Zero Sum (56 page)

The link whispered, and my world cracked. Two things were instantly certain. That ray of light’s voyage was over—and so was our own.

“No,” I said with a shudder.
 

Rei looked past me. “I must, Dieter.”

“But why?”
 

“Because it is our way. We discussed this already. If Anna chose to press charges, I would have to answer for my crimes.”

“But you saved thousands of lives.”

Rei scowled. “Absolutely irrelevant. I manifested in public. I slew an officer of my sister’s court. I assaulted another member of the aristocracy. And…” Rei bit her lip. She wouldn’t speak it, but it hung in the air.

“And she knows it will hurt me?”

“Knowingly or not, Dieter, you thwarted her efforts.”

“But—”
 

“You excite her, Dieter. You tease her blood. Anna has lived so very long. Live long enough, and such a diversion becomes as rare and precious as a July snow. She could never ignore it. She could never let it be. She covets you now—and my eldest sister does not dole out hugs. She will aim to feast upon your anguish. She wants to know how far you will bend until you break.” Rei clenched her fists, and I could hear the brooding fury as she spoke. “She will do so slowly…perhaps over many years.”

“Rei,” I said, shaking my head, “I appreciate your concern, but this is ridiculous. Why would Anna waste her time on me?”

Rei flushed, and a glimmer of the dark thing danced behind her eyes. “This is most certainly
not
ridiculous. You know the defects of our nature. We lust for a challenge. We were built for the chase. Anna wants to listen as you beat your empty fists against the ground. She wants to hear your cries. She wants to smell your despair.” Rei ran an uneasy hand through her hair. “She is just like her mother. Two doses of the madness were too much.”

“
Her
mother?” I asked in confusion. “You mean…”

Rei nodded. “Yes. Anna and I share only our father, Theodus Nadasdy Bathory, The Black Hero of Szigetvar, King of Cahokia.”

I couldn’t even pronounce Szigetvar, so I tried for “Ca-ho-ki-a” instead.

“Yes, Cahokia is my fiefdom. It includes the modern states of Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan—plus a small portion of Wisconsin.”

“Oh,” I said, feeling a bit dizzy at the scale. “And Anna’s mother?”

“You know of her. We have discussed her in the past.”

I swallowed. “Erzsébet? Are you telling me Anna’s mother is
the
Erzsébet Bathory? The Bloody Countess? The Lady of Cachtice?”

“Yes, Dieter. None other.”

Erzsébet Bathory. Perhaps the most prolific serial killer of all time—well over six-hundred women tortured and killed by her own hand—all while successfully guarding the roads to Continental Europe from marauding Turks. A brilliant strategist
and
a maniac, she invented the concept of a bloodbath. (Apparently it did wonders for the skin.) In the end, the Hungarian aristocracy cemented her into a room and ran for the hills.

“And your mother?”

“Alastice de Rais, Queen of the Acadians. That is Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama to your ear.”

“Oh.” That didn’t sound so bad. They had chicory coffee and Mardis Gras down there (I’d seen the informative TV advertisements with the wild ladies).

“Alastice’s father was Gilles de Rais,” Rei added sourly.

“Oh.” Gilles de Rais. He was a compatriot of Joan of Arc, a famous soldier, and a more famous child murderer. I made a mental note to keep Rei away from any and all small children.

Rei scuffed her boot. “I warned you at the start.”
 

“And I ignored you.” I forced a smile. No wonder Rei freaked people out. “So, why does Anna hate you so much?”

“The union of the two monarchs was unforeseen. To some in the aristocracy, it was unforgivable. The royal lines were not to be crossed. The ancient scrolls cautioned that such hybridizations were…unstable. It is told that in the distant past, the Vita Paciscor personally extinguished such abominations.” She gave me a meek smile. “Further, since there is no precedence for a daughter of two monarchs, I lack clear station in my people’s hierarchy. This is why some have taken to calling me a—”

“A princess?” I tried to picture Rei wearing a tiara…it wasn’t happening.

Rei frowned. “The term alone is dangerous. It risks elevating the standing of a younger sibling over that of the elders of the same brood.” This, at least, I could understand. I could see why Anna (at least five hundred years Rei’s senior) might get a tad peeved by some upstart cutting in the line for the throne. “My very being has riled the traditionalists. But still more ridiculous is the reaction of some of the Turned. They look at me with…” She shrugged. “Oh, Dieter, I have no idea what to even call it.”

