by Aya DeAniege
So, I shut up and just chewed on the straw as Quin settled beside me again.
“I think this is her third. She also bit me. We baited her into attacking Balor. Clumsy, but strong.”
“Clumsy can be reworked,” Sasha said. “So, foreign blood is just what she drank here and a mouthful from Balor? She needs more. I’ll use the store. Either way this goes, tomorrow I need to move to a new location.”
“Moving?” Quin asked. “Is that a good idea?”
“If he catches you, you’ll give me up. I can’t risk that. So, I’ll go to one of my holes, one of the ones you don’t know about. I’ll take her with me. Your store of that?”
“Margaret has some, Lucrecia has some, my stock has most of it.”
“How much?”
“Uh, at this rate she’ll have about six months of blood.”
“I plan to starve her like you were. Might be best, in the long run.”
“Starting now?” I asked.
“No,” Quin said with a shake of his head. “Once your immortality is cemented. A few days more to get you stable enough to understand what a full belly is like.”
“What were the circumstances of the turning?”
“In the murder room, they chilled it for us. It was rather non-violent for a turning.”
“Androgen had a very passive turning. It’s just how our lives changed. So, cold, and you were there during, but coming and going.”
“Wish he’d stay,” I grumbled.
“Abandonment and father issues,” Quin said. “Not a surprise. But, and please don’t yell, I didn’t have sex with her until after she was turned. Balor already took a strip off me for it.”
“Because he’s interested,” Sasha said in annoyance. “The only thing you need to do beforehand is to make certain that the hymen is no longer... you know, in the way. A flipping horseback ride can break that.”
“Yes, well, she’s had sex. So, there’s that.”
“Any good?” Sasha asked.
The awkward, heart-wrenching moment of silence almost made me want to cry.
They were summing me up like a piece of property, like a horse that they wanted to break in. I was new blood, and they were already talking about the fastest way to make me one of them.
Quin’s response was in another language. I could read nothing of his expression or tone. He didn’t sound bored, but nor did he sound excited. Sasha responded in the same language then sighed loudly.
“Languages need to be at the top of the list,” she said sternly.
“That and education in general. They’re much more focused now, with their branches of sciences and the whole beating math out of the children.”
“You should beat math into them, that’s how the world was built. Ah well, okay, I’ll arrange some hunting grounds for her, and we’ll see how she does there. Is there anything else you’re concerned about?”
“She plucked an image from my mind but seemed to take words from the Oracle. It’s supposed to be one or the other, not both.”
“That’s a normal response to a tiered power, but it might be like how I had strength and speed at once, not just strength.”
“Then why did the Oracle say that the Great Maker had to be contacted?” Quin asked.
“Have you ever tried to use your power on a witch?”
“No, why?”
“And so, she spoke, no vampire may harm a witch with power, and so it was,” Sasha said quietly.
That is not why powers don’t work on witches.
The moment I thought that, Sasha cast me a sidelong glance whose message was clear: shut up and stop thinking about it. I clamped down on my thoughts and glanced at Quin, who appeared uninterested in the exchanging of looks.
“She didn’t cause harm, though.”
“The witches may have forgotten that part, which they would be reminded of upon contact.”
“The later this night gets, the more of her rules I’m hitting,” Quin grumbled. “Is there one about Makers too?”
“Only the vampires of old could not kill their Makers,” Sasha said. “Magdalena was the first to kill a Maker. The last, near as I can tell.”
“That’s an odd thing to suddenly permit,” Quin said. “But at least I stand a chance.”
“If only she had revoked the power rule before you were born,” I said.
“What power rule?” Sasha asked.
“The one that stops Progeny from using their powers on their Maker,” I said.
Sasha looked puzzled, confused even, and then it seemed to dawn on her what the problem was.
“You can kill vampires with your mind, but you can’t do that to Lu? How are you supposed to do that without the tool?”
Had we told Sasha about not being able to use the tool?
I couldn’t remember anymore.
“I’m working on it,” Quin said. “Volunteers would be nice.”
“I’m not allowed to,” I said.
“The tool is rather useless to me,” Sasha said with a shrug. “I’d probably touch it and die myself, so that won’t work.”
“What if I used a mortal as a meat puppet?” Quin asked.
“How would you pass that by the Council?” Sasha asked.
“I’m Wraith, you’re a bunch of dicks and I can kill people with my mind.”
“I like it,” Sasha said with a nod. “But if you were told not to use the tool, you can’t use the tool. Not even with a meat puppet.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, drawing their eyes. “When you say meat puppet, do you mean like what Death is doing, taking over bodies, or do you mean like...a... puppet on your hand?”
“Second one,” Quin said. “As far as I know, I can’t do what Death can do.”
“If you’d shove your hand up someone’s ass to kill Lu, why not just take the time to research the death of the month?”
“We don’t have the time for that.”
“Maybe we would if you stopped making excuses,” I said. “Obviously, there’s more than sixteen ways of killing a vampire. Sasha, are you thinking loudly, or did I just randomly make that up?”
