“I’m okay with you having my tests,” Lyndon said to him.
“Things I hide are not in there.” Tibor grinned.
“Of course you have my approval.” Julia smiled, and Max agreed with her.
“I’d like it that you inform us about your progress,” he added.
“Great. Tibor, could you talk to Gustavo about this when you have a chance?” Blake’s question surprised me. I still hadn’t met Gustavo and had wanted to take this opportunity to do so. I’d rarely seen him, and never in human company. Then it occurred to me that Tibor and he had been here for longest time, so he probably knew him best.
“See, it wasn’t that hard,” I whispered to Blake, and he poked my leg under the table.
“Very subtle,” he commented.
Later that day I had afternoon classes, so I took some time to stretch out on the couch and catch up with some reading. This time I would not disappoint Mr. Matthews. Chapter One seemed a good way to go.
While reading, I discovered the answer to my question about the concept of active and inactive Elders. There were five Elders, a Pentarchy. I had wrongly imagined that they were all men.
The very first of his race was Sango, which, in the African dialect of his point of origin, meant “God of thunder and lightning.” The second Elder was Udama, of Sumerian origin, from Mesopotamia. The third was Ixtab, pronounced “Esh tahb.” She bore the name of the Mayan Goddess of “suicide by rope,” which, for some reason for these folks, was an honorable way to go.
I had already knew the last two: Kyrill and Baldur. Kyrill came from the Byzantine Empire, and Baldur was from these parts—what a shocker, I thought cynically.
The noble families came from first offspring of the male Elders. Two families from Sango’s blood, then one per each of the other Elders—Udama, Kyrill and Baldur. Which came to five, but I remembered Matthews saying there were six noble families in the Council. Ixtab didn’t count because female vampires can’t bear any children. So, who was the head of the sixth family?
The next pages of the book covered wars, led among or against people. Humans, that is. Wars against humans were mainly caused by the Rogues—vampires who had originally been human and had been turned by other vampires. During the Middle Ages, there came a schism that divided the higher ranked vampires on the issue of the Rogues. While most vampires didn’t approve of the Rogues’ uncontrolled violence, they weren’t all in favor of the extinction of the Rogues—which was the implicit policy of some nobles. And all that led to the biblical phrases, “brother shall deliver up brother to death,” and “the most rotten fruit of all,” which, in this case, was the Holy weapon.
The Holy weapon was a well-kept secret, previously unknown to most vampires and preserved for the day when humanity would reach a pre-foreseen number and become a true threat to vampire communities. In the case of some sort of Crusade-type war being launched against them, vampires would have, as their defense, the Holy weapon. And the kicker was—this Holy weapon was the Vocati! What an irony. However, the weapon wasn’t actually used against humans, but against opponents within their own race, which seemed like a very human thing to do, keeping the whole history in mind. And it made me rethink the emphasis that the vamps liked to put on their higher morals.
Vocati were the dead who had been awakened by the hand of a Priest who knew the secret of the weapon. They should have been fed with human blood to ensure that they would become our deadly enemies. But the Priest gave them a significant amount of vampire blood, and let Chrysiridia rhipheus—the prettiest of the day moths—enter their bodies. This allowed the spirit, the body, and the mind to form into newly-risen creatures.
The Chrysiridia rhipheus moth was a rare species that still lived in Madagascar; locals called it Lolonandriana, or “the king’s spirit.” That’s why Vocati called the moth tattoo they each had on the back of their necks Lolo, meaning spirit. The Latin name Vocati means “called upon.”
With the help of this new form of mind and spirit, the Priest had created obedient Warriors who were faster and stronger than any vampire. He summoned four of them to attack the four noble families who were pro-extinction of the Rogues. Unskilled to fight these superior opponents, the vampire Warriors had fallen like flies. Unthinkable massacres had occurred. Four of the six noble families survived. Afterwards, Sango fell into a coma, probably from shock, though the book didn’t say why. Udama and Ixtab were killed, but since these Elders were immortals, they entered a form of slumber. And that was the answer to my question about active/inactive vampire Elders, and it comprised almost the entire book.
