7
Kat’s shoulder burned like fire. Struggling to keep her eyes open, she saw the passing silhouettes of trees in the darkness overhead. Ansel’s arms wrapped tight around her, holding her close to his body as they jumped somewhere through the night. He kept speaking to her, but she didn’t have the strength to hear. She knew his words sounded reassuring, and they sounded gentle too, as if he was trying to relax her.
Why? What had happened?
The fire burned through her shoulder once more and it gave her that momentary reminder. Ah yes, that was right, a man shot her. She’d never had to worry about that while growing up in Dead Rest. Her hometown was a cosmopolitan hub for the upper middle class. The real dangers in Dead Rest were social ones: painting your house the wrong color, not having the latest model Jaguar, sending your kids to a prep school that wasn’t expensive enough. There were rough parts of the town too, sure, but Kat and Ruth never had to venture into them.
It had been so long since she’d thought about her hometown. From the moment she’d bumped into Ansel, everything sped up, and her old life had quickly fallen into shadow. She’d never liked her hometown while she lived there, but she missed parts of it now. She even missed her alcoholic mother, who had probably just woken to start her drinking for the day, right ahead of sunrise, right on schedule—as she had been for the last twenty years.
Kat had seen the missing person reports for both her and Ruth on the news. What did her mother make of that? Her only children disappearing at the same time. Life for Kat’s mother hadn’t been the same since her father ‘died’. After that day her retreat from the world began, and the woman became a shell of her former self. Kat could sympathize that losing someone was tough, but it was hard for her too, just as it was for Ruth. It didn’t take long to realize that their mother couldn’t provide the affection they needed, so they relied on each other.
Her memories of Dead Rest and her mother swam away, she opened her eyes to see she was still in Ansel’s arms, but they were in a cave now.
“Just hold on Kat.” His voice said, echoing all around her like a satellite delay. “Hang in there.”
Hang in where? Where were they exactly? Last thing she knew they’d been on the train… that strange man in white had shot her and now they were somewhere out in the woods. The world faded away once more and black came crumbling back up around her. The fire in her shoulder was so unbearable, her body started to twitch and shake, as if her muscles themselves were trying to push the bullet out.
Someone placed her on the floor on her back, her eyes struggled open and she saw that someone had made a fire in the corner. Rubago crouched beside her, moving hands over her body.
“Close your eyes and sleep child,” she said while passing a hand over Kat’s face.
That’s when the weird dreams started. The blackness rolled in and out, hours passed and the world around her became an external blur of sound.
“It’s the only way.” Ansel’s voice said.
“If she’s lost too much, you know what that means.” Another voice said.
Someone placed a hand under her head and lifted it off the floor, holding a cup of something warm against her lips. She hadn’t noticed until now, but her throat was red raw from thirst. With no strength to open her eyes, she took the cup and held it to her lips, drinking down the warm nectar inside greedily. The liquid sunk through her body like healing fire, tingling and taking the ache from all of her muscles. It tasted fantastic, and she craved more of it at once. However keen her mind was, the rejuvenation was only a stop gap for her pain, and she succumbed to darkness once more.
Time slipped by again, and the visions beneath Kat’s eyelids became a little clearer this time. She got the sense that these images weren’t the products of dreams, but that of her Cognizance. At first she saw herself and Ansel, kissing and tending to each other’s bodies back on the train carriage. After that she saw Rubago, stripped naked of all her clothes, riding a young black servant ripped with muscle.
Her mind floated off somewhere else, and she found herself in a far and distant castle, watching as a green eyed vampire spread his hands over the scarred body of a red haired girl. She moved once more, and this time she found herself in a forest, perched high up a tree behind a crouching hooded figure. The figure was looking down at the group of vampire hunters, who had taken refuge around a large campfire. For a moment she saw what he saw. He wasn’t hunting the group, he was watching only one of them. The young blond girl who had attacked the train earlier. There was something about her he liked, something he couldn’t resist…
“Kat!”
