Blood Queen

by David Horrocks

  "Shtay backs." A rasping voice whispered in the darkness, its words clumsy and inelegant. "Pleases, no mores." It made a slurping sound after each and every sentence, as it was trying to suck back in whatever had fallen from its mouth.

  Matty had reached the entranceway now, his fists tensing by his side as Alice raised a hand to stop him from getting any closer. She kept her eyes fixed upon the quivering wreck in front of her, its globulous shape trembling in fear.

  Trying to emanate a sense of calm, Alice took another step forwards, her hands held out in front of her to offer aid. "It's okay, we're not here to harm you."

  It didn't help that Matty was on edge, his own agitation worn like a badge on his sleeve that caused the wretched thing to verbally lash out at them. "Lies!" it hissed, much louder than before. "She sents yous to hurts mes!"

  "I assure you, we're no friends of Katherine." Alice tried again, doing her best to reassure their host.

  Appearing as if it was torn straight from her vision, a faint glow began in the centre of the room, slowly expanding to form a perfect circle of light that caused temporary blindness for the pair who had been wandering through the pitch-black basement. Shielding her eyes until she could regain her sight, Alice felt as though she had been left vulnerable for the precious seconds that followed.

  As soon as she was able to see again, Alice lowered her hand to look upon the same ancient being who had once welcomed Katherine into his domicile of living flesh. Alexander, or at least what she presumed was him, wasn't anything like she remembered from her dream. He was a grotesque and twisted creature, more alien in appearance than ever before. No longer the slim and carefully crafted being that he had made himself in to, the age old vampire was a blob of inflated skin and protruding bones. He looked as though he had been practiced on for weeks on end, the flesh sculpting powers that he once controlled having been turned against him.

  The gnarled chair that Alexander had assembled from the bones of his victims was grafted to his spine as some sort of punishment for the damage that he had inflicted upon them. It seemed that Katherine had acted as an avenging angel, seeking justice for those who had suffered under the monster's cruel hand. That or she just revelled in inflicting pain upon others, taking her anger out on someone who she believed deserved it.

  "Oh Alexander, what has she done to you?" Alice felt pity for the miserable wretch that sat before her, his useless body barely able to carry his weight, let alone move him. She knew that he was an evil man, but that didn't stop her from feeling sorry for him. No one deserved to be left like this, their eternal existence one of everlasting pain and suffering.

  An impossibly long tongue hung from the side of the wide, toothless maw that had once been Alexander's mouth, the tip of it dotted with a disorganised collection of fangs. A thick yellow puss oozed from his mouth as he tried to speak, his words sounding strained and wrought with agony. "Who are yous?"

  Alice stayed as polite as possible, looking into the fiend's single swollen eye as she addressed him in the same way that she would anyone else. "We're here to put a stop to Katherine Louviere." She couldn't see his other eye, presuming that it resided somewhere else on his body just out of sight.

  "Yesss, but who aaare yous?" Alexander snapped in response, his stretched and puffy lips drawing the words out longer than they should.

  Matty stood silently by Alice's side, the ever present sentinel as she introduced them both. "I'm Alice and this is Matthew." She knew that he liked strangers to call him by his full name. "We're both descendants of Katherine's bloodline."

  Alexander reared back as much as he was able, his single eye wide with terror. He made an odd whimpering sound as he tried and failed to shuffle away from them, the legs of his chair fused to the ground. "Get aways! Get aways! No hurts!"

  Alice stayed calm despite his panicked reaction and repeated what she had said before. "We're not here to harm you. You're safe now."

  Even Matty did his best to soothe the creature, his own voice sounding a little more forced and unnatural in its kindness than hers. "Like she said, we didn't come to hurt you."

  Alice could tell that her companion was disgusted with their host, but not because of his appearance. Matty wasn't so shallow as to judge someone by their looks, he was disgusted because he was unable to tolerate those who harmed others for their own pleasure. Alexander was the epitome of everything that he despised and so his attempt to calm the ancient one came as an unexpected, yet welcome surprise.

