Cade did not need to check each home; he knew all his neighbors were gone. He had failed them all, and worse, he was the one who had ushered death to their door. He was responsible, and he didn’t even know why. He needed to understand why.
“Why, Moselle? Why are you doing this?” he called out. “Rue? These were your friends!”
“Why? Because I remember now,” Rue said. “I remember why I bought this place. Why I gathered all these beings in one location. I remember, Cade. It was for this very moment—this glorious moment.”
Moselle held her staff high above her head. “Their sacrifices will not be forgotten.”
“Sacrifices? You killed them! They did not offer—”
“Silence!” Moselle screamed, her face unlike anything Cade had ever seen on her—her expression was one of pure malevolence. “Do not speak to me like you are any different. You worship one of us too. Wicked siblings: War and Death.”
“Worship? I don’t worship anyone.”
“Yes, you do.”
“The Four?” Cade guessed. “Is that what you’re talking about? What does that myth have to do with anything? You’re cursed undead, Moselle, not a vampire. What business do you have—”
“My business is raising Death. Just like your business is serving War.”
“I serve Dunyasha.”
“He does not know,” Rue said to Moselle. “He does not believe.”
The man might have whispered, but Cade heard him clearly. Cade stepped forward and considered another attack. But the closer he got to Moselle and his old landlord, the more he was overcome by the death energy that surrounded them. He could smell it, taste it, and at times, her swore he even heard the whispers of his former neighbors as they cried for help. It was too much.
“What don’t I know? Tell me! Make sense of all this madness, Moselle.”
Moselle lowered her ornate staff, planting it firmly on the ground. Cade heard Nico swearing behind him, the old Soviet soldier wanted badly to fight.
“This world—always at war. However, in the past few years, nature could not hold its balance, and the scales were tipped. Death tolls rose. Populations dropped.”
“I don’t understand.”
“America. Cancer. Kintner,” she rattled off. “You, Jackson, Sabrina, Pollution. The loss of life at the hospital. The destruction of my home. It all pried open my eyes.”
“Moselle, I know you’ve been through a lot since Pollution demolished your family’s home, and I am sorry for that, but please let me help you.”
“You opened my eyes, Cade. And you have helped me join with another. But those are not the only reasons I do not burn you and your childe to ash.”
Cade glanced back at Nico and nodded at him. “Oh?”
“I wish to help you.”
“Help me how?”
Moselle handed her staff to Rue and brushed her hands down the front of her dress. She sauntered forward several steps, enough to make Cade take one step back.
“Some say we were born out of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, fallen angels who sought to punish man for the death of Christ. Others say the Four Horsemen existed to watch over the known world, to choose a time to end it. Know this, Cade: Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death—they did exist. And they descended upon Rome. It was the Four that triggered the fall of Roman Empire and watched it crumble over the hundred years. But it was during this time, this glorious and dreadful time, that the fairy kingdoms united and confronted the Four.”
“Fairies? Fairy-kind was so small and powerless back then—how could they fight the Four?”
“One against one. Four kings for four angels. The fairy kings sacrificed everything…and by forfeiting their lives, they were finally able to channel enough elemental powers to trap and curse each of the Horsemen.”
“How do you know all this? Who told you these stories?”
“Not stories. And I already told you, Cade,” Moselle said, walking a circle around him. “Do you know what the Four became, once afflicted by powerful fairy elemental magic?”
“No.”
Moselle continued to circle him. “Think, Cade.”
Cade recalled the scriptures. “They became vampires.”
Moselle stopped and faced Rue, who smiled back. “Stripped of their status as fallen angels, torn from their goal to return to Heaven, all four were cursed to live as eternal corpses, Cade. But life—nature has a way of balancing the scales. You see, it did not end there. It was passed on. It was the Four’s children who were forced to exist in the darkness, drinking blood. They were the ones to thrive.”
“So, you’re saying that fairy-kind unexpectedly created vampires?” Cade had a hard time even saying that bit of craziness.
