The Gello’Des stop just inside the courtyard gate. The Originals stop just short of the courtyard clearing. Jackie and Darious move to be meters away from the strange scene in front of the main house. They wear matching outfits of crimson and purple. They stop two arm’s lengths apart from one another, but at least a car’s length from the Ancients in their animal shapes.
The Vulture screeches are circling closer. The air is stagnant, but for the beating of the wings from time to time. A swoop down to the group, low flying dive and back up, re-enforcing the Ancient Houses in a display of support and readiness.
Quietly, from the direction of the Earth Valley clans, Margarith Nightshade appears, with Dimitri Thana, Vadim, Alina and Darya. They move to stand in front of the motionless Carmina too, cautious not to drudge through the blackening pools where John was lying moments ago.
Lilly, Jarrod, Joshlyn and Edward arrive in a motion blur, silently taking up their place towards the back. From all directions, there are volunteer clan members arriving, silently. It is as if the world is holding its breath, waiting to exhale. Nervous tension flickers in all the eyes, watching the traitorous pair approaching.
“Vixen… wake up!” John tries again. The link between the Houses is quiet from Carmina’s side. There are no disserting emotions to find. Her usual bright energy is as dull and passionless as her body and face. The big red and black wolf, with the pair of silver and wild black Ancients, forms a triangle. John manages to shift and, laboring with stiffness and pain, he places himself in a protective stance over Carmina. His front legs are a strong, determined fort.
Margarith walks directly towards the pair, stopping them from furthering their approach, placing herself between them and the family flock gathered behind her.
“Margarith, my sister!” Darious steps towards to kiss her cheek. She stands still, not moving or returning his greeting.
Darious continues, “I brought you news.” His look is manic, power drunk and bloodthirsty.
Jackie lets out a sarcastic laugh and throws the Gipsy’s book at Margarith. “News, of course. I bet you knew about it too!” Jackie shouts, allowing her voice to travel towards the dark pool of fighting originals.
The book lands on the ground but the Elder Margarith does not move or flinch. Her eyes are sharp, focused on Darious and Jackie; her demeanor, calm and controlled.
Lilly rushes forward when she recognizes the leather binding – Jarrod and Dimitri almost simultaneously backing her up.
“How fitting. The new Elder exposing the traitor.” Darious’ laugh is gruff and taunting.
“It is Carmina’s book!”
“Yes, your precious Carmina.” Jackie snarls, her human shape looking bigger than usual. “Be a dear Lilly,” she giggles and pretentiously put her hand to her mouth “Oops! I mean Elder Lilly. Read the last page – for everyone to hear, will you?”
Jarrod takes the book from his wife’s shaking hands and opens it. Reading the very last page, written in Sullen’s distinctive hand. Jarrod is visibly shaken by what he silently reads. He turns to look at the gathered group behind him and shakes his head.
“Read it!” Jackie insists and Jarrod clears his throat. His voice is passionate, filled with pride and loyalty.
“The Human Warrior is born.
There is a story that need be told.
The caravan has travelled far and wide.
We learned of a love between an immortal and a human girl.
They were smitten, and she wanted to join him.
But neither knew she was with child.
It was impossible, the declaration stated.
When he tried to change her soul, the baby absorbed the poison.
Over and Over until the mother had no memory of the boy she loved.
His own killed him. He was not their brother anymore.
We brought the girl to London, we orchestrated an encounter.
She was taken care of but only until they caught up with her.
The baby must die. It was the professed way.
Mother protect the child, her death was not in vain.
A girl was born. Red hair like flames waiting to be ignited.
She is human.
She will be gifted, armed.
To end the wars of wars.
She is the human warrior, the savior of an immortal race.
There is no other like her, there won’t be again.
A mortal immortal.
Her fate is in her own hands.
Her name is Carmina, she is a human, yet… she is Gello’Des.”
“Oh gods! Carmina! You have to wake up, bella!” Joseph nudges the statue-like figure, pawing at her hands and legs. Still, she does not respond to anyone. John’s body tenses at the words being read. The clan doesn’t budge, though their eyes falls on the woman in the middle of their formation. Margarith does not move, or twitch. She does not even blink at the news. Her emotions a perfect mask on the surface, but the Houses can feel the shock charging and breaking in short bursts through Margarith’s heartbeat.
“Being Gello’Des is not a crime. What they do is criminal.”
Dimitri speaks from behind Margarith. The sound of his words carries far beyond the boundaries of the courtyard, yet…he’s hardly raised it.
“What you did is.” He motions to Darious.
“What she did is.” His face turns to Jackie.
“She is a traitor to the clans. She’s a traitor in the Ancient’s house!” A voice rings back clear, the sounds behind the words are an assault.
“Anyone who stands against the Ancients are standing with the creature children! You are originals! How can you side with those who diminish your food supply? With those who poison you in your sleep?”
