Gabi glanced back at the man, suspicious despite their tacit agreement. He appeared as unruffled as he sounded. He looked down at himself and straightened his tie before adjusting his jacket to hide the bloodstain.
“Do it,” she told Julius. Trust me, she whispered into his mind. The release of his control prickled over her skin and the more normal sounds of life outside the cave resumed.
“Sire?” Annmarie ducked her head and peered into the cave, her eyebrows knitted together with concern.
Eka raised a hand and waved her away. Her eyes narrowed even further, as though doubting what he said, but then her mouth settled into a hard line and she turned around, resuming her position. A moment later Flora’s distraught face peered in through the dark opening, Tabari at her side. Gabi watched as Eka smiled at her and blew her a kiss; then Tabari pulled her gently away.
Julius righted Gabi’s overturned chair and touched her arm, encouraging her to sit. She shook her head. The after-effects of Red Rage still rode her, like the high after a fight, but a hundred times as potent; that coupled with the anticlimax of having her mother safe left her feeling raw and unsettled. Sitting was not an option.
“Start talking,” she ordered. She didn’t return Nex to her sheath. The sword made her feel better, and with her mother safe, there was no need to pussyfoot around Eka any longer.
“I have a last question for Julius.” He held up a placating hand towards Gabi. “It relates to the boon I have asked of you. It is very important to me.”
“Ask,” Julius said as Gabi tapped Nex against her thigh impatiently.
“At what point will you let any of them use her,” Eka’s gaze flicked briefly to Gabi, “to their advantage.” The question seemed vague to Gabi, she wasn’t sure what or about whom he was referring, but Julius understood. His eyes darkened, sapphire turning to storm-cloud grey, and the lines of his face hardened, giving him a haunted look.
“At the point when I, and every one of my Clan, lie as ashes on the ground.” Julius said every word with cold, deadly sincerity. Gabi went still, disconcerted by the exchange and a version of Julius she’d never seen before. Eka smiled, but there was nothing cheerful about the expression; it was the kind of smile that curved her own lips when she first discovered an adversary’s greatest weakness.
“Excellent,” the Decurian said with a slow nod. “So now I ask you formally; will you allow Tabari to teach Flora the Vodun ways, and will you swear to protect her as one of your own if I am no longer there for her?” Their gazes locked; many things were said without a single word being uttered.
Finally, when Gabi was about ready to kick the chair over again, Julius nodded. “I will allow Tabari to teach her. But you may only have Tabari for two months, to keep up appearances of the deal your fellow Decuria think we have been forced into. Beyond that, she will have to come to us.” Translation: you have two months to get your shit together and bring the Decuria into line or find a way to leave them. “And yes, we will protect her and treat her as one of ours should you no longer have the ability to do that yourself.” Julius’s words were heavy with meaning.
Eka closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, the stern line of his shoulders sagging just slightly. His lips relaxed into a smile, this one filled with genuine happiness. And then he opened his eyes and looked at her once more, the ice blue depths alight with wonder and childlike delight.
“You are just as spectacular as they have described,” he said. “In fact, you are even better in the flesh, a true wonder of nature.”
Gabi’s gaze turned into a flat glare. “I’m not a wonder of nature, I’m more like some kind of bizarre abomination,” she ground out. “One that doesn’t need to be replicated to be controlled by the highest bidders.”
“No, you are not an abomination,” Eka disagreed. “You are the epitome of strength and grace. You are the perfectly honed weapon and one in a billion. But I do agree that having too many of you would alter the face of the world beyond what any of us could imagine.”
“What ability do you have?” Gabi asked him, hoping her left-field question would shock an answer from him. The question had been eating at her, the possibilities gnawing at the edges of her mind. It was driving her nuts. “How did you come to be Eka?”
“I’m assuming you won’t be content if I say natural charm and charisma?” he asked.
She stayed quiet, tapping Nex’s blade against her knee. Smears of his blood still coloured the blade.
