by D. N. Leo
“I know what you’re trying to do, Madeline. This will have consequences and might be worse than me turning him into a vampire.”
“No, Alex. I’m not against vampires, but if I can’t save Ciaran my way, I’d rather let him die than be turned. The change would be too great and would affect the future of Eudaiz. Even if Ciaran survived and became immortal, he would never accept being a vampire. Ciaran thinks the kingship is larger than his life. Eudaiz cannot have a vampire king.”
The screen on her wrist unit let out a happy ping as it recognized her command signal. She knew she was doing this without Jo’s instructions, but it had to work. She went to the medical emergency screen on her unit and entered the council code. She was the first councillor, so her access and privilege were at the highest level just after Ciaran’s. She requested an emergency dose of eudqi—a special Eudaizian energy that had been used to save several humans before and had turned several individuals into Eudaizians.
It would give Ciaran strength, but it would change his make. She didn’t know the consequences of her actions, but anything was better than Ciaran being dead or turned into a vampire. A square patch was issued.
“Can we have some privacy?”
As Frida and Alex looked away, she opened Ciaran’s shirt. On the left side of his chest was his eudqi point. When he received his special king eudqi, this spot on his chest became his critical point, like hers on her left foot. She hovered her palm over the spot and slapped the patch on.
His body jerked. She could feel the vibration of energy triggered in him. She had violated several rules of nature in her time traveling, but this seemed to be working. Ciaran opened his eyes.
“How are you feeling?” she asked and saw that he was frowning. She knew why. She must look like a mess. She wiped her tears away, tucked her stray locks of hair behind her ears, and smiled.
He smiled back and slowly sat up. She knew he was feeling the foreign energy running through his body, but she didn’t say anything and let him adapt to the changes.
“Well, things seem to be fine now. I have places to be. Alex, you owe me this one,” Frida said. She nodded a goodbye and strode away before anyone could ask any more questions.
Ciaran stood up and turned to look at Alex. “You’re a vampire.”
Alex shrugged. “For as long as I can remember.”
Ciaran looked at Madeline and absently rubbed his thumb across the dimple on her left cheek. He always did that—when they were a couple. But now, strangely, the habit had become ingrained in him and seemed to take on its own life. She liked the feel of his hand on her face. She missed the feel of his skin on hers, and she shuddered thinking about how he was so near death a moment ago.
“I must be injured badly. He would have offered to turn me. But you didn’t let him, and you did something that changed me.”
She gave a mental roll of her eyes. She should have known there wasn’t much Ciaran couldn’t deduce from facts presented to him and his observation of the environment.
She nodded. “There might be consequences that I don’t yet know.”
He smiled. “Whatever it is, it seems as if we’re in it together.”
Chapter 19
A few hours later, Ciaran was in full form. As usual, he wouldn’t let anyone take the wheel when they got into the car. Alex rode in the front passenger seat, and Madeline took the back. As charming as the English country roads were during the day, at night, the dark winding roads in the middle of nowhere were not appealing to non-locals like Madeline and Alex. Ciaran wasn’t exactly a local, but put him behind the wheel, and all streets and roads in or out of the multiverse became like playgrounds in his backyard.
“Slow down! I’m sweating with fear here, Ciaran,” Alex growled.
“You’re a vampire, Alex. You don’t sweat. And besides, Madeline isn’t complaining. We’ve gone around and around, and you still haven’t been able to navigate us to where you want to go. If we do one more loop, I swear I’ll drive even faster.”
“We nearly there. Turn left here.” Alex pointed.
“A cemetery?” Madeline gasped.
“Don’t worry, Madeline. We have a vampire in our car after all. Being at a cemetery should be no different.” Ciaran chuckled and drove slowly through the entrance of the old cemetery.
“Here he is,” Alex said, almost cooing.
The car headlights shone on a black poodle sitting next to a tombstone.
Ciaran slammed his palms against the steering wheel. “You’re not serious!”
