by Karin Cox
“Evedra, spare me your flattery and hand me your cape and bonnet.” Once I had fastened the cape over the top, the mirror beckoned. The cape hid the half-buttoned corset and absence of breasts. I was thankful I had never been possessed of abundant body hair and my face, although masculine at the jaw, was passably pretty under the bonnet.
“Lovely.” Evedra giggled again. “Angelic almost. How much should we charge for you by the hour?”
I smiled and tightened the bonnet. With a feigned curtsy, I reached out for her hand and drew her to the nightstand.
She giggled again, still expecting I know not what as sat her on the bed and reached out to snuff the lamp. After a moment, when our eyes had adjusted to the darkness, I took the wick and rubbed it between my fingers until they blackened. Then I knelt before her and darkened her jaw and upper lip. With the hat on and the mannish clothes, she might pass as a man long enough to accomplish her task. My transformation seemed more convincing.
“Come.” I pulled her up and showed Evedra her reflection in the mirror. She grimaced slightly.
“It will do. Let us visit your old hunting grounds.”
Bats still circled above the city as we hurried to the center of town, where several girls were already on the street, selling their wares in the same alley where I had found Evedra.
“I will wait here.” I leaned against a wall, my chin tucked into my non-existent bosom, trying to look inconspicuous in a street full of women who were anything but demure. “Make sure you find a big one. I wouldn’t mind swapping this corset,” I whispered. “And don’t try to go anywhere. I am right here, watching.”
The thought seemed to amuse her. Then she turned and walked up the street a distance to where a solidly built older woman had hitched her red skirt up to the thigh.
“Come on, lad,” she coaxed. “Ol’ Mathilde gives a discount to young boys. Let a real woman show you how it’s done.”
I saw Evedra nod and fumble in the pocket of her trousers as she stepped forward and took Mathilde’s hand. Turning, she led the woman back down the street toward me.
Guilt and revulsion assailed me when I saw how willingly Mathilde wobbled to her doom. As Evedra embraced her, I turned away. It was only when I heard the thump of the prostitute’s heavy body hitting the cobbles that I turned again. Evedra’s eyes shone, and her lips and cheek were flushed scarlet with blood as she helped me drag the poor woman’s body into the alley. I wondered, briefly, if Mathilde had children, but stopped myself. Might be her sacrifice would rid this town of Evedra and all her kind. Evedra. I looked at her, and more shame flooded me. Had I lied to her? Would I truly let her live? Even I could not say.
She smiled at me as she unfastened Mathilde’s corset. “Now, give me my clothes back.” She kept her eyes on me as we changed.
“What have you done?” Evedra asked as we left the alley and the plume of smoke from the Eglise could be seen obscuring the night sky. Prostitutes aside, the streets were quiet. No doubt the squeal of bats had alerted the citizens that it was a night best spent behind locked doors.
“I visited the church.” I followed her in the direction of the citadel.
“Ah, clever. A diversion to draw some of them away from the citadel. They shall seek you even more now.”
“Yes, but in my place they shall find a newborn Vampire named Elynne, your newest consort.” I pursed my lips at her.
Evedra shook her head. “Mayhaps you lie to me, Cruxim. Or mayhaps I lied to you. What then would you call this bargain that we have?”
“I would call it false, Evedra, but only time will tell whether we honor our promises.”
We turned a corner and the star-shaped ramparts of the citadel came into view at the alley’s end. Bats stung the sky above and Vampires could be seen crowding beyond the gates.
“Do you have a sibling, Cruxim?” she asked, her eyes on the sky.
“Yes. One.”
“A sister?”
“Yes.”
“Would you kill her?”
“What need?”
“If you had need, would you kill her?”
“I have never known her; may never know her. She would not vex me so.”
She paused and wrenched her eyes from the sky to my face. “And Beltran has known me,” she said in a whisper and looked down at the cobbles. “You would not kill your sibling; yet you expect me to kill mine. Whatever he is—rapist, monster, torturer—he is my brother.”
