Dimitri took my glass out of my gloved hand — yes, that’s right, I was wearing gloves. I was feeling a hundred million dollars right now. Whilst I’ve borrowed my black dress from Tatiana, I looked not less seductive. The décolletage was reaching right down to the heart and thanks to a neck holder my back was naked. No bra included, all I had was Tatiana’s promise the magical tape would keep my boobs inside the fabric. Actually, it was Tatiana’s choice. I wasn’t sure about it until I saw Dimitri losing his balance on the top of the landing when he spotted me in it. Anything which could evoke such a reaction from him was worthwhile wearing.
“What?” I snapped at him. He placed the glass casually onto the plate of another waiter passing by, not even looking at the guy.
“That’s disgusting, Izzy.”
“I’m not allowed to get drunk?”
“You want to get drunk by drinking blood?”
“Blood? They are serving… that was blood?”
“Zero negative judging by the colour. If you wanted to date Edward, you should have told me before I severed his head.”
I pulled a face of deepest repulsion. “They are serving blood?” My hand moved to my mouth, stopping me from gagging.
“You’re surrounded by vamps, didn’t you notice.”
Yes. There were vampires, werewolves, Valkyries, witches... I never felt more out of place. The vampires were easily noticeable by their pale skin. And ghosts. Lots of them. Some were wearing white wicks, others dressed in ancient guard uniforms and some ladies had dresses the size of a circus tent and fanning themselves air while gossiping about past court life. The ghosts were only visible to me and they behaved as if they were not noticing the living party at all — well, I wasn’t sure if you could call the vampire delegation alive. Maybe just marginal more alive than the transparent ghost figures.
“There’s Brunswick”, Dimitri’s head jerked to the far left corner. There he was, dressed in a black tie tuxedo and holding a glass of the red stuff in his hand. His sons, Jasper and Emmet were standing to either side of him. Brunswick had already spotted us among the crowd. He shot us a glance, which told more than words could say. He wanted us dead. Obviously, old Brunswick wasn’t taking the demise of his eldest and most precious son too well.
“It’s too early”, I whispered to Dimitri. “Tat and Victor need more time.”
Dimitri nodded in affirmation. “Let’s go to work then.” He built himself up in front of me and bowed deeply. “May I have this dance, my lady?”
I flushed deep red. “I can’t dance”, I whispered back. Well, Vicky and I went to a nightclub twice, but dancing in a nightclub could be classified in the very best case as hopping.
How could you not remember Olga’s eighteenth birthday? Anastasia sounded in my head. Alright, let him lead, just not step on his toes. It’s Swan Lake. You loved it. Don’t tell me you forgot this as well?
Dimitri took my hand. “Don’t worry, you loved to dance. I’m sure you barely need a warm-up.”
He led me to the middle of the floor, held tight to my left hand and placed his other carefully onto my back. All kinds of showers went through my body. How was he thinking I was capable of even moving an inch when he touched me like that? Well, he didn’t think, just spun me around the floor, while Anastasia muttered some nonsense about one, two, three, one, two, three… I was barely listening. Honestly, in the next moment, I’ve forgotten everything else, too mesmerised to take my eyes off him. Everything else, the ballroom, the guests, even the many thirsty vamps and hungry werewolves blurred out behind him. There were just us. Us as it was supposed to be.
Our dance found a sudden halt, when a figure stepped next to us.
“Jake”, I breathed out. There wasn’t anything else than hatred in my voice. Not even surprise.
“The headmaster wants to see you.” He forced a smile, but his voice couldn’t hide his wrath. His right hand rested on the hilt of a foil, which he was carrying in a scabbard at his side. It could only mean, if he had to deliver me to his master dead or alive, he didn’t care. How could I’ve been that blind? If there was once a crush or even the touch of an affection for him, now, only repulsion was left.
“Then we better don’t let your master wait”, I answered him cold and followed him, Dimitri right at my side. A glance over my shoulder showed Tatiana and Victor still labouring the dance floor. Brunswick and his sons on the other hand were nowhere to be seen.
“Where are we going?” Dimitri asked when the orchestra slowly muted in our backs once we’d left the ballroom.
“You’ll see”, Jake snapped.
