by Amy Cross
***
“Imagine Baron Le Compte's face,” Ms. Eversham said as she laid a strip of Kate's heart on the bench, next to the others, “when he sees you again and finds out what I've done to you. I'm sure he'll be quite, quite mad.”
Picking up one of the other strips, she held it over the candle, watching as the flickering light shone through.
“He's in over his head,” she continued with a faint smile. “Sitting there, rotting on his pathetic little rock in the middle of the sea, thinking he's safe... The man might be master of Thaxos, but in the real world that doesn't really count for much. He must have known that sooner or later his enemies would track him down.” Slowly, she set the next thin strip of skin down, before turning to see that Kate was still twitching and shivering in the chair. “Only amateurs kill their enemies outright. True professionals know that torture is the fun part.”
Hearing footsteps on the staircase, she turned just in time to see Camilla entering the chamber.
“What do you want?” Ms. Eversham barked. “I told you not to disturb me unless it's something important! Have you tracked down the Le Compte bitch yet?”
“Actually, it's Jennifer Kazakos,” Camilla replied nervously. “She... She found Anna. I steered the child to her mother, just as you ordered.”
“Is it over? Has Anna finally completed her initiation?”
“She feasted from her mother's neck.”
“She did?” At this, Ms. Eversham paused for a moment, as a faint smile crossed her lips. “I must admit, the whole thing seems to have happened with unexpected ease. I would have thought Anna might resist a little. Did she truly drain her mother's body of every last drop?”
Camilla nodded. She knew it was dangerous to lie, but she already had a plan.
“Anna Kazakos seemed weak and feeble when she arrived here,” Ms. Eversham replied, turning back to look at Kate's trembling form. “I must admit, I underestimated her. She's developing even faster that you, my dear. I hope you understand that you might have a challenge on your hands, if you're to remain my familiar.” She smiled. “I remember the day when I brought your mother here, Camilla, and you completed your initiation. Do you remember the moment you killed the foolish woman?”
“I do,” Camilla replied, stepping up behind Ms. Eversham.
“I was proud of you that day,” the older woman continued. “It was the first time I knew for certain that you had the inner strength I hoped would come in time. And now you're such a wonderful young lady. So stoic, so steadfast, so well-schooled in the lessons I've taught you.”
“You taught me well,” Camilla told her, slipping the knife from her pocket.
“Every part of this plan is going perfectly,” Ms. Eversham explained, taking a moment to look more closely at Kate's exposed heart. “Quillian will be so pleased, I'm quite sure that he'll give me what I want soon enough. Before long, Camilla, I'll be like him, and like the children I'm raising here, except... A new cold-blood is only as strong as the one who claimed her soul, and Quillian is the strongest I've ever met. I shall be immortal, and I shall -”
Before she could finish, Camilla plunged the knife into the back of Ms. Eversham's chest, puncturing her heart and then twisting the knife until the bloodied tip poked out just to the side of the woman's left breast. Gasping, Ms. Eversham reached out and steadied herself against the chair, as she felt warm blood bursting through her body.
“You shouldn't have done it,” Camilla hissed into her ear. “You shouldn't have tried to get Anna Kazakos to kill her mother, and you shouldn't have got Emily Bonetti to kill her mother, and...” She paused for a moment, twisting the knife again in an attempt to cause maximum pain. “And you definitely shouldn't have got me to kill my mother, back when I was a child. And I shouldn't have listened to you, but I was impressionable back then, and easily led. At least I finally saw the truth about you, though. You're nothing but a cruel old hag.”
“No,” Ms. Eversham whispered, reaching up and running her fingers against the tip of the blade as it poked out through her chest. “You don't know what you're -”
She gasped again as Camilla twisted the knife, driving the blade up.
“I know exactly what I'm doing,” Camilla told her, with tears in her eyes. “I'm making sure you can't do this to anyone else, ever again.”
“But I rescued you,” Ms. Eversham whispered, as a line of blood began to run from her mouth. “I saved you.”
