Chapter Two
I hear my pulse.
"Queen Vasilisa."
"She seems to be waking up."
"Dear Lord, look at her forehead!"
The room seemed to be becoming more audible with every passing second, and I noted with great relief that the burning pain on my forehead was gone. I felt warm hands wrap around my wrists as they dragged me into a sitting position. Blinking away the last of my blurry vision, I saw Christian's concerned face coming into focus.
"Where...where am I?" I managed to mumble weakly.
"In the Court's infirmary," I saw Christian's grimace as he added, "Sydney and Rose are in the room next door speaking with the Alchemists." I looked around the room and noted that all the walls were bare and white. I winced as the bright light that shone overhead the bed stung my eyes. Had I always been so sensitive to even Moroi-friendly light?
I leaned forward as a horrible, wet cough escaped my lips and I had to bend over as I almost choked on my saliva. About three guardians rushed forward at that, each one laying a reassuring hand on me.
"Please don't worry yourselves, I'm fine," I meekly said and then added, "The Alchemists? I thought Sydney had to leave today."
"The situation is a little more serious than that," Christian said hesitantly, "apparently there has been a lot going on that the Alchemists have been hiding, even from us. They're trying to organize someone to come over and help you."
"Help me?" I asked him, puzzled, "Christian, what's going on?"
But I never got the hear his reply, because just at that moment, both Rose and Sydney entered the room, with an older woman following.
She was gorgeous. Absolutely, utterly gorgeous. Her raven black hair fell in loose curls down past her waist, and her coral blue eyes seemed to sparkle with life. Even the way she floated into the room was elegant and precise. However, it was the sapphire-colored crescent moon on her forehead that drew my attention, and took my breath away. Along with it there seemed to be an adornment of other marks framing her forehead and cheekbones, shaped like waves crashing against a shoreline. She seemed to radiate an authority unlike anyone else, and I knew for certain that if the Moroi wouldn't have had a monarchy, all the guardians present would have sank to their knees in awe. It also seemed as though my headache had miraculously gone away, and I stopped feeling the urge to cough.
"Your Majesty," the woman stepped forward and smiled politely, showing a perfect, but slightly sharp-looking set of white teeth. The lack of fangs told me that this woman was no Moroi.
I must have looked extremely confused, because Rose suddenly stepped into my line of vision, "This is high Priestess Larae, from the Youngstown House of Night."
I sat up a little straighter, and tried to not let my uncertainty show, "Welcome to the Moroi Court. How may I help you?"
Larae blinked at me for one second, and lightly began to giggle, "Your Majesty, I have not come here for your help. I am here to assist you."
"Excuse me, h-high Priestess," I stuttered over the unfamiliar title, "I don't think I understand what you are getting at."
That was when Sydney stepped forward, looking extremely uncomfortable and nervous.
"Your Grace," she curtsied slightly before continuing on, "in our years of research, whilst trying to find out the formula for turning lead into gold, we Alchemists discovered the existence of the Moroi race, along with the dhampirs and the undead Strigoi." She winced slightly as she said the last word, no doubt remembering what had happened when she assisted Rose not even a few weeks ago.
"It appears that the Moroi and Strigoi weren't the only type of vampires that my kind had found in their years of extensive searching. They also found the vampyres of the Houses of Night."
Silence fell. In the meantime, Larae had been looking around extremely curiously, staring at each of us in turn with wonder.
"You don't have any fangs," I stated the obvious, eyeing her curiously, "you don't seem to be a vampire. How would you feed for blood?"
"Don't worry, our nails and teeth are sharp enough to draw blood." I recalled how sharp her teeth had appeared when she had first smiled upon entering, "And we don't exactly need blood to survive, although it does give us strength and energy. We are created by our Goddess Nyx, who has given us these powers and abilities as no other."
Sydney promptly ignored her - and I recalled hearing that all Alchemists seemed to be quite religious - and resumed her explanation, "Vampyres aren't created by offspring. When a human teenager has a certain hormone in their bodies, this triggers them to become the target of a specific Tracker, like the man you encountered yesterday, and Marked with the outline of a blue crescent shaped moon on their foreheads. This indicates that the person has become a fledgling, until in four years, they complete the Change into an adult vampyre." Sydney spoke very brusque and factual, seeming to feel more comforted by scientific facts rather than strange phenomena.
"It appears that the Alchemists had not only struck up a deal with the Moroi, but with the High vampyre Council as well, promising to keep them secret from humans. Neither us nor they knew anything about each other as the Alchemists kept doing their jobs so well." Rose added bitterly, staring Sydney down.
"It wasn't a necessary piece of information we had to share with the Moroi government," Sydney snapped back, "Both races seem to want to keep away from any type of society, so it would seem unlikely for them to ever really interact. Besides, until now we never even knew it was possible for anyone but a human to be Marked. What's the point of becoming a vampyre if you're already a vampire?"
Rose looked as though she had some witty comeback on the tip of her tongue, no doubt wanting to say something about the absurd statement Sydney just made, but fell quiet instead for a change.
I didn't know what to say. This was all too overwhelming for me and I wasn't able to digest all the information thrown at me.
"Also..." Sydney began awkwardly, looking as though she would have rather been anywhere but here at that moment, "There is a fairly large chance that any fledgling doesn't manage to complete the Change."
Dread curled itself around my stomach, clenching tightly, and I swallowed against the sudden lump in my throat.
Be calm, Lissa, I mentally told myself over and over in my mind.
"What happens then?" I however could only bring out my question as a whisper.
"Your Majesty, there is quite a high chance you will not survive this Change, passing on to the Otherworld, to our goddess Nyx." Larae's voice floated over to me from where she stood, with a look of pure sympathy on her face.
My whole world began to tilt, and I had difficulty breathing. I felt Christian's warm hand on mine a few moments later, but I couldn't even find the strength within me to squeeze his hand back as I usually did.
"Shh..." he whispered into my ear, his voice filled with love and warmth, "everything will be okay, Liss, everything will be okay."
That's when everyone in the room seemed to want to move towards me, possibly to comfort me, or to give me some more agonizing details, but Christian promptly cut them off.
"Can't you guys all see that Lissa needs some time to take this in?" he said forcefully, facing the others, while physically shielding my body with his own "She's had to go through a lot recently, and now you tell her she might be in danger of dying!"
I shook my head, feeling the burn of tears threatening to spill over at the back of my throat. I don't think I could have stayed in that infirmary one minute longer, so I summoned up all my strength and pulled myself up, snatching my hand away from where Christian had gripped it tightly.
"I can't - I-I'm sorry, I think I need to be alone." Somehow I managed to mumble those words past the numbness in my lips.
"But, your Majesty, if you do not come with me immediately-" Larae begun, but that was when I felt something break within me.
"No!" I practically screamed, "I can't take this. I need to- I need to go." Storming out of the room, tearing down through the numerous hallways, feeling hot tears running down my cheeks.
When I finally reached my own bedroom, and slammed the door shut behind me, locking it completely, I felt some relief come. But not enough. The tears wouldn't stop, and I sank down onto the floor, with my hands burying my face, and completely broke apart.