Within the Cards

by Donna Altman

  “The one that holds the box controls all evil and can use it against all immortals.” Ultress explained. “To control the box, you must have the key and the box together.”

  Ellie began to rub her head. She heard these stories, but they never said anything about being able to harm immortals.

  “I thought it could only be used against humans.” Dee said as she stood in the corner of the room. She heard the same stories Ellie heard as a child. She and Ellie were of the same thoughts.

  “My dear granddaughters, with the changing of time our ancestors handed down this box to one another. Those that are immortal created things and added them to this box. These things can destroy all immortal kinds.” He spoke and looked up at Elizabeth.

  “Ultress, you’re the only one that knows what this box looks like. You must show it to Daught so he can see if they have it.” Elizabeth pleaded.

  Ultress pictured the box in his mind then he touched my shoulder. I read the pictures he placed in my mind. I then concentrated hard to return to the castle of the Lords. I couldn’t see the box I now pictured in my mind. However, I heard their conversation. They were searching for a witch. She holds the truth, and she holds the box.

  “Anesidora,” I said loudly. Ellie looked at me knowing whom I was talking. She was the old witch that had told me how to return Ellie’s memories. “This can’t be”. I looked at Ellie, and she knew what I meant.

  “She no longer existed.” I said.

  Ultress looked at me as if he were unsure of my statement. I explained what happened at our meeting and that she died soon after.

  “Did she say anything about a box?” Ultress asked.

  “No,” I returned.

  “How much time do we have left?” he asked.

  Ellie told him the new moon would be in twelve days. I knew we had to return to New Orleans to the store called Anesidora’s. The man that was at the counter must know something. We had to find him. He was Anesidora’s friend. He must know where she hid her belongings before she passed to the next world.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  ANESIDORA’S BOX

  Ultress, Ellie and I traveled to New Orleans, Louisiana. Dee and Elizabeth stayed with the others at the village to continue preparing for the arrival of Suzi and the Lords. It was nighttime when we arrived at the store that carried the name ‘Anesidora’. It was dark and looked like it hadn’t been open for several weeks. The books and candles that were on the shelves no longer sat in place. All the shelves were bare. I attempted to open the door, but I found it locked.

  “I guess we’re going to have to break in.” I exclaimed. Ellie turned to me and gave me a strange look.

  “You vampires are something else.” Ellie laughed. “Sorry grandfather.” Ultress smiled at Ellie. He lived with Elizabeth for many years and knew Ellie was very much like her. He knew what Ellie was thinking. Ellie gave me a bashful smile. She thought she had said the wrong thing.

  Ellie snapped her fingers, and we were inside the store. I went to the back room where my meeting with the old witch occurred. There was nothing left in the room except for the table and chairs where we sat and the burnt candle that flickered so softly that night.

  Ellie sorted through the desk used as a counter in the front room, but found nothing. She then joined Ultress and me in the small, dark room in the back of the store. Ultress told me to close my eyes and see if I could feel anything the witch may have left for me. I tried to recall her soul. It was blank darkness. I concentrated on the male that was at the front desk. I could feel a vibration in the direction of the back of this room. I followed the vibration. It led me to a door in the back corner of the room that remained closed. This was where the table sat at our meeting. The room was dark during the meeting, but I remember the table being in the back corner just in front of the door. The table was no longer in the same position. I went to the door and opened it. The smell that radiated from the open door was of human death. On the floor laid the male that never looked at me when I entered the store so many days ago. He was dead, drained of his blood. The Witchyres had been here.

  I closed my eyes again, and I could see the message he was trying to tell me. The box; he moved the box to a safe place. Anesidora made him promise he would keep the box safe no matter what the cost. He had done what she asked. He gave his life for this treasure of hers. I was sure the witchyres didn’t make this an easy death. I knew they tortured their prey if they need to get something from it first. They tortured it until the information they sought came freely, then and only then would they render it the sanctity of freedom through death. He kept his word to the old witch named Anesidora. He hadn’t bowed to their intimidations.

  I focused again to see where he hid the box. I saw a wet area, dark with stale air. I looked around the vision. I hoped to find a sign of some kind to show me the way. Tombstones were everywhere. Most above the ground, it was an old cemetery. The archway appeared, and I could see the word ‘Valence’.

  I heard a noise that came from the front of the shop. Ellie and I move quickly, but Ultress was faster. When we entered the front room, Ultress had a witchyres pinned against the wall.

  “Why are you here?” He demanded. I saw the veins in Ultress’s temples bulge. These veins were filled with nothing more than hatred.

  “I tell you nothing,” this monster with a French Canadian accent hissed back at him.

  Ultress exposed his fangs. They were different from that of most hybrid vampires. He had a double set of fangs. In the vampire world, this meant he was a descendant from royalty. I was sure his maker was one of high value to the immortal world of vampires. Ultress’s differences weren’t ones that were easy for them to accept. The vampire world saw royal blood as pure and invincible.

