Circle of Death (6 page)

“Protect her if you can, Lucius.” Avés said, realizing I wouldn’t answer. “What awaits her makes what used to happen in this place looks like freedom.”

“I’ll try.” I knew that answer was enough to let him know I had met the woman Seth wanted, but I trusted him and knew he wouldn’t ask anything else. “There is something tragic here.”

”This is where those from the Otherworld were killed back when we were hunted. This cave… That’s where the name of the club comes from. Red Moon, in honor of the blood of the ones who were tortured and murdered here, every waning moon.”

With those dark words, he got up and moved away, again acting as if he was completely drunk. One minute later he had joined the group of elves and sidhes he had been with earlier.

So this was the place where the murders used to happen… In the years after the Otherworld showed itself everything had been a huge novelty. But it didn’t take long for humans to realize that their fairy tales had a dark and dangerous side, closer to the original stories than to the modern versions, a side humanity didn’t know how to fight or control. Then the hunt started. Shapeshifters, because of their high renegeration capacity, became compulsory blood and organ donators. Vampires were between banishment and the scientifical researches, being studied in search for immortality, just like the sidhes. Elves and witches were studied for similar reasons, their extreme longevity. All the other races had a death sentence upon them. And the shapeshifters, vampires, sidhes, elves and witches who didn’t “help” had one, too. Of course, they had to be captured before being murdered, but humankind managed to catch a lot of us. The waning moon nights were branded by screams and blood.

That’s when the Fae took the lead of the rebellion, as humans called it. But it was a war. Humankind would have been decimated if the Otherworld hadn’t held back, only making sure that humans were so scared that they would never try to use us again. They didn’t, but now there was the everpresent hostility between humanity and the Otherworld.

With an unnecessary sigh, I got up and left the bar. My hunt was quick and without pleasure, my thoughts were too busy. Sooner than I thought I was back at Kelene’s apartment. What Avés had told me didn’t leave my mind, and I spent the night alert.

When the day dawned and Kelene’s alarm clock rang, I quickly made her coffee and went back to my room. I had already decided to follow her to the campus to ensure that Seth didn’t find her there. As the firstborns, we were both able to walk with impunity under the sun. And I couldn’t tell her about Seth without knowing exactly what the connection between them was. It would be too risky. Who could guarantee that she knew the risk she was in, or that she could become a weapon? And where did that protective instinct come from? I could tell myself that it was because of Avés’ words, but there was something beyond that.

Again, Kelene needed half an hour to wake up.

“Good morning.” She greeted me, the cup of coffee already on her hand. “Excited for tonight?”

“A lot.” I smiled. “Do you want me to make lunch?”

“There’s no need, thanks. I have a class this afternoon, I’ll probably arrive here around five.”

I nodded, and she went back to her room. A couple of minutes later she left, saying a quick “goodbye”. I waited until I was sure she would be a safe distance away before leaving, too, using enough mental suggestion to make sure that no one realized I was following her.

I had never been to the campus before, but I had heard about it. It was a huge space, filled with different buildings and a lot of greenery. The building Kelene studied in seemed to be one of the old ones, and looked like three different buildings that were joined somehow. I sat in the lawn outside, hidden from view from the main street and still using that small amount of mental suggestion to make sure no one thought anything about me being there. It was better to wait there than to go into the building, where it would be harder to go unnoticed. I had always had the ability to sense other vampires’ presence, and one as old as Seth would be easy to notice, unless he knew I was there and was shielding.

But the day went by without incidents. I followed Kelene back to the apartment, and only when she was already inside the complex I used a stronger suggestion to hide me and ran ahead. When she opened the door, I was lying on the couch reading one of her books.

Kelene greeted me and went straight to the bathroom. She was agitated, almost angry, and it surprised me that I hadn’t noticed it while following her. What had happened? After taking a shower, she locked herself into her bedroom, and the phone rang almost at the same time. Not the apartment’s phone line, but that line she had warned me to ignore. She picked it up after the first ring, and I couldn’t avoid hearing her words.

“I don’t care about what they said. You failed. Don’t make this mistake again… Yes, I know you’re new to this, or I wouldn’t be so gentle.”

There was anger in her voice, and a strength that was completely different from what I was used to hearing from her. What did Kelene hide? But I couldn’t ask, she wouldn’t answer and would be furious to know that I had overheard those words.

She left the bedroom a couple a minutes later, looking just like the young woman I knew, as if nothing had happened.

“I’m going to help them with the preparatives. The party starts at nine o’clock, I’ll be waiting for you.” She sounded light and carefree, not at all like what I had just heard.

“I’ll be there.”

The hours went by quickly after that, while I was lost in thoughts. Kelene’s secrets, the Witches’ Council words, and all that Avés had revealed… Everything was tied together, somehow, and I was in the middle of it all. But how did those pieces fit? I couldn’t see anything, and was sure that I was missing the most important information. I didn’t know enough. Leaving that enigma that had become a hobby for later, I went down just before nine o’clock, and went to the complex’s lawn, where a bonfire had been lit.

All the teens and young people of the complex were sitting in a circle with two openings around the bonfire. Some of them had percussion instruments, flutes, and a violin. Other ones didn’t carry anything, and I wondered if they were there just to complete the circle, of if they would sing too. Kelene and another girl were standing, each one in front of an opening. Not exactly surprised, I realized that the girl was the one who had smiled at me the night before. She was restless, and I could see that she was completely human, but had some kind of connection to the Otherworld. Looking around, I saw people spreading around the circle, waiting for them to begin.

The minutes went by, the small conversations dying one by one, until there was only the silence and the fire. The girl started singing, the melody sounding almost too low for her, but her voice was still strong and clear. There were no words to what she sang, only a melody that seemed to dance around the fire, almost visible. For one moment, I felt as if I had heard it before, half-buried memories of my childhood coming forth, but I ignored them.

