Elixir of Flesh

by Joseph Kranak

  * * *

  By the time the two vampires returned to the coven, Asha had already sorted out what’d happened. She’d asked questions of several different vampires to reconstruct the events: Nicu had been knocked out; Lina had carried a basket through the halls; the basket, now empty, was left behind in her room; she’d put on a cloak; she’d walked up through the tunnel; the guard had seen a bulge on her back; he’d been pushed away, and she’d left.

  It was only necessary to speak with Dragomir to confirm what she suspected. She stepped into the barred room and summoned him to her. He limped forward through the crowd, his scarred face emerging from the shadows, and he bent his good ear towards her.

  “Do you know Lina?” Asha asked, “She’s a young vampire, only recently arrived. Did anyone see Lina enter the pen and take someone out?”

  “A few people saw a small female vampire snatch a youngster named Nicoleta,” Dragomir replied, nodding his head, “It was odd not to see Mir do it. But we all thought she was new and Nicoleta had become food.”

  Asha felt hot anger rising inside of her to hear her suspicions confirmed. She responded, though, in an attempt to remain calm in front of Dragomir. “Yes. For food. She was taken for food,” Asha said, adding emphatically, “And you make sure no one thinks otherwise.”

  When Eta and Sil returned to tell Asha that Lina had taken refuge at Andrei’s, she was incensed. She slapped both of them across the cheek so hard they tumbled to the ground, her claws bent so that they drew four red lines across each of their cheeks.

  She commanded them, hovering over them while they lay on the floor, “Get her back. Tonight. I want her here. Take as many as you need.”

  “My apologies Asha, but have you forgotten how heavily fortified Andrei’s home is?” Sil objected.

  Asha slapped him across the face and shouted at him, “I did not ask for counsel.”

  “He’s right,” Eta agreed, “We’ll need at least a dozen vampires, and even then we should expect heavy casualties.”

  “Then be sure you do not stint on numbers,” Asha snapped at them. Calming down, she added, “Perhaps it’s best you two didn’t lead this attack. We’re going to lose a lot of good vampires over this. Put someone else in charge. Make sure they bring more than enough to succeed. No one too valuable. Also, I want Vad detained in his room. And I want to talk with Lucian before the day is over. Make it happen.”

  Sil announced Asha’s orders, and soon several vampires were jostling for the opportunity to fetch Lucian for Asha. It was Eta who ultimately won out by ignoring this argument, retreating to her room, and slipping herself into her black clothes. She bolted through the caves and was out into the daylight before they could stop her. With her quick speed she left behind several other vampires that tried to join her, heading directly for Lucian’s home, where he most likely would be at this time.

  The house that Lucian occupied was significantly larger than any of the small farming cottages that most of the villagers possessed and was at the center of a large estate that Lucian owned. It had a gleaming white exterior with many windows and was abutted by a horse stable and carriage house.

  Eta had to approach the house circuitously, since there were several laborers working Lucian’s land, and it would not be profitable for a vampire to be seen approaching the home of the magistrate. Eta zipped behind trees and ducked through the grass, approaching the home out of sight of the many eyes that occupied the nearby outside.

  Eta climbed the exterior of the house with ease, leaping up and grabbing an overhang, before pulling herself up to a second story window, which she was able to look in through.

  From the exterior she silently searched the rooms for him. His wife and an indoor servant were visible moving through the halls, and Eta had to wait many minutes before Lucian was alone in his study.

  Eta opened the window and silently dropped into the room, so quietly that Lucian only just saw the movement out of the corner of his eye and gasped with fright when he turned to see a vampire standing only a few paces from him.

  “You frightened me,” he told her, taking a few deep breaths to calm himself, “What is this about?”

  “Asha needs to speak with you. Something’s wrong. Someone’s fled. Come with me,” Eta whispered in a hissing voice.

  “I don’t see why she can’t just send me a message. It’d be a whole lot simpler.”

  “No,” Eta urged, moving towards Lucian and preparing to pick him up, “She needs to speak with you.”

  Lucian turned up his hands in a gesture of resignation, before walking to the door of the room and locking it. Eta snatched him up off the ground and carried him to the window. She leapt out of it and landed on the ground, immediately running for cover before she began her course back to the coven.

  Lucian was carried rapidly on the back of the young vampire through the woods and was inside the coven once again after several minutes of running.

  At the foot of Asha’s throne, he was greeted and told, “One of our vampires has escaped. I would like you to get her back. Her name is Lina, and she is hiding in Andrei’s home. Can you do this for us?”

  “Yes,” Lucian replied, “But as I told this young vampire, I don’t see the necessity of bringing me down her. You could’ve told her, and she could’ve told me. What’s the point?”

  Asha smiled and said, “I want to guarantee your cooperation. And I like you visits. You come so seldom to pay me a friendly visit.”

  “I’ll speak to Andrei as soon as I can,” Lucian conceded, thinking of all the work that needed to be attended to back in his study.

  “You’ll speak to Andrei now!” Asha interjected forcefully. Lucian could do nothing but nod his head at this point. He bowed and withdrew himself.