Blood Talisman (12 page)
us. Not once did you mention the Scroll might be found in these ruins. Pure chance brought us here—that and vampire power, owed mostly to Marcus. Why are hiding anyway? Show yourself as you did before.”
“I—I cannot…” Dakar’s voice had lost its demanding edge. “My time in this alternate
space grows short. I am not immortal like the Fallen Ones. That is why I need you to share the secret of the Talisman!”
Andrew glanced down at the writing on the Scroll. As on the stone, it was a mass of
hieroglyphics he could not decipher.
“I’m afraid I cannot read this. We will have to take it to someone who can translate it
for us.”
“There is no time for that,” Dakar screeched. “Marcus, he who knows all, or thinks he
does, must surely be able to read it.”
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Marcus shrugged. “I can read only a few words, and it brings me no sorrow to inform
you that I am unable to help you, Dakar. Perhaps Azazel, your forefather, can help. The
writing is from a time of his existence on earth.”
“He will not help me. He disowned me a long time ago. Now I find myself begging for
help from vampires.”
Tommy chuckled. “Yeah, and how’s that working for ya?”
“Listen to me, Dakar,” Marcus said, “there is no help for you here. We cannot decipher
enough of the writing on the Scroll, and even if we could there is no surety that it would reveal the existence of the Talisman, even if it does exist. You must accept your fate, whatever it is…”
A horrendous wailing sound filled the air around them.
“What a drama queen,” Roger muttered. “Can we get out of here now?”
“Fools!” Dakar screamed. “Don’t you know what this is? This is the great burial
chamber of the City of Ardocan, buried beneath the ruins of Babylon for centuries!”
Ardocan. Andrew remembered the text he had read in the library—the City of Ardocan
that the Talisman was named after. Was it possible it was now within reach?
“No one has been here before you since the city disappeared in a cataclysmic
earthquake thousands of years ago,” Dakar continued, his voice tinged with panic. “All that remains is this chamber and the place where the Talisman was hidden. You cannot abandon the search now! Beyond these walls lies a labyrinth that may lead us to the Talisman. You are my last hope.”
“We are not your hope, first or last,” Andrew said. “Even if we find the Talisman, you
cannot be allowed to use it to restore your life. Your treachery caused death and destruction when you were alive.”
The wailing began again, reaching a crescendo that had Tommy covering his ears.
“Jeez, somebody shut him up!”
“Come on.” Marcus gestured to a small door at the far end of the chamber. “Best that
we find out for ourselves once and for all if the Talisman exists or not.”
The wailing ceased as they filed through the narrow door and into yet another long
passageway. Andrew could sense that Dakar was following them. He would not give up
quite so easily. Even though he knew Andrew was determined not to share the Talisman’s
power with him, Dakar would no doubt persist until the end, until whatever was giving him
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the power to pursue them ran out. Azazel, his ancestor, had refused to help, Dakar had said.
Indicative of the low esteem in which even the Fallen Ones held him. If Dakar had proven himself a worthy adversary instead of the treacherous snake he was, Andrew might have felt some pity for him. As it was, the sooner the world was rid of the demon again, the better.
Ahead, the figures of Marcus and Roger were suddenly framed in light. The darkness of
the passage had given way to a brightness that, though not a damaging sunlight, was almost blinding in its intensity.
“Wow.” At his side, Tommy muttered his surprise. “Will you guys be all right in this?”
“Yes.” Andrew stepped forward to stand beside Marcus. “It’s reflected light, from these
thousands of glass pieces.” All around them, it was as if a million mirrors had been shattered in one devastating blow, the shards picking up and reflecting prism after prism of light. “But where is the source?”
“What’s that?” Tommy asked, blinking against a dazzling beam emanating from a far
corner. They approached slowly, all of them shielding their eyes from the powerful radiance ahead of them. “Too bad we didn’t think to bring sunglasses,” Tommy quipped. “Who knew we’d need them underground?”
“It’s the Talisman,” Andrew said, a sharp jolt of anticipation running through his body
as he uttered the words. “It must be, Marcus. It does exist, after all. What else could it be?”
He felt Tommy’s hand grip his arm, slowing him down.
“Be careful, Andrew, please.”
Andrew, his hand shaking with very un-vampire-like nerves, put aside the scroll and
reached out to pick up the glittering stone. Large and heavy, it seemed to pulsate with an energy from deep inside it.
“It needs your blood,” a voice whispered in his ear.
“I know.”
“What?” Tommy asked, looking at him with surprise. “You know what?”
“It was Dakar,” Marcus said, his expression grim. “The Talisman needs a blood
offering. Andrew, this may be a trap.”
“But how will we ever know if I don’t go through with it?”
“Think carefully, my friend.” Marcus put a hand on Andrew’s shoulder. “What you do
now will change the course of your existence forever. Is this what you and Tommy really
want?”
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“We’ve come so far,” Andrew murmured. “It’s all I’ve thought about for over a year.”
“Andrew, you don’t have to do this,” Tommy said. “I will always love you, you know
that. You don’t have to sacrifice your immortality for me.”
“Do it,” Dakar’s voice breathed ominously in Andrew’s ear. “Do it, or I will!”
Andrew turned the stone over in his hands as if trying to see what lay inside, but all he could see was his own reflection cast a myriad times in the intricately cut prisms. Was it good, or evil? Was what he had obsessed over for so long really what he wanted? Now that the answer, was here in his hands, he was not sure. Tommy and he loved each other unconditionally. Did it matter that one would outlive the other? Was that not the way of most friendships, of nearly all loving relationships? It was possible that he, Andrew, could die before Tommy—a crazed vampire hunter, a moment too long in daylight, any of these things could end his existence. And if Tommy was taken, he would have these wondrous
memories of their time together…
“Do it!” Dakar screamed, suddenly manifesting himself in their midst. “You vampires
really are fools. You think my forefathers would actually refuse me this moment? I have this body for as long as it takes the Talisman to restore my life!” He grabbed for the stone—and Andrew and he began a tug of war over possession.
