by Morgan Rice
CHAPTER TWENTY
Maria walked home down the familiar streets of town in the late afternoon, her friends Becca and Jasmine by her side, still wearing her jersey and shin guards, black paint beneath her eyes, her hair frazzled from the soccer match. She fumed, reliving the soccer game in her head, still annoyed that her coach had sidelined her so late in the game, especially after she’d scored a goal. She knew she was being aggressive, and maybe she had crossed the line when she kicked the other girl in the shin. But still, she knew she was the best player on the team, and the coach shouldn’t have sidelined her for that.
Maria usually was a clean player, but she had been so frustrated as of late, she had begun playing dirty, tripping and kicking the other girls. It was just a matter of time until she was sidelined, she knew, but still, she was mad that it had happened today, when she was playing so well.
As Maria walked, she thought about it, and she realized she didn’t know why she had been so angry lately; she could only think it had to do with losing out on Sage, then losing her best friend, being rattled by that creep in the halls who had demanded to know where Scarlet was—and now, most of all, losing her new boyfriend, Lore, whom she had been totally obsessed with. He stopped texting her, he never met her on Bannerman’s, and he seemed to have just disappeared. Maria felt so led on, so mad and frustrated. She just wanted to scream at the world.
“Like, what’s Scarlet’s deal?” Jasmine said as they walked, breaking the silence.
Maria had been wondering the same thing herself. She felt like she didn’t even know Scarlet anymore. Scarlet had changed so much. There was something about her, something different she couldn’t quite understand. Scarlet used to be so light and happy and easygoing. Now she seemed so serious, so heavy, almost like there was a…darkness around her.
Being around Scarlet now was like being around an adult, not a kid. The whole thing was so weird, Maria didn’t know what to make of it. She wanted to be friends with her again, but she didn’t know if it would ever happen. She felt bad for blowing her off on Bannerman’s, but she had just been too overwhelmed, so pissed about Lore standing her up. And so much, anyway, had happened between them. Would they be ever be able to get over it? she wondered. Would they ever be able to go back to being best friends, the way they once were?
“I have no idea,” Becca said. “Did you see what she did in that boat last night? How she saved Vivian? It was totally freakish.”
“And like, why save Vivian anyway?” Jasmine asked. “What was she thinking? She should have let her drown and done us all a favor.”
“I don’t know what she’s thinking anymore,” Maria chimed in. “That’s kind of the whole point. It’s like she’s….someone else.”
“The four of us used to be super tight,” Jasmine said. “Now it’s like the three of us. I noticed she wasn’t in school again today. Where is she this time?”
They all turned the corner, and as Maria looked up, her heart lurched as she stopped in her tracks. Standing before her was the very boy she had been obsessing over ever since she last saw him.
Lore.
Lore stood there, smiling, as if were the most normal natural thing in the world. As if he had been waiting for her, as if they had planned to meet here. She wanted to yell at him, to be so mad at him; but something happened when she met his translucent eyes. Her heart melted, and all thoughts of anger slid away. Instead, she could think only of how hot he was, how obsessed with him she was, and how she would do anything just to be near him. No matter what he said or did.
“There you are,” Lore said, his voice so seductive, going through every fiber of her being, making it impossible to think of anything else. She was transfixed.
“Who’s this?” Jasmine said, coming up beside Maria, defensive.
Lore smiled, turned his head to Jasmine and Becca, raised a palm, and leaned forward and placed it gently on each of their foreheads. As he did, there came a sudden flash of light, and suddenly, Jasmine and Becca turned to Maria.
“Maria, we have to go,” Becca said.
“We totally forgot, we have an assignment we have to do at school,” Jasmine said.
“It was so great meeting you,” Becca said to Lore. “I’m so happy you’re going to walk Maria home.”
Without another word, the two turned and walked off.
Maria stared at Lore, puzzled. Why had they changed their minds so quickly?
