32
The vampires, draped in white sacks, danced and shouted in harmony with the drum, their movements illuminated by the fire’s reflection. Small hills encircled the meadow, with sombre forests stretching out into the dark, as far as the eye could perceive.
The Neanderthal had taken Amelia to a secluded corner of the field, all the time babbling in his ancient language and staring at her as if she were a rare exhibit. Thank goodness, the rogue hadn’t done anything more than shower her with loving stares and the occasional pinch on the cheek.
She inspected the off-white sack that served as his clothing. His snow-white bony limbs stuck out of his outfit’s sleeves and rim. Amelia’s attention seemed to have delighted him, because his face livened up. Was that… a blush?
He made another attempt to start a conversation. When Amelia only grimaced back, he frowned like a child whose toy was taken away. He scanned the other vampires, tapping his finger to his chin.
Then, he shoved a finger in Amelia’s face, which she read as ‘sit still until I return.’
That filled her with hope. He would probably leave her alone to bring a translator. The moment he did, she’d run back to the cave. Zacharia had to be close by. But instead of leaving her, the vampire lunged forward, grabbed her, and tossed her over his shoulder once more.
Oh, no… He carried her across the field.
Amelia’s eyes widened when her abductor’s hand landed on her backside once again. “Put me down, you fool!” Her words got lost in the vampires’ frenzy. The savages weren’t yelling because of her but as part of a tribe song.
When the Neanderthal set her down beside the bonfire, she faced another pale man with grey hair reaching to his waist. Around him, four female vampires knelt in a half-circle, their black eyes fixed on her, but Amelia couldn’t decipher their emotions.
The two men exchanged a few words in the foreign language before the long-haired one pierced Amelia with his gaze and asked in the South-eastern language, “What is your species, creature?”
Amelia clenched her teeth. “I’m a nymph.”
“Wonderful.” His pale-blue lips parted in a chilling smile to reveal canines that could have been sharpened on a whetstone.
“Ban Ban tells me he found you in the temple, and you had no permission to be there. Our rules are quite explicit: anyone who enters the temple without an invitation from the Beduin tribe becomes its property. Since Ban Ban was the one to discover you, I will honour his wish to make you his wife.”
The drumbeats reverberated, seeming to punctuate his every word.
His wife.
The tribe’s property.
Ban Ban.
“You have arrived on a very special night, female creature,” the vampire said. “Tonight, we celebrate the Night of the Horned God. You will be privileged to witness the sacrificial rites alongside your new husband.”
Amelia’s body went rigid. “Sacrifices?”
“In honour of life, we offer the god living flesh.” The man gestured towards the pillar where Nyavolski, Helena, Alex, and Viktor were bound. “And in honour of death, we shall present him with a dead body.”
The vampire clapped his hands. “Now, let us dress you appropriately!”
Amelia bared her teeth at Ban Ban, restraining herself from slapping his smug face. The women surrounding the long-haired one jumped to their feet and closed in on Amelia, dragging her away.
Their unwelcome touch on her was the last straw.
Something inside her snapped. How many times would people force their will on her without asking what she wanted?
The Higher Power who had sacrificed her family so she could become what she was – did he ever ask her opinion?
Had the previous Oracle asked if she wanted Mikhail thrown into her path?
Had Mikhail asked if she was fine staying at the Hospital without him, after he had willingly left with Presiyan without offering any explanation?
“Stop!” she yelled. “STOP! STOP !”
The vampires froze and pulled back. All dancing stopped. The drum fell silent, and the entire field came to a standstill, all eyes turning to her.
Amelia had the tribe’s full attention. Now was the time to show them who she was.
“I am the Oracle, and I will not become Ban Ban’s wife, nor anyone else’s from this tribe!” she declared.
Empty eyes stared at her. They didn’t understand her.
“Somebody translate!” she shouted.
A vampire leapt up from his kneeling position on the grass and translated her words.
A chorus of gasps rippled through the crowd.
Good.
“I came to the temple because the Creator sent me on a secret mission. Anyone who tries to stop me will incur his wrath!” She scanned the vampires with a stern gaze and added, “Even the Horned God!”
The translator spoke, and another wave of gasps and whispers erupted. Her last bit about the Horned God might have been too bold, but it seemed to work – even Ban Ban stared at her with a mix of awe and reverence.
Amelia straightened to her full height. “I will leave here, and none of you will stop me! And I will take those innocent creatures you have tied up with me!”
All eyes followed her hand, pointing to the pillar. Nyavolski’s face was twisted in a bear-like rage, Helena’s lips curled into a snarl, Viktor’s eyes burned with fury, and Alex seemed almost amused by the unfolding events.
“And you will never again speak of my presence in the temple!” Amelia finished.
The long-haired man stepped closer, his eyes narrowing. “You claim to be sent by the Creator…” He squinted. “The Creator of all that exists?”
Amelia nodded. “The very same.”
“But these creatures stole something from the temple. The protective magic sealed them in on its own. That same magic has manifested around the temple for aeons, perhaps by the Creator’s will as well.”
