Shadows of Mist, page 4
part #8 of The Vampire Gift Series
“It’s not what I want, Dagan,” he says. “It is what you need.”
I shake my head. “That does not make any sense.”
“Few things in our world do. Yet you cannot deny them for such flimsy reasons.”
“You want me to just take you at your word that this torrial showed us what we need to see?”
“It is not a torrial, Dagan. A torrial requires the channeling of magic into it to have its powers unlocked.”
“Well, whatever it is,” I snarl. “You expect me to chance my entire purpose because of what it showed?”
“No,” he says. “I expect you to change your purpose because I command it so.”
Suddenly, a horrible tightening feeling comes over my body, constricting me with its strength.
In seconds it passes, but I know without a shadow of a doubt what it was: some higher manifestation of the influence being directed at me.
“I will go,” I agree, however reluctantly.
“Good,” he tells me. “You may even find there what you seek. Now, I must take you back. It is Beth’s turn to come here, and at that point our arrangement ends.”
Chapter Five
Eleira
The Haven.
Felix trots up to walk at my side.
I glance at him from the corner of my eye. “Can I help you?”
“I wanted to mention,” Felix says, “that the torrial is not infinite in its power. Nor is it indestructible. Shielding me from the first wave of Tentoria and extending its power to encompass you, may have left it…” he lowers his voice, “…a lot weaker than it was before.”
“Are you saying it could fail me?” I ask.
“That is a possibility,” Felix admits.
“Is there any way to check?” I’ve long ago learned never to probe unknown torrials, with even the slightest bit of magic—there is no telling, ever, how they will react.
“I am afraid not,” Felix says.
“So, what then? Are you saying you gave me a defective defense mechanism?”
“Not defective. Just… potentially exhausted. Used. Meaning you should not rely on it one hundred percent.”
I frown. “At least you’re honest.”
He stops short. “Eleira,” he says, so sternly that it shocks me a little.
I plant my feet in the ground and look at him. The vampires following us also stagger to a halt.
On impulse, I grab currents of Air and Earth to erect a sound-proof shield around us. I add a touch of Water and Fire to it so that it’s ringed by a white glow—signaling to the other vampires its presence.
“Now you may talk freely,” I say. “Tell me what it is you have to say.”
He takes a slow and patient tone with me, which only serves to irk me more.
“The subtle implications you keep having about my loyalty are unbecoming for a Queen. If you question my honesty, do so, but do it in private. Do not let them—” he casts an arm out to encompass the rest of the vampires, “--see your doubt.”
“Are you telling me that for your benefit,” I fire back, “or mine? I know exactly where I stand with The Haven vampires. Can you say the same about yourself?”
“Where do you think you stand?” he asks, ignoring the latter question.
“I am their Queen,” I pronounce. “You are a relic of the past.”
“I have given you no reason to doubt me,” he counters. “Of course, I understand all of this is very overwhelming. But you are letting paranoia about my intentions get the better of you. Remember the first time we met in private, in my study? I promised you that I would teach you the mannerisms befitting a Queen. And I told you I would open your eyes to the lies and intrigue of the Elite and the Royal Court.”
“Is that what you think you’re doing?” I scoff. I see the vampires outside our bubble getting impatient.
“Yes,” he says, very solemnly. “Somebody is whispering lies about me in your ear. You are falling for them.”
“How lovely that you think I am incapable of an independent opinion.” I roll my eyes. “Anything else?”
That little comment gets to Felix. He grits his teeth.
“No,” he says. “Just know that I am loyal to The Haven. Nothing else.”
“Yeah, we’ll see about that,” I mutter and release the spell.
Then, I lead the vampires on.
But as we walk, that thing Felix ended with keeps running through my mind.
He is loyal to The Haven.
Not to me.
I eye him warily. Was that a slip of the tongue, or did he want me to catch the very obvious implication?
I don’t get more time to think about it as we reach the spot where Morgan’s tomb lies—and find it abandoned.
Panic shoots through me. Where are the guards? What happened to all of them?
Frantically, I scan the ground for any hints of what might have occurred. I see no signs of a battle. If the screechers had come, there would be marks all over the dirt.
I break away from the group and run forward. All the weaves of magic are ready to be cast in a heartbeat.
Could Morgan have awakened? I’d consider it impossible, given what I know of her condition… but nothing should surprise me about the witch.
When I’m only a few feet away the secret hatch pops open. In my haste I nearly send an obliterating spell that way, before I recognize the face as belonging to Geordam.
I cut off the spell ruthlessly and stagger to a stop.
Geordam looks at me, looks at all the vampires behind me, and slowly emerges.
He seems somewhat ashamed.
“My Queen,” he says. “We know what happened. We would have come for you, but you gave us orders—”
“You did the right thing,” I say. “You couldn’t have helped, and I would be very angry if you disobeyed. Where are the rest of the guards?”
“All down there,” he says. “Riyu ran out and told us he’d sensed a disturbance. We assumed he meant with Morgan.”
My breath catches. “And?”
