by Al K. Line
Was he behind everything that had gone wrong, the finale being the corrupting of Kate?
Kate, my love. I looked at her and she broke my heart. She was back, being her, sobbing on the floor, shamed and humiliated, disgusted with herself for what she had done, the way she had become so lost. How could she have allowed it? She knew what she was doing but reveled in the barbarism. I'd lost her.
"Did you hear me?" asked Oskari with an amused look on his face. He studied me intently, head angled to the side. How the hell was he out in daylight? The old ones can't stand it, are weak and useless in the day, losing the ability to function the more immersed in vampire culture they become, feeding like a starving fox but with less compassion for their victims. Apparently there were exceptions.
"What?" I wasn't keen on smalltalk with this man. I was unfocused and he could have killed me right then—I don't think I would have done a thing to stop him. Probably. Who knows?
"I said, I have a gift for you, Black Spark. To show there are no hard feelings."
"Hard feelings?"
"Yes," he said, exasperated. "About your act of aggression against my House. For killing Taavi, the fool, I hold no grudge. He was a stupid man, and I do not condone what he did to the shifter communities. It was rash, shortsighted, and pathetic."
Maybe he wasn't as bad as I thought.
"Okay, what is it, this gift?"
"First, let me introduce myself. I am—"
"Yeah, yeah, I know who you are. New Head, gonna show human Hidden who's boss, rain down hell on us pathetic humans, all the usual vampire crap."
"My, my, somebody got out of bed on the wrong side this morning, didn't they?"
Talk of bed sent my mind back to the morning and how I'd woken up. Was this the same day, same life? How could everything be ripped apart so fast?
"Faz, you have to believe me, I didn't want to—"
"Spare me, Kate. I can't stand it." I was empty of emotion as I stared at the woman I had loved, then I turned to Oskari. "Guess you have another true vampire to add to your numbers." He shrugged, as if to say it was inevitable. "Okay, what is the gift?"
"Why, I wanted to tell you who killed your parents. Call it a peace offering, so we get off on the right foot, so to speak. So we don't end up fighting and causing trouble for each other and everyone else. I make you a promise. You leave us alone and I'll leave you alone. Deal?"
"Deal," I said without a moment's hesitation. Was he playing with me, or was he genuine? I'd heard he was a monster, things he'd done over the years, but I'd also heard he was a man true to his word and a stickler for law and order for those under his command. Could it be, after all this time, after endless searching, almost a hundred years without a single clue, and I get given the murderer just like that?
"Good. But I hold you to your word, and I give you mine. We won't interfere with human affairs if you stay out of our business." He held out his hand and I shook. It was like ice, but firm, and confident.
"My word is good. Before you give me the name, answer me one question."
"That depends on the question."
"Did Taavi know?"
"Of course. But Taavi was a liar, I am not."
"Okay, tell me the name."
"Kimiko Cocchi."
"And why are you giving me her name? The truth."
"Because I want her dead. She betrayed me, took something of mine. That is unimportant, money can always be made, but I am busy here so I don't have time to go to the other side of the world chasing after her."
"She's home, in Japan?" Oskari nodded. "Then it'll have to wait. I have other business first."
"I heard. I don't doubt you will find a way to prove your innocence."
"None of us are innocent, Oskari. Especially not anyone in this room." I glanced at the woman I loved and then I left.
Kimiko Cocchi. She'd be next, once I dealt with business at home. My perfect life may have been ruined but now there was something to make me ensure I survived.
Revenge.
Lost Time
I have only the vaguest recollection of calling Dancer and asking where he was. He must have been at home so that's where I went. I was numb, overwhelmed, and feeling more than a little sorry for myself. Kate as a cruel vampire morphed into recollections of Kimiko Cocchi, raven-haired beauty and vampire of legend.
They were mixed up, one becoming the other. It was muddled up in my mind and all my hate and desire for vengeance got twisted and jumbled until it was Kate I wanted to kill, to stand over and watch with dispassion as the life left her.
