Circle of Death

by Thais Lopes

  We were in the middle of the enchantment when the Nameless moved. I realized we would lose our chance, as I wouldn’t be able to sing and fight him at the same time. I already doubted I would be able to distract him for more than a few minutes, even if I didn’t have to split my attention.

  As soon as the thought crossed my mind, a strange creature appeared, running to the Nameless. I contained my surprise and kept singing while the creature fought the Nameless. It was humanoid, but his legs were disproportionate, with one extra joint, and its arms ended in long claws. Its skin was an unnerving mix of red and green, and scaly plates covered parts of his body.

  A demon, I realized, surprise almost making me falter. And not one of the lesser demons. That one wasn’t one of the lords, but it wouldn’t be far from it in their hierarchy. What was it doing there? I glanced at the limits of the ward around us and finally saw the demons spread on its outer limits. They were keeping it there. How? Alice. This was her doing, there was no other possibility, if she had been raised by the daughter of a demon lord.

  And then the enchantment was over and the transition complete. I felt Kelene’s presence getting stronger in my mind, through the mental bond. And it was just in time, as the Nameless had just gotten rid of the demon and was walking towards me.

  Some creatures could use any power released around them to strengthen themselves. Apparently, the Nameless was one of those. Seeming completely recovered and unscathed even after fighting the demon, he ran to me in a speed even I considered impossible. I tried to hold him, but it was useless. He twisted my body in a strange angle and I heard the bones breaking. I felt no pain, and he knew it, but a broken arm would slow me and reduce my options for attack or defense. Quickly, I threw myself to the ground, using the strength of his grip to bring him with me. He released me in the middle of the fall, recovering his balance in a way that shouldn’t be possible.

  I noticed the energy gathering around him, but there wasn’t enough time to even try to defend against anything he decided to use. But then a dome surrounded me, and I saw the Nameless’ eyes go to a place behind me, his surprise clear in his expression. Still, he attacked, only to have his power absorbed by the dome.

  I recognized what he had tried to do, and turned to see what had surprised him and raised that barrier. It was Kelene. Her clothes were still torn, as result of her previous fight, but her body carried no mark. She had assumed a haughty and threatening posture, and the energy she was gathering around herself was almost visible, making her hair fly as if caught in a preternatural wind. In her hands she had the sword that had belonged to Death. No. It was still Death’s sword, I realized.

  “I think you’re losing your touch.” She spoke, a childish taunt, but her voice carried so much power and threat that the words didn’t matter.

  The Nameless moved to stand in front of her, ignoring me.

  “Kelene, Kelene… You could have been great, but instead you have chosen to bind yourself to the laws of the universe.”

  She only smiled, somehow looking more like a predator than any vampire I had ever met. Everything happened in a fraction of a second, after his. The Nameless attacked, using the same powers I had seen him use in the time before the Intervention, but Kelene just intercepted his strike, using the sword. The blue veins glowed brighter than ever before. In the next second, the Nameless was on her, trying to win using physical strength.

  The dome around me fell, and Alice was beside me.

  “It’s not safe to stay here.” She said, opening one of death’s pathways.

  I followed her inside, but we stayed on the entrance, watching what was going on. To my surprise, the Nameless didn’t seem to be gaining ground, and Kelene still had that unnerving predator smile on her face.

  And then I understood. Kelene had been able to imprison the Nameless, with the Fae’s help, when she was still human, even before she became the White Hand. Now, she was Death herself. It didn’t matter if the Nameless had become stronger, Kelene would be, at least, an opponent he couldn’t ignore.

  But, even though she was stronger than K’ujul, she still needed him to lower his defenses before she could imprison him.

  “Why, Kelene? You should have been my heir, not my enemy.” He asked, and I didn’t know if it was a genuine curiosity or if he only wanted to distract her.

  “Because my father has always been empty. Without a real purpose, without something he truly believe in, completely restrained and moved by his fear. Meanwhile, my mother gave me a reason, a path a could take to be free.” She answered without faltering.

  He attacked, throwing her away. Kelene fell with a dry sound and, before she could move, the Nameless was in front of her, holding a sword which had appeared from thin air.

  “Your mother died the day you were born.” He lowered his sword in what he expected would be his final blow.

  Kelene rolled in the last moment, using the movement to throw her legs under the Nameless and trip him. As when I tried to bring him down, he didn’t fall, but that fraction of a second was enough for Kelene, and she got up.

  “You didn’t even know what the woman you married was.” She went on. “My mother was the White Hand of her time, and the last Death’s Avatar. I’m the daughter of Death and the Nameless. Interesting, isn’t it?

  Even I was caught by surprise. Kelene, Death’s daughter? Daughter of K’ujul?

  She threw her sword away, and the weapon disappeared. This time I could really see the energy that swirled around her, like a cloud made of shadows, growing with each passing second. The Nameless stepped back, retreating for the first time since he defied Death, in times already forgotten.

  “Before you do anything, I’ll destroy your precious Keeper! Do you think I didn’t realize what is going on between you both? But I gave him the life he has now, and I can take it back!” He threatened.

  “Somehow I don’t think you’re strong enough to do it.” She answered, tilting her head to the side, with a tranquility that was, on its own, frightening. “You interfered with Life once. To affect what you did then, you would need to destroy all vampires. But you won’t do it.” She smiled, advancing, and the Nameless stepped back again. “You won’t risk destroying this army tailored to your plans, because one day you will escape again.”

  He took another step back, and this time he stumbled. That was all Kelene needed to throw her Power furiously. Caught by surprise, the Nameless was held paralyzed.

  It was a repetition of the Intervention. The Nameless called the elements to free himself. The earth shook and a storm formed above them, the wind so strong it would bring down any other creature there. I heard Alice cursing, and saw the demons running and trying to find cover. Just in time, as lightning started to fall on the grass around the two silhouettes. But Kelene didn’t even seem to be affected by all that.

