Aris Reigns

by Devin Morgan

  “And what of those, Aris?” Simon asked. “What of those who surrender?”

  “If they swear peace, we will bring them to the Catacombs. They will take the Blood Oath and be watched with a close eye for centuries to come to be sure they are true.”

  “What of those who do not wish to follow the Immortal law?”

  Aris glanced toward Sebastian before he answered. “They will be impaled and burned. There will be none left who oppose peace.” He thought of his words to Sarah at what seemed such a long time ago. “The only victor in any war fought for any purpose is death.” He never thought he would once again be the instrument.

  CHAPTER 32

  Because she was yet a human, Sarah’s eyes were still blindfolded every time she entered or left the Catacombs. Gabriela held her arm to guide her and keep her from stumbling as she led her down corridor after corridor through the underground labyrinth. Quite suddenly, the air changed and Sarah knew they were outside. Stumbling over a rock as she walked, she breathed in the afternoon air.

  She heard the door of a car open and felt the guidance of her friend as she was seated in the passenger seat. The driver’s door slammed shut as the engine roared to life. Sarah felt the forward motion of the vehicle and soon after, the sounds of the city. The black scarf that had been tied around her eyes was removed.

  “I’ll sure be glad when you won’t have to do that anymore. You know that even if I could remember the way, I’d never tell anyone.”

  “I know that. It was a pledge Aris made to the Council in order to bring you below. We do not take our pledges lightly.”

  Sarah marveled at the natural light above ground. It was exactly the same as the Immortal light below.

  “I wish Jane had come with us. I thought she might.”

  “Her wolf.”

  “What do you mean?” Sarah didn’t understand her friend’s words.

  “The wolf cannot come above ground. The sight of him would raise havoc. The two of them have never been separated since they arrived in the Catacombs. Leaving him even for an afternoon was something she could not bear to do.”

  “She’s a lovely, strange girl.”

  Gaby laughed. “Yes, she is strange even for an Immortal.” Sarah had missed the smell of grass and flowers so they decided to take an afternoon walk through Regents Park. Gabriela found a parking place and the two women stepped from the car.

  “Gaby?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you remember being human?”

  “Yes, I have a memory of my human life. Why?”

  “Well, are you much different now than you were then.”

  Gabriela laughed out loud. “Just a bit, don’t you think?”

  Sarah smiled in return, but her voice grew more serious. “I don’t mean your Immortal self. I mean your human self. When we lived in Chicago, you lived completely as a human. Does it feel the same in your Immortal humanity as it does as a mortal? I mean, oh, I don’t know how to express what I want to know.”

  “I believe I understand. You wish to know if you will still be yourself or if your basic traits will change. No, they will not change. That is the reason we are so careful about those we allow to become Immortal. To give the power of eternal life to one who is humanly evil results in the vampires of the Spanish coven. Devils. The Council is thorough in its investigation. Only once has anyone fooled them. That was DeMarco and he came to the Catacombs already changed into a drinker of blood. Our Council had nothing to do with giving him eternal life.”

  “So you’re saying I’ll be pretty much who I am except I’ll have super powers.”

  Gaby gave her a hug. “You will be exactly who you are, super powers or not. Being Immortal will not change you, just your destiny.” She kissed her friend on the cheek as it began to drizzle. They ran for a nearby restaurant to share one more afternoon above ground while Sarah was still human.

  Her long dark hair damp from the drizzling rain, Kitsuko stood in a darkened doorway across from the restaurant. The late afternoon sky was heavy with dark, rolling clouds as she waited. She was determined to find a way to have a final conversation with her rival, still hoping to frighten Sarah into giving up her desire to become Immortal. In her besotted mind, if Sarah was out of the way, she believed she would be able to win Aris.

  As she waited, she noticed the same tall, dark-haired human she had seen in the past when she was trailing Sarah and Aris. He lingered under an awning covering a doorway next to the restaurant. As she watched, a taxi pulled to the curb and another man got out and stepped beneath the shelter out of the rain.

