Shining Light of the Volstir (The Light of the Volstir Book 1)

by Brian Carmen

  The effect seemed to be working as they moved through a small crowd. Several of the men stop for a second look at the blond woman. Victor was still wearing the same black slacks and white dress shirt he had from earlier that day. It was obvious to others that the two looked like a couple. En was spying on them while Nia watched from the old pub known as ‘The Broken Neck’.

  “Is this place always so busy?” Victor asked as they moved out of the small crowd and began walking down one of the alleys.

  “You get used to it. After all this is a city that really never sleeps” Claire said with a smile as she looked at Victor with more scrutiny than she had before.

  “It has its perks and its downside. I don‘t think I could live anywhere else though” Claire added as they continued their walk.

  En was moving more carefully as he bobbed and weaved around things that would help conceal him. The two of them were no longer surrounded by a crowd. He obviously didn’t want to be seen by Victor. If he was seen than Victor would be able to figure out who had instructed him to spy. This wasn’t the first time he spied on him however this was the first time he’d followed Victor since he was turned.

  Nia could see that Victor and Claire were heading in the direction of the Registration Building. She watched the two of them while ignoring Venus’ insisting questions. Something began to stir as Nia felt odd feeling growing within her. She took a moment and saw that they were walking across from the Sanguine building.

  The feeling inside of her grew until she was forced to open her eyes and lose sight of them. Her lips pursed tightly together as she got up and walked out of the pub. She didn’t say a word to her sisters who seemed a bit affronted by her quick departure. Nia pulled out the stone with the winged lion on it. Something about the stone and the Sanguine building felt odd to her.

  It was a feeling of pain and sadness. En had stopped following Claire and Victor and instead stood where he was. For some reason, En felt compelled to look at the Sanguine building. Nia could understand as she felt compelled to join him. The feeling quickly became an urge as she left to meet up with En.

  Moving quickly throughout the buildings it took her only a moment to arrive at the building. Nia saw En sitting and staring at it without a word. The cat looked up at her as they didn’t need to say a word. They both seemed to understand what it was they had felt from the building. En seemed to be affected by the building more than Nia was.

  “Soulem” Nia whispered as En meowed in agreement.

  She didn’t know why she was able to feel it now and not before but she knew that she would have to go inside. It would be the only way she could figure out what was going on. Nia and En decided to separate in order to investigate what was going on. Nia went after Victor and Claire while En left to break into the Sanguine building.

  She found herself standing outside the bank. It was large with several columns in front as the people made their way inside. The banks were meant to help with Volstir secrecy. In the past large amounts of money would disappear from the human economy. This would not only hurt them but also made the humans suspicious.

  The Volstir solved this problem by creating the current banking system. They used Dents and Chips, a currency for them to use that would allow them to return money back into the human economy. The humans would never even notice that it was ever missing. Every Dent was worth one hundred U.S. Dollars while every Chip was worth one U.S. Dollar.

  Dents were silver paper money that was half the size on an American dollar. On the front was the Volstir symbol; thirteen pillars with an infinity sign in the middle. The backside had the image of a bird crushing the head of a snake. It was meant to represent the Volstir conquering the evils of sin and death. Chips were almost identical to Dents except that they were silver coins the size of a half dollar.

  Nia turned away from the bank as she saw Victor and Claire enter the church of Sabriel. She made her way to the church as she began looking for a way inside that would allow her to still be hidden. Nia looked at the bell tower that was located on top of the chapel roof, it was mostly just decoration since it was never used.

  The church was made with stone and looked very similar to European cathedrals on a much smaller scale. There were man stain glass windows all around the main part of the church. Nia saw that the bell tower had door leading inside.

  Nia looked around and saw the public library was next to the church. Jumping high into the air she landed onto the roof of the library. She was now only a few feet away from the bell tower. Nia gently hopped onto the roof of the church while trying not to fall off the slanted roof.

  Nia closed her eyes and began seeing the things En saw. He was hiding beneath a lounge chair. Several of the night employees were walking around with paperwork. Both En and Nia noticed that they weren’t human. Slowly En moved from one lounge chair to another without being seen.

  En was looking at a woman doing work on a computer. He seemed to be waiting patiently for her to get up. It was obvious that he wanted to look at the files on it. The computer could possibly give them information on why they had felt the presence of a Soulem. Nia wished En luck as she forced the door open and went down the stairs towards the second floor.

  Around her were bright red chairs that people would sit in as they looked down towards the podium. From here Nia was well hidden as she looked down and saw both Victor and Claire. They were both looking up at one of the stained glass window. Nia looked around at the church and all the different images that were on the windows.

  The first floor had a long red carpet leading from the door to the podium at the back. The carpet separated the pews that were on each side of the church. All of the pews had red cushions on them making them quite comfortable. Next to the podium was a very old organ player that was obviously never used. After looking around at the church, Nia turned to see what Victor was looking at.

  The stained glass window brought old feelings to Nia. She felt the memories come rushing towards her. It had been many years since she had been inside Sabriel’s Church. The woman on the window looked identical to her. It was supposed to be Sabriel however the image was her.

