by Devlin Chase
He stalked across the room, smiling as Frankie shrank back against the wall, his eyes white above the dishtowel that had been tied across his mouth. He didn’t remove the gag, however, merely loosening it to stop Frankie from bleeding all over the carpet. It cost a fortune every time he had to call in the cleaning service and wiping their memories of the blood they’d repeatedly cleaned up was becoming tedious to say the least.
He dropped the now dead phone onto the counter and sat in one of the armchairs that dotted the spacious living room of his apartment. His fingers drummed on the arm of the chair and the leather of his coat creaked each time he moved. Heavy drapes covered the windows, obliterating the sunlight entirely.
An hour from sunset he began to smile. Just a few more hours and his plan would finally come into play. Preparations had been made and all that was left was for Darien and his posse of ineffectual reprobates to play their parts to perfection.
Darien had, of course, folded so easily. Once the place and time had been named he’d had only one question to ask and Jacen had been more than willing to confirm that Frankie was untouched and would remain so as long as they all stuck to the plan.
Now there was just time to kill and, as he turned to Frankie, his eyes lidded with subdued pleasure, he drew in the waves of human terror that clung to the air.
Darien, smug bastard that he was, thought that his years in seclusion could remove his bloodlust? That preying on energy could fulfill their desire or their hunger?
A bark of laughter left his throat and the waves intensified as Frankie rolled his terrified eyes in Jacen’s direction and the vampire smiled.
Sucking the energy from unsuspecting victims was one thing but draining their essence, their very lifeblood, now that was something entirely different.
And Darien hadn’t been able to resist, had he? So here they were, all these years later, one trying and failing to curb his own greed and the other ready to embrace his bloodthirsty nature to the full.
How fitting that it would come down to the existence of one woman.
How quaintly human.
His fingers resumed their tapping as he waited for night to fall.
***
Galena had prepared Darien’s bedroom as best she could and, as he walked in with Cat in his arms, she watched as he laid her gently on the carpet.
He had borrowed one of Marabella’s diaphanous negligees and, while it looked tawdry and lawless, it covered her modesty and made him feel better.
Galena had pulled the bureau closer to the middle of the room and was peering at a piece of paper that lay atop its surface. The bedside lamps had been turned off and the soft glow from dozens of candles filled the room.
The others had all left, heading off to meet with Jacen in the hopes of stalling him long enough for Darien to complete Cat’s Ascension.
Conrad had been the last to leave and he’d offered his prayers for a successful Ascension, his head bowed as he’d uttered the words in the old language of the vampires. Darien had been moved, not having heard the old language used in decades as their nation had moved into modern times.
He watched as Galena lit the last few candles and knelt next to Cat, the piece of paper clutched in her hands.
She noticed Darien’s scrutiny and smiled wryly as she held up the paper. “Photocopy,” she explained. “I couldn’t exactly walk out with a scroll in my hands.” She took a deep breath and turned the paper to the light, speaking the words in the old tongue.
Lying on the bare carpet Cat shivered, her hands rising as though understanding the words. Her skin gleamed with perspiration and a faint glow was emanating from her skin again, pulsing in time to the cadence of Galena’s voice.
The incantation seemed to go on forever and Darien felt his hope dwindle as Cat whimpered, watching her try to curl up on her side but being forced to lie flat as Galena’s hands gripped her arms. It went on like this until Darien thought he couldn’t take any more.
He was about to step forward and tell Galena to stop when he felt a cool breeze pass his cheek, causing the candle flames to flicker around their wicks. Again a breeze whispered past and, as he stared at Galena and Cat, he saw two amorphous shapes swirl like pale smoke above them.
Galena spread Cat’s arms wide and then moved to her legs, spreading her feet apart until she resembled Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, her arms and legs spread like points on a compass.
The pair of swirling shapes were joined by another two, their smoky essences mingling and twisting above the two bodies until Galena stepped aside and moved to stand next to Darien, who was staring open-mouthed at the writhing smoke.
Galena nudged him with an elbow. “It’s rude to stare.”
He turned to look at her and found her smiling with amusement. Damn it, but she looked completely relaxed, despite what was taking place over Catherine’s inert form.
Then his eyes were drawn back to Cat as the forms drew apart, slowly coalescing into semi solid states at the points of her hands and feet.
They were sexless beings, neither male nor female but possessing human form. Taller than Darien, they dwarfed everything in the room and, as one turned to look at him, he could sense that they were old; older than time and eternity.
“Galena. Come child.”
The sound reverberated around the room although Darien had not seen the wraith’s lips move. The one who had turned gestured toward the diminutive woman and she stepped forward, taking her place at Cat’s head.
Elementals.
The thought entered Darien’s mind and took hold as awe raced through his body. He was in the presence of the Elementals, something that not even the Obscura had enjoyed in centuries.
He watched as they all turned to look down at Cat and, as if by some unspoken command, her body began to lift off the carpet, rising on unseen hands until she hovered at waist height.
Galena began her incantation once more and, after a few minutes of hushed words, the Elementals raised their hands and she broke off mid word as Cat’s eyes opened and she became fully conscious, her breath expelled on a harsh gasp.
