by Trisha Telep
“Sydney, stop it,” Nana said quietly. “She doesn’t know any of it. I … I never trained her. I didn’t want her involved.”
Sydney looked at Martha, incredulous.
“You mean to say that she doesn’t know you’re a Healer?” He sounded surprised and a little angry. “The Healer, if it were told true? Lady Healer. Or that she’s one of your line?”
“After losing my daughter, do you think for one moment I would want Rebecca exposed to this?” Nana flared angrily, pointing to Ryan’s limp body. “We’re mortal, and maybe you don’t know just how short a time that is, but to we humans, it’s too short! I’ll not lose my granddaughter as I did my daughter!”
“Momma died in a car accident,” Becky said suddenly. “You said … she and Daddy … a drunk driver killed them.”
Nana looked pained and guilty. She kept her eyes on Ryan’s deep wound as she cleansed it with a concoction she’d made from the contents of a jar she’d taken from the suitcase.
Sydney stood up and reached for Becky’s shoulders. She flinched slightly, but he held her firmly and guided her to a long mirror mounted on the wall of the room.
With a gesture of his hand, the unlit candles in the wall lanterns all blazed instantly, bringing much more light into the room, illuminating the mirror.
“Thank you,” she heard Nana say absently.
Becky gasped as she looked into the mirror and saw only herself reflected back. She knew Syd was right there, behind her. She could feel him touching her. She looked to her shoulder and saw Syd’s longish blond hair mingling with her own, but there was no trace of it in the mirror. He smiled down at her slightly and nodded at the mirror again. Becky looked back, and though she couldn’t see him do it, she saw her hair being moved aside and let him tilt her chin slightly so that she could see the small mark on her neck she hated so much. It was dark brown, like a freckle even though it was big like a birthmark, and was shaped like a funny asterisk. Robin always teased her for keeping it hidden with her hair. Robin thought it was cool—almost like a tattoo of an eight-pointed star. Becky realized, as Syd drew attention to the mark, that she could see the pulse that beat below the skin there.
“You see?” Syd whispered quietly in her ear. “You’re a Healer …”
“If you’re a vampire, shouldn’t I be staking you through the heart or something?” Becky asked with a bravado she didn’t feel. “I mean, you know … like in Buffy?”
Syd laughed gently and released her. She looked up at him with a scowl.
“Do you really think you could?” He smiled so that his fangs could be seen. Becky gasped and took a step back at the sight of them. “Tell me, little Healer—ever kill a spider?”
Becky nodded, wide-eyed. How did he know about—?
“It hurts, doesn’t it, just a little bit?” Syd continued.
Becky nodded again, biting her bottom lip. She always tried to catch them instead, and take them outside. Because it did hurt. Physically. Not just like she felt sorry for them (which she did, as well, but that just made her feel dumb).
“Or when you want to hurt someone, like today in detention when you wanted to slap—”
“Did Ryan tell you about detention?” Becky looked sidelong at her Nana, hoping she hadn’t heard. Fortunately, Nana seemed to be busy with Ryan and hadn’t heard a thing; a great relief to Becky.
“Dude, shut up!” she hissed quietly at the boy. Well, he wasn’t really a “boy,” was he, if he was a … a …
Syd smiled again and laughed softly.
“‘Vampire,” he said dryly. “You can say it. I’m not as sensitive about the term as some.”
“Sydney,” Nana called suddenly. “I can’t stop it. It’s too late. He’s turning.”
Sydney instantly crossed to the bed where Ryan lay and knelt. He took Ryan’s hand as the bed shook. Ryan seemed to be having some kind of seizure, and looked all but dead to Becky.
“It’s all right, buddy,” Syd said quietly. “I’ve got you the best Healer here, and we’re going to take care of you. Don’t fight it. I know it’s earlier than we planned, but take it in stride. Come on …”
Becky stood and watched as Sydney stroked a damp cloth over Ryan’s forehead, which came away stained with pink and red. Becky realized that Ryan seemed to be literally sweating blood.
