Chronicles of Darkness: Shadows and Dust (31 page)

         At the end, she reached a
cold, stale-smelling room. It was a low vault cellar with torches as the only
source of light. The walls were wet and roughly rock-hewn. Lilith touched the
stone that was very smooth due to the constantly running water. "It looks
like I have reached the height of the lake. How much deeper will it go?"

         The curious vampire
scanned her surroundings, but there seemed to be no trapdoor. Only moist,
disgusting smelling straw covered the floor, and she could see no other path or
corridor. "Strange. Why all those corridors and stairs only to end in an
impasse?"

         Her question was answered
as her vampire senses kicked in. Straining, she listened into the empty room.
"There is something down here. I can practically smell it and it stinks
of... decay."

         Alarmed, Lilith crossed
the room and stopped before the wall. Just as the vampire was about to search
for something like a switch, she heard shuffling steps from the other side. She
hurriedly retreated from the wall. The rotten stench grew stronger, disturbing
her fine nose.      A mechanism was triggered on the other side and the wall
slid open. Something hunchbacked, and holding a small lantern in its hand,
stepped from the darkness of the corridor behind it. It was just as surprised
as the vampire was. The crooked creature limped towards her, stopped right in
front of her and pulled off its threadbare hood.

         Lilith couldn't believe
her eyes. The simple cloth, hanging tattered from its body, was made of layers
of rags. It was stained with dirt and excrements. The vampire couldn't tell
what exactly it was that stood in front of her. She was also unable to take her
eyes off it.

         The hair hung to the
shoulders in greasy, matted strands. That, what seemed to be the face, was
covered with deep wrinkles. The big nose looked more like an old, rotten
turnip. Its lips were nearly invisible beneath all the dirt and the scarred
chaps that probably had been caused by rat bites. The staring, murky eyes were
swollen and lifeless.

         Despite that, Lilith
thought there was something dangerous lurking in their depths. She could
recognize the evil, spoiled soul in this body and retreated further.

         The wretched creature
lifted its dirty, scarred hands to touch Lilith's pure, white skin. "Want
touch something sooooo beautiful," came the scratchy, approximate deep
voice of a man, even though Lilith would refrain from connecting the word man
with this creature. He sniffled soundly, drawing up his nose. Saliva collected
in his palate and ran in slimy threads from the corners of his mouth.

         Lilith was disgusted.
Instantly she backed off a few steps. "What are you?" she asked in
shock. As long as she had been walking the earth, she had never ever seen such
a repulsive creature.

         "Veljanov. My name,
Veljanov," her opposite said in a hoarse voice, pulling back his bony hand
with the claw-like fingers.

         "What are you?"
Lilith repeated unmoved, but more determined.

         "Mistress is
impolite to Veljanov," he hissed offended. "Even though he knows her
so well."

         Lilith didn't miss the
wicked glint in his eyes, even if it was only there for a tiny moment before it
disappeared.

         When he realized she
wouldn't reply anything, he demanded roughly, "She shall go! She
disturbing Veljanov!" His hand making a rude motion, he wanted to return
to the corridor where he had come from.

         The young vampire held
him back. "First you will answer my question."

         Veljanov ground his
teeth, and Lilith wondered how he was able to do that, since he seemed to have
only three. "No time!" he whimpered tortured, rocking from side to
side.

         Lilith snorted
impatiently. "You do not look as if you have an important date
tonight."

         He turned back to her and
sighed heavily, like it was very hard for him to speak. Finally he answered her
question. "Veljanov, the ghoul."

         "Impossible!"
Lilith exclaimed. "You lie!"

         Again, Veljanov sighed
heavily. "Veljanov, the ghoul."

         The vampire was reluctant
to believe him. Shaking her head, she repeated, "That is impossible!
Ghouls are mute. They are
mute
servants."

         "Your belief."
He shrugged his shoulders. "My truth."

         Lilith fixed him with a
piercing glare, but she couldn't see that he lied. "On the assumption that
you speak the truth...
why
are you able to talk?"

         "Oh, bad story.
Veljanov forgot."

         "Now you are lying.
Do not try to play games with me. You would lose," the vampire threatened
blatantly.

         Veljanov hesitated for a
tiny moment. "Mean experiment. Long time ago."

         "That is all you
have to say?" Lilith growled, disappointed about the short answer.

         "Wine?"
Veljanov suddenly asked, chuckling happily.

         "Wine?" Lilith
repeated exasperated at the sudden change in topic.

         "No? Eww," the
ghoul replied grumpily with a sullen face.

         Lilith became angry.
"What is this about? Are you trying to play me for a fool?"

         "Always lacking
self-control. Always."

         "I never met you
before! How..."

         Again the evil gleam
appeared in his eyes and Lilith guessed what was to follow.

         Veljanov explained
openly, "I good observer... since arrival of mistress. Mistress also
observer... not Veljanov, but..."

         "How dare you? You
dirty, little dung beetle! How dare you talk to me like that?" Lilith
raved and screamed at him.

         Uninterested, the ghoul
shrugged his shoulders. "Veljanov knows ways. Useful ways."

         "Hidden
corridors?"

         "Everywhere. Castle
labyrinth."

         "Just made for a rat
like you, am I right? You are worth less than scum! Disgusting and evil. If I
ever catch you spying, I will make sure that your eyes will never ever see
anything again. Is that understood?" the vampire demanded.

         Concern was written all
over Veljanov's face, but deep inside, he knew,
'Never will catch me.'

