Hopelessness overwhelmed him as he moved towards the main gate. The sticky claws of desperation grasped at his stomach, tearing him apart. The only sound breaking the peace around him was the gentle call of an owl. Luca smiled in the direction of the sound as the owl swooped down over his head, grazing his shoulder. The bird stood in front of him, next to a dry pipe leading down to the aquifers. The creature scratched at the ground, staring at Luca, unblinking.
He walked toward the creature to see the strange pattern on the ground, as he drew closer the owl disappeared with no sound and left no trace, yet, on the ground were a series of arrows scratched into the dirt. A trickle of water spurted up from one of the scratches, forming a tiny rivulet in the dry earth. The arrows pointed to the wet area as the water formed into a letter – the letter A.
She’s here. Thank you. She must be underground. Luca ran along the shore, following the owl’s arrows, looking at the ground for the right sign of entry. The owl had drawn three arrows to the left, two to the right, with a circle in the middle. Then the water, there was water from the ground, and he must find the source.
***
It lay submerged in the earth like a large copper coin; its ornate face stared at the sky. Luca peered at the oxidized surface; he wondered what the strange craters were and why the owl had directed him to this spot.
Where is Astrid, if not here?
He slid down the dark, dampened, brick walls, landing on the orb half-buried in the ground. He kicked away at the dirt and realized it was the old seal of Gravesend. Gravesend before the vampires, before the Society, and long before Draegan’s virus began to destroy its citizens. The old seal of the old order, it was there that Draegan chose to bring her.
Luca kicked a small grate to the side; the iron bars ringing in defiance. He managed to slide the grate over and slip down the opening. He moved like a feline, finding his footing on rickety old iron steps in a narrow passage leading into the bowels of Gravesend.
As he descended, he placed an old and cracked pair of goggles over his eyes; the red lenses permitted night vision. He heard rats scuttling around and the scratching sound of other bugs and beetles thriving in the moist underground environment. Bending his knees to be able to maneuver the narrow tunnel, he ran as soon as he hit the ground level. Dry leaves and errant newspapers crunched under his feet, he hoped the noise wouldn’t alert Draegan.
He inhaled deeply, calling upon all of his powers. He thought of his mother, her strength and her weakness, and pulled the energy of all who had loved him to face and battle Draegan. Shocks of electricity surged through his powerful frame as he neared the opening at the end of the tunnel. He could see a small glimmer of light as the underground aquifer began.
Ahead of him, he knew his war would begin.
***
Astrid lay bound as she watched Draegan release the pressure valve from the tube in his arm. She recoiled as the blue blood poured into the water supply. She kicked at the ground, trying to move to stop his madness. She knew that the water would eventually reach all of Gravesend. Her family, all of her loved ones, and every citizen would drink the water, becoming infected with Draegan’s insanity. Her heart pounded and her mouth tasted metallic, slowly her eyes closed against her will as she fell into unconsciousness.
Astrid’s eyes opened as the light cracked into the room. Water beetles crawled and clicked around her and bats swooped through the room. A shiver ran down her spine as a knot of fear descended into the pit of her stomach. Draegan had disappeared. It was wretched enough when he was in her sight, but out of her sight made her more afraid of what he may be doing.
“Astrid?” a calm voice carried down the wet tunneled hall, barely above a whisper. She jolted away from her fears with a shiver of hope. The one creature that could find her, and the one creature that could save Gravesend, was finally there.
“Astrid?” he continued. “I’m here, it’s Luca. Everything will be fine. You are safe.”
“Here!” she cried. “I’m back here,” she was barely discernible, her voice muffled by the rag in her mouth that gagged her. Her hope escalated as he ran closer to her dark prison, and then like a stab in the heart, she felt an icy coldness grip her, as if someone was watching. Draegan!
“No, Luca. Don’t come back her. It’s a trap!” The cold feeling enveloping her body could only be Draegan’s presence, looming somewhere, leaving her as bait for his brother.
“Astrid? Where are you?” called Luca in a strange singing voice.
