Of Gods and Goddesses: Book 3 (Lords and Commoners Series)

by Lynne Hill-Clark

  Within a week a meeting was held, in which Val and Teller informed everyone about the scroll and what Elda had told them. This caused much debate and eventual arguing. Val offered no opinion. She didn’t have all the information she needed to determine if vampires really came from the blood of Christ or not. She didn’t even know if she cared, with everything else that was going on.

  Val sneaked out of the meeting. She was no longer comfortable in crowds. Her quiet life with only a handful of females hidden away in an isolated volcano had spoiled her. She didn’t like how loud the humans were or the cramped and dank tunnels. She longed for fresh mountain air.

  Val headed for Elijah’s room — well, their room. She wanted to see her father’s cross — to hold it. It would help calm her. She ran her fingers over the wood that her wonderful father had carved in 1260 A.D. She could almost hear his words of comfort. She wasn’t sure how long she stood there meditating with the cross in her hand.

  When she placed the cross back in its protective box she heard a hollow thud. She picked the box up to examine it. It sounded as if there was a false floor — a hidden chamber in the bottom of it. She pushed on a notch that seemed out of place. She thought it might be a button that would open the secret compartment. Nothing happened. Finally, she waved her hand over the top. “Reveal what is hidden.”

  The bottom of the box popped open like a second lid, exposing a single piece of parchment.

  Elijah entered to find Val staring at the wall with a piece of paper in her hand. “Well that sure caused an uproar. Do you believe this nonsense about the twelve apostles being the first vampires?” When Val did not respond or even move he went to her side. “Val?”

  “You knew my mother?” Vallachia’s voice was flat. She did not think she had any more tears left.

  Elijah shoulders sank. “Valentina didn’t tell you?”

  “No and it was not her job to tell me. You should have.” She slammed the parchment into Elijah’s chest and turned to leave.

  “Val wait. I thought she was dead. You thought she was dead. I didn’t think the past mattered.”

  Val rounded on him. “Well she’s not dead! And it does matter. I was a fool. I thought it was a ‘mysterious coincidence’ that both my mother and I became vampires. But it was no coincidence, was it?”

  Elijah shook his head no.

  Val fled the room.

  Elijah looked at the parchment — it was a love letter to Valentina — one that was never delivered.

  Val searched the tunnels for her mother’s scent. It eventually led her to the main entrance. She found her mother in the garden.

  “I know, I should not be outside at this hour,” Valentina said. “But I dearly miss the open night sky.” When Val did not say anything she turned to find her even more pale than usual. “Darling, what’s the matter?”

  “You knew Lord Chastellain?”

  Valentina sighed.

  “No more vague answers Mother. I deserve to know.”

  “Unfortunately, yes, I did know him. And please don’t call me ‘Mother’.”

  “Did … did you love him?” Val asked with trepidation.

  “Oh, goodness, no.” She took a deep breath and patted the tree stump beside her, indicating for Val to sit.

  “He turned you?”

  Valentina nodded. “Not long after your brother Josiah was born, Chastellain came to town presenting himself as a wealthy merchant. He tried to court me. He was arrogant and thought he could impress me with his wealth.

  “Sounds familiar,” Val muttered.

  “As you are aware, Lord Chastellain does not take no for an answer. Once it became apparent that I would not leave my beloved husband and family for him, he dragged me out of the house in the middle of the night and forced me to drink his blood.”

  Val only nodded, she could see it. Perhaps it was because it was similar to her experience.

  “What did you do?”

  “Like you, I ran. But unlike Elijah who let you go and only followed when he knew you needed help, Lord Chastellain hunted me. He would never let me be free of him so…I faked my death. The only way for me to be rid of that monster was to make him believe I was dead.” Valentina smiled weakly. “I’m really quite proud of how I managed it. It took a lot of my own blood, so it would be the correct scent.” Valentina showed her daughter a long thick scar on the underside of her forearm.

  Val inhaled sharply through her teeth. “That had to hurt.”

  “My blood also led them to the corpse. I used a skinned and mostly burned bear carcass.”

  Val gave her mother a questioning glance.

  “Yes, well I had learned that bears look like humans when they are skinned and hanging on a meat hook. I had to get rid of the head of course. The long snout would’ve given me away.”

  Val shivered. She faked her death by cutting herself and decapitating a bear — which she apparently then skinned and burned. She must have been desperate to get away from Elijah’s father.

  “Well, it worked. Lord Chastellain stopped looking for me.”

  “And so did father.”

  “My dear, you know how hard it is for a young vampire. It was best that everyone thought I was dead. I feared I would hurt someone I cared about and it was best for your father to have closure. He needed to think that I was dead rather than holding on to a false hope that I would return.”

  “And that’s why you could never come back, even after you learned to control your thirst? And it’s the reason you could not come to me after I was turned? Lord Chastellain needed to continue to believe that you were dead.”

  Valentina nodded. “What I said before was true as well. You didn’t need me until now. As much as it hurt me to stay away, I knew our time together would come. I have cherished every moment with you.”

  Val looked up at the hundreds of stars that could be seen in the small opening between the trees.

