“So what now? Are you going to eat me?”
“No, of course not.”
“I’m not even worth eating. You’re waiting for some vampire like the one in the casino to come along.”
“What are you talking about? You don’t want to be eaten. And I don’t eat people.” I let go of Lionel’s arm as we arrived at the entrance to the mausoleum. The doors were wide open, and by the far wall two torches blazed, casting an orange light across the chamber. We walked inside.
Striding out from behind the flickering torches, Reflessa and Reflionel appeared briefly as just shadows before regaining their animation and color. Reflessa remained transformed into bloodlust form, and her katana stayed the color of shadow. Lionel’s reflection matched him except for the cool, supercilious smirk on the face of the imposter.
“You two don’t learn, do you?” I leaped at Reflessa, slashing downward once more. It blocked. I pulled back for another strike, then found myself flying backward from a kick in the chest. I crashed against the corner of the doorway, stone biting into my thigh.
“We learn very well,” Reflessa said.
It continued to grow in strength with each manifestation. I stumbled to my feet, then circled away cautiously, limping.
“You don’t need to fear me,” Reflessa said. “You need me. Only I understand you.”
“You understand shit.”
“How long has it been since you sucked the last of a human’s life force?” Reflessa said. “The sweet taste of that blood, the invigoration it brings, the surge of energy. Just my talking about it is making you taste it, isn’t it? Feel it?”
I shook my head, but it was true. As Reflessa spoke, I tasted the sweetness in my mouth, and I remembered the fizzy crackle through my nerve ends that the transfer of life force created.
“Over a year without the sustenance you crave, without the life force you need. No wonder you are so wasted away. So weak.”
“It’s not weakness, it’s strength,” I said. “I’ve been killing humans a long time, it’s not difficult. Changing my mindset, that was the hard part. Admitting that what I was doing was wrong.”
“You can’t lie to me,” Reflessa said.
“It’s not a lie.”
Reflessa chuckled. “I don’t just have your appearance. I know your innermost thoughts. You are fooling yourself, trying to deny your own nature. Ever heard of a vegetarian lion? No. You are a vampire.”
“Just being a vampire doesn’t make me a killer.”
“What you have done makes you a killer and more. You haven’t forgotten your bloody past, have you?” Reflessa smiled. “No, of course you haven’t. What’s changed? You have fallen for the modern lies that humans tell each other. Lies about compassion and love for all mankind.”
“They aren’t lies.” I dashed forward, swinging in a low lateral blow aimed at Reflessa’s side, followed by two quick cuts toward its shoulder and head. All were blocked with ease.
I stepped back and looked around. So far, Reflionel had stayed behind its companion. In the far corner, a narrow stairway led down to the tombs. That was where we’d find Val. I hoped.
Lionel still stood by the entrance, though he’d pulled out his pendant from inside his overcoat. Seeing me looking his way, he said, “Magic doesn’t work against them. Or nothing I’ve tried, at least.”
I hoped Lionel didn’t decide to instead use his magic on the lying vampire who’d pretended to be his friend. I nodded toward the stairwell in the corner. “That’s where we have to get to,” I murmured.
“You have been lost, and I am your salvation,” Reflessa said.
I surged forward. It blocked my attack, then countered, forcing me into a corner.
“It’s what you’ve needed for a long time, someone to understand what you are going through,” Reflessa said. “You confided in Kingston even though you dislike him. He didn’t tell you the truth, though. He tried to persuade you that you could leave the Colescus. We both know that isn’t possible. Over centuries, you have gained power and position. You were never going to give that up, become a bottom-rung vampire in a jumped-up family like the Huntleys. Deep down, you always knew that wasn’t an option.”
“I don’t care about power and position.”
This time, Reflessa’s laugh was almost a giggle. “Enough with the lies,” it said. “I’m here to talk about truth. About death.” It spread its arms. “Appropriate location, no?”
“Death? I’m immortal.”
