by Amy Cross
“Even if the price is too great?”
“How great can the price be, Hugo?” she asked. “She can't be destined to remain here, can she?”
“Destiny is too esoteric a word,” I replied. “I prefer to use the word fate. It's more scientific, more accurate. As to Chloe's fate, I remain unconvinced.” I thought for a moment of the terrible visions I'd experienced when I'd entered Chloe's mind. I had seen the future, not all of it but certainly enough, and I was worried about how that future might come to pass.
More importantly, I was trying to determine whether all our fates were set.
“Everything will be okay, won't it?” Judith asked, placing her hands on my shoulders and staring up into my eyes. “Hugo, I'd trust you with my life. I have trusted you with my life, several times. The war seems to be turning in our favor now, there are people who think Germany will have fallen before the end of the year. That's a good sign, isn't it? It means that soon the nightmare could be over. And if you can harness the full power of this ring, it might prove to be a powerful weapon.”
I wanted to comfort her, to make her feel better, but in truth I wasn't sure how to begin. She always worried so much about her homeland, but sometimes it was as if she truly believed that everything would be alright again as soon as the guns stopped firing. In some ways I admired her optimism, even if my experience of humanity had long since led me to vastly different conclusions. It was only a matter of time, I felt, before they blew themselves up entirely. Already, there were whispers of grave new devices being developed in the United States.
“Everything will be alright,” I said finally, even though I knew I was bending the truth. And then, instead of lying to her any further, I leaned closer and kissed her gently on the lips.
For a moment, I too felt as if everything might be fine. I had never understood how or why, but Judith had always comforted my fears and made me feel hopeful about the world. In all the grime and misery of existence – not only in the human world but in other worlds as well – only Judith was capable of making me feel even slightly confident about the future. And I knew that, so long as I had her, I would always be able to cling to some shred of sanity. How was it possible that I had come to set such great importance on a creature that was – by any measure – so utterly fragile?
“Hello?”
Hearing a voice and a knock at the door, I turned to see Doctor Russell entering the room.
“Oh,” he continued, “I'm sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you.”
“You're not disturbing us at all,” I replied, eager to hear his news. “How did the tests go? Have you determined the nature of the ring?”
“I have,” he said cautiously, and I could tell that this great and learned gentleman was indeed very worried by his own findings. “Monsieur Bane, I think it would be prudent of us to speak alone.”
“Of course,” I said, turning to Judith.
“I shall take a look in the garden,” she replied, although as she made her way to the door I could tell she did not like being sent out of the room. She glanced back at me just before she disappeared from view.
I shall pay for that later, I told myself.
“I have checked every available resource,” Doctor Russell said, holding the ring up to the light, “and there really can be no doubt. The metal itself is fairly common, but it's the blue part that concerns me. I have to tell you, Hugo, that your darkest fear seems to be correct.”
“You mean...”
I stared at the ring, unable to truly comprehend the power that I was seeing. If Doctor Russell and I were right, the ring contained more power than anything else in the entire human world.
“I'm afraid so,” Doctor Russell said, his voice filled with fear. “The blue is fashioned from glass that was taken from the shattered great window at Gothos. It's a vampire relic, one that should not be able to exist in our world. And the fact that it's here means... Well, I think you know what it means.”
“I do indeed,” I replied, with my eyes fixed on the ring. I felt a shiver of fear in my chest. “It means that this ring could destroy entire worlds if it fell into the wrong hands.”
Chapter Seven
Chloe
“Well, this is... different...”
Standing in a Central London street, I looked around and saw that this was barely the city I knew. I mean, I'd spent a lot of time in London, and I knew some parts of the city better than I knew the back of my hand. For me, London was a place that was filled with cars and flashing lights and cameras and vast noise, whereas now...
I figured that this must be what life was like during wartime. There was even some good old-fashioned London fog floating around.
“Let me guess,” Matthias said, stopping next to me, “in your time, London is filled with strange creations and vehicles that fly through the air.”
“Not quite,” I replied, taken aback by how clean the air seemed, but also by the sight of buildings that had been bombed. “Close enough, though.”
I'd seen war damage in Paris, of course. After defeating Zieghoff, I'd gone back there with Hugo and Judith, and I'd seen plenty of ruined buildings. Seeing the same thing in London, however, was different, since these were streets that I knew, streets that I'd walked down in my old, normal life. Over the previous two years, I guess I'd somehow become accustomed to the fact that I was out of my proper time period, but standing in London brought that sensation flooding back. I was home, but I felt homesick. I was in the right place, but I was almost a century too early.
“Let me see that address again,” Matthias said.
Taking the piece of paper from my pocket, I handed it to him. The name 'Doctor Alistair Russell' had been scribbled in Hugo's handwriting.
“Hugo said they'd be there for at least a few weeks,” I explained, “and that he'd leave a forwarding address if they had to move on. Whatever he was discovering and theorizing about that ring, it seemed to be consuming him more and more. I think Judith was pretty worried.”