  “Helaina was used as the model for the glass window over a hundred years ago. Story has it that before her image was used the window would constantly break. They would then have to replace it. When Helaina‘s image was used the windows stopped breaking” Claire explained as Victor stared at the window in awe.

  Aside from the old looking clothing the woman appeared to be Nia staring down at him as she was surrounded by children. “You said image? Who is Nia supposed to be?” Victor asked as Claire nodded.

  “Nobody knows anything about her really. The name she is most often referred as is Saint Sabriel the Enlightened or Saint Sabriel the First” Claire explained as she added that Sabriel was the first Volstir.

  She continued to explain that Sabriel lived over three thousand years ago. The church would normally be empty except every fifteen years when Sabriel’s Harvest occurred. It was a festival in which Volstirs around the world recognized the first maker. They would celebrate all of the amazing contributions that she made for their kind.

  “Would you like to hear her story?” Claire asked as she walked over to one of the pews and sat down. Both Victor and Nia kept their eyes on her as Victor sat down next to her and nodded.

  “Sabriel was raped when she was a young girl. According to the law back then she was forced to marry the man that took her purity. He was horrible and abusive so Sabriel had intended to kill herself on the day she met Israel.” Claire said as she pointed to the other glass windows that gave illustration to the story.

  The first showed a young girl with tears in her eyes as a dark man holding a bottle of liquor looked down at her. The second image showed her standing on the edge of a cliff with a young man standing behind her. The man had long dark hair and dark gold skin. His eyes were the most striking since they reminded Nia of Andrew’s. It was easy to see the unmistakable kindness an
d hope they had.

  Nia looked towards Claire as she continued the story that Nia had known since the early days of when she was turned.

  The story of Sabriel was the most important tale that a maker could pass down to their progeny. Nia felt annoyance at Claire since it was her duty to tell Victor the story. Nia however didn’t think about Sabriel often because of the trouble that normally came with their connection.

  “Sabriel and Israel began an affair that lasted for two years. For the first time Sabriel was able to know true happiness. Unfortunately, they were discovered by her husband who was very displeased. Sabriel was forced to watch as her husband beheaded the man she loved. Her own fate was sadly much worse.

  “Her husband and several other men tied her down so that she couldn‘t move, then they began to stone her until she was dead. Sabriel was left to be forgotten when something unexpected occurred” Claire explained as Victor’s eyes moved towards the third and fourth windows.

  The third showed Sabriel and Israel in a tender embrace as eyes from a mysterious figured watched them. The fourth showed Sabriel’s bruised and broken body lying on the ground while her husband decapitated Israel. Nia’s eyes turned towards the fifth window on the other side of the building. She had to hide lower into the chairs as she tried to get a better look. Her position didn’t allow it however and she was forced to hide and listen to the rest of the story.

  “Sabriel was pregnant with Israel’s child. When the child’s blood mixed with Sabriel’s she somehow turned into the first and most powerful Volstir. Sabriel went back to the village and used her ability to look into the souls of the people. She saw that they were all evil and heartless so she killed them all.

  “Only the children were sparred as she raised twenty-eight of them as her own. When they became old enough she turned all of them flawlessly and without the pain of death. They are referred as the first family of Sabriel. Her children became the original makers of all the Volstirs around the world” Claire explained as Victor seemed to be confused.

  “What happened to her?” he asked as Claire looked down at the floor.

  “When she was turned, she had a vision. Four hundred years that vision finally came true. Sabriel stepped outside into the daylight with a smile on her face. She left this world and became part of the light. Ever since that day, the visions that Volstirs have when they are turned has been referred as their own ‘light’” Claire said as she looked into Victor’s eyes more closely than before.

  “I’ve often wondered how it feels to be given such hope. To spend eternity trying to find and keep it” Claire said in a tone that was almost longing.

  “It’s funny though; because of the story with the stain glass windows some actually believe Miss. Helaina to be a direct descendant of Sabriel. Anybody with real intelligence doesn’t put stock in it since Sabriel’s only real child died when she was turned” Claire explained with a slight giggle as she watched Victor stare hard at the window.

  Nia had heard the rumors a few times and knew that some of the Volstirs spoke about her in secret. They believed that she was the second coming of Sabriel. Her image had even been copied and placed in almost every church in the United States and overseas.

  She had never put too much thought into it herself. She was just thankful that as the years went by the rumors started to die out.

  Once in a while they would appear again but not with as much vigor as in the beginning. During those times, Nia had deeply regretted modeling for the glassmaker. He had been kind however his work had accidentally created a dangerous rumor that could‘ve hurt a lot of people.

  “There’s another funny little legend. They say that if you make love under Sabriel’s gaze, good fortune will be yours” Claire said in a seductive tone as Victor’s attention was returned to her.

  Nia watched in silence as they began to kiss. She felt the old lust return to her with renewed strength. Nia suddenly felt a strong urge to go down and join them. She also wanted to just go down and kill Claire so that she would have Victor all to herself.

  Instead, Nia tried thinking of something that could help distract her mine. Closing her eyes, her mind’s eye returned to what En was doing.

