by brett hicks
***
Finding the hidden cave deep in the ancient druidic tunnels had been a stroke of pure luck! The hovel was larger by far, than the little room I had been given in the servant’s quarters. I had skinned a deer I had drank it dry, my thirst seemed to abate, once I consumed the animal’s blood.
Even now, I found myself hungering for the rich venison meat. I feasted on the poor beast for several days. I used its hide to make myself a cloak to fight off the chilly Scottish air. Still, my skin could feel the cold, and my humanity seemed to be intact. Yet, I was different now.
I built a low fire to keep me warm for the night. I knew that no human would dare look in here, even if they did happen upon my flames. Everyone feared this ancient place of power. A place once inhabited by the druids, our ancestors on my mother’s side. She oft told me tales of their time, their reign of power. She told of the great war with the Romans, that even the mighty druids fell once their time was through.
I remembered her speaking of our family, how we descended from the blood of the survivors. That we were druids, but we were mortal. She said, blending with humans for a few generations had tainted the purity of our line. That her grandmother was still a wee-lass in appearance, yet she was ancient as the stars.
I never believed all her tall tales, until now. Now, after feeling me own brother bite into me throat, and then feed me his own blood, I believed. The air chilled considerably around me, and I looked down, ice coated my hand. My eyes widened in shock. The icy texture was cold to the touch, yet it didn’t bother me skin at all!
***
I spent the last three months learning to control my powers. I had learned to shape ice, and to create fire, on a whim. The tunnels have been silent, yet I feel something is stalking me, hunting me. I have aft times felt a chill, like eyes watching me.
I still feel the thirst inside my throat, but the animals stave it off. I drink every third night. I have forced myself to a strict control. One thing I have learned in my life from early on, was to be in constant control! Me da would’ve thrown me to the bloody wolves if I stepped so much as a toe out of line. My heart breaks for me mum. I pray to the Lord that she will be healthy and happy. I wonder what she's doing now, if she is angry with me, or if she is sad?
“You should be more careful not to play with the elements so openly. After the fall of the druids, elementals have been hunted, or enslaved child.”
I snapped around in a speed I scarcely knew I possessed. I felt my fangs come to bare against a beautiful young woman with darker brown skin than I had ever seen on a human. She wore a strange dress of sorts, it was like a flowing, flowery cloak tied with a large ribbon around her waist. On the large ribbon, a slender, but long sword sheath was tucked.
She looked elegant, but there was something deadly about her, dangerous. I felt heat encompass everything in my cave. Power, magic, strength of mind. It was her power, her magic, and her strength of mind. She was like a well that would never dry, even if it was drank from for ten-thousand-years!
Her light brown eyes settled on me, and she smiled sweetly. It was something in her smile that made me relax, as if reflexive.
“Who are you? Why are you in my cave?”
I sounded like a petulant brat, even to me self!
“I am Kimiko, and this cave was once part of a system my friends owned. I came here, as I do every year, to pay respect to their memory.”
I blinked in surprise.
She couldn’t mean the druids? Surely, she did not know my ancestors?
“Of course, I nearly missed it. You, being a Vampyr, distracted me from the origin of your elemental gift. I had just assumed you were a new type of Born vampyr.”
She seated herself elegantly on one of my furs. She warmed her hands over my small fire. Her body spoke of a woman comfortable in any situation, with anyone. There was something attractive about her, something that pulled me to her. While I knew I enjoyed the company of other women, I didn’t feel that kind of pull towards her. It was something else, primal.
“Did you just read me mind, or did I say that bit aloud?”
I narrowed my eyes at her. She smiled warmly, and she nodded.
“Ye are a quick-witted child. The answer is no, you didn’t speak aloud. Mind reading is but one of my gifts, child.”
She spoke with a slightly accented slur. Her words were musical, lyrical, and exotic. She enunciated all her words properly, however, she didn’t wholly erase whatever origin she had come from. She still seemed to wear it—literally—like a mantle, or like that silly dress!
