AN: Yay! Finally the moment to reveal my (for now) not-so-important OC. Anyways, enjoy! Thanks to the reviewers and to Celtic Aurora :D
4. DENIAL TO FACE THE FACTS
Tannis tapped a finger against a yellowing page and whispered, "Ah, yes, here we are."
Michael and Selene leaned closer to see a detailed drawing of a war burial ground. The image was inked in black, as was custom in the medieval times, and the figures depicted were two-dimensional, indicating to a time before the Renaissance. Over the buried corpses were men in horses.
"Vampires?" Michael guessed.
Amelia shook her head next to them. "Humans," she replied pointing to the emblem on one of the horse's armor plates. An uppercase A was intertwined with a C and a V, forming an oval shape with a tiny crown on top of it. "Men loyal to Alexander Corvinus, the first immortal," Tannis told them. As he let the realization sink in, he shuffled through the book Amelia had handed him, stopping at a page with a copy of what could have been the blueprint for William's sarcophagus-like prison, and the two keys used to open it. Hadn't he been under Amelia's careful gaze, she was sure he would have left out that whole part, but she nodded in encouragement as he turned to look at her.
"What's this?" asked Selene.
"William was imprisoned for all eternity in a coffin. As you see," he pointed to the drawing, "it has minimal space to move, and a small hole that would twice a year," he emphasized, "give him his miserable sustenance."
Everybody waited for the historian to continue. "This prison can be opened only with its two keys." Tannis laid the medallion alongside its paper and ink counterpart and, quite unnecessarily, added, "This is one of them."
"And it having belonged to Sonja was not just coincidence," Amelia pointed out, "Viktor realized it was the safest in the hands of a noblewoman, and a death dealer. He thought no Lycan would dare put a hand on her," she chuckled at the irony that was Sonja's falling for Lucian.
"Wait a minute," Selene said, staring at the page and shaking her head lightly. "That still does not explain why that pendant looks familiar."
"Simple," said Tannis cheerily now that he had finally satisfied his urge to tell the truth, if only once. He turned the page and pointed at a list of names in it, one in particular. "Do you recognize that name? This is the prison your father was commissioned to build."
"But that is… Still… Why?" Selene finally spoke, obviously surprised.
"What's wrong?" Michael neared Selene, upset at her sudden change in demeanor.
"She now understands why her family was killed."
"But… That was many years later…" Selene argued.
"The winter of Lucian's escape. Your father knew too much. Or too much for Viktor to risk. Especially when Lucian held the key to William's cell," Tannis said, holding the pendant up and then placing it back into Michael's hand.
Selene took a couple steps back and turned her back to Tannis, trying to sort her thoughts. Michael turned towards her and put a hand on her back until she had collected herself again and turned back to face Tannis.
"Why is Markus looking for William now?" asked Michael, trying to keep Selene's mind off the death of her family.
"That, I can not answer," replied Tannis calmly, pouring himself another glass of blood and ignoring the shards on the floor. He offered each of his guests the cup, but all declined.
Selene rolled her eyes at him, and looked at Amelia with a somewhat defying gaze as she said, "Then perhaps we were mistaken and there's no use for him at all."
She was surprised to see the Elder glare at Tannis and nod to her statement, but the act had the desired effect: Tannis gulped heavily and looked thoughtful for a quick moment.
"I know someone," he started hesitantly, "who could stop him. Perhaps I should arrange a meeting?"
"Please do," answered Amelia and smirked at the lack of any real threat to Tannis in their previous statements.
"Go to Pier 17," he instructed, "and ask for Lorenz Macaro. He should be able to help."
Selene nodded, looking back at Michael who was behind her. Amelia just stared absently, trying to figure out why the name was familiar.
The historian smirked and barely lifted the cover of the last book on the table. Slowly, Amelia approached and pushed the cover back down, finding no resistance from Tannis' hand. She turned to look at Selene and Michael in turn.
"Leave us," she requested quietly, still keeping her hand on top of the old, leather-bound cover of the book. Selene nodded and led Michael out, and back into the dark hallways.
Once the door had closed behind the couple, Amelia sighed and looked down, then turned her gaze to Tannis again and slid the book over the table towards herself. She passed the yellow pages with utmost care, and finally stopped at one of them.
"Here," she slid the book over to Tannis again, and tapped the page with one slender finger.
Tannis looked over the drawing, which was the same kind as the one of Corvinus and the burial ground. This one, however, was in sepia and was a much crueler depiction of a dark aspect of the Corvinus bloodlines: The viruses had a tendency to destroy each other. The man seemed to jump out of the page, and the pain and horror he felt over being killed from the inside out were almost real to the two Vampires. Amelia looked away after a short while and buried her head in her hands, but Tannis stared at the gruesome drawing a while longer before looking up and finally asking,
"My Lady? Why are you showing me this?"
