by Zara Novak
Ansel watched him amazement as the girl circled like lightning. She looped two strands of chain around Edmund’s wrists, pulled them behind his back and tied them tight. She brought another long length of chain and wrapped it tight around his torso until his arms were pinned against his side.
Edmund knelt on the floor with his mouth hung open. “Well… I’ll be damned. I dropped the ball on this one - big time.” He flicked his eyes over at Ansel and huffed a laugh. “You played me well Draco, good job.”
“Hey man this one had nothing to do with me.” Ansel said. “This was all her.”
Kat threw the last of her chains over Edmund and glanced over at Ansel. “What do you reckon? Is that enough to keep him held tight?”
“Get me out of this thing.” Ansel winced under the burning net. “I’ll come and have a look.”
Kat helped Ansel out of the silver net, and he stood up to stretch, grateful that he could move freely once more. “Boy am I glad to see you.” Ansel wrapped a hand around Kat and pulled her in for a long and passionate kiss. When they finally broke away, Kat giggled.
“So did I do good?”
“Good? Damn Kat… you’re top of the class.” Ansel walked over to Edmund and inspected the chains. “I can’t see anything wrong with this. Dog the Bounty Hunter here ain’t getting out of these things any time soon.”
Ansel walked back around to the front of Edmund and crossed his arms with a satisfied smile. “Seems the tables have turned a little bounty hunter, wouldn’t you agree?”
“Sure seems that way.” Edmund stared at the ground reluctantly and then a look of realization passed over his face. “…there aren’t any garlic plants around here are there?”
Kat shook her head and held up a can of masking agent. “Just this can of highly pressurized, garlic based masking gas.”
Edmund dropped his head, cursing himself silently for his own stupidity.
“What do we do with him now?” Kat said. “Put a stake through him?”
“Most likely.” Edmund said reluctantly. “It’s a shame, old Edmund here could have been useful in our fight.”
“Against the circle?” Kat said half puzzled.
“He’s not with them officially.” Ansel explained. “He’s only bringing me in for the bounty. In another world we might have been allies.”
Ansel took a step forward to Edmund and crouched down. “So what do you say Edmund. One last chance to join my revolution. Are you with the Circle or are you against them?”
“I’m with myself.” Edmund replied dryly.
“Suit yourself.” Ansel said, standing back up again. “Should I stake you now or leave you out for the sun to get you?”
“I’m going to go with… neither. I’ve got some information that your friend here might find valuable.” Edmund turned his attention to Kat. “If you kill me, you’re going to miss out on something rather useful.”
“Oh yeah?” Ansel scoffed. “And what’s that?”
“I don’t know if either of you have watched the news in the past few days. But your girl Kat here is down as missing.”
Ansel glanced over at Kat, who had fallen deathly silent now.
“We know.” Kat said. “We’ve seen it, so what’s your point?”
“Well, I’m sure you’ve probably seen that your sister is missing too.”
“Ruth!” Kat shouted through an involuntary whisper.
“That’s the one.” Edmund said with a knowing smile. “It just so happens I picked her up in the Black Font the other night. Old Hurst had grabbed her off the street and drained her within an inch of her life. I saved the girl and brought her back to my place.”
“You’re lying.” Ansel said. “That’s an awful bluff.”
“No.” Kat shook her head and Ansel glanced over at her. “He’s not, I can tell. I can feel it. I can feel her on him.”
Edmund looked at Kat half confused.
“She’s cognizant.” Ansel explained and Edmund lifted his head in slow understanding.
“What’s your angle Edmund?” Ansel continued.
“It’s simple. Let me live and maybe we can come to some sort of compromise.” Edmund turned to Kat and looked her in the eye.
“Kill me, and you’ll never find your sister.”
24. Kat
Kat and Ansel walked down the dark track, with Edmund walking slightly ahead in chains. The garlic had cleared, and the two vampires could navigate with their usual heightened senses, but the track was dark and silent to Kat. She grabbed a flashlight from the rear of the SUV before they left, to help illuminate the dark trees.
