Blizzard Page 32

  There, I saw the source of the true terror. What was reflected was not me, but a monster, the ones I had been warned about since my childhood. My fangs had fully extended, my skin had sucked tight, looking as though I were a cadaver, a husk, dried out over time. My eyes appeared sunken, my skin sallow, and my eyes had taken up their own stripes of red in between all the others of my iris. It was brief but enough to cause me to jump back at the sight and find the others had stepped back equally in their own surprise. All but Helsing and Thedryk.

  “What happened?” My words slurred as I watched Helsing hand the mirror back to Merrick, and Thedryk stepped forward, guiding me down carefully.

  “There are workings here I don’t have answers for, I’m afraid.” Helsing was genuinely apologetic. “For now I have given you something to help you relax and…there, it’s working quite well. You will be back to your usual self fairly shortly. I should advise that it may cause you to sleep for a little while. In our current situation I cannot say whether that is a good thing or not…”

  I was crying, and I was so sick of crying it made me want to claw out my eyes, but Thedryk turned my face to look only at his. Wiping away the tears as he cupped my face, thumbs gently stroking, peace was a lullaby that pressed down upon my eyelids.

  “We are in a hidden room outside the sanctuary. I have a passageway that connects, but we will be safe for now as the sun has risen.” Eliza’s voice grew somewhat louder. I felt her hand trace over my forehead. “Rest now. Too much has happened for any—” but I was gone beneath that icy veil of calm, so far removed from the troubles that waited for my reawakening.

  Finally, there were no dreams, no fights, no conversations held with the woman I had come to know was Kareese’s half-sister. My half-sister.

  Waking was the difficult part, not from panic, adrenaline, fear, or fresh wounds. I could hear others speaking around me, their words seeping in painfully. As my eyes opened, I felt pain striking lines, cutting through the core of my brain like a comet cutting the sky. Blinding and burning up everything in its path, slowly dissipating as voices surfaced and rose up in bubbling waves.

  “…she is. Those visions can be of use to us, at the very least. Just remember what each has shared and be prepared.” Helsing had been addressing the group, all standing around the table with severe expressions.

  “How likely is it she would go along with this plan? I don’t believe after everything she would be likely to join us on this suicide mission. All that training and for what? Look at what she became after one stretch of pushing herself.” Eliza paused; I could hear a breath taken in response that halted just within the throat. “I know she has not had enough time, but we don’t have time. Beyond that, she likely views us as—”

  “She’s awake.” Duval’s voice reached out from my side across the room.

  Lifting myself up by my elbows, I began blinking rapidly, trying to focus my eyes.

  “Fetch her some drink now,” Helsing directed, and Thedryk came over to me, checking my features as he sat next to me. “Top off and we should have no more concerns for you turning completely.”

  “Turning completely?” My mouth was sand, throat fire, and stomach a shriveled prune.

  Eliza had walked closer, keeping her distance. “Vampires who do not manage their thirst with their exertion can turn to something less than pleasant.”

  Thedryk brought me the waterskin Oliver had given us, passing it to me with the lid removed. I drank, nearly emptying the entire thing myself. The blood was surprisingly warm, tasting fresh from the source. Handing the waterskin back, I watched everyone else in a sheepish state, recalling how my face had looked. Terrifying, distorted, and vicious.

  “No need to trouble yourself, Lady Neva. You would not have become like those creatures; your change was nothing as theirs.” Helsing reassured me, though that had not quite been my concern.

  “No, her change was something entirely different.” Eliza stayed her distance, watching me like an exotic animal but refusing to speak any further.

  “It would be most appreciated if someone, anyone of you, would fill me in on what has happened. I take it you have a plan in place?” Each symptom subsided and eased, my strength returning in a tingling wave.

  “The summarized version…” Eliza offered, though she appeared ready to flee at any given moment. “I knew who had your niece and where. But not who she really was. I sent Jonah and Piper to survey the situation. They did not return personally but did send word of what they found. By that time you and Thedryk had fled, and when word reached me I had the opportunity to secure safe passage for everyone else in the castle, though I had to leave our special guests in their locked chambers.”

