Chronicles of Darkness: Shadows and Dust

by Andrea F. Thomas

  Helena was shocked that the vampires knew so much about her.

  The redhead that was still lying on her locked eyes with her again. "Our creator won't be too happy if we keep the huntress to ourselves."

  Giggling amused, the other replied, "We just tell him it was an unfortunate accident."

  Helena wasn't able to form another clear thought as a pair of long teeth pierced her throat, searching for the main artery. Desperately the head of the Leosol family arched up, trying with all her might to push the female vampire off her. But it was in vain.

  *****

  Frustrated beyond all meaning, Skylar banged her forehead against the yellowish pages of the book, which she had been reading only moments before.

  Monique opened the door and entered the library. She had to laugh as she saw the girl. "Well, I guess that means it doesn't want to get into your head, hmm?" the cook asked, amused.

  Skylar looked up and wailed, "I will never understand it. This language is way too complicated for me."

  "Nonsense," Monique replied, trying to cheer up Helena's little daughter, while she stroked her cheek. "Don't hang your head. You will see, eventually you will understand it."

  "I dare to doubt that," Skylar shot back stubbornly, crossed her arms in front of her chest and poked out her lower lip.

  Monique realized it would be better to quickly change the subject. "I just wanted to let you know that we are off to bed. I wanted to see if you need anything before we turn in?"

  "A bigger brain to get all the French words in. Do you have something like that to offer?" Skylar asked, quite serious.

  The cook giggled. "No, I'm sorry. But if you'd like, I could help you with the vocabulary, tomorrow."

  With renewed hope Skylar looked at the woman. "Really?"

  Monique nodded.

  "That would be fantastic," the girl exclaimed, a small smile forming on her face.

  "Alright, I will see you tomorrow then. Good night, Skylar." After that, the cook left the library.

  "A good night to you too, Monique!" Skylar called after her. Alone again, the girl closed the French book and put it on the table. Once more, her gaze fell on the scrolls and papers of her mother. "This is far more interesting than trying to learn that bloody French," she decided and engrossed herself into the documents about the vampire clans.

  Suddenly the door flew open and a loud, "Aha! Got you now!" erupted.

  Caught, Skylar discovered her brother, who grinned and joined her at the table. "Hey, you little rascal. Snooping around in Mama's stuff again?"

  "I am not snooping, I'm searching for something," she defended herself.

  "And for what, if you allow the question?" Kyrian followed up, looking over his sister's shoulders.

  Skylar showed him the scroll with the vampire clans' symbols and pointed at the golden phoenix. "I have been searching for that. Have you seen this ever before?"

  Kyrian shook his head. "Another clan?"

  Skylar shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. Not so long ago, I asked Mama about it, but she didn't give me an answer. That's why I thought I would go through her notes to find some hints, but no. Nothing, not one tiny trace."

  "What about the little note book the police chief gave to Mama. Have you looked there?"

  "No," Skylar responded shaking her head. "Mama took it along. She always carries it with her, since it has been a present from Monsieur Dutroit and all..."

  'Damn!' Kyrian thought to himself. 'I need this book. I'm sure that every important note is in there. I need it to catch the vampire.'

  His sister was shaking his arm wildly and that brought him back to the present. "Hey, Kyrian! Did you listen to any word I said?!"

  "W-what is it?" he stuttered.

  A bit nerve-wracked, Skylar rolled her eyes. "I asked you, if you have noticed that the police chief comes to visit us quite often?"

  "So what? They have a lot to talk about, what with the case and so on."

  "I think there is more," Skylar remarked and bent to her brother, grinning conspiratorially. "I think our Mama has caught the eye of the good Monsieur Dutroit."

  Kyrian wrinkled his forehead, regarding the girl questioningly. "What makes you say that?"

  "He has a certain expression in his eyes, just like you do when you see Christine. Aaaaand... I was right about you and her. Wasn't I?"

  "Alright. That's enough now," her brother replied, scooped up his sister and placed her upside down over his shoulder.

  "Hey!" Skylar squeaked in surprise. "What are you doing? Let me down, right now!" she ordered firmly.

