Vampires of Maze (Part Four) (Beautiful Immortals Series Two Book 4)

by Tim O'Rourke

  “Julia? Julia, are you there?”

  “Yes, I’m here,” I said, standing just inches from the wall knowing that my companions could no longer see me on the other side of it.

  “Can you come back?” I heard Rush ask as if he had no true understanding of what he had just witnessed.

  “Of course,” I said with a smile playing on my lips.

  I passed once more back through the wall and into Shade. I couldn’t help but notice how startled each and every one of them looked as they saw me reappear through the wall. To them it must have looked like I’d melted through it, oozed through the wooden planks, and back into Shade. I secretly delighted at the look of wonder on Rea’s face. She tried to mask it at once, but it was too late, I had seen it. Had I even impressed her? But it wasn’t about impressing anyone, was it? I wasn’t some cheap magician. I was more than that.

  “Does it hurt?” Rush asked, looking me up and down as if inspecting me. Then prodding my shoulder with one finger, he added, “Are you intact?”

  “I’m not a sieve, if that’s what you mean?” I smiled at him.

  “But the wall is,” Trent said as if deep in thought.

  “Not exactly,” I said.

  “But it acts like one,” Trent said as if trying to figure out a puzzle.

  “I guess in a way it does. The magic helps you bleed through,” I told him.

  “So why could you pass through the wall and Rea couldn’t?” Calix asked.

  “Because she’s a witch, numb nuts,” Rea said. “She has been playing with us. We werewolves are never going to be able to pass through that wall. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was all some kind of elaborate trick – a ruse – to keep us trapped here in Shade.”

  Ignoring her, I took hold of Rush by the arm and led him toward the wall until we were standing just a couple of feet away from it. I could sense Rush was a little nervous. I was surprised by this. Since arriving in this world, I’d seen Rush shoot and kill scores of vampires. He hadn’t seemed the remotest bit squeamish about shooting their brains. But as he stood before the wall, I couldn’t help but detect a slight tremor within him. Rush was older than his brother, Calix, and I suspected he wasn’t as rough and tough. There was a sensitivity about Rush that was endearing.

  “There is no need to be scared,” I whispered so as not to embarrass him in front of the others.

  “I’m not scared,” he whispered back.

  “What then?”

  “Does it hurt?” he asked.

  “No, not at all,” I tried to assure him. “You’re just going to feel a little stretched, that’s all.”

  “Stretched?” Rush frowned. “I’m not sure I like the sound of being stretched.”

  “It’s hard to explain. There is no way of fully understanding what it’s like until you pass through the wall,” I said, placing one hand against his back and slowly pushing him forward. And as we neared the wall, I took hold of his hand and fed his fingers through mine.

  “The trick is to keep looking straight ahead. Imagine the wall isn’t even there because it really isn’t – not anymore – for now it’s been replaced with magic. Just imagine the trees and the fields on the other side of the wall. Picture yourself standing amongst them. Close your eyes if it helps.” And as we drew nearer and nearer to the wall, I saw Rush close his eyes. His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down as he swallowed hard. And there it was again, that feeling of being stretched and torn and twisted out of shape. I knew that Rush felt it too as his fingers tightened around mine. In a fleeting spark of light and time we were through the wall and on the other side of it.

  “Open your eyes, Rush,” I whispered. “Open them and take a look around, see where you are.”

  I watched as Rush slowly opened his eyes. With each passing second they grew wider and wider as he realised he was no longer in Shade but on the other side of the wall. As if he was still unable to comprehend what had just happened, Rush spun around on the heel of his boots and faced the wall.

  “I don't believe it,” he whispered.

  I smiled at him. “What’s not to believe?”

  “This!” Rush said, sounding excited. “The fact that only moments ago I was on the other side of the wall but here I am right now standing here with you after passing through all those planks of wood. It seems impossible. It’s incredible!”

  “Magic is.” I smiled once more.

