by E. M. Knight
I turn my attention on my Lieutenant, who is openly troubled by the sight of me.
Without willing it, I shy away.
“Riyu.” His voice stops me in my tracks. “Tell me how you ended up here.”
I swallow and start to relate the story. I tell it all—from Beatrice’s use of the herb to make the numbness seep through Dagan’s body, to the antidote she gave me to make it stop. At this point, I see little need in leaving any of it out—not when it has become clear just where Beatrice’s loyalties lie.
The only thing I neglect to mention is the reason I asked for Beatrice’s help… and my own feelings for the impressive man now standing in front of me. I see no reason to alert him to that peculiarity.
Dagan listens to it all without a word. But his expression darkens as I go on and on.
Finally, when I get to the part where Beatrice shoved me in the cage, he cuts me off with an aggressive hand slash through the air.
“I’ve heard enough,” he tells me. “The King is right. Everything you told me serves to confirm his doubts about Beatrice.”
“Doubts?” I ask. “What doubts?”
“Are you loyal to me, Riyu?” Dagan asks.
“Yes,” I pledge. “After all I’ve revealed, how could you think I’m not?”
“I’m going to indulge you, then. You are part of the First Guard, and I require my force to do what I was asked. The best…” he looks up over me, his eyes taking on a faraway glaze, “…the best is to keep those in the know as few as possible. But given what you’ve experienced, coupled with your considerable talents…” He looks at me again and nods. “You will be the one I take on.”
A little spark of excitement comes alight within me at the unexpected praise. Dagan is usually very miserly with such words.
“The King entrusted me with a secret mission,” he says. “If I reveal the purpose to you, you will be bound to me forever. One slip, one wrong word, and you will be killed. I personally will see to that.”
I nod and stand straighter, emboldened by his faith in me. “Tell me what you want.”
Dagan actually gives a lopsided smile. “The irony is, the King gave me the same proposition. In a way, I am breaking his trust, revealing it to you. But as you’ll eventually learn, I have my reasons. Do not judge me for reneging on my word now.”
I haven’t the slightest idea what he’s referring to, but I feel more energized with every word. “I told you before, Dagan. No matter what, I am yours to command. Forever and always, through and through.” I go to one knee in the formal position required of one of my rank. “I vow my life to yours. Your words, your voice, is what I answer to. Yours, above anyone else’s. Yours, before any others.” I look up and meet his eyes. “Yours, before the King’s.”
“Get up,” Dagan grunts at me. “If you had given that vow even a day ago, I would have had grounds to persecute you for treason. I would have done it, too. But…” conflict shows on his face. “Things have changed in The Crypts.”
I stand. “Tell me what happened. What did the King want?”
“The King,” Dagan says, “ordered me to destroy all of Beatrice’s creations. And he told me…” his eyes stare into mine, “…to get ready to kill her, too.”
Chapter Nineteen
Dagan
The Crypts
With Riyu at my side, we do a quick search of Beatrice’s underground facilities. Discovering nothing useful, except for the other cages where she keeps her creations, we set about systematically exterminating each and every one.
The buggers prove surprisingly difficult to kill.
I approach the first of the cells with my sword drawn. The creature inside is a hideous, wretched thing. Its skin is translucent, and it snarls at me as I come close. Its limbs are long and horribly thin, the bones jutting out at odd angles.
It scampers to the far reaches of its small enclosure as I ready myself in front of the bars. All the hair it once possessed is gone. Were it not for the tiny, shriveled up genitals between its legs I could not even tell if it were male or female.
The King was right when he labelled them abominations.
“Ready?” I ask Riyu, steadying my sword. The point of it is aimed right at the creature’s neck.
The little vampire nods. “If it gets past you, I’ll strike it down with Fire.”
“With the way you described the Elemental Forces behaving,” I note, “let us hope it doesn’t come to that.” Absently, I pat the little vial of fish juice in my pocket. “No vampire has gotten past me yet. I’m not about to let this pitiful worm become the first.”
Riyu nods and hits the button that undoes the lock to the silver cage.
With a grunt, I heave the door up and barrel into the enclosure. The silver bars bang shut behind me.
I am alone with this… thing.
For a moment, it regards me. And then it opens its mouth and screams.
The sound is high and shrill and takes me entirely by surprise. I stagger back, clamping both hands over my ears. The scream pierces my eardrums and rattles my brain. It makes it impossible to think, impossible to focus. I never thought this would be a weakness, but I can do nothing against the sound waves.
Then the creature’s jaw clamps shut. It cuts off. In a rage, I roar, ready to sever the thing’s head from its body—
It moves with astonishing speed.
One moment it’s in front of me. The next it’s darted to the other side of the cage. I could never have guessed such a miserable creature capable of moving so fast.
I spin around and explode toward it. Again it just waits until the final moment… and simply darts out of the way.
Now I start getting very angry.
I know Riyu is watching, and this sort of performance is humiliating. I shift my longsword. Then, thinking better of it, toss it down.
Only hand-to-hand combat will allow me to destroy this thing.
