Chronicles of Darkness: Shadows and Dust (36 page)

         The dark chaos
disappeared and Sadden's eyes cleared as she looked at her protégée.

         Lilith watched her
suspiciously. She had no idea what was going on inside her mentor's mind.

         Sadden realized what
Zephriel could have meant, when he talked about a conspiracy among the
vampires.
It seemed that an invisible veil had been torn from her eyes.
For too long she had been hiding behind it.
'Like a woman possessed, I am
clinging to my fate and to that one dream. In the meantime, I did not see how
evil rages among us. Is it due to Lilith's presence that I was pulled back into
the chaos, on which I turned my back so long ago?'

         Sadden's ears picked up
Lilith's voice, which sounded so serious and grown-up, like she had never heard
it before. "The old power of the vampires is fading. You too belong to
this folk, whether you want to or not. It is also your responsibility to
protect us."

         Sadden understood that
there was another side to Lilith. A serious, objective side, which knew exactly
what was going on around her. "No. I am not interested in those
struggles."

         Outraged, Lilith
screamed, "You are not interested?" She wanted to grab her teacher
and shake some sense into her. "It is a danger to all vampires. You are
one as well! This is no ancient struggle for power and you know it. Soon, the
world will be on the edge of an abyss, if we don't do anything to stop
it!"

         Sadden was unimpressed.
"One way or another. The world will continue to turn. Which clan protected
mine from destruction? Which one?" The pain in her voice was obvious.

         "I don't know the
backgrounds to this, but..." Lilith resigned and added quietly, "You
wish to take revenge like that? You want to abandon us? What happened was a
long time ago."

         "Not long enough,"
Sadden growled. "You cannot emphasize with my pain."

         "No, I cannot. But
what I hear from you are excuses. You are weak." Faced with Sadden's
indifference, Lilith grew more agitated. "You don't want to drink the
blood of humans? You don't want to belong to us? Let me tell you, you are a
vampire, and it is in your nature to drink human blood. You drank it once and
you will do so again, no matter how hard you fight the urge."

         "You do not know
what you are speaking of. You are young and inexperienced. You have not seen
the sorrows of war like I have."

         "I will fight when
the time has come and defeat our enemies."

         Sadden could feel the
fire of the dragon. She clearly recognized Zephriel in Lilith, remembering this
characteristic trait. Torn by her emotions, she began to pace the hall.

         Lilith noticed the inner
conflict her teacher was fighting and her eyes flashed. "Vampires will not
be the only victims. Your oh so precious humans are in great danger, too.
Multitudes of them will die. More than of us."

         The words were meant to
provoke, but Sadden knew that all too well. It was not only possible, it was a
given that the humans wouldn't be able to defend themselves. "I have
promised your father to take care of you. If that means I have to lock you up
here, I will do so. I have made my decision."

         "What are you
planning?" Lilith asked suspiciously. She had not missed the firm tone.

         "I will not concern
myself with it," Sadden declared.

         "What do you
mean?" The young vampire was uncertain. "You can't abandon us!"
It was meant to sound threatening, but with her trembling voice it sounded
rather unconvincing. "Then do it for yourself. Not for the vampires, not
for the humans."

         Sadden showed no
reaction, though the words had struck a chord.

         "Do you not want a
future where you can live in peace?"

         "You brought this
conflict to my doorstep!" Sadden exclaimed furiously.

         "You know that is
not true," Lilith replied, unusually calm. "It is your
obligation."

         "My
obligation?" Sadden raged. She was beside herself, but then thought about
that dream she longed for so badly. "Perhaps I can efface some of my
guilt."

         "I do not understand
you," Lilith said, growing impatient.

         Sadden turned to her and
placed her hands upon her shoulders. "There is no need to fear."

         Lilith was about to
protest, but a sharp glare from stormy eyes cut off. "The enemy is not as
strong as you think he is. Zephriel's powers are far greater than yours. He can
feel the smallest changes, long before others can. The downfall is not upon us
yet, understood? It might not even come to such a danger. After all, we know
about it now. Your father will know what to do. Therefore, do not worry about
it."

         "But..."

         "Go now."

         "But..."

         "If you promise to
not cause any trouble, you can go and take a look around Ardeal."

         "But... What? You
let me go to the village? To the humans?" Lilith asked suspiciously.

         Sadden locked eyes with
the younger vampire. "Until now, I always prevented a choice of yours,
although I know that somebody has caught your eye."

         "Are you certain?"

         "Go, before I change
my mind."

         Lilith didn't need to be
told twice and quickly left the hall.

*****

         After the funeral, nearly
the whole village had gathered at István's tavern. They were sitting together
in small groups, nursing their beer, or wine stretched with water, and talked.

         "But what if the boy
is right and this place is cursed?"

         Rouven had heard the
question and couldn't suppress a mocking remark. "Another believer of
Anatol's foolish sayings. Are there only superstitious idiots in this
village?"

         Abruptly all discussions
stopped and everybody looked to the door, which opened. Anatol stepped in, his
eyes darting nervously around.

         "Well, if you speak
of the devil, there he is!" Rouven exclaimed loudly and grinned
spitefully.

         "Say, how is it
going, Anatol? Had another encounter with a demon?" another of Rouven's
men gibed.