  I heard Rea speak from the other side of the wall. And just like Trent’s had, her voice sounded muffled but was still audible. “Rush, are you okay?”

  I detected a spark of suspicion in her voice. Did Rea still really believe that it was some kind of trick – like I was trying to deceive them in some way? What more did I have to do? What more could I do to prove to Rea that I was not here to harm them but to help them?

  “I’m fine,” Rush shouted through the wall at her. “I’ve never felt better. It’s bloody amazing!”

  “Do you want to go back?” I asked him.

  He nodded his head. “Yes.”

  He reached for my hand again, but this time I pulled away. He looked down, then back up at me.

  “Without my help this time,” I said. Once more he looked a little hesitant. “You can do it, Rush. Just remember what I told you. Imagine yourself on the other side of the wall. See yourself with your friends once more. Keep that image inside your head – don’t lose sight of it for one moment or…”

  “Or what?” he asked, his eyes widening once more.

  “Just don’t lose sight of it,” I said.

  “Okay,” he whispered more to himself than me. He straightened up and rolled back his shoulders. The guns that he carried about his waist and tethered to his thighs creaked in their leather holsters as he slowly made his way back toward the wall. I watched him go, as he placed one foot tentatively in front of the other. And even though I had created the magic that surrounded Shade, I couldn’t help but look in wonder as Rush was stretched and pulled through the wall and back into Shade. What would’ve happened if Rush had lost sight of his friends in his mind’s eye as he’d passed through the wall? Rush wouldn’t just have been stretched, he would’ve been torn apart.

  Chapter Five

  “Who’s next?” I asked once I’d passed back onto the other side of the wall and now stood before the wolves.

  Trent stepped forward. “I’ll go next.”

  “Okay,” I shrugged, stretching out one arm and offering him my hand.

  Without hesitation, Trent closed his fingers around mine. Whether it was my imagination or not, I thought I felt him gently brush his thumb over the back of my hand. It was subtle but I believed it to be a sign of affection for me. I loosened my grip on his hand, just a little. Once again, my imagination or not, I couldn’t help but feel Rea’s eyes boring into the back of my head as Trent and I stood side by side holding hands. Pushing thoughts of Rea from my mind and concentrating on the wall ahead, I slowly move forward with Trent at my side.

  “Just look straight ahead,” I told him. “Just look at the wall.”

  “It’s that easy?” Trent said. And unlike when I was holding Rush’s hand and heading toward the wall, I couldn’t feel the same apprehension and anxiety in Trent. Trent seemed way more confident, perhaps even arrogant in his own self-belief. Wasn’t it that kind of arrogance I liked in a man? Hadn’t Theo and Pariac been just the same? Both had been Beautiful Immortals, so could I have really expected anything less from either of them? Turning my attention from my past loves, I stared hard at the wall.

  “Imagine the landscape on the other side of the wall,” I whispered to Trent as we moved closer toward it. “Just picture yourself on the other side of the wall – as if every part of you is seeping through it – oozing through the tiny gaps and imperfections in the wooden planks. Imagine that they are a part of you and you’re a part of them.” I glanced sideways at Trent, and despite his confidence and self-belief, I could see that just like Rush had done, he had now screwed his eyes shut.
r />   Reaching the wall, Trent said, “How will it make me feel?”

  “Just a little thin, just a little stretched,” I said as hand-in-hand we bled through the wall.

  I looked back and then at Trent. I could feel his hand firmly locked with mine. I knew he had passed through the wall safely just as Rush had done.

  “You can open your eyes now.” I smiled at him.

  With a flick of his eyelashes, Trent opened his eyes. I secretly marvelled at the look of delight and surprise on his face. Still holding my hand as if never wanting to let go, he looked all around him then back at the wall.

  “That’s incredible,” he breathed, squeezing my hand tightly.

  Although I enjoyed his touch, I tried to ease my hand from his. He wouldn’t let go. I looked down at our hands, fingers laced together. And even though I knew the others were only feet away on the other side of the wall, it was like Trent and I were in another world altogether. He looked at me, eyes searching mine. I lowered my head and looked at my feet. I felt his free hand against my cheek as he gently raised my head so I had to look at him.

