At last the voice came again. “Around my kingdom the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads, sing the song of the requiem. They came to sing the end of humanity and the beginning of darkness on heaven and earth. How could they know, how could any being know, other than me, that the demons would not rule?
“You may wonder why I deigned to not foretell the victory that would come. I give to my children, even my angels who art in heaven, free will. However, blessed are my children who remain steadfast beneath the trials they behold, for when my children withstand the test, they will receive the crown of life, which I have promised to those who love me.”
His anger showed in the words that he spoke, a God who suffers his followers’ mistrust. “My children should trust in me with all their heart, and not depend on their own understanding. It is their duty to acknowledge me—then and only then do I show them the way. They are not to be wise in their own eyes; they are to fear me, their Lord. Within that fear, they should have turned away from evil. As you see, belief results in the healing of flesh and refreshment of bones.
“Before I ask you to receive my blessing and you swear your souls to the service of heaven, you must first see the wrath of your God. I have refined my children but not as silver. I have tried each soul in the furnace of affliction. Those who doubt me shall be cast from my realm. They will be brought down from the heavenly seat to walk the earth broken and fallen creatures until they can commit such selfless acts that they may gain readmittance to my kingdom.”
His mighty voice shook the landscape and from the cracks and fissures boiling water came to spill down and flood the land. The deathly eruptions were too far to cause them harm but both Jenda and Soborgne cringed and ducked away. As their attention returned to the portal before them, the Requiem of Humanity turned to the shrill cries of angels as they fell to Earth.
Jenda wept openly as she watched the chains fall away from Abraxos and his body contort. Within seconds, the floor of heaven opened and he fell. Through what dimensions he passed, she would never know. She could only grieve for the angel who had helped her, guided her, and given her his blood to ensure she would be victorious. As the last of the cries fell away, the angels all around them wept for their brothers and sisters who had fallen.
Turning around, Jenda and Soborgne saw that even Gabrielle and Michael were gone. The angels that remained, bloodstained and wary, fell to their knees in a silent salute to their God. They bowed in fear and respect. They bent themselves to his will and his way as they pledged to withhold from doubt and temptation.
Turning to face the great power once more, the girls prepared to bow and pray for leniency and forgiveness, and offer their non-beating hearts up to the service of heaven. Jenda tried to bend but something pulled at her body. A calling from far away teased her mind and prevented her from prostrating herself before the lord. Her voice trembled as she asked, “Lord, shall we be cast away as well? Are we not worthy of being your servants?”
The feeling that she must return to where she had come from overcame Jenda. Grabbing onto Soborgne, she felt the world shift. The sound of the angels weeping blended into the roaring winds that tore at feathered wings and clothing. Through the din, God’s voice rose, “Do you accept me, your lord and savior, into your hearts and swear to me your unfailing allegiance?”
Jenda opened her mouth to pledge herself, sure that Soborgne would do the same. Barely audible beneath the clamor, another song rose up, and the voices that formed its chorus spun her mind out of control. She couldn’t pledge herself to God. She could not leave her cursed life. She had to return. The Coven and Clan were calling her home and one voice she could not deny was among them.
When Jenda did not pledge, Soborgne resisted as well. Her ears were deaf to the summoning from the earth but she knew that Jenda would not hesitate without reason. It had always been the two of them together, and when they had allowed something to separate them, death had taken them. She had no intention of making that mistake again.
The Lord saw their desires in their hearts and without anger he spread his arms wide in a gesture of surrender. “May free will take you to where you long to be.”
Jenda struggled to maintain a visual of her surroundings as they fell, clinging to each other, through a tunnel into another realm. Through a spiraling vortex, they tumbled, until the flickering torchlight spiked out of the darkness. Even as they jostled and tumbled at deadly speeds, unsure of their destination, Jenda found comfort in the twinkling like bright orange stars below.
33
Their voices rose in the final words of the ceremonial song just as the wind began to whip through the garden. In a powerful whirlwind, the forces of nature caught in the long robes they wore and toppled over the black wooden pyre that still waited for a body to consume. The Coven and Clan gripped each other’s hands and circled closer to the stone altar. They hoped their bodies pressing tightly together would form a shield around Jenda’s body and protect her from the debris that rained about them.
On and on, they circled and repeated the final line. The night crackled around them, filled with magic and power. Jenda’s body had ceased to flicker and Matteo’s eyes bore into her perfect face. He searched for the slightest change. He tried to will her spirit to find its way back to her. He circled and chanted but his eyes never ceased searching for even the smallest pout of her lips.
None of the vampires or witches could have seen the approach. Shifting between worlds and realms, the girls did not hold a physical presence inside the vortex on which they rode. When they tore through the thin fabric that stretched in a parallel space beside the existence in which the others existed, the resulting blast caught the Coven and Clan by surprise. Unprepared for the blowback, the witches and vampires fell away like toy soldiers.
