Chronicles of Darkness: Shadows and Dust (15 page)

         "Christine," he
breathed and smiled dreamingly, enraptured. His whole body relaxed and the
crossbow slipped, while he watched her approach.

         The woman waved happily
at Kyrian, smiling winningly and showing off her pearly white teeth. Her big
innocent eyes were firmly fixed to the young man.

         Delighted, Kyrian
repeated her name. "Christine..."

         In that unguarded moment,
the arrow
came
loose from the crossbow and flew unstoppable to its new destination.

         Skylar shouted a warning.

         That woke Kyrian from his
dazed stupor. Horrified, he realized what tragedy was about to transpire. His
eyes widened and at the top of his lungs he screamed, "JEAN!"

         Unfortunately, the
warning came to
o
late and the man, who had his
back turned to the
siblings,
received a
painful surprise. He was bending down as the arrow penetrated the
fabric
of his
working pants and stuck fast in his behind.

         Skylar and Kyrian winced
and turned away.

         Jean jumped and then
buckled with a pained expression. With a mighty pull, he ripped the arrow from
his trousers, disbelievingly staring at it. His questioning gaze fell on the
siblings.

         Without further thought,
Skylar furtively pointed a finger at her brother.

         Kyrian swallowed hard as
he saw Jean's unmoving face while the tall man took big steps towards them. He
wanted to flee, but fear froze him to the spot, and he couldn't move.

         Finally Jean reached them
and grabbed Kyrian's shoulders with his large, strong hands.       The boy was
afraid his bones would crack any moment.

         Fearing for her brother's
life, Skylar wanted to bravely step between the men.        

         Unexpected, Jean started
to laugh, while slapping Kyrian's shoulders, hard.

         Puzzled, the boy looked
at the man, who explained, "Well, I think it will take some time to sit
without pain, and my gait will look quite funny for awhile. But, don't worry.
Something like that is not going to kill me."

         Kyrian released a
relieved breath. "I'm so very sorry, Jean. I just got distracted for a
tiny moment... it certainly was not my intension to hurt you in any way."

         Jean laughed. "I
know. Only my pride got hurt. And as long as it is not bleeding I won't think
of it as a life-threatening wound. It will be best to forget about the whole
thing before I become the laughingstock of the servants." He winked at
Kyrian and stiffly limped back to continue with his work.

         Skylar looked at her
brother and the
twitching
of her lips
indicated that she had trouble to suppress a face-splitting grin.

         Kyrian pressed his hands
to his hips and glared down at his little sister. "Don't say a word! Not
one word!"

         Not the slightest bit
impressed, the girl replied dryly, "I think, you are the one who needs to
practice." She shook her head and continued, "Just imagine this would
have happened in a real fight. A tiny moment of carelessness could have
resulted in your death. Vampires don't know compassion and won't have mercy.
They would have coolly sucked the life from your body." Skylar grinned,
utterly proud of herself. She had just repeated the same lecture her brother
had given her the last time they had practiced shooting with the crossbow.

         Chalice reached the
siblings before Kyrian could counter with a snide remark. With an adoring
smile, she stopped in front of them.

         "Christine, what a
nice
surprise... how... where...
" Kyrian
stammered, ignoring Skylar's questioning gaze.

         A bit shy, the young
woman said, "You wouldn't want a young lady to reveal her secrets, would
you?"

         "Uh... no, of course
not... it's just..."

         "Oh no!"
Chalice exclaimed in mock shock. "I dared too much, didn't I? Now it feels
wrong that I set out to find you." Tears gathered in her eyes.

         "No, please don't
cry," Kyrian begged and took another step towards her. "I'm glad that
you were so... daring." He blushed and swallowed hard. "Since our
first encounter, I couldn't stop thinking about you." The words just
tumbled from his lips.

         "Is that really
true?"

         "Yes!" he
almost shouted and bashfully lowered his gaze.

         "I felt the
same," Chalice whispered sweetly and Kyrian looked up. She was standing so
close to him, and he couldn't contain the happy smile. All questions,
especially how the young woman had been able to find him, left his mind.

         She lifted the arm which
held the basket. "I thought, because it is such a beautiful day, that we
could go for a walk and have a nice picnic for two," Chalice said,
slightly lifting the cloth which covered the basket. "And as you can see,
I brought everything we will need to do just that."

         He gathered all his
courage, took her free hand and guided it to his lips.

         Skylar, who was beginning
to feel very out of place, went back to the workers, her head down and
shoulders slumped.

         Kyrian didn't care. He
only had eyes for Christine and breathed a gentle kiss agains
t
her knuckles. "A picnic? That's the best idea
I have heard today." His heart beat faster as he thought about spending a
beautiful afternoon in the presence of this enchanting, young woman. Ever since
they first met, his dreams were ruled by Christine. He couldn't think about
anything else but to spend time alone with her. "Wait just a moment. I
will get my horse and we can go for a ride."

         Chalice smiled and
tenderly ran a finger along his chin. "But don't keep me waiting too long.
Every second without you will seem like an eternity."

         The young man shuddered
slightly at the gentle touch.

         Chalice's gaze followed
him as he hurried to the stables to saddle Nightshade. "Men are so
predictable," she mumbled to herself. "A nice smile, a gentle touch
and they are yours. It will be easy to get the information I need. The boy is
practically eating from my hand. My Master will not only repay me with
gratitude. Finally, he will make me his true bloodmate!" She took a deep
breath and a confident grin flitted across her pretty face. "Yes, I can
feel it already. Immortality is close and reachable. Soon the whole world will
tremble and will fall on its knees before us."

