by Bre Faucheux
Madison’s thoughts stumbled trying to find the proper words. “He tried to create more like us?”
“Yes. And in doing so, he caused this plague. He drenched the waters in wells and local streams with his blood.”
Madison knew she needed to stay quiet when she heard this. Surprise would only come across convincingly if she played it well. There was a chance that he could sense her emotions as easily she could his. If Caspar didn’t know how they had been transformed into such demons then Lyndon need not know either. Neither knew how their waters had been continuously poisoned for months. Although by the sound of it, they had suspicions.
She finally managed to formulate a question. “So, it didn’t work. He just made people sick?”
“Like I said, he didn’t know what he was doing. He believed that our sickness could be spread to others and that they could be made as strong as us. He thought the key was in the blood since that is what we always crave.”
“But then how are so many not sick if he infected the waters?”
“I told you I had tried to stop it. I only managed to contain it.”
“How?”
“You are not the only one who found this,” he pointed to the pouch and chain around her neck containing the healer’s mixture of herbs. She touched her necklace.
“That was how you found me, was it not? You smelled the fresh rayen I had spread.” Madison nodded in order to maintain the appearance of ignorance. “I put it in the waters in every village I came to.”
“It stops the illness from spreading?” she asked.
“It also thwarts those who are in tune with our kind. The priests, the holy men,” he said. “Anyone who prides themselves on being able to spot evil, it repels them. I thought that if it protects us, then it may protect others.”
Madison was silent once more.
“I mixed it with flowers and gave it to strangers to carry on their person. It’s quite amazing what people are willing to believe. I told them it would protect them from the pestilence. It spread across Europe. Those with it or those who drank the bit of water with my rayen mixture in it have averted the illness or quickly recovered. They think it a miracle in some areas. I can safely say that I know better,” he said smiling.
“It grows here then?” said Madison.
“It grows everywhere, dear girl. Everywhere our blood drops into the earth, these flowers grow within the hour. I took them, dried them, and ground them so that as many people could carry it as possible. Believe me, travelling about and spreading it has been a task like no other. I only returned to Rome to witness how my efforts have been working in the areas I have already penetrated.”
“Have you witnessed at all how the ‘rayen’ protects the likes of you and me?” she asked hesitantly. “Have you run into problems with others finding out what you are?”
“No, but I do not doubt my caution’s validity. Do you think for a second that if people knew how we heal, that we run with such speed, and that our strength is unmatched, that we would be safe? We would be hunted. We hunt to stay alive. People would in turn hunt to do the same. Everyone would want our immortality if they knew it existed; especially those with as much power as holy men.”
“I never thought of it that way,” she said quietly.
“If the church knew of our power, there would be an entirely new kind of crusade, dear girl. This here,” he reached for her necklace and held it in his fingers, “is our only salvation.”
She looked at him with prying eyes, hoping that he had not honed in on his ability to sense others emotions as intently as she and Jayden had. She doubted it given the obvious separation between him and Caspar. She wished for him to remain ignorant of everything. If she could not help him clamp his thirst in the way she could, there was no use in torturing him with the knowledge that she had been freed of it.
“Don’t you wonder why you were drawn to it?” he asked.
She tried to remain still in her face.
“You wear it because it makes you feel safe. Did you not sense that when you first touched it?”
Madison was bewildered by how much more he had learned than her. But she would wait to discover just how much he knew. She wanted her emotions revealed to no one. No one other than Jayden.
“I will help you,” she said softly. “I will help you spread the rayen.”
“It’s not without its dangers, Madison. Just because the rayen stops holy men from knowing what we are does not mean that people are completely naïve. Our features are somewhat disturbing to the average person. And the danger lies in our inability to control the cravings. I don’t know about you, but I am not truly convinced that we are indeed impenetrable.”
“How do you mean?” she asked.
“Caspar created this plague by means of poisoning waters. Earthly elements naturally reduce one another, Madison.”
He looked at her intently, expecting her to catch his meaning. She was shocked it had not occurred to her before.
Her voice broke, barely managing to say the word.
“Fire.”
He nodded; gratified that she had come to the same conclusion so quickly.
“If it be poisoned waters that created us, the opposite element may be capable of destroying us.”
“How did you come to this conclusion?” she asked.
“Because when I failed to kill Caspar, he tried to kill me in return. The fires he created in the forest where I was hiding nearly succeeded in destroying me. The flames tore at my skin, Madison. It was the only wound I have had that took great lengths to recover from.”
Madison let his words soak in. The knowledge that there was an element that could take away her newly formed state of being was as disturbing as it was comforting. Yet the knowledge was well gained if there be a way to kill Caspar.
***
Madison rushed back to the lodging her and Jayden had chosen, leaving Lyndon to rest during the day’s break. Jayden was aware of her entry before she reached the front door. She descended down the stairs to see Jayden in the same position she had left him in.
