Balance (The Divine, Book One)

by M. R. Forbes

  “Nor should they seek to,” I told her. “He was telling me of the research you are conducting. Perhaps these lesser nosferatu find the idea uninspired, but I think it is a fascinating endeavor.” I could tell she was trying not to laugh at my faux snobbishness.

  She sighed a sigh that could launch a thousand ships. “You have no idea how refreshing it is to speak to someone with vision, Sir Giovanni.”

  I could feel the sets of eyes on me, trying to figure out who the fruitcake that thought not killing humans for food was. Our conversation was momentarily interrupted when the elevator opened again and a human band rushed out, set up their instruments on the landing, and began playing.

  “I hate when he does that,” she said to me. I assumed Merov had Commanded the band to come and play, and they had literally jumped at the opportunity.

  “Shall we Miss Solen?” I asked, holding out my arm to lead her to where a makeshift dance floor was opening around the fountain.

  She reached out and took it, the warmth of her touch sending a hot shiver down my entire arm. My prom date with Carly hadn’t been a total waste.

  I don’t know what the song was, or even if there was music. When Rebecca looked at me, all I could see was her face. When she spoke, all I could hear was her voice. She hadn’t affected me like this the last time we met, but maybe I had been too afraid to take full notice of her. We moved with such fluid grace it was like we were destined to be dance partners. Her closeness felt so natural, so perfect.

  “How did you know who I was as soon as you saw me?” I asked her. The dance had afforded us the opportunity to get super close, and the music aided in drowning out any possibility of being overheard.

  “Your glamour doesn’t work on me,” she replied. “Didn’t the Outcast tell you not all demons could be tricked?”

  “Because of your mother? I seem to be doing okay with the rest of the room.”

  “My father told you about her?” She seemed surprised. “He must like you.”

  I spun her around and expertly regained the step, leading her forward without hesitation. “He likes who he thinks I am, a big shot Lord from Venice. You know what he did to your mother?”

  I felt her grip tighten on me, threatening to break my skin. “I know,” she said, the anger obvious in her voice. “He’s never tried to keep it a secret. He’s quite proud of himself. Once a succubus has you, it’s very difficult to escape.”

  “And...”

  “And what? He’s my father. I am obligated to either obey, or overthrow. There is no middle ground.”

  “Overthrow?” I knew what the word meant. I knew what it sounded like. It was just weird to hear someone say it about their family.

  Rebecca’s iron grip relaxed. “A vampire can rightfully seize control of their house by disposing of the patriarch. It is the normal means by which we rise and fall from power. Until that time, we are bound by our honor to show respect, even to those we despise. I am powerful for a vampire because of my mixed heritage, but I am not strong enough to defeat Merov Solen, and so I’ve had to endure his story of how he murdered my mother for much of my life.”

  “He seems to care for you,” I said. At least he had claimed he did.

  “In his own way,” she admitted. “He has provided me with everything I have ever asked for, anything I could ever want. But there are strings. Always strings.”

  I could see the sadness in her eyes, and I wanted nothing more than to be able to help her. “I’m sorry,” I whispered.

  She gave me a look of strange fascination, and then she kissed me.

  It was a short, soft kiss, but it sent a wave of energy rolling from my head all the way down to my toes. I could feel the tips of her fangs brush up against my lip, the sharp edges threatening to puncture the skin. I could taste the cold moisture of her mouth, blood and iron and lipstick. My entire body turned to jello.

  “Thank you,” she said in a hoarse whisper. She pulled back and helped me resume the dance. My rubbery legs fought to comply.

  We finished out the song in silence, our hands and eyes staying locked together. My mission. I hadn’t come here to flirt with the birthday girl, regardless of how much I was enjoying it. I was here to get information about the source of the very thing that Merov had gifted to his daughter. It was only logical to think that Merov knew the origin. My mind went back to the room with the fingerprint lock. I was willing to bet anything that the answers I sought could be found in that room. The real question was how in the world was I going to get inside? The answer - I wasn’t; at least not tonight. I needed to beat a hasty retreat while the going was still good.

