The Vampire's Heart (5 page)

I struggle to understand all of that.

“
So what happens to the old Lys-Karalis?”

“
Ah, he, or she, though we have yet to actually have a Lys-Kralice, will become a regular vampire, with all the susceptibilities that come with vampirism.”

“
Susceptibilities?”

“
They all stem for one thing… three beings… The gods that prescribe to the ‘One True God’ ethos: Calcia, Jehovah, and Rahcvah. That is why we die in sunlight.”

“
What? Why? Why sunlight?” I ask, glancing up at the night sky. The dawn light has not yet arrived in the eastern sky, meaning that morning must still be at least a mid-hour off. My eyes return to Kellum’s handsome face, locking onto his own.

“
The sun is said to be the Eye of Calcia. She is supposed to be watching her Gatheck, and looking after its people. So when she sees one of us, a vampire, she sends us back to Hell.”

“
But I’ve been in the sunlight.”

“
Lys-Karalis are immune to the sun’s powers because they are hidden from Calcia’s sight. You are all protected by ancient pacts and deals… I’d tell you more about them, but I honestly don’t know any more, I’m afraid. I can only see what will come, not what has passed.”

“
I want to know why I have to become evil.”

This really doesn’t make sense. How does someone become evil? Is it even possible? What if you have to be born evil? Or can you learn it? Is there some dark magic spell out there? That would not surprise me. People would kill for that kind of power, the ability to make someone commit dark and terrible crimes. Imagine if I could do that. I could rule absolute.

“
Ah, that is the tricky bit. Due to the somewhat variable nature of the future, I cannot say, all I have seen, and I have seen much, is that if you continue to search for her you will never find her. You’ll either die trying or you’ll miss her completely and she’ll live a happy life without you, a natural life. You must become evil to lose yourself, to become one with what you are, to embrace your nature. Then and only then will you be reunited with the one you love.”

I just wish I could understand this. It sort of makes sense, but it sort of doesn’t at the same time. And where are all these thoughts of dominating coming from?

“
How do I know if I can trust you? For all I know you could be trying to trick me somehow.”

“
My ‘Karalis, I offer myself to your service, as I would any Lys-Karalis, but let me prove my words are true. I will answer your other question and then I will affirm your lineage. Is that okay?”

“
Fine.”

“
I believe you wished to know why you would have to wait a long time to be with Elyse. The simple and honest answer is that both of you will be different people. You are immortal now. You cannot die, at least not easily. You will meet again when Elyse has grown up. That could be twenty years, or eighty. It depends when she dies here.”

“
So I’ll never get to see her again?” This saddens me. I still do not completely believe him, but I am becoming more inclined to do so as our conversation continues.

“
You will, but as I said, you will have to change. You have to adapt to the life of a Lys-Karalis and become what you are. You must stop seeking her out. If you continue to search, you will live until the end of time and you will never be happy again. Her absence would devour you, I am sure.”

“
But how can I trust your words?”

“
I don’t need trust from you at the moment. All I ask is that you believe me. Our friendship will blossom and the trust between us will grow naturally. I have seen it.”

“
Is the world all pre-planned then?”

“
Oh no. When I see into the future, I can see the most likely occurrence. The vision becomes more prone to change the further I see. Here.”

He reaches into one of the pockets of his coat and produces a small bronze disc, which he hands to me. I take it, turning the reflective disc over a few times in my hands. It seems to be just a flat piece of polished metal.

“
What is this?”

“
Just hold it up and look into it.”

I do as he instructs and Kellum moves around me to look over my shoulder at the mirrored metal. As I peer into the reflective surface I see nothing but the dark wet sand and rocks of the beach.

“
Hmm.” Kellum sounds puzzled, so I turn to look up at him.

“
What? What is it?”

“
Tell me what you see in it.”

“
Just the beach. What was I supposed to see?”

Kellum whistles and sits down next to me, his coat dragging over the sand, smoothing it a little. He runs his hands through his hair. I wait for an answer, growing more impatient as time slowly passes.

“
You didn’t see your reflection?”

It hits home. I was looking directly into the mirror. I should have had a reflection.

“
No...” I say absentmindedly, my thoughts elsewhere.

“
You should have had one. You still have a…”

“
I still have a what?” I ask impatiently. Kellum fails to reply. He seems deep in thought. I’m not letting this pass, so I ask again, only louder, “I still have a what?” My voice is far more menacing this time, as I use its new sound to the fullest. Kellum looks at me and nods slowly.

“
You... you still have a soul. I do not, that is why I have no reflection.” His expression suddenly changes. It is as if he has just tripped over an idea. “You must be their leader.”

“
Whose?”

“
The Lys-Karalis’.”

“
I thought you said–”

“
I know I said Liesl was the leader, but what if you are the natural commander: created with neither the weaknesses of vampires nor the few penalties that the Lys-Karalis suffer.”

This is all beginning to go way over my head. Kellum seems to accept his own reasoning.

“
I intended to show you what you looked like, but that is impossible now, being as you have no reflection. I will describe you.”

“
I suppose you could. But I already know what I look like.”

“
I wouldn’t be so sure. And I apologise for the brutality.”

What does that mean? He continues, cutting me off before I even begin to ask him what he meant.

