Sam merely shrugged his shoulders. He didn't really know the answer to her query and found himself unable to answer, his language skills failing him altogether.
"Do you know something, Sam?" The queen asked, her focus locked on to him as if nothing else in the world existed. She didn't sound angry or disappointed, her tone back to being calm and friendly. “It's a wonder that you even exist. One as strong as her should never have been able to create a thin blooded vampire such as yourself. You're a true enigma, Sam, and that can only mean one thing… It means that you're my new favourite person!" She let out a joyful laugh, her mask quivering. “And to think, I used to send the Forsaken out for slaughter en masse!"
Sam chuckled anxiously. He didn't know whether Renita was joking about the mass slaughter of those like himself or whether it was something that she had actually called for, but he quickly decided that he didn't want to find out. If the stories were true, then that kind of behaviour was commonplace and the Forsaken had been treated as something far worse than second class citizens by their fellow vampires for almost a century. Either way, Queen Renita Marquette was so much more than just royalty. She was a former monarch who had no qualms about executing those whom she deemed to be unworthy of her favour.
Sam wondered how long it would be before he too fell out of the queen's good graces and found himself on the chopping block. In all honesty, he decided that he'd rather not know. He didn't need any details of Renita's past anymore and would rather concentrate on a future where they could work together to strip Katherine of her crown.
"Do they bother you? The scars?" The queen was closer now. Sam had been so deep in thought that he hadn't noticed her move, his chaotic mass of thoughts taking over his brain. She had placed herself down on the side of the bed next to him, well within arms reach. Dark hair rested upon her shoulders, the plain linen dress hanging loosely beneath. Renita seemed almost human in that moment, and yet the doll-like mask denied her any form of intimacy, the gold paint and fading red lips close to flaking.
Slowly raising a gloved hand to touch Sam's face, the queen's movements were graceful and fluid, but he still couldn't stop himself from flinching. Even the soft touch of fabric caused his skin to flare up, his nerve endings shooting pain signals to his screwed up brain. The strange, yet uncomfortable sensation made his mind question what was going on until it was quickly overrun by a desire to explore the moment further.
Renita had tried to be gentle, but Sam's involuntary reaction caused her to pull her fingers away. The regret she felt was clear as she answered her own question. "Please forgive me, I didn't wish to cause you any discomfort. It's just so strange for me to see an immortal such as yourself in such an unfortunate state."
Forcing a smile, Sam raised his own trembling hand as he tried to hide any physical pain that he felt. "May I?" He pointed his fingers out towards the porcelain surface of the queen's mask, waiting for an invitation as his inquisitive nature overcame any fear that he had previously felt.
Renita nodded, remaining reserved and silent. She lowered her head towards his outstretched hand, silently giving permission for him to touch her in return.
Sam cautiously reached out, carefully placing his fingers against the cracks in the white surface of the mask before proceeding to trace the lines. It felt cold and lifeless, even more so than the dead flesh of a vampire, and yet there was something about it that intrigued him. The care that had gone into crafting such a delicate piece of art was impressive to say the least, and it was sad to see that it had been allowed to fall into such a state of disrepair. He couldn't comprehend how something so beautiful and so delicate could be left to decay.
A feeling of woeful melancholy swept over Sam, as if he could sense how lonely the woman behind the mask must be. That loneliness was something that they both had in common, and he could relate to the emotional pain that she was going through; but who was she really? Who was the woman behind the mask and what was she hiding?
"Do you like it?" Renita whispered, her scent exotic and intoxicating as she pushed herself closer still. Her real eyes were just about visible now through the open holes that she peered out from, their emerald colour catching the light.
Sam managed another slight nod as he closed the gap between them, his nose mere inches away from hers. He wanted nothing more than to kiss her sculpted lips, no longer caring if they were actually hers or just part of the mask that she wore. It was odd for him to find someone so attractive when he couldn't even see their face, but he found the queen's words to be alluring as they flowed from her silver tongue. He couldn't help himself anymore; he wanted her right then and there, more than he had ever wanted anyone.
Just as their mouths were about to touch, cold skin against porcelain, Renita moaned, her words so sweet that they were like honey. "That's it, Sam… Give in to your desires."
Despite her close proximity and the way that Sam felt about her, something about what the queen said suddenly worried him. Yet even with his growing concerns, he couldn't control himself as he moved in for an awkwardly passionate kiss that her resolute face was unable to reciprocate. That didn't matter to him though, as it was a satisfying release that he had longed for since… Since something had happened with someone who he could no longer remember. In fact, he couldn't even work out who or what he had been trying to recall in the first place.
"I can have one made for you if you like…" The queen muttered quietly. "...to cover up the burns."
That was it; Renita had gone too far and given away her game, with Sam now coming to realise exactly what it was that she was up to. It wasn't the first time that he had felt this way, as it had happened to him at least once before, his body and mind both under the sway of another. It appeared that like many of their kind, the queen had the power to dominate weak minded fools such as himself and he had unwittingly played right into her trap. It was impossible to resist the monarch's will, or at least that's what she had wanted him to believe.