  “Thank you for the dance, Lady Solen,” I said to Rebecca in my Sir Giovanni voice while letting go of her hands. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to go downstairs to make a phone call. I would be honored if you would offer me the opportunity to speak with you further about your scientific achievements. I believe they are most fascinating.”

  Rebecca smiled. “Perhaps we can continue the conversation after you complete your call,” she said. “I can escort you down to the lobby.”

  “You are very kind,” I replied, holding out my arm for her again.

  She wrapped her own arm in it and started walking me towards the stairs as the band began playing another tune. I glanced around the crowd looking for Merov, finding him back at the Fresh Fleshette. He noticed me with Rebecca on my arm and smiled his approval. I could imagine what he’d be thinking if he knew what I was intending to do.

  “Leaving so soon?” Rebecca whispered to me as we ascended the stairs to the elevator. “You couldn’t possibly have gotten what you were looking for from me.”

  “I got something better from you,” I replied, causing her another round of embarrassment. “What I was looking for, I got from your father, although he doesn’t know it yet.”

  We reached the top of the stairs and stepped out onto the landing. It was clear except for the band and another pair of weres who were guarding the elevator. I had almost made it out without a negative incident.

  “Sir Giovanni needs to go make a call,” Rebecca told the guards. “I’m going to escort him down.”

  The were on the left held up his hand. “Just one minute Lady Solen. The elevator is on its way up. You’ll never believe who decided to come to your party.”

  I looked at Rebecca. She shrugged her shoulders. “Who is it?” she asked.

  The timing was impeccable. The elevator dinged, the door slid open, and out of it stepped pure evil.

  Reyzl. I knew it was him the moment the elevator doors finished opening. He was resplendent in crisp, fitted tails, complete with top hat, gloves, cane, and fur lined cape. He was dark skinned, Indian maybe, tall and bony with boyish good looks. The kicker was the eyes, huge solid black orbs that absorbed your soul, stole your will, and reflected you back as no more than a puppet on a string. They were empty, expressionless eyes, creepy and powerful and impossible to penetrate. He radiated total domination in the form of an unfeeling coldness that left no question that was the superior. It was the power of pure hate, greed, and evil resting just below the surface of the human facade he had wrapped himself up in for the occasion. It was my first glimpse at what a true demon was, and the hopelessness that followed was almost enough to crush my soul right then and there.

  He knew me too, or at least he knew who I wasn’t. He was emotionless as he stepped off the elevator and looked at me for the first time. I saw nothing in his eyes, but his lip curled at the edge in a rough snarl. He lifted the hand with the cane towards me, and every muscle in my body froze stiff, as if I had been encased in ice.

  “Diuscrucis,” he said with a perfect, flat calm, as if he had been expecting the encounter.

  I struggled against myself, trying to will my body into motion. I could feel the tug in my mind, could feel my power butting up against his. It was no contest. “This is going to be quite an entertaining night after all, isn’t it,” he said to no one in particular. “Merov,” he ca
lled out.

  I continued fighting the invisible bonds, even though I knew I wasn’t strong enough to break them. Rebecca had backed away from me towards Reyzl when he had called me out. I didn’t blame her for choosing his side. I was a mouse with my tail firmly caught. I couldn’t turn my head to look, but I could hear Merov Solen running up the steps to answer to his master.

  “My Lord Reyzl,” Merov said, reaching the landing and dropping to his knee.

  Reyzl didn’t even look at him. He just raised his cane and motioned towards the guests below. Merov got back to his feet and went to the edge of the platform.

  “Ladies and gentlemen,” he cried out to the assembly. The band stopped playing and the quiet din of so many conversations all hushed at once. “All hail the power and glory of Lord Reyzl the Dominator,” he said, turning and dropping to his knee again.

  Everyone else followed suit, including Rebecca, who looked at me as she did so, her eyes apologetic. I would have told her I understood, that it was okay, but I was the one still standing, stiff as a board and one hundred percent incapacitated.

