Daywalker chronicles com.., p.28
Daywalker Chronicles Complete Series Boxed Set, page 28
“My child of night!” The woman cackled. She extended her arm toward me. “Take and drink, that you might be reborn as a master of darkness.”
I clenched my fists. My mind screamed at me to run away, but I couldn’t. A surge of energy overwhelmed me and my senses expanded, just as they had when I’d fed on the hunter. I could hear the woman’s heart beating in her chest. It drew me in.
I sank my fangs into her wrist and her blood flowed into my mouth.
“Yes! Drink and don’t stop!”
Her words echoed in my mind. I didn’t stop. I couldn’t. All I could do was swallow her blood. It didn’t taste like the hunter’s blood. It tingled and numbed my mouth and throat. I pulled away. My vision blurred. I saw two, then three, images of the woman before I fell to my knees and collapsed on the floor.
CHAPTER NINE
When I opened my eyes, I was hundreds of feet over a desert. A warm air passed over me. I screamed but something more like a screech came out of my mouth. I flailed my arms and felt them catch the wind, and when I looked to my right, my arm wasn’t just an arm. It was a wing. The other arm matched. My fingers were a part of the wing. I was a bat.
When Dracula was a master of the dark path in the Scholomance, he could turn into a bat. He could also turn into a black dog. If that was the case, maybe I could run with the wolves. I’d be the runt of the litter, but hell, why not? A part of me was freaking out about all of this. I didn’t want to follow the path of darkness. But if I was a master of the Scholomance, I could resist the werewolf’s contagion. Dylan and I might have a shot.
I knew it was selfish to think about that given the greater concern that, by embracing the dark path, my more monstrous nature might take a greater hold on me. I didn’t know what was happening. When the darkness spoke, he had referred to himself as a primal force, a magic of a kind that has existed since before the world came into being. I also remembered Zoey’s words. What I was didn’t make me good or evil. It was my choices that mattered.
The darkness told me otherwise. What was happening right now wasn’t my choice. I’d come to the Scholomance looking for Abraham Van Helsing. I wasn’t looking for power or anything pertaining to the dark path. Where was Abraham? Where was Samuel? I’d tried to return to my body, but it didn’t work. Was that my fault? Did I lack the focus to pull it off? Or was the darkness holding me here, forcing me upon a path I’d never intended to take?
I flapped my wings and experimented with flapping one side harder than the other, twisting my body, expanding my wings, and allowing the wind to carry me. I didn’t know how I’d taken this shape, and worse, I didn’t know how to change back.
I looked all around. Sand as far as the eye could see. The sun beat down on me. My daywalker advantages were still intact, and the light made me stronger by the second. Ironic, I suppose, that while the darkness welled up within me the light invigorated me from without.
In the distance, I spotted dozens of bodies swarming around like ants in an ant farm. A pillar of smoke rose into the sky beyond them.
As I flew closer, a familiar scent filled the air. Everyone knew that bats had a good sense of hearing, and if my condition meant anything, the phrase “blind as a bat” was inaccurate. I could see clearly. My sense of smell was also keen and, as a vampire bat, the fragrance of blood drew me in.
It was a small village. Several huts were ablaze. A band of raiders in long cloaks and scarves, carrying straight broadswords, were rounding up the villagers. They had several women with rings hooked through their noses linked together by a chain. The bloodied bodies of dozens of men were littered around the huts.
The scent was overwhelming. My little bat tummy gurgled. I couldn’t take my eyes off those poor women and children, all in tears, their faces covered in blood from the rings that had been forced through their noses.
It wasn’t their blood that harnessed my attention. It was their plight.
“What will it be? So much blood. Will you feast or will you fight?”
The darkness’s question presented the dilemma. It wasn’t a choice. I didn’t have my sword. Would my brooch work? Was this real or just a vision created by the magic of the Scholomance, to determine the course my path into the darkness would take? I’d assumed that there was only one dark path, but now it appeared I still had a choice. Within the darkness, would I entertain my vampiric urges or would I embrace whatever humanity remained within me? Would I save these people, those who still survived, or take advantage of the chance to feed on their fallen?
