Blood Ties (15 page)

Oliver just shrugged. He'd never thought of Emalie as a way of getting back at his parents. That was definitely not the case, but he wasn't going to point that out right now.

“Still, if I'd known that you thought we were going to slay you…” Sebastian sighed. “Oliver, we would never.”

Oliver nodded. He found that maybe he believed his dad about that, and realized that this was also the first time they had ever talked about the prophecy, about Oliver's destiny. Still, he wondered aloud: “But the prophecy is more important than me, right?”

Sebastian looked away and Oliver didn't think he would reply. But then he did. “To some people,” he said, “but not to us. Do you understand that?”

“I guess.… So, you need Selene's life force … that means you're going to kill her?”

“Yes.”

“Do you know why
I
was looking for Selene?”

“I'd guess that you wanted to hear your prophecy for yourself.”

“Yeah.”

“Well then, I think it's time you did. That's why I brought you along when I ran into you.” He stood and offered a hand. “Come on, son.”

Oliver looked at it for a moment. Could he trust his dad? Maybe. He took his father's hand, feeling the strong, firm grasp around his. As he stood, he felt as if those rushing questions that had overwhelmed him before had quieted. Emalie would have been proud of him—

Emalie … his dad definitely didn't approve of that. So there were some things that still needed to be worked out.

“This way,” said Sebastian, starting down the mountainside.

Oliver walked beside him, a cool wind against his face. “So, that Stiletto is for killing Selene?”

“Yes. The Stiletto of Alamut.” Sebastian explained, “Tyrus retrieved it personally from the fortress in Iran. It was forged by ancient assassins.”

“Why do you need Selene's life force?”

Sebastian patted Oliver on the back. “Here's yet another thing I should have told you by now. An important part of your destiny is coming up soon. You're going to be given extra power, by an Erebus demon named Vyette. This is why you've had all those doctor's visits. Dr. Vincent has been preparing your body to take on this power.”

“What kind of power?” Oliver asked nervously.

“Well, I can explain it more later, but it will help you to meld with Illisius, when the time comes for you to open the Gate. But in order to summon Vyette, we need something called the Artifact. Actually, the Artifact is going to be retrieved on Isla Necrata. And then in order to use it, we need Selene's life force. Did you follow all that?”

“Sort of,” Oliver said dully. None of it sounded fun to him, to say the least, but then again, it was better than what he'd thought the Stiletto was to be used for. “But—”

“Hold on,” said Sebastian. They had reached an iron gate in the castle wall. Sebastian approached a keypad beside it and typed in a code. The gate swung open. Inside, they found a grassy courtyard dotted with trees. White light glowed from within the castle windows, which had been updated with modern glass. The lampposts along the walkways were lit with gaslights.

Oliver and Sebastian turned toward the sound of squeaking wheels. A white-clad orderly appeared, pushing a patient in a wheelchair past them.

“Good evening,” he said. The orderly was a middle-aged vampire with slicked black hair. The patient was an older man. As they passed, Oliver sniffed the air.

“He's human.”

Sebastian smiled. “Ollie, all the patients in the Asylum Colony are humans.”

Oliver was surprised by this. “Really? Even Selene?”

“That's the point of the Asylum,” Sebastian explained. “It's a cover. What humans think of as insanity is sometimes just the awareness, in a human, of the larger universe. A human can't fully grasp the concept of all the worlds and forces. Their short-lived minds try to understand it, but they can't. But there are some specially touched humans who become aware enough that they can act as oracles and are useful to the vampire world. We think that it has something to do with demon bloodlines that run through humans. There are other theories, too.”

Oliver thought that sounded a lot like the Orani, except for the insanity part, although Oliver didn't know whether or not any Orani had been driven insane by their abilities. He wondered if his dad knew about the Orani and found himself hoping that he didn't. “So the most important prophecies in the world are given by humans?”

“Yes. There was an old human playwright named Shakespeare,” Sebastian continued. “Given how many plays he wrote and how excellent he was, you can guess that he was more than just a human.… Anyway, his plays sometimes included a fool or idiot who was actually incredibly wise, only no one knew it. Same with the people here.

