Rain lightly smacked the leaves outside.
I unearthed the paper from my pocket. ‘This is the word I heard Justin say,’ I said. ‘Laertes gave it to me moments before he took his own life. He said that it was the best gift he could give me.’
I put the piece of paper on the centre of the table.
Cassius used two fingers to drag it towards him.
He swore in Italian and jumped back from the paper as if it was on fire. My eyes met his. And I had a feeling, deep in my gut that the reason this was written down was because Laertes knew the Demelucrea would help me.
‘Vere-selum,’ I said.
‘It . . .’ Cassius’s fingers fluttered over the paper and he paced. ‘It could have a multitude of meanings,’ he said.
‘Yes . . .’ I led.
I didn’t understand Cassius’s tone; it was not one I had ever heard him use before. ‘But it . . .’ He steeled himself by standing up straight. ‘The exact translation is “towards-health”.’
‘What does that mean?’
He held up his weight by putting both hands on the table. He dipped his chin to his chest. ‘Renoiera . . .’ He shook his head. ‘Renoiera, it means antidote.’
Justin’s ridiculous lie had been just that – a lie, a way to drive me out of Wickham.
‘Antidote? To what?’ I asked.
‘To . . .’ He started but didn’t finish.
He gripped the table.
‘Renoiera.’ Cassius’s voice was so quiet it was starting to put me on edge. ‘If he didn’t lie . . . it’s an antidote –’ his eyes searched the room and then met mine – ‘to vampirism.’
There was buzzing in my head. I wanted Tony. No, I wanted Rhode, who was a vampire stuck in a house with Justin. I wanted to go home too. I wanted all of these at the same time.
‘Say it again,’ I said. ‘Slowly.’
‘An antidote. To vampirism.’
Antidote. Antidote. Antidote. No matter how many times I said this word it didn’t – it couldn’t – make sense.
‘Justin created an antidote?’
‘It’s unlikely he created anything,’ Cassius replied.
‘Well, keep talking!’ I threw my hands up; I couldn’t stand the silence. ‘Think of something. I can’t just stand here.’ I paced and shook my hands out as I walked.
‘OK. Well, if it’s an antidote, perhaps the Hollow Ones created it before tossing him out.’
‘Laertes was too weak to get it,’ I said.
That stupid piece of paper sat on that table, mocking me.
My bottom lip trembled as I paced and I brought my fingers to my mouth to stop it. An antidote. Had I seen an antidote?
At Justin’s house . . . a vampire floats by me in the water. Headless.
Justin slips something into his pocket, like a vial or a bottle, but I can’t tell for sure.
‘He was definitely protecting something besides the book,’ Cassius said, clearly following the train of my thoughts with his mind.
‘Could it be true?’ I dared to ask Cassius. ‘I can’t imagine Justin would keep such a powerful serum and not destroy it.’
I needed to keep talking it out or I would start crying. Hope bled from my heart, overwhelming the rest of my body. It kept whispering to me . . . You can turn Rhode back.
‘He clearly needs it for some reason. If I know the kind of vampire he has become, he will use the Vereselum as some kind of weapon,’ Cassius said. ‘Maybe it has to do with the need for your soul.’
‘We have to get it from him before he can change it,’ I said.
‘If he hasn’t already,’ Cassius said.
I finally unclenched my hands, shook them out and leaned against the wall.
‘If it’s true, we can turn Rhode back. Turn you back,’ I said. I couldn’t help it; I smiled. How long had it been since I’d actually smiled? I stood up. Yes! ‘First we’ll use the antidote on Rhode and then force it on Justin. Rhode is big – he’ll help hold Justin down. I don’t have to kill him after all.’
I laughed but it was shaky. My giddiness made my head light. I leaned my head back against the wall again and closed my eyes. Thank goodness, a resolution. One bright spot in all of this madness.
Suleen had been right. I was part of a revolution but it went much deeper than the Demelucrea. Even Laertes was part of the efforts. A revolution against the curse of the undead. A revolution to come back into the light. To live. I walked to the weapons on the right-hand side of the room. I needed to prepare for this battle against Justin.