         Leading Nightshade by his
reins, Kyrian came back. "So, Mademoiselle Christine? Are you ready for a
little ride for two?"

         Flattered, Chalice put a
hand on her chest, batted her brown eyes and responded,
"Oh, how could I deny the wish of such a nice and charming man as
you are. It would be an honor to follow you to the end of the world, Monsieur
Kyrian."

         The young man laughed and
walked her to his horse. As he was about to help her into the saddle, the dark
stallion nervously retreated. Nightshade snorted and shook his head from side
to side.

         The reins slipped from
his grip, while Kyrian was trying in vain to calm down the horse. "Easy,
boy, easy. Everything is alright." He tried to reach for the reins, but
Nightshade reared up on his hind
legs, neighing
loudly and kicking his
fore hooves
. Protectiv
e
ly, Kyrian placed himself in front of Chalice,
raised his hands, though the horse wasn't about to relax. Kyrian grew a bit
annoyed. "Nightshade! Just, what is wrong with you, my boy?"

         "I have a feeling
that he doesn't like me much," Chalice mentioned while peering at the
stallion from behind Kyrian's back.

         It was obvious that the
young man was quite embarrassed about the way his horse behaved and disobeyed
him. Again he tried to get the wild stallion under control, but Nightshade
retreated further. "I don't understand it," Kyrian said, looking at
Chalice apologetically. "He's never behaved like that before."

         "Now, don't let that
destroy our happy mood. I know of an idyllically place, not far from here. A
beautiful, silent lake and believe me when I say, the place was made to have a
picnic there. Come, follow me," Chalice declared and pulled at Kyrian's
arm.

         He still stared
disbelievingly at his black horse that was standing a few feet away, happily
munching on some grass.

         "Come on,
Kyrian," the blonde woman repeated, again pulling at his arm. "We can
reach the lake when we walk. We don't need a horse to carry us there."

         "Alright, just give
me a moment and then I'm yours," Kyrian answered and bent down to
carefully pick up the ebony crossbow that had slipped from his hands a short
while ago. He ran to his sister, who was sitting somewhat dejectedly in the
grass, looking at Jean and the other workers, who were busy with the hay
harvest.

         Kyrian crouched beside
her and placed the valuable crossbow and arrows on her lap.

         Dumbfounded, Skylar
looked into the gleaming eyes of her brother.

         "I have a very
important task for you. I know that you will
do
your best to fulfill it," he announced and
smiled at his sister.

         Faced with the trust her
big brother was bestowing upon her, she nodded eagerly, her dark mood quickly
fading.

         "I want you to look
after my crossbow. You have to promise to guard it like the apple of your eye.
Do you think you are up for that challenge?"

         "You can count on
me. I will not disappoint you!" she replied firmly.

         Grinning, he ruffled her
hair. "I knew that, sister dear. Therefore, I have another task for you.
Could you please take care of Nightshade? You know, I don't like to let others
take care of him, but I trust you to look after him. If you want, you can also
take him for a ride on one of the pantries, before you bring him back to the
stables."

         Skylar blinked, her mouth
hanging open. She nearly couldn't believe what her ears heard. After she had
regained her composure, she hugged her brother effusively. "Yes, I will do
that for you. I will guard the crossbow and take good care of Nightshade,"
the girl promised.

         "Thank you,"
Kyrian said, relieved and pecked her cheek. "See you later, little
one." He rose
and
hurried back to his adored Christine.

         Suspiciously knitting her
brows, Chalice observed the siblings from a distance.
An
unsettling feeling stirred in the depths of her dark heart
.
J
ealousy.

*****

         The head of the Leosol
family sat in one of the overstuffed chairs in the castle's library. Her
attention was held by some very old books and ancient parchments
that were spread out in front of her. Among them was
a leather case, and she pulled a fragile, unremarkable piece of paper from it.
Concerned, Helena looked at the fading colors of the heraldic animals. They had
started to flake off, which made deciphering them difficult. "This little
piece of parchment is the oldest
inheritance
of our family. It is the only document showing all symbols of the five vampire
clans." Carefully she smoothened the corners of the paper and looked
closely at the signs. Engrossed, she whispered the names of the clans.
"The Griffins, the Mantichoras, the Serpentes, the Dragons and ..."
Helena hesitated a brief moment to say the name of the fifth and most powerful
clan. "The Clan of the Phoenix." She shivered slightly as she glanced
at the black crest with the blazing flames, which appeared as if they had been
drawn not long ago. "The colors of this symbol are still shining so
brightly. So different from the other pictures. Even the gold of the phoenix,
rising from the flames with widely spread wings, didn't lose any of its
splendor."

         Lost in thought, the
huntress leaned back in her chair, her eyes never losing contact with the paper
that rested in front of her on the table. "Is it irony of fate? My
ancestors passed on the tale of this clan's downfall."

         Helena was
interrupted,
and her lips formed a smile as she
heard the door open behind her. Whoever had entered the room was trying to be
as quiet as possible. But the huntress knew there was no danger to be expected
from this person, at least no danger to her. "Skylar, my precious. What
can I do for you?" Helena asked and finally turned around. Only with some
effort did she manage to suppress a laugh as she looked into the dismayed face
of her daughter.

         "Mama, how did you
know it was me? I was trying so hard not to make a sound
."
Skylar responded in a
small voice, poking out her lower lip.

         "Oh, sweetheart.
There is no need to pout. Your sneaking technique is getting better and better.
But, it still needs some work. And besides, a mother can feel it when one of
her children is near," Helena declared, winking. "So, tell me, why
are you carrying the crossbow around? I thought your brother is showing you how
to shoot with it?"