The Queen pulled a scowl. “Don’t try to flatter me with your words, Monsieur Andy. However, I do accept your praise.” She snapped.
Realizing the Queen’s anger had raised, Diane immediately held Andy’s hand and gave him a tight squeeze. Andy glanced at her questioningly. She shook her head and gave him a don’t-you-dare glare.
Andy was a care free being that always did and said what he felt like, even when the Queen was furious with him. He’d always say- ‘Being a Summoner has its advantages with the queen.’ Diane glanced at the Queen’s dress. Andy was right. The Queen’s dress looked way much better than all of the Grasp’s outfits. Even Harriet Le Bon’s bright flamingo pink dress was incomparable to the Queen’s.
It wasn’t because of the Grasp’s horrible sense of fashion. Each of them tried their best to dress up as simple as possible to ensure none of them was as pretty as the Queen. Diane could remember a certain incident where a Grasp member was punished by the Queen, Veltigo Stone, after she showed up prettier. Veltigo was so scared after her punishment- which no one knew for sure but expected she had spent some time in the tomb- that she never ever presented herself properly again. The most beautiful girl among the Grasp was now in an old beat-up pair of Ts and baggy jeans. Though the queen never openly declared it, she hated competition and wanted to be number one in everything. Some of the fashionista Grasp members had no choice but to snip off the tags from their branded clothes to prevent the Queen from knowing their high taste in fashion. It was of course a nightmare to those fashionista but it was for survival.
“Of course, Your Majesty! That dress blew me away!” Andy grinned wider. His sweet talk had earned him disgusts from both Patrick Lorne and Harriet Le Bon. Diane could sense Flavia Hatcher trying her best to control her urge of killing the Queen who had just stolen Andy’s attention.
The Queen snorted. “Merci, Monsieur Andy. However, it would have made me happier if you just give us a piece of silence for today’s meeting.” She eyed Andy with her piercing eyes. Andy whistled to himself and fell back on his seat with a slight ashamed look. However, it did not deter him from his usual happy go lucky attitude.
The Queen was formerly the Queen of France in the 18th century. With her wits and charms, she was able to woo the king and lived in the palace for five years before disappearing with most of the treasure from the place. It was a well-planned scheme that even the King had no say about it. There was a life size painting of the Queen in her French royalty dress along the halls. It then clicked to Diane that the dress was almost similar to what the Queen was wearing at the moment. She at times still flaunted the French accent- especially during group meets like today. Diane could see no reason behind her doing that, but she was the queen. And being the queen meant she needed no reason or time to do what she wanted.
“Now, back to our discussion.” The Queen smiled in victory. “You might have sensed the intensity of tonight’s magic.” She said and held her left hand out. Sparks of bluish light intertwined along the Queen’s long slender fingers.
“Yes, it felt different than before. To lower everyone’s age at once to such an extent; could it be?” Diane whispered to herself as she stared at her reflection on the screen of her phone again.
“Did the miracle happen, Your Majesty?”
“Precisely, Diane” the Queen smirked.
“What miracle?” Zebiar blurted out. He had totally forgotten of the Queen’s dislike of people to interrupt her conversation with another being.
“Did you not read the book? Did you decide to skip on the last pages just because they are legendary facts?” the Queen snapped disapprovingly causing Zebiar to shut his mouth in horror.
Andy quickly distracted her from leashing more wraths on Zebiar by asking her another question. “Who shadowed the assignment tonight?”
“Dayton.”
Dayton? It was surprising how Diane missed to notice that the Summoner- Dayton Cougar- was absent. If the others had noticed, they must have hardly cared. He never mingled with any of the others anyway. For the world he was a gangster, a biker, a man that got bad girls easy, but amongst the Grasp, Dayton stayed aloof.
“So, Your Majesty, what should we do now?”
“I want you, Diane to close in since you have some experience with the place and people. And you can take Andy with you, if you like,” the Queen smirked. The blush along Diane’s cheeks crept. “Andy, keep in close range with her and keep me updated on progress. By then, I shall figure out on what is to be done. I think we might have to bring the miracle here. I’ll have to think about some stuff first...” the Queen continued. “We’ll discuss about that later.”
