The Tragedy of Knowledge (14 page)

Samira paused, then swiveled around to peer at the fireplace. A stretch of unease settled between us, and I contemplated running. I knew it would be the world’s stupidest thing to do at a time like this, and it surely wouldn’t solve the enigma before us, but God, did I want to run out of the room and never look back. The Book of the Ancients revealed something I absolutely did not want—Samira was tied to me in some way. Judging from her reaction, she wasn’t thrilled about it, either. Yet, just like the unwanted empathy I felt for her, it compelled me, and this time, I knew I had to follow its direction.

Samira cleared her throat and I jumped, the sound startling me from my mind’s tailspin. Her expression was determined now, driven and vivacious. “Dali, Akim, come,” she said, calling to the wolves, who until now had been hidden in the shadows behind the throne altar. They slunk forward and seated themselves at her feet. “I am under the impression that this will end very badly for me, my pet.” She turned to me. “So to be clear, I want you to relay a message to my daughter when this is all over.”

I clutched my chest and stepped closer. “What makes you think
I’ll
be around to relay the message?”

She lowered her gaze as if thinking, but disregarded my question. “When I found Arianna had left during the uprising, I imagined her growing old back on earth, having children and grandchildren. Although she would go on to live a normal, mortal life, she would remain immortal in my mind: an eternal earth angel, just what I wanted for her since I first held her in my arms.” She lifted the linen cover from the altar to reveal her conjure materials, reached for a bottle of dark green potion. “However, I knew my daughter, knew her spirit. When the truth was revealed to me that you all had planned to use knowledge of her location against me, I admit the news shocked me. Although, I was not shocked by the fact that she was alive after all these years. It did not surprise me that she had once again changed from human to vampire, you see. She always constantly teetered between those two identities, even as a child. Her fascination with each world was truly amusing to witness. What surprised me was that I might have the chance to see her again … even if only for a brief moment.”

Unfolding her arms and determinedly pinning them to her sides, she inhaled deeply. “I cannot take back what I have done as queen of this exile. I cannot undo the image she has of her mother, and will always have. When she appeared during your last visit, when I saw her with my own eyes, I was in awe of the strange grace bestowed upon me, to be able to see her again, as beautiful and as fierce as ever. I knew then that the gift given to me in that moment would be enough to sustain me for the duration of my eternity in this wretched kingdom. She will always be my greatest gift, whether she wants to be or not.”

“I understand,” I said, hearing Dali and Akim’s tired whimpers echo throughout the room, mimicking my own waning patience. I wondered if they were responding to her words, if they heard and understood everything that had happened since they’d been turned to wolves.

With a solemn nod, she clasped her hands together and looked to Dali and Akim. They stared back at her from sleepy eyes, their heads rested on their front paws. “Good. Now that is settled … I believe it is time to test Vivienne’s theory.” Wrapping a potion in a red velvet sash as she drifted down the stairs, she gestured with a jerk of her chin for me to follow. “Come quickly,” she said, motioning for the wolves to join us.

We hurried out of the throne room and entered a long, winding stairwell that led us to a cell similar to the one that held Gavin the first time I’d found him here in the castle, starved and a prisoner. Samira directed the wolves to the far wall, and ordered the cell’s guards to secure the animals’ feet with chained restraints.

“Will that be enough to hold them back?” I eyed the cuffs. They were Gérard’s old conjure mates, after all. Who knew what kind of wrath they’d stored up for Samira after all these years?

“You mustn’t worry,” she replied. “They will be mere mortals. When I turned them, they were stripped of their power.”

The guards exited and the cell door slammed shut, and I shuffled backward until my back hit the door. Samira’s hands began to sway their mystic dance, her head rolling softly to one side while quiet chants flowed from her lips. Taking a drink from her potion, she chucked the glass bottle to the ground, where it burst to flame against the stone floor, then vanished. Her chants grew louder and her head rolled back farther, the whites of her eyes appearing through the slits of her eyelids. A gust of wind rippled through the cell, blowing our hair around our faces, the whole room feeling as if it were floating, projecting to a far-off realm, a castle on a cloud.

