Cogs in Time Anthology (The Steamworks Series) (32 page)

He did not expect to find his brother in Astrid’s room, but it pleased him. Draegan looked at Luca’s serene face and sneered. The room was filled with the stench of desire and love. It hung in the like a thick blanket waiting to suffocate its inhabitants with its fervor. Draegan recoiled, almost gagging, in disgust for them both.

Draegan quickly refined his plan, pleased he could cause more pain to Luca than ever before. The perfect plan and the steps to execution sat glistening like jewels in his keen mind. He folded his hands and waited.

Soon it came, the perfect chance. Astrid fluttered her eyelids as if to awaken, her face was ashen and damp. It was clear she was in the throes of a nightmare. He watched his brother spring to action. His face grave, his hand quivered as it reached for hers, joining with it to pull from her the pain.

Draegan remained behind the curtain, pleased with his plan, and pleased that his powers of telepathy were stronger than Luca’s. Breathing slowly, he held his hands out, moving his fingers as if he were a puppeteer controlling a marionette.

Astrid sat up as he pulled the invisible strings from his fingers upwards, controlling her actions. Her spine was erect, her face twisted by a strange evil as Draegan entered her mind. Even her face became Draegan’s. Luca remained at her side, holding her hand and humming a low moan, trying to draw out of her what caused her this distress.

Draegan twitched his fingers further, directing Astrid to leave the bed and walk awkwardly towards the north window. Her legs dragged like dead weights and he tried to move his fingers with more precision to give Astrid a more natural gait. He looked at Luca, whose face was solemn as he watched her, unknowing of what to do to help her in the seeming dreamy walking state.

Draegan raised Astrid’s arms as she approached the windowsill, pointing with a clenched fist towards Gravesend.

“Luca! There!” bellowed Astrid, under the control of Draegan. Draegan mouthed the words, pushing her to speak. Her voice had a guttural tone as she fought this unnatural control. “There lies my enemy. There lies my life and my death.”

Luca walked to Astrid, the gaslight gave her face a chilling glow. Her eyes were half closed and her face seemed strangely unfamiliar. He led her back to bed where she collapsed, exhausted from fighting Draegan’s control.

“At the foot of the crucifix,” she hissed at him. “You will find it there.”

Luca left her, bolting from the window and down the wall.

Draegan smiled, his plan was working. Luca could not resist searching for whatever Astrid commanded. Draegan saw Luca as he ran through the shadows of the garden, towards the old sanctuary. He could also see inside his mind, unruly with fear, thoughts zigzagging haphazardly inside without order.

Then he knew. He understood why love was forbidden to vampires. Love with a human destroyed the order and rational thinking of a vampire. Love ate away at common sense and self-sufficiency, making a vampire vulnerable and blind to danger—an invitation to destruction.

If Luca had not been in love with Astrid, he would never have left her alone.

***

Draegan waited until Luca disappeared from sight. He felt Astrid struggling to move against him.

“Leave me!” She shouted into the darkness. She tried to leave the bed but could only twitch one leg slightly from the under the covers. “Where have you sent Luca?” she hissed between barely moving lips.

Draegan felt Astrid’s mind pushing him away from her. Smiling, he moved his hands in the air again, directing her like a marionette. Agitated by his control, she threw herself to the hardwood of the floor. Draegan emerged from behind her drapery, his black boots clicked like a metronome of doom. He stopped at Astrid’s figure as it lay motionless, her eyes spewed venom as they met his. He kicked at her nightgown, pushing her body backwards.

Using his fingers in the air, he pulled her to a standing position. Her disheveled and angry state amused him. With one hand, he pushed her to her bed and lay on top of her.

“Luca will find what you asked him to. He will find the beginning of your end.”

