by Noella Royce
This field of mes stretched as far as the eye could see, and I found that it was rather entertaining, watching oneself in an endless selection of scenarios and understanding what I looked like. It was a very novel way to get to know oneself.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something dropping, and there was a piercing scream. And then another and another, and I was horrified to see these versions of me were dropping, falling into the endless void beneath us with shrieks of terror, and there was nothing I or they could do.
Soon the sky was raining Vedas, and in a blink, I joined them, tumbling into the endless darkness that seemed to become a tunnel.
Then the tunnel was full of water and it was as if I was on the waterslide from hell, dark and hard and cold and oh so wet.
The tunnel suddenly flew away and I was simply part of a massive waterfall, one that was barreling towards the roof of the police station.
Instead of going through that roof, I suddenly veered, flying across the river to a small house, a small stone structure I'd passed before that had a historically significant plaque out front. I rushed into the window, burst through the floor and was falling again in a huge cavern. At the bottom was a huge crowd of people wearing hoods, their arms held out to me beseechingly.
No, that wasn't beseeching; that was greed and hunger, and as I rushed towards them, I saw their faces and the greed that twisted their features.
Right before I was upon them, and their faces had twisted again into those of the vampires, eyes red and teeth gleaming and sharp. I cried out for mercy as they pulled me under and began to rend my flesh, and then I exploded in a ball of turquoise light and they screamed as I incinerated them and took us all to the great beyond.
I stood straight-up and found I was panting, full of terror and very relieved to still be in one piece.
My eyes opened to a blurry world, and I noted I was surrounded by flickering, warm lights.
Was I dead? Still in the river?
I remembered Adin, his strong arms and annoyed scowl, and concluded that yes, I was indeed still alive. The dream lingered with me, and I had the uncomfortable feeling it was a taste of what would happen if I were to attack the Ash Order.
After a couple more blinks, I saw I was actually laying in a room with stone walls, dark wooden furniture, and suspended bookshelves full of books and things like a Roman bust and a onyx figurine of a horse. I myself was in a huge bed with a sleigh frame; and the mattress, lush pillows and black and white sheets were all luxurious and many degrees of higher quality than my own shabby bed.
Everything was illuminated by candles, both upon surfaces and on tall standing sconces, and the whole effect was warming and yet exotic in its old-fashioned touches.
I sat up and saw I was wearing nothing but a pair of black silk boxers stretched tight over my ample butt and a loose white T-shirt. Someone had undressed me, and I found myself blushing at the thought of Adin's hands all over my body.
At that moment, the door opened and the man himself walked in, preceded by a small ginger cat with bright yellow eyes. The cat jumped on the bed, stalked towards me and gave my face a sniff before settling down in the far corner. The man put some clothes down, and I guessed they were for me.
Adin had cleaned himself up, and the soft result was distracting. He was wearing a pair of loose black pants and a tight gray T-shirt, his hair damp and loose around his face. He strode forward and put his hand on my forehead, narrowed his eyes as if considering my temperature, and with a short nod pulled his hand away.
"No fever. But you cried out." He sat on the edge of the bed. "Nightmare?"
I nodded. "They'd gone away with my powers, but they're back now." I pulled the comforter up to my chin, taking solace in its softness and solidity. "I was in water again, and all these versions of me were being pulled into the darkness, and a bunch of necromancers turned into vampires. It was creepy."
He sighed. "So you have visions as well. That will make you even more valuable to the Order."
Visions, huh? I'm not sure I wanted that extra add-on, but I doubt I had the choice. "Well, they want me even when I'm a dud, so it's not like it'll seriously change things at this point."
"No, probably not. But if you ever talk to them, I'd keep that secret to yourself." He took my chin in his hand and trapped my gaze with his own. "Don't mention the dreams, Veda, to anyone other than me. Ever. They don't have an oracle at the moment and they'll take whatever they can get. Others here will not hesitate to use you as well."
