“Why the silent treatment—you angry with me?”
“No.” And that was the whole answer.
The silence was unbearable.
“So, how many Vocati have you created?” I tried, with a direct question, because, apparently, he wasn’t in the mood at all. He shot me a look. Straight into my eyes. If his look had been his hand, my head wouldn’t be in its place anymore.
“Where did that come from?”
“It just crossed my mind.” I shrugged, sticking to my plan.
He eyed me for a while before saying, “I always kept the same number.”
Finally something!
“Why’s that?”
“I have found the perfect balance.”
“A balance?”
“Yes,” he answered.
What was that supposed to mean? Why the balance? If there were more of them would it be a different story, and why?
“I thought there was no limit.”
“There is not.”
“Then why the balance? A blood loss? I mean, I know you feed them with your blood after you turn them.” It was the first thing that came to me; hopefully I’d get the right answer.
“Because of their voracity.”
“What voracity?” I wished I had big blue eyes and long eyelids—this would be the perfect moment to blink at him naïvely. “Is it hard to provide them with meals?”
“Something like that. Nevertheless, I have already told you that there are different kinds of hunger.”
“A hunger for knowledge?” I gave him my most innocent look.
There it was! Again with the piercing look. Jackpot!
He studied me, as if he wanted to read my thoughts. He seemed insecure about things I might have found out from our last session. Maybe Belun would have better insight about this one.
“How big is your hunger for knowledge?” he asked, his eyes narrowing.
“Enormous!”
“Then what would you do to gain it?” The question seemed like an awkward transition in a different direction. But he was the one leading it; he wanted to give me a hint about something. Maybe. Or maybe he only wanted to mislead me. We’d see.
“They say that knowledge is power. And people do everything for power,” I said.
“It is power. And not only normal people want it, but the ones who already have power also seek it.” His eyes were intense. What was he trying to tell me? Sure, powerful people were greedy for more power, there was nothing new about that. But his intensity seemed to hide something different. Speaking about people in general . . . was he thinking about humans or vampires? The thought of powerful vampires suddenly switched on a bulb. And one word popped in: Elders.
I stared at him, trying to figure out if he was playing with me or if he actually was trying to suggest something. Tertius persisted in his glare, which seemed somewhat expectant. He definitely wasn’t thinking of humans. But if it was about the Elders, why would they want more power? I mean, they were like the kings among their race. And that made me think not only about the vampire’s Pentarchy, but of the Vocati Originals as well. They were also the powerful ones of their race.
“But the powerful already have power.”
“There is always a weak link.” His look pierced me. He wanted me to realize something. But what? The fact that he was speaking in riddles meant he probably didn’t want someone else to understand him. Belun? The guards? And speaking of powerful people—Baldur?
I couldn’t collect my thoughts, and he didn’t let me. It was probably easy for me to instantly think of Baldur, especially since I didn’t have a good opinion of him to start with. But Tertius might have been thinking of Kyrill. He was, after all, the other Elder. However, he must have known I had had nothing to do with him, and therefore wouldn’t get his riddles. Which brought me back to Baldur again.
On the other hand, he might have been thinking of the nobles. It was all so confusing.
“Can the Vocati fight against each other?” A new thought was stirring inside me, and Tertius’s eyes widened into their blackness. Looking at him, I definitely knew it wasn’t about the Vocati; he was trying to tell me something about the vamps.
“The one who thinks he’s the last is always the weak link—because he craves the status quo,” Tertius said, and then he went significantly quiet.
Based on his behavior, it wasn’t hard to realize that his last sentence should clarify some things for me. Unfortunately, I had no idea what he was trying to say. Who thought he was the last? And last what? I could think of Baldur as the last Elder. But what status quo would he want?
Argh, this seemed completely beyond my deductive abilities. I lowered my look in an attempt to show him that he had totally lost me, hoping that he’d add more. But he kept quiet. Then something else crossed my mind.
“How did they manage to catch you?” It was a question that had been bothering me for months.
“A moment of inattention.” A sly grin crossed his serious face.
“Do the vampires know what you’ve been looking for?”
His grin widened, while he slowly shook his head.
“Have you found it?” I realized I’d never thought of that before. Tertius nodded, his eyes locked on me.
“What do the Vocati want?”
“Their place in the order of things,” he said, like a true leader.
“What order of things?”
“Of everything.” Okay, that ideological answer didn’t lead me anywhere. How could I get him back on the telepathy thing?
“How do created Vocati develop their new instincts?” I asked.
Tertius didn’t make any gesture or sound. He seemed especially secretive about all of that. Well, he probably didn’t want the vamps to know about it. But I had to. I remembered that Belun had said Baldur had looked like he was hiding something when asked about telepathy. Maybe it wasn’t only a Vocati ability after all.
If Tertius could communicate on that level, why would he have led that Vocati team south? Why wouldn’t they rescue him instead? It wasn’t logical. Anyway, what had he been searching for in Iowa? Maybe that was the priority of his rescue mission. Ah, my head was gonna explode!
