Circle of Death

by Thais Lopes

  And this had changed. The witches here weren’t that powerful the last time I had passed through the city.

  The metal gate opened as soon as I stood before it, and I crossed the small garden I had seen from the outside. I stepped on the porch, and the power seemed to hold me for a moment, measuring if I was a threat or not. I could be, but I choose not to. I already had too many enemies. The power disappeared, and the door opened with a click, a clear invitation. I stepped in the large reception room, bigger than it seemed from the outside, and walked to the counter on the other side of the room. The witch sitting behind it raised her wary eyes to me, her shields firmly in place in case I tried to take her mind.

  “I request an audience with the Council.” I said, keeping my voice light.

  “What is the reason?” She asked, her eyes slightly glazed. I felt an itch on the back of my neck, my reaction to an active use of magic. She was communicating with someone.

  “I found records of old spells that I think the Council will want to know about.” It wasn’t exactly a lie, as that was what I had brought to bargain with.

  She gestured toward the chairs spread across the room. “They will call you in a moment.”

  Her gaze held mine, and there was determination besides the wariness. She expected me to cause trouble because they hadn’t invited me in immediately, and was ready to fight me however she could. Without saying anything, I sat down to wait.

  A few minutes later, the witch called me and pointed to a side door. I opened it, and another witch waited for me. My escort. The man was obviously strong, a mage, probably, but I couldn’t be sure. He didn’t say anything as he led me through a hallway, down a flight of stairs and into a large open space that shouldn’t have been there and through another hallway. The large wooden doors in front of us were obviously the entrance of the Council’s hall. The witch opened them and I entered, ignoring the sound of the closing doors behind me.

  The hall was a circular space, with dozens of chairs in concentric circles, following the walls. I hid my surprise, realizing that I had seriously underestimated the strength of the witches at Belo Horizonte. They might have been a small group the last time I had been there, but they had turned into a real power. Those chairs meant that almost two hundred of the witches in the city were strong enough to be considered part of the lower council. In most cities that number never reached one hundred.

  The circles of chair were open right in front of the door, making a path to the center of the room. In front of it was a raised dais, and over it a simple table made of black wood. The two witches that were the Witches’ Council sat behind it, on chairs made of the same material and with golden details.

  I didn’t know who those witches were, I had stopped paying attention to their politics ages ago, but their flaming red hair didn’t leave any doubt about their power. And I knew that witches didn’t have power plays among themselves, which meant that the people who served as Council would really be the best of the best.

  They stared at me when I approached, without saying anything. Keeping the silence, I took a couple of sheets from the block on my pocket and put them in front of the man. He glanced at them before passing them to the woman on his right, not even bothering to hide his surprise when he looked at me again.

  “What brings you here?”

  “I ask for absolute secrecy about this meeting. These pages are a compensation for that. If you decide to help me, I have the rest of the spell with me.”

  The man didn’t say anything while the woman carefully read the manuscript. They were the beginning of an ancient spell, something I knew the witches had tried to recover for years, unsuccessfully. But I knew where to find all kind of knowledge lost in history.

  She looked up, meeting my eyes without fear and with a power that almost threatened me. “This is genuine. These pages were written by Death herself. How did you get them?”

  I took them from Death’s library, of course. But nowadays no one even knew that place existed. Even those from the Otherworld who knew about Death’s Sanctuary had never heard about the library. And it was better if they never did.

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  The woman glanced at the man, nodding.

  “You’ll have secrecy.” He said. “What do you want in exchange for the full spell?”

  “I guess you know the stories of the birth of the vampires. Especially about the two firstborns, now known as Seth and Lucius.” I began.

  “The bloodthirsty brothers. And later Lucius’ disappearance.” The woman interrupted me, her low voice gaining a supernatural tone.

  “I hope you don’t want us to find the missing firstborn. It has been tried many times, to no avail.” The man said.

  I knew it. And that had cost me a fortune on the Fae’s wards.

  “That won’t be necessary. I am the firstborn who disappeared.” I smiled, showing my fangs, and letting my shields drop for a second.

  This time both of them hid their surprise. Their faces showed nothing, but I could hear their heartbeats getting faster. They felt my power and knew I wasn’t lying. The woman’s eyes became misty, and she leaned forward. A Seer. That explained the eerie voice. And that also told me exactly who she was. There was only one active Seer in the territory that was strong enough to sit in the council. Lilian Delaro, the second most powerful Seer alive.

  She stared at me for a couple of seconds, her misty gaze holding mine before speaking.

  “You abandoned your brother.” Her voice now sounded completely expressionless. “But hadn’t he abandoned you before? Why should you hunt together again, why turn away from all you conquered? Your paths are no longer the same, and what will be the result of this?”

  Abruptly, she fell against the back of her chair. For a couple of seconds she didn’t breath, and the man beside her touched her face, leaning forward to whisper something on her ear. With that strange sensibility to active magic that rarely was useful, I realized that he was calling her back, out of the trance. And I was sure that had been a true vision. Her words had been exactly the truth. Gasping, the seer came back to herself, still staring at me.