  My mind returned to Ultress and the witchyre he held against the wall. One set of his fangs were long and piercing. The other set was shorter and slight curved toward the back like those of a pit viper. This aided him to rip deep into the flesh of any being, human or immortal. Ultress’s anger pushed him to extinguish this witchyre. He started to end this being’s existence.

  “Wait grandfather.” Ellie cried as she reached out for him. I moved to stop her from interfering. I turn my head to see why she was calling his attention away from ripping this beast apart. She held her hand up. She heard his thoughts, but I had missed them. Ultress stopped and turned his attention to Ellie’s and my direction while maintaining his grip on this being.

  “He’s here to give us a message,” she said. Ultress turned to look at Ellie. He knew she was right. He turned back to the creature.

  “What do you have to say?” Ultress demanded. I heard the hate in his voice. This was a stronger voice than I heard earlier. This voice matched his face. The one he used with his family was soft and caring a much change from this sound.

  “I bring you a message from the Lords and their wife.” The monster spoke as Ultress held him against the wall. “Don’t blink your eyes for they are coming to retrieve the young one. She will pay for her sins of creating this thing. This one she calls Daught. This creation will live his existence watching her used as a whore for procreation of our kind.” He announced to all of us. He turned to look at Ellie with piercing conviction.

  “Your grandmother will be sent back to hell where her mongrel husband remains. We will unleash a great evil upon you and those who dare to rebuke our ways will fall.” These words he directed to Ellie. She hissed in his direction.

  Ultress began to laugh. The witchyre looked at him strangely. Although, he was a slave to the Lords he still considered himself a higher being than a vampire. He couldn’t believe this vampire would laugh in his face. However, he couldn’t believe a vampire with such power was restraining him.

  “I’m going to let you go for you are nothing but a slave to my sons. Nevertheless, you can give them a message from me, their father. You tell them their father is back from hell, and he has brought it with him.” Ultress’s words were strong.

>   Ultress looked deep into the eyes of this pawn of his sons. His look told the slave a message that was unspoken. I read his thoughts as he told this witchyre slave that he was Ultress the true ruler of the witchyre race, and he was back to claim his throne. Before he released his hold, Ultress again exposed his double set of fangs. He moved in close to this messenger and pierced the flesh of his cheek ripping down to open a large wound in his face. This wouldn’t heal instantly as we normally heal because it was a mark left by his true maker. It was a mark that would scar his face to show all other witchyres the one that marked and warned him was his maker. Ultress dropped the creature to the floor. The witchyre vanished.

  Ellie couldn’t believe the hatred the Lords had for her. Her thoughts were strong and easy to read. She knew she was the reason this war came down on us all. She was the reason I would never walk free again. I would live a tortured existence of watching witchyres having their way with her. Bound by invisible restraints unable to help her, unable to stop the vile acts they would do to her. These thoughts made her sick.

  “Never will I allow this. No being will ever take my wife from me.” I directed my words strongly to her. I pulled her close.

  I exposed my fangs. I could feel the hatred build inside of me. The venom flowed through the taste buds in my mouth. It was bitter and strong. It remained in my mouth as I waited to persecute each one of these things that called themselves Lords. I would never allow another to touch Ellie. If any one of these beings tried to touch my wife, he or she would truly beg for extinguishment from the pain I would inflict on them. Ellie looked into my eyes. They told me how sorry she was. I pulled her closer to me and held her tightly against my body. My fangs began to retract. I knew Ellie needed my comfort. She didn’t need my anger right now.

  Ultress turn to us knowing our pain, but he also knew we had to hurry. If the witchyres had been here, they could already be one-step ahead of us in finding the box.

  “Ellie and Daught, we must go to the cemetery. Ellie put this vermin out of your mind. Daught, I am their maker, and their deaths will be one they beg to encounter. I promise this.” His voice was again gentle and soft. Ultress touched Ellie’s face as if he were wiping tears away that didn’t exist.

  “Ellie, Daught and I will not let this happen to you. Rest your pretty head to that fact.” He smiled. Ellie knew he was telling her the truth. Ultress and I, both would protect her with our lives.

  Ellie concentrated on the name of the cemetery. She pulled up the location of the cemetery with ‘Valence’ in its name, in her mind as if she had an internal GPS. She smiled. She put her hand out as Ultress and I touched it. She snapped her fingers and our forms vanished.

  We arrived at the front arch just as I saw it in my vision. I had to recall the rest of my vision to find the location of the box. We had to find the lower part of the cemetery. A staircase descended down into a wet, dark tomb. Ellie held her hand in the air. She commanded the air to direct us in the direction of the lower side of the cemetery. The wind began to blow to the south. Ellie lead the way as Ultress and I followed watching for any signs of the witchyres. As we headed in the direction Ellie's powers sent us Ultress looked at Ellie. He was proud of the powers Elizabeth had given her. She was a part of his creation that began to change the witchyre race into a race that would be decent. He wanted the race he created to be better than the vampires that rejected him and extinguished him and Elizabeth.

  We made it to the southernmost end of the cemetery. These were the oldest of the graves. They dated back to the 1800’s. This would have looked like the cemetery that I might be buried in had Ellie not found me that night and turned me into an immortal being. The essences of this burial ground overgrown with ivy and moss hopelessly forgotten from a time far in the past made me sick. Ellie heard my thoughts. She touched my arm to let me know she understood.