I was as bad as Kate, a stone-cold killer that wanted nothing so much as death, the power over another human being, or what was once a human being at any rate.
I'm not really sure what went on once I arrived. There was crying, there was drinking, there was Dancer looking awkward and not sure how to deal with me, and there was me. I'd gone to him in my hour of need, not Grandma or Rikka. There was nobody else close, just people I knew, not friends. All this time and the one friend I had was somebody I'd spent most of my life getting annoyed with and avoiding. What a pathetic life, what a waste.
I drank and I acted up, shouting, raving, crying some more.
And I wasted a whole damn day.
I woke up on the sofa in Dancer's extremely spartan living room and freaked out when I looked at the clock. It was seven, and for a moment it didn't register. Seven at night? It had to be. No way would I sleep through the night when I had such a short time left to live. I had to get to the other side of the world but my time would be up before I arrived. Could I make it? No, that was stupid. I couldn't buy a ticket, get to the airport, and fly to Japan in a day, let alone find the woman that killed my parents and get my revenge.
My head killed, my heart was broken, my suit was wrinkled, and my face looked like the face of a man that had had the kind of day I'd had.
My phone rang but I ignored it. Thinking better of it, I checked my messages. Way too many, most from Kate, but I couldn't listen to more than the first sorry and the sound of her crying.
It was over.
Rikka had called, too. There was a giant in town and guess who was supposed to deal with it?
Why can't I just be left alone for once? Was a little happiness too much to ask for? Apparently it was, so I was alone. Again. I couldn't think about it, not now. No way was I going to die when I had a vampire to kill. What if Oskari was lying? What if he wasn't?
"Morning, Spark. Hell, you look worse than yesterday," said Dancer, looking way too sprightly.
"Why didn't you wake me? You let me sleep all night."
"Because you were pissed on my very expensive Scotch and needed the rest. You work best under stress so I figured if you had a good night's sleep you'd be action stations today and ready to sort everything out. Rikka's been calling me all evening and this morning, ranting about you letting him down and disappearing." Dancer waited for me to answer but I said nothing. "Don't worry, I didn't tell him you were here, or that you were drowning your sorrows like a lovesick teenager."
"Hey, that's not fair!"
"Sorry, I know. Look, we all love Kate, I'm sure there's an explanation."
"Dancer, you didn't see her. She was nasty, worse than many of the true hardcore vampires. Most of them don't tease their prey and Kate certainly doesn't. Didn't."
"There you go then," he said brightly, trying to smile but just looking confused like he always does.
"I can't imagine any reason why she would do that unless it's because she enjoyed it and wanted to."
Dancer moved closer to me, but took a whiff and stepped back. I stank of booze and nightmare sweats. "You said when she came back to herself she was sorry, that she was lost. I'm not trying to make excuses, but you have to consider that she had something done to her."
"Like what?" Could that be true? Hell, somebody had duped a faery, made her remember something that hadn't happened, maybe the same had been done to Kate.
"Christ, you're ri
ght! What have I done?"
"Wait! What's going on? What shall I tell Rikka?"
"Tell him to call me and I'll be right on it." I shouted as I ran down the front path and got into the car.
I'd been an idiot. Kate would probably never forgive me but I had to at least try.
This was it, the breakthrough. I knew who had got me put in prison, and they had most likely messed with Rikka, Kate too.
How had nobody seen it? This had all the hallmarks of how these people operate. This was blindingly obvious but not one of us had even considered it.
We were dealing with a concilium.
Putting the Pieces Together
I'd like to say I tore through the city, weaving in and out of traffic, blasting my horn and getting home in minutes flat. But I can't, because I didn't.
It was Saturday morning and it was match day. The roads were crammed with people pouring into the city for a few hours of drinking before the game and there was nothing I could do but crawl through the congestion and repeatedly call Kate—she wasn't answering me. I inched forward, painstakingly slowly, no way to get to my destination faster.