“Is that what you call it? Raising us all from the dead and turning us into these things?”
“I saved you... You all became... my children.”
“I'm not your child,” Camilla replied, twisting the knife again, “and neither are the rest of them. I'll make sure they're okay. Just because we're cold-bloods, that doesn't mean we have to do what you tell us. There's another way.” Opening her mouth to bare her fangs, she leaned closer to the woman's neck, before holding back at the last moment. “I'm worried I might accidentally give you some way to survive,” she added finally, “and I don't want to do that. You're just human, so this should be enough.”
With that, she turned the knife again and then pulled it out, before plunging it into Ms. Eversham's back a couple more times and then pushing the woman down onto the floor. Stepping back, she watched her trying to crawl away, before finally there was a faint gasp and Ms. Eversham slumped down.
“I'm sorry,” Camilla said, her voice trembling as she turned to Kate. “I don't know who you are, and I don't know what to do to help you. I have to go and save the other children.”
***
“Sorry about the rain!” Madeleine shouted as she tipped the second can of gasoline over the balcony, spraying the children below as they ran for safety. “If it's any consolation, don't worry too much about getting cold! You're all gonna warm up real soon!”
Shouting for help, the children tried all the doors and windows, only to find that they were locked inside. Some of them began to sob, while others attempted to climb up to the balcony, only to lose their grip on the stone wall and fall back down.
“I wish I could see the looks on your faces,” Madeleine continued, dropping the empty can aside and opening the third, which she poured down onto the children below. “I'll just have to settle for the sense of your cold little hearts beating so fast, and the imminent sound of your screams. And then I'm going to pull the curtains open and let the morning sun shine through so it can finish off what's left of your sorry, stinking bones.”
Once the third can was empty, she grabbed the fourth and poured its contents over the edge.
“Stop!” a voice shouted suddenly.
Turning, Madeleine realized she could sense someone nearby. Someone cold-blooded, someone whose heart was beating furiously.
“Don't do this,” Camilla said firmly, keeping her distance for a moment. “Please, they're just children.”
“Cold-blooded children,” Madeleine pointed out. “Like you, actually. Fancy jumping down there so you can burn with them, or are you going to insist on a long, boring fight that'll end with me clubbing your head against the wall?”
“There are more than a hundred of them down there,” Camilla replied, stepping toward her slowly. “No matter what you think of them, you can't commit genocide.”
“Anything my brother can do,” Madeleine said darkly, “I can do better.”
“Your brother -”
“Don't worry about him,” Madeleine replied, interrupting her, “soon all the remaining cold-bloods in the world will have heard of me, too, because I'm going to get rid of a whole load of your species.” Dropping the can, she reached into her pocket and took out the box of matches she'd found in the kitchen.
“No!” Camilla shouted, stepping forward.
“Keep back!” Madeleine replied, striking a match and holding it over the edge of the balcony, ready to drop it down onto the gasoline-soaked children. “I'm going to be nice. I'm going to give you a choice here. You can either watch them burn and then die, or you
can die with them. If I were you, I'd take the latter option. At least that way, you wouldn't have to hear the screams. Somehow, I don't think you'd enjoy them as much as I will.”
“You think you'll enjoy killing so many innocent children?”
“They're not innocent. They're cold-blooded little bastards.”
“They haven't done anything to you!”
“Only 'cause they haven't had the chance yet.” Pausing, Madeleine looked at the burning match. “Cold-bloods are scum. This world and every other will be a lot better when your species has been wiped from existence. And that day's coming, you know. You should've all stayed dead after the war, but I guess idiots never know when to stay down. You don't have much longer, though. Soon all the cold-bloods in the world will be dead.”
“Why do you hate us so much?” Camilla asked.
“I was raised to hate you,” Madeleine said firmly.
“And I was raised to hate you,” Camilla replied, “but I reckon I could see my way to rethink.”
