Blizzard (Black Ice Trilogy Book 2) Read online

  He leaned close to my ear. “Yes, I’m afraid so.” He placed one large hand across my forehead and neck and gently squeezed my hand with his other. “We need to get you back to the castle now. I might be able to save her.” He spoke more loudly. “You three go to the village and see if you can find any carriage.”

  “Sh…shouldn’t we…re-re-remove the sword?” Thedryk stuttered his words. I had never known him to be so broken apart, though I couldn’t see his face as he knelt behind me.

  “No,” Xavier responded firmly. “Right now it may be the only thing keeping her alive. She could bleed out if I do not have access to my tools, or some tools.”

  A sob escaped my mother as I watched my father bandage her, his own eyes shimmering in the growing daylight. “She will make it, won’t you, my dahlia?”

  I smiled, weakly, and fell beneath the veil of consciousness. There, I encountered Reegan one last time.

  WE NEVER MADE it to the castle. Instead, my mother, father, and Xavier opted for the village, much closer and with some supplies for Xavier to use. During that short trek, Reegan came to me one last time, and I was shocked to see him only as a man. Nothing more, no demonic energy, no malice. Just a man who sat in a well-lit room, contemplating any number of things for which I had no concern. I wanted to kill him all over again, more violently, see more suffering, but they were emotions I could not put into action, instead watching him in a form of wonder.

  The room we were in this time was illuminated by white light, similar to what I had produced, with pristine walls defining the space. It was not quite as confined as the previous, but neither was it large. Easily sized as a moderate study, minus the books and creature comforts, except a fireplace, two chairs, and a simple table. One chair sat, waiting for my acceptance.

  “Come, sit with me, Kareese. You have already done what damage you can to me, and me to you.”

  I felt some truth and lie intermingling in his words, but I hesitantly accepted.

  Just a man, underneath it all…only a man. I noted he was indeed physically handsome. Yet, for all that aesthetic beauty, there was an emptiness to him even here, wherever here was.

  “It’s unfortunate, wouldn’t you say?” he mused, staring into the heart of the fire.

  “That I should have to see you again? Yes, most unfortunate.” There was still some hate that I did wish to hide.

  “When you were near me, I almost came fully into the powers my family sought for so very long. Do you know how many decades, how many centuries, how many generations of my family have sought the power I barely grasped?”

  Acknowledging him seemed like conceding, so I chose to turn my gaze to the fire, a small part of me hoping the flames would leap out and burn him to ash for my pleasure.

  “Of course you don’t; you are but an infant in the grand scheme of things, barely a speck, yet—you were the catalyst that could have changed everything. You witnessed a sliver of the power. I stopped time. I stopped TIME.” Reegan was leaning forward from his wing-backed chair, his chin jutted forward, teeth clenching tightly before he regained his composure.

  “No one should have such power, let alone evil people such as yourself.” I had engaged him, a mistake I felt, but I was dying. What did it matter now?

  “Evil? Such is in the eye of the beholder: subjective in truth. I simply wished to remold the world. We are not the only entities living here, though we choose to ignore all others because we will always fear what we cannot understand.”

  “Subjective? You killed innocent people! Children!”

  “Food for my true subjects. Does your family not slaughter the lamb and deer? Are they not innocent?”

  “That’s not the same thing—”

  “Because they have souls? They are blessed by God?” Reegan mock-laughed at my sentiment, a barking sound. “You may have killed my corporeal body, daughter, but I will return. The realm beyond this mortal life holds much more promise, and after you have died my time will come again. You cannot stop the changing tides.”

  “Why bother telling me, then?” Hate burned through my heart, into my eyes that visualized the different ways to hurt him, even if only in this dream.

  “We all go somewhere when we die. I want you to suffer knowing that when you die here, shortly, there is nothing you will be able to do to save your loved ones. All your fighting has been a waste of time and effort, only prolonging the inevitable.” Reegan smirked, leaning back in his chair resting peacefully.

