Sanctuary (Forsaken Realms Trilogy) (4 page)

She knew that Medai warriors were pouring into her family estates from all directions and that her father was very likely dead.

At that moment a dozen Medai burst forth from a copse of trees and wheeled on Natalia.

"Go!" shouted Matrin "I'll hold them off".

"No!" screamed Natalia "We fight them together!".

"I promised your father I'd get you out, ten of us have already fallen making your escape, you cannot stop now. Go!" commanded Matrin.

And so she ran.

Natalia slammed upright from her bed in the sewers, sweat streaming down her forehead. Her eyes unfocused and focused again before she knew where she was.

"So long ago" she mumbled to herself, "and now...?"

She got up and wandered into Tym's small room to check on him but he was still dead asleep, his face reposed with an almost beatific expression.

Something had changed in Tym but she had no idea what it was or what it meant. But it troubled her.  Too many strange things were occurring as of late.

She had met Tym three hundred odd years ago hiding beneath a burnt out monastery in eastern Europe.  No one knew much about him, but everyone suspected he was some sort of monk before he was turned. 

Natalia had always suspected that there was more than met the eye with Tym but he seemed like a decent vampire and Natalia had grown to consider him a true friend. 

Still, his madness had grown worse as of late.  It began very subtly, and had increased almost imperceptively over the years.  She didn't think Tym was a danger to anyone, except maybe himself.

Natalia began to wander the sewers. So much had changed recently. The very air itself seemed different. There was a hint of something...Hope, or despair; she couldn't tell which.

"I must be going crazy like Tym" she thought to herself "Nothing's changed, things are the same as they've always been..."

She turned a corner and nearly crashed into Markus who was busy preparing a traveling pack.

"So you're really going?" asked Natalia.

"Yes, Branden and I; a few of the others.  We're each going to take a different direction and wander for a while. Hopefully we'll find more of the Forsaken" answered Markus.

"How long will you be gone?" asked Natalia.

"As long as it takes... years at least I would imagine." shrugged Markus "I know you don't approve but this is important, I wish you could understand".

"I know," responded Natalia "and I
do
think it's important. I wish you luck.  Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Just hold down the fort while we're gone" answered Markus "but you always do that, don't you?".

Natalia smiled and hugged Markus.  "Take care of yourself out there. Keep in touch when you can."

"We will" grinned Markus.

Change. 

Maybe they'd find a few Forsaken. Natalia held no illusions.  She knew most had been killed during the culling.  What few survived were likely hidden far underground.

Chances were that Markus and the others wouldn't find a single Forsaken, but Natalia couldn't bring herself to crush their hopes.  And it was always possible that she was wrong. 

More likely they'd get themselves killed or worse, captured.  Natalia realized that if any of the party were taken, they could possibly lead the Medai back to the sewers. 

Evacuation preparations would need to be put in place. Natalia refused to be caught unawares again.  It was something to think about, and the sooner the better.

But it could wait a night; right now Natalia needed to think about other things. She returned to her own room, closed her eyes and began to think about a face...

He typed in some simple instructions authorizing a hunting party and pushed a button, sending the report off to his manager in Shenzhen. Human slaves were easy to round up, especially in rural China.

With a quick glance towards the world stock market index numbers streaming across the bottom of another screen, Vostrof turned toward the figure standing patiently in front of his desk.

"And you're sure of this?" prodded Vostrof.

"Yes sire, our sources say that Alexander has been personally hunting for several weeks.  He's all but ignoring his other duties." purred the shadowy figure.

"Fine." clipped Vostrof, "Continue your surveillance. I want to know exactly what the Lord Graves is up to."

"Yes sire." intoned the figure as he spun on his heals and glided out of the room.

Once the vampire was gone Vostrof took a moment to consider the news he had just heard. 

It wasn't like Alexander to neglect his duties, it must mean some major game was afoot.  He would need to discover the implications for his Clan and determine if there was any way to turn this information to his advantage...

He was Yuri Vostrof, the patriarch of House Vostrof and Ruler of the Morinof Clan; easily the second most powerful member of the Elder Council after Alexander himself. 

His sprawling empire could not equal Alexander's, but easily dwarfed that of any other clan within the Council. He was widely regarded as the second most powerful Vampire in the world.

Over four hundred years ago he had bent the knee to Alexander's father, and later to Alexander himself...and then spent every moment of his life since then maneuvering to destroy the Medai behind the scenes. 