  It took a moment, but Alexander's panic faded, his weakened state leaving him exhausted and pacified, if just for a moment. "Whats you wants?"

  Alice couldn't hold her questions at bay any longer as they spilled out from between her lips. "I know that Katherine came here to learn from you. May I ask what you taught her? What did she take from you and why has she kept you alive for all this time?"

  Alexander's whole misshapen form began to shake, his lumps of fat jiggling with each movement. At first Alice thought that his reaction was a result of his fear, but she soon came to realise that his gargling was what had become of his once sinister laugh. "Everythings." He slurped loudly. "What no teaches, she takes." The unsettling cackle was soon drowned out by a river of slime.

  Alice fought back against her rising feelings of apprehension and pushed further, her questions so far left unanswered. "So she took all of your knowledge… What else has she taken? Why did she leave you here like this?"

  "She steals, crafty ones. She takes all powers. Her makers, her friends, mines..." He smacked his lips together, his tongue still hanging loosely over his grossly malformed chest, or at least what had been his chest at some point in time. "She still takes. Everythings she takes. I feeds her."

  Alice somehow understood. The only reason that Alexander was alive was because he was still of use to Katherine. They were linked somehow; bound with an ancient ritual that drained his power and strengthened hers. This was how she had become so powerful so quickly. Unless their link could be broken, Katherine would continue to draw upon Alexander's vitality as if it were her own. She was a formidable force in her own right, but with an advanced technique such as this in play she could become nigh invincible. She fancied herself a goddess, and was closer to achieving that status than any that had preceded her.

  "Do you know how we can stop her?" Alice tried her best to sound courteous instead of demanding, and was successful for the most part.

  Alexander looked her up and down, his single beady eye bulging out of his skull. "I tells, I tells!" A long stream of yellow goo leaked out the corner of his mouth like drool. "Comes closer."

  Matty leaned in so his face was close to Alice's as he whispered in her ear. "We can't trust him... He could still be dangerous."

  Alice nodded her head in agreement, refusing to look away from their host. "I know… But he's the only one left who can help us."

  As her companion stood back up straight, taking a defensive position by the broken door, Alice began her slow walk forwards. She could feel Matty's gaze upon her and knew that he would intercept at a moment's notice should she find herself in more trouble than she could handle. He wasn't the only one staring either, as Alexander's unblinking eye watched her every step with eager anticipation.

  "Comes! Comes closers!" The fiend's mouth grew ever wider until it was almost large enough to swallow Alice whole, yet still she approached with grim determination. Even when the stench of rotten meat hit her nostrils, she continued her long walk across the room to where Alexander sat in waiting. His deformities seemed even more pronounced the closer she got, with all manner of skin and sinew stretched out between a broken puzzle of bone. She could see hand-prints in his flesh where Katherine had literally pulled at him and sculpted his body without a care for the consequences. It was clear that his pain was a source of amusement to her, in the same way that his own victims had been to him.

  "Yesss… Yesss…" Alexander's horrific form shook with delight as Alice stepped past his snake like t
ongue and into the reach of what she believed to be his arms, one so large that he couldn't lift it and the other bent in ways that shouldn't have been possible.

  Alice took all the courage that she could muster and spoke to him as kindly and calmly as she would anyone else. "I'm here as you asked. Please tell me what we need to do."

  There was a pained look upon Alexander's tormented face as he struggled to keep to a whisper, his awful grin quickly fading. "Kills me. Please kills me."

  "...What?" Alice was shocked by the fiend's words, having never expected him to beg her for mercy.

  "Kills me, pleeeaaases." Alexander pleaded again, sounding even more pathetic than he had before.

  Alice felt ill. She could tell by the look in his single bloodshot eye that his request was serious. "I can try to find another way to help, maybe we can reverse what she did to you." Unfortunately her reasoning did nothing to appease the wretched creature.

  "No!" Alexander snapped loudly, causing Matty to jump to attention. The soldier managed to stand his ground once he saw that Alice wasn't in any immediate danger, but remained alert for potential threats nonetheless.