“You could just let me go you know.” Edmund shouted from in front. “Take the chains off and I’ll tell you where your sister is.”
Kat didn’t know what to make of Edmund. His dramatic entrance had certainly been a shocking one, but he had seemed different to the vampires that had attacked them back in Avalon. There didn’t seem to be any inherent coldness or malice about the man, he just seemed like someone who was trying to get the job done.
Then the startling revelation had come that he was the one who had taken Ruth, and that revelation had chilled Kat to the bone.
“Just shut up and walk will you?” Ansel said wearily. “We’re nearly at the hut now. We’ll see the witch, get the answers and then we’ll deal with you.”
Edmund shivered and glanced back at them. “I’d rather you just staked me now actually. Call me superstitious, but thinking about visiting a witch is giving me the heebie jeebies.”
A million questions thundered through Kat’s mind, and they all regarded her sister’s well being. “Why did you take her?” She burst. “Is she okay? Did you hurt her? I swear to god if you-”
“Kat relax.” Ansel placed a hand on her shoulder and smoothed it across her back. The gesture made her feel slightly less anxious. “It’ll be okay. I promise.”
Edmund’s chains rattled ahead as they walked in silence. “So do you want me to answer or…”
“Answer.” Ansel said. “Tell us everything you know.”
Edmund sighed. “It’s like I explained. The old guy at the Black Font grabbed your sister outside the club.”
The memory of the white eyed man flashed through Kat’s mind and she felt a cold pit open in her stomach. “The blind one?” She asked anxiously. “He made me feel sick.”
Edmund turned back, half surprised with a brow raised. “Wait… she’s been in the Black Font?”
“Ex-vampire enthusiast.” Ansel explained. “She was seeking out the truth.”
The sound of less than amused laughter came from Edmund, though he didn’t look back. “What? Are vampires real?” He paused and they walked in silence a few paces, his chains jangling all the while. “I guess now you know the truth. And… doesn’t it feel great?” Edmund’s voice was dim and defeated.
“Not really.” Kat answered. “Please, just tell me what happened with Ruth.”
“The old man snatched her.” Edmund said. “I went to the Black Font to grill Hurst over your man Ansel here. As it turns out, Mr. Draco had been in just the day before, and he was looking for a witch.”
“So that’s how you found us.” Ansel said. “You got the address for this witch off Hurst.”
Edmund glanced around, winked and made a clicking sound with his mouth. “Bang on the money Mr. Draco. Your friend Hurst sold you out, and it didn’t take much convincing.”
“Back to Ruth.” Kat said. “What’s the story?”
“Right.” Edmund cleared his throat. “As you may know, the Black Font is a blood bar. Hurst grabbed your sister off the street and took her back to the Font. He hooked her up, started draining her and served her up.”
Kat felt sick with worry for what Ruth had gone through. Her sister must have been terrified.
“I went into the back to discuss business with Hurst, and that’s when I saw Ruth laying there…” Edmund paused.
“This is the part I don’t understand.” Ansel said. “
Why would you walk out of there with a girl you barely know? Why did you feel compelled to save her?”
Edmund said nothing at first. “That… I can’t tell you. I just took one look at the girl and… I can’t explain what came over me. The point is, I brought your sister back to my house, and I gave her blood. She was only hours from dying.” He turned around and looked Kat in the eyes as he walked. “I saved your sister Kat Summers. I’m not the bad guy here.”
“To what cost?” Kat asked, not sure why the vampire had saved his sister in the first place. “So you could lock her up and keep her as some sex slave?”
“It’s not like that.” Edmund said through clenched teeth.
Ansel walked ahead of Kat slightly. “How much blood did the girl lose again?”
“A lot.” Edmund said quietly. “Too much.”
Kat glanced at Ansel’s face, watching him squint as he worked something out in his mind, something that wasn’t clear to her.
“And where did you get that blood from?”
Edmund looked back at Ansel and shot him a knowing glance.
