Everliving Kings (the Heroes of Darkness Saga) (5 page)

“You may relax gentlemen,” she said with a knowing smile, “Beer and cheese soup is not restric
ted from my dietary list.”

The Bishop to her left, now quite confused, frowned and looked up to see what he had missed.

“Are you observing dietary penance my dear?” he asked in all sincerity.

The High Sheriff at the head of the table nea
rly choked on his spoon at his brother’s choice of words, although Edward could not have known anything about the girl.

“Dietary penance…” Anya repeated, “An
… interesting choice of terms you’re Grace. Do I look as if I should be seeking penance my Lord?”

Now it was Edwards turn to gag on his drink. “Oh no!
Of course not my lady, I meant no offence! I just thought perhaps you may be overtly religious. It is not uncommon for people from different shores to follow different feast or fasting days.”

For a moment she paused unsure how best to play the conversation. “Well
you’re Grace, my diet is… well, an odd one out of necessity I’m afraid. You see I contracted a disease some time ago that, well… makes certain nutritional requirements of me. I think it unfair to continue the conversation with you being the only one in the room unaware of my condition, especially in light of your desire to aid me.” After a short pause Anya said, “I am dead.”

Her flat tone and slight shrug
, combined with bad timing caused Sir Robert to spit his drink across the table.

To emphasize the truth of her words, she smiled wide for the first time, allowing the Bishop a good look at her dagger like
ivory canines.

The Bishop’s eyes went wide as he searched the faces at the table for any sign of the joke the girl was playing. “Brother James, please tell me this is just an ill-conceived jest!”

The friar cleared his throat before answering, “I am afraid not you’re Grace. I myself witnessed what the Risen is capable of.”

The Bishop made the sign of the cross to pr
otect himself before shouting at his brother, “Have you gone completely mad William! Why are we sitting at the table with this creature?! Why is she not bound in chains?”

Anya raised her eyebrows at the Bishop’s ta
ntrum, but kept her comments to herself.

The Sheriff scolded his brother, “Calm yourself Ed
ward! You are in no danger here; the lady is my guest. If she wanted to kill us no chains we have would be enough to hold her back, besides the lady Anya did ask for your help did she not?”

The bishop blinked as he stared at his brother in shock. “This is madness! I can offer no aide to a condemned soul! Is this your grand plan to gain the throne? The use of the powers
of the devil himself?” he shouted.

The
Risen could not help but laugh, “You’re Grace, you have nothing to fear from me, I have nothing at all to do with the devil. My father however may fit that description quite well, so you see, you may be able to help me after all.”

The bishop shook his head in confusion, “I do apologize my dear, but I cannot make deals with evil creatures, it would imperil my very soul!”

“Oh, you’re Grace,” Anya said with a pout, “are you not charged by the almighty to help those who have been possessed or made ill by the black arts? I am not evil, only sick, I did not ask for this condition it was forced upon me. Does not your order wish to help those in need?”

The bishop shook his head once more, “This is not an affliction I am familiar with… I…” when the holy man could find no words to express himself, he turned instead to the good friar. “Brother James have you had any experience with such things?”

Before the monk could answer, the Risen chimed in, “Yes Friar Tuck, do tell him, you and I spoke much about good and evil on our journey from the holy lands. You expressed a desire to help me then did you not mean it? Now that you have seen the true face of my demons have you changed your mind?”

The friar blushed red at all the attention. “My lady Anya, of course I meant what I said, but I am no more familiar with your condition then the Bishop is. Surely his greater pull with the church would help you more than that of a lowly friar.”

At that all eyes bounced back to the wide eyed bishop at the end of the table. Seeing now that he had no choice but to make a decision, he chose the one most likely to keep him alive. “I see, well if Brother Tuck here has already counseled you then we shall stand by his wisdom. Provided of course;” he emphasized with a raised pointer finger, “that you can prove to me that you are indeed not possessed of an evil spirit.”

Anya had seen enough of the religion to u
nderstand what the Bishop was getting at, so she smiled before touching her forehead, chest, then left and right shoulders in turn saying, “In nomine patri, et filli, et spirito sancti.” As she finished her words she closed her eyes and frowned before shaking violently. Her hands shot up to the table as a low growling rumble escaped her. Before the others could break and run her growl became a hearty laugh and she said, “Just kidding, see no flames.”

Bishop Brewer sat dumbfounded as the girl continued to smile at him. Only when the others b
egan to giggle at the Vampire’s humor did the Bishop let his shoulders relax just a bit. “Well my lady, I …um well I must apologize. Clearly you are still a child of God, even if you share in Lucifer’s sense of humor. I would ask that Friar Tuck here, hear your confession before I can… well what is it you are laughing at?”

“Tuck! You called him Friar Tuck! That is a teasing name I gave him because of his weight!” Anya laughed.

“Oh dear me, Brother James! I did not mean to offend; I thought that was your surname.”

The good natured monk joined in the laughter saying, “No it is fine
you’re Grace, I think I kind of like it. A little humility is good for the soul.”

At that the Bishop relaxed and joined in the fun, “Ah, well Tuck it is then.” Turning back to the
Risen he said, “My dear I am curious to know a thousand things about you my lady. Er… well… as long as you don’t mind that is, well you know, I am not good with… well that is I would love to know but as long it doesn’t make you angry, I don’t think I would like to see you if you were angry.”

Anya cut him off with a wave of a delicate hand, “Nonsense
you’re Grace, I can fully understand your curiosity. Brother Tuck must have quizzed me a thousand times about history on our journey here. Truth to tell it did make the time and trip more pleasant. Although to me a century seems to pass by as if it is a mere blink of an eye nowadays.