  “You truly are special,” he whispered.

  “It’s not me, it’s the magic,” I said, my heart skipping a beat at speed and feeling flustered.

  “I wasn’t talking about the magic, Julia,” he said with a smile.

  “I know what you were talking about,” I whispered back, this time freeing my hand from his.

  “Now we are alone again, I just wanted to say...” Trent started.

  I cut him dead. “Perhaps we should be heading back to the others,” I said, heading toward the wall. It wasn’t that I didn’t like spending time alone with Trent; in fact, it was the complete opposite. I was perhaps starting to enjoy the moments we found alone too much. I had to keep reminding myself I couldn’t afford to let myself become too close to anyone in this world – not werewolf or vampire. Falling in love wasn’t what I came into this world to do. Reaching the wall, Trent took hold of my arm. He turned me to face him. Before I could say anything, Rea called out from the other side of the wall.

  “Is everything okay over there?”

  I looked at Trent and he looked back at me. “Everything’s fine,” I called out. “We’re coming back through.”

  I nodded in the direction of the wall somewhat reluctantly. Trent let go of my arm.

  “Just as before?” he asked.

  “Exactly as before,” I told him. “Concentrate on your friends waiting for you on the other side and walk toward it.”

  Without saying another word, Trent strode toward the wall. I watched him seep through it and once he’d disappeared from view, I followed.

  I spent the next hour or so showing Calix, Morten, and then Rea how to pass through the wall. Despite Calix’s often disgruntled and cocky manner, I saw how he delighted at passing back and forth through the wall once he’d mastered the art of doing so. It wasn’t long before his arrogance consumed him once more and he became more daring by leaping and bounding through the wall at speed. At first, Rea seemed reluctant for my help and she was the only one who refused to take hold my hand the first time we passed through the wall together. I didn’t care. I wasn’t so sure I wanted to hold her hand, either. If I could keep a healthy distance between myself and her, I would be happy about that. It was plain for me to see that there was no love lost between us. Just like the others, once Rea had got the hang of it, she spent her time passing back and forth into the world beyond Shade.

  When I could see that they had become competent in doing so, I knew the werewolves no longer needed my help and decided to head back home to my little house on the far side of the park. The tiredness, which I’d earlier felt, was now creeping back and I was beginning to feel achy and a little feverish again. I hoped that a few hours’ sleep might do me the world of good.

  “I’m going to head back,” I said to the others as Calix almost seemed to do some type of commando roll through the wall. He landed on his feet with a confident grin spread across his face.

  “Are you okay, Julia?” Trent asked me.

  “I’m feeling a little tired, you know, a bit achy and stiff, so I thought I would head back home and get some rest,” I said.

  “I’ll walk you back,” Calix chipped in.

  “Thanks,” I said. “But I think I’ll be just fine on my own. You stay and practice.”

  “If you’re sure?” Calix asked.

  “I’m sure,” I said, turning my back on the werewolves and heading away.

  With each step I took, their voices grew fainter and fainter behind me. Once more I felt utterly alone and surrounded by silence. Reaching the edge of the wood, I made my way back down the hill and into Shade. With the hood of my sweatshirt pulled up and my hands thrust into my pockets, I meandered through the cobbled and narrow streets. A steady wind had got up and it was now gusting through the streets. In the distance I could hear the screech of the sign swinging back and forth above the entrance to the Weeping Wolf pub. I headed toward it. As I did, the wailing sound of the sign swaying back and forth grew ever louder and once again, I couldn’t help but think that it sounded very much like the cry of a wolf.

  Drawing level with the pub, I could see the door had been left open an inch or two, and just like the sign above, it was swinging open and closed in the wind. With hands in pockets and hood up, I stood and looked at the partially open doorway. Then, glancing back over my shoulder and in the direction of the hill and the woods, I made sure none of my companions were anywhere to be seen. Seeing that I was alone, I approached the Weeping Wolf, pushed open the door, and stepped inside.