Dancer's words rang in my head as I sat there fuming and stressing about probably having blown my chance of a future containing love. Of course someone had manipulated Kate to make her act that way. It would break her, and me. Tear us apart. Make me lose the will to live, maybe her too. What if she'd been truly broken? Wasn't answering because she believed it was over between us and couldn't face what she'd done? What if she was dead?
We were dealing with a concilium, a mind controller. A Svengali, and rare outside of the realm of vampires. This was magic of an extremely potent kind, strong enough to manipulate the mind of a faery, convince the Council I was guilty and...
The Council!
Those devious bastards. They were behind it.
Everything suddenly made sense. Someone on the Council was responsible for all the trouble, otherwise it would have been nigh on impossible to achieve what they did. Kate out of control was the final icing on the cake to send me over the edge and destroy the power I had because of her love and thus be a better enforcer for Rikka. Everything was working out perfectly for whoever it was.
And who would that be? An up-and-coming wizard, witch, or other creature looking to dominate the Council?
No, of course not! You don't get to be Head of the Worldwide Hidden Council without bashing a few brains in, or getting them bashed so you could keep your hands clean—it was backstabbing central. It had to be the Head solidifying his position, making Rikka's climb to the top untenable, removed from the equation. Severi had always had it in for Rikka, had always known he was some serious competition, this was the perfect way to remove him once and for all.
Haha, that was why Grandma was appointed. The ridiculous man knew she would hate it and wouldn't try to take what was his. Talk about a perfect setup.
But his plan hadn't worked perfectly. The Faery Queen had given me three days to clear my name, and I had a reason to carry on with life once Oskari told me about the Japanese vampire. I'd crush Severi to dust for what he did to Kate. The rest I could live with. We were all grown-ups and knew the score, but Kate, for all the death she had delivered to stay alive, she was still pure, still an innocent and a babe in our world. Now she was broken, ruined, and would be haunted forever.
As long as she was still alive.
Panic overwhelmed me as I pictured her dead in the garden, hobs crawling over her, tugging at her lifeless body and then dragging her down into the earth where she would rot and be eaten by the worms and beetles, and all because I'd been too pig-headed to see what was staring me in the face all along. It's always about politics, power, or money, usually all three.
There was a break in the traffic and I finally got onto an A-road. Foot down, I broke almost every traffic law as I did the weaving in and out of traffic thing, horn honking as I overtook vehicles, drove on the wrong side, and generally acted like a dick—nothing new there—racing through the ring roads and out of the city to the house I shared with a manipulated vampire, a few chickens, and any number of otherworldly creatures I was sure would come out of the woodwork at some point.
I just hoped I wasn't going to be too late.
Apologies All Round
I could finally breathe again. Kate was sat beside the front door, leaning back against the wall surrounded by hobs. As I got close, I noticed she'd put out porridge for them, but they were seemingly more concerned with Kate than their gift. My respect for the strange creatures grew that terrible morning, and I made a mental note to always treat them with the utmost respect from that day on.
The one who'd acted as silent spokesman nodded at me, pointed at Kate as if to tell me she was upset, then they left, gone like will-o'-the-wisps.
Kate was a shell of her former self. This went beyond shame and fear of what she had become, this was deep-seated disgust and outright terror of the beast she had inside. She didn't have a clue how to handle it, all the self-loathing, the fear, the humiliation at what she did to survive, it had bubbled over and it said a lot about her that she was still alive at all. She's a fighter.
You know something? We all have it inside, this cruelty, base acts that we tell ourselves are beyond us, but people can do the most terrible of things given the right set of circumstances. It may be buried deep, but it's there. In every single one of us.
"I'm sorry," was the utterly lame thing I said by way of an apology there would never be enough words for or enough guilt to convey.
Kate lifted her head and only then seemed to register I was there. Her self-loathing shifted to a glimmer of hope, but then I saw the fear return—she believed I didn't want her and didn't think she deserved me.