“We should go to him,” he said darkly. “I need to know what he's up to. And Chloe...” He hesitated. “Never trust him.”
“That seems -”
“Never,” he added firmly. “You have to believe me, Chloe. No matter what my brother does or says, no matter what his intentions might seem like now... If it gets to the point where his back's against the wall, there's nothing he won't do to save himself. Sometimes I think he'd destroy the whole world if that's what it took.”
***
“You must be Matthias,” Doctor Russell said with a smile as he stepped back and gestured for us to enter. “Please, come in. Your brother Hugo has told me so much about you.”
“That's unfortunate,” Matthias replied as he made his way into the hallway. “For you, potentially.”
“And you must be Ms. Carter,” Doctor Russell continued, evidently choosing to ignore that last, barbed comment. “I've heard a great deal about you, as well. It's so very nice to meet you.”
“You too,” I replied, stepping into the house. “You have a lovely place here.”
“Oh, I get by,” he said with a smile, “although there have been a few near misses with the bombs. Number nineteen along the road got absolutely flattened a while ago.”
“I saw a crater,” I told him. “I guess you were lucky.”
“Where's my brother?” Matthias said sternly.
“Upstairs, in my study,” Doctor Russell replied, “I'll -”
“No need,” Matthias said, and he immediately started making his way upstairs. “I'll find him.”
“Chloe!”
Turning, I saw Judith coming out from one of the other rooms. She immediately hurried over and gave me a big hug, and I must admit that it felt good to see her again. Somehow, in the midst of so much madness, Judith seemed like a reminder that there was still some good left in the world.
“I was so worried,” she admitted, holding me tight. “I asked Hugo whether I should maybe have gone with you, but he insi
sted that I'd been right to follow him to London. Chloe, I can't believe you found Matthias, I'm so glad. Once he and Hugo start working together, nothing can stop them.”
“I hope you're right,” I replied. “How's Hugo doing, anyway? Has he made any progress?”
Judith turned to Doctor Russell, and I saw that he seemed a little nervous.
“There's a lot to research,” he explained cautiously, “and, well, we don't want to jump to any premature conclusions. Some of the things we're dealing with here are rather... sensitive. Now, how about I go and find some tea for us all?”
A moment later, a telephone rang in one of the other rooms.
“Excuse me,” he said, seeming a little flustered. “I'll answer that, and then I'll get your tea.”
As he shuffled off, Judith led me through to the front room.
“Hugo's worried,” she explained, lowering her voice a little. “Not the way he usually is, either. This is something big. Whatever's going on, I've never seen him act this way before. Chloe, he's afraid. He sleeps badly, he suffers from nightmares, he mutters strange words while he tosses and turns.”
“What kind of words?” I asked.
“I heard him mention Gothos. Do you know what that is?”
“I have no idea.”
“I do,” she replied, and I could hear the fear in her voice. “I know a little, at least. Gothos was the high palace of the old vampire civilization. It was eventually destroyed in a battle with...” She hesitated. “Okay, this might sound completely crazy, but I only know part of the story. Apparently, Gothos was destroyed in a battle with some giant spiders, and there were demons involved, and I don't really get exactly how that all went down. The point is, the place was left as a pile of ruins. No-one's willing to rebuild it, the pieces of the building are supposed to be left where they fell. It's said that they're too powerful to ever be allowed to leave that place. I think Hugo's worried that somehow some part of Gothos has escaped, and has made its way here, and that it's connected to the ring.”
“He thinks the ring came from this Gothos place?”
“Maybe not the ring itself, but part of the ring. Of course, he hasn't told me any of this in detail. He never would. He assumes that I simply would never understand.”
“The first time I saw that ring,” I replied, “was when Zieghoff showed it to me. Actually, he had two versions of it. He said that he'd found it on me, but I swear I'd never seen it before in my life. It had ended up in my pocket somehow.”
“Does Hugo know that part of the story?”
I nodded.
“I think that ring is the key to everything,” she explained. “It's what brought you here, it's what's keeping you here, and it's what might – hopefully – allow you to one day get home again. But there has to be more to it than that. The ring's an inanimate object, it can't just decide to zap someone from one point in time to another. There has to be some logic to what happened. If that ring is truly from a broken window at Gothos, it must -”
Suddenly hearing a creaking floorboard nearby, we both turned just in time to see Doctor Russell standing in the doorway, holding a tray of tea cups and pots.
“I'm sorry,” he said, entering the room and setting the tray down. “With times being as they are, I'm afraid that I have a rather limited selection to offer.”
“That's perfect, thank you,” I replied, before turning back to Judith. “So what do we do now?”
“I feel utterly helpless at the moment,” she said, “but I think we have to wait and see what Hugo and Matthias decide. After all, they know how this kind of thing works. We don't. We can't get too involved.”
I hesitated for a moment, but deep down I knew she was wrong.
“That's a nice idea,” I said cautiously, “but I don't think we have any choice.”
Chapter Eight
Hugo
“Ah, my brother is here,” I whispered, looking up from the desk but not turning to face him. Not yet. “I thought I detected something in the air.”