“Making it even more important,” Reflessa said. “Mortals fear their end, and they don’t realize that having no end is so much worse. Living on and on and on. I can see into your soul, and I know how tired you are.” Her smile was cold as death.
I forced myself to smile back. “Not as tired as all that.”
“I’m offering you a solution, a way out,” Reflessa said. “This is a way for you to be renewed, your strength restored. You fade into the night, and let me take over.”
I shook my head.
“Mortissa set all this in motion. She probably hoped you’d die. This is the way she’ll get her just desserts. I’m you, just a younger, stronger, fresher version. I’ll challenge Mortissa, and Alessandra Colescu will achieve what she always wanted, what she always deserved, become the head of a vampire family.”
“I never wanted that.”
“The new you does. The stronger you.”
The demon me, I thought. I attacked again, holding nothing back, whirling and twisting, striking and blocking, using all my speed and all my strength. At every turn, I was outmatched and beaten back.
I backed away, panting. Several raking cuts pierced the skin of my arms and torso. Bits of leather hung loose from my jacket. Reflessa continued to grow in speed and strength, and what was worse, it anticipated me. How I could defeat it? Could I beat a version of myself that knew my every move ahead of time?
At the other end of the chamber, Lionel dashed for the stairwell. Reflionel shoulder charged him, knocking Lionel against a wall. Lionel sprang back only to be met by a fist in the face. He backed away, touching his hand to his bloodied nose.
“You are a chump,” Reflionel said to him. “You feel like a chump, don’t you? You fell in love with a deception, something more shadowy than I am.”
“I’m not in love with anybody.”
“If you say so.” Reflionel smirked.
Lionel threw a punch, and when Reflionel ducked, Lionel dodged past. Reflionel threw itself at Lionel’s legs, knocking him to the ground.
I skimmed around the edge of the chamber, trying to get to Lionel, to help him. Reflessa tracked my movements, beating back each attack, not letting me get close.
Reflionel jumped on top of Lionel, straddled him, then struck downward with his combined fists in a hammer blow. Lionel twisted so he took the strike on his shoulder rather than his chest, then twisted again, getting out from under his reflection, scrambling away and getting back to his feet.
“What are you going to do about the hood mage?” Reflionel taunted. “You know you have to arrest her and bring her in.”
Lionel shook his head. “I don’t have to do anything.”
“Then everything comes toppling down. The whole facade.”
“What facade?” Lionel asked.
“You knew what your father wanted you to be, didn’t you? So you built yourself into that, or tried to. But once a chump, always a chump. You cannot be the man your father needs you to be no matter how hard you try. Your father knows that. That’s why Hadrian was tasked to watch you. Your pathetic cousin, not particularly smart or strong, hopelessly in love with your sister, and he’s the one that Father will turn to now that you failed.”
“It isn’t a failure to do what’s right,” Lionel said.
“Don’t worry, you may have failed, but I have not. Just as my partner will save Alessandra, I will save you,” Reflionel said. “I’ll find the hood mage, and bring her to justice, as well as the rest of those youths who were lea
rning magic in the grubby whorehouse. I’ll become the man your father needs you to be, and more so.”
“I understand,” Lionel said. Then he shouted toward me. “Don’t listen to a word they say. They feed on our doubt—it makes them grow stronger and us weaker.”
Was that true? I snaked out a testing strike, which my reflection knocked back. Reflessa’s blood-red eyes gave nothing away. What Lionel surmised made sense, though. That was why they had been talking so much. That was why they were going out of their way to bait us.
I dashed around to the other end of the chamber, keeping near the walls while Reflessa held the center. It claimed I was weak, that my lack of recent feeding meant that I could never be strong. It was time to prove wrong what the mirror showed me. It was time to break the stalemate.
I sheathed my katana.
Chapter 12
Reflessa’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t have to copy you. I can fight with the katana even if you do not.”
“You talk too much.” I picked up the base of the long wooden pole that held the torch, and stabbed it toward Reflessa. It stepped back, attempting to cut the head off the pole. I pulled the torch back, and stabbed again, using it like a long spear. A spear with fire on one end.