My claws come out. The vampire instincts all kick in. I expand my mind, searching for this wretched thing’s presence.
I find only a void.
Shock ripples through me. Where this creature is—the place it occupies in space—has only a rift.
Again it opens its mouth, readying to emit that horrible noise—
I don’t let it. I didn’t use all my agility before. With the sword no longer weighing me down I close the distance to the creature very quickly. Only the first bit of sound reaches my ears before I’m on it.
My hands jut out. One of them finds the creature’s throat. A sort of disgust washes through me as I feel the slick, almost slimy texture of its skin.
The thing howls at me, scrambling to break out of my grip, but I am utterly relentless. I squeeze harder, then let my claws pierce into the neck.
I thought blood might spurt out… but instead a disgustingly thin vapor is emitted.
As it leaves the body, I start to get a sense of the vampire I’m holding. It’s weakening before me, dying before my eyes.
My muscles flex as I grab the creature by the skull. It tries the scream again, but with its broken windpipe the sound no longer affects me.
With a savage roar I jerk my hands apart, tearing the head right off the body. Ligaments of the spine stretch and snap. Vertebrae break. More of that vapor hisses out, and then, just like that, it’s done.
The energy in the room palpably shifts. I feel something akin to a suction, exerted by the corpse below me. With a grunt I drop the head and step away.
Then I watch, wary, as a dark mist starts to flow inward from the outer reaches of the cell. The dark tentacles pool around the body.
“Dagan!” Riyu hisses behind me. “Get out!”
I do not move. The mist entrances me.
I watch as it thickens and starts to roll over the body. It is like seeing an infestation of termites descend on a fresh piece of wood. The effervescent vapor that leaked from the body mixes with the strange black substance and forms almost a barrier over the misshapen form.
&
nbsp; “Dagan!” Riyu insists. “You need to get out!”
With a start I realize he’s right. I spin back. He’d already released the mechanism that will let me escape. I heft the cage door up and quickly sweep under it to join him on the other side.
The moment I’m through a blistering outside force slams into me. I see a blue light explode around Riyu. His face is screwed up in concentration, his hands jutting around in sharp, intricate motions.
“What are you doing?” I growl, as the force pulses into me and compels me to step back. My shoulder blades hit the back of the cage. “Riyu!”
He doesn’t answer. If anything his concentration doubles. He mutters words I cannot understand. The unusual force pounds into me, pushing me away, coursing through my body—
And then it stops. The light around Riyu winks out. He staggers sideways, and almost falls. Anger seizes me, and I’m on him in a flash. I grab his arm. “What did you do?” I demand. “What was that all about?”
He takes a moment to compose himself enough to speak.
“The vampire,” he says in a trembling, unsteady voice, “tried to switch bodies with you.”
I glare at him. “What?”
“Beatrice—she did something evil. Something absolutely vile.” Riyu looks more shaken than I’ve ever seen him. “She stripped the souls away from these creatures… but made their bodies remain here on earth.”
I shake my head. “That doesn’t make sense,” I growl.
“I had to cleanse you,” he says wearily. “I had to eliminate the seed. You were carrying it. The vapor, that mist you saw come out of the creature’s body? You inhaled it, and it became a part of you.” Riyu exhales a long and tired breath. Then he shakes me off. “Let go, Dagan. I have proved my worth.”
The amount of command in that request surprises me. With an irritated grunt I release him. “So now what?” I ask. “Am I infected again, is that what you’re telling me?”
“No.” Riyu shakes his head. “I destroyed the parasite before it could latch onto your blood.”
“That’s what I felt?” I question.
“Yes,” he nods. “But it took an enormous amount of my power. I don’t think I’ll be able to do it again.”
I look around at the entrances to the other cells. “You will have to,” I say.
“No.” He shakes his head. “You are too vulnerable. After the link that formed and was broken with you and that weapon… well, your body is like a sponge. It’s receptive to any outside force that can do what this one tried.”
“So what do you suggest, then?” I ask, with no small amount of sarcasm. “We’re not going to simply walk away. You know the King’s orders.”
“I do,” he agrees. “And that means there’s only one avenue for us to continue this venture.”
I look at him. “And what’s that?”
“I will be the one to kill these things.”
Chapter Twenty
Riyu
The Crypts
Of course I’d lied to Dagan when I told him the story of his vulnerability. But he swallowed the lie hook, line, and sinker.
The truth is, I could not stand him being humiliated the way he had been in the first cage.
The lieutenant is a proud commander. He bluffs and boasts his way through most uncertainties. He’s been able to do it successfully, so far, because he’s never faced much he could not handle on the basis of raw strength.
But when I saw Beatrice’s creature move… when I saw how its screams affected Dagan… I knew that he would react badly.
He’d dropped his sword and gone after it with his bare hands. That was a stunning miscalculation. Without the weapon, it meant he’d have to come even closer to the thing. It put him at risk of whatever else the creature had up its sleeves. He tossed away his reason and acted in the heat of the moment.
That has no small part to do, I suspect, with the fact that I was watching.