I nodded, surprised at his solemnity, and he released me.
My heart was now beating at a million miles an hour, and I could feel the lingering sweetness of his fingers on my skin. I let myself fall back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. "I'll keep that in mind for when I go after their asses; I'll only tell them what I need to know. What happened to the crazy lady and her snake, by the way?"
"The lady is concussed and the snake is dead again." Adin's voice made it clear this was the natural outcome. "But what do you mean, when you go after them? What are you planning?" Both his tone and, when I sat up, his expression were incredulous.
I played with the blanket, having trouble meeting those burning eyes. "I've got my powers back, I think, or at least the river said I would. I'm going to make some clothes, put them on, and go find out where they're holding Sun Ji and Kyle."
"And then what?" He sounded quiet, patient, and held a note of something that was rather terrifying.
"I'll, um, I'll attack them. I'll take them down with the might of my magic powers." I couldn't keep looking at him; it was like the school's toughest teacher treating you like an idiot.
"Veda, do you know how many powerful necromancers there are in the Ash Order?"
No. No I didn't, but I felt I was about to find out. "Ten?"
"At least forty-five. And that's only counting the truly powerful mages—I'm not including the perhaps hundreds of their followers who have low-level magic powers that could be wielded in a fight. Do you know why the vampires have not yet attacked them?"
"No."
"Because they have half that number, that's why. They've gotten complacent and have built up neither their own group or those of their followers to the point where they could comfortably take the Ashers on." The ginger cat got up and cuddled up to Adin's thigh and he idly scratched her head. She gave me a look, and I thought those yellow eyes were a little too knowing for a cat's, although Maywen had probably made me paranoid. "They've become like dragons, hoarding their power and influence and refusing to share it with others. That's made them fat and lazy, and they're about to pay for it."
"How? Are necromancers out to destroy Maywen?"
"If they're doing what I think they are, not quite. They're trying to draw all of the town's power to them, magical as well as electrical, although I'm not sure what their end move is—what they have so far is not enough. When they do, they will unleash their power and bring forth more beasts like that snake—"
"Francisk."
One dark, glorious eyebrow lifted. "Just like Francisk, and they'll move quickly to take care of all their enemies. They want the town, but they won't mind destroying half of it to win."
He sounded so bloody calm. "And that's okay?!" I sat up on my knees. "You promised an answer to my question. You're the first vampire, or whatever, and you claim you care about Maywen, but you're doing nothing! And what's this about being a serial murderer for a while?"
Adin's eyes narrowed and I figured I was about to be snapped at, but instead, he shook his head and closed his eyes. "I shouldn't be telling you this," he said quietly. "But I suspect you will hound me to death if I don't."
"Probably." He was quiet, and I wondered if perhaps he wanted to tell someone his story. He was as alone as I was, no, even more so, and maybe he didn't have anyone in his life to be wholly honest with.
Perhaps vampires, even very old ones, weren't so different from humans after all. I climbed out of the sheets and on top of the
comforter to sit next to him, legs crossed. "Spit it out."
He laughed, shaking his head in disbelief. "You are an incredibly impatient woman. Fine, here is your story. I have a younger sister, Ellit, who is also a vampire. We were close."
"Wait, that leads to another question," I interrupted him. "If you're the first, how'd you become a vampire?"
He leaned towards me, expression intense. "Do you want an answer to your initial question, or don't you?"
My heartbeat kicked up again at his proximity, his scent and the angle of his jaw calling for me to lean forward and kiss it. He didn't want that, so I wouldn't, but resistance was taking real effort on my part. "I do!"
"Then listen, please. This isn't exactly my favorite tale to tell, and I'd hate to have to repeat myself." He pulled back and his eyes moved to a candle in the corner. "Ellit followed me into vampirism, and we grew our power together for hundreds of years. She then fell in love with a necromancer, roughly fifty years ago." He gave a wry smile at my expression. "Yes, it would have been a true Romeo and Juliet tale, if both Shakespeare's protagonists were powerful immortals who should have known better." The smile fell. "She left to take up residence with them and made it clear that peace between the two groups was her new obsession. She claimed her lover felt the same."
