Darkling

by Sabolic, Mima

  “Oh…” She let a little laugh. “He’s a Vasilis.”

  What?! “As in…?”

  “Yup, he’s Simona’s brother.”

  I was shocked. I definitely hadn’t expected that.

  “Small world, huh?”

  “Damn village more likely!” I snorted. “What’s he doing here?”

  “Visiting Balthazar.”

  Oh, really!

  “Girl, we have to work on our communication.”

  Theodore joined us at the table for breakfast. Little Sophie sat between him and Doris, and it seemed that he was her favorite person too.

  “Did you sleep well, girls?” Balthazar asked.

  “As if I was home.” Doris smiled broadly, and I nodded with a polite smile.

  “You might have not seen our other guest yesterday. Doris, I believe you already know Theo.”

  “Good morning,” Theo said to me, and I returned the greeting.

  I surprised myself by the amount of food I ate. Jeez. Only a few months ago that would have been my daily dosage. But now with all the training I had had, my body was asking for more. I’d get fat on this vacation if I didn’t at least go for a run.

  “How long are you staying in Nîmes?” I asked Theodore.

  “A few more days.”

  “Wanna come on a city tour with us?” Doris asked.

  “Gladly, but I have some things to do. Maybe we could meet later?”

  “Of course,” she said contentedly.

  What was he here for, and what were those errands he had to run? I remembered that the girls said Vuk wasn’t bound to a household—was it the same for this guy? In the case that he was a Priest, of course. Also, Vuk was gathering information about the gifted people, so what did Theodore do? And why the interest in Belun? Was he a friend or foe?

  I started thinking about Arna’s words about Belun’s pain and why he had had to leave. My hand instantly found its way to the metal figurine in my pocket.

  That morning, I noticed that all the vamps had something in common. They were taking small bites, which led me to think about vampire bites and marks on necks. I wondered who Balthazar’s blood supplier was and how fresh the blood had to be in order to keep its nutritional value. I had never thought of it before.

  Later in my room, I texted Blake:

  Nika: hey, you finished your paper yet? Know anything about Theodore Vasilis?

  Blake: still workin’ on it. Only that he’s of noble family and some say he’s a nomad

  Nika: a nomad?

  Blake: he changes places a lot, which is strange for a vamp. If you find out anything share

  Nika: pas de probleme mon amie

  It was unusual for a vamp who was not a Warrior to change places a lot. Unless it was court duty. But to be labeled as a nomad among vamps, that had to bear some meaning. Could he be a Warrior? He seemed rather skinny for that, so I rejected the idea. Oddly, I felt that the more I knew about Theo, the closer I would get to solving the Belun puzzle. So I decided to follow my instinct.

  There was a knock at my door.

  “You ready?” Doris asked.

  “Let’s go,” I said, getting my coat and phone.

  “So, let the introduction to French Rome begin!” She was pretty excited.

  “Have you been here before?” I asked as we walked toward downtown.

  Doris shook her head. “They moved here four years ago. Before that they lived in Paris, where Balthazar’s offices were.”

  “Offices?”

  “Yeah, he lived among humans as an attorney for a while. His main office, for the special clients, was located in the 1st arrondissement of Paris. There you have the Louvre, Palais-Royal, and many other important places.” My clear interest indicated that she should continue—and apparently she had understood the comment I had made about our communication, because did she continue. The good thing about vampires was that you didn’t have to repeat things twice.

  “That part used to be the royal center of Paris. There are the prettiest parks, best museums, famous boutiques, and bars. The 1st arrondissement is situated on the right bank of the River Seine and the west end of the Île de la Cité. But enough about Paris, we have our own tour here to make!” Doris fished the Nîmes tour guide from her bag.

  “Clara gave me this.” She showed me the book. “There’re a lot of interesting things to see.”

  “Cool.”

  “First, we’ll check out the biggest thing: the Arena,” she said, with excitement.

  I had expected to see some ruins, and was very surprised to find it complete!

