by Peter Dawes
Julian grunted. As he looked at me, I nodded. “Julian Reichlin, this is Evie Stanton, my contact,” I said, addressing him first before directing my next comment at Evie. “Though I must say I am surprised to see you here.”
“Master Reichlin isn’t the only one with superiors to answer to,” she said, and though she failed to expound any further on the subject, I recalled her speaking about the Primael and wondered if they had something to do with it. The answer remained a mystery, presented and ended as she paused walking and turned to face Julian more directly. “Your bow and your quiver, sir. I promise to return it to you as soon as I believe you don’t mean of us harm.”
While I expected the moment’s pause which followed, it surprised me when he presented the stock of his crossbow to Evie, reaching down afterward to unhook his quiver. After receiving our weaponry, Evie walked it to the trunk, setting it inside and shutting the lid when her hands became unencumbered. “Now, both of you, into the car,” she said. “We can discuss this all further once we’re out of the war zone.”
Julian joined me in complicit silence. As we slid into the back, Katerina shifted over to make room for us, tensing at the sight of Julian and garnering a furrowed brow from him in return. Evie settled into the front, passenger side and the moment she shut the door, we pulled out of our parking spot, forcing Julian to fight with the seatbelt while Richard sped away from Nevern Square. We passed another grouping from the Order, but sped away before they could engage us. For the first time in hours, I allowed myself a breath, certain we had been afforded me the next few minutes. Beyond that, however, I had no guarantees.
“We need to go to Paris,” I said, though the inclusive way I stated that even set me aback. “Julian, Katerina, and I. You should probably separate yourself from us after this.”
“What’s in Paris?” Evie asked, side-stepping my obvious concern.
I determined to play along, at least for the moment. “Potentially, another site where my maker might be. Or might have been recently. I thought I might ask if there’s been any unusual activity there.”
“I take it you found something in your brother’s journal.”
“Yes. Whatever Sabrina had up her sleeve, the locations where she hid her trinkets have been places of importance to her. My brother recognized the pattern and had begun reasoning through it when he was taken.”
“What does he suppose that she’s doing?”
“He did not say. I think she might hold the last true riddle.” Glancing out the window, I watched us merge onto one of the busier thoroughfares and became anxious when the traffic slowed our exodus. “Can we get around this?”
“Working on it, sir,” Richard chimed, inspiring the conversation to come to a lull. Whether we all became more focused on his driving, or more alert for any sign of attack, nobody dared disturb the silence. What little reprieve I had found evaporated, given over to a sense of dread. Richard turned down another of the side roads and used it to get ahead another line of cars. As we veered onto a secondary street, I received the impression we had turned from our intended direction. It took several minutes before we found another artery depositing us out of this section of town. At that point, I had lost my taste for conversation.
Regardless of how uncomfortable the air around us had become, the remainder of our car ride was mercifully bereft of any interference. Nobody knew what to say about it, as if recognizing our fortune would invite an unexpected attack. When we approached the smaller, regional airport from where Robin and I had departed for Vienna, another shroud draped itself over my disposition. Having my brother in spirit was not the same as having his counsel, and in that moment, I would have sold my soul for it.
The car drove up to the area where Evie’s jet awaited. When the engine fell silent, Evie emerged from the vehicle alongside us, and though I suspected she would do little more than retrieve our weaponry, it took me by surprise when she bypassed us all to ascend into the jet. Julian and I glanced at each other, and while Katerina hustled toward the trunk to help Richard with our things, I remained transfixed on the sight. “She cannot be seriously considering this,” I said.
“Let her come,” Julian said with a smirk. “It’ll make killing vampires easier.”
He and I exchanged another look before Julian shrugged, apathetic toward the pragmatism of his suggestion. When he motioned toward the trunk as well, I followed him, and while I took ownership of my sword again, Richard insisted he be the one to transport Julian’s crossbow, asking his assistance with two suitcases, one of which took Julian by surprise from its weight. I shouldered one last item of luggage and perked an eyebrow at Richard, receiving a look of resignation from the human man. “Take care of her,” he said, conceding his impotence in one request.
“I will, Richard,” I said. “I promise.”
Richard flashed a small smile of appreciation, and strode toward the aircraft.
The moment he had handed his burdens off to someone inside the plane, I walked with sword in one hand and the strap of a leather duffel bag in the other. While securing the strap over my shoulder, Richard made his way back to the car and I became the last person to ascend into the jet. The woman who had stowed everyone’s luggage liberated me of my belongings, allowing me to take a seat beside Evie without her permission. As she walked off to fetch me a drink, I settled in for the flight.
I did not bother to look at Evie while presenting my opening volley. “You are capable,” I said, my voice low in recognition of the fact that she and I were the only vampires aboard. “I am not going to insult you by insinuating an immortal of your years cannot defend themselves. This might be a circle of hell with which you should not acquaint yourself, however.”
Evie chuckled, the sound light. Withholding commentary until the stewardess returned with my drink, she shifted in her seat, drawing my gaze while I took a sip of my scotch. “Oh, Peter,” she said. “You aren’t the only one bound to duty. I have good reasons for being here.”
