by E. C. Hibbs
“Em, it’s me! Bee! Bianka! I’m coming down to get you!”
I tore my attention from her and onto the mausoleum door. I suspected it would be bolted shut from the inside, like last time, but I still had to try. A part of me didn’t want her to know what I was; I didn’t want to fly down.
But before I could move, the hair on the back of my neck stood on end as the mist crept slowly around me. An iron will snapped hold, and I was spun around so that my back was to the hole. My feet stuck firmly where they were.
“Well, come on, then!” I barked into the freezing air. “I didn’t come all this way to play hide and seek! Where are you?”
I couldn’t help trembling. It wasn’t something I could control; it was as natural a reaction as sweating was in heat – but inside, I snarled at myself. Being so close was terrifying, and I’d let myself forget it. Like the feeling of walking towards a flight of stairs in the dark, and taking one more step than you need to. The dreams of the past few years were nothing in comparison. I bit my lip furiously, drawing blood once more. Then I wrenched my amulet away from my neck – breaking the thin leather – and tossed it aside.
My glare drew to the angel, with its arms outstretched and wings high above its head. And as I watched, I saw him swim into view.
“I am right before your eyes.”
He stood on the base, as unchanged and perfect as ever: hands loose at his sides, dark hair and clothes waving in the breeze. It was almost as though he’d stepped out of the carved stone monument itself. He was wearing a matte black shirt that didn’t look too old, and I presumed he’d stolen it – probably from a quick attack on some unsuspecting man. He moved closer, lips curling into that horrid, beautiful smirk. I raised my head slightly, and my eyes shone red – so bright, there was a faint glow on the snow.
“Get her out of there,” I snarled, and my voice dripped with a venom all its own.
He sneered. “You honestly do not know of any form of manners, do you?”
I bared my teeth. “I said, get her out of there. Now.”
“Fear not. I have not laid a finger on her.”
My muscles twitched. Something about the way he said it seemed to hint that he was telling the truth, but I wasn’t about to trust his word that blindly.
“Although, now that you have arrived,” he said, beginning to approach, each step horribly slow and deliberate, “I should tell you this: for all I have not done, I must admit that I am somewhat proud of you, my juvenile. You have managed your needs well in my absence. Congratulations are in order for you. And your little harmless, I should add.”
“He taught me more than you ever would have done,” I growled. “I never wanted anything to do with you.”
He nodded in acknowledgement. “True. You did manage to bar your mind from me. And even enter my mind... a little unprecedented, perhaps, but on both fronts, I must say that I am impressed.” The flames danced across his eyes. “But yet only I can save you. Only my venom will help you survive this night.”
“But you won’t.”
“Indeed.”
“And you’re not the only one who can save me. Frank could. Any full vampire could. I’d be a human again.”
“And yet I see no other full vampire here besides myself.”
I pursed my lips.
“So tell me,” he carried on, coming to a standstill a few feet from me. “Where might your harmless be?”
I glared. “He’s safe.”
“Poor girl,” the demon said. “Have you not realised that nobody who knows you is safe?”
I ground my teeth together and my hand curled into a fist, knuckles white on my cane. I’d never felt hatred like it in my life. I loathed everything about him and everything he had done. Nothing could ever equal it, and before I could even process what I was doing, I forced my bloodied lips apart and a spitting hiss shot out from my throat. Red drops splattered on the snow – and for the first time, it was an inhuman sound: a thousand times more concentrated than the noise I’d managed in Hyde Park. It was the sound of a predator; of an incensed creature in the form of a girl. The sound of a vampire.
He blinked idly and then cocked his head slightly to one side. “A shame, really. You would have made a wonderful vampire.”
“A wonderful harmless, maybe,” I pointed out hotly. “Not like you.”
He laughed softly, and it was like knives. I slowly felt his hold over me lift. “Oh, we are more alike than you would like to believe,” he said. “You and I are truly not so different.”
I snorted in disgust. “Really? Humour me.”
