7. Novak
Chapter 7
Novak
7 . Novak
The monster stared at me with unblinking red eyes, its pupils the size of pinheads. Black blood vessels crisscrossed over the entire eye like spiderwebs. It was hunched over, but the same height as me, its skeleton an elongated, twisted form of what it once was.
“Are you going to cooperate today?” I kept my eyes on it while sterilizing a small scraper tool with isopropyl alcohol.
The creature never answered when I spoke to it, not with words anyway. But in the fifty years I’d kept it captive in my basement, I never kicked the habit of trying to have a conversation. Once upon a time, this had been a vampire after all. A person.
I approached the barred cell, holding the scraper tool down next to my thigh, and earned a hiss of warning from the monster.
“I just need a few skin cells,” I said, as if I could reason with it. “I need to see if there are any changes from last week.” To see if you’ve gotten any better.
This task felt futile. Who was I kidding? Everything felt futile. Over a hundred years of trying to find a cure for the madness that plagued my clan and nothing to show for it.
But I couldn’t stop. What would be the point of anything then? What if I was on the brink of discovering the cure?
I pushed back my sleeve, exposing my forearm. The creature’s eyes dilated at the sight of my flesh, its jaws parting with a whine like a dog.
I took advantage of the distraction, jabbing the scraper through the bars to drag along the creature’s side. It roared in response, its rank breath hitting me in the face like a sucker punch. Just as I pulled the scraper back, the monster lunged for my exposed forearm.
“Shit!” Pain shot up my arm like a hot brand. Usually I was good at keeping out of reach, but I was off my game today. Distracted.
Backing away from the cell, I glanced at my forearm where it had gotten me. Four scratches from its filthy claws puffed red and throbbed with a pain that I knew would linger. Healing would take longer than a normal wound, an ever-present reminder of how I’d fallen short in this endeavor.
Turning my arm to show the creature its work, I asked, “Satisfied?”
Saliva dripped from its near-skeletal jaws. The skin over its bones had become so thin and brittle, I could see the shape of its gums and all its teeth, not just the fangs. Bony-fingered hands wrapped around the bars of its cell, those animal-like claws preventing a tight hold.
The creature was covered in dirt and filth. At this point, it was impossible to tell if it was wearing any clothes or had been male or female. It was hunched over, misshapen. There wasn’t a shred of the proud vampire it had once been. Not anymore.
“Are there any of you still in there?” My voice was heavy with despair. “Do you know who you are? Do you even recognize me?”
The creature let out an anguished, hungry roar. It had been for over fifty years. But considering that it would only be satisfied by vampire or human flesh, I wasn’t exactly inclined to give it regular meals.
I stared at the edge of my scraper, not entirely hopeful that I got viable skin cells through all the grime and filth. Not for the first time, I wondered if it would be better to put this creature out of its misery.
Before I could follow that train of thought, the intercom on the wall beeped. I dropped the scraper into a sterile plastic bag and turned away from the monster to answer the call.
“Yes?” I released the button and waited for a reply.
Lourna’s voice crackled through the speaker. “Sorry to interrupt, sir. You have a call on your office line.”
“Who?” I pressed, knowing it couldn’t be good if she was hesitant to tell me.
“Baros of Carpe Noctem.”
“Fuck.” I let my forehead touch the wall, letting out an exasperated breath before pressing the button to answer. “Did you tell him I’m unavailable?”
“I did, and he insisted on waiting for as long as it took. He made vague threats about coming over unannounced if you didn’t get back to him.”
My eyes closed and I breathed out more curses in English and Vampiric. “Fine. I’ll be right up.”
I let my forehead linger on the wall for another beat before peeling off my nitrile gloves and dropping them in the hazardous waste bin. Without looking back at the monster, I left the cell room and entered the small clean room that acted as a buffer between the basement and the rest of the house.
I spent several minutes scrubbing my hands and the scratches on my arm. Like a human, I’d have to clean it well several times daily to avoid an infected wound. But I’d been scratched and clawed so many times at this point, I knew I was immune to becoming the same as that creature. Apparently I was the only one. And that was the big fucking mystery at the core of all these experiments and tests.
