“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone else,” he promised with a serious nod.
“I know. On the other hand … so many people know by now, I wouldn’t call it a secret anymore.”
“Who knows?”
“Let me think. Andreas guessed it, Nikelaus and Hugorio suspect it, Ryoko and Kadeijosch know because I told them, and then there’s Michael, Stefan, and Martellius.”
I had just shattered Alessandro’s worldview. “Why did you confide in the dragons? Are you insane?” he asked, gravely upset.
Because there was this deep sense of familiarity. I knew I could trust them.”
“Right, because you’re one of them. You wouldn’t be able to refuse a male dragon’s wish, not if he voices it in Terakon and the dragon is as powerful as those two.”
“That isn’t true. I did not tell Kadeijosch everything he wanted to know.” Alessandro ignored my last sentence and decided to change the subject. “How did you heal Michael so quickly last week?”
“I have no idea. I basically forced him to take my energy.”
Why hadn’t that occurred to me earlier? I slapped my forehead. Where was my focus? I quickly sat up and kissed him on the cheek with a smile. “Alessandro, you’re a genius! Why didn’t I think of that before? I have to go!”
He watched me, amused or bemused by my sudden electricity. He just stood there while I stormed into the bathroom to get ready. When I returned, he was his usual self again: “Have I maybe earned one of your special hugs though?” What was he talking about? I gave him a blank look. He rolled his eyes. “Like Stefan. On Christmas Eve.” Oh yes, he’d earned one of those. I flung my arms around him and flooded him with energy. Just like Stefan, he stiffened and stood motionless. I pulled away and rushed outside, not caring that he was standing in my room like a statue. He caught up with me in the parking lot. “Melanie, I was just joking. You should be more careful with your energy.”
“I know. Come on, you loved it!”
His answer was a dreamy smile. I seized the moment to front my request: “Can you take me to Jeremeia’s castle?”
He immediately got suspicious and pulled his eyebrows into a frown.
“Please take me there! I won’t be in danger among friendly vampires. And you could spend your day any way you want,” I lured him.
“Jeremeia won’t want to see you.” He thought about it for a second and then added hectically: “But you know you’re right, you would be safe in his castle.”
I knew I could count of his selfishness. He saw only the advantage: He would be able to do as he pleased. When we arrived at the castle, he handed me over to a vampire, told him that I was under Michael’s and Jeremeia’s protection, and that he was now responsible for me, and was gone in a flash.
The house was shuttered and dark, just like the last time I’d been here. The vampire looked at me. “I’ll let her know … Melanie, in case you wanted to see Jeremeia, you came in vain.”
Apparently he’d communicated with the boss in his head, the way Sarah had described it.
“All I want is to briefly talk to him. It’s about the poisoning. I have an idea,” I explained enthusiastically. I had not expected to be thwarted at this point.
Sarah appeared behind me. “What are you doing here? I shouldn’t have told you about Jeremeia’s problem. I was only able to tell you because he hadn’t explicitly forbidden it. You got me into trouble,” she reproached me.
“I’m sorry, but I think I know how he can be healed. I will tell him and nobody else though.”
Sarah was the only one who had any faith in me. She argued with the others. They obviously found it absurd to believe that a mere human might be able to help, after Michael and his men had failed. Since they wouldn’t let me go in, I sat on a couch and waited before the massive bronze door that led to his room. I spent a while imagining what I might find beyond this door. I briefly pictured a fetish chamber complete with fetters, cages, whips, and the like, but what I actually expected was an ostentatious, baroque, old-fashioned bedroom. After five endless hours, the vampire guarding the door was relieved by the next shift. Sarah was the person to take the next watch; finally my luck had changed. As soon as we were alone, I looked at her expectantly, but Jeremeia had already told her not to let me in. She stood in front of the door and looked down at her hands, and I at mine. “Sarah, I think you forgot something in your room,” I finally said and gave her a conspiratorial wink. She flashed me a grin and disappeared. I quickly pushed open the heavy door and slipped inside. The room was the opposite of what I had pictured in my mind. The walls were painted in bright colors and there were pinball machines and a beat box, a dart board. A cozy nook hid an oversized bed surrounded by thick carpet, over which a beamer was mounted on the ceiling, its lens directed at a pull-out screen. This corner had to be his love nest. The only thing that didn’t fit the image was the sick vampire in the gigantic bed. Jeremeia looked terrible. His normally moon-shaped face looked haggard, his skin was gray and his body saggy, but he smiled when he spied me sneaking in. “How did you get in here? Don’t tell me you overpowered Sarah?”
