Chapter 9 Whisper
WHISPER
Earlier…
The moment that Sana had teleported them to the Hunter’s Path, Elgar had started to Whisper.
She’d transported them to a darkened spot behind one of the large statues that lined the path so that they were out of the eyeshot of the three Sect members, but they could hear them.
Weryn had started to move towards their enemies, and with just a thought, Elgar stopped him.
Wait! Let me increase the tension between them. Let them do some of the work for us! Elgar sent to the others.
Weryn gave a tense nod after a long moment.
He wanted this done. But they were three formidable Vampires, including a slice of an Immortal.
More importantly, Roan had the unknown artifact.
Elgar could not lift what that was from any of their minds, because Roan would sense him.
That information was too tightly grasped for him to pluck it out without leaving a trace. So he Whispered instead.
The Whisper was so slight and insidious that no one–perhaps not even Eyros himself–would have realized that they were being influenced.
All it did was to take the bad feelings that these three had towards one another and amped them up.
Slowly but surely, he emphasized old hurts, sharpened aggravations, and solidified legitimate gripes.
He escalated suspicion and insinuated treachery so that they would trust each other less than they already did.
The Whisper teased their aggression and stoked their fears.
Anything and everything that would engage their most negative feelings towards one another was woven into the Whisper.
What are you doing, Elgar? Demos asked with a lifted eyebrow. The hair on the back of my neck is standing on end!
He scrubbed the back of his neck as if to eliminate the feeling.
The Whisper travels through the air and the ground. It is a vibration, Elgar explained. It is not dangerous to you. It affects only those I wish it to: our enemies.
Demos rubbed the back of his neck. I’m glad you’re on our side.
Yes, I am a worthy opponent, Elgar admitted simply.
No false modesty here! Demos chuckled with a flash of that broad, warming smile.
My Master has not allowed himself to remember my power. And I know that my behavior since I have returned has caused many to doubt my strength, Elgar said. I will show everyone that I am not so broken that I cannot fight as I once did.
Demos gripped his shoulder for a moment. We just feel your pain, Elgar. That’s all. And we want to fix that. Protect you against more of it.
Yes, and I have relished this attention. Perhaps too much, Elgar told him. But it was because I did not realize that I was leading others to believe that I could not protect myself and them as well.
What you went through… Demos shook his head. No one should go through that. And to come out of it… Well, we all just want to take care of you. That doesn’t mean we think you’re weak. It just means you’ve done enough on your own.
I am still emerging. Like a butterfly from a chrysalis. Elgar imagined the dark earth that had held him for so long breaking apart and him wriggling out of it, still holding onto Eyros’ skull. A Death’s Head moth. A connection to his Grandsire. This is the next step in my journey.
I’m glad to be taking it with you, Demos admitted with a broad smile.
As am I. Elgar inclined his head.
Demos got down on his haunches and peered around the statue towards their enemies.
Ryder/Weryn joined him. Both watched as their enemies argued and taunted one another–at least in the case of Roan and Legion–while the Whisper fed Shaela’s fear and distrust so she backed away.
Her urge to run was so strong as to be almost physically palpable.
They’re getting more agitated, Demos remarked and rubbed both of his arms. I thought that Legion was out of control when he bit Roan’s finger off, but now Roan seems off his head.
I am stoking the division and distrust between them. It is not difficult. They are not allies in any real sense, Elgar said as he lightly read their minds. These three are bound together by bonds of fear and desperation.
They think they have nowhere else to go, Demos stated this instead of asked.
Elgar glanced over at him and the Weryn Vampire’s expression was grim.
Demos continued, When Ryder and I went hunting the War Children, while there were many that were ten pounds of crazy in a one pound bag, others just thought there was no place for them.
Because of the actions they took during the War? Elgar guessed.
Some of that, but not really. Because everyone they knew had acted just as bad or even worse.
No, it was that they had never been connected to their Masters or their Bloodline, Demos explained.
They often formed these sad little bands.
