At long last, they came to a dead end with a metal ladder fastened to the wall. They were just about to start their climb when a voice, deep and raspy, spoke out in the darkness.
“I wouldn’t go up there if I were you,” the voice said. “Sunrise is upon us and the lockdown will commence any moment now. You’d best just stay down here with me.”
A light, resplendent and blinding after so long in the blackness, filled the chamber. Jerusa pushed Dot behind her and stood ready to face the one holding the light. When her eyes adjusted, she saw it was a battery operated lantern and the one holding it stood no more than three feet tall.
The dwarf smiled, showcasing his fangs and said, “I think we’re going to have to wait this one out.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Dot stepped to the side of Jerusa and dropped (with a bit of difficulty) to one knee. “Master Sebastian,” she said with humble reverence.
The dwarf laughed. “Please, Dot, get up before you break your hip. You’ve been such a good worker all these years. It’d be a shame to put you out of your misery like some lame animal.”
Jerusa helped Dot to her feet, though the feel of her tissue-paper skin disturbed her. She pulled her hand away hoping Dot hadn’t noticed the group of spirits in the room with them.
Jerusa kept her eyes on the dwarf and he held her gaze with a mocking little smile perched upon his face. His eyes were set at different positions in his bulbous skull and large, crooked teeth filled his mouth. He stood pigeon-toed in a pair of brown, canvas pants that were fitted perfectly to his size. His legs seemed like a pair of twisted tree roots springing from the floor. His arms were too long with his fingers almost touching the floor. His only non-deformed feature was the set of perfect vampire fangs.
Though Jerusa thought herself better than those that judged on appearances, she couldn’t help but be repulsed by the dwarf. He looked at her lovingly, as though he meant to court her, but had he turned and scurried up the wall like a spider, she wouldn’t have been surprised.
“Sebastian,” Jerusa said, forcing the thought from her mind. “Or should I call you master?”
The dwarf chuckled, waving her off. “Call me what you will. Dot here is just a creature of habit. The others demand such respect, but no matter how much I beg of her to refer to me common, she just can’t find it within herself to do so.”
“If you don’t mind me asking, why are you here?”
“Why, waiting for you, of course.”
“Waiting for me?”
He nodded. “I knew you would linger too long at the pit, asking questions about the hidden entrance. You’re a very bull-headed and curious girl.” When he saw that Jerusa took offense, he put up his stubby hands. “Meant as a compliment of course. In this house, all you see is blind fealty. You and your coven are a fresh spring breeze, which I must say I haven’t felt rush across my cheeks in millennia.”
“I don’t understand. How did you know I’d end up in here?”
“Master Sebastian is an augur,” Dot said with her eyes pointed reverently at the floor. “He is the oldest and most powerful augur of the Watchtower.”
“Oh, Dot, you forgot to add most crafty, witty and good-looking augur in the Watchtower.”
Jerusa laughed, but quickly clapped her hands over her mouth. “I’m so sorry. That was rude.”
Sebastian smiled, his large overbite seemingly reaching out for her. “It’s quite all right, child. I’m well aware of my hideous form. Not a day goes by that the Stewards don’t remind me and in crueler ways than you could ever muster. As all who are born into this world disadvantaged and different, I found myself faced with two choices. Either succumb to the scoffing hatred of the beautiful or mock them by loving myself enough not to care what they think.” He pointed at Jerusa and she had a feeling he could see the scar hidden beneath her shirt. “You might well remember that.”
“I will. So…what now?”
“As much as I’d love to stand in this dank little tunnel, I think we should move to more comfortable quarters. This passageway is well known to the Hunters.” He glanced up at Dot. “You should go back to your duties, child. Celeste has returned the boy to his room. You should tend to him. I suggest a swat to the head and a reminder that such foolishness will not gain him immortality.”
“Yes, Master Sebastian.” She started for the ladder, but he stopped her.
