by Lund, S. E.
“That made me suspicious,” Dylan says. “I knew Julien was in the Templars, and had fled to Scotland in the 14th Century, so I thought if the legend was true, he’d know about it since he was alive then.”
“How do you know all this?” I ask.
“The manuscript. It details the location of the sword, where it was hidden, its history. That’s why Michel was so intent on keeping the manuscript from you.”
I turn to look at Julien. “And I thought it was because of how it made Michel look.”
Julien shrugs. “No,” he says. “The manuscript contained secrets that you couldn’t know.”
I look through the window in the room where Soren lies flat on a cot. His clothes are bloody. His eyes are closed. He seems lifeless.
“That’s why Michel couldn’t tell you anything,” Julien says, continuing his story. “Soren threatened him with your death and my death. Soren compelled me so I couldn’t say anything either, but we both knew what you really were. You were the only one who could use this to destroy Soren, steal his power.”
I lean in and take another look at Soren, wondering what the alloy was and who made it. “You said the alloy wasn’t from Earth, but how did the smiths make it
“They had Wootz steel and mixed the alloy in,” Dylan says. “Gives it a special deadliness for Soren and all the Ancients.”
I nod, and then I remember what Soren said to Blackstone when he died.
“He said that Blackstone destroyed his brethren. Did Blackstone use this sword?”
“Yes,” Dylan says.
“How did you learn all this?
“I’ve been busy, sister,” Dylan says. “My time with Blackstone, him taking me under his wing, so to speak, was very profitable. I heard all his old stories, including the one about how he was responsible for the destruction of a dozen Ancients using this sword. Soren’s Twelve. But he had no idea where it was. He knew the Knights protected it but what happened to it after De Molay was burned to death by the Church was unknown.”
“How did you find it?”
“I went looking for it and found it in Wales. The secret was kept by a group of monks known as the Pure. When the Templars were disbanded, some of them fled to Scotland and then Wales, where they kept the sword in a small Catholic Church on the Pembrokeshire coast. St. David’s Cathedral.”
“St. David’s?” I said in shock. “That’s where we use to spend summers…”
“I know,” Dylan said and smiled. “Your mother knew. Michel knew. They didn’t want you to have to use it. They were afraid it would kill you and tried to find a way that saved your life. We tried to develop a biotech weapon to destroy Soren, but it didn’t work. So in the end, we knew we had to use the sword. Michel saw what happened in his mind. He knew that Soren would try to force you to save him. Michel chose to sacrifice himself so you could live.”
I cover my mouth, overwhelmed with emotion. Michel…
Finally, at the very end, I learn the truth.
Michel thought I would die if I used the sword and did what I was destined to do – destroy Soren, prevent him from becoming a tyrant. They didn’t want me to die and weren’t going to use it. It was in St. David’s Cathedral for seven hundred years. Waiting to be used…
But Dylan found it and wanted to use it. He was brave enough to try…
The next day, after waiting outside Michel’s room hoping to hear some news about his choice, I turn to Julien and struggle with what I want to say to him. It’s the elephant in the room and I have to just get it out.
“Julien,” I start, not meeting his eyes just in case. “When Soren was still powerful, he compelled you to, well, to not speak about many things. He suggested—.”
“Shh,” he says and shakes his head, reaching out and pulling me off my chair and onto his lap. “I know what he suggested. It wasn’t true. He didn’t compel me to love you.”
I exhale and meet his eyes, mine filling with tears because that’s been bothering me ever since Soren said it.
“That’s good to know,” I say, my voice breaking.
“I fell in love with you all by myself,” he says and smiles, and I smile back, despite my tears because it feels as if a huge hole in my chest has just been filled.
“Me too,” I say and wrap my arms around him.
“No, you didn’t,” he says and pulls back. “I had to work hard to win you. Damn hard. You resisted me every step of the way, if I recall correctly.”