Two other vampires were already barging into the room behind me. “I waited five hours. I think I’ve earned five minutes of your precious time!” I pleaded insistently. The vampires left the room again as if someone had called them off.
I boldly sat down on the bed next to him and he raised one of his dark eyebrows in amusement.
“Can the others hear us? I don’t want anyone to know what I’m proposing,” I explained.
“Interesting. Okay, you can speak now.” His voice was weak and he coughed between words.
“I’ve been thinking. You know that I managed to heal both Alexei and Andreas. Alexei is half human, so it can’t be just my energy.”
“Melanie, tissue repair or energy transfer won’t save me.”
“I know, but what I concluded was that the thing that healed them must be a part of me. And thus it should be in my blood, don’t you think?”
His eyes widened with delight, and he licked his lips longingly. “You should have said right away that you were going to offer me your blood. I wouldn’t have let you wait for five hours. Your method is definitely worth a try.”
I lifted a warning finger. “You have to promise me you won’t lose control. And if it really does heal you …”
“I promise I won’t tell anyone,” he finished my sentence for me and waited for me to move. I had no idea how to go about the donation, so I craned my neck and leaned over him. He smiled indulgently. “Give me your arm, that’s easier.” I held out my wrist and squeezed my eyes shut.
“Melanie, calm down, it’s not going to hurt.”
“That’s easy for you to say, but I’ve been bitten before.” I felt him get ready and gently push his canines against my skin, but I was still nervous: “First by Daniel and then by two of your goons in the parking garage, and both times it hurt like hell.” That was when I realized that it had already happened. He was drinking my blood and it was a strange feeling, weirdly pleasurable. I should not find something like that pleasurable at all. Shocked and disgusted by my own reaction, I barely registered that the door opened again. When I looked up, Daniel and Zarin were standing at the foot of the bed. Suddenly I was embarrassed by the situation. I felt my cheeks redden with shame, while Jeremeia pulled away from my wrist. “Mhh, delicious, I say we should try that again tomorrow,” he murmured dreamily, before noticing the visitors. “Brother, Zarin, hello,” he greeted them in a contented voice. The two of them studied him enviously.
“We should get her out of here before Michael arrives. He would only overreact again,” Daniel pointed out.
He normally reveled in riling Michael up, so that was a strange statement. I studied Jeremeia with curiosity. It hadn’t worked. He was still lying in bed looking weak and pitiful. I didn’t want to be caught next to him by anyone else, least of all Michael, so I jumped to my feet, stumbled and fell back on the bed. Jeremeia reache
d out to help me, propping me up slowly. “Gently now, Melanie. You wouldn’t run a marathon right after donating blood either, would you? You lost a lot of blood only a few days ago, and today I took as much as I could without endangering you.”
I looked at his arm in confusion. He held me with such ease that it seemed incongruous. When he understood my perplexed expression, he seemed surprised as well. I could see in his eyes that he wanted me to keep silent. I hadn’t meant to blabber. Still embarrassed, I said goodbye to the other vampires and slipped from the room. Sarah was waiting for me in the hall. She took my hand and led me into a small room, where she picked up a pen and paper, and wrote:
Yes, he’s feeling better, but he will act sick for a while longer, so his healing won’t be connected with your visit. Zarin would never agree to keep it secret for your sake.