I walked past Cassius towards the knives hanging on the opposite wall.
‘Renoiera . . .’ Cassius said.
I slid a knife from its sheath. ‘You’ll see,’ I said to Cassius. ‘It won’t take long for Justin to help us.’
‘Lenah.’
This was first time Cassius had ever called me by my name. I turned.
He wasn’t smiling.
‘You do understand, don’t you?’ he said.
‘What?’
‘Even if you get the antidote and all your dreams come true, Justin will be a human with no capacity to love.’
‘But the—’
‘Some things are absolute. This is absolute. Laertes told you himself – they tried to destroy the onyx to get back their ability to love. It didn’t work. The love Justin had is somewhere, used in some other way, but it’s gone.’
Cassius gripped his forearm where a dagger had cut into his skin during the fight in the auditorium. In only hours it would be healed, faster if he drank blood. I appraised my own wounds.
‘You know what you must do,’ he said gently. ‘You’ve known since Laertes’s death.’
He extended an arm as though directing me into a fine theatre. But instead, what met his fingers were the swords, knives and the many dangerous ways to take down a vampire in a impenetrable house.
He was right. Justin would be a killer and a murderer as a human without love. He would be empty – a vessel of hate.
My choices were down to one.
I had to get the Vereselum for all those who walked the night. Even the ghost of the vampire queen who at one time would have wanted nothing more than to take a deep breath and go home.
I stood before a full-length mirror and Cassius strapped a baldric to my back. It was a leather belt worn over my shoulder that strapped a sword to my body. It made it easier to transport the sword, and draw it when I needed it.
‘Tight enough?’
I nodded once.
‘Good. This is made from onyx,’ Cassius said, holding a longsword up in the reflection of the mirror. ‘If someone is beyond a door, or behind a shield, just aim. It’ll do the job.’
I wanted to use it on Tracy’s attackers. I wanted to break through any doors keeping Rhode from me.
‘My favourite satchel,’ he said, and pulled out a black leather bag from a trunk. ‘Inside you’ll find space for all the items you need to carry.’ He meant the Vereselum.
Four daggers. Two in my boots, two attached by straps to my forearms. But how to get the antidote? How to get into the Hollow Ones’ compound without Rhode? Without Suleen? Laertes had said something about love being the answer, but that did not help me get Rhode and the antidote out at the same time. It didn’t matter. I had to go into that house and try.
Antidote.
The end of all vampires.
It was like a mantra. The more I said it, the more it became a prayer.
‘And last,’ Cassius said, and pulled out a small box, like a jewellery box but tiny. ‘This is called amaranth sand. It is made from the flower. It will show you the way to your heart’s desire.’ He dropped it in the satchel.
Once the sword was in the baldric, he fastened it even tighter. He tried speaking again but instead said with his mind, Only use the amaranth when you must find your way out. And do find your way out. You come back to us.
I had the satchel, the longsword and the daggers. In the mirror, Cassius stood behind me
with his silver eyes shining. He folded his arms over his chest and said, ‘You look like a queen.’ He held a tight-lipped smile.
My hair was in a long braid down my back; I felt most comfortable that way. I stared at myself in the mirror again. I had breathed lavender for centuries. The sun that touched my skin only in the last three years spotted freckles on my cheeks. I lived outside the natural ebbs and flows of the world. Yes, the Earth had turned, but its rotation had passed me by.
Not any more.
I pulled my shoulders back; the last thing I needed rested on a table nearby.
The moon sent a wash of pale light over the wood. Rhode’s journal peeked out from my bag. It was my only real companion in his absence. I opened it and a small piece of paper fell out. I read the words in a whisper,
‘Ask yourself my love whether you are not very cruel to have so entrammelled me, so destroyed my freedom.’
I had not ripped out that piece of paper. I didn’t need to. I knew the words by heart.
Cassius checked the position of the moon.