Later that night, I dreamed of the morose man from the hotel lobby. Even though I knew now that he was a killing machine, I couldn’t shake off the ache that I had felt in his eyes. Was that a trick? Or was it the silver Baldur and Blake had mentioned? In the dream, he sat at a table, all crooked and drained. In a small vase in front of him was a yellow flower. He sat like that for a very long time, waiting for somebody. And then I showed up, carrying the same yellow flower in my hand.
Chapter 7
The Trip
Over the next fortnight, I fell into a daily routine: early training (mostly running), then breakfast, classes, and then training again (strength and technique). The only visible difference over those two weeks was the three inches of new snow and a tiny bit of progress in my training. Well, I couldn’t expect too much. My lazy muscles needed the time to get in shape, but my acceptance of the torture empowered me—I no longer felt incapable.
Since I’d read the history book, Mr. Matthews gave me two more books, thinking I’d find them interesting, too. But they turned out to be quite boring and purely historical, spouting only facts and dates, no stories or legends, so I’d only flipped through one of them.
On the other hand, Psych classes got more dynamic. Besides the power point presentations that showed me some of the Vocati habits (which varied from one Vocati to another, displaying unreliable and, in my opinion, poor data on them), I received basic training regarding body language. That was fun, and made me think of the “micro expressions” that were the focus of that TV show, Lie to Me. I was told that later on it would increase in intensity, and I looked forward to mastering this knowledge! I would’ve loved to become a specialist who could read anyone at a glance. But of course, those were only my fantasies.
Time didn’t pass as quickly as one might have thought, considering all of those scheduled hours; however, my friendship with Doris made everything much better. That girl smelled like home to me, and her smile was a thousand suns in this arctic weather. One Saturday afternoon I had been waiting for her to join me as we had made plans to take a little trip. She had said it was a surprise, and that we weren’t going very far. At last, she texted me to come down.
Tyler was at the wheel, Mia was shotgun, and Doris was waiting for me in the back. They greeted me with the grins.
“I didn’t know it was a mass gathering again.”
“Don’t worry, Nika, a certain unpleasant male wasn’t invited.” She snuggled next to me, putting her arm through mine.
“I brought you something.” From her small travel bag she pulled a soft, yellow, wool sweater together with the matching gloves, scarf and a hat.
“To go with your boots,” she insisted pleasantly, and I smiled.
“Tyler, where are we actually going?” I asked.
“Doris didn’t tell you?”
“Keeping the best for last!” Doris said.
“We’re going thirty or so miles north to Lyngsalpene,” he said, revealing no other details. Doris had loyal friends.
Any place with “alpine” at the end made me think that it had to be somewhere like the Alps, and the yellow wool I’d been given was screaming snow activity. We arrived at the coast and took a ferry. As Tyler was getting something out of the trunk, I saw three small travel bags.
“What are the bags for?”
They all laughed.
“Arrangements include bed and b
reakfast,” Mia said.
“Everything you might need is in my bag.” Doris shoved me with her shoulder.
Not being a control freak, I swallowed. “Well, I guess one needs a lot of creativity to survive in this place.”
“Says Ms. Berkeley.”
“I’m not a geek, if that’s what you’re implying. I like to party.”
“You don’t fit the profile.” Mia countered.
“A lot of strange things have happened recently.” I frowned.
“Ah, everywhere is good for a party if there are enough people. You know the saying: When in Rome . . . . ” Doris said.
“ . . . burn it?” Mia had an awkward sense of humor; it wouldn’t surprise me if Nero was the name of her family tree.
She and Tyler argued about the music most of the way. They were cute, which made me wonder if she had a boyfriend.
“How long have you and Aidan been together?” I asked Doris.
