Chapter 23.
We walked along through a forest, for what seems like hours. Our skin is scratched in every bare place from twigs, dirt and bugs creep up our legs and I can start to see the sun rising in the distance so I know we need to find somewhere to hide soon.
At least I've had plenty of time to mull over everything that has happened.
I can't believe that Danahi is dead, the guardians found me and Max and we are lost in the woods with no idea where we are or were we are going. At least I'm here with Max by my side. I have a plan for him too. He won't like it but I have no choice. He will be my ticket back to what I need. My book.
We are both breathing heavily and throughout our little adventure I've had time to explain the full story to Max but he hasn't spoken since, I guess he is still dumbfounded by what has happened. Finding out your best friend/girlfriend is some witch with an ancient family name and is trying to be murdered will do that to someone.
Even though nothing has really happened in the last few hours that will significantly fuel my temper, it still rises with every step I take. I feel it slowly consuming me, like I'm on the brink of not being able to go back and that I won't ever find something to smile or be happy about again.
But the more I think about it, the more I don't care. This is what it means to be a Nesahla. I think of my family, my mother and father, what will they be told? Will they hunt them down too?
My thoughts and my fury mingle and soon it just all blurs into one little pot of rage.
Though it's not long before I'm distracted from that too, we are on a track approaching a mansion.
Its huge, all made of brick and sandstone. It's two stories with two giant pillars that stand between the road and the front door. A driveway curls around us, fading to nowhere.
Vines with purplish flowers snake up the pillars and the grass around us appears overgrown. It's almost hard to see your feet. The grass stands at least 3 meters tall clearly indicating that this place must be abandoned, I don't think anyone has been here for years.
Max and I continue slowly toward the house. When we reach the front door, I can see that the weathered wood door is now so decayed that it sits ajar and the handle is strewn on the floor. It doesn't require much strength to push against it lightly as the door opens further, revealing a dark, dirt riddled house. Grey tiles line the floor, the roof is sits high above us and a spiral staircase resides in front of us, right next to it is what I think is the kitchen though there is only a few benches. It's all empty but it would have been beautiful in its time.
We tread through the house carefully, surveying every room. I'd say this house was left about 50 years ago, but it must have belonged to a rich family because it is an extravagant house with little touches of the past here and there. Max and I rummage through the cupboards, looking for any sort of food but find no signs of anything edible; luckily we can survive without food. Blood on the other hand, is another problem we may have to sort out, probably sooner rather than later.
"So what are we going to do now?" Max asks as we lay down in one of the carpeted lounge rooms.
"I don't know." I tell him, though it's not the truth, if I told him what I'm really going to do, he would freak out. I leave Max in the lounge and continue to scout through the house again, looking for another spare room.
I need a quiet, small room. Just one that is clean, without too much clutter, which I can use for my next part of my plan.
I find one that is up the top of the stairs, adjacent to large bedroom. The floorboards creak when I step on them but other than that it's good for use. Only a single window, which no one can see in, and nothing else. Perfect. I head back down to Max, maybe I should tell him now.
"I need your help." I tell him. I'm leaning on the banister on the stairs.
"Yeah of course, what do you need?" he won't want to help when I tell him.
"Well I have a plan, but you're not going to like it." He gives me a weird look.
"How bad can it be, what do you want me to turn Strigoi so I can get your book back?" He laughs at his joke.
"Actually that's exactly what I want you to do." He stills and goes pale when I tell him.
"Your, your joking right?" I shake my head.
"No, no I can't do that" his voice shakes.
"You can, I need you too. If your one of them, you can protect me, I don't have anyone else and they have probably killed my parents too so I need all the help I can get. Without their strength, we won't win." I can see him processing his words. A few moments later he starts pacing. Is he actually considering this? I thought it would be harder to convince him. It feels like years before he replies.
"Isn't there another way to do this? I mean one that doesn't involve me killing someone? There isn't another person I can purposely feed on anyway so it wouldn't work" he says and he chews on his nails. Is that really all he is concerned about?
"No, you don't need another person."
"Ha, Yeah I do Ve, that's how it works. It isn't gunna happen by magi…" he looks at me again and I nod. "So I'm guessing you have some sort of weird witchy magic thing you can do then?" he says. He is still pacing and it's really starting to annoy me.
"Yes I can, and I will. I don't care if you say no, I will do this. I would rather it be with your permission rather than holding you down." I say to him, meeting his gaze levelly. He goes back to pacing and after a while I sit on the stairs, waiting for him to answer. He closes his eyes and rubs his temples, as if to try and wake from this nightmare.
"How do you know I wouldn't try to, you know, eat you or something?"
"Because I will control you. I made you, I control you. It makes it better for me because by creating you, I'm linked to strigoi blood which means I control any others I find too."
This part is sort of sketchy, in my flicking through pages of the book and finding the pages that talk about Strigoi, it showed the connection between the Strigoi and the creator.