  She knew in an instant the newcomer was a vampire. Her curiosity stirred, she moved in the shadows of the buildings toward the end of the block. Crossing the street, she made her way to a telephone booth just out of sight of the two men. She pretended to make a call as she listened to their conversation with her vampire hearing.

  In muffled tones, the two men discussed their plot to kidnap Sarah, to take her back to Spain to DeMarco. Their plan was to be accomplished that very evening while Sarah was above ground. The vampire had plans to kill Aris. His death would demoralize the Immortal army and Spain would march on London. When all the plans were laid, the vampire hailed a taxi and disappeared into the rainy night.

  CHAPTER 33

  As the clouds separated and drifted away, the star-filled sky and the lights on Tower Bridge reflected on the choppy waters of the Thames. Sarah and Aris wandered down the street along the river hand-in-hand.

  “We have had so little time together since you came to stay at the Catacombs. We have hardly had a moment alone to speak since your decision in the cavern. I want to know what you have been thinking about your changing.”

  They stopped walking, leaning against a metal railing along the sidewalk. A double-decker bus passed them and drowned out her answer.

  She waited a moment, then repeated. “My thoughts fly all over the place. Sometimes I’m terrified. Sometimes I’m elated and can’t wait. But all the time, I know in my heart it’s the only thing I can do, the only thing I want to do.”

  “You are sure?” His dark eyes questioned hers.

  “Absolutely sure. I have questioned myself up and down. I have never been more sure of anything in my life. I want to become an Immortal. I’m driven by the desire to feel what you feel and see as you see. I know your world is different and I know the only way I can experience it is to become what you are. I want it desperately. I want you desperately. I am willing to do whatever I must to be with you.” Her laugh was nervous as she turned to walk once more. “Still, I have to admit, it’s a little scary. I really hate pain.”

  “Sarah,” He took her arm. “You must understand the full extent of the ritual. You say you hate pain. How do you feel about abject agony? You will burn as the venom enters your blood stream. Your body will feel as if you have fallen into the core of the underground volcano. You and you alone will have to withstand the fire. I cannot help you.” She trembled at his words. “You must understand the ordeal you will suffer to change.

  “Each time I draw your human blood from you, you will feel an exquisite bliss. Then, when the venom enters, the scalding begins. As the intolerable blaze in your flesh and bones subsides, again, I will draw your blood. Again I will spew venom and there will again be unspeakable pain. You will suffer this ritual for three days, Sarah, three times each day. At dawn, high noon and moon rise. Are you sure?” His voice was anxious. “Please understand, you must be sure. Once we begin there is no turning back; we must persist or you will die. The only way out of the pain is to go through it.”

  “Aris, I’m already just a little more than petrified. You can’t make it any worse with anything you tell me. Besides, being scared isn’t enough to stop me. Determination overcomes fear. I told you and I’ll say it as many times as I have to in order for you to believe me, I’m sure.” Her tone was sharp and her words clipped.

  “I am not attempting to frighten you, Sarah. I am telling you th
e facts of changing. It is not just the pain. There are risks involved.”

  “Risks?”

  “I am a vampire. I was nursed on human blood and have not had it for centuries. Add to that, I am in love with you and want you desperately. When your blood fills my mouth, I fear I will not be able to stop. I fear I will drain you and kill you.” He hung his head, shamed by his own weakness.

  Lifting his face to hers, she spoke softly. “You’ll stop. I trust you. Besides, Aris, I’d rather be dead than not share eternity with you. Remember our life when I lived as Elizabeth in the court of Henry VIII? I gladly breathed my last breath when I thought you were lost forever. I would do it again. I would give my life for love.” She laughed. “And I’m going to in just a few days.” A little shiver ran down her spine when she thought of the short time left to her as a human.

