The curtain that separated them was pulled back, allowing Alice to see Father Solomon wearing his usual dusty, brown habit, complete with a rope that acted as a belt. He was as humble in appearance as he was as a person.
“I'll be honest with you, child. I had recently given up on our kind and had been praying to be released from our eternal nights. Decades of selfish acts and remorseless killers had resulted in me losing all hope. That was until the very night that you walked in through our doors, gracing us with your presence.”
Father Solomon paused, studying Alice's face for a moment before continuing.
“Never in all my years have I met someone who was so pure in spirit as yourself. We all make mistakes. It's how we know that we still have some sliver of our humanity, but not everyone has as big a conscience as you do.”
The man's worn and tired face cracked with wrinkles as he smiled. His wise, old eyes remained steady as he continued to speak with sincerity.
“I believe that if any of us can overcome this curse, it's you. You are one of God's chosen and are bound to be tested. See this as just one trial of many and don't let it break you. You're stronger than that.”
Alice didn't know what to say. If anyone knew what they were talking about, it was Father Solomon, as he was almost as old as time itself. She trusted his advice over everyone else's, including Katherine's, although she wouldn't dare tell anyone that.
“You have restored my faith, so all I can do is try to help you restore your faith in yourself. By the grace of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, your sins are forgiven.”
It took a while for Alice to gather her scattered thoughts before she put together a response.
“Thank you, Father. Your words are much kinder than I deserve. I'll try my best to not stray from the path that has been laid out before me. At least not again.”
The priest bowed his head thoughtfully before pulling the curtain closed, separating himself from Alice once more as she was left kneeling in the dark alone.
“Go in peace, child. Give thanks to the Lord for he is good.”
“For his mercy endures forever.”
**********
The faction war between the Moretti family and the cult of the Serpent Temple had escalated to the point where violence had spread throughout the streets, resulting in local law enforcement getting involved. The death of a cop had hit the local news, shortly followed by other reports of families that had been caught in the crossfire. People were too afraid to leave their homes after dark, resulting in citizens calling out for extreme measures to be taken.
With a threat of a curfew being put into place under orders from the Mayor, Queen Renita Marquette was forced to take notice. Her lax judgement and failure to act meant that she had fallen out of favour with a large number of her biggest supporters. It was as if she was doomed to follow in the footsteps of her predecessor.
The queen commanded Sir Chevalier to fix the problem, but without the resources he needed for such a large undertaking, he was unable to do little more than shut down some of the smaller operations of each faction. His actions barely made a dent in each of their respective organisations and did nothing to stop the fighting. This failure forced the queen to formally request a mediation between the two groups, but both failed to show up on the allotted date and time. It seemed that nothing could stop the feud between the warring factions.
From seemingly nowhere, the devout members of the Serpent Temple dramatically increased in number. This lead to them having the upper hand in what had been an unwinnable war up until that point. They raided Moretti weapon stores to better arm themselves and subsequently worked on wiping out operation after operation, until there was little left for them destroy.
The Moretti family tried to appeal to the queen, but she was powerless to face such a strong force and refused to help them. She claimed that it was a punishment for them not attempting to settle the dispute peacefully, but the truth was she was unable to do anything about it at all. The cult of the Serpent Temple now had full control over the entire underworld of Calgary and they weren't about to give it up any time soon.
As for Queen Renita Marquette herself, she was so distracted by her own personal rivalry with Katherine Louviere that she failed to see her kingdom falling apart at the seams. Her subjects called for new leadership, but no one stepped forwards to take on such a big responsibility, as they didn't want a target to be painted on their backs as well. At least not yet, as although Katherine had her eyes set on the throne, she wanted to make a spectacle of the queen's downfall. Theatrical takeovers took time to put in place and there were still many preparations to be made.
**********
“Take my hands, there is something I would like you to see.”
Katherine held out her hands, palms upturned as she waited for Alice to do as she asked. Unsure as to whether it was a test or not, Alice placed her delicate hands into Katherine's, waiting to see what would happen next.
“Now concentrate. Try to read me as you would others. I won't resist, so it should be easy for you.”
“Okay, I'll try.”
Closing her eyes and focusing her mind, Alice tried to enter her mentor’s memories. It took a little while longer than it did on a mortal, but with Katherine's defenses lowered, it wasn't too difficult at all.
Alice pushed through the clouds that swirled around Katherine's memories, floating through the haze as if it were nothing. Locating the specific memory that she was supposed to find in there would be a big task, but if anyone could do it, it was her.
The first one that crossed her path resulted in her coming face to face with someone that had been in her visions before. Vincent was standing by a narrow road surrounded by trees, consulting with her as if she was witnessing the event through Katherine's eyes.
A group loitering nearby held the same types of weaponry that had been wielded by the unwitting members of former crusades. They didn't even try to attack Vincent at all as they waited patiently for a van that pulled up soon after, opening its doors wide for them to board.
