by Zara Novak
A return to wilderness was good. It brought his men and women together and it reinforced their strength as a solitary unit. On their journeys they picked up a few stragglers, and their numbers even increased a little. He was glad to see that a couple weeks worth of play was enough to get morale back up and solidify his pack’s faith in him, but there was a strange emptiness inside since he left Ruth.
“You miss her don’t you?” Chang asked one night as they sat around a fire under a star studded sky.
“Who?”
“The girl, the one you escaped the Keep with. The vampire girl.”
He tried to play it off and act casual, but Chang was having none of it.
“It’s obvious that you have feelings for her.”
“Is it?”
She nodded, her large brown eyes filled with sadness. “I would kill to see you look at me like that. I can’t understand what you see in a… in a vampire. But if it makes you happy, I’m happy.”
Guilt flooded inside of him. He hated to see Chang hurt like this. “Chang you know I love you, but I’ve always thought of you as a—”
“As a sister. I know. I know that. You’ve told me a million times, and that’s okay. None of this is your fault. I’m the one who was stupid enough to fall in love with an Alpha that never wanted a mate.”
“There is a wolf out there for you Chang. I just know there is.”
“You’re right. But he’s not in love with me. He’s in love with a vampire.”
“There are others.” He said.
“Not for me.”
22
“Sir... it's Vangzali. She's dead.”
“What happened?”
“Two runaways broke into her apartment and killed her. They used her pendant to escape.”
The High Vistor clutched the arm of his throne. The news disappointed him immensely, and someone had to die for it.
“Who were they?” He said, his voice rasping like stone on steel.
“From the footage we secured, we’ve identified a shifter male. Logan Nash, property of Jago Vangzali, and a female vampire, Ruth Summers, property of Igo Kasper.”
“Bring Kasper. Now.”
Igo Kasper was drinking in a captain’s bar when the messenger arrived. He dismissed it as a poor joke at first, but then the messenger presented the Vistor’s official seal. The arrogant smile had dropped from his face as soon as he realized the gravity of the situation.
“When?”
“Now.”
Kasper appeared before the Vistor a few minutes later.
“State your name Warden.”
“Igo Kasper, Sir.” The vampire trembled back.
“Jago Vangzali is dead, killed by two prisoners. One of them belonged to you.”
Kasper’s whole body shook in fear. “No sir, not possible, I’ve had no prisoners sir, I’ve not—”
“Silence!” The Vistor shouted, his voice echoing across the dark hall like a war drum. “You brought her here. Ruth Summers. An unregistered arrest, an unregistered escape.” He shook his head and spat onto the high polished marble floor. “You are unfit to be a Warden.”
“No, sir!” Kasper begged. “It was a mistake sir, I assure you!”
“You think it's appropriate to second guess my judgment?”
Silence answered.
“That’s what I thought. For your failure you have signed your own death warrant. Should you wish to live, there is only one way of removing that fate. Find and capture this girl. If you do not bring her back the next time you return. You are deceased. Is that clear?”
Kasper nodded his head, leaving as a trembling and shaking wreck mere seconds away from stinking of piss.
The Vistor returned to his private palace after the summons. The news of Vangzali’s death had been most unwelcome. Vangzali was an instrumental part in taking down the dynasties. With her death, the Vistor would have to start again, finding a new way to remove the families and make the prophecy fail.
Distribution of Black Fang crawled to a halt since Vangzali’s death, but they had accrued a good stockpile. She had been the one in charge of its production and strategic dispersal. In her absence, the spread of the disease had stalled. Vampires on the outside suspected that Black Fang had disappeared, and started to drink from humans again. The Vistor didn’t mind this too much. When he found someone suitable to replace Vangzali, they would infect humans again. With the elevated stockpiles, Black Fang would spread faster than ever, starving thousands of vampires every night.
Every vampire that died gave him a better chance of toppling the prophecy. Bringing the prophecy to failure was the only thing that mattered.
“And as for you.” The Vistor said while looking through Vangzali’s files. “Ansel Draco… it seems you are the last living descendant of Vladimir Vrakos.”
Vladimir Vrakos. The original vampire. The immortal son of Lucifer who vanished thousands of years ago. The Vistor pulled the picture of Draco closer, noticing a faint resemblance between them.
“I'm surprised I still have heirs living to this day. Even after I tried so hard to kill them all.”
The Vistor learned a long time ago that direct descendants of his were the only vampires that could really challenge his power, so he’d killed them all. Now Draco was on his radar, it was worrying. The Vistor wanted no one to stand in his way. With Draco alive, there was a chance the prophecy might be saved. That wasn’t an option for the Vistor.
Vangzali was the only other one who knew his secret. The Vistor was Vladimir Vrakos, and he’d lived under this false title for the last few centuries. It had been 10,000 years since The Vistor had last known sleep. 10,000 years of suffering. As a mortal man, his dream had been to rule the earth. After defeating Lucifer’s army, the dark prince himself cursed the Vistor with immortal life. He was the first and the immortal vampire, never able to know death, never able to know peace. How he envied Vangzali, and every other creature just like her. A bullet to the head couldn’t kill the Vistor, and he should know. He’d tried countless ways over the last millennium to kill himself, but nothing ever worked. He was invulnerable and invincible, cursed to this walking nightmare for the rest of time.
