“Por supuesto. Yes of course.” Catonia was Haitian. Haiti was an island nation not far from Puerto Rico. Their people had a very unique way of speaking. I hadn’t noticed Catonia’s accent before because her voice had been too low while she had been conversing with Evercy.
I held up a finger. Catonia’s eyes narrowed and she cocked her head to the side as she watched me move toward Millie.
“Are you sure it’s a good idea to talk to them by yourself, Cici?” Millie’s brow creased. “They look dangerous.”
“Stone agrees with Amelia. We will stay with you.” The gargoyle crossed his arms over his chiseled chest as if the matter was decided.
“No.”
Stone slowly blinked in surprise at my refusal. Millie studied me quietly for a moment then nodded. She touched my arms softly. “You sense it, too.”
“Yes.” There was something about them, a feeling of familiarity beyond their rich Caribbean accents that reminded me of the warm tropical breezes of home. “I need to do this. I need to give them a chance. Show confidence. I don’t want to start off on the wrong foot with them.”
“Cecilia…” Stone protested.
“You protect Millie,” I insisted. “She is your priority. Get her out of this rain. Make sure she’s comfortable.”
He nodded.
“I’ll be right back.” I hoped. I approached the vampires slowly.
“Where are you from?” Evercy asked in an accent just as thick and appealing as Catonia’s.
“Puerto Rico. We lived in the El Yunque rainforest.” My voice broke on a wistful pang. “Before we were captured.”
“A beautiful place. We visited once before the hurricane and the mudslide that buried us…” Evercy trailed off in response to a subtle head shake by Catonia. Something sad flickered in her gaze before stoicism replaced it, a practiced switch being thrown. I wondered how long they had been in this place. How many years would it take for me to become like them? How long would it take before I stopped dreaming of home and escape and became as resigned as they seemed to be?
“Our past and how we came to be here isn’t important. Roderick would have you know his rules.” Catonia drew herself up to her full height. “This city is his and he owns everything in it. Including you and those you care for.” She paused as if waiting for me to acknowledge, but my only response was a defiant glare. He didn’t own me. I wasn’t going to be cowed by anyone anymore. Not if there was anything I could do about it.
Catonia’s eyes flared with something that might have been approval. She and Evercy exchanged a glance before her gaze returned to me. “The food you will eat is culled from the City of Lights. It is unpleasant and bland we are told but it is sustenance. It also acts as currency. When your work day is through you will bring back what you are given. It is to be placed on the common tables where Roderick and his soldiers take first pick, then the Sombre guards, then the rest file through in the order of the numbers on their homes.
She pointed to our dwelling and my heart sank when I saw how high the number was. I straightened my spine and gritted my teeth resolving right then and there that I would ignore that rule. I would not have my sister going hungry.
“Time beneath the moon is allocated in the same way.” Her expression softening, she almost looked apologetic. “You are the very last. There is no higher number. The dawn will almost be breaking when it is finally your turn.”
I wasn’t surprised but having my suspicions confirmed made me even more pissed off at Roderick. In Millie’s condition she needed to be under the moon when it was most intense to regain her strength. Not when it was at its weakest.
Catonia took a step closer. “Those are the most important rules.” She glanced around anxiously. Evercy moved in toward me and both of them bent down so that their faces were within inches of my own. I could see their incisors peeking out from between their full lips. A trickle of icy unease tiptoed down my spine, but I didn’t back away like my instincts demanded.
“I apologize,” Catonia said.
“We apologize,” Evercy echoed and their incisors disappeared. “Your blood calls to us. It is very potent. Very aromatic.”
“Delectable.” Catonia sighed. “Totally unique. We have never smelled anything like it.”
I imagined they hadn’t since the blood of an Ancient coursed through my veins. Plus I had my mother’s healing blood and now even Millie’s mingled with it.