I laugh, tears running down my cheeks. I wipe them with the back of my hand. “I did resist you, but that’s because I felt terribly guilty. You were everything I wanted in a man,” I say, remembering my journal entries from that time of my life. “You wanted me as your equal, even if I was only a mortal. You were so easy and fun and…”
I think to myself – not uptight. Michel was always uptight about his emotions for me.
“Not a controlling bastard?” Julien says with a grin.
“Not into the whole chain of command thing.”
Julien’s serious for a moment. “Michel only did what he felt was necessary to keep you safe. You were so damn stubborn and unwilling to follow rules. He felt he had to get you in the right head space to function in Soren’s world and that of Blackstone.” Julien plays with a lock of my hair for a moment and I know he wants to say something, but is holding back.
Finally, he meets my eyes. “He does love you, Eve. I can’t deny that. He loves you almost as much as his damn Church.”
“Almost,” I say. “It isn’t good enough.”
“I know,” he says and pulls me down for a kiss. “I don’t feel as if you and I have had nearly enough quality time together since Soren was resurrected. I expect to spend at least two weeks in bed once we’re free of all this.”
“He compelled you to either avoid me or try to seduce me, depending on what pleased him at the time,” I say. “I’m glad losing his powers cancelled the compulsion.”
“Me, too. I miss you, Eve.”
I run my hands over his hair, which is getting longer and starting to fall into his eyes. With his hair longer, he almost looks identical to Michel now. In truth, if you put a cassock on him, he’d be indistinguishable from Michel. Except for that characteristic Julien gleam in his eye.
“Will he drink the blood and transition?”
Julien sighs heavily and leans back. “I don’t know. I’ll do my best to convince him. I don’t know if it will be good enough. He hated being a vampire.”
He glances over at the grandfather clock. “I have to go and meet with the guards, but I won’t be too long. When I get back,” he says and kisses my neck. “I intend to make you scream out my name in delirious pleasure.”
I smile and kiss him. “I’ll hold you to that.”
He leaves and I sit alone in the room for a while, trying to decide what to do now. With nothing else to do, I go to Soren’s makeshift cell, which was quickly constructed using metal bars taken from the local jail. He lies on a cot in the center of the room, his eyes closed. Apparently, he doesn’t have enough strength to even open them. The guard tells me that he was responsive to pain but hasn’t uttered a word since he was brought to the cell. His hands and feet are shackled to the cot, so he’s going nowhere and is supposedly no longer a threat to me.
I stand by the cot and stare down at him.
“So,” I say as much to myself as to him. “I hear you’re pretty much an empty shell.” I try hard not to gloat too much.
For now. Give me time. You can’t destroy me completely. Only disarm me for a while. I’m eternal, Eve. Never forget it.
I frown in shock that he can still speak to me in my mind.
Will I never be rid of him?
“What about the Twelve?” I ask. “They’re not even conscious. Their bodies are technically dead, but they don’t seem to be rotting. The doctor is amazed.”
Adamantine, Soren says. Undying. Without me, though, they have no power. I gave it to them using you. When it was taken awa
y from me, you took it away from them as well. When I’m restored, I’ll find them, even if it takes me a thousand years. A thousand years is nothing to me.
I sigh, because what he says is true. “They’re going to put you down an abandoned mine and keep you there, locked in a sealed room and guarded by two miles of earth. There’ll be no one there for you to steal power from and get back your strength. I don’t see how you’ll regain your former glory.”
I will, he says. You’ll just have to wait and see.
“You’ll go mad before that happens.”
No, I won’t. My memories will sustain me. I can live in my memories for a thousand years, if that’s what it takes. My memories are so real, even you felt that they were reality. You can’t get rid of me, Eve. Not that easily.
“Will I never be free of you?”
There’s a pause. Never. We’re connected, Eve, and have been ever since we first shared blood. Nothing will sever that connection, so give up trying.
“I’ll find a way to block you. I blocked Michel.”