“It’s called a kimono. It is not silly! It is a traditional Japanese garment worn by ladies. This one was a gift from a mage I was friends with.”
I blinked, and I narrowed my eyes at her. She chuckled at my aggravation.
“Don’t blame me child. You practically scream in my ear when you think to yourself. You are very smart, but that fast mind of yours is loud to my ears! Come now, let us get ye a hot bath, and some proper food. I am sure you would love some of the traditional dishes of my home.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and puffed myself up in defiance.
“I don’t know ye lady. I’m not goin anywhere wit ye!”
My temper made my accent thicken, and my words slur like my peasant mother’s. I sounded like any common rabble now. Something I was still ashamed of, but also proud of at the same time.
“I am Kimiko, and I am one who has witnessed all of this world. I am what is called a succubus. We are most known for our legendary sexual appetites, and our ability to use energy, much like you can with your ice and fire tricks.”
“I’ve heard of ye. Sex daemons. Ye prey on unsuspecting men, and your steal them from their wives.”
Kimiko folded over in laughter.
“Oh, that is a good one! Probably the most ridiculous one yet, but still it’s a good rumor!”
“Do ye find it funny to break up families then?”
I challenged her. Kimiko made a small snorting sound.
“Think about it lass. A man gets caught in another hen-house, and he blames the hen! She must have spelled me and forced my cock into her hen-house!”
I couldn’t help myself, I burst into laughter, and tears. I could see a man saying such, just because his eye had wandered astray!
“Come then dear, let us clean ye up, and get ye some decent food. You’ll need some fresh blood too. Don’t ye worry, I’ll help ye out. Ye are not a monster child. Ye are vampyr. Remember, there is a difference. Ye would choose to hide in a cave, rather than kill, so never forget that morality. It will keep ye thirst in check, but ye can learn to control it, and your elemental magic too. You were always destined to be more than a servant girl.”
My eyes burned with tears at her words. I couldn’t even find it in me to be angry with the eternal beauty. She had answers I needed, and perhaps, a way to live that didn’t involve becoming death robed in flesh. I took her hand, and we left the cave, leaving behind my mortal life, forever.
Fourteen:
Scotland 1302:
Ice and wind collided in a torrent of magic and power. I parried her slashing katana, and I kicked out, making her dodge to my right. She spun the blade and I ignited the air around her, but her wind had coalesced into a perfect barrier. She batted my blade aside with a deft stroke, and she held a second smaller blade to my gut, I hadn’t even noticed the crafty movement.
She smiled warmly, her eyes full of life, love, and energy. She was like an eternal child, for all her ageless wisdom. She had a girlishness to her that could not be taught or mimicked. I had happened upon a few other succubi in the time since I came to study with Kimiko. None of them possessed the same energy, or the same level of liveliness. Kimiko was akin to the sun in the sky. She burned brighter than anything in the world. Her warmth and heat were like a hearth to those she held dear.
She showed me the splendors of the world. I had spent nigh on seven-years as her pupil. She was vigorous in her teachi
ngs and animated in her desire to impart her wisdom to someone. She never spoke of why, but I noticed that she avoided most supernaturals. Having me around seemed to sate her desire for company, and companionship. Though, she hardly lived like a nun. She would go and feast upon the sexual needs of her succubus nature frequently. She had taught me to embrace my needs, but to never let them control my actions, or my thinking.
Kimiko was wise, she was over five-thousand-years-old. An age I could hardly begin to fathom! I was now twenty-nine, though I had not aged since my brother changed me. I often thought upon Ellison now. I wondered where he was, and what he was doing. Knowing all that I do now, I had little reason to believe he was evil. After living with Kimiko, I have learned that our kinds do need company. Our lives are so long, endless, unless killed. We keep to the shadows of the world, sparing humans form their own fears and superstitions as best we can.
