Ordained (21 page)

“Wanna come?”

Wouldn’t she? Ha! “I’ve been placed on house arrest pending the outcome of your battle.”

“So?” she said defiantly, pushing the back door open, exiting the manor.

For the slightest moment, Valerie actually debated the issue.

The path they took towards town had been well trampled during the season. The snow had turned to a dingy slush. The brown decayed matter was sticking to the bottom of her shoes courtesy of the muddy underlay.

They hadn’t really said anything to one another since the manor - not that silence really bothered her. Valerie had the feeling Abby wasn’t uncomfortable. But she did seem confounded.

“Are you using your senses to scan for trouble?”

“Huh?” Abby said, breaking her daze. “Oh, no. Just thinking.”

“Well, could you?” Valerie asked worriedly. “I don’t want to die tonight.”

Valerie could sense the smile on Abby’s face before she even had a chance to jest. “Panic much? Just relax. Trust me when I say, if there actually is a demon out here, it’s far more interested in me than you. You’ll have plenty of time for
flight
.”

“Yeah, that doesn’t help me relax,” she whined. Her heart was beating so fast. She had never deliberately disobeyed the rules before. She could feel the panic attack building in her chest. “So how many times have you turned evil?”

Abby did a double take. The question was rather abrupt.

“Seriously?” she asked once the shock wore off. “
This
you wanna talk about when you’re already freaking out?”

Valerie thought briefly. Anything was better than nothing. “Yes. So how many times?”

“Thrice,” she said, holding up three fingers over her shoulder.

“Obviously the first was when you ki –,” Valerie paused, “were banished. When was the second?”

“Not long after. Needless to say, I left here with a lot of anger issues.”

“Imagine that,” Valerie cut in sarcastically.

“The path was inevitable but the first two times were easy enough to come back from. I really just needed to vent and get the rage out of my system.”

“And what exactly in your mind classifies you as going evil?”

“When I lose complete control over myself and my powers. I have absolutely no mindfulness about consequences and absolutely no remorse for my actions or the horrible things I inflict upon others. I do what I want, to who I want and don’t think twice about it.”

Abby jumped a fallen tree in the path. Aware of her limitations, Valerie tried to step over it. Half way she realized she couldn’t reach, sat on her bum and twisted the rest of the way.

“When was the last time?”

“Summer 1912.”

“That’s rather specific,” Valerie stated.

“Probably cause I did that one to myself,” Abby said, coming to a stop.

Valerie was winded and breathing heavily. She wasn’t used to hiking at Abby’s pace and had absolutely no enjoyment thinking about the upward climb she’d have to suffer later that night.

“I was so determined to save a friend from death that I was willing to do anything to achieve it. It started out innocent enough. All my spells were good magic. But when those failed, I dipped into the dark. A little bit here, little bit there, until I was completely engulfed.” Abby started kicking stones in the path. “The sad part was, I knew it was happening to me and I just didn’t care. I kept pushing the limits, until finally…I was gone. And so was my friend.”

“But Noel brought you back?”

“Almost killed both us doing it,” she replied, as they continued their descent.

“How? He doesn’t seem strong enough to counteract you.”

Abby chuckled in amusement. “Don’t let Noel fool you. He’s capable of far more than he lets on.”

“Sounds like you’ve been through a lot together.”

“We have,” Abby smiled, but it quickly faded. “But the sun is setting on my day here.”

“You don’t know that.” She tried to make it sound comforting.

Abby stopped again to face her. “A holy man once told us that every soul is born with a purpose, but most never fulfill it. Noel and I have spent every day since then worrying about what happens if you do. You die, right? You have to.”

“Not when the gods themselves have put so much effort into you.”

“But I was created for this purpose. A witch and hunter from birth turned pure vampire. All this preparation so I could fulfill my destiny.”

“Doesn’t mean death awaits you.”

Abby huffed. “I’ve been straddling the fine line between life and death for so long that I have to fall. It makes sense it would happen once I’ve fulfilled my purpose.”

“All right, misery girl,” Valerie said drolly. “Don’t let Noel hear you talk like this.”

“I take it you’ve noticed then?”

“What?” Valerie asked sarcastically as she maneuvered around the large stones in the downward path and took the lead. “His obsessive rampage to find as much information on this confrontation as possible? Yeah, I’ve noticed.”

“I’ve long accepted my fate but he’s been in denial ever since we learned about it.”

“Just a heads up - he’s about to progress to the anger stage.”

“Great. That’s just what I need right now,” Abby said solemnly. “So many things have changed over the past two hundred years. We were constantly on the move and rarely worked with the same ally twice. The only stability we ever had was in each other. He just can’t bear to lose that.”

“And you can?” Valerie asked doubtfully.

“No, of course not. But I’m not the one that’ll be left behind.”

Valerie and Abby stepped out of the woods into town. Valerie’s face lightened at the sight. The spring festival was underway. The town was decorated top to bottom with banners and beads. Townsfolk ate, drank and danced happily to the music.

“Damn this town celebrates a lot. I always thought Mardi Gras was an American thing.”

“It’s Fasching,” explained Valerie.

“Gseundheidt.”