She came to with her breath heaving, sweat rolling down her naked body, hair stuck against her face. She was in a private part of the cave with Ansel sat beside her. The bright forks of the fire flame in the cave had died off, reducing themselves to only embers.
“What happened?” She asked, looking around before setting her eyes on Ansel.
“You took a bullet, it was bad, but we healed you.”
Kat looked down at the bandage on her shoulder. “We?”
“Rubago conjured a spell to help ease your pain, and then you drank some of my blood.”
Her mouth dropped. “Does that mean… does that mean I’ll become a…”
“No.” Ansel smiled. “You’d lost a lot of blood, but not enough to lose your humanity. Not yet anyway. I gave you my blood to help you heal. Vampire blood is good like that. Look, let me show you.”
He helped her pull the bandage from her shoulder, showing her healed skin. A small pink circle was all that remained, accompanied by a slight stiffness when she tried to roll her shoulder. She wasn't complaining, it was a damn sight better than mortal medicine.
“Why are we in a cave? What happened?”
After Anderson shot her, things blurred a little, and Ansel talked her through the past day. The group had faced certain peril, and just as they were seconds from death, the hooded vampire appeared.
“Apparently Will and Rubago know him. Wraith Belmont or something. He’s a brother to this Eric Belmont we’re supposed to be meeting—if you asked me the vampire just looked feral, I don’t know how they could tell. As soon as he showed up those freaks forgot about us. I don’t know how that feral did it, but he brought a storm down on the them. It was at that moment we fled.”
A blur of questions were forming in her mind. How had those men been able to fight back, no, dominate Ansel and Edmund? Who was this feral vampire and why had he come to their aid? What happened now?
“Rubago believes that dark magic possesses the men in the group. Now I've fought one face to face, I can only agree. Their strength is vast, but they fatigue faster than we do. I was lucky, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to kill one of them.”
Her eyes widened. She knew full well what happened when Ansel killed. He absorbed power. Had he absorbed theirs too?
His slight nod answered her suspicions. “This new power inside of me feels unlike anything else I've known. It will take time to understand, but I think it will help with our fight."
Ansel believed the feral vampire was on the train by coincidence. His being there was a blessing and a curse. Without him, the White Order probably never would have attacked the train. Without his presence during the attack, Ansel and the others would never have escaped.
“We’ve been in this cave for the past day. The sun set recently and Edmund and Will have head out into the woods to make sure the path back to the castle is safe. It’s about an hour from here. They’re coming back with this Eric.”
“Belmont?”
He nodded. “Why don’t you have a wash and get dressed. There’s a spring back there, the water is nice and hot. I can join you.”
She smiled and winced as she lifted herself to her feet, leaning against Ansel for support as he showed her the way. A nice soak right now would go down a treat.
*
Eric and Sophia walked through the forest at a gentle pace.
“I’m just saying,” Sophia chirped. “It’s been such a long time since we’ve had guests at the Castle, it will be a real pleasure in getting to know everyone!”
“I’m sure.” Eric said, while keeping his eyes focused on his surroundings. Will’s message had come through a little earlier, the White Order had attacked their train and taken most of the blood slaves.
Oh and Eric. He’d said through telepathy. There was something else as well—I’ll tell you when you get here.
‘Here’ was only a few minutes away. At his normal pace, he could have vaulted down to the caves at the bottom of the castle grounds in ten minutes, but there were enemies in the woods, and silence was king.
“And maybe I could make up a theme tune for each guest?” Sophia chirped while hopping from root to root. “What are they called, Ansel? Kat? Look at that! Ansel and Kat! The cutest couple they’re where it’s at!”
“Can you be quiet?!” Eric hissed. As much as he loved his youngest sister, Sophia was telegraphing their position to every damn person in a five mile radius.
“I’m being loud again aren’t I?” She said with a grimace.
“Just a tad. If we don’t keep our voices down, there might not be any guests to find at all. The attack was bad from the sounds of things, an order member shot the human girl.”
“Oh goodness.” Sophia dropped her head and pouted. “Why are people so mean to each other all the time? Why do I have to be a vampire? They’re so horrible.”