Ansel dropped his head and shook it. “Oh.”
“What?” Kat darted her eyes between the two men, trying to prompt some sort of explanation. “Why ‘Oh’? - What the hell happened?!”
Ansel turned to Kat. “You’ve spent your whole life researching vampires Kat. Don’t you know what this means?”
Kat’s eyes searched into the distance as she came to the only inevitable conclusion.
“She’d lost her blood… he replaced it…” Realization spread over her face and she stared at the back of Edmund’s head as they walked. “You turned her into a vampire.”
The tops of the trees swelled over head from the force of the gentle summer breeze. Wind rustled through a million pine needles. Wood creaked under the timid sway of air. Edmund’s chains jangled, gravel crunched underfoot.
“It was the only option left to me.” Edmund said reluctantly. “It was that or let her die. You can hate me all you want, but I saved your sister.”
Kat became numb to everything. Her sister? A vampire? She couldn’t wrap her head around what that meant. The girl she’d known all her life had died and come back as something eternal and undying. She didn’t know how to feel. Hate towards Edmund for inflicting this thing upon her sister? Gratitude towards him for doing the only thing that could save her life? Fear for the new and uncertain thing that her sister had become…
It all swirled inside of her and overwhelmed her, until it blurred into nothing and she felt none of it.
Ansel’s hand was on her shoulder once more, she looked over and saw his eyes searching into hers, trying to find a way to reassure her somehow. “Are you okay?” He said.
“I don’t know.” Kat said honestly. She looked up at Edmund who was walking quietly with his head down. “If what he says is true…” Kat broke off, feeling as if she was going to burst into tears. She shook her head and fought them back. “Let’s just deal with this witch thing first. After that’s all said and done… we’ll go find Ruth.”
“Okay.” Ansel squeezed his hand against her shoulder, and he pulled a weak smile over his lips. “I’m here if you want to talk at any time.”
A spring of gratitude bubbled up in Kat as Ansel attempted to help counsel her. Kat flashed a weak smile back at him and lifted her eyes to his. “Thanks Ansel, that means a lot.”
The rest of the trek to the witch’s hut was a short one, and it was a walk that was done mostly in silence. Edmund was the first to break that silence.
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but that looks like a structure over there.” Edmund and Ansel both glanced over into darkness. Kat held her flashlight up in that direction and saw the profile of a house.
As they walked closer the building shrank out of the darkness and stood before them as a two story wood cabin, just off from the main road in small clearing at the end of a track. They walked down the short track and stood in front of the large cabin.
“Okay.” Ansel said firmly. “Kat, I want you to wait outside. Edmund, I want you to come with me.”
Kat half considered protesting about being left alone out here in the woods. Once upon a time being somewhere like here in the dark would have scared her, but all she wanted now was to be alone. “Okay.” She said weakly. “I’ll stand guard or whatever. I’ll shout if I see anything odd.”
Ansel nodded and smiled in gratitude. “I appreciate it Kat. Thanks.”
“What about me?” Edmund said. “There’s no way you’re dragging me in there with you.”
“That’s exactly what I’m doing.” Ansel said. “If anything goes wrong I’ll offer you up as a sacrifice and run out of there.”
“Funny.” Edmund said, clearly unimpressed. “There’s no chance you’ll outrun a witch.”
“I don’t have to.” Ansel quipped back. “I only have to outrun you.”
Edmund gulped at the proposition.
“Head up to the porch.” Ansel instructed. “I’ll be there in a second.”
Edmund glanced up at the dark house and shook his head, walking toward the house reluctantly. “Fuck this…”
Ansel walked over to Kat and put his hands around her waist.
“You sure you’re okay?”
Kat dropped her head against his chest in response, just wanting to melt into him and be done with it.
“This whole Ruth thing… I’m just trying to work through it in my mind.”
“It’ll be okay.” Ansel said. “I know it’s not the most ideal of outcomes, but worse things could have happened. She could have died.”
