by Dina James
“We observe neutrality,” Nana went on. “We don’t take sides. We have the gift of healing those who cannot heal themselves—those who need power and the force of life that comes from a living soul like ours. Unfortunately, by using our life force in this way, it’s depleted quickly. It gets used up by the time we reach sixty. If we reach sixty. A lot of us don’t.”
“You keep saying ‘us’,” Rebecca said. “Are there more of ‘us’, then?”
“There are a few, in various parts of the world, or the ‘mortal realm’ as the Ethereals call it,” Nana replied. “A great number were killed in the last war by the very beings we try to heal. As far as I know, less than a hundred of us remain. Here, in a place of healing, the ground is neutral—wars and battles stop here. Had the hellhound who bit Ryan tonight been in need himself, we would not have denied him assistance. He would have been treated and sheltered just the same, right at the side of the one he harmed, with no further hostility between them. Once they leave here, however...that’s another matter. You are safe here as well, and your Healer’s mark grants you certain clemencies both inside and outside the boundary, but you, like the Immortals, are not invulnerable.”
“So. .now what?” Rebecca shrugged. “You’re not better, and you’re not going to get better. The only reason you’re okay right now is because that...
vampire boy is here, right? And there’s someone from my school upstairs who’s turning into a vampire himself. Are more... people like them going to show up? What did Syd mean when he said the ‘entry was closed’?”
“The mirror up there serves... served...as an entryway,” Nana said. “It was sealed after your mo—after the last truce was declared. To put it in terms you can understand, I went out of business, so to speak. It seems now, however, I need to reopen. But I’m too old. Not only do I no longer have any power of my own to share, I’m too slow. I can’t remember much.
Sydney is a powerful Master vampire, the leader of a vampire clan, and he’s the only reason I’m able to manage at the moment. When he leaves...you’ll be...burdened with me again. An old woman who has lost her mind. I’m so sorry, Rebecca. You shouldn’t be wasting your youth like this. Maybe you should look into a home for me.”
“This is your home!” Rebecca protested, leaping up from her chair. She went around the table to hug her nana tight. “You’re not going anywhere.
You’re not a burden.” She hated herself for crying but forced the words out from her tight throat, not caring that her voice was thick with tears. “You wouldn’t let them put me into a foster home when mom died, did you? I’m not going to let anyone do that to you either! If anything, I’ll...I’ll chain Syd to the wall so he can never leave! You’ll be okay again. I won’t let anything happen to you, I promise.”
Nana gave Rebecca a squeeze. “You know that can’t happen. Syd has responsibilities just like we do, and if you really want to look after me, Rebecca...”
Rebecca pulled away a little to look at her nana. “Yes? What?” she prompted when Nana didn’t continue.
“I never wanted you to know,” Nana said again. “But I wouldn’t let them take you away, so I guess that means you’re going to be involved whether I want it or not. If you really want to look after me, Rebecca, you’re going to have to look after those I once did. If war has once again come to the Ethereal planes, and it looks like it has, then Sydney and Ryan are just the first of those who will need our... your help.” Rebecca’s eyes widened. “My help?” she squeaked. “Why my help?
What good would I be? I’m not trained! You said! And you said you can’t help anymore...and once Syd leaves you won’t even...”
“We’ll ask him to start your apprenticeship early,” Nana said. “Once a Healer comes of age—at seventeen—they train for a year with a repre-sentative of one of the great Ethereal clans, and then a different clan each year until the age of twenty-two. It’s usually begun with vampires because they’re the closest to mortals, and it eases a Healer into her training if she has something more like herself to accustom herself to. Now, you’re not going to have the luxury of accustoming yourself to your training. In truth you should have been learning about what you are since you were five. As it is, you’re just going to have to learn on your own, or from Syd. He can’t exactly object to training you early if I insist on it. It is his job.” Nana’s brow furrowed. “Ryan’s bite is...unfortunate...for him, but strangely fortunate for us. For you, rather. I could almost think...but Syd is a Master...” Rebecca looked at her grandmother as if Nana had started speaking a foreign language. None of what Nana was saying made any sense, but Rebecca felt like she should understand it. She reached to touch her grandmother’s shoulder, recalling her attention.