  Reyzl motioned for Merov to stand, which was the queue for the rest of the congregation to follow. They stood motionless, waiting for their master’s command. “Now Merov, will you please explain to me how you allowed a diuscrucis into your home unchallenged.”

  Merov turned to look at me. “Sir Giovanni?” he asked. “I... I’m sorry my Lord. I do not understand.”

  “Do you question me?” Reyzl asked, his voice still calm and emotionless.

  Merov’s face turned bright red. “No, no my Lord,” he replied, bowing down to the demon. “I cannot see what you see. I see only a vampire. He told me his name was Stefan Giovanni, from Venice.”

  I noticed the minutest change in Reyzl’s expression. It was as if his body had attempted to feel mirth, but it had been crushed in an instant.

  “Of course,” he said. “Reyka, my dear. Tell me, what do you see?”

  She didn’t hesitate, and I understood why not. “He is a diuscrucis, my lord. His name is Landon. I have been befriending him, in order to learn his secrets, to learn what the Outcast and his servant are plotting.”

  As she spoke, her pale blue eyes were replaced with the same cold black orbs that I had seen the first time we met. They were expressionless eyes, used to hide from me. I had expected her to identify what I was, but I hadn’t been expecting her complete betrayal. If I could have moved, I would have kicked myself for being so stupid. She didn’t need to possess me with the power of a succubus. Her natural beauty had been more than enough to seduce me into trusting her.

  Reyzl fixed his attention back on me. The only way I knew it was because he said my name. “Landon. I’m going to ask you a question. You’ll need to be able to speak to answer it.” I felt my head regain mobility.

  It was tempting to say something stupid and pointless, but it would have looked panicked and weak. I was both, but I wasn’t about to let him have the satisfaction of forcing it out of me. I said nothing, waiting for his question.

  “No doubt the Outcast and his Collector have sent you on this fool’s errand. Tell me, are they aware of the Chalice and the work we have being doing with it?”

  He stepped closer to me as he spoke, his mere presence overpowering my senses. He was Commanding me, I knew, though he was much more subtle about it than Merov had been. Worse, it was a struggle to resist compliance.

  “No,” I said. “I was here to find out about the Exchange. To find a way to shut it down.” I figured I’d try, but I had no doubt he would be able to see right through the lie.

  “Reyka, is he telling the truth?” he asked.

  “He wouldn’t tell me what his goal in being here was, my Lord,” she told him.

  At least I had done something right, not telling her everything. He seemed to be going for the lie.

  “No matter,” he said. “No harm has been done. Goodbye, Landon.”

  He showed no outward sign of effort in causing every single nerve in my body to feel as though it were exploding at once. The agony of the event was indescribable, like a paper cut on every single cell that made up my living flesh. As each cut was made my body would heal in time to be cut again, multiplying the sensory pain a hundredfold. I would have passed out, would have welcomed it in fact, but my Divine being wouldn’t allow it. I experienced a hundred lifetimes of pain each instant, all the while knowing it was just a prelude to my final fate.

  I kept my eyes as focused as I could on Reyzl as he stepped forward, lifting the cane and pulling from its base with his free hand. The cane doubled as a sword, a cursed blade that would put me out of my misery. The demon’s expression didn’t change the entire time. It was lifeless, soulless. Not even my tortured pain was able to cause any sort of reaction. The complete ambivalence was the most frightening thing of all.

  Before he could finish me off, the entire world erupted into a mess of chaos and frenzy. Reyzl’s perfect ensemble was ruined when a clean silver blade burst from his heart, the blessed runes etched on its surface glowing red with heat. I felt the pain stop, felt my limbs regain their flexibility. I stumbled and fought to stay on my feet.

  I heard Merov shouting his daughter’s name, and then I saw her charging me, her eyes still black, her fangs bared. I couldn’t recover fast enough to defend myself. She slammed into me, lifting me over her shoulder. With one motion she planted her foot on the top of the railing and carried us both off of the landing and down into the waiting crowd below.