“As a matter of fact, I am.” Alex stepped out of the car, and the dog rushed toward him, wagging his tail frantically.
Madeline got out of the car. She was as upset as Ciaran was, but she couldn’t help being amused by the scene of a powerful old vampire cuddling a poodle.
“We have three competing theories, Alex. and we’re racing against the clock,” said Ciaran. “You said the Red Widow is the key to all this. I think Margaret holds the key. And Madeline thinks the key is in the data and the findings that rely on her being reconnected to her people in Eudaiz. We went with your theory first because you swore the Red Widow has connections with the multiverse and Margaret, so we thought we’d kill two birds with one stone. But now we’ve driven around for hours just to find this dog?”
Alex rubbed the dog’s head and scratched behind his ears. “This is not just any dog, Ciaran. He saved my ass in the underworld. He understands us and our adversaries. He could come in handy.”
“You just want to take the dog with you, Alex, which is fine. So what’s next?” Madeline asked.
Alex picked up the dog and came back to the car. Ciaran looked unconvinced, but he returned to the driver’s seat. This time Alex sat in the back with the dog, so Madeline took the the front seat.
“I can trace the scent of the Red Widow. The dog will help because he bit the woman when she tried to gut me.”
Ciaran arched an eyebrow but said nothing and started the car.
The dog propped his front legs up on the back of the Ciaran’s seat and licked at the nape of his neck where he’d been bitten by the vampire. Alex pulled the dog down to sit beside him.
Madeline laughed. “You’re such a sucker. What did he do to win you over, Alex?”
“He peed on a pillar at a temple to lure the guards out for me to kill.”
Madeline laughed. She could see a twinkle of amusement in Ciaran’s eyes, but he kept it under wraps and continued driving.
After a while, they had driven deep into the countryside of Yorkshire Dale. It was completely dark. There was no sign of civilization. The only light came from the car headlights.
A flash of a red dress appeared out of nowhere, flying over the top of the car. Ciaran braked hard. The car fishtailed, and Ciaran managed to stop just before they hit a tree trunk.
They jumped out of the car and saw the red dress hovering in the air for a moment before vanishing into the darkness. The trio gave chase.
“Over there!” Alex pointed toward the left.
They turned down a narrow path flanked by stone walls. Soon they came to a domed gothic temple that no one would have ever imagined would be located in the middle of nowhere in the English countryside. Ciaran didn’t have a reaction to the new environment, so Madeline assumed they were still in the same earthly dimension.
From inside the main hall, it looked like a temple, but stone walls and a couple of torches weren’t enough to prove it was a functioning temple. At the far end of the hall was a heavy wooden floor-to-ceiling door with a rusty metal frame.
“Gate to hell?” Alex joked.
“Alex, this is 2017, and we’re in a building in the country. I haven’t been to hell, but I’m quite sure this isn’t it.” Then he turned toward Madeline. “I’ll check it out. This might be dangerous, so could you please stay here?” He pulled his guns and strode toward the gigantic door.
“Should I take this as Ciaran caring about our safety or as an insult?” Alex asked Made
line.
“I’d say both.” She looked at Ciaran. “Out of the last three occasions when we encountered danger, I protected you twice.”
“It’s different now.”
“Why?”
“Because I know what I’m looking for. I was unprepared before because I didn’t know what we were dealing with.”
Madeline smiled. “All right. But it’s safer for me to be with you, don’t you think?”
Ciaran smiled. “So come with me then.”
“That’s plain insulting,” Alex muttered and followed Ciaran and Madeline. The dog wasn’t far behind.
Ciaran gave the door a gentle nudge. Nothing happened, so he pushed the door inward. As soon as they set foot inside, rows of torches on the wall lit up, shining light onto the stone walls and floor.
The heavy door swung shut behind them.
Chapter 20
Ciaran looked back at the door that had closed behind them.
“I’m not scared,” Madeline said, “but this is a little spooky, don’t you think?”
