16
The archive building was red marble, jutting high into the sky and blocking out the artificial sun overhead. Logan and Ruth stood halfway up the tall staircase at its front, looking up at the giant marble columns before them. There weren’t many people in this part of the Keep at the moment, and they were the only ones on the broad stairs.
“What do we do now?” Ruth tried to push her feelings for Logan to one side for now. He was staring up at the entrance to the archives, quietly muttering to himself while coming up with a plan.
“Wait for Vangzali I guess? As far as I know there’s only one entrance to the archives, so she'll come this way. If that’s the case, I need to get out of the way. Vangzali knows me well, she’d be able to detect my presence, even if I was invisible.”
“This is all up to me then? And I'm using this power which I’m not even sure I have?”
“Oh, you have it. I’ve seen you use it plenty of times. Most Supers have some extra power.”
“Supers?”
“Man, you know nothing huh?” He said. “Not all vampires are equal. Most of them don’t have super-powers. Super speed, super strength. Those vampires with dull red eyes? They’re mostly normal. The ones with bright red eyes like yours? Supers.”
“So I’m a ‘Super’?”
“Yes. And some supers have additional powers. I doubt you would have seen anything like that, but believe me, it’s true.”
She did believe him because she had seen it for herself first hand. There were two vampires for sure that stood out in her mind: Cairo Inai and Igo Kasper.
“My father…” she paused. “I mean, the man who used to be my father was a Super. He had a power. His name was Cairo Inai.”
Logan turned his head in surprise. “Cairo Inai? He’s a ward for the Circle!”
“Was.” She corrected Logan and brought him up to speed.
“So Igo killed your father? And this… Cairo Inai—he had the power to shape shift? That explains a lot. His power is like yours in a way. You both cloak yourselves in various ways.”
“So how do I make myself invisible?”
With time to kill, Logan took her to a quiet spot round the side of the building and they practiced honing her power. It would be another hour until Vangzali was due to arrive, so they had time to prepare.
“I imagine the things important to me.” Logan said. “When danger presents itself, I’m not doing it for me, I’m doing it for the people that matter to me.”
“And who are they?”
He paused. “My pack. Chang. She is my right-hand woman.”
Ruth felt her face burning. Logan had someone back on the other side. She had to be an idiot to think otherwise.
“She’s been my second in command for the last few years, and she’s like a sister to me. Without her I’d have nothing. When I feel threatened or need to go invisible, I tell myself I’m doing it for her. Let’s try it out, pretend that I’m an enemy guard walking around the corner, we’ll try it a few times.”
They went over the routine several times, and for the first 20 minutes, they made no progress.
“This isn’t working.” Logan said in exasperation. “Who is in your mind?”
“Edmund.” She said timidly. “He’s the vampire that turned me.”
“And this Edmund, do you have a romantic relationship with him?”
“We’ve… I mean… we’ve been together that way, but it’s just part of the turning. I get the impression we’re destined for other people.”
“Then think of someone else. A maker is a good connection, but it’s not close enough. You need someone that’s close to you, someone that is important.”
They tried it again, and this time she thought of Kat. What would happen if they never saw each other again? Was Kat okay now? Ruth couldn’t bear the thought of being caught and not being able to see her sister once more. A pulse of warmth spread over her body. Logan rounded the corner and looked right through her. He broke out in a wide grin.
“See? Looks like that worked.”
“Huh?” As soon as she spoke the warmth burst, and she felt herself pop back into view. She looked down at herself in amazement. “That’s unbelievable!”
“And there you have it.” Logan said, smiling. “Let’s try it a few more times. Vangzali is nearly due.”
They went over it several more times, and Ruth got it every single time.
“Perfect.” Logan finally said after deeming their practice done. “It doesn’t take long to master when you get the hang of it. Let’s wait at the top of the stairs, Vangzali is due any minute.”
The heavy rain from earlier had subsided, leaving a glistening coat of diamonds across every inch of the surrounding Keep. Vampires now packed the street at the bottom of the archive stairs, making their way about the Keep.
“What is it people do here?” Ruth asked as they waited.
“The Circle is a research facility predominantly. Most of the vampires you see here are of extreme intelligence.”
“What are they researching?”
“Ways to end disease, ways to help advance humanity. The goal of the Circle is to prolong humanity.”
