Circle of Death

by Thais Lopes

  “We are bound to each other. This is just another side of it, one which I have just learned how to use. And I think that you’ll be able to find me like this, too, if you need.”

  The bond we had Sealed the night before she went to the Sanctuary. I smiled, more satisfied about it than I should be. Now that she had pointed it, I could see how to reach her the same way I did with my vampires.

  “I can find you. It’s like how I share with my subjects.”

  “Exactly.”

  We were almost reaching the city, and I needed only to glance around to see it was best if I cut that contact.

  “We’re about to enter the city. I need to go.”

  I felt her nod, and then her presence disappeared from my mind.

  The other vampires halted, all around me, hesitating before what was in front of us. With a sharp signal, I told them to follow me as I made an effort to enter the city.

  Even the most violent of the vampires would hesitate before the macabre spectacle we could see. The city was silent, the buildings intact, as if it had simply been abandoned. But the corpses and the blood in the streets showed what had really happened there.

  “It was a slaughter.” I heard one vampire mutter, and agreed silently.

  The bodies had been torn to pieces, entrails spread in the pavement. Or, at least, what was left of them. The blood had dried in the streets and carrion animals were everywhere, cleaning the feast the Nameless had left them.

  11. Kelene

  Death had followed me out of that building, and we stopped in the open space between it and the palace. Her face was in the shadows that the falling night threw over the city, but I was sure that even if I could see her, I would only see that same strange expression.

  “You told the absolute truth there, Kelene.” She spoke, suddenly. “Now I see why I wasn’t able to imprison the Nameless alone, that time.”

  I didn’t answer. I had no idea of what Death meant with those words, even though she was talking about the time I had trapped the Nameless. And that voice meant that, even if I asked, I wouldn’t get any answer.

  Before I could do anything about it, I felt Lucio’s presence on the edge of my mind, through that bond Ivan had taught me to recognize. He was reliving some scene from his past, his emotions reaching me: exultation and guilt at the same time. Without hesitation, I reached out to him before he dived into the past, only moving away when I was sure he would hold to the present.

  While I talked to Lucio, Alice had approached.

  “Will you train me tonight?” To my surprise, her question was to Death.

  “No. Tonight I’ll take care of what Kelene needs to know before this is over. Have some rest.”

  The girl nodded, her excess of energy still contained. No, not contained, it was something different. It was still there, but now she wasn’t acting as the crazy carefree girl I knew, as if… As if that had been a mask.

  How hadn’t I seen it before?

  “Who is taking care of the defense?” I asked, knowing too well that when you wear a mask for that long you’re never comfortable explaining it.

  “Marcelo was the best in strategy games, not me. We had a deal, he made sure I took all the credit so that people would underestimate him.” She smiled as she shook her head. “I’m not an strategist. He took control of our defenses, while I... The Sanctuary needs a new Keeper, and that is what I’ll be.”

  I took a deep breath, surprised. I knew that now, more than ever, we needed another Keeper, but didn’t have time to think much about it. To tell the truth, I didn’t think about it at all. Somehow, part of me had always thought I would take that role, as well, but I should have known it was impossible, I should have remembered. The White Hand was Death’s Keeper, or at least that was the original role, according to what I had learned. I would never be able to take both responsibilities. But, Alice? The girl who was always laughing and joking about everything? She wasn’t made for the role.

  No. The Alice I had met wasn’t made for that role. But it seemed there was far more to her than she had shown me. And maybe that was why all my instincts had screamed at me to teach her, when we first met.

  Something of my thoughts must have shown on my face, and Alice laughed.

  “Don’t underestimate, Kelene. Not you. I thought you knew, when you decided to teach me.”

  “I taught you because my instincts told me to do so. But whatever you’re hiding, I don’t know.” I answered honestly.

  Death nodded, approving, as she had always done when I spoke about my instincts. I thought she would tell me what was going on, but she kept silent.

  “You know I’m adopted, don’t you?” Alice asked, and I nodded. “The government took me from my first mother when I was fourteen, because of some stupid complaint, and I ended up in the complex. My first adoptive mother, the one I still call mother, was the daughter of one of the demon lords.”

  I didn’t even try to hide my surprise. Humanity had as many stories about the demons as they had about the rest of the Otherworld, but they still hadn’t realized demons were just another part of the Otherworld. I didn’t know anyone who knew more than the old stories about them, but it was known that, just like the Fae, there were many races of demons, each one with their own characteristics and abilities. The demon lords were the ones who ruled over each race, and usually the most bloodthirsty, too. If Alice had been raised by the daughter of one of the lords…

  A memory teased me, of a couple of demons found living near the Witches’ Council. It had been before I became the White Hand again, but I had heard about it. The demons had been banished, but there had been no mention of a human girl.

  “Her spirit is strong, Kelene.” Death added. “One of the strongest I’ve ever found. Alice will make a great Keeper and, thanks to what you’ve taught her, she will be able to take her role before we face the Nameless.”

