Serving the Immortals

by Katie Douglas

  From here, I could see that the castle was shrouded by a swirling mist. Was it the vampires or incoming bad weather? It disturbed me that I couldn’t tell the difference, as if vampiric mists should contain a warning label or something.

  “Sabine?”

  I startled and looked behind me. No one was there.

  My senses went into overdrive as I stood perfectly still and tried to identify the speaker. My ears strained but I could only hear the birds in the trees. Flickering my gaze from one trunk to the next, I felt like I was searching in a Where’s Waldo book, but I didn’t know what a Waldo looked like, or what it would do if it got me. I didn’t dare move, in case I inadvertently went toward it.

  A crunching noise was followed by the sound of something bolting out of the underbrush, and I screamed and ran away before I realized it was just a rabbit. Feeling stupid, I slowed to a walk again.

  I ventured further into the woods, convinced I must have imagined that someone had called my name. I was so clearly alone. There was less snow here; presumably the trees had caught most of it.

  I came to a wall, about three feet tall and made of crumbling stone. It was partly obscured by brown, dead leaves peppered with snow. I jumped over it and realized the leaves on the other side were much deeper, as they were at my chest when I stopped falling. This had been a bad idea, so I turned back toward the wall to retrace my steps. Trying to disentangle myself, I heard a grating sound behind me.

  I looked over my shoulder and all the blood drained from my arms and legs. The creature that was behind me was the monster from my dreams. Wading through the thick mass of leaves as fast as I could, I reached the wall. I couldn’t quite touch the top of it, and my pulse quickened as I tried to get a hand or foothold to escape. Finally, I seized a solid stone and scrambled up over the wall, before running away, too afraid to look back, in case the monster was about to get me. Terrified of getting lost if I tried to mislead the monster, I ran straight toward the chateau. My feet pounded over the unstable wooden bridge, which made several awful cracking sounds under my weight, but I was too afraid of the monster to waste time being fearful of falling into the ravine. When I reached the main door, I looked over my shoulder. The monster was about two hundred yards away, shambling out from the trees and in my general direction. What was it, and why was it hounding me? Keen not to squander my head start, I yanked the door open and got inside, then locked it behind me.

  “Hello? I need some help!” I called into the chateau. The place was so big, it was unsurprising that no one came to my aid. I hurried toward the stairs, conscious of the fact that the monster was still out there, and I was on the third or fourth step when there was a loud, persistent knock at the front door.

  Terrified, I screamed and bolted for my room, where I closed the door and dragged a chair under the handle, then cowered on my bed. It was going dark again already and I wished Hannah or Monique knew what was happening. I had been on my bed for under a minute when the door rattled. There was a loud bang but the door held. This monster seemed unstoppable.

  As I tried to calm myself so I could think clearly, a mist filtered into the room from under the door. I picked up the electric lamp and held it threateningly, ready to smash it on the monster when it reappeared.

  When the room was full of mist, it began to recombine into a figure.

  I lowered the lamp.

  “Hannah! Where have you been?” I was full of relief. She threw aside the chair I’d blocked the door with.

  “Monique’s had me busy because Lydia, her other adherent, has disappeared. Listen, that thing out there… it’s one of the First Ones. It’s fixated on you, and it’s trying to get inside the chateau. We need to get you out, or it’s going to kill you.”

  “How can we get out? It…that, uh, First One, was haunting me in the night. I can’t believe it’s real.”

  “There’s another staircase. It leads to the catacombs, but we have to hurry.” Hannah took my hand and led me up to the third floor, then across to the other set of stairs. She stopped in the middle of a flight of stairs and looked at the wall intently.

  “I thought this was a dead end,” I said.

  “Only at the bottom; watch.” Hannah pushed against the wall and I realized the secret passage started before the stairs ended, which is why I couldn’t find anything before. She stepped through and motioned for me to follow. When she closed the passageway’s door, it was completely dark.