Writing my report later, I was careful about what I put in it. I censured all my thoughts and kept it objective, as in: the subject was trying to confuse me, to play with me. It was strange that Belun wasn’t in our office. I wanted to brainstorm with him, thinking that he might find some way out of this maze of thoughts.
His computer was on, and, seeing his coffee mug and documents on the table, it seemed I could expect him any time soon. But he didn’t show. After I finished my report I lingered, but still no sign of him. Okay, I’d catch him later on at training. I could stop wondering if his absence had something to do with Jacob and Lee’s whispering.
After lunch Doris texted me that she was coming over, so I cleaned my room.
“Julia, meet Doris.” I gestured toward each of them.
“Nice to meet you,” they said simultaneously.
I noticed Julia was nicely dressed, and I wondered if she was seeing anyone.
“Have a good time, girls. I’m off,” she said, sending us air kisses.
“Nika!” Doris jumped on me for a hug. “I had the best weekend ever! I hadn’t even realized how much I missed traveling.”
“Where were you guys?”
“Aidan took me to Vienna.” Her face shined with joy.
“I’m so envious,” I said, as we sat on the couch.
“Well now, I see you had a great time as well,” Doris said, eyeing the new painting through my open bedroom door.
“Oh, Belun gave me that.”
“I know, I’ve seen it before,” she chuckled.
“Right, he said he rotates his paintings.”
Her eyebrows lifted. “Did he? Okay. I think the name of that one is The Victory.”
“I believe he said The Defeat,” Nika said and Doris laughed.
“I must have confused
it.” She seemed amused by all of this. “And how did you like the rest of the paintings?”
“They’re all awesome! I could never have found something so great on the Internet. And I looked. They seemed so expensive; I couldn’t believe he was just giving it away.”
“You’d be surprised,” she laughed again. “By the way, I dig your choice.”
“Tell me about your weekend, already!” I smiled.
“Ah, when they’d returned from sweeping the area, Aidan couldn’t let go of my hand! The attack and the fact that I had been in such a danger completely freaked him out. Something like that has never happened to us; I mean, I’ve always been in a safe place and he was the one to be worried about. So the next day he whispered that he had a surprise for me. And Vienna was his choice, because that’s the place where we first met. Long before we started dating.” Her look got a little fuzzy, remembering their beautiful moments.
“How do you choose the best memories if you have an eternity to live?” I asked, and she elbowed me.
“First of all, I’m not that old. Second, we don’t actually live an eternal life, but you already knew that.” She stuck her tongue out at me.
“I’m so happy for you,” I said. “You know, after you texted me, I felt a little jealous. I’ve never had any boy feel so deeply about me.” I couldn’t keep the blue out of my tone. Doris looked at the painting and then at me.
“You know, Aidan’s not the last great guy on Earth. He is for me, though. But there is one other great guy I know.” She looked at me knowingly, and I felt like such a cliché: everybody wants to be loved.
Later, I was almost late to training because I had forgotten about my meds. Lee was the only one in the gym.
“Where’s Belun?” I needed to talk to him.
“I’ll be your trainer for tonight,” he said, politely.
“But where is he? Is something wrong? He wasn’t in the office, either.”
“I don’t know. He asked me to take this training.”
So he had been here, but I missed him. Damn. What was happening? After today’s session with Tertius, I thought he’d be all over me with new ideas. It didn’t make any sense that I hadn’t seen him at all.
The training was tough. We continued with the new dynamics of our last training and Lee didn’t seem to have as much patience as Belun. I didn’t like his methods, but he was efficient. I was super happy to finally be back in my suite in the shower.
Lying in bed with my wet hair, I thought of Doris saying that she was not that old. It made me wonder and I reached for my laptop.
So, what was the math? First eighteen years, and then each year was forty of ours. Doris was nineteen and that would make her—fifty-eight! Ha! She was older than my Dad. Then, if Belun is twenty-four . . . Oh. My. God! Two hundred and fifty-eight?!?
I sat there in shock, the number blinking in front of my eyes. I didn’t know what to think of it, and then his image came to me. All right, he was a vampire, and a hot one, no matter how old. It meant that he was born in 1752. I jumped. Jeez, he was even older than the Declaration of Independence! I wondered where he was during that era.
Put in historical context, his childhood must have been pretty interesting. The waking of civil rights, the Enlightenment, the American and French revolution… It must have really been something living through all of that. I checked the year on Wikipedia and it said: the British Empire adopted the Gregorian calendar, the first hospital was opened in the U.S, fire destroyed 18,000 houses in Moscow, and Benjamin Franklin proved that lightning was electricity, using a kite and a key.
Out of curiosity, I checked the year of Doris’s birth. In the U.S, a mechanical heart was used for the first time in a human patient—ewww. Elisabeth II was proclaimed Queen. The last execution in the Netherlands took place. The Winter Olympics were held in Oslo, Norway. Ha!
I wished I knew the place of Belun’s birth so I could further investigate it. I googled Belun and, besides some companies names, I found a website of Slavic mythology. Cool. According to the mythology, his name—Belun—was a derivation of White God. How modest. It said Belun was the god of day, heavens, and a bringer of happiness. He was also the god of heaven’s lights and peace. He was depicted as an old man in white with a long beard. So predictable.