Catonia shook her head as if to refocus her thoughts. “But that is not all that we purpose to tell you.” She lowered her voice. “We form alliances here out of necessity, seer. Sometimes the paths we are forced to choose in this place are not always the most palatable.” Her gaze narrowed. “We heard what you said to Marcel. The moon gleaming is an abhorrent practice that Roderick perpetuates. He enjoys it. He is twisted.”
Evercy touched Catonia’s shoulder gently. “What my ke’ mwen, my heart, is trying to tell you is that we do not approve of this abomination. Dark Immortals should not subjugate our own kind in that manner. It is wrong.”
“We could never admit to that publicly,” Catonia cautioned her voice dropping even lower. “But we would have you know that we agree with you in this matter.”
“And that you impress us with your courage.” Evercy added stroking Catonia’s arm. They finished each other’s sentences as if they were one. That was when it hit me. They were a couple. One that I suspected had been together for a long time.
“Thank you.” The support of the two vampires wasn’t all that much, but at least it was something. And I had a feeling I was going to need all of the somethings I could get inside this dark and lonely place.
“What did they say?” Millie asked, her cheek color high as she moved away from Stone and met me in the middle of the pod’s interior that contained one small lit lamp on a low table, three twin mattresses on the floor and a single fully functional bathroom. I was relieved to discover that though the La Ville Sombre was run down on the outside it was surprisingly tidy and dry within our pod.
“Only that they agree with me that Roderick rationing the moonlight is wrong. I don’t know if it means much but I think that if we get into trouble with him they might help us. I get the feeling that it will be up to me to challenge him, but that if I win they will support me.”
“How can you challenge him, Cici? He’s a demon, an incubus, like Apollyon. Plus he has a second, the guards...”
“Not like Apollyon,” I disagreed. “Not that powerful. And not nearly as smart either if my first impression is correct. Otherwise, he wouldn’t treat his own people so poorly. I imagine Catonia and Evercy are not the only ones who would eagerly back me or anyone else who sought to displace him.”
Millie nodded thoughtfully.
“Stone agrees. Stone will support you.” He glanced at Millie and his eyes actually glowed. I had never seen them do that. For a moment a human face with a tapered chin that was oddly foreign flickered beneath his marble veneer. Straight dark hair framed sloe brown eyes that were outlined in kohl. It disappeared just as I was wondering if my sister had also seen it. “Stone will protect Amelia, no matter what,” he concluded fiercely.
“Thank you, Stone.” Millie reached for him without looking and he clasped her questing hand. “What are you going to do, Cici?”
“I don’t know exactly.” I moved to claim one of the mattresses, sinking into it, leaning my head back against the wall and then peering up at her.
“We’ll figure something out. We have each other. And Stone. Maybe the vampires if they prove themselves trustworthy. The bonds of friendship are stronger than those of oppressors.” She grabbed a corner of one of the other mattress and started to drag it over to mine but the gargoyle took it from her.
“Allow Stone to help, pretty one.” He arranged hers beside mine and then his in front of both of ours so that anyone who entered the pod would have to step over him first to get to us.
“Do you have any ideas?” Millie reached for my hand and squ
eezed my fingers before she put my palm to her soft cheek. Her sea green eyes gleamed softly, expectantly.
I felt so overwhelmed. What could I do? I had my gifts. We both had our gifts, but would that be enough? I was newly turned, an immortal whose greatest talent was probably a penchant for getting into trouble. I looked at Stone. I hadn’t seen any other gargoyles in the free for all earlier. He was definitely a staunch and powerful ally. And then there was Millie, weak in body presently but with priceless irrepressible hope in her heart and an unshakeable faith in me that I found humbling.
“Not a specific one yet, but…” I pulled in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I’ll try, Millie. I will try. The way things are right now…they can’t stand. It’s wrong what Roderick does and it would be even more wrong of me not to try to do something to change it.”
“I knew you would do the right thing.” She threw her arms around my neck and hugged me tightly. “And you will win,” she vowed in a way that told me she wasn’t just trying to be encouraging. She must have foreseen something.