Tommy, momentarily caught off guard by Dakar’s sudden appearance, yelled, “Fuck
this shit!” then punched Dakar on the side of his jaw. The demon swung round, a snarl of rage on his lips. He picked Tommy up off the ground and flung him with supernatural strength against the wall where he hung impaled on a knife-like shard of glass protruding from the wall.
“Jesus!” Roger started forward to help Tommy but Andrew pushed past him.
“Tommy, oh Tommy, my love.” Tears stung his eyes as he lifted Tommy down off the
glass splinter that had pierced him close to his heart. Cradling him in his arms, he carried Tommy back to where Marcus held Dakar by the throat, his large hand slowly but inexorably squeezing whatever life had been given Dakar out of the demon’s body.
“Stop,” Dakar wheezed, struggling impotently against Marcus’ powerful stranglehold.
“There is your blood offering. Human blood—more sought after than any other. The
Talisman will give you anything you desire. Don’t be fools—use it!”
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Andrew looked up at Marcus who flung Dakar away as though he were no more than a
bundle of rags. He stooped to pick up the stone and handed it to Andrew. Tommy’s breath
was slowing as his life ebbed from him. His eyes fluttered open and locked with Andrew’s.
“Sorry,” he murmured. “I got in the way…”
“Andrew!” Roger gripped his arm. “Whatever you’re going to do, do it quickly. He’s
dying.”
Andrew covered the gaping wound in Tommy’s chest with his hand trying to staunch
the blood.
“He has only one chance,” Marcus said. “It would seem the decision has been taken
from you. You must change him or he will die.”
A sob was torn from Andrew’s throat as he gazed down at his dying lover’s pale face.
“Gods, but I would give anything to not do this without his consent.”
Yes, Tommy offered to accept the change, to die in order to live with me forever, but I wanted to
spare him that choice, to make my own sacrifice for him…
“The Talisman!” Dakar stood over them clutching his damaged throat. “Use it to save
him and yourself,” he croaked. “His blood and yours. Could there be a more potent
combination? Let the Talisman’s power decide your destinies.”
Andrew knew he could no longer hesitate. He laid the Talisman on Tommy’s chest then
bit into his own wrist and let his blood fall on the stone and mingle with Tommy’s. The
Talisman turned red, absorbing both the human and vampire blood. It glowed, softly at first, then brighter and brighter, and Tommy writhed in seeming pain as the Talisman took on a shimmering, pulsating intensity. Instinctively, Andrew drew Tommy into his arms, holding him fast, the stone pressed between their bodies.
Andrew could feel Tommy’s pain, a sharp excruciating sensation that made him want
to scream out loud. Tommy reached around Andrew’s neck and drew him in for a kiss that
as he gave himself up to it, Andrew feared would be their last. Their lips and tongues
meshed, and Andrew’s body was flooded by a sensual heat he swore he had never before
experienced, even in the most passionate moments he’d shared with Tommy. It was as
though they had become one body, one soul, one entity, bound together for all eternity.
A strident voice invaded his consciousness. There were sounds of a struggle nearby.
Andrew regained his senses immediately. He still held Tommy in his arms, the Talisman was
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pressed to Tommy chest, but all signs of blood and his wound were gone. His eyes were
closed, his face pale as before, but serene, at peace. So beautiful—even in death.
“Give it to me, now,” Dakar was screaming, or at least trying to. His throat, partially
crushed by Marcus, prevented him from sounding like much more than a whining child.
“You have used it to your advantage, now I need it before the Fallen Ones take away the last few moments of my life!”
Marcus lifted the stone from Tommy’s chest and held it towards Dakar.
“No, Marcus,” Andrew gasped. “He will only use it for evil.”
“I know, and that we cannot allow.” Marcus closed his hand around the Talisman and
crushed it, letting the tiny glittering shards fall like dust through his fingers. At the same time, the scroll which had lain forgotten at Roger’s feet, crumbled to dust.
With the Talisman destroyed, the light began to slowly fade from the chamber. The one
constant source that had filled this space for thousands of years was no more.
“What have you done?” Dakar foamed at the mouth as the darkness closed in around
them. He lurched towards Marcus, his once handsome face contorted with rage. “You have
destroyed everything that could have helped me live again. You have deceived me once
more.”
“You have deceived yourself,” Marcus told him calmly. “Your loathsome life ends now,
for there is nothing here to sustain it any longer. Even the Fallen Ones have deserted you.”
Dakar’s mouth opened in a silent howl. In the dark his eyes burned with hatred, but the
vampires could see his body begin to fade, become wraithlike, then a mere mist, before he disappeared altogether, blown away on the gentle breeze that had materialised, then just as quickly subsided.
“Good riddance,” Roger muttered.
And Andrew could not disagree with that sentiment. Dakar was dead, really dead this
time, yet Andrew felt a sadness wash over him. The Talisman was destroyed and could not
now be used in an attempt to reverse time and space and bring his brother back to him. His eyes filled with tears as he lifted Tommy’s lifeless body and carried him from the chamber.
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Tommy could feel hands pulling at him, voices urging him to wake up, but oh, he
didn’t want to move from this incredible place, this haven in the arms of the man he loved, and could now love without fear of their ever parting. He’d dreamed he had died, but was brought back to life again by some strange miracle, and he’d never felt better in his entire life.
It was all a dream, wasn’t it?
“Tommy, wake up…”
Darn it—I guess I’m going to have to wake up!
His eyes fluttered open and he smiled as Andrew’s anxious expression came into focus.