Nana stood and sighed, shaking her head. She noticed Becky and held her hand out. Becky came close and, like a child of five instead of a girl of nearly fifteen, took her grandmother’s hand and clung to her side as she watched the wounded boy on the bed thrash.
“Come on, let’s get some tea,” Nana said quietly. “Syd will stay with him. There’s nothing really to be done now but wait until it runs its course.”
“This wouldn’t have happened if the entrance hadn’t been sealed!” Syd snapped, glaring at Nana. “Why was that done? You wasted my time, making me come ask for entry like a common human!”
Nana wasn’t at all offended by Sydney’s outburst or his accusations.
“Who broke the truce?” she countered with a question of her own. “That entry has been sealed for nearly fifteen years, which you well know, Sydney Alexander. After how the last battle ended, you know what precautions were taken.”
“Precautions that included keeping your own granddaughter, the last of your line, ignorant of her own power!” Sydney growled darkly. “She doesn’t even know … how could you not warn her, Martha Althea? If the flames of war have again been fanned, what makes you think her ignorance keeps her safe? She is a valuable asset to any side, and keeping her unaware can only lead her unknowingly astray!”
“Hey, I’m smart! I can handle things. I handle Nana well enough. That takes a lot more effort than you think it does!”
The words were out of Becky’s mouth before she could stop them, but Nana hadn’t seemed to hear them.
Neither, it seemed, had Syd. Nana and Syd continued to scowl at one another before Becky felt a tug at her hand.
“Come,” Nana said quietly. “This isn’t something you need to see.”
Becky pulled her hand free.
“No, wait, Nana,” she said, looking toward the now-still form of Ryan on the bed. “He … I know him. He goes to my school. He might … if he … He won’t know where he is and he’ll be scared when he wakes up.”
“Sydney will stay with him, Becky,” Nana said gently. “Let’s wait down in the kitchen. It’s not a good idea to be so close, even with the protections we have. A fledgling vampire is not easily controlled. It’s fortunate we have a Master here with us to watch over him as Ryan turns.”
“Turns?” Becky echoed, looking back to her Nana. “You mean …”
“Into a vampire, yes,” Nana said softly. “And though turning a human is never easy or done lightly, Sydney had to do it to save Ryan’s life. Ryan is fortunate that he was brought to me in time to wrest the dark magic from the bite of the hellhound. I’m sorry, Sydney. I wish I could do more.”
“There is no cure for a vampire bite,” Syd said quietly. He kept his eyes from Martha’s as he wrung out the blood-soaked cloth with fresh water. “I know that.”
Sydney brought the damp cloth back to Ryan’s face and continued wiping it slowly.
“I couldn’t let him die, Martha.”
“I know, Syd.” Nana smiled. “I know.”
They left the two boys in the hidden room, and Nana led the way down to the kitchen. Becky put the kettle on and made a pot of tea. She felt very, very strange and needed to do something that made her feel somewhat normal again. Nana sat quietly in a kitchen chair, but without the usual, vacant look on her face that Becky was accustomed to seeing.
As Becky sat a mug of tea in front of her Nana—Martha—spoke.
“I never wanted you to know, but I see now I shall have to tell you, before Sydney leaves with Ryan,” Nana said in pained resignation. “Once he leaves, he’ll take his power with him, and I’ll forget myself again. I’m sorry, Becky. I’m sorry for what’s become
of me, what you have to endure day after day.”
“Nana—” Becky began to protest.
Nana held up a hand.
“Please. Let me talk and don’t interrupt.” She took a sip of tea and swallowed hard.
“Okay.” Becky sat down, cradling her hands around her own mug in a futile effort to warm them. “I love you, Nana. Just so you know.”
Nana smiled.
“I know, little dove. I still know everything. I just can’t quite remember it all. It happens when Healers reach the age of sixty. I should have told you all these things long ago, but after Helene and Patrick died—” Nana closed her eyes for a moment.
She shook her head then smiled at Becky.