  "Drinks." The smaller of the fiend's arms awkwardly gestured towards the rolls of his sagging neck. "Kills me, make strongs. Keeps me no mores."

  Alexander's request made sense now; he wanted Alice to drink from him. He wanted her to take all of his blood into herself, claiming what was left of his strength for her own and severing his bond with Katherine. It wasn't something that Alice wanted to do, nor was it something that she had ever imagined herself capable of, but these were desperate times and she surprisingly found herself willing to partake.

  "If that's what you want…" Alice nodded solemnly, her expression displaying all the sadness that she felt at the mere thought of taking another life.

  "Yesss... I wants, I wants." Alexander whispered, his jaw trembling as he awaited his final release.

  "Alice, wait!" Matty's words were drowned out as Alice forced herself to bite down upon her willing sacrifice, her fangs penetrating Alexander's soft skin with ease. Her companion was too slow to stop her and too powerless to break them apart as the beast inside took control.

  The precious vitae in Alexander's veins was extremely intoxicating, and Alice had never drank from a font so ancient or so sweet. There was no bitterness to it at all, no taste of disease. It was the purest thing that she had ever consumed, a cool liquid pushing its way between her wanting lips and running down her throat as it filled her body with a fire that threatened to engulf her. The sheer potency of the blood was something that she hadn't expected. It was exhilarating. No, it was more than that; it was an empowering state that swept her off her feet as she became lost in a wave of mind altering sensations.

  No past experience, nor memory as far as Alice could recall, had ever been so important to her as this. Nothing had ever come close to this feeling and likely never would. It was a love deeper than any other, and a rage so intense that it could tear the world apart. This was what it truly meant to be a vampire, a predator in the night who preyed upon those weaker than themselves. This is what it meant to unleash the beast inside.

  "Ally? Are you okay?" Matty sounded more than a little concerned as Alice regained her senses.

  The rush she had felt still lingered, the ancient blood strengthening her body and leaving her with a high that made her light headed. Human blood often made her feel closer to being alive, the warmth sometimes giving her skin a temporary blush of health that allowed her to blend in amongst mortals, but this was something else entirely. She had consumed death itself without spilling a drop and had achieved a new state of existence.

  As the red haze left her, Alice looked upon the worried face of her companion, his strong brow furrowed and mouth contorted. She could sense his blood just beneath the surface, waiting to be consumed, and had to battle against all of her instincts that begged for her to open him up and drain him dry. Despite the danger that she posed in such a wild and unpredictable state, he still held her tightly in his arms.

  Matty's close proximity confused Alice, as she hadn't fallen over and didn't feel as though she was in need of his support. She was standing where the beast had left her, hands covered with a layer of ash that was stuck under her nails and clung to her skin. It was all that was left of Alexander, his sacrifice a gift to those who would destroy the vile woman that had left him in ruin. The ancient fiend was no more, but he had left behind a legacy of blood.

  "I'm fine…" Alice murmured in a daze, finally focusing enough to answer her companion's question. "Really, I'm okay." she added as she saw that he remained unconvinced.

  "You shouldn't have done that…" he warned as he tried to steady her, although she didn't feel as though she required his assistance in the first place. "There's no telling what his blood did to you."

  Breaking free of Matty's grasp, Alice took a few steps away from him before turning to see the look of hurt upon his face as he mouthed her name. He loved her more than anything else in the world, yet she had now experienced more than his limited mind could ever imagine. She felt different than she had just a short while ago, as if she had undergone a journey of self discovery that had lasted an age, yet in reality it had only taken a matter of minutes.

  The need for blood was still something that guided Alice's actions, for she was and always would be a creature of the night, but she knew now that mortals would never satisfy her hunger ever again. Her changing appetite meant that she wanted something more, something that could fill her mind, body and soul. That sense of longing must have been what had guided Katherine as she started down her path to becoming the Blood Queen, yet the only worrying thing was that it didn't seem to bother Alice one bit.