It also tells a theory on controlling more Strigoi, it's a big risk but I have to try. Max goes back to pacing. God I wish he would hurry up and decide or I really will tie him down and turn him anyway.
"Fine. I'll do it. But only for you." He finally agrees, though I see a hint of fear and sadness flit through his eyes. I nod and then I head up to the room I found earlier.
I purposefully picked that one because its darker, even with my anger I'm not all that heartless, if this spell works, darkness is what Max will need.
Max follows me all the way up, I can hear his ragged breath and I can smell him sweating from nervousness. He sees the bowl I found earlier and a knife set up in the middle of the room. He falters but continues into the room. The spell didn't really say I needed much else so my concentration will be on the words. I kneel down in front of the bowl and knife, and then I beckon Max to sit opposite me. I lean back on my heels and try to concentrate on the task at hand. Max has gone completely white and his hands are shaking. His eyes flicker all over the room, never settling in one place.
I try to channel as much energy as I can, trying to think of how Danahi completed his spells, and how I have seen them it in my visions. I can do this. I'm a Nesahla; it's in my blood.
I feel a surge of energy rush through me and it makes me shiver, its working. I start reciting the words that have been burned into my mind since I found those pages on Strigoi.
"Et in saeculum saeculi, et non, et in saeculum saeculi, et non, et in saeculum saeculi, et non"
I don't say them aloud, but rather whisper them to myself. I'm sure with vampire hearing Max can hear too but I don't pay attention to him. The next part is tricky.
I have to obtain Max's blood and chant again but this time it's in English.
I keep concentrating on my first words, making sure they sink in. The feeling of something rushing through me doesn't subside but continues to increase slightly more each time I repeat the sentence. Involuntarily I start rocking back and forth on my heels, I can't stop it. My eyes are closed so I don't know what Max is doing. All at once I feel everything shift.
Not in a literal sense but in something much deeper. Something shifts in me, and it feels like a bonfire has just exploded. I can do this. I have the magic. I can feel my entire family's blood flow through me. I can hear every whisper they spoke, every spell they thought off.
I can feel my family's history.
Without cue, I feel the need to reach forward. I grab hold on Maxs right arm and I hold the knife a few centimetres above it. My eyes are open now and I look to Max, he has a different expression this time. He looks determined, committed.
He looks like he can do this and he will, for me. I nod to him and then before I can have a second thought, I slash at his wrist and deep red blood pours out.
I push the bowl forward and start reciting the next chant.
"Gracious Goddess who walks through the mists of time, my need of you is endless but tonight I ask only for power. Fill this being with your strength and be with him this night that he may be empowered by your gifts of life. Hold true this spell I work. Blessed be."
I whisper harshly as more of Max's blood pours out of him. I feel the life slowly fading from him and I feel a slight satisfaction that I can do this. That no one else can.
The mortal life fades from his eyes and his blood slows to a drip and eventually stops.
Max falls, no longer having blood to pump through his body. I hold the bowl in my hands, cradling it against my chest and repeat my words again. I feel more energy pouring into the bowl, into Max's blood. It surrounds each and every blood cell, turning it to something that cannot be destroyed but with the four life forces of air, water, earth and fire.
Once I feel it has been long enough, I pour Max's blood back to him, tilting his head so that his blood slips down his throat. Slowly, Max's complexion alters, as impossible as it is; his skin goes paler, looking like a bad makeup job. I can feel coldness expelling from him and sinking into my skin. Nothing is left to do but wait. It didn't take long in my vision but I've never done this sort of magic before so I don't know how well it will work.
I wait a few more moments and just as I'm about to touch Max his eyes jerk open. More coldness seeps through me, but I don't feel any sort of fear, all I feel is a deep satisfaction, a deep sense of accomplishment. His eyes are bright red though they still contain some sort of humanity that I expect will fade away over time as he embraces who he is.
Max sits up and surveys his surrounding, taking it all in with a different look on life. His eyes rest on me and he starts to move, I know he is hungry. I know he will go for me because I've seen it happen in one of my visions, but before he can move forward, I motion my hand and Max's steps falter. I gasp, it really works. I control him.
He looks to his feet and I move my hand again. His head whips up and his eyes find mine.
A small smile creeps onto my face. It worked.
"Well done Vienna, it worked. Now what are you going to do with me?" Max asks.
His voice is different as well. It no longer contains the little wobble it did and it's not as squeaky, he says his words evenly, clearly showing the new lack of emotion he now has.
"Now you belong to me." I tell him. His mouth twitches and changes into a sadistic smile.
"But first, I'm hungry and so are you. You're going to go out and bring me back a human, you can kill your own but bring me back one you haven't touched. I have no desire to share a feeder with a strigoi. You have 30 minutes and if I feel that you're not doing your job, I will summon you back here and you will starve." He smiles again and then turns to leave but with a movement of my finger he stops in his tracks. "Hurry back, we have places to be."
"And where exactly are we going?" he asks with a slight tinge of curiosity.
"Spokane. I have a feeling we will meet more of you there."
To be continued…