Worse, I was helpless to affect things from the outside. The damn obsidian in all the cages ensured that.
And no matter what happened between us, or what happened to me, I still very much care about Dagan. If harm befell him because of my presence, I could never forgive myself.
Better take the metaphorical bullet than risk him being hurt.
So I made up the convoluted explanation on the spot. My mind is still not fully recovered from the torture. As such, it was not as sharp as it usually is. The eloquence was completely missing from my speech… but it was enough to get Dagan to agree to my proposal.
The physical blast of magic I’d directed at him probably did all my convincing for me. It was also entirely a sham—but he had to believe that there truly was a danger he could not overcome before he would consciously accept my help.
I know how much it wounds his pride to do so.
So that guilt that I would harbor should something untoward happen to him is what compels me to lie. My whole life has been one great act after another, in either case, so it’s not like I had a lack of experience with it.
But now, as I ready myself to face the next creature, a few tiny strands of doubt take root in my head. If Dagan—an accomplished warrior—struggled with the kill, what chance do I have to do better?
I glance at the muscly vampire. All I do, all I’ve done, is for him.
“We let it out,” I tell him, reaffirming our plan. “And here, I will strike it down with magic.”
Dagan looks at me incredulously. “It just saw us destroy one of its kin,” he says. “Why would it come to us? And if it gets past—it will be loose in The Crypts.”
“There are enough vampires there who can destroy it,” I say. “The key is to do it discretely.”
Dagan grunts. “We should kill it the same way we killed the first.”
I give him a sharp and disapproving look. It’s nothing I thought he’d react to before…
But now things are different. The dynamic of our relationship has started to shift.
He holds his hands up and relents. “I know, I know,” he says. “You’re worried about the vulnerability.”
“I won’t be able to extricate the disease from you again,” I say firmly. “But I am immune to it because I can stop the attack when it comes. You are blind to magic. So you cannot.”
He makes a sour sound of displeasure in his throat. “Let’s get on with it?” he asks. He bends down and takes hold of the bottom of the door. “Ready?”
I nod.
With a grunted heave he pulls it up.
The poor, wretched creature in the cell simply lifts its head and looks at us. It does not move.
“Told you,” Dagan says.
“Ah, but you forget one thing,” I remind him.
I reach over and flip the switch that activates the spotlight high above.
The creature, half-dead, already dying, perhaps not even conscious, starts to shriek. The smell of burning flesh drifts to my nostrils. Even so I cannot feel even the faintest bit of pity for it. Killing it would be putting it out of its misery, and ending this sanctimonious experiment.
I turn the light off. The sound cuts off. The things gasps and heaves and stares at us, wide-eyed and pleading.
“It’s not going to come out,” Dagan observes. “Keep the gate open. I’m going in.”
“No!” I exclaim, but then it’s too late. Dagan steps inside.
And as soon as he crosses the threshold, the being comes alive. It leaps to its hind legs. Its hideously empty eyes start to double in size. A thin, serpentine tongue swishes out and swirls around the thin, transparent lips.
I’m trapped by indecision. Dagan is the fighter, he is the warrior, the one who actually has a chance in hand-to-hand combat. If I follow my lieutenant in, I will only make a mess of things. The damn obsidian casts a protective orb around the cage which magic cannot penetrate. So—
But even those thoughts take too long compared to the speed with which Dagan moves. He’s on the creature so fast it has no chance to react. N
ot like last time. Dagan’s claws tear into the creature’s chest. He rips out the heart.
Then, with a sound of disgust, he tosses it aside as if it’s some small thing, wipes his hands on his vest, and casually returns to me.
“Surprised?” he notes when he sees me gaping at him. “Remember that I did not gain rank without reason.”
“But the first time,” I begin.
“Was a rare mistake. I underestimated the creature. This one did not have that advantage.”
I nod.
Dagan spreads his arms. “Aren’t you going to cleanse me?” he asks.
Behind him, the dark mist is just starting to cover the ruined body.
I shake my head as I trigger the mechanism that bolts the entrance. “There’s no need,” I say. “This one made no attempt to penetrate you.”
Dagan scoffs. “An interesting choice of words,” he notes.
A horrendous blush forms on my cheeks. I turn away and busy myself before he can notice.
“Come, Riyu,” he says. “There are four more of these creatures that require our attention.”
***
We make short order of the rest of the hybrids. When it’s done, and there are six decomposing corpses in the cells where once there were tortured vampires, Dagan turns to me.
“I know you did not have to help,” he says. “You had every right to go against me, against the order, and run to the King. I am…” he searches for the right words, “…grateful that you chose to help.”
I stare at him as if I’ve never seen him before. I’ve certainly never seen this side of him before.
“Of course,” I say. “Dagan, you know I would not betray you.”
“It’s not about betrayal,” he says slowly. “It’s more about… faith. Trust… in what you are doing is right. Trust in your leaders. Trust in the King.”
Again, he hesitates.
“I made a point not to get involved in the personal affairs of my soldiers,” he says. “But I find my thoughts drifting the other way when it comes to you. You are the King’s son.”
I wince.