  Kyrian only laughed and carried the twisting and kicking, loudly protesting girl from the library. "Time for bed, little Mademoiselle smart-aleck!" he announced and went upstairs.

  *****

  In this moment of hopelessness, the huntress thought only about her children. The thought of Kyrian and Skylar gave her the strength she needed to break free. Her fingers reached for her belt and pulled the double-edged dagger from it. Helena rammed the blade deep inside her opponent's chest.

  The eyes of the vampire bulged and she began to scream in piercing tones, until blood came out of her mouth, silencing her inhuman wails. Unmoving, the female vampire lay there, slowly bleeding dry.

  Only with great efforts did Helena manage to free herself from the body and got back on her feet.

  The eyes of the other vampire gleamed with murderous lust. Screaming outraged, she leaped at Helena.

  The huntress threw the dagger at her with such force that it stopped the vampire's attack. The double-edged blade nailed the furious vampire to the wall. Helena drew a deep breath of relief. "Even a huntress needs to have some luck." Then she ripped a piece off the lifeless vampire's dress and wrapped it around her own bleeding throat. After that, she thrust a stake through the fallen vampire's chest. "Sol invictus!"

  Meanwhile, the other tried to pull the dagger from her hand, mumbling curses, but the blade stuck fast to the wall's joint.

  Helena stepped in front of her and the vampire hissed, "My teeth will pierce your throat, huntress!"

  "Is that so? Want to know what I think? I think that you are in no position to make such threats. Correct me, should I be wrong."

  As an answer, the vampire spit at Helena's feet.

  "You and your kind caused a lot of trouble for me tonight," Helena continued. "I'm covered in blood. I also have bite marks on my throat, which I don't like in the slightest."

  "Pull the dagger out of my hand!" the vampire demanded. "I will show you how much more trouble I can cause!" Black fire started to blaze in her eyes again.

  Helena pulled the other stake from her coat pocket and rammed it into the screaming vampire's heart. "Sol invictus!"

  The gray ash floated softly to the ground in front of the huntress' boots. She pulled the dagger from the wall joint and put it away. The huntress turned around and listened carefully to the sounds of the night. Her ears couldn't pick up anything unusual. Helena was relieved. "God will have mercy on your poor souls and treat you as what you once have been... humans." Then she left the horrible place to return to the castle as fast as possible, in order to see if her children were safe.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  HUNTERS AND HUNTED

  Chalice's carefully planned arrangements went smoothly, just like her Master had wished. The house was at her disposal and nothing would interrupt Azrael's rendezvous with the D'Ardenne twins.

  She lit a small flame under a little silver bowl with a dark brown, bitter powder - opium. She waited until the drug was smoldering above the flame. Then she blew out the fire and placed a curved glass carafe over it. White steam rose and filled the room.

  The blonde woman offered the tube-like pipe to Azrael, who took a big drag, before giving it to Véronique and Valérie.

  Chalice knew from her own experiences about the opium's numbing effect, but the girls wouldn't live long enough to get addicted to the drug. She also knew about the danger if too much was consumed,
leading to deep sleep with strange dreams and hallucinations. In the worst case, the consumer could die from it.

  For awhile she studied the twins, observing their first reactions to the drug. Intoxicated by the opium, they lost their inhibitions, submitting completely to the vampire's desires and demands.

  Chalice left to carry out her work. Like every night she prepared everything with great caution. She returned with a silver tray, laden with sweets and colorful candy.

  Superior, Azrael beckoned her to come closer and said, "See, my beauties, all this is for you. Dig in."

  Giggling and fooling around, the girls grabbed for the sweets, before Chalice had time to put the tablet on a small table.

  Gradually, she became fed up with the orgies that her Master loved so much. She couldn't understand why he didn't just drink their blood, without turning them into libidinous slaves. Chalice's gaze darkened, and she pulled back her hand when one of the twins tried to grab her.

  "Come to us," Véronique said. "It will be so much fun."

  "Yes, Chérie, come on!" Valérie cried, dissolving into mad giggling and falling back into the couch's pillows.

  Her twin sister joined in the silly laughter.