  “Wow!”

  “It says the Romans built it in the first century A.D. and that the Nîmes Arena is the best preserved amphitheater of the Roman era,” Doris read from the book.

  The façade consisted of two levels of sixty superposed arches, separated by a cornice. Walking the corridors and entering the terraces, I could almost smell the dust under the gladiators feet.

  “Apparently Nîmes has a strong bullfight scene,” she said.

  “I don’t like that sport, or whatever it is that they call it.”

  “Why? It’s another culture’s tradition.”

  “It’s a lame excuse to torture animals,” I stated.

  Sneaking through the corridors was fun, and we were the only visitors. There was a gladiator museum too, but with fewer weapons than I had expected.

  “I like this place,” I said. “I wonder how a vampire who lived in that time sees it now.”

  “Balthazar would know.”

  “He looks more like he was a pirate,” I said, with a chuckle.

  “He’s not a bad guy, but it would be interesting to see him with an eye-patch and a pirate scarf,” she laughed. The image was unforgettable.

  “If I needed information from him, what would I have to give in return?” I asked.

  “I don’t know, you should ask him. Why, you need something?”

  “Maybe I do.” I smiled slyly, but one pact with a devil was enough for this lifetime—meaning Baldur and my business contract.

  “Well, don’t worry, he doesn’t trade in souls.” She nudged me in my ribs, as if knowing what I was thinking.

  “Not that you know of, anyway.”

  “You okay with us staying there?”

  “Yeah, it’s nice. I like them. It’s interesting.”

  “I thought it would be. I wanted you to see how some of us live.”

  “It was a good call, hon,” I returned the nudge. “Any opponent of Baldur is worth knowing.”

  “I see you caught that at the table.”

  “Hey, I’m the Inquirer. I was trained to notice the tiniest things.”

  “I don’t recall them giving out diplomas.”

  “Smartass.” I stuck my tongue out at her. “Does Baldur have any enemies or only opponents?” I added.

  “I assume you’re asking about those among our race. Well, I’m not so sure about open enemies but there’re some people who don’t share his views, I guess. My father, Balthazar, and Belun, to name a few.”

  “And why’s there a problem between Warriors and Baldur?” It was a question that had been bothering me for a while.

  “Politics,” was her whole answer. Ugh. Maybe she didn’t know why. I remembered that Belun’s answer had been equally vague.

  “What about hostility? Or is that too extreme for your world,” I asked. I wanted answers!

  “Well, there was the Middle Age incident, when the Vocati were created. I guess no one is completely immune to hostility. Unfortunately.”

  “Who’s your ancestor?”

  “A monkey?” she laughed. “Just joking. It’s Udama,” she said proudly.

  So Doris was the offspring of the second oldest vampire. That had to count for something.

  “What about Belun and Theodore?”

  “The Vasilis’ are from Kyrill, and Belun is from Baldur.”

  “Baldur?!?” I couldn’t believe it! Belun came from Baldur?? Now I un
derstood his insisting that Belun take a place on the Council.

  So my dear team leader was the offspring of the very vampire I didn’t like. Okay, “didn’t like” was an understatement.

  “I assume your connections with your ancestors are strong,” I said, but Doris shook her head.

  “There’s no connection. Not one that calls for mandatory obedience—or any obedience for that matter. We’re an advanced democratic society,” she said. “But not in the framework of liberal capitalism,” she added teasingly.

  “But isn’t there any connection?”

  “Well, that depends on the relationship between the two people, I guess.” Doris shrugged.

  “And what about Set? Who’s his ancestor?”

  “Apius? Hmm, that’s a little complicated,” she said, uncomfortably.

  “It’s okay if you don’t wanna talk about it. I understand,” I said, making a huge mental note to investigate the matter.

  “Yeah, thanks.”

  “No problem.” I was more than satisfied with the lesson she had given me regarding offspring. It was something I hadn’t been able to find in the books that Matthews had given me.

