Encounters (The Elder Origins #3) (2 page)

“Very eloquent,” she said.  She walked out of the alley and onto one of the nearby streets. He followed when she motioned for him. “They did not harm you then?” she asked. “The Vam-pyr-ei-ak?”

“Is that what they called themselves?” he said curiously. “Well, not as much as I did harm to them. But most were already dead and upon the ground by the time I awoke. Caspar came to quicker than I
did. He inflicted more damage than I knew a single person capable. I thought him possessed when I saw the speed at which he killed them, only to find that I could do the same seconds later. With all the blood he took,” he hesitated again.

Madison
was surprised by how easily he divulged this information. It was as though no time had passed. He seemed to have as much respect and acquaintance for her as he ever had.

“Y
ou are with a friend now Lyndon, please tell me. I will not judge you. Jayden and I have lived in the same manner, remember,” she said, reaching for his hand.

“One threw an axe into my chest. I thought I was to die right there. But my skin began to heal over th
e blade. I yanked it from my chest and saw the ripped skin sew itself back together. The blood on my body, it was almost like something inside of me changed when I smelled it.”

“You became angry,” she said.

“To word it mildly, yes. It was more of a rage. I couldn’t stop it. I took the axe and threw it into the back and the man on the horse as he passed me. I attacked him and drained him completely. Whether the others ran after seeing this or if Caspar killed them, I am still uncertain.”

He seemed as though he were slightly frightened, or worried that someone were listening. Madison did her best with her hand on his to calm him. She could tell that he had not felt this relaxed or at ease since she had last seen him, undoubtedly an effect of the thirst. But he was still uneasy.

“And Jamison?” she asked.

He shook his head solemnly. “I was completely consumed by the blood. I did not see him or what became of
him. But if he lay there among the dead, I doubt I would have noticed. I was not myself, Madison,” he said almost shamefully. But she knew he did not feel as much guilt as he passably portrayed. His emotions were more indifferent than hers. Apprehension was the only thing she could truly detect. He had no remorse.

“Caspar and I tried to chase down the other, Vam-pyr-ei-ak as you called them, stopping to feed upon the few who had not yet reached the woods. Or perhaps they were guarding them, to make sure that we did not come out or escape. Regardless, I did not see Jamison. And I never
returned to find him either. I only assumed that you and Jayden had survived as I knew you had fed us the blood when we were still weak with the illness. Please understand Madison, it was chaotic. I would not have known Jamison were there even if he had called out to me. It was complete carnage.”

“I understand completely, Lyndon. Jayden and I were no different,” she said.

“But you protected us, Caspar and me. You fed us and cared for us until you had no other choice but to run. I am not certain that I would have done the same in the state I was in,” he said.

The thought had occurred to Madison beforehand. She appeared to have control over it more so than Lyndon or Jayden had. But she accounted her lack of lust for bloodshed for the fact that Jayden had bro
ught her a continuous supply. Jayden had done most of the ‘carnage’ himself. Madison knew better than to tell Lyndon the control she now had. She was certain that his knowing that she was cured of the thirst would create a problem, or perhaps jealousy.

“Jayden and I fin
d that we are nearly indifferent to the blood we spill,” she said softly. “We take what we need and only kill when necessary. But we feel little to no guilt over the matter.” It had become the truth more or less. Lyndon need not know more than that.

“Caspar and I have that as well, although Caspar even more so. His lust for blood puts mine to shame. It is as though every man or woman he drains, he expects that he may receive some piece of himself back. He seems to want revenge by taking as many as he can.”

“Bloodlust breeds more bloodlust, Lyndon,” she said.

“No, I don’t think so,” he said with a deep laugh. “I grow thirsty and feed until I have had my fill. Caspar continues to feed. He cannot stop. He seems to become angrier and more aggressive as time passes. I grew to control the cravings to a certain degree. He however continues to feed uncontrollably. I swear I thought him mad at times.”

“Jayden and I were driven to near madness as well.”

“But did you seek vengeance?”