It didn’t have to be that way. These bandits were human. They had blood too, and if I bit them, they’d damn well deserve it. With a little blood and the sunlight fueling my strength, I’d be a force. The bandits wouldn’t know how to kill me. They were wielding swords, not stakes.
I dive-bombed into the middle of the village, and as I thought about taking my usual shape again, my body expanded. I touched the brooch on my chest and went astral. My body wasn’t even in the Scholomance. It was back in Morty’s office. I wasn’t sure that this was my real body, which meant the brooch I was wearing might have only been an illusion. If this was a vision created by the darkness, the vision had my usual abilities built in, including the enchantment that empowered my brooch.
I darted through the astral plane and found one of the bandits. I thrust my fist into his chest before I touched my brooch to rematerialize and yank the man’s heart out through his ribs. I took a bite out of it, swallowed the blood, and spit out the flesh.
As the bandit fell, I grabbed his sword. With my body flowing with power from the sun and the man’s blood, I swung it with a fury at the bandits.
They closed in around me once they realized what was happening, but they couldn’t take me down. A swift kick sent one of the bandits flying back and crashing into a burning hut. The flames caught his cloak. I swung the sword in a circle and sliced through three abdomens at once.
A blade struck me in the back. I stood and turned to the man who hit me. “That’s what I call a cheap shot, asshole.”
I reached around and grabbed the blade that was stuck in my back and pulled it out. I was a double-sword-wielding badass now. The bandits spread out. They were cursing, or maybe praying. I didn’t know many gods who’d answer the prayers of murderous thieves raiding an innocent village.
I chased them down, one by one. I was fast. I was automatic. I was slaughtermatic. I was bitch lightning. By the time I finished, there wasn’t a single bandit left.
I used my vampiric strength to break the rings that held the prisoners together. They were in shock. I couldn’t tell if they were more afraid of me or grateful I’d freed them. More than that, they were torn to the heart. Their men had been slaughtered before I arrived. Bodies were everywhere. The fragrance of their blood swirled with sand in the wind.
A single hut in the middle of the village was untouched by the flames. It didn’t look like the other huts. It was barely touched by sand, and it was a crimson color that stood out from everything else that matched the tan hue of the sand.
Something inside me told me to check it out, so I stepped through a hide that covered the entrance to the hut. The same witch I’d seen before was sitting in front of a giant cauldron. Whatever she was brewing bubbled with a red energy that sparked through it.
“Who are you?” I demanded. “What the hell is happening?”
The witch smiled widely. Her teeth were yellow and crooked. “I am your creator.”
I snorted. “What does that mean?”
“I made the first vampire. What you know as the Scholomance, founded in Romania, was founded based on magic and teachings of the priestesses under my tutelage in Ur, more than five hundred years before the Common Era. My name is Ennigaldi. I am the wife of the moon god, Sin.”
“You’re married to Sin? And you’re a goddess?”
“Sin is merely the name of a god once revered by the Babylonians, Akkadians, and Assyrians. It is he who has spoken to you as the darkness. There is no connection between Sin and the notion of disobedience common in the Hebrew religion.”
“Are you a god?” I pressed.
Ennigaldi chuckled. “I was born a human. I was Sin’s human wife. For centuries, I’ve slumbered, waiting for the one who might carry the image of Sin. One of my children who might not only walk in the darkness but also in the light. When another appeared in the Scholomance, we thought we’d found our moon child.”
“You’re talking about Samuel Van Helsing?”
Ennigaldi nodded. “Like you, he is a vampire who can walk in the light. He was given the same test when we welcomed him on the path. He made a different choice. He did not save the women, but slaughtered everyone. He fed on their blood and proved himself unworthy to bear the mark of Sin.”
I shook my head. “I felt the same urge. There was so much blood.”