“It wasn’t Morgan,” he says. “It was those creatures. Somehow, Riyu picked up on them flooding out from under the earth. None of us could sense them.”
“I know,” I say. “I cannot, either.”
Geordam nods. He has a stark determination about him. “Of course. But Riyu did, somehow, and told us all to come underground. He said the wards around the chamber would protect us from the screams.”
“It seems he wasn’t mistaken,” I note. Relief pours through me. “So, then, everything is all right?”
“Same as you left us,” Geordam confirms. “A stampede of the creatures sped by here, but they did not harm us. I suspect they did not even know we were here.”
Just like that, my mood turns. My gut clenches. “There was a stampede?” I ask softly.
“Hundreds. Maybe even a thousand. It was impossible for us to get a proper count.”
“All the screechers that attacked us, that I destroyed, came out from underground.” I glance quickly at Felix. “You were right. We have not yet met the horde.”
“And here we have no strategic advantage!” he explodes. “The terrain is against us. We can be attacked from all sides. All we’re relying on—is you.”
I stare him head-on. “Are you suggesting that isn’t enough?”
“You’ve seen what they can do!” Felix exclaims, exasperated. “You saw how they rendered the vampires absolutely helpless. Yes, you can take them out when they come—but your power is not limitless. We don’t know how many there are. They can easily overwhelm us. And I do not have the strength to restore our vampires another time!”
“I will not leave Morgan on her own,” I say firmly. “While she still breathes, she is the greatest threat. Maybe not immediate—but I will not leave anything about her to chance.”
“Riyu is down there,” Felix says angrily. “You left him there, alone with the guards, because you trusted that they were enough. Now, you want to leave all of us vulnerable—”
“ENOUGH!” I snap. I pull on the currents running through the air and make a show of shooting a stream of white fire straight up. The torrent illuminates the night sky.
All the vampires watch, cautious, unsure of what is going on.
When it hits its peak I split it into dozens of streams that arch down and land in a perfect circle encircling the vampires. That was just theatrics. Next, quickly, I put up walls of Air between each of the fallen points, so that now we are all enclosed by a large, invisible fence.
“There,” I announce. “The points marked by fire on the ground represent the edges of the barrier I cast around us. It blocks all soundwaves from reaching inside. So long as you stay within the perimeter, you are all safe.”
Murmurs of appreciation sound amongst the vampires. That only lasts a moment before it’s replaced by that strange prickled vampire pride from having to hide.
I feel the shift in the atmosphere. It’s subtle, but I know the vampires do not like being closed in and herded like goats.
“Geordam,” I motion to my new Captain Commander. “Tell your guards to position themselves around the posts. Nobody is to step outside the sphere.” I tie the weaves off, wait a few moments to ensure they’re stable without my input, and nod in satisfaction.
“The rest of you—” I raise my voice to address the vampires, “—have to be on guard. The Tentoria can appear at any moment. Their shrieks won’t hurt you as long as they are outside the barrier. But if they break through…”
I shrug, almost casually. “Well, you’ve seen what they can do.”
Sounds of dissent and discomfort emanate from the vampires.
“But I also know what you can do. If any break through the barrier, you will use your superior speed and deadly grace to kill them! Only with their screams do they stand a chance, and now I’ve rendered that one raw advantage untenable! They will come at you in short bursts, and you will destroy them the moment they step foot past the barrier. The screechers are weak, fragile, pathetic things! Only their screams give them power over us, but you can destroy them all, one by one, as they come through the barrier!”
Finishing the little speech, I turn to Geordam. “You will collect your ten best guards,” I tell him. “And I will lead a hunting party, with them, to go out and destroy the Tentoria. The Haven vampires will not be made prisoners in their own coven!”
Hoots and shouts from the vampires come in a sudden blast as they cheer in proclamation.
Chapter Six
James
The Crusader’s Facility.
As Paul leads the way through the ancient, abandoned, underground tunnels, I stay back with Smithson and Victoria.
The smaller blonde vampire keeps shooting me dirty looks. She hasn’t said anything since it was revealed that Melvin was the one member of the Crusaders who had any knowledge about male wielders of magic—and that with him dead, the knowledge is gone.
Smithson, for what it’s worth, is back to his usual self. Victoria’s extraction of the last bit of poison Cierra had bestowed upon him has revitalized him and cleared his mind. No longer is he the trembling, cowardly caricature of a once-great leader.
“The minute we make it to the outside command post,” he tells me. “I will make the call to the generals in the Order. They will all do as I say, the moment I say it. Of that, there is no doubt.”
“Fantastic,” I mutter, distracted.
My thoughts are consumed with the ticking time bomb I’ve set. I promised Cierra a vampire cure within thirty days. My only hope is that some manipulation of the devices the Crusaders developed will be sufficient to fool her that a cure for vampirism exists—otherwise, my life is forfeit.
Idiot! I curse myself. The final hope is taking Cierra head-on, my magic against hers. But I bloody well don’t know how to channel it, and apparently nobody else on this blue earth does, either.