But now there was this prophecy, and with it there was promise of an end. If the prophecy failed, then all vampires would die. Surely that meant he could finally die too?
There was only one way to find out.
Epilogue
The seasons turned, summer gave way to a bleak autumn, and autumn shattered into the cold depths of winter. Snow and ice covered every inch of the valley around the Castle Belmont. Clouds rolled overhead in the black sky. Rubago walked Ruth to the edge of the forest on the castle grounds. They reached the tree line and stopped.
“What is it you wanted to talk about?” The witch asked.
Ruth pulled back her hood, her bright red eyes twinkling in the moonlight. “I’m leaving. I have to find Logan. I like being here at the castle Rubago, but…”
“Your heart is calling out for him.”
Ruth’s eyes dropped. “Yes. Is it stupid for me to feel this way? We were only together for a short time. I feel like I’m going crazy. Every waking minute my mind is focused on him. He’s a shifter for Christ sake… our kind aren’t even supposed to like each other.”
“These are strange times we live in Ruth Summers,” Rubago said. “We all walk destined paths, and yours is towing you to go back with Logan. There will be a reason behind it, there is a reason behind everything.”
Breath fluttered through the cold air as a warm jet of vapor. Rubago took Ruth in her arms and hugged her before pulling away.
“I didn’t have you down as a hugger.” Ruth laughed.
The witch shrugged, her lips curling into a sad smile. “Surviving in the valley isn’t easy Ruth. Make sure you find Logan as fast as you can. We know little of the new covens out in the forest, and they might be dangerous. Remember to stay clear of the Order too. They no longer have Azu’s Nephilim magic guiding t
hem, but they are still dangerous. And Scarrow and his pack are still—”
“The forest is dangerous Rubago, I get it. I survived at the Keep, I can survive here. I hate to sneak off like this, but if Kat knew I was leaving…”
“She would never allow it.”
“Exactly. She’s got enough to worry about now she’s… you know…”
“Pregnant?”
Ruth’s face twisted into pain. “I don’t want her to feel like I’m abandoning her. But I have to find Logan, I can’t explain it. Waiting here in the castle, I feel as if I’m losing my mind.” A tear dropped down her cheek. “Kat will understand won’t she?”
The witch placed a hand on the girl’s shoulder. “She will. And there are plenty of people here to help Kat with her pregnancy. I’m sure you’ll be back before the birth.”
A steely nod came from Ruth. “I promise I will be, I just need to sort my brain out. Give her this.” She pulled a letter from her cloak and handed it to the witch.
“I will,” she said as she tucked it into her own cloak. “Was there anything else? You don’t need my help to sneak out of the castle. So I assume there’s something you wanted to tell me…”
Her hands looped under the hood of her cloak and unfastened something from her neck. She held the locket out to Rubago, and it glinted in the silver moonlight.
“Is this the locket you used to escape the Keep?”
“Yes. I’ve had it all this time. I want to give it to you. There might be a chance it’s useful to you. Also… I discovered something when I was at the keep. I didn’t know if it was important but Edmund explained the vampire origin story to me the other day…”
“Vladimir Vrakos?”
Rubago didn’t find it surprising. Edmund’s penchant for history had bloomed since he discovered the library at the Castle Belmont.
“Yes. Back when I was following Vangzali at the Keep, I saw her discover something. Apparently Ansel is the last remaining descendant of Vladimir Vrakos.”
Rubago’s mouth fell open.
“Does that mean anything to you?” Ruth asked.
“Yes. It does. It explains Ansel’s power to absorb strength. Vrakos had the same power. Vrakos disappeared centuries ago, but he's still alive out there somewhere, unable to die. He’s tried to end his own kind many times, but his direct descendants have always thwarted his efforts. They are the only ones strong enough to stop him, so he killed them all. He is out there somewhere, waiting for another chance to end everything.”
“Why?”
“So he can die I suspect. It explains why the Red Circle is working against the prophecy. He's involved with them somehow I'd bet. If Vrakos is the one trying to make the prophecy fail, and I now suspect that he is… Ansel might be the only one who can stop him.”
They said goodbye once more, and Ruth disappeared into the darkness of the forest. Rubago returned to her room in the castle. Others in the castle saw her room as a collection of chaos and mess, but Rubago had everything in its place as she wanted it.
She opened the door into the dim room and fog lifted from the floor, swirling through the blue fire flame behind it. Thick blankets of leaves and roots covered the walls and floors, ebbing away the hard corners of the stone and making the room look more like a jungle.
3Thick vines hung from the ceiling and traced across the stone floor, growing up and wrapping themselves around the posts of her bed. She climbed onto the bed and span her cards into the air.
The image of her hooded Queens appeared between the cards.
“What is it child?”
“Ansel Draco is the last remaining descendant of Vladimir Vrakos.”
Silence beat for a moment. “And?”