  I nodded. It was better like this. But I still thought it was my fault Alice and my other neighbors got involved in all that. It didn’t matter what they had already seen, they were still innocents, and that was about to change.

  “I’m sorry I dragged you into this, Alice.”

  “Don’t be. I’m more than happy with the direction my life seems to be taking, and so are the others. We are making a difference, even though we are humans among the Otherworld.” She smiled, with a strange light in her eyes. “You are too much the White Hand to be called human, and it’s nice to see we are able to help.”

  I laughed, caught by surprise by her comment and the truth I could hear in her words. She was right, I was barely human after all the years as the White Hand.

  “So be it.”

  Still smiling, Alice ran back to one of the buildings.

  “Come with me, Kelene. There really is much you need to learn before we confront the Nameless. We can’t risk you losing control of your powers again, like you did in the Sanctuary.” Death said, starting to walk towards the unused areas of the city.

  Her expression was grim, more forbidding than ever, even if I considered only what I had seen after the Nameless’ escape. She still hid many secrets, I realized, with a sudden intuition, and some of them would affect me.

  12. Lucio

  Blood trickled down the temple’s stairs. Blood from those who had sought refuge in sacred land, only to discover the hard way that their gods were unable to protect them from those monsters, who had destroyed everything that had been built in centuries of history.

  The three men stood before the city’s walls. Many villages and cites had fallen since that first attack, and their vampire army kept increasing. But now they were in front of their first really important target, according to the one who lead them. The kingdom’s capital, the city everyone had fled to when the stories about villages covered in blood started to spread.

  They were careful not to leave any survivors, only those turned into vampires. There was no one who could tell what had really happen
ed, to reveal who had caused the slaughter. All that people knew was what the traveling merchants had told them, caravans arriving full of people frightened by what they had seen.

  “Take of the hoods.” One of the soldiers in the gate ordered, stopping them.

  They obeyed, and everyone could see the bloodstained faces, the haunted eyes of those who had seen tragedy.

  “The Sanctuary sent us here.” One of the men said. “We survived one of the attacks and ran from the monsters who destroyed the villages.”

  The soldiers, not on high alert, came to search them. No one had survived before then. A possible survivor, for them, could just as well be one of the attackers.

  “Let them in.” A new voice cut the silence that had settled around them. A man dressed as a noble, armed, approached. “They are Ajoxb’ak and K’inich, from Death’s Sanctuary. They can pass.”

  Without another word, the soldiers motioned them inside, and soon the three of them were beside the noble who had come to meet them.

  “It is nice to see you alive.” He said, instead of offering the traditional greeting. “I feared for the Sanctuary.”

  “Those still inside the Sanctuary are safe.”

  “My sister?” The man asked, his concern clear in his voice.

  “K’ujul is safe.”

  The man sighed, relieved, before speaking again.

  “I cannot take long here. We are making plans for the city’s defense. Do you have any information that could help?”

  “Unfortunately, no.”

  He nodded, moving away with quick steps toward the palace.

  The three men looked at each other without hiding their smiles.

  “You are being more useful than I expected.” The leader said. “Remember, we will not make any vampires here. Kill all those who are not at their best. Children, those still entering adulthood and past their prime don not interest me.”

  The vampires nodded, passing the instructions to their army through that strange mental connection they had with the ones they made. In a matter of seconds, they were ready to start purifying the city.

  The soldiers didn’t have a chance to stop the vampires, who entered the city as if they didn’t even exist, killing those who didn’t interest their Masters and ignoring the rest.

  Smiling fiercely, the three men who had entered first removed their cloaks and joined the attack.

  Those who served the Nameless’ plans were left alive, in a city covered with the all the others’ blood.

  But I had gone back, not long after the Intervention, to kill everyone who survived our first attack.

  “Why would someone do all this?” One of the vampires who followed me asked, his gaze on a little girl, her body twisted in like a broken doll.

  “The Nameless is cleaning Earth, destroying everyone he doesn’t think is worthy of immortality, before destroying Death herself.” I answered, forcing myself to ignore the memories. “Search for survivors! He will have left some alive!”

  We spread through the city, searching for signs of life and taking the survivors we found to the place where we should have waited for the Fae, which was far enough that the smell didn’t reach us. The Fae team had just arrived, and they accepted the task of keeping the humans there, as they didn’t seem eager to enter the city after the first human started describing what he had seen.

  The group of survivors was varied, but the age group was clear: between twenty-five and forty years old, and only those of perfect health. Anyone who didn’t match that was useless to the Nameless’ great plan.

  A long time ago he had been close to getting what he wanted. No matter how much humanity had changed, that scene was too similar to what I had seen and done in the beginning of my existence as a vampire, before the Intervention. I had forced myself to forget all that, but now I was wondering if I could have avoided it if I had remembered.

  “We’ll take you to a refuge.” I said, considering my duty to explain what we would do, even if we ended up using a compulsion spell to force them to obey. “You’ll be safe there while we start hunting the creature that is causing this.”