Drawing on all of his remaining strength, Sam jabbed an elbow into his side, its point digging into the unfading scars of an old wound that had been inflicted upon him months ago. The pain was jarring, but it was all he needed to bring himself back to his senses. Christie! That was who he had forgotten; the one person whom he never wanted to forget.
"My scars are a reminder of everything I have done!" Sam almost spat in anger as he pulled away. "I'd rather not hide them from the world... Let people cringe! Let them stare and point for all I care; the scars are all I have!" He was tired of being a puppet for others to play with and hated losing control. The queen had tried to lure him in and had almost succeeded, but no longer. He would defy her, even if it was the last thing that he did.
"I envy you, Sam. Some of us have so much more to hide than mere flesh wounds." Renita sounded more disappointed at her failure than annoyed. She sat back, her posture now perfectly upright as she called for her knight. "Phillipe! The ruse is over!"
Sam barely heard the door opening, or the footsteps that approached from behind as he stared at the queen in disbelief. It wasn't until he felt a large, powerful hand grab his shoulder that he realised that Sir Chevalier was standing over him. He had been far too busy trying to understand what she wanted from him and why she had treated him in this manner. Perhaps Renita was after information that he knew he couldn't provide, or maybe she just wanted a personal slave to attend to her needs.
"Take him away!" Queen Marquette commanded as she stood up and straightened her dress.
As Sam was dragged to his feet and escorted towards the door by force, he turned his head to look back at the queen, catching a glimpse of her as she sat herself back down in the armchair. She had returned to the same position that she had been in when he first entered, not seeming to care about him or what had just occurred between them. Just as others had done before her, she had used him for her own ends and hadn't even considered the consequences of those actions.
There was something about Renita's careless
attitude and brazen disregard for his wellbeing that frustrated Sam to the point that he couldn't keep his mouth shut. "What the hell do you want from me?!?" He didn't mean to shout, but his mind had become a whirlwind of wild thoughts.
Philippe was about to toss Sam out the door for his insolence when he was halted by a wave of the queen's hand. "Wait!"
Sir Chevalier stopped instantly, his grip loosening just enough to let Sam face the queen once more. He didn't even try to interrupt as his queen began a monologue that neither of them had expected.
"Katherine is arguably the most powerful vampire in the New World… How she achieved that power is still a mystery, even to me." Renita sat motionless as she addressed Sam, the same deadpan expression upon her unchanging face. "There are still those far older and far more influential than us in the east, but none willing to cross the ocean. And she is too far from their borders to be of concern to them."
Sam listened patiently, hoping that the queen's motivation would soon be made clear. She paused for a brief moment, giving a little time for everything that she had said to sink in before continuing.
"The other kings and queens are too scared to move against her and don't trust each other enough to band together, so she has free reign at least for now. By the time they realise what's really going on, it will be too late. The New World will be hers soon enough, and on that day she will bow to no one." Renita stopped to adjust her mask, taking a few seconds to tighten one of the straps that held it in place. "Quite honestly, Sam… She terrifies even one such as myself. And as one of her children, I'm still not sure that I can trust you."
Sam furrowed his brow, staring directly into the queen's black eyes as he responded. "Trust works both ways. Maybe we could start with you leaving my mind alone?"
The queen stifled a laugh, her voice now changing to take on more of a delighted note as she shifted her posture. "You are a bold one, Samuel Mitchell... I like that. Perhaps there is hope for our relationship yet."
Chapter Ten: Down into Darkness
Nothing about the place was as it had been in the dream, the once impressive manor now a pile of rubble barely recognisable as the grand spectacle that it was in the past. The walls had collapsed long ago under the sheer weight of moss and vines, the stones barely visible through the overgrowth. Even the front steps were overrun with weeds, the main entrance behind them little more than an infestation of termites and other sorts of creepy crawlies. The stench of rising damp and rotting wood made it impossible to pick out any other smells, with even the wild flowers suffering from diseases caused by bacteria and fungal infections.
It took a little while for Alice to find the basement, the opening now hidden behind a dense row of tall grass, but the stairs that led down to it were still there. They had long been left vulnerable to the elements, the runed door that had kept them secure no longer present. The entrance was now just a hole in the ground, the endless steps disappearing off into the darkness where the moonlight dared not venture. If Alexander still remained down there after all these years, then they would have to proceed with caution, meaning that both Alice and Matty had to make sure that they were prepared to face whatever horrors awaited them.
"Are you sure this is it? It's nothing like you said it would be." Matty asked with slight confusion as he peered down through the opening in the earth.
Alice craned her neck to look past her companion, following his gaze into the darkness. "Yes, I'm positive. This is definitely the place, it's just a little more run down than I expected."
"And you think this Alexander guy is still down there?" Matty stared a little longer before turning his head to look back at her.