“You’re unlike any other vampire I’ve ever known.” Eric said, and it was true. Sophia was the jewel of the Castle Belmont, and somehow in her eternal darkness, she had never lost her sense of morality. Whereas Veronica and Wraith had always been chaotic and dark, Sophia was light personified. It was her innocence that pulled him out of his own darkness. It was her affectation for all living things that made him reconsider who he was as a vampire.
A twig cracked a few hundred yards ahead and Eric froze, sticking his arm out in front of his sister. With a quick shush, he crouched and tugged Sophia down with him.
What is it? She asked with her mind.
Sound. Up ahead. Can you see anything?
Both of them had keen eyesight, but Sophia had the best eyes of anyone he knew. The girl looked through the pitch black and nodded. She stood and smiled. “It’s Will, and he’s with someone. Some bearded hunk.”
“Hunk?”
Her alabaster cheeks flooded with pink. “I meant guy.”
The parties walked through the trees to greet each other.
“Will York.” Eric said with a relieved smile. “I was starting to think you weren’t coming back.”
“The enemy already has my brother,” Will joked. “I’m not letting them get me too.”
The vampires slapped their palms together and patted each other on the back. Eric hadn’t always seen eye to eye with the York coven, but their recent troubles made them close allies. “We will get Eli back. I promise you that. Who is your friend?” Eric eyed up the bearded behemoth stood next to Will. His bright reds indicated he was powerful, and his torn and bloodied clothing was evidence of his involvement in the fight.
“Edmund Volks.” They shook hands, Eric’s swallowed inside of Edmund’s.
“Eric Belmont, and this is my sister, Sophia.”
Edmund nodded with a smile. “Pleasure is mine.”
Sophia’s cheeks tinged with pink again and she squeaked something resembling ‘Hi!’ before shooting her eyes to the ground.
Eric and Will shared a bemused glance before settling into business.
“How’s the girl?” Eric asked.
“Better. Ansel gave blood to help her heal. She was in a bad way before that though. Anderson and his men killed a lot of vampires… it gave Edmund and Ansel their chance to see that the men here have grown strange lately.”
“We don’t have men like that back west.” Edmund said. “Shit, I might have to admit for the first time in my life that I’m actually scared of vampire hunters.”
Eric laughed. “I think at this juncture in time, we all are. Once we get to the bottom of their magic, we will fight back. Until then, I thank you and your friend for helping to fight.”
“The Order took most of the slaves.” Will said. “Our blood supply is dangerously low.”
“We will have to do something about that.” Eric said. Ever since the attacks had started, blood had been thin on the ground. With vampires from the York Coven hiding at the Castle Belmont now too, things were even worse. When the Coven’s doctor, Ira, betrayed the family, he destroyed the blood stores within the castle, leaving them in a drought.
“Veronica will be happy.” Eric said to Sophia. “It means she gets to go hunting again.”
Sophia rolled her eyes. “Great.”
Unlike Sophia, Eric’s oldest sister, Veronica, was mayhem personified. Veronica had given into her vampire a long time ago, and only the smallest remaining part of her was human. The vampire liked to hunt and kill humans, and she felt little remorse. In earlier times, Eric restricted her hunting, but in these dark days, they needed every drop they could get.
“Let’s journey down to the caves and meet the rest of your group,” he said. “After that we can escort them back to the castle.”
From their position, the caves weren’t much further into the forest. To avoid detection, the group avoided talking. Sophia it seemed, had lost her ability to talk around Edmund, a fact which amused Eric greatly. Perhaps it would be worth keeping the new vampires around, especially if it kept his sister silent.
He was glad to hear Edmund and his friend had tried to fight against the group, it proved to him that the witch’s recommendation of their character was correct. He didn’t know this Rubago character well, they had only communicated via letters, but the former witch in his castle, Ezra, stood behind the mysterious character.
Ezra. What happened to her? After she’d helped to destroy Ira, the castle returned to normalcy, and the witch said she had to go.
“My Queens are calling. And I must embark on a pilgrimage.”
