My interactions with the food and drink on the table seemed to encourage the others. They all slowly started pouring some tea in their cups and eating. Luckily those macaroons didn’t make me grow big or shrink to a mouse’s size, it was surely a relief. All the “Alice in Wonderland” similarities had me a little bit jumpy.
After I finished the macaroon I looked at our hosts for the first time, I mean, I really looked at them.
The dark haired woman was quite common looking; her features would easily blend with others in a crowd. In fact, if you ask me now, I honestly don’t remember her face. The only thing that really stood out was her dark hair and the fierceness in her gaze.
Our other guide on the contrary was quite unique once I really looked at him. His arms were covered with scars; all of them seemed quite old for they where pearl-like in colour though some seemed quite deep. The scars had all kinds of edges, some seemed clean cuts and others seemed to come from scrapes, they seemed to mark his body like a map. His face on the contrary was very clean and looked serene. He seemed like a very nice guy, though I wouldn’t like to have to fight him big as he was! His jet-black hair shone under the artificial light and was spiky all over. A longish lock fell between his eyes and made them stand out. He had very strange eyes, they were grey, something quite unusual for Asians.
The old guy simply reminded me of a somewhat crazy grandpa. I couldn’t imagine that man being a fighter like the other two, yet he must be. A single long scar went all the way up from his hand and up his sleeve, which was the only clue his exterior gave of him ever being in a fight. I imagined the scar coming from a sword, yet I couldn’t be sure.
The funniest thing was that after looking at them for some time, I finally noticed they all had the same pendant round their necks. It was quite curious that I didn’t notice it before since it was quite big and visible. It was a very similar pendant to the one I had on me, the one that Jonathan had given me. A shinny Black Iris sat on each of their chests.
Their Black Irises were all bigger than mine and hung from heavy silver chains. They looked more rustic and less jewel-like, though they were all the same flower. I couldn’t believe it! Could Jonathan’s mother have met them before we did? Surely there was some kind of connection . . .
The old guy saw I was looking at their chains and made me blush. I felt as if I was prying or something, so I quickly turned my gaze back to my cup of tea.
“You look just like someone I knew a long time ago.” He said and smiled. “In fact, your hair looks just like hers, I’ve missed her for a long time now.”
I was stunned by his words. Who did I look like? What did he mean with that? I was so flabbergasted that I almost dropped my tea.
“Oh, forgive me! I didn’t mean to disturb you with that, it’s just . . . forget it . . .” he said and a shadow of sadness crossed his eyes. It disappeared as soon as it had appeared and left me wondering who this woman was, but I knew better than to press the matter.
Corbin distracted our attention very quickly, for with an exuberant gesture, he took the notebook out of his coat and put it on the table with a bang. I hadn’t even noticed he had taken it to be honest, and had forgotten about it even.
“We contacted you for two reasons” James said “one is sitting near you, you’ve met her already. And the other is this notebook. We’ve had possession of it for a very long time, yet we knew nothing of its contents until Iris read some of it. We know now it is much too dangerous to remain alone.”
* * *
After James said that everyone remained very still and quiet. The old man seemed to be deep in his thought for a few minutes and then one of the most magical moments I’ve seen happened.
The old guy extended his arm in the direction of the notebook and wiggled his fingers. As if some kind of magnetic force was suddenly acting on the book, it flew right into his hand. He then caressed its cover and the Iris engraved on its front. He looked astonished and almost ecstatic at the same time. Inhaling deep, he closed his eyes for a moment and said a sole word: “Juniper”.
He seemed to be in a trance almost. Apparently he knew something about the book though I doubted he knew its content. He must have weighed his words carefully before he said anything and then began to speak solemnly and unlike anything he’d said before. Things were getting serious.
“I imagine you’ve read enough of this notebook if not all to know that something’s not quite right in the vampire world. Things have not been right for a very long time, yet we have been waiting for someone special to help us, someone exactly like you Iris.” He said and looked at me intensely. He was not joking anymore and I guessed that things would get pretty wild from then on . . . and believe me, they did.
“As you all know, the vampire world has been expecting a special vampire to be born, and that vampire is said to change all our fates.” His voice had acquired and ominous tone and we were all mesmerized by it. I felt like a child listening to stories beside the hearth in a summer-camp.
“For a too long time, there’s been a small group of vampires that have taken all the big decisions for our kind. They have been ruthless and even killers of their own at times. I’m not sure of how much and exactly what Juniper wrote, but I’m sure it was enough to set that point clear to you. She’s an old friend and the first vampire to ever go against them.
This group of vampires are called “The Council” since they began as a council to make the most important decisions for our kind. It was made of six members, all of which are Ancients, and probably the oldest alive. The idea was to have the council members in their positions until their death, but as the years went by, we discovered that pure ancients did not die so easily. That’s when the problems began.