  Chapter Six

  I found myself standing in a small bar. The bar itself was crescent shaped. Fixed to the wall behind it were shelves where drinking glasses and bottles were stacked. There was a strong smell of cigar smoke and whiskey in the air. Turning up my nose, I eased my way amongst the tables and chairs. There was a huge dome-shaped fireplace set into the far wall and some faint glowing embers smouldered in the grate at the bottom of it. But I hadn’t come into the pub to keep warm or even have a drink. I’d come into the pub to search the rooms above where I knew Rea and Trent had taken up home. If it had been Rea who had broken into my house, perhaps I might find my spell book hidden amongst her belongings. So, after peering through grime stained windows and back out into the street to check for any signs of the others returning to town, I crept upstairs.

  It was dark, but I could see I was on a landing from which doors led. I pushed open the first and peered into a small bathroom. Closing the door, I crept forward and pushed open the next door I came across. I found myself looking into a bedroom. There was a single bed pushed against the far wall, which hadn’t yet been made, so someone had slept in it. By the window there was a desk and a chair, and beside this I could see a rucksack which I recognised to be Trent’s. After glancing back over my shoulder once more to make sure I was still alone, I made my way into the room. There was a tired-looking wardrobe and I pulled open the doors to find Trent’s clothes hanging inside. In the bottom of the wardrobe were some of the guns and boxes of bullets he had brought with him from the church. I closed the wardrobe doors feeling slightly relieved. I was relieved to see Trent’s belongings in the wardrobe and his bed had been slept in. This could only mean that Trent had been telling the truth about his relationship with Rea. If they had separate rooms they were no longer together – no longer lovers. I felt a certain sense of satisfaction in knowing that Trent had been honest to me about that.

  Closing the door on Trent’s room, I headed back along the landing. I pushed open the door to my left. Beyond it was another bedroom. At once I was hit by the smell of stale cigar smoke and I knew this was Rea’s bedroom. Again, I looked back over my shoulder and into the gloom to make sure I was still alone. Confident I was, I crept into Rea’s room shutting the door behind me. Just like the other bedroom, there was a single bed against the far corner, a desk, chair, and wardrobe. I crossed the room to the de
sk and pulled open the drawer. I searched through it. There were boxes of matches, a supply of cigars, some hairgrips, and hairbrush. Closing the drawer, I spun around and faced the wardrobe. I headed toward it and pulled open the doors. In the bottom was Rea’s rucksack that she had carried with her since leaving her homeland. Kneeling down, I pulled open the neck of the rucksack and began to search through it. All I could see were the guns and boxes of bullets she had taken from the crypt beneath the church. Standing up, I patted down and searched the pockets of the clothes swinging from the hangers. To my frustration, I couldn’t find what I had come in search for. There was no sign of the spell book that had been stolen from my house. If Rea had taken it, wouldn’t she have hidden it somewhere less obvious than her rucksack or in the pockets of her clothes? Closing the wardrobe doors, I headed back across the room to the bed. I pulled back the blankets and then lifted the pillow, but there was no sign of the spell book. I turned around and cried out in surprise.

  “What are you doing in here?”

  Feeling suddenly weak at the knees that I had been discovered searching Rea’s room, I looked at Calix, who now stood in the doorway. “As you know, I was feeling unwell and was wondering if Rea might have some medicine,” I said breathlessly, knowing that my excuse sounded pathetic and weak. It was the best I could come up with in the moment.

  “Why not just ask her?” Calix said, his broad shoulders filling up the doorway stopping me from leaving the room.

  “But she was with you and I felt too ill to head back into the woods and…”

  “Quit the bullshit, Julia, you weren’t looking for any medicine,” Calix said, eyeing me.

  “No, you’re right,” I said, knowing that it was pointless to continue lying to him.