Eternal Hunger

by Cameron Dean

  “And we all know what your promises are worth, don’t we?” I said as calmly as I could.

  Sloane took an involuntary step forward. In the confines of the cell, he seemed enormous. I could see him fighting for control, his desire to destroy us both a palpable presence in the room.

  “We’ll see about that smart mouth of yours when the Chairman arrives,” he said at last. “Enjoy your last moments together. They won’t last long.”

  Without another word, he pivoted on one heel and strode out. The door clanged shut behind him. Silence filled the cell.

  “I pegged that asshole the moment I met him,” I said. “Hollywood vampire. He doesn’t even have any original lines.”

  Ash laughed then, the sound open and surprised. And suddenly, I knew that even if Sloane made good on every single threat, even if I begged and wept before he took my life, it would be worth it. Even in this dark and death-filled place, I had brought my lover joy, just one last time.

  “There is something I want you to know,” I said, and felt Ash’s arms tighten.

  “Hush, Candace,” he said. “No more words now.”

  “Just these,” I said. “I know that we are both about to die. And I want you to know that I love you. Our love is the great surprise of my life. My only regret is that I didn’t understand sooner. I should have accepted all you had to offer long ago.

  “If I could become a true vampire now, I would do it. I would drink living blood so that we could be together for all time.”

  I felt his body tremble then, whether with grief or joy I could not tell.

  “Love me, Ash,” I said. “Let me love you, let me choose you, one last time.”

  “As I choose you, Candace,” he said. “Now and forever.”

  “Now and forever,” I echoed.

  And then our lips spoke not in words but in a language that would outlast time. In that cold and terrible place, Ash and I made love as we never had before. Sweetly and simply. Every touch, every gesture, an undying pledge. No matter what happened to either of us before the end, nothing the Board could do, nothing in the heavens or on earth, could take away our choice, our love. And as I felt Ash fill me, as I took him deep inside my body for the very last time, it seemed to me that I felt our love rise up, slip the boundaries of our bodies to take on a life of its own. A life that would remain, that would endure, when our own lives were done.

  Now and forever, I thought as I felt us, together, quiver on the edge of desire, burst through, then begin the long slide down. Forever and now.

  Until even time itself was spent, and the stars, like the light of Ash’s eyes, went out across the skies one by one.

  Nineteen

  All too soon, Sloane came back for us. And this time, he wasn’t alone. He had several low-level vampires with him, all with the Mark of Thoth on their bare chests, the sign of their allegiance to the Board.

  “Separate them,” Sloane said.

  Two of the vampires pulled me away as others hauled Ash to his feet. Then, before I realized his intention, Sloane stepped to Ash, raised a fist, and struck him back down. Ash dropped to his knees, the bones slapping, hard, against the stone. I strained against the arms that held me.

  “Bastard,” I cried. “You filthy fucking bastard.”

  Sloane turned to me with a brilliant smile. “I could be a little nicer, but you’ll have to beg me for it.”

  “I hope you spend your immortality in Hell.”

  “Not a bad idea,” Sloane said sweetly. “Except that I’ve developed a taste for blood. I think an eternal existence among a sea of potential living victims will be so much more rewarding, don’t you?”

  He gave a flick of his fingers, his false pleasantness vanishing as if turned off by a switch. The low-level vampires beside Ash hauled him to his feet once more.

  “Take him to the altar,” he commanded. “Bring her and hold her until the Chairman comes.”

  The main cavern looked as if it had been taken straight out of ancient Egypt. A fine layer of golden sand whispered softly underfoot. Draperies of sheer linen shot with gold thread looped down from the ceiling, concealing the stalactites above. Torches cast flickering light from sconces along the walls. Incense burners filled the air with a sweet yet smoky scent.

  At the cavern’s far end was a great, flat stone on a raised dais. Behind it, an enormous statue of the god Thoth, made entirely of beaten gold except for its eyes. They were rubies. Red for blood, I thought. And like most ancient rituals, this one would demand a blood sacrifice.

