A Shade of Vampire 7: A Break of Day (16 page)

As soon as the group of vampires caught sight of Ibrahim approaching, they froze and stared at him. At first, I feared the worst—the Elders had already got wind of the witches’ gate-wiping rampage. But it appeared that they had not.

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t the Ageless’ cousin himself. What brings you here, warlock?” Ashley stepped forward. Although her eyes were clear like Sofia’s had been, the strange yellowing of her skin was evidence enough that she too was being inhabited by an Elder.

“Yes, do tell. You’d better have a good excuse for disturbing us,” Abby piped up.

Abby apparently hadn’t had the same treatment as Ashley and Sofia. Her eyes were glazed over with a translucent film and her mouth split open in an awkward smile, her expression mismatched with her age.

“I’m here to meet with the Elder in charge.” Ibrahim’s voice remained steady and if he was frightened even in the slightest, he didn’t show it.

“That would be me.” Ashley held out her hand to him with a smirk on her lips.

Ibrahim declined her offer of a handshake. “Good. I wish to talk privately with you. The temple will be a good place, I think.”

Ashley eyed him. “Why has the Ageless sent you here in her place? I’m accustomed to dealing with her directly.”

“She asks for your forgiveness. She has been very much preoccupied in dealing with the Hawks. They’ve been growing more and more demanding these days. In fact, that’s what I’m here to talk to you about. But, due to the sensitive nature of the subject, I would like some privacy first and foremost.”

As soon as Ibrahim mentioned the Hawks, Ashley’s face twitched. “Very well,” she said. “This had better be worth my time.”

Ibrahim and Ashley made their way toward the entrance of the temple and soon disappeared from sight through the wooden doors, swinging them shut behind them. As soon as they had done so, one of the warlocks a few feet away from me whispered “Now!” and the elderly witch tugged on my shoulder.

We all rushed out from our hiding places. The remaining vampires by the fountain were shocked enough to stand rooted to the spot for a few seconds before chasing after us. But by the time they’d caught up, it was too late. We’d formed a circle around the temple and the witches had begun to recite their magic, uttering a low chant. Just as the vampires closed in around us, little Abby heading straight for me, an invisible force field shot up around the temple. As soon as the vessels made contact with it, they were hurled back several feet.

Enraged, they attacked the force field again, their mouths stretched open in what I imagined would have been wild screams. But we heard nothing. The force field, it seemed, also kept out sound.

I stepped back from the circle of witches and neared the entrance of the temple. I was at a loss as to what my role was to be in all of this. I sought out the elderly witch.

“What should I do?” I asked.

“Follow Ibrahim into the temple. But go silently! He will need you when the time comes.” Her face twisted in concentration as she focused on keeping the shield intact against the vampires. To my alarm, I now caught sight of a crowd of nearly fifty more vampires emerging from the woods. They must have heard the vessels’ screams and come running to assist. The witches were outnumbered. I prayed that they had it in them to sustain their magic long enough for us to complete the mission.

I pushed open the temple’s door, sliding inside the dim corridor. Ibrahim and Ashley’s voices sounded up ahead. I crept along, closing the distance between us as noiselessly as possible, until I was about ten feet away from the temple’s innermost chamber. The pair had already entered it and their shadows bounced off of the stone wall opposite the open door.

“In short, we at The Sanctuary have decided to cut our allegiance with the Hawks and support the Elders in full,” Ibrahim explained. “The Hawks have simply been asking too much of us recently. We can no longer cater to their demands. It’s reached the point where we cannot remain neutral any longer. We must choose sides, either yours or the Hawks’.”

“And what has made you want to choose us?”

“Frankly, we believe that the Hawks are the lesser threat. We’d rather have them as enemies than yourselves. We will create more immunes and continue to allow you access to this realm. We will also put all our efforts into trying to recreate our powers so that we have the ability to manifest new gates, since I’m aware that the Hawks managed to eliminate the gate at The Blood Keep…”

I was so engrossed in their conversation that I failed to notice someone approaching me from behind. By the time I realized, it was too late. I felt a blow to my head and went tumbling to the ground, in full view of the open doorway. A vampire guard towered over me and Ashley’s eyes fell on me.