  "Yes, why don't you have some fun with us?" Azrael asked maliciously, because he knew Chalice couldn't stand the situation.

  "No!" she declared firmly.

  "Ohhh... what a pity," the girls sighed disappointed in the same breath.

  "Oh well, that leaves more for us, sister," Valérie added, tracing Azrael's beard with one finger.

  Chalice fixed glassy eyes on her Master, so she wouldn't have to look at the only partially covered twins. Walking backwards, she reached the door and fumbled for the handle, her expression dark as she left the room. The blonde jerked the high, white doors close and took some deep breaths.

  "Oh, Monsieur, you are so passionate," she grumbled, mimicking the twins, and crossed her arms. She leaned her back against the wall and slid slowly to the floor, hugging her knees to her chest. Chalice stared ahead, while fiery jealousy burned in the pit of her stomach.

  Sighs and passionate moaning drifted from the room behind her.

  She pressed her palms over her ears. She couldn't and most of all didn't want to hear how her master coaxed cries of lust from the D'Ardenne twins throats. "His dark powers only long for your souls, girls. He is not interested in you. He only wishes to steal your souls. And what he wants... he always gets." A confident smiled formed on her face. "He left me my soul. I am special to him. Yes, that I am, I alone am special to him." Chalice began to relax, knowing of her irreplaceable role in Azrael's life. "I am the one and only, his chosen." She tilted her head towards the closed door, adding more self-confident and louder, "I am his soulmate. Yes, that's who I am. I alone am his true soulmate."

  Still, she could hear the lustful cries of the twins and the passionate moaning of the vampire.

  "What is taking my Master so long tonight? Why didn't he already kill them?" the young woman asked herself. Doubts began to rise. "Why is he doing this to me?" Chalice continued confused. "Why do I have to stand these orgies? If only I were already his immortal mate. I would show him what real, unrestrained lust is about." Dreamy-eyed, she played with the fine strands of her hair, thinking about times when there was only her and her Master. Anger grew inside her. "Why did he say he would like me to join in when he takes the girls? Why, why, why... why does he want them when he has me?" The jealousy rose so strongly, she didn't even realize that she was pulling her hair out.

  "Why can I not share the fun with him as a vampire?" The present condition of her existence seemed unbearable to her. Furiously, she clenched her hands so hard that the knuckles turned white. Her nails dug deeply into her palms, leaving crescent marks behind.

  She leapt up from her sitting position, unable to suppress her feelings any longer. "Is my Master honest? He has the power to turn things that are wrong around. Then everybody thinks they are right. Does my Master manipulate me also?" Excited, she began to pace the corridor, hammering her knuckles against her temples. Chalice stood rooted to the spot as a thought struck her mind. "Honesty is not important. Kyrian wasn't always honest. I am not always honest. Nobody can always be honest, nobody. Everybody lies, constantly."

  Her gaze grew soft as she remembered the young hunter. "Kyrian, oh Kyrian. At your side, I feel the safety I've been missing for such a long time. I so long for it. You don't chase me around. You do everything for me..." She sighed and leaned her back against the wall. Her expression froze. "No, no. Everything you do, you do for your precious, little Christine. Not for me."

  Breathing heavily, she ran a hand through her hair, "Everybody hates Chalice, except my Master. He saw Chalice and rescued her. It was unimportant what I looked like. Being an immortal, he sometimes forgets that I am not. My time is running out. He has to think about so much, his big plans, his followers and servants," Chalice said, her gaze empty.

  She buried her face in her hands. "Just what am I doing to my Master? How could I ever doubt him? He loves me, because I am irreplaceable. I know it."

  Her hands fell away from her face and she returned to the window. The small street, which led to the secluded house, was illuminated only by a few lanterns. Chalice gazed outside. Silence had fallen inside the room behind her. She hadn't heard the final screams of the girls. "If only I could destroy all my feeling like my Master will wipe out mankind."

  *****

  Kyrian lifted his gaze and his eyes grew wide with shock as the door to the library opened. His mother had returned home from the hunt. The young man stared at her bloodstained clothes. "Mama? Dear God! What happened? Do you need a doctor?" he asked concerned, reaching for Helena to help her out of her coat. With bated breath, he hung it over a chair's backrest.

