Stolen Night (29 page)

‘Unforsaken?’ Vicken asked.

‘You are both the damned. Once vampires. You are welcome here,’ he said, and opened the door wide. As our feet stepped over the threshold into a foyer, I snuck a last glance behind
me out of the door. With a heavy thud it closed – leaving us momentarily in complete darkness.

Vicken held his breath. He was primed to defend me.

‘No need to consider tactics of speed and strength, Vicken Clough. They would be quite useless here,’ the man said.

With a snap of his fingers, candles flickered and their brightness bloomed. There were glass wall sconces in the four corners of the room. Above us was a small chandelier. Five sconces, five
candles – a pentacle star. This room held power.

‘I am Rayken, Lenah Beaudonte,’ he said, and extended a hand. When I took it in mine, my suspicion that he was most definitely a vampire was confirmed, for his hands were icy cold
and the pupils of his brown eyes were wide and black. Rayken held my gaze and a small smile played on the edges of his pressed lips. ‘You are warm,’ he said, letting go of my hand.
‘Fascinating.’ He took a step back. ‘You may wait here and I will alert my brothers to your arrival.’

He walked down the long hallway and turned to the right. Vicken and I stood alone in the foyer. Vicken turned around and placed his hand on the door. There was no doorknob.

‘We’re locked in . . .’ he whispered, looking around and up. ‘Whoa! The ceiling is onyx!’ he marvelled.

The blackness of onyx will show the original soul. And there, glowing above me, was the true reflection of mine. In my reflection, hanging above my heart was a smoky orb. When I moved about the
foyer, it followed. I looked down, trying to reach out in front of my chest to touch it, but I could not see it except in the onyx ceiling, where it hung just in front of the place where my heart
beat inside my chest. Vicken had one too.

‘What is that?’ Vicken asked, pointing.

‘I . . .’ I stuttered. ‘I think they’re our souls. I’ve never seen myself in onyx before so I can’t be sure.’ I was in awe of this strange orb, a
silvery grey cloud hanging over my heart.

‘We couldn’t,’ Vicken replied, ‘as vampires.’

Now we were both mortals we could see ourselves in the onyx ceiling; vampires cannot see themselves because there is no soul to reflect. Onyx, as a stone, harbours enormous power. Dark power.
The darker the soul, the darker onyx will appear. It sucks up the negative energy.

‘This way, please,’ a voice said from the darkness of the hallway. Vicken and I stole one more glance at ourselves in the onyx ceiling and went down the hall behind Rayken. We
twisted and turned through a labyrinth of passageways until we reached a wooden archway. Two doors were decorated with sculptures of hundreds of twisted and pained bodies with long serpentine
tongues and bulging eyes. I looked away. The grotesqueness made me uncomfortable.

The vampire reached for a doorknob shaped like a dagger. I had had similar ones in my own house in Hathersage. Crafted by the Linaldi vampires in Italy. Master craftsmen – I remembered as
I had killed many of them in 1500.

‘Good luck,’ the vampire said, and opened the door.

I glanced back at Vicken, who took my hand in his. We entered a huge library. The one from Rhode’s vision! As my eyes scanned the circumference of the room I saw that every wall was lined
from floor to ceiling with books. Above me, the familiar fresco recreated the brightest sky of the loveliest summer day.

A crackle of flames drew my eyes from the ceiling. An enormous fireplace was set at the back of the room, taking up half the length of one wall. The fire flickered, casting an orange light about
the room. Before it sat three vampires in comfortable chairs, each with a book in their hands.

In the middle was Rayken, who seconds before had been standing in the hallway.

I swallowed, trying to remain calm.

‘Welcome, Lenah Beaudonte and Vicken Clough. It is with great pleasure that I see Rhode’s ritual has worked – twice,’ said Rayken.

‘You have impressive power. Your speed,’ I observed.

‘I do not aim to impress, Ms Beaudonte. My power is in my knowledge. Vampires cannot move any faster than the natural human being.’

He hasn’t met Odette
, I thought. It was obvious Rayken had reached his seat long before Vicken and I had even stepped over the threshold. Either way, I didn’t believe him. I
had seen what Suleen and Odette had been able to do.

‘You know our names. I believe we should know all of yours. It is only fair,’ I said.

Rayken looked his left.

‘Laertes,’ that vampire said with a nod of greeting.

