“Why did you approach me? I mean, even though I am how I am? What good does it do, after all these years?” I asked.
“Because the academy has taken a particular interest in you. So much so that they managed to track me down before you joined there.”
“Did Nadasdy send you?” I said, feeling a definite connection but not being able to put my finger on exactly what it might be.
“No, quite the opposite. I came because you need to know why he’s so interested in you,” said Sophie-Anne. Her eyes narrowed and she leant across to get closer.
“What do you mean?” I asked, already feeling very menaced by what she was about to say.
“Aramastus and I are distantly related. He’s extremely invested in you because he’s found out that I’m your birth mother.”
“It can’t be,” I began. The pieces starting to come together as my world started falling apart.
“It is. My full name is Sophie-Anne Bathory. I’m part of the Bathory bloodline. And, as my daughter, so are you.”
Chapter 12
“Let’s get out of here,” I said as I passed Ulric, who’d been discreetly looking across the room every so often to check up on how I was doing.
“Okay. What happened?” he asked immediately coming after me as I made my way to the entrance. I noticed the werewolf who’d given us a tough time getting into the place, looked up and about to say anything but before he could, we were already outside. I realized Ulric hadn’t paid for his breakfast. I guessed it wouldn’t be that big a deal anyway. The owner, Samantha Silverstone had seemed fond enough of him that he wouldn’t get into any trouble on my account. At least not this time.
“You were taking us to Superno, right? So, let’s go.”
“Fine, but hold up just a minute,” said Ulric, walking in front of me, catching my shoulders in his hands and focusing his warm, golden eyes on me.
“I’m done talking to her. Can we just do what we came here to do?” I insisted. I was so overwhelmed that little silver swirls of magic, emanated from me. But instead of my magic empowering me, I felt completely drained. I looked back towards Lupine’s but didn’t see Sophie-Anne coming behind us.
“I know what she claimed seemed as crazy it was convenient,” said Ulric, “what happened? Did you get the sense there was any truth to what she said? Could it really be that she’s your…?”
“Don’t say it!” I said, taking a deep breath, feeling queasier by the second, “Can we sit down somewhere?”
“Of course,” said Ulric, “just back down this street, there are some benches. We can take a break there.”
With each step I took, I felt sure I’d faint with the next. When we finally sat down, I found I was struggling to breathe. “I think meeting her has done something to me,” I whispered, leaning back on the bench, “I’m feeling so weak.”
“She dropped a huge bombshell on you, it’s only natural you’d feel freaked out,” said Ulric taking my hand and crouching on the ground in front of me so he could talk softly and I could still hear him.
“I’m not freaking out, okay?” I argued.
“Okay, you’re not. I think I know what might help make you feel better though,” said Ulric, taking my backpack and feeling for something, while he kept his eyes on me. “Here, I bet this plays a part in why you took it so hard, whatever else she said.” He whipped out my bottle of blood and with no protest, I downed the entire bottle in less than a minute. It was only after I had, that I remembered what Sophie-Anne had said felt utterly disgusted. But my body reacted in a completely different way and I instantly perked up.
“How did you know?” I asked, as I recovered the strength that I’d so abruptly lost.
“Your whole body was glowing like a silver sun. Your eyes had turned red, despite it being the day. I think you were so overwhelmed that it burnt up a lot of your magic. And seeing as you’re also a vampire…I figured blood might be helpful.”
“Thanks,” I said, “I hate being a vampire. Especially now.”
“What did she say to you that surprised you even more than her randomly finding you and declaring herself your…your, who-know-what, in the middle of the street?” asked Ulric, coming up to my level and putting his arm around my shoulder.
I drew a deep breath and decided I couldn’t keep what Sophie-Anne had said, to myself. But once I said it out aloud, then there’d be no going back from it, it would be the truth. And it wasn’t the truth. It couldn’t be. I heard Ulric think, it’s alright, you can tell me anything.
