by Renee Lake
“I am going to kill you.” Nea took a step forward.
“No, you won’t. You can’t risk it; people know I came to see you. Lucy is expecting me, it will be suspicious and draw attention to you.” He was right, by taking over Arthur Holmwood’s life he have given himself extra protection.
“You are supposed to give Lucy blood how will you manage it?” Nea asked, horrified.
“If you hadn’t noticed, I am not like your other Strigoi,” he sniggered, “my blood may actually make her better.”
“Why are you here Costica? It can’t be just to torment me,” Nea heard Sabine behind her, she glanced and saw the red head had a large sword. Sabine stopped and hid it behind her back, as they looked past Costica, they could see a carriage and that they were being watched by some of the Holmwood staff.
“Clever boy.” Sabine jeered at him, she understood at once what he had done.
“You should leave mate, I have plans for this place, these people…your husband.” Costica told her.
“My husband?”
“You told me yourself you couldn’t be with me because you’re married, I figured out your husband’s plans a decade ago. I have a perfect way for us to be together, once I have taken care of him you and I can be together, I am going to kill him with that stupid spear he is searching for.”
“Costica, please don’t do anything rash, we can discuss this,” Nea pleaded.
“Come with me right now and all this stops,” he demanded. Nea couldn’t even use major magic on him, he was too well protected, with the Strigoi magic and his natural abilities he was almost as powerful as she was. All she could do was protect herself from him and try to find a way to beat him at his own game.
“No, you need to leave now and stay away from Lucy. I will kill you Costica, even if it costs me everything else,” Nea threatened. She saw fear in his features for a few moments at her words.
“You should have just been mine, mate. I don’t want to hurt you.” He reached out to touch her face and jerked back, his fingers coming away singed, “why you bitch.” He sounded angry but there was a pleased smile on his face.
“Don’t ever try to touch her,” Sabine warned, “you may have won this round, but tonight we will hunt you and every night until we find you and kill you.”
“That will take some time, since tonight I will be at the Westenra household trying to save my beloved Lucy and getting drunk with my friends.” He laughed, turned and marched down the steps and back into the persona of Arthur Holmwood.
“This ends here,” Nea said as she closed the door, “I don’t care what we have to do, but we will kill him before this all ends. He won’t torment me and my loved ones any longer.” Nea began to storm away, she swore she remembered something about fairies and iron, but she couldn’t quite grasp the thought.
“What are you going to do? He’s too public of a figure to be found dead now,” Sabine called after her.
“First I am going to call on Imre, and then I am going to speak to my husband.”
Chapter 15
“Mihail I found something.” Stasi sat up abruptly. Mihail had just picked up his knight and was preparing to move it. He stopped and focused on Stasi.
“Move your piece,” Ruxandra demanded a slight smile on her lips. He quickly looked down, having forgotten where he was going to put the chess piece. He set it down and frowned as Ruxandra’s bishop took it easily, “distraction is bad for chess, call me when you can concentrate again,” Ruxandra stood and left the library.
Mihail went over and crouched down by Stasi, peering at the book she was holding up, “What?”
“I found something, you were right, that box Mama keeps all the weird books in. I found this, it’s written by hand.” She showed him a cracking black leather book, the pages were yellow and old, and he couldn’t even read the words on most of them. This particular book wasn’t even the worse. Stasi had found a book she was sure was bound with human skin and one that the leather hadn’t been cleaned properly and reeked like fecal matter.
“What language is that any way?” He gingerly took the book and leafed through it.
“Latin.” Stasi took the tome back, finding her place, trying to be delicate.
“What did you find?” Mihail settled down next to her, breathing in her sweet scent as she leaned against him.
“An invocation that might help us,” she grinned.
“I don’t know Stasi, invoking something is a pretty big risk. I could get behind a simple spell, but we don’t want something coming into the house we can’t handle.” Mihail was always the worrier.