“Together the Order and the Crusaders will form an alliance the strength of which this world has never known!” Smithson continues. “Think about it, James, think! You saw the awesome military might in the complex. Couple it with all the knowledge the Order possesses, couple it with our vast resources, and together, we will be unstoppable! This is so much greater than what any new coven could be. You’ve gotten everything that you’ve wanted, even more, without the need to find, convert, and feed thousands upon thousands of new vampires! We have the army, the discipline, the knowledge, the strength! We have it all, James, thanks to you!”
“Will you shut up?” I snap. “We don’t have anything if Cierra comes and destroys us all. The clock is ticking on my death!”
Smithson hesitates. “James…” he says slowly. “I may not have been totally honest before.”
“What?” I spin on him. “Tell me what you mean. Now!”
“Melvin may not be the last link to male magic on this Earth,” he says carefully. “Long, long ago, a man made himself known to us. He claimed to have visions, and he said that these visions were sent to him from beings in the stars.” He shakes his head. “We dismissed it all as lunacy and took no further note of him. But, over the years, somehow, his name kept popping up in the Order’s field reports. Since the reports always get handed to me, and come from disparate sources, I may have been the only one to make the connection.”
I narrow my eyes.
“Dealings with the supernatural. People seeing spooks. Crop circles. Unidentified flying objects. Streaming lights in the sky, houses disappearing overnight without a single sign of demolition. Hauntings and possessions, that sort of thing. The usual unverifiable trash.”
“What does this have to do with me?”
“I do not think it coincidental that some of these reports were followed by mention of a tall, slender figure in a top hat, always watching on. In all of these independent reports, he made an appearance, and he was always described the same way.”
“None of those supernatural things are real,” I snarl.
“I know. But magic is. And the reports were filed, anyway. That means there’s something to them. Even though the attribution of the events to unknown preternatural forces is false, would it be such a stretch to attribute it to magic?”
I focus on him. “You waited until now to tell me?”
“I already said, I wasn’t myself. Melvin was the closer target. If Paul hadn’t killed him—”
“He did, and now we have to deal with the repercussions.”
“When I contact the Order, I can quickly find out when and where the last report involving the man was filed.”
“You say the first one came to you long ago,” I say. “How long?”
“Half a century or so,” Smithson says.
“That means he’s probably already dead,” I snarl.
“If he was twenty fifty years ago, that would only make him seventy today.”
“You want me to put all my hopes on a seventy-year-old man? Both of us know how dangerous magic is. What’s to say he hasn’t found his end already?”
“Nothing,” Smithson agrees. “But I don’t see what other choice you have, if you want to develop your magic.”
“We’ve got some twenty-odd days before Cierra seeks me out,” I say softly. “If this is the best option we can think of, I’ll consider it. But it takes a desperate man to pin his hopes on a possibility so faint.”
Victoria, who’s been listening in on our conversion in silence, speaks up.
“There is another option, you know,” she says.
I don’t even bother facing her. “What?”
“We could go to Eleira.”
I spin on her in a rage. “I will not demean myself by going to that… that little girl… and begging for help!”
“She is the strongest witch alive, barring Cierra,” Victoria says evenly. “Unless you learn to control your magic, I see no other way for us to beat her. Even with all the might of the Crusaders and the Order combined, we won’t be able to do anything against her magic. When she comes for you, James, she will tear through our defenses as easily as a knife through bedsheets. You think any sort of modern technology will stand a chance against her? ‘Science’ has only been around for four hundred years. It is a brand new field compared to the ancient magic Cierra wields.”
“The same science that you mock was able to take away your vampire gifts,” I note stiffly.
“That’s totally different, and you know it!” she explodes.
I let out a terse breath. “Yes, I do. It’s just… damn it!” I strike a first against the wall. The rock cracks and the whole cavern shakes. “We were so damn close with Melvin, and then Paul’s damn greed took over, and now…” I spread my hands. “Now, everything is spiraling out of control.”
“Control is a false construct anyway,” Smithson says sagely. “The world is chaos. We must accept that.”
“If I just had some way of tapping into that power that’s inside…” my arms hang listlessly at my sides. “If only there was some way I could teach myself to channel--”
“Well, you can’t,” Victoria snaps. “So stop with this pathetic pity. You made your deal with Cierra. Now you have to live with the consequences.”
I give her a vicious smile. “Don’t pretend it doesn’t affect you.”
“Of course it does. But I’m not whining about it. I’m thinking of solutions.”
I scoff. “Really? And what solutions have you come up with, in your infinite wisdom?”
“Hey!” Paul calls out. Our attention shifts to him. “You going to keep arguing, or are you going to come to your senses and realize that bickering is pointless?”
“Careful,” I warn. “Remember your place.”
“I know my place full and well,” he says. “I also know, if you keep stalling, the window of opportunity for us to sneak away from the compound undetected gets smaller and smaller.”
“What are you talking about?” I ask. “We’ve been walking these tunnels for hours. You said they provide safe passage out.”
“Yes,” he confirms, “they do.” He points above his head. “But we’ve reached the end. Now, we have to go above ground. That is where the challenge starts.”
