Vampires of Maze (Part One) (Beautiful Immortals Series Two Book 1)

by Tim O'Rourke

  Listening to Calix talk, my heart sank and I took a deep breath. This whole mission seemed more and more hopeless with each step we took in the sand.

  “Got a problem?” Calix asked at the sound of my heavy sigh.

  I ignored him, choosing not to look back or engage him. That’s what he wanted. He wanted me to make some pithy reply back so he could get into an argument with me. He wanted to fight with me. Calix wanted to fight with everyone.

  With my head down against the wind, hands in pockets, I followed on behind Rea as Trent led us up the beach and toward some grassy dunes in the distance. In silence we reached them. Trent stopped for a moment as if getting his bearings and then pressed on. Leaving the beach behind us, the sound of the waves crashing against it gradually began to fade away, leaving only the sound of silence.

  For how long we walked, I couldn’t be sure, but ahead, Trent stopped so suddenly that I nearly slammed into the back of Rea. I looked up to see that Trent had led us to a road that snaked away in both directions. It was cracked like crazy paving. Weeds grew out of these cracks and they swayed to and fro in the gusts of wind that broke the silence. Thick and wild undergrowth grew tall on either side of the road. It looked like nature was greedily reclaiming this part of the world.

  “Which way now?” Rea whispered, stepping close and putting her lips to Trent’s ear.

  Trent peered into the dark. Left then right. Then, stepping out onto the road and heading to the left, Trent said, “We go this way.”

  “How can you be sure?” Rush asked from over my shoulder.

  Crossing the road, Trent reached up and pulled back some of the overgrown bushes that lined the road to reveal a faded sign. The Town of Maze, 20 miles, the sign read.

  “Do we really want to be heading straight into town?” Rush asked.

  “Why not?” Calix said, easing back the front flap of his coat to reveal one of his pistols. It gleamed silver in the moonlight. “What’s the point in sneaking around?”

  “We won’t be heading straight into anywhere,” Trent said to Rush and ignoring Calix. “But this town called Maze will be a good place to check out – to see if there are any humans left – to see if there are any vampires – to see if…”

  “We can find out who is in charge here so that we can start our negotiations,” I cut in.

  “Negotiations!” Calix scoffed. “Do you really think that if there are vampires in Maze they are going to welcome us with open arms…”

  “And that’s why we’re going to check the place out first – to see how the land lies there,” Trent said. “We’ll get as close as we can without being seen. We’ll lay low and watch.”

  “Just watch?” I said, feeling relieved to hear that Trent was being something close to rational. Perhaps he really did want to find peace – find some truce with the vampires.

  Trent smiled and nodded his head at me. “Just watch.”

  Before I’d had a chance to answer, Calix chipped in and said, “The only thing I’ll be watching is you getting yourselves killed if you really believe that the vampires can be reasoned with… that they can be…”

  “Let’s get going,” Trent said, turning up the collar of his coat and setting off along the road, seemingly uninterested in Calix’s protests.

  Before falling in line once more behind Rea and in front of Rush, I glanced at Calix. He fixed me with a hard, black stare.

  “You’re gonna get each and every one of us killed,” he almost seemed to snarl. “Peace? There isn’t no such thing.”

  Turning away, I lowered my head and set off after the others in the direction of the town named Maze.

  Chapter Three

  We followed the edge of the winding road until the first splinters of daylight filtered through the leafless branches of trees that swayed overhead. I felt cold and hungry. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d eaten. It had probably been some of the cold rations that Trent and Rea had brought with them to sustain us on our journey across the sea. It felt like we had walked for miles – much further than the 20 miles promised on the sign by the side of the road. Trent had earlier warned us that we would have to find shelter by daybreak or risk being seen by any vampires that might be close by. Of course, Trent couldn’t be sure that vampires even occupied this part of the land we hoped that one day we might be able to call home. But none of us – and I suspected even Calix – didn’t want to risk being discovered by vampires while we rested during the day. If only the lies that the Beautiful Immortals had told the humans were true and vampires really did turn to dust in the daylight and werewolves had to dodge silver bullets. But of course none of that was true. It had been lies to deceive the humans.