The smirk was still there. “We are both the last of our kind. Of course, there are other Farkas families here – just as there are new generation Lidérc. But only you are in my sights. It is your foolish blood alone that attempted to drive me from this place, and take away all that was mine.”
“You’d hold me accountable for all that Alexander Farkas did?” I suddenly barked. “I never even knew him! I have no control over what he might have done or otherwise!”
The demon looked at me horribly. “Unless you believe that what he did was wrong.”
His intonation rose slightly as he spoke, as though asking a question, but I remained silent. Alexander Farkas had tried to rid my country of evil. That seemed anything but wrong in my opinion. No matter that the Lidérc were vampires without their own free will. They were murderers, losing their humanity with each passing day. If all were like the one in front of me, then that was the most right thing that anyone could have done.
As though he’d read my thoughts, he raised his head. “I shall hold you completely accountable,” he said. “You are an ignorant fool, Bianka Farkas. And you shall pay for everything.”
He held out his hands in an exact mimic of the angel behind him. If he’d spread his wings and held them aloft, it would have been parallel.
“Come here.”
I didn’t move, pressing my lips tightly together. His eyes didn’t leave me, and he cocked his head, in expectation.
“Do not make me tell you again.”
The warning in his voice wasn’t what struck me, but the sudden realisation that my end was drawing dangerously near. My steps were small, grip on my cane so tight that I lost the feeling in my fingers. A sharp, freezing wind blew down and whipped up the snow.
I kept eye contact with him the whole time – not even blinking – and felt all of my red hatred piercing in them like daggers. The mist about his ankles curled around mine. I was painfully close – so close that when he raised his hands to grasp my shoulders, there was no need for him to move forwards at all.
Nothing had changed. Being that near confirmed it. Like I knew, he hadn’t aged a day. He was still too perfect for words to measure. And his touch was colder than ice. I was somewhat surprised to see a thin scar on the back of his hand, from when I’d stabbed him – but then I noticed that his hands were all I could feel. No will.
He was weak – not enough to not overpower me, but in that moment, there was no mental grip. I thought it was because of Emily. He wanted her, I knew it, but he hadn’t touched her. He daren’t.
I felt my eyes widening, but quickly narrowed them so as not to distract him. Will this mean I might have a chance?
“The ironic beauty of sentiment,” he muttered. “Like the sound of sadness, I have experienced it so many times. For the simple matter of me allowing the girl to live, you will walk willingly into my arms.”
I fixed him with a venomous stare. “And you will allow her to live?”
He drew back slightly, a terrible smirk on his lips. I felt my eyes glaze in a sudden, confirmed dread. For a moment, it was as though the ground had given way underneath me, and I hung suspended in the bloodied tunnel.
I screamed silently at myself. You idiot, of course it was a trick! Did you honestly think he’d be capable of an exchange of anything so trivial? That’s human thinking. You’re not dealing with a human.
Why would you think he’d
let her go, when she looks so much like Lucy?
The feeling of my heart leaping into my throat brought me back, and my face twisted in rage drawn out with it. “We made a deal!” I shouted. It was the only thing I could think to say. “It’s me you want! Only me! And here I am!”
“You fool,” he snarled triumphantly. “The conditions of your turning were a threat, not an agreement. You should know better than to cross swords with demons.” His eyes lit up. “Or, more specifically, with me.”
The fury was greater than any will he’d ever forced on me. Never before had I felt as though I was going to explode, unable to contain it any more. I would have used the word ‘low’, but even that was beyond him.
Instantly, the fermented years of it all burst from my body. I bared my newly-emerged fangs, wrenched out the open knife, and drove it with all my might into his stomach.
Remembering the last time I’d stabbed him, and if I was expecting any kind of reaction, it was nothing compared to what I got. He roared in what seemed to be actual, genuine pain – and recoiled. I realised suddenly that, last time, I hadn’t used birch as well. The twigs I’d taped around the blade ignited upon contact with him, and his black-red blood dripped onto the snow.