“You said that...before. Up there,” Rebecca said, lifting her eyes to the ceiling for a moment before looking back at her grandmother. “That we’re fortunate to have a Master here. Syd is a Master...? What’s that mean?”
“A Master vampire leads and sees to the affairs of a vampire clan.
Sydney is the Master of a great, well-respected, powerful vampire clan—
Cardoza. He was your mother’s mentor when she apprenticed the vampires.” Rebecca didn’t know much about her mother, but she certainly hadn’t thought anything about her being a veterinarian to the undead. How was she going to...?
“Oh, don’t look so dismayed, Rebecca!” Nana said. She smiled at her granddaughter. “Healing is easy once you get the hang of it. It’s inside you—a part of you. It comes as naturally as breathing after awhile, and Syd will be here to at least get you started. We’ll convince him to stay until you’re ready to work by yourself. I’m afraid I won’t be all that much help. I drain too much energy now, and can’t focus my efforts the way I used to. However, I have some books with my notes and things, and I’ll show you where I’ve kept all my herbs and special equipment. It will be a lot of work and you’ll have to learn fast, but this is in your blood, and what you were born to do.”
“Is this why I always wanted to be a doctor?” Rebecca asked, smiling a little.Nana smirked. “Very probably so,” she answered. “Now, let’s go check on Ryan. He should be over the worst by now.”
Rebecca nodded and rose to follow Nana upstairs.
They neared the linen cupboard that hid the entrance to the healing enclave. Nana reached in and pressed a large knot in the wood. It gave way at her gentle push and the shelves swung back and to the side.
They entered quietly, though Rebecca collided with Nana when the older woman stopped short.
“Rebecca,” Nana said in a calm voice. “Back slowly out of this room.” When Nana used that tone, Rebecca didn’t argue. Even though she had only heard it once or twice, she knew it was meant to be obeyed right then, without question or hesitation, and took a step back.
“I would not deny the Healer, nor her apprentice, access to her own enclave, my lady,” came a deep, rumbling voice that shook the floorboards beneath Rebecca’s sneakers.
“My apprentice is untrained, my lord, and I would wish no offense to thee,” Nana replied in that same calm voice, though Rebecca could hear the tremor in it. Whatever was in there had Nana scared to the bone.
“No offense will be taken,” the dark voice replied. “Upon my word. I have come only to see about the boy.”
“Yes, my lord,” Nana said to the voice. “Rebecca, follow me and do exactly as I do. Bow your head and keep your eyes on the floor until I tell you it’s all right to look up. Ask no questions now. They will be answered later.” Nana must have known there were about a billion questions running around in Rebecca’s head and a hundred more on her tongue just begging to be asked, to tell her to keep quiet. Rebecca took a deep breath and whispered
“’Kay,” ready to face whatever Nana was afraid of.
Here there be monsters, Rebecca thought, remembering a line from a pirate movie she liked. But what kind of monster was it? Even if Nana hadn’t been blocking her way, she’d been told not to look, except at the
floor. She noticed that Nana had bowed her own head, and remembered quickly to do the same.
Rebecca felt Nana grasp her hand tight and took a step into the room.
Once they were both out of the enclave entrance, Nana went to her knees, tugging Rebecca’s hand to follow.
She knelt beside her nana, careful to keep her eyes downcast and her head bowed.
Nana let go of her hand and put both of her own flat on the floor in front of her. Rebecca copied her.
“Bow low slowly, then don’t move,” Nana whispered before doing so herself.
Rebecca did as she was told and held the position. Breathing hard and trembling, she felt like throwing up.
“Easy, Acolyte,” she heard Sydney say. “Your own enclave, remember.” A low growl met these words, but Sydney didn’t apologize for speaking.
Rebecca felt her hair being moved and heard a long sniff. Then another.
“Raise your eyes to me, Acolyte,” the rumbling voice commanded.