“This whole chapter talks about Strigoi breeding. I think the book is kind of a handbook or guide,” Stasi explained. It had explained that while most body systems functioned normally after the change, ovaries dried up and sperm died. Which meant no more monthly bleeding, which was a plus, and male ejaculation contained no sperm.
“You think Mama knows about this?” Mihail asked.
“Maybe, there is an updated manual she keeps in her desk that Ion wrote a few years back; all Strigoi read it, didn’t you?”
“I may have skimmed over it,” Mihail said, sheepishly. He’d never been one for reading or school work; he preferred things like chess and his painting, he enjoyed a more hands on approach, which Stasi appreciated.
“She probably assumes this is the first draft or something, that everything from here would have been copied to the new one…at least that’s what I did. It’s only by luck I decided to see if there was anything important,” Stasi sounded excited.
“What else does it say?”
“Well, it’s pretty vague, but it mentions that once a Strigoi female is pregnant Bendis cannot interfere with her any longer, only the Strega can. So I thought, we can’t get pregnant, why would this rule need to be in place?”
“I’ll bite, did you find the answer?”
“Yes, in another book I found a bunch of random spells, some specifically for Strigoi. There is summoning ritual and if done properly that being will grant a boon, which can be used to restore the Strigoi’s human life or help them create life anew.”
“Who would we be invoking?” Mihail wanted to know.
“I can’t tell; a lot of this has been worn away by time. The ritual is clear but some of the side notes and other information is illegible.”
“I think we should look for something else then. This seems a bit dodgy.”
“Please Mihail? I haven’t found anything that gives us this much hope, ever. I don’t think there is any harm in trying. Whatever we summon will be in a binding circle and we can banish it if it turns out to be something scary.” She was peeking up at him with large sad eyes and Mihail could not refuse her.
Gathering all the supplies, (Why did his mother have powdered hen’s egg?) the book recommended, they went up to the attic, figuring it was a good place, if they didn’t want to be disturbed. Mihail felt silly, lighting candles, burning herbs and putting down a huge circle of salt, but he could see all the faith and excitement in Stasi’s eyes and he couldn’t be the one to crush that.
There was little light in the attic, streaming in through small dirty windows, causing the shadows to seem more menacing and allowing them to see all the dust particles dancing around. His mother didn’t use this space much; she didn’t even really store anything in the musky smelling rooms.
“We need a podium for the book, will you look around?” Stasi asked, waving pungent smelling herbs in the air.
“Yes.” Mihail rolled his eyes and began to search. This place was nothing like the few attics he had explored at his father’s property. No bats slept in the corners and no artifacts of historical value collected dust in the trunks. He paused in his search, mind touching on his parents and hoping everything was going well with them.
The attic was fairly big, consisting of one large room and three smaller ones that used to be servants’ quarters. Nea had renovated the bedrooms to be used for Strigoi who needed to s
tay with them, but didn’t want anyone to know. Mihail remembered how sad it had made his mother the first time one of her Strigoi had refused a main bedroom for this cramped, dark space. Mihail blamed Costica, he hoped that soon they would have a successful hunt and kill the menace. In the smallest room he found a podium covered in a white sheet, there was a bible underneath it. Mihail put the holy book on the bed and carried the stand out to Stasi.
“Here you go; one filthy podium,” Mihail joked, setting it down.
“I think that’s all,” Stasi said, kneeling next to the salt circle, dust on her hands, face and dress, her hair falling out the already messy bun.
“What do we do next?” Mihail helped her to stand up.
“We read the invocation.” Stasi put the book on the stand and moved it a few inches, into the best lighting and together they read the ancient words, they didn’t make sense to Mihail, but he could tell Stasi understood the Latin. She had to correct him several times until the flow was smooth and rhythmic.