‘It’s time,’ he said.
I nodded, knowing he was right, and with the heavy weight of my weapons, I folded the paper and stuck it in my pocket.
Except . . .
Something crackled or frayed like a piece of beach grass bit at my fingertips. I pulled it out and stopped.
‘What is it?’ Cassius asked.
Of course . . . I had completely forgotten. I had put it in these pants after the frog debacle. The lavender from my mother’s hearth. I lifted it to my nose. The fragrance was light and soothing like yellow sunny mornings and Genevieve’s golden hair. I slipped it in my pocket and hoped I would see my family again. They had to stay in the back of my mind or I would lose focus. I tucked the lavender away with the images of my home.
We had started with twelve Demelucrea; we lost two in the fight with Justin outside the chapel three days ago. We lost three more yesterday in the fight to get Rhode out of Justin’s house and four more in the attack at the auditorium this morning.
Esteban, Micah and Cassius were the only ones left.
At the front door, when the moon was high in the sky, Cassius embraced me. I squeezed, trying to reassure him that the Dems had put their faith in the right person.
When he pulled away, he slid a silver watch from his wrist. It was digital and he showed me how to illuminate the time with a push of a button.
‘Focus on the time and getting to Rhode. Don’t linger any longer than you must.’ The last word was so intense that I hugged him to me once more.
‘Will you watch out for Tony? Don’t let him run into danger with Tracy’s disappearance.’
He nodded. ‘You know I’ll go with you,’ he said in his stately and quiet way.
‘I have to do this alone. So it’s just me and him.’
He said nothing more but kissed my forehead. He swept from the house to the car. When the tail lights of Cassius’s car were all I could see through the uneven rain, I placed my hand on the door to pull it behind me. Just as the door was about to close, the phone rang on the foyer table.
I went back inside and answered it.
‘I heard you’re leaving now. The moon is rising. Or as we low-lifes like to call it, it’s eleven thirty.’
Tony.
I rubbed at the wood of the table. We could have panicked, said a hundred things, like be careful, don’t go, but we didn’t. He made a joke and I was glad to hear his voice before I entered that battle.
My voice cracked as I said to him, ‘Tell me that I don’t have to have supernatural powers to defeat him, Tony. That he won’t be able to love anyone or anything, that he would be a monster of this world if I let him live.’
Tony was quiet for a moment and I could hear Micah’s voice in the background.
‘I don’t need to tell you that, Len.’
‘Do I have to be the vampire queen to kill him?’
‘No. You just have to be you.’
I looked to the ceiling so I wouldn’t cry; somehow it made it easier to keep those tears inside.
‘Who’s that? Who am I?’
‘You’re compassionate. Giving. You don’t fear anyone or anything if someone you love is at risk. And you have great taste in art as you’re a fan of mine.’
I chuckled, but it was hollow.
‘Come on, Lenah. You went back in time to bring your best friend back from the dead. You don’t need me to tell you who you are.’
A hot tear rolled over my cheek and I wiped it away.
‘No crying before battle,’ Tony said, and I laughed for real that time.
‘How could you tell?’ I asked with a sniff.
‘I know you pretty well, Lenah. Within a week you . . .’ He hesitated. ‘Well, you’re my best friend.’
‘I’m glad you called.’
‘Always,’ he said. ‘Always.’
Maybe I was never meant to go home again. Some people are meant to die young. They do not age. They do not wrinkle. They illuminate the world for the briefest of breaths. Maybe I was always meant to go out in a flash. Because I was never truly ready any of the times I was taken from the beating heart of my world. I always fought the source that took me away before I was ready.
I was ready now.
Forty-two, the number of the Hollow Ones’ home, sat on the stone marker just as it had last time I had been there. The walk down the driveway was at least a half-mile, and this time the sound of my feet crunching over the driveway seemed louder. I didn’t care if any of Justin’s new coven, which I was sure he would already have created, were watching me approach. This was not a covert operation and I was finally walking on to a battlefield. I tightened the bow and the strap of the baldric. In my mind’s eye I could see the ghost of my old car at the end of the drive and Vicken sitting next to me. That’s how it had been the last time I’d visited this house.
