Part 40

Ireland 1843

The castle was already in ruins by the time I climbed the stone steps. It had been a part of the landscape for longer than even I had been in that place, with its untended gardens overgrowing their confines, and the birds roosting in its peaks. I hadn't called the meeting that was coming, but I intended to attend it. It wasn't so much a threat that had been issued calling me there, but a warning, and that bothered me even more. I knew of nothing more powerful than my sanguine kin then, and for another supernatural species to call me out was the height of arrogance as far as I was concerned.

I stepped into the bloody chapel at the peak of the castle; aptly named because brother had slain brother there, a priest left to die over his altar, midway through his sacrament. Not to mention its other hidden gruesome secrets. Leap Castle had seen its share of evil, long before I ventured into its turrets, and it saw a great deal more after I departed.

I was not alone on the fragmented height; I had brought my lieutenant. Liam was only a few hundred years old, and not my child, but he had stood at my side since my arrival in Ireland. This was a time when Vampires stayed in the shadows, and I had been given the unofficial task of leading the clan; clan, because that was the name the natives preferred we use, and it struck a chord with me as well. Liam had presented himself to me as one who knew the ways of the people better than I; and who better to walk with me? It helped that my age brought respect and that he complimented it with his knowledge. He was playing with his pocket watch, something I had seen him do dozens of times; nervous energy perhaps, I'm not even sure why I bothered to remember that detail.

We stood on the stone floor, waiting in the dark of midnight, listening at first to the silence of the night, but gradually becoming aware of a growing presence, more in feeling than by sound at first, coalescing into a mournful peal and suddenly a fire burst into life before us, orange and yellow flames consuming something I had not originally noticed in the room. A heavy burnt smell, coupled with a sickening sweetness rose up in fog, not that it prevented Liam or I from observing the arrival of those who had set the meeting in the first place.

They came through the windows, three of them, all women. Their robes were not those of the human women I was used to seeing, and put me more in mind of the druids and ancient ones. The one who spoke, while the others flanked her was the youngest, with fiery red hair that fell in tresses around her face, over her shoulders ending in wisps over her breasts. Had I not felt so indignant towards them all I might have noticed her beauty.

"You must stop what you are doing to the people of this land." She announced, staring me square in the eye, she knew very well that I would not be able to glamour her, and she demonstrated her boldness to me with the action.

"And what exactly do you mean?" I goaded her. Putting my enemies at a disadvantage by attacking them verbally, to force them to stumble over their carefully prepared scripts and plans was a tactic I had used many times before.

"You take advantage of a tragedy to feed yourselves, believing that your kills will be ascribed to the famine. You glut yourselves on the poor of this land and you grow careless."

I did not believe we were growing careless, the blight on the staple crop was simply convenient, our numbers were not growing; we were simply not starving just then. It seemed a balance of fate, finally in our favor.

"If you will not tell your people to stop Northman, then we will move to stop you."

"I would like to see you try." Liam was not one for caution or subtlety and he stepped towards the women with an aggressive posture, fangs dropped, thinking he could frighten them. He had been of the same mind as I, that their powers would offer no challenge to us though at that moment then I was not prepared to test my hypothesis. Perhaps with age comes that wisdom? As for Liam, well, he made an error, and that was odd since he should have known better than I what the Banshees were capable of.

I watched as with a howl, (well two, one from the red-haired woman, and one from Liam), he was thrown backwards against an ancient door, falling into what was then called an oubliette. The name comes from the French, to forget, because that is what happened to all the other unfortunate souls cast into that pit. If they did not die immediately on the rows of sharpened spikes at the bottom of the thing, as Liam did, then they lingered, forgotten, forced to listen to the sounds of the castle around them until they finally succumbed.

I made no emotional show for the women and held my ground, not even looking back behind myself immediately to ascertain what had become of my companion. I checked on him later, spying out only the pre-existing pile of bones and the bloody remnants of his passing.

"Will you move on us too Vampire?" I was asked.

"I will not." At least I had no intentions of doing so just then.

"Then you will leave this place, with all your legions?"

"We are hardly legions, and no, I have no intention of leaving just yet." Her request was curious, and I wondered if perhaps her move against Liam had taken more of her energy than she wished to admit. I stood my ground and watched her, her confidence seemed a little shaken by my action, or rather non-action.

"We could destroy you."

"You could, and then these Legions you refer to would have no leader, and who do you think would keep them in check then? I would wager that you would see a great many more human deaths if I were not there to shepherd them. And I also wager that you cannot kill us all. Not before we kill you."

In a heartbeat I had one of her companions by the throat, holding her just over the fire they had created, squirming against my grip. The smoke curled around her body like fingertips. I dropped my fangs and looked at the speaker.

"I will keep my people from reckless abandon. But you will keep yours away from us." She stood silent for a moment, weighing her options it seemed, then she spoke slowly.

"A détente then? Between our peoples, for the good of the land?" She offered, holding her own expression as neutral as my own. I allowed myself a slight smile and let her companion down onto the floor.

"Yes. I will swear to that, for as long as I am here in your fair country."

She nodded as the woman took up her place once again.

"Then let us hope that we will never meet again Vampire."

"Unless it is for something far more pleasurable than this." I gestured to the smoke and the fire and the ruins around us.

"Do not insult offerings to the dead Vampire. We raise the herbs and whiskey in their honor."

"Better that you raise your voices."

"We shall do that as well."

In an instant the room was filled with the howling that had heralded their arrival, I covered my ears for the shrillness of it. Then they were gone, and I went to check on Liam, who, as I have previously related, was quite truly dead. I took my leave of the castle, and of the country several decades later, never having seen a Banshee again, though having heard their call on many following occasions.

Well, I hoped you enjoyed our first look at the Banshees, stay tuned for more.