You can’t block an omniscient god.
“You’re not all knowing,” I say dismissively, although it bothers me that he can still read my mind. “And you’re not a god. Obviously or you wouldn’t be here.”
Through you, I am. That’s why I’ll never let you go. Get used to it. I’ll always be there in the background, listening in. When you fuck Julien. When you fuck Michel.
“I won’t be fucking Michel,” I say. “He’s not going to drink blood so he’ll die.”
Not going to happen. Julien will convince him to become vampire again and then take the cure when it’s available. You’ll see. I told you that you’d get everything you want, Eve. I’ll be here to help you.
I turn and leave him in the cell. There’s no reason for me to be there any longer since he can dip into my mind any time he wants.
Anytime I want. Don’t forget.
“My own personal hell,” I say out loud as I close the door. When I emerge into the anteroom outside the cell, Julien’s waiting.
“You were talking to yourself,” he says, frowning. “It sounded like you were talking to Soren.”
“I was,” I say and wrap my arms around him, needing a hug. “He’s still able to go into my mind, even the way he is.” I pull back and look in his blue eyes. “I’ll never be free of him. He’ll always know what we’re doing. What the Council’s doing.”
“So what?” Julien says and pulls me closer. “He’ll be three miles down in a mine shaft, in a cell with three feet of steel and cement and then rock and earth between him and us. He’ll be no threat.”
“He claims he’ll regain power. It will take a while, but he says he’ll never be destroyed. Only temporarily powerless.”
“Crap.” Julien looks in my eyes. “And he’ll always be able to access your mind?”
I nod. “Unless I can find a way to block him.”
He pulls me closer and rocks me in his arms. “So, he’ll be like the devil sitting on your left shoulder, whispering in your ear. You’ll have to find a way to shut him out.”
I shake my head. “He says it’s permanent. Once we connected via blood, we’re joined forever.
“Great,” Julien says, his hands on my shoulders. He bends down and looks in my eyes. “You have to learn to ignore him. Don’t think about him any more than you have to. Otherwise, you’ll go crazy. We’re supposed to start our new life without him and the Twelve and without Blackstone and his army. We’re supposed to start recovering, restoring the world, getting back to normal.”
I nod, but I have my doubts. How can we go back to normal after what’s happened? So much of the world has fallen. The economy is in ruins. So many people have died from the secondary effects of the plague, starvation when the methods we relied on to transport food around the world failed. Not to mention being rounded up and used as blood bags…
“I want to go to Wales and live by the ocean,” I say, exhaling in mental and physical exhaustion. “I’ve had enough of the wars and plague and everything.”
“I know,” Julien says and pulls me closer. “If anyone deserves peace and quiet for a while, it’s you. I’ll look into getting us passage on the transatlantic crossing.”
I look up in his eyes. “Michel?”
He shakes his head softly. “Stubborn bastard,” he says. “Still refusing.”
“Let me talk to him,” I say, squeezing his arms.
“No can do,” Julien replies. “You’re the last person he wants to see, Eve. He knows that you could tempt him.”
“I’ll go and see him even if he doesn’t want me.”
“Give me some time,” Julien says as we walk arm in arm back to the main floor. “I’m trying to guilt him into living. You know, I can’t live without you. We’ve been together for eight centuries…”
We arrive in the living room, where a fire is blazing in the huge hearth. My family is there, my mother and father, my foster parents, Dylan, his foster parents, and Sarah. Everyone’s been able to come out of hiding and make their way to Michel’s house at Dylan’s invitation. It’s the first time I’ve seen my mother since we saw each other in secret. I’m overwhelmed with emotion, now that I know why she had to leave me.
“Eve,” she says and holds open her arms.
I go to her, and let her embrace me, even though it can’t make up for all the lost years. Still, it feels good. My father watches from his chair by the fire. He and my mother are still on the outs, and they’ve been separated for so many years that there’s no hope for any reconciliation. The most I can hope is that they can be friends and allies as we try to figure out this new world we’ve inherited.