“I’m telling you the Four created your first generation of vampires.”
“Why would the old fairy kings curse the Four Horsemen like this?”
“Who knows? Perhaps it was a side effect. So steeped in life, those ancient fairy…perhaps they had to make a deal with the devil to allow their powers over the elementals to be used for such wicked means.”
“The devil?” Cade rubbed his head. Some of it made sense, while some of it did not—could not. “That explains why fairies can sense us vampire so well and why we vampire like the taste of their blood so much…but really? Curses? Why wouldn’t the Four fight back?”
“They did. All four were trapped. They escaped their prisons but not their curses. You see, each of the fairy kingdoms plagued their targets in different ways. Earth. Fire. Water. Air. The Four Horsemen were…reshaped…greatly weakened…even torn apart. Their disabilities…oh, they only grew worse as each generation of fairy royalty reinforced their kingdom’s curse.”
“This all sounds like you mixed ancient vampire lore with some stupid B movie nonsense. Why would such silly stories matter to you, Moselle? You’re…cursed…cursed undead.”
“Precisely.”
“Shit.” Cade’s world flipped. “Are you trying to say your kind is somehow related to one of the Four?”
“We are one of the Four,” Moselle answered.
Cade shook his head in disbelief.
“When next you see your master, tell her Death gathers,” Moselle said confidently. “And, Cade, do try and process all this. The more you know, the better you will understand what is coming. And the more you understand, the more you might just enjoy yourself.”
Moselle turned and walked back to the open portal. As she approached it, Cade thought of all the battles he’d fought in the name of his sire.
“Dunyasha,” Cade whispered.
Moselle took the staff back from Rue as she reached the open portal. “Revelation 6:4. Her name is War.”
“I…” Cade could not say it.
Moselle gazed around a moment, as if to take one last account of her actions. Then, before Cade decided what to do, she and Rue stepped through the portal and vanished.
“I should’ve followed them through it, Nico. There are still so many questions.”
“Nyet.” Nico grabbed Cade by the shoulder. “Too dangerous.”
Cade pointed. “But they have the answers we need.”
“So, does Dunyasha,” Joe said while he spun around. “Am I right? Am I right?”
Cade took a deep breath, regardless of not needing it. It was an old habit he’d never broken. Deep breaths steadied his nerves before combat, and combat was all he felt he understood at times.
Cade looked at H.B., who had remained silent, then back down at Joe, who, still shaped like a rat, cleaned his whiskers again. Finally, he looked at Nicodemus.
Nico had maintained his stoic visage throughout the entire conversation. There were times Cade thought the Soviet soldier was as still as a statue. He would have thought him equally as cold if he hadn’t known of the fire that burned in his childe’s heart.
“What do you think we should do, Nico?”
“Eto svoditsya k sem'ye.[7]”
“Yes.” Cade smiled. “Sem’ya[8].”
&nb
sp; “Do you think we are a family of two or a family of many? “
Cade nodded. “I get what you’re saying. We should warn the others.”
“Hey!” Joe squeaked. “Family of three. Unless you’re counting Stoney Brown here.”
“Encino Man. 1992,” H.B. said. “This…rat has good taste.”
“Yeah, Joe.” Cade smirked. “I’m counting him. I’m counting you both. So, what’s your vote?”
“My vote? Well, you know what I think? I think Sabrina-fake-tits and Dunyasha are planning something—an assassination, an ascension, an ass whooping of Kardashian-ass size. Yo, it was a hella mess in that pretty little head of hers.”
“So, you think Moselle is telling the truth, Joe?”
“I do. But there’s something else. I think that Sabrina knock—off girl—yeah, I think she came here to fuck you, Cade.”
“Wait? She did?”
“And then kill you.”
“Kill me?” Cade grumbled. “Not if I fucked and killed her first.”
“Yeah? Well, worst part, Dunyasha didn’t seem to care. I mean she did bring that piece of fluff here. So that’s what I’m saying.”
“That makes no sense. Why would War want to kill one of her generals? Her champion?”