  She had a list of things to do before she breathed her last breath. Calling all of her Chicago friends was on top. It made her sad every time she thought she could never tell them the truth. She loved them all. She loved her life as a human. Yet, since she met Aris and saw the life in the Catacombs, it just wasn’t enough anymore.

  “Are you sure you won’t wait until after the battle? I am only able to remain with you in the Catacombs for a day, two at most, after your changing before I must travel to Spain. We have put our journey off as long as we can and still use surprise against our enemy. It drives me to madness to leave you so soon.”

  “No, I won’t wait. Besides, I’m coming with you.”

  He spun on his heel to stare at her as if she were mad. “Are you insane? You will be but a newborn. You will have no training in combat. You will not even have full control of your faculties. Sarah, it is out of the question.” He turned, holding her arm and began to walk once again.

  “It is not out of the question. Do you actually think I would let you and Gaby and the rest go off to war while I stay home? I’ll be an Immortal. I’ll be able to do all the things any of you can do. You, Richard and Gaby can teach me everything you know about attack warfare on the plane to Spain and I’ll be ready to fight when we land.”

  He scowled at her. “You plan to learn all about warfare in the time it takes us to fly to Spain?”

  “Super powers, remember?” When she realized he sincerely planned to keep her in England, her voice changed from playful to stern. “Aris, I’m coming.”

  “This is not up for discussion. If you do not agree to stay in the Catacombs until we are safely returned, I refuse to change you until the war is ended.”

  “You wouldn’t dare?” Her outrage was clear in her tone.

  “I would and will. Sarah, I will not risk an eternity without you. I wouldn’t risk your life as a human. Why do you think I would risk your future as an Immortal?”

  Realizing he held all the cards, Sarah changed her approach. “Aris, be reasonable.”

  “I am being reasonable. And logical. It is you who refuses to see the truth.” He took her hand as they began to walk. “We will speak no more of it.” Sliding his arm around her waist, he stooped to kiss her sweetly. “Now, come. Let us find a restaurant for your last human meal above ground.” It was obvious the conversation was closed for the evening.

  She let him lead her down the street allowing him to win the argument, but she knew their own personal war was far from over. Once she was changed, there would be no keeping her from the battle against the Spanish coven.

  The kidnapper waited silently in the alley behind the restaurant. Julian waited in a car across the street cell phone in hand, ready to signal his partner when Aris and Sarah left the restaurant. Their plan was solid. The human would walk toward the couple and just as Julian pulled to the curb, he would bump into Sarah, grab her and throw her into the car. Julian would leap at Aris with a stiletto ready to pierce his heart before tossing his dead body into the trunk. The rain had begun once again in full force. The steady downpour had emptied the street of foot traffic and there was no one in sight. They would work quickly and easily accomplish their task.

  They weren’t aware of the one link in the chain of events that would alter their well-laid plot. Kitsuko. Silently she crept toward the waiting man. One quick twist of his head and he would be dead, no longer a threat to Aris. She was sorry that Sarah’s life would be saved in the process, but her Aris would be safe.

  Unaware that Julian was there and had seen Kitsuko as she entered the alley and realized immediately she was an Immortal, she stayed in the shadows to keep out of sight of the human. The vampire’s footsteps were silent as he followed close behind her.

  Carefully watching the kidnapper as he checked his cell phone for the text message telling him it was time to move, Kitsuko prepared to attack. As he glanced at the display, she leaped on him, twisting his head into an unnatural position. She heard his neck snap as he sank to the ground. Just as she turned to run from the scene before anyone might see her, she felt an exploding pain that began in her back and raced into the center of her heart. The last image she saw was Julian standing over her, his stiletto dripping with her Immortal venom. Her last word was the name of her only love. “Aris.”

  Julian dumped the body of the dead human in the trash bin behind the restaurant, and then gathered Kitsuko’s body to take to the countryside to burn. No one would ever know the fate of the Immortal female that had given her all for love.