“Derek Novak,” Ashley hissed, striding toward me.

From the corner of my eye, I noticed Ibrahim take advantage of the distraction and rush over to a hole in the floor.

I scrambled to my feet and steadied myself. “Yes, that’s my name.”

Without warning, Ashley’s claws shot out and she flew at my throat. I ducked and launched into a sprint down the corridor. I didn’t know where I would lead them to, and I was beginning to worry about hitting a dead end. I had no witch to assist me in protecting Ashley. If I was forced to ignite flames to protect myself, I would burn Ashley’s body to ashes.

I kept running, leading them round the winding corridors and as far away from Ibrahim as I could. But then it finally happened. I took a wrong turn and hit a dead end. I stretched out my palms and unleashed a billow of fire, hoping that it would scare them back.

It didn’t deter them.

Ashley narrowed the space between us until she was but three feet away. I looked at the wreck that barely even resembled Ashley any more and felt a pang of guilt. I’d already dealt her more than her fair share of suffering in the past. I battled with myself over what I was about to do.
Look at her, Derek,
a part of myself reasoned, trying to justify to myself what I now saw as inevitable.
She now looks in a worse state than even Sofia was in.

Taking advantage of my reluctance to harm its vessel, the Elder reached for my throat and attempted to bite into my flesh. I grabbed Ashley’s arms and yanked them away from me. Then I kicked her stomach. She reeled back a few steps.

I lost balance as the guard dove for my right leg and began dragging me away from the corner I’d retreated into. I swung my left leg upward in one sharp motion, smashing it against his jaw. The back of his head collided with the wall.

Having recovered, Ashley flew at me once again, this time managing to dig her fangs into my arm. She was preparing to insert venom into my bloodstream.
Would this venom even turn me? Can I even be turned back to my former state?
It wasn’t a risk I was willing to take.

I placed a hand against her neck and released a sharp pulse of heat. Ashley jumped back, squealing and clutching the burn. But, to my dismay, she came for me again.

I’m so sorry, Ashley,
I whispered. I looked into her blank eyes, knowing that her soul was trapped somewhere behind them. I inhaled and braced myself for the release of a flame that she wouldn’t survive.

Her hands outstretched, she aimed for me once more.

But as my fingertips were on the verge of eruption, she halted mid-air and fell to the ground, writhing and howling with pain. Barely a second later, the guard mirrored her behavior. Then they both became motionless.

What in the world…

Ibrahim appeared, sweating and out of breath. He had a gash across his left cheek.

“What…” I began to ask.

“It’s destroyed, Derek. I destroyed the gate. The evil spirits who were still on this side of the gate are no longer able to survive Earth’s atmosphere without any remaining link connecting back to Cruor. They will soon, or have already, withered away.”

“Which means…” I ran back through the corridors until I reached the innermost chamber. Another guard lay on the ground, blood drenching the claws of his right hand; Ibrahim’s, no doubt. Where the gate had been, there was no sign that anything other than solid stone floor had ever existed.

I left the chamber and headed toward the outer layer of The Sanctuary until I reached the exit. I yanked the door open and, although the witches still surrounded the temple in a tight circle, the army of vampires who had previously been battling against the shield now lay strewn on the ground.

Seeing that Ibrahim had caught up with me, I asked, “So they’re gone? F-forever?” I found it hard to fathom the implications of what we had just accomplished.

“As long as no new gates are created. I don’t know if our kind will ever be capable of developing the kind of magic our Ancients wielded in order to create the gates. Once a power like that has been neglected for generations, it’s almost impossible to rekindle.” Then Ibrahim turned to the witches and said, “You can relinquish the shield now. Our work here is done.”

They did as instructed and sounds from the island met my ears again. The screaming had stopped and instead my ears were met with the crash of the distant waves against the shore and the rustling of leaves. It was as though the island itself was sighing with relief.

“So… so that means that…” I was still stumbling over my words and trying to grapple with the situation. “Hawks and Elders… there’s no way they can trouble us anymore? We’re free?”