He hadn’t wanted to let Madeline know he had seen her concern. But he couldn’t help but chuckle when she admitted it. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders gently, a protective gesture rather than an act of affection. He didn’t want her to misconstrue his intentions. She had said they were married in the future, and he did have an intimate feeling about her, but in this present reality, they were strangers. “The wind just blew the door shut,” he said. “There’s nothing paranormal about this, I can assure you.”
Alex said nothing, but he strode toward the door and tried to open it. It didn't budge an inch. “Got a key?” he asked as he moved away from the door.
“Yes.” Ciaran turned toward the door, pulled his gun, and fired at the handle and lock. The door swung open. He turned and smiled at Madeline. “I’ve got the key.”
But then, in front of them, instead of the hallway from which they had just entered this room, there was a long path. The path was dimly lit and was flanked by head-high hedges. It led to a small gate at the far end. They headed toward it.
They walked through the gate and onto a dark, winding path.
“Stop that, Ciaran,” said Madeline.
“Stop what?”
“You don’t have to push me behind you all the time. I’m here to protect you, remember?”
He nodded and let her walk beside him.
“What is this place?” Alex asked.
"It's a maze," Ciaran told him. “The kind you see in theme parks and Zen gardens.”
“My worst nightmare,” Alex said.
“I’ll help you navigate. I’m very good at that,” Madeline said.
At the far end, a shadow in a long black cloak stood under a beam of bright white light. It held an unconscious Margaret in its arms. The shadow was large and distorted, and Ciaran couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman.
“Put her down!” Ciaran shouted and charged in its direction.
The shadow disappeared.
“The shadow got her,” Ciaran said and kept running. Madeline and Alex followed him. They ran toward the spotlight. The path turned suddenly, and then all the lights went out.
"It's a trap,” Alex whispered.
“The shadow’s trap?” Madeline asked.
"We can go around the corner here," said Ciaran. He rushed toward the corner where they had just made the turn. It was too dark. He ran straight into a wall and almost dislocated his shoulder.
"There was just a path here,” Ciaran growled, grabbing his sore shoulder.
“It's a maze, Ciaran. It's a trap. I knew it,” Alex said.
“And where is your Red Widow?” Ciaran asked.
“We’re chasing her, aren’t we?” Alex said.
“That shadow is too large to be a woman. Can’t you see?” he asked Alex and Madeline, and they both shook their heads.
“You don't understand, Ciaran. It's a trap. The gate is now closed. We're trapped here with you! We didn’t see anyone or anything,” Alex said.
Ciaran looked back to where they came from. He walked in the direction of the dim light on the wall.
"Don't walk there." Alex grabbed Ciaran. "You obviously don't know paranormal traps, but I do. This one looks like a zodiac trap. Vampires use a lot of these to catch prey for blood.”
A woman’s whimpering moan came from behind the wall.
"That's Margaret. I knew I saw her. She’s in pain. She’s crying for help,” Ciaran said and ran toward the light. Madeline and Alex pulled him back.
"There is no woman crying, Ciaran!” Madeline said.
“It’s baiting you, Ciaran. We can't hear anything, okay? Don't go," Alex said.
"This is ridiculous. That was Margaret crying. How can you not hear that?" Ciaran heard the woman’s cry again. "That's her behind that gate.”
Ciaran approached the gate and shook it hard. It didn't give an inch, so he pulled his gun and was about to shoot the lock. Madeline pulled him away.
"Whatever it is, it’s affecting only you, Ciaran. We don’t hear a woman crying. And what you just checked isn’t a gate. It's a wall."
Ciaran looked back where he’d thought he saw a gate, and it was indeed a wall. He nodded. “All right, I’m targeted, and my vision isn’t reliable. You two tell me what to do based on what you see.”
"I'll try. I don't want to die in your trap,” Alex mumbled.
Suddenly, the path lit up. In front of them, the long narrow path led to another gate. They followed the path with caution. The light went off again. In the darkness, Ciaran grabbed Madeline. "Be careful,” he said. “What's going on, Alex?”