“You know you are in no condition to climb that. Go back the way you came. The Hunters are busy in the dungeons. If you go straight into the elevator they will not even detect your scent when they return.”
Dot did as she was instructed, traveling back down the long tunnel as fast as her withered body would take her. She opened the secret door and crept back out into the large room. When they heard the door click shut Jerusa pointed toward the ladder. “You lead the way.”
Sebastian puckered up his face, which made him even more hideous than before. “I think not,” he said, waving his gangly arms. “I try to avoid ladders if I can keep from them. You would think that after being a vampire for as long as I have that something as common as a ladder wouldn’t befuddle me, but alas, they are the bane of my existence.”
His comical charisma put her at ease. She wondered how much he had suffered at the Stewards hands over the long years. Looking as he did, Jerusa marveled that the Stewards allowed him to live at all. Just how powerful of an augur was the dwarf to have been judged worthy of eternal life?
“I can carry you on my back, if you like.”
Sebastian shook his head. “I don’t like. I am no monkey to be carted around. Besides, that way will only lead us to trouble. I prefer to go this way.” He squatted down and worked his fingers into the mortar joint of a loose stone in the floor. He lifted one corner then let the stone drop back into place. A door, hidden in the wall behind the ladder, slid open with a hissing gush of air. “You’ll find this path a bit more private.”
Jerusa glanced into the darkness behind the ladder then back to the dwarf. He wobbled up to her, handed her the lantern and then motioned for her to enter.
“Hurry now,” he said. “It won’t stay open for long.”
She stepped behind the ladder, the dwarf following on her heels. No sooner had they crossed the threshold than the door slid shut. Jerusa held the lantern high, surveying the long hallway spilling out before them.
“And where does this one lead?”
“To my quarters in the northern wing of the house.”
“And no one else knows about this?”
“No one left alive.” His eyes twinkled as though he had shared an inside joke with her, but the meaning was lost on her.
“How do you know about it?”
“I have a wanderer’s heart, a philosopher’s inquisitive mind and the eternal boredom of the devil.” He started down the hall and motioned for her to follow. “Join me, blood witch and bring your entourage of spirits with you. We have much to discuss before nightfall.”
Jerusa stood shocked, her feet rooted to the stone. She couldn’t decide whether to follow the dwarf or look for a way back to the ladder. He turned the corner without looking back at her. The light dimmed and darkness covered her before she decided to follow.
They continued for a long time in silence. The floor kept rising as it zigzagged its way back and forth like a steep mountain pass. Soon they came to a place where the stone of the walls and floor ended and gave way to wood and plaster.
She started to ask him how much further it would be, but he shushed her. “No sound from here until I say,” he said in a whisper only a vampire could have heard. “Cliché or not, these walls truly have ears. We do not want to be discovered on the move.”
“Why?” Jerusa whispered back. The thrill of the secret passageways had worn off and now she was feeling tired and annoyed.
“If we are found, the Stewards will block up my favorite escape route and they will have you burned where you stand, as an example to the others.”
That shut her up. Jerusa followed behind the dwarf through another series of halls and rooms hidden within the inner walls of the great house. She knew that the sun had risen high and though she could not feel its heat, she could, nonetheless, sense the weight of its power pushing down on the Earth.
Sebastian glanced back at her several times, eyeing her as though she might collapse. He seemed to want to ask her something, but obeyed his own rules for silence. After climbing two more sets of narrow stairs and passing through one last dust-filled crawlspace, they came to a plain looking door without a knob. The dwarf picked up a length of copper tubing resting in the corner and nudged a switch a few feet above his head. The door popped open just an inch. Sebastian stepped out, without scanning the surroundings for unwanted eyes and motioned for Jerusa to follow.
The battery in the lantern had begun to fizzle and now only emitted the faintest glow. Though the room was steeped in darkness, Jerusa’s vampiric eyes told her they were now in some kind of parlor, full of comfortable couches, artwork and books.