To Diane and Andy, it was the second time to have been assigned together. During their first, Diane was a fresher and it was the first time for her handling an assignment. At that time Andy had been sent along to help her. They both fell in love, and that was only during the last days of their assignment leaving them only two days together afterward. They tried to meet each other at least once or twice in a year, but because of other reasons they never got a lot of time to spend though being in close range even at those times. But now things were going to be different- for a while at least.
Diane turned towards Andy with a bright face. So did Andy, who could no longer contain his excitement. “When do we start?” Andy squealed.
“The sooner, the better. We don’t have great control over the subject’s family. You must find out on what is going on and befriend them. Diane you must make sure that that… Rave or her husband doesn’t recognize you. Take your kid too.” The Queen sighed as she grew tired of the subject.
Diane blinked in surprise. “Kid?”
“Take Tory away,” the Queen stated.
“You mean….you want us to take him with us?” Diane said in confusion. She looked at Andy for confirmation that it wasn’t a dream. Andy nodded with a smile.
“Is there any problem with that Diane? Or perhaps, you would like me to change my mind on it?” the Queen’s tone turned an octave higher.
Andy quickly leapt in front of Diane. “Oh, no, no Your Majesty. Diane is just…surprised. We have no problem in taking our kid,” he laughed nervously. “Right, Diane?” Andy nudged Diane’s elbow. Diane could still not believe in the sudden turn of event. She nodded weakly while both of her eyes were fixed at the Queen.
“Excellent. I hope both of you understand the objectives of my decision. It is for gaining their trust. The chances that you get their trust without the kid is less, but on the other hand if Tory is with you, you will have no problem in getting there- we can’t alert them. Is that clear?” the Queen commanded.
Yes, Your Majesty” both Andy and Diane simultaneously replied.
“Alright then. Both of you are dismissed. But if you want to spend a night here…”
“That won’t be necessary,” Diane quickly added and just then realized that the queen was taken aback by her sudden response. “I mean the sooner we get back, we can start with our work.”
Diane signaled Andy to bow at the Queen. With their final sentence- “The Grasp will prevail”, the two immediately rushed out from the room with grins on their faces. They couldn’t wait to see their kid again.
Grasp parents were supposed to hand over their kids when they turned a month old. The next time they would ever get to see them was when they turned sixteen. During the dreadfully long sixteen years, the kids were given harsh training by Marco Draver, another fellow Grasp member with reputation as great as Mag Baguette. On rare occasions, the Queen would step down into the field and take charge of training the kids.
Andy and Diane sat patiently on the stairs at the end of the halls while waiting for Marco to get Tory out from his dorm. The large doors of the conference room had been shut and they could barely hear the discussion between the Queen and the other Grasp members. Diane rushed her fingers along the thick red carpet on the floor and drew a circle. Her heart was beating rapidly as she was too excited to meet her child. But a
feeling of fear grasped her too.
The moonlight from the French windows shone on them, casting a dark shadow beneath them. Three portraits- two were of men and one woman- along the hallway faced them. The Queen had personally ordered Marco to paint the portraits of those great Grasp, who were the leaders and founders of the Grasp, as a memory of their work.
Diane wondered whether the ‘Grasp’ were comfortable once when there was a ‘Grasp administration board’ comprising of the two great men and the woman. Surely she had known that some witches killed the board members too along with the other Grasp population, but were they as fierce as the queen? Mag said from her research that the Grasp all helped each other and looked out for each other, with minimal dictatorship and loads of mutual understanding. When the queen had escaped the witches, she was the only full-fledged Grasp member, as all others were little. She then and there decided to take on the role of the queen and that was that. She then cast some Grasp stuff on chosen members-Mag and Marco so that they could grow older and help her put things in order for what had become her kingdom.
“So, what do you think our kid looks like?” Andy asked pulling her back to the reason why they were seated there.
