“You mean you’re the dumbass that offed Rozalin? Out of all the Ancients, you go after the one that can keep coming back after death.”
“That is precisely what I was counting on. All I needed was to light the fuse that would goad the sisters into war again. It was a simple task, knowing the hatred they hold for each other. I merely had to impersonate an Archios pretending to carry out Aurelia’s orders to assassinate her sister. I knew when Rozalin returned from the grave she would waste no time in exacting her revenge. The resulting calamity at the chateau made it elementary to reclaim the boy.
“The next apocalypse is upon us, and now the covens are too busy warring amongst themselves to sense its approach. Let them all eradicate each other. Humans will be much easier to rule when the new cycle begins without their meddling.”
“Yeah, yeah. Dawn of an era, a new world order,
vive la revolution
. I’m not impressed. Give me decadence and debauchery over this bullshit any day.”
“She’s stalling!” Vance yelled from his hiding spot behind an ATV. “She’s been casting a summoning spell this whole time.”
“Good, I was getting bored,” Noah said while relaxing on a tank. “Somebody tell her that world domination is so one-dimensional.”
Minerva raised a hand above her head, igniting the air into a giant ball of green flame. The fiery orb split into three and homed in on each of us. I dove for cover behind a stack of crates that exploded on contact with the fire and sent me flying. I lost sight of Vance, but Noah was enjoying himself by speeding around the room, taunting Minerva as she continued to hurl giant orbs of fire at him. He used her own attack against her by letting the fire follow him and crash into her barrier. I couldn’t hear what they were saying to each other because of the ringing in my ears, but Minerva didn’t seem at all happy that she was being outsmarted.
I spotted Vance in a corner writing something in blood on the floor that faded from view. “Any of us will die instantly if struck with the flames of Hell. The greenish balefires burn away not only the flesh, but the soul, which means no chance at an afterlife.” Vance’s voice spoke in my head when he noticed me watching him. “It may be the only thing capable of breaking her force field if he can keep that up before she finishes summoning.”
I still couldn’t trust him and wasn’t about to let Noah do this on his own. Ignoring Vance’s warning, I crept closer to where I could get a better view of Minerva. I tried again to attack head on, hoping to get lucky and break the barrier around her. She was unfazed, but countered with one of the giant fireballs. It was closing in faster than I could run, so I ducked under the stairs to the catwalk and let the fire collide with the stairwell.
Noah appeared next to me with his hands on his hips. “You think I could work on my tan from all this fire?”
“Vance said if you get hit by it it’s instant death,” I warned.
“Good thing she throws like a girl then,” he shrugged.
“It’s here!” Vance yelled. “We have to run!”
I peeked out from the charred stairs to see a large glowing pentagram projected on the ground under Minerva. The room rumbled and the lights flickered as a massive clawed hand reached out from the ground. Minerva smiled victoriously as the demon climbed out of the portal and towered over us. It was at least fifteen feet high, with a reddish-black hide covered in sharp spiky protrusions. The head had two huge curved horns on either side of its vaguely human face.
“Damn, I’m gonna need a bigger trophy wall,” Noah said, looking up at the demon from atop an old military tank.
Minerva exchanged words with the summoned beast in some incomprehensible language. The demon’s voice boomed above all else, sounding like three separate beings speaking in unison.
“It is feeding her energy. We won’t be able to break her shield now. I implore you, we must retreat!” Vance called out to us again, but Minerva wasn’t about to let us leave. She cast her fire out, creating walls of flame to cut off the exits.
The demon brought its fist down on the tank where Noah stood and smashed it to pieces. Noah reciprocated by unleashing a furious onslaught of slashes from all directions. He moved so fast he was only visible as a blurred image. The demon’s skin wasn’t taking any damage as Noah continued to deftly maneuver around the giant body, searching for a weak point. It was impressive watching his high-speed high-flying acrobatics as he evaded and countered every seemingly sluggish attack of the demon.
“The tome,” Minerva demanded. She had Vance cornered on the ground floor now.
“You killed my brother,” Vance said. “I can never forgive you for that, Minerva.”
“I wasn’t asking for forgiveness.” She held out her hand for the book and advanced on him. The blood Vance had scribbled on the floor earlier lit up under her feet in the shape of a circle like the one the demon had crawled out from. A powder-blue ball of light sprang up and exploded into a freezing wind, encasing her in a block of ice.
Vance stared in anger at her for a moment and then wrote more runes in his blood on the ice. “That will hold her, but not for long,” he told me as he finished.