“The word you’re looking for is reverence. I sensed as much in the condo. It was like they expected you to sprout wings and shoot sparkles.”

“The Turned are fools.” Rei swept the air in anger. “It is nonsense, all of it. If anything, I am a dud of a Pure. I’ve embarrassed father countless times, I’m an absolute disaster at politics—and you can forget ballroom dancing. I can’t even balance in heels.” Her ramrod posture gave way, and Rei leaned against a tree. “I’m not even worth jabbing a stick at.”

“Oh come on, Rei. I’m sure there are plenty of people who would love to drive a piece of bark into your insides. My dad tried pretty hard.”

“Don’t jest. How could a person like you ever understand? You haven’t any idea what it is like.”

“Sorry.” I put my hands in my pockets and sighed. I guess Rei was right. I’d never owned a bike—let alone an entire kingdom.
 

“That’s not what I mean.” Rei’s eyes softened and she looked down at the ground. “I mean that if anyone’s special, it is you.”

I looked at Rei in utter bafflement. I looked left and right. “Me?”

Rei shook her head and sighed. “Where to start…Your life is a clean slate. You have no handlers telling what you must do. You have no titles. No duties. No proposals to avoid. You have power and brains enough to choose your own fate. You’re both a Dealer and a dhampir. You’re a clumsy oaf now, Dieter, but with some polishing, no one would be able to tell you what to do.”

“Rei,” I said flushing, “I barely have any mana.”

“Nonsense. Think of the tower. How on earth did you manage such a spell? That cast involved at least three different effects—wefting, middencraft, and manifestation—and you used the blood of a Nostophoros to power it. I don’t think that’s ever been
attempted
before. It takes all my focus just to move a bit of mana. For you, it is just a matter of setting your mind to it.” She looked over to me, her blurry eyes pleading. “And there is something else, something I cannot even begin to place my finger on. It has troubled me since the day I met you. There is this
otherness
to you.” A cold shiver ran down my spine. Hara. Rei was talking about Hara. “And your blood, Dieter. My God, do you have any conception of how it…” Rei covered her mouth and turned away from me. Her tears were flowing heavy now, but I didn’t know what to do. Was Rei angry with me? Did she hold me responsible? I didn’t understand where she was coming from. I didn’t understand the challenges she faced. I couldn’t fix this. I was the wrong tool for the job.
 

She drew in a tense breath and looked out across the field. “They are coming,” she said quietly. “I mustn’t be seen with you. It is time for me to leave.”

“For how long?” I asked—but I already knew. I was acting the fool. The stupid jokes. The useless conversation. I was avoiding reality at any cost.

“I have been
withdrawn
, Dieter. My time at Elliot has come to an end.” Wiping the tears from her eyes, Rei flung her Elliot robe to the ground. A piece of chalk fell out of the duffle coat’s pocket and settled in the snow.

“Rei…” I took a step forward. “It doesn’t have to be this way.”

“Yes, it does.” She raised her shoulders and firmed her features. “I am Bathory. I shall return to face my father. I will confess my wrongdoings and bear the punishment for my actions. This is my duty. I will fulfill it.” She looked at me with the same ragged determination I’d seen in the warehouse. “This is goodbye, Dieter.”

“For good?” I croaked. “But, Rei…I thought we were partners. I thought…” I knew my words sounded pathetic, but a crack inside me was growing. I could hear the thuds of my heart against my chest. I could feel the pressure building behind my ears. It was stupid, really. I couldn’t be with Rei, but the thought of letting her go…

“Dieter. I must.” Rei looked resigned. Like she was quitting.
 

“Fine. Then I’ll follow you. I’ll testify on your behalf. I’ll convince them that you acted in the best interest of—”
 

Rei answered my words with a bitter laugh. “Convince them? I have committed treason, and you, Dieter Resnick, the son of the most notorious alguacil of the modern era, intend to act as my sole character witness? Are you mad? Have you any idea how many of my kind your father has killed? Tortured?” Rei laughed again, but it sounded more like she was being strangled. “The gods love comedy, do they not?”

