Cogs in Time Anthology

by Catherine Stovall

  He entered her room, quickly pulling back the velvet drapes. A small gaslight was near her bed, flickering in the night air. Luca knelt on the small woven carpet at her bedside, holding her small hand in his. Instantly, his mind filled with images from her sub-conscious realm.

  He entered the organized rooms of her thoughts as she slept, filled with drawers and cupboards. Opening one drawer after another, he found memories of her childhood, organized in tidy rows, all pleasant. Each drawer he opened glowed with a warm orange radiance. Then he walked deeper, feeling pulled and sucked backwards.

  He crouched into the darker recess. A small locked door, surrounded by black haze and rust, was hidden in a corner of her thoughts. Crawling towards it on his stomach, he gently pushed open the door. Despite the lock, the door creaked open with ease, yet was hot to the touch.

  Peeking in the small, hidden door in Astrid’s mind, he saw the gray-eyed child. Beautiful and robust, the child smiled. As she reached to Luca, she was pulled backwards into a windy tunnel, sucked away from him as a score of butterflies flew outward, crashing into him.

  Astrid’s voice echoed in the tunnel, and he saw her hands groping in the air for the lost child.

  “Astrid!” he called to her as he ran from her thoughts. He felt the warmth of her hand as he opened his eyes. Her expression was worse than death; her eyes glazed over with stone cold fear.

  “The child is in danger,” she cried into the night as her fists pounded her bed and clawed at her sheets.

  Luca stroked her hair back from her face, but she didn’t acknowledge the act or his presence. He cradled her face in his hands, staring into her eyes, willing the anguish to leave her mind and body. As Astrid calmed, exhausted with fright and fear, Luca guided her shoulders to her bed, and she sank back into sleep.

  As a bolt of electricity jarred the room, Astrid sat up. Her spine was unnaturally erect, and her face twisted into a snarl. She ran to the window, dragging her quilt behind her.

  Luca watched in horror, frozen in place.

  She leaned against the windowsill. Lifting her arm, she pointed in the direction of London.

  “Luca! There lies my enemy. There lies my life and my death. Bring it to me!” She shouted into the gardens, waking the dogs on the grounds.

  Luca managed to free himself from the icy grip that held him in place, startled at Astrid’s riddle. Her face looked unfamiliar and changed. Astrid threw her head back and forth in a frenzied fit. Her hair was in violent disarray as she ripped at her lilac satin nightdress.

  “Bring it,” she growled like a feral wolf. “It lies at the foot of the cross.” Her voice was guttural and forced. She banged against the walls as if she were a ragdoll thrown by an invisible force. “Go. I can take no more.”

  Luca hesitated for a moment, but left in hopes of finding what lie at the foot of the cross. For what lie there, in the sanctuary, must save Astrid.

  Chapter Eleven

  Tea in the Sahara

  Luca hastened towards the Gravesend Church that Astrid’s trembling hands had pointed to. All around him, the town had taken on a visceral and brutal life.

  The virus that Draegan had unleashed spread throughout the city. Scores of Gravesenders breathed the infection, breeding it, and spreading it. Some men scaled walls in restless rage, their roving rabid eyes twitching in their sockets. Others, less far along in the infection, simply walked while convulsing and contorting. Still others howled like dogs or mewed like cats along the walkways.

  Luca covered his mouth with a handkerchief in an attempt to thwart the entrance of the virus. The side alleyways stunk of rotting corpses left to decay unburied. Some streets were littered with fetid and half-eaten corpses, the smell of blood and rot clung to the air.

  Luca felt the lining of his robes. He clutched his ray gun; the cool handle calmed his nerves as he walked over men and woman lying along the roadways. Their faces writhed and twisted into unnaturally furious expressions.

  It was unusual for Luca to feel anxious walking the streets of his home. Even as a child, he had felt tremendously calm and confident as he strolled along the streets.

  That was before there was Astrid. It was no longer just him, and he was no longer alone. His nerves had heightened since meeting Astrid. Her strength amazed him as she had twisted in her sleep to uncover the meaning of her dreams.