Noah was still locked in battle with the demon and neither side was making much progress. The beast noticed Minerva’s frozen body and chose to assist her instead of continuing the stalemate. Noah saw the open opportunity and vaulted at the demon’s face with his swords out. He stabbed it in the eyes, dragging the blades down hard as the monster roared and flailed in pain.
“It’s time we leave,” Vance said, jumping into one of the ATVs that hadn’t been destroyed yet.
“What? I’m not leaving him here to fight by himself,” I said.
“He wanted to fight and took a calculated risk against my many attempts to advise otherwise. Remember what you said about dying in vain. If we waste this chance to escape we won’t get another,” Vance reasoned.
My encounters with Noah were always highly questionable at best. If his plan was to use me from the start, at least the Archios were the lesser of two evils compared to the Strigoi. I did owe him for his help; if it weren’t for him I would’ve been alone through this.
“I’ve already been dead inside this whole time. Running and hiding with everyone else in control of my life isn’t living. If I’m going to live I don’t want it to be stained with regret.”
“You can’t kill it. You have to survive until the spell wears off,” Vance shouted. “Our atmosphere is caustic to their kind. That’s why they need a vessel. They can only survive here for so long before needing to return to Hell.”
“How much longer do we have?” Noah yelled back down to Vance from his perch high up on the catwalks.
“When the portal it came in from closes, it’s done,” he answered.
The glowing pentagram was only about half gone, meaning we had a long road ahead of us. I called the tome to my hand and flew up near the demon’s face. Its eyes had healed, but what looked like dried lava dripped from the sockets where it must have bled.
“Hey! You want the book?” I shouted and floated the demon’s grimoire just out of reach. It took the bait and left off trying to unfreeze Minerva. I dashed through the air to play keepaway and buy us some time, but a ring of green fire surrounded me as soon as I landed.
“It ends here.” Minerva’s voice came from the flames as she walked through them. I was trapped between her, the wall, and the demon, wishing I had taken Vance up on his offer. I tried again to attack or at least throw her back, but she was still shielded.
“For a failed experiment, you are more trouble than you were worth,” she hissed.
“I guess I can die happy then,” I snapped back at her.
The room became a blur as I was lifted out of the fire, along the wall, and down to the other side. Noah dumped me on the floor from over his shoulder.
“You all right?” he asked as I got to my feet.
“I’m fine, thanks. Are you?”
I could barely hear his response over the sound of the demon stampeding right for us, but felt a crippling pain in my stomach. “Sorry, kid, but you’re cramping my style.”
I started feeling cold as the pain grew worse. I looked down and saw one of Noah’s blades plunged into me. My blood leaked out all over the floor. It began to turn black as he pulled the blade out and sheathed it on his hip. He took the tome from me and held it up for everyone to see.
“Here’s your stupid book if you want it so bad,” he shouted and dumped it at my feet as I collapsed.
All I kept asking myself as I lay in a pool of my own blood was, why? Why did I bother staying to help him? No matter whose side I was on, I was getting the crap kicked out of me. I couldn’t feel the pain anymore, just a familiar numbness. The veins in my hand blackened again as my consciousness was torn away. My body rose on its own, letting me watch through my eyes as an unwilling spectator. The hole in my abdomen sealed up using the last of Noah’s blood in my system.
The stomping of footsteps was drowned out by the growls inside of me. The demon wasn’t at all deterred by my presence guarding the book. It moved to knock me out of the way as Minerva watched, but its giant fist froze before it could make contact. The infection was taking control of my powers again to defend itself.
The demon reared back before striking with all its might. Once again, it was stopped in midair by an invisible wall protecting me. Noah materialized out of a cloud of mist between me and the demon. One look at him grinning sent me over the edge. Whatever was inside of me fed off my anger and struck out at him. He vanished into a cloud of mist again, but the demon stumbled backward, falling onto the vehicles and crushing them beneath its enormous frame.
Noah revealed himself standing on the fallen demon and baited me to come attack him. I walked toward them and struck again, this time throwing the demon back further until it hit the wall. The tires of the vehicles in front of me screeched as they slid back from the shock wave.
Minerva reclaimed the spellbook and spoke in tongues to the demon, who replied with a haunting laugh. It belched out a volley of fire that razed the area to cinders and then sank slowly down through a portal back to Hell. Before it disappeared completely Noah thrust his blade into its hand, drawing red-hot blood that spurted out like lava.
