by Aya DeAniege
“False. Humans believe that prophecy isn’t set in stone. Just like the Council believes that they need a death bringer.”
“They kind of do,” I muttered. “But they would chain him like a dog. I’m not okay with that.”
“The bond you’ve begun creating is unique among vampires,” Rosalyn said. “Makers once created impulsively. Their Progeny was only bound to them for a century at most, then the drive to escape, to be free, would separate the pair. The Progeny cares that the Maker remains alive like a drug addict cares that their dealer remains free of prison.”
“And the Maker?” I asked.
“Your blood has a unique property. So, she spoke, so it shall be,” Rosalyn hesitated for a moment. “Some Makers, upon the creation of a child, have described it as a waking feeling. Your blood has the power to heal every wound of his. The old ones will take time, but if he drinks from you tonight, the process will begin.”
“He doesn’t have old wounds,” I said.
“The boy has never been whole,” Rosalyn said with a frown. “How would a human put it?”
“You don’t mean bodily harm,” I said. “You mean the split. All that Lu has done.”
Rosalyn nodded. “Even the bits he’s lost by using the tool, those too can come back.”
“That would kill Wraith, wouldn’t it?”
“Have him drink tonight, Helen the Siren.”
I watched Rosalyn for a moment, wondering why she didn’t just come out and say it.
If Quin didn’t drink from me before Wraith woke, the other personality would take over and eventually destroy him. Wraith would want freedom from everything including Quin.
Quin only wanted to be whole.
“Turning me didn’t start the process?”
“The magic wasn’t in you until you turned. You’re still young, but a bite now will start the process. It will also bind him to you more closely. Makers and Progeny are usually alone, at this point. They feed on one another, passing and filtering a different sort of magic back and forth. Those with powers, such as yourself and Quin, have a different reaction.”
“You know what my power is.”
Don’t think of that. Mind reading, tell her mind reading.
It took a moment for me to realize that it wasns’t my own voice ringing in my ears. Then yet another moment for me to pinpoint who had said it, or thought it in that case. Behind the words were a difficult burden carried on the shoulders of three beings, but the words were kept to one with an underlying thought, a thing that couldn’t quite be put to words, shared amongst the three.
“Well, shit,” I muttered, looking down at the tablet, then back up to Rosalyn. “There’s a reason you said earlier—what was it? That you had to contact the Great Maker? Over me, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” she said.
“And you don’t want payment for all of this, what you’re doing for me now?”
“As a witch, I want to see the bastard burn. As Oracle, we have wanted this since before he took our boy. He was a special boy. One Lu took at Bau’s urging. She knew what he’d do to our boy. We want to see them both burn. We would go so far as to see them suffering. So yes, I do this as a witch without a title and the ability to see the possible futures.”
I nodded. “Anything else I should know? Like, avoid Sasha?”
Who is Sasha?
There was a puzzlement this time, then a flicker as if through pages in a book as Rosalyn searched her memory of all the vampires that her position knew of. Faces came up, little terms assigned to them that seemed to be like hyperlinks to more memories.
They have a mental database on all vampires.
The fact that the witches had a database that had been created long before computers and hyperlinks were even thought of by mortals was an amazing fact to behold. What other secrets might I learn from them, if only I had the courage to ask?
“Maybe her name is new,” I said. “Lucrecia’s Progeny?”
Rosalyn frowned at me, not seeming to understand. “We do not know every vampire.”
Somehow, I doubted that, but this time there were no flickering words to tell me what was going on. Instead, it was me who struggled to come up with how to put it another way. I recalled Quin’s tale and almost sighed out.
“If I’m using this right: you sent your tattooed maiden to take the boy to the fae of a girl after your boy was returned to you.”
“Oh, oh! Her! No, do whatever. I’d trust your instincts. You’re a predator now. As a human, you’d have to ignore something because it’s impolite. You want to hit a vampire, hit a vampire. Just don’t kill the Council.”
“That’s highly suspicious that you forgot that. You know that right?”
“The others never notice that kind of thing. You must just annoy them to no end. But then, they were looking to create more because they know they are stuck in that rut. Bring them forward into this century. Then maybe we can all walk in the open.”
“Werewolves, fae, witches, and vampires. Am I missing anything?”
“There are demons that walk this earth, are the best way to describe them. Monsters created by the humans over the years through various means. They’ve always... skulked. Modern humans don’t believe the sightings, thanks to science. But they’re there.”
“And gods?” I asked.
“Surely you’ve met Amma. That is as near to a god I have seen. The Great Maker would likely count as a god. There were no vampires before her, just as there were no witches before Morgana. No wolves before Hawthorne. No fae before Angelica.”
“Only one male?”
“Hawthorne was a woman. Bitten by a wolf, so the story goes. Some say she lay with the beast and so birthed beasts. Only the Great Maker would know for certain.”
“And Bau?” I asked.
“We try not to speak of her often,” Rosalyn said. “She has the power to find those who do. That would be a bad thing. Like Bloody Mary.”