Not opening his eyes, he spoke. “Anything of note?” he asked.
“Of note?” she said dryly. “Only if consider the fact that Caspar is alive as well, he started this plague whilst attempting to create more like us and poisoned all the waters he could find, and apparently we do have a weakness that could potentially destroy us, to be ‘of note,’ as you say, then yes,” she sat at the end of his bed. His eyes jerked open and yet he still didn’t move.
“You found him, I presume,” he said. His lack of enthusiasm for her discovery was somewhat aggravating.
“Yes, I found him.”
“And he was civil?”
“Almost pleasant,” she said. “This plague is our doing, Jayden. I mean, not precisely our doing. But our kind, this new form we have become. We brought this upon Europe.”
“By the sounds of it, Caspar did, not us,” he said. “In fact, I believe you could go back even further than that if you wish.”
“How so?”
“If you truly wish to lay blame to a specific party, then the Vam-pyr-ei-ak are truly at fault. They caused this whole thing with what they did to us. That is if what you say is true, and Caspar attempted to make more.”
Madison was silent. It wasn’t until she felt a panic rise through her at the realization that Jayden lifted himself to meet her. Her body shook and her mouth ran dry. She didn’t know she was still capable of such human attributes anymore.
Jayden took her shoulder and urged her to look directly at him, sensing her rising discomfort.
“Madison?” he said. He shook her gently. “What? What is it?”
“That’s it. That has to be it,” she said softly.
“What else did he say, Madison?”
“It’s not what he said, it’s what they did. They meant for this to happen. Don’t you remember what the healer insinuated?”
Jayden searched his thoughts and came up with no
thing. “He said a lot without ever opening his mouth, Madison. How am I to recall?”
“He assumed that the Vam-pyr-ei-ak thought that we were the impending coming of the white men to their lands. What if they knew that we were not of that coming?” She looked at him, allowing her emotions to penetrate his.
His grip on her shoulder grew tighter. He shook his head, not wanting to believe it once it struck him as well.
“What if this was their defense against the coming of white men to their shores?” she said. “What if they turned us into these beasts on purpose? They wanted us to try to turn more, and in so doing, create the sickness. They wanted us to leave and come back to our lands, if only to destroy it.”
“And make an attack on the enemy before they become a true threat?” he said.
“Not only an attack. They wanted us all dead, the entirety of the eastern world. What if this sickness was their defense?”
“It doesn’t make sense,” said Jayden, taking his hand from her and to his side.
“Why not?”
“If they were so wise as to see what was coming, they would have known that I would take their lives in the process. They would not sacrifice their people to accomplish such goals,” he said assertively.
“I would not be so certain. Is it not a moral of many cultures to sacrifice a few in order to save many? These people saw themselves as warriors. Their leaders may have been willing to do so in order to insure that their kind was protected.”
“And their warriors would just sacrifice themselves?” he said surly.
“No, their leaders would just do it without telling them. Why would they have to know?”
Jayden shook his head in disbelief. “They were all of different tribes. And none of them appeared to like the other. They would not take such measures to protect those they did not see as neighbors,” he said. “Do you think that England and France would ever join forces in order to defeat a common enemy? No, they would argue over which course of action to take and eventually be overpowered.”
“Thus one country would inevitably take the reins and make the decisions for our own good. How is the warring between our countries any different from those between the native tribes?”
“And the Vam-pyr-ei-ak was that superior country of men? Taking the situation into their own hands?” he seemed to be coming around to the idea. “It’s not impossible I suppose.”
“I am to meet Lyndon again tomorrow,” she said.
“What did he say of the ‘poesy’ then?” asked Jayden.
Madison told him of everything that had passed between her and Lyndon. Jayden grew angrier as she spoke. He jolted up and paced the small cellar room.
“This was not how it was meant to be,” he said.
Madison couldn’t think of what to say to try to comfort him as he walked back and forth.
“I brought you back here to make a new life,” he continued. “I wanted this to be our home again. And now this,” he said.
“Lyndon is trying to fix it.”
“Yes, so you said. It’s only a matter of time before it reaches to far eastern lands.”
“According to Lyndon, that was where it started,” she said. Jayden turned and look at her curiously. “Apparently, Caspar’s tried and failed attempts began in the east and travelled westward. The whole of Europe and even farther is now infected.”
Jayden went silent, lost in his anger. It took a great deal to surmount such rage in him now. His emotions were becoming less controlled than they had been in months right before her eyes.
“I’m going after him,” he said suddenly. He knelt down to strap on his leather boots and reach for his cloak.
“Lyndon is trying to stop it, Jayden. There is no point-,” she started.
“Not him, Caspar. He will suffer for this. And now that we may have a potential way to kill him, it should not be too difficult.”
“And how are you going to track him?” she asked.
“Simple. Follow the trail of dead,” he said.
“Which are everywhere,” her sarcastic tone stopping him.