  “Thank you Ellie for making me what I am today. These humans forget their ancestors and leave them to rot in unkempt, overgrown graves.” I told her softly. She touched my arm, and then smiled a devilish smile.

  “I'll remind you to thank me again when we’re at war with my kind.” She joked to lighten my mood. I smiled at her. She knew when I needed her wittiness. Ellie knew my every need. She was my savior, and I would stand by her until the end if that was to be. We searched through the graves and looked for the descending staircase.

  “Ultress, Ellie come here.” I called from a small parapet tomb.

  “This is it.” I exclaimed.

  “Are you sure?” She asked.

  “Yes, this is the one in my vision.” I replied and smiled. Ellie returned the smile. She was pleased with my newfound abilities.

  Ultress opened the door and revealed a staircase that descended deep into the ground. Ellie waited outside the open tomb while Ultress and I descended. She stayed to watch and alert us of any witchyres that may show up. The air was thick and stale like I remembered in my vision. Cobwebs were in every corner. Seven sealed vaults laid in a row in the center of the floor where the stairs ended. The large dirt floor room was dark and hidden from the rays of the sun. If I were a human, it would feel damp and cold with a smell of old soil, a forgotten place that no one would want to revisit.

  I again recalled my vision. I viewed the room as I saw it when I knelt in front of the dead form of what was left of the human male that had been Anesidora’s friend. I began to scan the room where I stood. I needed no light. My vision adjusted to the dark like a cat that prowled in the night. In the corner of the room, I saw a burnt candle that was the same as the one in the back room of my meeting place with the old witch. It sat on top of a newly placed vault. This was her final resting place. I removed the candle and placed it to the side. Its flame extinguished a long time ago.

  The vault read Anesidora Valeness. The name I saw shocked me. I never knew her last name. It was Ellie’s last name. The one she used during her time of walking alone, and the name she continued to use. Ellie wouldn’t use her real last name that was St. Germain. She didn't want anyone to know her as a family member of the witchyre leaders. The old witch I knew as Anesidora was a distant relative of Elizabeth. Ellie used her grandmother’s sir name.

  I pushed the vault back and exposed its content, which was a form wrapped gracefully in white linen. There was a copper box resting at the form’s head. Ultress came over and looked into the vault. He recognized the box. He gentle removed it from its resting place and vowed to Anesidora that he would return it to her once the Lords were no longer in control. I replaced the lid and gently returned the candle to its place. I placed my hand on top of the vault and said a silent “thank you”.

  Once we were outside of the tomb, Ultress replaced the door and made its surroundings look undisrupted. Ellie looked at me, and I confirmed we had found the object of our quest.

  “May you rest in peace my friend.” I whispered to the witch’s eternal grave. Ellie read my thoughts of the old witch having the same last name as hers.

  “Thank you my family.” Ellie replied. She looked at me and smiled. She knew this was her grandmother’s family, and she was proud they bared the same name.

  We returned to the front side of the cemetery when Ultress held his hand up. I recognized the scent at the same time he did. Ellie hadn’t recognized it. She only detected the scent of another race. Ultress and I, being vampires, knew the scent of a witchyre. Ultress hid the box behind a gravestone to keep it safe. Ellie looked at me funny then waved her hand over the box and made it invisible.

  Ultress took the right flank as I took the left flank. Ellie remained in the middle. I wasn’t worried about her being able to defend herself, but I didn’t want them to be able to hold her long enough to disappear with her and carry her back to the castle of the Lords. I read their thoughts as they were attempting to do with mine. They were here to retrieve the box as well as Ellie if possible.

  “I don’t think so.” Ellie replied with a matter of fact tone. She read their intentions through my t
houghts. The smirk on her face let me know she was ready for any attempt by these vermin to attack.

  “Never will I allow you to take her.” I yelled at them.

  “You have no choice in the matter mongrel,” one yelled back at me.

  “Then come and get her. You’ll have to get through me first.” I snarled and spit in their direction.

  There were six of them. This was a small match for us. They circled us and advanced from every angle. It was a small street brawl compared to the impending war that was ahead of us. As Ellie and I were able to take down the witchyres, Ultress was able to extinguish them. Being their original maker, he could destroy them easily. Six came for us, and we destroyed six. Ultress was quick with the annihilation.

  Once it was safe Ellie retrieved the box, and we continued on our journey back to the jungle in South America. Ellie held the box as Ultress and I touched her arms. She snapped her fingers, and we were transported back to the place we took refuge. We arrived at the water’s edge after being gone for twelve hours. Elizabeth was waiting on us. She was standing at the shoreline when we arrived.

  “You found it,” she smiled at Ultress as she ran and jumped into his arms.

  “Yes my love, we’ve retrieved the box and it’s now safe from the witchyres.” He replied to her. He held her tight and whirled her around.

  Dee was standing close to the line where the jungle began. Her thoughts were clear. Ellie turned and looked in her direction.