Already she was having regrets. I pitied her. “I do not expect you to kill him,” I said, stepping ahead of her in my haste to reach the walled fortress. “I expect you to let me do that for you.”
“You make it sound like a gift.”
I raised my eyebrows in reply and noticed that crimson tears welled in the corners of her eyes.
Sometime later, when we drew close enough to be just out of earshot of the gatehouses, I stopped and pulled her into the shadows. “Evedra, I have been cruel to you.” I wiped at a smear of charcoal that marred her cheek. “I cannot spare Beltran, but if you help me save Joslyn and Sabine, I will spare you. I promise you.”
She huffed, and we strode on, our skirts swishing against the stone. “You walk like a man,” she told me, unable to keep the irritation from her tone. “Perhaps you also lie like one.”
“I have never been a man.” I kept my eyes on the gatehouse. “I would not know.”
“Who goes there?” called a sentry when we reached the outer ramparts near a guardhouse.
“Castellan, it is but I.” Evedra stepped into the dim light thrown by candelabra on the walls. She took my hand. “And my friend—Elynne.”
“Come forward more, where I can see you.” The sentry, an elderly Vampire with steel-gray hair and eyes raised a flaming torch.
I followed Evedra into the light, conscious to keep my eyes down and my face concealed by the bonnet and by shadow.
“She is newly born.” Evedra covered for me.
“Aye, she still has the look of a mortal about her,” the guard said, staring at me. “That must be it. You have good taste, Evedra. I wouldn’t mind a go of her myself.”
“Quiet!” Evedra shot him a look that silenced him even more than her command. “She is for my brother.”
Castellan chuckled. “Must Beltran get all the beauties? Or are you replacing that bitch Joslyn?” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “Say what he will, she has wounded him sorely this time. There is such a fine line between love and hate. But something tells me you know that, Evedra.”
She sneered at him but said nothing.
“You best hurry,” Castellan told her. “There’s a Cruxim abroad. They say he set fire to the Eglise, killed more than thirty while they slept, and burned twelve more. Beltran is livid and set to wreak his vengeance.”
“How can my brother hurt a Cruxim, unless you mean to torture his traitorous bitch?”
“Might be that is exactly what I mean, and the lioness too. If their screams won’t draw a Cruxim out, what will?”
“He will come,” Evedra said, her voice hard. “I promise.”
“Then it seems it will be quite a show.”
The guard creaked open the heavy gates, and Evedra took my hand and led me in. The sentry’s eyes followed me as I passed.
Inside, Vampires thronged the walled, torch-lit walkways to the main citadel. Evedra dropped my hand; my palms were sweating.
How did I hope to get out of this hell alive?
Vampires nodded at Evedra as she passed, but I kept my eyes down and my mouth shut.
“Don’t worry,” she whispered. “Beltran has been making so many newborns that no one will know any different.”
But I did. My skin crawled with the proximity of so many enemies, and my wings ached for release from under the cape. I willed my wings to stay flat, my fangs to remain hidden, and tried to move more gracefully. When we reached the marble steps of the citadel, the crowd parted to let Evedra through.
“Where is my brother?” she dema
nded as we climbed the staircase. “I have something for him.”
It suddenly dawned on me how amused they would all be if she turned me over to him. A Cruxim in petticoats, defenseless in the midst of so many foes. Already I could hear howls and jeers coming from a room to the right.
As we entered the throng, she pulled me to one wall and pushed me up against it, as if to kiss me. Leaning in close, so close that the scent of her blood filled my nostrils and her breath tickled my ear, she said, “Stay here, and say nothing. I have made my part of the bargain. You are here. What you do now is upon you.”
I nodded, and she kissed my cheek. Leaving me, she pushed through the crowd. The air was rank with the stale, metallic smell of blood, and the room was hot. I cursed the cape and skirts and wondered how women wore them. To my left was a window with a stone step beneath. I made my way over to it, inching through the crowd until I could pull myself onto the step for some fresh air and a better view.
