“Holy Father, protect me in this, my hour of need and help me to do your work with courage and purity…”
“Shut it you insane witch!” Vyktor was beside himself.
Breaking out of her trance, she fought on, “You can’t be in here, this place is sacred, you cannot set foot in here. This is the Immaculate Nursery. Not a drop of blood is shed in here! Guards! Guards! Where are the Guards?" The disease that was decimating the Keep had not reached this place and she seemed unaware of the current state of events.
“Where is the Norse baby?”
“What Norse baby? We don’t have a Norse baby.”
“He was known as the Norse baby, but he is three years old now. He has one blue eye and one green. Where is he?”
“Ah you mean Uriel. He is far from here, you’ll never find him.”
“Tell me where he is, woman, or prepare to enter this Kingdom of God you people are so expectant of.”
“If I am to die then it is with a pure heart that I will meet my maker, for I will not endanger my chances of going to Him by betraying the child’s location.”
Before she could take another breath, Vyktor bit into the Purity Nun’s throat through her habit with more force than I have ever seen an Afflicted use on a human being. Before she was completely dead he withdrew his fangs from her throat and dropped his head back to savor her taste. The last of her blood ran from the jumble of torn veins making its way down her impeccable white gown slowly seeping through the fine silk. She futilely clasped at her throat and collapsed on the ground in a graceless heap lying in a slowly growing pool of her own blood which made me hungry, but at this moment I felt there was no better place for it than on the ground of this Nursery.
“She lied about his location, I saw it in her blood. He’s near and she was terrified of exposing him,” announced Vyktor wiping the blood from his mouth.
I felt relief at this revelation and wondered how we were to proceed, but my thoughts were suddenly interrupted when all the Ghosts woke up and began to wail simultaneously producing a horrific sound of desire and pain, a series of pitched longing cries that tore at my heart as if the blood had awoken an otherworldly craving in them. Vyktor and I looked around the room in desperation but could not see our son anywhere. The sound was so piercing we couldn’t bear to remain there so we ran to the nearest exit across the room and to another large door but it was locked and no key was in it. In desperation I ran to the dead nun and discovered she had a set of keys in her pocket. I used a few before finding one that worked.
As I pushed the door open we saw a tiny badly lit amphitheater and immediately the smell of incense greeted us. In the center of the room stood a rectangular stone slab high enough to reach a man’s waist with a rim all the way around except for the corner where a spout formed to escort what I assumed would be liquids down the side and into a hole in the ground. On top of the slab sleeping lay my son, dressed in all white robes with embroidery similar to the nun’s and right above him with a knife at his throat stood Father Superior with the most unhinged look I’d ever seen on him. The boy looked beautiful and peaceful. There he was, the baby I had never met and yet whom I loved more than anyone in the world.
The Father Superior was clearly surprised to see us. He was red eyed, pale and sweating, large pussing pustules visible on his neck.
“Who let you in here? How did you find this place?”
“Give it up Priest, your Keep is in disarray and everyone who has not yet died will do so very soon.” Announced Vyktor.
“If you give us our son, we’ll just leave you to your devices. We won’t kill you, no matter how much we’ve dreamed of it.”
“I can’t give you your son. I need him now more than ever. The pestilence has hurried me, for I too have fallen ill, and if I don’t do what I need to now, I will die just like everyone else in here. I’ve worked far too hard to let that happen.”
“Use some other child,” I blurted out in desperation.
“No, only your son will do.”
“Why our son?”
“I have waited for him, for so long, the Ghost child with the different color eyes who would fulfill my mission. The Lord sent me visions of this boy and when he was born I had to wait three long years, to prove that he was the one the prophecies and my visions said he was and until his heart was large enough to remove and eat. I’ve spent entire days in communication with the Lord and He has said that this boy holds the key. Both I and my advisors have foreseen that in a time of great turmoil where all hell would break loose and none would survive that this boy would be my eternal salvation and my shield from age, disease and ultimately death.”
“What if you’re wrong? Let me make you one of our own and you too can live forever.” Vyktor was trying to seduce him.
“Never! What I propose to do is pure and sacred. I was instructed by the Lord himself, there is nothing that can go wrong when He wills it. I will live forever and be strong, not lurk in the shadows and feed on the blood of innocents like you disgusting fiends!”
“What if your advisors were wrong?”
“Tabatha is never wrong, she is touched by Him and she can read people’s minds. In all my years I have never seen her fail. She is His voice.” Suddenly the memories of the nun I had spoken to when I first came to the Keep came flooding back. That’s how she knew my name.
“What if she is only doing it to get you out of the way? Where is she now, in this, your special hour?”
“She was the one that warned me of the oncoming pestilence, she told me what the Lord instructed. You shall not question the workings of the Order! The minute I’ve eaten his heart I will have gained eternal life, but without becoming like you blood sucking beasts! " The spit flew from his mouth and his eyes bulged from their sockets, their rims bright red and the little veins within clearly pronounced.