“Myself, no. Jayden, yes. He took from the Vam-pyr-ei-ak. We drank from them until they were no more. I still do not know if any of their tribe survived our own sense of justice.”

Lyndon nodded
his head in understanding.

“You still struggle then?” said Madison.

“Daily, but I need less than I did before. I fear the cravings will always be there.”

“And Caspar embraces it. That is a frightening thought,” she said.

“I tried to kill him at one point. His quest to drain as many dry as possible became tiresome. It spread through his every victim. His massacres were enough to make me think him possessed. But then the spreading became such, even I could not stop it. And I could not kill him as hard as I tried. It nearly became a game to him. He enjoyed watching me trail him. In fact, I think that was why he kept doing it, just to keep his trail fresh.”

“Spreading?” Madison’s head jerked up. She demanded his eyes look at her with her tone of voice. “What do you mean? What trail? His trail of bodies?”

“Yes, the trail of his illness.”

“
His
illness? I don’t understand,” she said vehemently.

“You didn’t think this plague was, what do you they call it? ‘God’s wrath,’ did you?”

She stared at him. Her grip began to tighten on his hand and she held his gaze firmly, not allowing him to look away. “You cannot be serious,” she said.

“This pestilence was Caspar’s doi
ng, Madison. Caspar brought the plague upon the whole of Europe.”

Chapter
2

Madison had no mind for the hour or the empty streets once Lyndon began to explain. She felt the truth of Lyndon’s words pierce through her. She allowed him to tell her what had happened and listened as intently as she could. He took her through the silenced alleyways of Rome, its homes and alehouses quiet as night began to give way to the darkest hours. Blackness took the streets and few torches remained to light the way. Only Lyndon and Madison could still navigate their way through the dark with little effort as they conversed.

“I tracked him first through the clannish lands across the Mediterranean,” he said. “It started in the Far East. When we chose to separate upon arriving, I had not the faintest idea of just how far he would venture. When I first heard of a sickness spreading quickly from far off lands, I crossed the s
ea to find him. He had spoken of trying to create more like us in the past. Although, I never thought he would be foolish enough to do it. It spread throughout the Italian lands through trade ships. By that point I could not stop it. I tried to kill all whom he attempted to turn. But to my luck, he did not know what he was doing or how to do it. They died quickly.”

Madison stared at him in silence, gently urging her feet to move forward.

“As a matter of fact,” he said, “I can safely say I am relieved it killed so quickly. Can you imagine if he had succeeded?”

Madison’s thoughts stumbled trying to find the proper words. “He tried to create more like us?”

“Yes. And in doing so, he caused this plague. He drenched the waters in wells and local streams with his blood.”

Madison knew she needed to stay quiet when she heard this. Surprise would only come across convincingly if she played it well. There was a chance that he could sense her emotions as easi
ly she could his. If Caspar didn’t know how they had been transformed into such demons then Lyndon need not know either. Neither knew how their waters had been continuously poisoned for months. Although by the sound of it, they had suspicions.

She finally managed to formulate a question. “So
, it didn’t work. He just made people sick?”

“Like I said, he didn’t know what he was doing. He believed that our sickness could be spread to others and that they could be made as strong as us. He thought the key was in the blood since that is what we always crave.”

“But then how are so many not sick if he infected the waters?”

“I told you I had tried to stop it. I only managed to contain it.”

“How?”

“You are not the only one who
found this,” he pointed to the pouch and chain around her neck containing the healer’s mixture of herbs. She touched her necklace.

“That was how you found me, was it not? You smelled the fresh rayen I had spread.” Madison nodded in order to maintain the appearance of ignorance.  “I put it in the waters in every village I came to.”

“It stops the illness from spreading?” she asked.

“It also thwarts th
ose who are in tune with our kind. The priests, the holy men,” he said. “Anyone who prides themselves on being able to spot evil, it repels them. I thought that if it protects us, then it may protect others.”

Madison was silent once more.