  As the darkness of the night started to bleed light and I’d pretty much given up all hope of finding some remote place to take shelter for the day, Trent stopped dead ahead again. Throughout the night he had insisted that we walked close to the edge of the road so if anyone should come we could easily take cover in the wild undergrowth. And it was this thorny undergrowth that Trent now ploughed through and into a field. We gathered behind his broad shoulders as he looked out across the field that stretched away like a violet coloured blanket. The rows and rows of lavender bent back and forth in the wind. The sweet smell of the flowers was intoxicating and I couldn’t help but wonder why anyone – or any creature – would want to go to war instead of enjoying the beauty that surrounded them each day.

  “We’ll take shelter in there,” Trent said, pointing out across the field in the direction of a derelict looking barn.

  With ours heads hung low and shoulders rounded with tiredness, we followed Trent across the field. As we grew near I could see that, although it was disused, the wooden roof and walls were still intact. With caution Trent reached out and pulled on the door. I couldn’t help but notice how Rea instinctively reached beneath the folds of her coat, placing her hands to the guns that were hidden there. Glancing at Rush, I could see that he had done the very same thing. Calix, on the other hand, had fully yanked open his coat and drawn both pistols.

  “Want one?” he grinned, offering me one of his guns.

  “Never,” I said, turning away.

  “You’ll change your mind,” Calix said.

  I couldn’t bear to look back over my shoulder at him. I didn’t want to see that cocky grin I knew he would have plastered across his rugged face. Instead, I watched Trent peer around the edge of the barn door.

  He glanced back at us. “It looks clear. C’mon.”

  Without saying another word, Trent headed into the barn, disappearing from view. Sliding their hands from beneath their coats and from their guns, Rea and Rush headed into the barn, leaving Calix and me standing alone outside together in the light of the rising sun.

  “After you,” he said, waving one of his pistols at me, like I was his prisoner.

  “Put that thing away,” I scowled at him, “before you get yourself killed.”

  “Not me, pretty lady,” he grinned. “The only person around here who is gonna end up dead is you.”

  I placed my hands on my hips. “And how do you figure that?”

  “Because it’s gonna take a lot more than some chick who knows a bit of hocus-pocus magic to destroy the vampires,” he said.

  “That’s funny.” I smiled slyly back at him.

  “What is?”

  “Unlike you, Calix, I haven’t come here to destroy anyone or anything,” I said.

  “That sounds like a coward talking,” Calix said, his gun trained on me.

  My heart started to race again. I made fists with my hands. Willing myself to stay calm – for my heart to find its regular and passive rhythm – I tried to force back the energy that was now surging into each of my fingertips. How dare he call me a coward? He knew nothing about me. But I wouldn’t let Calix rattle me. I wouldn’t let him get beneath my skin. Taking a deep breath, I let my racing heart slow. I unclenched my hands as I let the energy flow harmlessly away. Slowly, I turned my back, a
nd headed for the barn door.

  “Coward,” I heard Calix whisper.

  “We’ll see,” I whispered back under my breath.

  From the barn doorway I could see what looked like a small house in the distance. From where I stood, it didn’t look abandoned like the barn where I was about to seek shelter. And although each of the house’s windows was in darkness, I was sure that I could see what looked like a whiff of smoke spiralling up from a brick chimney that jutted from the thatched roof. Was someone living in that house? Was someone or something living in a remote farmhouse on the outskirts of Maze?

  I felt something brush up against me. It was Calix. I didn’t like him so close to me. Twice I had woken up in the dead of night as we’d crossed the sea to find him virtually spooning me from behind as I’d tried to sleep. I stepped aside so that he could enter the barn. Grinning, he replaced his guns in their holsters and stepped into the derelict building. Before closing the door behind me, I glanced back across the field in the direction of the house. If I really had seen smoke coming from the chimney, it had now gone, blown away on the wind. Perhaps it hadn’t been there at all?

