Ignis (Book 2, Pure Series) (49 page)

           
"Is this a dream?" I asked.

           
Odette looked at me then.
 
"What did you say?"

           
"Are you really here?
 
Am I dreaming?"

           
Odette blinked at me, and a faint look of scorn crept into her eyes.

           
"Don't be ridiculous.
 
Of course I'm really here.
 
And, no.
 
You aren't dreaming."

           
She shifted her gaze back to the candle.

           
I tried to control the panic that was rising within me.
 
Odette looked calm, but then again she usually did—even when she had murder in her heart.
 
Beautiful and cold, Odette had remained calm back in October when she had plotted against me, serenely poisoning me and luring me out of the house to what she believed would be my death.

           
The fact that she had later saved my life told me that she wasn't entirely without compassion.
 
Perhaps she wasn't here to kill me.

           
But I couldn't be sure of that.

           
"Odette, what are you doing here?" I asked again.

           
Maybe I could talk her out of whatever it was she was planning to do—and I knew she had to be planning to do something.
 
She certainly hadn't shown up in my room in the middle of the night just because she missed me.

           
Odette continued to stare at the flame, and she answered my question in a tone tinged with irritation.

           
"As I said, I've been watching you since you arrived.
 
I came here to tell you that you have to leave.
 
I think you were a fool to come back."

           
I was inclined to agree with her, especially after what I'd just seen in the forest.
 
I drew in my breath sharply as the memory of Timofei's ghastly face came flooding back.
 
I looked around then—I half-expected to see him come crashing through my bedroom door at that very moment.

           
"What is it?" Odette asked sharply.
 
"What's wrong?"

           
"What about Timofei Mstislav?" I asked.

           
"I'll get to that.
 
I'm trying to explain what's going on, but you have to be quiet and stop acting like an idiot."

           
I forced myself to be calm.
 
Apparently, vampires didn't like to be rushed.

           
"I saw you go to the Mstislav mansion tonight," Odette said.
 
"I saw you go out to Galina's house and then into the Pure Woods.
 
It's very dangerous there at the moment.
 
You shouldn't go there again."

           
Odette returned to contemplation of her candle as she continued.

           
"But even though it wasn't wise for you to be there, you were behaving normally in all other respects.
 
You were searching the woods for something, I assume.
 
And then you seemed to go into a trance.
 
You froze and lifted your hand like you were brushing something away.
 
And then you started running.
 
You ran and ran, and I followed you—you are surprisingly fast for an ordinary mortal.
 
And then you reached a point at which I had to stop you.
 
I knew what you were running toward."

           
"I was running?" I asked.

           
"Yes."

           
"So you didn't see him?"

           
"I didn't see anyone but you," Odette said.

           
"He was right there—under the snow and the ice," I said.
 
"Maybe you didn't look down to see him."

           
"Who?" Odette asked impatiently.

           
"The Werdulac."

           
Odette looked up at me, startled.

           
"Did you say the Werdulac?"

           
"Yes," I replied.
 
"He was there under the ice like I said.
 
I'd felt him calling to me.
 
When I touched the ice, I fell through it.
 
I was falling and falling until I felt a sharp pain in the back of my head."

           
"That was me," Odette said.
 
"I hit you.
 
I couldn't let you get too close to what was happening out there.
 
They would have killed you."

           
I felt a chill steal over me.
 
"The Werdulac was luring me there, wasn't he?
 
He wanted to lead me into the middle of—all that."

           
"How do you know that name?" Odette demanded.
 
"Why do you keep saying you've seen him?"

           
"The Werdulac?"

           
"Yes!"
 
There was a note of hysteria in her voice.

           
"Because I have seen him.
 
And not just here.
 
He appeared to me back in Elspeth's Grove—before I came here—but I didn't know his name then.
 
And then I saw him on an icon in Moscow—that's when I learned what his name was.
 
Who is he?"

           
"You are foolish to ask such a question," Odette said angrily.
 
"He's too powerful a creature for you to deal with no matter what you think."

           
"Odette, who is he?
 
What is he?"

           
Odette's agitation seemed to subside, and she shrugged.
 
"I suppose it can't hurt to tell you.
 
And maybe it will even help to convince you to leave."

           
Odette gave me a piercing stare, and her eyes glittered in the candlelight.
 
"The Werdulac is a vampire.
 
But he's not just any vampire.
 
Long ago, when the world was young, he crossed the Black Sea and came to Russia, where he founded a great line of vampires.
 