“Ah, Sister is that you?” By the opposite window Beltran stood, holding out his hands as Evedra approached. A large box of sturdy oak, the top an open crosswork of iron bars, sat to his right. Next to it was a stone table, stained red-black and encrusted with blood. Unwashed instruments were discarded around it, and a bucket beneath was filled with a thick, dark liquid. I noticed something dangling from one end of the table. My guts twisted when I realized what it was: Sabine’s tail.
Turning to the window with an involuntary shudder, I struggled to keep my face a mask of apathy. My poor Sabine. I had never known one so strong, so fierce or proud, but how much torture could she bear? I wondered how many of the foul beasts I could I kill if I went in now? Too few, was the answer.
“Evedra.” Beltran took his sister in his arms and kissed her full on mouth. “You taste of char,” he complained and pulled back.
“Yes, the sky outside is full of ash. Someone set fire to the Eglise St Martin.”
Beltran’s eyes narrowed. “Yes. Someone. We are still dousing the flames. Sybil and Montagnon writhe in the infirmary and will carry their scars for eternity, and we are more than three scores fewer than at sunset. But no matter, Sister. We will find the Cruxim, and we will bury him.”
“How so, Brother? He is immortal.”
Beltran cackled. “Ah, yes. Immortality. What a shocking lie it is.” The room erupted into a fragile laughter. “Evedra, we are immortal.”
“Until he finds us.”
“Silence! What feeds us, Sister, but mortals?”
“Nothing. Nothing feeds us but blood and lust.”
Beltran laughed. “Yes, well blood feeds him too, but not mortal blood.”
The crowd brayed.
“You are certain of this? How do you know mortal blood is his weakness?”
Beltran’s voice grew quiet. “Do you mock me, Sister? Do you doubt me?”
“No, Brother.” She put a hand on his arm. “But we must be sure.”
“Yes.” Beltran calmed a little.
“Did you make good coin last night, dear Sister? You look exhausted.” He ran one hand down her body and put out the other, as if expecting her to drop gold into it.
Evedra shook her head. “I was busy.”
“Busy!” Beltran’s slap came out of nowhere. “Busy fucking. You always did like that too much.” I noticed his eyes narrow jealously. “What about jewels? Gold? Silver? Surely you have something to add to our pile.”
He gestured to a mound of metal: coins and jewelry, gold, silver, bronze, and lead heaped nearby. The Vampires were stockpiling their wealth. I wondered what for.
My eyes moved from the gold around the dimness of the rest of the room. In a far dark corner, I could make out a cage.
In it sat Sabine.
They had bound her feet and she was slumped against the cold bars, her head hanging limply. I could see from her color that she had not eaten. Vampires encircled her cage, all jeering and mocking her, and near the door stood two men, mortal it seemed, both stout and well muscled and bearing swords.
“What is it for?” Evedra asked, moving to the pile of metal.
“You will see, Little Sister. You will see.”
He put out a hand, clicking to two Vampires who stood behind him. At his command, they picked up something off the floor and turned. I glimpsed a flash of brown leg. Then my heart leaped as I saw who they held.
Joslyn was bound and gagged but otherwise naked. The men slit her feet bindings with a sword and stood her up before Beltran. I could see no wounds upon her, although one fine cheekbone was red and bruised. The crowd booed and sneered.
“Silence,” Beltran bellowed. “Come.” He put out a hand to Joslyn.
Her legs were weak, and the guard pushed her a little as she stumbled towards him.
“See, Sister.” He turned back to Evedra. “We have two secret weapons.”
He took Joslyn’s face in his hands and kissed her deeply. It was painful to watch. I turned away.
“Say you love me, Little Dove,” he cooed.
Joslyn nodded.
“Oh, do not nod, Joslyn!” He led her to the stone table, and picking her up as if she weighed nothing, placed her upon it. “Say it. Say the words themselves, so I can glean the truth of them. So many lies, Joslyn. So many lies you have told me. And even more lies you told the doctor, I hear. What are we to believe?”
“I love you,” she said.
It was a good lie, but a lie nevertheless.
“Beltran,” she said with more urgency, “I love you. I came back for you.”
