Shahrazád's Ghosts
Epilogue: Part I
Augustine
2604 AD
It was a glorious night in Gabès. The full moon penetrated the sky overhead and illuminated ripples in the water. It cast the sandy walls of Augustine's ksar with a soft glow. This was his favorite kind of night. This was why, no matter how far he travelled, Tunisia was always home. Augustine was interrupted from listening to a musician play by the blur of footsteps and the approach of someone through his gate. He recognized both the scent and familiar tread. He left his guests to enjoy their entertainment and he met the unexpected visitor in his own private wing.
"Ali, what brings you here?" he asked, reverting to Chadian Arabic. "How fares the Tibesti Mountains?"
"As well as ever," the middle-aged vampire responded. Ali had been chosen by one of the Maghreb covens for his instinctive talent for navigation, nearly three hundred years ago. Augustine had only met Ali a handful of times. The vampire preferred to roam the lands between northern Chad, Niger, and Mali and rarely made his way as far north as Tunis so Augustine was surprised to see him.
Augustine invited Ali onto the roof top balcony of his quarters and the pair fell into small talk for some time, as was customary. It was not until the health and well-being of each of their acquaintances and homes was discussed in great length before the topic could turn to the real reason for Ali's visit.
"There are stories," Ali said. "A passing camel train spoke of strange affairs farther south. Some of their relatives heard that Hedika al-Madina continues to be profitable for scavengers, though the city is forgotten and deserted. One man and his son, it is told, discovered the entryway to another city, not built on the surface of the land, but hidden deep within its bowels, far older than the Garden City overhead."
"I am listening."
"They say the winds moved the desert and upset some of the ruined city so that one of these scavengers found his way into what he claimed was the remains of an underground city, filled with fantastical treasures, the likes of which would have made him a wealthy man. The treasures, he claimed, were guarded by a jinni and he dared not touch them for fear it was cursed."
Augustine had never been one to speak quickly or allow his assumptions to overcome his sense. He gently stroked his hand through his beard and considered Ali's words. Of course, he had known that Darling's kingdom lay beneath the old city, but he had intentionally remained ignorant of its gateways. After it had fallen to the Volturi, he had heard the place had been ransacked and destroyed. He was not surprised to hear treasures still remained within. The Volturi were not likely to be impressed by human riches, not when they had already stripped it of its greatest treasure.
He sighed. His grief over Darling's capture had been sincere and long-felt. He had nearly marched into Volterra to seek her out, but Slightly had refused to let him go.
"She doesn't want to be rescued. She'll find her own way out, when she's ready," he said.
Augustine knew it was true, but the thought of Aro holding onto such a weapon, such a gift, such a shield was distasteful. He knew, only too well, the lengths Aro would go to in order to inflict his will upon the world.
Noting the expression on Augustine's face, Ali lifted his palms up before him. "These are only rumors and I have not sought the truth of them. However, you were displeased the last time rumors from Barzakh did not reach you more promptly."
"You were right to come. Well, Neverland has never been short of rumors. Will that place ever stay buried? Tell me, what did they say of this jinni?"
"Oh, a fearful creature, they claimed. Eight feet tall with teeth like a shark and a mane like a lion and claws like an eagle. The man said he barely escaped with his life."
Augustine chuckled. "I believe that story has grown since its first telling. What truth can there be in it if the man escaped with his life?"
"Enough, because they also claim the jinni was chained and suspended from the ceiling, hidden behind a glorious throne room guarded by a painting of a goddess."
"What?" Augustine shouted, sitting upright. "Can there be truth to this?"
Ali shrugged.
"Well, it is time to return to Neverland and see about this jinni. First, though, I will call Slightly."
ooooo
Lifeless, empty tunnels stretched for untold miles under the skeletal ruins of the old city and miles of sand and rock. Neverland remained hidden from the light of the sun and stars for hundreds of years, keeping its secrets to itself. Augustine had never once set foot within the old fortress, but he had heard enough tall-tales and fantastical stories to wonder at the amount of truth and exaggeration they contained.