  My words were received with hostility and disbelief, as I had expected. Without time or patience to try to convince them we wouldn’t harm them, I gave the signal to the Fae, and soon all the humans were under their spell. My vampires added mind control to the compulsion, and soon the humans entered the pathway through the limbo that would take them to one of the old cities.

  Seeing them leave, I reached out to Kelene through our bond.

  “What happened?” She asked.

  “We need to move faster. A lot faster. I remember the Nameless’ plan from before, and it seems he is doing the same thing. If we don’t make our move soon it will be too late for humanity.” I quickly explained about those who were useful to his plans and how he had everyone else killed.

  “It will be tomorrow. I need a couple of hours of rest, and we need to change our plans. I’ll get in touch.” Kelene’s voice was cold as she said it, and I felt her presence disappear as soon as she finished speaking.

  Quickly, I searched for the mental bond with the Masters and told them what they would find in the attacked cities. We still needed to take the survivors somewhere safe, but now our priority must be evacuating the next targets.

  13. Kelene

  “What is this power?” I asked Death as soon as we stopped, in the same house Ivan had taught me, only hours before.

  No one knew that, but what had happened in the Sanctuary had haunted me since then. What had I done? I had already been the weird one, the aberration, once before, when I was a child with strange powers, back when I met Avés. After all those years, I thought I knew everything I could do with the powers I had inherited from my father and what I had earned as the White Hand. But no power, no known ability, was able to stop Death herself. No. There was one thing. The Nameless had done something like that to make sure Death couldn’t reach him. What was I becoming?

  “This is the true Death’s Power.” Her answer was blunt, even though she seemed lost in thought. “The pure power, without the filters that come from the negotiations of the naturally imposed limitations.”

  “Death’s Power? How?” I managed to ask, too surprised to think about what it really meant.

  “Your mother was a White Hand, you probably guessed this years ago.”

  No, I hadn’t. But she didn’t give me time to question that.

  “She had an amazing ability for contact, it was almost instinctive for her. We were almost always sharing mind contact, and I think that’s the reason some of my power went to her, and then to you. But, honestly, it’s just a theory.”

  And Death had already started to lie. Or maybe not lie, but she wasn’t telling me the truth. I really had Death’s Power, and my mother had been a White Hand with and unusual ability for contact. I didn’t know exactly what it meant, but I could guess. And, somehow, I was sure she wasn’t telling the truth about the rest. She knew why I had that power, but wouldn’t tell me. I knew it was important to know, to understand why, but I also knew Death well enough to notice that she wouldn’t tell me anything now. I would need to find another way to discover the truth.

  “And why did the White Hand marry the Nameless? There was no way she wouldn’t know who he was, and he would have realized what she was, not to mention that…”

  “That it was improper, almost a betrayal, that a Hand of the White Hand married my greatest enemy.” She finished my line of thought, her harsh and annoyed voice telling me she had thought about it more than once. “But it was our best chance to find a weakness, a way to imprison him again. She approached the Nameless under my orders, and he never realized who she was.”

  I didn’t answer, finally understanding. Death hadn’t been able to imprison the Nameless that time. I had done it, with the Fae’s help. This was a clear sign that he had become stronger. But how? And, for the first time, I was sure Death wouldn’
t be able to defeat the Nameless again.

  “You…” I started, but she didn’t let me finish.

  “You gave me the answer to this problem. He will fall.”

  Something in the way she spoke made me shiver, and I was almost relieved when I felt Lucio reaching out for me.

  “What happened?”

  “We need to move faster. A lot faster. I remember the Nameless’ plan from before, and it seems he is doing the same. If we don’t make our move soon it will be too late for humanity.” I saw the city and the survivors as Lucio saw them, and also the images from his memory, from when the Nameless had made the vampires and used them as his personal army. I was sure Lucio hadn’t meant to show that to me, but I had seen it and understood his fear.

  “It will be tomorrow. I need a couple of hours of rest, and we need to change our plans. I’ll get in touch.” I answered, ending the communication, far more worried than I seemed to be.

  It’s one thing to hear someone telling you what’s going on, to know that there is a slaughter happening. It’s quite another to see the results of that, as I had just seen through Lucio’s eyes. If I had any idea it would be like that, I wouldn’t have waited not even those few days before making our move.

  “Did you know? This “purification” the Nameless is doing, did you know about it?” I turned to Death, furious at the thought that she had hidden it from me.

  Something in her expression made me freeze before she spoke.

  “No. I did not know. I don’t remember what happened before the Intervention.”

  That surely wasn’t the answer I had expected. How was it possible that Death herself didn’t remember what had happened? Even in the Fae’s legends, that time was remembered with horror, even though most of it had been lost. It was impossible that someone who had been there had forgotten it. It was clear Death wasn’t telling me the whole truth, but I couldn’t say that had been a lie. I knew her well enough to recognize when she was only telling me part of something. And, just like when she had talked about my mother, it would be useless to insist.