“Like you.” Diane smiled half-heartedly. Each time they discussed about their kids, Diane remembered those painful experiences she had with her other kids. Her first child, Katherine was a stubborn one that refused to continue her Grasp training when she was ten. Diane tried her very best to make it clear with Katherine about her training. However, Katherine was against taking lives. She hated being a killer. On the very day of the Grasp ritual, Katherine had enough of it and tried to escape. That was the last straw from the Queen. The Queen ordered Katherine to be sent to the tomb and the demon guards reeled her away.
Katherine was begging them to stop and writhing in pain as the demons haunted her mind, dragging her from right in front of helpless Andy and Diane. A month after continuously begging the queen to at least kill Katherine if not release her; she agreed to let Katherine die. Diane and Andy were given the opportunity to see one of the guards enter in with an axe and Katherine’s screams ended with one last loud one. They hadn’t been let to see Katherine’s body though; Diane and Andy even through the misery of witnessing their daughter’s murder thanked the queen for honoring their plea. But still how could that be a relief for any parent. Katherine’s cries for help were still ringing in Diane’s ears every other night and it had been haunting Diane for years. Katherine’s betrayed gaze on Diane before her final breath that was heart-breaking. She knew her first child-wherever Katherine was right now- would never forgive both Andy and her for not standing up to help her.
A few years later, they had John. He was a fine boy with bright future in the Grasp until he met Rosalie, a normal poor human with nothing to spare. John instantly fell for Rosalie and wanted to quit the Grasp. The Queen was furious with John’s decision as the boy was a vital member of the Grasp. John made a deal with the Queen that he will help them to kill in exchange of his freedom. In some years, John finally succumbed with cancer and died. Stephanie, John’s daughter went off track and died too. Diane had no idea what weakness they inherited that none of them were truly loyal to the Grasp.
“What you did was to save Stephanie,” Andy sensed her thoughts when she was examining her phone.
“She didn’t listen… She didn’t listen to me. She could’ve been here, alive.” Diane muttered and covered her face with both of her hands. In her years as Grasp, remorse and guilt was in her heart. Diane was a total failure as a mother.
“The queen wants you back in.” Shnell Gorthe, the English guard opened the conference room door and called out the two. Her waist- long black ponytail swayed for a moment and then she stood still again. Diane had also been offered a choice to stay with the queen and be her guard, and Diane was glad she didn’t accept it. Defenders - who could only control demons and had no control over summoning and suppressing them- were offered chances for the role. If they were considered fit, they were offered the guard job, instead of being a protector for the Grasp demons in the world. Being a guard meant no personal life- wearing old men-in-black attires round the clock, sleep for no more than just four hours at a time, no life outside and the worst of all standing by for a lady who didn’t even need protection. The only upside to it was the end of the lifelong struggle of earning in the world.
Andy and Diane curiously headed back in the room. The queen was busy directing everyone who had an active assignment to finish with it and not to summon any more demons until further orders.
“I almost forgot, I have an active assignment too,” Andy butted in.
“Zebiar will handle it.” The queen said. “Won’t you Monsieur Zebiar?” she sneered.
The man quickly stopped from playing on his phone and sprang up from his seat. He nodded, hiding his confused look.
“So, tell me Monsieur Zebiar. Do you even have any idea on the factors to be considered before possessing a subject?”
Zebair nodded again.
“Tell me, then.” There was her evil grin.
“Err…the area, the family, if there is too much risk of our exposure, and if the type of killing the demon should undertake is possible, and if the subject is strong willed, Your Majesty.” Zebiar quickly replied and was praying so hard that the Queen would let him off the hook. The Queen was not really impressed by his answer but chose to just let the man go. She turned towards Honada, an eighteen year old Grasp who looked a tad younger again.
“You have field experience. Don’t you, Honada?” she asked.
“Yes, Your Majesty.” Honada replied.