Pointing to the boy he continued, “He is the distillation of Eternity, conceived and bred in the heart of the Church, reared only on the blood of virgin nuns, covered in prayers and consecrations and blessed each day of his life with the Word of God and I am about to experience IT, His miracle! Finally our dedication all these years will be for something, the Order of the Eternal Priesthood! We will be immortal on our own and will no longer need to consume your blood to lengthen our lives! For years I have watched all the Princes of Rome come to power and abuse it with sloth, greed and covetousness, and all the while I supported their cause with an endless supply of gold so that one day I too could be made Pope, but every time they ignored me and promoted their own. Now that I shall become divine I will march into Rome and impose my own order! I will be able to go out into the world again and preach and no longer live at the forefront of hell! And when He comes again, I will be able to greet Him in the light and bask in His glory whether it’s tomorrow or a thousand years from now!” He was practically hysterical.
“What makes you think we’re going to let you do that to our son?” I asked terrified.
“They do, my dear,” he said with an unemotional face and gestured with his free hand to the Force of Elite Guardsmen who had arrived at the little amphitheater under cover of the squealing Ghosts. They were in full silver armor and had in no time at all surrounded us all.
“Ah yes, the babies! Such excellent little alarm bells. It is as if they know how to turn on you from the day they are born. Their senses are so acute that even the tiniest scent of blood sends them into a famished frenzy. By being true to your base, murderous nature and spilling blood in the Immaculate Nursery you’ve signed your own death warrants.” The faint paces of more troops were heard approaching the theater. “So, as I was saying…” but before he could finish, Vyktor lunged at him, grabbed him by the neck and pulled him up and off the ground making him squeal and stand on the tips of his toes, which gave him little respite from the tightness round his neck. Without missing a beat I quickly grabbed the small knife from his hand and replaced it with mine exactly over the child’s heart making sure not to move i
t in the slightest. His face flushed from the obstructed wind pipe and the veins on his forehead popped amid the quickly reddening skin.
“There is no doubt your Forces can kill us both right now, but not before taking you and our boy with us. We have nothing left to lose. Your guards can lance us both, but in the seconds it will take us to die, we will kill you and the child. Is that a risk you’re willing to take?" And just to reinforce Vyktor’s point I pretended to push the knife into the child’s heart. Both the hilt and the blade were made of pure silver and they burnt my skin but I tried not to show it.
With what little strength the priest had in his body he gestured to the Guards and they stood down. His whole future lay in the balance and he knew it. Slowly Vyktor lowered him back down to the ground but he continued to hold him tightly by the neck.
“Theodora, take the child and stay close behind me.” Without missing a beat I dropped the knife and wrapped the child in his robes and picked him up still asleep. His hair was pure white, long and soft, and it flowed down to his shoulders and it smelled familiar. For the first time in years I felt whole again, finding the piece that had been taken from me. I felt the tears well up in my eyes, but I pushed them back. This was no time for weakness.
“Whatever you do, Vyktor, don’t let him go,” I said as I slowly approached the Father Superior. His face was still choked up from the strangle hold. Looking him straight in the eye I said, “Now tell them to pull back into the Nursery and put out the candles. After they have done that they will stand over each cot, guided only by the sound of the children.” Vyktor looked at me puzzled but he didn’t say anything.
“Do as she says,” repeated Father Superior to the guards.
“He will not be harmed, unless you do as you’re told!” I shouted at them.
Stepping out of the operating theater the guards snuffed out all the candles leaving them in absolute darkness in which they clumsily approached the cots guided only by the wailing.
We too moved into the Nursery behind them, Vyktor still gripping the priest closely and I followed holding our son. Our superior night vision was our greatest advantage.
“Now tell them to drive their lances into their hearts.” Vyktor turned to look at me with disbelieving eyes but kept quiet.
“What? No! They can’t do that!” The priest protested.
“It’s their life or yours, Father,” I insisted without bluffing.
He swallowed and shouted at the top of his voice, “Do as you’re told men…”
As the guards still gathered round the cot of each howling baby, Vyktor gagged and maintained his hold on the priest and we all slid right behind them and out of the Nursery. The noise was so loud they each concentrated on their impending task stabbing wildly in the dark that they never saw us head down the long winding staircase and back into the precipice. With every step we took the intensity of the wailing decreased but we knew it wasn't because of the distance. Crossing the hidden bridge, still with the priest at hand, we cut the rope and let it fall into oblivion should the guards come after us and we continued on towards the main part of the Keep. The priest shook with fear but followed along obediently, his keen bulbous eyes searching for anyone of his kind who would help him.