  As he walked through the cacophony of shrill human screams and moans, the smell of offal assaulted him. He picked up his pace and a familiar voice sounded in his ear, a deep guiding voice of comfort. Luca spun around to look, but he knew it was Mordecai.

  He had always loved Mordecai and missed the experience and care that shimmered in his eyes, along with his patient listening. However, instead of relief, he felt a shudder of fear crawl down his spine. For, ever since he had become involved with Astrid, he dreaded the very moment when he would have to see Mordecai.

  Luca fell, stumbling over a buckled crack in the walkway. He rose, speechless, and began to jog forward.

  “I know you’ve been hiding from me,” said Mordecai. “I know what you need to say to me. And yet, I would like to hear it from your lips.”

  Mordecai’s cold and leering voice made Luca’s heart freeze inside his chest. He looked in all directions to try to find Mordecai, but failed.

  “She will die soon,” Mordecai said flatly. “And you will regret your weakness for the rest of your life.” The voice was tight with anger and tinged with bitterness, qualities unknown to Luca.

  Luca had expected a negative reaction, but not one so cold. For the love they had shared between them, he had hoped Mordecai would have a gentler heart.

  An icy wind enveloped Luca from four sides, rendering him frozen and immobile. His stomach churned in revulsion and his skin prickled with cold. Luca stood there, in the streets of madness, an icy statue.

  The air whistled around him, a shrill high-pitched tone, and the cold dissipated. Luca could breathe again, he lungs freed from the icy prison.

  “I didn’t mean to,” Luca gasped, trying to explain himself, though no one was around to listen, no one sane anyway. “It just happened. I was trying to stop Draegan. But now, it is like nothing else I have ever felt. The world is a thing of beauty.”

  The wind hurled itself around him, squeezing him. “I never meant to hurt you, or to disobey you, Mordecai.” He yelled into the wind tunnel that trapped him in place. Luca’s voice choked with emotion as he uttered the words that emerged from the deepest part of his being. Trapped in the vortex of the wind, he felt a stab in his spine. Along with the stab, came the sound of Astrid’s voice pleading with him to go and find what lay at the foot of the cross.

  The wind died in an instant, he struggled to regain his balance and footing as his senses zoomed in on the task at hand, to find the message at the foot of the crucifix. He ran against the wind, against the madness and against time.

  ***

  How peaceful her disgusting face looks. And him, a love of the lowest kind. Draegan peeked through the velvet curtains into the stillness of Astrid’s room. He had climbed his way up her stonewalls with ease, scanning her entire house with his mind. He had no doubts. After being imprisoned by Mordecai and rejected by the High Table and his own brother, in spite of his own genetic superiority, he felt liberated to do his own destructive bidding.

  He did not expect to find his brother in Astrid’s room, but it pleased him. Draegan looked at Luca’s serene face and sneered. The room was filled with the stench of desire and love. It hung in the like a thick blanket waiting to suffocate its inhabitants with its fervor. Draegan recoiled, almost gagging, in disgust for them both.

  Draegan quickly refined his plan, pleased he could cause more pain to Luca than ever before. The perfect plan and the steps to execution sat glistening like jewels in his keen mind. He folded his hands and waited.

  Soon it came, the perfect chance. Astrid fluttered her eyelids as if to awaken, her face was ashen and damp. It was clear she was in the throes
of a nightmare. He watched his brother spring to action. His face grave, his hand quivered as it reached for hers, joining with it to pull from her the pain.

  Draegan remained behind the curtain, pleased with his plan, and pleased that his powers of telepathy were stronger than Luca’s. Breathing slowly, he held his hands out, moving his fingers as if he were a puppeteer controlling a marionette.

  Astrid sat up as he pulled the invisible strings from his fingers upwards, controlling her actions. Her spine was erect, her face twisted by a strange evil as Draegan entered her mind. Even her face became Draegan’s. Luca remained at her side, holding her hand and humming a low moan, trying to draw out of her what caused her this distress.

  Draegan twitched his fingers further, directing Astrid to leave the bed and walk awkwardly towards the north window. Her legs dragged like dead weights and he tried to move his fingers with more precision to give Astrid a more natural gait. He looked at Luca, whose face was solemn as he watched her, unknowing of what to do to help her in the seeming dreamy walking state.