  She watched as he was looking through one of the files. He was quite good at using his paws to navigate the computer. En stopped looking through the files as he looked closely at one of them. Clicking on it, he was able to pull up a file that had a list of Sanguine.

  They all had photo‘s with the date they were taken next to their names. Slowly En went down the list and saw that many of them were alive. A few were classified as ‘deceased’; though the cause was not listed. He stopped at one of the images as a wave of shock entered both En and Nia. They both recognized the young woman in the picture.

  All the other pictures and names were easy to look over. They both felt uneasy as they looked directly at Utaru’s face. Next to her picture was the word ‘deceased’ along with the date of her death.

  It didn’t strange because Nia and En both knew that Utaru hadn’t been a Sanguine. Her name and picture shouldn’t have been in a system that recorded Sanguine.

  Someone was using the file to explain her disappearance and her death. Nia didn’t understand why they would need to do that. En clicked out of the file and hopped down just as the clerk returned and began to work again.

  Gently and without noise En made his way down a few flights of stairs. With purposed he kept going down until finally he was in the basement. Nia could guess why he would go down there. She felt the same pain that she had felt from Utaru the deeper down he went. Something was located beneath the Sanguine building and En wanted to find out what.

  Nia found her concentration destroyed as she heard the moans from Claire. Looking down at the pews, Nia could see that she was making love with Victor. Nia was about to close her eyes again when she heard something that made her panic. Claire was telling Victor to drain her.

  Nia felt that she would need to prevent that from happening. It was odd for someone even a Sanguine to let a Volstir drain them. They had only just met and considering Claire had already told them she hadn’t been drained in years; it was enough to make any Volstir suspicious. Nia was sure that no Volstir would easily take up that offer but she also knew that Victor might. This was his first time with a willing human since he’d been turned.

  She was thankful that Victor was ignoring her request as he continued kissing her neck instead of puncturing it. Even though he wasn’t listening however it didn’t stop Claire from insisting, her voice became heavier and more desperate sounding as they continued their passion.

  Nia’s eyes closed as she tried to focus on En again. She needed to trust in Victor and not rush to his aid. He would be incredibly disappointed if he found out that Nia was spying on them. Looking through En she was able to see a horror more terrible than what was going on in the church.

  Somehow En had snuck into a secret room and was looking at several people in tubes being kept unconscious. The agitation and pain on their faces confirmed that they were all Soulem. Nia could feel that her earlier suspicion was confirmed. Someone had figured out a way to make a Soulem on purpose and was using them in their own sick plot.

  Nia opened her eyes as she heard Victor ask if Claire was sure. She called out ‘yes!’ as she placed her arms around Victor’s head and pulled him closer to her body. Standing, Nia felt her hatred towards Claire intensify to a boil. She began to make her way down to stop Victor from touching her evil blood.

  She was about to hop down when the doors to the church suddenly busted open. Both Victor and Claire grabbed their clothes as fast as possible. Nia turned and saw Lauren and Edvin giggling as she mentioned someone had taken their idea. She didn’t appear to recognize Victor as she and Edvin ran off.

  Giggling, Claire dropped her dress back onto the ground. Victor however got up and mentioned that it was getting late. Nia watched as Claire tried to tempt Victor into continuing. A sudden painful feeling forced
Nia to close her eyes and see what En was doing. She had a sinking feeling as though something bad was happening.

  En was looking at someone’s boot as everything started to go dark. Before he was completely knocked out however he was picked up. He was looking directly at a large Hispanic man who was obviously a Volstir. The man had bushy eyebrows that matched his mustache and beard. He was wearing similar clothes that the Sanguine building’s employees wore; a navy blue jumpsuit.

  Nia opened her eyes as she immediately began to worry for En’s safety. Unfortunately, she also knew that she couldn’t leave Victor and Claire alone. Victor however already had his pants back. Claire seemed a bit annoyed at his sudden decision to leave her and not finish what he’d been so willing to start. She was even tried saying that it was bad luck to stop in the middle while in Sabriel’s church.

  Victor however said that something didn’t feel right as he apologized and began leaving. Nia felt relieved that he was able to dodge a bullet. Claire grabbed onto his arm quickly and looked into his eyes. Her own eyes reflected the desperation in her eyes.

  “There’s something I need to tell you before you leave” Claire said quickly as her tone had changed to a somewhat more panic one.

  Victor listened as she began talking about Nia and the belief that she was somehow related to Sabriel. Claire explained that a group had enacted a plan that they had been plotting for decades. It was about a month ago that they started to make their presence more known. For some reason they seriously believed that Nia was the second coming of Sabriel.

  “I‘m not sure why they’re so fixated on Helaina. All I know is that they seemed to have found proof. It was something that had to do with a stone and a winged lion” Claire said as Victor’s eyes became focused on her.

  Nia’s eyes widened when she heard what Claire had said. Slowly she reached back into her pocket and pulled out the small metallic stone. Nia had never told Victor about the last gift Utaru had given her. She was also positive that Claire couldn’t have known about it. Looking at the engraving that was on the stone, Nia began trying to figure out the mystery.