Wincing as the flame burned out against her fingers, Madeleine dropped the dead match onto the balcony's floor and pulled another out, lighting it quickly.
“Your brother killed those children at the end of the war,” Camilla reminded her. “How did that work out for him?”
Madeleine paused for a moment. “Anything he can do -”
“You can do better, I know. But why don't you learn from his mistakes? Please, don't kill them. They don't have to grow up and become monsters.”
“Every cold-blooded vampire becomes a monster,” Madeleine said darkly.
“I'm a cold-blood,” Camilla replied. “I don't think I'm a monster. If you had children of your own, wouldn't you believe that they could grow up and be better than their parents?” She paused, waiting for Madeleine to say something, as the match continued to burn. “Wouldn't you want this endless cycle of violence to stop?”
Feeling the flame getting close to her fingers again, Madeleine paused, imagining the screams of the children if they burned. Finally, she stubbed the match out and let it drop harmlessly to the floor next to her feet.
“Thank you,” Camilla said after a moment. “You did what your brother couldn't do. You saw through the anger.”
“I got sentimental,” Madeleine replied, her voice sounding tired and a little weak. “Don't count on it happening again. If these children -”
“Good morning!” a voice shouted suddenly, from down in the dining hall. “Children, don't you want to see the sunrise?”
Looking over the edge of the balcony, Camilla was shocked to see a wounded, bloodied Ms. Eversham starting to pull the black curtains aside, allowing the bright morning sun to shine into the room. As soon as the rays of light hit the children, they began to scream and run, desperately trying to get the doors open but to no avail.
“Stop!” Camilla shouted, rushing to the steps before the blast of sunlight struck her too, knocking her to her knees as her skin began to burn.
“What is it?” Madeleine shouted, as the children continued to scream. Stumbling toward Camilla, she reached down and felt the girl's skin starting to blister, so she grabbed her arms and began to pull her to one side, trying to get her out of the direct light.
“Ungrateful little wretches,” Ms. Eversham muttered, with a faint smile as she watched the hundreds of cold-blooded children burning at the far end of the hall. Some of them were trying to hide from the light, others were reaching out to her, begging her to stop, but they were all starting to burst into flames as their screams filled the hall.
“Stop!” Madeleine shouted, racing toward the steps and making her way down, before trying to reach out and stop Ms. Eversham. Fumbling against the wall, still unable to see, she frantically made her way around the edge of the hall until, finally, she felt Ms. Eversham's shoulders.
“It's too late,” the older woman said darkly, turning to her. “They're all dead. After Camilla betrayed me, I realized I'd been too soft on the children. I let them fester and spoil, I ruined them.” She winced a little, clutching at her chest as blood ran down the front of her dress. “I'll have to start again, but -” After a moment, she turned to Madeleine. “Change me. Turn me into one of you. It's all I ever wanted!”
“You wanted to be a cold-blood,” Madeleine sneered.
“Cold-blood, warm-blood, what's the difference?” Ms. Eversham asked. “They're both vampires.” She pulled her collar aside, exposing her neck. “I'll spare you all. I'll let you go, I'll even help you stop Quillian, but you have to let me become like you!” She waited, trembling with anticipation. “Please... You know I'm worthy.”
“Worthy?” Madeleine replied, unable to hide her sense of disgust. “You think you're worthy to even draw another breath? After all the children you just killed?”
“Cold-blooded trash,” she hissed. “I see that now. Warm-bloods are the future.”
“Maybe,” Madeleine muttered, before leaning close to her neck. Opening her mouth, she considered slipping her fangs into the woman's trembling flesh, but after a moment she realized there was a much better option. Grabbing the back of Ms. Eversham's head with one hand, she used the other to take a firm hold of the woman's chest.
“That's right,” Ms. Eversham whispered, “do it! Make me -”
Before she could finish, Madeleine began to pull on her head, holding her tight until finally she ripped her apart. Pushing the woman's body down to the ground, she held her head for a moment, with part of the spinal column still attached.