Dimitri’s clear and precise words fly around the courtyard like shielded daggers, challenging the black mass. “Would you want to fight on the wrong side of this war?! Would you incur the wrath of those who can take away what they gave you?”
“Dimitri Thana, you are talking in the wind!” Jackie hisses. “She’s Gello’Des! That thing should die!”
Margarith Nightshade turns towards the battle-ready originals.
“I recognize you, Alexis, your name was on a buyers list. You tasted the blood of Dimitri’s treasured possession. I see you Carina; your report stated that her blood was vitalizing. Human blood. If she were Gello’Des, would you live to tell the tale? How many more of you in that fighting pile has paid to drink from this girl? To taste her scent in the back of your throats? Can you witness her being anything but human? Can you stand there and say what you tasted was Gello’Des? You would have been choking, dying or crazed… are your minds drifting? Will you stand WITH the Gello’Des against us? Will you support a banished Ancient who tried to sever a soul-bond?”
Margarith speaks and there is no accusation in her words; no pleading, no anger.
There was a cry inside the black mass. “No, I cannot!” and another, and another, like a ripple towards the main house while the attention turns towards the Gello’Des.
“She was protected by the blood servants,” Dimitri makes his final stance. “What blood servant, even forced, would protect a Gello’Des?”
The decision is confirmed when the cries and threatening crouches focus their hunt against the child-like monsters.
Jackie screams at them in anger, her wild eyes and cat like movements ever-changing. When she realizes that she has lost her army, she turns on the one person blamed in her psychotic mind:
Darious.
Pouncing like the Lynx she carries inside, she pushes him to the ground and a small, clicking sound explodes in Darious’ stomach. The bones of his spine shatter and he is paralyzed. Slowly, his blood turns darker, poisonous red and seeps into the ground below him.
Darious fixes his eyes on Margarith, who wisely retreats along with Dimitri, Jarrod and Lilly.
“Help me! She can help me like she helped the dog! I’m family!”
Jackie’s act spurs the Gel
lo’Des into action. The group of child warriors let loose a series of arrows into the darkest of the bodies first. They are uncoordinated and random, leaving their victims enough time and space to escape the majority of the flying poison. The moon lights the way for the originals to lead their own assault. Calculated, precise, dividing into two parts: some defending the charging assaults towards Carmina, others leading a charge of their own.
***
I hear voices so far away. I used to hear voices before. These ones are very random. Why are they shouting so loud? The moon is full; bad things happen when the moon is full. Every fairytale tells you so. My life is not a nightmare anymore, but it is not a fairytale. Oh! The red blood seeping into the ground is so pretty. It is not my blood. I gave my blood to John. The light is casting shadows. Why am I being restrained? Did I kill John? John has my blood. Am I dreaming? Is this a nightmare and I am watching from the side? The ground is wet, it is hard to see the rain soaked mud from the blood soaked mud. Fresh rains fell early today; I do like the rain. It was beautiful when it cleared. The sky was painted in colors of pinks and purple, an artist’s work in progress just before the sunset.
I see the trees reaching for the sky, pulling down the moonlight. Futile. The shadows are darker and deeper, faster, sharper. Shadows are fighting. Not with light. They’re just… fighting. Without the light, there will not be shadows. The smell in the air is strange, so many strange smells. The children all look so beautiful, how can they not be loved? Dolls are what they are. Living dolls. They suffer life. Perhaps, perhaps, it is time to let them die. I hear a cry; I know the voice. Poor Uncle Darious. Will he die? Is he dead? These damn bonds are keeping me here. I wish they would let me go.
***
Body and Soul
Liam, in due course, hears Carmina’s random thoughts as they dart from moment to moment and back. There is no coherence in the manner of her sentences and Liam fears the worst. Has his beautiful wife finally pushed herself too far? He passes the thoughts to the others, whom narrow the gap between them the girl currently caught in stasis. Something is wrong with Carmina and there is nothing anyone can do for her.
Jackie, who is careful not to touch any of the seeping blood, is dragging off Darious’ body. She draws a line between the Gello’Des and the Originals by dragging the twitching, agonizing body over the ground. Standing with a foot on each side of the bloody line, she waits. Her arms folds over her chest, taking delight in the carnage that is happening around her. She was created for this, she tells herself. The Valley will belong to her. Liam will belong to her. Stupid, puppy boy Liam. He will beg to have her by his side, and she will enjoy telling him to ask her again… and again. Her manic laughter is lost in the screams.
The fight becomes carnal: animal against old, child against original. There is hardly any distinction anymore, with body parts strewn. The ground is faintly disturbed, feet hardly touching it. Some of the Gello’Des break off and charge the Ancients and the Valley Clan, trying to get to Carmina. The Vultures call before diving into the Gello’Des mob, ripping off whatever their massive claws can reach. John stands over Carmina, his chest still healing but not gaping anymore. Carmina’s blood is running through his wolf and the healing is happening faster than ever. His one track thought is to keep this redhead alive for as long as it takes. She saved his life.