  I closed the door behind me. It was dark inside, the thinnest rays of dawn light seeped into the barn through the gaps in the wood and roof that supported it.

  Rea beckoned me into the darkest and furthest corner of the barn where the others had gathered. Calix had already made himself comfortable by propping himself against a bale of hay. He lay with his hands laced behind his head and feet crossed at the ankles. Rush sat against the far wall and I crossed the barn, sitting just a few feet from him. I felt more comfortable around Rush than I did around his brother.

  “How you doing?” he whispered.

  “Just tired,” I lied, not wanting to admit that Calix had left me feeling rattled.

  “You’ll feel better after some sleep,” Rush said, rolling over onto his side and closing his eyes.

  “Goodnight,” I said, but Rush didn’t answer. His chest was already rising slowly up and down. Was he already asleep? I wondered. He did look dead beat. We all did. Rea was resting on the floor just feet from Trent. His eyes were closed, his hands folded beneath his head like some kind of makeshift pillow.

  Rolling onto my back, I stared up at the warped planks of wood that formed the underside of the roof. Something was digging into my side, so I reached inside my coat and found the small book of spells that I carried with me. I pulled the book out and turned it over in my hands. I wondered who had given it to me, and why. I had found it in my coat pocket as I’d stepped off that steam train and into that remote railway station that was hidden amongst the Swiss Mountains. Why had someone decided to give me a book of spells? I thumbed through the pages. I already knew every one of them by heart. There was nothing new that I could see amongst the pages of the book.

  I looked over at Calix, fearing that he might be watching me. But he wasn’t. He too, just like the others, had his eyes closed. Asleep and without that permanent cocky grin drawn over his face, he looked different somehow – like the anger and hate he carried around with him had been melted away – like he had taken his armour off to reveal the true man hiding beneath it.

  With thoughts of Calix at the forefront of my mind, sleep took me, dragging me down into a darkness that folded itself around me like a blanket.

  Chapter Four

  I was woken from my sleep by the sound of Rea’s voice. Pushing fragmented images of Calix from my mind, I kept my eyes closed and listened. Rea was whispering. Someone else spoke and I recognised it to be Trent’s voice that I could hear.

  “Do you think we can trust her?” I heard Rea say.

  Were they talking about me? I couldn’t help but wonder. I kept my eyes screwed shut. Lying perfectly still, I listened to their conversation.

  “What do you mean?” Trent whispered back.

  “Well, who exactly is she?” Rea asked.

  “Her name is Julia Miller.”

  Rea sighed out loud. “I know that. What I mean is – what is she.”

  “She’s a witch,” Trent said, his voice soothing as if he was trying to ease Rea’s obvious concerns and distrust of me.

  “But where did she come from – how did she arrive in Switz…”

  “She came by train,” Trent cut in. “Julia arrived at the old station…”

  “The station that hasn’t seen a train pass through it since the war started. The station that has been boarded up and closed for years. How did she really get here?”

  “Some kind of magic, I guess,” Trent said, letting out a deep yawn. He sounded like he’d rather sleep than talk with Rea.

  Rea persisted. Her voice sounded not only suspicious but fearful, too. But she had no reason to fear me. I didn’t want to hurt anyone. “But who sent her and why?”

  “She’s come to help us find peace,” I heard Trent say. “Something we haven’t been able to do.”

  “Do we really need the help of a stranger? The help of a witch?”

  “Why not?” Trent said, before yawning again. “Perhaps a mediator – someone independent who can negotiate on our behalf will finally bring an end to this war.”

  “But she won’t just be negotiating on our behalf,” I heard Rea remind him. “She’ll be negotiating for the vampires too. How do we know that she won’t side with them over us? How do we know that we can trust her?”

  “I think we can,” Trent said. “I think Julia will be okay…”

  “Are you sure that your feelings aren’t blinding you…?”

  “What’s that s’posed to mean?” Trent asked.

  With my eyes still shut tight, I heard him sit up.