“For me, you say? Or for him?”
“For you. Oh, Beltran, for you. I was wrong, so wrong. How could I love a thing like that?” She shuddered.
More theatrics.
Beltran pushed her head back and gazed intently into her eyes, searching for the truth. She leaned up to him and her lips sought his.
“She’s a lying bitch.” A man stepped from the shadows. Gandler—although no longer wizened and stooped with age. “Kill her, Beltran. Gut her. She betrayed you, and she lied to me. She cannot be trusted.”
“No,” Beltran said, and then he turned to Joslyn. “But you are good at betrayal, aren’t you, Little Dove?”
Joslyn shook her head. “I was confused.”
“Then let me say this clearly.” He stroked a finger down her bruised cheekbone and then forced her roughly down onto the table.
“I will forgive you. How could I not forgive you? I made you this.” His finger traced her lips, her neck, her shoulder, her breast. “Do you remember? Of course you do.”
Someone in the crowd whistled as Beltran unbuckled his belt and forced himself into her, his hands gripping her wrists.
Joslyn! I moved as if to rush to her, and then I noticed Evedra, too, turn away. Her eyes searched the crowd for mine, and she shook her head.
But it was too much for me to bear. I leaped off the window and pushed my way to the front of the crowd.
“Curious, are you lovely? I could show you how to do that if you like.” I felt a man’s hands grabbing at my buttocks and turned briefly to see the sentry, Castellan, leering at me. Ignoring him, I pressed on to the front, trying desperately to control the molten fury that roiled inside me.
Joslyn moaned, and still playing her role, tried to kiss him again. But Beltran pulled his lips away from her and thrust harder.
“I will forgive you only if you will do one thing for me.” He nodded to Gandler, who came forward and took one of her hands, binding it to the table. “Only if you will betray him like you betrayed me, like you betrayed Dr. Gandler here. Turn him over to me, and I will let you live. Should you refuse? The daylight take you.” He thrust harder, but there was no passion in it, only power.
“Of course. He means nothing to me,” Joslyn said and clutched at Beltran again with her free hand, but he shook her hand away and climbed off her.
“Do not do this, Beltran,” Joslyn cried as Gandler took her other hand and tied it down too. “He did not want me. He never w
anted me,” Joslyn cried.
For the first time in her act, I saw the truth. The scars I had given her.
“I hate him. I would gladly see his end,” she said. And then the slight blink of another lie.
“Good.” Beltran smiled. “Then tell us where he is.”
“He is ... he is not here,” she said. “I left him in Provins.”
“Liar!” Gandler bared his fangs viciously and climbed up on the table. “These are lies, all lies.” He brandished a sharpened razor.
“You lie to me, Joslyn. I am disappointed. You see, we know he is here.” Beltran buttoned his trousers and cinched the belt. “Did you lie, too, about the mortal blood? About it killing him?”
“I … I. No. I love you, Beltran,” she whimpered.
“Such a beautiful face.” Gandler knelt over her.
“Beltran, get him off me,” Joslyn screamed. “Beltran!”
It is now, I thought. It must be now. This is more than I can bear. But Sabine...
Gandler made a shallow slice down Joslyn’s cheek. “How that Cruxim must have loved this beautiful face.”
A cacophony of shrieks rang from the assembly of Vampires.
“Bring out the cat, too,” Beltran called. The crowd parted and four Vampires entered, each holding one of Sabine’s paws. Her head lolled as they hefted her toward the table.
It was all I could do to keep from calling out at the sight of her.
She had clearly been given some stupefacient, as her green eyes were open, her feline tongue protruding slightly. With a heave, they slung her up onto the table, the opposite end to Joslyn. Sabine made a soft mewling as her head hit the stone. Her wings, I noticed, had been sawn off.
I put my hand to my mouth, forcing myself not to bellow in anguish. How would we ever escape here now?
“Let her, too, see what happens to those who love him.” Beltran laughed. “You see, she is lucky. Each day she is renewed, born again … but you … well, my pretty Joslyn, how would he like you with a scar?”