I felt sick. “You’re saying that my being there—”

“Would worsen my fate tenfold. Did you think that Anna had not thought of that? Do not act a child, Dieter. Anna is the daughter of Erzsébet. She would not have acted against me if she thought her scheme could be foiled.”

It hit me like a bat—Rei was slipping away from me. There was only one last thing I could try. Desperate, I went to mouth the three words. But I couldn’t speak them. As they reached my tongue, they fell away like stones. I couldn’t will them into being. They were easy words. Simple words. Words you hear every day. They’re sung in near every song. They’re thrown about like spare change at the movies. But they can be the hardest words, the hardest words in any tongue, when saying them is what really matters. I wanted to shout them to the heavens. I wanted to scream them at the top of my lungs. Instead, what I said was, “Rei, I don’t want to feel that hole again.” I heard the words come out but couldn’t believe I was speaking them. “The way the link grates…I don’t think I can bear it.” I wanted to tell her to run. I wanted to say I’d stay with her always. “The books say we could go mad.” I felt like I was dying inside. I wanted to tell her I’d get her free of them. I wanted to swear it on my soul. “Don’t go, Rei. You have…friends here.” And I found myself a coward.

Rei placed a solitary finger over the tips of my lips. “What did I tell you about making oaths?”
Had she heard me? Did she know?
Her eyes pleaded silence, begged me to stop. I realized then that Rei was stronger than me. She could leverage her will against the pain. “Grub. Listen, and listen well. You do not understand this game or its rules. You do not know what is after you or how it can get at you. You are outclassed, underpowered, and inept—and you are the bravest fool I’ve ever met.” Rei’s cheeks flushed red, and every muscle in my body tensed. “And you are my friend.” She cupped her hands around my cheeks. “And you are my partner. Forever.”
 

With a hint of salt and a rush of lavender, her frozen lips met my own.
 

And then Rei was gone.

And I stood in a field alone.
 

And I crumpled into the snow.
 

And I screamed at the dark, empty sky.

I clutched at Rei’s empty robe with my shivering hands. Groped for the warmth that wasn’t there. And I cried. Stars above, I cried. I cried, and I cried, and I cried. The tears came from a place that my memories could barely reach, from a time of such profound sadness that it lived only in the deepest mists of my mind. The time of
her
last touch. The time
she
walked away. I fell into a deep vat of dreadful muck. It crushed me, suffocated me. And that reminded me of Anna. Reminded me that she had done this. Ripples of her cruel laughter wafted over me. A final gift she’d slipped into my mind. And that’s what drove me mad.

Roster found me at daybreak. He didn’t speak a single word. He just propped me and helped me home. I recall someone warming up water to treat my frostbitten toes, but my mind was in utter shambles. I hadn’t realized what a weft-link really was until ours had broken. I understood now what John Riley felt as he stared into the dead eyes of his partner. It felt as though I might dissolve—as though my mind might give way and crumble.

With only madness waiting inside, I turned my attention outward. I focused on Jules’ humming, Roster’s laughter, and Dante’s strumming. The waves of withdrawal came and went, but my friends were always beside me. Ichijo’s words helped me steady my breathing. Jules’ old teachings helped me find my center. The pain didn’t lessen, but over time it became more familiar. I accepted the gut twisting emptiness as my new normal, and I reminded myself that she was facing it too. I reminded myself that she had no friends to guide her, but that she too was still fighting. Her bravery steeled me. It became my footing as I pieced what was left of me together.
 

“Forever,” she had said.
 

“Forever,” from a creature that could say such a crazy thing and mean it.
 

Her last word made me feel warm. It calmed and soothed me. It gave me a sense of determination I’d never known before. If I was outclassed, I’d train harder. If I was underpowered, I’d get stronger. If I was inept, I’d study longer.
Forever.
Forever was something I’d never had before. Forever was a fountain of hope. We would meet again. We had all the time in the world. That belief…it made me want to stand. It filled my limbs with fight.

END OF BOOK 2

Acknowledgments

The surgeon slid the thin piece of steel into the patient’s skin for the last time. The line of sutures was perfect. The patient would have to squint to see the scar. The surgeon gave me a nod, and I extended my shaky fingers. Snip went my scissors, leaving two stubs of 3-0 vicryl behind.