Alexander had proven to be a better player of the great game and Yuri had yet to shake off the yoke of Medai overlordship; yet still the game continued.

He pressed a button on his desk and Nikolai, Yuri's main lieutenant and personal aid walked in from a side door.

"Nikolai, come...tell me how things progress with section eight." waved Vostrof.

Nikolai pulled out a tablet computer and began to read columns of numbers "I believe we've discovered seventy five percent of the target locations. With a confidence level of ninety percent. I believe we can begin infiltration".

"What, already?" asked Vostrof, "I thought we wanted to wait until as close to one hundred percent of the targets were located as possible..."

"We're there sire." replied Nikolai "We've been searching for nearly four centuries.  The numbers haven't fluctuated significantly in close to fifty years. I think seventy five percent is as close to one hundred percent as we're likely to discover.  Besides, the main enclave is the most important, if we control it - the rest will fall with ease. I advise that we proceed with step two immediately."

Yuri stared into space, the wheels of his mind churning quickly. "I agree. Alright Nikolai, you are authorized to proceed. Begin infiltration as planned. But I want this handled as delicately as possible, just as we discussed."

"Yes sire, I'll begin preparations at once and report back when infiltrations have begun in earnest." answered Nikolai "Shall I copy you on the progress reports?"

"Yes, yes...keep me apprised" answered Yuri. 

With that Nikolai turned and stalked out of the room.

Yuri tried to hold in his excitement. After all these years he was one step closer to his grand plan.  He had to will his hand to stop trembling.

To be sure, plotting and planning was as natural to him as breathing was to the humans, but this was different.  If this plan succeeded Yuri would be one step closer to being vaulted into absolute power within the Council.

He'd finally be able to crush the Medai and destroy Alexander Graves.  And then things would change on this planet. 

No longer would Vampires hide in the shadows content to share the planet with the humans.  They'd sweep them
all
away.

Yes, thought Vostrof, it was time to begin...

CHAPTER
TEN

It had been a week since they had last
met. Somehow each of them knew tonight was the night that they would meet again.  The warehouse was the obvious location.

After pausing slightly, he looked deep into Natalia's eyes and then began to speak.  "I am Alexander Graves, Lord of the House of Graves, Head of the Medai Clan and Ruler of the Elder Council."

"I know who you are" answered Natalia with a mixture of defiance and lust in her eyes.

"And you are Natalia," began Alexander "your father was..."

"Yes" shot back Natalia, her eyes on fire "...yes."

"So you survived after all." declared Alexander.

"No thanks to you" shot back Natalia.

"Yes, I tried very hard to kill you and I'd make the same decision again if I had to do it over... at least, I would have before last week" said Alexander unapologetically "I should kill you right now."

"You can try." answered Natalia "Maybe you should."

"You know I can't" said Alexander a little too quickly "No more than you could kill me..."

"
Yes, I know" said Natalia as she lowered her eyes, some of the defiance slipping away. "So where does that leave us? This is madness."

Alexander's tried to focus as he thought about the Vampire before him.  Why was he so drawn to her? She was beautiful, but beauty was commonplace amongst the Kindred.  What was it that pulled him inexorably to her?

"I don't know." whispered Alexander as he stepped closer to Natalia, taking her in his arms.

He pulled her close, their lips touching in a furtive gesture that quickly became passionate. Alexander slid his hand up the side of Natalia's body to the back of her head.

As he grabbed a fist full of her hair and yanked her head back, a slight noise at the entrance of the warehouse pulled them both back to reality. 

Faster than the human eye could comprehend, Alexander and Natalia hurled themselves towards the noise.  The startled vampire at the entrance of the warehouse barely had time to register the fact that he had been discovered before looking down do see Natalia's hand sliding into his chest.

With a sickening yank, she pulled the beast's shriveled heart from the his body. Moments later he was dead.

"We might have questioned him first" intoned Alexander standing next to the quickly decaying body "I'm not in the habit of being followed, I would have liked some answers."

"Sorry," answered Natalia "habit I suppose."

"No matter," shrugged Alexander "I can hazard a guess as to who sent him and why. Though I'm surprised that a spy would be this careless."

"You didn't answer my question," prodded Natalia "where does that leave us?  This can't work... for either of us. This dead body should prove that".

"We've found each other after centuries on this planet...I refuse to pretend that we didn't. But we'll have to be careful, if the Council found out it could destroy both of us" answered Alexander.

Natalia moved closer, "Then we'll have to be careful...".