The book of blood and bone was wrenched from Meredith’s hands as she was sent reeling out of control. The wind and the backlash ripped and tore it until the pages were scattered and blown into the vortex. The secrets of the vampire clans, the magic of dark rituals, and all other knowledge was lost as the powerful vortex sent the pages into oblivion.
As quickly as it began, the wind stopped. Dazed and confused, the Clan and Coven fought to regain their senses. The sound of weeping drew their eyes upward. On the altar, Jenda and Soborgne stood huddled together. Together, they cried tears of joy and relief. They were united once more in the land of the living and the prophecy had not come to be. They had defeated heaven and hell and returned victorious but still cursed.
The others rushed the altar, Matteo the first to reach them. Without fear or hesitation, he leaped on top of the stone and threw his arms around Jenda and Soborgne. Blood tears fell in joyous succession, a river of relief that flooded him. “You are here, whole once more. You are home. My love, my heart, my soul.”
The others, all but one, reached out to touch Jenda and Soborgne to ensure that they were physically real. They waited for the girls to react, to speak. Even Celeste feared that somehow they would remain tainted. Only Drew stood back. He eased away, seeking the shadows, trying to disappear before his deadly deed could be discovered. He hoped that the shock of the girls’ return would prevent the others from noticing his absence.
Before he could make his escape, Soborgne rushed after him. Her movements so fast that the others could barely register her direction, she darted in front of him. Her eyes burned with dark fury as she snarled words. “Where do you think you are going?”
Drew turned back and ran for the center of the circle. Soborgne was on him in an instant, like a cat playing with her prey before she enjoyed the taste of its flesh. She made sure her nails punctured skin as she grabbed him and spun him hard to the ground. The young vampire hit the ground and rolled. Patrick, Imre, and Nicholi moved to protect him and Jenda fled Matteo’s arms to stand by her best friend’s side.
Soborgne held to the killing edge, and the cold anger she found there kept her from raging. She leveled her gaze at the band of vampires tha
t both kept Drew pinned between them and the group of witches and prevented her attack. “Give him over. That sniveling coward. He burned me. He set me on fire while I was still alive. He is in love with Jenda and he tried to kill me as his sick revenge for her death.”
Her words shocked the others. They had believed Drew’s story about finding Soborgne dead. Drew nearly whimpered, “I thought you were dead. You are confused. It was not intentional. You had been staked. You were gone. I didn’t know. I didn’t know.”
Soborgne voice was the deadly quiet of someone who craved blood and murder. “Liar! I will have your heart for this. You placed me on the bed and watched as I started to burn. You spoke to me. You knew I was not dead. It was the demon who saved me. If not for Andras, I would have been roasted in that house. I helped to destroy my savior and I will do much worse to you.”
Celeste stepped forward. “Soborgne, are you sure of your claims? What you are saying weighs heavy on this council. Are you sure in the confusion of what you have gone through that Drew intentionally brought you harm?”
Soborgne turned toward Celeste, no amount of love between the two women. “The truth lies in the blood.”
She pressed her thumbnail into the pliable flesh of her wrist and watched as a bead of crimson began to form. She held up her wrist in offering to the queen of Vajdahunyad. Celeste nodded to Imre and he moved to secure Drew. The Gothic vampire fought against his captors as Nicholi opened the wound that would seal the boy’s fate.
Celeste motioned for Soborgne to come to her side and Drew was dragged to the other as he protested vehemently that Soborgne was still mad and infected by the devil. His own denials and panicked actions had already condemned him in most of the Coven and Clan’s eyes. When Celeste first tasted of Soborgne’s blood and then Drew’s, when she saw through the bloodlust visions that Sobo had been telling the truth, she could do nothing more than step away and allow Soborgne her vengeance.
No battle or ceremony ensued. Only Drew’s blubbering pleas and Soborgne’s wicked laughter could be heard as she lunged at his throat with her teeth bared. The others watched in horror as the girl, the child of darkness, revealed herself in her true form for the first time. The brutality and slow methodology in which she delivered her revenge made many of the others want to turn away from the carnage.
Limb by limb, Soborgne broke the bones as Drew tried to resist. She went deaf to his cries of pain and Jenda’s pleading for her to show mercy. She did not speak or look away while she broke the vampire’s body down. When he was at last paralyzed and helpless she dragged him across the garden by his hair. She threw him on top of what remained of the pyre and leaned close to him.
The mocking tone she used to repeat his own words to her caused him to scream as if he had finally gone insane. “Sh. Don’t worry. It’s going to be okay. It’s going to be all right now. I’m going to make it all better. It’s all over now.”
