He said his name was Aiden. Aiden Price…an Irish name. Very odd. Nikolai didn’t expect this seemingly all-powerful being to be called something so…normal. So human.
Upon examining this new chamber further, Nikolai found that Aiden had locked the door. Not that it mattered much. Nikolai decided against trying to escape, for he had no idea what city he was in, let alone what realm he was in. Nikolai’s own ignorance was the thing that barred him most of all. Not Aiden, the ethereal man with inexplicable ability.
The only other person with super powers Nikolai had ever met.
The evening in the catacombs had been so eerily quiet and still. He lay on that stone slab, reliving the memory of his family’s slaughter over and over and over. He didn’t know how long it was going to haunt him, but he clung to each desperately, for it was the only way he could continue to see their faces. They would probably continue to haunt him for the rest of his existence, and if that was call he could have, he’d take it.
He wondered when he’d fallen asleep long enough for this Aiden person to transport him here, a place still strange but considerably cheerier.
He wanted so much to die.
Another hour drew by before the bedroom door creaked open. Nikolai stared at Aiden as he entered. A devilish smile played across his lips. He was still adorned in the same dark suit with the brilliant coat of arms on the breast. His hair was shiny. In normal lighting, he was rather good looking. He was followed by a similarly-dressed fellow with choppy dark hair, his ears the same weird pointed shape. What were they? Demons? Angels? Nikolai pulled to his feet.
“We are ready to leave,” Aiden said, pushing feathery, copper hair behind one pointed ear.
“The plan is in motion,” the other man spoke in a deeper voice. “Cinder’s been gone for over forty-eight hours. We should leave. Now.”
“Please,” Nikolai managed to choke out, reaching to them. “I can’t take it anymore. You have to kill me.”
Abruptly, Aiden sent the hard back of his hand across Nikolai’s jaw. It sent him tumbling to the floor. He stared down at the disgusting mixture of blood and saliva spewed from Nikolai’s mouth. “Do not be so pathetic!”
Nikolai glared up at him like a tortured animal, his face damp with a fusion of sweat and tears.
Aiden looked back with a glint in his eye and a sort of understanding smirk. “Spitting image of the blood-sucker, aint he, Dalibor?”
“Aye, he is,” chuckled the other man.
“Yeah, but I got better plans for this one,” Aiden spoke again.
With a wave of his hand, he magically lifted Nikolai back to his feet. He grappled with some force he couldn’t see as it seemed to hold him up by his throat.
“I’m sure you’ve heard the proverb, “to know thy enemy is to become thy enemy.” Haven’t you?”
Nikolai couldn’t answer. Paralyzed by fear, he was unable to spit out anything more.
“That is exactly what I’ve done.” Aiden grinned darkly. “I have become my enemy. I understand him better. Now, it is your turn.”
“But what am I to become?” Nikolai panted. “What am I, exactly?”
“You have a gift inside of you. It is something you were born with. It’s what your mother possessed. It’s what your grandfather possessed. And your great-grandfather.” Aiden’s eyes narrowed at the last part.
He released him from the ghostly hold, and Nikolai stumbled back on his feet, gasping for air.
Nikolai gaped at him, not believing what he’d just heard. His arms dropped to his sides. “Wha-what? My mother?”
“Yes.” Aiden gave a cocky smile and tilted his head to one side, almost as if he resented Nikolai in some way. “But you already knew that, didn’t you? You had a feeling…. Someone like you only comes around maybe every thousand years. Maybe. I needed to do a lot of research –pull a lot of records, read a lot of ancient accounts. You are what we call an Indigo.” Aiden began to pace. “You are human for the time being, unfortunately, but you have the Dark inside of you. Your powers are dormant, but they are there.” His voice grew quieter. “You are going to be very useful to me.”
“It doesn’t feel like they’re dormant. I don’t think my friends could do most of the things I can do.” Nikolai snapped his fingers. The antique bedside table exploded to splinters. “Whoops,” he said sarcastically. “Hope that wasn’t worth a lot of money.”
