The Last Keeper's Daughter

by Rebecca Trogner

  “Trance her,” Krieger barked. “Dump her in town.”

  “Sire.” The guard’s posture wilted under Krieger’s gaze. “She’s been badly beaten, and…” He swallowed the rest of his words.

  “Get her to Dr. Caanan. I’ll be there soon.” Krieger faced Merlin. “The gods toy with us tonight.”

  “Or someone who wants to cause you a great deal of trouble.” Merlin poured and quickly swallowed three fingers of whiskey. “Shall we?” He walked to the door.

  Dr. Caanan had a laboratory and hospital facilities on the lower level of Stoke Castle. Krieger could smell traces of the woman’s blood as they exited the elevator. Detective Hunter was standing outside the examining room door.

  He must have sensed that his presence demanded some sort of explanation. “Something was nagging at me about the box Winston was in, so I came down here to give it another look.”

  “How fortuitous,” Krieger said. The detective’s expression said that he wasn’t sure how to take that remark. Krieger turned to the guard.

  “Sire, she was found crawling on Mountain Top Road. The guard intercepted her as a car rounded the corner.”

  “Did the guard get a clear visual on the driver?”

  “He did. The driver’s home is not far from here.”

  “Why aren’t you calling the police?” The detective’s tone was accusatory.

  Krieger felt no obligation to explain, or even to keep the detective in his kingdom, not now that he knew how weak the Elder had become. But he’d seen the affection Meirta had for him, and she was the true asset that Krieger wanted. Though he had to admit, the detective wasn’t without expertise.

  Krieger explained, “The police hold no sway here. To involve them would serve no purpose. If it had been possible she would have been tranced and taken to a human hospital.”

  The doctor joined them in the hall. “She would have died if the guards hadn’t brought her here immediately.” He slipped the surgical cap off his head. “Perhaps it would be simpler if I showed you.” He opened the door for them to walk through.

  “Let him in,” Krieger told a guard who had blocked the detective’s entry.

  The woman was connected to monitors and machines fanned out around the bed. She was slight with dark hair and pale skin. She looked less than twenty, more than thirteen. It was hard to tell ages, especially when humans were sleeping.

  “She’s heavily sedated.” The doctor pulled back the sheet to reveal her body to them, and then he gently covered her again.

  Her flesh was striped with lash marks expertly placed in a lattice-like pattern, and her wrists were rubbed raw from some form of restraints. Krieger had seen worse things done to slaves in his lifetime, but not here, not in his territory. If one of his subjects was responsible, the punishment would be severe, probably fatal.

  “I hope you don’t mind, but I asked Liam to see if they could find her tongue.”

  “Her tongue?” the detective asked.

  “Yes.” The doctor nodded. “Approximately three quarters was cut off. I might be able to reattach it.”

  “If you can find it.” Hunter met the doctor’s eyes. “Can you tell when this was done to her?”

  Dr. Caanan nodded. “The blood coagulation indicates two to three hours ago, give or take. I’ve got her stabilized. Physically she’ll recover.”

  Krieger watched the detective.

  “Doctor, is there anything further I should know now?” Krieger asked, impatiently.

  The doctor spread out the fingers of the woman’s hand. “Her nails are cleaner than mine. She was meticulously washed after the injuries were made.” He rotated her hand to reveal the mark of an inverted cross on the inside of her lower forearm.

  “I see, thank you, Doctor. I’m sure we’ll have more questions for you later.” Merlin opened the door for Krieger to leave. Hunter lingered at her bedside. “Come, Detective.”

  “What does that mean?” Hunter stood stubborn as a bull.

  Krieger sighed and waited.

  “Her feet.” Hunter eyed Krieger. “May I see her feet?”

  Dr. Caanan asked Krieger with his eyes.

  “Go ahead,” Krieger said.