‘Like in
Hamlet
,’ Vicken piped up from behind me, and for a moment he sounded pleased with himself. He cleared his throat. ‘If you read that kind of thing.’

Laertes the vampire smiled, and it was warm enough to make him seem human.

‘Fascinating,’ said the third vampire. He smiled as well, an open-mouthed smile, and it was then I saw he had no fangs. Just two gaping holes where fangs would normally be. Just like
in my nightmare!

‘She sees we are different,’ Laertes said, and placed a hand on Rayken’s knee.

I saw they were different, but I also saw their power. I wanted them to help me fight Odette, but first I wanted answers.

‘Ms Beaudonte, you’ve already met Rayken,’ Laertes said. ‘And to our right is Levi. We are—’

‘The Hollow Ones,’ I said. The men from Rhode’s vision.

The three bowed their heads in unison.

‘The Hollow Ones?’ repeated Vicken.

‘I know very little of you,’ I admitted awkwardly, ‘but I have heard of you.’

‘Your friend Rhode has not told you of our expertise?’ Levi asked. He had great folds of skin and deep wrinkles around his eyes, indicating that he was likely to have been made a
vampire very late in life.

‘He has come here, I know. I have seen it in my mind,’ I said, and dared to take a step towards them. ‘I had a vision in which you met with Rhode. He begged you to spare his
life. He pleaded.’

‘Spare his life?’ Rayken said. ‘Rhode Lewin never asked us to spare his life.’

He didn’t?

‘Hmm. Hmm . . .’ The Hollow Ones exchanged glances and their tone was one of concern.

‘You say you saw it in your mind?’ Laertes asked.

I nodded.

‘Interesting. How was it you were privy to his thoughts?’ Rayken asked, folding his hands in his lap.

‘We are soulmates. Once the Aeris decreed we couldn’t be together, he refused to touch me. Yet I seemed to become connected to his thoughts. Sometimes his memories.’

Laertes, Rayken and Levi shared a glance and spoke in a strange hushed language. I heard the phrase
Anam Cara
. Then the name Suleen.

‘True soulmates, those whose essences of life are intertwined, will find a way to connect even when they cannot physically be together,’ Laertes explained.

These vampires knew me, they knew of my atrocities. I needed no summoning spell this time. I needed their strength to help me deal with Odette. I didn’t need to solve the mystery of Rhode
just yet. I had to stay focused on the task at hand.

‘I have come to ask of you a different favour than Rhode,’ I said.

‘We do not partake in favours,’ Rayken replied.

‘It’s true,’ Laertes said with a sigh. ‘Knowledge, and knowledge only. Rhode sought our protection, which could only be achieved for a trade.’

I knew this trade, whatever it was, would be dangerous. Perhaps kill me.

‘What did Rhode bargain with?’ I asked.

‘Love,’ Laertes replied.

‘What?’ I whispered. This didn’t make sense.

‘That’s what Rhode was here for. If he gave us his capacity to love, for us to study, we would protect you for the rest of your mortal life.’

‘How can you do that?’ Vicken asked.

‘We can do many things,’ Rayken replied.

‘We cannot love, Ms Beaudonte,’ Laertes said.

‘Vampires
can
love,’ I countered.

‘We removed that ability from ourselves long ago – it diminished our power to learn,’ Laertes said.

‘So you would take away his love for me?’ My voice wavered as horror raced through me. ‘Did he do it?’ My voice cracked. I thought back on all the visions. Today in the
Hall of Mirrors, Rhode had touched me. He had wept.

I tried to draw in breath as this realization rolled over me. I had been so foolish! I thought Rhode couldn’t handle his mortality. But it was so much more than that. He had considered
giving up his love for me in exchange for keeping me safe? That was the source of his torment?

‘He failed,’ Rayken said. ‘He could not.’

‘What is it you desire, Ms Beaudonte?’

‘Rhode could not give up his love for me?’ I asked. I wanted this confirmed before I asked for protection from Odette.

‘No,’ Rayken said again. ‘He would not part with his ability to love you, despite your circumstances with the Aeris.’

It had to be true. How else would they know about the Aeris?

Rhode could not give up his love. He had said it in his vision:
What you ask is too much
. And in the Hall of Mirrors he had finally given in to the torment. No matter what, we would never
be able to stay away from one another. We would keep coming back to this moment again and again. I could call it any number of names: Anam Cara, soulmates, the love of my life; he was my Rhode.