Aiden chuckled dryly, turning away from him. “It’s nothing I can’t afford to replace,” he said to the one called Dalibor who smirked and shrugged. “And anyway, you may be able to pull off a few magic tricks now, but it’s nothing compared to what your potential will be when you’re fully turned.”
Nikolai winced. “What does that mean?”
“Nikolai.” Aiden paced slowly. “Did your mother know her grandparents?”
Nikolai winced. What an odd question. “No. I don’t…I don’t know. I never thought about it.” My great-grandparents?
“Ah.” Aiden nodded. “You’ll come to know more about your family tree soon enough. I’ll introduce you to your great-grandfather.” His grin was crooked and thin. “The Dark is strong. It lingers in the blood.”
Nikolai shook his head. Was this guy insane? “What is the Dark?” Nikolai asked. “What do you mean by that?”
Aiden looked at him with a brighter gleam in his eye. “Vampirism.”
Nikolai gasped, because the word impacted him like a gust of glacial wind. It evaporated the air from his lungs. That wasn’t what he’d hoped for after he’d spent most of his childhood identifying with a fictional boy wizard.
“It has been inside of you for generations. It lives in your family. They just never told you, because perhaps, they didn’t realize what the truth was themselves. Or they didn’t want to realize it. You didn’t have a good relationship with your father, did you?”
Nikolai was nothing more than a prisoner to this strangeness, though it felt familiar somehow, like a nightmare he knew well from when he was a child. He never belonged anywhere in his life. About that, he was positive. And even though he was more miserable now than he’d ever been, there was the odd sensation of belonging.
“I am afraid this is your destiny,” Aiden said.
He grasped Nikolai’s palm. Turning it over, he traced the intricate system of lines.
“You were never meant to be anything more than a monster. But not to worry. You’ll find purpose in all of this soon enough.” He sat Nikolai on the bed, eyes burning into his. “There is one more task left before you take your first human life and become whole. You possess fantastic powers, Nikolai, but you’ve never been entrusted with the opportunity to make them even greater. There is something I can offer you.” He placed a heavy hand on his shoulder. “I am about to relieve you from your torment. I can make you belong.”
Nikolai frowned, not knowing at all what Aiden meant by that. He leaned away from him.
“I don’t think so.” He could see how dangerous things were about to become. “I don’t want anything you’re offering,”
But someone like Aiden proved too impossible to resist. Unsheathing a silvery blade from his belt, he flashed it in the buttery light given off by the gaslight on the bedside table.
Nikolai flinched away from the weapon, thinking the worst. But instead of attacking him with it, Aiden turned the thing on himself, slicing open his wrist. An odd sort of black liquid bubbled from the wound.
“Drink from me. Do it. Don’t be mindless. This will open up an entire world of power for you. Embrace what you were always meant to be.”
Nikolai shot to his feet, backing away.
“No! I’m done. I’m leaving! I don’t want to belong to some weird cult, or whatever bullshit operation you run. This isn’t for me. I’ll figure out a way to survive on my own.”
He raced for the door, but as soon as his hand reached the knob, something of an electric shock reverberated through his body, slamming him back against the far wall and to the floor.
“Do not hurt my feelings!” Aiden bellowed, approaching with nothing but smugness on his face. “I’ve offered you a gift, so I expect you to take it.”
Nikolai gasped for air, all the wind having been knocked out of him.
“You’ve got a funny way of gift-giving,” he choked.
“I’m tired of talking, idiot.”
Aiden raced to him, holding him down to the floor. Dalibor helped by holding his shoulders, pinning him there as he struggled. Aiden pressed the dripping, black contents of his veins to Nikolai’s lips, and it gushed past his teeth, though he fought with all his effort to spit it out. It was bitter—what he imagined cartoon poison might taste like. Nikolai gurgled against it as it dripped into his mouth. Salty. Most of it slid down his throat despite his efforts.
“Don’t resist,” Aiden whispered harshly against his ear. “You must listen to me, or you’ll become lost in this world. I know what’s good for you. You need it. Just look at yourself. You’re so weak, it’s disgusting.”