Reflessa hissed as the fire got close, almost burning its hand. I quickly struck again, and she retreated. A long pole wasn’t a great weapon against a skilled swordswoman, but the element of surprise, plus the reflection’s dislike of fire, had given me a brief advantage. I forced Reflessa to retreat to the entrance, then dropped the pole, turned, and dashed straight at Lionel. I lifted him in the air and carried him around Reflionel, who didn’t have time to react.
I jumped down the flight of stairs, reaching the landing below without touching a step, then stumbled through the open doorway beyond, releasing Lionel once inside the lower chamber.
Lionel slammed the door closed. A board leaned against the wall to one side, and I grabbed that and shoved it down onto its latches, locking it shut. Only then did I allow myself to breathe.
I slowly turned around. We were in a stone chamber with a low ceiling and shallow recesses in the walls. Two lit torches occupied the far corners. A white coffin sat on top of a wide slab of white marble, and beside the head of the coffin stood Val.
Val cackled when she saw me. “Come to gloat, have you, Mortissa? There she lies. My beautiful, perfect daughter. You’ve taken everything from me, and now you’ve come to gloat.”
“I’m not Mortissa,” I said.
Val’s cackling turned into crying, and she flung her arms across the top of the coffin. “I can’t even look inside. It’s horrible; only her skin remains.”
I stepped closer. I reached out to comfort her, hesitated with my hand hovering just over her back, then let the hand fall to my side. “I’m truly sorry for what happened to your daughter. It was a terrible, terrible thing. But you have to undo your curse. Communicate with the demon for me. Can you do that?”
“The demons. They lie,” Val said, looking up. “They all lie. The demons tell you what they want you to hear. Honeyed words and shadowed motives.” Val was thin, her skin fragile as ancient parchment. Tears streaked harrowing lines through her cheeks. “I knew not to believe them. I never wanted to do it. Magic, I could do; I had a gift for that. Demons are not to be toyed with. I told her. She made me do it.”
“Mortissa?” I asked.
“You promised you’d keep Connie out of it.” Val raised her hands, and her fingers twisted into claws as she struck at my face.
I grabbed the old woman’s wrists, holding her back. “I’m not Mortissa.”
She spat in my face. “As long as I did as you asked, you promised to keep Connie away from all of it. But you couldn’t let her be, could you? Again and again, you turned her into an addict.”
“Val, listen to me. I’m not Mortissa. Your curse didn’t hit Mortissa, it hit us. Innocents.” Well, Lionel was innocent.
Val stopped struggling against me and threw herself back onto the coffin. “She was a good person. Connie was a good person, just weak. Why couldn’t you leave her alone?”
Lionel knelt down beside Val. “We need you help us. The demon in the mirror. Remember? At the Pink Palace?”
The door shuddered as the reflections charged it from the other side. Lionel and I looked up, and were relieved to see that it held.
“First, she became addicted to your blood,” Val cried. “Then you introduced her to drugs. She could have overcome her addictions with time. Then you made her summon demons for you. And now...She doesn’t even have a body for me to properly bury.” Val hugged the coffin tighter, sobs wracking her body.
“What are we going to do?” Lionel asked.
The door rattled harder as the two reflections fought to break through. “How much do you want to live?” I asked him.
“What kind of stupid question is that?”
“It’s not a stupid question, it’s the only question.” We wouldn’t survive another fight with Reflessa and Reflionel. And, even if it was possible, Val was in no state to end the curse. So we only had only two choices. Kill the old woman. Or die. “There’s no reasoning with her.” The old woman’s thin, bony shoulders shuddered from her weeping. I touched the hilt of my katana. She looked so weak and helpless; it would be like killing a kitten.
If this had happened in an earlier era of my life, it wouldn’t have been a decision. Val would have been dead at my feet already, blood seeping across the stone floor. Perhaps I would have killed Lionel for good measure on the way out.
“Is there no other way?” Lionel asked.