Forever.

But it wasn’t just about Rhode.

Images swam into my mind and a different understanding of love overwhelmed me. It wasn’t just my love for Rhode . . . it was something else.

Tracy telling me she would help me – no matter what.

Tony’s portrait in shreds.

Ms Tate’s closed eyes, almost sleeping. A note resting on her chest.

Claudia’s tear-streaked face moments before her death.

Was this life? Is this what I begged for during the days I spent in utter madness in Hathersage? My heart burned in my chest when I thought of myself scattering daises like a madwoman over the
floor of the mansion.

I looked up at the Hollow Ones. I knew what I wanted and it wasn’t protection any more. What I had to do, I should have done months ago. It was the only way to finally let go of Odette and
the life I had led in Hathersage. If I was truly no longer the monster I had been, the one capable of killing for no reason, then I had to let go of my human life at Wickham. I knew what I had to
do and why all of the events of this year had brought me to this moment with the Hollow Ones.

‘I am willing to trade,’ I said. ‘I don’t know what you could possibly want from me. But I am willing to give it.’

‘Lenah!’ Vicken said, shocked.

I dipped my head. I had to get this out. ‘I came here to ask you to help me fight a vampire who is coming for me. But that’s not what I want any more. I want something far more
important.’

The desire within me shifted as I spoke.

‘I want you to call the Aeris for me,’ I said. I wanted to go back to the medieval world, just as Fire had proposed all those months ago.

Laertes considered me for a moment. ‘You are a very curious creature, Ms Beaudonte . . .’

‘And foolish perhaps,’ I said. ‘I know I cannot give up my ability to love. Rhode and I are the same in that way.’

Laertes waited a moment and then said, ‘Your blood will suffice as a trade.’

‘My blood?’ I lifted my chin.

Vicken stepped to my side.

‘No,’ he said, and his tone was hard.

‘We will help you. Your ritual is very intriguing, as is the story of your ability to wield sunlight. We have never seen the blood of anyone who has this capacity. Not even your
Rhode.’

Agreement echoed from other two Hollow Ones.

‘No,’ Vicken said again. ‘This is some silly ploy to murder you.’

‘Your bodyguard must remain silent or he will have to wait outside,’ Laertes said as he rummaged in a small box. There was a clinking of metal and glass.

‘Lenah, no,’ Vicken said, putting his hands on my shoulders. ‘I beg you to see reason.’

As I looked into Vicken’s earnest gaze, I knew what I was doing was right. I looked at my old friend, knowing I never should have taken him from his father’s house. Just as Rhode
would never give up his love for me, I knew I could never live a life where all the people I loved could die at the hands of vampires. Or be hurt. All so I could be human. It was clear to me now.
For Rhode and me too. We would keep damaging each other, keep trying to find ways to be together without breaking the impossible decree.

That was no life.

I needed to go back to the medieval world, just as Fire had proposed to me all those weeks earlier.

Laertes took long strides towards me, his robe billowing behind him, sending waves of air that made the flames flicker. The other two Hollow Ones remained seated. Vicken backed away as the
vampire came closer to me.

‘I am going to drain you of nearly all your blood, Ms Beaudonte. When you awake you will be in a small room. Just there.’ Laertes pointed to an archway that materialized next to the
fireplace. A heavy door of dark brown wood was decorated with silver curling designs that looked like strange alien flowers. ‘You will be in a bare room. Do not come back in here until your
meeting with the Aeris is over.’

‘You could kill me and I’ll never get to have my meeting,’ I said, feeling my heart thump in my throat.

Laertes held a small knife in his hand – a tiny blade. Now that I was close, I could see the gaping holes in his mouth where he had removed his fangs too.

‘She must go alone,’ Laertes said, looking at Vicken. I turned to look at him and our eyes lingered on one another’s. Vicken’s hands hung limp by his sides. He swallowed
hard but said nothing. I did not know if I should leave him like this. But I had to take the risk.

‘I find it interesting, Ms Beaudonte, that at precisely ten o’ clock this evening, you will fight a coven of vampires. The newest vampire queen and her coven in fact. Yet you choose
no protection. Instead, you call for a meeting with the Aeris. Why?’ Laertes cocked his head with an ever so slight smile.