“But they’re vampires… for vampires to survive humans must die.”
“Exactly, and the Circle acknowledges that. Without humans, vampires cannot exist. The main job of the Circle is to control the vampire population and help humanity thrive. With plenty of happy humans, there can be vampires too. If vampires get too greedy, they starve.”
“I guess that makes sense.”
He nodded. “As twisted as these fucks are I agree with parts of it.” Logan peered into the crowd below, then he straightened at the sight of a lone figure ascending the staircase. “Shit, that’s Vangzali, I'll make myself scarce.”
Ruth straightened up too, feeling her heart pounding in her chest. “Fuck. What do I do?”
“Just stay calm and remember everything I taught you. Stay close to Vangzali. There might be a point when she has to remove her locket. If she does, take it and run. When you’re out, I’ll meet you round the side where we trained. Good luck Synth. You can do this. I know you can.”
Logan darted off, leaving Ruth alone at the top of the staircase. She kept her eyes forward on the crowd below, watching the lone figure of Vangzali as she ascended the staircase and disappeared through the large door at the entrance. She thought of Kat and invisibility’s warmth slipped over her. Ruth stalked inside silently on quiet feet, keeping a good distance between her and her target. The entrance vestibule to the archives was a large round room with a domed ceiling. A long reception counter sat in the middle, operated by a dusty looking vampire with thick bottle cap glasses.
“Name and rank.” The vampire said dryly, without looking up from a heavy book in front of him.
“General Jago Vangzali. I have an appointment in the forbidden archives.”
The vampire lifted a dusty eyebrow and brought his eyes to meet hers. His voice changed at once, panic hinging in his words.
“At once Ms Vangzali! Proceed through, follow the signs!”
The old man stood and handed a pass to Vangzali. She grabbed it and took off at once without saying another word. Behind the counter there were two doors cut into the dark red marble. The archives were a sprawling maze of long and dark corridors. Every so often the corridors would branch away, but Vangzali walked with purpose and clarity. Ruth got the impression they were descending slowly underground. Their corridor finally ended, opening out into a gigantic subterranean library.
It was all Ruth could do to keep herself from saying something out loud. The library extended all around her in every direction, darkness swallowing its infinite book shelves. Vangzali grabbed a gas lamp from a table by the entrance to the room, and walked into the shadow, her heels echoing across the void. Everywhere Ruth looked, there were shelves filled with dusty looking tomes. She thought the darkness would carry on forever, when a box of illuminated glass broke the shadow in the distance. As they got closer, she realized the box was a large glass room, with four rows of shelves inside it. A single guard stood outside the door. As Vangzali approached, he held out a hand.
“Name and business?”
“General Jago Vangzali, here on behalf of the High Vistor.” She pulled a scroll from her pocket and handed it to the guard. He read it and nodded, opening the glass door behind him.
“Take as much time as you need, but please leave all loose items on this tray here.”
Vangzali complied, taking off several jeweled rings and a golden wristband. “Done.”
The guard’s eyes flicked down to the pendant on Vangzali’s cleavage. “Necklace too.”
“No. I keep this on at all times.”
The guard stepped back in front of the door. “It comes off or no entry. Those are the rules of dealing with antique books.”
Vangzali scowled. “I’m sure the Vistor would like to hear that you are impeding his own research.”
The guard shrugged. “I follow the orders of the archives. If the Vistor doesn’t like it, he can take it up with the High Scepter. Remove the necklace or go home. It’s up to you.”
“I should pull your spine out of your mouth for speaking to me like that you wretch.” Vangzali hissed.
Ruth watched with bated breath. After a moment Vangzali removed the locket and placed it onto the tray with the rest of her belongings.
“If anything happens to that, you will be the one paying for it.”
“Whatever.” The guard said, handing her a pair of gloves. “Wear these. Damage nothing.”
Vangzali snatched the gloves and walked into the glass box. The guard turned away instantly, returning to his desk and resuming his book. Ruth skipped across the dark floor toward the tray. Vangzali’s locket was a green pendant on a silver chain. It sat harmlessly enough in the tray with the rest of her items. Ruth eyed it for a moment, and then she grabbed it. She slipped it over her neck and turned to leave. This was it, she had their ticket out of here!