If this memory was real, then all the unwanted vampires who were still being sent out under orders from the queen were no longer marching to their death. But where were they being taken and why? The details were still unclear. Was this the alliance with Vincent that Katherine had spoken of? It certainly seemed that way.
Stepping out of that memory and making her way back through the mists to another, Alice found herself looking out through Katherine's eyes once more. This time she was signing a treaty with a quill pen, sat at an antique desk within a room that was made up of rows of bookshelves. A layer of thick dust covered the old tomes, while cobwebs lined every corner of the ceiling. Whoever owned the place wasn't one for cleaning and was way behind on the upkeep.
A robed figure emerged from the shadows, with hair as black as the night protruding from underneath her hood. Skeletal fingers pointed out from loose hanging sleeves, drawing Alice's attention to one particular section of the document. It was a specific signature belonging to Morgana, the vampiric witch. Alice wasn't sure if it was the name the woman was born with or if she had styled herself after the mystic of Arthurian legend, but she certainly looked the part.
Katherine had been busy. She was banding together all the queen's enemies and former allies, building a force strong enough to seize the throne. Was this what Katherine had wanted her see? There was no sign of the vision coming to an end, so she continued on to the next open part of her mentors mind.
Alice found herself sat on a throne made up of bronze snakes that entwined together to make an impressive piece of art. Rows of heavily armed cultists worshipped at her feet, bowing down at the feet of their priestess. The serpent shaped symbols embroidered on the banners around the room were key to this memory and somehow reminded her of the temple within the McKay compound.
It dawned on Alice that this was the most important piece of information that she had uncovered so far, but could it be true? Was Katherine ac
tually Samara, the force behind the Serpent Temple that had recently taken control of such a large part of the city? It certainly seemed that way, and it also explained how the faction had increased in number so drastically.
The cult had been siphoning off soldiers from the crusades and using their hatred of the queen to form an army that could be used to usurp her power. It was impressive really. There were so many layers to the plan and Alice realised that she didn't know quite as much about Katherine as she had originally thought.
Alice pulled herself out of Katherine's mind, opening her eyes wide as she lowered her hands back down to her side.
“You never told me…”
Keeping a straight face, Katherine didn't even try to explain her reasons for keeping secrets from her protege.
“That wasn't what I wanted you to see. There's something more important, but you'll have to go deeper.”
Raising both eyebrows, Alice placed her hands back into Katherine's.
“How will I know when I’ve found it?”
Katherine smiled, remaining cryptic in her responses.
“Trust me, you'll know.”
It took an incredible amount of effort to dig so deep into someone's life, and it was terribly taxing on Alice's strength. She could feel her energy being sapped as she delved further into Katherine's mind.
There was a man in a bowler hat, his face obscured. The Gentleman. The one who had brought Katherine back from the brink of death, but he was long dead now. He had been killed by that which he had created, as she turned on him and drained him dry. It was her first major lesson in betrayal and his last.
The next in line was a man in full civil war regalia. He was Katherine's first love and was meant to be the start of a new family. James Holt was an injured Confederate soldier that she had stumbled across in Maryland back in 1865. He fled home to the south after discovering Katherine's true nature as a creature of the night, not realising that he had become one too.
The third face came as a surprise, even though Alice had never actually seen it before. Nadia Djorkaeff was the youngest of Katherine's children and the daughter of a Russian General in the First World War. The woman was in her late twenties when she went missing on a trip to America in 1912, and her fate was never discovered. She was better known as the blond haired member of the Furies within the queen's court.
It seemed that Katherine had her own spy close to her biggest rival, Queen Marquette. Nadia's brown eyes were always peeled as they observed the trials and tribulations of vampire politics from behind her mask. She had a strong sense of devotion to her maker that was buried so far beneath her fake persona that it remained undetected by everyone, even the royal spy network.
The last person in the lineup was out of place and actually the first to be reborn as one of Katherine's children. Renée Girard was the youngest daughter of a rich slave owner who had yet to be married off as her father was overprotective of her. She was born in Quebec, New France, way before it became part of Canada and had lived an uneventful life until the night she met Katherine.
Alice didn't recognise the vampire at first, as her appearance had been changed over the years. Imagining her covered from head to toe in tribal tattoos, with strangely symmetrical features that made up her hauntingly beautiful visage, Alice soon recognised the woman as the vampire who had cursed her with eternal damnation.
Renée was the fanged goddess that Alice’s family worshipped and had sacrificed her to without a second thought. It felt odd to finally put a name to the face, but she had never expected in her wildest dreams that her own maker would have been one of Katherine's creations.
This was the memory that Alice was meant to see without a doubt. She had finally witnessed the reason for her mentors sudden interest in sharing her most secret of thoughts.