***

Luca stood outside the gates of St. Botolph’s, watching the Angel of Mercy statue glimmer in the light of the stars. The soft, milky-white marble appeared alive amidst the ivy growing around its base. The hand of the Angel seemed to point to the north door, towards the nave. The smell of fallen leaves, wet and decomposing, attacked him as he followed the direction of the Angel.

The wooden doors creaked like an old man, opening to a dark foyer with a long altar at the end. Gaslights from the exterior provided the only light inside. Luca scanned the aisles and pews as he walked forward to the polished oak altar. Crisp white linen covered the top, pristine and starched. Banners hung from the ceiling, each depicting a Station of the Cross. Luca followed the roped aisle in the center of the pews while cobwebs clung to the walls and dust filtered through the air.

He reached the altar and stood at the foot of the Crucifix. A large ornate bowl of Holy Water sat in front. Luca’s heartbeat grew faster and he breathed quickly as he looked to the sides of the altar and behind it, looking desperately for what could be Astrid’s enemy.

Nothing. I see nothing.
 He urged his mind not to give up and lose faith. 
Have I come to the right place?
 He turned around to view the stained glass above the choir loft, but everything seemed devoid of anything important.

From the bowl on the altar, he heard a small trickle and splash. He spun to look at the cloth, now spotted with water. Inside the bowl were lilies covering the water’s surface, small waves swayed them to and fro. Luca walked closer, and with his graceful fingers, parted the lilies. At the bottom of the water, he saw a small white shape that lay motionless.

He dug his hands into the water; his fingers grasped the creature that lay at the bottom. He felt the soft fur covering it as it began to wiggle in his hands. Luca flung the animal from the water to the floor. It lay, barely breathing, its eyes shut. 
A rabbit?

The rabbit’s legs twitched as if it was running or hopping. Luca bent to see if the creature could be fully revived as he noticed a small glass bottle tied to its back foot. Luca untied the bottle and smashed the glass; inside was a scroll of paper with words written in blue vampire blood.

An image of your love as she now lies, lifeless in my grasp.

The rabbit continued its involuntary twitching, water dripped from its soaked fur in a circular outline on the dark stone floor. Luca’s knees buckled under him as he froze in shock.
 
Draegan has Astrid.

***

Draegan felt Luca’s panic and smiled. He knew Luca’s power of clarity and rational thinking had diminished since meeting Astrid.

Luca stood in the cold sanctuary, the bitter taste of fear nestling in his throat. He gathered his robes to rush back to Astrid, while a familiar odor filled the space around him.

“I see that you found the proxy,” hissed Draegan, invisible to the eye. “Would you like to see Astrid now, as she lies before her own death?”

Luca quelled the racing of his heart and jagged breathing, trying to bring his mind back to a controlled thought process.

“Where is she?” he asked, his voice a blanket of ice.

Draegan’s loud and malevolent laugh filled the silence, shattering the peace of the night sky. All at once, his cackle was powerful, filled with sin and madness, and choked with hatred.

“Where is she, he asks, and expects me to answer? I bow my head to you, my older brother, for today you have shown me that your naivety will never cease to amaze me.”

“Draegan!” Luca grabbed at the empty air to find his brother. “Why do you play this game of cat and mouse? Why must you gloat in madness? And why take Astrid?”

“Because it will be my victory over you and Mordecai. I will bring down the Society and you as well. Astrid’s destruction will hang like a shadow over you for the rest of your life and overshadow your death.”

“You can have my life and my death, Draegan. But release Astrid.”

Draegan’s form appeared in the dark aisle of the nave. The two brothers stood face to face. One filled with desperation, and the other, with evil.

“I’ve heard about this sort of ridiculousness before,” sneered Draegan. “But now, I witness it from my own weak brother. The power of love, is it? Such a weakening emotion.”

Facing Draegan, Luca’s body felt as if thin, sharp needles pricked him with pain and rage. His long fingers, knotted in tension, unfurled and reached around the base of his ray gun.

Draegan eyes were faster than Luca expected. He bent his right knee upwards and in one smooth movement pulled out a weapon from his boot.