"Not so much?" I said quietly.
"Not so much, no. Perhaps the bastard did love her, although he most likely saw her as a means to an end, a way to get information on us and our plans they didn't have before. He was always very skilled at hiding his intentions; a side benefit of his particular transformation." Adin ran a hand through his hair, leaving a few pieces sticking up and setting my fingers itching to set it to rights. "Things got ugly, she found out how evil the Ashers really were, and ended up in a magical cage and scheduled to be sacrificed to one of their dark gods."
"Her lover did that to her?"
"No—he was ousted from the group for consorting with and bringing in a bloodsucker, and disappeared." He snarled his rage, and I was very glad I wasn't that guilty necromancer. "The necromancers wouldn't let her go, and because she'd gone to them of her own free will, their power over Ellit was complete. I couldn't save her." He paused, as if the memory pained him. "So I swore a blood oath on the river to never magically counter them again in exchange for her freedom."
I shuddered at the thought of that sort of oath to the Agrimony. Now that I better understood its power, I had full faith in the efficacy of its curses. "So if you dare attack them or fight them directly—"
"Long before I will hurt them, I will die." He smiled again, and I saw that dark humor that flashed beneath the grim vampire. "Again."
"Fuck." I didn't know what else to say. He literally couldn't help the vampires, or save the town.
"My sister isn't dead," he said quietly, "and I do not regret my choice and would make it again. She was allowed to escape Maywen after I made my oath, and moved on to try to create some semblance of a normal life in Asia. The belief in her death has kept the others of our kind from pursuing her. I never told this story to the other vampires in Maywen, because they would not approve of my choices. They have not directly confronted me out of respect, but if they knew it was because of an oath that made me useless against our enemies, they would most likely try to kill me."
"Would they succeed?"
His cold smile was terrifying. "No. But it would be a very intense fight and I would have to kill some people I do still care for. This is to be avoided."
"Thoughtful of you." God, interpersonal relations between immortals were terrifying. "What about the dead girls?"
"They weren't dead, they were transformed into vampires, and that wasn't me. A few of our kind thought we needed to grow our ranks, something that hasn't been allowed for a century, and took matters into their own hands. This happens periodically. They conveniently blamed me."
I could totally see both the Ashers and the vampires alike taking part in a smear campaign. "How could you protect me if you aren't allowed to fight them?"
He held up a finger. "I cannot attack them with my magic, which is where they fear me the most; if I physically hurt them, it doesn't quite count. Also, I can, of course, defend myself, such as when that pissant attacked me with a spell in your bedroom, or that idiotic woman threw her snake at me. I'm not stupid enough to forget an important clause like 'self-protection' when I made the oath." I had to concede his point. Without the ability to protect himself, he'd probably be dead within a day. "And now you have my story, and so we return to you and your plans."
"My plans, right." My mind was whirling, trying to think of ways he could help me without directly attacking. I put a hand on his arm, conveniently next to me, and tapped on his forearm. "I admit you've got a point; I'm a bit outclassed here." Maybe more than a bit, but I had some ideas about how I could get some help. "Maybe you could help me make some plans, figure out where they are or how to attack?"
"I will not help you kill yourself, Veda." His voice was full of menace, but he was greatly underestimating how stubborn, and yes, possibly stupid, I was.
"Great, so you're going to just let the Ashers do it, then?"
He inhaled slowly, then exhaled. "I keep saving your life, damn it, so clearly not."
"Well then, help me take the fight to them!" I shuffled so I was facing him and our knees touched, the movement causing his cat to stand up, give me a dirty look and jump off the bed. "Adin, please, I'm sick of doing nothing and being helpless. If I can take the lead here maybe I can save those boys; my dreams told me I could." Or at least that was how I was choosing to interpret the ending of my dream. I wouldn't mention the possibility I was going to die as well, since that supported his position, not mine.
