The Heart of Arima.

by Emma V. Leech

  Rodney followed my gaze and looked up. “It’s known as ‘L’arche de Satan’.”

  “Very comforting,” Corin muttered with a sigh, looking at my wide-eyed expression.

  Rodney did the buttons up on his coat and shivered, and then caught the look on my face too. “Ah, don’t fret, luv. It’s just a library now. Well, at least the library is hidden underneath. The old chateau is a tourist attraction. Come on then, best foot forward."

  He set off in the direction of the fortress and we followed behind him through the narrow streets, which were cluttered with higgledy piggledy stone houses. We’d been walking for about ten minutes up increasingly steep, cobbled paths when it started to snow. It made the cobbles slippery as hell and Corin grabbed hold of my arm just in time to stop myself falling on my face.

  We carried on climbing for what seemed an eternity and I stopped for a moment to catch my breath, and looked in awe over the view spread out in front of us. The river Dordogne wound its way through the valley and mist crept over the surrounding fields as the first rays of light back lit the hills.

  “Come on, luv, no time to enjoy the scenery.”

  Rodney had obviously decided that we needed to get back as soon as possible as he grabbed my other arm and almost yanked it from its socket towing me up the remaining hill. I suspected he felt nervous being out with me and Corin. He wouldn't want Corvus to doubt his loyalty too. I guess I couldn't blame him.

  He stopped suddenly and began inspecting the massive, fortified wall in detail, muttering and running his hands over the stone work carefully. I smiled apologetically at an elderly man out walking his dog, who looked at him and then me in alarm, before hurrying past.

  “Rodney, what are you doing?” I hissed, moving my feet to try and warm them up.

  “I’m lookin’ for the bleedin’ door, what do you think I’m doin’?”

  “Is this what you are looking for?” Corin asked politely, pointing at a patch of wall that looked identical to all the rest. I walked closer and felt the ward flare over me. The door had obviously been hidden with magic.

  “He’s right, it’s here,” I called. Rodney nodded and walked over to resume his muttering at the point we’d shown him. The ward sparked and fell, revealing an ancient, wooden door, which Rodney opened and stepped through, gesturing for us to follow. “Oh by the way, don’t mention Corvus.”

  I frowned. “What do you mean, why not?”

  He shrugged and began to walk. “Dunno, really. Just whenever I come, Corvus always tells me not to say it was him that had sent me like.”

  “Oh, alright then.” I didn’t know what the problem was, but I wasn’t about to cause complications. I had enough of those to last a lifetime. We stepped through, Corin closing the heavy door behind him and I shivered again as the ward reactivated.

  We appeared to be in a large stone tunnel that ran under the fortress and I hurried after Rodney, unwilling to linger. There was a weird feeling to this place. An earth floor, worn smooth by the tread of feet over many centuries dulled our footsteps and the air was cool and damp, though not as cold as outside. It soon became clear the ward at the entrance wasn’t the only magic here and I wrinkled my nose as the cloying, sweet smell became stronger the farther along we went.

  The tunnel ended at another big, wooden door and this time Rodney knocked and waited. After a few minutes the door was opened and a woman looked us up and down unenthusiastically.

  “Ah oui, Sariel sent you?” We nodded and she sniffed and looked at me with clear disapproval. “You must be Jéhenne?” I nodded and she sniffed again, and then her gaze fell on Corin. “Your Highness,” she breathed and I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes. Corin smiled politely and nodded as she curtsied. I got the distinct feeling he found this reaction equally tedious. “Je suis Madame Dubarry. Alors, you had better come in. Suivez moi.”

  She led us into a huge room that was filled floor to ceiling with ancient books and scrolls. All of the shelves were heavily warded and I leapt into the middle of the room as my fingers brushed against one. It was a bit like a nasty electric shock and I blew on my fingers irritably. The woman turned and glared at me through her half-moon spectacles.

  “Attention! Don’t touch the wards!” she snapped.

  “I’m trying not to,” I muttered, and stepped closer to Rodney.