  “I can’t see.” I was terrified.

  “You’ll have to trust me, little sister.” She led me along a long straight tunnel; I could touch the wall with my free hand. It felt like rough rock. After what seemed like forever, it opened out into a chamber, illuminated by the glowing rock that the walls were made from.

  “What about Monique? She’s still in the chateau.” I stopped walking and looked back.

  “You need to get to safety. She’s strong. Once you’re safe, I’ll come back for her,” Hannah said. “Big sisters don’t put their little sisters in danger.”

  “I want to help,” I insisted.

  I could tell Hannah was glaring sternly, because her eyes now glowed red, and for the first time since I’d met her, I felt the full power of her authority.

  “No.”

  I shrank back from her gaze. She pulled me along the corridor; some light began to filter down from ahead, and then I could see again, just in time for the corridor to open out into a huge room.

  “Monique! We have to escape, we—” I stopped abruptly when I realized something was very wrong with her. On a stone bench, to one side of the room, I could see the dead body of Lydia. I stared at Monique in horror.

  “You brought me something to play with, Hannah? What a good slave you are,” she said. Hannah glared at her and stood between Monique and me, shielding me.

  “Hannah, give me the human.” Monique spoke in her compelling voice, and I tried to pull free of Hannah’s grip as she was forced to obey her mistress.

  “Hannah, you have to fight this! Don’t let her get me!” I begged, finally seeing the monster inside Monique. Hannah faltered for a moment, and I was fairly sure she was trying to shake off Monique’s compulsion.

  “Who do you serve, Hannah?” Monique demanded.

  “You, Mistress.” Hannah somehow fought Monique for a split-second, and released my hand. I fled the way we’d just walked. Before the light completely faded I saw the monster, slowly making its way toward me. I screamed and turned back, hoping I could run past Monique and Hannah, but I only ran a couple dozen yards before Hannah caught me and held me fast as Monique advanced, looking horrifying.

  When the First One entered the room, Hannah visibly relaxed. I frowned, not understanding what was happening.

  “It’s controlling Monique. When she falls under its control, she can’t compel me as strongly. Quickly, we have to get past her.” Hannah didn’t take my hand this time, and I was grateful because if Monique got into Hannah’s mind again, I wouldn’t be able to fight against her strength.

  We made it to the far wall, then a gate closed ahead of us. At the same time, we turned in horror and saw the First One stood twenty feet away, its hand raised, pointing at me. It let out an unearthly shriek that chilled my bones and made my heart seem to fade slightly.

  “You monster! You killed Lydia, didn’t you? I won’t let you get my little sister!” Hannah cried.

  The First One shrieked again, and I got the impression that Hannah and Monique could both understand it.

  “Give my mistress what she wants, Hannah; you have been disobedient, so my mistress will be displeased,” Monique said, and Hannah screamed as she fought Monique’s weakened power.

  “I’m sorry, little sister. There’s only one way to save you from death.” Hannah looked heartbreakingly sad as she said it. Then she bit me, and I don’t know if it was the shock or something else, but everything went black.

  Chapter Eight

  When I awoke, I was in a confined space, and my entire
body felt wrong. I tried to stretch out and touched stone with each hand. I felt like something strange had gotten inside me, and it was freezing. I wondered if I were dead, or whether this had all been a delusion that I had nearly woken from. After trying to wake up several times, I had to conclude that this wasn’t a delusion; it was too cold.

  I felt like I was fading away, and I couldn’t fight it, so I just let it drag me back into the nothingness.

  The second time I awoke, I was lying on something smooth, with a high ceiling above me. I sat up, and saw I was in a large room, with many drapes and a stone floor. I was on a marble plinth, about three or four feet high, surrounded by black candles.

  “You’ve awakened.” Monique’s voice was dispassionate. I looked around and saw her drinking from a bottle of whisky to one side of me.

  When I tried to speak, my neck burned.