  “She will destroy him” Alice whispered, beside me. “Take a look at the Power she is calling.”

  Only then I really paid attention to the whirlwind of energy that surrounded the woman, who was perfectly still in the middle of the storm, looking less human with each second. I didn’t need more than a moment to understand what Alice meant. Somehow, Kelene was calling upon the final death.

  “Do you really think you’ll be able to keep me imprisoned? I’m your father, your spirit is bound to mine. It will be easy to escape, far easier than any other time.” He said, unable to see what was happening in front of him.

  “That’s why I won’t imprison you.” Kelene replied with a scary smile.

  She didn’t use any enchantment, any way I knew about how to control the power. But we saw when a copy of the woman stepped forward, made of that gray cloud, and moved toward the Nameless. Kelene stood still, but the copy put its hands over the Nameless’ face and chest. And then I understood. She had mixed her own essence with what made the final death, and I knew what she would do. The copy stepped back, and a mirror image of the Nameless, made of white mist, fol
lowed it. A white rope tied the images together, going from one heart to the other.

  That rope was the connection between them, the link between father and daughter. And Kelene would use it to make sure the Nameless followed her, while she took him to the Veils. This time, he couldn’t escape.

  Both images disappeared, leaving only Kelene ande the Nameless. The earth stopped shaking, and the storm disappeared in the same sudden way it had began. The energy around the woman started to fade, disappearing a couple of minutes later. Once again she seemed to be just a human woman, as when I had met her. Kelene removed the power that kept the Nameless standing and his body fell, turning to dust even before it hit the ground.

  “It’s over.” I whispered.

  “It’s over.” Kelene answered, holding my gaze, even though I was still inside one of death’s pathways.

  She walked toward where we were, and soon was standing in front of us, without making any movement to enter death’s domains. Only then I really understood what had happened there. She walked between the worlds, because she was Death.

  As if she was reading my thoughts, she looked back, to where K’ujul’s body still was. I didn’t wait for her words and went to retrieve the body. One look around showed me that the demons were moving away and that the one who had fought the Nameless wasn’t where I left him.

  With K’ujul’s body in my arms, we went back to the old city, where I knew we were expected.

  29. Death

  K’ujul was buried in Death’s Sanctuary, like everyone who had accepted the responsibility before her. Lucio was there, and so were Pietro and Semele, representing the vampires. The Fae king had attended, accompanied by Avés, his son. He wasn’t happy with the fact that the Fae hadn’t joined the main fight, but the result of our plan had been the best for everyone, and not even him would argue about it. Ivan and Dara, along with a few more of the people who lived in that old city we had spent the last days in, and my neighbors, completed the ones who were expected for the ceremony. Besides them, to everyone’s surprise, came a delegation from the demons, led by one of the lords, who had stared at Alice without trying to hide his pride.

  But, of all them, only the Keepers knew who was really being buried there. No one else even knew who K’ujul had been, and had no idea that Death wasn’t the same person anymore. To them, it was Kelene Mares who was being buried, after using her bond to the Nameless to drag him to the Veils, giving her life so that we could win. It was better if they thought like this. Death’s Power would make sure they didn’t recognize me: they would see what they expected to see, be it K’ujul’s image, be it Death’s archetype.

  When the ceremony was over, everybody left. Alice would go back home to find out I had left my apartment for her, and would live a normal life, even though she was one of the Santuary’s Keepers. And Lucio needed to organize the vampires, who were still in a delicate balance since Seth was destroyed. I could see in his eyes that he wanted to stay, and part of me wanted it, too. But I needed to be alone. I needed time to understand what was ahead of me.

  On that day, walking through the Sanctuary’s halls, I cried. I cried for K’ujul, the mother who had been so close to me, but whom I had never really know. I cried for my betrayal, for using the bond between father and daughter as a tool of destruction. I cried for my lost humanity, for the dreams that were now beyond my reach and for the life I had left behind. Nothing would ever be the same, not now that I had become Death, and was bound to that role until it was my turn to be replaced.

  I could feel the power inside me, urging me to believe I was invincible. I had something of the Nameless’ power besides Death’s Power, mine through blood and through choice. Who could face me? Who, in any future time, could be stronger than me? It was hard to keep that under control, but I would never see myself like this. I wouldn’t allow it. I wouldn’t make the same mistakes K’ujul made, this would be her last lesson to me.

  Death… I still didn’t understand what, how it had happened. I was Death – no longer Kelene, no longer the White Hand. Death. I had no idea of what would happen after that. My only certainties were that Death’s Sanctuary would rise again, and that I would guard my mother’s last lesson.

  Death should be above mortal weaknesses. And now, Death would remember that she had once been mortal, and that not even she would be eternal.

  Acknowledgements

  I need to thank a lot of people for helping me make this book a reality, and the first of them are Carine Ribeiro and Fernanda Barone. I don’t know what I would have done without both of you when I was working on the English version – it was madness, and I wouldn’t have made it without your help. Thank you very, very much for being there for me!

  My friends from Dark Insanity were the first ones to really notice my passion for writing. Between gothic parties and nights spent drinking together, you made me believe I should give it a try. Without you this story (and many others) would still be lost somewhere in my notebooks. All my friends who read chapters or excerpts when I needed an outsider’s opinion. All the friends I made since the first publication: you made me believe I really am an author, you made me trust my stories once again. Thank you.

  My father, who always stays by me side and helps with anything he can. Iana Domingos and Mayara Foscolo (from Studio Le Photographie), who jumped in when I told them about my idea for the cover and helped me make it true.

  And a big “thank you” to everyone who believed in me, helped me, and told me chasing my dreams was worth it.