  I looked around as we walked, amazed by what I was seeing. I'd always been impressed by Corvus' library. He was a great lover of books and had a staggering collection but these were something else. There were no novels or chapbooks here though, in fact some of the books made my skin crawl. Even from behind the wards and in the brief moment it took me to walk past I could feel the stench of death. The lingering touch of evil brushed my skin, and I quickened my step. By the look of it, this was just one of many rooms as I could see other doors leading to more rooms, each equally full, and I wondered just how much knowledge and power was contained within these walls. Could anyone come here and research what they wanted? The thought of some of the creatures I'd met in the past year having access to this stuff made me feel sick.

  She stopped in front of a set of shelves and softly spoke the words to deactivate the ward. There was a shower of yellow sparks and she gestured to the books.

  “Voila, these are what I was told to show you.”

  “Thank you.”

  I hoped if I was polite she might thaw a little towards me, but she just scowled harder. She was probably in her late sixties, tall and slim with greying hair pulled back into a chignon. I could see she had once been a very attractive woman, and she still would be, if it wasn’t for the bitterness that seemed to be etched onto her face. Her expression appeared to be set in a permanent frown and I figured it was best just to get on and out of her way as quickly as possible.

  I reached up to take one of the books off the shelf and heard her gasp in shock. The look on her face was surprise. She seemed …upset. I thought, for an uncomfortable moment, she was going to cry but she quickly pulled herself together and smiled at me brightly. After her previous demeanor this was equally puzzling, especially as I felt sure she’d been looking at the tattoos on my wrists.

  “Alors, I’ll leave you to it, if you’ll excuse me.” She gave us another full wattage smile and hurried away.

  I looked at Rodney who shrugged. “Nutcase!”

  “I don’t know - that was weird, do you think it’s because of Corvus? I’m sure she was looking at these.”

  I held my wrists out and Corin nodded. “It seemed as though they shocked her.”

  “I dunno,” Rodney said with a shiver, “but let’s get out of here sharpish, it’s givin’ me the willies.”

  I couldn’t have agreed more. I had a bad feeling about the place and the smell of so many magical wards in such a confined space was giving me a headache.

  We settled down and took notes whenever we found something that might be relevant. Sadly there was no photocopier or even electric light. The amount of wards here must play havoc with any electrical connections, so the place was lit with oil lamps, and a pen and notepad was the best we could do.

  After an hour or so, we thought we had looked at everything. It wasn’t much and it didn’t fill me with confidence, but it was better than nothing. We were just putting the books back on the shelves when the librarian returned, carrying a tray laden with coffee and a plate of cakes.

  “I thought you might be thirsty after all your hard work so I made you some coffee.” She smiled at us and started to pour.

  “Oh, that’s really kind of you but actually we should really be on our way.”

  Her face fell but then she smiled again and began to pour the coffee regardless. “Non, j’insiste. You can’t go out in the cold and snow without a hot drink.”

  I began to walk away, shaking my head apologetically. “Really, it’s fine we--”

  She placed a cake on the plate and handed it to me. “Besides, I get so few visitors you know, it’s lonely here all by myself, it would
be kind of you to keep an old lady company for a few moments.”

  Corin grasped my arm and whispered to me. “I think we should leave now.”

  She smiled at us again and looked at me so hopefully that I didn’t have the heart to say no. She might be a nutcase, but working all day in the gloomy library all by yourself would send anyone a bit nuts. I glanced at Rodney who shrugged, and we sat down again. Corin pursed his lips and sighed, sitting with us as she served the coffee in tiny porcelain cups and plied us with the tiny vanilla Madeleines, which were still warm and utterly delicious.

  I began to feel sleepy. The library seemed suddenly far too warm and my head began to ache again. “Thank you so much for the coffee and cakes but I really think we should be going now.” I pulled myself to my feet wondering why I felt so woozy and was dismayed when I stumbled and knocked the coffee pot over.

  “Oh, I’m so sorry Madame Dubarry. I … I’m afraid I really don’t feel very …”

  Chapter 30

  I was freezing. I wriggled uncomfortably, cuddling as close as I could get to the warm body beside me.