“I don’t understand,” Maria said. “What just happened?”
Lore shrugged.
“There’s not much to understand.” He looked intently at Maria. “They want us to be alone together. As do I.”
Lore took her arm, and Maria found herself unable to think of anything but him as they turned and walked together.
Maria felt butterflies in her stomach, her heart pounding, and as she walked beside this boy, the most gorgeous boy she’d ever seen, she wondered if this was all just a dream.
“I was like looking for you everywhere,” Maria said. “I like texted and called you. You didn’t answer.”
Maria waited for Lore to respond, and as she did, she suddenly felt thoughts invade her mind, thoughts that weren’t hers. Yet as she thought them, they became hers:
We have been in constant communication ever since we last left. We are madly in love with each other. You want to lean in to give me a kiss.
Maria suddenly stopped, turned, and gazed at Lore. She leaned in to give him a kiss, and she felt so happy that he always answered her texts, that he had continually been in her life ever since the moment they’d first met. It was like a dream.
“Now,” Lore said, leaning back, smiling. “I’m looking for your friend Scarlet.”
Maria’s brow furrowed.
“Scarlet? Why is everybody always looking for her?”
Suddenly, Maria felt nervous. She hoped that Scarlet wouldn’t steal Lore away from her, too.
But Lore smiled, reached around, placed a hand on her shoulder, and suddenly, new thoughts came to her:
I am so happy and eager to help Lore find Scarlet. I will do whatever I need to do to help him.
Maria turned and looked into Lore’s eyes.
“What can I do?” she said, eager. “How can I help you find my friend?”
Lore smiled.
“You will text Scarlet now,” he replied. “You will find out exactly where she is. You will first make her feel entirely comfortable. You will find out if she is with Sage.”
Maria nodded, feeling it was the most natural thing in the world as she quickly pulled out her phone and texted Scarlet.
“But we kind of got into an argument earlier,” she said. “I don’t know if she’ll talk to me.”
“Then you will apologize to her,” Sage said. “You will do whatever you need to do to make her feel entirely at ease.”
Maria frowned.
“I don’t want to apologize to her. I mean, like, she was the one who—”
I want to apologize to Scarlet. I want to make her feel entirely at ease.
Maria stopped speaking as she blinked and looked at Lore.
“I want to apologize to her,” she said.
Lore nodded back approvingly, and Maria looked at her phone and begin texting:
Hey Scarlet. So sorry about last night. I really didn’t mean it. Just cranky. In a bad mood. Anyway. I really love you and miss you. Where are you.
She hit send, and she stood there and looked at her phone.
After a minute she said to Lore.
“She’s not replying. Maybe she’s not—”
Suddenly her phone buzzed and she looked down and read the message:
Thanks for that. That means a lot.
Maria began typing:
Like I didn’t see you in school today. Where are you now?
SCARLET: I didn’t go to school today.
Why not, where were you.
SCARLET: I went to a play.
A play?
Scarlet didn’t respon
d, and Maria waited, then turned to Lore.
“She said she went to a play,” Maria reported.
Lore pondered this.
“Ask her if she’s with Sage,” he commanded.
Did you go alone?
SCARLET: No.
Did you go with Blake?
SCARLET: No.
Maria looked at Lore, who was now looking at her phone, beside her.
“Ask her if she was with Sage.”
Did you go with Sage?
After a long silence, the phone finally buzzed.
Yes.
“Ask if she’s with him now.”
Are you with him now?
Another long pause, then finally:
What’s with all the questions?
Maria showed Lore the phone, and he rubbed his chin.
“Tell her—” he began to say, but suddenly Maria’s phone buzzed again:
No. We’re supposed to meet up later today.
Maria showed Lore the phone, and Lore nodded, satisfied.
“That’s what I needed to know,” Lore said. “The two of them are together. And there’s no way he’d leave her side, not now, unless he needed to recharge. And there’s only one place he can go to recharge.”
