"I, Vampyre" - Chapter Nineteen

CHAPTER NINETEEN: For Whom the Belli Tolls

 

            The demon-form retreated, chased off by the blood-loss incurred by Sagaan’s godforsaken monkey.  I sagged heavily against Spike, and Makenna let go of my once-again human-like right arm.  “Nevik,” Makenna asked, looking me over as she unhooked the clasp that held her rapier in its scabbard, “are you going to be able to fight?”

            Hating myself for it, but knowing the truth of the matter, I shook my head no.  Makenna nodded curtly… then abruptly grabbed my forearm and thrust her fangs into the flesh of my upturned wrist.  Her eyes looked almost apologetic as she drank hard and fast, replenishing her vigor as she drained most of the last of mine.

            “Take care of him,” ‘Kenna said to the other vampiress, and Spike nodded, her soft white hair falling across half of my face.  I leaned my head against her ample bosom, silently cursing the fact that all I could do now… was watch…

            As Makenna walked fearlessly toward the werewolves that still surrounded Adrianos, I turned my gaze to Katya, who was still taunting Bellissima with the silver dagger.  Three of the other four Superiors had settled back into their chairs to spectate, but Lillith was still standing next to Siren, looking her over like she was seeing her for the first time.

            “Come on then, ‘Belli’…” Katya goaded, “let’s see what the so-called Mist Tamer can d… …OH!!”

            The exclamation at the end of Katya’s ill-advised taunt had been a cry of pain as Belli slashed the dagger across her back.  I blinked, Spike tittered happily, and I had to mentally rewind what we had just seen: Bellissima turning to a marble-white variation of her Mist Form, which blended in with the background of the Great Hall like smoky camouflage… just her hand turning solid long enough to pluck the dagger out of Katya’s unprepared grasp… the milky vapor passing through the surprised Superior… and then, Belli turning solid again and blindly slicing Katya’s back open.

            Katya cursed loudly in Russian, and Bellissima yelled something back at her in a language I didn’t quite recognize �" Polish?  Or maybe Bulgarian??  Katya drew her broadsword through the ether, and the two vampiress circled each other warily.

            “Where did you get that dagger!?” Katya demanded.  “It belonged to Darius Leone!”  Bellissima’s eyes widened at hearing her Sire’s name, but rather than answering she just turned to mist and attacked again.  Katya jumped very high in the air, dodging the swipe of Belli’s dagger and nearly colliding with the recessed ceiling.  Strangely furry-looking wings sprouted from her back (red, of course), and she hovered well above the floor like an avenging archangel.

            Meanwhile, I saw, Makenna was engaging the werewolves, a dizzying blur of motion  with fast flashes of her silver sword.  She seemed to be taking special care not to kill any of Katya’s ‘wolves… but she certainly wasn’t shy about maiming them.  I gasped, the shadow of that ancient memory shifting again; the only other vampire I’d ever seen move that fast was… the vampire, the Scion, from 1775... but what was his damn name!?

            A poke from Spike quickly refocused my attention.  Bellissima’s Mist Form was circling underneath Katya, but a swirl of gray mist was rounding on her.  Belli coalesced, glaring furiously up at Katya… and then Fedor rematerialized right behind her!

The Inquisitor started to swing his axe, but Bellissima instinctively ducked, flattening herself on the floor �" just in time, as a broken marble column whooshed over her, swung by Adrianos.  The column connected with Fedor, and there was a loud CRACK of bones shattering.  The Inquisitor went down in a disjointed heap… he stirred, but he didn’t get back up.

Shooting a quick, crooked grin at Adrianos (who went back to helping Makenna deal with the werewolves), Bellissima again turned to red mist, spiraling upward like a crimson corkscrew.  Katya said something in Russian, which echoed throughout the hall, and then added, in English, “maybe I can tame your mists… with cold desire…”

Katya waved her off-hand, and a localized blizzard surrounded her, snow and ice raining down to the floor below.  Bellissima’s pillar of mist seemed to freeze, and then crackled and crumbled… Belli somehow managed to pull herself back together, but she fell a long way down from out of midair, crushing the marble as she hit the floor.

            Bellissima arched her back in obvious pain, and I tried to stand up �" wanting to help her, wanting to do something �" but I just stumbled to my knees again.  “Belli, watch out!” Spike shouted, and Bellissima rolled out of the broken-marble crater she had just created, narrowly avoiding Katya’s attack as she launched herself downward.  Not completely, though… the edge of the broadsword cut deeply into the back of Belli’s calf, spilling a splatter of blood.

            Belli limped away as Katya straightened up, prying the tip of her sword out of the fractured floor.  “Where did you get that dagger?” she asked again.  The summoned snowstorm was still swirling around Katya, but she was looking a little bit winded as well.