Amelia lifted her chin. “As I said, they are here doing what they were meant to do – what they were commanded to do.”
The vampire frowned, mulling over her words. “You were commanded to steal the slab of Geraldine the Great?” he asked, his face a mask of confusion.
Amelia tried to hide her surprise. The slab of whom? She shook her head. Now was not the time for questions. She summoned all the confidence she could muster. “Are you questioning the Creator’s will?”
A tense silence fell over the meadow. The muscles under her left eye twitched.
Then, the long-haired man spoke. “So be it. If this is the Creator’s will, I will abide by it.”
Amelia exhaled the breath she’d been holding.
“But first, you must prove you are the Oracle. The Oracle’s eyes turn white when she speaks to the Creator. Show me!”
All right. This wasn’t too hard. Viktor had told her the other day in the autopsy room that her eyes had been white – meaning, her eyes changed colour when she received visions. And, according to Mikhail, when she was aroused…
Amelia scanned the semicircle of vampires around her; only the fire separated her from the bulk of them. They were so many and so close that she could barely see the pillar where her companions were tied, obscured by the wall of bodies.
She faced the long-haired man again and pursed her lips. How do I summon a vision?
One option was to release her hold on her mind and surrender to the overwhelming cacophony of scenes and images.
For months, they had been impossible to decipher, and Amelia thought it was because they were directly from the Creator’s knowledge – his source of everything, as it were.
Still, even if she couldn’t use them, from the outside, no one would know she was lost in them.
And if she was accessing something meant for the Oracle, surely her eyes would turn white? She was about to find out…
“Ready?” she asked, buying herself another second.
The long-haired vampire gestured for her to proceed.
Amelia unlocked the knowledge. A torrent of faces merging into one another assailed her – screaming, reaching out with hands that grew from their eyes and mouths, bombarding her thoughts in a whirlwind of chaos. When it became unbearable, she shut it off.
“Convinced?” she asked.
The long-haired vampire shook his head. “How can I be convinced if your eyes were closed?”
Her eyes had been closed? “All right. Let me try—”
“We’re done here!” The vampire turned away from her. “Let the celebrations resume!”
“Wait!”
The female vampires grabbed her again. She tried to resist, but she was no match for the four of them. The drum boomed, signalling the resume of the dances. Vampires dispersed across the field, resuming their revelries.
“Don’t touch me!” Amelia thrust aside the vampire who dared brush a lock of her hair, muttering something under her breath.
All of a sudden, a deafening shriek pierced the field. The women released Amelia. Everyone turned towards the wooden pillar, where a sliced rope dangled.
Her lips curled. While everyone had been entranced by Amelia’s attempt to prove herself as the Oracle, Nyavolski, Helena, Viktor, and Alex had escaped!
The vampire who’d noticed them missing peeked into the sarcophagus that was meant for the sacrificial mummy and this time, his scream was even louder.
Panic arose. It took Amelia some time to realise the cause: the empty sarcophagus. Not only had the live sacrifices escaped, but the dead one was missing as well.
The turn of events made Amelia freeze in the middle of the field. She lifted her head and met the long-haired vampire’s gaze. His eyes held an unspoken warning, and she knew that this time, her threats about the Creator’s wrath wouldn’t matter.
Something slammed into her with such force that it knocked the air out of her lungs. By the time she could breathe again, she was being carried through the mountain. The bonfire and vampires grew distant. Whoever held her was sprinting through the forest at an incredible speed.
Please, let it be Zacharia!
The creature carrying her seemed like a blend of a vampire and a lycanthrope, almost as tall as Mikhail in his secondary form and just as hairy, but the fur was greyer under the starlight.
He had muscular arms and a long snout, more wolf-like than Mikhail’s, while the rest of his face had a distorted shape, almost like those grotesque depictions of devils in ancient paintings.
When he slowed his pace, Amelia recognised the meadow where they had first entered the temple. They had emerged back on it from outside – there would be no need to navigate the underground tunnels this time.
The creature scanned the area, then sprinted across the meadow, weaving past the rocks, slipping between the cliffs, and down to the road where their cars were parked. Nyavolski, Helena, Viktor, and Alex were already there.
Just before reaching them, the creature shifted back into Zacharia.
“Are you all right?” Viktor asked.
“Yes.” Amelia touched the ground again. “What happened? Why were you tied up?”
“All thanks to Little Miss Kleptomaniac over here!” Helena hissed, glaring at Alex.
The girl was on the verge of tears. “I said I was sorry!”
“Shut up, all of you, damn it! We’ll talk later,” Nyavolski barked. “We’re leaving!”
Amelia hurried to the car, eager to escape. She opened the door and—
Gasped.
A mummy!
A mummy was sitting in the back seat. Well, not exactly sitting – more like propped up in an awkward position.
“Nyavolski said this guy isn’t setting foot in his car,” Helena said from the front seat. “You’ll have to sit next to him. And don’t touch him!”
Amelia glanced back at the mummy. So, this was the grand conclusion to the evening’s chaos: sharing a seat with a mummy, unable to touch it.
Well, she could have been in a far worse situation – like sharing a bed with Ban Ban right now…