The aftertaste was sour, the scent dominating, invading. It overtook everything else in the room. It wasn’t disgusting; it just did nothing to draw him in. It should have been deeper, he told himself. Richer. It didn’t smell…warm. Nikolai felt ridiculous for even thinking these things. None of it made any sense. What the hell was happening to him?
“You will get the real thing soon enough.” Dalibor chided while he and Aiden shared in a new wicked chuckle.
“Take it.” His tone grew more demanding as he pushed his wrist harder against Nikolai’s mouth. “Take as much of it as you can,” he growled.
Nikolai’s body began to react. He started to shake with the hunger. He reached up to grasp Aiden’s head, his arms and shoulders trembling with both the taste and the idea of what he was actually doing. He could see his artery throb under his skin. Nikolai’s gums ached as more of the stuff gushed over his tongue.
“Take it,” he heard Aiden will again, and all at once it seemed every vein tendril in Nikolai’s body was alit.
The feeling was incomparable to anything he’d ever done in his human life. He was losing all physical control. Aiden’s blood was cool as it ran thick. Nikolai shuddered with the boldness, wrinkling his nose. He could taste other things about it now. It was nutty. It softened the knot in his chest. His stiff joints began to ease as he fell deeper into ecstasy. He didn’t feel so tired anymore and he found that pulling away from the rich life-flow was much more difficult than he anticipated. It filled his senses—sang its lullaby to hold him there.
Nikolai inhaled deeply, his eyes rolling back as a delicious wave rolled through his center. He clung to Aiden’s wrist with all his might, his back arching as he continued to suck it in. But Aiden began to grapple violently against him.
“Enough!” Aiden roared and sent Nikolai hurtling into the bookshelf behind him, crushing the thing to splinters and throwing heavy books everywhere about the floor. “Didn’t you hear me, you vile garbage? You insect? Enough, I said!”
Aiden’s voice boomed through the chamber, his auburn hair wild over his frenzied eyes. His other hand gripped at the hemorrhaging wound at his wrist, the black blood oozing out from between his fingers.
Nikolai could only glare up at him through his dizzying drunkenness. The vile liquid twisted around in his guts –or was that just the bitterness he felt toward the dark and evil man? Nonetheless, he wanted to wash the taste of him off his tongue, though he was thankful for the way it affected him. He rubbed the stain away from his mouth with his sleeve.
“Listen,” he wheezed. “You’ve got to stop doing that. I don’t know what your fascination is with tossing me against walls—”
Aiden’s overbearing shadow eclipsed Nikolai in a pool of darkness.
“The more you disobey me, the more walls I’ll break with your spine. I’ve fed you enough to last you for some time, mongrel. It should be days before you begin to feel weak and beg for more. One last thing.”
He kneeled before Nikolai, grabbing a fistful of hair at the back of his head. “There is something else I want you to see before we leave.”
Suddenly, he pressed his palm over Nikolai’s eyes. His whole body went numb. He couldn’t feel his extremities. A sound rushed at him like it was being called down a long tunnel. It started out incoherent and windy, though he could tell it was a voice—garbled, but natural. The sound began to form into words.
Valek! Don’t leave me. Valek!
The voice sounded female and completely unfamiliar. Nikolai didn’t recognize it all, he noted, as he tried to keep himself steady against the sensation of his mind being controlled.
Aiden pulled away in the very next second, his mouth twisting into a new deviant smirk. “Perfect,” he said. “That is exactly what I wanted to know.”
“What’s that?” Nikolai cried through clenched teeth. He held himself up against the bed posts, trying to calm his dizziness. “Who was that?”
“You’ll find out soon enough.”
Aiden turned his back, deliberating something.
“You have the power of seeing. That’s interesting.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“I mean mentally, you can travel through space. You can see anything and anyone you wish to see at any given time, is that true?”
“Yeah. Came in handy a few times when I caught my girlfriends cheating. They had no idea how I found out.”
“Girlfriends, huh?”