            “Darius was my Sire,” Belli said, spitting out a mouthful of blood.  “He gave me his dagger as a gift… it’s mine, now.”

            Katya laughed humorlessly.  “I find that very hard to believe, youngling.”  I shook my head in acute annoyance.

            Bellissima wasn’t amused, either.  “Don’t call me that!  I’m old enough, and skilled enough, to take you on…” �" Belli rolled the dagger over her fingers, a dexterous feat of prestidigitation �" “…and to take you down!”

            “Darius… was an Edict-breaker.  YOU… should not even exist!!”

“Did you have him killed, Katya?  Did you set that brute, that Inquisitor on him!?  I think maybe you did… that’s why I wanted to shoot you dead!”  Belli shook with fury, red filters of rage shuttering over her eyes.  “Were you angry that you couldn’t corrupt him, couldn’t seduce him with power… were you mad because he didn’t love you?  Because he loved me?!?”

“SILENCE!  Hold your bleeding tongue, you foolish Fledgling, you… you don’t know what you’re talking about!”  Katya hopped out of the crater and took a feeble swing at Bellissima with her broadsword, but I could tell that her mind was drifting back through old memories.  I glanced at Siren, hoping she was paying attention and could maybe pluck some of Katya’s stray thoughts out of her pretty blond head… but Siren was still conversing with Lillith in hushed tones.  As far as I knew, they were complimenting each other, at length, on their outfits and/or hairstyles.

Then, Bellissima began waving her weapon, like she was a maestro and the dagger was her conducting baton, and tendrils of mist in all the colors of the rainbow began to gather and twist and turn above them.  Katya just cackled again.

“That won’t work, silly girl, didn’t you learn before?  Your precious mist will just freeze!”

Bellissima grinned wickedly.  “That’s what I’m counting on, comrade…”

Katya looked up, eyes wide, and saw the crisscrossing arches of ice above her.  The topmost one cracked and broke first, which started a domino effect of plummeting, heavy, jagged chunks of ice.

Katya closed her eyes, and brought her sword in front of her face like an upside-down cross, but Bellissima wouldn’t abide her quarry turning to mist to escape her trap.  Belli hurled her dagger at Katya, and it impaled her in the shoulder.  Katya’s eyes popped back open, and she yowled in pain… but her cries, and her body, were soon completely buried under the descending avalanche of snow and ice.

“Belli!!” Spike cried out, as the center of the Great Hall was briefly obscured in a fog of snow and mist.  “You’ll be alright if I leave you here for a sec, right, Nevi?”  I opened my mouth (to say ‘Sure.’), but Spike didn’t exactly wait around for an answer.

She ran over toward a dark shape, standing on top of a hill of ice, which turned out to be Bellissima.  Spike jumped up on the icy mound… and Belli grabbed her when she almost slipped right off again.  Spike gave Belli a fierce hug, and then kissed her.  She really kissed her.

‘Did we win?’  Siren asked, glancing sideways at me, her voice melodious in my head.  I shrugged in her direction.  It sure seemed that way… Spike and Bellissima were still snogging atop the mound of ice, Makenna was tending to Adrianos’s latest wounds (while a dozen-or-so grievously-wounded lycanthropes lay writhing on the floor), and the remaining four ‘Council Superiors were giving each other looks like they didn’t know what was supposed to happen next.

I should’ve known it wasn’t going to be that easy.

Suddenly, the pile of icy chunks blew apart, and there was a ferocious, furious ROAR.  A gargantuan brown bear with glowing red eyes crawled out of the center of the crater, knocking Spike aside with a swipe of its claw.  Spike used her magic to partially break her fall, but she still hit the wet floor hard, and went skidding across it, ending up close to ‘Kenna and Ad.

The bear lunged at Bellissima next, and Belli back-flipped off the edge of the crumbling, melting mound, landing unsteadily on her bare feet.  Siren took at step in Belli’s direction, but Lillith grabbed her arm and pulled her back, shaking her head sternly.

“Nee… nee, bietjie Dani,” Lillith said, and that was the first I’d heard the South African vampiress speak in what I presumed was Afrikaans.  “We mustn’t interfere!”  Siren looked like she wanted to protest, but Lil cut her off.  “You should be glad that your vriend Belli has a fighting chance, at least, thanks to me.  Now, let’s watch Yarost go to work… she sure looks hungry, ja?”

‘Yarost’ was the bear, of course, and at first I thought it was Katya’s animal familiar.  But then, when I saw the dagger still sticking out of the beast’s shoulder, I realized it was Katya’s Bear Form.

Yarost… no, Katya… leapt from the crater, with a speed and agility that no normal bear could have possibly possessed.  She pinned Bellissima beneath her, and Belli screamed as the huge claw raked across her face and chest.

