Alice quirked an eyebrow, studying Sam’s face as she tried to work out what was going through his head. “Matty? He has trouble trusting people, but he’ll come around.”
Sam was convinced that it was something more than that, as his own experiences seemed to show that the man resented other people getting close to Alice or having any sort of relationship with her. “But I'll just slow you down. I really don't want to be a burden to either of you.” He stubbornly continued to try and talk his way out of travelling with companions, with no real reason as to why he thought he should be alone.
Placing her hands on her hips, Alice glared at him with determination burning in her eyes. “Really, Sam? You won't be. I’m not leaving you behind this time!” There was more force behind her words now as she drove her point home. She clearly didn't want Sam to be alone and somehow knew that he didn't want to be on his own either, not really.
Sam had quickly found that there was no bargaining with Alice when she was trying to do something for his own good and he didn't have much argument left in him anyway. It wasn't as if he had anywhere to go by himself. He had nothing driving him anymore, so he may as well play the part of the third wheel. She had managed to convince him that he needed friends around him right now and it was true that there was no one better to act as his guide through the endless nights than her. At least no one who wasn't already dead or lying in a pile of ash.
Despite Alice’s constant reassurance, Sam couldn't help but worry about almost everything and from the way she acted around him, it was obvious that she sensed his unease. Stepping forwards to wrap her cold arms around him, Alice gave Sam a friendly squeeze that made him feel surprisingly safe and secure. “And I thought I was the one that worried too much... Times really have changed haven't they?”
Sam gave in to her embrace, returning Alice’s affection with a hug of his own. “You can say that again…”
Alice was right, the times had indeed changed and that had led to Sam questioning his own existence. Something had clearly gone wrong when he had been turned, but the reasons for that failure were still a mystery to him. He knew what he had been labelled as Forsaken, but he had no real idea of what that meant other than being physically weaker than your average vampire, lacking the implements that he needed to feed and having the ability to walk in daylight at least for a while. It was true that Sam wasn't the same person that he had been before his rebirth, but as to what he had become since then, he still had no clue.
Alice pulled away, ending the hug prematurely as she took a couple of steps back. Sam would have thought nothing of it if it wasn't for the look of woe that hardened her features. “I had a dream the other day... A glimpse of the future, some might say. There's a great darkness on the horizon and it’s coming our way.”
“Is it worse than what we've already been through?” Sam frowned, lowering his hands back down by his sides as he watched her with curiosity.
Alice gave a single, solemn nod. “Much worse…”
Sam could feel himself tensing up again as his own insecurities pushed their way back to the surface. “Let me guess… It has something to do with Katherine Louviere.”
Alice began to sway a little, her feet still firmly planted on the ground as her body moved from side to side. “I don't know for sure, but yes I believe so.”
Crossing his arms in front of his chest, Sam could already feel that he wasn't going to like what he heard. “Tell me what you saw...” He braced himself for bad news as Alice started to recount what she had seen. She began to pace as she spoke, no longer making eye contact with him while she concentrated on recalling the most important details of the dream.
“I saw a spider in its web, engorging itself on a feast of flies as her offspring watched and starved to death. Beneath it, a wasp was caught in a trap amongst squirming larvae, its legs damaged from the struggle to break free as a neighbouring butterfly tried to find a way to live on broken wings. Not far from there, somewhere in the wild, a lion and her mate hid from a pack of vicious wolves, as a single dove sang out for a flock of diseased pigeons, deep within a concrete jungle.”
It was difficult for Sam to imagine how these images were relevant to them or how they would relate to anything that was going to happen, but he waited patiently as he heard Alice out. She continued to describe what she had seen with vague, yet vivid detail, her voice full of emotion.
“Surrounding them all, in a field of pure white powder, a crystal river meandered around a city that burned bright in a raging inferno. The red hot flames pumped smoke into the night sky as it melted both ice and snow without mercy. The web caught a spark and went up in flame, the fire engulfing the spider and everything else in its path. The wasp couldn't escape, nor the butterfly whose slow crawl wasn't fast enough to carry it to freedom. The heat caused the larvae to hatch into moths that carried the flames out towards the concrete jungle, unaware of the danger that they possessed. As the birds continued to sing their beautiful song, they were too distracted to notice the smoke in the sky and were completely oblivious to the destruction heading their way. Somewhere in the fields below, the cowering lions and the wolves that hunted them were disintegrated into nothing but smouldering ash in a sea of fire.”
Sam's eyes opened wide as Alice spoke of a possible future that sounded closer akin to an apocalypse than anything else. He didn't know who the different animals represented, but he knew that all of them would die if the vision came to pass. Could this be the reason to live that he had been searching for?
“You weren't joking…” Sam said in a wondrous, yet slightly nervous tone. “Whatever the dream was about, it sounds awful and we can't let it happen.”
Alice nodded in agreement, her pacing having stopped a just few feet away. “But first we need to leave town. It's likely that Katherine already knows where we are and she’ll be coming for us.”
Sam wondered if Katherine was the spider in the dream. If she was, then her descendants were the starving offspring, and if that was the case, then they would be amongst the first to burn if they didn't act. “Where should we go?”