“Perhaps you might explain them, so I have less cause to worry.”
“You strike me as the type who would worry regardless. Don’t attempt to guilt me.” A faint smile tugged at one corner of her mouth. “There hasn’t been any suspicious activity in Paris,” she conceded, causing me to remember we had never finished discussing my mission. “If you want to identify it, though, you’ll need me with you. Otherwise, you might as well run circles around the entire city and hope for luck.”
“Luck serves me when the Fates agree to let it. There is often a method to this madness.”
“And the holy men argue that God uses means to enact His will, don’t they? At least the holy men who annoy me less.” Evie sobered, and matched the volume of my voice at last. “About that talent I said my bloodline have, mine has proven invaluable. It isn’t the only thing we’ve used to identify the places where your adversary peeks his head out, but it could be of some use to you if my mere presence alone isn’t.”
“Is it impolite for me to ask?”
“What my gift is? Yes.” The quirk returned to her lips. “If we find your needle in the haystack, I might consider telling you.”
For a moment, I struggled with the urge to violate the sanctity of her thoughts. If she knew anything which could return my wife and my brother to me, then everything, from my instincts to the screaming voice of Flynn, told me I should fight her tooth and nail for it. She peered at me as if inviting the challenge, daring me to strip her of her own counsel so she could best me.
“This is the woman I love,” I said, not certain when I had opened the floodgates of emotion, but hearing it in my voice. “She and my best friend are at peril, and I do not care if darkness has seduced her, I need to bring them home. I need to bring her back to me.”
Evie’s expression turned neutral, though I saw sympathy in her eyes. “You’re still so human. It’s strange, but someone could confuse you for an old soul until you let that heart of yours show.” She lifted an eyebrow. “How does know
ing what I can do restore them to you?”
“Because if you have a valuable gift, then it could be used to best Patrick.”
“And how do I know you won’t sacrifice me for the sake of having her back?” Evie sighed. Reaching forward, she touched my hand – the one closest to her and unencumbered. “There’s going to be a moment where the scales are going to have to fall from your eyes, and you’ll have to break your own heart for the greater good. Two people you love are hanging in the balance and your adversary knows this. However he plans on gaining what he wants, he will use your weaknesses against you. And you will use me.”
“I would not attempt to –”
“No, but you will. I would, in your shoes.” Evie affixed me with a firm look. “I will help you, but the less you know about me, the better. The fewer temptations you’ll have because of it. You have the right to fight for your loved ones, and I have the right to protect myself.”
She gave my hand a squeeze and then moved her fingers away, settling them on her lap. Seconds later, I heard the engines roar to life and watched as she shut her eyes in what looked like silent meditation. To me, it felt as if the matter had been determined, both her imposing herself upon the situation and electing to use her talents as she deemed fit. For as annoyed as it made me, it also made too much sense for me to argue any further. Yes, I would not set out to betray my new ally. I could not promise I would not sacrifice her to bring Monica and Robin back, though.
As such, I finished my drink and settled in for the short flight.
Evie spent the better part of the trip on the phone, planning for our visit. An hour later, we began our descent into France, and once we had landed, she directed us out of the plane, receiving welcomes from whomever she had phoned for transport and paying them only passing recognition. The four of us settled into a car, exchanging uneasy looks and observing a tense silence all the way to the hotel where rooms had been arranged. Julian and I bunked in one and Evie and Katerina, in the other. We barely had a chance to survey the posh accommodations when Evie knocked on the door.
“We have enough time before sunrise to search the city,” she said, her gaze jumping from me to Julian when he appeared behind me. “I take it, if your maker is potentially up to something, we should act as quickly as possible.”
I nodded. “Whatever reason Patrick has to work with her, she is providing a vital portion of his spell.”
“You’ll have to explain this more in the car. Start from the beginning, too.” Evie quirked an eyebrow at me. “Even if I’ve heard it once, I want the whole picture. In case I need to warn the authorities here that things are about to get destructive.”
“My authorities,” she added, before I could ask.
She failed to give audience to any misgivings. The way she turned and strolled away demanded we follow and while I disliked that she had taken charge, I permitted it, lacking any valid reason why I should wrestle the reins from her. We strode back to her room and retrieved Katerina, who eyed us tentatively and assumed a place by my side when we made it apparent she would be accompanying us. I patted her shoulder, feeling like a pale substitute for Robin. Whatever Katerina had been through during her short tenure as a sorceress, she lacked the taste for conflict, and I could not promise her safety from it.
When we emerged from the hotel again, we found a car idling, its driver stepping out at the sight of Evie and opening the door for her. While they exchanged a few words in French, the rest of us crowded into the back of the car, finding it roomier than the exterior threatened, yet not enough to make transport with our weaponry any more comfortable. This time, there was no objection stated to Julian being armed. When Evie settled into the front, passenger seat, she found my reflection in the rearview mirror.
