A thin haze of cloud now blurred the world below. “What do you know about Pricolicis?”
“Only what Cammie and Royland told me,” Caitlin replied. “How long have you known?”
“That I’ve got Were superpowers? As long as I’ve had them, really.”
“Why didn’t you tell us?”
Kain took a rejuvenating breath. He had already begun to look pale, but it looked like he was beginning to adjust to life aboard a ship. “It never seemed too important, to be honest. Where I come from, Pricolicis are frowned upon. We’re seen as Weres who can’t control their emotions. Mostly it’s true. You could say I’m a rarity, even. And, considering that I really shouldn’t be transforming at all, I never thought I’d need to use that side of me again—particularly twice in such quick succession.”
“Well, I like that side of you,” Caitlin told him. When Kain gave her a look, she added, “Really. It comes in useful, considering the company we’re presently keeping. Where is Mary-Anne, anyway?”
“I left her downstairs with Zeke. She’s sleeping.”
Caitlin looked down her nose at Kain. “You know he hates that.”
“You call him that.”
“Yeah, but he likes me.”
Kain laughed.
Caitlin hardly dared ask her next question. “Are you sure she’s safe? I mean, we’re literally carrying a ticking time bomb, right now.”
“She’s with the wizard,” Kain replied. “I’m sure she’ll be fine. If she starts acting out, he can just use his magic on her, and she’ll be a frozen popsicle before you can say ‘Matriarch.’”
“He’s not a wizard,” Caitlin argued, remembering Helena’s words. “It’s not magic.”
“Well, you try and find another word for it,” Kain shot back. “Because whatever power is running within his blood, it certainly isn’t anything I’ve seen before.” His face hardened and he returned his attention to the world below, taking deep breaths as his face turned pale.
“You don’t have to babysit me. I’ll be fine, y’know.” Mary-Anne knew that that wasn’t strictly true. But as a vampire who had always valued her privacy, being put on permanent watch by a man who didn’t look old enough to be legally drinking back when the world was fine, well. It put her on edge.
Ezekiel sat with his head resting on the wood. Their room was nothing more than a small cabin. A single bed nestled along the wall, and a small table was the only furniture to speak of. He looked at the ceiling, eyes dark with heavy bags beneath them.
“You know I can’t do that,” he told her with regret. “Helena used to speak the same way. The episodes, when they come, at first they’re brief, lasting only a few minutes before you’re able to regain full control of your faculties.” He turned to face her. “But as time wears on, there’s no telling what’ll happen to you. I’m the only one who can keep you in check if things turn quickly, and I’m presuming your friends don’t want you dead just yet.”
“I’d hope so,” Mary-Anne replied dryly.
“You don’t have to hide who you truly are,” Ezekiel continued.
Mary-Anne grinned. “Neither do you.”
Ezekiel looked at the floor, then continued his point. “What you’re feeling. You need to be open and honest if there’s to be any hope of healing what’s inside of you. Helena and I spent weeks studying her ailment, weeks tracking the patterns and finding ways to deal with it all.”
He looked Mary-Anne up and down. “How long has it been for you?”
Mary-Anne tried to think back to the moment the Mad had got her back in the abandoned museum of New Toronto. How many days had it been? They all seemed to blur into one.
“I don’t know.”
Ezekiel huffed. “You can tell you’re not a scientist.”
“And you are?”
“I’m a… Was a scientist’s apprentice. That’s close enough for me. At least I had the wherewithal to monitor and track the things which could have saved my life. How do you expect to know how long you have if you don’t know where it started?”
“A week or so ago,” Mary-Anne snapped. “There, does that help?”
Ezekiel smiled. “Somewhat.”
They resumed their silence. It wasn’t uncomfortable. Each had their own thoughts to process. Mary-Anne tried to put herself in Ezekiel’s shoes and imagine what it would be like to have the weight of this mission on his shoulders. If he was wrong, and the voice he was hearing in his head was actually some kind of mental breakdown, where would that leave them?
Miles from home with a vampire who can’t control herself and will eventually want to tear everyone limb from limb.
She was still trying to work out if it was a good thing that she had seen Helena’s degeneration. On the one hand, she knew what was coming and what to expect if she made it that far. On the other, to see the pain and malice in Helena’s eyes wasn’t something she wasn’t sure she could ever bear.
“Can you hear her now?” Mary-Anne asked at last. Above deck, the voices of the crew members could be heard. “Lilith? Can you hear her?”
Ezekiel shook his head. “There’s too much disturbance. She requires near-total silence, and a calm mind to tune in.”
“Not surprising, really. Broadcasting thousands of miles tends to dilute the frequencies.”
Ezekiel gave her a blank look.
Mary-Anne chuckled. “Right. I actually forgot that you weren’t one of us for a second.” She began to teach Ezekiel all about the radio waves that had broadcast the daily morning, traffic, and evening shows to people’s radios. She told him how FM had always ruled above AM stations—in her opinion—and the fact that most people used to have them in their homes.
“At one point, radio stations flooded the airwaves. Now, you’ve got to think of Lilith like a small spring, pissing through a gap in a rock.”
“You paint quite a picture.”
“So I’ve been told.”
For the first time since they had set off, Ezekiel smiled. “We’re going to be okay, you know?”
Mary-Anne chuckled. “Oh yeah? How am I supposed to believe that?”
“Some things you just know,” he told her, resting his head against the wall. “No matter the battle that rages inside of you. No matter how many miles it’ll take to get to Lilith and discover the secrets she holds. No m
atter what kind of affection you hold for Kain—”
“Hey!” Mary-Anne protested.
Ezekiel laughed. “We’ll make it happen. We’ll figure out the secret and end the Madness, once and for all.”
Mary-Anne’s eyes saddened. She turned to Ezekiel, allowing herself to feel vulnerable for the first time. There was something about the man that she just trusted, even if couldn’t explain it to herself. “How do you know?”
“Because someone has to believe,” Ezekiel told her. “Besides, I don’t want to know what’ll happen if we fail.”
The ship lurched.
“Fuck!” Kain cried, holding onto the guardrail as the ship suddenly found its balance and righted. He glared over at Cammie at the wheel. “Turbulence?”
She shook her head. “Afraid not, Pooch. That was the ship telling us that she’s tired and we need to find a place to land.”
Kain’s eyes widened. He stormed across the deck and stumbled as the ship lurched again and threw him off-balance.
Caitlin wanted to laugh at his ridiculousness, but now she felt the panic rising inside of her. Will we ever catch a damn break?
Kain managed to make it to the stairs leading up to the wheel and grabbed the railing like a drowning sailor clutching a lifebuoy. “Can the ship take another crash landing?”
“I don’t think so,” Cammie replied, a grim determination on her face as she held the wheel. “But we don’t need to worry about that right now.”
“Why not?”
“Because we’re flying over water. That’s the safest way to crash.”
Kain’s mouth dropped. “Are you kidding?”
Cammie laughed, then grunted as she fought against the wheel again, muscles taught. “Relax, Kain. We’re almost there.”
Caitlin ran to the front of the ship and looked down at the ground. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
Where the large body of water met the land, she could see something she had thought she’d never see again.
The whole city was abuzz with people who appeared to be as small as ants from this height. They scurried around the remnants of paths and roads, many of them pausing to point and stare at the sky. Broken buildings stood out of the ground like dragon’s teeth, but even those appeared to have been cleaned and recycled into things the town could use.
Chasing The Cure: Age Of Madness - A Kurtherian Gambit Series (The Caitlin Chronicles Book 5) Page 17