Luca eyed the strange appliance. He saw the lightning speed of Draegan’s fingers as they clicked a tiny switch at the base of the funnel shape, bringing it to life. Draegan pointed the large opening towards him, yet, Luca couldn’t help but feel some pride in his brother’s ingenuity.

As his body swayed and his skin rippled up his arms and legs with a strange gravitational pull, he felt as if it was being re-pressurized. The skin over his cheeks blew back as he closed his eyes from the force of the funnel’s wind and suction. His mind swam backwards in time; he repeated key events at warp speed.

“Impressive, yes?” he heard Draegan through the tunnel of time in his head. “Our cells are nothing but history and information,” he continued. “It isn’t difficult to manipulate cellular memory.”

“Turn it off, Draegan. What are you trying to do?” asked Luca.

“Watch your life through my eyes,” he said. “Watch!”

Draegan’s voice sounded farther and farther away as their bodies moved through time. Physically, they stood side by side in the aisle, but psychically they were joined together through the power of Draegan’s appliance.

Luca’s life rewound backwards. He saw Astrid again, in the courtyard where he had viewed her for the first time. Her beauty was marred through Draegan’s memory device—her skin shriveled around her bones and her teeth blackened. He saw his mother again, Constance, naked and bound. She lay on the bed giving birth to Draegan. Luca saw her curse her children and the entire vampire race while she glared hatefully at her oldest son.

None of this is as it was. This is Draegan’s work.
 Luca chanted this over and over to reject Draegan’s memory manipulation.

Draegan turned off his device and the windy funnel diffused into the aether. Luca fell flat on the floor at the foot of the altar. The body of the dead rabbit lay at his feet.

Draegan left him where he lay, moving towards the place where he had hidden Astrid. He grinned at the townsfolk, feeling a kinship with their insanity. He saw them become images of himself, and he felt any fear put to rest. All was according to plan.

Chapter Twelve

Pandemonium, Madness, Love

Mordecai had been in his office for five days straight. The members of the High Table surrounded him, only leaving for brief moments of rest. Anxiety hung in the air, confusion walked the halls, and even the draperies smelled of despair. Outside, the sounds of rioting entered the open windows. The boisterous calls from the grounds made the room feel small. Each voice encroached upon the small spaces of reason left inside the Headquarters of the Society.

“Hiding inside! Like a bunch of nothings!” The voices ebbed and flowed. “Come out and face us, if you have the courage, you mother-less half-breeds.” Voices rose through London, voices thick with the addictive stupor of aggression.

Mordecai’s face darkened with worry and the entire High Table reflected his concern. Mandell, a younger vampire with smooth, dark skin, rushed towards the window with clenched fists.

“Do not, Mandell!” instructed Mordecai. “Do not engage with the townsfolk. You will only aggravate them further.” Mordecai’s voice was edged with a pleading concern.

“Why should we accept these insults? It was only one vampire, one miscreant, a genetic mistake named Draegan who caused this plague of insanity.”

“What one of us does, we all do,” answered Mordecai. “We must accept the responsibility for him and find a way to fix it.”

“We should not sit behind these walls like weaklings while they insult us with their venomous madness. We can squash them, destroy all of them. Why do you hesitate?”

Mordecai closed the velvet drapes. The room fell dark and still. Only the sound of water dripping in the corner was discernible.

“Their strength increases as the virus spreads,” said Mordecai.

“We should have stopped it sooner. Since we didn’t, we must stop it now.”

Mordecai pondered Mandell’s words. It was at these times he missed Luca the most. He longed for the quiet, rational calm of the young vampire.

Where are you, Luca? Why can’t I find you?
 Mordecai had tried to seek him out several times, but was unable to break the shield of his mind. Mordecai’s waves of thought hit blank walls, formidable and opaque. 
May I find you in safety, and may I find you soon.