Mayhap, Ellison had truly just wished to spend his eternity adventuring with his little sister? I felt ashamed of my reaction, though I was but a simple Scottish girl then. I knew nothing of immortals, or of their morality. I just knew stories of daemons and demons.
“Aye, Rachelle, I need ye lass!”
I spun and sat my quill down.
“Coming Kimiko!”
***
The markets were ripe with the freshly plucked vegetables of Springtime. Hunters and butchers sold the freshest of venison steaks. Kimiko would be home late tonight, and I was determined to celebrate our reunion over a fine dinner. She had been gone for several months, off to speak with an ancient druid, one of the last of his kind. She swore to one day introduce us, once the time was right.
I felt a flare of magic, something I could recognize now as succubus in nature. I looked around, hoping to spot Kimiko, but I came face-to-face with a gilded-haired beauty. She wore a dress distinctively French in origin. She smiled and fluttered her lashes at me. I felt heat climb to my cheeks. Even as a vampyr, I had to hide my sexual proclivities. I had even taken to bedding men, just to keep up appearances. Not that there were no men, whose company I did enjoy! I had learned to love the touch of both sexes nearly equal.
“Ello, good day miss.”
I greeted her politely, as I did any other. She smiled wider. Her accent was heavily French, as I had suspected.
“Hello young vampyr. Such a lovely day, and everything is so ripe today.”
Her eyes fell on one of the hunters, his bare chest exposed, showing his marvelously sculpted form. He was rough in all the ways a man should be, but he still seemed to have an agility to, and a gentility to his touch. The French succubus had good taste, I would give her that.
“May I help ye with something, mum?”
My accent seemed to thicken, my nerves were set off by the lady openly calling me a vampyr. I stilled grew nervous when other supernaturals did this! It’s like they had some fierce need to divide us each into camps, or into certain types. This was something Kimiko never seemed to do. She seemed to make friends in the oddest of places. She was a lady of such age and wealth, that she could feast with kings—and she had—but she would still play the dice with the soldiers and drink a flagon of ale. She called it being “socially agile.”
“Perhaps you can. Do ye happen to read child?”
I huffed and shot her a cross look.
“Aye mum, I can read. What is this all about?”
She passed me a large letter. I recognized the words, some were in Japanese—Kimiko’s native tongue.
-The lord mage of Kyoto province has been assassinated by a female who stole his ancient texts. Kimiko the Magic Eater has been identified as his assailant. She was with him just before his body was found drained of all its life. He was rumpled up and dried out, like someone had left him to the sun.
-Lord Kazama Shoto.
My heart hammered in my chest. Kimiko couldn’t have done this!
“She has been stealing magic, and rituals from every civilization she comes upon, since the dawn of time. That is why she is called ‘The Magic Eater.’ I have been dispatched to bring her before the elders, to face her charges. We hope to recover the texts she has stolen and return them to their rightful families.”
I shook my head; my mouth had gone dry.
“Nay, it is not true! Kimiko can’t have done these things!”
The French woman’s pale-blue eyes shot me a look of pity. Like I was a fool, and that I was incapable of seeing what was right before me!
“I need your help. She will not be harmed, we mainly just wish to return the stolen texts to their rightful families! She has bereaved many, for centuries! You are my only hope of giving these families some sense of peace. They are hollowed out from the loss of their loved ones, and from the loss of their heritage! I need your help young vampyr. Help me bring justice!”
***
I didn’t want to believe the woman, but I found tombs stashed. Tombs matching descriptions in English, and in Japanese. Names of the original owners were written in Kimiko’s own hand!
I didn’t want to believe any of it, that I had been deceived by a vile and hateful woman. Mayhap, she was angling to find anything my family had inherited on my mother’s side? The cold sting of betrayal shot through me like icy arrows from a bow-string.
“Hello, I’m back. Rachelle is that dinner I smell?”
My heart was heavy, like I had a whole flock of sheep stacked on it. Tears burned my eyes. I rushed out as I heard the crashing of the door behind her.