         Anatol didn't react.
Scowling, he passed them by to get himself a beer.

         "Hey!" Rouven
grabbed his arm and held him back. "We asked you a question. It would be
nice to get an answer."

         Disgruntled, Anatol freed
himself and pressed the mayor's son against the counter. "You will see
what happens when the demons come to get you."

         Rouven only sneered.
"Is that so? My knees are already shaking with fear." He shoved him
back roughly. Anatol lost his balance and collided with the table where
Nicolae, Mikahel and some others sat. The men were making a plan for the wood
collection. Winter was close, but due to some strange occurrences, besides
Anatol's so-called
demonic encounter
, everyone present thought it best
to form small groups to collect the necessary wood.

         Nicolae's dark glare fell
on his son, right after Anatol crashed into the table. "Rouven!"

         "What? Is it my
fault that
he
stumbled?" he replied, innocently.

         "We have an
important discussion here. Don't you have better things to do than fooling
around?"

         Rouven rolled his eyes
and retreated to his men with his half empty mug. "Alright, Father. Don't
get upset."

         The mayor dipped the
quill in the black ink and finished the last word. "Well, the list for the
wood collection is done."

         After all the others had
taken a look at it, Nicolae rolled up the parchment and put it aside.

         "What happens
now?" Costin, the chronicler asked.

         "Yes, what is to
become of our village? Now, without Marlin? What if the demons do come? Who is
going to protect us?" another man complained.

         Mikahel cleared his
throat. "Demons don't exist."

         "Then how do you
explain all the strange occurrences that happened lately? Cattle that suddenly
disappeared..."

         "Don't forget about
the misfortune that happened to the wolf hunters."

         "Right, or what
about Anatol, who turned crazy and..." one of the village's older people
chimed in.

         Nicolae's fist hit the
table. "Enough! I will tell you what we are going to do. We will go back
to our roots."

         Mikahel frowned.
"What does that mean exactly?"

         "It means we will
bethink of our ancestors' customs. We will return to the old traditions and
rituals."

         "Are you sure that's
wise?" another old man asked.

         "It is for the best.
We will control the situation in our valley ourselves again, just like in old
times. The first step to that was the funeral today."

         A heated discussion
followed. In the end, the village elders agreed. It was decided that nobody
would be sent to tell the church about Ion Marlin's death.

         Nicolae pushed back his
chair and rose. "Let's drink on our agreement, which was forged after
endless discussions." He waved at the waiting István, who carried a large
mug that had been made from a cow's foot. Its rim was made of wood and
decorated with tiny carvings; scenes from the village. Nicolae wrapped his
hands around it and proudly declared, "It is an old custom to drink from
the traditional mug, in order to seal a council agreement." He took the
first sip before giving the mug to Mikahel.

         After everyone had had a
drink and the mug was empty, István came to take it away. A bit tipsy from the
strong, dark beer, they sat back and continued talking.

*****

         The small carriage flew
across the snowy paths of the village, until it stopped in front of the tavern.
Warm light fell through the small windows.

         "Wait here,"
Lilith said, exited the carriage and stepped in front of the house.

         The coachman, a ghoul,
nodded and didn't move an inch from his seat. Meanwhile it had stopped snowing.

         The vampire wrapped a
long cloak around her shoulders and looked to the sign that swung squeaking
above her head. The letters had begun to fade, but were still readable.
"The Howling Wolf."

         Muffled voices and
laughter could be heard from the inside.

         She pulled the hood over
her head, until only a cold smile was visible. Then Lilith opened the big
wooden door and entered the tavern.

         A flood of perceptions
swarmed her. The scent of sweat, fried meat, smoke, bad wine and stale beer.
For Lilith it was the indescribable stench from a crowd of primitive humans.
"How unsavory."

         For a short moment it was
quiet, while suspicious and inquisitive eyes roamed over the newcomer. The
men's interest in the stranger faded fast and they turned back to their
concerns.

         Lilith ignored all the
glances. He was looking for someone in particular.

         With his back to the
door, the bored young man sat at a table, his eyes following the rolling dices
of the other players. A strangely familiar feeling overcame Anatol. His hands
started to tremble, forcing him to put down his beer mug. He couldn't see the
new guest, but deep inside he knew where he had had the strange feeling before.
Tense, Anatol kept sitting motionless and thought,
'Does nobody realize
what's going on here?'

         A shiver ran down his
spine as he felt an ice cold hand stroking his back gently and a lovely voice
whispered, "Good evening, Anatol. It is nice to see you again."

         That was too much for the
young man. A scream escaped him and he leapt up, knocking his chair to the
floor. Anatol whirled around, but there was nothing. Greatly confused, he
scanned his surroundings.

         The newly arrived guest
was still standing beside the door.

         Anatol began to sweat and
nervously ran a hand through his hair. "That can't be... that can't
be..."

         That drew the attention
from the other men and also Rouven's, who rose from his table and stumbled
toward the scared man. He grabbed his shoulders roughly. "Hey, Ana...
Anatol... whassss se matter, huh? Had too mush beer, hmm?" he slurred
drunkenly and belched unashamed, right into the other man's face.

         Anatol just stared at him
horrified, grabbed Rouven's jacket und shook him hard.