Her eyes caught on the sight of Vangzali in the glass box. What exactly was she reading in there? The urge to leave was tugging at her, but there was also an urge to find out why this trip was so important for Vangzali. Ruth knew it definitely had something to do with Ansel Draco. She stepped inside the glass lined library, squinting at the bright light overhead. Vangzali had moved straight for a tall black book, and sat hunched over a desk, flicking through the book's thick pages. Ruth stepped closer, until she was almost standing directly above the woman.
Vangzali stopped on a double page which seemed to show a family tree. At the top of it were the words ‘Descendants of Vladimir Vrakos’. The family tree seemed to sprawl on for millennium, with countless rows of names branching off in all directions.
“All descendants are dead.” Vangzali said as she moved her finger through the pages, tracing each line to its end. “Apart from one.”
She stopped on a page which showed the ‘Drakun’ family tree. From a satchel on her side she pulled out a ream of paper. Ruth saw Ansel’s picture on the top right of the first page.
“Ansel Draco…” Vangzali muttered to herself. “Let’s see who you are…” She flicked through the pages accompanying Ansel’s photo, revealing more pages of family trees, albeit a little more modern looking. Her finger traced through the generations until she found one name, stopping and tapping her finger at it.
“Virgil Drakun. Your great great grand father.” She put the newer pages to one side momentarily and looked back at the old black book. Her finger quickly settled once more. Ruth leaned in and saw the name was the same. Virgil Drakun. Vangzali let out a deep sigh and sat back in her chair.
“So there is one descendant of Vladimir Vrakos remaining. Ansel Draco. The High Vistor will not be pleased,” she said to herself, thinking out loud.
Vangzali looked worried. Whatever the reason, news of Ansel being related to this Vrakos character seemed worrying to Vangzali. She sat there in quiet reflection for a moment, looking over at the papers in front of her, not seeming to believe it herself. She packed the book away and Ruth realized that was her signal to get out of there. Slipping outside of the glass lined section of the library, Ruth kept herself cloaked but made a sprint forward straight into the darkness. Her eyes adjusted quickly and she ran.
A few minutes later, she heard Vangzali’s roar from somewhere behind her. She’d noticed.
Getting out of the library was harder than Ruth had expected. Vangzali had navigated the broad library room and the maze like corridors around it with startling ease. If there were signs, they were well hidden, because Ruth couldn’t see any. Vangzali’s roars broke out again from somewhere in the dark and she heard the sickening crunch of bone into wood.
Whatever happened to the guard supposed to be watching over her stuff, she didn’t want to know. She stumbled across one of the corridor entrances almost by mistake, and there she found a group of red cloaked monks walking. A brief snippet of their conversation revealed they were heading for the entrance. Ruth hung back and followed the group out of there quietly. With her cloaking on, she would be invisible and remain uncaught just as long as she kept her cool.
Vangzali stormed through a few minutes later, roaring in anger, knocking the monks out of her way as she screamed bloody murder. Luckily for Ruth, Vangzali ran straight down the corridor and didn’t give the monks a second look. By the time Ruth got to the entrance, Vangzali was long gone. Outside the world was a flush of alarms and panic.
“What’s going on?” she said as she ran to meet Logan in their hiding place.
“Christ, am I glad to see you. The whole city has gone bonkers. Vangzali has called for a shutdown of this section of the Keep. She’s screaming bloody murder. Apparently someone stole her locket. I don’t suppose you know anything about that?”
Ruth pulled Vangzali’s locket out and flashed Logan a toothy grin. “Let’s get out of here shall we? How do we do this?”
“Break into Vangzali’s apartment and use it there. As far as I know it’s the only place the locket will work.”
Ruth’s heart sank in her chest. “Fuck. Really?”
“Yes. And if we want any hopes of it working, we better hurry. If I know Vangzali, she will head there right now to beat the thief.”
“And you know the way?”
He nodded. “That was where Vangzali kept me prisoner, and I think we can beat her there if we use the sewers.”
“We better get moving then.” Ruth said, flashing Logan a smile and cloaking herself. “Sure you can keep up with me?”
Logan disappeared in front of her eyes. “Guess there’s only one way to find out.” His hand reached out in the air and wrapped around hers, linking them together in their camouflage. “Keep a tight hold Synth, I like to move fast.”