She closed her eyes, as if she still had doubts about what she was about to say, and then with a sigh unzipped the leather trench coat, trademark of the Death Dealers, and laid it on the table, where a black blouse, thankfully not leather, joined it shortly after. Amelia stood now, in a black tank top, before a speechless Tannis and started to rip the tape off the bandage in her shoulder.
Tannis turned his shifty gaze to the sepia drawing, and then back to gape at the wound she uncovered. Around the gashes, the skin was reddened angrily, and in itself, there had been little to no healing; the bleeding, though, had at least stopped.
"My Lady…" Tannis whispered out, unable to keep his gaze from wandering back and forth between the book and her shoulder, and finally asked, "Is that a bite?"
She nodded, and started trying to tape it again. "I have cleaned it every time I had the necessary materials, but to no avail."
"But you do know that—"
"There's not much I can to when the Lycan virus keeps attacking my skin," she sighed again. "I trust you," she explained with some hesitation, "and I don't know what other choice I have."
Tannis pondered as he crossed the room to dig in a shelf and come back to hand her his first aid kit.
"Being closer to the source," he started slowly, fidgeting with his hands as she put fresh bandages on, "I believe you have time until the next full moon before the Lycan virus truly rampages. When that happens, though…" Tannis trailed off and shook his head, looking at her pointedly.
Amelia nodded grimly. She remembered what happened to the Vampires who were bitten; even though the weapons had changed already for the sake of discretion, the original viruses were still the most powerful in their arsenal. The way they dueled inside the veins of the unlucky ones burned them from the inside out, and stopped only in time to let death catch up with the Immortal Damned. Many a vampire had been sacrificed to keep him from ever experiencing such horror.
"Macaro should have a better idea," Tannis said, and Amelia again wondered where she had heard the name before.
"That man," she started, looking at the book and then grimacing at the sepia lines and closing it, "is he important somehow?"
Tannis chuckled, "I gather he is. Macaro is just the name he goes by these days, but you have known him for long."
"Really?" Amelia prompted, crossing her arms and waiting for Tannis to continue.
"Of course, you might have known him as…" he paused for suspense, but Amelia glared, "Alexander Corvinus," he relented.
"Oh," was the reply.
"Macaro is the name of a mortal who supposedly went missing a few years ago. His face was all over the news."
Amelia nodded, remembering. Her eyes though, were still wide with surprise. The old warlord still being alive was shocking enough, but the fact that he had remained hidden for over eight centuries was just astonishing. Yes, Amelia had met him, but only shortly before he had left the land and presumably died in the Crusades.
"Are you certain this is Corvinus?"
"He has the ring with the Corvinus crest, he has manuscripts older than myself…" Tannis explained, "I believe he even has some things that belong to you, my Lady."
Amelia lifted her eyebrows in questioning.
"You'll just have to ask when you go see him," Tannis shrugged.
"And what has he been doing all these centuries?" she asked, not even knowing what life would be like if one was to stay hidden for eight hundred years. She, at least, had to care for the Coven while she was awake and got to sleep for two centuries without losing any part of the history. She couldn't even begin to comprehend what it would be like to be there for all of it.
"He watches," Tannis laughed, "he cleans up after all of us. Vampires, Lycans, I presume he even knows about Michael already."
"Like a Nanny," Amelia quipped. She was actually grateful for the work they did, and she had actually seen it already; she had noticed the lack of public scandals recently, and understood the necessity of Corvinus' work. Still, it was none he should be doing in the first place. What was the man's involvement in the war? He had only fathered the first Vampire and Lycan. No more. He seemed to impose responsibilities on himself he oughtn't to.
Amelia turned her attention towards the stone walls and makeshift shelves, then to the sparse furniture, lingering only a few seconds on the rumpled bed, and finally to the many candles that served as only illumination to the room. A smile spread slowly across her lips; Vampires' love for the soft lighting fire could provide would turn out to be useful right now.
Tannis didn't like the way she looked at his books one bit, and when he saw the smirk he couldn't help but gulp visibly.
Amelia opened the door to let Selene and Michael back in. They slipped wordlessly back into the room, waiting obediently for a command or some other revelation from Tannis. After what they had all learned tonight, there wasn't much that could surprise them.
"Gather all of your books right here," Amelia told Tannis, pointing to the stone floor in front of her. Slowly, Tannis turned around to reach for the first of the leather-bound volumes.
"I'm sure," Amelia started as she reached for the closest stack of books and dropped it unceremoniously in the indicated spot, task with which Selene and Michael soon helped, "that over the centuries of your exile you have found the time to fulfill your obligation as Historian," she said to Tannis with a pointed glance, "and as such, you have already memorized the content of all these books."
Tannis nodded shakily as his hazel glance traveled back and forth between the now empty shelves, the growing stack of his precious books on the floor and Amelia.
She nodded. "I assume it wasn't hard," she remarked, "as the collection you have here is quite small, and you have an astounding memory. What is it that mortals call it? Photographic memory, if I recall correctly."
"So it is, my Lady," he replied with a grimace as the last of the forty or so volumes finally met the pile.