A sudden burst of anger flared within me, and I grabbed him, balling up the lapels of his overcoat and lifting him into the air. “Accept it, chump. There’s no other way. This is our choice. Either she dies, or we do. Either we kill her, or those reflections outside kill us and take our place in this world.”
Lionel flushed. “I’m sorry. I’m not as comfortable with the idea of murdering someone as you are.”
My anger faded as quickly as it arrived and I put him back down. “I don’t like how it is either.”
Splinters flew across the room as one of the boards from the door exploded inward. Vibrations ran along the floor. The door wobbled to one side, but it held. Just.
I raised the katana over my head. “I’m sorry for what Mortissa did to you and your daughter.”
“Stop,” Lionel said. “Give me that.”
“What?”
“Give me your sword. I heard what you said up there. About how you wanted to change, and not be a killer anymore. I know you don’t want to do this.”
“Yes, but...”
He held out his hand.
“You’ve never killed before.”
The door thundered to the floor, and the two reflections stormed into the room. Lionel snatched my katana out of my grasp and sliced the blade through Val’s neck. Blood spurted out, spilling across the white coffin. Val straightened, rising up, then she spasmed once and collapsed onto the coffin.
Reflessa charged in at full speed, her katana drawn back. I grabbed Lionel and pulled him away, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to stop Reflessa’s attack in time. Maybe Val’s death wasn’t enough. Or perhaps we hadn’t been in time. I threw my body over Lionel just as Reflessa’s shadow katana swung down at us.
The katana passed through without harming us. Reflessa’s expression changed from one of battle rage to one of shock. Then it turned to back to shadow and melted away. Behind it, Reflionel also disappeared into nothingness.
“It’s over,” Lionel said.
I smiled. “I think so.”
He didn’t smile back. “It’s over,” he repeated, this time giving me a shove.
I took his meaning, releasing him. Now that it was over, we weren’t allies anymore. “Sorry.” I backed away.
“It’s a bit late for that.”
Val’s body lay draped across her daughter’s coffin. Her blood pooled across the top of t
he coffin with dark fingers trickling down the sides.
As Lionel stepped back, he noticed blood on the sole of his shoe. He scuffed it against the stone floor, but the blood didn’t want to come off.
“That’s where Val wants to be,” I said. “With her daughter. There was no way she was leaving this tomb. You put her out of her misery.”
“That’s one way to look at it,” Lionel said. “We didn’t exactly give her much choice. Or rather, I didn’t.”
“Let’s get out of here.” The smell of Val’s blood was beginning to affect me, and my keen awareness of time told me that daylight was close.
Lionel led the way back through the door, up the stairs, and into the main chamber. When Lionel descended the steps without looking back, I hurried in a different direction. If I took the back exit from the cemetery, I would come out close to one of the secret places I slept during the day.
I was just about to break into a sprint when a voice caused me to turn. At the bottom of the steps, a seeing eye had appeared, confronting Lionel. I ducked behind a large tombstone, peering out from behind it. Dawn was so close that I could almost smell burning, but still I waited and watched.
“Father,” Lionel said. “Come to rescue me too late again? You must be sick of being woken for no reason.”
“I wasn’t woken, because I haven’t slept since we last talked,” Christian said. “I’ve been looking through photographs of known hood mages. And one photo, logged by the Burkes of Buffalo, was of a Danielle Wright who looked remarkably like the woman who was in the back seat of your car earlier.”
“I see,” Lionel said wearily.
“So? Where is she? And do you have an explanation for your lies?”
“I do.”
“It better be good,” Christian said.
“Oh, it is,” Lionel said. “My explanation is this.” He took his pendant off his neck, balled it in his fist, pulled back his arm, and threw it beyond a row of distant graves. “I quit.”
I smiled at the mixture of shock and anger that lit up Christian ’s face. “You can’t quit,” he said. “You’re my son.”
“I quit as your security chief,” Lionel said. “And I quit as your son.”
[Dragongods Saga 00] - The Demon Mirror Page 9