"There's no sign of life in any of these caverns," Ali said. Despite their strong eyesight, they still carried lanterns and the bright lights flooded out the darkness around them. Entire tunnels had collapsed. Others appeared entirely untouched, still littered with glass bottles and old shoes and forgotten crates. So deep within the earth, away from water and air, the tunnels worked as time capsules rather than graves.
"Let's keep trying. Perhaps the scavenger added some salt to his tale by throwing in ghosts and jinn, but I will not rest well until I know for certain."
So, they continued to search.
It wasn't until they excavated a collapsed tunnel that they found two sets of doors, each open, which led into a vast cavern. The very size of it was enough to inspire awe, but by the brilliance of its furnishings, this room at least was worthy of Neverland's reputation.
"Walla! Finally something worth seeing!" Ali exclaimed.
Augustine looked at the line of heads on pikes, a dark smile flitting across his face. "Only you, Dulcissima. What trials you must have given those who opposed you in Volterra!"
"What became of her?" Ali asked.
Augustine sighed. "Some say she escaped during the chaos of the first battle in Volterra. Others say she was taken captive by one of the invading covens and kept as a war trophy. Others say she gave her life to see that Aro himself was killed. Slightly and I searched through the rubble for weeks, after that first battle, and we could find no trace of her. Not a soul lived who knew where she had been kept or what her fate had been."
Overhead, the painting of the lost queen seemed to glow with an ethereal light. The artist had done a masterful job of capturing Darling's face and figure, but he had not caught her soul. This was done by an outsider, one who was drawn to the illusion but did not stay long enough to know the woman who projected it. Perhaps, that made the artist the same as most who came and went through Neverland. There were few who bothered to see beneath the gilded sword and wellspring of provisions and fewer still who remained once the gold was lost, the sword dulled, and the wells ran dry.
"I gave her that chair," Augustine stated when he saw the beautiful golden and silver chair beneath the painting. "I always thought she would look the very image of Minerva when she sat upon it in all her fearsome glory."
"I've heard stories about her for hundreds of years. Was she all everyone claimed?"
"All that and more," Augustine said, a regretful sigh escaping as he gazed on the woman he had labored with alongside for a hundred and sixty three years. "Never a more powerful shield, a lovelier face, or a more ruthless mind. She was a force of nature."
"Well, this room certainly fits the tales. I can imagine the human intruder was equally torn between wonder and horror at the sight of it."
"Indeed."
The lights in their hands cast long shadows against the floor and walls as they continued to search the magnificent hall. When they came to the wall farthest from the dais, they heard the faintest sound.
"Where did that come from?" Ali asked.
"It cannot have been from within this room. Perhaps, there is a hidden room behind one of these walls."
They began to trail their hands along the rock wall behind the tapestries covering the walls, tapping lightly with their knuckles hoping to find a change in sound. It was Ali who found it first.
"Here, Augustine, there is an opening."
There, entirely hidden by a tapestry, two layers of walls had been forcibly opened just enough to allow entry into a second cavern beyond. This was not anywhere near as grand and they could not enter far before they were stopped by a thick wall of glass.
"Rahimullah!" Ali exclaimed when he caught sight of the figure trapped within. "It is true! We have found our jinni! Do you know him?"
"This is one I have never met. Come, let us release him and see what he can tell us. I do not know why he is bound as he is. If he is one who displeased Darling, like those on pikes within, then we can dispatch him and end his torment."
Freeing the captive vampire proved more difficult than either of them had imagined. The entire prison was built to withstand the strength of a vampire and despite the passing of years, it had not faltered or weakened. It appeared that they were not the first to try to free the captive man, if the clawed grooves on the edges of each partition wall were to be believed. Whoever had pushed the walls open had not stayed long enough to crack through the glass, though the crushed rocks and tools on the floor showed it was not for want of trying.
"Glass melts, yes?" Ali suggested.
Augustine grinned. "It is worth a try."
Oooooo
By the time they returned with a set of diesel torches and managed to cut through the glass, the trapped vampire had hardly made a movement or any further sounds. His black eyes did not appear to notice his surroundings, at least, not until they were able to cut the chains suspending him from the ceiling. He collapsed in a heap on the floor and then he cried out, his arms and legs flailing in surprise. He fell still and silent after only a few moments of struggle, which was a testimony to how weak he had become.
"What do we do now?" Ali asked.
