by Davies, Sean
He leapt backwards acrobatically and wiped the black blood from his cheek. “Well, you’re putting up a better fight than Lucius did,” he said snidely.
Veronica snarled. She could tell that he was trying to goad her into making a sloppy attack, and she wasn’t about to fall for such an obvious move. She expertly spun the blade around and beckoned for him to make the first move.
Even without her powers she could still handle a blade pretty well, although she was admittedly out of practise. She had learned at an early age in her human years that being an attractive, slim yet curvaceous girl could draw the wrong kind of attention. She’d snuck out at night on regular basis after her first close encounter, to get training from young knight who was more than willing to show her how to wield a sword – as long as she wielded his in return. He had been very handsome, so Veronica was more than willing to pay him in pleasure, but her parents would have probably murdered her if they’d found out that she’d wasted her ‘precious virtue’. Her precious virtue that they had always intended to sell off to the highest bidder.
Lewis snarled like a feral beast and slashed randomly at her. The blows were strong and Veronica had to struggle greatly without her vampiric strength to parry them, but they were undisciplined and slack moves. She wondered if Lewis only specialised in attacking unsuspecting foes like a coward. She then realised that as a Book Wielders spells would be more his thing, and maybe guns too, but both of those would cause a great deal of damage to their surroundings. Suddenly, his poor swordsmanship made sense; Veronica realised that he was avoiding causing too much damage to the room, or at least to the things that couldn’t be easily replaced. With a sly smile, she pushed him with all of her might, and he crashed into the television. It smashed and he fell to the floor.
He dragged himself up off the floor quickly, looking as if he’d been tugged back to his feet unnaturally by an invisible set of puppet strings. Lewis growled angrily and surged towards her, his blade raised high ready to swing down at Veronica with all of his might. Veronica moved sideways at the last minute and swung the spell-forged steel upwards, and as Lewis’ blade came down, Veronica’s sliced into him. Her blade flashed with white light as it connected with his Gloom-exposed flesh and cut his entire arm off at the shoulder joint.
The black-eyed Book Wielder wailed like a dying cat as he clutched at where his arm should have been. Black blood, half blackened and half pink muscle tissue, and fluffy white stuffing smouldered and seeped from the grievous wound. Mortissa Aurorana had done an amazing job heavily altering him while keeping his outer layers of tissue looking as human as possible, but even she would have a hard time repairing the damage Veronica had just dealt to his shoulder.
While Lewis was in agony, Veronica’s powers were returned to her, and she wasted no time stopping to observing the horrid half-human half-Freak that was once her ally. Instead she grabbed her duffle bag and headed for the window. The door to her and Winston’s room smashed off the hinges and altered Inquisition troopers burst through the door. Without a second glance, Veronica flung herself out of the window, splintering the wooden frame and shattering the glass, and leapt out into Capital City’s night sky.
For a few seconds it seemed like she was flying, soaring high above the busy well-lit city amongst the other tall buildings, but soon enough Veronica quickly fell towards the ground so she prepped herself for a hard landing. Being a Bloodmage, acrobatics and extreme physical feats were not her specialities, but by directing her telekinesis downwards she managed to land impressively on her feet.
With her duffle bag full of supplies around one shoulder held steady by her hand, and Xavier’s spell-forged sword in the other hand, Veronica ran out of Imperia City as fast as she could. She kept to the part of her plan that was still intact, and headed north towards the thick forests that led to the steep hills and mountains at the back edge of the continent. Veronica didn’t stop running until she had lost herself within the deep dark depths of the thick forestland, where she risked dropping her pace down to a fast walk. Her red Vampire eyes allowed her to see in the dark without a hitch, so she carried on heading further away from her home and closer to what she hoped was safety. When the sun began to rise, she treated herself to a quick rest on a fallen log as she drank a mouthful of blood and the bare minimum amount of Sunshield potion she could get away with. It could be a while until she was safe again and she would need to keep as much of the precious potion as she could on hand for emergencies. As the golden rays of sunlight began to beam down in-between the leaves and branches, and the flocks of birds began to sing their sweet melodies, Veronica got back on her feet and continued walking quickly. All she had to do now was stay hidden and find a way to contact Winston before it was too late.