  So, Set was of the mysterious sixth family. If Doris was of Udama, Belun of Baldur, the blond witch was of Kyrill, and the two families of Sango had been slaughtered—then from whom was Set? As a vampire woman, Ixtab couldn’t have produced offspring. And Doris’s answer, “it’s a little complicated,” was only making things worse. I so wanted to know! I doubted that any vamp would tell me about it. Except Set himself, perhaps. And I wouldn’t see him for three weeks. This issue wasn’t something you could tackle over the phone. As French would say: quelle merde.

  Set’s metaphor with a rose bud and death came to my mind. Why would he compare himself to something like that? I wondered if there was more to it than just being a pick-up line for the girls.

  “This building here is Maison Carrée.” Doris crossed toward the small temple, situated behind the Arena. “It’s one of the best-preserved of all the Roman temples. It was built in 16 B.C. and was dedicated to the adopted heirs of Imperator Augustus. Of course, anything in the name of pushing the cult of character. Napoleon took this design as a model for La Madeleine church in Paris, dedicated to the glory of his own army. Right! In front of the temple was the Roman Forum.”

  I looked in the direction of the site, but it wasn’t easy to imagine. The temple was nice with all of those pillars surrounding it. Inside, we watched a film about the history of Nîmes. I liked seeing 3D models of how it used to look under the Romans, and it was nothing like I had imagined.

  Outside, the sun had already set, making a glass building nearby look stunning. When I had seen it before I hadn’t liked all that new material set among the ruins, but seeing it now with the light falling on all the right places, it was amazing.

  “That’s Carrée d’Art, the Museum of Modern Art. Architectural design by Norman Foster.” Since I didn’t have any comment, she continued, “He’s a British architect. He constructed the Millennium Bridge, a pedestrian bridge in London that you can see in every movie that has anything to do with London. As well as that bullet-lollipop building.”

  “I see you’ve been there.”

  “I lived in London before coming to Tromsø. Well, more between Paris and London. And I loved it!”

  “Lucky you. I’ve always wanted to go there.”

  “Next time, we will,” she giggled and shoved me lightly. Then she returned to the book guide.

  “Nîmes was on the main road from Italy to Spain. Here stood Porte d’Augusto, Augusto’s gate. The dude apparently built the whole city.” We were looking at something that resembled a wall with two big arched entrances, and two other smaller ones. Nothing special.

  “Oh, here’s a fun fact. A doctor Jean Nicot was born here, and he was the first person to introduce the French to tobacco from Portugal in 1560.”

  “A doctor who introduced the world’s most popular drug. Ha!” I said.

  “A paradox.”

  “That might explain our hosts’ addiction.”

  Doris laughed. “Hardly. Shall we get coffee?”

  I nodded enthusiastically.

  We sat near the window in a place overlooking the whole plateau that had been the site of the forum. There were zillions of types of coffees on the menu, and I needed time to go through all of them. Finally, I ordered Almond Mocha, and when it arrived it was very good.

  “Oh, crap. I forgot my pills.” A phone alarm reminded me.

  “You still taking them?”

  “Yep.”

  “Wanna go back?”

  “Nah. Let’s hope that I’ll behave in a civilized manner.” She laughed.

  “No worries, I’m used to your mood swings.”

  “Hey, it’s not like it’s happening that often!”

  “Whatever you say, Mr. Hyde,” she said, and I rolled my eyes.

  “Okay, I’ve had my moments. Now, meds are working their magic.”

  “Yeah, you’ve had them! Like when you pushed Simona into the pool,” Doris giggled.

  “I totally forgot about that!” Images of the incident made me laugh. It’s not like the witch hadn’t deserved it. No guilt about that one.

  “Oh, and there was an even worse incident... when I bit Belun’s arm.”

  “You did what?”

  “Don’t ask.” I looked shyly down at the table. Suddenly the smoothie menu seemed really interesting. But Doris couldn’t stop laughing.

  “C’mon, who still bites?!”