Augustine grimaced. They could not risk using the fiery torches to cut through the bonds on his body.
"I think we will need to take him apart and put him back together after he is out of his restraints."
"Rahimullah!"
It was a gruesome, excruciating process and it proved a small mercy that the vampire appeared entirely incognizant of any of it.
Oooooo
Slightly was waiting for them when they returned to Gabès and Augustine was surprised he had come so quickly.
"What did you find?" Slightly asked, entirely forgetting any other greeting and anxiously trying to look into the bed of the truck they drove.
"A vampire," Augustine answered. "He appears to be one of your brothers, but I've never seen one with so many rainy seasons behind him or with such a fine beard. It's a pity you did not grow such a find beard before you were changed."
"It can't be! It's impossible!" Slightly said. He charged at the bed of the truck and threw off the tarp covering the reassembled, but still unconscious, body. Then he gave a loud holler of delight. "It is! It's Peter!"
Augustine scoffed. "Just as you are called Peter and the one before you and the one before him? Come now, I am wise enough to know better. You are not all named Peter. What is this one's name, really?"
"His name really is Peter. Peter the Fifth, to be more precise."
"Could Darling not come up with any more creative names? Truly?"
"I suppose after creating hundreds of the exact same face, she got tired of trying to differentiate between us all. If we are all called 'Peter' than she wouldn't mix us up."
"It may have helped Darling, but it does not help me. How am I to keep you all straight? Tell me, Slightly, you know of this one?"
Slightly broke into a full smile. "I do."
"I take it he is not one of those illiterate, wild creatures Darling used as soldiers."
"Oh, this one will read through all of your library in a week, if you let him. He was never a soldier, or at least, not really."
"What was he, then?"
Slightly paused. "Oh, a musician, a teacher, a guardian of humans. He had many roles. Also, I never found out for certain… I suspected, but till the end I had no evidence… I believe this one was Darling's mate."
At Augustine's surprised burst of curses, Slightly only grinned wider.
oooooo
Peter
2604 AD
Peter blinked. Above him, an unfamiliar tiled mosaic of a ceiling stared back at him. Below him was a mat which lay on a table a few feet above the floor. He wore unfamiliar clothes and he had absolutely no idea how he had ended up where he now found himself.
A female vampire held a bottle to his mouth, one arm behind his head to keep him elevated enough so she could dribble blood down his throat. Her answering smile when she saw his eyes open dimpled her curvaceous cheeks and she kept pouring. She was humming to herself in a language he did not understand, but it was a soothing sound and he felt as starved for music as he had been for blood. He let himself ingest both the sounds that filled his soul and the blood that filled his body. How long had it been since he last ate? How long since he heard a song from a voice not his own? He didn't know. He didn't know much of anything, right now.
She was a pretty woman – all ebony skin and full lips. Her diminutive stature would have made her appear as little more than a youth, but the full curves of her figure proved she was no child. A bright red head scarf fell loosely over her braided hair and bright golden rings shone from her nose and ears.
When he finished his bottle he reached out for more and she laughed.
"Eh, eh, there you are," she said. She held him slightly more upright, like a mother with a babe, and she gave him more. As she did, he felt her hand against his cheek and suddenly he was flooded with a feeling of such great tranquility that he closed his eyes and lay back against her enfolding arm as if in slumber.
"Go easy on him, Ifeh," came a familiar voice. "We do want him conscious. You overdid it a bit that time."
The peacefulness receded like a wave, leaving him thirsting for the next tide to lap over him. He was about to cry out in protest, but instead he blinked open his eyes and turned in the direction of the voice. Short, auburn hair, red eyes, and a lean face looked over at him and a hand reached out to clasp his own.
"Well, grow me a beard and call me a Pirate! Peter, I never thought I'd see your face again."
Peter gaped for a moment before struggling to sit upright. The little vampire tsked him at first, but she released him and helped him sit upright.
"Slightly? Is that truly you?"
"In the flesh, my man! In the flesh! By the Jolly Roger, am I happy to see you! I thought for sure you were lost!"
"Where am I?" he asked.
"Tunisia. This is Augustine's ksar."
"I'm not in Neverland, then?"