  I watched as the tension left his body. He had wanted to torture me, wanted me to suffer thinking I was helpless, but I only smiled at first. His tension returned quick as lightning.

  “You are mistaken, Devil. I may be dying, but I have one way to ensure you never walk in physical body upon the whole of Auria again.”

  “Lies, from a petulant little girl. Too afraid to admit you have lost?” Reegan chided.

  I did not relent. “You are an arrogant fool.” I felt my blood boiling. I had my own victory of sorts in seeing his unease. “Did you think coming after the strongest, the one who would grant you immeasurable power, would not have a way of ending your existence here, forever?” I provided my own cruel laugh, pure in my victory, “Yes, I will die, but not without knowing you have lost entirely.” I stood, looking down upon Reegan. “Never again will you or your kind cross the barrier of realms into the world of the living.”

  The last sight I had of Reegan was his rage, paired with a spreading grin, before I was shaken from the dream, my body producing violent tremors that forced the blade a little farther this way and that.

  “Kareese…” My mother was looking at my face once more, her own wounds bandaged, with blood and ash hardened to her skin. It almost appeared as an armor. She hadn’t bothered to wash up; I knew she had not left my side.

  Scanning the room as much as I dared, I did not recognize the location, but the people around me provided some peace. “Mom.” The word squeaked out with my emotions. “I don’t have much time.” Being awake meant feeling the pain. The blade itself was painful enough, but there had definitely been poison soaking its razor-sharp edge, and that was causing the involuntary shaking. “Must bless my body, the spell, it’s time.”

  “No.” Her moan broke my heart; she was awash in devastation. “Please, my darling, you don’t have to—”

  “He will return.” I touched her cheek, my hand providing a spasm as I felt the warmth from her skin. “If I don’t do this.” Closing my eyes, I could feel the warmth of emotions within the room. Affection, heartbreak, loss, despair, but also love so deep I could almost envision it as an ocean surrounding me. “A bowl, a canteen, or pitcher…something to contain my blood.”

  “Your blood?”

  “Do this now, please, someone.”

  To my surprise it was Thedryk who supplied a large pitcher from within a cupboard. As he approached, I could see his leg had been bandaged as well, wood placed to either side, causing him to walk stiffly. Handing the pitcher to my mother, he took only a few shuffled steps back, staying within my field of vision. His face was pale from its usual warmth, and I worried for him. My father stepped forward and knelt beside my mother, his face a broken mess of confusion and hurt.

  “What can we do?” he asked, some fear and doubt in his voice.

  So many new experiences of emotions enveloped me and threatened to break my resolve. “When I tell you to, remove the sword and collect my blood.”

  “Why?” My mother’s voice was a husked sound, unnatural and predatory.

  I felt a shiver as I took a breath shakily; I was down to minutes. “One of you, at least one, will have to drink the blood.” Thedryk paled visibly. “It will be blessed, and it will act as a seal upon our world. For as long as you live, and your future children live.”

  Another tremor shook my body with violent spasms, and I felt Xavier’s hands firmly gripping my head and shoulders. It lasted a few moments longer than I would have liked before passing. My mother’s sobbing was being pres
sed into my father’s chest. I took solace that they had one another.

  Panting, I licked my dry lips and found my tongue wet, the taste of blood fresh. “Never will Reegan be able to return here.”

  My father was whispering into my mother’s ear. I could hear him telling her they had to be strong, for myself if not the others. Her head nodded shakily as she pulled back, wiping away tears with her one good arm.

  “I will do it.” She turned her eyes, the mirror of mine, upon me and gently stroked my face, her hands still wet from the tears she had wiped away.

  My breathing was rapidly becoming shallower with each exhalation, so I spared no further words of love, remorse, or comfort before I began the blessing:

  Blessed be the sacrifice for light,

  Blood born bonds to consume the night.

  Sacrifice of flesh and soul require

  Relinquishing death and its insatiable desire.