  “This is not Elijah’s fault, my dear. He had nothing to do with it, except that he tried to reason with his unreasonable father.”

  Val nodded. “But he should have told me. You both should have.”

  “Honestly, I did not want to relive that terrible time. Losing my family, having to resort to extreme measures to escape. It was the most terrifying and depressing time of my life. I have never been as lonely as I was then. I’ve all but blocked it out to save my sanity.” Valentina took a deep breath and exhaled the sorrow away.

  “So all those times we took spring flowers to your grave it was a bear buried there?”

  Valentina chuckled. “A bear has never been so mourned by people before.”

  “No wonder Father never told us the details of your death. He thought you had been decapitated, skinned and burned.” Val shivered. “Thank you for telling me the truth. I know it was difficult for you.” Val headed back into the tunnels. She paced aimlessly for a time and checked on Elda and Silvia; they were safe and happy to be reunited. The girls were fast asleep in Teller’s room. With nothing left to do she headed to Elijah’s room.

  Chapter 69 South America 2034 A.D

  Elijah sat at his desk and smiled when Val came in. She curled up on his bed with her back to him. He gently moved to the bed.

  “Father loved Valentina very much,” he whispered.

  “Apparently to the point of obsession.”

  “Father was convinced that Valentina was meant to be with him. Her ‘death’ changed him — made him crueler. He never loved again. Vampires appear to be monogamous with their mate. We can take a long time to choose our mates and we don’t leave them once we find them.”

  “What’s your point?”

  “One thing I’ve learned these past couple of years is that if you’re out of my life I would never love again and I would become like my father.”

  Val stopped staring at the wall to look at Elijah. One look into his stormy eyes and she knew it was true and that she could not live without him either. They were indeed mated for life.

  �
��Relationships are work and we were lucky. For many centuries we did not have to work hard at our marriage. It’s okay that we’re now having to fight for our relationship,” Elijah said.

  Val issued a weak smile. “We had it good for a long time didn’t we? Is there anything else I need to know about the past?”

  “No, we didn’t know your family before Valentina.”

  “No more secrets?”

  “I promise.”

  “Why was the letter in that box?”

  “The box was my father’s. I wanted to keep something of his. I thought it was fitting that your father’s cross be stored in something that belonged to my father.”

  Val frowned. “It’s ironic. They both loved the same woman and neither one could have her.”

  “Valentina belonged to your father. She loved Adam and only wanted him. I tried to convince father of this and that he needed to leave her alone. But you know how well he listened to me.”

  Val snorted. Lord Chastellain was never one to do much listening. She rolled over turning her back on him once again.

  “What is it you need me to say?”

  “I need to hear that you’re sorry and that you realize you should have told me about this back in 1260.”

  “I am truly sorry. I should have told you sooner. I had plans to tell you after Valentina rescued me from Elda and I learned she was alive but I didn’t have a chance, as you ran away. Life has been insane since your return — you introduced me to your children, then ran off only to lead our enemy right into our camp. Not to mention this mysterious scroll that … well, who knows what that’s all about? I’ve been rather distracted. There has not been any time to worry about something that happened almost eight hundred years ago.”

  Val turned enough to glare at him. “That’s a lot of excuses.”

  “Very well, I’m sorry, I should have told you about your mother when you were first turned into a vampire.”

  “Thank you. Now I can forgive you.” She sat up and put her arms around his neck. “We belong to each other — for life.”

  Elijah laughed. “You’re only now figuring that out?”

  Val pressed her lips to his. She would never take Elijah for granted again. She hoped they were done fighting for a long time. With all they had been through, they could overcome any obstacle and always find their way back to each other. She pulled him down on top of her.

  Elijah’s hands made their way to her breasts when they heard company coming.

  Eva and Vera entered the room full of energy.

  “Look at what Aunty Mari did to our hair,” Vera exclaimed.

  Val and Elijah were siting innocently apart from one another on the bed. Val gasped, “Forget your hair! What did she do to your faces?”

  Mari entered with her chin held high. “Don’t they look lovely?”

  “Lovely! They look like harlots,” Elijah said.

  The girls had bright red lips, red cheeks and their eyelids had been painted with purple eye shadow. Their hair was curled in tight golden ringlets.

  “What’s a harlot?” Eva asked.

  “Never mind that.” Val shuffled the girls to the washbasin. “Get that junk off your faces.”

  “But Mom!” Vera whined.

  “Listen to your mother, girls. The makeup looks terrible,” Elijah said.

  “Well, you two know how to ruin the fun,” Mari pouted.

  “Their hair does look lovely, though.” Val smiled at Mari.

  Chapter 70 South America 2034 A.D

  On the night of the full moon Silvia and Elda were escorted out of the tunnels to perform the spell that would retrieve Elda’s grimoire. It was rather simple or they made it appear so. Elda held a crystal in each palm and Silvia placed her hands over the tops of the crystals. They chanted in an unfamiliar language. It only took a couple minutes before a large leather-bound book appeared at their feet. Elda smiled down at the book, as if greeting a long lost friend. Back in her cell, she went straight to work.

  Val, Elijah, Teller and Valentina waited patiently.

