The Dominion Series Complete Collection

by Lund, S. E.

  Soren turns to all of us. “Let’s get this show on the road, shall we?”

  He opens his arms like some uncle and ushers us to the door.

  “Julien, you know what to do. Eve, you don’t have to do anything but drink the blood from the chalice once it’s passed to you. All of us will combine our strength to raise Procel from the dead. It will astound and amaze the congregation and we’ll all of us be infused with their power.”

  We enter into the nave and stand at the rear of the altar. Beside it, I see one of the tanks containing Procel. The lid has been removed and Procel is buried under a sea of tank gel, that keeps his body alive but in stasis. He’s very similar in appearance to Kael, with pale skin and platinum hair, a perfect jaw and well-muscled body. He could be a sculpture in a Greek temple, he’s so perfect.

  The congregation quiets when they see us emerge from the room and the organ stops. Finally, after a few coughs in the parishioners, Soren sits on the throne behind the altar, his wings still spread out behind him.

  I check the faces of the congregation and they are definitely in awe, their eyes wide. I wonder what they think is going to happen… Are there any among them who have fears? Or are they certain that what is going to happen is a miracle?

  Julien goes to the altar and begins the ceremony, doing what an ordinary priest does when they hold mass, blessing the chalices that will be used to perform the resurrection.

  We go through the entire mass, with the congregation repeating Julien’s words and responding properly. They already know what to expect, and watch with awe the tank that holds Procel inside.

  Finally, Julien holds the cup up high and speaks in Latin, asking for God’s blessing. He comes to me and holds up a small dagger, which he will use to take some of my blood. He slices through the skin on my wrist, and my blood drips into the chalice. When he feels there is enough, he leaves me, his eyes distant when they meet mine like he’s in some other headspace. He goes to Soren and repeats the bloodletting, and after cutting his own wrist and adding his blood to the chalice, he cuts Kael’s wrist and he bleeds as well into the chalice. We then each share the blood. I am the last to get any blood, and so there is only a few mouthfuls left. As soon as the blood hits my stomach, I feel it – the connection to the others – to Soren, to Kael and to Julien.

  Our minds unite and I feel each of them separately before we blend together into a single mind and heart.

  I am overwhelmed once more at the bliss I feel, at the pure unadulterated joy Kael and Soren feel at being reunited once more. They always shared this bond when they were in their former incarnations, but that was taken from them and they were forced to be individuals, and the loss was so great…

  The congregation sighs with awe when Soren stands before them, his wings outstretched, Kael beside him. Light streams off him like from the sun, and the congregation’s love and awe and fear stream into me, and from me into Soren and Kael. Together, the two of them become even more powerful, their bodies enlarging, the light coming off their faces almost blinding. I remember vaguely, as I am filled with this sense of awe and bliss, the bible talking about angels being blinding with the light that emanates from their faces and I know now that is what the bible was speaking of. I see it with my own eyes and tears stream down my cheeks from the wonder of it.

  I still don’t know what Soren and his brethren are, but now I am sure that they are what the authors of the bible wrote of when they described angels.

  I know that they can be terrible as well as beautiful.

  While I watch, both Soren and Kael go over to the tank where Procel lies in the gel. They stand on either side of the tank and glance down into its contents. Soren reaches in, his hand sliding into the gel, and he lays his hand on Procel’s chest the way he did to Kael. Kael lays a hand on Soren’s shoulder. The congregation leave their pews and surround the two as they stand by the tank. I feel their awe as they watch the resurrection. Soren allows them to watch, and I know that he wants them to feel awe and reverence as they watch, so their power will flow through me and into Soren and Kael and from them into Procel.

  While we all watch, a white light flows from Soren into Procel. From Soren’s hand on Procel’s pale chest, the light spreads down his perfect naked body, infusing Procel with whatever life-giving power Soren possesses, a power which increases as the congregation’s awe increases.