  Purity of the trinity within thy heart,

  Time and power must depart.

  “Now,” I gasped, the words strenuous at best. “Remove the sword, collect my blood, and drink to seal the blessing.”

  For a moment my mother’s eyes fixed upon mine, looking as the sky shattered. “I love you.” Whispered words before she removed the sword in one swift motion. I heard a cry, as I felt the blood pouring from my stomach, using the last of my strength to lean over a bit further. In that body there was silence, warmth that dissipated, and I could feel myself passing through waves of time.

  Then I was back in my own body with my eyes fluttering against a soft light, voices around and above me. I waited for my vision to clear, the light painfully bright though I understood it to be dull.

  “We need time to recuperate.” I could hear Eliza speaking, her voice cracking. Groaning nearby came from both Xavier and Thedryk, dry coughing accompanying the irritated noises.

  “Neva, we will speak soon enough. Try to rest a bit before getting up. How long were we down for?” A quiet voice connected indiscernible words. “A month?” Eliza’s voice broke, and my eyes shot open to find only blurred figures as I tried to sit up.

  Eliza sighed and quickly tried to recompose herself. “We knew there were some risks in this. Has Helsing returned? Is there any news?” More inaudible mutterings before Eliza responded with a softened, “Ah. Then let us rest. Bring us glasses please, and prepare baths. We will need assistance.”

  I heard several feet shuffling across the floor, a door opening blistered the room with bright, unbearable light, causing me to cry out in my own pain.

  It took a week before we were fully able to return to our normal activities. Within the first twenty-four hours we discussed the past, the truth, I had seen. It was as they had seen and experienced it, and as my first human form had experienced. Drinking from the glasses, rather than being fed by tubes, soothed the soreness of our throats and gave us the reprieve to speak freely.

  “Kareese…I made a terrible mistake.” I was clasping a cup between my hands, feeling warmth radiating from within. “The idea was that the blessing would be something passed down through bloodlines. I misunderstood the meaning entirely.”

  Eliza sat opposite me in her own bed, propped up watching me carefully. Both Thedryk and Xavier had departed for their respective washings. “We all did, even I who knew the words of the blessing. There was no way of realizing what it could lead to, that it would lead to this. It was so…outside of what our priestess line stood for.”

  “If Reegan was a demon when he…when you conceived me, though…I was in such a rush to prove him wrong. To have defeated him, it’s—”

  “There was no time to consider all those facts, and you were so young.” Pain had made distinct lines across Eliza’s forehead and decorated her eyes. “It is my fault for all the pressure I put upon you. I did not consider the possibilities myself. What’s done is done, in any case, trying to lay claim to the blame will not change our present or future.”

  “I am sorry for what you went through, Eliza. I’m also terribly embarrassed by my own actions of my other self…but I wonder, has it worked?” I had been staring at the dark outline of my façade within the deep red liquid, considering the failure when I felt the fear stir. “Is Reegan truly gone?”

  “Don’t feel bad. What happened to me was unfortunate, but I did have Kareese. I had joy in the days that followed; it wasn’t all constant training, death, and misery. As for Reegan being truly gone, I would say yes and no. Demons have not been seen since, though that does not mean they do not exist. Nor does it mean Reegan isn’t in the shadows himself somewhere in that other realm. There he shall remain, though, thanks to your sacrifice. Kareese’s sacrifice.” Eliza’s shoulders hung just a bit lower at the statement. “Still, why should you question that now?”

  I shifted uneasily. “He seemed terribly confident he could find a way back, and the youth of Kareese scoffed at that because of pride, but now…several lifetimes later and with the knowledge I’ve gained, I wonder. Could he have known the outcome?”

  Eliza sat watching me. I could feel her gaze beckoning me, forcing me to look to her. “Should he ever return, we will be here and be more powerful than he ever bargained for, Neva. For now, we should focus on strengthening you in whole, and time will do as it always has: lead us into whatever the future may hold.”