  “You won’t be able to talk for several days. You will probably feel feverish and ill for some time.” Monique took a big gulp of the whisky. I felt as though she was sizing me up, deciding what to make of me.

  I motioned at the candles then looked quizzically at her, hoping for an explanation.

  “Hannah wished to protect you from my mistress. My dear mistress found this to be in poor taste. She and Hannah are now dueling. I cannot get involved, of course, because my mistress would simply compel me to kill Hannah.”

  I touched my neck where it burned, and it felt swollen and tender.

  “Hannah’s doing.” Monique looked like she disapproved, but before I could find out more, the doors burst open and Hannah strode in, dragging something behind her. I had never seen anyone so beautiful as Hannah looked to me since she’d entered the room. I felt like I was in the presence of an angel.

  “My mistress!” Monique looked stricken, then dropped the bottle of whisky, which smashed on the floor, spilling liquid in all directions.

  “Nobody tries to eat my little sister and lives to try again,” Hannah said grimly, dropping the First One’s corpse at Monique’s feet.

  Monique just stared at it.

  “Mistress, I present myself to you for punishment.” Hannah knelt before Monique. Hannah’s hands were clasped behind her straight back and her head was bowed.

  Monique was not so moved. “You know what I have to do,” she said grimly.

  Hannah nodded, then she closed her eyes.

  Against my natural desire to look away, I couldn’t help watching. Monique leaned in and bit Hannah’s neck. I widened my eyes as Hannah’s face contorted; she was clearly trying to remain quiet. What was Monique doing to her? At that moment, my brain caught up with what my eyes were seeing, and I started to realize what had happened to me; what Hannah had done to save me. She had turned me into a vampire. After several very long seconds, Monique pulled away from Hannah, who whimpered and held the side of her neck. The next thing I knew, Monique stood before me.

  “Look at me,” she said. I did, and she looked as in control and composed as I’d ever seen her. “You belong to me now. When Hannah changed you, you were only under her control. When I drank her blood, I altered Hannah’s power over you, and took some of it for myself. You are mine, and so is Hannah, and you will both obey me. It might take a day or two before you truly know it, because of the way I have just removed you from her complete control, but I will expect you to serve me when you are recovered. Do I make myself clear?”

  I couldn’t speak, so I just nodded.

  “Good.” She turned and began striding out of the room, before she called back to Hannah, “Get that mess cleaned up, and get Sabine to a bed.”

  “Y-yes, Mistress.” Hannah sounded like she was fighting to keep her voice steady, and when I looked at her, she was trying not to cry.

  * * *

  Hannah carried me up to my room straight away, and I lay in my bed, feeling an overpowering malaise seeping through every inch of my body. I didn’t know what it was, but it kept me in a state where I was barely awake, but too exhausted to sleep. At the same time, I still yearned for Hannah, but as time went on, I found that I craved Monique’s attention more. Late in the evening, Hannah had returned from cleaning and sat with me. I had no energy to move and my throat was too swollen to speak, so it was easy to let Hannah do all the talking.

  “I am sorry, you know,” she began. Her face was still drawn and I’d never seen her look so serious, even when we had faced the First One. “I didn’t know what else to do. That monster would have taken all your life force, and I was filled with only one thought; I couldn’t bear to lose you. My precious little sister. If… if you want me to… end it… if your soul can’t stand this, I mean… um… I will. I didn’t mean to… without asking, I mean.”

  I tried to fight the malaise that was getting stronger with every minute, and I managed to shake my head. I lifted my hand, reaching out for hers. She took it, and I squeezed her fingers as hard as I could manage. I was happy that she was there, although most of me felt nothing at all.

  “I suppose I should explain what just happened. I turned you into a sanguine one. So, I’m your big sister for real now. Only, that’s what Monique is so mad about.” Hannah ran her hands through her hair and looked uncomfortable. It must have been difficult, after what Hannah had done, for her to face Monique. “I don’t think Monique cares that I defied her mistress, because that’s how we progress; I think she’s more mad that she didn’t get to change you herself. And that she’ll have to share you now. I think she wanted two servants that were both utterly hers.”