“Last night Quin mentioned her a bunch,” I said.
Rosalyn considered my words. “If it were for the interview, she would contact Lu. Who would, in all likelihood, tell her that he would handle it because he thought he already did.”
“When we kill him, she’s coming for us, isn’t she?”
“Mommy loves her baby boy. She turned a monster and then drove him to madness to hone the monster’s edges. You need to kill Death, then kill Lu. If you kill Lu, then Death, his spirit will be about. He’s not weaker, just going through a transformation.”
“What’s that mean?” I asked.
“He can hop bodies now,” Rosalyn said. “Death and Lu are almost cleaved, during that final ripping apart, neither could use the powers they had because they were trying to use the other one’s power.”
My mouth fell open. Rosalyn made a face, then nodded.
“That’s how he’s using the tool. Despite all, you need a staff for it to work without killing the user. The witches have not made him another one. It takes a coven to make it.”
“He didn’t kill the driver,” I said. “That George fellow did when the driver attacked him. That’s probably when I was infected too. Walking through a cloud of magic left by the tool.”
“Because mortals made it to kill immortals, so too shall we suffer the effect, least balance is lost in the world.”
“So, she spoke?” I asked.
“No, that’s just basic math. Which is basic magic, as well.”
“If I project and pick up the head with bare hands?” I asked. “Or Quin does, I should say. He knows how to do that, I think.”
“Same thing. Death of Quin, your soul begins to split. Even Death needs the staff. Or a disposable body, but if he can reside in a mortal body? There are seven billion disposable bodies all over the world.”
“Can he do that to witches?” I asked.
“No, once a vampire has ingested witch blood, they can never again use their powers against us. Surprise!”
“You’re not going to make
me drink?” I asked.
“No, just like, despite what he thinks, we never made Quin drink either. Vampires can’t tell the difference between witch blood and that which we have blessed with magic. The maidens without tattoos are not witches, just relatives.”
“Why? Are you expecting the witches to go to war with vampires?”
“Given the events, we have decided that the death of a witch, or even all the witches, would be better than allowing a witch to win.”
I swore again.
If I understood her correctly, Rosalyn was saying that the entire witch race would be sacrifice, most of them willingly so, if it meant that Quin or I was able to kill a specific witch. Our powers had not been hobbled so that we were able to use those same powers on witches.
If necessary, Quin could just expand his powers and then decide to kill all the witches in one swoop with his mind.
If that’s even possible.
All witches across the world might be a bit much. But all witches, say, in the city? That was probably a possibility.
“If you’re feeling like I’ve just given you the quest of killing the wicked witch of the West, that’s because that’s pretty well what I’ve asked.”
“Why not tell him this, why me?” I asked.
“If Wraith takes over, Wraith will serve the purposes of the witch. If he knows about this, he will kill the race to prevent from being chained again.”
“Kill the witch,” I muttered.
Only one witch. One witch who Rosalyn wouldn’t name. Perhaps from fear of something?
She had also mentioned before about a witch carrying the tool into the battle. Of that witch being turned into a vampire on the battlefield and her going mad.
“Witches can be turned?” I asked.
“A vampire shall not bite and turn a supernatural, so she spoke, and so it shall be,” Rosalyn said. “Though, not until after our sister was turned.”
Bau?
“And where did Lu get the tool from? The vampires think Death made it. They have bits in their archives, I was told, of failed attempts.”
“Failed attempts to recreate the blade. He received it from his Maker. His Maker wanted two blades, twin scythes for a Maker and his Progeny.”
“Why? It was made before Quin.”
“We saw a vision.”
“Which hasn’t come to be,” I said. “So, it’s not written in stone.”
“Not everything is in stone. It’s more like graffiti on a rock in the middle of a national park. You can get it off, but most don’t bother trying.”
“So, Lu and his Maker have come to the Oracle in the past for that vision?” I asked.
“No, Lu came to us about the boy, we were bound to tell him where to find the boy. We were not bound to tell him that due to the split he caused, the boy would have a chance to escape.”
“But the vision of the Maker and the Progeny,” I said. I watched Rosalyn in the awkward silence that followed. “Rosalyn, how many is the Oracle?”
“Three, balance is always necessary. There is no balance if there is no stone to balance upon.”
Quin had never met a third Oracle, as far as he knew the position was held by two. I had even felt three minds from Rosalyn, but she had been holding back her thoughts from the others. Keeping herself still.
“The Oracle encompasses the one who wielded the tool,” I said faintly.
Bau was part of the Oracle. I was betting the position was for life, which meant that she couldn’t be removed thanks to being immortal, which was probably why the Great Maker forbade any more supernaturals from being turned. To prevent it from happening again.
“Can the Oracle function as two?” I asked.
“The stone does not always receive the visions,” Rosalyn said. “It was the one chosen to take up the weapon, to make the sacrifice. With the power of vision such as ours becomes when we are a part of Oracle, we would be overwhelmed in battle. But the entwined magic was necessary. We thought it would protect her from the harm of the blade.”
“Did it?” I asked.