“That’s hardly good enough.”
Jake took a right turn and another corridor was opening up. The hallway was completely deserted and completely silent. Only the tip, tap of my heels over the marble floor was audible.
“Izzy”, Jake started, but I pulled him off. “It’s Elisabeth for you. Only my friends call me Izzy.”
Dimitri couldn’t hide a giggle.
“I wanted to say, I’m sorry for what happened to Vicky. If you just would have come with me—”
“Jake, don’t even try giving me the fault for your brother’s tantrum. He’s a psycho and so are you. We’re done.”
Jake halted. At first I thought he intended to indulge the who’s-fault-it-was topic, but then I noticed, we’ve reached our destination. He pushed open the door and revealed a reception room with a low table surrounded by a blue sofa and armchairs. Expensive blue wallpaper was adoring the walls, and blue curtains have been drawn.
“Let me guess, the blue room.”
Jake snipped with his fingers and the air blurred for a moment, then it gave way to a bluish and purple light — a portal. The portal was covering the entire right wall of the room. “If you wanna see your sister again, I recommend you go through there.”
If it wouldn’t have been for Victor checking out the story of Annabelle being abducted beforehand, I would have asked for proof of life. “Why can’t we have the exchange here?”
“The headmaster is busy. Your choice, Iz…, Elisabeth.”
My eyes interlinked with Dimitri’s. He didn’t like it as much as I did. I nodded slowly. “Alright, but you first.”
“Don’t take too long. My uncle is a busy man.” Before I could answer, he’d disappeared in the light.
Dimitri squeezed my hand. “You can do this.”
I took a breath as if it would be my last, closed my eyes as if expecting pain, then I stepped through the portal, Dimitri at my side.
When I opened my eyes again I found myself standing at the end of a large hall. The walls were all made of dark grey stone, certainly hundreds, if not thousands of year’s old. The entire place had something forgotten about it, not to say spooky. There were no windows, the air was mouldy and damp, and spider webs were hanging from the corners and from the dozen or more candelabras near the centre. Each was equipped with thirteen black candles, but neither was burning. Still, the room wasn’t entirely dark. The silvery light of the moon infiltrated the scene from an oval opening in the ceiling, similar to a stadium only that this opening had derived as the result of a collapse rather than the intention of its maker. Thousands of twinkling stars covered the firmament. My glance wandered back down once my eyes had adjusted to the semi-darkness. The floor was dusty, but the dust showed plenty of footsteps leading to the centre like traces in the snow. There in the middle was a group of three: The consul covered in black robes and John, who held a knife towards Annabel’s throat. My heart rate tripled.
“Annabelle?”
“IZZY”, Annabelle screamed — relief, fear and tears mixing into her voice. She wanted to jerk free, but John held her in an iron grip.
Wayland raised his arms, exposing his empty hands as if to gesture he’d come in peace. “She’s fine, I didn’t harm her. As I told you Miss Parker, I’m a reasonable man. As long as you show cooperation, we’ll find an agreement in terms of your sister’s release.”
I darted o
ff before Dimitri could hold me back. In no time I’d crossed the distance and sunk to my knees in front of Annabelle. The little one reached out for me and slung her arms around my neck and buried her face into my shoulder. Instantly she broke out in tears.
“All will be fine”, I shushed her. “All will be fine.”
“As you see, Miss Parker”, Wayland said. “I held my part of the bargain. How about you?”
I glanced up at him and nodded. A bright smile formed upon his lips. “Then let’s talk business.”
I pushed Annabelle out of my embrace and hold her at arms-length. “Okay, Pumpkin, I want you to go to the boy over there.” I looked over my shoulder. Dimitri had stopped a fair bit further down — most likely Jake had prohibited him to follow me as he’d drawn his foil and pointed it at Dimitri’s chest.
“Why are they doing this?” Annabelle sobbed. “I want to stay with you, Izzy.”
I turned my attention back to her. “I’ll come to you as soon as possible, but first you have to go with Dimitri. He’ll bring you where it is safe and later back home to mum and dad.”
“Why aren’t you coming with me?”
I swallowed hard. “I’ll have some issues to settle with this man here.”
“I’m scared.”