“Now, start from the beginning,” she said. “And pay no mind to the driver. He shows people around with much darker secrets than any you have.”
While the insinuation begged for rebuttal, I let it stand. Settling as much as I could, I waited for us to begin our excursion around the city before relaying what had come before and finishing with what we knew about the future. “I repeat that I do not know what he has intended,” I said, realizing that I had trained my sights on the city around us, as if doing so had helped me to focus. “He has the remnant of a spell, carved from my brother’s memory. An artifact from the Order, intended to drain my energy. And these shards of gemstone, being collected by my immortal mother.”
“And what does the spell do again?” Evie asked.
“It was the spell which resurrected him and his ilk.”
“And I take it the spell requires a lot of energy to power.” Evie’s voice shifted, containing a grave amount of sobriety to it. “So, when you add it all together, at the barest minimum he’s constructing a spell which requires you to power it, and that it might result in more vampires running rampant around Europe.”
“Yes, but something about that being the end of it seems too simple.”
“I don’t know, Peter, but that sounds nefarious enough. One iteration of the spell has caused the problems we currently face. Expanding it could break Europe.”
“The one thing that has remained consistent, however, are the reactions of his followers.” I frowned, glancing back toward Evie as I felt her eyes on me again. Turning my head, I peered in the direction of the mirror. “They have all been fanatical. In Italy alone, I had droves jumping at us as if it was their sacred honor to protect and aid Patrick. They all have spoken about this as if ushering in the apocalypse.”
“They talked a lot about the rise of something awful,” Katerina said, summoning the courage to come out of her shell. “I don’t know what it was. I tried not to listen.”
Julian shifted, directing our attention toward him. “Maybe he was using the spell as a –” He trailed off, snapping his fingers twice before uttering the word, “Schablone.”
“A template?” Evie asked. “Either that or a model, but either applies.”
“Yes, that,” Julian said. His gaze settled on me. “It might be the easiest way for him to construct a spell. To start with something somebody has already put together.”
“And who better than the original architect of our bloodline,” I muttered. The sensation of pieces coming closer to assembling together left me lost inside my thoughts for a few lingering moments, painting a picture of each element as if something else should be more apparent. I thought of gem shards and pages of writing and Robin’s journals laid out in front of Patrick. “Is your gift registering anything?” I asked toward Evie.
“No, not yet. It’s been only two days since they stole the artifact from the Order, am I right?”
“Two days, yes,” Julian said. “The Order is pursuing Peter first, but they’re also looking intently for Napoleon. He had to have known that would happen when he attacked us, if he’s as smart as everyone claims that he is.”
“He knew,” I said. “Has perhaps even counted on it. Maybe in some effort to have me contained and ripe for the picking, for all I know. That makes this all one large trap we could be walking into.”
“Or a chance for us to show him up,” Evie said, reflecting a rare moment of optimism. Straightening her posture, she took a deep breath as well. I read both as her bolstering her confidence. “Let me focus now, then. What I’m looking for isn’t entirely what my gift is designed to do.” As she said it, we either nodded or settled back into silence without any further fanfare. After an hour of meandering, Evie finally sighed and declared that this attempt had yielded no results.
“The regional aristocracy knows that I am here and want a full report of anything strange happening,” she said once we had arrived back at the hotel. We strode past her room and paused at the door of the one which Julian and I would be occupying. Evie looked up at me as I turned to face her. “Your brother didn’t happen to give us any better idea than Paris where she might have hidden her trinket?”
Frowning, I shook my head. “No,” I said. “At leas
t, not that I recall. And sadly, I lost track of the book when the fracas broke out in the bar.”
“I have it,” Julian interjected. As we looked at him, he raised an eyebrow at me. “I needed to return it, remember?” Nodding at the room, he strode past me and reached into his pocket for the room key he had been given. “I will pull it out and we can read it, but there again, I remind you, my superiors have probably read it, too.”
“So, an area potentially crawling with members of the Order and my maker’s cronies. Brilliant.” Casting a wary glance at Evie, I followed Julian into the room, stripping my sword and my coat, and plopping into one of the chairs. He pulled the book free of his satchel and handed it to me once I had settled.
Opening the cover, I determined to read it from first entry to last.
Its earliest entries contained his last days in Ireland, before I had interrupted his life again. As I continued reading, I found a few moments which gave me pause, including the one which directly followed my return. ‘I was forced to look at him again,’ he wrote. ‘Not being able to tell him how heartbroken I was to even think of Flynn existing had to be one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done. To love someone and both mourn the loss of them and, belatedly, make peace with their betrayal filled the span of ten years. Now, I know he’s looking at me from behind Peter’s eyes. And I don’t know how to speak to either of them about this.’
Frowning, I paid no mind to Flynn, forcing myself to skip ahead a few entries until I felt the weight of dawn settle on my shoulders. My abysmal sleeping habits tugged me toward bed, despite my desire to stay awake. When I glanced at my sleep-deprived compatriot, however, I could not help but to sympathize. “You look like hell,” I said to Julian. “We will give it up for the night.”
