Blizzard (Black Ice Trilogy Book 2) Read online

  We found ourselves entering through the southern portion of the village; the snow had suddenly calmed upon our crossing the threshold of frozen ground to stone walkways, and what awaited us within its borders was nothing short of a massacre. The screams stopped just as quickly as the blizzard’s strength dissipated. Two bodies of the villagers lay at the foot of some stairs leading up to a building, still in their human forms. They had received a swift, violent death unlike their comrade back in the tower. Throats had been torn asunder, leaving gaping holes where their windpipes had been, chest cavities ripped open, and red to pink had flooded the ground surrounding the two bodies. Blood spatters redecorated the sides of the nearest buildings, and their hearts and intestines had been sufficiently removed.

  We waited as Helsing began a precursory review. The village had two to three buildings at a time bundled together. One had caught fire just down the way from where we stood; most had windows that were busted in and out, glass littering the surrounding area. A few had doors hanging crooked from their frames, in and out as a woven design. More bodies lay upon the covered porches that extended out and around many of the buildings; no life was spared. My heart beat in an odd pattern and my breathing was a weight my lungs could hardly bear. Lifeless eyes stared back from a woman who was hanging halfway out of one of the windows; her clothes were shredded from what had been her chest cavity.

  “Ravenous…”

  Death had come swiftly in the mangled form of hardened flesh and claws, silent and vicious in its advance. Helsing had been mumbling the findings loud enough for us to comprehend when a low growl drew our attention away from the musings of the gruesome discovery. Farther up the path, Cheyne had exited one of the buildings; black had replaced the white surrounding his mouth and paws. He stalked towards a figure within twenty feet of where he stood, only looking back a moment to our small band. For a moment I felt it, the heartbreak that was present in his too-human eyes. Still, two more screams reached out through the otherwise silent village.

  Our advance began. Helsing finished his analysis of the bodies, taking note of the lungs having been chewed on but not removed as anticipated.

  “Cheyne.” Thedryk was eyeing the man-beast carefully as he tried to close the distance without causing alarm. “I know how you feel, truly, but you must wait. We cannot kill them all, otherwise—”

  Cheyne ignored the beseeching of Thedryk as the chilling screams came to immediate halts, instead propelling himself forward on the powerful leopard legs. He disappeared around a bend of homes to a stretch of the village that was quickly tangled up in the tree line. None waited for any orders to pursue, but the natural instinct set us all into motion.

  We were upon the final horror left in the village. A woman, half changed into a mountain lion, and a small, shivering child who stood directly behind her. The child was no more than six, I was certain, based on his size. Shoulder length sandy blond hair and dark chestnut eyes were locked in terror, tears involuntarily spilling down his rounded, flushed cheeks. The boy’s pants and nightshirt were the only cover to the chill. His pale skin caught what little moonlight was slipping between the clouds and reflecting off the snow, further emphasizing the blood splatter that covered his long nightshirt and neck. The woman had been cut open enough to keep her from completing her transformation and hindered her from reverting back to human form, but she was alive. Her own eyes were wild and feverish, sweat speckling her forehead as she attempted to apply pressure with one human hand to the open wounds of the mountain lion waist and legs, and simultaneously reaching back to keep the child safe.

  Cheyne stood opposite the two with three of the twisted creatures between them. One lay face down in the snow, cleanly split in half, the second stood holding its torn right arm, and the third stood farther off to the side looking uneasy. It was clear Cheyne and the woman recognized one another. The woman blew away strands of long, brown, loose hair that had fallen into her face. What had once been a meticulously styled bun, four braids woven into the design, was now dancing wild and free in the light breeze that still managed to caress the village.

  While quickly stealing glances from the remaining invaders to Cheyne with her bright, blue eyes, she was giving unspoken direction. Cheyne shifted his position, trying to close in upon the wretched creature that was closest to escaping as swiftly as possible. The creature, not entirely unaware of its situation, did not wait for Cheyne to make any further progress in closing their gap but turned and leapt away. Up and out into the trees it went, shaking the snow from their branches in billowing waves, leaving the two others behind. Even Cheyne was not quick enough to anticipate the sudden reaction; nothing in its stance had given away its intention in that moment. The remaining living creature, bearing fanged teeth behind what looked like charred lips, only snarled.