“Don’t be. Dimitri will protect you.” I knew he would, he would because she’s my little sister and he knew exactly how it would upset me if any harm would come to her.
“Go now”, I shoved her forwards. “Go now, I promise all will be good. I’m coming back to you soon and we’ll go home to mum and dad together.” Such a promise was a horrible lie, but right then, only a lie could convince her. With reluctant steps she strode towards Dimitri, who held his left hand out for her. I rose back to my feet and watched her leaving my side. When she was finally with Dimitri, his protective left arm around her, I relaxed.
“Here I am Consul or should I call you Headmaster?”
“The choice is yours, my dear”, Wayland said rather amused, which concerned me.
“Let them go”, I demanded.
He laughed. “Giving away my only leverage I have over you? Why would I do that?”
“You promised”, I shouted at him and made a step forward; at least that was my intention. Instead, I hit an invisible barrier. “What the hell?” I was unable to move my legs. The consul snipped with his fingers and the candles of the candelabras sprang on. Suddenly the room was alive, as if someone had pushed away a curtain. All around me, other figures had appeared out of nowhere, some younger than me, others older, but all boys as I noticed. Every single one was standing at the tip of a point of a thirteen-pointed star. A pentagram or the thirteen point equivalent. There were twelve boys. It wasn’t hard to guess who they were. We’ve found them, The Children of Apocalypse. Just now I noticed, I too was standing in a designated spot, right at the edge of the thirteenth point.
To my horror that wasn’t all. Forming a circle around the star where another two dozen hooded figures, some wearing masks, others didn’t. Obviously Lord Brunswick and his sons couldn’t care less about the revelation of their identity. A satisfied laughter was roaring off him, his head leaning back wide. “I assume, we’re ready for the apocalypse.”
“I assume, Miss Parker”, Wayland said and moved into the middle of the star. “You already met my second in command.”
The laughter stopped abrupt. I guessed, Lord Brunswick wasn’t the type of person, who enjoyed being second in command. He was the man in charge. Not the other way around. The role didn’t please him.
My panicking eyes were wandering back to Dimitri’s and interlinked with him. And for the first time, I saw panic in them as well. It didn’t take much for counting one and one together. We weren’t any more in Catherine Palace. We could be everywhere and nowhere. Sure enough, there was no one upon I could call. Worse, Tatiana and Victor were searching the palace in vain. And last but not least, no human being had a clue that the apocalypse was near. We were on our own and we were powerless.
Not quite. All what I saw was a flash of silver flying pass my head and onto Wayland. For a moment, there was fear in the Consul’s eyes, he had not even time raising his arms in defence. But before the blade could strike his head, it stopped half an inch away from his forehead, vibrating in mid-air.
To my surprise, John cleared his throat and the blade turned and rushed backwards and into Jake’s outstretched hand.
Relief rushed over Wayland’s face. His index finger came up vertically and moved from left to right and back to the left. “Dimitri, Dimitri, Dimitri…”
I glanced over my shoulder. Dimitri’s right was still out-stretched; obviously he hadn’t seen that coming.
The Consul had found his voice back. “I would lie if I expected anything else of you, even would be disappointed in you if you hadn’t tried. But as you can see, my nephews are completely loyal to me and able to best you anytime. My brother trained them in secrecy abroad for many years. As you see, he did a marvellous job.”
With a proud smirk John built himself up next to Dimitri and placed the knife against his throat. The scene was too familiar. “NO”, I shouted, tears already at the edge of my eyes. “Don’t hurt him. Please!”
The Consul’s focus shifted to me. “I assume I’ve your total cooperation.”
“Yes”, I breathed out.
Jake drew a knife too, put his arms around Annabelle and held the blade against her throat. “No more games, Izzy.”
Tears were running down both of Annabelle’s cheeks. She tried to get free, but Jake’s iron grip was too strong for her. Dimitri wanted to help her, but John simply increased the pressure on his neck, cutting the skin open and revealing a few drops of dark blood kissing the blade.
“Stop”, I shouted again. “I do whatever you want.”
Dimitri mouthed a no. But I knew right then, I could never live with myself if I would let them die. I choose them over the world, because those two meant the world to me.