Dali and Akim began to howl wildly, and that seemed to agitate the wind, sending it spiraling in frantic, random bursts until Samira wrenched her arms in the air to cease it. I closed my eyes tight, bracing myself for whatever would happen next, but opened them to find the wolves had disappeared, leaving two naked men in their places, curled up against the wall in the same shackles. Samira snapped her fingers, and they were instantly covered with brown drawstring linen pants around their waists and loose white t-shirts with single breast pockets. Their feet remained bare, but their eyes … their eyes were full of shock, and then fury so great, I was sure it could move mountains.

“You—” one of the men choked, grasping his neck as he spoke. The other man was so surprised by the sound of the other’s voice, he jumped back and smacked his head on the wall, wincing from the impact. Every slight movement startled them, and the one who’d tried to speak suddenly became fascinated with his fingers.

“Dali, Akim,” Samira acknowledged them, staring at them down her nose as if they were lab rats with some sort of infectious disease.

“You, you,” the man tried again to speak. His eyes widened and he found his strength to stand, feeling along the wall to maintain his balance.

“Yes, yes,” she said. “I know, I know. I’m terribly sorry for my … indiscretion. I am certain you and Akim would love nothing more than a healthy dose of revenge, however we do not have time for that nonsense, and I need you to focus on what we have to say.”

“You call
that
an apology?” I whispered under my breath, in utter disbelief at her flippant greeting.

“When did I ever say anything about an apology?” She pivoted on her hip to glare at me. “My husband is just as much to blame for their fate.” She returned her attention to the helpless men before her to pierce them with the same glare. “He had ample opportunity to help them, and yet he chose to walk away and leave them as animals. Is that not correct, gentlemen?”

The man who’d been identified as Dali spoke again, his face full of disbelief at her words, which I think overshadowed his fury now. Moving forward to look Samira in the eye, he ran a hand through his hair and yelped when the chains cut at his feet with the movement. “Is this really necessary?” he shouted, gesturing to the shackles and throwing his hands in the air. “I have nothing! Nothing!”

Samira planted a hand on her hip, her red nails lightly tapping her corset. “I suppose you have a point.” Snapping her fingers once more, the restraints disappeared, and Akim stood to join Dali, both of them rubbing their wrists and ankles.

“What … year is it?” Akim asked, voice raspy. He too, must have been overwhelmed by disbelief, because instead of anger, his expression was one of shock mixed with curiosity at the answer. He peered over Samira’s shoulder at me, and I stared back at him, transfixed by his crystal blue eyes, which were set under dark lashes against rich, mocha skin. He was utterly breathtaking, and his friend was just as beautiful, with the same dark complexion and startling bright eyes. The men must’ve been in their mid-thirties when they were turned to vampires or wolves way back—I didn’t know when—because they clearly hadn’t aged and appeared to be around the same age as Gérard.

“It doesn’t matter,” Dali huffed, shaking his head. “I don’t even want to know.”

“Like hell, it matters!” Akim shouted. “I want to know! How long have you kept us, you despicable wench?”

Samira’s wrist swirled before her and he flew backward into the wall. She took a step forward to meet him at eye level. “Tread very carefully when choosing that term to describe me. We all know who the true wench is in this scenario.”

He stared back at her and a million different emotions flashed in his eyes, as if he were remembering a multitude of memories at once.

“Let him go, Samira.” Dali let out an exhausted sigh and plopped down to the ground, crossing his arms over his knees. “What is it you want from us?”

She paused for a beat before dropping her wrist, letting Akim’s feet touch the ground again. He gripped his throat and clenched his jaw, eyes still burning into hers.

“Go on, Camille,” she said. “Relay your message.”

My eyes fluttering between her and the two men, I cautiously stepped forward. “Well, um …”

“Oh for heaven sakes,” Akim grunted, sitting down next to Dali. “What now? Please, enlighten me.” He stared up at me, impatience on his face, and the words caught in my throat.