What a pair. Kind of makes us perfect for each other, I guess.
"You came back. Why? I'm no good, I'm sick. I should end it all now. I'm unclean. Foul and I think I'm going mad, if I'm not already."
And then I realized why Kate had her hands hidden between her legs.
Shit, shit, shit.
People would pay for this. I'd make what Kate did seem like a pleasant way to die. I would break them apart with magic so dark and terrible they'd scream for hell.
"Kate, put that down. I'm sorry, I was wrong. It wasn't you. Somebody has done something to you, you're under some kind of mind manipulation. A concilium, a wizard who can alter memories or make you do things you wouldn't normally do, he's done this. I think it's Severi."
I wasn't sure if she could hear me. She was looking at me but she was distant, lost in her own turmoil. Where was my trust in her? How had I turned my back on her like that? Simple, because what she had done was too terrible for words. It's what we'd both dreaded happening, and believed we could beat, and I'd witnessed it, so maybe my reaction was understandable.
Then again, maybe not. Hell, life is hard and complicated, sometimes ugly, and she was my ray of light, my hope. It had been shattered, my faith lost. Hers too. She was my anchor, something pure in a world of darkness, and I simply couldn't cope with that being taken away.
I crouched down in front of her. She still said nothing. Her beautiful face was a mask of anguish. Had she slept? She was functioning as she'd fed the hobs, so that was something, a chance she could return.
"Kate, I'm going to take the knife out of your hands, okay?" I reached out slowly, carefully, and she offered no resistance as I took the knife away from her where the blade rested against her wrist. I threw it aside and as it clattered she jolted, eyes wide and wild.
"Faz, you came back. Go away, I'm bad now. I'm a vampire, a horrible, disgusting, evil creature that is cruel and doesn't deserve any love. I want to die so I can't think any more."
"No, honey, that's what I've been trying to tell you. That wasn't you, there's something in your head. You've been manipulated just like the faery was. I'm sorry, I should have known better."
Kate shifted, the words making sense to her for the first time. "Why would
someone do that to me? And how?"
"I think I know why, how isn't so easy, but they did it. He did it. Come on, let's get inside and clean you up."
Kate stared down at herself, at the disarray of her clothes, the dried blood, the utter mess. She hadn't changed, was probably up all night judging by the bags under her eyes. She needed a shower and she needed one without getting a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Her face was stained dark with the blood of a rapist she'd taunted and terrified—she'd freak.
I helped her up and led her inside. She stood, docile, at the kitchen sink while I cleaned her face as gently as I could. I took off her blouse and bra and hurried upstairs, returning with clean clothes that smelled fresh and of our home together. At least now she could shower when ready and wouldn't be horrified at what she saw.
We sat at the table with a cup of coffee and talked. I ignored my phone ringing—it would be Rikka but he'd have to wait. I repeated what I'd told her, going over it multiple times until I was sure the words had sunk in. We both said sorry a lot, each blaming ourselves for what had happened, for what had been said and done, but we talked it through, forgave each other, accepting we'd been in the wrong and not ourselves. Overcome by the horror of the situation, unable to believe it had even happened.
I left Kate for ten minutes while I showered and changed—she hadn't moved.
Her coffee was drunk and she seemed a little better. She would survive, but she would never be the same again. Now she'd had a true glimpse into the nature of the vampire, what waited for her unless she fought it with every ounce of her being. Maybe it would strengthen her resolve, make her fight that much harder to stop it ever defining who she was? We could only hope.
My phone rang yet again and this time I answered.
"He's here," said Rikka. "Reade Littlejohn is here, and now you have to do what I pay you to do."
"But you haven't paid me," I snapped.
"Don't get clever, Spark. He's at the witch HQ, and he's eaten nearly all their food. You better get over there before he finishes. Did you hear what happened in Rhyl? We don't want him snacking on our witches or I'll never hear the end of it."