He's the father of all of our kind here.
 
Long ago, too, he was killed by his enemies—turned to ash and encased in ice."

           
"So he's dead?" I asked.

           
"Technically, we're all dead," Odette replied.
 
"But I know what you meant.
 
The Werdulac was supposed to be gone—gone for good—consigned to oblivion.
 
But his power was great, and his life force was strong.
 
The rumors are that he continued to exist under the ice with his ashes.
 
They say that over the centuries he has reconstituted himself—knitted his ashes back together.
 
They even say he will soon be strong enough to rise again, and break out of his prison.
 
His strong will is whole already, and he has sent it out in advance of his body, drawing creatures to him, giving them orders.
 
He's building an army.
 
That's what you saw in the woods."

           
"An army?"
 
Anton had said something about an army once too.

           
"An army of hybrids—kost and vampire.
 
Evil spirits combined with blood-drinkers—both with superhuman strength.
 
You may be the Little Sun, but you'd better leave.
 
There's nothing you can do here."

           
"What does the Werdulac want with an army?"

           
Odette shrugged her slim shoulders.
 
"In ancient days he enjoyed a blood-soaked reign over this region.
 
Perhaps he wants to revive it.
 
I don't know exactly.
 
Whatever it is, I'm sure it isn't good for any of us."

           
"Where is the Werdulac?
 
Can he be stopped before he's whole again?"

           
"Well,
we
aren't going to stop him.
 
So put it out of your mind.
 
All we can do is get away from here.
 
And no one knows where the Werdulac's icy tomb is.
 
His final resting place was purposefully kept a secret.
 
He was supposed to disappear forever."

           
"If no one knows where the Werdulac is," I said, "then how does anyone know that he is the one who's actually behind everything?"

           
"You're not the only one who's seen him," Odette said.
 
"And many of those others who have seen him are far older and more knowledgeable than you.
 
They can understand things that you never will."

           
"Why is the Werdulac after me?" I asked.

           
"I don't know that he is," Odette replied shortly.
 
"But if he is, you'd better pray that you never find out why.
 
If he truly is calling to you, you should make sure that you are never alone again—someone should always watch over you.
 
His will is stronger than yours.
 
In the end, if he wants you, you'll go where he tells you to go."

           
Odette's words made my blood run cold, and for a moment, my mind froze in fear.
 
But I knew I had to push on—I had to find out what I could from Odette.
 
She was the only link I had to the forces that were threatening me.

           
"So the Werdulac has people working for him," I said.
 
"People he has called to him?"

           
"Yes—he has both ordinary humans and vampires.
 
There might even be other creatures involved, too, for all I know.
 
The woods are full of spirits—and other things I can't see."

           
I thought back involuntarily to the horror I had witnessed earlier in the Pure Woods.

           
"And all those people and creatures working for him—tonight I saw some of them creating kost-vampire hybrids?
 
Timofei Mstislav is now a hybrid?"

           
"Yes."

           
"What does the Werdulac want with Timofei Mstislav?"
 
An involuntary shudder ran through me.
 
"Why bring him back?"

           
"I don't think he care particularly which bodies he uses," Odette said with some distaste.
 
"Any bodies will do, so long as they are free.
 
People here will soon find themselves menaced by their own loved ones."

           
"I know exactly what that's like," I said ruefully.
 
As soon as I'd spoken the words, I regretted them.

           
"What do you mean?" Odette demanded.

           
"I—"

           
I knew I was on dangerous ground.

           
"It's just that when I first returned to this house back in October," I said slowly, "I was surprised to see how little my room had changed.
 
And I remembered that as a little girl I had accidentally locked myself in my closet here once.
 
I had been trying to see if there were any monsters in the closet when the door was closed.
 
And then I laughed, telling myself that there were no monsters in the house, but I was wrong because there was one—there was you—you were a—"

           
I stopped.

           
"So I'm a monster, am I?" Odette said.

           
I tried to salvage the situation.
 
"I just meant that I thought I was safe in this house."

           
"You
are
safe in this house," Odette said shortly.
 
"And I suppose as offensive as it is, I can't entirely blame you for your opinion of me.
 
I did come very close to getting you killed."

           
I had a feeling that that was as close as Odette would ever come to an apology.

           
She continued.
 
"But as I said, you are safe in this house.
 
That's why I had to lure you out of it.
 
I could give you poison to weaken you, but I couldn't actually let Gleb in to kill you.
 
And he wanted to kill you himself."