“Luca, leave! Draegan only wants to destroy you.” Her mind drifted to the water supply and the danger to the townsfolk. “You must stop the water. It is contaminated with the virus. Everyone will be infected.” Her mind oscillated between her selfish desire to safeguard Luca and her altruistic desire to save Gravesend. She shook her head and scratched her wrists against the wall, hoping to weaken the bindings of her restraints.
“I will leave soon enough, with you. Keep talking so I can find you.” Astrid furiously tried to free herself, her clothes and hair in disarray. She looked infected.
“No, I will not. Because, that is what Draegan wants. He wants you to find me, and then he can continue his game. Don’t you understand? He hates you, and he wants to destroy you and all you care about.”
“It’s revoltingly to see your blasphemous love for my heroic brother.” Draegan’s voice broke through the cold. Steeliness rushed into Astrid’s heart and mind, she must defeat him.
“You won’t win,” she bluffed. “You aren’t strong enough. You are sick and about to die.”
“My brother has fallen in love with an idiot. Those words you just heard from Luca were mine.”
Draegan’s laughter and uncouth words slammed into Astrid’s mind. She rocked back and forth, banging her head against the wall. Tears filled her eyes. How could I have been so gullible and deceived so easily? Large hot tears fell onto her soiled body but at least the warm wetness was real. Draegan was still unseen by her as she lay on the ground, chained and dirty until death would take her from this hell.
A yellow flicker caught her eye in the darkness of the crawlspace. It fluttered and undulated towards her. Astrid made out its wings, swiftly moving and dancing in the air. A butterfly, just like the ones in her dreams. She wondered how a beautiful butterfly could enter and survive the aquifers. She wondered if she was dreaming again, or if it was a hallucination created by Draegan’s mind games. She looked away, trying to forget the tiny creature as it flew closer and closer to her, its delicate wings brushing against her cheek.
The butterfly would not leave her. It circled her, then sat on her shoulder, and last her foot. A clean scent wafted over her, covering her senses in a cloud of fresh hope. The butterfly, its scent filling her with purpose, washed the dirt from her body. She knew then what was true. She knew that Luca had arrived.
***
Luca’s passage through the dark tunnel had taken him much longer than expected. He ran through tunnels and pipes for what seemed like miles. He carried a tiny bottle that contained a colorless but sparkling fluid inside, borrowed from the High Table. It glittered in the darkness as if liquefied diamonds. He twisted the small silver cap and allowed three small drops to escape. He closed his eyes and held the bottle above his head. An oriental fragrance, subtle but powerful, filled the tunnel, replacing the foul, sour scent of mildew. The drops, instead of falling to the ground, took differing shapes. First, a feather, then a white lily, and last a bright yellow butterfly.
The butterfly fluttered its wings, developing from a small colorless drop of liquid into a living insect. Its small and slender black body was weightless as Luca opened his palm to catch the delicate creature. It slowly descended to the tip of his index finger as Luca brought it to his lips. In a flash of color, contrasting brightly with the dank gray aquifer, the butterfly flew straight ahead.
Its journey was arduous but critical, for the creature would be Luca’s messenger and beacon, its purpose of existence to find Ast
rid and evade Draegan.
Its powerful antennae, similar to the bat’s use of ultrasound in the darkness for echolocation, sent out waves to detect warm-blooded life. Hovering over small rodents, the butterfly sent a signal of mass to Luca. Luca shook his head, sending a message to the butterfly to continue forward until a woman, Astrid, was found.
Luca knelt to the ground, praying once again for success. About to give up, the butterfly transmitted a signal to him. A warm-blooded creature of similar mass to Astrid was located deep in the aquifer. The fear and doubt that he felt moments before dissipated into the darkness of the tunnel like thin wisps of smoke.
Luca ran, following the scent of the butterfly. Tremors of joy and excitement flew through him like electricity. He ripped off his night vision goggles as his eyes became accustomed to the warm glow of the tungsten lamps. Through half closed lids he saw a figure in the distance, a female tied with shreds of cloth, her clothes ripped to shreds.
