The Hybrid Series | Book 3.5 | Ascension [A Lady Sarah Novella]

by Stead, Nick

  The next two hours were long and tedious as she presided over affairs of state, listened to reports of wars in far off lands, and dispensed justice. It wasn’t until the court was well underway that the servant she’d sent to find her sister returned. She saw him enter the hall and summoned him over.

  “Did you find her?” she asked.

  “Yes, my Lady,” he said. “The Lady Selina has been taken up to her chamber.”

  “Thank you, Aldred. Please see that she stays there. I will go up to her when I am finished here.”

  He bowed and went to do as she’d asked. Lady Sarah watched him go, her eyes still on him as she beckoned the next of her subjects forward. She was growing impatient for the court to finish now, and only her sense of duty kept her from calling an early end to the proceedings. It came as a relief when the last man came before her, and then it was over with, at long last.

  Some nights Lady Sarah might have discussed further business with her Council. But seeing her sister was more important that night. She’d done all she could to ensure passing the crown on to Selina would go as smoothly as possible, and she didn’t want to leave without seeing her last surviving family member one last time.

  She made her way up to their private rooms, struggling to hide her disappointment as she walked into Selina’s bedchamber and eyed the young woman her little sister had become. Selina sat on the bed, her blonde head down and her eyes on a foreign looking coin she twirled around her fingers, acquired through morally questionable means no doubt. Lady Sarah failed to see her sister’s fascination with the games of fortune the commoners played, and it angered her that Selina would court such dangers for treasures she could simply have bought.

  Selina was now closer to the age Lady Sarah’s physical body had reached before it had been made timeless, yet her behaviour could still be so childish. The smell of ale was strong on her breath, and Lady Sarah shuddered to think of the vulgar company Selina might have kept that evening.

  “Selina,” she said. “You were missed at court tonight.”

  “Was I?” Her sister raised her eyebrows in mock surprise. “Surely not. Since when have you ever needed my advice about anything?”

  “Careful, sister. I am still your Queen, and it would not harm for you to show me the respect that title deserves.”

  Selina snorted. “And if I do not? Will you have my tongue like you did the laundress’s daughter? You remember her – my friend.”

  “Of course not. You know I would never hurt you.”

  A tear glistened in those turquoise eyes. “Then why did you punish one of my closest friends?”

  “That incident was regrettable but you really should not have befriended such a lowly servant in the first place.”

  “Maybe if the other girls were more fun, I would not have needed to seek out Agnes to play with. You still have not answered my question.”

  Lady Sarah looked away from her sister’s accusing eyes, wishing there was an answer she could give which Selina would understand. It should never have happened but she’d been early in her vampirism, and her ability to wait to feed had still been developing, as had her control over her hypnotic powers. That particular night she’d failed to resist the temptation of feeding at the first opportunity. It was only as the servant’s corpse fell to the floor that she realised she’d been seen, and when Agnes turned to run she knew she had to silence her before the girl told the entire castle her secret. She’d thought by taking Agnes’s tongue that she’d been merciful. Unfortunately, her sister had not seen it that way, especially when Agnes’s only crime was supposedly slander, for which mutilation was not the common punishment anymore.

  “I have already said all I can on the matter.”

  “Why must you do that?”

  “Do what?” she asked, raising her eyes to meet Selina’s once more. For the briefest of moments, they were no longer Selina’s eyes but Constance’s, full of the same pain and lack of understanding. Then the moment passed and Lady Sarah saw not fear as there had been in her first victim’s features, but anger.

  “Shut me out all the time!” Selina said.

  “For your own good. Perhaps if you did not involve yourself in so many unacceptable activities, I might have felt able to trust you!”

  Anger turned to hurt. “You really think I would betray your trust? You are my blood.”

  If she’d still been human, Lady Sarah might have felt bad about that pain she was causing. But her soul had grown as cold as her flesh, and the weight of the crown had given her features the same stern set to them as her father’s. Smiles had become a rarity in her days as queen, and she had only impatience and irritation for her sister that night. “There is no telling what might come spilling out of your mouth when you are in your cups, nor who might hear in the taverns you insist on visiting. I have done what I had to.”

  “Maybe if you had opened up to me I would have spent more time in the castle, instead of drinking in the taverns. When was the last time we dined together or enjoyed a walk on a sunny day; can you even remember?”

  “You know I prefer to eat alone in my chamber,” she said, with more impatience. Since becoming a vampire, she’d lost all appetite for the grand banquets she’d enjoyed as a human. She would have the servants bring her plates of food to keep up the pretence at humanity, but it would go to the rats rather than into her own belly. “And I have not been able to go into the light ever since developing my condition. I burn too easily, you know that.”

  “Yes and you cannot tell me any of that is natural. Nothing about our family is natural anymore! No one dares say anything but the whole of your court knows it. I wish it was you who died and not our parents. I wish you had never woken from the death slumber we found you in. Nothing has been right since then!”

  “Careful, sister. Your wish might just come true, and then where will you be?”