  CHAPTER 34

  Sarah wasn’t hungry for breakfast after the huge Indian meal she had eaten with Aris the previous evening. She made coffee in the butler’s pantry and was sitting down on the sofa to read some of the material on the Blood Oath Henry had given her when there was a light rap on her door.

  “Come in, it’s open.” She turned to look over her shoulder to see who had come to visit. “Jane, good morning. Come, sit with me while I have my coffee.”

  Jane closed the door, crossing the room to sit next to Sarah. The white wolf trotted at her side and sighed as he settled in next to her feet. “Did you and Gabriela have a pleasant time above ground yesterday?”

  “Yes, it was beautiful. Then Aris met us and Gaby came back to the Catacombs. He and I spent the evening in London. I ate more yesterday than I think I ever ate in a week in Chicago.” She laughed as she patted her little round stomach. “It was my last hurrah with human taste buds. I didn’t want to waste a moment.”

  “So now I see why you did not ring for breakfast this morning.” She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “Sarah, do you have any free time today to do a session? I feel we are so close to answers and it will be tumultuous here for the next few days, first with your changing, then with the Immortals traveling to Spain.”

  Sarah could see the pleading in her friend’s eyes. “Of course. Let me finish my coffee. We can do one this morning.”

  Wrapping her arms around Sarah, Jane hugged her and kissed her cheek. “Thank you so much. I have thought of nothing but our sessions since we began them. Each one brings me closer to the truth.”

  Sarah placed the empty cup on the table before rising to find her notebook and pen.

  JANE HOWARD, transcript, Session 4

  It was July in 1588 and the Spanish were once again upon us. An Armada of ships was heading for England to defeat our navy and take the throne from our Queen. King Philip had engaged three thousand monks to chant for their victory and the Catholic Pope had admonished all his people in Briton to rise up against the Queen, to fight alongside Spain when they took the shores of England. Yet Elizabeth stood strong in her belief that her people would never betray her or their beloved country.

  Every shipyard in England worked day and night building ships to add to the existing English fleet which, along with those of Hawkins, Drake, Raleigh and a few other privateers, equaled under one hundred. The three hundred galleons of the Armada placed the odds at three-to-one. With ten thousand sailors and twenty thousand handpicked fighting men coming from Spain, what chance did the boys and men of Sussex, Essex and Kent have?

  Reports showed
the Duke of Parma, said to be the most skillful commander in Europe, also waited on England’s doorstep with his own fifty-thousand fighting men. More ships were added daily as his shipwrights built them faster than the spies from Her Majesty could count.

  The Earl of Leicester, still in London, begged Her Majesty to repair to Windsor for her safety. The Queen believed if the Spanish were not held in the Channel, nowhere in Briton would she be safe. She admonished him to take Essex and Raleigh and be gone to join the fighting forces. Robert Cecil, her faithful secretary, was the only close advisor who remained with her.

  In the middle of the night she called me of all her maids to attend her. I watched as she paced and swore and prayed. Never had I seen her so beside herself. “Jane. Jane. What is to become of us? How am I able to be strong for the country when I am so frightened myself? Help me, dear girl. Help me.” Sobbing, she fell in a heap on the floor tearing at her thinning hair. Her tears stained her pale green silk bodice as I cradled her in my arms. She cried herself to a restless sleep, tossing her head and murmuring guttural sounds deep in her throat as if fighting the war in her dreams.

  Her time of rest was short before she stirred. She sat upright and stared at me with embarrassed eyes. “Speak not of this, Jane.” Standing, she straightened her clothes. “Call Parry to repair my hair and face. I must go among my people.”

  I hurried from her chamber to call the rest of her ladies. As I was leaving, Robert Cecil entered. I heard him tell Her Majesty the ships of Spain had been sighted. The three hundred galleons of the Armada stretched seven miles across the entrance of the Channel like a great crescent obscuring the horizon. Huge ships built like towers, so heavy that it appeared the wind was powerless to drive them forward. Our fighting vessels appeared small and insignificant as mice against tigers.