“The first time I explored this passage,” Sebastian said, placing the copper tube back in the corner and closing the door, which vanished behind a large wardrobe, “and I found this room, I knew it had to be mine.” He flipped the light switch and several lamps came to life.
“The room belonged to someone else?”
“Oh yes. An augur named Philippe lived here once, many years ago. It took me quite a while, but I finally convinced the High Council that Philippe was plotting to escape from the Watchtower.” Sebastian turned, picked up a book from an end table and returned it to one of the lower shelves.
“What happened to Philippe?”
The dwarf flashed a sinister smile. “Let’s just say the room became vacant not long after.”
Jerusa’s lip curled in disgust. “You had a man killed so that you could have his room?”
He looked at her with pity. “Oh, don’t think me too evil. Philippe was a vile creature. If he were still here, he would have exposed all your little secrets to the High Council and then begged to feed upon you…not that I blame him on that account. You look delicious.”
Jerusa turned away, not liking the look in the dwarf’s eyes. “I don’t have any secrets.”
“Hmm,” he said, with a look of over expressed doubt. “If that were true, then I would have left you in the tunnel with Dot to be discovered by the Hunters. Don’t be coy. It doesn’t become you. Embrace the mysteries surrounding you. They just may be your saving grace.”
“You said Philippe would have told my secrets. So what keeps you or one of the other augurs from spilling the truth to the Stewards?”
“You need not fear the other augurs of the Watchtower,” he said, hopping up onto one of the couches. He patted the seat next to him, but Jerusa shook her head. He shrugged. “They see only what they are told to see. Boring, I know.”
“What are they told to see, exactly? You’ll have to excuse me, but—”
“But you’ve only had your fangs half a year. I know. I know.” He tsked in disapproval, in a way that reminded Jerusa too much of her mother. He either didn’t notice the pain etched into her face or he chose to ignore it. “You really need to search out the limits of your powers if you hope to survive very long. Study to show thyself approved, as they say. And please don’t give me your sob story about how your little ghost friend won’t let you feed.”
Jerusa turned, shocked and prepared to play dumb, but Sebastian’s little smirk told her she could not outwit him. “How do you know that?”
“I’m an augur. A rather powerful one, if I may be permitted to brag. I see things, feel things and understand things others can’t comprehend.” He smiled and pointed a stubby little finger at her face. “Besides, your eyes have the most wonderful rings of blood and your lips are the color of an apple.”
Jerusa touched her face. She could have kicked herself. She put her thumb in her mouth, preparing to bite down, but Sebastian stopped her.
“That’s not necessary,” he said. “Save it for the Stewards. I don’t care that you haven’t been feeding. If anything, it makes you more interesting. That’s good for you. I hate to be bored.”
Jerusa bit into her thumb anyway, wincing at the pain and dripped two drops of blood into each eyes and smeared some over her lips. She couldn’t contain her shivering as the blood reabsorbed into her body. “Is that a threat?”
“Those who are threatened, often hear threats, even in the most mundane of conversations.” The dwarf flashed a bemused glare. “That little trick may buy you some time, but eventually the thirst will betray you.”
“So I’m told. Any suggestions?”
Sebastian sighed. “The best way I know to quench a vampire’s thirst is with blood. You should try it some time. It’s wonderful. Better than sex. Before the Stewards decided to grace this house with their congenial company, I would sometimes feed on two or three humans a night. Now I’m lucky to feed once in a month.” He giggled at the disdain in her face. “Oh, please spare me the ‘sanctity of human life’ speech. You’ll live much longer if you concern yourself with the sanctity of your own life.”
This conversation was going nowhere. He would just talk in circles if she allowed him to. She moved to the couch and sat down beside him. He turned to face her, delighted that she had joined him. She wondered if he had ever had a willing guest in all his long life.
“You said we had much to discuss. What do you want to talk about?”
Sebastian pretended to think on this for a moment. “Tell me about your ghost friends.”