“I mixed it with flowers and gave it to strangers to carry on their person. It’s quite amazing what people are willing to believe. I told them it would protect them from the pestilence. It spread across Europe. Those with it or those who drank the bit of water with my rayen mixture in it have averted the illness or quickly recovered. They think it a miracle in some areas. I can safely say that I know better,” he said smiling.

“It grows here then?” said Madison.

“It grows everywhere, dear girl. Everywhere our blood drops into the earth, these flowers grow within the hour. I took them, dried them, and ground them so that as many people could carry it as possible. Believe me, travelling about and spreading it has been a task like no other. I only returned to Rome to witness how my efforts have been working in the areas I have already penetrated.”

“Have you witnessed at all how the ‘rayen’ protects the likes of you and me?” she asked hesitantly. “Have you run into problems with others finding out what you are?”

“No, but I do not doubt my caution’s validity. Do you think for a second that if people knew how we heal, that we run with such speed, and that our strength is unmatched, that we would be safe? We would be hunted. We hunt to stay alive. People would in turn hunt to do the same. Everyone would want our immortality if they knew it existed; especially those with as much power as holy men.”

“I never thought of it that way,” she said quietly.

“If the church knew of our power, there would be an entirely new kind of crusade, dear girl. This here,” he reached for her necklace and held it in his fingers, “is our only salvation.”

She looked at him with prying eyes, hoping that he had not honed in on his ability to sense others emotions as intently as she and Jayden had. She doubted it given the obvious separation
between him and Caspar. She wished for him to remain ignorant of everything. If she could not help him clamp his thirst in the way she could, there was no use in torturing him with the knowledge that she had been freed of it.

“Don’t you wonder why you were drawn to it?” he asked.

She tried to remain still in her face.

“You wear it because it makes you feel safe. Did you not sense that when you first touched it?”

Madison was bewildered by how much more he had learned than her. But she would wait to discover just how much he knew. She wanted her emotions revealed to no one. No one other than Jayden.

“I will help you,” she said softly. “I will help you spread the rayen.”

“It’s not without its dangers, Madison. Just because the rayen stops holy men from knowing what we are does not mean that people are completely naïve. Our features are somewhat disturbing to the average person. And the danger lies in our inability to control the cravings. I don’t know about you, but I am not truly convinced that we are indeed impenetrable.”

“How do you mean?” she asked.

“Caspar created this plague by means of poisoning waters. Earthly elements naturally reduce one another, Madison.”

He looked at her intently, expecting her to catch his meaning. She was shocked it had not occurred to her before.

Her voice broke, barely managing to say the word.

“Fire.”

He nodded; gratified that she had come to the same conclusion so quickly.

“If it be poisoned waters that created us, the opposite element may be capable of destroying us.”

“How did you come to this conclusion?” she asked.

“Because when I failed to kill Caspar, he tried to kill me in return. The fires he created in the forest where I was hiding nearly succeeded in destroying me. The flames tore at my skin, Madison. It was the only wound I have had that took great lengths to recover from.”

Madison let his words soak in. The knowledge that there was an element that could take away her newly formed state of being was as disturbing as it was comforting. Yet the knowledge was well gained if there be a way to kill Caspar.

***

Madison rushed back to the lodging her and Jayden had chosen, leaving Lyndon to rest during the day’s break. Jayden was aware of her entry before she reached the front door. She descended down the stairs to see Jayden in the same position she had left him in.

Not opening his eyes, he spoke.
“Anything of note?” he asked.

“Of note?” she said dryly. “Only if consider the fact that Caspar is alive as well, he started this plague whilst attempting to create more like us and poisoned all the waters he could find, and apparently we
do
have a weakness that could potentially destroy us, to be ‘of note,’ as you say, then yes,” she sat at the end of his bed. His eyes jerked open and yet he still didn’t move.

“You found him, I presume,” he said. His lack of enthusiasm for her discovery was somewhat aggravating.

“Yes, I found him.”

“And he was civil?”