“What…” I began but suddenly the room became dark, my veins ran cold and Millie was all I saw in my mind. But not the way she looked now. Thinner. More pale. Eyes large and so, so sad. And one startling stripe of long black running through her platinum hair. Then the image of her face faded until all that remained were her pretty eyes. “I fall so you may rise,” her voice echoed in my head.
The vision disappeared and the pod came back into focus as I blinked. “Millie,” I gasped grabbing for her hand, frightened by what I had seen. “I just saw…and you just said…”
A brief shadow darkened her gaze as she peered back at me. She shrugged as if it hadn’t been important but I feared what she was hiding. “You saw what I saw, Cici. The stripe makes me look like you, doesn’t it?” She was trying to deflect me by making light of it.
“You know what I saw, Millie. You see everything I do when we touch.”
She squeezed my hand and looked at me in a way that made her seem infinitely older. “My sacrifice will be small.” A shield came down over her gaze. She leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes. “I fear yours will be so much greater,” she whispered.
“Amelia,” the gargoyle called touching her arm softly. “Please look at Stone.”
“Cecilia.” She ignored him, her voice husky as if it actually hurt her not to comply with the gargoyle’s plea. “I am so tired. I just need to rest. Could you sing to me?” she whispered so low I had to lean closer to hear her. “That song you used to sing with Mamá and Papá.”
“No, Millie. Not that one. Not here in this dark place.” It would make me cry.
She opened her eyes. They were brimming in a way I could never resist.
“Ok, honey.” I pulled a pillow from her pallet, put it in my lap and she laid her head on it. I began to stroke her soft hair and sang the wistful tune about a made up place called Faraway where only love ruled and everything was beauty and truth. Millie had always had the faith to believe in it. But after all that had happened I wondered if even she could hold to such fragile dreams.
There is a place that’s far away
Where all are welcomed there to stay
And years are but a single day
Faraway
Faraway
There is a place that’s far from here
Where we’ll no longer need to fear
Wrapped in the arms of loved ones dear
Far from here
Far from here
Faraway, and yet so near
You can almost see from here
One step closer every day
To our home in Faraway
There is a place we’ll go someday
Where pain and death are swept away
With hope and love to light our way
We’ll go someday
To Faraway
Faraway, and yet so near
You can almost see from here
One step closer every day
To our home in Faraway
The curtain to our pod fluttered open as I finished singing. I quickly swiped the tears that had so readily flowed while Stone stood protectively in front of me. Millie had fallen asleep.
“I am Fissure.” A gargoyle stepped inside holding his hands out in front of him. “I mean you no harm. I reside on the other side of that wall.” He pointed with his eye. He only had one and a crumbled marble cavity where the other should have been. “I heard your song and it reminded me of something I had forgotten.”
Fissure’s mumbling was difficult to understand. His mouth was damaged. Half of it was gone. The rest of his body fared little better. One arm ended at the elbow. Both legs were chipped, and he was minus a fingertip and several toes.
Stone was silent as he regarded the other gargoyle but though he hid it well I could tell he was horrified by Fissure’s appearance. That was when I noticed that Fissure’s wings had been pinned together with an iron clamp so he couldn’t use them.
I gasped and almost reached back to touch my own. “Who did this to you?” I whispered.
“Roderick. At the Sun King’s behest.”
“But why?”
“Because once I used my wings to try to escape. Because they wished to make an example of me.”
“That’s horrible,” I hissed hating Roderick even more and forming an increasingly unfavorable opinion of Phoebus the more I heard about him. “When did this happen?”
“It was so long ago.” Fissure looked confused. “I can’t remember. The years run together in this dark place.” He turned to Stone. “Stay on the ground. Do not make the same error I did,” he cautioned. “There’s no way out except in death, and sadly many here choose it.”