- - -
Alice awoke feeling incredibly content, snuggled up with the thick duvet and buried in a comfy fluffy pillow. The feeling gave her a shock. She wasn’t used to feeling so at peace, not for a long while at least, and she sat upright with a jolt.
“Morning sleepy head,” Jonathan said.
She looked over and saw him sitting in a big armchair reading a book, with a thick blanket over his lap.
“Oh, morning,” Alice said, rubbing her eyes. She had a good stretch and looked around the windowless room. “How do you even know what time it is down here?”
Jonathan put his book down and went over to one of his shelves. He picked up something that looked like an empty snow globe and handed it to her. “Magical chronometers. Ask it the time.”
She took it and spoke hesitantly to the object. “Time... please?”
The chronometer swirled with blue, green, and purple coloured clouds that eventually formed into numbers that displayed ‘10:14’.
“Fancy something to eat?” Jonathan asked after he took the chronometer back.
Alice considered hurrying back to Central Isle, but her stomach was growling. “Yeah, okay, that would be nice. Thank you.” Commander Stein was more than capable of handling things in her absence.
Jonathan smiled, obviously pleased that she’d decided to stay. “Great, I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
Alice got comfortable and picked up her book. She began flicking through the pages and reading up on the creatures and plant life of the Gloom. Every now and then she’d ‘request’ that the book show her more about the potions mentioned and the background information behind some of the points it raised.
She quickly lost track of time, and only the clattering of plates from the next room stirred her from her studies. Alice got out of bed, tried to look as presentable as possible, and went into Jonathan’s living room, taking her book along with her.
He’d set the table out with fancy silver cutlery and made some fresh coffee that smelt amazing. He had brought big plates of scrambled eggs, omelettes, fried eggs, waffles, toast, sausages and bacon, black pudding, baked beans, and a variety of condiments to go with them.
“I didn’t know what you fancied or how hungry you were, so I just grabbed what I could,” Jonathan explained, reading her shocked expression.
The food made Alice’s stomach growl even more so, and she put her hands over it embarrassed. “Sorry, and thank you, I’m famished. Do you mind if I read at the table? I was getting into the whole potion-thing while you were gone.”
“Not at all,” he said with a smile. “Take a seat and help yourself.”
Alice sat opposite Jonathan, helped herself to generous portions of each dish, and ate while flicking through the pages of information. She took a sip of coffee and almost dropped the mug as soon as it hit her lips.
“Too hot?” Jonathan asked standing up, worried that she had scalded herself.
Alice shook her head, instead she just stared at the pages that her book was displaying. She was too afraid to speak out loud about what it was showing her, at least not without being one hundred percent sure that she was seeing what she thought she was seeing.
“What is it, what’s wrong?” he pressed, and f
inally he got up and walked over to her.
“My book,” Alice began softly. “I think- I think it’s showing me how to make Sanctium.”
Jonathan stood by her side as she confirmed it over and over again. They abandoned their breakfast and made for the Trinity’s sanctum as fast as they could. When they arrived, Silvario and Cherriesa looked up displeased from their table. They too had been dining, and didn’t look too kindly upon the interruption.
“Masters,” Jonathan began.
Cherriesa looked Alice up and down. “You look quite at home, Alice. Tell me, did you happen to stay the night?” she asked with a chuckle.
Alice was too driven to even be embarrassed. Instead, she addressed Silvario and pretended Cherriesa wasn’t there. “My book is showing me how to make Sanctium,” she said at a hundred miles an hour.
“What?” Silvario was momentarily speechless. “Are you certain?”