“Thinking loudly, it seems,” Sasha muttered, ice and acid in her voice.
“If you’re going to be lippy about it, you can try and trade with Androgen for the information,” Quin snapped back at me. “I need to go and do a thing, Sasha. I promised not to hurt her tonight. Please keep that in mind.”
Sasha arched an eyebrow as Quin left.
Sitting in a room with resting murder face, I felt embarrassed and yet annoyed at the same time. It wasn’t fair of him to yell at me just because he was stressed out.
And I wasn’t some stress ball for him to chew on.
“What did the Oracle say?” Sasha asked. “About Quin, Wraith, and you specifically.”
“He wants to hurt me, from the sound of it, to do to me what was done to him. I think she implied that was Wraith, not him. That if he uses the tool to kill Lu, Quin will die for four or five hundred years, if he’s ever seen again. If he doesn’t use it, and I can get him to feed on me, he might be whole one day.”
Sasha watched me for a long moment, then she seemed to snap out of a daze and sucked in a long breath. Her hands tightened, clenching against her pant legs.
“Don’t take his violent mutterings as the way things will be,” she said. “We will be training you to deal with pain and starvation. It’s to help you survive later. To teach you how to move when wounded. Makers who take pity on their Progeny only cause them more pain later.”
“Like tie me up and stab me?”
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but I like that part,” Sasha said with a little grin.
“About the—”
“Oh, Androgen is already working on it,” Sasha said with a nod. “Androgen has wanted Lu dead for centuries, and now he’s made a threat. So…”
“But you said he can’t come around you,” I said, confused.
“He threatened my Androgen,” Sasha said. She
seemed to bristle at the very thought. “Rather than accept demise, Androgen began researching. Most assume Androgen weak because of being genderless. It is a mistake to do so.”
“Your eggs are just all over the place, aren’t they?”
“My eggs?” she asked.
“Most people put all their eggs in one basket. We’ve got Quin who can kill people with his mind, Androgen, me with my new powers who Lu isn’t expecting, and sixteen ways to kill a vampire. What are the other two, by the way?”
“You’ve counted fourteen ways?” Sasha asked with an eyebrow arch.
“One per moon, that’s twelve, Quin, and the tool. Fourteen.”
“Nuclear bomb seems to work, little excessive though, and there are thirteen moons in the year, not twelve.”
“Huh, interesting, since Quin thinks there are only twelve.”
“Seventeen if you count the Great Maker,” she added in a haunted sort of tone.
“Lu’s Maker isn’t the Great Maker, so we’ve got that going for us. But she is a witch, so that’s not great news.”
“You aren’t worried she might eat you? The Great Maker, I mean?”
“No,” I said with a shrug. “Why would she eat me? If I out her, it’d be accidental. And Quin said powers flair for the first couple weeks. Then you basically have to relearn them, so all she’d have to do is not think loudly, it seems.”
“Your powers cannot be used on the Great Maker, Helen. Even if it’s only subconscious, you tell yourself that. Command it of yourself. No powers on the Great Maker.”
“Unless it’s to save her life.”
“No, no! That’s not how this works. You don’t get to negotiate!”
“I do, I did. I dun it,” I said, feeling a little goofy as I watched her sputter. “Made the same deal with Quin. It’s really for the best if you think about it. If I could read your mind to save you, to talk in a crowded room and stop a nuclear bomb from going off, perhaps literally, wouldn’t you want that?”
Sasha considered for a moment, then nodded once. “All right, to save her life. But not to save your Maker from whatever she might do to him for being a stupid asshole.”
“Doesn’t sound lethal in that case,” I said with a shrug. “I can only do it to save his life, not keep him from harm. He really should have negotiated better. Oh well.”
Sasha looked around the room, then made a face.
“What do we do now? Talk about sex?”
It was my turn to look around the room. I knew what I wanted, but used that time to gather my courage to ask.
“You know about the witch war,” I said. “With the vampires and the tool and apparently, she who cannot be named often.”
“You want me to tell you about that?”
“I’m hoping it’ll give me insight on Lu and her. On why he thinks she’s the Great Maker, why he’s culling Elders and all the rest.”
“Well, I suppose I could do that. I’m not sure if my facts are all right, but I’ll tell you as it was told to me. She won’t come looking if all she sees is me telling you the story. It’ll be fine.”
“Are you saying that like Quin told me visiting Lu would be fine?”
“No, I’m telling you that like one who can repel other vampires better than Lucrecia can convince a group of photographers that they all saw their personal information on her dress.”
“Damn, I hope I can learn how to do that,” I muttered.
“How should this tale start? Oh, I know.”
The war between the supernatural races happened as humans were discovering agriculture. Time immemorial for most mortals.
We walked the world before humans. Humanity was created to feed the one other vampires call the Great Maker. Then the witches found a use for them and the werewolves. Then finally the fae. So, all the races benefited from humans.
Before your kind began to poison the sky and rape the earth, which we consider our Mother and Father.
Can you tell me where the races came from?