  I felt myself blinking slowly, as though each close and open were a true strain for the natural movements.

  “No sooner had I evacuated the sanctuary and completed preparations for what was to occur, Hadi arrived with his message. You can imagine the rest, but the plan now is to infiltrate the castle and subdue Felicity. By any means necessary.”

  “You knew before we left?” Whatever Helsing had given me still lingered but was wearing off quickly since drinking from the waterskin. “How long had you known?”

  Eliza looked away, to the group, the floor, the ceiling. I had never seen her so agitated. She was disheveled; not having control of the situation caused her distress to manifest in the distracted manner.

  “Yes,” she admitted, the word coming out tight, and she exhaled with excessive force. “But only just before you left. In the library, when you were reading the provided texts, I read it in the journal. Her name, her description. Zachariah left clues and notes, notating that he kept remembering bits and pieces, would forget all over again, and repeat the process. Only re-reading his own journals gave him any guidance, but she altered him so frequently, I fear…she’s the reason he ended up so warped.”

  Before us all, before me stood the vulnerable woman who ached for the man she had once loved dearly. I could sense the emotions of self-doubt and guilt tearing her apart, and she could not hold back her tears any longer. They forged their own paths as streams carve the land, unrelenting in their direction.

  The rush of unruly wrath that had taken the reins moments before fizzled. This woman was a stranger that neither Kareese nor I as Neva had truly known. Perhaps in no life in between had we ever met. Here was the human within Eliza, the wife, mother, lover, daughter, and fighter that could no longer hang on for the final fight. She was defeated by the revelation of Felicity, of the influence and infection she caused.

  “Is what she said true, about her and Kareese?” I watched Eliza separate herself from Thedryk, her head hanging low with sniffles bobbing her head.

  “Yes,” Eliza croaked gently.

  “How did this happen?” My tone came out cross, accusatory in some unintentional manner.

  “I…we didn’t know. When it happened, when we first drank your blood, that I was pregnant.” Eliza lifted a trembling hand to her mouth, pressing it to her tightened lips as she took in long, deep breaths.

  “Oh, God.” I had to look away; I couldn’t stand to see Eliza in her fragile state. “Why…what happened? Thedryk…” I sat recollecting everything that had transpired in the past twenty-four hours. “You said she did something terrible…killed people?” I turned, regarding Thedryk with Eliza clearly in my view standing next to him. Simon pulled a chair up behind her, guiding her to sit down.

  Thedryk’s face became a disgruntled show, twisting and pulling as he grasped for the words. “Well she…there’s more history here than we have time for, really—”

  “Then give me the highlights.” My response was harsh, but monotone, pulling him from his uncomfortable contemplation.

  “Well…” Still he struggled, and my temper ran short as I began shaking my foot and leg. “We built a village. Put people in it, all the technology and wonders of that other world. It was magnificent…” Thedryk’s expression shifted; he became distant and nea
rly forlorn. “But there were mixed reactions. Inside, and out, of the village we created. People living there experienced an easy life, one of greater luxury. Some became arrogant and decided they did not need our help in maintaining their lives, others began to rely on our help too much, and those outside the village, those who did not understand its origins, called it the devil’s work. Witchcraft…anything you can think of with negative connotations, they so labeled it. It wasn’t long before fighting broke out, and those who wanted to run the village on their own won and decided to horde the newfound technology to themselves.”

  “She went in and wiped out everyone. Everyone.” Eliza ended Thedryk’s explanation for him. “Then she went beyond and began killing people who had opposed the village all around. We did what we had to by capturing and imprisoning her. The Council met and determined her fate had to be death. These weren’t the first incidents of her killing humans without mercy. Eliza seemed to shrink further inside her own body. “Though it had never been on such a scale. She had never killed children, babies, but some she killed by her sword, and others she drained of all their blood. They never stood a chance against her. She was always stronger than us all, faster, the deadliest vampire to exist. Full-vampire…she was merciless.” Eliza’s eyes were pools filled with unknown depths, only heartbreak clear upon the surface.