"Miss it already, do you? I suppose we could have let you stay longer."
"I believe I've seen more of that place than I ever care to again."
"Oh, no doubt, poor devil. Tell me, how long have you been locked up there?"
"Since the day Darling last spoke with you."
Slightly whistled under his breath. "I had no idea. She didn't make contact again, after that, and neither did any of the others. The next I knew, I heard Neverland had been taken over by the Volturi. I don't think I've ever been quite that shocked in my life… and that's saying something, considering how many days I put up with all of Darling's surprises."
"Curly got into the medicine. The only conscious soul, when we arrived was John. Darling locked me up and shielded me so I wouldn't know what was going on. The next I knew, everyone was gone and John said they were going to Volterra."
"Hook's claws, Peter. Darling was the one to string you up? I would never have believed it. What'd you do to make her so cross with you?"
Storm clouds brewed over Peter's forehead and his mind wasn't quite recovered enough to filter his thoughts. The flood of memories that Slightly's question elicited made Peter drop his eyes and quickly tried to suppress his thoughts. He had simultaneously treasured and fought against those memories, ever since he was first locked away. They had served as both balm and penance, torment and comfort, and he could not force them back into his subconscious quickly enough. Slightly gaped.
"By the Jolly Roger, that's not what I expected to be the reason, but, well, damn. You… she… I knew it. I just knew it. I don't understand, though. Why would she lock up her mate?"
"She said she wanted to keep me safe and she didn't want Aro finding me."
Slightly considered this. His eyes wandered from Peter to the woman beside him.
"I suppose I can understand that."
Peter shrugged but his breath caught and he rubbed at his forehead with his hand. "Where is she? Do you know where Darling is?"
"Ah, Peter, nobody has seen so much as a shadow of Darling since 2434. That's when Volterra fell, the first time. It was marvelous, Peter, you should have seen it! However, in the aftermath of the battle, half the city burned to the ground. Augustine and I combed through the old fortress and the catacombs, after, but we couldn't find a trace of her. Most of it was so blown to bits, it was hard to find the traces of anyone, especially those of us more susceptible to flames.
"Everyone who would have known where she was kept was long gone by then and, well, you know the limitations her mind gives my gift. We asked every nomad we've come across since then, but none have heard of her, either. We finally had to assume that she didn't make it out. I'm so sorry, my friend."
"I won't believe it."
"If she lived, do you believe she would have let you remain where you were?"
There was a bitter bite of truth to this that Peter did not want to accept. His heart fell into his toes and he nearly felt ill. It could not be. He had not gone through all that he had simply to lose her after only a handful of days. He wouldn't lose hope, not until he had searched through all of Volterra himself with a fine-toothed comb.
At a meaningful glance from Slightly, the woman took Peter's hand in hers and he was flooded with such a sense of peace that he could not mourn for long and his fears were, temporarily, repressed. Slightly winked at him.
She's a marvel, isn't she? Slightly thought to Peter. Then out loud, he said, "Peter, meet Ifechukwu. We all call her Ifeh."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Ifeh."
"It is good to meet you, Peter. Slightly speaks of you often and cannot say enough good things. He could not leave Mali fast enough, when Augustine told him you had been found," Ifeh said. She extended her hand to Peter with a joyful smile.
"Now you are embarrassing me," Slightly said. At his mock pout, she laughed.
"Why would I need to bother when you are so good at embarrassing yourself?" Ifeh said.
"See how she speaks to me? Such disrespect!" Slightly said much too warmly to be a true complaint, and then tried to steal a kiss. She pushed him away with a shy look at Peter.
Not in front of your friend! She thought.
"She doesn't like me to shower her with all my unceasing love and devotion in front of people. I can't help it, though. With such loveliness before me, why should I keep my hands off her? It isn't fair. What she doesn't understand is I can see everyone else, whether they are in public or private, so why bother editing my public actions? They deserve it, for what they make me go through on a daily basis."
"You have my sympathy, Ifeh," Peter said. "Slightly thrives on disturbing everyone's peace."
"And Ifeh thrives on dousing us all in so much peace we forget our own names, so it balances out," Slightly said. "It's quite the gift. You should see her use it on prey. They die perfectly content with the world."