Just as I said the words, the Ageless manifested herself in front of the fountain, just a few feet away from us. She looked sternly at me but then fixed her gaze on Ibrahim.

“So, I see you were successful,” she said. “And now you understand what remains to be done?”

Ibrahim nodded.

“What?” I asked. “What remains to be done?”

The Ageless ignored me. “You don’t have long. I gave you this concession because you are my cousin. But you understand that we must carry out what we agreed upon.”

“Concession? What are you talking about?” I tried to grab hold of the witch’s shoulder but, to my frustration, the minute I touched her she vanished into thin air. “Damn you!” I yelled at the empty space that only seconds before had been occupied.

I faced Ibrahim. “Well? Explain.”

“I will, Derek. But first, I suggest we bring your friends and family here to The Shade. The Elders are no more, and I believe it’s the safest place for now. My companions here will start to care for the vessels.”

An unnerving feeling began to creep over me and Ibrahim’s unwillingness to discuss it only served to further fuel the fire of my doubts.

We’ve wiped out the gates of the Hawks and Elders, but what kind of evil are we now left with?

Ibrahim didn’t even give me a chance to say goodbye to Derek. For all I knew, it could be the last time I saw him. The whole island had been transformed into a hive of wasps. I shuddered to think of what could happen on his arrival.

But there was nothing I could do other than wait and hope for the best. It took me almost an hour after Derek’s sudden disappearance to compose myself enough to speak to anybody. Zinnia and Gavin respected my silence and left the room, muttering about going out to look for some animal blood for us.

Then I made my way back upstairs to see if Vivienne had woken yet. I’d been meaning to speak to her since we first rescued her from the ship, but she had seemed to be in no state to talk to anyone.

I knocked on her bedroom door, and when there was no answer, I entered anyway. She lay in bed, eyes open and staring blankly at the ceiling. It was only when I sat on the bed next to her that she turned her head to face me.

“Sofia,” she said hoarsely, reaching for my hand. She looked at me differently now than when I’d had an Elder inside me; I guessed that she had already sensed that I was my old self again, save for the fact that I was still a vampire. “What happened to you?” she asked.

I explained about the time I’d spent under the Elder’s influence. But the real reason I’d come to see her, and what I truly was dying to do, was to offer an apology.

“Vivienne, when I visited you in your room at Headquarters and told you about… about Xavier. I’m so sorry. I don’t even know for a fact that the words I spoke were true, since I didn’t witness his death with my own eyes. Everything I said came directly from the Elder’s mouth.”

She cast her eyes away from me and gulped. She looked on the verge of tears again, but she swallowed her emotions back. “It’s okay, Sofia. You weren’t in control of yourself. How can I blame you for that? And in any case… I-I think it’s about time that I come to terms with the fact that I’m not going to see him again. It’ll be less painful in the long term.”

I held her in my arms and kissed her forehead, running one hand through her hair. There was nothing I could say that wouldn’t make her feel worse, for her conclusion was the truth.

Eventually she broke the silence and asked, “Where’s Derek?”

I didn’t want to lay any extra worries on my sister-in-law’s shoulders. “Ibrahim took him to meet the Ageless,” I lied. “I’m not sure what for exactly, because he left very suddenly. But he should be back within a day or so.”

After I’d spent a couple of hours with Vivienne, I left her alone and went downstairs to see if Gavin and Zinnia had returned. Indeed they had, but instead of the sacks of blood that we were used to at Headquarters, they’d bought hunks of raw meat and bags full of fresh fish from the local shops.

“There’s not much blood in the meat, but you’ll have to make do for now,” Zinnia said.

“Seems like the dog is asking for breakfast,” Gavin muttered, as howling started in the basement. Shadow must have woken up and smelt the dead flesh. “I’ll go feed him.”

It wasn’t long before the two couples came down to join us, closely followed by Eli and Landis. We all sat around the large kitchen table and began tucking into our meal. All the vampires ate hungrily while I pecked here and there just for the sake of normalcy. Gavin and Zinnia settled for cereal they’d picked up from the grocery store.

I repeated much of the conversation I’d just had with Vivienne, an overview of everything that had happened since I last saw them. And again I lied about Derek when they asked where he had gone.