Everyone in my clan, all of my bloodline except for me, had either died or become that.
It started slowly. The first case happened probably before I was born, nearly three hundred years ago. Some of my earliest memories were of an adult uncle and cousins expressing a craving for flesh, not just blood. They attacked human staff at first, and then fellow vampires. When they could no longer be reasoned with, they were locked up. And they slowly became just like the creature in my basement.
One by one, over the course of a couple centuries, Rathka’s Order succumbed to what most called Rathka’s Curse. The illness was unexplainable and unstoppable, taking adult males, females, and children. Mostly from my clan, but a few others fell to it as well.
Until there was just me.
Well, and the expectation of finding the cure and restoring Rathka’s Order to its former glory. I didn’t earn advanced degrees in microbiology, bacteriology, and immunology just for the fun of it.
After washing my arm thoroughly, I patted it dry, applied an ointment, and then a bandage. It would be a week or longer before the skin was like new again, unless I took blood from an especially strong source.
My thoughts turned to my recent brusang visitor, Amy. She seemed to like my blood. Would she ever return the favor?
I dismissed the thought just as quickly as it came. Blood ‘til Dawn forbade us from ever having contact again, and I wasn’t about to piss off the ruling clan any more than they already were. Besides, Amy had been so skittish about feeding that she couldn’t even take it from my wrist. She definitely wouldn’t react well to my taking from her.
Her presence here, brief as it was, had been a welcome shake-up to the monotony of my life. Her curiosity and the calm, steadying force of a new heartbeat in my senses made that day pass far too quickly. But I had to accept that small stretch of time for what it was—an anomaly. An outlier.
Her time here would be a fond memory to cherish, considering I had precious few of those.
I finished cleaning up, placed the baggie with my used scraper in the mini fridge to examine later, then punched in the door code to enter the main house.
I dreaded every step up to my office, and still arrived there too quickly, the red light on my desk phone blinking ominously.
Sinking into my chair, I pressed the button defeatedly and brought the phone to my ear. “Baros. Good to hear from you.”
“Novak, hello.” If the head of Carpe Noctem knew I was lying through my teeth, he wouldn't give it away. “It’s been a while, so I wanted to touch base. Maybe revisit your thoughts on the offer I proposed.”
“Ah, right.” My molars ground against each other. “It slipped my mind, I’m afraid. I’ve been tied up with… you know, trying to keep a handle on things.”
“Of course, I understand. All the more reason to produce an heir,” Baros said smoothly. “It’s impossible to establish a strong clan with one person. You need offspring. My daughter is free this evening, actually. Why don’t you come by for a drink and some darakt? You can sample her blood as well.”
My throat and stomach tightened. “I’m afraid I can’t. I have a… ”
“Listen.” Baros’s tone grew hushed. “It’s not just my daughter I’m offering. There’re signs that our benevolent ruling clan is losing its grip.”
I frowned. “Blood ‘til Dawn?”
“That name should be a curse,” Baros spat. “But yes, they’re weakening. The time to start planning is now.”
“Planning?”
“Yes! To regain our seat as ruling clan.” He sounded so excited, I could almost hear the spit flying from his mouth. “But I can’t do it alone. And if you play your cards right,” he added, “I wouldn’t be opposed to Carpe Noctem and Rathka’s Order as joint-ruling clans.”
The idea was completely absurd, but seeing that my clan was considered on the verge of extinction, it was also intriguing enough that I wanted to hear more.
I didn’t like Baros as a person, nor did I like his father when he was the head of Carpe Noctem. But our clans had been allied in one way or another since their inception during the war with the werewolves. When my clan members began succumbing to Rathka’s Curse, Carpe Noctem was one of the few clans to seek healers across Shyftworld. At least publicly, they had sympathy for my suffering kin. Everyone else, Blood ‘til Dawn included, believed my clan deserved to be wiped out.
And if I took a good, hard look at the facts, I might even agree with them.
But until I found a cure, I was all that was left. If Carpe Noctem was offering me a lifeline, I had to at least consider it.
“I can see you in an hour,” I said.
The brusang butler at the Carpe Noctem estate frowned when I dismounted my motorcycle and removed my helmet. I could afford a car and driver, but always hated the confined feeling of a car. Why waste the money when I could feel the rush of wind with no walls around me?
