The Vampire's Heart (28 page)

“
It’s pretty simple once you get your head around it. There are four dimensions; trust me on that. All you need to know is that it is very difficult for someone to get from one dimension to another. Of the four dimensions, one is steeped in magic and had undertones of science. One is steeped in science and had undertones of magic. One is steeped in both magic and science, and one has only undertones of both. Gatheck is the first.”

Pretty simple? I’ll bet.

“
So we are magic and science? Okay?” Revner asks.

“
To an extent, Gatheck is magic with undertones of science. The key word being ‘undertones’,” Autumn informs us.

“
What about the seasons?”

“
As for the seasons on the four worlds, they are all offset; one dimension always has a different season to the other three.”

“
Four seasons for four dimensions?” I surmise.

“
Exactly,” Autumn says with a nod.

It is all beginning to fall together now. But what of Spring, his apparent sister. And why is he hiding from her? Why isn’t he in a different dimension at the moment; it is spring here after all.

“
Right, so why are you hiding from your sister?”

“
Well, in order to facilitate our governing we each have individual ‘powers’. Spring can communicate using her mind, Summer can move things with her mind, Winter can conjure fire, and I can see the future. My talent allowed me to see that Spring would learn to enforce her mind upon another being, effectively possessing them. I also saw what she’d do with that power. I got myself turned so that I would be safe; by entering my mind she would also enter the demons, creating a buffer against her power; she’d be able to see the demon but not me.”

“
This is getting a mite complicated,” Revner adds, and I have to agree.

I really need to get to Vecen. Once we’ve crossed the River Wyd, going will be easier. I just can’t have all of this playing upon my mind at the moment. But then I can’t let him keep it all pent up; he obviously needs an outlet. I guess that’s me.

“
It gets worse, trust me,” Autumn tells us, a dire look on his face, “Muzbeth is currently with one of the Seasons, Summer I think. Well, her body, it is Spring’s mind in there. Spring wants to become a goddess so that she can rule the dimensions. She believes it’s her right. I’m worried that if she’s with Muzbeth, then she’ll have a much greater chance of doing so. I just wish I could have done something before, while Muzbeth was with Kellum. My demon, prior to Azel, didn’t understand what he was turning Muzbeth into until it was too late.” Autumn pauses, and closes his eyes for a moment, before he continues. “But at least then Kellum made a massive step forward for demon-kind and sacrificed himself for the greater good. Whoever said they don’t have souls?”

“
It doesn’t matter about what has happened, what’s done is done, Autumn, you of all people should know that. But I still don’t understand why Spring wants to possess you,” I ask, trying to understand one more little mystery.

“
True, but what can we do to him now? He’s invincible; especially now he’s found Summer. And if Spring gets her hands on him no dimension will be safe. She wants to possess me because with my ability at her disposal she’ll be much more capable of achieving her goals.”

“
Okay, I think I’ve got that,” I say. The beginning of a solution comes to mind. “So to stop Muzbeth we’ll have to distract Summer somehow…”

How is another matter. This is going to take some careful planning; but there are so many things that need to be done too. If Autumn is right, we need to stop Muzbeth, Summer, and Spring, as well as dealing with the loss of many Lys-Karalis.

“
I can do it,” Autumn says, rising to his feet, “they want me, so I’ll do it. I’ll be able to get them to release Muzbeth, and then you’ll be capable of defeating him.”

“
Yeah, and you’ll get yourself killed in the process!” I point out.

Autumn begins to think; I can practically see the cogs in his head whirring. He quickly comes to a conclusion.

“
Not necessarily… I might be under Spring’s control for a while, and they might know what you’re going to do, but maybe, just maybe, there’ll be time to get to Spring as well. We can only hope.”

“
Okay, you may be able to see the future, but if you don’t tell me, you’ll be fucked,” I point out again. He still has so much to explain.

“
Don’t worry about it, to win, we’ll have to wing it on the day, but until then we’ve got a lot of preparation to do. Alleil, we do have hope,” Autumn says, sinking back to his position on the floor.

I do hope he knows what he’s talking about. We need all of the Lys-Karalis’ we can get our hands on at the moment. Callic, Morren, and Luc would be happy that we’ve found one so quickly. Hopefully together we can avenge their deaths.

My other questions will have to wait it seems. Autumn is completely focussed for the first time since he became a Lys-Karalis, and I can’t see that changing until he’s done what he thinks he needs to do.

We’ll be moving on again soon, and I imagine we’ll be picking up the pace a lot.

The Eighteenth Chapter

- Muzbeth -

10 days until the birth of a god

The 23
^rd
day of Spring-Fall, 1538

“
So, Summer, now we’re in the company of the dead, what is going on here? First Kellum has special powers, and then you do. How many others have got these kinds of secret abilities?”

The small farmyard barn we are in is littered with my spent meals. The corpses are strewn all over the place, their spilt blood mixing with the straw.

The location harkens back to our first night together, and the passion therein. My thoughts of past pleasures remind me how much I love this woman.

“
I don’t want to feel this small,” Summer admits, “I can hear practically everything in my head, all trapped inside one mind. I need more space. That’s why I need to become a goddess. And I love you so much that I need you as my god, not just my Lys-Karalis. That’s all you need to know.”

She hasn’t answered a single thing, but merely added more questions to my stack. What does she mean when she says ‘I can hear practically everything in my head’? What can she hear? I have to press harder; I need to know.

“
No it isn’t. Summer, please, you know I love you, and that’s why you’ve got to tell me everything. How can I protect you when I don’t know what you’re facing?”