“Definitely,” Alice said trying to contain her excitement; they still had to see if the recipe worked first.
“She’s checked it dozens of times,” Jonathan said backing her up.
Cherriesa stood upright so fast that the motion could hardly be registered. “If this is true-”
“Then victory is as good as ours,” Silvario concluded awestruck.
“What ingredients do you need?” Cherriesa asked enthusiastically. “Some rare things, no doubt?”
Alice grinned, not only because she enjoyed the fact that the Vampire bitch needed her assistance more than ever, but because the ingredients were right under their noses the whole time.
“They’re really quite common. You won’t believe it,” Jonathan said chirpily.
“What do we need? We’ll test your book’s recipe right away,” Silvario said.
“Dirt,” Alice began.
“If you are joking with us, I will tear your head off with my bare hands, Book Wielder,” Cherriesa snarled.
“Maybe I’ll keep it to myself then,” Alice said with a smirk. “I’m sure when this is over, having the recipe solely in the hands of the Inquisition will end very well for you all.”
“Please Mistress,” Jonathan asked. “It sounds absurd but she is telling the truth.”
“Hear her out, Cherriesa, we need this,” Silvario said sternly.
Cherriesa said nothing, but just folded her arms like a spoiled child and pouted like a supermodel.
Alice started again, “Dirt – or soil rather – and water, exposure to air, fire, the lifeblood of the planet, and the blood of an Archmage.
Silvario pondered the list. “The first four are obviously easy enough. The ‘lifeblood of the planet’ I assume is Deep Vein Oil, but the last one is going to be a bit trickier to come by, don’t you think?”
“The Goddesses told me that the Archmages, the ones that managed to cling on to this plain during the expulsion of magic from our world, splintered into Werewolves, Vampires and Mages. Or at least the feral versions that then went on to spawn your Supernatural races as you know them,” Alice explained.
“So we were hoping that mixing the blood of Vampires, Werewolves and Mages together would have the same effect,” Jonathan added.
Silvario nodded. “It would explain how the witch hunters could create Sanctium in the absence of Archmages. I did see man-sized cages in their alchemy lab the night we finally destroyed their headquarters, I didn’t think anything of it until now.”
“If this works,” Cherriesa began angrily, “it is humiliating how common the ingredients are. For centuries we have tried and tested so many combinations of chemicals...”
“I know,” Silvario said ashamed. “But hindsight is a wonderful thing. Let us put this new found knowledge to the test immediately and not waste time looking back on our past failings.”
Silvario went through the portal to his room and came back with a wide tripod, large metal bowl and magefire stone while Alice and Jonathan cleared the dining table of plates and cutlery. He set them up and filled the bowl with water while Cherriesa gathered handfuls of dirt from one of her plant pots, and a packet of matches and a knife from a chest of drawers. Jonathan left to source some Deep Vein Oil and Werewolf blood from one of the Trinity guards, while Alice explained the process to Silvario and Cherriesa, which was just as easy as sourcing the reagents. When Jonathan had returned with a test tube of Werewolf blood and a red metal can of DVO, the group began the process.
They stood around the table and heated the water in the wide metal bowl until it was boiling. Cherriesa added her soil to it, making a bowl full of dirty brown muddy water, and then Jonathan added the test tube full of Werewolf blood to the mix. Cherriesa took the knife and cut fearlessly down the palm of her hand, all the way down to her wrist, and bled into the bowl before licking the wound shut and handing the knife to Jonathan. On behalf of Silvario, Jonathan did the same as Cherriesa, although his cut was a lot smaller, and then he stirred the boiling muddy and bloody water. Alice picked up the can of Deep Vein Oil and hesitantly added the flammable fluid to the mix, making sure her face was turned partially away just in case it did explode, but instead of blowing up the boiling liquid turned jet black.
“Now the fire,” Alice said nervously. It all hinged on this moment.