  TWO MONTHS HAD passed since I banished Zachariah to that other world. That which was filled with secrets that kept the castle brightly lit, that introduced the miraculous technology that was an incessant reminder of my lost memories and time across the spectrum of lives previously lived. It was time all the others had been putting to their advantageous use.

  Upon returning to the main floors of the castle after the month of memory-traveling, I discovered half of the vampires had vacated the castle. Of that half, only a fraction could be truly trusted and counted upon based on Eliza’s word. By the third day following the revelations I received, Eliza had dispatched roles to be fulfilled immediately due to the nature of recent of events. Thedryk had been assigned to reviewing all medical notes Zachariah had left behind, and outside of my training that Eliza provided, she reviewed his personal notes. The course of their progress in Zachariah’s personal and medical journals were equally marred by dissent in each of their emotional and mental stability.

  Of course, I still had many questions. What happened after my passing, truly? The stories I had been told throughout my life, the present life of Neva, to be precise, had all been turned and twisted. A male had been the savior, not Kareese. A group had absconded to the mountains for this male savior’s birth, knowing this was a blessed event, with the Order already in place.

  That had not been the case for nearly the entire ordeal; all the facts and truths were skewed. The marvel of it all was how mankind had changed the story to benefit men, keeping them as the sacred protectors of the weak. When I considered this reality, I could do nothing but laugh and understand the way of the world.

  “Why did no one correct these misconstrued tales?” My query drew Eliza back from her tunneled focus of Zachariah’s personal journals, her face taut from the concentration.

  “Well…” Eliza gave way to a slight sigh, as though releasing a small bit of the tension that was building. “Many people knew who we were in the early days. There were those who knew, closest to the situation, what had transpired. Just what Reegan had done, selling his body and soul the way he did. Still, many remained loyal, and those who had not been close to the situation had no way to possibly fathom the terrible deeds he executed. After we drank your blood and becoming vampires, rumors began, and it was believed we were the dark ones, the evil ones.” Eliza set down the leather-bound journal, stained a deep red and its cream pages yellowed from years of use. “I can understand the confusion. The best we could do was provide a new story, one that explained the ruined lands we had fortified and you had been raised within—”

  “Ruined lands?”

  “Ah.” Eliza paused a moment, til
ting her head as a cracking noise snapped across the room. “I forget you still don’t remember many of your lives. The damage Reegan and his demons caused, their blood soaking the fields, just their presence and the portals Reegan brought them through poisoned the land. Even now, most of that land is uninhabitable. Centuries later and it’s still damaged beyond recognition.” Sorrow slipped in with Eliza’s fading voice.

  “But…you have been there? I had heard of such land beyond our kingdom. We were told demons and vampires laid claim to that land, but it’s precisely where the…a…battle was fought, and I had believed Alexander had perished.” The memory ripened the still fresh wounds in my heart, the betrayal that festered when I considered what I had seen of Zachariah from my first life and to what I knew of him now.

  “Yes, many times. It’s an area we maintain a vigilant watch upon. There are no demons on that land, but it can make anyone ill. I imagine all those soldiers who traipsed upon the land went into battle in less than their best form.” Eliza stopped herself as she turned her distant gaze to my face, reading clearly the hurt welling up from within. “So yes, we changed the story ourselves. Thedryk did not drink your blood immediately, as you have no doubt gathered. He was who we utilized to help spread the revised story of a male savior who fought to save the world, and those who had been under our protection.” Eliza let out a softened but bitter chuckle. “Yes, people love to hear such a story. One that will liven their hearts, give them hope, anything but the truth.”

  I watched her eyes become distant as the stars above once more, dilated almost completely. She was no longer looking at me but through me, to something my intuition whispered to be insidious. “The truth is filthy and painful, a bitter reminder that life can be without compassion, it can be unfair, and people barely survive on what little hope they have as it is.” Then she was back, her eyes slowly returned to normal, the cavernous black of her pupils diminished to reveal the crystal blue irises.