  Soon, Procel’s eyes open and he sits up in the tank, blinking to clear his eyes of the gel. He coughs and spits, and then Soren offers him a hand, to assist him out of the tank.

  People in the congregation step back and I see their faces – filled with wonder, awe, reverence, and some fear. Have some of them remembered what happened before? Or is it just fear of such unworldly creatures that are before them?

  Soren keeps his hand on Procel and soon, the tank gel dissipates like steam coming off melting snow on a warm spring day. His body is dry in a mere moment and he takes in a huge breath, his arms raised above his head, his eyes staring up at the ceiling, his wings manifesting behind him, spreading out fully eight feet on either side.

  When he returns to a normal stance, Soren takes a huge silver chalice from Julien and hands it to Procel. It’s filled with blood and Procel takes it and stares into its contents.

  So it will be like this?

  Procel turns to Soren, speaking with him directly in his mind.

  Soren nods. It must be like this. Soon, we will all be reunited. It’s the price we must pay to be together.

  Procel raises the chalice of blood high up over his head.

  So be it.

  The audience is once more awed at him and he remains in that position as if soaking up their adoration. Then, he drinks down the chalice of blood, careful to drink every last drop. When he does, he grows even larger, and Julien brings yet another chalice of blood and Procel drinks that as well. I wonder how much blood he’ll drink as chalice after chalice is handed to him and he drinks it down.

  I wonder how he can take so much in – I’d be vomiting by now, but he’s unaffected, his body growing even larger with each chalice. He’s almost blinding now, the light so white that it hurts my eyes and the congregation cowers a bit.

  Finally, Julien hands Procel the tenth chalice of blood and when Procel drinks it down, some blood spills down his chin and drips onto his chest. He finishes, and hands the empty chalice to Julien who takes it and bows, then returns the chalice to the altar, placing it next to the other chalices.

  Did that represent ten human’s worth of blood, I wonder as I watch Procel. He wipes his mouth with a pale white hand and then glances out at the congregation, who are now on their knees. First one man in the front knelt, and then the rest followed suit and now, they are all kneeling at Procel’s feet, their hands clasped in prayer, their eyes closed.

  Julien is standing at the altar, his eyes closed as he too recites some prayer in Latin. I don’t know what the words of the prayer mean, but I understand its meaning.

  Soren and Kael stand together with Procel and the three of them drink in the awe of their worshipers. It’s then I realize that Soren wants a critical mass of his fellow angels back so they can revive the rest without the need for an audience. They need only one more to be resurrected in this manner and then the four of them can do the rest on their own without our help.

  I wonder whether Soren will kill me at that point. He won’t need me anymore.

  I still need you, Eve. You unite us. We can’t do it without you. So don’t fear death. Not yet…

  I calm down a bit from that. I realize that for these angels, or whatever they are, being united is what they consider to be heaven. They need me to unite them. When we share blood, we share a single consciousness in which everyone’s thoughts and emotions are united. This will be my job from now on – to reunite them the way they were before they lost their previous form.

  That is something I still don’t know completely or understand. What were they before? Where did they come from?
r />   I still don’t accept religious explanations for who and what they are, but they are clearly powerful beings that science has not yet explained.

  Are they aliens? Are they beings from some other dimension who are trapped here?

  What I can’t accept is that they are God’s angels, even fallen ones. That will never be something I can accept, but I can accept that they are beyond our current understanding of what is possible.

  I will keep helping them as long as they need me, for it is only in this manner that I will know what they really are and what they want of us.

  Yes, you will, Eve. You’ll get everything you want, but I have to get everything I want as well. I want my brethren back. I want us united as one. I need you for that, and you need me – you need us -- for the rest. As for who and what we are, it’s up to you to decide what to believe. You’ll never know for sure so it will come down to belief. I know that’s hard for you, but that is all you have. Just like you’ll never know whether Julien truly loves you or whether I have compelled him to love you. Even if I tell you I did or I didn’t, you’ll never have the scientific proof of which you demand. In the end, you will have to accept one or the other on faith alone.

