Survive the Dawn (32 page)

“I thought this was the power.” Sebastian looked at the amulet. “Is the power not inside?”

“All will be revealed.”
Kasandra
walked past Sebastian to the wall next to the chair. She motioned for Sebastian to join her. “Tatiana told me when the time came to bring you to this room. This is where the ceremony would take place, but first, I will show you where she has kept her power for the past millennium.”

Sebastian surveyed the room one last time before following
Kasandra
down another darkened passage. When they came to a wrought iron gate,
Kasandra
stopped. She pulled on the gate, knowing it was locked.

“I don’t suppose…” Sebastian raised her right hand.

Kasandra
shrugged and stood back. Sebastian placed the ring into the lock and turned; it opened the gate. They walked into the dark room lit only by the torch Sebastian carried.

“This is interesting,” Sebastian said. “A mausoleum.”

Kasandra
walked into the small area and had to laugh. “Oh, Tatiana, you had an irreverent sense of the macabre.”

On either side were marble coffins; Sebastian was not about to find out if they were inhabited. At the end was an open archway with another wrought iron gate. She searched the darkness, knowing the Carpathian Mountains and
Nicholae’s
mansion stood in the distance. She could see the last evening stars sparkle in the cloudless sky and feel the cool breeze.

“I never knew of this place,” Sebastian said as they walked into the room. She saw several candles, which she lit with the torch, then placed the torch in its receptacle on the wall. “What did you have in mind, Tatiana?” she whispered.

“She said the power is locked and the amulet is the key to unlock the wall.”

“Unlock the wall?” Sebastian looked at the walls. “Is nothing simple?” She felt her anger rising at the cryptic message Tatiana left. “I feel like a child on a treasure hunt.”

“She had good reason for her evasiveness and secrecy.”

“And I don’t suppose she told you?”

“No. Only what I just told you.”

“Hmm,” Sebastian grunted as she searched the walls. She stopped at the wall behind one concrete coffin. She peered closer and ran her fingers over its surface. There were engravings on the stone wall; Sebastian cleared away the dust and cobwebs.

“Tatiana did say if we got as far as opening the trap door and the gate—”

“The gate,” Sebastian whispered. She saw it then and grinned. “Look,
Kasandra
.”

Kasandra
stood next to Sebastian. The flames of the torch that hung next to them offered a shadowy dance on the wall. “What is it?”

Sebastian ran her fingers over the same engravings on the wall at the head of the coffin, the same as those on the door and the gate. “Very clever, Tatiana.” She took the amulet and fit it into the engravings once again. However, it would not turn. She tried in both directions and let out an angry groan. “Perhaps I’m not clever enough to—” She stopped and noticed a smaller engraving below where the amulet lay. She shook her head and laughed then.

“What is it?”
Kasandra
peered closer.

Sebastian took her hand and made a fist. She then fit the ring into the grooves of the engraving. She turned her fist to the left and the amulet to the right. Part of the stone wall next to her slid open.
Kasandra
took the torch off the wall and held it into the darkness of the hidden shelf.

“Amazing,” she whispered. “It’s like a safe.”

Sebastian nodded and slipped the amulet around her neck and reached in. There lay a book the size of what Sebastian thought was a Bible. It was black leather bound and of course, was encased in metal and locked. “Here we go again.”

“Much easier to figure out this time, however.”

Sebastian took the book and blew off the dust. She placed the book on top of the coffin and took a deep breath. “Here goes. I suppose this will tell me where all this power of Tatiana’s is.”

Kasandra
stood beside her and Sebastian once again made a fist and placed the ring in the engraved lock. She was not expecting what happened next.

Sebastian turned the lock and felt the inside of her ring pierce her skin; blood flowed through the encasement and mingled again with her ring. She felt a buzzing deep in her ears and felt as though she might faint. Her breath caught in her throat when she heard Tatiana’s voice. She looked up to see her standing in the opening of the archway that led to the outside world.

She wore the white robes of long ago. Her white hair was long now, pulled off her neck, and held in place with gold and silver clasps. Around her neck hung the most beautiful necklace of the same gold and silver intertwined and gleaming in the light from the torches and candles. Behind her, Sebastian saw
Nicholae’s
mansion. How apropos, she thought sadly.

“Sebastian,” Tatiana whispered, her eyes rimmed with tears. “You’ve come back. How magnificent you look.”

Sebastian swallowed; she could not take her eyes off this vision. “You are magnificent. You created me, Tatiana.”

Tatiana nodded, then held her hand up as Sebastian started toward her. “No. You may not touch me, Sebastian. You must listen. This will be the only time you will see me.”

Sebastian stopped in front of her and obeyed. Her brain was reeling, her ears were buzzing, and the light-headed feeling did not dissipate.

“You hold the power in your hand. All the knowledge, all the power I possess is now yours. It will tell you of all that has been and all that will be. It was written that I would find the one to lead our world into the next thousand years. It is all there.” She pointed to the book Sebastian held.

“I don’t understand. I-I assumed I would feel this power. I don’t feel powerful.”