“Time is a dangerous thing to ask us about.” Her voice had a shy undercurrent. “I met him through Belun, long before we started to date. And we have been together for about a half a vampire’s year.”
Something in her voice and the way she averted her eyes told me not to insist further. This was odd; she was a very open person. But when I thought about it, she had showed a certain discomfort every time the subject turned to vampiric stuff. Maybe she didn’t like things that highlighted our differences. Doris liked to erase those barriers with me, which I liked, but my curiosity might have brought them straight back up.
“Everybody’s here.”
Three SUV’s were parked in front of us. I counted about ten people, some of them waved at us, and Tyler honked in return. Aidan approached first, opening the car door for Doris and me. I pulled on the sweater and gloves, but not the hat. Nobody was wearing one, so I put it in my pocket. It wasn’t that cold, plus the new yellow sweater was so warm that I didn’t need my coat, either. They were all wearing sweaters and fancy rubber boots.
Andrei Belun was coming towards us on a snowmobile. He wore a black sweater and his dark jeans were tucked into gray boots.
“We almost left without you,” he greeted us with a grin.
I still found that friendly smile of his unrealistic, even though his attitude toward me during training had changed. It was still hard to forget that anger and resentment in eyes. Nevertheless, every time he grinned, I felt something flutter in my stomach.
“Oh, yeah?” Doris grabbed onto his arm.
He looked at me and I felt warmth spread through me.
“All’s set. Find your partner. Let’s roll.” Aidan said, indicating the row of snowmobiles in front of us. Then I heard her voice.
“Shall we, my Dark Knight?”
Simona had reached us and she jumped on Belun’s snowmobile and wrapped her arms around his waist.
“Beautiful day for a ride,” she said, fixing her gaze on me. I really didn’t know what she found so beautiful about the weather. True, frogs were not falling from the sky and the view was clear, but it was cold and wet. Belun gave us a small smile and took off with the witch.
I sat behind Tyler and we started a crazy ride. His idea of fun was extreme turns and driving at full speed. White powder flew in all directions. We raced Aidan and Doris, but Tyler was more skilled and we won. He also cut across the path of the other jet, making a lot of the others angry and dying to get even with us.
It was awesome!
The sound of laughter and engines was the only thing you could hear in the snowy hills. I glanced at Belun a couple of times, with the violet puff hanging onto his waist. When we passed them, she looked like his hunchback, which made me laugh even more.
The view from the top was breathtaking. The sea and the slopes stretched out below us. But before Tyler and I had time to take in our surroundings, we were hit with a massive snowball attack! The rage of the others came flurrying down on us! Since we were the only targets, my freshly developed avoidance skills were given a royal workout. We ate a ton of snow and after they’d finally decided that we’d had enough, snowballs started flying in all directions. After this we all jumped back on the snowmobiles and tore around for a bit more, and then we packed ourselves into the SUV’s and moved on.
“The hotel is nearby and there’s even a disco there.” We laughed at Doris’s choice of words. I was back in the car with Tyler, Doris, and Mia, wondering whom Belun was riding with.
“Bryn has it bad for that Vuk guy. How unpleasant,” Mia commented.
“She’s in love.”
“So she should kiss the ground he walks on?”
“Ah, Mia, I can hardly wait for you to find someone. You’re so gonna eat all your crappy words about love.”
“Maybe so, Doris, maybe not. Love isn’t the mindless worship of another being.”
“There are different types of love,” I said.
“Spoken like a true expert,” Doris added, looking at me questioningly.
“Well, I’ve had a little experience in that field.”
“And how did it go?” Mia asked.
“Not that well. He and my best, um, ex-best friend are together now.”
“That’s bad,” she said, and Doris put her hand over mine.
“It was.” But I found some comfort in the fact that my own reaction wasn’t that bad anymore.
“Loser,” Doris said.
“Not really. He found what he wanted somewhere else.” Actually he was more a liar than a jerk.
“And what’s that?” Her eyes were perplexed.