  Sloane’s vampire henchmen dragged Ash to the altar and shoved him down on his back. From beneath it, they pulled thin straps of leather, which they used to lash him to the altar. Ash made no attempt to struggle but lay quietly. His only action was to turn his head, his silver eyes searching the cavern until they found mine. All I could do was stand, my arms imprisoned in the tight grip of my captors, my eyes on Ash’s, and wait for what would come.

  I didn’t have to wait very long.

  Utterly without warning, the first of the Board members appeared in the air above our heads, his great wings beating the air, then folding as he settled slowly to the ground. A strange humming seemed to fill the air. Not one made by the low-level vampires ringing the walls around me. This was utterly inhuman. As if the very air itself was seething with energy, giving off its own sound.

  One by one, the other Board members materialized as the first one had. Each moved to take his place, flanking the statue of Thoth on either side. Sloane stepped into position. There were six Board members present now. Only one was still missing: the Chairman.

  And then, quite suddenly, he was there. Bursting into view overhead, his great wings seeming to fill the entire cavern they stretched so wide. The humming tension in the air rose to a shriek then ended abruptly. Absolute silence filled the chamber, a silence broken only by the sound of the Chairman’s great wings. They beat once, twice. Then, with a sound like a sigh, he furled them, gathering them into his body in a single fluid motion as he settled lightly to the ground. He stood for a moment, surveying the scene. He turned his head, and I saw his face for the very first time.

  Oh, but he is so beautiful, I thought. The most terrible beauty that I had ever seen. His face was smooth, unlined. But his eyes were ancient, filled with time-old malice, age-old shattered dreams and hopes. More than anything in the world, what I wanted in that moment was to close my eyes. But I kept my gaze steady on his even as he walked straight toward me.

  “So,” he said, in a voice to match his face. Deep and musical, and somehow many voices all at once. “This is the human woman who has been the cause of so much trouble. Candace, isn’t it?”

  Somehow, I found my voice. “Candace Steele,” I said, succinctly.

  The Chairman smiled, a smile that did not reach his eyes. Before I realized what he intended, he reached out with one hand to capture my face, turning it from side to side. The skin on my face crawled. His fingers burned, a combination of fire and ice.

  “Such a pity,” the Chairman said. “Not only are you lovely, but you have great strength. You would have made a fine vampire. But very soon now, I’m afraid you will be nothing at all. You should have chosen your passions with greater care.”

  He released me then, the imprint of his fingers still burning my skin. The Chairman turned and strode straight to the great stone table where Ash was bound. For many moments, he simply stood, gazing down. Ash gazed back. A great blanket of silence filled the cavern.

  “And you,” the Chairman said, addressing Ash, and for the first time, I thought I detected something genuine, something almost human in his voice. Regret, perhaps? “You are the greatest waste of all. You could have been so much. You could have had so much. Now, you will have nothing. You will be nothing.”

  “You’re wrong,” Ash said in a quiet voice. “I will be what I have always been: myself.”

  “And what are you, Ash?” the Chairman taunted. There was nothing but fury in his voice now.
“You are a prisoner. Soon, you will be a sacrifice. We will reunite the Emblems of Thoth, restore the power of the god—a power that will flow through you. And when it does, we will feed upon you. We will take the god’s power into us and become immortals. You will be destroyed. At the end, you will no longer be yourself. You’ll be nothing but a conduit for the power of the god.”

  “At least I’ll be free of you,” Ash said.

  The Chairman struck him, full across the face. A blow that drew blood. He reached down, ran his fingers brutally across Ash’s face, digging his nails into the skin, then strode to the statue of the god. Raising his hand, he placed it on Thoth’s chest, directly over the great god’s heart. Then he drew back, the imprint of his bloody hand plainly visible on the gold.

  “Let it begin,” he said. “And let it end with that which has sustained us.”

  From around the chamber, the Board members gave back the word that would commence the ritual:

  “Blood.”