As we were out of immediate danger I removed the gag that was affecting his breathing finally allowing him to speak, “What are you going to do with me?” He asked but neither of us cared to answer him so he persisted, "Please don’t kill me, go ahead and leave, I won’t try to stop you, just please let me live. I can give you money if you only let me live. I will give you the means to survive comfortably in the outside world in exchange for my life." Vyktor and I were aware that material belongings did not interest our kind as it did the humans, but we would need some when we escaped.
“We are going to need some vestments for the outside,” Vyktor said matter-of-factly.
“You are, you are!” Agreed the priest, seizing his chance at engaging us in negotiations. “I have some in my chambers. Regular garments, non-clerical ones. You'll blend right in with those.”
Both Vyktor and I regarded him with suspicion but led him to his chambers. The last time I had come here was when I was first brought to the Keep all those centuries ago. Besides the significantly larger number of books, not much else had changed. There were some tapestries with biblical scenes on the walls but I could not remember if they’d been there all along. The space was still imposing but well worn. As we let him in, he ran to open a chest on the ground but Vyktor held him back. He was holding a lance we’d found along the way which was proving handy in subduing the priest.
“You can open it yourself if you wish, it only contains clothing.” Unconvinced Vyktor preferred that the priest open it, but as soon as he unlocked it, Vyktor used the end of the lance to push the lid back in case it contained anything dangerous. Establishing that it was indeed filled only with clothing the priest was permitted to remove it from the trunk. It seemed like peasant clothing but it was well made and clean. With shaking hands he took all these items out of the chest and gave them to us including a large pouch of gold coins.
At that moment I felt that we no longer needed him and without a second thought I bit his throat and savored his blood. Stopping while he was still alive but semi-conscious I was just about to tear into his skin and remove his heart with my bare hands when Vyktor stopped me.
“That’s enough killing for one day, Theodora, let’s go.”
Looking around the room I noticed several handwritten notebooks on his desk and I took them with me. We made our way out into the Keep again and tried to reach the stream and hopefully get out of the system. The time must have been around five and dawn was approaching. At the lowest level of the Keep we came to a stop when a bereft nun saw us and started to shriek hoping guards would come after us.
“Stop it right there, where do you think you’re going? There is a clampdown; all slaves are in their quarters! Guards! Guards!”
I felt a sense of panic even though I knew that the Keep was in a state of dissolution. We let her live because time was of the essence and she wasn’t much of a threat and proceeded down as fast as we could. We arrived at the passage and as we were making our way into the now bone-dry water way we heard the tormented hiss of a thousand slaves in agony. The Lightflood had been activated by one of the few remaining members of the Keep now that the sun had risen. The light followed us and burnt our eyes but we were sheltered enough to suffer it. With the sleeping child still in my arms we walked as fast we could into the narrowing corridor reaching the grate. Due to the unusual heat of that summer the metal had warped quite a bit and combined with years of water wear the connection to the stone had weakened considerably. Had this been a regular summer they would have eventually got round to fixing it but due to the pestilence they had not managed to keep up with their maintenance. With the lance as a lever and a large rock to assist we managed to dislodge the grate from the stone allowing us enough room to crawl through. For the first time in centuries I felt a sliver of hope come over me.
Fourteen
Katalina put the book down. She remembered that she hadn’t stepped foot outside that room in days. She desperately wished to go on but she was starving so she went to get something to eat.
She returned to her room to find Miloš sitting on the ground in the corridor waiting for her.
“There you are; I was starting to get worried. You haven’t shown your face in ages! Where’ve you been?”
“I’m binding some books for the Countess.”
“And you can’t even stop to eat?”
She wanted to tell him about the riveting read the journals were proving to be, but she knew it was a bad idea.
“I want to be done before she comes back, I don’t want her to be mad.”
“I understand, I guess... Here eat, I want to show you something!”
Sitting down on her bed and digging into the rich meal of veal covered in a thick sauce over potatoes she wondered what he
wanted to show her. “What have you found?”
“I’m not going to tell you, it’s a secret!” He said with a playful smile.
Hurriedly stuffing the last forkful of food in her mouth she got up, “Come on let’s go,” she said as she imagined him having discovered something that could be used to overthrow Báthory. Miloš regarded her with curiosity, but didn’t say anything.
It was mid-afternoon and the castle was quiet as usual. Miloš and Katalina came out onto the courtyard and headed towards the back wall near the kitchens. The boy stopped just as they reached the aged back wall of the castle and seemed to be staring into nothingness. This part of the yard was so seldom visited that vines had grown all over it practically hiding every last piece of stone.
“Are we here to just look at the wall?”
“Will you stop being so impatient?” He said before digging his hand deep into the vegetation and revealing a door knob. Twisting it he pulled back and a small opening appeared into the vines.
Bathory's Secret: When All The Time In The World Is Not Enough (Affliction Vampires Book 1) Page 16