“That is because you have refused your destiny. Once you accept your place as the hierarchy, you will feel your power.
Nicholae
feels his power, but he is without the knowledge held in this book. Only you have the power to know what has been and what will come. It is written in an ancient language. An ancient Celtic language.”

“Celtic? Irish?” Sebastian looked at the book. She opened pages and was not able to understand any of the writings. It was then she saw a letter of folded parchment, sealed with the red wax of Tatiana’s emblem. Sebastian took it out and broke the seal. It too was in the ancient language, and she inwardly groaned—this would not be an easy task.

She thought of her visit to Ireland, her conversations with Timothy Kerrigan and Grayson
MacCarthaigh
. Leafing through it, she saw illustrations of people, places. “What has this to do with me? With our world?”

Tatiana smiled. “We are all connected. You will see. Our world is not unlike the mortals’. That letter will be the key.”

“I don’t suppose you can just tell me what it says?” Sebastian smiled at the vision of Tatiana as she laughed.

“How I miss you. How different I wanted this to be. I wanted to have centuries to show you, teach you of our past and what we were before the dawn.”

“Before the dawn? What do you mean?” She stepped forward as the vision of Tatiana wavered. “Tatiana, don’t leave.”

“Sebastian, your humanity is not your ruin, but you must remember what you are. You are an immortal, as I am, but you are so much more than that. Go to the Celts, darling. All will be revealed and you will have the power over
Nicholae
. He lusts for power and acquisitions. He knows nothing of our past and cares nothing of our beginning or the future. All of this is written there.”

“Couldn’t you have written this in English?” Sebastian looked down at the book. She looked up when Tatiana laughed once again.

“Oh, Sebastian. I didn’t write this. This was written over two millennia. I was not the first. You will not be the last. Never lose the amulet. Never take off the ring. Remember that. Never. My time is now at an end.”

Sebastian nodded, and for the first time in over five hundred years, she thought she felt tears well in her eyes. “I do miss you, Tatiana Messalina.”

Tatiana nodded as she smiled. “Over an ocean of time, Sebastian, you were my chosen one—over an ocean of time. Remember,” she said as her vision faded from Sebastian’s sight. “Find out how we began, before Rome and Egypt, and what we were before the dawn. This is your destiny.”

“Sebastian?”
Kasandra
asked and stepped in front of her. Sebastian blinked and looked at
Kasandra
, who looked so much like Tatiana.

“What happened?”

“Didn’t you see Tatiana?” Sebastian asked and sat back. She looked at the book again and laughed as she folded the parchment and placed it back in the book. She locked the metal casing around it, sealing it again. “I suppose you didn’t.”

Kasandra
stepped back and looked at Sebastian. “You seem different somehow.”

Sebastian gazed out at the night and smiled when the cool breeze wafted over her. “What do you mean?”

“I’m not sure. You seem larger. Perhaps more imposing is the right word. Was the transference of power completed? I didn’t see a thing.”

“I don’t know,” Sebastian said, but she too felt different. She lifted the book. “The power is here. Tatiana said the power was in knowing what we were before the dawn, before Rome, before Egypt. However, it’s written in an ancient Celtic language.”

“Really? I do remember Tatiana and her love of that region, which I never understood. They seemed such a backward people.”
Kasandra
gave Sebastian a curious look. “We must tell
Daciana
and Marcellus. You have done as Tatiana bid, and you have all her power in whatever form she chose. I was witness to it.
Nicholae
doesn’t know about this book, and neither do the others. I think it best for them to believe you have great physical and mental strength.”

Sebastian looked up and grinned. “I do,
Kasandra
. When I put this ring on back in England, I felt it. I became stronger with each encounter. I can feel it. Tatiana was correct. I possess great strength as a vampire. Yet I will have even more through this.” She held out the book and turned it in her hand. “It’s amazing. Knowledge is power when one knows how to wield it. Yet in possessing this knowledge—”

“It’s not necessary to wield it,”
Kasandra
said, and Sebastian nodded. “Tatiana often told me how perfect you would be to lead us into the next millennium. She was right.”
Kasandra
stood back and bowed slightly.

“I’m not at all sure I am what Tatiana wanted. But I agree with her.
Nicholae
now has Leigh back. I’m sure together they will create much devastation. They leave them unchecked now…” She stopped and took a deep breath. “That cannot happen.”

“I will find Marcellus but not
Daciana
and—”

“No. Bring
Daciana
. Though she can longer be trusted, she is still an elder. Bring them both to the ceremonial room. I don’t want them to know of this place.”

Kasandra
nodded. “As you wish, Sebastian.” She bowed again and walked away.

Sebastian took one more look around the mausoleum, then blew out the candles and retrieved the torch. She used her ring and amulet to close the bricked wall. Locking the gate, she slipped the book into her breast pocket and made her way back to the room.

Once in the room, she lit the torches on either side of the chair. Sebastian put her head back and closed her eyes.
Nicholae
was bad enough, now she had Leigh to deal with again. She looked at the book in her hands and marveled at Tatiana’s cleverness to put her own blood in the metal casing of the book. Knowing Sebastian was the only one she sired, her blood mingled with Tatiana’s was the only way to open the lock on the book.