Rubago paused, thinking the news might have impressed her Queens more. “It’s related to the prophecy of the three. I thought you would want to know.”
“We already knew this child, as we know everything. Are the other daughters still lost?”
“We know the identity of the second. Ellie, a vampire hunter. A feral vampire called Wraith Belmont has taken her prisoner. I believe he’s destined to her.”
“Are they safe in the castle?”
“No. We are trying to track them down, but Wraith is elusive. He was shadow cursed in earlier life. I don’t believe he is all vampire anymore.”
“The prophecy is happy at the moment, but darkness will fall soon if progress falters. It's important that all the breeders return to the castle. She’ll be safe there with the other daughters.”
Daughters?
“Forgive me my queens, but there is only one other daughter in the castle at the moment.”
Silence beat again. “You are incorrect child. Two daughters reside in the castle. One is hiding, not wanting to be found. Look closer, time is running out.”
Rubago froze, and the cards dropped to the bed, the image of her Queens disappearing. She stood from the mattress and walked across the vine covered floor. Two daughters were in the castle? Claire was one for sure—but who was the other?
Kat was a breeder, but she definitely wasn’t one of the daughters of the prophecy. She had searched all the women in the castle for the spiral mark, and none of them had it. Her Queens had said the third daughter is hiding. But why? What purpose did that serve?
She sieved fingers through her frizzy black hair and stared at the wall ahead, willing for an answer to come.
Nothing came.
*
Jessica wished she could have her old lab back. The Belmonts had been nice enough in accommodating the prisoners from the York castle, and they’d provided them with a half decent laboratory, even if it was only a temporary set up.
“Just be glad they’ve gone to this trouble at all.” Eli said. “We’re very fortunate Eric will accommodate our research. We’re lucky their old doctor had this lab…”
She wasn’t complaining, but she missed their home at Castle York. The York family was scientifically minded, and Jessica had indulged in science in a young age, even if she was just a lowly servant. All the servants had access to state-of-the-art laboratory equipment for their servitude. They were close to achieving their goal of producing fully synthesized blood when their work was lost in the shifter attack on the Castle.
Wars, prophecies, destined mates. Jess didn’t have time for any of it, and her sole focus was to concentrate on their research. They were so close to finding an answer. She felt as if they were just weeks away from producing synthesized blood that could feed vampires.
Winter arrived at the castle, marking three months since their rescue. They were closer than ever to synthesizing blood, but the outdated equipment in the basement of the Castle Belmont was hampering their progress. Four other servants worked in the temporary lab alongside Jess, and the confines of their equipment was beginning to frustrate the others.
“I can’t handle this fucking lab any more! We need our old stuff back!” Peter hurled a metal tray of vials across the room in frustration, the tray clattering loudly as it scattered across the floor.
“Christ Peter!” Susan shouted. “Can you stop throwing shit around while we’re trying to work?!”
Jess sighed, pulled her glasses off and rubbed at her tired eyes. “Why don’t we all take an hour guys? We’ve been working non-stop for weeks. Let’s call it a day and come back tomorrow when we’re more awake.”
Clark was the oldest servant in the lab. He was the one in charge of their research though everyone always relied on Jess for the answers.
“Jess is right.” Clark said. “Pick your shit up Peter and stop acting like a teenage boy. We’ll call it a day and come back to this tomorrow.”
While Peter stormed about the lab cleaning up his mess, the others tied up their work for the day. Their research didn’t involve hazardous chemicals, but showering was still protocol upon entering and leaving the lab. The temporary space had two sets of showers which branched off from the main entrance, one for men, and one for women. Jess and Susan ducked i
nto the women’s showers, while Clark and Peter went into the men’s.
After a much needed soak under hot water, Jess and Susan dried and changed.
“I’m making good progress with my cell stabilization.” Jess said, making idle conversation as they got ready. “The human cells we produced have always been unstable after a few hours, but by creating them under super chilled conditions—”
“Give it a rest Jess.” Susan said, sighing dramatically. “We’re off the clock! I’m not talking shop until tomorrow.”
“All right.” Jess said, flashing her an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, we’re just so close. It’s exciting. It’s easy to understand Peter’s frustration.”
“Maybe we can speak with Mr. York about getting our old equipment back then?” Susan said. “You might persuade him.”
“Me?” Jess asked. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Oh come on Jess.” Susan pulled a pair of jeans up her legs and rolled her eyes. “Eli York has always loved you. Don’t you think it’s mysterious that he won’t drink from other servants?”
Jess shrugged. “He just likes how I taste.”
“I bet he does.”
Jess pulled her hair up into a bun, failing to catch her towel as it slipped to the floor. “Fuck!”
“Relax Jess, it’s just nudity. I don’t know why you’re so up tight about—Oh my God.”
Her hand clutched around the towel on the floor and she wrapped it around her back quickly. “What?”
“I’m sorry Jess but it’s just… your back. I’ve caught a glimpse of it before but… it’s covered in scars. Is that from…?” Susan walked over with her hand outstretched, but Jess pulled away.
“The shifter attack.” She answered quickly. “Yes.”