  I waited for more, taking the time to consider the flow of events before asking, “What of her ability?”

  Finally, Eliza looked to me with her face and body hardening. “It’s permanent for humans, normally. With vampires it’s strong, and it can be lasting as long as there are no strong emotional reminders, anything to trigger the memories.”

  “Yes, but how does it work?”

  “I…I don’t have all the answers for that. Only, she can manipulate memories. Not wipe them out, but it’s like reorganizing a library where she moves the memories to another shelf, one that either cannot be reached or in a section where the individual does not wish to return.”

  “But…it didn’t work on me, not even when I was human.”

  “No,” Thedryk agreed. “I recall a number of times she had to change your memories, but you always managed to recall them. That, at one time, had been proof of who you were alone, to me at least.”

  “She hated Zachariah yet held some affinity for Reegan.” I was trying to make sense of the connections. “Is there any possible way she could have contacted Reegan? And how did she find Reegan’s man? He was there; he had been turned.”

  “These are all things there are currently no answers for.” Eliza stood, exhaling slowly. “But we’re running out of time now. Whatever she has planned, we have to stop her.” Eliza’s words were true enough, the encroachment of something terrible waiting to occur was like ice biting our skin.

  “What’s the plan?”

  For all my bitterness, I ached for the woman I had once known as my mother. She was struggling to be strong and overcome the torrent of memories and emotions that had not finished their assault, and I understood those feelings all too well.

  “There is more than one way to enter the castle discreetly, to go unnoticed. The problem is, Felicity has knowledge of them all thanks to this having been her long-term residence,” Helsing explained.

  Eliza was the one resting as I stood around the table getting the briefest rundown of the plan.

  “The best option is to split up into groups of two, at least, and enter through select points.” Helsing had drawn a crude map of the sanctuary and pointed out the locations he felt best.

  “Do you know where Felicity is within the sanctuary?” I asked.

  Helsing provided a crooked grin in response. “Most likely in the heart of this happy little home.”

  “That would be?” Truly, I could not imagine where Felicity would consider the heart of the sanctuary, having apparently lived there for years beyond my time.

  “Our war room.” Thedryk’s face was contemplative, if not flat with his answer.

  “Ah, of course. The one place with all the technology and weapons close at hand—and where the others are being kept.” Growling a sigh of frustration, I crossed an arm across my chest, gripping the opposite arm, and rubbed the bridge of my nose with my free hand. “Was anything secured from her reach, or does she have complete access to everything?”

  “I ensured everything was protected from her possible advance. She should be in a slight hindrance as such,” Eliza responded quietly from where she stood.

  “How confident are you that she cannot access any of the weapons?”

  Eliza was silent at my question.

  “That’s how it is then. She could have access to the weapons and everything else. We will be at a disadvantage…” Visions flashed in brilliant flares, reminding me of what awaited us beyond the next sunset.

  “Neva.” It was Thedryk’s commanding tone, the one that spoke of fearless leadership and unparalleled confidence. “We know what your visions reflected. When we go in, we are all going in with those…possibilities engrained in our mind’s eyes. Find faith that we will make this through, without losses. I believe it.”

  While endearing, I could not pass the foreboding that loomed before us.

  BY HELSING’S TERMS, it was a simple enough plan. We would be divided into groups of two, each taking a separate entrance, thus reducing Felicity’s options to repel our attack. She would not know who was where, and there were other entrances to where she lay in wait, too. Thedryk and I were to take the entrance from the garden, Helsing and Eliza through the most direct entrance of the front door, Simon and Merrick from the stables, and Duval would enter alone through the kitchen.