  I choose to break the silence. “I need to know how the power balance in the city is.”

  They looked at each other, still in silence, and I felt that itch again. They were communicating silently. What else had Lilian Delaro seen? The man straightened, turning to look at me.

  “There is no dominant power among the Otherworld in this territory. Your location would be sold for the right price. It’s better if you stay where you are.”

  They exchanged another glance, looking grave. I wondered what was going on in their silent communication. “It would be better if I stayed where I was”? How could they know? Did that have anything to do with Kelene’s secrets? I could bet it had.

  “Seth won’t find you through the witches.” The man went on.

  “And we will be on your side when the time comes.” Lilian added, her voice still with a trace of that eerie prophecy sound.

  I nodded, knowing that they wouldn’t tell me what that meant. That was the problem of dealing with witches: they often spoke in riddles. I retrieved the remaining pages of the spell and put them in front of the man. Without even looking at them, he passed them to the woman.

  “Think about us as allies, Lucio.” He said, and it didn’t even surprise me that he knew the name I was using. The seer had probably told him.

  “And not because of the wonderful gift, but because of your role on what is coming towards us.”

  I bowed, thanking them, and didn’t even try to pretend that I understood what they were talking about. I didn’t, and they knew it. If they wanted to explain they would have done so. I hated riddles.

  I was thoughtful when I left the Council’s head office. If there wasn’t any dominant power there I would really need to be careful. I needed to find out who was the local leader of the Fae and if it would be safe to get in touch
with them again. They had been my allies once, but would the past be worth anything?

  That meant I would believe the Witches’ Council and consider them as allies. I went back to the apartment, keeping their words in mind. I had been the hunter for all my life and now, being the prey, I could use my experience to predict what Seth would expect me to do and hide from him. It wasn’t as if Seth could destroy me, but he could cause me more disturbances than I was willing to deal with.

  Once at the apartment, I went to my bedroom, the only one with a television, and searched for something to watch during the night. There was nothing in the public channels. I would have to arrange the installation of cable television there, if Kelene didn’t mind. Sighing, I went to the study room and searched for anything interesting among the woman’s books. Then, satisfied, I sat down and started reading.

  As soon as Kelene’s alarm clock rang for the first time, I got up and made coffee. For some reason I didn’t really understand, I wanted to get close to her. It was probably just my curiosity reacting to someone with so many secrets. But I had noticed the empty coffee pot last night, and it didn’t cost me anything to do something nice for her.

  She needed almost half an hour to get up, for my amusement. Kelene left the bedroom looking as if she was sleepwalking, finding her way with her hands on the wall.

  “Good morning.” She mumbled when she passed in front of my bedroom on her way to the kitchen.

  I didn’t answer, knowing that she wouldn’t even hear me. A couple of minutes later she was back, a big cup full of coffee on her hand and looking awake.

  “Thanks for the coffee.” Her voice was still sleepy.

  “I hope I didn’t make it too strong.” I answered, trying not to laugh.

  “You did.” She smiled. “Just the way I like it.”

  I smiled, more satisfied with that than I had any reason to be. “You wake up too early.”

  “I have a first time class today, unfortunately.” She sipped the coffee, leaning against the doorframe. “But at least I don’t have any night classes.”

  “At least.” I smiled, too. “Do you mind if I ask for cable TV here? I’ll pay, of course.”

  “Make yourself at home.” She shrugged. “I’m not a television fan.”

  “I don’t even know why I had imagined that.”

  She narrowed her eyes, and I laughed.

  6. Kelene

  For the first time since the beginning of the semester I arrived early for Thursday’s first class. I had no idea of what Lucio had put on that coffee, or if it was just the fact that he had made coffee for me, but I was completely awake. I didn’t need many hours of sleep, but took a long time to really wake up, if there was no need to be alert.

  Still, my lack of focus on the class was the same. I wasn’t half asleep, but I was thinking about Lucio. Seeing him leaning against the bed, reading one of my books, had brought memories back. I was sure I had met him before, and if he didn’t recognize me, there was only one option, and it was something I usually avoided thinking about. Had our paths really crossed again?

  “Do you not fear what my lover might do to you?” Kelene smiled at the man who had caught her attention.

  “Why should I? We have had our altercations before, and both of us are still alive.”

  He reached out to put a stray strand of copper hair behind her ear, and her smile widened. His gesture wasn’t proper, but she had never cared about it… And neither had him.

  “Would you like to stay the night, then?” She invited, gesturing towards the house behind her.

  “I would love to, but not tonight. There is too much going on to risk it.” He seemed truly regretful, but he was also right.

  She nodded, even though her eyes had a strange light on them, and there was a hint of a laugh in her expression, as if she knew more than she let on.

  I shook my head, trying to erase those images. I missed my copper hair, but that was all I missed from the past… Or what I let myself miss. If I was being honest, I missed the chance of happiness I had had in my grasp, once.