“I guess.” Kat said. “I think I’m just shocked.”
“I don’t know if this helps,” Ansel said while brushing a strand of hair from Kat’s face. “But I’m a vampire, and I’m not all bad right?”
A smile brushed over Kat’s lips and she looked up at the handsome man in front of her. Ansel pressed his lips against her own and for a moment, she felt as if she were floating.
“I guess I’m starting to tolerate you.” Kat said after finally pulling away.
“What’s your cognizance saying?” Ansel asked. “You feel anything funny about this place?”
“No visions as of yet…” Kat admitted. She turned her focus inside and tried to feel for any indication of a feeling, nothing answered back. “I can’t feel anything at all. It’s almost like there’s a cloak around this place. It feels… blank.”
“Probably a shield put up by the witch. I wouldn’t worry about it.” Ansel planted one last kiss on Kat’s forehead, and squeezed her hand gently before leaving. “We won’t be long. If you hear anything funny inside… run for the hills Kat. I don’t know what this woman is going to be like, but if it’s dangerous in here, I don’t want you getting hurt. Okay?”
Kat nodded gently. “Okay. Be safe in there Ansel. I like you… Don’t go getting yourself killed now.”
Ansel flashed his megawatt smile back at her and butterflies pattered through her stomach. “Would I do something so reckless?” He turned and swaggered up the track, motioning at Edmund with his head as he walked past him. “Come on maniac. Let’s go see a witch.”
They walked up the porch stairs and opened the door gingerly. Ansel made Edmund walk through first, then he turned back at Kat and waved one last time. He stepped through the door and it shut behind him, leaving Kat alone outside in the darkness.
Kat let out a long and deep sigh. She shone her torchlight at the building above her. It wasn’t anywhere near as creepy looking as she had anticipated a witch’s hut would look. In fact it was actually quite nice. She span around on her heels, looking at the rows of tall trees surrounding her.
It might have felt a bit spooky if she was here on her own, but knowing that Ansel was only a few feet away had somehow erased her ability to feel scared. It was just dark after all, and Kat knew this spot would look especially pretty in the daylight. She paced around in front of the house as she turned thoughts ove
r in her head, mostly ones about Ruth now being a vampire.
She had her flashlight on the ground, moving it around aimlessly as she walked without any clear direction. She’d become quickly entrenched in her thoughts, and when she looked up she realized she’d walked around to the back of the house.
Her flashlight poured over the backside of the cabin, illuminating dark windows that had curtains drawn over them. Kat still felt quite okay, and didn’t feel any real inklings of fear until she heard something crack in the woods behind her.
Turning on her heels, she pointed her torch into the dark line of trees at the back of the house, craning her head to try and see around the long shadows.
“Who’s there?” She said into the nothing. Kat walked forward through the trees and stopped. She closed her eyes and listened to the gentle whisper of the wind.
Then she heard the muffled cry.
She pointed her torch in the direction of the sound, and saw a trail of ropes tied around a tree just ahead. On the opposite side of the tree there was the profile of a figure. Someone had been bound.
“Hello?” Kat shouted louder this time, walking forward with speed as she approached the bound figure.
She rounded the tree and saw a dark skinned woman in a long green gypsy dress. The woman’s eyes and mouth were bound with cloth. She struggled against the restraints holding her to the tree, shouting muffled cries into her gag.
“My goodness!” Kat tucked her torch under her arm and pulled the cloth from off the woman’s eyes and mouth to reveal the face of a beautiful ebony girl. “Are you okay?”
The woman took a deep breath and focused her vivid lilac eyes on Kat. “Thank goodness you found me.” The woman said through long and heavy breaths. “I thought I would die out here.”
“Who are you?” Kat said as she undid the bindings on the tree.
“My name is Rubago. I am the woman who lives in this home.”
Kat stopped what she was doing and returned to the woman quickly. “Rubago? You are the witch.”
“I am.” She said. “And you are Kat Summers… the woman in white. My sister told me you would come here.”