“I’m sorry, sir. I don’t believe we have any valets who can drive a… ” The butler made no attempt to sound apologetic, holding his tongue as if any variation of the word “motorcycle” could not be uttered in polite company.
“You can leave it. I won’t be staying long.”
I flashed a smile. The butler gave me a strained one in return. His brown irises looked almost golden set in the black sclera that denoted him as a brusang.
Seeing him made me think of Amy again, how candid she had been about her struggles with the turning. Did this butler have a similar experience? Or did he embrace the chance for a new life with vampiric traits, even if there was only a fifty-fifty chance he’d survive the change?
“Of course, sir. Please.” The butler’s tone was clipped, formal with no nonsense as he stood aside, leading me into the house with an outstretched arm.
“Thank you, um, what’s your name?”
He closed the front door before striding ahead of me. “I have no name. If I am performing my duties correctly, you will have no need to address me. This way, please.”
“Well, shit,” I muttered, following after him. I couldn’t even imagine how traumatic it must have been to have his whole identity erased.
Like most vampire homes, the majority of Carpe Noctem’s estate was underground. The nameless butler led me to an elevator on the far wall and we took the ride down together silently.
The doors opened smoothly a minute later to a room that was somehow both cozy and cavernous. A chandelier hung from an impossibly high ceiling over a set of plush red couches, loveseats, and armchairs. Red smoke wafted lazily from the low table in the center, and conversation echoed from the three figures perched on the furniture.
“Novak, come in!” Baros gestured me over, a fat dark cigar pinched between his fingers. “Join the party. Drink? Smoke?”
“Sure, thank you.” I eased down into one side of the loveseats next to Baros, who was in one of the armchairs.
“Have you met my second, Mazor?” Baros indicated the male vampire sitting in the armchair across the table from him.
“I have not, it’s a pleasure.” I dipped my head toward the other vampire, who gave me the signature slimy Carpe Noctem grin in return.
“And of course you know my daughter, Inessa.”
The female vampire sat perched on the loveseat across from me. Her gown was covered in tiny black and red jewels that flashed and glittered with her subtle movements. If she walked or danced, she’d look like some kind of gothic disco ball. Already I was craving the dark soothing tones and soft lighting of my own home.
“We actually haven’t met before, but I’m charmed.” I put on a smile that I hoped was polite enough. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”
Her smile was soft in return, heavy lashes fluttering low over her pale skin. “The pleasure is mine, Novak of Rathka’s Order.”
The nameless butler appeared before me, holding out a shallow wooden box filled with an assortment of cigars. I chose one at random. Smoking was not my thing, but darakt, a mixture of powdered blood and herbs for flavor, was the one substance that united vampires of all walks of life. And my rudeness would be noticed if I refused one.
Working-class vampires usually bought darakt cigarettes by the pack, often sticking to their favorite brand or flavor. People like Baros paid a premium to have his own custom blends made with only the finest quality ingredients.
After my cigar was lit and I was situated with a glass of wine, Baros got straight to business. “Did you hear about the attack on Sapien, the human settlement?”
“Just rumors.” I held the red darakt smoke in my mouth before blowing it out, trying to save my throat from the burning. “Nothing substantial. But it doesn’t make sense. Blood ‘til Dawn took their sacrifice, did they not?”
The human-only settlement of Sapien remained free of vampire influence due to an arrangement called the Half-Century Selection. Every fifty years, Sapien chose one of their own to give to the ruling clan, usually as a blood pet. In exchange, vampires were not permitted to feed on anyone in Sapien, and certainly not attack them. The ruling clan was supposed to enforce this.
“They did.” Mazor leaned forward, his expression gleeful. “And yet an attack happened anyway, just weeks later. A few humans died. Almost a dozen injured.”
My wine glass paused on its way to my mouth. Was Amy among those who had been badly injured? Or even died? She never explicitly mentioned being from there, but the timing lined up.
“Do we know who attacked them?” I mused.
“Wish I did.” Baros sighed. “I would have invited them to this table. Any enemy of Blood ‘til Dawn is a friend of mine.”