I still felt like I had no strength left, but I had to try to help Bellissima.  I started crawling across the floor… but didn’t get very far before I felt myself being pulled backward.  André flipped me over onto my back, leering down at me.  “Bonjour, again, Monsieur Nevik!  Best beware… this, as you say, ‘Frog,’ has teeth!”  He fell upon me, hissing, fangs bared, but I spied and ether-pulled the Inquisitor’s battle-axe at the last moment, using it as a barrier to keep the enraged Frenchman away from my throat.

I turned my head to the side, not liking the way that Lillith was now eyeing Siren in the least.  “All this blood in the air is tickling my ‘lust…” Lillith idly mused aloud, staring at Siren’s back as Siren was sneaking up on André.  I tried to warn her with a thought, but Siren barely turned around before Lil pounced on her, red cape flapping behind her before settling across them both like a funeral shroud.  “I simply must have a taste of you, dear!”  Siren cried out as Lillith chomped down on her neck… humming that Glamorous little ditty again.

Twisting the handle of the battle-axe, using one of my last reserves of strength, I hurled André off of me, sending him flying across the dais.  He crashed into the empty chair on the far end, to the right of Jeremy King �" who was still sitting cross-legged in his seat, checking his watch and looking downright bored.  With a pointless nod to the obviously unconscious Lord Montrenault, Jeremy stood up and brushed some dust from the sleeve of his suit jacket.  “I really have to go now,” he announced, and Sagaan turned to give him a dirty look.  “Got to meet with an important client… you know, while it’s still dark back in the ‘States.”  That said, he grinned a toothy grin… and disappeared.

I took two heavy steps toward Lillith, fully intending to bury the silvery blade of the axe in her back.  Lil looked up for a moment, her green eyes darkening, Siren’s essence dripping from quite-long fangs… but she barely had to interrupt her meal.

Sagaan’s familiar was before me again, and I almost thought the fact that the tiny, gamboling little capuchin was now the size of a large ape was some sort of illusion.  I ceased to think it was a trick when the monkey punched me in the chest, sending me flying like a rag-doll through the air, landing next to Spike, Makenna, and Adrianos.

I blacked out for a second, but ‘Kenna pulled me up, slapping my face as she called my name.  I opened my eyes and the first thing I saw, over Makenna’s shoulder, was Bellissima, limping toward us.  She had escaped from the bear, Yarost/Katya, but she looked panicked and there was blood smeared across her cheek, neck, and belly.

Before any of us could make another move, Sagaan �" with his monkey back to normal size and crouching on his shoulder again �" floated toward us.  He pointed at the floor in front of us, and a small burning sphere burst forth into existence there… another Portal!

A distant, disturbing sound came from within the Portal… it sounded like the click-clack of a wheel of chance, like you might find at a casino.  The clacking slowed, and then came to a stop… and a little girl vampiress stepped out of the portal.

She had short blond hair, completely white eyes, and tiny, protruding fangs.  She tugged at the violet bow on her green-and-white dress with one hand, and then yanked on the short leash wrapped around the wrist of the other.  At the end of the leash was what looked to be… a dead cat?

The girl smiled coldly at us, and she said her name… even though we all already knew it:

“Hi there.  I’m Mandy.  Would you like to play a game?”

I wanted to say “No, thank you” (actually, what I really wanted to say was “HELL NO, and get away from us you creepy little brat!”), but somehow I knew that it really didn’t matter.  We’d already played the game… and it hadn’t gone well, in the end.

Mandy giggled as she kneeled down on the floor and started drawing a picture there.  No… not a picture, exactly �" more like a symbol… a glyph.  She was drawing it in blood.  And it felt like her red ‘ink’ was being drawn out of me.  From the looks on the others’ faces, I knew they were feeling the same thing.

All the strength left my body.  Adrianos fell backward, his head landing on the side of a nearby were’ like it was a big, wolfy pillow.  Spike and Makenna tumbled down to the floor, their limbs draped over each other like a blood-drunk embrace.  I blinked at the final shape of the glyph: a crude, bloody moth.  The little witch had cursed us.  Not nice.

Mandy snickered to herself again, and then gave a sardonic little wave before disappearing back into the gateway, dragging the cat-corpse behind her.  Sagaan snapped his fingers, and the blazing ball of the Portal winked out of existence.

I sat cross-legged on the floor, between Adrianos and the ladies.  Sound seemed to have been completely leeched out of the Great Hall, like we were now in a perfect vacuum.  As such, it didn’t seem quite so bad to see the giant bear plow into Bellissima from behind… or watch as its drooling maw closed on her shoulder… nor was it quite so horrible when Yarost morphed back into a naked Katya, her fangs tearing into soft flesh, Belli’s mouth opened in a silent scream.