Alice shook her head slowly in response. "I’m not sure… Whether he is or not, I believe my subconscious is trying to tell me something. It’s trying to reveal whatever I caught a glimpse of when I explored Katherine’s mind, something I had since forgotten. Secrets, perhaps." She stepped forwards, her feet stopping just shy of the precipice. "I think that what I'm seeing now is something she tried to hide from me and that I stumbled upon it by accident. This place is important to her somehow, and I intend to find out what she left behind."
Matty nodded his acceptance, fully trusting Alice's decision to explore further. "Then I'm ready when you are."
With a warm, yet nervous smile aimed in Matty's direction, Alice took her first step across the threshold and onto the staircase that disappeared into the black void beneath them. With no real idea what to expect she knew that it was far from one of her wisest decisions, but she had to get to the bottom of what had occured in that old ruin during Katherine's visit so long ago. Perhaps they would discover new information to help them fight her, or failing that it would at least give them some peace of mind knowing that there was nothing still lurking there beneath the surface.
The journey downwards seemed impossibly long, an unusual fact that matched up with what Alice had seen in her vision. However, unlike what she had witnessed, the collective drum beat of dozens of hearts pumping blood through the walls was no longer present. There was no light beneath the surface, either natural or man-made, which meant that it was so dark that even Alice's eyes failed to take in the sights. She was forced to rely on her other senses instead, with Matty trailing behind for a change.
Alice's fingertips brushed against the walls in the same way that Katherine's had before her. She could feel that the rough surfaces were made entirely of compressed dirt, held in place by a series of old wooden supports that had begun to splinter. They were no longer comprised of flesh, the poor creatures that had once occupied the tunnel seemingly gone from the equation altogether. The steps themselves were made from slabs of solid stone, not the osseous matter that had previously occupied the space. Fortunately, the change in surroundings meant that nothing oozed from the ceiling anymore, with only rainwater permeating the soil as it left the air feeling cool and moist.
As the steps finally disappeared and gave way to flat ground, Alice knew exactly where she was. This was the same cavern that the strange beings had lurked in, the very same ones who had been fearful of the light; but if they were still present in that room, they were keeping unusually quiet. She couldn't hear them in the darkness, nor could she smell them, but there was a whiff of something else that her nose picked up in their place. Something that her companion also sensed.
"It smells like death down here…" Matty quickly confirmed any suspicions. He made sure to keep his voice low as to not disturb the dead.
The pitch black had given way to a lingering darkness that closed around a pair of dim braziers towards the far end of the room. Their embers continued to smoulder, the last of their warmth slowly fading as the long battle against the shadows came to an end.
Just beyond the dying braziers, the great door that had been set in the stone no longer waited, its pieces left shattered on the floor. There was nothing stopping them from entering Alexander's inner sanctum, although he had made no attempt to contact them either, his foreign whispers strangely absent during their descent. The hall beyond was blacker than night, with whatever was lying in wait secluded from sight. If the ancient fiend was back there somewhere, he had been left unguarded and was vulnerable to all who entered his lair.
"This isn't right…" Alice muttered as she began to move forwards with caution. "This isn't how I saw it."
Something felt wrong indeed. There was no giant creature to crawl through and no monsters skulking in the dark, yet Alice could still sense an evil presence somewhere within that dank basement. However, she was not deterred from making her approach, with Matty staying as close as he possibly could while they continued across the cavern. As they neared the entrance, the unseen presence seemed to grow in intensity. It was similar to what Katherine had sensed just before meeting Alexander face to face, but this feeling had been corrupted further than anything that she had experienced in the dream.
Alice was too distracted to notice the obstructions on the floor; she didn't even realise
that they were there until it was too late and she had tripped right over them, her companion catching her in his sturdy arms before she could get a face full of dirt. Whatever it was, the object hadn't been there before and was something else that had been left behind in Katherine's destructive wake.
As Alice took a moment to steady herself, Matty let go of her and knelt down to examine whatever had caused her to lose her footing. "Bones…" He picked one up to examine it closer, his own eyes straining in the dark. "They're human." A slight pause followed as he put one down and collected another that was of a more unusual shape. "Some of them anyway..."
The whole place had been abandoned, the creatures either dead or gone, with only their dusty old skeletons remaining. Perhaps Katherine had pitied them and put them out of their misery, setting their tormented spirits free to enter the afterlife. If that was the case, then perhaps there was still something good in her after all. However, despite the fact that only bones had been left behind, there was still something else moving down there in the hall beyond the shattered gate.
Alice stepped past Matty who was distracted by sifting through the debris, continuing her journey towards the opening in the wall. Stopping at the threshold, she stared off into nothing as the faint glow from the braziers did little to illuminate the room on the other side. From where she stood she could hear something else close by, its form shifting far too awkwardly to seem threatening.
"Hello?" Alice called out, managing to mask her trepidation. "Is anyone there?"
She caught sight of something trembling in the dark, its movements causing a wet gurgling sound that made her feel uneasy. Taking another step forwards, her eyes strained to see in a place devoid of light.
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