“Humans would never accept one of their own who had gained such power, like an oracle, and they would likely lock her away as a lunatic, or shun her to the point where she would descend into crime and end up rotting in a jail. We arrange to have patients who fit the profile transferred to this facility, where we can study their power. The meeting of a human mind and a true awareness of the universe is a fascinating display. They can see things about the future that others can't.”

“Like about my destiny,” added Oliver.

“Exactly.”

Oliver and Sebastian reached the front door, which was made of thick metal. Sebastian pressed a red button and a chime sounded. Moments later, the door swung inward and a gaunt woman in a white coat appeared.

“Good evening,” she said. “Can I help you?”

“Sebastian Nocturne. I'm here from the Half-Light Consortium. Mr. Ravonovich's orders. Dr. Constance should be expecting me.”

“I'm Dr. Constance,” the woman replied curtly, “and I am expecting you. That's why I answered the door.”

“Apologies,” said Sebastian.

Dr. Constance let them through a short archway and into a wide entry room. A staircase arced up the back wall to a landing above. The high stone walls were decorated with medieval paintings. A suit of armor stood on display. Halls led off at every angle, only they had been fitted with steel doors and keypads. “So, you've come to see Selene.”

“That's right.”

“Well, I'm afraid I have some bad news.”

“What—”

“The news is,” a voice growled from behind them, “you're not going to be able to see her.”

Oliver and Sebastian turned to find Uncle Ember standing in the doorway with two other vampires, leering menacingly.

“Excuse me, can I help you?” Dr. Constance asked.

“Yes,” said Ember calmly, aiming a thin smile at the doctor. “Leave quietly and let us do what we came here to do.”

“Which is what, Ember?” Sebastian asked gravely.

“Stop you, stop Half-Light.” Ember cast a wicked glance at Oliver. “Stop this whole wretched prophecy. Now, that happens one of two ways. The first is that you and your son can walk right out this door and head back to Morosia.”

“Well then, I guess it will have to be the second,” Sebastian countered calmly.

“If that's your decision…” Ember's eyes burned emerald green.

Sebastian glared back at him and shrugged his shoulders. “Why, Ember? Just tell me why we shouldn't fulfill the prophecy. And don't say it's because you want to keep things the way they've always been. The only thing that's
always been
is change. We change. We evolve.”

“Stop talking like a
human
!” Ember growled.

Oliver shuddered. Emalie had said the same thing to him once, right after Dean had died. He couldn't believe he was hearing it said to Sebastian, and by a vampire no less.

Sebastian shook his head. “Thanks, Ember, we'll be on our way.” He turned to go—

With a searing hiss, Ember leaped, slamming into Sebastian. They sprawled across the floor.

Dr. Constance evanesced into a column of black smoke and slithered to safety at the top of the staircase.

Oliver watched as Sebastian flipped Ember off of him, sending him toppling into a stone column. The other two vampires moved in to join the fight. Oliver lunged and shoved one of them, surprising him and sending him crashing to the floor. Before Oliver could even set his feet, though, the other vampire had grabbed him by the throat and tossed him easily across the room. He smashed into the suit of armor and crumpled to the floor in a pile of metal.

Looking up dazedly, Oliver watched as Sebastian traded blows with one of the vampires, then spun and kicked him into Ember. Sebastian then leaped up onto the wall. He held out his hands, one fist beside the other, and a column of smoke grew out from them. “
Tachesssss,
” he whispered, and his Naginata stick appeared. It was a long pole with a curved silver blade at one end that was carved like a falcon.

Ember regarded this with a snarl. He turned to one of the vampires and pointed at Oliver. “Get that out of here!” Then he turned back to Sebastian. “Pathetic,” he growled.

“Really?” Sebastian replied. He launched off the wall, his long coat flying, the stick spinning in his hands. He landed and had cracked Ember across the chin before he could even move. But the second vampire landed a vicious blow, and the three descended into chaos.

An alarm began to sound. A far door burst open and two security guards rushed in, trying to pull the fighters apart and quickly getting sucked into the conflict.