The council members got power-thirsty and wanted more and more power. Instead of putting all their efforts to ensure the best for our kind, they only tried to ensure their positions . . . and increase their power. Other ancients became too dangerous, so they were slain under false pretences. And the prophecy was the perfect excuse to kill.
The birth of the vampire that would change all was something to be prevented at all costs they believed, for they knew that the change would come as a change of hearts.
Any child that was born of both ancient parents was meant to die, and just in case, they killed other ancients at random too.
That’s when things started to get complicated, because not many vampires where left alive to stand up to them. Our order, “The Order of the Black Iris” was born as a resistance to them. The first members were ancients that managed to escape and formed this underground order to save other vampires and someday bring down the council.
The Order has fought several wars, where nobody won and many of our mates died. We never managed to actually kill any council members, but their numbers are not the same as a few years ago.
The original council was made up of six members, all of which are said to be the most powerful Ancients (and oldest) of our kind. Now, they are only three, but the three most vicious ones are the ones that remain. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that we are almost preparing an army to fight three vampires! They have supporters . . .
As I said before, Juniper decided to stand against them, and she did so with Duncan, another council member. Their treason to the other council members made it essential for them to escape and hide, for what they did was supreme treason.
For many reasons, what they did was almost a death-wish, yet I believe it was a combination of true love and pure rebellious spirit. I don’t know if they still live to be honest I have not seen them for almost eighteen years, but the fruits of their rebellion are right in front of me. They were your parents.” He said and folded his hands in front of him. He had dropped the bomb and was now waiting to see its effects.
I started hyperventilating. The woman who wrote the notebook was my mother! And my father was another ancient, and from “The Council” . . . that meant that the prophecy was even more precise. Some verses of the p
oem started dancing in my head; they became so present that I wouldn’t have been able to make them disappear even if I wanted to.
A newborn baby, a rising sun.
From noble cradle born
And human raised,
The Council was the vampire equivalent to more than just nobility, it was basically the equivalent to royalty, and my blood came from not one but two council members! I was also human raised for my parents had died in a car accident . . . or did they fake that to save me from the other council members? Could they still be alive?
I feet felt numb, just as if no blood was getting there. I had believed my whole life that I was human yet I was not. My parents were supposed to be dead . . . yet they might be alive and escaping vicious vampires or they could have encountered an even more terrible fate. It was all too much for me to take. I wanted to run away at first, and then a huge rage started building up inside me. It was bigger than the hunger and bigger than anything I’d ever felt. I wanted to take revenge on The Council.
“I’ll fight” I said, my voice sounded so determined I couldn’t recognize myself. It sounded older and stronger than I ever sounded. I felt a new kind of energy flowing in my veins, power pulsed through my limbs and somehow I knew something had changed inside me. I was not the same vampire girl I was in James’ house; I knew that if I tried to move something like the old man had done with the notebook I could do it. This new energy that flowed inside me made me different from what I was before. I had now completely awakened.
I could feel all their eyes on me. They could probably guess that something was happening but I’m quite sure that they never got the full picture.
“I will look for them.” I added, “And wherever they are, I will find them, or find out what happened to them.”
Nobody said a word. I guess it was just too much for them too, after all, they knew almost as much as I did before we came here. Also, another big question stood there unsaid like a huge pink elephant in the room. How much did Violet know beforehand?
Time was going by and nobody said a thing. We all simply continued sipping some more catnip tea to elude talking. The atmosphere was as tense as a piano-cord and nobody dared to crack the silence. I was deeply set in my own troubles when suddenly I realized that certain numbers did not add up.
If the original council members were six, and three of them were our enemies now . . . then there were three more members that did not favour them. Two of those were my parents who were missing, but who was the third one?
It was an interesting puzzle, some other strong vampire was against them and it would be most useful to know who he or she was.
I thought about that for some minutes until suddenly it all came clear. I looked at the old guy at the end of the table and just knew. He was one of them.
We looked at each other for some time, he held my gaze though nothing was said. He knew I had guessed his secret, yet he said nothing. Some things were best kept unsaid.
“What should be our next move?” Ginny suddenly asked in her almost Texan accent. She dared to break the silence, and we were all truly grateful for it.
“I know we might stay here and hide the girl forever, but I’m sure that there’s surely something else we ought to do, right?” She added, extending an almost irritating twang with the word “right”.
Our hosts exchanged glances for a while before giving any kind of answer. Then the rebellious ancient spoke for the first time since he had dropped the bomb about my origins.
“We could stay, that’s right . . . this is a safe-house. Still it is not the best option for us. We should start looking for them right away. That will give us the head start.” He said and finished his tea in a sole gulp. Now that things were said and clear, he seemed to be in a hurry to get to action.
“That’s all very good, but where should we start?” Jonathan said and looked at me as if I had all the answers now.
I was completely puzzled. I could not answer him, I had the impulse and would fight till the end, but I did not know where to begin.