Slowly, Ms. Eversham's mouth opened, as if there was a trace of her soul left, before blood began to flow down onto the ground. Dropping the head, Madeleine placed her foot on the woman's face and then pushed down, crushing her skull.
“Okay,” she said finally, smelling smoke in the air from all the dead cold-blooded children. “Now where the hell is Kate?”
VI
“She's definitely down here somewhere,” Madeleine continued a short while later, as she led Jennifer and Anna down the spiral staircase that led to the orphanage's basement. Stopping at the bottom, she sniffed the air for a moment. “Blood.”
“Can we go home now?” Anna asked, clinging to her mother's arm as she looked at the darkness ahead. “I want to get out of here.”
“We just have to find Kate,” Jennifer told her, leaning down and kissing the top of her daughter's head. “As soon as we've got her, we're heading straight back to Thaxos.”
“You two should wait here,” Madeleine told them, with a hint of caution in her voice. “I can sense a heartbeat, but it's...” Her voice trailed off for a moment.
“Weak?” Jennifer asked.
“Yeah, but also...” Stepping forward, she realized she was getting closer to the source. “Weak but easier to hear. I've never heard anything quite like it.”
Reaching the chair, she stopped and reached out a hand, finally finding Kate's shoulder.
“Did you find anything?” Jennifer called out to her. A moment later, she managed to light one of the candles near the door, and finally she saw that Kate was strapped into a chair in the center of the chamber, with her chest having been partially torn open to reveal her still-beating heart.
Immediately, Anna turned and pressed her face against her mother's hip, desperate to keep from seeing any more.
“Oh God,” Jennifer whispered.
“Is it as bad as it smells?” Madeleine asked, kneeling next to the chair and running a hand across Kate's chest until she felt one of the broken ribs poking out through a section of tattered flesh. “Is it as bad as it feels?”
“Are you sure she's alive?” Jennifer asked, staring at Kate's heart as it continued to beat. “I mean, I can see she's alive, but are you sure she's... Can you do anything for her?”
“What the hell was that mad bitch up to?” Madeleine whispered, leaning closer and listening to the sound of Kate's steady heartbeat. “I mean, I already knew she was insane, but I didn't think she'd go this far.” Reaching through the hole
in Kate's chest, she let her fingers brush against the beating heart. “Kate?” she whispered. “Hey, can you hear me? Come on, give me a kick or something if you know I'm here.”
She waited.
No reply.
“It's a miracle she's still alive,” she continued, putting her hand further into the chest cavity, until her fingers slipped behind the heart. “I have no idea why they'd -”
Stopping suddenly, she felt something.
“What is it?” Jennifer asked.
“No way,” Madeleine whispered. “Oh... No, no way, no, this isn't possible... What the hell is that doing in here?”
“What the hell is what doing in there?” Jennifer asked, with Anna still clutching her waist.
“I always knew Edgar liked to keep secrets,” Madeleine continued, “but this... This is insanity.”
“What is?” Jennifer asked. “Can you tell me what the hell is going on? What have you found?”
Madeleine paused for a moment, before pulling her hand out. For a moment, she seemed too shocked to say anything, but finally she took hold of Kate's broken ribs and started bending them inward, as if she was trying to put the chest back together.
“We have to get her out of here,” she stammered, clearly close to panic. “This is too much, I don't know how to deal with this. We have to get her back to Edgar!”
“But what -”
“Get the donkey!” Madeleine shouted, before frowning. “Huh. There's a sentence I never thought I'd utter in anger. Seriously, though, I need you two to head back out there and fetch that donkey we came on, and bring him right up to the door. Don't worry, it's perfectly safe to go out there now. Just bring the donkey as fast as possible. We don't have much time.”
“Is Kate in danger?” Jennifer asked.
“Don't ask stupid questions,” Madeleine muttered, trying to rearrange a few more of Kate's ribs. “Go get that goddamn donkey and bring it back! We have to move fast! And take your kid with you, the last thing I want is to have to babysit her.”