“Nothing is happening,” Mihail whispered a few minutes after they were done reciting. She shushed him, wanting…no needing this to work, for everything to be perfect. Right when Mihail was sure the spell had failed and was going to bug Stasi about having lunch with him, something changed. Inside the salt circle the air shimmered, it got colder and brighter in the attic. The shimmering air stopped and parted like a veil and a woman stepped out.
She was large, about six feet, statuesque, wearing a gown of blinding gold and silver that hugged her form. Her skin glimmered like snow, eyes deep black, twinkling like stars were captured in them, her hair was long and free, blacker than night. One couldn’t focus on her features for long they seem to ever be changing, feminine and masculine, beautiful and ugly all at once.
“Greetings. I am Phoebe of the Titans,” she announced, voice loud and pure. “Forgive me for taking so long it has been a while since anyone summoned me.”
Stasi and Mihail exchanged a glance, a Titan? They had been creatures who had ruled the earth before any of the Gods. Most had become weary and gone to sleep long before many were overthrown by their descendants, the current gods, like Bendis. They were more powerful, inhuman and the rumors stated harder to contact and work with.
“Titan Phoebe, we are sorry if we woke you, but we are requesting a boon,” Stasi bowed her head, Mihail following. There was silence as the Titan scrutinized them, then she laughed. They stared at the Titan, shocked as she had changed her appearance.
“I didn’t realize at first you were Strigoi,” Phoebe said. She seemed smaller now, easier to look at, more toned down and she was wearing clothing quite similar to what Renata and Marina wore while lounging around the house. They called it 21st century wear.
“I wasn’t asleep, I was working. I mostly work in the future, keeping myself busy and getting involved in whatever suits me.”
“Oh, I thought most Titans were either asleep or…” Mihail trailed off.
“Locked up? Well most, but I have powers over prophecy and wisdom, it’s a little harder for me to take a thousand year nap than most. I also have never been interested in power struggles.” She shrugged, “Now little Strigoi, what do you want?” She sat down on the dusty floor, legs crossed, gazing at them with curiosity.
“How did you know we’re Strigoi?” Stasi asked, most people just thought they were vampires.
“Because Bendis is my great great granddaughter. I am the one who taught her how to create Stregas to make you, to help her with the balance. You should have seen her a thousand years ago, so tired and stressed all the time from shouldering magical good versus evil burdens. Most Gods don’t care anymore, not my Bendis,” Phoebe explained.
“Then that’s why you’re in this book with this loophole!” Stasi exclaimed.
“Which loophole is that?” Phoebe asked, slyly.
“We want to have a baby,” Stasi gushed, blushing and gripping Mihail’s hand.
“Interesting. I have been summoned several times in the last thousand years by Strigoi, most wishing to have their humanity back, but you are the first to want a baby.” The Titan looked interested.
“What’s the cost?” Mihail knew nothing, especially in the realm of the Gods, came for free.
“There isn’t one; not really, the baby itself is the price.”
“What do you mean?” Stasi was holding Mihail’s hand so tightly her fingers were turning white.
“Since you only have true physical form at night the pregnancy will last twice as long as normal, almost twenty months. You won’t be able to breast feed, except during the night and the baby will be born half Strigoi, already in service to the Strega who created you.”
Mihail could barely breathe; it was a gift this Titan was giving them, a gift and a curse. They could have a child, but it would never be normal, never be truly alive.
“I don’t know Stasi, could we doom a child to grow up like us?”
“It is something to think about, for Strigoi to survive, they must feed on emotions. A child Strigoi must be fed by its parents and then taught at a young age.” Phoebe was watching them closely.
“I want this baby Mihail, and it might help Mama with the curse.”
“Oh, it will.” Phoebe smiled, wide and all knowing.
“You know about the curse?” Stasi asked.
“I know about most curses, powers of prophecy, remember?” She wiggled her eyes brows, “The Bathory curse is one of my better works if I do say so myself.”
“One of your better works!” Stasi exclaimed, taking a step towards the Titan, Mihail held her back, so far Phoebe had been amicable, but without that salt circle holding her, who knew?