“You and Samantha looked cozy,” I said, wanting to avoid more than eye-contact with him.
“Oh, yes, very,” replied Ulric, with a smile. I heard him think, how hilarious it was that I’d thought of them that way. So, he wasn’t into her. I smiled too as I received his message. And then I remembered that he’d referred to me as his friend. But this wasn’t the right time to clarify that particular point.
“She showed me a photo of a guy who was a Crystal Warlock. She claimed he was my you-know,” I said.
“Do you think she was genuine?” asked Ulric, “I’d always assumed it would have been the other way around.” He then thought out for me, what he was kind enough, not to say. That my mother would have been a witch and my father a vamp.
“I always thought that too,” I said aloud, “and I honestly have no idea if she’s for real. But that wasn’t the only thing that she said. She said she’s descended from Elizabeth Bathory.”
“Oh…wow, that’s,” said Ulric, “so if the two of you really are related…”
“Yep. I’m not just a Sanguine vamp, I’m from the line of the most diabolical ones to have ever existed,” I said.
“But your – I mean that Sophie-Anne chic, she didn’t seem that diabolical?” asked Ulric.
“I know. Keep in mind, it is daytime so her powers are virtually non-existent and, she was trying to convince me to talk to her, so going full-out Blood Countess mode wasn’t exactly on the cards right now.”
“True but if she is who she claims, that means she had a baby with a warlock. She can’t be like the rest of them,” stated Ulric, wanting no part in thinking otherwise, “which logically speaking, tells me that if she’s not like them, then there is no way you are.”
“We should get going,” I said.
“Sure, if you’re feeling better,” said Ulric, springing up and offering me his hand, “it’s not far anyway. And, Kat?”
“Yes?”
“I don’t think we should tell anyone else what you just told me. I don’t want them to use it against you.”
I nodded in agreement. I knew who he was referring to. The S.L.A. It was one thing to be a scorned Crystal Witch, who’d turned out to be part vampire. It would be quite another to be one that came directly from the Bathory bloodline.
***
We stood on the outside, watching through the grand gates of Superno Academy. I was able to get a few feet closer than Ulric. The place was now buzzing with life. Students were clustered, in their small, expected groups here and there. Unlike the segregation that defined Bloodline Academy, even from our distance I could see that shifters and witches were mingling in friendships that weren’t defined by their supernatural species.
Having spent too long at Bloodline Academy the one thing that was glaring to me was of course, the absence of vamps.
“It’s nothing like our academy across town, that’s for sure,” remarked Ulric, equally taken with the sight.
“Nope,” I agreed. I was straining extra hard to try and look through into the grounds, which were simply magical up close.
I was trying to see if I could find Safi and in the process was becoming completely smitten with the place. The magic protecting the premises was strong and sweeping and yet done in such a subtle way that I hadn’t noticed it when Superno had first come into view. It had looked like an ordinary school – if schools were routinely the most heavenly and pristinely kept abodes in the world – but as we’d come closer, I coul
d see there was so much more to it.
There were fountains, which weren’t plain water fountains but streams of magic, pulsing through carefully anchored portals, giving air-tight security to the place. There were luscious flowers that were so much more exotic and vibrantly coloured – with tones of orange, sunny yellow and violet – than the preened, albeit well-manicured bushes in the courtyard of our academy.
I ogled the trees, openly bewildered. They were mostly oaks but as they swayed in the slight breeze that came and went, they were also doing something else. The way their branches moved, it was plain that they were communicating with each other. And the concrete of the main building itself, had a certain flow to its structure that made it move every now and then. Like it too was a breathing, living being.
Even though the S.L.A. head-quarters had been stunning inside the building, as a whole, they seemed unimpressive by comparison. I couldn’t help but wonder why there was such a stark contrast between the aesthetics and operation of the two places.
“Have you been inside?” I whispered to Ulric.
“No,” he said, “but there’s Aviar.”