"How did you meet?"
"Augustine," Slightly answered. When he didn't elaborate, Ifeh continued
"I have stayed with the Tunisian coven for nearly five hundred years. Slightly used to come and visit here, when he was passing through on Neverland business."
"We didn't exactly talk, then," Slightly added.
"Because he is too too stubborn and liked to stay locked away in his room and only speak with Augustine when he would come."
"I had a lot on my mind, back then," Slightly said. "But she found me handsome. She pretends to deny it. Don't believe her."
"I think you handsome now. Back then, I thought you an arrogant jackal."
Slightly snorted and pulled her in to kiss her cheek. He failed to release her but made her nestle into his shoulder. She relented and did not move away.
"Well, after Neverland fell, I, uh, didn't take it too well. When I thought you were gone, and Darling, and all the others, well, I lost my entire coven. It was terrible. I may have despised you all every other Friday, but you were still my people and when everything was gone, I didn't know what to do with myself."
"He nearly drove Augustine to distraction with his moping and whining."
"Hey! Where's your compassion for my pain?"
She stood on her tip toes to gently pat his head. "You sought me for my hands, not my compassion."
He sighed. "That's true. You do have magic hands."
"He did not start speaking with me until we met at Marcus and Didyme's."
"It's true… but you were away from Augustine. That helped. Augustine is a tyrant."
I heard that, came a mental voice from across the compound. It was tinged with humor and fond teasing and Peter assumed it must be Augustine. This tyrant owes you a beating for stealing my Ifeh away from Tunisia.
"I think it's more accurate to say she stole me," came Slightly's verbal response. Augustine grumbled in return, but it was good-natured and no true malice could be heard in it.
"You are not serious."
"I am. You know Augustine would have had my head if I tried anything with you here. I had to wait till you were far out of his territory. "
"We will never know since you were too, too slow and did not try."
"Who are Marcus and Didyme?" Peter asked, interrupting their banter, which he suspected could continue indefinitely.
"Oh, you don't know?" Slightly asked. "I supposed you were locked away in Tinkerbell's House then. Marcus was one third of the Volturi leadership. It truly was a brilliant betrayal. Darling lured him away by resurrecting his mate from the dead. He is half in love with her for it. It's revolutionized his life."
"I never heard about that one."
"Well, he spent some years helping oversee the Algeria blood factory, but really, with that much happiness, why be bothered with so much work?"
"Didyme has the gift of spreading happiness," Ifeh clarified. "It is a bit like my gift, only she does not need to make contact and it lingers long after she is no longer present."
"Yes. It's amazing! As I was saying, why bother with Pirates and blood and export and import and all that tedium when you can sit around being happy all day? They built a villa on the coast in Algeria and formed a different kind of vampire haven. Marcus now uses his gift…and Didyme's… to help vampires who have lost their mates work through their grief and figure out what to do with themselves after. He absolutely adores it, well, they both do. He was quite the stick-in-the mud before and he's hardly recognizable as the same man."
"I spent some time there working through the loss of my mate," Ifeh explained. "Then, here this one comes along and I was glad to have a familiar face."
"A familiar, handsome face."
She let out an exclamation in a language Peter did not recognize and rolled her eyes.
"He was as happy to find someone he knew as me."
"With Didyme around, we were nearly overcome with happiness just to wear socks or see a crab on the beach. She really can make a fellow forget all his troubles for a time and it's really far too pleasant a place not to visit often… not to mention, so many lovely, single vampires there, all begging for my expert experience in consolation and my particular brand of comfort."
Ifeh clicked her tongue and shot him a disapproving look. Slightly laughed. "Those days are past, of course. I suppose I offered consolation one too many times and got caught up myself. Ifeh's own particular brand of comfort is nearly as delicious as Didyme's. It's hard to remember any of my troubles when she decides to wallop me with so much assurance of my well-being."
"It works just as well if he talks too much or gets too nosy and into everybody's business," Ifeh said.
"Enough, enough," Slightly said to Ifeh. "Speaking of talking too much, if you stay too long around Peter, he is liable to steal you away from me. Did you know, he stole half the hearts of Neverland and we were all his identical twins? If that's not the essence of narcissism, I don't know what is."