  I frown, despite the endorphins rushing through my body from the blood bond I share with Soren and his brethren. Julien shared blood with us as well, but I can’t feel him because of the power of Soren’s, Kael’s and Procel’s joy at being united once more. I try to search him out in my mind, but fail, as if his mind is too dim for me to reach.

  I want to know if he truly loves me the way I love him and it upsets me that I can’t sense him now.

  Finally, the ceremony ends with Soren and the other two angels leaving the nave and going to the small anteroom at the rear of the cathedral. Once we are there, Soren hands Procel a white robe similar to the one he himself wears. Over top of it, Procel puts on a white breastplate that looks like something out of a Roman army, with gilded edges and a washboard abdomen. He girds himself with a huge sword in a white leather scabbard and white and gold greaves and gauntlets. He looks like an avenging angel out of some Botticelli painting.

  The three stand together, their foreheads touching, hands on each other’s shoulders, and I feel their bond from across the room. Whatever they are, they do love each other and their emotions are so powerful, I weep from it.

  They re-experience the sadness at being torn apart, and incarnated into bodies that have so little ability to join together except when they share blood. Then I understand why they became vampires – so they could at least join with humans while drinking their blood. They can’t stand to be separate consciousnesses.

  It feels like death to them.

  When they are reunited, it is life itself for them.

  So whoever and whatever they are, and from wherever they came, they are only happy when joined as one consciousness.

  That’s why I’ve been so strategic to them and to my mother and Michel and Dylan. I can both unite the thirteen of them or deny them that capacity.

  Whatever my mother has planned, I suspect it doesn’t involve the thirteen angels being united. I know that sooner or later, Soren will want me to find my mother, and find Michel and Dylan. Only when I’m with them will he know what they plan.

  They probably won’t let me be with them again, I think to myself and to Soren.

  Perhaps, Soren replies. But perhaps Michel will be unable to stop himself. One can always hold out hope that true love will prevail.

  True love, I scoff. I feel certain that Michel doesn’t love me. He loves the Church. He loves the priesthood. Like Danielle before me, I was just something he used to help him give up the pleasures of the flesh. To remind him what he was giving up for God. I am, Danielle was, a pleasure to renounce to prove the strength of his love for God and for the Church.

  Perceptive, Procel replies. Julien loves you. That should be enough.

  I frown as we leave the church and enter the vehicle. Is he admitting that Julien truly loves me?

  “He truly loves you,” Procel says out loud. “Soren likes to keep things uncertain, to keep you off center, but I’ll tell you the truth.”

  My heart skips a beat at that, and when Soren sends Procel a mental knock, I know what Procel says is true. I relax back into my seat and watch the road as we drive off. Outside the vehicle, the congregation lines the street, their faces peering inside the vehicle to catch a glimpse of Soren and the other angels. I can still feel their adoration, and it continues to feed the three of them so that I am adding to their powers.

  That’s why we’ll keep you around, Eve. As long as you cooperate, you’ll get your wishes. The three of us will resurrect one more of my brethren and then the rest. Once we’re all resurrected, we’ll stop the plague. Then, we’ll eradicate vampirism. We won’t need it any longer because we’ll be united together once more.

  I frown, for something has just occurred to me. “What about me?” I say quietly. “You need me to share blood with you, for you to be united…”

  Soren shakes his head. “You’ll always be our priestess, Eve. That’s your fate.”

  Does he mean that I’ll always be a vampire?

  That prospect fills me with grief.

  “What are you saying? Are you saying I have to remain a vampire?”

  Soren frowns. “It’s key to your gift. You were gifted before you became a vampire, but it was limited. We’ll always need you to unite us. None of us will ever go back to being what we were before.”

  A weight of dread fills me. I don’t want to remain a vampire. I want to be free of this terrible hunger for blood. Yet, I want Soren to end the plague and stop Dominion – stop Blackstone. I want him to cure vampirism. Will he do it if I don’t cooperate?