  “I had a case once where the bottoms of the victim’s feet were marked. Strangest damn thing. Turned out the killer was a podiatrist.” The detective carefully untucked the bed sheet and peeled it back to reveal her feet. There was salve and some dressing on her ankles.

  “Her wounds from the restraints were substantial,” the doctor explained.

  Hunter walked around and crouched down to see the bottoms of her feet. “Nothing, not a speck of dirt, not even a callus.” The detective’s eyes were calm and cool. “Someone cut out her tongue,” Hunter said to himself as he tucked the sheet back around her feet.

  “Yes,” Krieger agreed. “And that someone wanted her to be found.”

  “The tattoo on her arm. What does it mean?”

  “It means that we should take this conversation elsewhere,” Krieger said, while walking out the door.

  “Do you think one of your vampires, or Others did this?” Hunter asked.

  “No,” Merlin replied, closing the door behind him. “Such things are not tolerated in the king’s territory.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and turned his torso towards Hunter. “We need to find out who she is.”

  “What about in other territories?” Hunter stared at the door of the woman’s room. “One day I may ask you to trance all this bad shit from my memory.” He shook his head and sighed heavily. “Her fingerprints might help. Can you get me into the law enforcement databases?”

  “That can be arranged,” Merlin responded.

  “Someone, somewhere, could have reported her missing,” Hunter said.

  Krieger knew from experience how easy it was for humans to vanish and never be seen again. If she had family close by, or was a person of notoriety, then they might have a chance of finding out their mystery woman’s name.

  “Why would someone do this?” Hunter asked.

  “Why would someone kill and neatly tuck Winston in a box?” Krieger countered.

  “You think they’re connected?”

  “I think, Detective, that we should find out.” Krieger nodded to Merlin and they started to walk back to the elevator. “If you’re not too busy,” he said over his shoulder to Hunter. “The security video may give us some answers.”

  They walked past the elevators and wound their way through the underground tunnel, up the stone steps onto another level, and emerged in a hallway with multiple doors.

  The guards bowed and opened the third door on the right. Krieger waited until Hunter was inside the room. Merlin was already telling the guard at the computer what they needed. “Infrared fencing surrounds my property. When a sensor is triggered, a corresponding camera activates and the video feed is recorded.”

  Hunter stood in the center of the room, taking everything in. “Nice, very nice,” he said. “Is this to keep people in?”

  “My subjects are free.” Krieger nodded to the guard and waited for the video images to appear on the wall to their left.

  A guard stood beside the large screen. “We have live feed twenty-four seven around the perimeter. This section has a public road running along the edge. A vehicle drove by this area approximately thirty minutes before she appeared. The plates are government, and we’ve verified that their destination was the weather station.” He rolled his hand to the technician. “Speed it up.” He walked in front of the screen to indicate the spot he wanted them to watch.

  Krieger saw static obscure the image. Out of nothing, the woman materialized.

  “We’ve ruled out camera malfunction,” the guard continued. “The static preceding the woman’s appearance was not recorded elsewhere.”

  They all watched as she lay still and then began to crawl down the road.

  The guard walked to the far side of the screen. “As you can see, the guard spots her and apprehends the target before th
e car’s headlights illuminate them.”

  “The car?” Merlin asked.

  A guard behind them spoke. “Belongs to a man living in Aldie, Virginia.”

  “Would you show it again?” Hunter asked. “Explain to me how a person can appear out of nowhere.”

  “She is human,” Merlin replied.

  “So,” Hunter said, walking up to the image. “She didn’t make herself appear.” He turned to see Merlin nod. “Something carried her there, moving too fast for the cameras to capture.”

  “Possibly,” Krieger agreed. Since the detective was here, he might as well be useful. “You asked about the mark on her arm.”

  “The upturned cross,” Hunter said, and faced Krieger.

  “Among our kind, there is a small faction called the Brotherhood of the Sanguis who want to overthrow the royal houses of vampire and reveal our existence to the human world. The mark on her arm is their symbol. Sporadically, they create disturbances.” Krieger paced.

