The Kingdom of the Nine; The Vampire Legacy IV

by Dawn Gray

  “I had been denying what I felt towards you for weeks, but when I saw him start to take blood from you, I became angry, and well, he's not around to try it again.” Creolas sat on the bed, facing me, then reached out his hand and caressed mine, gently as they lay on my lap. “It took a week for you to recuperate, three days just for you to open your eyes. In that time, I cared for you. Something that I thought I couldn't ever do again.”

  “Did you think that you were passed that point?”

  “No, I just never thought I'd have the opportunity to do it again, but by the end of the week, I knew I couldn't deny what I truly felt anymore.” He smiled and shook his head as he looked up into my eyes. “I loved you, and you saw pass the anger in me, enough to start caring for me. I hid you from my brother and from Julian for over a month, and in that time, we had fallen in love with each other.”

  I watched him stand and walk back over to the window, where he looked out, shirtless. I heard him sigh, which made me get up and move towards him, but it was my hand on his bare back that made him turn around.

  “I don't expect you to feel anything for me, Caitlyn.” He said, taking my hands in his, and turning to face me. “In fact, I don't expect anything. I tried to forget how I felt about you, but I still feel it, in here.” He put his hand flat against my chest, over my heart. “If you still want to be with Julian, I can deal with that, but I would like it if we were at least friends.”

  “We already are.” I whispered and watched him slowly smile. “I've been slowly figuring you out for a while, ever since that first night. I had a feeling there was more to you then just this maliciousness.”

  “So, what about you and Julian?”

  “It's going to take a bit to figure that out, but I know that after finding out all of this, I can't be with him again.” I backed away from him, turned and headed for the door.

  “You still have time to leave, Cait.” He told me. “Klamara isn't coming until midnight.”

  “I can't run, Creolas, no matter how bad the urge is, because if I run now, I'll never stop.” I replied, opening the door a bit. “Don't worry, I think this time things are going to end quite differently.”

  He nodded and kept those red eyes on me until I closed the door and walked away.

  Michael was standing in front of the double doors that lead out to the back yard when I came down the stairs close to midnight that night. I had gone to my room, after leaving Creolas, hoping to sort some things out in my head. Needless to say, I didn't get anything accomplished.

  Michael turned to look at me as I approached him, and he gave me a concerned look before going back to the door.

  “It looks so peaceful out.” He whispered.

  I smiled as I walked up and stood beside him. Out in the distance, just over the horizon, I could see the clouds coming in, like a fire was burning out at sea.

  “Not for very much longer.” I replied and stepped back from the door. “I'm going to go find the boys before he gets close enough to throw us off guard.”

  “Caitlyn.” Michael said, making me turn back to him. “Promise me something?”

  “It depends on what it is.” I smiled and watched him stick his hands in the pockets of his black pants.

  “Promise me, if you can, that you won't let Creolas become that angry man he used to be.” This shocked me that Michael was so concerned with him. “I can see things in him that the others can't, because I'm not part of their history together, like the way he looks at you, and what he says when he's alone about you.”

  “You ease drop on him?” I laughed.

  “Let's just say his room is along the path I travel at night.” He smiled and shrugged.

  “I promise to do my best.” I answered, and then backed away from him.

  I turned and headed down the hallway towards the sitting room, but before I reached my destination, I spotted the pair of red eyes that followed me in the reflection in the window. This made me smile, because I knew exactly who it was and he thought I didn't notice him. I slipped into a darkened room and waited for those red eyes to step in.

  When Creolas moved far enough into the room, I closed the door behind him and clicked the small desk lamp on beside me to light up the room. Creolas turned and looked at me, a bit surprised that I had trapped him, but the smile I wore seemed to put him at ease.

  “Why are you following me?” I asked him, as I leaned back against the door. He didn't say anything, at first, but stood there instead. “Creolas, are you feeling well?”