Alice seemed to ponder his question for a moment before replying. “Maybe out west. Somewhere peaceful and away from busy cities. Somewhere where we can work out what to do next.”
It was a simple plan, but one that Sam was inclined to agree with. “A place in the country sounds nice about now.”
Alice smiled softly at him, seemingly satisfied by his answer. “It sure does. Farms, dirt roads and crops as far as the eye can see.” She looked almost tranquil as she pictured the countryside that they had both grown up in and had left behind so long ago.
Sam knew that he didn't have much to offer, but he would dedicate himself to helping Alice stop the encroaching darkness in any way possible, unless it meant hurting innocent people in the process. That was a line that he didn't want to cross, not again. Not ever. Despite having so little left to give, there was still one thing that Sam could offer her. His complete and undying fidelity.
An unmarked van pulled into the bus depot, slowing to a stop by the curb. Matthew waved his hand from the driver’s seat, looking pleased with his choice of ride.
Alice beamed with joy. “Are you ready to go?” Whoever Matthew was and however Sam felt about him, he was someone who seemed to make Alice happy, and that meant that he would work as hard as he could to get along with him.
Looking around the bus depot one last time, Sam silently took in the sights and sounds of Miami at night. He had never truly felt comfortable there, but it has become a home of sorts. Perhaps he had grown too used to the hustle and bustle of the city and he wouldn't be able to settle down out in the country. Sam hoped that he would be able to adjust given time, but he would let it happen naturally and wouldn't force the issue. There would be no more noise or light pollution. Just him, Alice, Matthew and the endless fields that made up the majority of the landscape.
Leaving Miami was admittedly going to be tough, with so many memories bot
h good and bad reminding Sam of all the experiences that he had somehow survived through. However, the amount of friends that he had lost there had transformed the place into little more than a graveyard. Jacko, Mikey P, Chavs and Skid. He would cherish their memory forever, but he didn't want to stay there to be haunted by the spirits of the dead. The city had introduced him to Christie Reece and had given him the precious time that he needed to get to know her, but it had also taken her away from him, and that was something that was impossible to forgive. It was time to say one last goodbye.
Sam mouthed his farewell, but no sound escaped from his lips. He finally felt as though he was ready to move on and was done wasting time. Turning his head, he looked back at Alice who had inclined her own to one side as she awaited his response. “Yeah, I'm ready.” He said weakly with a half smile. “Let's get out of here.”
Epilogue: The queen of her castle.
Katherine couldn't concentrate on the proceedings at all. In fact, ever since she had discovered the existence of her bastard child, she had struggled to focus on her duties as queen. She was in danger of neglecting them altogether, as she had become distracted in a similar manner to that which had begun the downfall of her predecessor. She of all should know. After all, it was Katherine who had personally overthrown the old ruler, a woman who she had once counted amongst her elite and particularly exclusive circle of friends. Their differences in opinion had left them divided long ago, and she knew better than to cultivate real friendships now. Vampires didn't have friends, not really. Just rivals and those that they wished to control.
The pitiful creature who knelt before Katherine's feet was a newcomer to her city whose petition to become a citizen of Calgary was falling on deaf ears. Like her failure of a child, he too was Forsaken, and weak blooded wretches such as this were not welcome in her pure blooded, totalitarian state. In fact they had no place within the city limits at all. They were mistakes, plain and simple, and needed to be wiped out as their very existence was a blight on vampire society.
Katherine had worked hard to make Calgary a city free of the abominations that plagued other kingdoms. However, she felt shame for the part that she had played in bringing such a thing into existence, a fact that she had only recently been made aware of. Sam Mitchell was supposed to have been bait, she had no designs for him beyond that. He was a tool that she was meant to use to lure Alice to her, but it was a plan that she had believed to have failed when his body refused to rise. What she didn't understand was how someone with her potent blood could create something so weak and pathetic. Was it because she had stolen her strength from others over the years? Was this a punishment for all her past sins? No! She had earned her power through her skill in guile and cunning, and it was hers by right.
As Katherine looked down from her throne to lay her eyes upon the skinny man dressed in rags, she couldn't help but draw a comparison with that which she had somehow spawned. He was still cowering before her and pleading for mercy that would never come, his terrified face replaced by that of Samuel Mitchell. Like all Forsaken, Katherine’s child was a problem that had to be dealt with. She had no real connection to him, they had only met the once for an admittedly intimate but brief moment, and she could crush him so easily without feeling remorse. She would have to kill Samuel and Matthew too, even though the latter would be a much tougher task, and anyone else who had ever disappointed or betrayed her. But not Alice. Alice was different. She was special.
It was easy for Katherine to admit that she had always craved power, for as long as she could remember. Ever since her rebirth, she had sought it out and had grasped it wherever possible. She had clawed her way out of the brothels and whore houses of the old colony and had carved a path across the continent as she searched for her place within the world. Her power had been claimed, it hadn't been handed to her, and she would never let anyone take it from her. Not ever.