I didn’t waste a moment to relish it or be surprised. I spun on my heel and threw myself into the air – let flight take me – and dived down the hole.
“Em!” I yelled. “Grab my hand!”
CHAPTER XXVIII
There was a cutting whistle next to my ear, and suddenly my knife shot down and clattered on the sarcophagus – inches from Emily’s neck. I yelped in fright as it ricocheted away towards the wall. The twigs were incinerated, but the blade itself was glowing, and dripping with fire.
Then I was thrown aside, as though a wrecking ball had slammed into me. My fingers just brushed hers before the hard pain of stone coursed in my forehead. For a second, the world went white – and I heard an ear-splitting crack.
I sank down the wall and collapsed on the floor. I became aware of a distant, winded groaning – and then realised dumbly that it was coming from me. When I forced my eyes open, the first blurred thing I saw was my cane, lying broken in two beside me.
I stared at it in horror, gasping for breath. Emily weakly shouted my name. I looked up – blinking hard to force the haze away – and a shadow passed over her face. He glided down; huge black wings spread wide, and stepped smoothly out of the air between us.
“Isten, áld meg a Magyart,” he muttered, pulling the limbs away into his back. “A toy, Bianka.”
Before that night, he’d never referred to me by my first name. It was strange, and chilled me to the core. His eyes shone with inner fire, stomach sodden with blood. Then, without so much as a single movement from him, the knife left the floor and flew towards me. Barely thinking, I threw my hand up.
I was instantly enveloped by my own scream. There was that horrid feeling again, of cold blade where it shouldn’t be: a searing, pulsing pain that shot to the tips of my fingers. They curled limply and warm blood dripped down my wrist.
The sound of the demon’s snarl snapped me from the agonised limbo. I ground my teeth, gripped the hilt as best I could, and quickly pulled the knife out of my hand. It had passed straight through, and come out of the back.
“A wound for a wound,” he smirked, and with a jolt of fright I realised he was right in front of me. He brought his face close and I fought the urge to flinch. Tears clouded my eyes, but I didn’t look away.
“That is enough for now. I have watched you for four years, I can wait still. It shall not be long now. In the meantime...”
He glanced up over his shoulder, and I followed his gaze. Horror wrenched in my throat as I realised he was focused directly on Emily. My uninjured hand shot up, grabbing his lapel. The chain around his neck leapt free of his shirt, revealing the golden wedding ring, glittering in the moonlight.
“Don’t you dare touch her!” I bellowed, yanking down. I barely moved him, but I didn’t care. I just couldn’t release. I wouldn’t allow it.
Let her go, demon. Let her go, take me instead! If I did that, would you let Lucy go?
“What spirit,” he whispered, laying his own hand across mine. The gentleness of it surprised me. His thumb ran softly over the underside of my wrist, tracing the vein, as though highlighting it. Then his eyes shone and he gripped me tighter. “You are insufferable. I have no words for the disgust you fill me with. Truly a Farkas.”
I whimpered, but my eyes flashed red, burning. “And Lucy?” I snapped through gritted teeth. “She wasn’t insufferable and disgusting to you, was she? I’ll bet that you would have wanted her! Not me! What would you have done? Made her like you, so you could... keep her with you forever? To compensate for Mirriam? The wife you murdered, for your own ends! Just like all the others... Lucy did nothing wrong... except to look like her!”
His face suddenly softened. It was ever so slight; if it was any human, then it would have been nearly invisible. But on him, whose face was so stony and removed, it was as obvious as the fire in his eyes. In a split-second, I had broken through, and it had been János Kálvin who’d heard me, not what he had become. His pale lips silently shaped the three syllables of his beloved’s name. A memory of him bending over her corpse flashed in my head, of that final bloodstained kiss he had placed on her lips.
That was what made it all the worse. After all I’d presumed and thought I’d known – there was actually some small shred of humanity still in him.