         Lilith was still waiting
for an answer that would satisfy her, but instead the ghoul confronted her with
a new riddle. "Master... Mistress D'Azoon knows," he said and smiled.
Then he disappeared through the hidden corridor he had come from.

         It hit the vampire like a
lightning bolt. The whole time she was struggling to get her composure back.
She had not been prepared for the ghoul. Lilith could hear Veljanov's giggles
echoing from behind the thick walls. She left the catacombs to go back
upstairs. The vampire only had one wish: to get answers to all her questions.

*****

         Brightly burning candles
framed the golden edge of the big oriental mosaic, which had been made from
many, small, glazed stones. The colorful mosaic formed a complete circle,
showing the five heraldic animals of the big vampire clans. The clan symbols were
orientated to the cardinal points. The snake's head of the Serpentes pointed to
southwest. The fire-breathing dragon to northwest, while the manticore pointed
to northeast. In the southeast was the griffin. Only the rising phoenix had
been placed directly in the center of the mosaic.

         On this unique picture,
in the midst of the candle ring, Sadden sat, her legs crossed. She was highly
concentrated. Her palms rested on her knees and her eyes were closed. Quietly,
she mumbled some words of a long lost culture, of a long lost time. Suddenly
the vampire stopped, a frown forming on her beautiful features. Her eyes
fluttered open. "How is that possible? Why am I not able to get access to
my past?"

         She could feel someone
approaching and spun around.

         A short moment later,
Lilith entered. "Sadden, may I have a word with you, please?"

         Sadden rose gracefully,
looking at her protégée questioningly. "Lilith? Is there something
wrong?"

         "Why did you not
tell me anything about Veljanov?"

         If the question took
Sadden off guard, she didn't show it. "Did he give you a scare?"

         Lilith shook her head.
"Scare is not the right word. Let us say... he surprised me and..."
She searched for the right words to describe the strange encounter with the
weird, ragged creature. "He is disgusting!" she finally spat in
disdain.

         Sadden's eyebrows lifted.

         "You have to
admit," Lilith tried to explain herself, "he stinks to the high
heavens and he is not exactly attractive. When I think about that this...
this... whatever he is... that he creeps through the castle, I am getting
shivers down my spine."

         The vampire walked to her
protégée and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Veljanov is harmless,
he..."

         "What is he doing in
the castle?" Lilith interrupted her, impatiently. She wanted some answers
to the questions caused by her unintentional meeting with the weird creature.
"He claims to be a ghoul, but ghouls cannot speak. Why is he able to? When
I asked him, he babbled something about an..."

         "Experiment,"
Sadden finished the sentence. "Yes, that is true. Veljanov is the product
of a cruel experiment."

         "Who did this?"

         Sadden lowered her gaze.
"One of the First, the builder of this castle. He wanted to give the
ghouls a voice. You saw the results on Veljanov."

         "He said, Mistress
D'Azoon knows. What does that mean?"

         "The castle had been
empty for some decades, before I chose it... as my estate. I think he meant to
hint at the fact that I took on the name of the former inhabitants. Veljanov
has been here the whole time, alone, hidden in the vaults and catacombs. I
never asked him why he had been abandoned. Or how he was able to survive for
such a long time, without any help, and only spiders and rats for
companionship..."

         "You should have
killed him."

         Sadden was taken aback in
the face of those cold and unfeeling words. "Lilith! You cannot be
serious! Veljanov has a right to exist, just like you, or me, or anybody else
in this world. He is the victim of a horrible experiment and deserves to be
treated with kindness and compassion."

         Lilith gazed deeply into
the azure eyes of her mentor. "There is something inside him... in his
eyes... something threatening... something dangerous. I cannot say what exactly
it is... but you should not trust him blindly. I will not tolerate that he
spies on me! He had better stay with his rats and spiders!" the young
vampire stated angered, turned on her heel, and left her teacher standing
there.

         Sadden shook her head.
She turned back to the still burning candles, reached out an arm, palm pointing
forward and fingers spread. Blue eyes closed and a moment later the flames
extinguished, darkness falling across the room.

*****

         Days and nights passed on
the castle without any remarkable occurrences.

         One night, haunted by
anxiety, Andrej climbed the last steps to reach one of the large, hidden roof
terraces. Warm candlelight shone from big windows. The light fell on the flat
stone roof, which was covered by moss and dried grass. The stone was
weather-beaten, due to rain and wind. A sharp wind blew strongly around the
corners of the pinnacles.

         Andrej gazed into the
distance where the valley lay. He walked along the roof's edge and glanced
down. Impenetrable blackness spread out in front of him. The wind pulled
strongly at his clothes. Andrej struggled to keep standing, so he wouldn't
tumble into the abyss.

         He gasped and the icy
wind pushed harder against his face, robbing the young man of all air to
breathe. Andrej turned on his heel and froze as he recognized Lilith, who stood
right in front of him.

         Unmoving, she looked at
him, her pale face gleaming eerily in the darkness.

         Unconsciously, he took
one step back. Unable to form another thought, he lost his balance and was
dangerously close to fall. Flailing his arms wildly, Andrej tried to find
something to hold on, but his body tilted backwards. Even though it was only
for a second, to Andrej it seemed like an eternity.

         During all this, Lilith
didn't move once and still wasn't about to help him.

         Andrej fell.

         His plunge was stopped
and sharp pain ripped through his right shoulder and arm. The blonde man bit
his lip to keep from crying out. It felt as if his arm had been forcefully torn
from its socket. Slightly dazed, his feet found hold on a small ledge and he
looked up, right into Lilith's eyes.