As always Corbin was the one to give us a solution. He was our jester, but he was also an amazing puzzle solver. It was brilliant to have somebody like him on our side.
“Oh come on!” He exclaimed in his jesterly manner. He tried to sound bored as if the answer was completely obvious and we were missing something so evidently simple.
He looked at his nails trying to exaggerate his boredom and adding a very clear theatrical quality to his behaviour. He just loved being the centre of attention.
“We have our secret weapon, don’t we?” He said then as if it was completely obvious to us. Yet obviously we had absolutely no idea of what he was talking about.
“The Twins!” He added. He said it in an almost irritated tone as if it had been crystal clear from the beginning and somehow we were the ones that could not see it.
“You mean to try and get the twins to locate them or something like that?” Jonathan asked clearly amazed.
“Exactly! If we find a way to make them feel the three council members, they could probably pinpoint someplace to start.” Corbin exclaimed in a very bright voice.
What he said was right! The uncanny powers of the twins could surely give us a hint or two. Though we still had a problem with that, how on Earth could we make the twins feel a connection with three vampires they didn’t even know existed before now?
If we only had a photograph or some piece of clothing things would be different yet I doubted those vampires would leave things lying around.
“We can do it” The twins said in their eerie manner and stood up only to remain as still as statues.
They were completely sure they could do it, they had no doubt yet I still wondered how. I looked at Jonathan and we exchanged deeply puzzled looks, he was as clueless as I was.
Lucrecia, that had been really quiet all this time looked very thoughtful and did not give us any hint she knew how the twins would manage to do it. James and Ginny both stared at the twins; their stares had a mixture of love and complete admiration. They didn’t even seen to doubt they would do it or question how.
The old man stood up too almost right after the twins. He was much taller than what I’d expected. Even though he looked older than any other vampire I’d ever seen, he stood and moved like a warrior. He had an air of fearlessness and strength around him I had not noticed before.
He walked towards the twins almost in slow motion. We all looked, absorbed in his movements and wondering what was going to happen. We had no clue as to what he would do, though the twins seemed to be completely serene expecting something from him. What exactly they were expecting, was a big mystery.
He walked until he was right in front of them and then lifted his shirtsleeve to reveal the whole length of his scar. Then, very slowly he closed his eyes and traced the scar with his index finger.
The scar was longer than I’d imagined when I saw it the first time. It looked old yet very deep. It was very straight and went all the way up from his hand to well past his mid-arm.
“Liam gave me this scar” he said and handed his hand to the twins. “If they can sense our fight, they’ll get a small grasp of his essence, and finding him we can find the tree of them.”
The twins both moved their left hand towards his arm and stopped with their fingertips no more than two centimetres from his scar. They seemed to linger there, waiting for something for a few seconds and then very rapidly they simultaneously took hold of his arm. Their eyes rolled back instantly and their faces went completely blank. They were scanning the old guy’s past.
CHAPTER 14
A Doomed Quest
“He decided to leave, but Liam found him before he was gone. Things were not right with the council, something rotten was going on in there. He had to leave, he should have left when Juniper did so but did not have the courage.
Liam didn’t try to talk things over, he didn’t want him to stay, it was the perfect excuse to get rid of him. As soon as he
tried to leave Liam withdrew his sword. He “wouldn’t live to abandon the council” he had said while he attacked him.
Luckily he had had a dagger with him that day and used it to stop Liam’s blows. Still the dagger was no match for the long-sword. He had to be too near to attack him since the long-sword had a better reach. After a long time, he grew tired and made a mistake. He left his guard down and Liam almost killed him. The only thing he managed to do was stop the blow with his bare arm. The pure copper blade cut through his tissue right to the bone and would have completely cut off his arm if he had not used it as an opportunity. He attacked Liam once again with his good arm and managed to cut his face.
The dagger opened a big gash in Liam’s right side of the face. It might have cut his eye too but he was not sure, there was too much blood.
Liam turned and fell; he turned and ran.” The twins recited after maintaining some contact with his arm. Then they let go and sat limply on their chairs once again.
It was as if they were there when he fought Liam, they spoke as if they had been passive spectators of it all. Now, they could feel Liam. If there was any way they could sense this Liam’s whereabouts they would surely do so now, still, it could take some time.
I figured they were trying to process the new info in their psychic minds and that was why they sat again. They made me think of a casino’s slot machines with all the drums rolling.
“How did you survive that cut?” Ginny said looking at the oldest vampire in complete awe. She had completely immersed herself in the story and seemed amazed to have him in front of her, and alive. “Copper kills our kind, especially with a cut so deep.” Her astonished voice was even whinier than her regular one.
“I had every intention in finding The Order of the Black Iris” he said, “way before that fight even. I thought they would have some information for me on certain matters, but I was wrong . . .” His eyes grew glassy with tears as soon as he said that and took a deep breath.
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