“No matter. I have the
Grand Grimoire
, so you can keep the wretched boy for now.” Minerva was speaking to Vance from somewhere in the conflagration. Noah sauntered out with swords in hand, one of which was still sizzling from its contact with the demon’s molten blood. He zoomed out of range every time I went to follow him through the gauntlet of fire until I came up behind Minerva. She was in the middle of attacking Vance when I ambushed her with an assault of my own. All the rage left in me came pouring out in one tremendous blast that obliterated her shield.
“Burn in Hell, you worthless brat!” She whirled around to face me, flames of anger burning green in her eyes. I waited to be engulfed in fire, but her facial expression went blank as she tilted her head down.
“Told you I’d cut your head off.” Noah stood behind her, drawing his heated
katana
through her neck as she crumbled to dust. Vance was in shock, staring at the pile of remains. Noah bit his wrist and dodged behind me. He put his arm around my neck and the wounded wrist of his other arm to my mouth, forcing blood down my throat.
“If you’re through here, can we leave?” Vance asked, picking up the tome from Minerva’s ashes.
“Get off me!” I yelled at Noah after regaining control. Trying to pull his arm away was like trying to move a mountain.
“You were useless,” he said, pointing to Vance. “You were less useless, which is a big improvement,” he added, patting me on the back.
“I can't believe you stabbed me.” I was still pissed off at him, but for some sick reason his words of approval made me feel better.
“Really? It kinda sounds like something I would do. Remember, you’re still alive because of my blood. Noah giveth and Noah taketh away.”
Another pentagram opened under Minerva’s ashes, sending all of us jumping back. The demon’s hand shot out and dragged the remains down to Hell with it before resealing the portal.
“Her end of the bargain was up,” Vance said, and flipped through the tome. “The pact is fulfilled with her soul. Being condemned to eternal servitude in Hell just isn’t worth the power, although it is tempting.”
Noah cocked his head and stared him down. “Are you serious right now?”
“So that’s it? No more demon uprising?” I asked.
“For now. Minerva’s plot to unleash the Demon Kings upon the world may have been foiled, but that won’t stop the cycle of war between Heaven and Hell.”
“Who cares? Thanks to her, we have our own mess to deal with, and it’s on your shoulders to fix it.” Noah confronted Vance. “The Carpathians aren’t just gonna stop pissing people off, and my place still has a ghost problem.”
“I have a lot of questions for you,” I said, stepping between them and addressing Vance, “First, let’s start with that cure.”
“The source of the contagion is a parasite, and a particularly fascinating one I may add. While we awaited the boy’s arrival, we collected a live sample to examine.”
Vance led us back down to the underground laboratories to answer my questions. With Minerva gone for good there was no danger in staying here anymore, and Vance claimed he had all he needed for a cure right here.
“It is a liquid-based organism that assimilates with its host by traveling through the circulatory system to reach the brain. The black fluid in the host’s veins isn’t discolored blood, but the parasite itself. Once it has rooted, the parasite rapidly absorbs nutrients throughout the body causing changes in the color and texture of the victim’s skin. It shuts down the host’s mind so that it can direct the person to keep nourishing itself. In essence, it is reverting its victim to his or her most primitive, feral state.”
“Are they undead?” I asked.
“No. In fact, the hosts are still quite alive. The brain damage caused by the parasite’s assimilation only drives the victim mad. It doesn’t want the host resisting the impulse to engorge itself.”
“So my parents were still alive the whole time? They could have been watching when I was right there next to them?”
“Oh yes, there’s no doubt about that, but they may have already lost their minds.” Vance’s tone made this so much more upsetting. It was like he viewed people as nothing more than bacteria in a Petri dish. “It seems that if the host doesn’t feed enough to satisfy the parasite, the body will start to wither.
“I have a theory. Hosts who feed frequently enough may begin exhibiting radical mutations, such as claws, to help them harvest more food. This is likely an effect from the parasite overriding a suitable host’s DNA to stimulate bone or muscle development. The cancerous growths you often see are an unfortunate side effect of aggressive mutation.”
“If the infected aren’t undead, why are they so hard to kill?” I asked. “I’ve seen them take a lot of punishment and keep going.”
“The infected don’t feel pain and don’t require most bodily functions be intact to survive. When trauma occurs, the parasite will prevent the body from going into shock and may restore energy back to the host in order to boost cellular regeneration, for a time keeping them alive. Only when significant enough damage is dealt to compensate for this accelerated healing will the infected die.”
Noah started playing with all of Vance’s equipment in the room out of boredom. “You’re telling me we’ve got to beat the parasite out of him to cure him? I should’ve just done that from the start.”
