At Death's Door (Wraith's Rebellion Book 1)

by Aya DeAniege

  Had a twisted sort of humour, but hey, mortals started avoiding him due to the whole reaper thing.

  I was usually there as support. Lu always knew when the sickness would start so we’d sweep ahead of it. He’d rape and torment me, gorging on blood as we went.

  As time went on and he grew ill, I would take on a caretaker role. Once he took ill, I’d eat a great deal better, and he couldn’t beat me because he didn’t have the strength.

  For a little while, we’d almost be normal.

  Those were the best times with him when he was sick like that.

  That last time, I remember we ended up under the stars, and I asked him about his Maker. We had fed on a family that was supposed to take ill, but the sickness hadn’t taken hold as it should have.

  When that happened, we would mop up the remains so to speak, to keep the immunity from spreading too far. The more survivors of illness there are, the less it can spread the next time.

  We were far past Constantinople. The plague swept upwards across Europe over several years.

  The stars overhead were a different sort. We were further northeast than I had ever been before, even with Lover. Almost to Russia, I think. I recall the cold had a harder bite than it usually did.

  Lu was wrapped in blankets in front of the fire.

  Unless there was a storm, he refused to stay in the home with dead mortals. If we did stay inside, it was usually in a barn.

  That trip we stayed in a few homes to use the hearth. He had me clear out the bodies and even bury them before he would enter. Old superstition is what he said it was, but I’ve never seen Lu so disturbed by an idea.

  Of course, that night we were still headed to our goal.

  An accidental fledgling arose along a trading path, a child. I believe I’ve mentioned it before, not Lu’s I should add. The child did as baby vamps are known to do, and caused absolute havoc trying to feed itself. Rumours reached the Council, who called on Death.

  I hope the poor bastard died easily, but I didn’t arrive until after the body had been disposed of.

  What’s the difference between a fledgling and Progeny?

  A Progeny is family. Margaret is a Progeny to Sasha. Sasha and I are Progeny to Lucrecia.

  A fledgling is the proper term for a baby vamp. It can be used in place of an insult as well. Vampires of estranged relations will call the Progeny of another a fledgling. Until one knows for certain who a baby vampire belongs to, we often call them fledglings.

  They tend to make messes, and that would be when Death was sent a summons.

  Word was spreading slowly of what this fledgling had done. We left people alive here and there and spun false yarns of our own, of changelings.

  The trade route went into Asia, but the child originated in Russia. After Death had done what he did to the fledgling, he went in search of the child’s home to start his work there. A little controlled disease was all it was supposed to be.

  A pocket here, a pocket there.

  Death worked on and off for centuries. He had to work to get the sicknesses just the right way. Unlike most powers, he had to train and upgrade with the help of Mother Nature. The virus evolved with each mortal it killed, just like any virus. His power was to keep and give, but his strains were specially cultivated.

  The Council was only aware of a few, the major ones basically. The ones where they called, and he answered. Most of the others they simply ignored.

  Since he disappeared, I’ve seen his work in the field. I know that he did not simply retire. He has been at work all these centuries.

  The human animal, he said, is too immune to the sickness he had been spreading. He needed something new, something with a higher kill rate that could be both controlled in small populations and could explode in the right circumstances.

  He wants another Black Death.

  To whittle down the population of mortals. Obviously, the medical advances mortals keep making set him back. The bubonic plague remains one of the most frightening things, aside from a twisted rabies virus.

  We all agreed, however, no more undead.

  Wait, what?

  Where was I?

  What was that about undead?

  Ah, yes, Lu and I were at the beginning of our journey technically, but we were glutted on blood. Maybe a little drunk, even.

  Possibly post sex, which was why he was in such a good mood.

  Lu always wrapped himself in blankets when it got cold. He would have me near him with more blankets around me. If we were attacked, I would catch the bandits. We were also near a cave or shelter every night. As the sun began to rise, we would move into the cave.

  It was a lazy day, Lu, of course, wasn’t feeling well. We had just walked through some of Death’s handiwork.

  I can’t recall how the topic came up, but I do remember my startled reaction to the question coming out of my mouth.

  “What about your Maker?” I asked.

  Of course, in the seconds of silence that followed, I expected to be utterly terrorized. Lu may not have been feeling well, but that wouldn’t stop him from disciplining me or making me discipline myself.

  Try saying no to your Maker sometime.

  Don’t have a Maker. Hey, about those—

  Of course, you don’t, sorry. I’m used to talking to other vampires about what has happened in my past.

  I just want to know if you mean zombies.

  Yes, I meant zombies. Can I tell my story, now?

  Go ahead.

  “Her name is Bau,” Lu said finally. “Only woman I will ever love.”

  “What’s she like?” I asked.

  “Old, older than any other that can be found. Devastating, brutal, destructive. A god among vampires.”

  I knew about the cull by that point. Not many of us talk about it, so it took a while for new vampires to catch on to the fact that entire generations were lost.

  “She survived the death that swept away the Makers?”

  “You cannot kill your Maker. To do so would result in your death. And the sweep is not yet done.”