  Draegan raised Astrid’s arms as she approached the windowsill, pointing with a clenched fist towards Gravesend.

  “Luca! There!” bellowed Astrid, under the control of Draegan. Draegan mouthed the words, pushing her to speak. Her voice had a guttural tone as she fought this unnatural control. “There lies my enemy. There lies my life and my death.”

  Luca walked to Astrid, the gaslight gave her face a chilling glow. Her eyes were half closed and her face seemed strangely unfamiliar. He led her back to bed where she collapsed, exhausted from fighting Draegan’s control.

  “At the foot of the crucifix,” she hissed at him. “You will find it there.”

  Luca left her, bolting from the window and down the wall.

  Draegan smiled, his plan was working. Luca could not resist searching for whatever Astrid commanded. Draegan saw Luca as he ran through the shadows of the garden, towards the old sanctuary. He could also see inside his mind, unruly with fear, thoughts zigzagging haphazardly inside without order.

  Then he knew. He understood why love was forbidden to vampires. Love with a human destroyed the order and rational thinking of a vampire. Love ate away at common sense and self-sufficiency, making a vampire vulnerable and blind to danger—an invitation to destruction.

  If Luca had not been in love with Astrid, he would never have left her alone.

  ***

  Draegan waited until Luca disappeared from sight. He felt Astrid struggling to move against him.

  “Leave me!” She shouted into the darkness. She tried to leave the bed but could only twitch one leg slightly from the under the covers. “Where have you sent Luca?” she hissed between barely moving lips.

  Draegan felt Astrid’s mind pushing him away from her. Smiling, he moved his hands in the air again, directing her like a marionette. Agitated by his control, she threw herself to the hardwood of the floor. Draegan emerged from behind her drapery, his black boots clicked like a metronome of doom. He stopped at Astrid’s figure as it lay motionless, her eyes spewed venom as they met his. He kicked at her nightgown, pushing her body backwards.

  Using his fingers in the air, he pulled her to a standing position. Her disheveled and angry state amused him. With one hand, he pushed her to her bed and lay on top of her.

  “Luca will find what you asked him to. He will find the beginning of your end.”

  ***

  Luca stood outside the gates of St. Botolph’s, watching the Angel of Mercy statue glimmer in the light of the stars. The soft, milky-white marble appeared alive amidst the ivy growing around its base. The hand of the Angel seemed to point to the north door, towards the nave. The smell of fallen leaves, wet and decomposing, attacked him as he followed the direction of the Angel.

  The wooden doors creaked like an old man, opening to a dark foyer with a long altar at the end. Gaslights from the exterior provided the only light inside. Luca scanned the aisles and pews as he walked forward to the polished oak altar. Crisp white linen covered the top, pristine and starched. Banners hung from the ceiling, each depicting a Station of the Cross. Luca followed the roped aisle in the center of the pews while cobwebs clung to the walls and dust filtered through the air.

  He reached the altar and stood at the foot of the Crucifix. A large ornate bowl of Holy Water sat in front. Luca’s heartbeat grew faster and he breathed quickly as he looked to the sides of the altar and behind it, looking desperately for what could be Astrid’s enemy.

  Nothing. I see nothing. He urged his mind not to give up and lose faith. Have I come to the right place? He turned around to view the stained glass above the choir loft, but everything seemed devoid of anything important.

  From the bowl on the altar, he heard a small trickle and splash. He spun to look at the cloth, now spotted with water. Inside the bowl were lilies covering the water’s surface, small waves swayed them to and fro. Luca walked closer, and with his graceful fingers, parted the lilies. At the bottom of the water, he saw a small white shape that lay motionless.

  He dug his hands into the water; his fingers grasped the creature that lay at the bottom. He felt the soft fur covering it as it began to wiggle in his hands. Luca flung the animal from the water to the floor. It lay, barely breathing, its eyes shut. A rabbit?

  The rabbit’s legs twitched as if it was running or hopping. Luca bent to see if the creature could be fully revived as he noticed a small glass bottle tied to its back foot. Luca untied the bottle and smashed the glass; inside was a scroll of paper with words written in blue vampire blood.