Darien wanted to rush forward but he knew that this would be an unwelcome move and besides, his feet seemed to have taken root in the carpet. But his heart pounded as he watched Cat look around, becoming aware of the ethereal beings that surrounded her.
And then she smiled; radiance bursting forth and filling the room with such warmth that Darien could feel it from across the bedroom and Galena was forced to take a step back.
“Continue, child.” The Elementals moaned together as one.
“Catherine? Can you hear me?” Galena switched to English, stepping forward to peer into Cat’s face.
Cat turned her head, seeing Galena for the first time. “What’s happening?” She asked, although she nodded.
Galena ignored the question, leaning close to speak to Cat over the hum that had begun to echo from the space between the Elementals.
“I need you to answer some questions, okay? You need to answer truthfully, you hear me? Don’t tell me what you think I want to hear.”
Galena stepped back again and, in the space she created, Cat saw Darien for the first time, panic clouding her pale features. He raised his hand in a discreet gesture and she seemed to realize that he needed her to remain calm as she turned her head away and took a deep breath.
“Catherine, daughter of the Ligata, here in the presence of your Elemental Council, do you swear to tell all in truth, no matter the cost to you, body and soul?”
Cat hesitated but then her voice rang out, clear as a bell despite the humming that was growing louder.
“Yes. I swear.”
Galena stepped closer. “Catherine, daughter of the Ligata, do you accept your calling to heed to your kin?”
“Yes.” This time her answer was reed thin, her uncertainty plain; it was as truthful an answer as she could manage.
“Catherine, daughter of the Ligata, do you swear to uphold the tenets of your kin in
as much as you are physically and emotionally capable?”
“Yes.”
“Catherine, daughter of the Ligata, do you willingly subject yourself to the council of the Elementals in matters related to your Ascended form?”
“Yes.”
Darien could see that Cat’s features were now contorted, filled with pain and her answer was forced through gritted teeth; the Elementals having lifted their hands, gripping her hands and feet. He fought his desire to rush over and free her from their embrace, remaining where he stood, knowing that this was all a necessary part of her Ascension. But Elementals had never been present at any vampire Ascension as far as he was aware and he knew he was witnessing something that hadn’t happened in centuries, if not millennia.
“Catherine, daughter of the Ligata, do you submit to receiving the life of your existence; the counterpoint to your everlasting soul?”
Cat managed to nod her head as she moaned. With that the Elementals returned to their wraithlike forms, swirling around her body which remained suspended in the air despite their no longer holding her.
Then she screamed as unseen hands tore into her, gouging her wrists and ankles and bringing forth her blood, which fell to the carpet in a thin stream.
Before he could even move Galena had turned to him, her eyes blazing with an energy he’d never seen in her before.
“Step forward Darien, child of Greed and counterpoint to Charity.”
Darien shuffled forward on legs that suddenly felt rubbery until he stood before Galena, although his eyes remained on Cat and the blood that was pooling from her wounds.
“Darien, sin of Greed, do you offer yourself to the fulfillment of your opposite?”
Darien stared at Galena, suddenly aware of what she was asking.
He was being asked to offer himself in charity, to relinquish his greed by an act of generosity he’d never been asked to make before.
He turned again to look at Cat as the Elementals swirled in an eddy above, flickering the candle flames. She’d turned her head and, despite the pain she was in, was staring at him with an expression of complete calm and trust.
He smiled gently. “Yes.”
The swirling above grew to a fever pitch as Galena led him over to Cat.
Leaning over he gazed into her eyes, smiling as he watched her mouth open and her newly developed fangs emerge.
This was the legacy of the Ligata, he thought as he bared his throat to her, wrapping his arms around her in a loose embrace; to be the same but so different, the light to their dark, the whole to their emptiness.
Then he was sighing as her fangs slid into his neck, drawing on the lifeblood that he’d offered freely, his generosity the sacrifice that would allow her to complete her Ascension and bring him the peace he’d always felt lacking in his existence. She would make him whole; her act of greed a compliment to his charity.
He stood motionless, feeling the sucking of her mouth at his neck and the sweet pull as she drew his blood into her mouth.
Then he felt the swirl of the cloud the Elementals had combined into, lifting his eyes in time to see them split apart into four streams, his eyes widening as they arced down, entering smoothly into both of their bodies, slicing through them as though they were mere air.
He could feel their passage; a hollowness that stripped away a part of him each time, entering into them over and over again until they dropped to their knees in the pools of blood that were slowly congealing on the carpet.
When he opened his eyes the Elementals were gone, as if they’d never been, leaving Galena to rush over and check that they were alright. His legs shaking, Darien lowered Cat to the carpet, careful to avoid the blood. He cradled her against him, brushing damp strands of hair from her face. He could feel blood trickling down his neck from her bite but he made no move to attend to it. All his concern was for Cat. Her eyes were closed and her face pale but, as he kissed her neck he could feel the blood pulsing strongly beneath his lips.
“Catherine?”
Her eyelid fluttered open as she gazed up at him, becoming aware of her surroundings.