  “It was during training, not that that justifies it.”

  She made me describe the whole thing, much to her enormous amusement. When her phone buzzed, she mentioned that Theo would be joining us soon.

  “What do you think of him?” she asked.

  “As someone separate from Simona?”

  “You know, she’s not as bad as you think.”

  Actually, everything I had done or said about her had been only in response to her behavior toward me.

  “We hung out a lot when I was staying at Kyrill’s court.”

  “You were there?”

  “Sure. But when Baldur started his Project in Tromsø, creating a healthy environment for a vamp community, the nobles became divided between him and Kyrill. My father supported his Project and he followed him. The Apius family did too, but now only Set is there.”

  “The Vasilis family didn’t support Baldur?”

  “Nope.”

  “So what about Theo?” I teased her. It hadn’t been that hard to notice that they had been close once.

  “We’re friends. But a long time ago, he insinuated that he’d like us to be more. I didn’t like him in that way, so nothing happened.”

  “Did Belun live at the court?”

  “He did. But it was before I was there. When his father died, he took the Warrior call more seriously. We saw each other from time to time, but he was seeking a more complete isolation. He’d visit the court, but it was on rare occasions. And then we met in Vienna for one of Simona’s big parties, and that was when my story began with Aidan.” Her face practically radiated with her smile.

  “How come you and Belun are so close?”

  Doris shrugged. “I’ve known him my whole life, and he always had strong feelings for me. Maybe I reminded him of his younger sister.”

  “Did you know her?” Only after I said it did I remember the two-century time difference.

  “I saw her in oil paintings. She was very pretty with big green eyes and pale skin. Belun loved her very much; he has never forgiven Set for breaking her heart. Actually, he can’t forgive Set for getting into a romance with her in the first place. They both knew what love did to fragile girls back then. Belun’s mom was an example of that too.”

  “And he blames Set for that?”

  “He blames him because Set’s coming into Teresa’s life meant that she’d never grow old happily and die happy.”

  So, Belun’s sist
er was named Teresa.

  “But Set didn’t kill her,” I said, quietly.

  “I know. You can’t choose who you love. But Belun could never get over it.”

  “Set told me that he was next to her when she cut her veins, and that he suffered terribly from her choice to end her life. I don’t think he can forgive himself either.” I thought of Set’s face at the pool bar when he had revealed those things to me. When I lifted my eyes from my coffee, Doris was looking bewildered.

  “I didn’t know how she killed herself, Belun never talks about her. I also didn’t know about Set being with her on her deathbed, so to speak.”

  “That’s what he told me,” I said, feeling a bit defensive.

  “You two got pretty close, didn’t you? I can’t imagine Set talking about Teresa, or worse, Belun’s reaction to it.”

  “I didn’t know her name.”

  “Does Belun know he was next to her?”

  I shrugged. “I guess not, since Set told me it as a secret.” But he hadn’t told me to keep it to myself.

  Doris’s look was still a mixture of emotions when a familiar voice greeted us.

  “Hey, Theo,” she said, pushing aside our conversation.

  “How was your tour day?” he asked, sitting down.

  “Interesting. The Arena is magnifique,” I said, with a smile.

  “Great view,” Theo commented, looking through the window. He seemed more relaxed than before, but I still got the same feeling that I had gotten with Vuk. I still wondered why. Maybe being close to magic made your features . . . dynamic, for lack of a better term.

  His hair was dark auburn and messy, like the first time I’d seen him; his deep brown eyes were warm, and when he laughed, he seemed shy. He was my ticket to the Belun mystery.

  Chapter 21

  Through the Woods

  “So, how was your day?” I asked Theo, when the waiter had brought his drink.

  “Semi-successful.”

  Okaay, whatever that was supposed to mean.

  “Hey, Theo. It’s been a while, where have you been these days?” Doris smiled at him.

  “I guess, our roads just haven’t crossed.”

  “That sounds nomadic,” I commented, remembering what Blake had told me about him.