“For a time. Then they mobbed her. Bit her. The list was not yet complete, she still had more to kill but didn’t know which was her Maker. That kind of kill takes preparation. After she was turned, our magic no longer protected her. She began going mad. The battle was lost, the Great Maker went into hiding and yet still the stone continued with her list.”
“The cull that Lu took up, he was following a shopping list, basically?”
“He was. Later centuries, he would add one more name. She came to us, upon hearing of it, and asked us for a new name. She didn’t know, of course, that Lu submitted to the stone and would follow the name no matter what she called herself.”
“What was she before?” I asked.
“The little victim,” Rosalyn said.
A bit of what Quin had said floated up in the back of my mind. Of the one who had asked for a new name.
“You did rename her, didn’t you?” I asked. “You now call her the one who asked you for a new name.”
“And so, we spoke Lucrecia, in the hopes that the reminder of his utterance would keep her safe, and keep the boy out of harm’s way.”
“Why was she added to the list?” I asked.
“We are not permitted to say.”
“Why has Lu tried to kill the fae of a girl?”
“We are not permitted to say.”
“There’s that vague shit I told him you’d be saying, that’d be oh so important later,” I grumbled. “I’ll just ask Sasha then.”
Rosalyn smiled. “You go ahead and do that. She’ll beat you up and throw you out a window.”
“Might be fun,” I said with a shrug. “Can I get that mask now? Apparently, we need to find a way to kill Lu that doesn’t involve the tool. So, unless you know the death of the month, we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
“Just think really, really hard, I’m sure it’ll come to you.”
“If you’re being coy again, I’m coming back here and giving you a slap.”
“Threatening to slap the Oracle?” she asked. “And before you say it, no, I am not defenceless against you or him simply because you have not had witch’s blood.”
“Fair enough, but I feel I should have a right to slap someone who was vague instead of just telling me what’s going on.”
“Now, where’s the fun in that?” she said with a small smile. “Truth be told, if I told you how, it wouldn’t work, the future would be different. Would you care to slap me now, or wait and see the outcome?”
“I’ll wait and see. But only if you get the mask without anymore vague stuff.”
You have the mask?
Right here.
Good, any trouble?
Shit load. Might have picked up another side quest or two. You’re dumping me again?
Just to make an appearance.
Vampires may no longer be able to kill each other, but we are more than capable of causing bodily harm. We know how to twist the arm of another vampire, so to speak. Some pain dulls over the centuries, but others become keener.
If you know a vampire, you know their strengths and weaknesses. You know how to hurt them, basically.
Makers are capable of resetting that pain threshold. Only for their Progeny and only while together. The remaking of the turning can even help reset everything in general. It gives us a calmer, yet predatory feel.
Some Makers force that onto their Progeny. It’s a way to maintain control. Some Progeny try to resist their Makers, to remain free of that sort of life.
In a round about way, what I’m trying to say is: you learn how to hide.
Some vampires hide for centuries or even millennia. Take Bau for example.
Power to see if called too often. Ex-nay on the ame-nay.
Is that some sort of—? Oh, it’s supposed to be Pig Latin? All right, then.
In that case, has hidden for thousands of years, possibly hidden in plain sight.
It is possibl
e to so completely shed one’s identity that one becomes a new vampire. You would look the same, but no longer interact with the vampires of the past. For those on the fringes, this is quite simply the same as picking up and moving across the world.
The fringe vampires are not known by name, not by everyone. Only Androgen knows any of them. As the archivist, Androgen keeps a great many secrets.
For those of us who have been mired in Council history, there is no escaping the truth. We are creatures apart from the others simply for the fact that we cannot hide.
If Lu calls, I’m bound to answer. There is no city I might sink into, I cannot go to a third world country and hope for the best, not any longer.
There was a time where I could vanish into the countries of far and wide, and I did as much. I did it once with Lover, then again while on the run from Lu. Until Sasha was called to the Council, we could both hide.
When I knew that he was hunting me to kill me, to put an end to what I was, I ran, I did. It was the smart thing to do. I was still suffering the effects of unleashing the plague. The entire world was reeling from the devastation caused.
I went to Sasha and I told her what I could.
“He’s coming for me, and he won’t stop until I’m dead, not this time,” I said.
She had been feeding off some young male. She likes the way the young men writhe and try to get away from the pain of a bite, so she’d take the risk from time to time, as a treat for herself.
She paused only long enough to lick her lips.
“What did you do?” she asked finally.
As she spoke, she stroked the young man’s hair. Likely she assumed much like the Council does now.
That this too shall pass.
“Something bad, something I shouldn’t have done,” I said. “But I didn’t mean to. It wasn’t my fault. Please, Sasha, you have to help me. You know what Lucrecia would say to me, that I had done it to myself.”
“Travelling by yourself would be easier,” she said, a finger tapping her lips. “I need food more often than you.”
“So, bring your stock,” I said desperately.
“Yours are not sailors yet?” she asked in a bored tone.
“Nor are yours. Others have made the journey simply enough.”