The next morning, I received a letter at breakfast. A boy no older than 12 had delivered it, and waited beside me. Unlike most, I hadn’t received any letters so far and eagerly tore it open. It read:
Dear Miss Flynn,
There have been numerous developments that have come to my attention in regard to the death of Doctor Wiley. I was wondering whether you could see me in the library this afternoon at 4 pm. Please drop me a quick line if this is possible for you.
Sincerely,
A. Yurasov
I borrowed a pen from Lynn and scrawled a brief “suits me, thanks” on the letter on gave it back to the boy. I didn’t know whether he spoke English or not, but I smiled at him to show him my gratitude.
***
After classes had ended for the day, I made my way up to the library tower. It was only a few days since I’d been up here, but it could have just as well been decades ago.
“Ah, hello, Miss Flynn. So good to see you again. I wanted to congratulate you one more time for your excellent performance. We were all very impressed.”
“Thank you, Doctor Yurasov. It certainly would never have been possible without you.”
He smiled appreciatively. He beckoned me to sit down at a reading table close to the medical books section.
“But as you have surely gathered from my note, that is not all I wanted to see you about. Hm. How to start? Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Hamlet. I am afraid, Miss Flynn, that the Castle is facing greater forces than I had liked to admit at the beginning of term. There have been kidnappings, bloodsuckings, even murders. Poor Doctor Wiley had to die in front of the entire body of staff and students. The Council wants to get to the bottom of this mess as soon as possible.”
“Anything to help, sir,” I said. “I had tried to tell Mrs. Prill but…”
“I realise she is… difficult to deal with. She turned vampire very late, you see. She is still adapting, you might say. Now, she told me a strange tale of certain silver figurines that you had mentioned to her?”
I told Doctor Yurasov all about our encounter in the wine cellar, and how the attacker had evidently dropped the figurine. I briefly hesitated. Whatever happened, I had made a promise that I wouldn’t reveal anyone in the addicts’ den. And I’d stick to that.
But Doctor Yurasov seemed to reading me like an open book.
“You do not have to divulge everything about your life, Miss Flynn. I assure you, however, that anything you tell me will be treated with the utmost level of secrecy. Now, did you find out anything else about these figurines?”
It was too important to omit completely. My story must have appeared rather strange, as it sounded as if I had just happened to stumble across a blood party in the catacombs of the castle. Doctor Yurasov, however, phrased his questions respectfully. I think he understood perfectly well what was going on.
“And then, I, erm, had it arranged that the girl was removed and brought back to where she came from.”
“A noble thing to do, Miss Flynn. You did well. The Council has been trying to stamp these organisations out for years, but to little avail. Unfortunately, the whole thing is a lot worse than we had initially assumed. I’ll be honest with you, Miss Flynn. The Council is in disarray, our King is ill and his Queen – it pains me to criticise a member of the Royal Family but nonetheless – is not invested entirely in the well-being of all of her subjects.”
“You mean, she doesn’t care at all…”
“Indeed. And Prince Raphael’s hands are tied. By Vampiric Law, the Queen rules as long as the King lives but is incapacitated. And we do not have the political power to change the law. Without Royal consent, it is impossible anyway.”
“How can I help?” I asked.
“You already have been, Miss Flynn. We are not interested so much in the blood parties as in the heads of the drug ring. The Knights are ready to intervene, of course, but we need to know where to strike. I cannot tell you what to do, naturally, as you are not – or should I say not yet – a member of the Scarlet Knights. But I ask you only to keep your eyes open. Find the head of the snake, and we will be able to deal with it.”
“You think they’re after more than just blood?”
“Oh yes, that much is certain. The King is not simply ‘ill’, he is being poisoned.”
“What?”`
“Yes. Prince Raphael has been working extremely hard to save him, but it is most likely terminal. The addicts are simply pawns in their political game, Miss Flynn. They use their addiction as a tool to overthrow our present order and to return to the old ways. Of course they might be addicted themselves, who knows. We are, in other words, at risk of civil war, more than at any other time since the war with the Slayers ended. You have already proven resourceful before. And I trust that you operate best when you move freely. If you need help, get in contact with Prince Raphael directly from now on. He will be directing the Knights’ efforts.”
“But what about you?” I asked.
Doctor Yurasov smiled sadly.
“I am getting old, Miss Flynn. Seeing you both fight in the tournament showed me that. My skills are better employed elsewhere.”
***
Back in our room, I filled Lynn in. It was good to be able to talk to her again, though she still avoided talking about her experiences like the plague. She was nonetheless just as keen as I was to solve the mystery of who was behind the entire operation.
“So who could it be?” Lynn asked.
“I don’t know. You must have seen something, Lynn.”