  “It seems camaraderie is dead.” Helsing spoke to the creature as he took slow, steady steps forward. In the time between its counterpart leaping away into the forest and Cheyne redirecting his attention back to the danger that remained, Helsing had dispersed the members of our group to circle around the two creatures. I remained at the back as Thedryk came along the side of where Cheyne had crouched low to the ground, tail flicking back and forth in wild agitation. Simon was opposite Thedryk, a pincer attack between the two, but they had been too far back for the creature. Rather, their aim was to subdue Cheyne before he unleashed his wrath.

  I looked to the woman, slumped farther down now, relaxed but not fully clear of danger. The child she had been shielding against the encroaching predators had knelt down and placed the woman’s head in his lap. He was stroking her hair while watching the scene unfold before them both; for a moment his dark eyes shimmered to a brilliant golden hue. The woman’s complexion made the snow look warm in contrast. My attention was brought back to the impending attacks, my nerves holding my breath captive.

  “She…waits.” The words were formed, almost infantile in delivery, but clear enough to be understood.

  “They can talk?” In a way I marveled while feeling a slight horror. These, or at least this particular one, could speak. These creatures were most certainly leading us along, possibly to her, though I knew nothing of her aside from my dreadful visions.

  “As I anticipated,” Helsing spoke more to himself, confirming aloud his own speculation. “And where is your mistress now?”

  The creature had fixed its gaze upon me, and my skin crawled under its watchful glare. “Follow, or they know. You already know. All of you will—”

  A mace crushed the creature’s skull, caving it in, and a gush of brain matter and blackened blood exploded from the pressure. Only my gasp of surprise accompanied the crushing sounds. Duval tore away his studded mace, spitting on the ruined corpse.

  “How…why?” I stuttered, fumbling on the words in a rush of anger.

  “What that thing had left to say wouldn’t have been of any use,” Duval answered, speaking the most I had heard the entirety of our travels.

  “Quite right,” Helsing resounded. “We can either follow its little friend, or the locals here apparently know. Or, better yet, one if not all of us already know where to find her, apparently.” Helsing made his way over to the woman; Cheyne still in his form had already wandered over and nuzzled up against the woman. “Shall I have a look?” Helsing tentatively inspected the woman, his own fascination at her present state clear.

  “If I change back there could be more damage, or it could…” the woman paused; shuddering took her words momentarily, giving her time to regard the child. “Cheyne, you need to revert. Oliver needs you, I need you. They’re gone.”

  Cheyne offered a low growl, begrudgingly changing back to a man with no decency. I turned away, providing some privacy. “You will take care of her,” Cheyne spoke to Helsing, not requesting the services he could render.

  “My utmost best. Now here’s a cloak; if you could carry your future bride to your local…doctor? Healer? Whoever’s home for proper care, then we can get on
our way with healing the lovely patient. Neva, could you take the boy, here?”

  I turned to find Cheyne had been cloaked, fully concealed within the folds, and the boy, Oliver, was standing and watching with tear-filled eyes.

  I smiled sympathetically to the boy, walking over and extending my hand slowly. “Hello, young man, I’m Neva. Oliver, was it?”

  He spoke no words, only cautiously taking my hand in response. At least there was that; he must have been terrified all this time, and that caused a ripple of pain as I thought of Lucy. Urgency nearly broke me to leave them all behind and chase after the creature to find the woman and where I knew Lucy must assuredly be held. I could not, though. This child needed me, and I could help him. The thought of abandoning any child, ever again, was unfathomable.