No one answered. Cade wasn’t sure if they didn’t answer because they thought he wouldn’t like their answers or because they didn’t know. In the silence, Cade considered his next move, and for one of the few times in his existence, none of his strategies brought him any relief.
“We have to do something.”
Nico spoke up. “I have plan. You and H.B. stay here…burn bodies. Joe and I will return to caves, warn others, seek guidance, gather more information.”
“What if—”
“She expects us to return,” Nicodemus interrupted. “She does not expect you.”
Cade considered what Nico said; he was right. His return would raise suspicions, and Joe’s words had touched a nerve.
Would Dunyasha go to the trouble to create a Sabrina double just to trick, trap, or kill me? Cade chuckled to himself. A good plan. Bait the predator with the one kind of bait he can’t deny. But why, if she wanted me dead? She could kill me easily.
“Hey, blood buddy, I kinda agree with the big guy,” Joe said, interrupting Cade’s thoughts. “I mean, you rocketed off into outer space the moment we saw Dunyasha’s portal begin to open. You did that for a reason, right? It was more than just your vampire intuition. You did it because we were all sitting there—all snug as bugs in your place, enjoying some tea and stale crumpets—when the very topic of our conversation appeared. Coincidence? I think not. And you thought not too. You jumped up and flew off, while we were left to play dumb. You want facts. Well, you took the first step and now you gots to take the second, am I right?”
“You’re right, Joe.”
“Dunyasha…” Joe shivered, and his teeth clattered. “Sometimes she makes my little slime sack shrivel up and nearly fall off. And that’s before you apply this new information. Man, you add that nugget to the stew… Yeah, I wouldn’t want to be on the wrong side of this.”
“My thoughts…” Cade said and then corrected himself. “Our thoughts exactly.”
Nicodemus felt compelled to speak. “We are good soldiers.”
“Yeah, and like any good soldier…who follows questionable commands, you all are wondering if what you’ve done in the past was for the good or the bad. I get that.”
“What are you saying, Joe?” Cade asked.
“I’m saying I’m a slime. And slimes like to spy. And I like spying more than most slimes. So, you stay here and let me and the big guy do work.”
“Stay…I don’t stay very well.”
“Then ask yourself this: Egypt, or Arizona-New Mexico? Where would you rather die?”
“Damn it. After what Moselle and Rue did here, to all these innocent otherworldlies…” Cade motioned to the corpse pile. “Honestly, I can’t shake the feeling that she needs to be stopped…and it’s my unfortunate responsibility to stop her.”
“You stay. We go,” Nico demanded.
Cade wanted to agree, but his conscience stopped him. “I don’t know…” He looked up into the sky. “It’ll be dawn soon.”
“Still have hours.” Nico handed Cade his knife, the same gesture he had made many times before. “This mission is mine.”
“Thank you,” Cade said. “But not yet. Not until tomorrow. I need—we all need to sleep on this.”
The Birthplace of War
Dunyasha’s portal opened to a chilly mountaintop in the middle of a vast desert. Amber planted her feet, wrapped her arms around herself, and turned to her travel partner.
“I know this place,” Amber said with such sureness that Dunyasha’s expression changed.
Clearly intrigued, the elder vampire spoke. “Do you, fairy?”
“Yes. These are the Tibesti Mountains, right?” Amber answered. “There are five volcanoes near.”
“You surprise me.”
“Why?” Amber shrugged. “I am a Fire Fairy. Fire Fairy know all the volcanoes on earth. Some more intimately than others.”
“What do you know of this exact spot?”
Amber turned and looked around and around. “Not much. Last time I was here was when I was very young.”
Dunyasha opened her arms to the scenery, as if the mountains, valleys, and deserts would do the same and they would embrace.
“This…this is Bikku Bitti, the least known and most difficult part of the Sahara Desert to reach by foot.”
“Why are we here? Are we following Moselle?”
“No, if I am right, and I am sure I am, my guess is that she went home. Not to Egypt, but to wherever it is her parents reside.”