“I told you, Beccs, Jayden did most of the dealings. But I never there was a ringleader behind the operation at all.”
“Well, Yurasov figures that there is.”
***
For the following days, the looming exams was all anyone could talk about. We had about two more weeks, and I was getting desperate, but I just couldn’t concentrate on the tasks at hand. My mind kept jumping to the question of who was behind it all.
Certainly, it had to be someone with enough access. I briefly thought of the two janitors. They could move around the entire castle without arousing suspicion. They’d be perfectly placed to distribute the figurines throughout the castle.
On the other hand, they had volunteered information to Steve and me on separate occasions, hardly the mark of a mastermind. They seemed even more curious than we were at times.
No, it had to be someone else. I was deep in thought when I suddenly bumped into a pair of strong arms and broad shoulders. My heart flipped. It was Raphael.
“Hi,” I said.
“Hey.”
“Yurasov’s told me to report to you now. Has he told you?”
“No. He mentioned he wanted to talk to you, though.”
Suddenly, his hand jerked instinctively in the direction of his knee.
“Does it still hurt from the tournament?”
“Yeah. Never properly healed. Damn that Vox, he had even more speed than you did.” He smiled mischievously at me.
“Speed. That’s it. I’ve got it.”
“What – what do you mean?”
“Raphael, it’s Vox! He has all the symptoms of severe blood addiction. He was close to Wiley. He has access to alchemical equipment. He’ll have keys to the old alchemy storage rooms. It all fits!”
Raphael looked at me and nodded.
“He must have some place where he can work on all of this. He’d hardly do It in one of the classrooms.”
“I know,” Raphael suddenly exclaimed. “There’s an abandoned tower right at far end, it used to be the old hospital tower. It’d be the perfect place.”
I smiled at him.
“We’ve got it,” I said.
“I’ll get the Knights together.”
***
There was no time to lose. I ran as fast as I could to the East Tower and into the Knights’ common room. Sarah, looking slightly bewildered, was alone there.
“I need a sharp weapon with a silver tip,” I said, panting. “Sorry, no time to explain. Yurasov’s orders.”
“Ok, I think there must be some over in the … wait, I’ll get them for you.”
She returned within minutes with a rapier. The tip was extremely sharp.
“Thanks, Sarah. Must fly, Raphael will explain it all.”
***
A few minutes later, I arrived at the abandoned tower. The flight of stairs had fallen into disrepair from neglect. It was much colder here too. I walked up the steps as softly as I could. I assumed that Vox wouldn’t be there, though it was important to take precautions. And he was an excellent swordsman, as he had proven during the tournament. I reached the first floor. I was looking for a room that was obviously in use, giveaway signs like missing cobwebs and the like.
On the second floor, I finally found what I had been looking for. Someone had taken great pains in keeping the dust even in front of the door, though the doorknob was much shinier than it’s neighbours.
I turned the knob very quietly. It clicked and opened.
I found myself in dark room that smelled of dust and mold. But some tables and instruments were obviously still in use. I was just about to investigate them a little further when I heard a creaking behind me.
I swung around and, in the doorframe, stood Mr. Vox.
His eyes darted immediately to my rapier. He knew that the game was up. Quick as a flash, he rushed to the back laboratory to one of the cupboards. I tried to stop him, but he flung half a dozen glass phials at me that barely missed my face. It bought him enough time to tear open the cupboard and produce a short scimitar.
I knew I was at an advantage, but this fight wouldn’t tolerate any mistakes. There wouldn’t be a best-of or several sets. It was most likely first hit for the win.
I pressed my advantage immediately, trying to control him with my much longer blade. I needed to buy time until Raphael and the others would arrive. But Vox was as fast as ever.
Then, he screamed like a terribly deformed creature and hurled himself at me. I stabbed, and got him through the shoulder blade, but he simply kept going, pinning me to the wall behind him. I could see the poisonous effects of the silver in his face, but he tore me down to the ground with him, as his long and powerful fingers twisted themselves around my throat.
Gasping for breath, I beat and kicked at every inch I could find, but he was much stronger. I was losing the struggle. He throttling me.
And then, the door burst open once more, and Raphael stood in the doorframe alone. Without hesitation, he launched himself on top of Vox, and stabbed him clean into his heart, leaving the blade in place.
Struck for a second time with a silver blade, Vox dropped to floor, wheezing for the last vestiges of life. But it was in vain. He was dead.
“Rebecca, are you alright?”
Raphael lifted me up, cleared one of the workbenches and laid me on it. And then, we couldn’t resist any longer. He bent lower, our face closer than ever before. He was edging ever nearer. I wanted to kiss those lips more than anything in the world.