“My lord—” Nana began, and Rebecca noticed Nana’s hands weren’t beside hers anymore.
“Hush,” the voice commanded, and Nana immediately fell silent.
What kind of thing could talk to Nana like that in her own house, and have Nana obey, just like that? Rebecca thought.
Rebecca did as she was told and slowly looked up from the floor. Her mind went blank with shock as her eyes took in the form of a very, very large black... Dog? Wolf?
She remembered that it had spoken to her. Neither dogs nor wolves could talk. She didn’t know what he was, but he was familiar, somehow...
“Hellhound,” the creature replied to her thoughts in that rumbling voice.She scrambled away from the huge black monster-dog, pressing her back against the wall with a frightened squeak, shaking from head to toe.
The hellhound seemed to enjoy her fearful reaction as they studied one another. Dark, rippling fur covered its entire form, save for a shiny black nose and a mouth full of serrated teeth that reminded Rebecca of a shark.
Its eyes were crimson and danced like a candle was inside them. Gentle red-orange flames, mixed with the occasional flash of blue, flickered at the tips of its ears, the end of its tail, and it seemed at the end of every hair on it.
Even around its feet, but the floor wasn’t scorching for some reason. The flames clung to the creature, but they didn’t seem to help lighten the terrible darkness emanating from it.
“Fire burns within you, Acolyte,” the hellhound said, approval in his words, though they sounded just as dangerous as any of the others he’d spoken.
“Rebecca, get back to your knees,” Nana said in a sharp whisper. “This is Lord Notharion, chief of the Hellguards.”
It was all Rebecca could do to peel herself away from the hard, safe wood of the wall behind her, gather her knees back under her and bow her head. She remembered what her nana had said and hoped she was about to do something right. She looked back up at the hellhound and met his eyes, though it took all her willpower to make herself do it.
“Forgive me...my lord,” she managed, though it was hard to unglue her tongue from the roof of her very dry mouth enough to speak. “I meant no offense. This is the first time I’ve seen a...a...hellhound.”
“Well spoken, apprentice,” he said, approving. “She will serve, Martha Althea.”
Nana inclined her head in a nod. “My gratitude, my lord.” Notharion raised an eyebrow at that, and Rebecca thought it was extremely odd that a dog raised its eyebrow.
“I am not a dog, and you will cease comparing me to such mortal creatures,” the hellhound said, turning its candle-eyes on Rebecca. “Rebecca Charlotte...you and I will have an interesting relationship.”
“You said you were here to see ‘the boy’. I’m guessing you mean Ryan,” Nana said. “But you weren’t the one that bit him, were you, my lord?”
“No,” Notharion replied. “I am here to see what damage one of my young has wrought.”
“One of your young! My lord! You are a father?” Nana asked, smiling.
The hellhound turned his large head to regard her.
“Maelia whelped,” he affirmed with a single nod.
“My congratulations to you upon the—”
Notharion looked away before Nana finished her sentence, apparently uninterested in congratulations, and took a step toward the bed.
“Stand aside, soulless one,” the hellhound ordered Sydney.
“I will not,” Sydney replied with a dark scowl. “If you’ve come merely to gawk—”
Notharion glared at the vampire and the floor vibrated with his deep growl. “You dare accuse me of coming to take pride in this? It was you who baited us.”
Sydney had no reply for that and, after a tense moment, moved aside to let Notharion see Ryan’s injury.
Notharion inspected the wound and took a deep sniff at it before he turned to go.
“My lord,” Nana called before Notharion could reach the mirror-portal.
“Can you offer no advice on how to heal such a wound?” Notharion looked back over his shoulder, then to the bed. “Appeal to the Light, for the Dark will offer no aid,” Notharion intoned formally. He hesitated a moment before adding, so quietly that Rebecca wasn’t sure if it was meant to be heard by anyone in the room, “Nor any hindrance.” With that, Notharion walked through the full-length mirror at the end of the room and vanished.
Rebecca cocked her head and considered the now-still mirror Notharion had disappeared into. “I think he just told us to pray,” she said. “Big help there.”