“First, tell me how you know about them.”
“I watched you the night you were made. I found you when Kole bit you and I watched as that stunning creature pulled the savage blood from you and replaced it with his own. When you opened your eyes as a vampire, for one brief moment, I saw the dead girl standing beside you.”
“What do you mean ‘found me’? How did you see me?”
“You silly girl. Are you truly this dimwitted or is it just an act? The Watchtower are the eyes of the Stewards. We are the elite augurs, gifted with distant sight and visions of things that may or may not come to pass. When we are close to each other our powers grow exponentially, hence the reason for our incarceration here. Whenever a vampire feeds, we can sense it, lock on to it and peek through the veil of space for a brief glimpse.”
“So you’re spies. The Stewards use you keep tabs on the other vampires, make sure everyone is following the rules. Is that right?”
“An oversimplification, but not incorrect. Why do you think we are called the Watchtower? We report any transgressions of the law. As you know, all vampires are required to kill their prey. If they fail to, we send the Hunters for both the vampire and the human.”
“And if a vampire is not feeding at all?”
“We can tell that, too, by the lack of contact with that vampire. It is a far more serious offense to the Stewards, but not as easy to track. We have to be specifically watching for a certain vampire to know whether or not they have been feeding.”
“And you have been watching me?”
“Yes, but don’t worry. As far as the Stewards know, you are a voracious little predator.”
“You lied to them? Why?”
“Because they bore me. And I’m curious to see how this will all play out.”
“I don’t understand.”
He shrugged. “Nevermind.”
“Why have you been watching me?”
“In the beginning it was because of your unique birth. No one has ever survived a bite from a savage, yet you did. I was kind enough to hide that little fact from the Stewards. They believe you were created by a regular blood drinker, but I know the truth. The one that made you was no blood drinker, but to speak of that is heresy and I think the High Council might even put little ol’ me to death for speaking it.”
He reached for her hand, but stopped just short of touching her. “May I?” he asked. “I j
ust want to see with my own eyes.”
Jerusa nodded. Sebastian placed his tiny hand upon hers and gasped as he took in the sights that moments ago were invisible to him. He let his eyes drift slowly from one side of the room to the next, examining each of the lingering dead as though he was their final judge.
“Amazing,” he said in a breathless whisper. Jerusa pulled her hand from beneath his and he looked at her in awe. “You really are a Blood Witch.”
“I don’t know that I like being called that.”
Sebastian laughed. “Oh, but you should. You should love that title. Wear it as a shield. If you play your cards right, you may be able to use that little talent of yours to strike fear into some hearts. Including that wretched High Council.”
“Shufah says that I should keep my powers a secret from the Council.”
“Ah, lovely Shufah,” Sebastian said. “She is strong and wise. Such beauty in that one, though I never quite cared for her brother. Troublesome, that one is.” He stared off as though lost in thought. “I know you trust Shufah,” he said regarding her again. “And though I love her rebellious spirit and share her hatred for the Stewards, in this instance she is wrong. If you could stand on your beauty and mystique alone, then I should say her advice is spot on. But tomorrow night when you are judged, they will see the scar on your chest and deem you unworthy.”
“They would really kill me because I have a scar?”
“Oh yes, my dear. Perfection is the sword they hold at our throats. But there is more at play here than a typical judgment. Marjek has long been obsessed with Shufah and her deep hatred of him only drives his dark desires to new depths. He has used you to bring her here. Now that he has her under this roof, he no longer needs the rest of you.”
“What are you saying? Marjek is going to have Taos and Thad killed, too?”
“Yes.” The lack of empathy in the dwarf’s eyes brought a chill to Jerusa’s soul. “If, however, you keep your wits about you, things may still work out.”
“What do you suggest?” She clenched her fists to keep her hands from shaking. Was there no justice with immortals?
Perpetual Creatures, Volumes 1-3: A Vampire and Ghost Thriller Series Page 48