“
Yours is currently the face of a bloated corpse. Your eyes are sunken, your lips stretched back to expose your viciously sharp teeth, which are framed in a face of rotten flesh with two pearl white eyes staring out. You have high widows peaks and a small semi circular scar slightly off centre on your forehead. Your nose, though bloated and decaying, is of sound shape and form. Your jaw line is hard, but striking. There is the stain of years around your eyes, many wrinkles, set deep into your skin. Your hair is flecked with grey as is your short beard.”

I understand what he meant about brutality now. I guess that explains what he meant only too well. And the face he described was my own, though without the decay or the wrinkles or the beard. I reach up a hand to my face and feel the hair there. It must be a just under a half-season’s worth. I was clean-shaven on my wedding night. Do I really look like a dead man? That would explain the reactions of the people I had met so far.

Kellum speaks again, snapping me out of my thoughts. I let the bronze mirror drop to the beach. It lands edge down and imbeds itself in the sand, jutting out like a shining fish jumping from a sea of grains.

“
Do you see now, my ‘Karalis?”

“
You’re saying I’m a monster. If I look like that…”

“
But did you see nothing else?”

“
Nothing else?” What does that mean?

“
You did not see me either.”

“
No… no, you were not in the bronze… why?”

“
As vampires we have no reflection. If you will accept that I have not lied about your lineage and our race I shall continue… unless you have further doubts about we vampires?”

“
No, not really… yes. Blood. I have not felt the hunger which goes along with the legends. I do not crave blood. Should I?” The question just kind of jumped out of my mouth. I’m not sure I even want to know the answer.

“
Yes, you do, and you need it. When you consume human blood you will absorb power, and with that life energy you will be able to make yourself look human again. You will even be able to heal any wounds you incur with it.”

“
But I do not feel hungry and I have not eaten or drunk since I dug myself up.”

“
Again, this is because you are a Lys-Karalis. You do not have an insatiable hunger, but in order to have the abilities that blood allows us, you must drink of it. Remember when I found you, and how you spotted me. That was the taste of my blood in the water. It was a bitter taste if you remember. That bitterness was the vampire in my veins and the fact that my blood is dead: living human blood is sweet and sickly.”

“
So if I were to devour blood I’d be able to look normal, like I used to?”

“
Not entirely. You will never again look like you do in your memories. You have aged beyond them. You only remember up to your wedding night, am I right?”

“
Yes…”

“
Yet sixteen and a half years had passed when you rose, yes?”

“
Something like that…” How does he know? I should be more careful.

“
How did you die?”

“
I… I don’t know. How did you know what I can remember?”

“
I have witnessed this conversation already. Allow me to tell you how you died.” I nod for him to continue. “You were stabbed in your sleep. During your life you made an enemy of someone and that person murdered you. I cannot tell you more, as it occurred in the past.”

“
How do you know?”

“
I saw it happen in my visions. Check your chest. You were stabbed three times, twice in the gut, once in the heart, that much I know.”

Under my soaking wet suit, the one I’d been buried in, I have several layers of bandages wrapped around my torso.

Peeling the bandaging away I find three knife wounds, two in the gut and one to the heart, just like he said. They’re swollen and look infected, but they don’t hurt, and they aren’t numb. Kellum must have done this, how else could he have known when even I didn’t?

“
You killed me!”

“
No my ‘Karalis, I merely knew it would happen. You have to believe me. I know that will be hard for you, but it is something you must do in order to continue your journey.”

“
And why do I need to trust you to be able to find Elyse?”

“
Because, my ‘Karalis, I will travel with you and guide you down the roads you have to travel to find her. I cannot show you to your destination, but it is I who will start you off on your journey.” He seems to almost be pleading with me. He’s almost begging.

“
And if I refuse your help?”

“
As I said, you’ll die whilst searching for her, or you’ll miss her completely.”

My head aches from trying to understand. Do I go along with Kellum, offering him a glimmer of trust? Or do I strike out on my own, ignoring his warnings, but at the risk of losing Elyse forever.

“
So I’m just supposed to trust you blindly?”

“
Not really, we will travel together. And yes, you’ll have to believe me to begin with, but in time you will learn that I speak the truth and accept that I only wish to help you and our race. With time comes trust.”

“
And I’m supposed to lead the vampires somehow?”

“
Yes, you will lead us to victory over the Calcians. But that is a long way off. First we have to forge a path for you in this world. It will be hard at first for you to accept what must be done to achieve your goals, but in the end you will succeed.”

I’m still not sure. But I guess I can use Kellum until he proves himself either one way or the other. He suddenly stands and looks about, scanning the island.

“
I’m starving, where can I get some food around here? You could use a good feeding too.”

If he described me truly, then I guess he’s right.

The Third Chapter

- Lys-Karalis -

93 days until the birth of a god

The 16
^th
day of Winter-Fall, 1537

We are walking along the beach. We’ve still not found any food and we seem to be heading back toward Khorale. The vampire is talking at me, but I’ve not been paying attention.

“
...When a new Lys-Karalis is born, it is tradition for them to be inaugurated there, with every other Lys-Karalis and as many of the vampiric race that can feasibly get there. Naturally, being so advanced, you won’t need an inauguration. You’re the natural–”

I’ve not known him long, and I’ve already figured out that he’s a bit of a know-it-all. It’s annoying, but I’m sure I’ll get used to it if I choose to allow him to travel with me.

“
Where are we heading?”

“
To your hometown, Khorale.”

No, no I don’t want to go there. I’ve caused enough damage to that town already. I’m not sure what’ll become of me if I go back there. I might not be able to control myself.