  “Oh, c’mon,” I heard Rea scoff, followed by the sound of a match flaring alight and the smell of fresh cigar smoke. “I’ve seen the way you smile at her – the way you look…”

  “She’s just a kid,” Trent sighed. “She can’t be any older than twenty.

  “Twenty-one,” Rea cut in.

  “Whatever,” Trent said. I heard him get to his feet, fully awake now. “You’re being ridiculous, Rea.”

  “Am I? Why wouldn’t you want to look at her? She’s beautiful, isn’t she, with her long thick black hair and those oh-so pretty hazel eyes?”

  “You’re sounding jealous,” Trent snapped.

  “And why shouldn’t I be?” Rea came back at him. “You used to look at me like that once…”

  “That was a long time ago.”

  “Yeah, don’t remind me, I’ve still got the scars…”

  “Scars?” Trent cut in. “What scars? What are you talking about?”

  “It doesn’t matter, forget it,” Rea said.

  The lingering smell of cigar smoke wafted just over my head. Had Rea and Trent once been lovers? If they had, was it over now? I wasn’t so sure that it was over for Rea, even if it was for Trent.

  Rea spoke again, this time her voice was softer. “Just forget what I said. I’m just tired and cranky, that’s all.”

  There was a long pause in which the only thing I could hear was the sound of my own racing heart.

  “Rea, you don’t have anything to worry about,” Trent finally said, his voice little more than a whisper. “You’re right, I am watching Julia, but not for the reasons you think. I trust her for now, but I promise you that if I start to believe for one moment that she will sell us out to the vampires, I will kill her in a heartbeat. That’s a promise.”

  I heard someone shout out. I opened my eyes a fraction. Calix was sitting bolt upright, a strangled gasp in the back of his throat. His eyes were dark and wide, and he had the worst case of bed head that I’d ever seen. His hair stuck out in thick, black clumps. He glanced about the barn as if trying to find his bearings. His chest rose up and down as he drew in shallow gasps of air. Had he just woken from a nightmare? Did Calix even have such things? I couldn’t ever imagine Calix being scared of anything. His violent waking had disturbed Rush, who was now sitting up and staring bleary-eyed across the roo
m at his brother. I opened my eyes fully. What was the point in pretending that I was still asleep when everyone else was now awake? I propped myself up on one elbow and yawned to give the impression that I had only just woken.

  “What’s going on?” I asked, pretending to rub sleep from my eyes.

  Rush smirked. “Looks like Calix has had a nightmare.”

  Calix ignored him. He continued to sit, his brow damp with perspiration, eyes wide and chest continuing to hitch up and down as he gasped for breath.

  Frowning, Rea crossed the barn, the heels of her boots kicking up loose stands of straw. She toed Calix with the tip of her boot. “Are you okay, Calix?”

  As if being stirred from a deep trance, Calix glanced up at her, mouth hung open. “Huh?”

  “You look like you’ve shit yourself,” she said, chomping on the end of the cigar that dangled from the corner of her mouth. “That must have been some nightmare to leave you so shook up.”

  “Nightmare?” Calix frowned up at her.

  Trent strode forward, straw stuck to the seat of his jeans and the back of his shirt where he had been sleeping on the barn floor. “What was the nightmare about?”

  “What was it about?” Calix said, vaguely as if struggling to remember what had disturbed his sleep so much. He glanced about the barn until his eyes came to rest on me.

  Our eyes locked.

  “I can’t remember what my nightmare was about,” he whispered, his eyes staring deep into mine.

  Chapter Five

  While we had been asleep inside the barn, it had begun to snow. I looked up, and although it was night, the sky was a cloudy-grey. The world seemed as quiet as the snow that swirled silently all around us.

  “This isn’t good,” I muttered, more to myself than to my companions.

  Trent shot me a sideways glance. “You’re right, Julia. We won’t be able to hide our tracks now…”

  “I didn’t mean that,” I said. “If winter has come to England it won’t take long for it to cross the sea and reach the people we have left behind…”