by Marta Szemik
“I’ll be in the third cell!” I yelled, no longer fighting against the hot palms.
Castall’s words now made perfect sense: You’ll have to let Sarah go to find her.
I’m so stupid.
Penny-sized raindrops suppressed the blaze consuming the cabin. Its logs simmered in the deluge, water evaporating and smoke billowing in a thick gray cloud up into the canopy. The acrid stench of smouldering wood filled the jungle. Just like in my dream.
I clenched my teeth at the pain throbbing in my chest. The life I wanted was disappearing. Knowing William would find me didn’t help. It was difficult to imagine being away from him at all. When would he find me?
William’s face turned into a vampire’s, fangs stretched and brows raised. He threw himself at the shield and then collapsed to the ground. I looked at him, pleading with my eyes for him to stop, but William struggled up, bracing his right hand on his knee while he caught his breath. His left hand slipped into his pocket, and when my three kidnappers weren’t looking, he winked, then focused on his left hand—reminding me of our gifts from Castall.
I acknowledged with the slightest nod, feeling the small wooden stick that pressed into my hip through the pocket in my jeans. William mouthed “I love you,” and I whispered the same back as the tallest seeker extended the boundary of the field around me and the three demons. The ache of William’s heart in my chest throbbed; it hurt more than the hot palms gripping my arms and hovering over my shoulders. It stung like a bucher’s knife.
The seekers pulled me backward with the pressure of their claws. Their hands had grown gaunt, almost colourless and translucent against even my pale complexion, their bones standing out under their skin. The redness had faded from their palms, along with the sizzling sound and the smell of burnt flesh.
I relaxed the tension in my body. The only way I knew to beat the seekers was to extinguish them with the rain that hit the impermeable dome of the force shield. From the way they squirmed, it was clear they wanted to get away quickly. Their power was waning.
The leader drew a smaller circle, and the seekers pulled me into its shape. The edge of the oval sparked, then flames spread toward the center. I imagined standing in a fire, but it didn’t burn. A doorway opened beneath us, keeping us afloat on a plate of cool flames. Panic overwhelmed me, and I longed to free myself, but their claws were locked on my body. We began to sink in the quicksand-like ground, and the glowing circle lowered as if it were an elevator.
William yelled, “Sarah!” His hands splayed against the shield despite the bolts of electricity zapping his body.
I’ll see you soon! I promised with my eyes, but something inside me whispered that it would be a long time before I saw William again. It was a gut feeling strangely centered in the future.
William fell to his knees and disappeared from view, and with him, my hope.
Chapter 15
The underworld was dark, the air cold and moist. Tree roots crisscrossed along the ceiling of the corridor. Some stems dangled freely, robbed of the soil they’d originally formed in: others simmered at their ends, releasing a smell of rotten eggs and dirty socks.
Every twelve feet, the tallest seeker drew a new circle in the wall with his cane and another fiery door materialized. Heat emanated from the opening, but it did not burn. After passing through each new entry, the seeker played his cane over the tunnel in front of him, leaving a glowing orange mist on the walls that illuminated the way.
The other two forced me to follow him. They concentrated more on shrieking at each other than on me; as the corridor narrowed, there was no longer a need to pay attention to me becase each passage sealed behind us. Every so often, they tugged and pulled me. From the tone of the yelps, I guessed they were arguing over who’d get to turn me in to whomever they were taking me to and I assuemed I would meet Aseret very soon. The tallest seeker always won the argument.
The slippery floor made it difficult to keep my balance. I wondered how uncomfortable it was for the seekers to walk through the narrow burrowed tunnels, bent over in half.
Above my head, I looked for little critters lurning in the underground snarl of roots and earth. I saw none and finally decided they had enough sense to stay away.
How long could I survive this torment without William?
My heart skipped a beat and I felt his do the same. William . . . The rhythm of his pulse revealed worry, pain, and urgency. William was still trying to get through the force field. I knew he would succeed somehow; after all, I’d already seen him arrive.