Oliver scrambled to his feet as the third vampire ran toward him. He leaped away, arcing across the room and landing halfway up the staircase.

“Oliver.” He looked up to see Dr. Constance at the top of the stairs, waving to him. Oliver bounded up to her. She peered at him. “You're the child of Selene's prophecy.”

“Yeah,” Oliver replied.

Dr. Constance pulled a key card from her coat pocket and thrust it toward him. “Down that hall.” She pointed across the landing. “Room 209. Maybe she'll show herself for you.”

“What's that mean?” Oliver asked.

“Just go,” the doctor said, pushing him along. She turned and squared her shoulders, ready to greet Oliver's pursuer.

Oliver ran across the landing, trying to ignore the furious fighting below. Sebastian could take care of himself.…

He reached the steel door and swiped the key into a slot beside it. A beep sounded and locks unclicked. Oliver pushed through and slammed the door behind him.

More metal doors were set into archways at regular intervals down the stone hall. He checked the numbers and was passing an open window when it suddenly smashed inward, glass showering onto the floor. Oliver jumped back, then turned to see a blotchy hand grasping the window frame. The hand stuck right on a tooth of glass and yanked away. “Guh!”

Oliver leaned out the window to see Dean dangling precariously from the wall, Emalie hanging from his back. Dean smiled, relieved. “Little help?”

Oliver reached out and took Emalie's hand, lifting her through the window. He glanced back at Dean. “I didn't need help when
I
was carrying her,” he quipped.

Dean rolled his eyes. “Look at me: I'm Oliver, I'm freakin' Romeo!” He hauled himself through the window, then frowned at the deep hole in his hand. “Remind me to pack this with dry dirt when I get outside,” he said, referring to the zombie method of keeping wounds free of infection.

“We took the next elevator,” Emalie explained as they started down the hall. “I could keep track of you until your dad knocked you out.… That must have been awful.”

“Not really.” Oliver shrugged. “He was just calming me down. Then we talked about the prophecy and Selene and stuff.”

“Emalie said you let him have it,” Dean commented.

“Yeah,” Oliver replied. He glanced at Emalie. “Thanks,” he said softly.

She smiled. “Don't mention it. Anyway, it wasn't hard to find you once we got out of the tunnel and saw this place.”

Oliver stopped at the door marked 209. “Ready?” he said.

Emalie's smile had disappeared, and her face had paled. Oliver wondered what she was expecting in here. He swiped the key card, and the door to Selene's room clicked open.

They stepped inside to find it dark. Emalie flicked a light switch on the wall, and a single lamp illuminated. The walls were cream colored, bare except for one painting of flowers in a vase. An old television stood atop a metal cart with a chipped gold finish. The smell of the room reminded Oliver of years ago, when he'd met Sebastian's mother, Tally, who had been almost six hundred, with her skin almost gone, her dry bones and hair spray … Oliver also felt fear in this room: fear of death, of the end and the unknown.…

The bed was crisply made with white sheets and a brown blanket. Atop it lay an elderly woman, not moving. She wore a long, light blue nightgown. Her hands were lined with blue veins that seemed to be barely covered by skin. She looked so frail. How could something so delicate contain something as powerful as an oracle?

The three cautiously stepped toward her.

“So this is Selene?” Dean asked.

“Yeah,” Emalie replied. As they looked over the old woman, there was a very slight chiming sound. Something moved in the corner, and now a tan cat peeked out from behind an old tweed chair. It meowed softly, and the tiny bell hung around its neck rang. Now a second cat's face appeared, this one black. As the three approached the bed, the cats retreated out of sight.

Oliver examined the body. “She's not dead,” he reported, “but she's not breathing either.”

“Has she been sired?” asked Dean.

“No.” Oliver couldn't figure it out. She wasn't in Staesys. “Dean, is there anything here we can't see?”

Dean peered around. “Nah, no magic going on here.”

Emalie ran a finger along Selene's arm. “She's not here,” she said, “but she hasn't been gone long.” She looked around the room. “She doesn't like being gone, because she's afraid she'll never get back.”