"I’m trying to work it out. But you have to understand my theory. It's a zodiac trap."
Ciaran sighed and said nothing.
There was a cracking noise. They turned around. Something large was falling from the wall behind Madeline. Ciaran pushed her away. A large tree trunk came right toward Ciaran’s head. Ciaran looked up at it. The trunk missed him by an inch. It fell on the ground, making an incredible noise.
Ciaran stepped aside, wanting to stay clear of the fallen tree. Alex tripped on something on the ground, stumbled, and fell into a fence. A wooden picket on the fence was split, and the sharp piece was about to pierce Alex’s abdomen. Madeline gave him a hard shove, and he fell to the ground, avoiding the threat.
The momentum from pushing Alex caused Madeline to her lose her balance and stagger backward. Ciaran darted toward her and scooped her up in his arms just before her left foot landed on a sharp piece of metal protruding from the ground.
When the scene quieted down, and objects seemed to stop moving, the three of them leaned against a wall, breathing heavily.
“Alex, can you predict which wall will fall on us?” Ciaran asked. “You said this is a zodiac trap. Do you know its design?”
“Yes, it’s designed to use opponent elements to kill the prey. So if you are fire, and you are the prey, the trap will be set by water. But there are three of us in here…” His voice trailed off.
“What’s your sign, Alex? I’m an Aries. Same with Ciaran,” Madeline said.
“Me, too. I’m an Aries,” Alex said.
Ciaran contemplated a moment. “We need to get out of here,” he said and strode quickly forward.
“How?” Alex asked but followed him.
As Ciaran approached the arched dome, he willed a blade in his mind and blasted it at the wall. The wall crumbled. They walked out of the maze and found they were standing in the middle of nowhere. The temple had vanished.
“How do you know how to do this, Ciaran?” Madeline asked.
“The piece of wood was designed to kill Alex. The sharp metal on the ground was for you, Madeline. Whoever set the trap built it on the assumption that my weak point is something in my mind. It tried to create an illusion of Margaret to distract me without success. So when the tree fell, I confronted the attacking force by looking straight at the trunk. That caused it to deviate from its path. So m
y simple theory is that opponent elements will kill the prey only if the prey is unaware of it. As I made sense of it and confronted it, we broke the maze.”
Chapter 21
In a dark room, candlelight flickered, creating dancing shadows on the white walls. The stone altar was covered with jars, boxes, and potions. Ancient letters written in blood on a piece of wrinkled animal skin formed words that would make no sense to ordinary humans. A little rag doll lay on a silver plate, waiting to be used.
Someone cursed and read something in an ancient language. A finger traced the rim of a silver cup then mixed potions and powders in it, stirring the compound with a piece of dried bone.
Small hands picked up the doll, ran a thumb over its chest, and then pressed down on the chest of the doll.
Ciaran had just enough time to grab Madeline before she collapsed. She clutched her chest, gasping for air. He lowered her to the ground. He didn’t need to ask her what was wrong. She obviously couldn’t breathe. He thought the problem might be with their immediate environment.
“Try, Madeline, try harder. Don’t give up on me.”
She made a great effort, but drawing air in seemed difficult. Her face was pallid, as white as a sheet.
Ciaran knelt next to her, holding her hands. “You’ve come all the way here to protect me, Madeline. You can’t give up. Try harder for me. Nod if you understand me.”
She nodded, still gasping, and a tear fell from her eye. He knew she wasn’t able to take in sufficient air for her body to function. She wouldn’t last long.
“Madeline, you told me you can turn your supernatural power on. Can you do it now? Please?”
She couldn’t answer him. Her face started turning purple.
“Alex, any solution?”
Alex paced, shaking his head.
The dog that had been waiting for them when they were in the maze now approached. He pushed his way in, sniffed around, bared his teeth, and bit Madeline’s wrist unit. The little dog yanked hard at the unit, but it didn’t come loose from Madeline’s arm.