  Simply put, Lu told me who and what had swept through the Elders. He had also, in those words, confirmed that there was more than one Elder still alive.

  I believe that the Elders are still hunted to this day. It’s entirely possible that one has been located, and that is why what is happening tonight is happening.

  “Can I kill your Maker?” I asked.

  “That was why the first children became Makers, to try to kill the god who had made them. They failed, but the Great Maker cursed them, their children’s children could take their lives.”

  “But, how?”

  Has Wraith killed another vampire before?

  He has. I believe this myth was the main reason for Wraith being created.

  Bau is on the list. All Elders were to meet the same fate.

  “I know how to kill one of our kind,” Lu said. “Bau taught me the ways. She taught me how they wounded the Great Maker. How to use those old powers.”

  “Do you ever see her, the way you see me?”

  I meant sex.

  “Yes, she calls me on occasion, and I must attend. Makers need Progeny as much as Progeny need Makers. She has me serve to satisfy her needs, then sends me on my way once more. Centuries later, she calls me again.”

  Jealousy flared in me. Lu was not faithful to me, and I was not faithful to him. We existed outside of those moments under the stars, but those moments were only supposed to be ours.

  No other vampire was to share in them.

  “Bau is a force of nature that cannot be stopped. She starts and stops stock whenever it pleases her, or when they stop believing in her as a god. Hers is an old way of things, but the time of many gods is over.”

  I know, I was surprised too. Hearing Lu claim that the old gods had been vampires made me question my faith. It made me wonder about my god, the one true God.

  “Does she ever ask after your children?”

  “She
does,” he said. “She advises that I cull them, as a Maker should after a millennium. I cannot find the other two, and it is not a pressing matter. The world is too large to keep to the old ways.”

  I had met my brother and sister by that point. Though, neither introduced themselves as such. We tend not to announce our Makers. Usually, it comes up eventually. I had recognized in them the despair I felt and thought them kindred souls, that was all.

  We had been abandoned by our Maker and would never be whole so long as we all lived.

  “The Elders culled their children?” I asked.

  “We once were in the same area, born of that place. Many were afraid to leave it. Most Elders did not, thinking their powers tied to the land. Made it easier to find them in the end.

  “That area could only sustain so many of us. Culls happened. Like killed like, families went to war, wiping both out in the process. Makers would cull their children, leaving one left alive. The weak would be destroyed. Only the strong could continue and create Progeny for themselves.”

  Lu had always called those of us without power weak. My brother and sister had power, yet they had still been found inferior and cast off.

  He ate a woman.

  He turned a woman, yes. I don’t know why, perhaps he was curious.

  Lu hated anyone he called human-made immortal, sees them as a blight. He claims he can sniff out the humans of the mortal races and would know if a mortal would turn to a vampire with power.

  All Progeny of humans are destined to be powerless, he says.

  If a Maker were to cull before Progeny could pass on the immortality, then several would have to be made within decades of one another.

  Imagine the blood required for that.

  The life expectancy of most was about five hundred years. Then as the venom changed, the Maker would sweep through.

  Imagine the surprise and horror of such a visit. Progeny were never told about the cull. Their worth was dependent not on how they acted with an axe hovering over their necks, but what kind of vampire they were.

  “Bau was one of the first to leave,” Lu said, continuing without my urging him. “She found me in my village. I lay dying of disease, that which marks my face, but she had heard me. Her words, I never understood what she meant. As my last breath threatened to come, she turned me. I am ever grateful to her.”

  I can imagine what you’re thinking. That our being turned leads to our powers, but that is not necessarily true. Some, yes, but not all.

  I’m thinking that now!

  Right, not a vampire still. I’m sorry, I’m just used to others interrupting at specific times.

  Because you tell this story often?

  We try to share what our Makers tell us of their Makers. It helps keep the history alive. That may have been why I had become so bold as to ask Lu of his Maker. I was searching for more history.

  “Is she beautiful?” I asked, no daring to say her name.

  Sasha would not allow Margaret to say Lucrecia’s name. I did not want to experience what Lu would do to me for using his Maker’s name without permission.

  “Beyond words.”

  Lu turned and kissed me then. He was very gentle with me. I don’t mean, he was tender for Lu. It was startling and yet so good to participate in that.

  I knew the pain would come again, but I tried to put it to the back of my mind. All I had ever wanted was for that, then and there.

  I, of course, had no idea what it meant at the time.

  Did you ever meet Bau?

  Maybe, I have met three unnamed female vampires.

  One tied me up and probably thinks she raped me. I like being tied up and ridden by women is the only reason it wasn’t. She just randomly stumbled onto one of my fetishes before I knew what I liked.

  The other two were much older. I couldn’t even tell you how I knew. They were both forces to be reckoned with. Both had power, but Lu never told me about Bau’s power, and some of Lucrecia’s Maker’s generation had survived. So being older didn’t necessarily mean they were Bau.

  That night we spent in the cave, moving on in the morning.

  I didn’t dare ask about Bau again.