“While Syd’s here I’m able to use his power to clear my mind, but he won’t be here long enough for me to tell you all I need to,” Nana said urgently. “I’m sorry for not telling you these things before. Syd’s right. I’ve likely done more harm than good trying to protect you from your birthright with ignorance. I should have expected the war to start again. But the peace went on so long. I forget that mortal time means so little to Ethereals. Fifteen years is ages to us, but a heartbeat to them. Anyway, yes—you’re a Healer. You were born with the gift to channel power to your own use, to share your life’s force with those who are in need, and to heal those who are thought to be immortal. ‘Immortal’ does not mean ‘invulnerable,’ little dove. Your friend was bitten, very nearly lethally, by a hellhound who no doubt attacked Syd’s clan. Vampires are a delicacy to hellhounds because they have no soul. It was only Syd’s bite, the bite of a vampire, that saved Ryan. I don’t agree with it, but it saved your friend’s life.”
Becky tried to process everything her Nana was saying. It was like talking to someone else, someone completely different to the grandmother she had grown up with. Nana was a vampire Healer?
“So,” Becky said slowly. “We’re a family of … vampire Healers?”
Nana laughed quietly and took a sip of her tea.
“More or less,” Nana said after a moment. “Sometimes more, sometimes less. It’s not just vampires. We help the hellhounds, too. Specters, shades, demons, werewolves—”
“Werewolves? Demons?” Becky interrupted, incredulous. “Nana, come on! All those things aren’t real!”
“No?” Nana raised her eyebrows just like her old self. “Go upstairs. You’ll find a couple of vampires up there.”
Becky couldn’t argue with that.
“We observe neutrality,” Nana went on. “We don’t take sides. We have the gift of healing those who cannot heal themselves—those who need power and the force of life that comes from a living soul like ours. Unfortunately, by using our life force in this way, it’s depleted quickly. It gets used up by the time we reach sixty. If we reach sixty. A lot of us don’t.”
“You keep saying ‘us,’” Becky pointed out. “Are there more of ‘us’ then? Or just you and me?”
“There are very, very few,” Nana replied. “A great number were killed in the last war by the very beings we try to heal. Here, in a place of Healing, the ground is neutral—wars and battles stop here. Had the hellhound who bit Ryan tonight been in need himself, he would have been treated and sheltered just the same, right at the side of the one he harmed with no further hostility between them. Once they leave here, however … that’s another matter. You are safe here, and your Healer’s mark grants you certain clemencies both inside and outside the boundary, but you, like the Immortals, are not invulnerable.”
“So … now what?” Becky shrugged. “You’re not better, and you’re not going to get better. The only reason you’re okay right now is because that vampire guy is here. And there’s someone from my school upstairs who’s turning into a vampire himself. Are more of these guys going to show up? What did Syd mean when he said the ‘entry was closed’?”
“The mirror up there serves … served… as an entryway,” Nana said. “It was sealed after the last truce was declared. To put it in terms you can understand—I went out of business, so to speak. It seems now, however, I need to reopen. But I’m too old. Too slow. I can’t remember much. Sydney is a powerful Master vampire, the leader of a vampire clan, and he’s the only reason I’m able to manage at the moment. When he leaves … you’ll be … burdened with me again. An old woman who has lost her mind. I’m so sorry, Becky. You shouldn’t be wasting your youth like this. Maybe you should look into a home for me.”
“This is your home!” Becky protested. She went around the table to hug her Nana tightly. “You’re not going anywhere! You’re not a burden! You wouldn’t let them put me into a foster home, and I’m not going to let them do it to you either! If anything, I’ll chain Syd to the wall and he can just sit up there forever so you can be okay again!”
Nana gave Becky a squeeze.
“You know that can’t happen. Syd has responsibilities just like we do, and if you really want to look after me, Becky …”
“Yes, go on,” Becky prompted when Nana fell silent.
“I never wanted you to know,” Nana said again. “But I wouldn’t let them take you away, so I guess that means you’re going to be involved whether I want it or not. If you really want to look after me, Becky, you’re going to have to look after those I once did. If the war has started up again, and it looks like it has, Sydney and Ryan are just the first of those who will need our … your help.”