  “Jéhenne,” said a familiar voice. “Jéhenne! For the love of the gods wake up!”

  I forced my heavy eyes open to find my head on a male chest and looked up to see Corin looking at me with relief. “About time,” he muttered.

  I squealed and leapt to my feet, which I quickly regretted when my head began to pound fiercely. We were in some sort of cell and Rodney was still lying on the cold stone floor. I went to him and gave him a hard shake. He woke and groaned, clutching his head. “Bleedin hell, me brain’s been chopped in two.” He looked around as he stumbled upright and paled when he realised where we were. “Shit, Jéhenne, what’s goin on?”

  “She must have drugged us,” Corin said, sounding seriously pissed off as he brushed dust from his clothes. “I told you we should have left!”

  I walked to the cell door. There was a small opening in it with bars across and a little light filtered through from a lamp in the corridor.

  “Why?” Rodney asked, wincing and rubbing his temples with his fingers.

  I glared at the cell door furiously, immediately feeling the answering burn in my fingertips. “I don’t know. Why don’t we go and ask her?”

  I let the power go and the door shattered, sending burning shards in all directions. Rodney swore and ducked as a dagger sized piece flew past his head. “Bugger me, Jéhenne! Give a bloke a bit of notice before you go blowin’ things up will yer.”

  Corin tutted at me. “There you go with the damned sledge hammer again, have I taught you nothing?”

  “Sorry.” I shrugged, feeling quite unrepentant. “But we can’t afford to hang about. What is this woman anyway, Rodney, you never said?”

  “She’s a witch.”

  I stopped in my tracks. I knew from my Gran that our kind of witch was hereditary and very rare. That being the case we would almost certainly be related.

  “Like me?”

  Rodney shook his head. “Nah, she’s human, just spells and stuff. She’s good though, powerful. She wouldn’t have got the job here otherwise.”

  I understood what Rodney meant. As a human witch she could cast spells and set wards but she couldn’t draw on her own power at will. It took her time and effort to create magic whereas mine was at my fingertips, sometimes too readily. I wondered if she knew what I was. If she did, she was either really brave or really stupid …or maybe she just didn’t care. I remembered the bitterness on her face and for some reason that thought bothered me more than anything.

  We walked the narrow corridors looking for some signs of life.

  “Why wasn’t there a ward on the door of the cell?” I asked as the question occurred to me.

  Rodney stopped and looked at me. “You think it was too easy?”

  I nodded, biting my lip anxiously. It was like she didn’t really care if we’d escaped.

  Corin frowned. “She was buying time.”

  I felt the colour drain from my face as the truth of his words hit home. “Shit!”

  “What?” Rodney demanded.

  “She just wanted us out the way long enough to cast a spell.” I yelled as I started to run through the corridors, flinging open doors whenever they appeared. I would bet she’d taken our hair or nail clippings while we were out cold. The question was …what the hell was she going to do with them? I felt dread settle in my stomach. Whatever it was I’d lay money on it not being good for my health.

  Finally the corridor opened out. The floor here was tiled and rather more civilized light fittings were fixed on the walls. There were three doors and Corin, Rodney and I grabbed one each and opened them. I ran through into a cosy looking kitchen. Herbs hung from the ceiling and there were candles lit, casting a soft glow over the room. Ordinarily, I might have thought it would be a nice place to spend an hour chatting around the fire blazing in the hearth. On this occasion my attention was focused entirely on the woman in the centre of the room.

  There were five candles around her, at the five points of the pentacle. I could see the bright glow of the circle she had cast around her, drawing on the elements, air, fire, spirit, earth and water. Rodney was right, she was strong. Gran and I rarely needed to cast a circle but I’d seen enough to know that this one was powerful – unbreakable. She had a censor in front of her, a small fire within sending smoke curling up to the beams. Her eyes were closed and she held an athame in one hand and a small bundle of material in the other. I yelled at her to stop, but she was too focused, she couldn’t hear me.