I was glad that Jeremeia had had the presence of mind to react with such deliberation. I nodded gratefully and remained silent. Sarah and I sat there and waited. It took a long time, but finally she rose and led me back to Jeremeia’s room in silence. Michael was with him. Jeremeia looked well again. I had never seen him look this human before. So far, I had always viewed him with a certain amount of fearful respect. The respect was still there, but the fear was gone.
Sarah gesticulated at Jeremeia. He nodded. “Yes, I forgot. Sarah, you may speak again.
She gave him a look that told me everything. Oh my, she was in love with him!
Michael was standing too close. Scared to meet his callous, indifferent gaze again; I kept staring into Jeremeia’s face. The vampire threw Michael a prodding look, but the Peri ignored me in turn and wouldn’t speak up, so Jeremeia declared: “We’ll claim that Michael succeeded in healing me.”
Michael’s behavior made me feel as if I was invisible, or not in the room at all. I was hurt and could feel the blunt, destructive weight on my chest getting heavier. I had been feeling that weight since the moment we broke up. I did not want to continue to stand there like an idiot and be ignored. Crestfallen and silent, I slunk away and left the castle. Even if I had to walk all the way back to my own place, I would not stay here. I left the property, found a bus stop not too far down the street, and was back in my apartment a little more than half an hour later. I buried my face in my hands and cried. Suddenly a pair of hands was stroking my thighs in a comforting manner. Confused, I looked up. Michael was kneeling before me, tears on his face. He kissed my forehead. I was at a total loss as to how to react, so I simply lowered my head again. I felt a draft brush my face and then he was gone.
I spent the following two days alone. Glad that Stefan was no longer sending me babysitters, I calmly went about mundane business. On Monday I was relieved to find out that Andreas was skipping class again. I didn’t really want to face him or anyone related to the supernatural world. Astrid was thoroughly pissed with me, and since I couldn’t tell her the reason for my disappearance from the public pool, she remained pissed. When I returned from a stroll through town, I passed the mailboxes and noticed that I hadn’t checked mine for a while. I was not used to getting a lot of mail anyway, but there was a notification slip in my box, for a registered letter I had to pick up at the post office. The branch was at Zentrum Hernau, not far from my place, so I decided to go and get my letter right away. It was from my landlord and said he was giving me notice to vacate. The reason he gave was that I had sublet my apartment without his permission. The letter also contained cryptic allusions to Silvia; it was all he could do not to outright accuse me of murder. Back at my place I called him and tried to convince him that I hadn’t done anything illicit, but he had already made his decision. There was nothing I could do about it, so I switched on my computer and began searching for a new home.
That night I was haunted by nightmares again. I dreamed of Michael having fun with Kijara, making fun of me. The dream shook me half awake and I felt almost as if Michael was lying next to me. For a dazed moment I believed that the events of the preceding days had been the nightmare, and that this was real. I nestled into his embrace and went back to sleep happy. In the morning I woke up alone. It took me several minutes to process that I had only dreamed his presence and he had never been there. He and I were no longer together. I tried to keep busy during the day, so I would be distracted from all that brooding and reminiscing. That was also the reason I showed up early for work. My boss ordered me into his office straight away and informed me that he had found a replacement for me and Silvia, and since I didn’t have a written contract, I was dismissed without notice – In short, I was fired. The manager thought my sudden disappearance the other day inexcusable. Wow. I had lost my home and my job in a single day. Maybe I should take up Kadeijosch on his offer and study for a semester in London. So I wouldn’t be working that day, but I couldn’t bear the prospect of sitting in my apartment alone for another long evening. Who could I go out with? Astrid was pissed with me, and that meant that I would be in Alexandra’s bad books by association. But wait, Sarah lived in Salzburg now, too. I hesitated for a moment before I got out my phone. She had been acting a little aloof after all. “Hi Sarah, are you up for going out tonight? I can’t spend another night alone in my room. I need a distraction!” I explained, sounding a little desperate.
“Melanie, I’m sorry, but Jeremeia needs me. Any other time, yes.”
“I see. Well, then maybe another time.”
“Wait, don’t hang up! How are you? Is everything okay?”