Every second that ticked by without him was like a small needle poking at my arteries. Unsure how long I could tolerate those little pricks, I tensed my jaw. I sensed him, just the way he told me I would. With William far away, my thoughts blurred and crumbled, as if they had to pass through a heavy fog to reach my consciousness.
William, please find me.
Again my heart skipped a beat, as if in response to my plea, and I knew William was thinking about me. The beat quickened slightly, pulsing hope.
We stepped into a high-ceilinged octagonal hall. The leading seeker used his cane to draw a new circle on the floor and pushed me into it, then pointed to the glowing ring. “The shield will not let you pass through. Bow your head when Master Aseret enters.”
I felt as if I’d entered an underground stadium with no bleachers. Five doorways covered with red velvet drapes propped in front of me. The glowing tunnel we’d emerged from sealed behind us. The middleone was oddly shaped, its entrance higher on the face of the wall. A wide staircase descended from the opening, narrowing as it approached the floor. More than twenty demons stood in the hall around me, peering surreptitiously my way.
Hundreds of candles illuminating the hall from a chandelier suspended in the center of the natural granite ceiling. Four grand support pillars rose from floor to the top, like ranked monoliths. Below the light fixture, flames roared in an oversized fire pit. Fifteen massive candelabras, each holding more than fifty candles, were arranged around a room so expansive the multitude of candles did not overwhelm the space. The demons certainly liked their fire. I inhaled. The acidic odour burnt the sides of my mouth, but I took an even deeper breath, trying to taste the air.
Could William’s parents be here? Could my father be here? New energy of excitement shifted across my body as the idea grew. Jitters of anticipation hidden beneath my skin. I scanned the room again. Perhaps this is the way to get to them. Maybe all this isn’t in vain. The thought generated a smirk, but I kept it off my face.
A figure of impressive stature entered. He glided across the floor. The long robe that was customary for demons covered his feet, but there was a small gap between its hem and the floor, with nothing between them but air. He was levitating.
Aseret, the vicious warlock.
Unlinke the others, Aseret stood straight. His dark brown eyes did not glow. His face elongated, and the flesh sagged from ages of experience, knowledge, treachery, and pain, yet was still expressionless. Each arm folded into the cuff of the other, hiding what I assumed were twig-like hands.
Aseret floated to stand three feet in front of me, but I did not bow.
The tallest one shrieked apologetically toward his master.
“That is all right. This one’s new.”
I didn’t like that Aseret referred to me as an object, and I raised my chin.
“Sso you are the one Xela told me to fearrr.” His speech was slow, each word delivered at the pace of a snail. Aseret did not speak directly to me. His stare, though piercing, seemed focused somewhere over my shoulder. I was glad; the intensity of his eyes suggested a direct look might cut into my brain.
The contours of his face changed from soft to hard as he scanned my body as if looking for strengths or weaknesses.
Who’s Xela? I wondered, remembering Castall’s warning. It couldn’t be someone I’d like.
“Where is the other one?” he asked my captors.
They shrieked as the seco
nd in command one took a big swing at the shortest one, who ducked and returned the gesture successfully. The tallest one raised his palms, glowing as brightly as hot lava, and smashed both demons on their head, almost knocking them to the ground. They stopped fighting and stood still, as if nothing had happened.
“Hmm.” Aseret sighed. He visibly tried to compose and hide his emotions, but I could read the anger and disappointment on his face as his cheeks twitched. I knew the seekers would be punished for their failed mission. “She’s of no use to me by herself. I have no need for her without the other one. Find him!” He focused on two demons standing at the door. They were taller than the tallest of my captors, and their eyes glowed brighter, which I would not have imagined possible. They left as soon as he looked at them.
William, be careful. I allowed my heart’s pace to change by a fraction to warn him about the dangerous creatures.