His age, though, was something that continued to fascinate me. Two hundred and fifty-eight. He had witnessed so many things and must have gained so much knowledge! I wished that I could live a life parallel to human life, following their history on a simple time line.
Deep in this mixture of thoughts, I fell asleep. But not quite asleep.
I found myself in a pitch-black space hearing belabored breathing. It was someone, or something, that I couldn’t see. I searched the floor for it with my hands, but there was nothing to find. After a while, I gave up my search and I sat, leaning against the wall. Being awake in that darkness lasted for too long.
Chapter 18
Early Vacation
When I awoke the next morning, I felt like I hadn’t had any sleep, considering the dark place where I’d spent all those hours. Then I realized that chilly air was filling the room—the window was ajar! This time I was certain it wasn’t me who had opened it!!
I wrapped myself in a blanket and looked out the window, expecting to find some trace. But no, nothing out of the ordinary. I closed it and returned to bed. Stretching my hand out for the phone to check the time, I saw an unusual figurine on my nightstand. And it wasn’t mine.
“What the f—” I leapt out of bed. My eyes flew around the room, scanning it for any intruder I might have missed. The figurine was made of metal, its coldness caressing my palm. It was small, and made in the shape of a guitar leaning on a piano. Just looking at it created a strong feeling in my chest. I knew who the intruder had been! Belun! But why had he been in my room? What was with the figurine? Was it a goodbye present?! Where was he going?
Questions hysterically piled up in my mind, and I started squeezing the figurine as if it could give me all the answers. Should I go to his room and check for him? Would he even be there? My eyes flashed to the painting—okay, it was still there. I had an odd feeling that he had taken everything that was his. My anxiety dimmed. The metal against my palm reminded me that he hadn’t taken everything; he had also left something. To me. Why?
There was a knock at the door and I froze. Something was wrong.
“Good morning, Nika. Mr. Baldur sent me for you,” Lena said.
“Where’s Belun?” The question flew from my mouth, but she only gave me a confused look. She had no clue.
“I don’t know. In his suite, I guess. I’ll wait for you to dress.”
As we walked the halls, I wondered why I needed an escort to Baldur’s office. Or was I getting too paranoid? My fingers played with the figurine stashed safely in my pocket.
“Ah, Nika, dear!” His irritating voice reverberated through the library.
“Good morning,” I said.
“Good, it really is!”
Good news? Did it have something to do with Belun? I fiddled with the metal in my pocket.
“Good news for you, my dear,” he said, with a smile. “You are getting an additional month of vacation!” His grin was overwhelming, which was too annoying. He looked at me expecting an equally enthusiastic reaction.
“How come?” I asked, carefully.
“Your team leader, Belun, has taken some days off.”
Why? He hadn’t mentioned anything to me! A month?!?
“But we’ve just started to make progress with Tertius!”
“Your Vocati will be here when you come back.”
I remembered Tertius saying that it might take a while until our next meeting. How the hell would he have known something like that?!
“Is there a way for me to continue with my work?” I asked, hoping to continue to have access to the cell.
“You prefer work to vacation? Come now, my dear, you should start exploring exotic destinations.”
Baldur looked away, expecting no more discussion of the matter.
“Is it normal for a team leader to just leave like that, in the middle of progress?”
“They have their lives too.”
Really? I wanted to wipe that absentminded grin off his face. Which reminded me that I hadn’t taken my meds that morning.
“I didn’t have the chance to tell you, but what you did near Oslo the other day was rather stunning.”
“I didn’t feel much myself that day,” I admitted.
“It does not diminish the act. Well now, you should go and plan your vacation.” Baldur dismissed me and I felt something inside growl. “Just tell Lena when you leave.”
I nodded, exiting.
Later on the couch, I examined the figurine more closely. A guitar leaning on a piano—I guessed the symbolism was us. Nice gesture, but why had he left it with me? And as an intruder in my room, nonetheless! Why hadn’t he given it to me two days ago in the restaurant? Was it a friendly or romantic gesture? I squeezed it again, wanting it to be the latter. And what was with the abrupt departure, anyway?!
“Oh, I didn’t know you were here.” Julia entered the room.
“I had an early meeting with Baldur. As it turned out, I’m on a vacation now.”
“Oh? Problems?”
“Not mine. Tell me, is it normal for a team leader to just leave in the middle of progress?”
Her eyebrows lifted. “Rarely. Why, has Belun left?”
“Yes, and we had just made a huge breakthrough with Tertius.”
“It probably was something urgent.”
Apparently, but what? He didn’t have any family that could die. “Pills!” I jumped, going for them. I shouldn’t be forgetting them.
“Mr. Hyde’s making an appearance?” she asked lightly.
“I wouldn’t make jokes about him… You know how mean he can be.”
Julia brought me a glass of water.
“And what’s the deal with the other team leaders?” I asked, returning to the common room and accepting the glass from her.
“I’ve never heard of an Inquirer being left in the lurch. I know Gustavo travels a lot, but I’m not familiar with the arrangement he has with his team. The rest of us have never had any problems like that. At least not since I’ve been here. Didn’t he tell you anything the last time you saw him?”
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