She stopped singing, and the deep sound of a drum cut the air. One beat, another, and then the other drums joined in. The woman moved into the circle following their rhythm, dancing with the strong and primitive melody. She started singing again, dancing around the bonfire, two soft voices backing her. A flute joined the song, and then the violin, giving it a cadence that felt alive, almost magic. I felt something stirring inside me, my most primitive instincts being called and fought to control myself.

Once again she stopped singing, and the instruments went on, more flutes joining in, changing the soul of the song, delineating a melody as fluid as the fire. Only then Kelene, who had spent all that time standing still, entered the circle, dancing. The two women faced each other for a second, before starting to sing, always dancing, their voices entwining. The song, which until then had been alive and pulsing, now was reverent and even dark, Kelene’s clear soprano voice giving it a supernatural touch.

It was then that I realized I had to move away. I didn’t recognize that song, but I was sure I knew it, and that it was a melody of power. It wasn’t safe to be so close to it in the middle of so many people. Slowly, I backed away.

All the instruments were being played, and the other voices joined the melody in intricate counterpoints, weaving a web of power. I blinked, moving away from my memories again, only then noticing that I was almost at the complex’s outer wall. Kelene and the other woman were still dancing, always in opposite sides of the bonfire, and it was impossible to tell if they and the music moved according to the flames, or if the flames moved according to the music and the dancers.

Suddenly all the instruments were silenced, and the women still sang. The power seemed to build, their voices interlaced in a melody that was older than any legend. They finished the song raising their arms at the same time, one on each side of the bonfire, and the flames shot higher and higher. The women were still for a couple of seconds, their bodies trembling with tension, before lowering their arms and leaving the circle.

The reverent silence was a praise as big as any applause, as their neighbors parted to let them pass through. I could almost see the
power
gathered by that song, even though I couldn’t understand what it meant. And then one person clapped, soon followed by everyone around the circle, and the tension was broken.

The deep drum sounded once again, and the boy playing it shouted. “Let the party begin!”

People shouted all around us, not only the young ones. The old rituals and festivities were long forgotten, but it seemed that they had made their own in the complex.

One of the older people sat on one of the benches and started playing a guitar. Soon there was a small circle around him, as people sang along. The long table with food and drinks was already surrounded, and Kelene was walking on that direction.

Smiling, I went to her.

I left the circle exhausted, as usual. Every time they invited me to the bonfires I promised myself it would be the last time I would join it, but couldn’t refuse when they asked me again. It didn’t matter that I left it feeling completely drained, I simply couldn’t refuse it. One of the reasons for that was simple: the idea of the bonfires had been mine, and I had worked on all those songs with them, using them to take some of them away from the streets. But there was more… I didn’t know if it was because of the memories of my past, what I had been, or what my father had left me, but I couldn’t refuse the call of the flames. Those moments singing and dancing around the fire made me feel alive, complete, as I rarely felt.

Slowly, I went towards the table with food and drink, already knowing that I would have to wait a long time before being able to get anything. Everyone who wasn’t singing with Marcelo and his father was around the table, and I didn’t felt like getting into all that pushing and shoving. I felt someone approach me, and turned when he put a hand on my shoulder.

“What do you want?” Lucio asked, staring at me with an intense expression.

“Broth, before they eat it all.” I told him, trying to ignore the weight of his eyes.

“Wait here.”

People seemed to move away as soon as he got close to the table, and I was sure he was using some mental suggestion. Just as he had done the whole day, following me to the campus and back to the apartment. Protecting me. But protecting me from what? He didn’t know I was immune to vampires’ powers, and it would be better if he didn’t figure it out, as it would raise too many questions.

He was back less than five minutes later, carrying two cups of bean broth and spoons.

“Where to?”

I pointed to one of the tables near the outer wall, under one of the few big trees in the lawn, and Lucio started walking in that direction. I held out my hand to take one of the cups, but he pretended not to see and kept walking. Okay, if he wanted to be a gentleman I surely wouldn’t complain. We sat down facing each other, and he put the cups on the table, in front of me.

“Thank you.” I picked one of the spoons and started eating. I was very hungry, as always after using my inheritance.

“That was nothing.” He answered, his gaze so intense that I could feel it, and I didn’t dare take my eyes away from the cup of broth. “Now tell me, where did that song come from?”

I tried to hide how uncomfortable that question made me, but soon realized that it would only make him even more curious. A quick memory came to the surface, of another time, the bonfires and who had taught me part of the song. I didn’t even try to hide my small smile. Those had been good times.

“Are you certain you can hold the power, Kelene?” The fey prince asked, his own power still around the girl, ready to catch anything that might escape.

“I am.” Kelene smiled, closing her eyes and moving slowly, as if the flames were guiding her. “Fire is easy, it is part of me.”

“The idea for the central melody was mine, but we composed it as a team.” I told him, and that was true, even if it wasn’t the whole truth.

“It was amazing. It did really remind me of the old circles of fire. You were incredible.”

Surprised, I looked up and didn’t take long to recognize the vampire’s expression. He was deep into his memories. But what memories? Circles of fire were a half-forgotten legend when I learned that song. I had known only the fire circles, and it was said that they were very different. Circles of fire were a tribute to that element, and involved knowledge that had been lost too long ago. The fire circles were just part of the rituals and spells of the Fae.

But I also remembered the man who had taught me that melody telling me that it was old, the oldest of the known chants. And that was also why no one still knew it fully. The Song of Day and Night, he had called it.

Was Lucio really old enough to remember the circles of fire and that song, back when it was known? I couldn’t ask, I already knew he didn’t want to talk about his past. And if I demanded answers, I would be giving him the right to do the same thing.