“I’ve heard rumors trickling in about crazed monsters. Just a horde of them running in and tearing the humans apart. Sounds like your kind of people, eh, Novak?”
Mazor laughed while I gave a tight-lipped, clenched smile. “Those with my clan’s affliction are hundreds of miles away from the human settlement. They’re mostly in the forests and mountains of the Crown. I heard it was Marrowers who had been slipped draitrium, but Blood ‘til Dawn is certainly keeping a tight lid on it.”
“Because they’re embarrassed,” Baros declared. “Whatever happened, it makes them look weak. They’re hoping it blows over, but we’ve been waiting for an opportunity like this.” He shot a grin at his daughter. “Haven’t we, akra?"
“Of course, Father.”
The three words sounded rehearsed, like they were all that she was allowed to say. She never met my eyes when I glanced at her, and I found myself feeling sorry for her. Like the butler, like so many others, she was just a tool for her father’s whims.
“Do you ever miss the Crown, Novak?” Boras blew a red smoke ring. “I loved visiting your family’s home out there when my father took me. It was glorious. Even as your guests, we felt like kings.”
I took a long swallow of wine. The Crown estate was, by all accounts, my home. I was born there, grew up there. It was the seat of my family’s power, when we had power. It was also the place of so many nightmarish memories before, during, and after my bloodline succumbed to their incurable madness.
“I miss the wild beauty and fresh air of the country, sometimes,” I said. “But I do love the convenience and liveliness of the Heart.”
Boras’s eyes flashed. “What if we took your ancestral home back from Blood ‘til Dawn?”
I stared at him, not understanding. “Took it back? They’re the ruling clan.”
“Not for long, if we get our way.” A slow grin spread over his face.
“Not if they keep losing their grip,” Mazor added. “Not if they fail to stop us.”
I looked between the two vampires, an increasingly sinking feeling taking root in my gut. “What exactly does Carpe Noctem have planned?”
“We’re going to unseat Blood ‘til Dawn and resume our place as ruling clan,” Baros said. “And there can be a spot for you as well, Novak.”
“How exactly do you plan to do this?” I asked. “My bloodline is all but wiped out. Blood ‘til Dawn are fighters, and they’re crafty. Carpe Noctem may have resources but respectfully, you’ve never been a warrior clan. Blood ‘til Dawn isn’t going to give an inch without a fight.”
“They’re weakened, as I said. And from what I hear, they have a soft spot for the young. They adopt juvenile vampires frequently, taking in strays.”
“So?”
Baros turned toward his daughter, paused when he looked at her, then returned his greedy gaze to me. “Impregnate my daughter with your heir, and move back to the Crown estate to restart your bloodline.”
My throat tightened and dried out like I’d inhaled too much darakt. “You’re serious?”
“Very. The Crown estate is a fortress. Your progeny will be safe. Blood ‘til Dawn won’t storm the building while a pregnant female is inside. They will already be at a disadvantage.”
“I fear you may underestimate how much they despise my bloodline.” The memory of being pinned to the wall, searched, and questioned came to the forefront of my mind. All of the snarling, disgruntled clan males were hazy in my recollection. The only clear face I saw was Amy’s, her fury at my treatment and how she stood up to Thorne, demanding that he let me go.
The memory made a smile tug at my lips. No one, not even anyone in my clan, had ever been so furiously righteous on my behalf. I hoped Amy’s friend realized what a gem she was.
“No matter how much they despise you, they will not harm a child or a pregnant female,” Baros insisted. “They will be cautious, and we’ll use that to press an advantage.”
I cast a glance toward his mostly silent daughter, wondering how she felt about being essentially used as a meat shield.
“You stand only to benefit from this, Novak,” Mazor said. “You’ll win your ancestral home back, be closely connected to the next ruling clan, and have an heir to repopulate Rathka’s Order.”
“Only if the child is a male,” Baros piped up. “If it’s a female, you’ll have to try for another, naturally.”
His daughter shifted uncomfortably. Nothing prevented a female from becoming an heir and taking over a clan. Baros was just an antiquated bastard, and a callous one, to say that right in front of his daughter.
“Well, this all sounds very… ambitious,” I hedged. “I’ll have to give it some thought.”