  Hannah seemed to think she was explaining, but I didn’t understand everything she said. What did Monique have to do with any of this? Hannah seemed to catch my confused expression because she continued, “When I first came in, earlier, I was your only mistress. Monique has changed that, as my punishment for killing her mistress. She knows why I did it, but still… there have to be rules. It’s her prerogative; you were marked for her, months ago, so this entire time, she assumed no other sanguine one would dare to change you. She tried to take you from me completely, but she can’t do that without killing me, because there will always be some of you inside me. So, you have two mistresses. I’m sure she’ll punish me more, but she has a duty of care toward you too, so now that she’s your mistress, she has to understand that what I did was in your best interests, little sister.”

  I stared at Hannah, wanting to tell her that I didn’t mind that she had changed me; that I felt awful but I still felt alive, if barely. I wanted to tell her how wonderful she was, how grateful I was that she had taken the time to sit with me when I felt like this, and I wanted to declare that I would do anything she ever asked of me, if only to see her smile. But on reflection, this meant it was a good thing I couldn’t speak. I didn’t like saying things like that to people, even if I wanted to.

  “I will take care of you, little sister. You don’t have to worry about anything. You’re mine now.” She reached toward me with her other hand, and stroked my hair, looking at me with the same love and devotion with which a child might look at their favorite bear. The part of me that held any emotion felt loved, and an emptiness I’d held in my heart for my entire life seemed to flicker away a little. It was delightful.

  My energy was completely drained, however, and I found my eyelids trying to meet despite my attempts to stay awake, to see Hannah more.

  I drifted into sleep, and when I awoke, she was still sitting with me, holding my hand.

  * * *

  I slipped into a fever during the night, but Hannah patiently took care of me. I had never felt so hot in my life, and I wanted to tell her about the strange things that seemed to be dancing on the curtains, but I still couldn’t speak. She fed me plenty of water with a small sponge, and kept my brow wet, too. I wondered if every vampire went through this before they finished changing. I couldn’t bring myself to care enough to think about it for long. I still felt flat and empty, as though all the color had spilled from the world, and I wondered if this was the price I had to pay t
o avoid an untimely death. I was so hot, I thought I might combust and all I wanted was more water.

  Then I felt cold again. I clamored for the blankets but Hannah said I was still hot. My breath came in short gasps and I felt like the air wasn’t getting to the right places. I fell asleep and dreamed that the world was ending; the rumbling ground was turning into lava, and the air was hot and dry.

  When I awoke, the fever had lifted, and I felt exhausted. Daylight streamed into the room and everything looked so… solid and normal. The wooden posts of the bed were still the same polished dark mahogany, making a frame, around which heavy blue velvet curtains hung. The floor was its usual lacquered oak, and the walls were still plastered and painted magnolia. I don’t know what I was expecting, but this was all so three-dimensional, so normal, after how flat and grey I’d been feeling, that I felt reassured. Inside me, I could tell something monumental had changed, but the world around me had not.

  I turned my attention to Hannah, who was asleep in a chair slightly beyond the bed. It was the first time I’d ever seen her asleep; her golden hair surrounded her like a celestial halo, and her long eyelashes rested on her cheeks. Her plump, pink lips pressed together where they met, giving her the overall impression of a very sexy cherub. I marveled at how beautiful she was; it was hard to believe that someone so wholesome and un-vampiric could be anyone’s mistress. She was my mistress, I thought with a surge of adoration.

  Remembering what Hannah had said about how daylight weakened vampires, I wondered how I would feel when night fell. My mind swirled with feelings and ideas; there were so many things I wanted to do, straight away. Before I could leap out of bed and explore my new self, sleep claimed me again.