  Marcel approached.

  “What’s on your mind?” Elijah had to ask because Marcel seemed nervous. It was as if he wanted to say something but was afraid to.

  “I’ve been thinking, you know, about the scroll and all. I know I’m not as old or intelligent as you but I thought it might be helpful to have a human’s perspective on this matter. I don’t know if other people feel the way I do but …”

  “It’s okay. We want to hear what you have to say,” Val encouraged.

  “Yes, out with it already,” Teller said.

  “I’m sorry. You’re so … I mean, the King and Queen of Vampires and Dracula — wow,” Marcel said.

  Teller rolled his eyes.

  “You’re intimidating. I mean what could I possible say that you don’t already know?” Marcel continued.

  “Don’t be intimidated. What is it?” Elijah asked.

  “Okay, when I lived with my mother in Natal, I hated the city — the littered streets, the polluted air. I was surrounded by people and yet felt alone. They were all strangers. There was no sense of community. I remember hearing on the news that they ran out of room in the landfill, so they started dumping the trash in the ocean. City officials decided that this was a bad thing, so they approved to clear-cut more of the forest for a new landfill site. It’s crazy, they cut down thousands of trees just to have a place to toss all our shit. Sorry — it still infuriates me.”

  “What’s your point, Marcel?” Teller asked.

  “Well, I came back to live with my family here because this makes sense to me. We live simply. We use everything, nothing is wasted or thrown away that is not biodegradable. My people live as one with the earth. We respect each other and the forest which provides all we need.”

  “And?” Elijah prompted.

  “Okay. The point is, ever since your kind took over the world I can’t help but think that it’s for the best. Humans are no longer screwing up the world.”

  “So you, as a human, agree that vampires should keep people in prisons and feed off them?” Elijah asked.

  “Well, not exactly. I … I’m just saying I can understand the whole ‘balance of nature’ thing. Human life as it was … was not sustainable. Something needed to stop us before it was too late.”

  “Wow, even the human agrees that vampires should rule the world,” Silvia said.

  “Here, the Curse of the Powerful.” Elda interrupted. She had been focused on her grimoire and had heard very little of the conversation. She read quickly for a moment, then added, “There are different types of sacrifices. It depends on the spell; some require blood, alone. That is a blood sacrifice, of course. That would be preferred, as we would only need to draw blood from your daughters and use it to create the spell or in this case a curse. I was hoping for this type of sacrifice. But, as I had feared, a powerful curse like this requires a full sacrifice. That is the first bit of bad news. It clearly states that it will take a bloodletting and then the death of the chosen ones.”

  Val and Teller exchanged a desperate glance.

  There was no need for Elda to explain further but apparently Elda felt the need to elaborate. “This type of sacrifice requires the blood and the life, like Jesus bleeding to death on the cross.”

  “We get it!” Val snapped. She put her face in her hands to keep herself from falling apart.

  Elijah rubbed her back.

  “There are a couple other things to note. The grimoire uses the term saviors, so it is plural. In case you were thinking that only one has to die. It appears they both must be sacrificed —

  “No. We were not thinking about which one has to die and which one gets to live,” Teller spat.

  Elda was oblivious to Val and Teller’s troubled reactions. She was alight with the excitement of magic and solving the mystery. “There’s one more bit of bad news.”

  “How could it get any worse?” Valentina muttered.

  “The curse, once
unleashed, will issue a plague. The plague will spread across the earth killing all vampires it touches. It will not discriminate against the good or the bad. However, there is good news —

  “What could possibly be good about this?” Val glared at Elda.

  “Like Jesus, the saviors will be resurrected.”

  Val knew nothing of this grimoire but she did know the Bible inside and out. “Resurrected! And we are supposed to be happy about that? The Bible is vague about how Jesus came back to life and in what form. In some accounts he is an apparition. In others he comes back in the flesh. In none of the accounts does he appear to stay for long before he disappears again.” Val was on the verge of a breakdown.

  Teller looked at Elda. “You appear to know a lot about this sort of thing. How do you know so much about sacrifices and curses?”

  “I’ve studied … a lot. You could say I’m an expert. I raised the dead in order to take over the world, didn’t I?” There was no pride in her voice. Elda was only stating a fact.

  So Val could not be mad at her, though she would have loved to vent her growing desperation and anger on someone.

  “This all makes sense!” Elda’s honey eyes shined bright. “The scroll that Vlad found filled in the missing information —

  “Teller! I go by Teller.”

  “Whatever. Jesus’s blood created the first vampires and vampires helped to keep human populations under control, with plagues throughout history and by being the only predators of humans. Yet we still reached a time when humans overpopulated the earth and the world was being destroyed. This is why vampires exist. They have done their job — a bit too well and now the balance is upset once again. Vampires are too strong and neither species can survive like this. Eva and Vera were miracle births, like Jesus. They must have been born for this. Now vampires have overrun the earth and the girls’ purpose is to reset the balance by destroying vampires.”

  “The Great Mother only protects the delicate balance,” Valentina recited.

  Val’s mouth fell open and she turned to glare at her mother. Valentina actually believed what Elda was saying.