  “Better off,” Selina retorted.

  “We shall see,” Lady Sarah said.

  “Yes, we shall. And now I wish to sleep off this ale.”

  “Very well,” she answered, turning her back on the last of her family. She was seething, but imagining how Selina would likely hate ruling gave her some satisfaction.

  Lady Sarah descended the stairs and stalked back through the great hall, out into the courtyard. Her guards were used to their Queen taking a midnight stroll, but as always when she reached the gatehouse, they insisted on accompanying her. Usually she would decline so she could hunt in peace. Not that night. She needed witnesses to her ‘death’.

  “Sir Gilbert; Sir Edwin – you may escort me. The rest of you, stay here.”

  “But, Lady, surely two is not enough-” Sir Roger began.

  She gave him her iciest look. “Do not mistake me for some feeble maiden. I am your Queen, and I am perfectly capable of defending myself from any thieves and brigands about the land. Two is more than enough.”

  He raised his hands in defeat and the two she’d chosen fell into step beside her. There was a light in Sir Edwin’s young eyes – joy perhaps that she was choosing to entrust her life to him? Sir Gilbert tried to hide his feelings but she wasn’t fooled – he was unimpressed at having to venture outside the safety of the castle’s walls, and she was almost tempted to feed on him. But there would be time to satisfy her hunger soon enough.

  They followed her to the edge of the woods, both men’s hearts quickening at the prospect of stepping between the trees. Their hands strayed to the hilts of their swords, their heads turning at the smallest of sounds. Everyone knew there was far worse than thieves and brigands in there.

  She came to a stop and turned to her men, fixing them with her hypnotic gaze. The fear melted from their features.

  “I am ordering you to wait here. You will not come looking for me, until the screaming begins.”

  They nodded, gazing on her with that mixture of awe and blind adoration only her vampiric power could bring. She could have commanded them to carve out their own hearts and they would h
ave obeyed. Poor fools.

  With her knights in place, Lady Sarah ran to one of the nearby villages, slowing to a prowl only when the humble homes came into view. Her eyes fixed on the dark shape sheltering her chosen victim. Nights of preparation had gone into this moment, hours spent searching for suitable prey. Now the time had come, and it filled her with a dark excitement. She was going to enjoy it all the more with the anger Selina had brought her.

  The family were among the poorest of her subjects and her victim would likely not be missed. Taking her would be a challenge though. The entire family slept naked on the floor alongside their pigs and cow, and the animals would be quick to sense her presence. That could mean a panic, one which would certainly wake the rest of the family. She would struggle to hypnotise all five humans, and their animals as well, before the situation got out of hand and disturbed the entire village. It was going to take all of her supernatural speed to grab her prey before the animals had time to react.

  The stench coming from inside the hut was unbearable. But her hunger for blood proved stronger, and she let it drive her towards the source of the odours, stopping only to bend beside the sleeping woman on her filthy mattress of straw.

  Grunts of alarm sounded and one of the children began to stir. Lady Sarah hastened to pick her victim up, slinging the limp body over her shoulder as though the woman were no more than a child’s toy. Then she ran, all the way back to her knights.

  Her victim was awake by the time she came to a stop, but the woman was as powerless to resist her spell as the knights waiting on the edge of the woods.

  “Stand still and be quiet,” she whispered in the human’s ear. “You will not react until you see the wolf. Then you may run, and you will most certainly scream.”

  She moved in to the delicate skin of her victim’s neck. The thin membrane broke so easily beneath the points of her fangs, releasing a steady stream of the precious liquid stored within, rich and tasty. Her hunger demanded she take it all, but she resisted. This kill would serve a different purpose. “Now I want you to take my clothes and put them on.”

  She undressed and handed her garments over. The woman had no option but to take them and do as she was told. Lady Sarah took a moment to study her puppet, pleased with how well her clothes fit the peasant – she was the perfect victim to pose as her own corpse. Then all that was left was for a killer to appear, which was where the wolf came in.

  Lady Sarah had discovered her ability to shapeshift quite by accident, since Ulfarr had not stayed to teach her about the gifts his blood had given. Her first shift had been into the likeness of the bats she’d always admired, one night when she’d been watching them fly by her window. One moment she was imagining what it might be like to fly among them, and the next she had become a giant bat capable of just that.

  She was never really aware of the shifting of her flesh in the same way the werewolves she would come to meet were. There was no pain and it was almost instantaneous. At such times she often felt like her body became one with the night, and it was not so much the shifting of flesh as the shifting of shadows. But exactly how it worked she doubted even Ulfarr could say.

  The discovery of her wolf form took longer and was brought on by howling somewhere outside the castle walls. She’d sat wondering about the tales she’d heard of men turning into wolves and whether, if a monster such as she could exist, there might be some truth to those legends as well. And a moment later she had become a wolf herself, in as smooth and fast a shapeshift as the change into a bat. But unlike werewolves, there was no change to her mental state. No inner wolf prowled her mind and there were no bat’s instincts to guide her on her first flight. Using the new abilities of her shifted body was yet another skill she had to learn for herself, and both flying and running on all fours took some getting used to. The long tail of her wolf form felt particularly strange, though the balance this new appendage gave more than made up for it.