Nikolai slumped. “Okay, fine. When I was spying on girls I liked,” he muttered. “Wait, can you tell me how to mind control? How did you do that?”
“Shut up. Your imprudence is annoying. Dalibor, are we ready to take leave?”
“On your order, sir.”
Sir? Nikolai pressed his palm against his forehead. It throbbed horribly.
“Hey, you should be nice to me if you want me to stick around. I have the power to vanish into thin air.”
Aiden turned his deadly glare on Nikolai’s face. If it were possible, the look would have been enough to kill him.
“Exactly. And that will be my next command.”
Static
“Hush up! Hush, Jorge, I mean it,” snapped Sarah who dialed up the volume on the small radio in the far corner of the kitchen.
Jorge pressed his mouth into a tight line, having been prattling on to Sasha about the financial state of the European Union and whether or not he thought Czech would buy into their unified currency proposal.
“Listen, listen, here she is.”
Charlotte leaned forward, her hands in her lap, straining to hear the voices under the waves of static.
“And what action do you plan on taking over these next few weeks before the Symposium on January twenty-first? Do you anticipate the young lord being well by that time?” A stoic male voice asked.
Charlotte’s breath caught in her throat.
“The plan is to use every resource we have to seek and slaughter the Vampire Ruzik. He is public enemy number one to all Occult Society, now. Even followers of the Dark should think twice and be wary of such a manipulative villain.”
The voice beaming over the radio most assuredly belonged to Cinder Price. Charlotte could tell by the slightly snobbish lift in her words and the Norwegian dialect. She sounded like an aristocrat, and that was not a compliment.
“Lord Price is still missing—” Charlotte, as well as a few others in the room, gasped. “—It’s been several days. His condition is complex. We do not know how the savage blood has altered him. There is a chance he may be dangerous and still be too unfit to lead. During this time, though, my team and I are working over a stratagem to bring order back to the Light societies of Central Europe—to bring down this extreme terror group and their ruler, and to find Lord Aiden Price. Once we have Valek Ruzik’s followers in our custody, we’ll be able to gain intelligence. We will know how to better help Lord Price, and the rest of those effected by the Dark. It is only a matter of time.”
“Terror
group,” Valek snorted in the far corner.
Charlotte grinded her teeth and curled into a tighter ball.
“And how do you propose to find the Vampire Ruzik?”
A heavy pause lingered over the static. Charlotte counted each one of her pulsations nudging against her temples. Fear tied a knot around her heart and squeezed.
“We will hunt the mortal girl. Once we have her, the Dreaded Vampire will be quick to follow. I alone possess the Sword of the Order,” Cinder’s voice announced proudly. “I alone can strike the Darkness down and silence him once and for all. This time, he won’t be able to resist our efforts.”
Valek snorted again. “If you’re so clever, you should have guessed I’ve been lounging at home all this time.”
Sarah hushed him ferociously.
“Very well. Thank you kindly for your time away from your efforts to allow us this interview….” The announcer rambled on some facts about the Western European Magic Court and about Cinder and where followers of the Light can access more information. He finished off his report by saying, “And if you have any tips about where to locate Occult society’s most wanted criminals, send post by way of the DEWS, the Dispatch of European Witchery System.”
“What is the “Sword of the Order”?” Charlotte asked when Sarah turned down the volume.
“We cannot stay here.” Valek pushed away from the wall, nostrils flaring. “They’ll be on our doorstep before dawn. We cannot wait, Sarah. We need to leave! As soon as possible.”
“I won’t go anywhere without Lusian!” Dusana fought.
Lusian had gone missing again. He’d been missing for about three nights, now. His lack of respect for Valek’s orders and for the safety of the coven was apparent. The thirst was Lusian’s highest priority.
“He’s probably been captured by now. He’s far too reckless,” Jorge growled.
“What is this symposium she’s talking about?” Charlotte pointed her next question at Sarah.
“Well you must know after living all your life in Occult society, Charlotte,” Sarah dismissed, her terror-filled eyes flicking over to Valek, but he wheeled around and fled the room without another word.
Of Blood and Magic Page 26