I see my foster parents on the couch and go over to give them each a hug, glad to know that they are, in fact, safe.
“Sister,” Dylan says and comes over to give me a hug as well. He kisses the top of my head and holds on for a long moment. When he pulls back, he smiles at me. “You did it. I knew you would.”
I smile back. “I’m glad it’s over.”
He leads me over to the sofa Sarah and I hug before I sit beside him, across from his parents and mine. Julien sits on the arm of the sofa beside me, his arm on my shoulder, stroking the bare skin on my neck.
We talk for a while, catching up on everyone’s experiences over the past few weeks.
Once the focus is on the tea and sandwiches a servant brings in, I turn to Dylan.
“What are your plans for the long term?”
Dylan pours some tea for me and himself. “I’m staying at the university and will keep up the research. We’re close to a cure that doesn’t kill the host. Soren wanted to rush a cure that killed the host line so he could get rid of the entire Blackstone bloodline all at once, so we haven’t perfected it yet. When we do, all of us will get it.”
“No more bloodlust,” I say with a sigh.
I glance around. The only person missing is Michel.
After we say our goodbyes, Julien pulls me aside.
“I’m going to Michel now,” he says and strokes my cheek. “I’ll try to convince him. I have to convince him.”
“You have to, but I don’t believe he’ll accept.”
He bends down to kiss me. “Either way, I’ll come to you when it’s done.”
I let him go and return to my rooms. Finally exhausted after everything that’s happened, I go to bed.
Later that night, I wake and find the bed is still empty. Julien hasn’t returned from Michel’s room. He’s no doubt trying to convince Michel to remain alive. I pull on my gown and make my way through the dim hallways of the mansion, past the main foyer to the other wing where Michel’s staying. There’s a guard outside the door and when he sees me, he steps forward.
“I’m sorry, Miss, but you’re not allowed inside.”
I touch him and look in his eyes, using whatever power I have left in me, that I took from Soren, to compel him.
“It’s okay,” I say, making eye and skin-on-skin
contact with him. “You can let me through now. Do you understand?”
“I can let you through.”
He steps back and I’m able to open the door and step inside the darkened anteroom. I glance around the corner of the open door into Michel’s bedroom. He lies on the bed, looking as pale as the sheets beneath his head. Kneeling on the floor beside the bed is Julien, holding Michel’s hand. I can hear his sobs from where I stand.
“Please,” Julien whispers. “Don’t leave me alone for all eternity…”
“You’re not alone,” Michel says.
“Don’t make me do it without you.” Julien presses Michel’s hand against his forehead.
It reminds me of the first time Michel was turned. Snatches of the manuscript come back to my mind…
In the end, it's his love for me that convinces Michel to relent. He was prepared to die, to endure the pain but I kneel at his bedside for days on end, my hands clasped around his, weeping like a boy for him not to leave me.
"Forgive me," I say, choking with emotion. "I tried to stop her. She has such power over me. I tried, Michel. I really tried but God has forsaken us both."
Michel finally reaches out a hand to me, stroking my head as if in a blessing.
"I won't forsake you," he whispers.
By then, he's too weak to take a mortal himself, and so I drain one of the girls and capture her blood in a chalice – one from the altar at the Basilica.
Just one more sacrilege to accompany the rest.
He drinks and becomes immortal.
Will Michel drink the glass of blood that sits on the bedside table?
I step closer. “Michel, please drink,” I say, emotion making my throat choke up. “Don’t choose death.”
Michel closes his eyes when he hears me. “Keep her away from me,” he whispers. “I don’t want to see her ever again.”
I step back farther into the shadows, but he can’t see me. Then I understand what he means. He’s going to drink the blood. He’s going to transition but he wants Julien to keep me from him. He doesn’t want to see me again.