Aviar saw us and raised his eyebrows from across the grounds, to say hello. He strode over and I immediately noticed someone else was walking behind him. And it wasn’t Safi. It was their mother, Pearl Quartz.
***
The back of my neck prickled in warning and without meaning to, I narrowed my eyes at them. Why was Pearl with him? Had this been some sort of a set-up for Ulric? No, more likely, if it was, I was the one who’d been framed.
As usual, Pearl glided along with an utter sense of authority and this was the first time I knew, that she clearly thought she was superior – not just to the likes of me – to everyone, including the rising stars at Superno. I reached out and grabbed Ulric’s arm, wanting to yank us both away but aware that I must have looked like a scared girl instead.
Pearl lifted her arm and through her hand, came a silver orb that began to expand. As she did this, she looked directly ahead and through us like we weren’t even there. The orb touched the gates and as the bright glow expanded beyond them, it created a circular doorway, just big enough for us to get through, where the metal had completely disappeared.
“Come in,” urged Aviar.
“It’s okay,” said Ulric, looking at me and taking my hand. A warm rush swept through me and I begrudged myself that even at a time like this, where I had no idea what awaited us on the other side, Ulric’s touch was the predominant takeaway for my body.
We both cautiously walked together through the silver gateway. As soon as we were standing in front of Pearl, like the humble or rather meagre subjects she considered us to be, the orb behind us instantly shrank down like a balloon that had been relieved of all of its air. It then disappeared like it had never existed.
“So, Katrina,” said Pearl, her eyes boring into mine. On second thoughts, I preferred it when she avoided looking at me because if it was possible, her gaze was sharper than Duquette’s. “Thanks to your friend here and both my children’s passionate insistence, we meet again.”
“Hi, Pearl,” I said, not knowing what else I could say to the woman who had helped decide that I was an outcaste amongst all Crystal Witches. If I’d had my way, there were many words I would have said to her and hi wasn’t one of them.
“Follow me,” she said looking from me to Ulric and swiftly turning and walking towards the big building. Aviar smiled, half apologetic and half amused.
“I never knew getting into this place was so easy,” said Ulric, joking for my benefit. We followed Pearl, lagging a few steps behind.
In its’ own way, the scene was reminiscent of my first time at Bloodline Academy. The school grounds had come to a standstill and everyone had frozen in a synchronized manner. All eyes were on us and in a few groups, the staring was punctuated by people pointing at us. I’d never considered how demoralizing it would feel to be gawked at by those I’d considered my own type.
We entered the building, the walls of which were studded by thousands of multi-coloured crystals. Some of them glowed with witching magic, making up a distinct pattern that ran from one end of the hallway all the way to the other. The crystals were more radiant in their splendour than what I’d seen in the Crystal Wing of the S.L.A.’s headquarters. Even as a Crystal Witch, this sight was no less spectacular to behold for me than it must have been for Ulric, who was staring open-mouthed.
“It’s quite something, isn’t it?” said Aviar, who had fallen into pace with us.
“Do they have a purpose? asked Ulric, nodding.
“Not one, many,” replied Aviar. Pearl Quartz, turned and gave him a sharp glance as if to warn him not to say anymore.
“The secrets of Superno are best revealed only to those that need to know them,” she stated, “if and when the time comes, all will be revealed to you.”
We carried on walking through the large and grand corridor and I wanted so much, to ask Aviar where Safi was. But I knew better with Pearl in ear-shot. My eyes searched the students, who were sparser inside, but my instinct told me that there was no way Pearl would route us through where Safi and I might bump into each other.
I sent Safi a message and within seconds, something peculiar happened. I felt it bounce back to me, unreceived. At first, I thought my nerves had gotten in the way. Or that Safi had rescinded her invite for us to communicate but it didn’t feel like that. I tried again and the same thing happened. And again.
“Can you stop that, please?” said Pearl, turning around abruptly.
“What?” I said stunned, thought I knew exactly what she was referring to.