“Rebecca,” Nana scolded in a whisper. “You’re lucky he didn’t maim you, despite his assurance he wouldn’t take offense. Hellhounds aren’t the...
nicest...of creatures, no matter how much deference you show them.” Man, how did Nana manage to be that calm and quiet, when people...
things... creatures were so offensive?
Then Rebecca thought about everything she put up with from Marla Thompson and decided it must be something like that. Marla wasn’t nice to Rebecca no matter how often Rebecca tried to be nice to her, or stay out of Marla’s way. The thought of Marla being like a hellhound made Rebecca smile inside.
“Is that what that was? That bowing we did?” Rebecca asked, trying to mimic Nana’s soft voice. “We were showing him deference?” Nana nodded. “With hellhounds, you have to show a great deal of respect, even—” Nana glared again at Sydney as she led Rebecca to the bed where Ryan lay. “—in your own enclave. Otherworlders have different rules and customs about a lot of things. Respect will get you more places and help you a lot more than rudeness, so when in doubt, always be polite, even if you know you’re right and they’re wrong. You can’t let their attitude affect yours—they’re a lot older and smarter than you, and many of them wield powers we’ll never have. That’s why they’re called ‘supernatural’. What we just did with Lord Notharion was a combination between old courtly behavior and mortal wolf manners. They’re related in a lot of ways, and watching a few nature specials on how animals behave wouldn’t hurt you.” Nana looked Ryan’s still, quiet form, then to Syd. “How is he?” Syd returned to kneel by the bed. “He’s shed his mortal coil,” he replied.
Rebecca’s heart broke at the grief and anguish in his voice.
“I’m sorry,” Nana said. “Even if the entry had been unsealed—”
“I know,” Syd interrupted. “And I offer my apologies. I spoke out of fear. He’s like a brother to me, Martha. It wasn’t supposed to be like this.”
“But it is. Now we must both accept and endure, not lament what should have been,” Martha replied in that same wise tone Rebecca had never heard her use before that night. “I need you to remove the rest of the seals.
I don’t know if you’ve realized, but I’m not fit for much anymore, let alone the time and effort it would take for me to do it myself.” Sydney didn’t acknowledge her comment, but gestured a hand at the mirror. It glinted seven times in the candlelight then returned to normal.<
br />
“He’s going to need...” Sydney shook his head and looked helplessly up at Martha as he stood.
“I can’t,” Nana said with sympathy. “I’m not enough. I don’t have enough to help him and sustain us both.”
Sydney nodded and looked back at the still form on the bed.
“But she does.”
Both Rebecca and Syd looked up at Nana’s words.
“I...do what?” Rebecca asked. She didn’t like the way they were looking at her.
“Oh please, Martha. For this kind of healing, it has to be her choice.
She’s not even trained.” Sydney curled his lip. “You know that.”
“We can help her. If she’s willing. Rebecca...remember what we talked about downstairs? Well, now’s the time. If you want to help your friend, and help me do what needs to be done, that is.”
“What needs to be done?” Rebecca asked, wary. She had a bad feeling she already knew what they were going to ask, and she didn’t want to be right. She was not about to shove a stake through Ryan’s heart!
“You’ll have to feed Ryan.”
Rebecca blanched. Let Ryan suck her blood? That was disgusting!
“Oh, no,” she said, taking a step back and holding up her hands. “No way.” Sydney swore under his breath. Nana chastised him.
“Listen, young Healer,” Sydney began, speaking with exaggerated patience. “He can’t kill you here. He can’t take too much from you, either, as he could from your grandmother at her age. That’s why you’re a rare and valuable commodity among Ethereals. You have mortal years of use, of life in you. You more than others. He can’t drain you of your life’s force. Of blood...possibly, but that’s rare, and nigh on impossible when a Healer is in her own enclave. That’s right—Healers are always and only female. Healing comes from the life force created by a living soul, and it is the female who creates and bears life. Now, Ryan needs life restored to him and the only life strong enough for that in his condition is yours. So will you, young, untutored Healer, restore my fledgling?”