Aseret turned back to face me. “You do not look ssstrong. You’re weak and confusssed.” He paused. “You’re herrre, but not all of you is herrre. Part of you is ssstill on Earth. Do you have ssspecial powersss?” The way he spoke reminded me of an ESL teacher addressing new students—slowly and calmly, using well thought-out words chosen deliberately to ensure they were understood.
“What do you want from me?” I spat. My saliva hit the protective circle, sizzled, and evaporated into nothing.
Aseret did not move, but his nose twitched. “I’m told you yelled that you’ll be in the thirrrd cell. Hmm. How did you know?” His lips pulled back, then tightened, unveiling sharp, uneven teeth.
“I went to see a fortune teller two months ago. She told me to say it if anyone kidnapped me.” I paused, hoping he would believe my fib. “I didn’t know what to make of it then, but I remembered when your demons took hold of me.”
“Hmm, a fortune teller, how old-fashioned.” He sneered. “I don’t believe you. No one will find you here. But let’s play your game.” He sneered. Though he spoke slowly, his decisions were quick and confident.
Would Aseret imprison me in the third cell to prove his strength or as bait? I had a feeling it’d be the latter.
I wondered what his actual weakness was. He had to have one. He was cautious when he looked at me and kept his distance.
“And the siblings, where are they?” he asked me.
He knows Mira and Xander?
“I don’t know who you’re talking about,” I said quickly.
“Hmm . . . Is it customary to lie in the human world?” he shouted. A few rocks clattered down the high walls to the floor.
I jerked back, surprised at the sudden change in his tone. He’d lost control, overpowered by anger. Could this be his weaknesses?
“These shapeshifters concern me. I want them here, on my side, where they belong!” Aseret’s speech picked up momentum, though he didn’t seem to be speaking to anyone in particular.
“Master, Castall would not allow—”
“Do not ssspeak!” The demon at his side fell silent at Aseret’s hiss.
“Place herrr in the third cell.” His words were sluggish again.
The seekers hesitated, but did not question Aseret. I didn’t think anyone would.
Aseret turned away, floating toward the central staircase. “Asamu rata lipear.” The hushed whisper flowed out of his mouth in a thin, reddish stream of light which carried the strange words on a velvety cloud of steam that hit the force field around me, sizzled and dissipated its spell.
As soon as the shield was down, radiant heat of six new palms burned from above my shoulders and at the sides of my arms. They didn’t need to touch for me to feel the pressure of their strength. The seekers guided me through the second curtained entrance too quickly for my liking—I was still not used to the slippery floor.
Their palms urged me downward to the circular stone stairs, which ended at an unsavoury dungeon. The corridor was dank and dim with countless openings in the walls. Their interiors were obscured by a green sheer curtain of energy that projected foreign words randomly across their surface.
We passed two cells and stopped at the third, its opening blocked by a stream of green brightness flowing from the stairway behind us. The demons stepped inside the cell and pushed me against the back wall. Behind them, the light—a spell, I realized—spread to cover the entrance like those on the far side of the corridor.
“Do not try to pass through this spell,” the tallest of the seekers said, his voice a faint imitation of Aserets, but lower. “It will kill you.” They passed through the green barrier unscathed and left the dungeon without looking back.
The barrier intrigued me, and I focused on the scattered words. Fifteen of them floated on the green fog, and none except one looked familiar—my name.
I sat on the stone floor with my back against the cold side wall and wondered how long I’d be here. My stomach grumbled. The hunger did not bother me, but my heart did. The little needles were still poking. They had not stopped since the last time I’d seen William. “Where are you?” I whispered.
“Hello?” a weak male voice answered.
I sat up in surprise. “Who’s there?”
“I’m a prisoner in the fourth cell. Are you a prisoner as well?”
“Yes. They just brought me in.”
“What did you do?”
I sighed. “I don’t know. I think I was too happy for their liking.” I forced out a chuckle, wondering how much I should share with the stranger. “Why are you here?”