Lore smiled and nodded to her.
“You’ve done your job well, Maria,” he said. “Very well.”
Maria frowned.
“But I don’t understand,” she said. “Like, why is this all so important? What do you want with Scarlet? He needs to recharge? What does that mean—”
“Don’t worry about all of this, my love,” Lore said softly, reassuringly. “You don’t need to know any more than you already do. In fact, in moments, you won’t know a single thing. You’ve served your purpose well, but now, I’m afraid, I’m done with you. Thanks for letting me use you.”
As Maria stared back, confused, Lore smiled wide, stepped forward, spread his wings, and suddenly wrapped them around Maria, holding her tight, smothering her, as she screamed, the sound muffled against his chest. He held her tight as she struggled, and he breathed deep, satisfied, as he felt himself sucking all the life energy out of her, feeding on her energy and soul. Maria struggled, more so than most of his victims, but she could not break free. He hadn’t had anyone break free in a thousand years.
Finally, Maria gave up the fight. She grew limp in his arms, and Lore pulled back his wings and watched her collapse, crumpling to the ground. He picked up her phone and put it in his pocket.
“You won’t be needing this anymore,” he said.
Then he took one step and leapt into the air, heading to where he knew Sage would be, ready, at last, to ambush him, and, finally, capture Scarlet.
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
Lore raced through the air, following the Hudson, heading toward where he knew Sage must be. There was only one place Sage could be if he wasn’t at Scarlet’s side: the recharging stone. Of course Sage would go there. It made perfect sense. Sage, the stupid romantic that he was, refused to feed on humans, to suck out their energy, and he would be weaker than the others of their kind. He would need energy, especially with them all dying, and especially if he wanted to spend his last days with Scarlet before he died.
The recharging stone would be the only place that could give him enough energy without a human feed. It would buy him a few more days, and Lore shook his head in disgust as he thought about it. Sage was a stupid romantic. He had always been weak. And now it would be his downfall.
Lore flew along the shores, delighted with himself for manipulating Maria the way he had. Now, finally, he could execute his plan. His real plan, of course, was to live forever. To do that, he needed the girl, Scarlet. And to get the girl, he needed bait. And that bait was Sage.
If Lore could capture Sage, keep him prisoner, the girl, he knew, would come. He could see in that girl’s eyes that she had fallen for him, that she would sacrifice everything, even herself, to save him. And that would be her downfall, too.
Lore would capture her, and then he would bring the chosen girl to his people. He would kill her himself, and he and all his people would live forever. He’d be memorialized for generations, songs sung of his heroism, while Sage would be punished and killed. Lore could think of nothing that would make him happier.
Lore smiled wide as he flew over the recharging stone, a plateau of perfectly flat rock, shaped in a circle, smooth from centuries of use by his people, hidden high along the shores of the Hudson, surrounded by thick trees at the river’s edge. His people had used the recharging stone for centuries, and as Lore looked down, he was elated to see, just as he’d expected, Sage lying there on his back, hands and feet out at his sides, face up to the sky, recharging.
Lore dove down immediately, landing by Sage’s side, thrilled to be able to take advantage of him before he could react.
The second Lore’s feet touched the ground, he wasted no time: he pulled out the Askelon shackles, descended on Sage, and in one quick motion, wrapped the shackles around Sage’s wrists, binding his arms behind his back.
Sage cried out, but there was little he could do; he had been caught at a vulnerable moment. One was defenseless while recharging. Of course, there was a sacred law amongst their people to never disturb one another during recharging. And for centuries, Lore had always respected the law.
But these were troubled times, and now there was too much at stake to respect any laws. Now Lore would break any law he needed to, even his own people’s laws, to do whatever he had to to survive.
Lore smiled wide as he grabbed Sage by the shirt and held him close, face-to-face. Sage stood there, trembling from the recharging, looking sickly, unable to defend himself—especially now that he was bound by the Askelon shackles.