“Not really, no. My landlord is kicking me out, and I just lost my job because of the mess with Andreas and the vampires last time.”
“Oh. What are you going to do now?” she asked, concerned.
“Kadeijosch offered me room and board if I came to London for a semester abroad. Maybe I’m going to take him up on that. Could you ask Jeremeia if he has his number? Otherwise I guess I can find it somewhere on the web.”
“I could be offended, you know. I just came to live in Salzburg and you’re emigrating,” she joked. After we’d said goodbye, I was still without plans for the evening. Damn it all, I was an independent woman! I could go out alone, especially if the alternative was moping in my apartment and singing the blues about Michael. But if I wanted to paint the town, I had to change clothes, so I took the bus home.
When I reached the parking lot next to my building, I saw an Audi R8 careen around the corner. This driving style was all too familiar: Michael when he was in an extremely bad mood. He’d probably already destroyed half of his steering wheel. The tires were screeching when he skidded to a stop in the lot. He jumped out and didn’t bother to greet me or anything, but cut straight to the chase: “Don’t you dare! You’re not going to call Kadeijosch! Do you hear me? You can come to me if you have problems, or to Jeremeia or Andreas if you want. You have no idea what consequences your actions would have!”
“And since you’re never telling me what those consequences are, I’m going to have to find out for myself. How could Sarah and Jeremeia call you? I see that you’re mad, but who cares?”
I would not have been surprised if smoke had come out of his ears at this point. I turned around unimpressed, and strode towards the front door.
“Oh no! Melanie, not this time! We’ll talk this thing through, do you hear me?!” He could sound so furious and frustrated when he was speaking to me.
“Then come upstairs, I don’t have all night.” I took the elevator, he the stairs. Of course he was already inside when I opened the door to my apartment. I stepped in and urged: “You wanted to talk, so go ahead, talk!”
“You can move in with me again. You wouldn’t have to pay rent and wouldn’t need a job either.”
I hoped I had misheard him. “Are you insane? Why don’t you suggest I tear out my heart and put it in a blender.”
“Kadeijosch is a stranger to you, and yet you would let him pay your expenses. With me, you didn’t call my house ‘our home’ even after weeks and weeks.”
“He didn’t offer me up to Nikelaus’
capriciousness to reach his goals. How could you do that?”
He froze for a moment, before acting offended: “I thought we had settled that. How can you accuse me all over again?”
I took an angry step towards him. “Be honest for once: The behavior of your people at the restaurant, your father’s warning or threat, and most of all your expression when I returned before you could act. Andreas accused you of the same thing.”
“Believe what you want, but you’re not going to call Kadeijosch!”
“Why don’t you understand that it would be the best solution for me? It would be a brand-new start. I think I could use a new start. I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me earlier. Maybe it’s because I’m still attached to you, but I can’t go on like this! I have realized and accepted that I’m unable to live on my own. My Filguri Sybielle prevents me from doing that. I need protection, but I don’t want yours anymore.” I started getting ready to go out while I argued. I put on make-up, did my hair, and put together my outfit for the night. He followed me back and forth from the bathroom into the main room and back again. He had seen me naked so many times, there was no reason to act childish now. I turned my back on him and undressed, then put on my evening outfit. “What is a Filguri Sybielle? Why …” As soon as I started to take off my clothes, he broke off in mid sentence.
“The hidden lines on my body. It suppresses my abilities. Didn’t Stefan tell you?”
He was silent for several more seconds and answered only when I was fully dressed again: “He did, but he didn’t know the name for it, Filguri Sybielle. Regarding my protection: You have it, whether you want it or not.”
“Michael, that reminds me: I need your key to the apartment. I have to move out by the second week of February.” I grabbed my coat, opened the door and looked over my shoulder at Michael, who returned my gaze blankly. This demeanor was exactly the reason why I barely dared look at him anymore. It hurt too much. “Lock the door when you leave, and drop the key into the mailbox.”
Peris Night: Terakon (Secret Language) Page 39