Becky’s eyes widened.
“My help?” she swallowed. “But … I’m not trained, you said. And you said once Syd leaves …”
“We’ll ask him to stay a bit, both he and Ryan, but not too long,” Nana said gently. “I drain too much energy now and can’t focus on my work. I’m not going to be much help. I can teach you—train you—if Syd is willing to help, but you’re going to have to learn mostly by yourself. It’s easy once you get the hang of it. I have books with my notes and things. All my herbs and special equipment. It will be a lot of work, and you’ll have to learn fast. But this is in your blood, and it is what you were born to do. I’m sorry I kept you from it for so long. I should have been teaching you since you were old enough to understand.”
“Is this why I always wanted to be a doctor?” Becky grinned.
Nana smirked.
“Very probably so,” she answered. “Now, let’s go check on Ryan. He should be over the worst by now.”
Becky nodded and rose to follow Nana upstairs.
The boy on the bed laid still and quiet. Syd still knelt by his side.
“He’s shed his mortal coil,” said Sydney.
Becky’s heart broke at the grief and anguish in his voice.
“I’m sorry,” she heard her Nana say softly. “Even if the entry had been unsealed—”
“I know,” Syd interrupted. “And I offer my apologies. But he’s like my brother, Martha. It wasn’t supposed to be like this.”
“But it is. Now we must both accept and endure, not lament what should have been,” Martha replied in that same wise tone Becky had never heard her use before that night. “I need you to remove the seal. I don’t know if you’ve realized, but I’m not fit for much anymore.”
Sydney didn’t acknowledge her comment, but gestured a hand at the mirror. It glinted seven times in the candlelight then returned to normal.
“He’s going to need …” Sydney began, then trailed off, shaking his head. He looked helplessly up at Martha.
“I can’t,” Nana said quietly. “I’m not enough. I don’t have enough to sustain us both.”
Sydney nodded and looked back at the still form on the bed.
“But she does.”
Both Becky and Syd looked up at Nana’s words.
“I … do what?” Becky asked. She didn’t like the way they were looking at her.
“Oh please, Martha. For this kind of healing, it has to be her choice. She’s not even trained.” Sydney curled his lip. “You know that.”
“We can help her. If she’s willing. Becky … remember what we talke
d about downstairs? Well, now’s the time. If you want to help your friend and help me do what needs to be done, that is.”
“What needs to be done?” asked Becky, warily.
“You’ll have to feed Ryan”
“Oh, is that all?” Becky was relieved. “Okay. We have some leftover spaghetti …”
“Not feed him, you stupid girl,” Sydney snapped. “You will have to feed him. As in ‘be his food.’ He needs life restored to him and the only life strong enough for that in his condition is yours. Get it?”
Becky blanched.
“Hey, I hardly even know him,” she said, taking a step back and holding up her hands. “And Nana just said a bunch of Healer people were killed by what they tried to save, so thanks but—”
Sydney swore under his breath. Nana chastised him.
“Listen, young Healer,” Sydney began calmly and with exaggerated patience. “He can’t kill you here. He can’t take too much from you either. That’s why you’re a rare and valuable commodity among Ethereals. You have mortal years of use, of life in you. You more than others. He can’t drain you. Of blood … possibly, but that’s rare when a Healer is in her own enclave. That’s right—Healers are always and only female. Healing comes from the life force created by a living soul, and it is the female who creates and bears life. Now, Ryan needs life restored to him. Will you, young, untutored Healer, restore my young fledgling?”
“Promise me I will not regret it.” Becky didn’t know where the words came from but she spoke them as though she’d known exactly what to say when asked such a question.
Sydney smiled and looked to Nana.
“Untrained she might be, but a Healer nonetheless,” he said in approval. “She’ll learn quickly, if such knowledge is that easy to tap.”
He looked to Becky.
“Upon my honor, my lady,” he went on formally, and offered her a slight bow. “I promise that you will not regret your actions.”
Becky nodded unsurely but knew something had been done correctly. Then, without thinking about what she was doing, she rolled up her right sleeve and went to the bed.