Adin's hazel eyes were inscrutable, and from our time together, I was pretty sure that meant he was thinking. The lights of the candles highlighted the aquiline planes of his face, and I marveled at how young he looked and how it contrasted with the weight of centuries that also weighed upon his shoulders. "Unlikely. You can't do this alone, and I can't help you, not in a substantive way." He closed his eyes. "But I will talk to the vampires, and see if I can assist them in moving, hopefully in a manner that doesn't destroy them completely."
"But that could take days! The sky is pitch-black, we don't have electricity, and the ground feels like it's going to shake itself to pieces. How can you think we have time for that?"
"It's all we can do."
I heard the resignation in his voice, and with an annoyed growl, I punched him on the arm. "God, is this what immortality does to someone, make them old and boring and complacent? How can you accept that! Fucking look alive, you undead jerk!"
He looked down at where I'd hit him, then up at me, with an unreadable expression. There was a glimmer of red there, which I believed meant anger, but his voice was soft. "Being immortal is lonely, and yes, it's numbing as well. Without the constant threat of death, the motivation to push oneself, to change, disappears. Without the ability to protect Maywen, I am nothing but a professor and an isolated monster. I've fought some of the monsters lurking at the edge of this town—the ones that don't answer to the Order—but the truth is I'm only diverting myself." There was no self-pity in his tone, and he spoke as if he was speaking of someone other than himself. "I find it hard to even get angry at much, anymore."
That I found hard to believe. "You get angry at me all the time."
He tilted his head, and his brows came together for a look that could either be annoyed or simply thoughtful. "I do, don't I? I must find you particularly frustrating."
There was a note to that, something teasing, and we stared at each other. What I wouldn't give to be able to read Adin's mind and understand what the hell he was thinking, because at this point he was a picture-perfect enigma, his true self always one step beyond where I could go.
And yet.
This enigma was beautiful, and compelling, and he'd brought me to his comfortable bedroom after saving my life, again. The w
ay he switched from wry and dry professor to deadly creature set my heart racing, and in many ways, he'd been the most honest and upfront with me of anyone in this town, as little as that said. I drove him nuts, but he'd still treated me like a human being, and in his concern for me, was continuing to do so.
Then I followed his gaze and saw he was staring at my neck and my chest, and when he reached out I thought that was where he would land. I wouldn't stop him; as he'd pointed out before, he'd had countless chances to take advantage of me and had yet to do so.
Instead, Adin touched the soft, dark waves of my hair and pulled it through his fingers wordlessly, something akin to pain on his brow.
My heart beat faster. I really was possibly going to die, and this might be my last chance to make out with a good-looking man. More specifically, a good-looking man I was incredibly attracted to and possibly falling for.
Turning my face, I nuzzled his palm, closing my eyes at the clean, deep scent of him. "Thank you."
"For what?"
"For caring about what happens to me. Even if you don't agree with me, even if I drive you nuts, you don't want me to die. That's more than most people in this town. Hell, in this world."
"You undervalue yourself, Veda." His fingers danced to my neck and I lifted my chin to give him better access, enjoying the attention and feeling my body heat up. "Even without your powers, you glow."
My hand slid from his forearm up to his bicep, and I dug my fingernails into his skin, feeling his muscles flex beneath my touch. "Funny, the river said something very similar. About me undervaluing myself, I mean."
"Sometimes the river is right." Then his eyes lit up with a crimson glow and before I could respond, his arm was around my waist and he'd pulled me against him, breasts flush against his chest. His other hand cupped the back of my head and buried itself in my hair. "Undressing and dressing you was rather exciting, and I was proud of my self-control. When you look at me like that, such restraint is impossible to maintain." His voice was teasing and deep, and the thought of being naked with him made me shiver.