“Come now Kimiko, you didn’t think you could run forever, now did you?”
I could hear the French woman. She was with Kimiko. I heard a pained sound, Kimiko was hurt!
“Tell us where they are, and I will not feed your pet vampyr’s heart to you!”
My throat closed, I felt all the air leave my body. It was like I was being strangled by an invisible force. Her voice, so ruthless, so conniving. Not at all like the honey-dripping tone form earlier.
“You can do anything you want to me, but you will leave the girl alone. She is innocent in all of this!”
My heart clenched.
How could I have ever doubted her, even for one second!? She had taken me in, an adult lost, confused, and a constant burden! She had taught me much, had bought me nice clothes, and instructed me in strategy, math, world history, and in the arts. She had given her wisdom freely to me, offered me a safe home, and never asked for anything in return!
“Do you want to hear how easy it was for me to turn her on you? All I had to do was show her one well forged document accusing you of theft and murder, and she let me through your spells. Tell me, now do you care what befalls her Kimiko?!”
There was almost no pause at all.
“You played upon Rachelle’s good heart. She has a powerful sense of justice running through her. I remember seeing it in her since the first time I laid eyes upon her. If anything, she will suffer too much, just for believing she was doing good. Leave her out of our fight, and I shall give you what you desire you’re a power-hungry shrew.”
‘Rachelle, go, run, now! They will not kill me! I am much too valuable to them! Flee, or they will make a slave of you! Go!’
‘I…. I’m…’
‘Save it child, we shall meet again, until then, you may keep your apologies to yourself. Never forget this deception! Let it mold you, do not become bitter, rather let it make you wise to deceit. Your good heart is your greatest strength, and it is your greatest flaw. Learn to have a counter-balance. Learn to be hard as steel when you must, but still capable of love. Go! I order you as your sensei!’
My tears spilled to the floor, and I shot off out the back, into the night. I didn’t even look back, not until I had cleared several villages.
***
Kimiko of Kyoto, she was my master, my greatest pride, and my immortal shame. I went back to the house, and I found her hidden cache. I had spotted her tucking journals away in there a few times. I wept as I read her words. Written in the same language as the d
ruids. A form of Gaelic, but with twists, twists that only one with my bloodline could ever have understood.
Though history has known her as Kimiko the Magic Eater. She is known by the true elite of this world as “The Keeper of all that is Forbidden.”
A being so ancient, that she is the only one wise enough to store all the worst spells of the world with. The only magical being that can responsibly wield, and control powers and discoveries too dangerous for any immortal eyes.
That was the night my shame was born. I vowed to become wise, like Kimiko. That I would never again allow anyone to deceive me. That was the night I went in search of Ellison. Together, we would achieve remarkable things. Together, we would help shape a better world for all our kind.
If you are reading this letter, then I have found my final death. I plead to you dear reader, keep the flame of justice alive. Learn from my sins, and at least you shall know that my master, Kimiko, was never the evil devourer of magic. She was framed up to this reputation by her jealous younger succubi. They coveted her power, her knowledge. They believed that their influence, power, and seduction could lay the entire world at their feet.
-Rachelle Jameson, the fool and terrible student.
Fourteen:
Present Day:
My eyes burned from Rachelle’s grief. I felt ashamed that I had forced her into sharing her past with me. Still I was able to see my mother, see her training Rachelle. Watch her tenderness, her maternal instincts. She was like a second mother to the love of my life, and here, seven-hundred-years later, we fell in love. I couldn’t even begin to explain the unlikeliness of such events unfolding, spanning the ages of man.
My heart broke for both. I was in her shoes, I felt her pain, her conflict. She had believed she was a demon, so it wasn’t hard for a succubus to play on her fears still fresh in her mind.
Rachelle collapsed onto the bed, magic depleted from such a powerful sharing. I pulled her up to her pillow and I folded the covers around her. I kissed her forehead and I wiped the tears running down her cheeks.