  We hit the ground hard, the momentum tossing me away from her. I had gone from bad to just as bad, because now I was lying in the middle of over a hundred angry vampires.

  I leapt to my feet, getting into position to defend myself the way Obi had shown me earlier. Rebecca had regained her footing as well, coming at me from my left. I turned to defend myself from her when I saw a brown shape hurtling down from the landing above. She crouched low and kicked up with her foot, making a solid connection with the incoming missile, sending it careening off into the crowd. I stood there dumbstruck. The missile had been Merov.

  “Move it, worm,” she said, reaching out and grabbing my arm. “I’m trying to save your life.”

  The pain of her grip snapped me out of it, and my brain did the math. She had stabbed Reyzl from behind with a blessed dagger. Where she had gotten it, I had no idea, but she had saved my life for the moment at least. Her betrayal had been a ruse. She had chosen a side, and it was mine. The sum of that equation was the hardest kick in the ass I could have imagined.

  I looked up at the landing, where Reyzl was working to get the dagger out of his chest. I was going to assume if Ulnyx had possessed an amulet, his boss would have one too. That meant we had about twenty seconds to find a way out of this mess, maybe less. The guests had overcome their surprise, and were turning towards us, their eyes going black, their fingernails and fangs elongating. I looked around the room in search of something, anything I could use. My eyes settled on the fountain of blood.

  Blood, water, they weren’t that different, and I had practiced making it rain for hours. I reached out and focused my will, pulling the fluid from the fountain and yanking it over to where Rebecca and I were standing. It splashed through the crowd in its haste to arrive, then circled around and spread over us like a plasma cocoon.

  “I don’t see how this is going to help,” Rebecca said in response to my activity.

  The blood was spinning around us, maintaining the form. I had turned water vapor into water. Now I took liquid blood and dried it into a solid.

  “This is just part one,” I said. Part two was going to be the hard part, and I didn’t know if I would be able to pull it off. “Keep them off me if they get through.”

  I closed my eyes, picturing the twenty-foot walls of glass that occupied the outer corners of the penthouse. I focused my will on them, demanding that they lose their cohesion, that the crystalline structure of the glass break down at a vastly accelerated pace. I could he
ar the claws scraping against the wall of blood. I could hear Merov shouting from outside, cursing Rebecca for her betrayal. I didn’t dare open my eyes for fear of losing my focus. I pushed again, as hard as I ever had before.

  There was no build up, no warning. I could hear the groaning, cracking, and then the shattering as the glass succumbed to my will. One moment the windows were whole and perfect, the next they were imploding in a million fragments. The cries of pain from outside the blood sarcophagus were deafening. Nothing inside the apartment was able to avoid being pelted with shards of glass. Nothing except for Rebecca and I, encased in a protective shell. It wouldn’t be enough to kill any of the vampires, but with any luck it would slow them down long enough for us to escape.

  “Part three,” I cried, opening my eyes and turning the blood barrier back to liquid.

  It splashed onto the floor, and the true chaos of what I had created was revealed. All around us the gathered vampires writhed in pain on the floor, each having suffered at least a hundred cuts and piercings. They were healing already, but the pure volume of the damage was keeping their attention off of us. I took a quick look back towards Reyzl. As one of the few bodies on the upper floor he had been pin cushioned by the incoming glass. He was healing faster than the others, and I could tell by the position of his head that he was watching me when I took Rebecca by the hand and started to run towards the now open windows.

  “Are you out of your mind,” Rebecca shouted at me as we approached the exposed Manhattan skyline, a good fifty stories up. I just might be.

  I pulled her in close to me and pushed off with my legs as hard as I could, putting us airborne even before we had reached the edge. I didn’t know if I would be able to go through with it once I could see the drop, so I didn’t give myself the chance. The floor of the penthouse disappeared, and then we were flying high over the quiet city street below. I took a deep breath and held it as my stomach lurched. Our flight was over, and now we were falling.