“But you resisted. My husband is darkness, but he is the god of the moon. The moon is also the light of the night. It reflects the sun into the darkness. It unites the paths of darkness and light. You are the one we’ve waited for, the one who might lead my children as the guardians of the moon, the creatures of the night who I once created that they might stand against the true creatures of darkness.”
I snorted. “What creatures of darkness?”
“The children of the devil, the ones who took the lessons I taught in Ur and manipulated them to lead my children into villainy.”
I nodded. “Like Dracula. He was once a master of the Scholomance in the path of darkness.”
“He embraced the perverted magic that the devil you know as Hades once spread. He turned my warriors of the moon into children more like his demons. They are the true enemy, the creatures of darkness who know no light.”
This was a lot to take in. “What happened to Samuel? Where is his father, Abraham Van Helsing?”
“When he failed the test, he was cast from the Scholomance. His father left with him.”
I took a deep breath. “They’re on Earth?”
Ennigaldi shrugged. “All I can say is that they are no longer here. Samuel left as a master of the Scholomance, one like Dracula before him who embraced the ways of Hades. You must stop him.”
“Isn’t Abraham a master of the path of light?”
“The path of light was created when Hades established the Scholomance, not that he would lead anyone on that path, but because it was the only way to separate the light of the moon from the darkness.”
I cleared my throat. “When Dracula came here and mastered the path of light, he was a daywalker already.”
“Indeed. To unite the paths, a herald of both paths must emerge. We believed, when Samuel arrived, it was he and his father who would bring these paths together. We were wrong. It was you and Dracula all along.”
Every answer she gave raised more questions. “Why was I taken on this path? Was it because I’d killed a man?”
“It was necessary. These were the qualifications for entry to the mastery of the Scholomance dictated by Hades. We could not rewrite those rules. We had to work within the magic of the path and hope you might redeem yourself through the test. You did well, Sienna. There are not many who could do what you accomplished.”
I pressed my lips together. “Are you the reason why Athena can’t get into the Scholomance?”
“It is my husband. As a god within the void, he entered the Scholomance when the Van Helsing boy arrived. Athena is not Hades, but she’s assuming his role. We could not allow another Greek god to stand in the way of our attempt to reunite the paths.”
“What happens next? What am I supposed to do?”
“So long as a master of the dark path lives, the path of the moon cannot be realized. The darkness and light cannot be truly reunited.”
“I need to stake Samuel Van Helsing.”
The priestess-witch nodded. “That’s one way to do it. You know the ways a vampire might be killed.”
“Then what? You basically want me to moon the world, right?”
Ennigaldi laughed. “That’s a colorful way to put it. The true creatures of darkness remain a threat. You must resume your places as my warriors, the children I made to protect the world from the children of Hades.”
“The demons aren’t a problem. Athena rules hell.”
“She might rule it, but she is not their mother. Do not mistake her authority for control. Were the demons to leave hell, they would be beyond her reach.”
I thought for a minute. “One question. If you made us, why the craving for blood? It doesn’t do much to encourage us to be well-rounded contributors to society, much less an army against the forces of evil.”
“Blood is life. It is also power. There are many forms of power that might be sought after in the world. Throughout history, no power has proven to be more potent than that which lies latent in blood. Blood sacrifices have long been used to pacify the gods. It can restrain the wrath of a vengeful deity. Not because a god desires blood, but because even the gods must bend to the power released in sacrifice. For most, blood simply sustains life. Life, after all, is a fantastic spell. A marvel of its own. There is more power within blood, however, than the generation of life. The vampire was made to realize the full potential of what already flows through human veins. To become humanity’s greatest protector, even if the very power that vampires gain might make them humanity’s greatest threat.”
I snorted. “Quite a gamble, don’t you think? Doesn’t look like it’s panned out so well to date. Most vampires I’ve met are monsters.”
“Nothing worthwhile comes without risk. Humanity is fragile already. With or without the vampire, humans are already the agents of their own destruction. Add to that the children of Hades, the demons and devils, the monsters born out of his wrath, and it is a wonder that humanity has endured as long as it has.”
“So vampires were supposed to be the agents of this moon god you married? That’s what you’re telling me?”