“No, of course not.” He sighed and reached for the single unbroken glass lying on the rug at his feet. Two of the carafes had survived their ordeal, though the majority of their contents had soaked into the carpet. He reached for one and sniffed, swirled the contents and then eyed it against the light of the flickering fire before filling the glass and holding it out to her. “It isn’t as good as the first one, but it’ll do. Sit, my dear. My story is long, and I dislike peering up at others. I haven’t had to do it for a very long time.”
Gabi bristled. He was no longer in control, but he was acting as though he was; obeying him went against the grain. But the high was wearing off, and fatigue was setting in, standing would achieve little. She accepted the glass from his hand and took her seat. Maybe she was finally on her way to graduating to adulthood.
She sipped the wine. It was very nearly as good as the Jean-Louis Chave, and it warmed her insides. Then Eka began to talk.
“What I tell you now, I have told very few in the vast years of my existence. There are rumours, of course, but I am careful to neither confirm nor deny them. The mystique keeps people guessing, leaves them off balance, sometimes unsure how to approach me. That uncertainty has stood me in good stead. The ability that you refer to is both simple and complex.” He once more steepled his hands and rested his chin on his forefingers. “In essence I can sense intentions when someone speaks to me. While I cannot tell a lie from the truth, like our dear Princep Faruq, I can sense what the speaker actually means. I can tell whether their intentions are good or bad, whether the person is trying to deceive me, and I can sense ill will. Of course, the feedback that I get is often difficult to quantify, to figure out if the intention is aimed at me or at someone else, so I rely on carefully worded questions. This is how I know I can trust my precious Flora’s life to you; this is how I knew you would honour your word and not use your own gifts against me,” he said to Julius. “This is how I know that there are Decurians who want to usurp me and that they will stop at nothing to achieve their goals. I can hold them off for a while. I have always been able to sense if someone means to do me harm, so I am always forewarned, but I tire of the games. In the next few years I will have to make my move, and I need to be sure those most precious to me are safe and secure before I retire.” Gabi could only assume by retire he meant die the true death, but she didn’t interrupt to check.
Julius was nodding, even though she wasn’t convinced that the gift Eka was describing was powerful enough to have got him to the top rank in the Decuria.
“One day I would love to sit down and have you show me the true extent of your own formidable powers, Julius.” He shook his head, but more in wonder than dissent. “Seven years ago I would have been terribly, terribly upset that you do not have your brother’s dark character; between us we could have absolutely changed the world any way we wanted to. It would have been my crowning glory. Nothing would have stood in our way.”
Gabi felt the pulse of a restless surge of power ripple out of Julius’s usually tight control. The mention of Dantè always shook him. Perhaps Eka felt it too, because he lost that faraway look in his eyes and his expression turned shrewd.
“But let me not get sidetracked,” he said. “We are here to speak of Dhampirs and Dark Magi.”
CHAPTER 12
The atmosphere in the cave seemed to cool despite the warmth of the open fire and the gentle glow of candlelight. A shiver crawled up Gabi’s spine as Eka began to speak again.
“My Sire, Atticus, was one of the l
ast Vampires known to have possessed a Dhampir,” the Decurian said with a distant look in his eye, mentally rolling back the years. “I was Turned near the end of my Sire’s reign as High Lord.
“You must understand this was before the Great Cleansing, before the Clans were born. In Europe the Vampire population was vast, though we lurked in the shadows then just as we do now. Most Vampires roamed without control of their Sire, and they attacked humans indiscriminately, with little regard for how much blood they took or what damage was done. With poor sanitation and poorer diets, many did not survive the feedings, their bodies not strong enough to withstand the blood loss or the subsequent infection from the bite.
“In Vampire society there was a kind of feudal system in place, however, and in Europe Atticus was considered the ruler. He was never terribly worried about us rats and mice, but he cherished power and control. He knew full well that if too many humans became aware of the existence of Vampires, they would rally together and destroy us, so he kept a modicum of discipline over the worst of us. More often he would deal with humans who began to make noise about the bodies turning up drained of blood and savaged as though by an animal. This was my beginning, and Atticus himself Turned me and then made me recant my theories in public before I disappeared to serve him in his compound.”