Lilly and Jarrod fight back to back with Alina and Darya, not letting anyone pass them towards the house. The clan members protect the Elders tooth and nail while some are starting to set fire to the poisoned bodies. The smell disturbs the air.
Static is starting to form, small crackling causing hairs to stand on end.
The barking, hissing and snarling becomes desperate. Dimitri joins the originals in their fight against the Gello’Des. The originals viciously bite, ripping chunks of flesh from the children-creatures, who, in turn, fire shot after shot of arrows blindly. The courtyard turns into a bloody pool.
Liam is working around the outside of the protective circle, helping the clan members, moving the poisoned bodies away as he defends the fire-bearers. Will and Esmeriska pair off, using their claws to rip into the bodies of the child mob, pulling apart their limbs. More and more of them arrive, relentlessly charging, shooting, poisoning, assaulting! There are dead bodies strewn, body parts littering the space.
John is pushed off balance when one of the Gello’Des hits him in the chest. He takes the offender with him but this leaves Carmina exposed - something Jackie has been waiting for all this time. She sinks into a crouch, watching the struggle between the brown wolf and the dark haired teenager. She circles and sways, waiting for the perfect opportunity to get to the girl, who’s not moved in all this time. Liam looks up to see Jackie readying for a charge. He tries to move towards Carmina but is hit in the chest by an arrowhead. The burst rips into his body, setting his veins on fire. He calls out through the link to the family, who are all fighting their own battles, all trying to close the protective defenses around their favorite human. Liam’s eyes focus on Carmina, his beautiful wife.
***
There is a spark, like a firefly shook in a bottle. The crackling sound changes and the courtyard becomes hot and humid. The air has changed and a fog is smoothly rising to hover just above the ground.
Did that cat just hit my husband?!
My bonds melt away into the ground, and I watch them spreading over the courtyard. I rub my wrists and shake my ankles. Look at this mess. Who is going to clean this up? There is so much blood; the smell fills the air and rises up, along with the trees, reaching for the full moon. It is beautiful how nature is always trying to embrace. Oh look, the moon is full. I have always known bad things happen on full moons.
***
Liam watches as Carmina’s body splits in two. He thinks it is her soul he is watching, rubbing her wrists and shaking out her ankles as it stands up. The pale, motionless body is left behind. Carmina’s hair is a fiery light display. The moon is stroking through the wild red tresses, setting it on fire, while crackles of static spread the heat and flames in every direction. Liam is convinced he is dreaming, blaming the poison seeping through his body, but the random gasps as the change becomes vividly noticed tells him his eyes are not betraying him.
Liam’s body is on fire. Carmina’s soul-body turns to her husband and strolls over casually with a breathtaking, playful smile. Silently, she kneels next to him, strokes his cheek and kisses his head. Liam feels her heat overpowering even that of the poison. She looks into his eyes, reaching past his body and takes hold of the arrowhead, crushing it in her palm until the last evidence of its existence is the small trickle of sand flowing between her fingers. Liam’s eyes dart back to Jackie who’s trimming around to Carmina’s quiet body. When he looks back at his wife’s soul-body, he feel the coolness return into his veins. Looking down on his chest, the wound is closing already. Liam is convinced that he’s hallucinating or maybe dead. He tries to share the view with the rest of the Houses, but there is a block he can’t get past.
Where Carmina’s soul body walks, the air lifts and heats up, swirling around and settling back. Every person she passes feels intense heat against their skin, like the sun’s concentrated rays. Her movement is fluid lava, running slowly. It moves towards Jackie. Liam calls out, but she does not even look at him.
A high-pitched electric sound rises up into the air from Carmina’s still body. The battle is as good as over now as the Gello’Des is trying to escape the ominous, invisible fire passing by them. They are chased down by the originals, who are faster, better coordinated and less concerned about the elemental discharges.
As the soul body passes her protectors, they thought they could see a neon red flash of hair moving past them...
“Jackie.” Carmina whispers. “Now, you’ve gone too far.”
Carmina’s soul-body reaches towards the charging woman. Liam is still trying to break through the link, to show the others shouting at him, asking what is going on.
S
ilence, like the static from an old radio, covers the misted courtyard. Smells of burning flesh, blood and poison mix with the heat that crashes like waves all around. Everyone hears Carmina’s voice, they hear her words, but the confusion befalls them when they see her body motionless.
“What is this?” Jackie stammers, feeling her skin burning at the throat. “How-?”
Liam looks between the soul-body and the human body on the ground. He leans over to touch Carmina’s face, calling out to her again. The soul-body looks over her shoulder at her husband and a crooked smile at his tenderness distracts her for a second, but only for a second.
“Maybe I’m just a myth.” Carmina says, reaching into Jackie’s chest with her free hand. She reaches past the quiet vampire heart and onto the beating Lynx heart.
Hidden Carmina Page 41