I looked at the window and saw my own reflection, but I also saw a figure standing behind me, over in the doorway. After a moment, I focused instead on the evening gloom outside, and I saw thick fog drifting past the house.
“It'll be time for the blackout soon,” I said with a faint smile. “I can't begin to describe the strange war-time rituals that these people have. Sometimes I think that conflict is the greatest driver of human ingenuity, and that subconsciously they're aware of that fact.” I finally turned and saw Matthias glaring at me. “Welcome to London,” I added. “I trust that your journey wasn't too difficult. Oh, but there's something missing from your hand. Has no-one offered you a glass of wine?”
“You killed Zieghoff,” he said firmly.
“You think that's a bad thing?”
“No, I think it's a very good thing.” He took a step into the room. “I should have done it myself, when I had the chance. Why is Chloe still here?”
“She missed her chance to return to her own time,” I explained. “She chose to save Judith instead. For that, I must admit I owe her my gratitude. Zieghoff wanted to change time. He intended to go forward and see the outcome of the war, and then return to set things straight. It's a plan that would have worked perfectly well, if only he'd restrained his wilder impulses. At least, I think it would have worked. I've come to understand that it must be possible to alter the course of history in this manner.”
“Do you really believe that?” Matthias asked.
“Perhaps we're all living in a constantly shifting timeline,” I told him. “Alternatively, perhaps other realities shoot off from our own. I find that last idea rather difficult to pin down, so I've come to the conclusion that changing the course of history might actually be rather common.”
“Or it's truly impossible,” Matthias suggested, “and something always keeps things going in a straight line.”
“Zieghoff's plan would have worked.”
“But it didn't work,” Matthias pointed out, “did it?”
“You raise a fair point.” I looked down at the ring, which I'd placed carefully on the desk. “My running theory at the moment is that this ring can transport people from one moment to another, but that those moments are defined by a massive release of a very specific type of energy. Specifically, the type of energy that's unleashed by the death of a vampire.”
“That doesn't make a whole lot of sense.”
“I admit that I can't explain the underlying principles, but I think the theory holds firm. Zieghoff became a vampire shortly before he died, so his death presented an opportunity for Chloe to make her return journey. If she is to have another chance...”
My voice trailed off.
“Another vampire must die,” Matthias said darkly.
“And that's a rare occurrence,” I pointed out. “A vampire can only be killed by another vampire. Also, a vampire must die alone, although the fatal injury might be caused earlier.”
“So it's not going to be easy,” Matthias muttered.
“I'm starting to think that it might be impossible,” I told him. “I haven't really admitted this to Chloe yet, but at the moment I think she might have missed her last chance to go home. It might be the case that she's trapped here with us forever, forced to live out the rest of her life from the 1940's onward.”
“I'm not sure she'd be very keen on that idea,” Matthias replied. “I wouldn't want to be the one to break that news to her. If she even -”
Suddenly he winced with pain and leaned against the wall, as if he was in severe discomfort.
“Matthias!” I gasped, hurrying over to him, although he immediately pushed me away. “I knew you'd been pushing yourself too hard!”
“I'm fine!” he hissed, although it was clear that he was lying. “The effects of the poison can't still be in my system! It's been too long now!”
“You ingested a massive dose,” I replied, as I helped him over to a nearby seat. “I imagine you haven't been taking ca
re of yourself over the past year or so, Matthias. We went to Paris so you could rest, and that wasn't just some random idea. You're sick and it's going to take time for you to heal!”
“I don't have time,” he muttered angrily. He tried to rise from the chair, but he immediately winced again and sank back down.
“Let me guess,” I continued, “you somehow managed to hide the pain while you were traveling with Chloe. You can be astonishingly vain, Matthias, although I fail to understand why you'd care what some stupid mortal human thinks. I have everything under control, and you need to rest! Do you understand? You'll be no good to anyone if you're still injured!”
“I'm not still -”
Before he could get the words out, however, he grimaced as the pain struck again.
“You know I'm right,” I told him, and after a moment he nodded. “I've looked after you for such a long time, Matthias,” I continued, “and I've always had your best interests at heart. We're brothers. There aren't many people we can trust in this world, but we can trust one another. So when I tell you to rest, I need you to rest. Is that clear?”
He nodded again, but I could tell that the pain had truly exhausted him.
“Wait here for a moment,” I added, as I took a step back. “You'll be back up on your feet in no time, but only if you follow my advice.”
Heading to the desk, I began to once more search through the texts related to Gothos, although after a moment I couldn't help but glance back over at Matthias. He remained slumped in the chair, with his shoulders rounded, and it was quite clear that he remained extremely weak. His recent adventures had most certainly put a dent in his recovery, and I had no doubt that he would still be unwell for quite some time. He was far, far below his potential.
If a true fight was coming, it seemed doubtful that he would be able to take part.
Chapter Nine
Chloe
“No, this is perfect,” I told Doctor Russell as I looked through into the small, neat room at the top of the house. “I'm just so grateful to you for putting us up like this.”