"Peter," she said with a nod. "I will come with more blood in a few hours. Slightly, you let him rest or I will come back and force you both to calm."
Peter could hear her disappear across the ksar, not far enough away to be out of range, but far enough to grant Slightly the privacy he sought. Slightly fell onto the floor with a languid movement and he leaned against the wall behind him, his elbows resting on his knees.
I'm glad you are well. Truly. Peter thought. By the shared thoughts rolling off the pair, he could tell the affection between them was both long-standing and sincere. It warmed his heart to see Slightly so genuinely happy.
I'm just happy you are alive. Really.
A comfortable silence fell between them that only such old friends could share. Peter could hear a variety of half-formed questions and half-finished memories flit through his mind and he was surprised at how Slightly's tight control of his mind had dwindled. He had to assume this meant he did not need to exercise as much restraint these days as he did in past ones.
Slightly, where are the others?
Slightly frowned and a wave of regret flowed through his mind. Oh, well, the Braves did what they were created for and that was the end of that. Most died during the first battle. Curly and Thomas, too. Then Nibs, well, I left him in charge of the Sudan plant, once Marcus took over Algeria. In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have. That much power… no accountability… well, he learned to make his own medicine and that was that.
Then, there's your Pirates. They rather delighted in living on the surface of the earth, rather than deep down inside it. We let them take up lodgings in the nearby towns and paid them a pittance for their services. It was enough to meet their needs and give them a semblance of autonomy for the rest of their lives. Most stayed and didn't bother trying to do anything else. They knew the work and they didn't want to leave their brothers and so they stayed on. A few left and tried to find their fortunes elsewhere, but the majority stayed.
Oh, Peter- their faces the first time they saw a woman other than Darling! It was priceless! Let's just say, both villages are flooded with the descendants of Pirates now. We have hired humans from the same villages ever since to run the machines for us… most of them are related to the original batch or Pirates, in some way or another.
Our demand has grown so much we now have five different plants scattered across the Maghreb. We ship blood all the way to Siberia and South America. It's revolutionized the vampire world, which has made Augustine quite pleased with himself. A bit too pleased, if you ask me. I've been tempted to knock him down a notch or two myself.
By the tenor of Slightly's thoughts, Peter knew he held a great fondness and respect for Augustine, though he was not disappointed to stay a few countries over and have greater autonomy over his life and his time now that he lived with Ifeh.
Slightly, why didn't you and Augustine come? To Neverland, I mean? Peter asked, finally bringing up the question that had bothered him since he first found himself trapped in Neverland.
He sobered, then, and his smile fell. I was entirely locked out of Neverland's communication systems. I couldn't get any information. By the time our contacts in Volterra warned me of Aro's movements, it was too late. I didn't even know where to begin finding you. Nobody did. So much happened so quickly, nobody knew heads from tails anymore than they knew which were enemies and which were allies. It really was a mess all over.
Darling forbid me following her into Volterra, ever. In case things ever went badly, my orders were to stay with Augustine and protect the secrets I carry in my mind. She didn't want what I know falling into Aro's hands. It could have been more dangerous for me to show up there than it was for me to stay away.
I suppose I can understand that. Peter thought. He understood it. He still didn't like it. He supposed he still clung to his gut reaction, which was that anyone and everyone should have left all to fly to Darling's side, the moment she was in danger. That's what he had wanted to do. He couldn't understand Slightly agreeing to follow such flawed orders.
I think I may have an idea why Darling locked you up, Slightly observed.
Peter let out an exasperated sigh. Not you, too.
Peter, you need to tell me. What happened that week before Neverland fell? Where did you go with Darling and what happened when you came back to Neverland?
Peter sighed. I'll tell you what I can- but Slightly, I cannot stay here for long. I've waited for her a hundred and eighty-eight years. I need to look discover her fate, even if it takes me the next hundred years to do so.
I'll help you in every way I can, Slightly said.
Oooo
Author's Note: Technically, I didn't lie. This is the first part of my epilogue… but my epilogue has already grown to 30 stinking pages long and I hadn't even finished it yet. I've decided to post it in parts instead of over inundating all of us with that much excessive verbage. Here's the first set of questions I left…uh… hanging.