Maybe I didn’t need to do a ritual for Vicken’s death after all. Surviving, no, living would be the best way to honour my friend’s life. He would have been proud of me here with a sword on my back.
I could have sworn a hint of cigarette smoke was on the air.
I don’t know about you, but this house says to me, Come inside if you want to die.
With the memory of Vicken’s words, I stopped before the front steps.
Even with that monstrosity of a house looming in front of me, I laughed and shook my head.
This time I wouldn’t knock.
CHAPTER 21
I turned the knob, expecting it to be locked.
But no.
The door creaked open and the foyer where I had once been so afraid was lit by the moonlight. I hesitated, peeking my face into the house. Above my head was the same black onyx ceiling I had seen before. Red candles burned in iron wall sconces. Directly through the vestibule was a hallway.
Whatever you do, Lenah, do not think about the Vereselum, I told myself.
I mustn’t think about it or my intentions would be known. If I kept my focus on Rhode, which was easy, I could deflect Justin’s attention from the antidote. With a last glance back at the driveway I stepped inside, closing the door behind me.
As I released it, the gold doorknob melted away into the dark wood.
There was no way out.
My breaths were loud, so I made them smaller, gathering myself and getting my bearings. A pearly halo shone down from above. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I could see that it was the reflection of my soul hanging above my chest like a friend lighting the way. The onyx ceiling remained as polished as ever; even with the deaths of the Hollow Ones, the place remained immaculate. I checked Cassius’s watch. I had been in the foyer thirty seconds.
‘Well . . . come in already.’
Justin’s voice slithered into my ear. Goose bumps swept over me at the chill in his tone. Justin could have been anywhere in the house; he could have thrown his voice just to frighten me.
I slid the onyx sword from the baldric and hel
d it before me. Its light weight was welcome, given how sore I was from my attempts to drag Rhode out of Justin’s other house. I took a step forward.
An arrow flew through the air. I heard it before I saw it and dropped to the floor. The daggers attached to my belt clattered when I hit the tiles. I looked to see where it landed and just saw the arrow, which had embedded in the door, dissolve away to nothing – vanished.
‘Stay calm,’ I whispered to myself. ‘You can do this.’
Sure, Justin could make a water shield and use air to transport himself, but he hadn’t mastered the elements as Laertes, Rayken and Levi had. But as long as the onyx ring remained intact, as long as my blood and energy remained in those crevices and microscopic cups, Justin would be extremely powerful.
I pushed against the onyx floor with my sweaty fingertips and stood up. I remembered from my previous visit to the house that if I turned left I would go down the hallway leading to the door with the twisted sculptures of bodies on it. Behind it was the library.
You will get Rhode out. You won’t fail this time, I told myself.
I scooted to the doorway, pressed my back against the cool marble and peered around the corner. Candles lit the blackened hallway and portraits lined the walls. Four candle sconces. I had to keep count. They had black candles and flickered only a two-inch flame within their holsters.
Black candles sucked the positive energy. They held on to fear. Coupled with the onyx, they sent a wash of dread rolling over me. This house wanted me to fail.
I slipped around the corner, my back against the wall. It was dark blue and softer here – wallpaper. Just as I exhaled, another arrow flew into the now empty foyer, embedding itself into the front door again. It was on a loop!
I shuffled down the hall and stopped at two doors on either side of the hallway. Rhode. Rhode. Rhode. Come on . . . I clenched my jaw. Which door to pick first? I opened the one on the right. Inside was a lush bedroom with a four-poster bed. A bureau sat across from it with very intricate engravings; it was old, possibly Victorian. But it was clear – this room had not been used in at least a hundred years. There was no television or technology of any kind. A small oil lamp with a white frosted shade sat on a nightstand.
Eternal Dawn (Vampire Queen Trilogy 3) Page 22