With everything that Katherine had gained along the way, she knew she had also lost so much in the process. The transformation had taken its toll on her soul, removing the very parts of her that had once made her human. Her conscience was a tattered mess that she had to try and balance out with common sense, otherwise she might just go on a rampant killing spree that she wouldn't regret until her body had been destroyed. As much as she craved blood and destruction, her self preservation acted to kept her in check in a mind devoid of true emotion. Yes, she could still fake her way through social gatherings and the like, becoming quite adept through decades of experience at making others feel comfortable in her presence, but it was all just an act. Katherine Louviere was as dead inside as she was on the outside and nothing would ever change that.
The kings and queens of vampire society weren't voted in to office, and the vampire hierarchy was far from a democracy. It was a vicious pit of politics, sinister plots and backstabbing that had to be braved if you wanted to make your way up the deadly food chain. Taking calculated risks could result in the highest of rewards, but reckless and poorly timed actions could mean death or worse… exile. Katherine knew that it was a dangerous game that she was playing, but it was one that she had always played to near perfection.
Despite her strength of office, Samuel Mitchell was still a serious threat to Katherine's survival and she knew it. The social stigma of such a discovery would be too great to bear and it would cause her to lose the respect of her peers. She couldn't risk any of her rivals ever discovering his existence as they wouldn't hesitate to use that knowledge against her. The Forsaken wretch was a grubby little secret that they would wield as a weapon as they all turned on her in an instant. As queen, Katherine was faced with danger on a nightly basis, with the other vampires in the city constantly circling her like buzzards around carrion. If the vultures ever sensed any weakness in her, they would descend to tear her apart.
Katherine would never let anyone take her crown, not ever. She would raze the city to the ground and rule over the smouldering ruins before she would let anyone usurp her throne. Anyone who was foolish enough to cross her would be subsequently wiped from existence, leaving no one to dispute her sovereignty and her right to rule. She had worked too hard to lose it all. She had fought tooth and nail against all odds, rising up from nothing to become one of the most powerful and influential vampires in the New World. Alliances had been forged and old ties severed, with strategic planning and timeless charm getting her further than most had ever thought possible, but it still wasn't enough. Katherine still craved more. She would always want more. It wasn't greed that kept her motivated, not as she saw it. It was simply her fulfilling her destiny.
The throne room itself was a work in progress, with far too many reminders of the former queen that had yet to be disposed of. Renita Marquette had been a dreamer who was grounded in the past, with a penchant for times gone by. Her period of choice had been the French Renaissance, the memory of her former life in the old country refusing to fade, and her decor had mirrored that obsession. Whereas Katherine on the other hand preferred to change with the times, keeping her designs more contemporary modern and sparse. The dusty tapestries and expensive drapes had been torn down as renovations began, but the golden gilding and old fashioned tiles still remained, at least for now. It was out with the old and in with the new, but change took time and she had to remain patient. Her seat of power would mirror her elegance soon enough and then all traces of the old regime would soon be erased.
It was true that Calgary and its surrounding lands now belonged to Katherine, but Renita still lived. She had somehow escaped the city along with her bodyguard, leaving her most loyal supporters behind to face their terrible demise. The stripped monarch had no power, throne or kingdom anymore, but she was still out there somewhere. There was no doubt that she was in hiding, plotting her revenge and preparing to take back what she believed to belong to her. However delusional that belief and however sure Katherine was that her rival's plan was doomed to fail, it turned Renita into yet another threat that still loomed on the horizon
.
Katherine didn't know what the future held or exactly what steps to take to ensure her eternal dominance, which is precisely why she needed Alice Delaney and her innate talent for foresight. Her enemies couldn't sneak up on her if she knew where they were and when they were coming for her. Alice was the key to her continued existence.
A robed figure entered the chamber from the elevator doors beyond, drawing the remainder of Katherine’s limited attention away from her petitioner. They made their way around the edge of the circular room, seeming to glide over the tiled floor as they brushed past the well dressed guards. The same guards who were strangely oblivious of the mysterious figures presence as they continued to watch the proceedings in silence. In fact, no one else in the room seemed to notice the intruder except for Katherine who tracked their movements with increasing interest.
A smile crossed Katherine’s face as she laid eyes upon the scraggly, black hair that poked out from underneath the robe’s dark red hood and the pale, boney fingers that protruded from baggy sleeves. “Morgana... I trust you have news?”
The robed figure stopped just a couple of steps shy of the throne before bowing their shrouded head with respect. It was then that everyone else seemed to notice them, the guards reaching under their suit jackets for their weapons until they were stopped in their tracks by a quick wave of Katherine's hand. The pathetic thing that knelt at her feet scurried backwards on all fours, until he was stopped by a nearby guard’s cruel kick that put him down in an instant.
Morgana spoke with an eerie whisper that somehow projected into Katherine’s mind. “I have found them, my queen.”
Katherine’s smile changed to a wicked grin as she leaned forwards, balancing herself on the edge of her uncomfortable golden throne. Yet another object that needed to be replaced. “Good.” She gestured towards the door as she addressed her guards. “Leave us!”
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