“Stop trying to talk to Saffron. Just because you’ve been granted entry here, doesn’t mean you don’t have a lot of answering to do before you can communicate at will, with a Crystal Witch – you’ve been forbidden to ever do so again, remember?” snapped Pearl, no longer bothering to mask her disdain behind a veil of indifference.
“Then why did you agree to take us in?” I asked, equally annoyed and bewildered. How strong was the magic operating within Superno Academy? And if it was this strong that it could detect even a telepathic message, what the hell did the S.L.A. have to fear from vampires? People like Pearl could easily out-rival them – couldn’t they?
“Because your friend came to see us on your behalf,” she answered.
“Then you know what I’ve been asked to do to my best friend – your daughter.”
“And we will talk about it in a minute, privately in my office,” replied Pearl.
Aviar stepped aside and gestured us towards a broad, wooden door to our left that Pearl stood in front of. She nodded at her son like he was someone who worked for her and had just completed a mission. He nodded back and took to leave, offering Ulric a slight nod to say goodbye as well. His intense green eyes, surveyed me and lingered on mine for a moment, like he was trying to say something without Pearl noticing. But if he was, I couldn’t catch what he was trying to tell me.
Pearl traced a pattern with her finger on the door and it immediately unlocked. She opened it and went inside, turning to us to follow her. Her office was lit with a serene, warm glow and as I scanned it, I saw that each corner of the room, held a sizeable crystal. I remembered what the Jade Witch had told me about how crystals could be programmed using magic to power a whole space and this was no doubt what most of Superno Academy was all about.
I had so many questions. But I swallowed each one down, knowing that this wasn’t an admissions tour. In fact, quite the opposite, which made any curiosities I had, completely pointless. My mind wandered away from the physical allure of the place and I began to think about Lorna and Babette, my two former High Priestesses. Were they somewhere at Superno too? Would we awkwardly cross paths on our way out?
“I’m sure you’re both no strangers to the fact that these are hard times we face,” said Pearl, as she pointed to the beautifully antique yet overstuffed chairs in one corner of the room. In a
ll honesty, I hadn’t noticed the apparent hard times on Superno’s side of the street. Ulric and I took a seat each and Pearl continued to pace in front of us. I wished she’d sit down. Her constant walking made me nervous. She was agitated in a way that I’d never seen before. Not even on the night when she’d been part of Lorna’s rescue.
“That’s exactly what we’re used to hearing back at St. Erzsebet’s Academy too,” said Ulric.
“Of course. When there’s a war imminent, I guess it makes sense for each side to feel equally paranoid in its’ own way,” answered Pearl.
“I don’t care about how either side feels,” I spoke up, although it wasn’t strictly true. I was on the side of light magic but actually being in Superno under the circumstances that had brought us here, I had no idea how I was supposed to feel. Being disowned, first by my coven, then by all Crystal Witches had left a bitter taste in my mouth that had only made itself known when we’d stepped into the space that I’d always dreamed I’d inhabit. And never would.
“Then why are you here?” asked Pearl, coming to a standstill and frowning in my direction.
“Because he brought me,” I said, adding, “and because we both knew I needed to warn Safi that she’s in danger.”
“Consider her warned,” said Pearl curtly. I half expected her to tell us that we’d walked into a trap and that S.L.A. members were waiting outside her office as we spoke, ready to cart us off to some supernatural prison. Instead she surprised me. “How did it feel to be cast out by the Grand High Witch that day?” she asked.
“How do you think it felt?” I said. My anger rose as my blooming came to life. I hoped I was glaring at her with reddened eyes.
“I’m sorry,” Pearl said, really sounding it.
“It’s a bit late for that now,” I scoffed.
“Look, Katrina,” she said, “no matter how light and sparkly you might be, you are half Sanguine vampire.”
“And I also saved Lorna.”
Dark Spark: A Young Adult Urban Fantasy Novel (Bloodline Academy Book 2) Page 12