“No. He is different from regular humans, much different. He was created to be a much more resilient life-form.”
“I have a name.” I’d had enough of being referred to as a test subject or some creature.
“Right, sorry, uh …” Vance stalled.
“You’re kidding, right? It’s Dorian. My name is Dorian. You’re saying you know everything about me but my name?”
“I didn’t know either,” Noah said, and raised his hand.
“Do not take offense, but your name was given to you by your mortal caretakers. It served no significance to us.”
“They’re called parents,” I snapped. “You can claim you created me all you want, but they’re the ones that raised and cared for me. Did they know what I was when they adopted me?”
“No, there was no reason to inform them. We left you for adoption overseas as an ordinary human infant. The fewer people that knew the truth, the better.
“Moving on, the parasite in you seems unable to complete its purpose even without the assistance of Noah’s blood. It is having significant trouble overcoming your advanced cellular structure. We may have truly achieved genetic perfection.”
“If you wanted to see perfection, I’m right here.” Noah took a seat and kicked his feet up on a desk, knocking over a stack of books. “I get that you’re a proud parent, but how’d you pull this off when we can’t breed? Undead bodies aren’t the most fertile.”
“We replaced the DNA of a fertilized human egg cell with a synthetic strand fabricated through magic. The genes we used were carefully selected and spliced together from countless donors. Potential weaknesses were identified and removed throughout the embryo’s gestation in an artificial womb. Every essential aspect of his being was manipulated to produce results that would take nature millions of years to match.
“Human genetic research was integral to our process. Mankind has the knowledge, but what we both lacked was the technology to go through with a project of this level. It was Minerva who pioneered this new branch of complex biological magic needed to supplement our insufficient technology. My brother engineered the artificial womb using technomancy, a unique line of sorcery dealing with clockwork machinery, and I tethered the soul to the embryo that gave him his telekinetic powers.
“Dorian was created free of all potential hereditary diseases, with a substantially more resilient immune system. He is virtually impervious to harmful mutations.
“Your speed and fighting skill may be extraordinary, but in the end you hold the same weaknesses as any of our kind.”
“So if he's supposed to be your super soldier, why’d you make him such a wuss?” Noah laughed.
“We didn’t bother altering personality, since we were just going to control him telepathically in the end.”
“Just get to the cure,” I said. Focusing on the cure was the only thing keeping me going. Maybe I would actually be able to put all this behind me and hopefully never see any of them again.
“It isn’t so much a cure as it is a binding. I came up with it when studying the possession ritual from the demon tome. The spell merges two entities into one and leaves the more dominant of the two in control. Since a demon can only exist in our world for a short time in its true form, it needs a vessel. Normal humans are too fragile and our own weaknesses are easily exploitable, but Dorian has neither of those problems.
“A demon is more powerful than him, but the parasite is most likely not. Casting the same ritual should leave Dorian in control and absorb the parasite into his matrix.”
“What do you mean
should
?” I demanded. “What the hell are you going to turn me into?”
“In the case that the balance isn’t in your favor, you will most likely mutate beyond recognition.”
“No way. I’m not doing this unless it’s a sure thing.”
“There are no sure things when it comes to these matters. If mankind weren’t so worried about ethics based on ‘what if,’ they would attain a much higher quality of life.
“It is laughable how close humanity has come to manipulating evolution to their benefit, yet the petty regulations of fear and faith have held them back for years. Things like stem cells are the first step in accomplishing the magnificent feat we have achieved in creating you. The key to vitality and strength is locked away in every cell, but humans purposely turn a blind eye to it.
“I will never understand why they would rather wallow in sickness and despair than risk sacrificing a few of their own for the health of billions. You were ready to die a few minutes ago. There is no way to remove the parasite without killing the host. If you don’t take risks, you will never progress.”
“Fine, let’s do it. What have I got to lose, right? Any idea if it’ll be painful?”
“Probably, or maybe not at all. There is no way to tell until it happens, but that’s the fun part of an experiment.”
“You’re a freak,” Noah chuckled.
“Don’t be so quick to criticize. I will need a blood sacrifice for the ritual and it’s your blood I’m going to use. It will be the perfect catalyst to help prevent the parasite from wresting control.”
“Why would I do that?”
“The same reason you gave him your blood before, I presume. I can’t use mine if I’m the one casting the spell.”
“I only did it to keep him under control. He’s your problem now, not mine.”