  “Benjamin and Alana are hidden within a room, one that has since been added from when Felicity was there, just beyond the kitchen. Along the hallway from the kitchen to the spare rooms you will take twenty paces. Feel along the base of the floor; you will find a slight gap between two stones. Slide your fingers in and press down, hard. It will unlock the door; they will be waiting within for directions. Duval.” Eliza had his full attention. “You let them know as swiftly as you can it is Felicity, and what has to be done, and nothing more.” She addressed the rest of us, “What we don’t know is how many of those creatures she has running loose within the sanctuary.”

  Helsing nodded, adding, “Our main goal is to get to where Felicity is waiting and subdue her with no casualties on our own side. If you find yourself in a bind, get out of it.”

  “What sage advice, Helsing,” Merrick teased, a slight smile spreading across his face.

  “Don’t take unnecessary chances is all I mean.” Helsing nodded Merrick’s way.

  “And if we fail, Helsing?” Duval wiped away any humor that had tried to bud between the men.

  “Then we will find out just what our darling Felicity has planned.” There was no humor to be found. “And I would rather we not.”

  Thedryk’s lips formed a tight smile, but his eyes refused to meet his usual intention.

  Our meeting concluded, each of us preparing with our weapons, cloaks pulled and secured into place, and the plan to be executed. Following a long hallway, similar to what we had experienced back with Cheyne in his village, the door opened up and out, silently introducing us to a snow-filled forest, trees standing strong against the weight of the glittering beauty. The stairs had become nearly a vertical climb, and we soon discovered why. We were along the side of the mountain, and beyond the trees which sloped down before us, we could see the castle we claimed as sanctuary. The night sky greeted us above and ahead, no moon to make our presence known but the stars waving in their fashion. Breaking off in our given directions, Thedryk, Duval, and I branched off to the right, swift nods and fierce looks exchanged as Helsing, Eliza, Simon, and Merrick took to the left. We were death traveling without sound, without warning to cleanse the disease of Felicity that had devoured our pasts and left a tainted and entirely uncertain future.

  It wasn’t long before we encountered a handful of Felici
ty’s creatures, patrolling just at the outskirts of the castle. Thedryk signaled to Duval and me to disperse and hide as he slowed to a stop just behind a large evergreen, taking count and sharing four fingers on one hand back our way. Each of us glanced around our tree, finding two had their backs to us, one stood halfway, looking out beyond the castle to a patch of lights burning in the distance, and the last one was staring directly into the woods. Not in our direction, but not the direction I would have preferred.

  Thedryk turned, looking to me and watching as I pulled two daggers I had strapped to my right leg. I looked back in response to him and Duval. Both men nodded, and the moment the one that had been facing our general direction turned, yawning, to the others, I released a dagger with speed and precision that planted it directly into the creature’s revealed temple. The other dagger I released planted firmly into the nape of the neck of the creature that had been slowly inching closer towards the lights in the distance. That one surprised me by stumbling forward a few paces, a sound of choked and gargling surprise before it finally succumbed to the inevitable pull of gravity. Thedryk and Duval had thrown themselves forward, each engaging one of the two remaining. Those creatures did not keep quiet as their howls cut into the night air.

  “Well, we tried to be discreet,” Duval spoke aloud, no longer concerned for who might hear.

  Just as he spoke, four more howls cried out from the opposite side of the castle, accompanied by the sound of three explosions that puffed out small black clouds. Duval had ended the howls of his target with one swift downward strike from his mace, having taken the creature only somewhat by surprise. Thedryk planted his spear squarely into the stomach of his creature, only intensifying the howling. As he extracted his spear from its midsection, he thrust it forward again, this time severing the head from the body at the neck. A spray of congealed red and black spit out from the force; a smell of sulfur and rot filled the area, once more nauseating me as I plucked my daggers from the corpses. My daggers had the same gelatinous-liquid covering the silvered blades. Reaching down, I pulled free a piece of cloth from the first creature I had taken down and wiped my blades clean before returning them to their rightful place.