The Vampire's Heart (24 page)

And then she is gone, the voice ending with finality. Who the hell is ‘The Silence’?

“
Commander Holste?”

Surely she doesn’t mean her avatar? He hasn’t been seen since the Calcian Wars. Surely it could not be.

“
Commander Holste? Commander?”

There’s no chance… but then she is a goddess…

“
Commander Holste?”

“
What?” I snap. The voice finally breaking through my thoughts, snapping me back to reality. A young face peers at me from a short stumpy body. I do not recognise him. “I was thinking. What do you want?”

“
The Gateway is up and safe, though there was a complication during casting.”

“
And this complication?”

“
There was a massive influx of power at the crux point of the casting. It is a permanent Gateway. For some reason the power it is generating is being fed back into the Gateway.”

“
That was Legion. Do not worry; he has made it so. We will either close or defend it from the other side; I assume it is fully functional?”

“
Sir,” he affirms with a sort of half-nod, half-bow.

“
Then we march.”

I turn to address the gathering wings. There are so many of them. I scan the faces and pick out Iniar, who is still scowling for some reason, and Lorien, who seems happier. He will make a good replacement for me. Iniar still lets his emotion run too freely.

A cough and a whining wheeze from the side of the dome grabs my attention. I want to go over and check on Penk, but I need to address my men before I can.

“
Form up! Cassowary, Vireo, Kiwi, and Kakapo, through the Gateway in that order. Cassowary, defend the drop off point, Vireo defend the Gateway, Kiwi scout the surrounding area. I want Kakapo finding out if the Gateway can be closed or blocked somehow. Move!”

A chorus of affirmatives greets my ears, at the same time as a much closer and individually audible voice.

“
Yes, commander Holste,” the short pudgy Kakapo man says, before turning on his heel.

Unable to control myself, I stop him and I whisper into his ear before letting him go.

“
Yes, Raven Knight. Remember.”

The Fifteenth Chapter

- Angel-Mexis -

13 days until the birth of a god

The 20
^th
day of Spring-Fall, 1538

I’m running hard and my heart is pounding hard in my chest. What have I done? I’ve been with them for too long. I’ve killed people with them, innocent people. Why do I even deserve a shot to redeem myself? I chance a glance behind me; Kellum is at the door to the tavern. Within a moment he’s upon me. His hand on my shoulder forces me to my knees.

“
I do not want to hurt you, Witch, but that does not mean I won’t,” he says loudly.

He’s smiling, but it is not the usual evil smile; it’s as if he knows something that no one else does.

“
Then let me go Kellum,” I ask. My heart is beating so hard that I can barely take it.

“
Sorry, did I say I didn’t want to hurt you? I lied,” Kellum says, still smiling that knowing smile. He puts his index finger to his lips, and gives me a look as if to say “trust me”. He’s just playing with me. He’s trying to make me think that I might survive this. I’ll not fall for that, though I may be able to angle this to my benefit.

“
Kellum, please. There is no need to kill me, your master will never know. Just tell him you killed me.”

“
Unfortunately for you, my loyalties are strong and will not be tested so easily.”

“
But… Please, I don’t want to die. I… You could come with me, we could go together, and we never have to see him again.” Tears are streaming down my face now. I’ll die soon and I know that it will not be the Summerland I go to. I’ll go to the other place, where the Fey rule; the Winterland.

“
Witch, I do like you, but now you must scream; for me, for all the vampire Lys-Karalis, and for your master, Muzbeth.”

Then a terrific scream, one of fear, pain, and desperation, fills the air. But it comes not from me, though it was my voice. The scream came from Kellum, his magic mimicking the sound of my death.

He takes my hand and pulls me back to my feet and begins to take me further away from the tavern. A few moments of running later, and we come to a stop in the middle of a small copse of fir trees. I speak in the faintest whisper I can manage.

“
Kellum, what is going on?”

“
I am sick and tired of that idiot attempting to control me. I intend on assuming his demon and becoming a Lys-Karalis myself.”

“
So why am I still alive? Not that I’m complaining,” I say, a weak smile coming to my cheeks.

“
I can see the future, I know what is going to happen and there is nothing I can do to stop it. So I’m going to tell you this. You know my name is Kellum, and that I am a vampire. But I am a demon too. I am going back to Hell, and this body will return to its rightful owner.”

There is a strange desperation about his features. His eyes have a fervour about them, shining more brightly now than I have ever seen. He continues to say his peace and I unable to stop his narration of the future. I simply cannot say anything.

“
The sun will devour me. However, this body will survive to become a Lys-Karalis, and he will be instrumental in defeating those that need to be defeated. I do not know who they are. This is what I need you to do; go to the dimension of the Third Empire, it is a long time since I travelled there, but you will be safe there until your destiny finds you.”

“
What? My destiny? I don’t understand? Dimensions? What are you on about?”

“
Please believe me! We have to be quick. He will be growing suspicious.”

“
How is it even possible to go to another dimension?”

“
You must go to The Heart. Underneath the lake is a stone circle that can be used with your magic. You will understand with time.” He smiles again.

I sit bolt upright, covered in sweat. My hair is plastered to my face and neck. My chest is heaving and my mind is reeling. I’ve had that dream every night since Kellum spared me, and now, as I near my destination, the Heart, it is lasting longer.

In reality he had just touched my forehead while his magic had screamed, and then he’d told me to run. Perhaps the dreams are telling me what he would have said if he could. That seems to be the only conclusion I can draw.