No, I just don’t know. One day nothing, the next existence. I believe your scientists call it the Big Bang. I wish I could wrap my head around physics to study the phenomenon.
And for the sake of fossil hunters?
Fuck off and die.
Not every creature that has died throughout time has left a fossil record. And how we deal with our dead is no one’s business but ours.
I’m just—I’m just asking.
I know, for that tablet around your neck. Why are you still using that?
Lot of information and I retain rights to this, I guess? I can exclude this if you’d like.
I will consider that. You are quite good at removing portions at request. Where was I? Oh, right.
Upon the advent of humans, the Great Maker found herself… attracted to her food. They looked like the sisters and thus looked like the other supernatural races on the surface so that as they went about their lives, everyone would get along because everyone was the same.
Kinda botched that plan, didn’t we?
Humanity is a rebellious race. That was part of what drew the Great Maker to them.
She turned five mortals. Some myths say that she can only turn other women, it happens sometimes to vampires just as some humans can only create one gender. All other attempts are unsuccessful. The Great Maker is not restricted in such a way, and I have no knowledge as to why some vampires may only turn one gender.
So, I should ask Margaret.
Margaret doesn’t know. She thinks venom is venom.
Over time, the Great Maker discovered that the blood of her so-called children was all that kept her belly full. Like a fledgling, but for eternity. She can drink from mortals of all races, but eventually she needs the blood of another vampire.
Soon that’s all she drank. Glutted on it, supposedly. Her bite could be lethal to other vampires, that is likely what first caused the problem. Accidental murder.
The vampires didn’t know she could control it after that first time. She had begun a cull of her own, because her children had children who had children.
To put it simply: the vampire race was spreading like a plague across the land.
The vampires did not take kindly to her cull, nor to her command that new Progeny could create no more of themselves until they matured enough. Nor then, the binding of Progeny to Maker. Nor even the slowing of the venom.
Or the command to remain hidden for at least three thousand years. Then the command to create a Council, then to sit on that Council when called.
Oh, my goodness, did they get upset.
But the nail in the coffin, so to speak, was when she grew tired of their childish whining and said unto them, “Your children shall not know me by sight, you shall not drink of me without permission.”
Could it have been ‘thou shalt not kill’?
Could have been that one too.
These were large commands, which meant that they only applied to new vampires. Those of old could still resist and so the setting up of the Council was still a long time coming. Some of the older generation did obey out of respect, some of the new generation couldn’t obey until they knew who she was. Some of the new generation obeyed from the moment they were turned, she liked those ones best.
Anyhow, the five got together and decided to wage war. They commanded their children to command their children to command theirs, and so on. Some of that command remains to this day, which is another reason why the Great Maker remains hidden, least a new battle begin.
It almost acted like the Great Maker’s commands.
Yes. So, the vampires turned on the Great Maker. Which, if you think about it, really explains her decision to up and tell the race to fuck off and die. To leave them to their own devices. It’s their own damned fault.
She went to the fae to hide.
In swept the vampires. The original faerie was murdered in cold blood because she said no.
Wasn’t… weren’t... the originals were all sisters?
They were. The vampires killed the Great Maker’s last remaining sibling while she was out hunting. They left her to spend eternity alone, without a single other soul to speak to who would understand. They sentenced her to an eternity of solitary confinement because they couldn’t handle the restrictions that she placed on them.
The Great Maker returned with the sun and discovered her sister dead, and half the fae along with her. So, she told the remaining fae to hide.
Then she went to the werewolves, and she went to the witches, and she told them what the vampires had done. All knew then, the bloodlust of the vampires would not be sated by the death of the Great Maker.
The witches knew the way. The werewolves had the items. They came together as the vampires began to collect, and they made the tool.
Why a scythe?
It was a symbol. The tool was made to reap a harvest, in a way. The witches work with symbolism quite a bit. With the right history, they can work wonders.
Oh, my God, the names they give us are symbols.
They are, but that’s later.
The witches chose their strongest to take the tool into the field. Her name was not Bau then. It was Ulia the Stone. She was said to be cold-hearted, but she was merely closed off and shy. Ulia had been born and then abandoned to be raised by humans. She had not had a kind life but grew from it as mortals do.
When she was fifteen, she was chosen as Oracle, but no one could find her. Ask the witches how their chosen are selected, not me; or ask them how they couldn’t find her for almost a decade. By the time they did find Ulia, she had become the Stone.
She agreed to carry the tool, on the condition that the other witches layer her with protection from the vampires.
The immortal races were still impatient then. The spells were barely laid when they realized what the witches were doing, and attacked. Ulia took to the field with her weapon and laid a waste of destruction. Hundreds of vampires died that day.
To keep her from being mobbed, the werewolves attacked. The Great Maker was clever, though, and spoke of weakness to the bite of a wolf and the blood of a witch. The bite caused pain, the blood caused enslavement.
The vampires had created more children, keeping them fledglings, to be the front line of their army. They didn’t know what was going on until it was too late, and by then they were too afraid to get close. Afraid that the Great Maker had spoken the words long before and had simply told none of them.