“You don’t look well, my brother,” Lore said with a smile.
“You can’t do this,” Sage said. “You have broken the sacred law. You cannot touch anyone while recharging.”
“Nor can you let the girl go,” Lore replied. “It seems as if we have both broken our people’s laws.”
“You are a coward,” Sage sneered.
Lore smiled.
“Those labels mean nothing to me now, my brother. I do what I need to do, and I will survive. You, my friend, I am sorry to say, will not.”
Lore grimaced as he held Sage tight.
“You see, Sage, while all these centuries you got the best of me, you were the better man, the one most loved, it seems our fortunes have now turned. I will be the savior, not you. I will be the ones the bards sing of, not you. I am going to bring you to our people for judgment. They will know what to do with you. And best of all, you will be the flame that attracts”—he smiled wide—“Scarlet.”
Sage’s eyes opened wide in fear and anger.
“You can’t!” Sage said. “Even you would not stoop so low!”
Lore leaned back and laughed, a shrill, piercing laugh which ripped through the woods, up to the very sky.
“You have no idea, my brother,” Lore said, “just how low I can be.”
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
Caitlin sat in the Beinecke Rare Book Library on the Yale campus, hunched over the Voynich manuscript, a librarian standing discreetly over her shoulder, hands clasped, waiting, watching over her. Caitlin reached out, latex gloves on, and studied the book, fingering each page gently.
Caitlin had been grateful that they had allowed her, after she’d displayed her scholars’ credentials from Columbia, to examine the book. The librarian had taken her to a private table in a private room, here in this special branch of the Yale library, and had set it down before her, allowing her to peruse it under her careful watch.
Caitlin sat there, exhausted, her heart thumping wildly, sensing that this book held a great secret, that the key to finding out what happened to the lost vampire race lay here, in this manuscript. Caitlin could not just show up in Egypt at the Sphinx and hope to enter. There would be guards and no obvious way to get in, if an entrance even existed. She need
ed to know more. She needed to know what she was getting into, before she even considered flying halfway across the world.
As Caitlin scanned the Voynich manuscript, the first time she had ever seen it, she was blown away. She had heard of this volume her entire life, the most controversial and mysterious book known to man, filled with a curious collection of scientific analyses of botanical plants, various cures and remedies, and hundreds of drawings and diagrams in all different colors, written, it was speculated, sometime in the mid-fifteenth century in Europe. Nobody, not one of the scholars who had grappled with it over the centuries, had ever been able to decipher what it all meant, what the odd drawings were, what all the zodiac signs meant. Theories swirled that the book had been written by aliens; that it included prophecies for the end of the world; that it held the key to everything from decoding the Bible to unlocking lost worlds. Caitlin had read all the lore and mythology surrounding it, and she didn’t know what to think. Neither did any scholar who came before her. It had never been properly, definitively debunked, and that in itself was alarming.
Now that Caitlin held the actual book in her hands, felt the weight of it, she was in awe. The book was bigger than she thought, heavier, more substantial, and the drawings, done in color so many hundreds of years ago, were still so vibrant, so vivid, the colors popping off the pages as if they had just been printed. The text was in a language no one understood. It was all, from start to finish, a mystery.
As Caitlin turned the pages, took it all in, a pattern began to emerge in her brain. She had to give herself some credit; after all, she was one of the most distinguished scholars of her time, and she had a mind unlike any other, bringing to her scholarship a perception that even Aiden did not share. Maybe she was able to decipher patterns that others were not. Or maybe it was something else; maybe she was experiencing flashbacks. Or maybe it was just a mother’s love for her daughter, a desperation that was driving her to grasp the text. She was not just another historian looking casually for answers; she was a mother with her daughter’s life at stake. She had to decode this book. As a mother could lift a car that her daughter was trapped under, Caitlin felt that her mind, in such a time of desperation, could rise to the task, could become a super mind, could decrypt and decipher something that no one else could.