I gave her a tiny smile, and raised my eyebrows a little. I didn’t have to spell it out for her. He had looked someplace else for something that I wasn’t giving him.
“Jerk, anyway!” Doris took my hand in hers.
“Girls, you’re getting too dark,” Tyler said, finding a livelier radio station.
Mia, Bryn, Doris and I shared a hotel room. It was just big enough for the wooden bunk beds. The water heater in the bathroom was small, so the four of us had to wash sparingly. Goodbye long hot showers.
Except for my sweater, the rest of my clothes had dried pretty fast. For tonight’s “disco,” I wore a black shirt and dark jeans, and my hair up in a ponytail.
“So, what way is he looking at me?” I heard Bryn asking us.
“You should hope that he looks at you the way you look at him, otherwise, you’ll only be a good laugh for him,” Mia answered, ever so subtly.
“What do you think?” Bryn turned to me.
“I didn’t actually catch a look at him earlier; I’ll tell you after tonight.”
“There’s something about him, though.” Mia said.
“You think?”
Doris agreed. I didn’t have any opinion of the guy.
“And who’s that Simona person anyway?”
Oh, crap. Why had I said that?! And in this boy conversation? Ah, damn you subconscious.
Mia rolled her eyes, and Bryn answered me.
“She’s Vasilis, one of the noble families.”
“Her too?” They gave me ambiguous looks. “I’ve met all the noble offspring.” Lame attempt at a joke.
“Simona’s one spoiled little bitch.” That came from Mia’s mouth. “She shows too much interest in you. I’ve caught all of her poisonous glares at you.”
“I didn’t know you two knew each other,” Doris said.
“At your last party, she was giving a hard time to our girl here.”
“Why would she do that?”
“She’s probably concerned about her boyfriend’s new and pretty colleague.”
Boyfriend?
“She’s not Belun’s girlfriend,” Doris corrected her.
“But she really wants to be, doesn’t she?”
“So, was there anything between the two of them?” I couldn’t stop myself, and when I saw the questioning look Doris gave me, I really wished I had more self-control.
“Nothing in public, anyway.”
Ah, Mia was killi
ng me with those lines. I never knew what she really meant. I hoped that someone would tell me more. But there was nothing further, only the rest of girls’ preparations: some more makeup, some hair changes, and my growing despair.
Bryn wore a black skirt, and the rest of us stayed in our jeans. Mia changed her shirt for something dressier, and off we went.
“Pay attention to Vuk,” Bryn shyly instructed us.
“Pas de problem,” Mia acquiesced. “What kind of name is Vuk, anyway?”
“It means wolf,” Bryn replied, a hint of pride in her voice.
“Ooooh dangerous,” Mia muttered as we reached the hotel lobby.
The “disco” was a wooden room with booths in the corners, a long bar, and the inevitable disco ball in the center of the dance floor. It wasn’t very big, and with all of us crowded in there, it gave it the feel of a real club.
“Everybody’s already here.”
“But the best have just arrived.” Doris smirked, and strolled toward Aidan. Mia and I followed, and Bryn lost herself somewhere in the crowd.
I liked the music; it was electronic and dark.
“You know this band?” I asked Mia.
“It’s Massive Attack, Doris’s favorite band. Apparently Aidan made a request.”
I searched the room and then I saw him—elbow on the bar, green bottle in his hand. Belun wore a black tee with a small print of a raven. He was nodding at the guy who was talking to him.
I looked for Simona with no luck—which probably was a good thing! Maybe she liked to be even more fashionably late than we were, or maybe she just flew away on her broom!
I looked for Bryn, and, keeping my promise, tried to find her beau.
Wolf was surprisingly shorter than most of the guys here. His hair was dark and he looked like the boy next door.
“Ordinary, right?” Mia followed my gaze.
“He’s not what I expected,” I had to admit.
Mia laughed. “Bryn has always had weird taste in men. But if you look at him a bit longer, he awkwardly becomes more attractive.”
Darkling Page 9