  Once she was aware of the ability, shapeshifting was easy. She merely had to think about taking on the form of a wolf or a bat and will it to be so, and her powers did the rest. Seconds later she was standing on all fours, her lips pulled back into a fierce snarl which revealed more than just the two long fangs of her vampire body. The woman took one look at her and started to scream as she’d been instructed. Lady Sarah waited a moment for her to turn and run, her ears pricked for the sounds of her knights. Sure enough, they sprang into action at the sound of what they took to be their Lady in distress, and that was all the cue she needed. The time had come for her double to die.

  She bounded forward and leapt on her prey, sending the woman crashing to the ground. A cry of pain went up from the peasant but a few cuts and bruises were to be the least of her worries. Lady Sarah rolled her onto her back and savaged her victim with a greater ferocity than she might otherwise have shown, had the anger at her sister’s impudence not been simmering inside her cold, dead heart. Her lupine teeth snagged against skin and raked gory furrows deep in the flesh with each frenzied shake of her head, spilling more of the delicious fluid she continued to crave.

  By the time her knights came upon the scene, her victim had no recognisable features left. Both eyes had been claimed by her fangs, leaving only their jelly-like substance smeared across the woman’s sockets. Most of the flesh hung from the bone in strips of torn skin and stringy muscle, exposing enough of the woman’s skull to give her the macabre grin of the dead. Even her nose had been half ripped off. There was just a stub of cartilage to mark where it had once stood.

  Lady Sarah felt a strange kind of pride when her men charged her. They showed no fear, despite the brutality of the attack they’d witnessed and, had she been a mortal animal, either one of them would probably have struck her down with a single blow. But she dodged their blades with ease.

  She allowed them to drive her off but she did not run far, wanting to make sure her ruse had succeeded.

  “Lady!” Sir Edwin cried. She heard him fall to his knees.

  “Is she dead?” Sir Gilbert asked.

  “Yes,” Sir Edwin sobbed. “We failed. Lady Selina will have our heads for this.”

  She struggled not to growl, unable to believe her own ears. Their Queen was dead and all they cared about were their own necks? She half wished her sister would execute them for that, but knowing Selina, she would accept they had done all they could and reward them for their chivalry. Her sister could often be far too soft. Time would change that though.

  “Lady Selina taking our heads, are you simple?” Sir Gilbert said. “If we give her a good enough tale of how we battled the vicious beast and drove it from her sister, we will be rewarded.”

  “You think so?” Sir Edwin asked, brightening.

  “Oh yes. The bards will sing of our deeds for centuries to come! Just a pity we have no wolf to take back with us as proof of our victory.”

  Lady Sarah had heard enough. She started on her journey towards a new life, stopping only when she reached the opposite edge of the woods. There she turned for one final look at the castle she’d called home for most of her life. Her anger finally gave way to regret and a sense of grief. She couldn’t have known then that fate would eventually bless her with the return of her sister. If she had been granted that glimpse of the future, perhaps it would have made her departure a little easier. And perhaps not.

  She did feel sorry not to have parted with Selina on better terms. It had not been her intention to argue with her sister in what she believed were to be their last moments together for all eternity. If there’d been a way to put it right she would have gone back and done it in a heartbeat. But she knew it was time to turn her back on the past. She must look to the future now, for Selina’s sake as much as her own. Going back would only do more damage.

  And so Lady Sarah left behind all that was hers by birthright. She didn’t shift back until she was far from anyone likely to recognise her, and only once she’d been able to steal new clothes. So began her new life among humans. It was
but one of many.

  “We’re almost here,” Amy said, centuries later. “It’s just on that street there.”

  Lady Sarah’s mind was back in the present, but she was still distracted by her memories. After so long, she remembered only pieces of the many identities she’d built for herself over the years, each life beginning to blend into the next. The first night she met Vince stood out and the brief time they spent together, after she’d rescued him from the Slayers. But no, thinking of Vince was still too painful, the wound of his betrayal still too raw.

  “This is it,” Amy said, sparing her those memories.

  The car pulled to a stop and everyone climbed out.

  “You can go now,” Lady Sarah instructed the man they’d hitched a lift with. “Drive away and remember nothing of this journey.”

  “Come inside with me, Nick,” Amy said. “I know you can’t stay but at least see Mum before you go.”

  The werewolf was looking at Lady Sarah to translate for him while he was trapped in his wolf form. She obliged, but her mind was still on the past.

  The moment came for the two siblings to say goodbye and for Amy to be made to forget everything since David had kidnapped her. All their eyes were on the young human rushing to the front door to her home. They watched from the shadows as the door opened and Amy was reunited with her mother, but the sight of their loving embrace did not stir memories of the night fate brought Lady Sarah and Selina back together. Instead, her thoughts returned to Ulfarr.