“You taste really good,” she smiled weakly as he crushed her to his chest with a guttural moan, giggling as his sigh morphed into a laugh that mingled with her own.
***
They were waiting in the darkness of the garden housed in the centre of the asylum complex and, as he dragged the bound and gagged Frankie behind him, Jacen could feel their presence before he saw them.
The four stepped out of the shadows and the first thing he noticed was that Darien was not with them; and neither was Catherine.
He wasn’t surprised. He’d expected Darien to stay back, keeping Catherine from him but, as the four advanced, he reached out mentally and found nothing more than empty darkness behind them.
So, Darien hadn’t come at all and Catherine was still out of his reach. Frankie must mean less to them than he’d assumed and he pulled the human forward, holding him out at arm’s length.
“I will kill him,” he spoke softly, the threat in his voice deadly. “You know I will.”
Conrad stepped forward, draped head to toe in black, only his face visible in the moonlight, his eyes glittering darkly.
“No you won’t,” he replied smoothly, shrugging his massive his shoulders within the confines of his jacket. “Not if you want to fulfill the Saligian Prophecy.”
Jacen hissed and stepped back, shock distorting his face before he regained his composure. “What do you think you know about the prophecy?”
Marabella emerged, her lithe body deceptively calm. Jacen eyed her warily; they’d done more than just work together in the past and he knew better than to take his eyes off her for an instant.
“What, you think we don’t all want a shot at redemption?” Her tone mocked him and he narrowed his eyes, not sure what he was hearing.
She smiled, revealing fangs that gleamed like her quicksilver eyes. “We’re here to make you a deal.”
Brent and Riley stepped forward until all four faced off against Jacen and the struggling human at his side.
Riley flicked his hair off the shoulder of his jacket, the gesture making Jacen smirk. Always such a nancy, that one.
Riley ignored the look. “Let the guy go and we’ll consider the first of the virtues as yours. We’ll even tell you where you can find Catherine.”
Jacen took a step back. This was too good to be true and, as he stared at them, he sensed no deception on their part.
“So I just hand over the human to you and you’ll tell me where Catherine is?”
The four nodded and again, he felt no lie resonate from them.
‘Okay,” he said suddenly, pushing Frankie forward, shaking his head as the human stumbled and fell to the grass.
The others stood their ground, none rushing forward to help the man.
Conrad stepped closer, the one of his kin that Jacen knew would be the most truthful.
“She’s at her apartment.”
Jacen nodded and stepped back, ready to vanish into the darkness of the bushes when Brent’s voice reached him.
“From what I saw earlier, she’s about to begin her Ascension.”
Jacen hesitated. “You saw her?”
“I’ve been on guard duty at her place since she went ballistic on D’s ass the other day.”
Marabella laughed, the sound convincing him that Brent was telling the truth; that Catherine and Darien were no longer together.
Catherine would be alone during her Ascension; or at least until he completed the process for her.
He stepped back into the bushes as the six hulking dogs stepped forward, the rottweilers’ deep growls preceding their entry into the open square of turf. They prowled forward and Jacen smiled in the darkness, watching his fellow vampires as confusion crossed their faces.
His grin widened.
“You didn’t think I would share the Virtues, did you?”
His stepped back into the shadows as a tiny man
took his place, stepping out from the bushes and dressed only in an animal pelt tied around his thin dark waist like a loincloth. In one hand he carried a stick and in the other a collection of bones tied together on a length of string. Beady eyes stared out from his wizened face as he began a rhythmic chanting.
“Please don’t think of vanishing. Julius here has placed some rather vile body parts around the perimeter of the park which he assures me will cause you a great deal of pain if you try to do anything other than walk out of here.” Laughter filled the darkness.
“He says they’re animal parts but I’m not so sure.” Jacen stepped back into the bushes, instantly lost in the inky blackness.
The night fell quiet except for the low chanting and the panting of the dogs.
“Well, this is a cluster fuck if I’ve ever seen one,” Riley said mildly as he eyed the dog closest to him. The animal cocked its head as if it agreed and then bared its teeth on a silent snarl.
Marabella stepped forward, squatting on her haunches a few metres from one of the dogs.
“Oh, come on Riley. Aren’t you just dying to let your Irish out?” Her laughter tinkled through the air like broken glass.
Brent watched the small figure of the witchdoctor bobbing from side to side as the chanting continued. He thought of rushing him but he had a feeling that the Sangoma had probably wrapped himself in a protection spell.
He didn’t know much about African magic but he had a feeling he was going to have to do his homework after tonight.
Conrad made a move toward Frankie, who had turned and was eyeballing the dog that stood above him, his face pale but oddly unafraid. As Conrad approached, however, the dog growled and Frankie turned to shake his head at the looming vampire.
“Your funeral Frankie,” Conrad muttered as he backed away.
Marabella was slipping out of her black sheath dress, her boots already in a neat pile as she draped the dress over them. Brent shook his head as Riley smiled. At least she was wearing underwear tonight.
She caught the look they shared. “What? I like that dress.”
Then they turned to face the dogs and the air was filled with a loud hiss, answered by the fearsome growls of the dogs as they attacked.