His heart stopped in shock as hatred for his brother filled him. Ever since Draegan had stolen Astrid, Luca’s mind created dreadful visions of the damage Draegan would wreak. He had prepared himself, thinking he envisaged the worst. Yet, as he looked at her from a distance, nothing could have prepared him.
Her body crouched in the corner, her arms and legs bound. Her large eyes stared at the ceiling as he approached. Her milky-white skin had scratches along her arms and her neck was badly bruised. Her chestnut hair lay in matted clumps, like hardened mud. Her face was hollow, her cheekbones gaunt, and fear swam in every pore of her face.
“Astrid,” he cried from deep in the tunnel, but she continued to stare at the ceiling. “It’s me, I am here.”
Astrid looked at the butterfly on her foot and smiled. The small creature covered her in a strange white veil, giving her strength. Looking down the tunnel, she spotted him running.
“It’s Luca, Astrid. I promise. It is no one else but me.”
Astrid said nothing for several minutes until she blinked as if waking from a deep sleep. He ripped the bindings from her hands and rubbed them. She sniffed his cold skin, taking long breaths, and then looked into his eyes. Her own were filled with tears.
“You’re here. It really is you.” He untied the rope around her ankles and picked her up. “You must go.” Astrid’s voice was a hoarse whisper. “Leave now, block the drainage system and water supply to Gravesend. It’s tainted with the infection.” She stared into Luca’s gray eyes and streaks of her old confidence returned. Her eyes spoke of her love for him more clearly than ever, as Luca hugged her closely and breathed deeply into her hair.
She looked back at the chains still attached to her waist, tying her to the wall. Luca’s fingers touched the chinks, melting them where they intersected, making them fall to the ground in a loud clang.
“You must go, please. The entire town will die if you don’t stop the water.” Luca took her hand and turned to exit. As they reached the door, Astrid shrieked. “Draegan!”
Draegan’s body filled the opening to the side room. Luca turned around to see his brother, his face twisted in malevolent hatred. Teeth bared, his right hand wielded an arm long pneumatic gas injector. A sharp brass bayonet topped his weapon. Its engraved handle sat like a clarinet in Draegan’s hand, but unlike the instrument, from the opening at the top, a long titanium injector pointed at Luca. An attached glass container held a chartreuse vapor, a molecular blend of gases that Draegan had worked on during his imprisonment in the sphere. When used on a vampire, the gas separated the vampire from his own cognition, permanently debilitating his mental capacity.
Draegan began to laugh. “Clinging to one another, young lovers? Shall you each try to save the other?” He walked around them, in a circle. “You have already lost, dear brother.” Draegan’s voice dripped with vengeance and hatred. Every venomous word spat forth with abhorrence. “You are both as good as dead.”
Yet, Luca refused to flinch. “No, Draegan. You have lost.”
Their calmness enraged Draegan further. His finger hung over the activator's switch on the injector. Shaking with rage, he closed his eyes and pulled back the button. The spurting sound of the gas shooting through the injector filled him with a giddy joy. However, in a moment of horror, he felt numbness crawl down his body. His neck tingled, and then his arms fell loose and flaccid by his sides. The injector fell to the ground as his breathing halted in his chest and his legs collapsed. Luca and Astrid stood, watching him fall.
As Draegan lay on the ground, a small, burnt shape singed the ground next to his eyes. Paper-thin particles flew over his face, landing on his lips. Tiny little flakes fell like snow, almost imperceptible.
“The butterfly…” whispered Astrid in amazement. “ It was the butterfly.”
Luca bent to gently gather the immolated wings. “Yes, it is. It made the ultimate sacrifice and projected the gas back to you, Draegan. It gave itself up. It would rather die than have you live.”
***
Luca and Astrid ran through the underground system. Both relieved, yet afraid that Draegan would find his way back into the world.
“I will not leave your side until this ends,” he swore.
Her breath was haggard as if a new storm was entering her life. Her hands shook as she reached for his, holding tightly, fearing to let go.
Luca bent down and kissed her on the lips. He drank her being into his. He felt the touch of her skin, the smell of her, everything. Luca smiled at her, even in the face of destruction.