“So then why are we here? Why did you bring me here?”
“I wanted to show you where I was born.”
Dunyasha’s comment made no sense. Amber knew Dunyasha was Russian born; she had heard many of the vampire’s stories, most told by Sabrina, but a few from the vampire herself. “I don’t understand.”
“I was born here long…long ago.”
“I thought you were born in Russia—long, long ago.”
“I was. She was. This-this current…incarnation…” Dunyasha paused. “I was born here. I was born there. I am not who I was originally. Not who I seek to become again.”
“I really don’t understand, Duny.”
“You should!” she shouted. “You too have been changed by the Water Kingdom.”
“True…but…”
Dunyasha stepped forward, skipping through time as she always seemed to do. She looked both pained and relieved simultaneously. “My time is now. Her time is now. Your time is now. I will aid you. You will aid me.”
“O…K…”
“Know this: I was not always a vampire. I was always eternal.”
Amber unleashed her wings and ignited them. In part, it was a natural reaction to a sense of dread she had not been able to kick for hours. That, and she felt a surge of magical energy that did not permit her to keep them hidden any longer.
“You feel it?”
Amber nodded and stepped away. “Fuck. Shit. I do.”
“Such power. It echoes through time. The same wave that crashed against the shore a thousand years ago crashes against it again today.”
“I know I’m not really Sabrina London, but maybe you should speak to me like I am,” Amber said. “You know, like I was a real dumb blond, not a fake one. Get me?”
Dunyasha looked to the sky. “I was chosen here. Chosen to become one of four. Chosen to cleanse this world.”
Amber swallowed hard. She only knew the basics, but she knew enough. “You—you’re one of the Horsemen? One of the first four vampires?”
“Some say we were born out of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius—fallen angels who sought to punish man for the death of Christ. Others say the Four Horsemen existed long before to watch over the known world, to choose a time to en
d it.”
“Wait. W-what…what the fuck are you?”
“The first four vampires were not even vampires. They were cursed. I was not what you see here, what you see now. After many years, I evolved into this.” Dunyasha looked down and shook her head. “I was once something much more powerful, much more feared and revered.”
Amber did not know what to say. Dunyasha’s proclamation sounded like a secret, and Amber knew what secrets could do. “Your clan doesn’t know…”
Dunyasha knelt and placed her open palm on the ground. She closed her eyes and held still.
“Why tell me this, Duny?”
“In order for you to understand the present, I must tell you my past.”
“But why me?”
“Because, young fairy, your kind is responsible for my curse. And it is past time your kind removed it.”
Amber understood now—well, at least the most important part of what was being conveyed: Dunyasha needed her. She was no longer in danger. In fact, she was in a position of power.
Amber smiled slyly.
“Your fear…what little you own…dissolves around you, fairy.” Dunyasha stood. “Remember, I can sense your emotions…new and old.”
“No more lies. No more half-truths. No more beating around the bush. We tell each other everything from now on.”
Dunyasha smiled—not slightly, but fully—and when she did, Amber wondered how many people—human or otherworldly, the woman had killed in her very long lifetime. It was the first time she really thought about it, and the numbers—which she imagined equaled in the tens if not hundreds of thousands—did not scare her as much as made her respect the woman more.
“You’re really one of the Horsemen?”
“I am. She was—I was. I will be.”
Amber guessed. “War? You’re War?”
Dunyasha nodded. “Another came out, a fiery-colored horse, and it was granted to the one seated on it to take peace away from the earth so that they should slaughter one another, and he was given a great sword.”
“If you were so powerful, what happened? You said you were changed by the Water Kingdom. How?”
“I, like my brothers and sister, was beset upon by the fairy kings. Each kingdom took it upon themselves to trap and curse us. Your ancient Fire Kingdom cursed my sister Death. While the earliest monarchs of the Air Kingdom targeted Pestilence, and those of Earth, Famine. I was a victim of the unrelenting Water Kingdom.”
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