I get up and stuff the scabby furs back into the sac I managed to procure while passing quickly through Dinscuth. I’ve travelled constantly since we parted, keeping away from the big cities, and passing fleetingly through the small towns I have crossed. I’ve done my best to avoid people. I don’t want to hurt anymore people. My recent history hasn’t been great, and I know how ashamed I should be of it.

My stomach growls ravenously, reminding me that I’ve not eaten in three days. The tough ball in my tummy is growing stronger, and I am losing far too much weight. I can keep my strength up with my magic, but that does not stop the hunger or the weight loss.

Sighing, I shoulder the sac and begin to walk again, ever drawing closer to the Heart. I’m heading North East so as to join the River Wyd, and then I’ll be heading North East along its banks up to the Heart. By doing so I’m avoiding any difficult mountainous terrain, and hopefully any people.

I’m close to our goal.

- Muzbeth -

I scramble up the white washed walls of the Lighthouse, digging my hardened nails into the stone bricks and the mortar holding them. Thousands of millions of flakes of white paint slowly fall to the ground beneath me. The building, though a conical structure, is effectively vertical thanks to its size. I’ve come up about a thousand feet, and I’m only about halfway. It is a wonder how this thing was ever built.

I glance down, enhancing my vision with a tiny mote of magic. Summer is in the shadows, stalking an unsuspecting guard who has no idea either of us are here.

Returning my attention to the wall, I continue climbing, steadily gaining height. The higher I climb the colder it gets. I’m sure that if I kept climbing I would be able to touch the blue sparks.

The Light grows steadily bigger and more encompassing as I approach its edge. Now I’m so close I can see that it is actually set inside the Lighthouse. Part of the wall has been knocked away and the Light shines out from within.

I climb a little further, and onto a stone floor. I guess technically I’m now inside the Lighthouse.

The Light itself is actually a sphere, but surprisingly not that bright to look at. When it is seen in the sky at night it seems brighter because of the darkness surrounding it, but being inside the beam is exactly the same as normal daylight. The cavity in which the Light is situated is three floors deep, and inside that area it is constant daytime. I wonder if there is a giant shadow of me cast upon the Heart? That would be an impressive sight.

I quickly leap up and out of the broad beam of light, latching once again onto the outside wall, and head the much shorter distance to the roof.

I make the top of the tower with agility far beyond any human ability, swinging from a ledge to land silently on the rim of the smooth tiling, balanced perfectly. I take a step forward, approaching a small skylight that leads down into a dark chamber of the topmost floor, but something stops me.

I smell an odour on the air; a recognised smell, pleasant, warming, familiar. A friend; Kellum! I reach out into the darkness with my senses. I locate my one time mentor; he is on the other side of the roof to me. But more noticeable is the fact that there are at least two-dozen vampires between him and myself.

What is going on here? Is he going to tell me what he told the other Lys-Karalis? As I stand pondering, a voice drifts out from a shadowed recess. At first it is one voice, then as that voice finishes speaking, another takes up the reins of the speech. This method continues until my opponent steps out into the moon- and spark-light to face me, silvery blue and evidently angry.

He is attempting to remove from me my status as a Lys-Karalis! Kellum stands against me! I think over what has just been said;

“
You are a monster,”

“
Unfit to be a vampire Lys-Karalis,”

“
Kellum-Herbst wishes to assume the title,”

“
We have allowed him to challenge you.”

Kellum charges silently forward, his footfalls light on the tiles between us. He smoothly draws a pair of daggers as he runs. I do not move to intercept or to avoid; I am unthreatened by the fast approaching vampire who is intent on killing me.

“
The victor will remain hidden from the eye of Calcia,”

“
The defeated will be cast back into Hell when the sun rises.”

“
Born to lead the race of vampires to greatness,”

“
As all Lys-Karalis are, you have chosen damnation for us, and our kind, instead.”

“
Should Kellum-Herbst fail, we six Lys-Karalis will have no choice but to hunt you down and destroy you ourselves.”

So there are seven of us, including myself, as Kellum said there were. Do they expect me, the true leader of the vampiric race, and founder of the Capital, to share my rule? If they do they are fools, and I will show that to them. But first I must teach old Kellum a lesson.

Once he taught me, but now I am the master; this will be his first and last lesson. I duck back quickly as one of Kellum’s daggers skims my brow. Cold thick blood runs ever so slowly down my face. The second dagger is aimed at my gut, and a quick side-step avoids the contact. Kellum, not expecting the swift evasion, stumbles under the weight of his own thrust and in the moment of instability that catches him, I make my move. It will be the only one I need.

I raise a fist and bring it down into Kellum’s back; it crunches through bone and crushes his insides. The cold of his internal organs feels glorious on my hand. He screams with frustration at his defeat and falls to the tiled rooftop, dark thick dead blood pools slowly beneath him.

Victorious, I cast my gaze to the hidden Lys-Karalis that surround me, willing them to try and take me on! Nothing. There would be silence, if it were not for the howl of the wind.

Then a single clap breaks the stillness, and then another, until a chorus of clapping hands fills the night. Turning on the spot, I see ten, twenty, maybe thirty vampires step out of the shadows. All clapping and cheering my victory over the wretch that tried to overthrow me! Finally they recognise me as their master and champion!

Something strikes at my back, and an inch of bloodied bronze thrusts out of my breast. Kellum is still alive, and now I have a dagger through this dry and black heart of mine. Blood meets my lips, not the fresh human blood I love, but the bitter vampiric blood that I find the taste of so vile.

Long forgotten memories flash through my mind; images of the woman I used to love, Elyse. The many faces of the many people I’ve killed or known. Pictures of Summer and the things we’ve done together. Still frames of when I first met Kellum deep in the sea to the north of Khorale.