  “Jéhenne, do something!” Rodney was behind me suddenly and he shook my arm, like he could make me act.

  “I can’t!” Frustration burned through my veins like acid, but I knew it was true. “If I cross the circle, I’ll stop the spell but I’ll probably blow us all up in the process.”

  “Shit.”

  It was too late anyway, she threw the ward into the censor and the flames blazed brighter for a moment before dying away. I felt a shiver run over my skin and for a moment the tattoos on my wrists and ankles burned. I heard Rodney gasp as I held my wrists up and he looked at me in horror. I didn’t blame him, it was too terrible to contemplate and then I turned to look at Corin.

  He said nothing, his expression gave nothing away but I knew well enough what he was thinking as he held out his wrists to show me black tattoos, crudely drawn; the mark of someone who had broken a vampire’s bond. He was a dead man.

  Madame Dubarry banished the circle, looking incredibly smug and the moment it fell I turned on her.

  “What have you done?”

  She sneered at me, eyes blazing with triumph. “I never thought I would ever get the chance to pay him back, to make him suffer as I suffered …and then you just walked in the door! Fate, for once, has been kind to me. I wasn’t about to let the opportunity pass.”

  “What are you talking about? You mean Corvus?”

  She flinched at the sound of his name. “Yes,” she whispered, “Corvus.” She glared at me disparagingly. “What have you got that I didn’t have?”

  I must have looked shocked as she carried on, I didn’t think she was waiting for an answer in any case.

  “Oh I may be old now, but when we were together, when he was my lover, I was young and beautiful. Look.”

  She picked up a dog-eared photo from the kitchen table and thrust it into my hands. I looked unwillingly. Somehow I knew I wouldn’t like what I saw. Sure enough, my stomach twisted into a knot as the image registered. It had been taken sometime in the seventies and she was right, she had been beautiful, stunning in fact. Her long blonde hair curled around her face and down almost to her waist. In fact they made a perfect looking couple – her and Corvus. I felt sick. Jealousy churned in my stomach and I tried to swallow it down. Anger, anger was better. I reached for it, welcoming the fierce burning in my blood.

  “What have you done?” My voice was quiet. She didn’t know yet but Rodney did. He took a step back.
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br />   She smiled, proud of herself. “I took a hair from your head and one from the Prince.” She paused and looked at Corin. “I apologise for misusing you so, Your Highness, but the opportunity was too great to miss. Your reputation for dangerous living and womanising was just too perfect for my needs.” Corin glared at her, and I felt the heat of his magic mingle with my own as she continued. “Of course I still had one from Corvus. I had kept it …for a long time, just in case. You have been asleep for hours you know. It will soon be dark and he will wake and find proof of your infidelity.”

  “No!”

  Suddenly, she wasn’t smiling anymore. She was looking in horror at the blue flames creeping from my fingertips. She pointed at them and began backing away.

  “Ce que vous êtes?”

  Corin answered for me, a grim smile at his lips. “She is La Dame Blanche.”

  “Impossible! There is only one that I know of in France, and that is Inés Corbeaux.” She pointed at me. “That isn’t Inés!”

  I stepped forward and gave her what I hoped was a very unpleasant smile. “No, you are quite right, I’m not Inés. I’m her grand-daughter.”

  Her breath was coming in gasps now as I walked closer to her. “Break the spell now!”

  She shook her head and I yelled in fury and fear. “Break the spell!” Oh God, if Corvus saw those marks! I imagined the consequences if he thought that Corin and I had actually gone through with the previous night’s plan. I was wild, frantic! Corvus couldn’t see those marks. If he thought I’d been unfaithful with Corin, Oh God he’d kill him. The stupid woman just stood there shaking her head though and I snapped.

  The key, that golden light, the power to rule the underworld that I carried within me, was there ...waiting. I had only touched it once, in desperation, to save my friends. I had been forbidden to use the power and I still didn’t know what my punishment would be, but it didn’t stop me. I had sworn I would never touch it again, but I couldn’t let Corvus see those marks. I couldn’t! I knew he would believe it and it might just destroy him.