  He smiled, which made me think he had something up his sleeve, but as he stepped closer to me, trapping me against the door, he placed a hand on my neck, and the other on the door, holding it shut.

  “Could you, please, answer me?” I asked, quietly. “You're starting to scare me?”

  “Don't be scared.” He whispered softly, as those red eyes came closer. My body started to shake as his lips, missing mine, began to kiss my cheek, so softly it felt like the wind caressing my skin. I closed my eyes, letting the feel of his lips on my skin take over.

  I reached my hands up and placed them on his waist, gripping his shirt between my fists. I could feel his chest rising and falling as his breathing became heavier, and then he put his forehead against the side of my head, with his lips close to my ears.

  “I love you.” He whispered, sweetly, which made my heart skip a beat and the grip on his clothes grow tighter. “I have for a very long time and I can't change it, so I probably always will.”

  “Creolas...” His finger pressed against my lips, stopping me from finishing.

  “I know you don't remember, and I know that you don't feel the same, but that doesn't change how I feel and I have to ask you one thing before this begins.”

  He backed away and looked me in the eyes as I glanced up at him. I could see the desperate pleading in his eyes, and on his face, as he stood there, not more than five inches from my face.

  “What's the matter? You look...”

  “Desperate?” He asked, cutting me off.

  “I was going to say that you looked sad, but desperate might describe it better.” I replied, smirking, but that soon faded as I continued to look at him. “Tell me what's wrong, please.”

  “Caitlyn,” his voice was so soft; it made me shake inside with a strange wanting that I couldn't explain, “I'm begging you to leave here.”

  “I can't.” It was the only response I had.

  “Think about your son. Do you want him to be like you; without a mother?” His words stung my heart, but I felt I had to block it out, to harden my feelings against that kind of pain. “If you love Damien, and I know you do, leave this place and never look back, not to Julian, or Nick, or me.”

  “You're asking me for something I can't do.” I told him and watched that sadness spread to his eyes, making them hard and angry again. Something I had just promised Michael I wouldn't let happen.

  His lips moved, as if he were about to say something, but the words never came out; instead, his lips captured mine in a kiss that was so full of heat and passion, I wanted to totally abandon everything and try to fall in love with him again, but that thought made me think of Julian, and thinking of him made me remember the approaching danger.

  “Creolas,” I said, pushing him away, “stop, please, I have to go.” He backed up as I reached for the door handle and pulled on the door. “I'm sorry, but I have to go.”

  “Wait.” He whispered, blocking my way out. “Before you go, I'm not sure if I'm going to be here when this is over, but know one thing before we part ways.” I closed my eyes as I felt his breath against my ear. “I've never meant to hurt you, ever, I only wanted you to be safe. Please, forgive me for what I did to you.”

  “I already have.” I told him, and then slipped out the door, leaving him standing in the dimly lit room.

  19

  Julian was standing out at the shoreline when I walked up from his right, looking at the approaching clouds. He glanced over at me, then back
as Nick came up on his left.

  “So, the three of us are here.” Nick said, smartly. “And, we still don't know about the fourth person. What do we do?”

  “Face him.” I replied and watched as the two of them turned towards me. “The prophecy says that the soul is ‘found’, meaning that it will show up during battle.” I turned and looked at them. “I hope.”

  “Well, I guess we don't have a say in it.” Julian pointed out. “Here he comes.”

  The three of us stepped into the three circles that seemed to be imprinted on the grass. It felt like something so natural, the way we stood, each of us with our own element. Nick's earth brown eyes to the north, Julian's sea green ones to his right at the west, and me, to the east, as air. The only thing that seemed to be missing was the fire, the southern direction, which Klamara was coming at us from.

  “Get ready.” Julian yelled and I watched the two men stand ready, but my heart was beating too fast to do anything but stand there and stare out at the clouds that seemed to be engulfing us.

  As if he were something out of a monster movie, Klamara stepped out of the clouds and stopped right in front of us. He turned and looked at me, appearing just the same way he had when I saw him in my memory.