She plunged her hand into his chest, feeling the bone scrape against her skin. When her hand remerged she laughed like a maniac with a shining new toy. She lifted his cold, unbeating heart to her lips and took into herself the life’s blood of her enemy. Squeezing until the muscle turned to pulp, Soborgne drank until nothing but a meaty residue remained.
Patrick was the one to brave her anger and her madness. He came up beside her, torch in hand, and laid it on the pyre. As the flames leapt and grew, he did not back away. Instead, he wrapped his arm around Soborgne’s shoulders and basked in the uncomfortable heat. When the bloodlust and anger subsided and she began to falter, he turned her face into his chest and held the girl tight.
His soft Irish brogue brought her more comfort than she could have imagined. “Aye, lass. ’Tis over now. All de beasties be slayed and ye ’ave done well. Cry yer tears. ’Tis all right. We will never be lettin’ anyting else be ’arming ye.”
34
Days passed before the rest of the Coven and Clan was given access to Jenda and Soborgne. Together they had confined themselves to a single suite, the one where Jenda had been secured during the time she had been separated from her body. Only Matteo, Patrick, Meredith, and Agi were allowed to enter. Feeders came and went but they were informed that if they spoke of the girls to anyone, they would face severe punishment.
After the emotionally and physically trying experiences that they had faced, Soborgne and Jenda remained agitated and weak. They took in large amounts of blood, both from the vein and in bagged form. They allowed Meredith to test them for medical issues but both were deemed to have somehow survived without permanent damage.
In the time after his display of strength and concern, Soborgne had turned to Patrick with a grudging affection. Jenda’s recovery and her own was sped by the blooming affections between the two. They feared facing the others and having to tell their stories from beginning to end. Perhaps it was the fear of disbelief that kept them confined as they struggled with how to give words to the traumatic vision of God’s terrifying glory and watching the angels fall. The very fact that they had denounced him in order to return had left them reeling. Telling the others about the magnitude of their journey would be no easy task. At last, seven days after their return, a meeting of the Coven and Clan was called. Jenda and Soborgne stood in Celeste’s rooms, side by side and visibly united against the others until their loyalties could be judged. The girls dressed simply in jeans and T-shirts. Both were still emaciated, their vampire bodies still suffered from ethereal tortures that could not be quickly repaired.
Jenda and Soborgne saw the fear, the curiosity, and the joy that alternated in the eyes of the people who had fought to save them but had condemned them as well. They loved and hated the members of the Clan and Coven fiercely. Together they laid out the things that had happened to each of them while they were not in the presence of those in the room. They told the witches, vampires, and a single human girl of all they had done to secure their place within the earthly realm but not allow the prophecy to be fulfilled.
Jenda’s voice was as hard as stone when she spoke the final words—the things she and Soborgne had decided must be said before the trust within Vajdahunyad could be reclaimed. “As we fought for you, you fought against us. You were all so set in your ancient beliefs that you could not offer your united powers to keep us whole. You abandoned us.” “Soborgne faltered but are we like God in that we must test and seek out weakness to propel from our ranks? Or are we more understanding creatures, capable of redeeming even the most lost souls? If you cannot look upon the child of darkness and not fear her but embrace the demon’s blood, the cursed nectar that runs in her veins, then you shall not look upon me with favor either.
“I have walked the same path as she has and together we denied the invitation to heaven. We held to what we were by blood and choice in order to return here. We will leave this land soon. We shall heal first but after we will journey onward and seek out a place where the shadow of so much blood and death will not hang over us. However, we would like to return someday. We would like to know that if we cross paths with any of you that you will welcome us into your presence without prejudice.
“We have been victorious. We have conquered. Yet, we have lost those that we called friend and perhaps we have lost a small piece of ourselves. I pledge to you, the members of the Coven and Clan and all those who proceed, I will offer you my loyalty for eternity. If you will do the same.”
Soborgne gripped Jenda’s hand and in her lovely voice she pledged. “For eternity.”
Matteo stood and joined them, taking Jenda’s other hand, and he repeated the words with utter conviction. “For eternity.”
Patrick took his place by Soborgne’s side. “Aye, fer eternity.”
One by one the room filled with the word. Even little Agi, not a true member of the Coven or the Clan but a powerful ally just the same, pledged herself and her unborn child to them.
Only one remained unspoken for. Celeste stood, a strange look on her face as she watched her friends and allies embrace the
new era that would be a united vampire foundation. Her emotions, usually hindered by her chilling exterior, overflowed as she spoke. “I have led this castle for hundreds of years. I have been the ambassador of the tribes, clans, and covens. Yet, I have led them blindly. You must go, seek out your desires in the world, but when you return, I offer you this castle and all that it entails. I offer you the title that I have carried unjustly for so long. I will pledge myself to your service, for eternity.”
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