Not just the two of them but all were flashing expressions of concern. “Brilliant. Go with him. We can’t afford any mess-ups” The Queen diverted her attention to Diane and Andy. “What I wanted to tell you is to stay in your thirties, do not come lower than that. However tempting the magic may feel but do not accept more than what is needed to keep that age, until I figure out how can we get the miracle.” She commanded.
“Have no worries, Your Majesty. We have everything under control!” Andy chuckled and winked at the Queen. He started trying to sweet talk to her again but was stopped by a tight squeeze on his shoulder by Diane.
“We all depend on this. We will be free of this daily struggle of shadowing our victims for years,” she stressed. “We can be immortals. It all counts on you. Do not fail me, understand?” she growled.
Shnell came towards Diane and Andy. She led them back outside under the orders of the Queen. As Andy turned the knob of the door, their hearts raced. It was the time they had been waiting for years.
The door opened and there, stood a boy. He was slightly chubby with fair complexion and freckles on his cheeks. His ash brown hair was neatly combed to the side with a few strands jotting out. The boy who she had guessed right of looking more like Andy, stifled a yawn and cutely rubbed his eyes.
He quickly froze when he spotted Diane and Andy standing right in front of him. He glanced at Marco who was beside him, with a gasp. “Go now.” Marco patted his head. Marco was dressed up as always, with a long antique sword at his side, a leather tunic with a hood, and his long red hair combed back. He always looked handsome pulling off the look, no matter whether he looked sixteen- as of now- or older. A smile formed on his face. “You are lucky that you have the honors to help us though you are this young, little Tory. Remember Grasp will prevail.”
“Is this for real?!” Tory blurted out. He eyed Diane and Andy with widened eyes, like they were his role models, some action heroes.
“Ahem,” Marco glared at him.
Tory gulped, as he looked at Marco. He knew that he was wrong. He knew the drill, and no excuse was acceptable. “The Grasp will prevail.”
“Good.” He said to him, before looking at Diane and Andy. “I have work to do. I guess I’ll see you soon.” With that Marco headed back to the dorm.
In just a blink of eye, the boy leapt at both of his paren
ts. Andy and Diane led Tory, walking hand in hand. Diane kissed her child repeatedly on his cheeks and was whispering on how much she missed him in his ears.
“Mom, Dad! I love you!” Tory cried. Andy ruffled the boy’s hair and pinched his nose. “We know, Tory.” Andy eyed at Diane and wrapped his arm around her. “We love you too,” they both said and kissed Tory’s cheeks.
Both of the parents knew how hard it was to stay under orders for a kid, they had felt the same growing up. But as Tory was with them, and they were together, they could live like a happy family like they had dreamt of- for now.
With each step, the Queen’s residence faded away from sight and trees flourished. Long ago Mortegath was nothing but a barren land- like anyone would imagine a dead land to be, but the queen wanted a change in scenery and transformed Mortegrath into something more than lifeless. Paths, gardens, lakes were set up filling for a quarter of the enormous space. It wasn’t always dark like it was said to be once. The sky matched that of the outside world, giving Mortegrath both day time and night. It had become more like an enormous kingdom, a protected one-without any guards to watch over the entrances or monitor intruders, as only the Grasp could lead anyone in, but Grasp were careful and even if a member dared show betrayal... Of course they knew better than even thinking of such a thing.
The three of them passed the memorial where there had stood cabins once, a tribute to all Grasp who had died when the witches invaded Mortegrath. Diane stood there in silence praying to the spirits while Andy did too. In the battle her grandparents and the whole family that came down from generations before them had met their end. She was sure Andy’s family had been destroyed at the time too, while he was sheltered from that battle as a little kid. But whenever she tried to get details out of him, he only said one sentence – Everything I had was taken away that day.
“Let our ancestors be at peace,” Tory spoke up, shifting their attention to him. “Can we go now?”
A blanket of bright stars hovered upon the three of them, as if they were celebrating the union of Diane, Andy and Tory. Even a distance away from the portal’s opening; the howling of wolves could be heard. Diane glanced at Tory who looked at her, grinning at the sound. Andy lifted him up and patted his back.
The Grasp of Nighttide Page 31