Amelia took one of the candles off the surface of the table and then calmly asked, "Where does your loyalty lie, Tannis?" she was playing with him, that she knew, for when threatened Tannis would become compliant. And that, precisely, was what she needed of him right now.
In the presence of the Elder who had turned him, one of the best Death Dealers, and a Hybrid, the only obvious answer was, "With you, of course, my Lady. You were the one to grant me the gift of eternal life…" Tannis was about to rant on, but stopped when Amelia raised a hand. She had forgotten how much of a lousy flatterer and miserable poet he could be.
She nodded with a smile, and let the candle fall right on top of the pile. The dry paper caught fire easily, and, as expected, Tannis widened his eyes, let out a gasp, and stuck his hands in the stack to try to salvage as many books as he could. He managed to hold three in one hand, but his wrist was suddenly crushed painfully in Amelia's vice-like grip.
"Put them back in," she glowered, letting her eyes grow greener. Tannis seemed to freeze in fear before his fingers relented their hold and the books fell back down to be devoured by the building fire. Amelia let his wrist go and her eyes turn back to their usual color.
"Markus is coming. If he finds any of these," she pointed at the pile, "he will know what you told us. It is a mistake I don't plan on making, since he moves faster than we do and won't stop until he catches us. If I hear any of the information you have shared with us from his, or anyone else's mouth," she threatened, "I won't hesitate to come back for you and believe me, if I'm forced to return, you'll be wishing Markus had been decent enough to kill you himself."
Tannis nodded.
"Good," she acquiesced with a gentler tone. "Now, do you have a phone?"
-oOo-
Almost as soon as she was greeted by the operator's voice, drolly reciting the welcoming message in Hungarian, she said, "I would like to make an international call and charge the number, please."
The operator curtly replied, "Of course," and Amelia told her the number she was to connect the call to and waited. She was lucky János was in her office, and that the call did not have to be transferred to the lounge. He hummed into the phone, acknowledging he had picked it up.
"Don't you love this century?" she quipped as only greeting.
"Amelia…" he breathed, and by the sound of it, dropped a stack of papers in his astonishment. "I thought…"
"You were mistaken," she answered before he could complete the thought, perhaps a little too eager to change the subject. She did not take too kindly to being reminded of the train massacre. "I'm fine."
"The…" he started, bending to pick up the mess of papers.
"Council?" Amelia interrupted, pretty certain that was what he wanted to know. "Dead. All of them. I myself was lucky to make it out of there," she paused.
"Whose idea?" he asked angrily, gritting his teeth as he spoke.
"Kraven's." she answered, tightening a hand on the edge of the table the phone was set upon, creating a significant dent on the wood. "Needless to say, it was futile…" she took a deep breath and changed the topic, finally forgetting about the betrayal in the knowledge that that idiot had died suffering. "How have you managed? And please, answer in complete sentences; that habit of yours to cut off in the middle is most annoying."
János chuckled, sitting down on the leather chair and propping his feet on the desk in front of him. "My lady, it is you who keeps me from finishing."
Amelia smiled. "I know," she replied, a playful note in her voice. "So?"
"There's nothing remarkable to tell."
"Really? It seems you have yet to call the coven house, then…" she could see him, courtesy of their blood bond, slap his forehead and wince— He'd forgotten. She laughed, "So like yourself…I have yet to understand what compelled me to leave you in charge. Seriously though, there's no use now," she sighed.
"My lady?"
"He burned it to the ground. Could you get in contact with the Vampires that had their own estates…"
"Whoa, whoa… Slow down. You mean to tell me that the coven house has been destroyed?"
Amelia sighed into the receiver and then answered in an annoyed tone, "Yes, that is exactly what I mean to tell you, as you put it. You are to contact the nobles of our coven house that remain in Europe and provide safe passage to New York for them," she ordered rather than asked this time. "When I get back home I want to decide on a new council…"
"Who, Amelia, who did it?" János interrupted, a note of apprehension in his voice.
"Markus," she growled, then, after a moment of silence, she continued calmly, "There is much that went on here and that you have no idea about. I'll tell you once I'm in America again. For the moment, do as I tell you. Get the survivors to New York."
"Yes, my lady," he answered. By now, she was used to the on-and-off formalities, so she just added,
"And János…" she smiled mischievously as she again saw him through the bond, and then yelled into the receiver, "Get your feet off my desk!"
He chuckled. "All right, all right," was the reply, in a tone of mock-surrender. Satisfied, she hung up.
She finally came out of the room to find Selene and Michael waiting for her, the blood packages Tannis had at his disposal packed, and every weapon reloaded.
Tannis glanced anxiously at the bag in which all of his blood reserves had been stuffed, and Selene rolled her eyes at this.
"You'll have to survive on takeout from now on," she quipped. Tannis looked like he was about to add something to the effect of 'I don't eat', but Selene simply smiled and added, "I meant a different kind of takeout."