“Funny. Fasching is the season prior to Lent. The actual Karneval will start the week before Ash Wednesday, but they pretty much start celebrating in January. I believe our Shrove Tuesday is your country’s version of Fat Tuesday.”

“Well, aren’t you a little walking encyclopedia,” Abby teased.

“What else have I got to do in this place?”

Madam Melina needed only moments to collect the ingredients Abby requested, although some of the things she needed were not kept in the front part of the store. Valerie perused the shop while Abby spoke quietly to the gypsy by the herb and potion counter.

Valerie had never noticed Twindel’s before. Perhaps it was the intense fragrance of the incense that engulfed her the moment she stepped in, but she found the shop idyllic and alluring. There were jeweled jars, potion bottles, dream catchers, crystals, large candles, a wall case of scented incense and books galore. There were even crystal balls and tarot cards. She hated leaving so soon but didn’t dare leave Abby’s side during these troubled times.

“Did you wanna stop at the festival before returning?” Abby asked kindly as they entered the square. Valerie could tell she didn’t want to stay. Her body was already facing the opposite direction, towards the trail that led back to the manor.

“Call me crazy, but I’m not really in a party mood.”

“I hear ya.” She led them back into the darkness of the woods.

The trail was darker now, the moon not high enough in the night sky to light their way. Valerie occasionally stumbled on large rocks and tripped over protruding tree roots.

“Can I ask you a personal question?” asked Valerie, hesitantly.

“You can always ask. Whether or not I’ll answer, I can’t say.”

“Touching back on what we were discussing earlier - how can I say this?” Valerie asked, fading away. “There had to be some point in time, when you were trying to help your friend, that you realized what you were doing was wrong and that it would cost more than anticipated.”

“Yeah?”

“Why didn’t you stop?”

Abby slowed to a crawl, then a complete stop. She turned towards Valerie but kept her gaze elsewhere, as if recalling a past memory.

“The thing is, once you realize you’ve reached the point of no return…it’s already too late. Going backwards and admitting defeat is more difficult than continuing forward, no matter how pointless the journey. I was so determined, so stubborn, that the next thing I did was gonna work, that I refused to give up.”

“Maybe that’s the power of love.”

“It wasn’t love, it was pride,” she said bluntly. She continued upward again. “My love was with Noel, who was the only one feeling the negative aspects of my transformation. My pride is what screwed me. I refused to admit that I had limitations like everyone else. I just knew that it would be me that saved her, me that figured out the way to beat death.”

“But you’ve already done that.”

“True enough, but my way around death wasn’t going to help her. Back then we didn’t know a lot about illness or cancer. We didn’t have pharmacies full of antibiotics or chemotherapy. She was already sick. Vampirism isn’t a cure. If you were sick when you transformed, then you were sick afterwards. She would have suffered for eternity. That’s a fate worse than death.”

She wasn’t sure why it came out, but Valerie found herself quietly asking, “What’s it feel like? When you’re in that dark place?”

Abby stopped again and turned around. This time she looked directly into her eyes. “Quite honestly, you don’t feel anything. I suppose that’s why it’s so hard to turn back around. I remember annoyance, anger, frustration. I remember Noel pleading with me on an emotional level, then dealing with me on a physical level because I was completely oblivious to anything else.”

“You mean he hit you?”

“He did far more than hit me. He took a steel pipe to my backside when I was on my knees praying. Knocked me on my ass so fast. He drugged me and kept me comatose while he moved me half way across the world to have me detoxed by a group of wayward monks.”

Valerie was speechless. She had never envisioned anything like that about Noel. Abby had mad skills – she could have killed him easily if he missed.

“Who were you praying to for help?”

“Lord only knows. Probably the devil at that point, or some other random evil being with magical abilities I thought could help.”

“I take it your friend died once Noel took control,” Valerie said sympathetically.

“No. She was dead long before that happened. At that point, I was trying to bring her back.”

They remained silent the rest of the journey home. Just as well. The hike upward had winded her.

Outside her bedroom door, Abby offered one of the packages in her hands. “It’s a gift from Madam Melina. She said it would bring you peace.”

Slightly confused, Valerie took the package from Abby. “Peace from what?”

“Not sure. Clairvoyancy ain’t my department.”

Valerie entered her bedroom and emptied the package onto her bed. There were a few sticks of a strong, spicy floral incense and an old, worn journal. She flipped through the pages. Sleek, slanted handwriting filled the yellowed paper front to back. The memos dated back to the early eighteen hundreds.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Abby was crouched outside the Chancellor’s office peeking through the old-fashioned keyhole. She thought it odd the Chancellor didn’t have a more secure lock for his office. Theft must not have been an issue at the school.

“You don’t really think you can sneak up on me, do you?” she asked boldly.

Emily stopped her quiet tip-toeing and returned to normal steps. “Worth a shot. What are ya doing?”

“Breaking and entering.”

“Cool. Move over.” She pushed Abby to the side, kneeled down and examined the lock. Her push really wouldn’t have moved her but she went along with it anyway. She folded her arms and leaned back against the wall as Emily pulled two pins from her hair and worked the lock.