  “I have come for you, Child.” He spoke, his voice boomed out at me.

  “I will not leave this place.” I told him, standing firm. “Not without a fight.”

  “It is useless to fight. You will only kill your friends in a process that will still end in your death.”

  “This ends now, Klamara!” I watched him stop and looked at me, in shock, and then he smiled.

  “You know who I am?”

  “I know everything about you and your family.” I answered.

  “This will not save you.” He moved closer and I watched Nick, who seemed ready to pounce, grow anxious in his spot. I raised my hand, slightly, and watched him relaxed a bit. “You will join the others damned by the betrayal of my wife, in the depths of hell where you belong.”

  “I don't think so.” I backed up a bit and pulled out a stone from my pocket. It was something that Creolas had slipped in when he was close to me. Written on it was an incantation, a protection spell, which seemed to make it impossible from him to step into the circle.

  He smiled at me, stopping at the edge, and then I watched his gaze turn towards the other two boys that stood there and I knew exactly what he was going to do, hurt them to get to me.

  My mind raced as he set his eyes on Julian. Why wasn't this working? Why couldn't we do anything to stop him? I began to panic as I watched, helplessly, inside the circle, as he lifted Julian, with a flick of his wrist, turned him upside down in the air, thirty feet off the ground, and let him drop.

  Julian, who had struggled with him the entire time, which felt like only a spilt second, was now lying motionless on the grass. I moved to go to him, but Nick's mental voice stopped me.

  No, stay in the circle. He wants you to step out of the protections of its boundaries. I looked over at Nick, who was staring at me. Julian’s fine, just unconscious.

  Suddenly, as if Klamara had been listening in, I watched him turn to Nick, lift a hand as if it were at his throat, and close his fingers as Nick grasped at his neck, making a horrible chocking sound as he was forced, by some invisible power, to his knees, while gasping for air.

  It wasn't that he could kill him by choking him, but I watched the sharp stick floating closer to him and that scared me.

  “No!” I screamed, trying desperately to stay in the circle as the stick pressed against Nick's chest, slowly, puncturing the skin over his heart.

  “Leave my brother alone!” A voice screamed behind Klamara, who turned to look at Creolas, and the sword that he held, ready to swing, as he snarled at the man. Klamara smiled and pressed harder with his hand, making the stick bury itself deeper. Nick suppressed the urge to scream, as his hands clutched at the stick, but I could see the pain in his eyes. “I said, leave him alone!”

  Creolas stepped into the red fog that seemed to surround Klamara and attacked him with the sword. It sounded like steal clashing but I was unable to see anything, until the dark shape of a body flew out in my direction.

  Creolas landed flat on his back in the circle I stood in and I knelt down beside him, staring at the sword that protruded from his abdomen.

  “This is all wrong!” I sighed as I picked his head up and set it on my lap. “It isn't supposed to be this way. You're the fourth, the soul with the true powers.” I felt the tears coming down my cheeks. “You weren't supposed to get hurt.”

  “Cait.” He whispered, opening his eyes, slowly, as he reached up and took my hand. It was then, as he stared at me, that I noticed the color of his eyes. They were a deep midnight blue, a color that I had only seen for an instant that one other time. This time, though, they didn't change back to the familiar red color I was used to. “You have to fight.”

  “But, I'm afraid.” I answered, stroking his hair, gently, hair that was growing darker by the minute. “You're changing.”

  “You're the soul, the one with the true powers.” He inhaled deeply, and then put my hand on the sword. “Take it, use it to fight, destroy him because you are what he desires, what his evil has come for.”

  “I know, but how do I fight something like that?” I asked and watched his eyes as they slowly closed. “Creolas?” I asked as he lay there, motionless, in my arms. “Please, don't die.”