“
I can protect myself,” she snaps.

I move closer to the beauty, putting my arm around her waist and pulling her into my embrace. I press my cold body against her hot, blood-pumping, nerve-tingling, form; crushing her breasts into my chest and my groin into hers. We share a lingering brush of the lips that reminds me yet again just how much I love her. The magic within me begins to move my blood.

“
I know you can, but I love you, I like to think you need protecting. And I like to think I’m the only one who can,” I say, gently rubbing my hardening genitals against her body.

“
Then think that.”

“
Then let me. I want to spend the rest of my life with you…”

“
That means a lot.”

Her jibe hurts me and I feel like swatting her human form to the ground, to put her into her place; give her a little perspective. She gets her hands on my chest and pushes me away from her, my arms release her a little and I let them come to rest on her hips, holding her tight so that I don’t strike her. She still has me at an arm’s length.

I’m not sure how to say this. I still my mind and bring calmness to my being; my arms relax a little.

“
Summer, I’ve not been dead long, and I don’t remember much of my life when I was alive, but since I’ve been with you I feel like I can do anything. And that’s all because of you,” I say, looking deep into her eyes, telling her that I need this with my own. “I want to know about you. At the moment your life is just a big mystery to me.”

Oddly it is my own words that make the anger come back. I want to hurt her, to make her feel small and insignificant.

“
In fact, I can sum up all I know about you right now, if you’d like?” I suggest with a sneer.

“
Muzbeth, stop it.”

I want to but I can’t stop myself. I want her to know how much it hurts to be kept in the dark. To only know the bare essentials about someone you love.

“
Well, I know your body very well. I know your name is Summer. I know you knew Kellum. And I know you can move things. That’s it, ‘love’. I need more.”

“
The time isn’t right.”

“
IT’S NEVER FUCKING RIGHT!” I scream at her, losing control completely for an instant. I need to control myself. This is a sure fire way to lose her. “When will it be time, Summer? We’ve been together for ages. We slept together before I even knew your name.”

I cannot bear to look at her any longer. I need a break. I look around at barn we are in, and the flashes of the first night we spent together come back to me a second time in as many moments. The tenderness and care of that night, but still with that fiery passion. My eyes drift back to Summers. She’s looking at me, smiling her dazzling smile.

“
I can see it in your eyes, you know,” I tell her, “the love and the memories. Before you came into my life I just wanted to destroy everything. You changed that. You made me better.”

She hugs me hard, her head upon my chest, my heart not making any noise in her ear. I want to say something but I don’t think I can. Interrupting now could stop her opening up to me. I open my mouth to speak, but no noise comes out. I don’t know whether I can’t, I don’t want to, or if I haven’t the words. She finally speaks instead.

“
I’m sorry. That’s all I can say at the moment, you know I want to tell you, but you know I can’t.”

I know better than to push any further, after all I want to have some fun tonight. I place my left hand upon her head, and turn her so that she’s looking up into my face. I bend down to kiss her, my tongue meeting hers, exploring the inside of her mouth, feeling the points on her canines. They are much smaller than mine.

I run my right hand down the length of her spine exactly the way she likes me to. Her body quivers next to mine and her arms squeeze me ever so slightly tighter. It puts her in the mood. It is my job to cheer her up as well. And of course I’ll enjoy it.

- Holste -

‘
Raven Knight’, ‘commander Holste’, ‘sir?’ Those are practically all I hear nowadays.

Since we arrived here in this dark and dingy basement, all of the boxes have been moved out. Those giant crates full of props and costumes, covered in a thick layer of dust, are now thankfully gone from my sight.

The dressing rooms that once housed the famous players of the above open-air theatre now house the Raven Legion at rest. The mirror system that lights the basement during the day has been cleaned and magically enhanced. During the night, SphereLights are cast by my men.

Defensively, I have both the Cassowary and Kiwi wings patrolling the wall that surrounds the ancient arena theatre. The wall is a simplified and miniature version of Enlil’s own great wall. The gates that would have let the audience in are now closed up tight, magically sealed and guarded by at least two men at all times.

Around me stand at least twenty men. They were once of my own wing, and they are standing in loose knots around the chalk circle on the ground that roughly marks out the boundaries of the troublesome Gateway. They may look uninterested and slacking, but I know that each and every one of them is ready to receive any intruder that might find its way through; I cannot ask them to stand stock still as if on parade for the entire time of their watch.

Kneeling in smaller still knots, and closer still to the chalk line are the few casting priests of Kakapo wing. They are desperately trying to find a way to close the Gateway for me. They are the hardest hit by this; their magical energies are consumed at a very high rate, and by now they do not have time to fully regenerate their magical stocks before having to go on shift again. They simply kneel and feed their power to a single caster. He is bare backed so that he can easily receive the magic passed by hands. All the Kakapo groups are trying to fathom out a way of shutting it down.

To be perfectly honest I am getting sick and tired of being trapped here; I should be out recruiting the army Calcia wished me to gather. I have no idea when these vampires are going to attack and I want to be ready for them when they do.

It is too dank and depressing down here. I will walk under the bright sparks for a while. I will observe the moon as I walk the stage, taking in its calming and soothing rays.

I turn and head toward the stone staircase that will lead me away from the harsh magical light that surrounds all of us, bar the sleeping encased in their dark dressing rooms. As I pass the men under my command I receive a few nods of recognition and even a touch to the forelock.

As I ascend the stairs I feel the lowly wind brush against my face; it seems to bustle around the circular seating, whipping itself up into frenzied fervour, before disappearing above the wall when enough momentum has been achieved.