“You said my song reminded you of something you had forgotten.” I was eager to change the subject to something less depressing. “I am curious what that is.”
“Goodness and hope, dear one. It reminded me of them.” He gave me a yearning half-smile. “Thank you for that. It pleases me to hear music once again. Call if you ever have need of me.” His gaze flicked to Millie and softened as she turned over and mumbled in her sleep. “She is your Remedy.”
Stone nodded without hesitation.
“She is lovely.”
“She is more than that. More than your eye can see,” Stone stated reverently.
“You are in love with her,” Fissure concluded, and Stone didn’t deny it. “I have heard stories about other gargoyles like you who have found their Remedy. But to see that there really is such a one with a heart pure of artifice and a soul that harbors no malice is truly a miracle. You are very fortunate indeed. But it seems unjust that only in captivity have you discovered the key to your freedom.”
I turned to Stone as soon as Fissure departed. “You love my sister?”
“Yes.”
“When did this happen? I was only unconscious for six days.”
“Some say the world was created in that span. Why then can Stone not be quicker to decide?” At my continued look of skepticism, he continued. “Stone and Amelia spent much time together while you slept. She talked. Stone mostly listened. She likes Stone’s stories. Stone’s words flow more easily around her. Especially when Stone sings.”
“You sing?”
“Not well. Not like you. Amelia thought that song might free Stone’s tongue.”
“Like a person with a speech impediment?”
“Just so.”
“Incredible.”
“She is. She is smart. She is intuitive. She is lovely. She is kind and generous. She is Amelia. What is lacking to love?”
He had a point. A lot of them actually.
“What did Fissure mean about her being your Remedy?”
“Not all of my kind are crafted, like Apollyon’s servants. Some were once men like Stone.”
“I saw you,” I breathed. “For just a moment when your eyes glowed.”
“No other has seen my true self, except for Amelia.”
He seemed surprised by this and I noticed he didn’t refer to the man he once was in the third person.
“How long have you been like you are now?”
“Thousands of years.”
My eyes widened.
“Since my brother Khufu built the Great Pyramid.”
“In Egypt?” My tone revealed my astonishment.
“Yes. It is called that now but once it had another name. The world then was very different. The Creator’s magic was easily accessible and many knew how to wield it.”
His words and thoughts were flowing. Was this all Millie’s influence?
“How did it happen? Who did it to you?”
“My name was Rahotep. They called me Rahotep the Mighty. I was undefeated in battle though many tried to best me. But I grew arrogant. I did not show the proper respect for the last man I slew. His wife cursed me to become this creature whose hard cold exterior would match the callous pride I carried inside.”
“I’m so sorry, Stone. I touched his arm. “Does Millie know any of this?”
“Some. Yes.”
“Not that she is your Remedy,” I guessed.
“No.”
“And not that you love her.”
He looked over at her his expression filled with such visible longing that I had no doubt that what he told me was true. “Stone thinks maybe she already knows.” I noticed that he lapsed back into third person.
“You are very protective of her. Gentle. Gallant.” Like the male protagonists in the books she liked so much. “I am sorry that this happened to you. You have been so good to us. You saved my life. I think she would be honored if she knew how you felt about her. I certainly feel honored to call you our friend.”
“Cici.” Gentle fingers touched my cheek. “Wake up.”
“What time is it?” I murmured sleepily stretching out on the surprisingly comfortable mattress and opening my eyes to my sister’s warm smile. A nice way to start the day. Any day. I would never take one single sweet smile of hers for granted again.
“Time for us to go. Catonia and Evercy are waiting outside to escort us to the City of Lights. Someone dropped off fresh clothes for us in the middle of the night. I already took a shower and put mine on. I put yours on the counter in the bathroom.” She glanced over her shoulder where Stone stood as still as a statue and her cheeks flushed. “Stone said he doesn’t need to bathe so the shower’s all yours, but I think you should hurry. The vampires mentioned that we are expected to be punctual.”
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