I locked eyes with Yekaterina Ivanov, as she fed on Bellissima Bladedancer �" a ‘young’ vampiress that I cared for very deeply �" with the full intention of draining her to death.  I watched as Katya’s eyes turned from a demonic red, to a shade of blue that was remarkably similar to Belli’s, and then back to her usual pale, crystalline blue.  I knew that she had seen what I’d seen in Bellissima’s blood-memories… nay, even more than that.  She’d seen everything.

“The krov...” Katya murmured, and that’s when I realized sound had returned.

Lillith walked over, leading Siren by the hand.  Siren looked none the worse for wear, save for a tiny smear of blood on her neck.  André approached as well, rubbing the back of his head and giving me the evil eye.  Lillith took off her cape and graciously handed it to Katya, who wrapped it around her nude form.

“What say you, Katya?” Lillith prompted.  “I can’t help but notice that Lady Bladedancer is still, for lack of a better word, ‘alive.’  Isn’t she to be executed this not-so-fine morning??”

Katya shook her head.  “Nyet.”

Adrianos abruptly sat upright, like an internal alarm clock had gone off.  He angrily said something in Spanish, and then looked around like he was ready to pick another fight with Fedor the Inquisitor.

“How are you feeling, Ad?” I asked.  This sudden ‘cease-fire’ was highly disconcerting, but I wasn’t going to complain about it, either.  “More like yourself?”

“Yes… for the moment, anyway.”  He coughed softly, and that made me worry.  But Aussie D’s treat had done the trick.  It had been filled with her own blood, of course.  And it had revived him… for now.

Adrianos reached over, lightly rousing Spike and ‘Kenna, and they woke back up as well.  Sagaan’s monkey hopped down, plucked something out of Spike’s unruly hair, and ate it… the surreal nature of the current state of affairs continued.

Katya picked up Bellissima’s silver dagger from the ground, stared at it again for a handful of moments, and then offered it back to Bellissima, hilt-first.  “Belli, I… I believe this does, in fact, belong to you.”

Bellissima took the dagger back, starting intently at Katya.  “So… why the sudden change of heart, Kat…”  She reconsidered, then said, “Lady Superior Yekaterina?”

Katya wrapped Lillith’s cape more closely around herself, and when she spoke again she sounded quite sad.  “I was acquainted with Lord Darius, as you know.  We… we were intimate, for a time.  I had wanted to make him a part of my retinue, but… he declined.  He’d always been more of… a loner…

“When we declared The Edict, it was with the best of intentions.  There were too many vampires in the world… an overpopulation of Kindred.  If no more could be created, at least for a while, balance would be restored.  Who knew it would lead to a Great War?

“Then Caine disappeared, and things became worse.  There were six of us, then… the warmongers �" Andilaveris, and the others.”  Katya paused to glare over her shoulder at Lillith and André.  “And then the rest of us, who wanted peace again.  But it was always three versus three, on every decision.  We needed a seventh… we needed our Dracul, a new leader.”

Katya hesitated again.  “I chose Darius as a potential Heir, one of the Scions.  How could I not?  He was an Elder… strong, powerful, wise… an excellent swordsman.  And… perhaps I was still mad at him.  To be chosen was not really a blessing.  It was a… proklyatie.”

“A curse.”  Siren inferred the translation.  She shared a knowing look with Adrianos.

“Da,” Katya agreed.  “In December of 1777, I received a missive… a letter, from Darius.  He wanted to renounce himself as a Scion… he wanted no part of it anymore, he wanted out.  He said… that he had fallen in love with a young woman… and that he had turned her…”

“Quoi!?” Lord Montrenault interjected.  “You knew he was an Edict-breaker, even then?  And you said nothing??”

“Oh, stuff it, André!” Lillith said irritably.  “It’s not like your progeny weren’t Siring new vampires all over Europe for centuries!”  André muttered something in French, but said no more.

Katya continued, brushing her hand against Belli’s.  “I now realize that you were that young woman, Bellissima.  I didn’t want to believe it… I was blinded by jealousy, and regret.  But… your blood-memories are very strong.  He did love you.  And you loved him.

“Which is why,” she continued, raising her voice, “I am going to set you on the path to find his killer.  It was not Lord Daemus… that ivory broach is too obvious.  Daemus was a very cunning Nosferatu, he never would have been so careless.  And it was not my Inquisitor.  I did everything in my power… to protect Darius.”

She looked at Ad, Bellissima, and me.  “You are seeking the Scion who poisoned you, Lord Adrianos.  And you, Nevik, the Broker of vampire bounties.  And Darius’s murderer, poor Belli.  What you fail to realize is that it is the same vampire…

“Vorenus.”

 

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