  The ritual for immortality began in earnest then, all the more terrifying because, following that initial incantation, it was performed in almost total silence. The Chairman had begun his twisted existence with a curse upon his tongue. So now, the ritual that would free him and his followers would be performed in silence. Until the ritual was complete, the god reunited with the Emblems of his power, the members of the Board would utter no sound.

  One by one, the Board members followed the Chairman’s example, wiping their hands in Ash’s blood and anointing the statue of Thoth. Last of all was the Board’s newest member, Sloane. He struck Ash, as the Chairman had. And then a second time, when his first blow failed to draw Ash’s now sluggish blood. He did not speak as he drew his hand across Ash’s face, but his face told his thoughts clearly enough.

  After two long years, Sloane’s triumph was almost complete. His competition with Ash, almost over and done. From now until the end of time he would be free to do evil with no possibility of destruction. Nothing would ever be able to stop him or the rest of the Board.

  Sloane placed his handprint upon the others then stepped back, and I realized that I was weeping, silently. The six Board members stood in a semicircle, facing Thoth’s statue. The Chairman, directly in front of the god. Still in silence, he held out a hand. Into it, Sloane placed the heart scarab, the Heart of Thoth. The Board members knelt, their hands uplifted, palms up, as if in supplication. The Chairman reached up and pressed the scarab against the statue, directly over the bloody handprints.

  I felt a strange vibration then, coming up through the soles of my feet, as if power had begun to flow into the room from the very bowels of the earth itself. Against the burnished gold statue, the green heart scarab seemed to glow. The gold statue now took on a strange and liquid sheen, almost as if it were growing warm. Sweat broke out on Ash’s body, seeming to mirror the statue’s response. Then, as if it had come to life, I saw the beetle spread its wings, flex its legs. The Board members brought their hands together sharply, just once, and the vibration stopped.

  The Emblem was true. The first part of the god’s power had been restored.

  Now, from around his own neck, the Chairman drew a great gold chain. At the end of it dangled a golden disc, resting in a crescent also made of gold. It was an exact representation of Thoth’s headdress. The Body of Thoth, I thought. The Chairman turned back to Ash, took the Emblem and pressed it against Ash’s forehead. Ash gave a choked cry. When the Chairman lifted the Emblem, I could see its outline etched into Ash’s skin, the outline oozing blood.

  Then, his great wings unfurling, the Chairman rose straight up, hovering in the air before the face of the god. He pressed the Emblem into Thoth’s forehead, as he had pressed it to Ash’s. Below him, his followers brought their hands together a second time. The clap resounded through the chamber. The linen hangings moved in an unseen wind. The gold of the statue seemed to ripple, as if with muscles coming to life. Ash’s body jerked and spasmed, straining against his leather bindings, utterly beyond his ability to control.

  Slowly, slowly, the Chairman returned to earth. The second his feet touched the floor of the cavern, Sloane was at his side. In his hand, he held a rolled piece of paper, and I thought my heart would break. For this was the paper I had brought with me, the paper with the hieroglyphics Chet had translated. The third, the final Emblem. This was the Tongue of Thoth.

  And now the Chairman did speak as he approached the statue of the god for the third, the final, time.

  “Great God,” he said in his multihued voice. “Thoth of powerful magic, hear now the plea of your most faithful follower. Once, in my vanity, I displeased you. I overstepped my bounds. And for this, you punished me, condemned me and all those who followed me to an existence neither living nor dead.

  “But we have remained true to your magic. We have not forsaken you, great God. Reward us now.

  We bring you a sacrifice, to feed you. We reunite you with the Emblems of your great power. We beseech you, grant us the gift that we long for.”

  The Chairman reached up. And I saw that his hand trembled as he placed the Tongue of Thoth into the statue’s upraised right hand.

  “Make us immortal.”

  The Board members brought their hands together for the third and final time. The sound of flesh against flesh resounded through the chamber as, this time, the Chairman joined them. I felt a jolt of energy, like a surge of electricity, and thought I understood. The Chairman and his fellow Board members were linked now. Their bodies still separate but their power as one. They knelt in the shape of a great V, with the Chairman as the point, then raised their hands above their heads, palms facing the statue of the god. The air in the chamber grew thick with heat.