  "I saw something…" Alice mumbled absentmindedly, at a level so quiet that it was almost inaudible. It was true that in her stupour she had seen glimpses of the bond that Katherine had used to draw upon Alexander's strength, another long lost secret that had been kept under wraps until now.

  "What is it? Another vision?" Matty asked wearily, his expression one of hope.

  Alice smiled greedily with a glimmer in her eye. "Alexander wasn't the only one. There are others like him, and I think I know where we can find them."

  Chapter Eleven: Eyes of the Raven

  At a distance, Calgary didn't look all that different from when Sam had seen it last. It had been just over a year since he had last laid eyes upon that very same skyline and he felt as though he had changed a great deal more than it had in that same period of time. He hadn't stayed in the city for long, but his memories of it were some of the happiest that he had experienced in his short existence, right up until everything had fallen apart.

  Even from afar the bright lights filled the night sky, blotting out stars for miles around. Beneath the skyscrapers, the same tall buildings reflected back off the surface of the steady flowing river that separated them from the hustle and bustle of rush hour, the traffic moving at a snail's pace through the busy streets. The entire landscape had been covered in a thin white blanket, the first snow of winter having swept through the foothills earlier that same night.

  A chill came in on the wind, with a promise of more to come. It made Sam feel uneasy about what the future held in store for him, with much more than just his own life on the line. He felt burdened by guilt, his past sins weighing heavily upon his shoulders. Perhaps he could still play his part in the downfall of the Blood Queen, then maybe he would be able to take his first step upon the road to redemption, despite the fact that he didn't believe himself worthy of it. He was more than just Forsaken in body; his mind and spirit just as cursed as the scarred shell that they inhabited.

  Thankfully, Sam had managed to keep his distance from Renita since their close encounter, not willing to trust anyone who had the ability to dominate his mind. He didn't like being used, nor did he appreciate his thoughts being manipulated as if he were a toy for others to play with. It was for that reason that he no longer cared w
hat the former queen's motivations were and he certainly didn't wish to learn anything else about her. She definitely wasn’t someone that he could place his faith in, nor could he ever let his guard down around her; not now, not ever. After all this time, he could still count the number of people that he trusted on one hand and it seemed as though that number wouldn’t be increasing any time soon.

  As for Sir Chevalier, Sam found that he was now beneath the knight's scrutiny and was all the more happier for it. It seemed as though he was of little to no importance to the snobby aristocrat who held him in such low regard and was no longer awarded as much as a disapproving glance. That was fine though, as he didn't particularly enjoy being watched anyway. In fact, the fewer people who paid attention to him the better. Sam was actually glad that someone amongst the group left him alone, especially due to the fact that the constant verbal and physical abuse from Rahna was beginning to grate on the last of his nerves. He didn't understand why she got so much pleasure out of 'teasing' him as she put it. Teasing? It was closer akin to bullying than anything else.

  Vincent on the other hand fell somewhere in between. He still acknowledged Sam's presence, but didn't seem to pay him any mind as he concentrated on the journey across the continent. It seemed that now the gift of Katherine's offspring had been presented to his queen, the deed was done and the captive's importance to him had dropped significantly. Seeing the old wolf out in the Canadian wilderness, it was clear to see that he was at home between the trees, the domain that he had claimed for his people for so many years. He was comfortable beneath the open sky, at one with nature where he could revert to his primal means of existence once more.

  As they set up camp on the opposite bank of the Bow river from the city, the atmosphere intensified, putting all those present on edge. The group was few in number and they were deep within enemy territory, with no backup on the way. There were only six of them, Sam included. Just six vampires against whatever guards and other defenses Katherine had in place. Sam couldn't even begin to imagine how they were supposed to lay siege to the city when their invading force was but a fraction of the size of those who defended it. Despite that, he still believed that those with him were determined and powerful enough to succeed if they were smart about it, but it looked as though the only options for achieving any sort of victory were guerilla tactics and infiltration in a war that had yet to begin.