Baros laughed as if I’d made the most hilarious joke he’d heard in his life. “What is there to think about? You need an heir. We need to crush Blood ‘til Dawn. Nothing could be more simple.”
At my core, I didn’t want to be involved in this scheme. For all his faults, Thorne was much smarter than Baros, had the support of nearly all of Sanguine, and a lot more firepower. If a rebellion was on the horizon, my money was on Blood ‘til Dawn keeping its crown.
On top of all that, I didn’t want to impregnate some woman who was a stranger to me, and the Crown estate could rot into a pile of rubble for all I truly cared.
But… what else was I doing with my life?
I was the last of a disgraced, fallen bloodline, spending my waking hours poring over a century’s worth of collected data and notes. Yes, I was trying to find a cure, or at least the root cause of what befell my clan. But after years upon years of running into dead ends, I was tired.
And I was lonely.
What was I even trying to prove anymore, and to whom? My kin were all dead or mindless monsters with a bottomless hunger for live flesh. Even if I did find a cure and reverted them back to their original states, would they be grateful? Would they even care? Would the monster in my basement embrace me? Or would everyone be just as dismissive toward me as they had been before?
Baros would never expect me to love or commit to his daughter, and likely, neither would she. But I knew I could treat her well, better than her father easily, and provide her with everything she needed. At the very least, we could live harmoniously. Maybe something like love or affection could grow over time.
And if she did become pregnant, I would love that child fiercely, and with absolute certainty. Male or female didn’t matter; I would adore the little vampire I helped to create.
My own family had not been loving. I was a second son, an afterthought to my older half-brother, who was my father’s heir. The two of them made it clear that I would never measure up, least of all because I was quiet and bookish, unlike the proud, brash warriors that made up our clan. Only my mother showed me any semblance of love, and she was taken by Rathka’s Curse while I was a juvenile.
Having a child might be my only chance to wholeheartedly love someone, and to have someone love me in return.
Inessa held out a delicate, pale wrist toward me. “Will you take my blood? And see if my taste is to your,” she paused, lowering her lashes demurely, “your satisfaction.”
I didn’t really want to, but my hands were tied. Like with the darakt, to refuse would be considered a slight against Carpe Noctem. And if I was actually going to make a child with this woman, even if there was no relationship between us, I would have to touch her at some point.
Turning toward her, I slid to the end of the couch until her arm was in my reach. “It would be my honor.” I glanced at Baros. “With your father’s permission, of course.”
“Please, proceed.” Baros waved a hand at us before turning to Mazor, their heads bent in conversation.
Inessa shifted toward me, her eyes downcast as if in deference. Visually, she was attractive enough, but the silent, obedient females were never my type.
If I were able to choose a long-term partner, I’d want an equal, along with a friendship that was also passionate. Someone to talk to about anything that came to mind without fear or judgment. Someone who could challenge me and stimulate my mind just as much as they would accept all of my idiosyncrasies.
But with the constant shadow of Rathka’s Curse hanging over my head, I wasn’t exactly swimming in prospects. Still, I could certainly do worse than Inessa of Carpe Noctem.
Leaning over her wrist, I murmured in Vampiric, “My gratitude for the gift of your blood.”
My lips skimmed over her pulse, finding the ideal spot to drink from before I let my fangs sink in.
I had no expectations of how Inessa’s blood would taste. Among fellow vampires, the flavor was as unique and varied as the individuals. And yet when hers hit my tongue, I came away feeling almost disappointed. There was nothing wrong with her blood, but it tasted rather… bland. Almost as flavorless as a human’s.
I drank just under a handful of swallows, as much as would be considered polite, then unlatched my fangs. Then, just to be extra polite, I lingered over her wrist, closing the puncture marks with small swipes of my tongue.
A soft smile was the only change in Inessa’s expression when I lifted away.
“Did my blood satisfy you, Novak?”
I forced my lips into a returned smile. “Very much. Again, I’m grateful.”
She brought her hands to her lap, eyes lifting slowly under heavy lashes. “Then I look forward to our union, and the future we will create.”
Her blood settled uncomfortably in my stomach, like a bad wine.
“As do I.”