“Almost pleasant,” she said. “This plague is our doing, Jayden. I mean, not precisely
our
doing. But our kind, this new form we have become. We brought this upon Europe.”

“By the sounds of it, Caspar did, not us,” he said. “In fact, I believe you could go
back even further than that if you wish.”

“How so?”

“If you truly wish to lay blame to a specific party, then the Vam-pyr-ei-ak are truly at fault. They caused this whole thing with what they did to us. That is if what you say is true, and Caspar attempted to make more.”

Madison was silent.
It wasn’t until she felt a panic rise through her at the realization that Jayden lifted himself to meet her. Her body shook and her mouth ran dry. She didn’t know she was still capable of such human attributes anymore.

Jayden took her shoulder and urged her to look directly at him, sensing her rising discomfort.

“Madison?” he said. He shook her gently. “What? What is it?”

“That’s it. That has to be it,” she said softly.
“What else did he say, Madison?”

“It’s not what he said, it’s what
they
did. They meant for this to happen. Don’t you remember what the healer insinuated?”

Jayden searched his thoughts and came up with nothing. “He said a lot without ever opening his mouth, Madison. How am I to recall?”

“He assumed that the Vam-pyr-ei-ak thought that we were the impending coming of the white men to their lands. What if they knew that we were not of that coming?” She looked at him, allowing her emotions to penetrate his.

His grip on her shoulder grew tighter. He shook his head, not wanting to believe it once it struck him as well.

“What if this was their defense against the coming of white men to their shores?” she said. “What if they turned us into these beasts on purpose? They wanted us to try to turn more, and in so doing, create the sickness. They wanted us to leave and come back to our lands, if only to destroy it.”

“And make an attack on the enemy before they become a true threat?” he said.

“Not only an attack. They wanted us all dead, the entirety of the eastern world. What if this sickness was their defense?”

“It doesn’t make sense,” said Jayden, taking his hand from her and to his side.

“Why not?”

“If they were so wise as to see what was coming, they would have known that I would take their lives in the process. They would not s
acrifice their people to accomplish such goals,” he said assertively.

“I would not be so certain. Is it not a moral of many cultures to sacrifice a few in order to save many? These people saw themselves as warriors. Their leaders may have been willing to do so in order to insure that their kind was protected.”

“And their warriors would just sacrifice themselves?” he said surly.

“No, their leaders would just do it without telling them. Why would they have to know?”

Jayden shook his head in disbelief. “They were all of different tribes. And none of them appeared to like the other. They would not take such measures to protect those they did not see as neighbors,” he said. “Do you think that England and France would ever join forces in order to defeat a common enemy? No, they would argue over which course of action to take and eventually be overpowered.”

“Thus one country would inevitably take the reins and make the decisions for our own good. How is the warring between our countries any different from those between the native tribes?”

“And the Vam-pyr-ei-ak was that superior country of men? Taking the situation into their own hands?” he seemed to be coming around to the idea. “It’s not impossible I suppose.”

“I am to meet Lyndon again tomorrow,” she said.

“What did he say of the ‘poesy’ then?” asked Jayden.

Madison told him of everything that had passed between her and Lyndon. Jayden grew angrier as she spoke. He jolted up and paced the small cellar room.

“This was not how it was meant to be,” he said.

Ma
dison couldn’t think of what to say to try to comfort him as he walked back and forth.

“I brought y
ou back here to make a new life,” he continued. “I wanted this to be our home again. And now this,” he said.

“Lyndon is trying to fix it.”

“Yes, so you said. It’s only a matter of time before it reaches to far eastern lands.”

“According to Lyndon, that was where it started,” she said. Jayden turned and look at her curiously. “Apparently, Caspar’s tried and failed attempts began in the east and travelled westward. The whole of Europe and even farther is now infected.”

Jayden went silent, lost in his anger. It took a great deal to surmount such rage in him now. His emotions were becoming less controlled than they had been in months right before her eyes.

“I’m going after him,” he said sudde
nly. He knelt down to strap on his leather boots and reach for his cloak.