At last I managed, “You … you two were Vivienne’s ancestors … is that correct?”

“Vivienne … as in original conjurer Vivienne? Yes, so?”

“So, she passed away not long ago and before she did, she sent me a message. That I needed to convince Samira to turn you human again.”

Dali’s face fell at the mention of Vivienne’s death, and he rubbed at his eyes with the heels of his hands. “Well isn’t that bloody lovely. She was a good woman. And what would the point of that message be, exactly?”

I turned and pulled the Book of the Ancients from my bag. Dali and Akim flew forward and in an instant, were in my face. My nostrils flared at their closeness, and I realized I was starving. The proximity of their warm blood was too much; I needed to get to the others and feed soon.

“Who are you and what are you doing with that?” Akim reached out to take the book but I pulled back.

“Um, yeah … no offense or anything, but this thing is pretty important right now. I think I’ll hang on to it, if you don’t mind.”

“Well no kidding it’s important, love! What in the bloody hell is going on here?”

“This book is giving me direction. I’m no one, just …”
The firestarter.
I gulped, not ready to relay whatever that meant just yet. “Just a frozen soul who somehow got tied up in this crazy prophetic mess of yours. You’re the ones who are supposed to tell me what to do next. That’s what Vivienne—and Clea, her link—told me, anyway.”

“Clea?” Akim’s eyes bugged out of his head. “That crazy old bat is still alive, yeah?”

Dali chuckled, coughing as he did. “I remember that woman. One of the other original witchy loons from back in the day. She must be thousands of years old by now. Her magic is impressive however.”

I bit my lip, waiting for him to focus. “Yeah, anyway, she said you two were the key to destroying Gérard, and that you would know what to do.”

Dali and Akim exchanged glances. “Destroy him, ay?” Akim muttered, turned and started to pace the cell. “Well the bloody bastard did leave us to rot after his darling of a wife here turned us into those mangy mutts.”

Samira shifted an eyebrow, her blood-red nails tapping her clenched waist.

“He was our dearest mate.” Dali punctuated this with a sarcastic laugh. “I remember those minutes, right after we were turned to wolves, how he looked at us for a moment. Just stared, like he’d discovered some delightful surprise or something. Then he turns and strolls out of the room. Just like that. The no-good wanker. So we have answers for you, ay?”

I glanced at Samira and cleared my throat. “I hope so. There’s been a resistance movement building for years now, made up of all the frozen souls who want the vampire curse destroyed. And to do that, we need to defeat Gérard. The witches turned against him at the portal entry, to buy us some time to get here and speak to you, but I don’t know how long we have before he shows up to retaliate. We already pissed him off before that, so I think we’re pretty screwed either way.”

Dali’s eyes narrowed and he began biting his lip. “The witches turned against him … that’s not possible. Unless—”

“They were tapped into his magic somehow,” Akim finished for him.

I shrugged. “Maybe, I don’t know. They were all joined together when we—my friends and I—arrived at the bayou. Linked hands and everything. They ambushed us.”

Both Dali and Akim exhaled, and it looked to me as if their brains hurt from the overload of information they were trying to process. It couldn’t be easy trying to understand and keep up with everything Samira and I were throwing their way like this.

I myself exhaled. “Look. A lot has happened since you’ve been gone. I know you don’t know me, and you have thousands of questions, and I’m really sorry for … what’s happened to you. But all I know is, this book, and Vivienne and Clea’s messages, are guiding us to destroy Gérard. And if we can do that, then the vampire curse is lifted.”

Dali turned to grip the cell window’s bars. “Well,” he snuck a glance at his friend, “we do know how to kill him, if that’s what you want to know. Only I don’t understand one thing.”

“One thing?” Samira and I had asked as one.

He shifted his gaze between Samira and me, searching our faces for something. “He knows we know how to destroy him. We practiced magic with him from the very beginning, know his oldest secrets. I doubt he’d just let you and your friends—whoever they are—wander over here and have a chat with us. We must be missing something.” His eyes roamed our faces again, squinting in thought.