If losing his brother hadn’t been enough, he lost his greatest adviser too. A few months after Ezra’s departure, they had received a letter. It was only short.
Eric,
If you are reading this, I am dead. Do not fear. I expected this would happen. Look after Claire and the children. My heart is always with your family. Keep an ear out for a witch by the name of ‘Rubago’, she will help you in your times of need.
Yours,
Ezra.
Sophia found her voice again when they reached the caves. Will introduced the remaining members of the group.
“Eric, this is Ansel and Kat. Ansel, Kat—this is Eric.”
Eric looked at the pair. The male vampire was young. Fatigue pulled at his eyes, and bruises covered his body. Apart from his general disheveled look, Eric couldn’t help but notice a marked similarity between them.
“So you’re the infamous Ansel Draco?” Eric smiled while taking the vampire’s hand.
“My reputation proceeds me?”
“I have friends within the Circle. Everyone knows your name at the moment.”
Ansel pulled his hand back as if he feared a trap.
“Relax. We are all friends here. Will vouches for you, and I trust his word. I don’t care what business you have against the Circle, I only hope you can help us with our fight.”
“I killed one of those blue eyed freaks back there. It was tough going, but I did it.”
Eric’s raised his brows, finding Ansel's efforts impressive. The new strength in the soldiers was hard to combat, and his group hadn’t managed to kill a single one so far.
“And you must be Kat Summers?”
The girl smiled but didn’t offer her hand forward. She had both hands clutched tight to Ansel. “I am. Forgive me, but standing is hard right now.”
“I understand.” Eric nodded. “I hear you took a bullet. You demonstrate tremendous courage right now just by standing.”
“Thank you.”
“And where is this witch?” Eric looked around the forest clearing in front of the caves. “This Rubago? Claire and I are dying to meet her.”
“But you’ve already met.” A wise and powerful voice said from the trees on the left. Eric and the others turned to see the witch walking from the tree line, with fresh flowers and herbs grasped tightly in her hands.
Eric’s mouth dropped. “Ezra?! It cannot be!”
The pair ran toward each other and hugged. “Your letter… you said you were dead.”
“I was.” The witch said with sparkling eyes. “Other parties required my help, but now I am back.”
“Ezra!” Sophia ran over and wrapped her arms around the witch too.
“Another reunion I don’t understand.” Edmund said frankly.
“You must forgive me Edmund, Ansel, Kat, but this it not my first time here. Before I assisted you in Dead Rest, I had the form of another. I was a witch for this family, my name was Ezra.”
Edmund nodded. “…fair enough. I guess we call you Ezra now?”
“Rubago will be fine.” The witch said.
“Claire will be delighted to see you.” Sophia chimed. “Where have you been all this time?!”
“Oh… everywhere.” Rubago answered cryptically. She pulled away from the girl and settled her eyes on Will.
“Have you told them yet?”
“No.” Will said. “I thought it would be best coming from you.”
“What?” Eric asked, sensing that something was wrong.
“We escaped Anderson and his group because a feral vampire helped us.”
“A feral vampire?” Eric asked. “In these parts? We would have noticed something, they’re too unruly.”
“Well this one wasn’t.” Will said. “In fact, he looked familiar.”
“It was Wraith, Eric. Wraith is still alive.” Rubago said.
Eric and Sophia locked eyes with each other momentarily, then Eric looked back at the witch. The briefest touch of a smile curled over his lips. Wraith, that demented bastard. As much as he hated his brother, he owed his life to him.
“I hope he has found peace out here somewhere.” Eric said, then he stopped. It was the only thing he could think to say.
“He ran circles around that group,” Rubago said. “He’d be useful in the fight against them, that’s for sure. Should we try to hunt him?”
“No.” Eric shook his head. “Wraith will show up when he wants to, I can’t expect he will be much help with our cause, especially if he’s feral. He knows these woods better than anyone, if he's hiding, we won't find him.”
Wind stirred through the dark forest, rustling through the pines overhead.
“Come,” Eric said. “You are all tired and need rest. Let us travel back to the castle. Back there we will be safe… for now, anyway.”