And before I could say another word, the ceremony started. The Consul started with a singsong of ancient words, I couldn’t make out a single word. Maybe it was Latin, but the feeling was nudging me, the language was far older. His call for the four horsemen was instantly answered. Above us a dark cloud was blacking out the stars, growing in darkness and exploding in flashes of white, red, brown and black. Wind was coming up, growing in intensity by the second, the cloud above was thundering until it cracked open to purple, vibrating light, revealing a gateway to another realm, a realm no human had ever set eyes upon.
Then he pointed at one of the children. “Octavian, Son of War, obey me and call your father.”
Unlike me, Octavian showed no repulsion. “Come father, help our cause.”
The consul’s glance went to the next. “Tobias, Son of Conquest, obey me and call your father.”
Tobias hesitated for a moment, the half-moon mark above his brow twitched slightly. His hesitation earned him a hit with a club against his backside. Tobias collapsed. “Come father”, he screamed through clenched teeth, “help our cause.”
The ceremony continued with Francis, Bobby, Peter, Ray, Kyle, Frank, Shaun, Marco, Johannes and Christian. It seemed, half of them were eager following the Consul’s orders, the other half reluctant. But same as with me, the Consul had found a way to make them cooperate.
Then it was my turn. “Elisabeth, Daughter of Death, obey me and call your father.”
My glance wandered back to Dimitri and Annabelle. Dimitri shook his head slightly. Jake’s blade pressed stronger against Annabelle’s throat. I’m sorry. I mouthed.
“SAY IT”, the Consul shouted in sheer wrath. “SAY IT OR I’LL KILL THEM ON THE SPOT.”
“Come father”, I whispered. “Help our cause.”
“COME TO ME”, the Consul yelled over the wind. “FOLLOW MY COMMAND, OH YOU ANCIENT ENTITIES”
There was movement in the cloud and then the first of the horsemen was spit out. He was sitting on a brown horse circling in mi
d-air above the opening in the ceiling. Another horseman joined him, this one on a red horse. The two looked like brothers in arms. Conquest and War. War raised his sword into the air, while Conquest’s horse went up onto his hind legs.
Another horseman on a white horse appeared. Famine. He looked thin, almost breakable, his pale skin stretched over his sharp bones.
And finally, Death turned out of the purple gate, riding a black horse. A shadowy scythe was in his right. I shouldn’t fear him, he was my father after all, but right then, there was no horseman I was more afraid of.
The horsemen assembled in a line at the edge of the opening, hovering motionless in mid-air.
“THE TIME HAS COME”, the Consul shouted. “UNLEASH THE APOCALYPSE OVER HUMANITY. MAKE THEM SUFFER FOR THEIR SINS AND SPARE US, WHO ARE BLESSED WITH THE SUPERNATURAL, SO THAT WE CAN REIGN OVER THE WORLD AND THE LIVING.“
There was a thunder, the air turned crimson, and I knew instantly, it was done. The apocalypse was upon us.
Chapter XX
Death is Coming
My breath became frosty when temperatures dropped below freezing point.
Apocalypse! And I was the one who’d started it. Not God, not the devil. Me. Sure enough, our local priest in Beacon Hills hadn’t seen that coming. I doomed the world! The weight of this recognition weighed heavily on my conscience. I wanted to cry, scream, bury my head under a blanket, I wanted my mum more than ever before. Even that she wasn’t my real mum, I couldn’t think of her in any other way. Same as my sister. My sister. Wasn’t she the reason why I did what I did? The excuse made it no easier. I was pure evil.
“GO INTO THE WORLD OF THE LIVING, MY HORSEMEN.” The triumph was hard to miss in the Consul’s voice. He was euphoric, cheering with laughter and just about to address his comrades, when the laughter stopped abruptly. Another silvery glimmer shot through the air and ended in the Consul’s left eye. A blink later, I noticed what was looking out of his eye was the hilt of a small dagger, the blade had pierced right through his eye and into his brain. Surprise washed over his face, turning into pain, then recognition of his own demise. A gust of wind did the rest and made him fall over, where he dropped to the ground like an ancient Greek pillar falling over after an earthquake. I looked over my shoulder, searching for Dimitri, but found Tatiana instead.
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