Gabi raised the wine glass to her lips and blinked in surprise when she realised it was empty. This man had missed his calling as a storyteller.
“His strength was, of course, a result of his Dhampir. Atticus had a similar ability to our dearly departed Princep Santiago.” He looked at Gabi with a bland expression and held out his hand for her glass, but a tiny sparkle in his ice blue gaze told her he knew her secret. He poured the last drops of wine from the decanter near his left foot and handed it back to her. “He was able to Turn as many as a dozen Vampires a year; he prided himself on it. His gift had bought him a Dhampir, and his ability to surround himself with many Vampires allowed him to keep possession of the man.”
“The Dhampir was a man?” Gabi exclaimed. While she hadn’t given the matter much thought, she somehow already thought of this Dhampir as a woman.
“Yes,” Eka said. “Their relationship was nothing like the one between you and Julius. In those days Dhampirs were prized and pampered pets, highly valued and much sought after, but kept like a bird in a cage. He was brought out for show when important visitors arrived, but behind the scenes he was regularly drained of blood to the point of anaemia; in reality, nothing more than a slave.”
Gabi shuddered.
“How long had this Dhampir lived?” Julius asked the question neither of them had ever dared to voice before. It was the elephant that constantly lived in the room with them, that travelled with them around the world, that shared their bed. Julius had centuries ahead of him, how long did she have? Would he be forced to watch her age and wither away while he stayed youthful and strong? Gabi usually shied away from thinking about it, but it haunted her dreams and clouded her quiet moments. Anxiety churned the wine in her otherwise empty stomach.
“I believe he had been with Atticus for several decades before I arrived at the compound. I could never get a straight answer from anyone though I did try. You see, I found the idea of a Dhampir quite amazing even back then; I was entranced by them.” He broke off from his story, coming back to the present, his eyes narrowing as he glanced from one to the other, and then comprehension lit his eyes. “Ah, of course.” He nodded. “I can understand your distress; I have had to face the prospect of my beautiful Flora growing old before my eyes. I cannot ease your worries entirely, but you are luckier than me, Julius. Atticus’s Dhampir was well over a century old when he was killed during a raid by one of Atticus’s many enemies. His physical appearance was that of one heading to middle age, but of course, people aged differently back then. And who knows how long he would have lived had a barbarian not cut off his head. I came to understand that Dhampirs were not immortal like Vampires, but were more long lived than humans, so long as they were looked after and protected from mortal injuries.”
Gabi wasn’t sure how many more shocks her mind could take. Not immortal. She would age while Julius didn’t. Slower than a human, but she would age. She downed the contents of the wine glass and breathed to steady herself. Right now every nerve in her body was telling her to run, flee the cave and not listen to anything else Eka said.
“What of their blood intake?” Julius was a bloodhound hot on a scent trail. Gabi froze, unable to leave without the answers. “Can they be Turned? Is too much dangerous?”
“Ah, so the rumours are true?” Eka asked. “You take blood from each other? She gains strength from your blood?”
Gabi glanced at Julius. They’d tried to keep details like that quiet, but many people had seen him give her blood when she was wounded in the past.
“Yes,” Julius said, not offering anything further.
Eka nodded, his eyes alive with interest. “As far as I am aware they cannot be Turned full Vampire, at least that was the rumour at the time,” he said. “There was a story of a lord who’d tried to save his Dhampir from a mortal wound that way, but the Dhampir lost his mind and died in agony. I cannot personally confirm that though. And, in truth, you and your extraordinary example of a Dhampir are forging a new breed. In Atticus’s day Dhampirs were given only normal food and animal blood to help with the anaemia. They were certainly not taken as Consorts, and I have never heard of one who was given the blood of a Master-level Vampire. I have also never heard of one with gifts like Gabrielle’s either, and I’m sure I don’t know the full extent of those, and possibly neither do you.” He glanced between the two of them. “They were never taught to fight, though I am aware that they were stronger and healed quicker than humans. In those days they were simply there to provide blood for their lord. The blood gave their lord added strength and healed wounds that they may not have survived otherwise, but I have never heard of Dhampir blood strong enough to make a Master out of a non-Master.” His sly expression made both Gabi and Julius aware that Eka knew of Alexander’s upgrade.