“Our senses are heightened. And I was chosen for our journey across the seas for my ability to track animals and hunt them down. Do you think me any less capable than I was before?”
Madison didn’t answer. She only stepped forward.
“I brought you this far, mistress. I tracked Lyndon across the channel. I will find Caspar, and I will kill him.”
She knew better than to argue with him on this matter. He seemed resolute in his decision already.
“How are we to determine whether or not he is simply suffering from the same thirst as we once did, Jayden?” she asked carefully.
“We were wise enough in our thirst to not attempt to spread our likeness to others. Such fools must be dealt with in a swift manner.”
Madison wasn’t sure how to respond. She wanted Jayden to stay nearby. He sensed her resolve to allow him to go, but her hesitation was apparent. She felt his hand graze her chin and she lifted her eyes to his.
“You know me capable, mistress,” he said softly. “I will find you again, just as I did before when you ran from the Vam-pyr-ei-ak. I will find you. The sooner this is over, the sooner we can decide how to make a new life.”
Madison was uncertain of how to be alone for so long. Jayden had been her sole companion for months. And before that, there had always been Jamison. It was rare for Jayden to show his compassion for her. And when he did show, it was fleeting. He bent forward and grazed her forehead with his lips, sealing his word to her.
He was gone before she raised her eyes open, only the breeze he created marking where he had been.
21
Madison sat quietly by the ruins of the old world as the sun rose. She searched for Lyndon again, expecting him to be resting. It was not until the city itself began to stir and people walked about the streets that she sensed that he had awoken. His morning feed was as obvious as all his others. She traced him and crept up behind him.
“Must you do that?” he said. “Or can a man eat in privacy?”
“Jayden left early this morning,” she said.
“Without a proper greeting? Yes, that sounds like Jayden,” he said tossing the body of a young man to the ground.
“He went to search for your other half,” she said. Lyndon took his sleeve and wiped the blood from his mouth staining the new white fabric on his arm.
“Best of luck to him,” he said.
“You know if anyone can track him, it would be Jayden.”
“Perhaps, but he does not consider containment as a necessity, does he? And to think that I was considering asking the two of you for assistance,” he said. “I mean, since you already offered.” He began walking away.
Madison followed as she assumed he meant for her to. “Alright, Sir Cryptic, assistance with what? Spreading your rayen?”
“I said that I started to spread it. Not that I had been successful in all regions. There are many still untouched by sickness that should remain so.”
“Meaning that Caspar has not yet reached them,” she said. “Jayden will hopefully find him before then.”
“Are you truly willing to risk more lives on a game of chance?”
“Fine then, where have you not yet travelled?” she spatted, grabbing his arm. She looked directly at Lyndon when she spoke to him.
“I’m certain that there were several that I missed on my initial journey back from wherest it started in the East. I tried to be as thorough as I could. But you never truly know how many smaller villages there are in a given area, especially without knowing the languages.”
“You cannot recall where they were or the region perhaps?”
“I remember one in particular. But I was warned by another English traveler not to visit there. Their dead were so insurmountable that I could not be of any use if I were to enter,” said Lyndon. He loosened her grip from him and trudged forward. Like Jayden he seemed to be a man with a purpose when he w
alked.
“And what was its name? Can’t you recall?”
“Strasbourg.”
“Where is that?” she asked.
“In the Rhineland. But if you think Jayden capable of killing Caspar, then perhaps it may be best to allow this plague to run its course. It kills quickly and within perhaps another year…”
“We cannot afford another year of this, Lyndon. Nor can these people.”
“I’m sure the church will comfort them in any way they can, Madison.”
“Because they have been so successful in doing so thus far,” she said, her voice soaked with distain. The memory of the priest she saw in London had not abandoned her. “Do you know I heard a priest in my travels here to find you?” she continued. “He spoke to a crowd of people who asked why their children were dying. Upon hearing that this plague came from God’s wrath, they desired to know what their innocent children had done to deserve such a fate. The priest claimed that their children were dying for their parent’s sins.”
The air between them was silent and Lyndon stopped walking. She seemed to strike him for a brief moment. She thought he might grab her, or yell at her. She and Jayden had come to violence whenever they disagreed. She didn’t know what kind of anger to expect from a man who had not been healed of giving into his urges as she had.
Lyndon reached into the pocket of his tunic and held a small cloth closed at the top with a ribbon in his hands.
“The rayen is inside this. Only a small pinch and you can cleanse any water within a well, or a stream, what have you. But forgive me if I do not join you. I have seen enough of this suffering for one life time. My part in all of this is done.”
“What? Since last night you decided this?” she said angrily. Her voice was rising as he continued to dissuade her. His entire attitude toward her seemed to have changed overnight. “I thought you said that you wanted my assistance? When in fact you desire that I do it for you,” she said accusingly.
“I have seen enough death, Madison. I wish to take what I need and not witness more of what Caspar caused.”