  “There's no one left to protect you, Child. What are you going to do now?” Klamara asked cruelly. I looked up at him, slipping out from under Creolas. My heartbeat slowed as I calmed myself. Gently, I reached down and pulled the sword from Creolas, then, grasping it tightly in my hands, I turned back to face Klamara once again.

  “I have nothing else to lose.” I whispered, looking at the three lifeless forms lying on the ground around me. “Deep inside, my heart is breaking but I refuse to give up and surrender to you. You're going to have to kill me.”

  “It will be my pleasure.” He smiled at me. What was I doing?

  “Get ready for the fight of your life.” I whispered to myself as I stepped out of the circle and into the fog that surrounded my adversary.

  It seemed that the world had stopped. There was no sound anywhere. Nothing but dead silence as I watched him come closer.

  * * * * *

  I felt hands on my shoulders as my body began to shake when I heard a voice speak up.

  “I'll take over.” Julian said, snapping me out of the trance I seemed to have fallen into. I nodded; hugging myself as I shook, then I looked from Julian to the ground in front of me. “We didn't see her step in, all we saw was the blue light that broke through.”

  * * * * *

  I opened my eyes, still feeling the crushing blow that my chest had taken, hitting the ground, and I looked up at the clouds that surrounded Klamara. Strange blue beams of light were breaking down the red fog, like glass cracking, and it seemed to be spreading like wild fire.

  To my right, Nick was slowly getting to his feet, and I watched as he pulled the sharp stick that was lodged between his ribs from his body and toss it on the ground. He looked at me, a bit weak and nodded, letting me know that, over all, he was fine, but it was the dark haired man in the third circle that made us move from where we stood.

  At first we didn't recognize Creolas; after all, it had been a little less than 200 years since we had seen him look so human. Any trace of his first encounter with Klamara was gone, and only the man remained, though we were sure he was still a vampire.

  Nick checked him over; making sure that the wound had healed. As we watched, Creolas opened his eyes and sat up, staring in awe at the spectacle that was taking place.

  “She's in there,” he whispered, “fighting for her life.”

  Suddenly, we heard a voice coming from the fog. It sounded like a million different people all talking at once but the booming voice, the one clearest to us, was Caitlyn’s.

  “Over t
ime and space, through centuries, unnumbered, our knowledge has been passed from one host to another. In times of crisis, when we are in need, our knowledge is power, and I hold the key.”

  I watched the red fog explode with blue light, making it thin then disappear all together, leaving nothing but Klamara and Caitlyn standing there facing one another, with Caitlyn's sword thrust into his heart. She glared at him with glowing blue eyes.

  “The fiery Hell you're so fond of speaking of belongs to you and you alone.” She told him, still speaking with the many voices. “Go there and reign for eternity.”

  Caitlyn removed the sword and we watched, with fascination as Klamara's body began to crumble to dust and blow away with the wind. It wasn't over; Caitlyn dropped the sword and stepped back, further away from us, as the blue light began to gather around her once again. She surrendered to it, as it lifted her off the ground, with her arms wide, and her eyes closed. It seemed to suspend her there, with angel wings of blue light, and then we noticed the little balls of flashing silver that one by one escaped from her body, as if she had taken all of Klamara's victims into herself and was now letting them go.

  As they began to disappear, the blue light faded and Creolas, who moved while we watched, stood beneath Caitlyn as she was slowly lowered to the ground. He held her against him as he stepped away from the circles, then gently knelt down on the ground with her curled up on his lap.

  We watched as she opened her eyes, reached up a hand, touching Creolas on the face, then she smiled.

  “So this is you.” She whispered, and then looked at the two of us. “It's over, isn't it?”

  “Yes, it's over. You won.” I told her, kissing her forehead. “Close your eyes and rest now.”

  Without a word, she closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep for the next eight hours.

  * * * * *

  Julian looked over at me, as I stepped away from the wall. The others were so fascinated by the story that they didn't seem to notice the two of us move away. He took my arm, turning me to face him, just before I stepped off the patio.