  The Chairman is the focal point, I thought. What happens to him will happen to them all.

  “Hear us, great god!” the Chairman called out. “Grant us the gift that we long for, we beg you. Make us immortal!”

  Nothing happened.

  Nothing at all.

  Ash began to laugh then. From somewhere within his battered body, he produced a deep, luxurious sound. It rolled through the room like a breaker on a smooth beach.

  And then, suddenly, Sloane was there. Leaping up from his knees, raising his fist, then striking Ash again and again. His mouth moved in furious words, but the sound of Ash’s laughter drowned them out. I began to struggle fiercely with my captors, desperate to reach Ash’s side. It was futile. Sloane’s open hand slashed down again, whipping Ash’s head to one side. Even as Ash’s laughter ceased, his eyes looked straight into mine.

  I stopped struggling abruptly, not even feeling the pain as my captors forced me down. Because, in that moment, Ash was with me. Once more I felt the thread of our rapport. Thin as a spider’s web, but also as strong. And into my mind there came a single question, as if Ash had planted it there.

  How did Thoth create himself?

  I made a strangled sound. Because I understood then, and wondered if Ash had known all along what would happen. Understood that the Chairman would never see it, because of his own past, the curse he had borne for time out of mind. Thoth’s most powerful act of magic had been his own manifestation in the world. He had brought himself into being by speaking his own name.

  By speaking aloud.

  “You can turn this on them,” Ash said inside me.

  Sloane was shaking an inert Ash, screaming now. The other Board members surged to their feet to seize him, pulling him away from the altar. They don’t want him to kill Ash until the moment is right, I realized. As it was, Ash wouldn’t last much longer. Blood dripped down his face. He gave a sudden cough, and I saw the way it bloomed from inside his mouth. Spent, he is almost spent, I thought.

  “Do it, Candace,” I heard him say inside my head. “Say the words. The power of the ritual will become yours. Speak, and you will destroy them.”

  “But I’ll destroy you, as well,” I thought. “There must be a sacrifice. The ritual demands it.”

 
“And there will be a sacrifice,” Ash replied. “Candace, my Candace. Trust me. Say the words. Love me forever, as I love you. Let go of your fear. Let me go.”

  I began to sob in earnest then. For here, at last, there was no way out. I could stop the Board, give Ash the last gift he would ever ask for. I could stop his enemies. All I had to do was the one thing I couldn’t do: I had to let Ash go.

  I swallowed, feeling every single muscle in my throat. And then I lifted up my voice.

  “Breath,” I said aloud.

  At once, a cool wind swept through the cavern. The linen hangings swayed. The torches flickered, wildly. The Chairman was on his feet now. Moving toward Ash, but his eyes were on me.

  “Light.”

  There was a clap of thunder, and the whole cavern swayed. Chunks of rocks came crashing down. Crying out in fear, my vampire captors abandoned me, fleeing for the safety of the far reaches of the cave. Then, with a great groan, a large crack appeared on the cave’s roof, wide enough to reveal a full moon floating in a cloudless sky.

  “She is doing it!” the Chairman cried. “The woman is completing the ritual.”

  “Not yet,” Ash said. “Wait.”

  “Don’t be a fool,” Sloane snarled. “She’ll never betray Donahue. It’s some sort of trap. Stop her. Destroy her now while there’s still time.”

  But there is no time left, Sloane, I thought. Not for you. Not for the Board. I looked into his horrified, desperate eyes and smiled.

  “Now!” Ash said.

  “Time,” I said aloud.

  For a moment, just as had been the case for the Chairman, nothing happened. Nothing at all. Then the walls of the cavern began to tremble. The moonlight grew impossibly bright. And then a single ray of light shot down, straight onto the head of the statue of Thoth. It struck the golden headdress, and a second ray of light branched out from the first, this one illuminating Ash’s captive form. I felt a sudden surge of energy, incredible in strength, impossible to describe. As if everything that had ever happened in all the world was running through my veins at once, and with it, all the possibilities for every single moment still to come.