“Then why are you still here? Shouldn’t you be off hunting the Carpathians or sitting at your master’s feet?”
Noah moved his feet from the desk, kicking test tubes full of liquids to the floor on purpose. “I’m not done with you yet, that’s why. How good are you at exorcisms?”
“They’re simple enough spells, but if you mean the issue you’re having at the chateau you can forget it. Rozalin de Saint-Pierre was one of the most powerful necromancers this world and possibly the next has ever seen. I can only imagine how much worse she is to deal with in her current state.”
“You owe me.” Noah stood up and got in Vance’s face. “If it weren’t for me you would have died up there tonight.”
“I had contacted the Council of the Strigoi in hopes they would take Dorian and me into custody where we would be safe. I still would have had time to escape if you hadn’t barged in.”
Noah took another step closer and squinted menacingly into Vance’s eyes. “If there’s no reason for me to keep you around, then tell me why I shouldn’t just kill you now.”
“And if I were to help you, what happens to me after that?”
“Take care of my ghost problem and you have my word you’ll leave in one piece. I’ll give you the blood for your science project, but try anything funny and the deal’s off.”
It was hard deciding whether I was more nervous about the ritual being painful or having to drink blood again. The idea of drinking it made me sick, but strangely the blood never tasted bad or caused me to be sick.
The two of them were so caught up in bargaining with each other’s lives I was hoping they weren’t paying attention to my thoughts. The sad realization that Lyle was the third victim of circumstance popped back in my head. On my way here I had started to become emotionally detached and even envious in some sick way. Death was an easy way out. If this cure did work, what did I really have to go back to without a family? If anyone should be dead it should be me, not Lyle.
There was one thing I wanted to do if the cure worked, and that was avenge those who died, starting right here with Lyle. If Vance thought I was going to be his pet to prod and experiment on, he had another think coming.
Vance cast the blood-draining spell he had used on me to begin drawing out Noah’s blood into a glass container. Noah stood there with his arms crossed, not seeming the least bit affected, but as Vance continued taking more and more blood, Noah began looking uncomfortable. He was obviously trying not to show weakness as he clenched his teeth.
I wouldn’t put it past Vance to pull a fast one and take advantage of Noah’s weakened state so he wouldn’t have to make good on his end of the deal. With Noah weakened like this, at least he wouldn’t be able to stop me from putting an end to Vance after the ritual.
Noah had lost at least a gallon or two of blood by now and was looking in rough shape. Vance finally stopped, leaving Noah staggering for a second before he disappeared.
“Is he going to be all right?” I asked.
“He needs blood, so he went to feed, no doubt.” Vance dipped his fingers in the blood and began painting sanguinary hieroglyphs on the floor surrounding me. “Stand here,” he instructed, and pointed to the exact center of his scrawlings.
Vance poured Noah’s blood out into straight lines, forming a pentagram with me in the middle.
“You should be less concerned with what your plans are for me and more worried about what that Archios have in store for you after this,” he said. So much for the element of surprise. He was reading my thoughts the whole time. “Your human friend wasn’t meant to die. I burned him to break Minerva’s mind control so he wouldn’t shoot himself. It was my intention for him to seek help, but I suppose his body was more frail than I calculated.”
“Just do the damn ritual,” I said through gritted teeth.
“Do you think they are your allies?” he asked. “The Archios, I mean. You seem to have an ill-placed loyalty to them. I am curious if that would change upon discerning how rotten the cores behind their appealing veneers are.”
“I don’t consider anyone my ally right now, so save it. You’re either an obstacle or not.”
“You have quite an insurmountable obstacle blocking any path you choose from now on. There is no one on Earth more manipulative than the Archios, and they will never let you out of their grasp knowing what you are now. Whether or not you consent, you will be doing their bidding until they tire of you.”
“How is that any different than what you have planned?”
“I know now that the experiment was a success. Reproducing the results will be simple and there are already others like you out there. I have no choice but to make good on my end of the bargain with Noah. He will turn on me, but if you help me survive I will forget your existence and no longer interfere in your life.”
“What makes you think I’d even be able to stop Noah if I wanted to?”
Vance finished his bloody artwork in silence. When he was done he flipped through the pages of the demon tome. “Don’t move from the circle prematurely or it may tear you in two,” he warned, and began to read aloud in tongues.
The blood lit on fire as he spoke. Flames grew steadily around me until they were well off the ground. Demonic symbols were swirling out from the fire, licking the air and singeing my skin. I pulled away in pain, but remembered not to leave the circle. I tried to grin and bear it.