Now, before you ask, I will save you from the embarrassment,
yes I can eat, cross running water, eat garlic and onions, and even get a tan. The stories about Vampires who have weaknesses to those things however are true, as it seems the plague affects each of us differently. Although I have yet to meet a Risen who can put their fangs away like a snake. I imagine that rumor must have started in the church. Let’s start with the garlic thing.

First of all, any strong smell could be ove
rwhelming to somebody like me. My senses are strong enough to tell you how many people and animals are in the keep and courtyard just by smell or sound. To a newly created Risen, with little control over the hunger, a smell as strong as garlic or onions would be far too strong to get close to, so it would drive them away.

As far as sunlight or eating of food, well they are about the same problem to me.
You see when the sun warms the skin and you get that warm chill, you know the gooseflesh and hair standing feeling. Well this is when the skin darkens and tans, this must cause some kind of chemical reaction in the body to heal the skin, like when you burn from it. At least it feels as if it is healing some kind of damage to me; in any case blood is used to do whatever it does in the skin.

When I eat food, blood is needed to start the digestion process. My organs all need some small amounts of blood to keep them from just rotting away, but to actually function as they did when I was alive requires quite a bit more.

So you see both eating and sunlight cause me to use blood, almost like a fire in the hearth uses up the wood. The bigger the fire, the faster the wood will be gone. As I said before a younger Risen will have a harder time with these things then I would. Over time my body has become more efficient using less and less blood to survive then when I was first awakened. That is why brother Tuck and I could still have a conversation on our journey from the holy lands.

Had I been a young
Vampire I may have gone mad from the hunger and broke free to feed. As it was I was hungry and in pain, but I shut down almost all of my organs and limbs to keep my body function. Had it taken much longer even I may have lost control. That may explain why my father left me here and ordered a meal be given to me. He knows that if I lose my grip on the beast nothing will stop me short of death.”

At the mention of the term ‘beast’ the bishop crossed himself again
before asking, “What do you mean by that my dear?”

Anya smiled at the holy man’s fear filled que
stion and glanced at Friar Tuck before answering. “Well let’s just say I… struggle with this condition every day. That is all I meant you’re Grace, simply the…condition. I assure you it has nothing at all to do with demons if that is your concern.”

The Bishop nodded his head but still held the look of someone who wanted to scream and run.

The High Sheriff, who until now had been sitting back and letting the Vampire tell her tale, now joined in with a clearing of his throat. “My lady, I am sure the Bishop meant no offence to your honor. It is just that, well none of us have ever met a Risen Vampire before. My lady? My lady, are you all right?” he asked as Anya closed her eyes and turned her head to one side.

With a shake of her head and a blink, she turned back to the sheriff and said “What? I’m sorry my
Lord, I was…lost in thought, what were you saying?”

“I was just saying I hope none of us do you any offence as we have not had occasion to meet…one of your kind before.” He repeated.

The Risen nodded her head once in thanks saying, “Not at all my Lord Sheriff, but perhaps we should explain to his Grace what it is you had in mind.”

The Sheriff nodded back in agreement, “Very well, but I do have one question for you first my L
ady. What happens to a human who drinks your blood?”

Anya cleared her throat and frowned in thought. “Well that would depend on the person. Since my own blood is long gone, and my own body can no longer make more, what I have and use is o
nly what I got from my last feeding.” She said with a shrug.

Brother James, who had just taken a bite of his meal, paused in his chewing at her reference of the life’s blood of a human being as a ‘feeding’.

“One thing for sure is the person would contract the plague. From there it would depend on how they reacted to it. They could, die at once and return to life as a Risen, or they could die at once and not rise again. They could begin a slow death, gaining some…let’s call them ‘gifts’ of the undead existence, slowly needing more and more blood over time until they are fully Risen. Or rarest of all they could be immune to it, in that case nothing would happen.”

“Lady Rathbone, I would…” Sir Robert began but was cut off by a sharp look.

“First! If you must address me formally you will call me Anya First, or Lady First, Not Rathbone or any other name my father may be associated with. I am my uncle’s child now, the first one he attacked and turned when he awoke, so that is the name I have taken.”

Sir Robert paled
as he realized he had angered the dangerous being across the table. “My apologies my Lady! I…I did not know.”

Anya softened her tone when she saw the look on his face and could taste his growing fear. “Of course, no you could not have known. But you had a question for me I believe?”

Robert looked around the room before continuing, “I…well I was going to ask about the third of the possibilities you had mentioned, but thinking about it again it seems to be a moot point, as all of them end in…death.”

Anya smiled and shrugged as she answered. “Well that is the normal outcome Sir Robert, all things end in death.”

Robert frowned in confusion. “But my Lady Anya, you do not age, you are still here.”

Anya smirked as she thought briefly about reminding the young man how rude it is to ask an old woman her age. “Not true Sir Robert, even the undead age, or at least we can. Take a look at me and tell me how old you think I was when I became what I am today.”

Robert frowned and shifted in his seat under her gaze. “I am not sure my Lady, but I would say you were at least seventeen or eighteen, no more than twenty.” He said with a blush and the hope he had not offended her again.

“Well when I died I was ten. Many centuries ago I met an old man, a monk
,” she said with a nod towards Brother James. “Who was actually immune to the plague. He was…one in a billion perhaps.” She said emphasizing her memories with a shake of her head. “When I fed on him I… well I was cured. There was no hunger driving me mad with pain, and I started to age again.

Now because I was still dead, I was still using up the blood supply and so when I got hungry the pain would creep back into my mind, but when I fed on him it was gone! Now even though I may have aged some, what
eight or ten years or so, I lived with that man for over eighty years! As his blood gave me back a….life if you will, my plague extended his life. It must have been a side effect so…what are you smiling at Tuck?” she asked as she noticed the friar grinning from ear to ear.