  But it didn’t matter if Lucio was the man in those memories or not – and I carefully avoided trying to compare him with what I could remember of that man. He moved me in ways that no one had been able to do for longer that I wanted to remember. It was easy to smile with him, and each of his smiles left me unsure about how to act. His small gesture of making coffee had me with a silly smile until I arrived at the classroom. It had been too long since anyone had done anything like this for me. And the worst was that I knew it had nothing to do with a vampire’s natural allure. I was immune to all that. But, since that first moment sitting beside him on my living room, he had made me feel something I hadn’t felt in a long time. And I, truthfully, didn’t think I would ever feel again, after all that had happened.

  “Kelene?” Artur’s voice interrupted my thoughts.

  “Sorry, Artur, my head was miles away. What is it?”

  “Group activity.” He pointed to the board.

  We had been doing all college group activities together for so long that once in a while one of us wouldn’t do it. And that was a day I’d rather take to think about what was going on and decide how to act from there.

  “Do you mind…?”

  “The next one is yours.” Was all he said before starting to work.

  I hid my surprise. Usually he would be asking a lot of questions, trying to figure out why I was like that. But not today. Weird.

  But in the next second my thoughts were back to Lucio and what his presence meant. How can someone trust again after learning that the man she gave her life to was a traitor? How could I even dream about falling in love again, after all that had happened when I felt like this before? But I should have guessed that only another vampire would be able to make me feel again, even if I hated this idea. Only one of them would be able to understand and accept me… And have a power that was equivalent to mine.

  And there was also the problem of my memories. Those years were clear in my mind, as if nothing would ever erase them, no matter how much I tried. The love, the suspicions, a chance of a bright something I wasn’t sure I could name, and then the worst betrayal. The two men that had destroyed me. No. One man. The other one had been only a catalyst, the last straw that made me take a stand.

  But, unlike Seth, Lucio didn’t know what I was. And even if he did, Death couldn’t send any other servants against me, I had made sure of that.

  I was no longer that naïve girl.

  I barely heard what was said at the other classes, and was still lost in thoughts when I went home.

  When I arrived at the apartment, the technician who had gone there to install the cable TV was just leaving. I locked the door after him, surprised. They usually needed two or three days to send someone. Lucio noticed my surprise and smiled.

  “Vampires and their tricks to get everything done in record speed.” I muttered, with a trace of laugh in my voice. I knew perfectly well that there were no trick, only lots of money involved. It must be nice.

  I did have money, but I couldn’t waste it in doing things like that. I didn’t know if I would ever be able to get a regular job, which meant that I had to make the sum I had last for years.

  Shaking my head and still smiling, I went to the study. I was halfway there when a smell caught my attention, and I looked into the kitchen. He had made lunch. For a second I stood there, completely without reaction, before turning to leave my bag on the study’s table. Only then I went back to the kitchen, taking a deep breath before getting a dish.

  “Did you like it?” Lucio asked, his voice coming from right behind me.

  “A lot. You’re the first vampire who cooks that I’ve ever met.” I turned to face him, smiling, and almost stumbled back when I realized he was almost touching me. Too close. I took another deep breath, my heart pounding while the smiled.

  “And it seems I did underestimate you. I imagined you wer
e lying about meeting other vampires, but you weren’t surprised to see me up.” He went on, his voice so light that I could almost believe he hadn’t noticed my speeding heartbeat.

  “I thought by now everyone knew the sun doesn’t throw vampires into death.” I shrugged, turning and taking off the lid of the first pot, trying to pretend his proximity didn’t affect me.

  “You would be surprised.”

  He went back to the living room, and I sat down to eat. A couple of seconds later I could hear soft music when he turned on the stereo. Debussy. I should have guessed that the contemporary soundtrack wouldn’t be an everyday thing. How long had he lived? I smiled, thinking about learning more about him by his choice of music. And the food was wonderful, too.

  “If you enjoyed it, I can make lunch for you every day you’ll be at home. I’m not doing anything in the daylight hours, anyway.”

  “Hmm, I’ll take it. But you won’t get any discount on the rent.” I laughed to myself, feeling light, almost happy.

  He raised his arms in a gesture of surrender, visible from where I was. “I’m not trying to save some money, don’t worry.”

  And that was enough to make that light feeling disappear.

  “What do you want, then?” I whispered, seriously. My memories and that permanent wariness I needed to survive wouldn’t let me think that he didn’t want anything. And now I had the complication of the way I reacted to him.

  I didn’t mean for him to hear that, but I had forgotten about vampiric hearing. When I looked up he was at the door, staring at me with an intense expression.

  “I don’t want anything, Kelene. Are you always that suspicious?”

  “Don’t get me wrong, but…” I hesitated, measuring my words. I didn’t want to offend him. “I know when someone is trying to get close to me, so don’t try to deny it. And life taught me that people just try to get close to others when they want something.” I took a deep breath, remembering how Seth had done exactly that in the past.