“He’s infected all of Gravesend, hasn’t he?”
Luca didn’t answer. Destruction on such a scale was hard to fathom. He knew she was thinking of her sister, mother, and father, as well as the plight of all the people she had cared for and helped. Their faces swam in her mind.
“Luca? I must go and see.”
But Luca did not want Astrid to leave. She had a different destiny now.
Chapter Fourteen
Ashes to Ashes
Mordecai sat alone in his office. The warm glow and the sputtering of the fire in the fireplace only broke the darkness and silence around him. All the other High Table members had been quarantined to quarters. Mordecai sat alone, his mind as sharp as a knife’s edge, waiting, ready for the moment, for the signal.
Then it came. A voice in his mind.
“Mordecai, it is time.”
The voice and the person were dear to him. It was his pillar of pragmatism, his perfect son. The one he missed. And now he was back. But where?
Mordecai sprang from his ornately carved cherry wood chair, his speed unmatched and his mind resolved. He ran to the corner of the room where Ivy waited.
“How did you know, Ivy?” Mordecai asked as she handed him a rucksack.
“Because a woman can see the same things as a man, but we see them differently. Where you see destruction, we see hope. But be careful, Mordecai. It is the beginning.”
He took it from her, surprised by its weight. As he left the room, he looked back; his eyes suddenly grew old and weary. Then, as if tearing himself away from something dear, he ran to the window and jumped to the ground. His robes floated outward as gravity pulled him.
He ran like a shadow through a town of uncontrollable and dying people. He knew it was the end, he knew it was his to finish. He watched the streets and its people disintegrate into something he couldn’t bear.
“Follow my voice, Mordecai.” In his mind, he saw a pattern of arrows, a map to follow sent by Luca. The River Thames, the source of life and the source of death. He passed the large iron gates to the underground aquifers and looked around the deserted premises. He came to the opening in the ground where Luca and Astrid stood. A large grate separated them.
“Will you come out?” asked Mordecai.
“Soon,” answered Luca. Astrid looked at him with confusion.
“We must leave. I must see my family!”
Luca pointed to the bag, gesturing for it. Mordecai slipped the rucksack through the bars of the
grate, gently into Luca’s arms. Mordecai followed, his body crouched through the darkness as he made his way through the tunnel. As he held the bag, in his mind he saw the flames. Fires burned everywhere. Powerful and cleansing flames, destroying the infection. Mordecai saw this too; their eyes locked while both of them envisioned the same as the other. Ashes. Dust. Blood. Fire.
The images flew between the minds of the two vampires. Fire burning so powerfully that it destroyed all in its wake, erasing all to give way to a new beginning.
They pulled away from each other and back to the present. Slowly walking, they both breathed deeply to focus on what must be done. Luca stole a glance at Astrid, though his destiny stood not too far away. He could taste the end, and he could not bear to look at her piercing eyes, craving her, but he could not afford to be weak. The end called for strength, the strength to bring a new day.
Luca carried the rucksack, the contents shifting inside and squirming within the bag. Mordecai walked ahead of them like a distant shadow. Astrid stared at the bag; concern filled her mind and voice. “What is in there? Is it moving? Is it alive?”
Mordecai walked back to her and placed his hand on her forehead. He reached for the sack again, and passed it into her arms. She cradled the bag instinctively as if it were always hers to hold. Luca put his hands on her shoulders, untying the bag as he stared into her eyes.
“Your dream…this is the child.” Astrid looked at the contented face of a chubby infant. “It is now ours. It is yours to care for.” Luca’s voice was gentle and calm. He smiled at her, kissing her deeply. He bent to kiss the infant girl on the forehead. The little girl cooed and giggled, making sucking noises as she grasped for Luca with chubby fists.
“She has your gray eyes, Luca,” said Astrid. “She has a look that is yours.”
“You must guard her,” instructed Mordecai. Astrid’s eyes opened wide as she understood him. “Take care of her. You carry with you a new world.” Mordecai turned and ran towards the river.
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