A prickle lifted the tiny hairs on the back of Gabi’s neck.
“Now I will answer the questions you do not yet know to ask,” Eka said, crossing one leg over the other and leaning back into his chair. “As a show of good faith.”
Gabi frowned, sceptical and beginning to feel wary.
“You seem to be particularly concerned about protecting the information concerning Gabi’s…creation…shall we call it. But in truth you need not to be so overwhelmingly secretive about it. You see, Dhampir creation is the ability of only a tiny number of Vampires. It is a specific ability, the same as your power over other Vampires, Cassandra’s death touch and Faruq’s lie detection. The vast majority of us simply couldn’t do it, even if we replicated Gabrielle’s exact conception a thousand times. Those that are capable of it were known as Makers, and even for them it was more miss than hit.” Eka took a breath and shrugged. “At least that was the accepted knowledge when Atticus lived.”
The prickle at the back of Gabi’s neck had become an itch, and she rubbed at it, wondering if Tabari and Flora were trying some kind of Vodun ritual outside. Her concerned was interrupted by Julius sitting forward in his chair.
“So the Vampire who made Gabrielle a Dhampir has the power to make others? There is no other way for Dhampirs to be born?” he asked, his voice urgent. It took a second for Gabi to catch up with the directions of his thoughts. Caspian and Mariska. She almost growled aloud. Good news and dreadful news. It was unlikely the babies Mariska carried were Dhampirs, but Caspian had the power to create his own Dhampir, or even Dhampirs, plural.
“Well, there was one other legend around Dhampirs, one I could never confirm but was often spoken of at the time.”
“What?” The growl escaped despite her best efforts.
“That Magi blood was the other key; a human could only be born a Dhampir if one of their parents had the taint of the Magi.”
“So it required both a Magus-born parent and a Maker—” Gabi broke off as the warning bell in the back of her mind clanged urgently to life.
Eka shrugged slightly and answered, unaware of her distraction. “I can’t give you a definitive answer to that, though if both were needed, it would explain the genuine rarity of the species, but that is pure speculation. I also have no idea if the mother would need to be full Magus, or if diluted Magus heritage would be enough. Information on this was scarce at best, even back then.”
“What’s wrong?” Julius was alert to her unease.
“I don’t know.” She shook her head, trying to concentrate. “Something isn’t right.” She turned fierce eyes on Eka. “What are you playing at?” She pointed Nex at him. “I will kill you.”
“I swear, on Flora’s life,” he held up his hands in a calming gesture, “I have followed our agreement to the letter. The only people I have here are those you’ve seen. I want us to all leave as we arrived.”
“Sire,” Fergus’s voice boomed. Gabi and Julius were both out of their chairs instantly. “Sicarius is here; he insists on seein’ ye all now.”
Razor charged into the cave, straight to Gabi, his fur fluffed in anger, alarm vibrating off him in waves. The assassin appeared in the entrance, one hand on the rough doorway. He was gasping for breath as though he’d been sprinting. Gabi could make out cuts and bruises on his face and hands; he’d torn through the forest undergrowth with little heed for himself. Adrenalin flooded her as Julius’s ward of silence popped.
“They’ve…found us…” Sicarius managed between rasping breaths.
“Who?” Gabi demanded as Eka said, “The others?”
Sicarius nodded before doubling over and dry-retching.
“It’s the other Decuria,” Eka told them, urgency hardening his tone. “I don’t know how they’ve found us. They’re getting bolder by the week.”
“So now what?” Gabi hissed.
There'll be Hell to Pay (Hellcat Series Book 6) Page 16