Returning to her own body and a state of full consciousness, Alice was faced with Katherine's usual warm and welcoming smile.
“So you have discovered the truth. I knew that we were of the same blood the very moment that I laid my eyes upon you.”
Alice was stunned as she tried to come to terms with the news.
“So… She was the first. What happened?”
It seemed that some parts of Katherine's past still left her sore as she spoke in a bitter tone.
“She wasn't content with being at my side and wanted to ascend to godhood. Even now I can smell the scent of my creation’s betrayal upon you…”
Alice fully understood why Katherine needed her. She was the key to a past that had remained undisturbed until just recently.
“I’m sorry, I didn't know.”
The frown on Katherine's face turned back into a smile.
“It’s not your fault. You are my grandchild as much as you are her child, and our blood bond is stronger than that of mortals.”
It seemed odd to talk about it after all this time, but Alice decided to dredge up part of her own history.
“She's still hunting for me. Both her and my entire family. They won't stop until they've found me here.”
A serious look returned to the woman's face.
“Don't worry about her, my child. I've been waiting for this moment for a while and have everything under my complete control.”
Alice didn't know what that meant exactly, but she trusted that Katherine wouldn't let anything happen to her most important asset. Alice didn't have any plans of running away again if the McKays ever rolled into town, as she knew that she was protected here. Calgary was about as safe for her as anywhere else, if not more so. At least she now had someone that she could count on in times of need.
Meanwhile, Katherine had yet more ideas of how her generosity could be repaid.
“I have another request. Try to enter my mind again, although this time push past my own memories. You need to go deeper. We need to find out where the rest of my descendants can be found.”
**********
Alice had never been so deep inside someone's mind. It was a surreal experience with twists and turns that formed a maze, making it difficult to navigate. She had been searching for something more than just memories. It was something akin to the genetic tracing of ancestry, but more of a supernatural and spiritual link between members of Katherine's bloodline. The links became a bizarre family tree that was spread out through the ages, starting somewhere long before even the Gentleman existed.
The strangest part of the experience for Alice was that it worked and that she was able to track down her mentor's descendants. The information that she was able to pull from the hidden depths of Katherine's unconscious was way more detailed that either of them had expected.
Renée Girard had been busy since she had betrayed her maker. The first among her vampiric offspring, before she had completely lost her grip on reality, was a young Broadway showgirl in New York City.
It was during the economic boom of the 1920s when Renée met Nathalie St Claire, a glamourous actress and trained swing dancer who was only just starting her career. The two parted ways some time after she was turned, with Nathalie having to hide behind the scenes, running her own productions once people started to realise that the star of the show was no longer aging. She apparently never moved away from the city, and was still producing Broadway shows until that very day. It would be an exceptionally simple task to track her down.
Matthew Walker hadn't been so lucky. He never knew Renée Girard as his maker, due to the fact that she made him during a phase of her existence when she had lost her mind entirely. He had only become a vampire fifteen years prior, but had made his mark on his hometown of Baltimore, Maryland since.
In life, Matthew was a soldier in the US Army, but blunt force trauma to the head had left him slow and dull witted. He was homeless for years, living on the streets right up until the day he was reborn.
Matthew believed that he had killed Renée in self defense, but the beat down he gave her had only knocked some sense back into her twisted brain. He still lived in the same location, acting
as a paid mercenary for the city's enforcer with some success. He would also be quite easy to find, with a possible promise of a promotion that could draw him up to Calgary.
James Holt was dead. He had been killed in 2009 by a roaming band of hunters that had followed his own unwitting offspring back to his nightclub in New Orleans, Louisiana. The girl however, was lucky enough to escape unscathed as the building was razed to the ground.
Emily Goodwin, who had been renamed to Emma Holt, or Ember as she preferred to be called, was an inexperienced and particularly naive vampire who had a lot to learn about the supernatural world. She reminded Alice of herself in a way, as they had both found themselves to be out of their depth. Emily on the other hand didn't have Katherine to guide her and had to learn everything the hard way, which was fine until she coincidentally ended up in the same city as Matthew.
Baltimore hadn’t been kind to Emily at all, as it had mercilessly chewed her up and spat her back out. Her short time there had resulted in the death of both her and the few friends she had made along the way. There was nothing left of hers to recover, as it had all been destroyed following her execution at the King's command.
It had been just a few short years since Emily had become a vampire and there was nothing to show for it. She was the last of her line and her inevitable demise was a sad tale indeed.
Thanks to the information that Alice had retrieved, Katherine was able to send messengers to contact the only two descendants that she had remaining. She hoped that they would unite with her against their maker, her child, and also against the queen of Calgary who was becoming increasingly incompetent.
Katherine could have called them by phone, but she figured that the older method of sending physical mail would grab their attention. It would be some time before her servants returned with news or with her guests in tow, so she worked on other projects that had been waiting in the sidelines.
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