  "There is no need to worry. I am fine," she answered calmly and moved to a small chest in a corner of the room. The head of the Leosol family took out an old piece of cloth and a whetstone. She sat down in an armchair and pulled the holy sword from its scabbard to clean it from blood and sharpen it.

  "But all the blood?" Kyrian prodded, his suspicious eyes never leaving his mother.

  "It is not mine," Helena replied, while polishing the mighty weapon with the piece of cloth. "It is going to be hard work to clean my clothes. And how am I to explain it to the washers? I really don't know. It looks like there is no other way than to burn it all, to avoid unnecessary questions."

  "Are you sure that you are not harmed?" Kyrian inquired, scowling, his eyes resting on a certain spot on her throat.

  Helena smiled weakly, which wasn't exactly convincing to the young man. "My son, I am alright. You..."

  "Then how do you explain this?" he interrupted, annoyed. "There is a bite mark on your throat!"

  The huntress sighed, placing sword and fabric aside. Carefully she ran her fingertips across said mark. As she pulled them back the tips where covered in red, a sure sign that the wound had started to bleed again. "Oh that... uh... it is nothing serious. Just a small scratch, nothing life-threatening." She averted his disbelieving, piercing gaze and began to untie her corset. Her hands were shaking strongly from the adrenalin, and she couldn't open the knots. Finally, she lost patience with the thin ties, pulled the dagger from her boot and cut through the pesky threads.

  "Mama? How many of them were there?" Kyrian wanted to know, a small trace of curiosity in his voice.

  "Seven. Five male and two female vampires..."

  "Seven?" he interrupted again. "Why didn't you take me along? I could have helped you!" Kyrian crossed his arms and couldn't hide the angry flashing of his eyes.

  A sharp glance from Helena was enough to silence her furious son. "I'm fed up having this discussion again and again! I'm exhausted. I'm dirty and I just want to take a bath, see how Skylar is, and then I want some much earned sleep."

  Kyrian realized just how much this night had drained his mother's strength. He bit his tongue and swallowed his violent temper. "I am so
rry, Mama. I really don't wish to fight with you. I was worried about you... and now that I see that you came back wounded... I... can you not understand me?"

  Helena rose, walked to him and gently caressed his cheek. "I understand, Kyrian. I understand you all too well, my son. It is our destiny to fight these dark creatures and it is never going to be easy." She placed a gentle kiss where her hand had rested a moment ago. Then, she wrinkled her nose in disgust as she became aware of a stench. "Please excuse me, but I think I really need that bath now. We will talk later, agreed?"

  Kyrian nodded. His eyes followed his mother until she left the room and the door of the library fell shut behind her.

  "That's my chance," he said to himself and pulled the little note book, which the huntress had received from Michel Dutroit, out from Helena's coat pocket. "Now I can show my worth. I can finally prove that I am no longer a child. I am a man." Determined, the young hunter opened the book and went through the written entries, trying to memorize as much as he could. Two words stood out and were connected with each and every occurrence: Quartier Latin.

  *****

  Skylar stumbled through the darkness. "Mama? Mama, where are you?"

  "Here, my precious. I am here," Helena's soft voice answered.

  "Where? I can't see you. It's too dark."

  Helena laughed. "Well, my precious, that's the purpose of this exercise. Don't trust everything you see. Your eyes can mislead you."

  "How am I supposed to find you?" Skylar wanted to know.

  "Use every sense. Listen, my child. Listen and follow the sound of my voice. Come to me..."

  The girl took a deep breath. "Alright. How hard can it be? I can do it." Skylar encouraged herself and ran toward the place where she assumed her mother to be. Slowly, the darkness faded and she found herself surrounded by thick fog. She looked around, trying to pierce the grayness around her, but was still unable to find her mother. "Mama?" Skylar began to panic when she didn't get an answer. She called out louder. "MAMA?" A cold breeze ran over her back and she felt as if someone stood behind her, breathing down her neck. Her heart beating wildly with fear, she whirled around, but there was no one.