A handful of different Bloodlines living together, but nobody trusting one another yet unable to live on their own. And forget making fledglings that last.
We created a whole generation of Vampires that are crippled, Elgar agreed.
Crippled at best, Demos corrected. Those that we could save we did. Got them reorientated. Found them Houses that knew how to reintegrate them and understood the difficulties.
Lawson was one of Legion’s Children, Elgar said.
That he was. Strong motherfucker. Managed to keep it together far more than others.
But he left Legion pretty quick and found a House to take him in so maybe that accounts for it, Demos explained.
He was good at recognizing who was in charge and how to please them then backstab them and take their place.
Got him all the way to the top. For a time anyways.
Demos shot another look at Ryder/Weryn. It was full of love and concern.
Elgar admired Demos’ loyalty to Ryder/Weryn.
He understood his weaknesses, but he did not expect perfection.
This was good. There was no false worship here.
Just an understanding that Ryder/Weryn would be the best for the Bloodline regardless of the faults he had.
This was almost an Eyros way of looking at people.
When one knew what was in another’s minds–in all minds–one could become jaded or worse.
But like the most successful Eyros, Demos simply accepted people for who they were.
That sounds more like the Kaly way then the Weryn, Elgar remarked, knowing that the Weryn used to be, at least, known for their clannishness and loyalty.
Lawson talked the talk, but, in truth, he never lived it. He could wax on for hours, days, weeks or more about pack loyalty and the superiority of our way of living together. We were stronger as one while all the other Vampire Bloodlines squabble and try to one up one another, Demos said.
That is not altogether wrong about the other Bloodlines, Elgar said.
Yes, but we were worse than the other Bloodlines. Not better, Demos answered. There was no trust. No loyalty. No sense of family or safety. Only with Ryder did I feel a connection. Without him, I don’t know what would have happened to me. I don’t think I would have survived.
The bleakness that opened up in Demos’ mind as he remembered his past with Lawson took Elgar’s breath away.
He curled his shoulders forward and wished he could hold Demos and stroke his back, to ease that sense of being alone and unloved.
But now was not the time or place. Yet the War had taught him that sometimes the only right moment was the moment you had.
Because everything could turn in an instant.
I will comfort him when we are next in Nightvallen. If he will let me, Elgar thought. He sent, Lawson was not a confident leader. That is why he behaved as he did. Fear was all he had to offer.
Among other reasons, but yeah. He picked those who were weaker than him and sewed distrust. Which was why Ryder cut off those in our old House at first, Demos said.
They have to prove they could live another way.
Prove they can be loyal and trustworthy.
I don’t know if it will stick with a lot of them, but Ryder wants to give them a chance.
Here Demos glanced over at Ryder/Weryn. If he comes back, of course.
Elgar looked over at Ryder/Weryn himself.
He knew of the conflict within that mind right now.
He understood how Weryn–having lost Ashyr and being betrayed by Kaly and other Immortals–had retreated to his most violent, base instincts.
Destroy those that caused the pain. Don’t let mercy cause him to hesitate in carrying out that destruction.
But then there was Ryder who wanted to find a way to take care of those around him.
To heal hurts, bring people together, find consensus as a good pack leader should.
Ryder thought of himself as two different people because the War had made Weryn someone very different than who he had been before it.
Ryder was the way Weryn had been before the War, before the losses and the betrayal, before he fell.
But his memories and thought-processes as Weryn were still there.
People often told themselves pretty lies that they would never do certain terrible things no matter how far they were pushed.
But Ryder/Weryn had no lie to hide behind anymore.
He knew what he would do in those situations, because he had done them.
Trying to reconcile that with the person he wished to be, the type of person and leader he valued, was what was causing the dissonance.
He must forgive himself and accept his fallibility, Elgar told Demos.
He thought he was unassailable. That nothing could change who he was.
But when he lost Ashyr and so much else, it stripped away much of his goodness, because it stripped away his hope.
And he was left with only rage, pain and revenge.