A shadow swept overhead; then something ploughed into him from behind with such force, his face almost slammed into mine. Two hands clamped down on his shoulders and threw him to the opposite wall. My arm jolted as I let go. His shirt tore, and through my tears, I saw blood streaking over my palm. I clutched my wrist, blinking to clear my eyes.
“Are you alright?” Frank barked, wings still out and held high above his head. My breath caught as I looked up – I should have known he wouldn’t have let me get away. Even if he wasn’t a vampire, he would have followed somehow.
He saw my hand and made a movement towards me, but I kicked him away hard and motioned frantically at Emily. “Get out!”
“Bee –”
“Get her out! Both of you, now!”
He reached out again, but before he could touch me, he flew across the room. I realised with horror that it wasn’t voluntary. He flapped his wings brutally, but it didn’t do anything, and he crashed into the wall, ten feet off the floor. His arms snapped down against the stones.
“Well, well, well, what have we here?” The Lidérc smirked as he got to his feet. “The young harmless, come to save her. How very quaint.”
Frank’s eyes were livid, shining the brightest red I’d ever seen. Adrenaline and hatred were joined by pure, unbridled fury in my veins. I bared my teeth and hissed.
“Leave him alone!” I bellowed at the top of my voice – so loud, my throat burned. “It’s me you want! But you leave him alone!”
As I shouted it, Michael suddenly burst through the door next to me. I yelped in shock and threw myself aside as it bounced off the wall where I’d been sitting seconds before. My hand left a red smear in the churned snow. I whirled around, unable to believe my eyes. And from the look on his face as he saw Frank – with huge bat wings, and held against the wall with no obvious wires – Michael couldn’t believe his, either.
“What the –”
The Lidérc’s focus instantly narrowed on him, and Michael screamed as he was picked up and hurled towards me. I quickly threw out my hands to brace him before he could hit the stone, but nothing could have prepared me for the force behind the demon’s movement. Michael’s weight deadened both of my arms, and more blood seeped out of my palm. I howled; screwing my eyes shut.
Trembling with pain, I slapped Michael hard on the shoulder. The way he moved with the impact immediately told me that he wasn’t in the demon’s grip. Like I’d noticed before, the Lidérc was weak. If he focused all h
is attention on Michael, then he’d have to let go of Frank.
“Hey!” I snapped at Michael, and he looked around at me, all the blood gone from his face. “Get Emily out of here now!”
He nodded woodenly and went to leap to his feet, but no sooner had he moved, he was pushed back down to his knees. Then he realised. I could see it in his eyes. He’d recognised the black-haired figure in front of us.
“Little Michael,” the demon smirked – and I was shocked to hear him speak in English. I’d taken it for granted that he only knew Hungarian, but like Frank’s accent was adept in either English or German, not a single note was wrong in that silky voice.
“We finally meet, my grandson fourfold,” he carried on, a sarcastic lilt to his words. “I must say, I am disappointed. Associating with the family that attempted to destroy us. You disgrace my bloodline.”
Michael froze. I took one glance at his face, and anger rose in my chest. “Attempted to destroy you!” I shouted. “Michael is ten times the man you ever were, Jonathan Calvin!”
I spoke his true name. Not the one he had gone by all his life, but the one he’d been born under, by his father. The effect was instant: he recoiled, fire dripping from the wound in his stomach. He glared at me so intensely that I felt transparent, and he bared his teeth; long canines shining. The rage hung in the air like a gas, pressing down on my chest.
Emily whimpered from on top of the sarcophagus. The sound seemed to snap Michael out of his stupor, at the most perfect moment. I’d been right. Holding Michael down, Frank was free.
I heard the wings first; then the Lidérc hit the floor hard as Frank appeared behind him, slamming him down. Frank grabbed his shoulders and flung him into the air with unbelievable strength. It was difficult to comprehend how powerful he was. I knew that the harmless were physically stronger than demons, but Frank wasn’t a muscular man. He didn’t even have a large bodily build – on glance, he and the Lidérc appeared very similar in stature. It was only when their powers rose to the surface that the difference became apparent.