  “This group, the brotherhood, they’ve done this sort of thing before?” Hunter looked around the room.

  “They have,” Merlin answered. “To the brotherhood, humans’ only purpose is for food and entertainment.”

  Hunter was still looking around, but it was obvious he was thinking through the situation. “Someone did this to cause you trouble.”

  “Precisely,” Krieger said. “If you would like to assist with this investigation, I’m sure my guards would be grateful for whatever insight you can provide.” He and Merlin were almost out the door.

  “King,” Hunter called to him. Krieger stopped and turned slightly. “Would the Brotherhood kill the keepers? Maybe this has all been an elaborate hoax taking us down the wrong path with gates and…” He snapped his fingers. “Dark Ones and spells.”

  “To kill humans is quite a different thing than killing keepers,” Krieger responded, and he and Merlin left.

  They walked through the labyrinth of interconnecting tunnels until they reached the exit to the outside. “I wouldn’t put it past Henry to do something like this,” Merlin said.

  “No, he’s been guarded since he arrived. His every move is watched.” Krieger stood for a moment, enjoying the fresh air.

  “Well then, so much for that theory. I sensed no trace of Other about her. No fang marks. She looks like a random victim.” Merlin ran his hand over his tattooed forearm. “What will become of her, if we don’t find her family?”

  Krieger waited until they passed a group of his subjects out enjoying the night air. “Now that she’s here there is no going back. If her tongue…” Memories could be tranced from her, but the loss of a tongue was something that could not be fixed.

  “We can’t very well send a woman back out into the human world without a tongue and expect there to be no questions.”

  It was a complication.

  “What the detective says could be true. What better way to disturb our peace than to kill off the keepers,” Merlin said.

  Krieger entered the hedge maze. It was patterned after the maze at Hampton Court though his was more than thrice the size. “It doesn’t explain the visions or the Elder.”

  “No, or the darkness I’ve felt.” Merlin walked beside him. “I researched the symbol Walter showed you.”

  “And?”

  “And I found nothing. What did Walter think it meant?”

  “The fabled Lynea.” He knew the maze by heart and it relaxed him to follow the crushed shell path while his mind worked.

  “The Lynea.” Merlin laughed, and broke a twig off a boxwood. “How did he get that idea in his head?”

  “He showed me a picture of a Lynea waiting for her lover on the rocks under a full moon. I didn’t tell him what she was called, but he knew it meant something. It was his lure to hook me into taking Lily.”

  “The woman found tonight.” Merlin exhaled. “She is not Lynea.”

  “No.” Krieger took a sharp left, exiting and walking around the perimeter of the maze. “She is not.”

  Merlin stopped suddenly. “The gates.”

  Impatient to move on, Krieger slowed, but kept walking.

  Merlin rushed to catch up. “Anyone the Elders – there were five then – deemed too powerful were placed behind the gates. It is said that even a few of the Fallen were sealed inside, along with loyal Strigoi.”

  The Fallen, sometimes called the Watchers, were angels enticed by human women. Their offspring created the Others, of whom the rarest, most exquisite offspring were the Lynea.

  “Angels.” Krieger gave him a look. “This is what we speak of.”

  Unfazed, Merlin continued, “The symbols, the ones written in the church… It’s been so long, I didn’t recognize them at first. I’m not even sure I’m reading them correctly. The order is random, almost chaotic.” Merlin rubbed his jaw.

  “You think there is a connection with the symbol Walter showed me?”

  Merlin gave him a look and a shrug.

  “These spells, the weakening of the gate, letting magic slowly flow back into the world. Is it such a bad thing?”

  “Technically, no, but if the balance of things were tilted too severely one way or the other, then... We shall see.”

  Krieger scanned the edge of the forest. “Keep me informed.”

  “Sire, I’d like to take personal charge of the woman.”