“If you did this then please, take it off, my mother has been trying for ages to undo it,” Stasi pleaded.
“I wrote it, yes, created it, of course, but I did not place it and it is not my power that fueled it,” Phoebe said patiently.
“Tell us who did,” Mihail commanded softly.
“I cannot tell you and I cannot change or stop it; for that I am truly sorry. The curse is perfect and horrible; I am proud of it and wish I had no part in it. Your mother is doing a fine job, she, with your help, will end the curse.” The Titan’s eyes sparkled even brighter for a few moments as she announced a new prophecy, then Phoebe looked sad, “even though to do so will require something I wish did not have to pass.”
There was a moment of silence as Mihail and Stasi considered the Titan’s words. Stasi, however, could not wait; she knew what she wanted, what she had craved for a long time, something she never thought she would want: a baby that was half her and half Mihail.
“If it’s a girl, will the curse affect it?” She had a few more questions before jumping right in.
“It will be a girl, and while you and Nea have been spared your baby won’t be.”
“Why have I been spared, but not my child?”
“You are no longer human, your child will and will not be.” Phoebe leaned back, resting on her hands, becoming a bit bored.
“Maybe mother should just change all Bathory females into Strigoi, a never ending supply of us and she kills the curse with one shot,” Mihail wasn’t really serious.
“That would be impossible. Even if Bendis agreed to lift the additional curse that forbids girl children from being born.” Phoebe shook her head, mortals thought too small sometimes.
“Our daughter will help, you swear it? She will help my mother end the curse?” Mihail wanted promises, reassurances; he didn’t like that their child would be affected by the curse.
“Yes.”
“See Mihail, there is nothing to fear, this baby will be good in so many ways.” Stasi had tears in her eyes, this was a goal she had thought unattainable and here it was within her grasp.
“Nothing to fear? What about the curse?”
“I am sure Mama will end it before it can affect our child!” Stasi beamed.
Mihail kissed the end of her nose, relenting.
“Fine let’s do it.”
“Good, I was in the middle of a TV show I rather like, let’s do this.” Phoebe stood and placed her hands out in front of her, “come here Stasi, you must pass into the salt, I must touch you.”
Stasi took a deep breath and broke the salt barrier; a gust of hot humid wind blew through her as the Titan grabbed her. Mihail cried out, he moved to reach for Stasi.
“I will not harm her, my word.” Phoebe said, she placed her hands low on Stasi’s womb and pressed, pushing life giving magic inside. Essentially restarting Stasi’s biological clock, forcing her ovaries to produce an egg and her uterus to accept and need to create life.
A surge of white hot desire flushed Stasi’s skin, she rocked against the woman’s hands, a moan forcing its way out of her mouth. She felt hot and tingly all over as with a gush her womanhood became wet and instantly ready for sex, her nipples hardened and strained against her blouse, begging to be touched.
“You next.” Phoebe reached out for Mihail, he went to her willingly and gasped as she reached down and cupped his balls; a slow, simmering warmth enveloped them before she let go.
“What the hell?” Mihail staggered back. Phoebe released him just as Stasi’s pheromones hit him, causing his cock to jump and become painfully hard, his pupils dilated with intense arousal. He clenched his fists at his sides, forcing himself not to move forward and take Stasi whether she was ready or not, that’s all his brain could think about, making love to his woman, no matter if she wanted him.
“Here let me help you.” Phoebe laughed and clapped her hands, Mihail’s and Stasi’s clothes vanished. “You better fuck her quick; she’ll be ripe for you for the next hour. Any longer than that and the magic won’t work. I wouldn’t even bother finding a bed.” Then Phoebe vanished.
Stasi sagged against Mihail, needing his support to hold her up as waves of longing pulsated through her. She dropped to her knees, her face meeting the hard wood as she spread her legs and displayed herself for Mihail.