  Helsing worked through the remainder of the night, and the woman was stronger than any other. She had been awake the entire time but made no noise to indicate the pain. She had refused any alcohol, which Helsing had a surprising amount available, and Helsing refused to use any medication to ease the suffering. His response when I questioned his practice was “I don’t know how their bodies work; it could kill her, bleed her out quicker, put her under and cause her to never wake again. That, and she refused that, as well.”

  As I stayed with Oliver so did the rest of the men, with the exception of Thedryk. His practical knowledge of medicine, and apparent learned skills of surgery from Helsing, meant he was required to be at Helsing’s side. They completed their work just before dawn crept in between the trees, just as Oliver fell asleep in his own bed.

  “Cheyne,” Helsing greeted him with a sense of foreboding. “We have done all we can. She is a marvelous woman; I believe she will heal up quite well. She reverted back to her human form halfway through the procedure, which is what took us so much longer than I expected, but even that worked out for the best. She will need rest for weeks.”

  Before he could finish, Cheyne embraced Helsing, almost silencing him completely. “Thank you. Can I be with her now?” Cheyne pulled back, his eyes reflecting the emotions roiling behind the otherwise hardened face.

  “She is resting.” Helsing ran his hand through his hair. “If you can be by her side without waking her, then yes.” Helsing caught Cheyne as he tried to leave immediately. “But first we need lodging right away, a place where no sunlight can be let in, and if she wakes at all, you come fetch me without delay.”

  Cheyne nodded slowly. “We have a special place, one that has not been used for quite some time. You and your friends can stay there.”

  We were all surprised to find Cheyne indicating a building that was at ground level rather than raised, which, once we were within it, provided sublevels that led underground.

  As we entered, a shared sense of caution kept each of us closely in line. “How wonderfully fortuitous,” Helsing remarked, a strong suggestion of sarcasm present in his voice. “You have such a perfect place for my companions to rest.”

  Cheyne stopped short of a door at the end of the hallway we had traversed. “This place was built especially for those of your kind.” Opening the door revealed a room too refined for the location. The door itself was solid metal, no cracks or creases for any light to get in, not that it could have based on the distance from the building’s entrance to the room’s.

  “You’ve been identified,” Helsing teased us. “Who designated these quarters to be constructed?”

  We entered, one after another. Helsing, myself, Thedryk, Simon, Hadi, Duval, and Merrick last. A familiar scent and appearance of the room told me all I needed to of the architect and designer. Walls had been erected and painted a crisp white; even the meager candlelight could reveal its prior glory. A few pieces of fine furniture had been arranged at the heart of the room: a table with eight chairs and four sets of beds stacked double atop one another. All was made from wood, no doubt local to the very woods we found ourselves in, the smell still lingering. The flooring had been smoothed down, stone laid in pattern with a large area rug beneath the table and chairs. While the wood was of a natural color, reminding me of pine in its honeyed shade, the rug provided depth with colors of plum, burgundy, cream, and sapphire green.

  “Who had this room constructed?” I asked, though I knew.

  Cheyne eyed me carefully before answering. “Lady Eliza.”

  His response drew my eyes slowly to Thedryk, who had taken a seat at the table, his belongings already set to a designated bottom bed.

  “Much thanks are owed to you, and this Lady Eliza, for such hospitality and preparedness.” Helsing almost seemed to be in a sing-song mood with his words, too gleeful. “Now you should hurry back to your Alice. Time with your loved ones is always precious.” Those words, however, held a secret sorrow. They had been spoken with a level of passion Helsing had not previously displayed. His enthusiasm for all things scientific, medical, and mystical was a particular tone, one of fervor to expand. But this was a heartbeat.

  “In the next room—” Cheyne gestured to the one door at the opposite end of the room “—you can find a wash room within, pump ready. The water will be freezing, but it should work fine. I’ll return at sunset.”

  Cheyne left, and for an extended period of time I simply stood watching the rest get situated. Each man chose their beds and finally took a seat at the table. I was beyond any level of compulsion to sit and join them, answers were necessary.

  I set my own belongings just beyond the door and stood at one end of the table that had remained clear. The idle chatter that had picked up among all the men slowed and stopped completely; an icy glare can do that.