Ennigaldi grabbed a ladle and dipped it into her cauldron. She stirred it gently. “Most gods work through agents. Some deities create what you’d call angels. Others, demons, or faeries, or sprites. Yet even these agents, freed of their makers, act of their own accord. Even as vampires, without Sin, have endured and become what they’ve become.”
“And you want to put us under the thumb of a god, to do his bidding?”
“Not at all. I simply want you to realize your true potential, to fulfill your true purpose. My husband no longer has his worshippers. He has had no designs or plans for centuries. As the mother of your kind, however, I simply wish the best for my children. You are my legacy. Unlike my husband, I was born and died a human. Call it nostalgia, if you will, but I still hold out hope that my children might fulfill their original purpose. My husband, distant though he may be, still loves me beyond death. He supports my end and has agreed to take an interest in the world again. After all, while the moon may be revered by many, according to many names and traditions, along with the sun it is the one force that reveals itself to all mankind. If the true path, the path that unites light and darkness, reflecting the character of my husband and the moon, is honored again so is he. Even if not by name.”
I pinched my chin. “If the moon is such a marvelous force, and your husband is some kind of lunar deity, what does he have to do with werewolves? Surely, since they only change under a full moon, there’s a connection.”
“They are also my children. There is a reason vampires who do not master the path are susceptible to their bites. The wolves were born to punish those of my children who would lose sight of their true purpose, to keep my first-born children in check should their bloodlust consume them.”
“How do I use this power as a master of the path? How do I realize the full potential of the darkness and light reunited? Will I be immune to the effects of the werewolf’s bite when I leave?”
“Samuel chose to master the dark path alone. He is immune. You chose the nobler path, the one I hoped you would. You are not yet a master. Not yet. Should you prevail, and destroy the Van Helsing boy, you will be a true master. You will be one with the moon, therefore, one with the wolves.”
“Good to know. Are you done with me here?”
“For now, child. For now. Go and do what you must. When all is done, when you’ve fulfilled your task, I will visit you again.”
“You will visit me?”
“I am but a spirit, child. What you call a ghost.”
“Will I be able to shift into a bat again? When I’m back on Earth?”
Ennigaldi nodded. “You’ve set foot on the path. Many abilities will be realized in time as you advance on your journey. Still, you are not yet a master. Such abilities might come and go until you reach your potential. Do not rely on them. Rely on what you know already. If new abilities arise and serve you well, then consider it a gift and a sign that you’re on the right path.”
I pressed my lips together. “About Samuel. We stopped him before with a wolf’s bite. I’m guessing that won’t work again.”
“And with his immortality elixir, a stake to the heart will only put him in a slumber. It will not kill him.”
“Chop his head off, then?”
“That will not free his spirit. His body must be burned. That’s the only way his spirit will be released, that he might be taken by the reapers and consigned to perdition.”
I cleared my throat. “The reapers can’t harvest supernatural souls.”
“Most of them cannot. There is one, however, who might deliver his soul to the place he belongs.”
“You’re talking about Zoey.”
“You will require her aid when the time comes to burn Samuel’s body. It is essential that his spirit be sent to where it belongs.”
CHAPTER TEN
Something sucked me out of the vision and back to the cold cobblestone floor of the Scholomance. I still had to get back to my body. I had to explain all of this to Dracula. I wasn’t sure if I could trust the old priestess who claimed she was married to Sin. I chuckled thinking about it. Maybe it was just a coincidence, but the notion of a god named Sin was ripe for jokes. I didn’t dare tell any to the priestess, though. When it comes to jokes associated with someone’s name, chances are they’ve heard them their entire lives and don’t see the humor in them. I had a friend in high school named Heaven. Inevitably, every guy who ever took an interest in her tried to work her name into a cheesy pickup line. Sort of like my name, ever since Toyota came out with that damn van. How many guys can ride a Sienna at once? I bet she gets great gas mileage—in bed. All you’ve got to do is push the right button and her back door will pop right open. You get the idea.