  This night was full of amazements. Merlin rarely sought the comfort of a woman. For him to express an interest in this one was unusual. Krieger nodded and disappeared into the night.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Lily sat on the garden chaise with her knees tucked up under her chin, and a blanket wrapped around her shoulders, waiting for the sun to rise. Around her, spread out in all directions, were Stoke’s gardens. Her favorite, this one, was the rose garden. She’d spent a long time walking down the stone covered paths, enjoying the sight of blooms lit by tiny lights nestled into the ground, feeling the softness of the petals, and inhaling their sweet bouquet.

  Memories were coming back to her, some disturbing, most mundane and ordinary. They must have always been there, lurking, waiting in the dark recesses of her mind. Why now? Why not something important, instead of vague remembrances of walking with her father in the dark? It was always in the dark, never during the day. She couldn’t remember one instance of him attending a school function, or taking her shopping, or watching her at an event.

  It felt trite and pathetic, and she wouldn’t allow herself to fall into the trap of the poor little rich girl. She could feel sorry for herself, or she could start controlling her own destiny. Every day she felt stronger and more mentally capable. Things that had immobilized her mere days ago were now nothing but an inconvenience.

  Never would she forgive Walter for handing her over to Krieger like a piece of luggage. Yet she would always be grateful to him for introducing her to him. For in her heart she knew this was where she belonged.

  At the thought of Krieger, she wrapped the blanket tighter around her body. When she woke up last night, a rose along with a note was placed on the pillow next to her.

  Apryini,

  You needed your rest. I have urgent business, or I would be next to you now. Do not be alarmed, Liam is watching over you.

  K

  There were moments when he would touch her, or move close to her, that made her feel strange inside. There was power in the way he would follow her with his gaze, or constantly brush up against her. She didn’t understand the bond, but knew that she could trust him. It made her feel understood in a way she hadn’t before. Or maybe being a vampire gave him more patience than most.

  She was struggling to control her feelings toward Krieger and the way her body reacted to him. It wasn’t that she was a prude, far from it. In boarding school she had witnessed things that were unconventional, but that did not mean they were wrong. Giving her blood, and taking his, had not been wrong. Different, yes, but not wrong.

  She rubbed her neck where Krieger had fed from her last
night. It was sore to the touch and ached. Krieger always healed the wound with his blood afterward, and he’d done so last night. Why had this time felt different? More intense?

  Liam moved closer to her, and his lip went up, revealing his very big and very sharp teeth. When Henry walked into her sightline, she understood why Liam was guarded.

  Henry’s hands were crossed over his chest in a classic defensive pose. She knew this because it was her most frequent stance. “There is no need to get all wolfy on me,” he said to Liam.

  Lily didn’t like Henry’s treatment of Liam. Henry was so sure of his superiority. It was annoying and she didn’t want to encourage his behavior. She let her hair fall around her face, and retreated into herself, hoping he would go away.

  “You’re mistaken if you think my brother won’t come out to get you. He would burn in the midday sun to be near you.” His laugh made Lily mad. “You smell so sweet. I can almost taste your blood. Would you share with your master’s brother?”

  Liam’s body hummed with controlled rage.

  “No.” She stood and placed herself between the two men.

  Henry ran his eyes over her. “How does my brother’s blood feel flowing through that body of yours?” He stared at her neck where Krieger had fed from her the night before.

  “You’ll never know.” Lily was proud that her voice was strong and she looked Henry in the eye.

  Liam growled, his form on the precipice of changing.

  “You don’t scare me.” Henry spit on the ground.

  Liam laughed. “One day,” he said the words with deadly intent.

  “What do you want?” she asked Henry.

  He rocked back on his heels, in the same way that Krieger did. “I want you to see me as you do my brother.” Henry’s voice sounded like a lost boy’s.

  She looked at his sad eyes, and felt a small, very small degree of sympathy. Curious to see what he wanted, she sat back down. Liam relaxed a fraction and took a step back, but kept Henry within reach.