  “It’s time for you to tell me everything you know, Thedryk.” His name was a shard of glass upon the tip of my tongue. “And anyone else who would like to fill in some blanks, you are more than welcome to participate.”

  Helsing raised his hands in defeat as I eyed him precariously.

  “There really isn’t as much as you imagine, Neva,” Thedryk began. “I’m afraid I won’t have nearly as many answers as either of us would prefer.” He cast an unhappy glance up at me, watching and waiting for my response.

  I mustered a thin-lipped line. “Then I should say telling me all you know, as of now, should be more than sufficient. That, and letting me know what you know as things progress; that wouldn’t be asking too much, would it?” My words were biting, and Thedryk flinched at their execution. “How about we start with you, Helsing. Just what are you? I know not human. I could smell something different in your blood, not to mention your healing and stamina are beyond human boundaries.

  Helsing smiled, reminding me of a cat preparing to eat its prey at my remarks. “I have known Thedryk, Eliza, and Zachariah for many centuries now. You are devilishly perceptive, you know.” Empty praise I ignored. “Zachariah was, is, remarkably intelligent. Far beyond his time, as I found. Far beyond mine in science and the medical field, which is what drew me so closely to his experiments. Well…” Helsing tapped his fingers across the table. “The point is, I became a subject to his experiments and have lived with the price. There were others who have suffered the same consequence.”

  “And? What are you then, and how many others?” I could feel the lines permanently etching themselves into my forehead.

  “Lycanthrope. A werewolf.”

  I stared in confused disbelief; those were creatures we had been taught were pure myth, stories for bedtime to keep children safe indoors. Not real, not as vampires were.

  “Come now, Lady Neva, try not to let this little development hinder our progress.”

  “I just…never expected…” A laugh cackled out of my mouth before I could stop it. I shook my head and continued, “It is what it is, then. What does that mean for you, Helsing?”

  “Full moons are quite an exciting time, but I can change any time I so please. It just so happens that a full moon seems to raise the animal side in an uncontrollable manner. Don’t fret, my dear Lady Neva, I am always prepared with precautionary measures.” H
elsing winked, seeming entirely confident of himself.

  Demons and vampires, I had always accepted as real. Shapeshifters were new to me, and werewolves were more than just stories. Why not? I mused to myself, a slight smile matching the steady gain of lunacy. “Thedryk, your turn.” Taking a seat, I turned to regard his silent demeanor.

  Giving a slight displeased grumble, Thedryk began, “Everything is a mess. That woman, your description of her, it sparked some memories that…I don’t know. It’s like they were stored away, rooms within rooms of my mind, layers that seem endless. Those rooms, the doors that have kept shut have begun opening. Every day I am remembering more.”

  “You recognize her?”

  “Yes, I have memories of her. Memories of laughter, random bursts of times together that I can feel were centuries’ worth. I fear, no. I know she is the root cause for my memory…I guess I can’t entirely say loss, but misplacement. What I don’t understand is that I remember her dying, I watched her die…she can’t be alive.”

  “How did she die? She’s clearly very much alive, and if she has any control over memories, she was alive at some point to do this to your memories.”

  Thedryk only hung his head, shaking his acceptance of my theory. “The carriage,” he remarked quietly. “I don’t recall why, but she had been sentenced to death. We placed the carriage within the heart of the home you were born in and left her to die, and by all accounts she died.”

  “We’re past that; she’s alive. You knew her, so I surmise Eliza, Zachariah, and possibly you, too, Helsing, knew her. I am certain she is full vampire, and her powers in my visions combined with what you have told me…the sooner you and the others remember, the better our situation. Do you recall why she was sentenced to death? If she broke any laws, wouldn’t the blood oath have taken effect?”

  Thedryk had raised his head; his eyes held dark storms within. “I’m sorry, Neva. There is just too much I don’t recall. It is clear from my memories she was…is, as you claimed. A full vampire.”