“I’m a permanent resident.” He laughed quietly. “It’s been over two years now, I think.” After a pause, he added, “Creatures normally stay here a day or two, then they disappear.”
My hand went to my throat. “What do you mean disappear?” I felt the vibration of my voice under my fingers as I spoke.
“I mean they don’t come back to this world, or the one above. Sometimes they scream when they’re taken away. Sometimes, if Aseret is too bored to torture, he’ll order it to be over quickly. That doesn’t happen often.”
I wasn’t sure if I should ask my next question. “Are you a demon? You don’t sound like one.”
“I’m a vampire,” he answered.
A vampire locked away for so many years in a demon dungeon? This couldn’t be a normal occurrence; they must have had a good reason to keep him here. Could William’s parents be here? How many vampires had Aseret imprisoned?
“You’re a vampire too?”
I didn’t hear doubt in his tone that I was one—he spoke like a well-mannered gentleman.
A polite vampire? “Yes, I am.” I hoped our similarity would bring him comfort, lessen the pain I heard in his voice. It surprised me, how normal I imagined him to be—like me. The ease of a conversation with a purebred vampire was natural. Even locked up, this vampire seemed tamer than the one I met at the motel.
“But you have a heartbeat?” I imagined him raising his brows. There was a hint of hope, even compassion, in the way he asked the question. The serum must have completely worn off. I wasn’t expecting my other half to be revealed so soon—especially to a real vampire.
“Yes.” I hesitated, not wanting to shock him—or make him hungrier for human blood than he probably already was. Not that there was much blood left in me—just enough to survive; enough to keep my heart beating. “I’m a little different from a regular vampire.”
“How different?” His voice was still quiet, full of anticipation.
“I’m also half human.”
Tiny clatters as pebbles fell from the ceiling, the sound spreading like a tsunami through the barren cell. I heard earthworms working their way toward the surface and demonic footsteps crossing the main hall upstairs. The occupant of the second cell was motionless. I started to wonder if the stranger was still there.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t want to upset you,” I said.
“You didn’t.” He was clearly trying to make his tone as normal as possible, but I could hear the undercurrent of excitement. I imagined him smiling.
Is he really that hungry? Have they not fed him here? “Look, don’t try to break through your cell to get to me,” I blurted. “You’ll die. Even if you could, I’m still a vicious vampire. I’m sure I’m stronger than you.” My rambling most likely undermined my warning, but I did feel bad for the stranger and didn’t want him to get hurt.
“It’s okay, I don’t want your blood,” he assured me. “I’m just a little surprised. There’ve been different creatures imprisoned here, but none of them as interesting. What is your name?”
He thought I was interesting. Of course he would. There was only one other half-breed in the world.
“Sarah,” I answered. “I haven’t known exactly who I am for very long.”
“What do you eat?” My sensitive ears heard the fifth disc in his neck crack as he cocked his head to the side.
“Any human food, and blood—but I stick to animals. No human blood for me.” I shivered.
“What do you look like?” I heard the smile in his voice again. My story must be intriguing him.
“Well, I’m five-six; I have turquoise eyes, caramel skin and wavy auburn hair.” I heard him sigh pleasantly. What a weird way to talk about myself. “I look pretty young for twenty-one, but I do age. I’m not sure how that works, exactly, but I do age.” It was oddly comforting, talking to this neighbour I’d just met.
“Of course you would. You’re half human.”
My heart warmed unexpectedly. “Why are you here?” I asked, hoping he would be as generous with his answers as I was. “You said you’ve been here for a long time.”
“I was captured by Aseret over two years ago.” His voice was quiet now. “It was an ambush on one of our northern clans. Demons and vampires had an agreement that allowed them to coexist. Each stayed off the other’s territory and respected boundaries. Vampires lived on the northern continents. Demons thrived in the warmer climates of the south, feeding on the heat and Earth’s energy to grow stronger. But they thirsted for more and more power as they began eliminating vampires. The attack was quick. There were so many of them. That’s how I ended up here.”