  An image of your love as she now lies, lifeless in my grasp.

  The rabbit continued its involuntary twitching, water dripped from its soaked fur in a circular outline on the dark stone floor. Luca’s knees buckled under him as he froze in shock. Draegan has Astrid.

  ***

  Draegan felt Luca’s panic and smiled. He knew Luca’s power of clarity and rational thinking had diminished since meeting Astrid.

  Luca stood in the cold sanctuary, the bitter taste of fear nestling in his throat. He gathered his robes to rush back to Astrid, while a familiar odor filled the space around him.

  “I see that you found the proxy,” hissed Draegan, invisible to the eye. “Would you like to see Astrid now, as she lies before her own death?”

  Luca quelled the racing of his heart and jagged breathing, trying to bring his mind back to a controlled thought process.

  “Where is she?” he asked, his voice a blanket of ice.

  Draegan’s loud and malevolent laugh filled the silence, shattering the peace of the night sky. All at once, his cackle was powerful, filled with sin and madness, and choked with hatred.

  “Where is she, he asks, and expects me to answer? I bow my head to you, my older brother, for today you have shown me that your naivety will never cease to amaze me.”

  “Draegan!” Luca grabbed at the empty air to find his brother. “Why do you play this game of cat and mouse? Why must you gloat in madness? And why take Astrid?”

  “Because it will be my victory over you and Mordecai. I will bring down the Society and you as well. Astrid’s destruction will hang like a shadow over you for the rest of your life and overshadow your death.”

  “You can have my life and my death, Draegan. But release Astrid.”

  Draegan’s form appeared in the dark aisle of the nave. The two brothers stood face to face. One filled with desperation, and the other, with evil.

  “I’ve heard about this sort of ridiculousness before,” sneered Draegan. “But now, I witness it from my own weak brother. The power of love, is it? Such a weakening emotion.”

  Facing Draegan, Luca’s body felt as if thin, sharp needles pricked him with pain and rage. His long fingers, knotted in tension, unfurled and reached around the base of his ray gun.

  Draegan eyes were faster than Luca expected. He bent his right knee upwards and in one smooth movement pulled out a weapon from his boot.

  Luca eyed the
strange appliance. He saw the lightning speed of Draegan’s fingers as they clicked a tiny switch at the base of the funnel shape, bringing it to life. Draegan pointed the large opening towards him, yet, Luca couldn’t help but feel some pride in his brother’s ingenuity.

  As his body swayed and his skin rippled up his arms and legs with a strange gravitational pull, he felt as if it was being re-pressurized. The skin over his cheeks blew back as he closed his eyes from the force of the funnel’s wind and suction. His mind swam backwards in time; he repeated key events at warp speed.

  “Impressive, yes?” he heard Draegan through the tunnel of time in his head. “Our cells are nothing but history and information,” he continued. “It isn’t difficult to manipulate cellular memory.”

  “Turn it off, Draegan. What are you trying to do?” asked Luca.

  “Watch your life through my eyes,” he said. “Watch!”

  Draegan’s voice sounded farther and farther away as their bodies moved through time. Physically, they stood side by side in the aisle, but psychically they were joined together through the power of Draegan’s appliance.

  Luca’s life rewound backwards. He saw Astrid again, in the courtyard where he had viewed her for the first time. Her beauty was marred through Draegan’s memory device—her skin shriveled around her bones and her teeth blackened. He saw his mother again, Constance, naked and bound. She lay on the bed giving birth to Draegan. Luca saw her curse her children and the entire vampire race while she glared hatefully at her oldest son.

  None of this is as it was. This is Draegan’s work. Luca chanted this over and over to reject Draegan’s memory manipulation.

  Draegan turned off his device and the windy funnel diffused into the aether. Luca fell flat on the floor at the foot of the altar. The body of the dead rabbit lay at his feet.

  Draegan left him where he lay, moving towards the place where he had hidden Astrid. He grinned at the townsfolk, feeling a kinship with their insanity. He saw them become images of himself, and he felt any fear put to rest. All was according to plan.