  “Your cooperation is key, Eve. Like I say, you have a choice. You can cooperate and get everything you want, or you can fight me and get nothing. It doesn’t matter to me if Dominion happens, although I hate the idea that Blackstone will be a tyrannical ruler and that so many humans will die… Plus, industrial society was pretty decent, all things considered. It’s Blackstone who wants to take us back to the steam age, if not before that. He’s the one who thinks that the destruction of industrial society will usher in a new age of dominion for vampires, not me.”

  So the price of stopping Dominion is that I become the one thing I’ve hated all my life. I shake my head and stare out the window at the empty storefronts, the dark streets, the bare sidewalks, the broken windows of the city now ruined by Blackstone’s plague.

  Is this what Michel didn’t want me to know? Is this fate that I must choose the reason why he wouldn’t tell me the truth?

  I sigh. Soren isn’t answering nor is Procel or Kael. They’re lost together in some kind of orgy of recollection, and it seems as if they can tune me out so I can’t hear what they’re thinking. It makes me feel incredibly helpless.

  What I want is to speak with Michel and my mother – and Dylan – so I can see how they respond, what they will argue to stop me from going along with Soren.

  Michel left. He’s left Soren and is therefore in outright rebellion against him. I wonder what his plans are and now, I feel incredibly alone. Julien is Soren’s creature and the fact that he truly loves me doesn’t negate that fact. I can’t rely on Julien to tell me anything or offer advice. It could all be tainted.

  The vehicle finally arrives at the compound and we file out of and walk up the stairs to the entrance. The other vehicle drives up and out steps Julien, still dressed in his white robe and surplice. In the light from a solar lamp, his hair is shiny and black. He looks so much like Michel at this point, it makes my heart skip a beat.

  Michel… Come back.

  I know the three angels can read my mind and know what I’m thinking but at that moment in time, I don’t care. At that moment, I want Julien’s arms around me, and I want to know where Michel is. I want him to be safe.

  I love him, despite everything.

  * * *

&nb
sp; We go to the huge library and are served more blood in tall champagne flutes as if we’re toasting some special occasion. I drink my blood down because I want it to wipe away my sadness and confusion. I also hope it will dampen the effect of our shared blood so that I will have some peace from Procel and Kael, who I don’t particularly like or want to share minds with any more than I must.

  Oh, Eve… so mean to my brethren…

  I turn to Soren, frowning. “Can you please give me some peace?”

  Soren smiles and turns away, meeting Procel’s gaze. I finish my glass of blood and then turn to Julien, who stands beside me, drinking his own glass. I take Julien’s hand.

  “Let’s go. I’m exhausted.”

  Julien resists. “Not just yet,” he says. He glances at the three angels and waits as if he won’t leave without Soren’s approval.

  I turn to Soren. “May we leave?”

  Soren shrugs. “Suit yourself. Julien, you stay.”

  I dig my nails into my palms. “Why does he have to stay? I want him with me.”

  Soren turns to me. “He’s not yours.”

  “He’s not yours either.”

  Soren smiles. “Willful child. I’ll send him to you when I’m done with him.”

  Then Soren turns to Procel and they drink a toast to each other and I’m forgotten – or ignored. I look at Julien but he shrugs as if he’s helpless to resist.

  “I’ll come to you later,” he says and forces a smile. Then he turns away from me as if he’s dismissing me.

  I get the sense he really wants to stay with them. It upsets me to see Soren manipulate him so blatantly. He’s nothing more than a puppet to these angels – someone to use for their amusement or to stand in for Michel.

  I leave them and go back to my rooms, glad to be away from them. I strip off my robe and stand naked in the cold bathroom, taking a washcloth and washing off my body with cold water from a carafe. When I’m done, I brush my teeth and slip into a nightgown, before crawling into bed and crying myself to sleep.