Cherriesa struck a match and gently lowered it to the surface of the bubbling fluid. As soon as the lit match hit the surface, a wave of blue flames burst outwards to the edge of the bowl. A magical blue ring formed out of light blue smoke above the fire and filled with swirling symbols and runes. When they finally settled in one place, the smoke and fire disappeared, and the mixture shrank into a dollop of translucent blue liquid that glowed with an aura of white and golden light, radiating raw magical energy.
“Did it work?” Alice asked, going to poke the little blob of magical liquid.
Silvario grabbed her by the wrist before she could get near to the Sanctium. “You’re a Supernatural too, remember. If you touch it without protection you’ll most likely lose your hand.”
Alice nodded and retracted her hand quickly.
“I can’t believe it worked,” Jonathan said in shock.
“We should test it,” Cherriesa said coldly. “Both of our sides have prisoners that will not be missed, and it’s the only way to be sure.”
Silvario shook his head. “I know Sanctium when I see it, Cherriesa. Trust me, that right there is the real deal.”
“If you say so,” Cherriesa said, still sounding slightly unconvinced.
“You could try touching it?” Alice asked sarcastically.
Cherriesa just pulled an unpleasant face at the remark.
“You don’t get very much out of the process,” Jonathan observed.
“We’ll get everyone we can spare to make it,” Silvario said. “It won’t be long until we have got a decent stockpile.”
“And our enemies will fall like wheat to the scythe,” Cherriesa said evilly.
“How much Sanctium have you got saved up?” Alice asked. “I just want to get an estimate of how long it will take to start rolling it out to our forces.”
Silvario and Cherriesa gave each other a funny look. Jonathan looked puzzled by their reaction, but Alice had a nasty feeling about what was going to be said next.
“You did say that you have some reserved, right?” Alice asked in a grim tone.
“Not exactly...” Silvario hedged.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Alice sighed.
“It was a necessary deception!” Cherriesa hissed.
Jonathan looked in astonishment at his Masters. Alice could tell that he was genuinely shaken by the news; they’d lied to everyone they ruled over for near on a millennium.
“The night we defeated the witch hunters,” Silvario began gravely, “I went to their alchemy lab to retrieve the Sanctium and the formula, but everything was already ablaze. We needed to make sure that our kind never lived as visibly as they had done before, we needed a way to control them. Surely you of all people can understand that?”
“I understand, but it doesn’t help us out very much, now does it?” Alice retorted. “I could have used that information from the start.”
“It doesn’t matter now,” Jonathan said, trying to calm the situation. “We know how to make it now and that’s what is important. With Sanctium, we can really turn the tide on Omniosis.”
The group agreed but nobody said anything. Silvario put the Sanctium in a small glass vial and gave it to Alice.
“I think it is only fair that you have it,” he said diplomatically.
“Thank you,” Alice said bluntly. She got the impression that Silvario was hoping his kindness would stop her from spreading the Trinity’s deception around. She was half tempted to, but their collapse would benefit no one at this stage. Maybe one day, though.
Alice went back to Jonathan’s place, put on her power armour, and then he escorted her back to Central Isle. He was much quieter than normal; the recent news was obviously still playing on his mind a great deal, despite his reasonable approach to it at the time. She gave him a quick awkward hug before passing through the portal home.
As soon as she was out of the ruins an Inquisition trooper approached her. “Ma’am, Commander Stein wishes to speak with you at your earliest convenience.”
Alice sighed. She thought that it was undoubtedly more bad news, and she headed to the command room in the Central Tower.
There, Inquisitors in white and black uniforms tapped busily at touch screens and blue holographic interfaces, received and passed on information via long-ranged radio transmissions, and updated troop movements on holographic maps from all over the world.
Commander Stein approached her as soon as she walked through the entrance and saluted before he spoke. “I trust your visit was productive, Lord Inquisitor.”
“Better than productive, actually.” She saluted back. “But I’ll debrief you about it later. What’s the latest bad news?”