  When we settled in the next day, waiting in a home as a storm raged outside, I dared to ask something else that had bothered me.

  “Are powers passed by blood?”

  “Among the mortals, it is,” Lu responded gruffly. “Power changes the flavour of the blood. Stronger the power, the deeper the blood. Among our kind, it is still debated.”

  Lu never used the term vampire. I don’t think he likes it, thinks it beneath us to be called anything but gods.

  “Healing, immortality, these are also a type of power. In a way, then, power must be passed from Maker to Progeny.”

  We had witnessed this in action, the entirety of the vampire race had. Wraith was taking on Death’s powers. I know that the pair were not together a great deal after Death cast Wraith out. So, it didn’t take much.

  If I could only find Bau, her transference to Lu was not complete. He was not compatible with some of her powers, from how he told it.

  I might be, I am not him.

  I’ve seen it with Sasha and Margaret. Speed was passed on, and Sasha can control her stock. Not all mortals, but some.

  Which meant that when the cull happened, we lost a great deal more than anyone else realizes.

  Death wasn’t afraid we—the Progeny of Lu—had his powers, he was afraid we’d learn the skill the way Wraith had. Not only learn it but change it into something more.

  Lu is a generation before Lucrecia, and he had never seen anything like what Wraith did. He was afraid we’d learn from Wraith as much as he was afraid that we’d learn from Death.

  Maybe afraid is the wrong word. If anything, I believe Lu was jealous of what Wraith managed.

  How many vampires can boast transference?

  “If they ever lift that ban,” Lu said, then hesitated, “I assume is why you are asking. You need to find a mortal with power. Could be something small, a flame for moths, or oddly lucky. You find one like that, and you turn them. Don’t settle for some humdrum random woman because you like the colour of her eyes. Your fangs should bleed at the idea. Making a Progeny should never be about settling. And then you better pray that you get your feet back under you before they figure everything out. Or one night you may wake to them with a knife at your throat.”

  “It wouldn’t work.”

  “Wouldn’t work? Are you a fool like the others? Think only the tool can do the work, or perhaps that a specific power is needed? Don’t be that fool. Twelve ways to kill a vampire. One for each moon that rises and sets in a solar year. Always thought that an odd number.”

  “It is an odd number.”

  Twelve ways to kill a vampire? He knows twelve ways to kill a vampire!

  Hush, and listen.

  Lu peered at me for some time. He looked over the home we were sitting in, a ponderous look on his face. Finally, he turned back to me and made and harrumph sound.

  Very much like and the old man as he studied me.

  “One way each moon will work. You need to know them all, then figure out to which month they belong. Otherwise, there’s only one way to kill a vampire, and you’ve seen that done.”

  “And you know all the ways? Do you know the moons as well?”

  “No, only Bau knows all the moons and all the ways. The others were culled. I might tell you, one day, the means and the moons I know. But when her time comes, it won’t be me or you who does it. I’m too close. You’re too slow to hit a woman. No, it’ll be someone else.”

  “Someone who doesn’t realize the folly of attacking a vampire.”

  I’m also telling you this for a reason.

  Don’t try to kill Lu if he’s in possession of the weapon? Wouldn’t that kill me too?

  I have no idea. It has been so long out of its Master’s hands. It may no longer recall that it should eat mortals.

  We slept then and
carried on. At the end of the route, we met up with Death. He had Wraith with him and with all his might unleashed his power on the land. It’s always awe-inspiring to see the creature at work.

  Lu was feeling much more like himself. We feasted on those who rejected the sickness. Then he all but drained me. He had his fun and more than made up for the lost time and the questions I asked him at that time.

  For seven months, we followed Death and took toll of the numbers. The problem was, not enough people were dying. We ended up eating more and more.

  Then one day, the muted Wraith stumbled upon Death raging about the illness. It seemed there was a problem with his tool. It didn’t work the way it should have, or it rejected him perhaps.

  The tool has only ever been an extension of Death. He could take that ability and place it on any object that helps him focus his powers. Wraith learned what he did when Death used him and the tool.

  Wraith offered himself up, as he knew he was supposed to in such a situation. I was on the field, dawn coming upon us. I just stood like a fool watching, afraid I’d be caught.

  Afraid of what Death would do to me, if he knew I was watching him.

  Death tried his power through Wraith. Such a simple thing, yet I could sense Wraith’s puzzled reaction when nothing happened.

  Our powers don’t just vanish. It’s not possible. When weakened or sick, power may fluctuate, but never like that. Death was upright, healthy, able of body and mind.

  I think that’s what gave it away for him too, the fact that he was too clear-headed. His hands didn’t tremble as he wielded the tool. Lu had no physical complaints. Obviously, the power wasn’t working the way it should have.

  And, of course, were the survivors of Death’s most recent attempt at sickness.

  His disease had been refined. It should have killed more, not fewer. Almost none took ill on the last try.

  Death threw the tool at Wraith, who caught it.

  There was that awe moment. The whole world came to a slow stop. Peace resounded across the land, as we balanced in that place between then and now. For a breath, the entire universe held like that.

  Then it exploded outward.